Hermione was wandering around the house, looking for Harry. She was hoping to speak to him as she had not seen him since breakfast and was a bit worried. Hermione suspected that Harry was sitting somewhere alone and doing his best to seclude himself from everyone. She didn't blame him for feeling this way as even though he forgave them for keeping him in the dark the whole summer, he was still hurt a lot and had not moved on. Hermione wanted to apologize to him once more, hoping it would help him open up. After checking most of the rooms, she still had not found him. She started to think of the best spot where no one would think to look for him. Then she realized that she had not checked the library. When she opened the door, she found him sitting at the table, reading and writing something on parchment.
"Harry, what are you doing here? I thought you were avoiding the library outside of school," she said jokingly. Her good mood disappeared when she read the title of the book, "Dark Side of Magic" by A. Black. "What are you doing with a book about dark arts?" she screamed angrily.
"Be quiet, Hermione, or everyone will come running here," Harry started, but she cut him off.
"They should come running here. They need to know what you're reading," she argued.
"I'd appreciate it if you'd let me speak, Mione. If you did, I would have told you that I'm not learning about banned spells to use them, but to learn their counters and how to cast them," Harry whispered furiously. At first, Hermione didn't believe him until she saw that he had made notes. After reading through them, she realized he was telling the truth and felt awful for not trusting him. "
I'm so sorry, Harry. But why are you hiding this? You're not doing anything wrong, and you could get help from Sirius, Remus, or any adult here," she tried to argue.
"Mione, we both know that Mrs. Weasley will go ballistic if she finds out I'm here. Remus is supposedly very busy with some job for the Order. As for Sirius, he avoids this place like the plague. Too many bad memories," Harry explained.
Hermione looked at Harry with a sad expression on her face. She realized there was another reason why he hadn't asked for help or permission from the adults.
"You don't trust anyone here, do you?" she asked sadly.
Harry looked at her and saw how hurt she was, but he knew honesty was the best policy.
"Can you blame me, Hermione? You've been here the whole time, having each other and at least some basic information about what's going on. On the other hand, I was stuck with the Dursleys and had no idea what was happening. I felt like a prisoner there. I was locked in, not allowed to leave, with very limited communication and terrible food. So I'm sorry, Hermione, that you're hurt, but that doesn't change the fact that you've hurt me more," he explained, looking her in the eyes.
"But Harry, Dumbledore said..." Hermione started, tears already leaking from her eyes.
"I don't care what Dumbledore said. Let's talk about the fact that I was in Surrey. I get that there are blood wards, but where was I safer? In a house with blood wards and sometimes alone with that moron Fletcher as my guard? Or under the Fidelius Charm, where only trusted people know about the house and where I would be surrounded by at least a few adults, trained wizards?" he ranted.
Hermione thought about it for a second and realized that Harry was right. He was safer here than in Privet Drive, and the Dementor attack had proven that.
"And if Dumbledore thought there was no way to communicate with me safely, then he's a moron. Off the top of my head, I can come up with two different ways to allow me to communicate with all of you. So this bullshit about not sending me letters because owls can be intercepted makes me laugh and question his sanity," he continued, raising his voice.
"What?! How?" Hermione asked, surprised.
"At least five of the Order members live in the Muggle world. I heard them talking about some Muggle equipment that they have in their homes. So if he tried to find a way, he would realize that they could take you once a week to their houses to use the phone. But alright, I get it, that wasn't the most obvious one. But please tell me, why couldn't we exchange letters through my guards? They were standing there for six hours each, then they would swap. Why not come to me, take the letter and give it to you? Then you wrote a reply, the next guard going to Surrey would take that and give it to me. And no, they weren't busy while taking a guard; most of them took a chair and sat for hours," he said, irritated. He didn't want to snap at Hermione, but every time he thought about this topic, he got angry.
Hermione broke down crying upon hearing everything. She knew that they had let Harry down badly. Now that she knew how easy it was to be there for him, she felt disgusted with herself.
"I am so sorry, Harry. I will make it up to you, I swear," she said between sobs. She hugged him tightly and cried into his shirt. He embraced her and tried to soothe her.
"It's alright, Mione. It's alright," he whispered.
They stood like that for a while, taking comfort in each other's presence and healing the wounds their friendship had suffered. At that moment, they silently promised themselves to never let anyone or anything come between their friendship again.
Tonks Residence, May 1998
Harry and Andromeda were having dinner when Hermione's patronus interrupted them. The message was urgent, requesting Harry's presence in the Hospital Wing immediately. Harry quickly got up from the table, sent a patronus in response, and began preparing to leave.
Andromeda was understandably concerned and asked Harry about the situation. Harry assured her that it was not an attack and that Hermione would have mentioned it if it were. He explained that something important was happening, and Hermione needed his help.
Despite Harry's attempts to calm her, Andromeda was still worried. However, Harry promised to return in a few days and visit her and Teddy. He left, saying goodbye to Andromeda and asking her to kiss Teddy from him.
Hogwart, Hospital Wing
A few seconds after sending a Patronus, Hermione was bombarded with questions about who she messaged and how this person could know a counter-curse. They were interrupted by Auror Proudfoot, who silenced them and asked Hermione, "Miss Granger, I understand that you desperately want to find the counter-curse, as we do, but this is part of an official examination, and we need to know who you messaged and who will join us."
"Harry. He is the only one who could know the spell. Or at least I think that no one else knows it," Hermione replied.
"Harry Potter? But how could he have any knowledge about Lestrange or Black spells? He is not related to any of them, is he?" asked a surprised Healer Brown.
"He is. His grandmother was Black. And I know that he spent quite a lot of time in the library at Black Manor, studying counter-curses for dark spells. So our only hope is that it was a Black Family curse and that he knows if there are counters," she explained.
After hearing her explanation, everyone started to feel hopeful that they could save Dora's life. Following the explanation was silence. They all knew that the only thing to do was to wait for Harry and hope for the best, so they waited. Seconds felt like minutes, minutes felt like hours. Only ten minutes after the first Patronus, even though it felt like much longer, a very tired Harry ran into the wing.
"What is going on? What is the emergency? And who are these people?" asked Harry.
Hermione decided to tell a white lie to Harry so that he would not freak out and could focus on the task. "Next to Madam Pomfrey stand Aurors Proudfoot and Hammer. The last person is Healer Brown. We need your help with one of the patients as she was hit by a curse by Bellatrix, and we think that it was some family curse as they had never seen a curse that could cause her current state."
"I am 100% sure it was a Black Family curse, but I need to know what is going wrong with the patient," replied Harry.
"Mr. Potter, how can you be sure the curse came from the Black Family?" asked Auror Hammer, a bit skeptical that he could find a counter.
"I know Bellatrix. The only thing that was more important to her than Tom was her heritage. She felt that the Black Family was superior to everyone and would not lower herself to use any Lestrange magic. The only reason she was even married to him is that her parents signed a betrothal contract for her, so it was either marriage or losing her magic. Now that you have an answer to your little investigation, can we focus on the patient and her symptoms?" he replied impatiently. He came here to help and not to be a target of some inquiry.
Auror Hammer blushed, embarrassed a bit. Madam Pomfrey agreed with Harry and after glaring at the Auror, she started explaining what was going on.
"So, starting from the beginning. The Aurors and Healer Brown are here to document and officially confirm the deaths of those who fell during the battle. When they use a spell that checks if the target is alive or not, the readings show that she is both alive and dead. The only time I have seen this was years ago when my patient was diagnosed with a botched Draught of the Living Death. But as we know she was hit by some curse, it could not be it. Hermione told us you spent some time studying counter-curses of the Blacks, so we are hoping that you know a way to save her."
Harry was silent for a minute deep in thoughts. He recognized the curse at once, as this one one of those who took a set in his memory for being so disgusting. But he was trying to remember if there was a way to reverse the effect. After a while, he got an eureka moment and the details about the curse and counter had started flooding his mind. Then he spoke to them, explaining everything he recalled about the curse.
"Yes, it is the Black Family curse, one of the most disgusting. The spell causes a person to lose all control of the body, and it makes a victim look dead. The worst part is that Target is aware of what is going on with him, till he dies a few days after." He described
Everyone in the room feels nauseous, thinking about the horrors the victim is going through. Harry then continued his explanation
"There is a counter and the hardest part is already done to save the victim, the caster either needs to help with the counter himself, or be dead. After that, the victim needs to be fed with the Elixir of Purification to get rid of all traces of dark magic from the body, and then a Mandrake Restorative Draught so the body would not be paralyzed anymore. And it all needs to be done within 24 hours since the spell was cast. Those are necessary steps that need to be done, after that all I know is that the patient will spend many months in rehabilitation, to get back to full health, but don't have any details."
After Harry ended his monologue there was silence for a few seconds as they tried to get their emotions in check. After a very brief moment, auror Proudfoot broke the silence
"What is the fastest way for us to get a hold of those potions?"
"I have them both storied in my office," said Pomfrey, surprising the rest of them
"You do? I was not expecting that you would have them stored in Hogwarts, as I don't think that you have any usage of them here" Questioned a surprised Proudfoot
"I have an Elixir of Purification stored, to be able to treat students that were hit by cruciatus during the school year." she said sadly." As for Mandrake Draught, last year Professor Slughorn requested the use of mandragoras that are growing in Hogwarts greenhouses. Dumbledore agreed, but on the stipulation that part of his profit will be donated to Hogwarts, and that a few vials of draught will be given to Hogwarts just in case, as this potion can be stored for two decades without losing his qualities" replied very happy Pomfrey who did not waste any time and left to her office to bring the potions.
While she was gone, Harry asked an important question, "Who is this patient? You only told me that it is a female," he asked anxiously.
Hermione looked at him, tears welling up in her eyes, and simply said, "It is Tonks."
Hearing the news, Harry was taken aback and had to sit down. He knew that it had to be one of the defenders, but he didn't expect to hear Dora's name. After a moment, he found himself in a warm embrace from Hermione. Meanwhile, Madam Pomfrey returned with the potions and began administering them. After the first potion, they waited for a few minutes and closely monitored her. Ten minutes later, they decided to repeat the confirming spell, which showed that she was alive. Then, they gave her the second potion without waiting. For a few seconds, her body started twitching slightly in pain, but Pomfrey quickly gave her a pain relief potion and started casting diagnostic spells on her. After examining her, Pomfrey revealed her condition.
"Harry was right, it will take her many months to regain full strength. Her core is almost empty, and her muscles look as if she had run three marathons. It won't be easy, but at this moment, it looks like there isn't any permanent damage."
All of them were overjoyed that Dora was alive and that she would recover. After sitting there for a few minutes, gathering their thoughts, the silence was broken by Auror Proudfoot.
"As much as I would like to sit here and rest, we need to carry on with our official examinations. Miss Granger, can we count on you again?"
"Yes, I will help you. Harry, are you going to be fine?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, I will. There is one more question. Who is going to contact her mom?"
"Let's wait until tomorrow morning. Although the treatment looks successful, I want to monitor her closely for the night. If something were to happen during the night, we could tell Andromeda in the morning," she said but decided not to finish the sentence. They knew she was right, and it was better to wait until the morning.
Then, the Aurors, Healer Brown, and Hermione left to continue with the task. Pomfrey also left to help her colleague with patients. Harry sat there for a while, lost in thought.
Then he stood up, said goodbye to the healers, and left for Gryffindor Tower to check up on the Weasleys.