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Chapter Twenty Two- Escaping Janus Thickey
-MP-
A thousand thoughts were stampeding through Harry's mind, he stared dumbfoundedly at the smug looking Lockhart. Who, after posing his question and addressing Harry by name, stood idly with one hand on his hip and the other hanging loosely at his side.
As far as the wizarding community was aware Lockhart had no access to his memories, hence his long term stay in the Janus Thickey Ward. Perhaps the usage of Harry's name had just been a one off occurrence or a sign of something else going on?
Hermione began to stir behind him, so Harry had to make a decision, continue the conversation with Lockhart or go and look after his friend. His gut wanted to grab Gilderoy by the throat and press him for answers but the louder mumblings from Hermione drew him away. He turned around and he could see her eyes beginning to flutter open heavily, he swung his head to look at Lockhart one last time but he had already disappeared. There was no other decision to make.
He helped her up onto her feet, just as the thudding from the feet of several medi-witches grew louder. She swayed woozily, but she locked her eyes onto Harry. He held her steady by placing a hand on her shoulders, he didn't know what had happened but he could see as clear as day that she was terrified.
"Hermione?" He whispered gently, her brown eyes didn't glisten like honey as they usually did, instead the colour was replaced with an edge of black. Scaring him enough to begin repeating her name to try and coax out a reply.
She mumbled weakly and nodded, holding onto one of his arms as she was still unsteady on her feet, her knuckles white with the intensity of her grip. The curtain shielding them from view was suddenly thrown back to reveal three medi-witches standing, staring back at him, one including Aedan, his eyes wide with alarm.
Aedan's face did little to hide his anger, he quickly cast his gaze onto everyone in the room one by one. Harry held onto Hermione. Hermione struggled to hold her head up and nearby, Minerva was only just beginning to come back around from the sleeping charm none the wiser to the situation going on.
"Is everything okay here?" Aedan demanded, as he motioned for the other two medi-witches to go and check on Minerva.
Harry pushed Hermione's arm to prop her up further. "Yeah, we're just visiting."
Aedan's eyes flicked to Hermione, after a brief moment of examining her his anger didn't abate. "What's with her, then?" He accused.
Harry rubbed his temple, subconsciously pushing down his own feelings of anger and betrayal to keep his head on straight, to remain calm. Both Hermione and Minerva needed him to.
"It's been a long day at work. You know what it's like with a family, you get tired…"
Aedan looked at Hermione curiously, his expression softened slightly bringing some temporary relief to Harry. "Yeah, well I do understand that… I guess."
The other medi-witches came back from Minerva's bedside and let Aedan know that she was fine also, she was probably just tired from the excitement of having visitors.
"Sorry, Mr Potter. It was not professional for me to get angry with you." He chuckled lightly before continuing. "I guess, this is what I get for taking the word of Mr Lockhart. He said you were doing some sort of magic over here but it seems he was mistaken."
Harry felt the weight on his chest lift, he could draw in the cold air around him and breathe. He chuckled too, putting Aedan at ease. "Hah, yes… well he was always good at telling stories."
He watched a smile lift Aedan's lips, he ushered his other medi-witches away and went on to carry out the rest of his business on the ward. As soon as he was out of view, he turned around and hoisted Hermione back up. He lifted her chin with his hand and turned her face to examine her. Her eyes were heavy and there were distinct purple bags weighing them down, but she mustered all the strength she had left to speak to Harry. "Take me home."
"Of course." Harry replied. "Hold onto the rail, I will just check on Minerva and then I'll get you out of here."
Harry guided her hands and reminded her to hold on tight before whisking himself to Minerva's bedside. She also looked at him sleepily but he found her tiredness much less concerning. He brushed the hair from her eyes and looked at her, much different to the woman who had cared for him throughout the years. "You okay, Min?" He whispered.
She looked up at him and smiled lightly. "I'll be fine just now, I'm familiar with the charm you two did."
His hand paused on her face. "You're familiar with what?" He said, without hiding the surprise in his voice.
"Mmmm.." She mumbled tiredly in reply, and Minerva turned her body around towards him. "Sleeping charm."
"Do you remember anything else, about magic?" He pressed, desperately trying to keep Minerva awake but he was rapidly losing the battle.
"Some bits… blurry… like everything is….out of….. focus….."
Then with the last word she had drifted back off into sleep, Harry felt blind sighted and confused, unsure of what the next steps were. Did she really remember, was it just a side effect of them messing with memory magic?
Memory magic!
He turned around quickly and grabbed Hermione's arm, remembering about memory magic pulled him back to the situation at hand and how he needed to get Hermione home.
Arm in arm, he guided her out of the Janus Thickey ward and closer to the hospital exit. From there he should be able to apparate them both to the Weasley's cottage, his only task then was to explain the whole situation to an undoubtedly angry Ron.
Hermione was battling an exhaustion he hadn't seen in a long time, her head kept dropping and her feet would drag over the surface they were walking on. He was shouldering as much of her weight as she could, but it was difficult balancing that with not drawing too much attention.
Towards the exit in the main waiting room, Harry spotted a nurse's cart out in the hallway. It had an array of common potions such as pain relief poultice, fever fetterer and most notable to Harry… Pepper Up potion! Whilst ordinarily, it was used the common cold it also had a side effect of warming somebody up.
He grabbed a bottle off the trolley and pulled out the cork, he thrusted it towards Hermione who looked at him dazedly. "Drink this." He asserted, as he lifted the bottle to her lips and coaxed her into swallowing it all down.
A few seconds later she shivered and looked at Harry, whilst still tired and off colour. The warming property seemed to give her a burst of energy, without hesitation he looped his arm around hers and led her out of the door and into the street.
They walked a short way down the road until they found an alleyway to duck inside, and from there Harry was only taking her to one place – Home.
-MP-
By the time the pair had arrived at the Weasley cottage, the effects of the Pepper Up potion had substantially waned away. Hermione returned to the disturbing level of exhaustion and weakness that she had ended up in at St Mungo's.
Harry wasted no time knocking and pushed open the front door, frantically shouting for Ron. He picked up Hermione and heaved her to the sofa to lay her down, her eyes flicking open and closed as she writhed.
Ron came rushing into the room and froze at the doorway, looking between his best friend and his wife in shock and confusion. "What on EARTH has happened to my wife!" Ron shouted, a burning gaze aimed directly at his best friend.
Harry bumbled momentarily, looking at Hermione and his rageful friend, he understood completely of course but explaining himself was an entirely different matter.
He lifted his hand towards his chest putting distance between himself and Ron. "I'm sorry Ron… we were just with Minerva…. A-And…"
"Minerva?" Ron bit back. "She was supposed to be at work!"
"I know. I know!" Harry countered. "She offered to help me… and…"
Ron suddenly thundered towards Harry and picked him up by the scruff of his collar, the heat of his anger radiating from his every pore.
"I swear to God Harry, I know you're my best friend but if anything ever happened to her. I swear… to…. GOD!" His teeth gritted tightly as he forced through every word.
"I'm sorry Ron!" He pushed back at Ron trying to get himself free. "Will you just bloody put me down so I can explain!"
Ron paused, before releasing Harry to his feet. "Go on then, explain yourself."
Harry then spent the next few minutes relaying the entire day's events to Ron which seemed to help him calm down at least enough to think rationally.
The entire time the boys had been arguing, Hermione had remained on the sofa writhing in and out of some form of unconsciousness. Ron looked at her with concern, leaping to her side and cradling her hand against his chest.
He leaned down to whisper in her ear. "It's okay baby, we're gonna fix this. Me and Harry are gonna fix this." He kissed her hand and looked back out at an increasingly terrified Harry. "We're gonna be able to fix this, right?"
Harry played with his hands nervously. "Sure." He looked away from Ron, his face still as red as his hair. Harry was trying to think of somebody they knew who could help, but everyone he knew with this kind of skill was either dead or indisposed.
He paced up and down the room, racking his brain for somebody to reach out to. It wasn't often the crushing sense of how alone he felt in the world was so apparent to him but now it blared at him like a siren. "There is one person…."
Ron had sat himself on the floor next to the sofa Hermione was laying on, he turned himself around with his legs still crossed. His eyes were watering as he tried to hold his sadness back. "Yeah?" He said, with a bleak hopefulness.
"I'll have to go to Hogwarts though, will that be okay?"
Ron's head drooped to his chest for a second, he picked it back up and looked at Harry. Desperation was slowly distorting his features, he wiped at his cheek before answering.
"Please, just be quick Harry."
Without hesitation Harry ran out the door to the apparition point, which would take him to Hogsmeade. There was only one person he could think of to help him, and he had no idea if he would even be willing.
-MP-
Yet again, Harry found himself outside the iron gates with the furious gaze of the Hogwarts Gargoyle's staring down at him. He brushed himself off after the rapid and slightly messier apparition than he usually practiced before requesting somebody from the castle to come and speak to him.
A large shadow appeared shortly after at the top of the steps, Harry instantly knew it was Hagrid and just feeling his presence brought him some relief albeit temporarily.
"'Arrr!" His loud voice boomed over to him as he made his way down the steps and to the gates so he was face to face with his former student.
"Hello Hagrid." Harry greeted, a rare warm smile spreading across his face, until it fell shortly after when he remembered why he was at Hogwarts in the first place.
" 'Ow can we help 'ya today. It's no 'erryday you come knocking on 'Ogwarts doors, is it now?"
"No no, you are right Hagrid. I need to speak to Professor Flitwick actually, it's important."
Hagrid looked at Harry, his black beetle like eyes flashing a moment of concern. "'O course 'Arry. I'll go find 'im."
He then turned around and with his large heavy footsteps he headed back inside the castle, Harry made sure to shout his thanks as he went.
Shortly after a much smaller shadow appeared at the gates and he flicked his hand causing the gates to swing open and thump against the stone pillars either side.
"Come with me Mr Potter." Flitwick called, and the pair then headed inside but, interestingly they didn't head to the Headmasters Office.
Instead, they went to a much smaller office. One which used to belong to Flitwick before he was headmaster during his time as Head of Ravenclaw House.
The room was a large open circular shape, with dark navy velvet curtains draping down either side of every window. There were many, many bookshelves much like Minerva's office and an emptier space towards the middle where his desk was. Harry assumed this is where Flitwick's experiments used to be kept until he moved into the Headmaster's Office several years ago.
Flitwick gestured towards the far corner, where large leather chairs were positioned each with a dark navy cushion adorning them. The pair sat opposite each other and the conversation quickly turned to the matter at hand.
"So, Mr Potter. I understand you have something to discuss with me?" He looked at his former student questioningly, noting the obvious worry contorting his expression.
"Yes, Professor Flitwick. I have a situation and it calls for a more experienced set of hands. I wasn't really sure who to go to… and with Minerva in the hospital I…."
Flitwick looked at Harry softly. "Harry, I can tell you're worried. Minerva always spoke so highly of you, so whilst I cannot fill her shoes. I am more than happy to help if I can."
His calming words were almost like a balm to Harry's emotions. The day's exhaustion was starting to weigh heavy on him and he knew it wasn't nearly over.
He began to explain the situation with Minerva, their research and what he thinks Hermione had attempted to do at St Mungo's earlier that day. Of course, unaware of the true extent of what she had tried to do. He chose to hold back why they thought it was necessary to explore Minerva's memory, by offering an explanation of curiosity and last ditch efforts to heal her.
Flitwick sat with his legs crossed, his fingers entwined in his beard as he mulled Harry's words over.
"Memory magic, you say?" Harry nodded in reply.
Filius pushed himself off the leather chair and paced back and forth in front of Harry, his own mind whirring away much like Hermione or Minerva's did when presented with a problem.
"Memory magic can be an awfully tricky thing, very dangerous… it was not wise to meddle with such things."
"I know." Harry agreed, but when Hermione gets an idea you have a hard time stopping her.
Flitwick smiled knowingly. "Ah yes, the many qualities of a Gryffindor."
He then moved away from Harry and pulled several volumes of books from his shelves, he then shuffled quickly to his desk and wrote a note to explain why he could be absent for the evening to his deputy head. His elderly hand waved across it causing it to spring to life and then gently fly off to its destination.
"Well Harry, I have some idea what could be going on with Mrs Granger, but if it is what I think then she is in grave trouble indeed."
Harry's eyes flew open, his heart thudding painfully in his chest at the thought of losing his friend. He didn't think his heart could stand him losing anybody else, the world already felt like a cold and lonely place, and not having Hermione would only make it darker.
Flitwick sensed the panic rising in Harry. "Do not worry Harry. Let me have a look at her first."
Harry jumped up and rushed to Flitwick's side. Filius then extended his arm towards Harry encouraging him to link up, despite the awkwardness of it due to the difference in height.
"Where are we heading Harry?"
"Weasley Cottage. In the Godrics Hollow outskirts."
Flitwick nodded and gripped Harry tighter. "Very well then."
Within moments they had both arrived at the cottage, the cracking sound alerting Ron who came running through the doorway, he had pushed his front door open with enough force for it to thud against the cottage wall.
"HURRY!" He bellowed over at them.
Immediately the hair stood up on Harry's neck. He then sprinted as fast as his legs would allow towards Ron and into the living room where Hermione would be. Flitwick ran behind them catching them both up just a minute later.
The two younger men stood staring at Hermione, she was writing even more now, thrashing against herself. Soaked in sweat as she flipped around on the sofa, her hair plastered against her from the exertion. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head as her body appeared to be fighting herself.
"DO SOMETHING!" Ron's voice echoed again.
Harry froze.
Whereas Flitwick rushed past him and to Hermione's bedside, his hands beginning to work away almost instantly.
-MP-
