Harry potter and the Time of Retirement
Everything related to Harry Potter belongs to JKR
Chapter 48 – Year 2
"The potion is working, Albus. He might be awake already" said an older female voice.
"Good, good. Let's try, then. Harry?" said a man. His voice, easily recognizable as belonging to the headmaster.
Groaning, Harry opened his eyes. His body felt incredibly stiff, and it hurted all over. Still, if he could feel all that… 'I am alive?' he thought, surprised. 'How?'
He tried to stand up on the bed, only to be immediately stopped by madame Pomfrey.
"Don't even think about it, Mr. Potter. Stay down and let me check you up" she said, both waving her wand and checking Harry's body by eyes and hands. The exam went on for a long time, and all the while Dumbledore remained silent next to the bed. His face, though, was devoid of any form of smile.
"A disaster, as I feared. His burns and other scratches didn't heal one bit these months, nor did the piercing injury in his leg. At least I can confirm there is no poison" concluded the matron.
"What's wrong… with my leg?" asked Harry, groggily. From what he could see by lying down, it was heavily bandaged.
"You still have it, which is a miracle by itself" commented the headmaster, evenly. "Thank you, Poppy. Now, as we were saying…"
"Yes, yes. But i am still unhappy Albus, this boy needs desperately some rest" complained the healer. And yet, he added nothing but a curt "Thank you" so she left, stiffily.
"It's just us now, Harry. You should stay down but, if I learned anything about you…."
"Yes" said Harry. Slowly, so very slowly, he managed to at least sit upright on the bed's post. His body ached all over, and his leg was burning.
"Out of curiosity" asked Dumbledore, keeping his very neutral tone all the way "is there something, anything that you would like to ask me first?"
"Of course I do" said Harry. "No pretenses. Did I stop the snake, or someone else got involved?"
Dumbledore nodded, as if satisfied by this. "You stopped it. No student was hurt. Except Percy and Ginny Wesley, but you knew that already."
This made Harry stop a second. He wasn't sure how much time had passed, but it was minutes before for him. "What about them? Are they ok?"
"Their injuries have healed already. Those that were visible, I mean" answered, drily, the headmaster. It might have been Harry's guilty feelings at work, but he felt some level of accusation in his words. Looking around, Harry could see the whole infirmary - empty.
"Did you kick out everyone just for me?" he asked.
"There was no one to move out, Harry. It's july, classes are long over" said Dumbledore, smiling slightly at Harry's expression of surprise. "There is much I want to ask but, as a token of good will, I'll start with my side of the events."
Harry nodded, and the headmaster continued.
"I'll try to be brief. The first night of the new school year a frantic Mr. Filch barged into my office, screaming that someone had assaulted two students. I followed him to the infirmary where professor McGonagall had dragged an unconscious Percy Weasley and, next to his bed, a crying miss Weasley. The latter, in particular, told me that you and her brother had gone mad and dueled under the school, and you were still there facing something" stated Dumbledore, with a flat tone. He might be recalling some boring anedoctes from the past, for all one could tell from his voice.
"I went to the entrance of this supposed secret room under the castle, only to find a normal looking bathroom" continued Dumbledore, only to show a small smirk. "I decided that it was not the time for subtlety and I blasted the sinks away, following miss Weasley's story. A clever hiding place, although unworthy of what it was hiding."
"I thought the same" murmured Harry. "Quite an embarassment for Slytherins everywhere, too."
Dumbledore shrugged, distractedly, and talked on. "Anyway, down in the chamber, there was the corpse of a Basilisk. One of the largest in recorded history, I can say. You were halfway in his mouth, pietrified. We brought you here, and it took months for the school to procure the ingredients needed to restore you to normalcy. That's all."
"All? Hardly" said Harry. "It looked at me, it bit me, and I survived? How come?"
"Ah, excellent question. The Chamber was a mess of debris, but around you I found huge amounts of burned sand and various pieces of glass. Your doing, I assume?" asked Dumbledore, only for Harry to nod.
"I can barely guess what you were planning, Harry" said Dumbledore, shaking his head. "Well, we found the Basilisk with his jaws covered in raw glass, and his throat obstructed by a mixture of it and sand. It died of asphyxiation. Was that your idea?"
"Not all of us know curses that can pierce its skin, sir" said Harry, a bit miffed.
"Even when you know those, being able to cast them and kill it before being seen or bitten would be hard" countered Dumbledore, quietly. "Your plan was suicidal, Harry, but I can't deny it worked. What's more, with its eyes and mouth covered in glass its weakened stare didn't kill you and its fangs couldn't inject poison. You took down a beast that normally would require a group of wizards to face. That or a rooster. Did you know that….?" asked Dumbledore, unsure, before stopping at Harry's snort.
"I tried conjuring several. Either it has to be a real one, or old Salazar Slytherin made him immune somehow" said Harry.
"I see. The kind of details we don't find in books, I fear" said Dumbledore, nodding, before stopping to stare at Harry. Again, no smile on his face.
"Assuming the unusual on you seems to be the right option, Harry. And I assume you know what a Pensieve is."
Harry felt unsure how to answer, before he shrugged. What was the point? "I do."
"I asked both Weasley children to share their memories of that evening. I was speechless at what I saw. The memories of Mr. Weasley at being controlled by a young Voldemort were troubling. What miss Weasley had to suffer through was worse, enough to disgust me. But the very worst, Harry, was you. Your behavior."
"Hindsight is a comfortable seat from where to judge me, sir" countered Harry, unhappily. He had plenty of regrets already on how that fight went.
"I won't deny the difficult situation you were in, nor your good intentions. Any doubts I might have about those, Harry, disappeared when I saw your face as you forced miss Weasley to flee" said Dumbledore, evenly. He continued with his eyes getting hazy, looking far away in the past. "In my long life you are not the first person I saw consciously marching to their death to save others, but you are certainly the youngest". This did little to calm Harry's conscience, though.
"Everything else, it was beyond wrong. You acted with arrogance first, and brutality later. You casted an Unforgivable Curse with the ease of someone who might have used them before. All this, to solve a problem you caused yourself" said Dumbledore, with a clear accusatory tone.
"I caused it?" hissed Harry, immediately. "What sanctimony, headmaster. I was saving two of your students from an artifact created by one of your head boys. Inside your school where no one noticed said artifact. Only to end up facing a monster that, again, lived her under your nose for your whole life!"
Dumbledore frowned at these words, but didn't back down. "I can hardly solve matters I am not even aware of, Harry. That is what I am accusing you of, today. I invited you, time and time again, to confide in me the problems you were obviously facing. Those exploding in your face is your fault. Dragging two innocent students down with you, is your fault. Are you denying this?"
"What nice words. I can imagine what would have happened in practice" commented Harry, changing his tone to an annoying falsetto. "Headmaster, I think there might be Riddle's diary, capable of controlling people, here at Hogwarts. Could you check, please? But sure, my dear boy. Thanks for the warning, go back to your classes!"
"Sarcasm is not an argument" countered Dumbledore, drily.
"My actions are my argument" said Harry. "I did my best, with the best intentions. I regret, deeply, how it worked out." At this, Harry's face contorted. Hard to say if with pain or guilt. "I do. I really do. But your preaching now is absurd. In hindsight we can all claim we would do better. Well, it's just your opinion, and it's not welcome."
"You hurt two of my students, Mr. Potter, and you will learn of my opinions like it or not!" stated Dumbledore, clearly getting agitated. "And my opinion is that you are untrustworthy and violent. Your skills, your talents, they are not normal and make you even more dangerous. I can think of only one explanation on how you got them. How you learned about old artifacts of Voldemort, how you obviously knew where the Chamber of Secrets, thought lost, was. About Pettygrew too, I am now sure."
"Please enlighten me, then" said Harry, flatly. At this, Dumbledore calmed down.
"I believe you have some or all memories of Voldemort, Harry, gained long ago when he tried to kill you. Hopefully only those, and not his personality. Facing certain death to save someone else is your only action lately that gives me hope." Dumbledore stopped, only to narrow his eyes and lower his voice. "Am I correct? For once, Harry, be honest. We don't have to be enemies."
"Which means we will be if I keep my secrets mine?" countered Harry, only to see some annoyance on Dumbledore's face. Quickly suppressed, though.
"Stop being so unreasonable, Harry! I mean it. I am offering you my hand in friendship with no reservations. Just speak to me."
"We are not enemies, sir" said Harry after some seconds of silence, voice full of tiredness and sadness. "I respect you, and I trust your intentions." At this, Harry looked down on his hands, almost embarassed. "But that's it. I don't trust your judgement over mine, nor will I share my secrets with you. I guess that is the core of our issues."
"I see" said Dumbledore, quietly. They both remained silent for a while, after that. Eventually, the old headmaster shook his head. "Our community owes you and your parents so much, Harry. It breaks my heart to see what is happening to you, but I have duties as headmaster of this school. A school were you can not be welcomed in, as things stand."
"If you change your mind, any hour of any day, come and speak to me. Until that moment, though…. Mr. Potter, you are expelled from Hogwarts. You will leave the second you can walk away on your own legs." And with that the headmaster walked out of the infirmary, leaving Harry in the silence and dim lights of the infirmary.
The following days were quite sad, for Harry. His only company, and only at irregular moments each day, was that of Madam Pomfrey; hardly the cheeriest and most talkative of the people left at Hogwarts. Only once one of the professors, Sprout, came to visit him.
As she spent her time trying to pressure Harry to give in to "whatever the headmaster asked you", her presence unfortunately could only annoy Harry. At least, he managed to get some harmless gossip about his classmates and the rest of their year in school, and a promise to get his belongings back to him. And a check up on Hedwig, too.
Eventually, one afternoon, madam Pomfrey declared him "healed" and, with an embarrassed expression, told him that she would wait until it was late at night to warn the headmaster. Harry took it as an invitation to remain until the day after, and mumbled a semi sincere thank you. It would be trivial for him to simply apparate back home, but he was glad to stay one final time.
'Expulsion tastes bad' he thought before falling asleep. 'Quite a difference from leaving because I could, confident I can come back.'
The morning after, together with madam Pomfrey's tray for breakfast, professor Sprout showed up again. In her hands, Harry's backpack and a cage with Hedwig inside.
"Good morning, Harry."
"Good morning, professor. Want to share some?" said Harry, pointing to a second cup for tea and some cookies.
"Oh, I had mine already, thank you" said the professor. "Harry, I am here to escort you back to your home. And to talk to your uncle and aunt, if you will allow me."
"Was this the headmaster's idea?" asked Harry, evenly.
"No, it's mine. You might be leaving us, for a very short time I am sure. But an Hufflepuff remains an Hufflepuff. Beside, someone should explain your pare – sorry, Harry. Your tutors, someone should explain them the situation."
Harry raised one eyebrow at this declaration, both irritated and amused. In the end, he decided to take these stated intentions with the good will that probably created them.
"I see. Thank you, professor" he started, smiling. "I already explained everything to them by owl, though. I do expect some unpleasant talk once I arrive, but that is going to be a family talk."
"Oh, I see" said professor Sprout, a little disappointed. "Harry, if they want to talk to a faculty member, make sure they know I am willing to come to your house, ok?"
"Sure, thanks" said Harry, while sipping his tea. "Professor, is that mine?"
"Yes, Harry" said the professor. "It's a good thing we searched for these immediately. Everything was already half buried under other sequestered items in Mr. Filch's office. Except for that mantle you insisted so much about, I had to ask the headmaster for that."
"Good" commented Harry, distractedly. Worried at the thought of having lost his treasures, he was more than relieved to find both his Cloak and the Map inside the backpack. "I am truly grateful, professor. They are family heirlooms."
Professor Sprout smiled amiably, and then waited for Harry to finish his breakfast first and dress up later. Only small talk happened in the meantime.
Soon, they left the infirmary and then the school itself. In the courtyard, Harry turned to watch the castle. It was full summer, quite a difference from the cold and snow he was used to, and the sight was magnificent.
"Just listen to the headmaster, Harry" said professor Sprout, quietly "and come back to us. I know you are headstrong, but there must be a limit."
Harry smiled bitterly, and restarted walking. "Our problems are a bit more nuanced than that, professor." Sprout just shook her head.
Once they were outside the limit of the school wards, the professor silently offered her arm to Harry, who grasped it lightly. A loud pop later they were in Privet Drive, close to the Dursley's home.
"Take care, Harry" said the professor, her eyes a little red. "I have full confidence you will come back to us in september. I brought you something, by the way" she continued, taking out of her robe several rolls of parchments.
"I gathered these from all of your teachers. Well, I couldn't find professor Snape in time" added Sprout, embarrassed, while Harry rolled his eyes. "These are the lesson plans for 2nd years. Use this with your text books to study this summer, ok? Catch up with your friends and be ready. Ask them about Potions, too."
'Hufflepuff, eh' thought Harry, a little moved. Sure, the professor thought she was helping a young student in trouble, but this kind of loyalty was still… touching.
"I promise I will be able to cast all the year's spells, professor. If I could I would grow the plants from Herbology in my garden, too."
"Oh, right, I can see you aunt has a nice one" said the professor, cheering up. "Actually, Harry…" she continued, searching inside her pockets. "Here, I always have seeds for some harmless specimens. Give these a try, will you?"
Harry, smiling inside, accepted those graciously. After several more recommendations the professor left. Harry, still cheery, tried to order up the mountain of parchments and other items he had with him and, once he had everything mostly in his hands, took out his wand.
"It's just you and me now, girl" said Harry to Hedwig, who happily hooted back to him.
One quick glance to his uncle's house, and they too apparated away.
Back in his home in Godric's Hollow, Harry slowly set all his possessions up. Hedwig was left free to fly out of the house, while the Map and the Cloak joined the Gringott's key into a secret compartment Harry had created in his new storage room. Books and other miscellaneous items got their Engorgio and, once back to their normal size, went to their final destination on shelves or whatnot.
'I wonder if I will ever read those again' thought Harry, sadly. Normally, he could consider keeping those books for his children one day, but… 'No' continued Harry, sarcastically. 'Can't even imagine it. Not that I wouldn't like remarrying, the problem is the woman.'
'Maybe I should sell some of this stuff. My items, and some of my parent's. Mah' shrugged Harry 'I hardly need space or money.'
Going to the window and moving away the curtains, he looked outside. "So, this is it. Now it is all time to waste" he murmured to himself. "Maybe I should buy an elf at least, this place is lonely enough…?"
While musing, Harry noticed someone looking at his house – and then, waving widely with her arms once she caught her eyes. Soon after that, she moved towards her door. With a resigned smile, Harry went downstairs right as he started hearing some knocks.
"Harry!" shouted Hannah, happily, stepping in and hugging him tightly. "I am so glad to see you! We were all so worried, you know?"
"Hello Hannah" said Harry, sniggering softly while being hugged, and patting her lightly on her back. "I am happy to see you too. Come in."
"I had no idea you were back, Harry. When did you arrive, anyway? I can't wait to write it to everyone" said the girl, while looking around the house. Following Harry's pointing, she eventually sat down on the old, very old couch in the living room.
"Just now. I mean it, not even half an hour. How did you know anyway?" asked Harry, amused.
"Oh, I saw your owl flying around. It's a good thing it is so easy to recognize, Harry, and even then I wasn't sure. And I hope my mom didn't see me come inside, I haven't told her that creepy old guy was your disguise" chatted on Hannah, unaware of the frown that crossed Harry's face when she described his older self as creepy. With a roll of his eyes, Harry too sat down and took out his wand.
"I guess I should go and introduce myself to the neighbourhood" said Harry. "Can I offer you something? Tea, biscuits? I can't transfigurate masterpieces, but…."
"Being able to do it is great enough" said Hannah, impressed. "And yes, you have to come and meet my parents. We are neighbours, Harry! There are other kids around, but no one even close to our age."
"We are not going to suddenly have play dates and visit each other every day, you know that right?" asked Harry, smirking, and transfiguring a set of crumbs he kept on the table exactly for that reason. Hannah just sighed.
"Of course not, you are a killjoy" she said, dramatically. "But I am sure we could drag even you out to fly or play, sometimes. And you have your own house, Harry" she continued, a sly grin on her face. "We are so going to organize something here, it's our own space."
"No. Most certainly not. You are not taking over my house as your playground" said Harry, shaking his head. Hannah sighed, then giggled and took a cookie.
"So, what can you tell me Harry? Last we saw you, you were still frozen as a statue in the infirmary and no one ever told us why. Just a warning on the dangers of breaking the rules."
"I hope no one did anything to me while I was defenseless" said Harry, smiling.
"I wish I could say no, but… no, just joking" said Hannah, smiling. "Everyone was quite worried Harry, you were a mess. Plenty of injuries, and your face had quite the scary scowl on it."
"I can imagine" said Harry, nodding. Looking up at Hannah, he could tell she expected more. "Sorry, but no gossips. It's not a pleasant story, and I wasn't the only one involved."
"Oh, yes. There were only rumours but two of the Weasleys were involved, right? That first year that keeps staring at you, and her older brother" said Hannah, casually, without noticing how Harry had tensed up.
"What happened the days right after I was, well, frozen?" asked Harry, toneless.
"For a while everyone was talking about you. I mean, we don't see frozen people that often. In Gryffindors I think people wanted to talk to the Weasleys but McGonagall forbid everyone to do so and those two twins, Fred and George, made some vicious prank on the first one that tried anyway" started Hannah, while Harry nodded. She made quite a weird face, for a second, and stopped talking.
"What?" asked Harry.
"Well… don't take it personally Harry but the girl, Ginny, right?" asked Hannah, while Harry nodded. "Anyway, madam Pomfrey wanted to keep her in the infirmary too but she refused, quite loudly, to stay next to you. With some, well, not nice words."
Harry said nothing, he just seemed even more unhappy.
"By that point, some older students started spouting some really disgusting explanations on what happened. Commenting on her robes, her crying, and how you beat up her brother" said Hannah, now blushing a little. "We didn't believe any of it, of course. The morning after, the headmaster said how you and that Percy broke the rules and that was how you three got hurt, and we should all be good students or something."
"Nothing about Ginny" said Harry.
"Nothing more, but at least everyone wondered what you and the older Weasley did together, and not just you. We all assumed she was involved by accident. Is that…?" asked Hannah.
"Correct, yes. And that is all I want to say about it. Can we change topic?" answered Harry.
A bit relieved herself, Hannah talked about her summer and who else was in the village; no more than a handful of much younger kids, and an older student from Hogwarts that barely ever looked at her. "Susan comes and visit me often, of course. When she is not playing quidditch with Megan" said Hannah, with just an hint of bitterness covering this last comment.
Harry asked her about the village, what was there to do, and the conversation flowed naturally from there. A long while later Hannah left for lunch, not without inviting Harry to eat with her family. Refusing, but promising to join them eventually, Harry let her go. His smile, that accompanied her to the door, didn't last much longer.
As he sat down on his couch he shook his head, disappointed. 'What a disaster', he thought somberly.
A/N: the previous chapter has been slightly modified. Nothing major: Riddle forces Harry back in his 1st rush, and then silently heals himself. I thought the chapter didn't really show how dangerous Riddle was even as a student.
For those interested in story planning and structure, there is an intentional progression here: Riddle's puppet (Quirrell), that with his adult body and Riddle's advices and teachings is more than a match for Harry, at least in his weak kid body. Young Riddle possessing Percy: still a teenager and controlling a non compliant servant: not really a threat for Harry, but the hints of how dangerous he could be must be there. His ruthlessness and cruelty are in full display with how he exploits Ginny, anyway. Finally, maybe one day, reincarnated Riddle: he is, he must be for any HP story to have some sense and balance, drastically stronger than Harry. The kind of enemy that Harry, alone, could slow down but never defeat frontally. Maybe one day.