This was my first long fanfiction that I posted on my AO3 account a long time ago.
Some small premises before starting:
-all the events of the "Prisoner of Azkaban" finale were anticipated by a month and a half, I wanted to tell the story at Hogwarts but without having to worry about the "important" events of the book.
- this story takes some narrative liberties both for the events and for the characters and will not be 100% faithful to the main canon.
-all the chapter titles are songs that I love
That morning, after his long-awaited exam results, a letter was handed to a young Harry Potter from his fugitive godfather Sirius by a portly curly-furred owl.
He hadn't told anyone but his guilt had been pining him for days. If only he hadn't been so lenient and kind to Peter Pettigrew, maybe he wouldn't have run away and maybe they could have clear Sirius of all wrongful charges and made him a free man…
It hurt.
He rushed in the Gryffindor common room to read it. The man was safe, and he'd also sent him a signed pass for Hogsmade.
Harry breathed a sigh of relief.
He couldn't contain the thrills of joy but he stopped. He was reading the last words of the long and exhaustive letter, which somehow had disturbed him. "One day I'll take you away from there and we could finally live as a family...happy. I promise."
Like a family...happy.
Like a family...happy.
Like a family...happy.
It was as if he'd heard it once before but he couldn't remember where.
A sharp twinge in the scar struck the young wizard, as a series of memories of his life passed before him.
They were confused, fragmentary, smoky memories.
He could only feel the sensations he felt in those moments:pain.
Physical pain all over his body, like he's been hit over and over again.
But what hurt most was a sense of melancholy sadness that he couldn't explain.
He screamed in panic and collapsed to the floor as the spasms took over.
Two of his roommates, Seamus Finnegan and Dean Thomas, were the first to find and to take him away from there.
Harry woke up after a long time in a comfortable hospital bed.
A freckled red-haired boy and a wild curly-haired girl were staring at him.
they wanted to talk to him but he couldn't speak.
He couldn't even remember who they were.
"...must still be affected by some spell, see? I know all about that."
"Don't be dramatic Hermione, maybe he didn't expect to pass potions." The boy joked looking at him smiling.
"How can you be so insensitive Ronald Weasley?!" the girl screamed slapping his arm.
It was supposed to be a funny scene and it had a familiar feel to it but at the moment he couldn't laugh.
An elegant old man in extravagant clothes entered the room and approached the trio. Even his grandfatherly gaze had a familiar feeling and above all inspired confidence in the young wizard.
Yet there was something behind those half-moon glasses that was troubling him.
Even if he wanted to, he couldn't say anything about it.
"You heard what Madam Pomfrey said, the accumulated stress has driven your young friend into a state of shock and amnesia."
"Professor, do you think it was the tim..." the trembling girl asked in front of the wise old man but she was immediately interrupted by a simple gesture of his hand.
"No miss Granger, you have nothing to do with it. It must have been the trauma accumulated by your experience and by Scabbers escape...Let's add to also having passed potions." and he winked at the redhead, making him laugh.
"Don't worry, he still has a month and a half to recover, besides all of you also have less class hours due to Professor Lupin's resignation."
"He has already left ?!" The girl exclaimed in amazement.
"Oh yeah, just a few hours ago. I told him about Potter's collapse but he preferred to leave so as not to cause any more problems..." he said bitterly.
"It will take some time but I'm sure Mr. Potter will recover and will be able to go home for the summer vacation without repercussions." He said approaching the helpless boy placing a hand on his shoulder.
Home? Vacation? They seemed anything but comforting words to the young wizard.
Not seeing any kind of response, they left him soon after.
He was visited a couple of times by numerous onlookers but he didn't answer any of them.
He had a feeling that one of them even took pictures of him but he didn't say anything.
He felt uneasy but somehow he knew he was already used to this unintentional fame.
He was left alone again for half an hour, until a boy with blond hair and his arrogant attitude entered the room followed by a petite girl with short black hair.
"There he is, the famous Harry Potter! Now you're not showing-off in the corridors anymore, are you?" He provoked by approaching the bed menacingly.
He stared at Harry with eyes filled with hatred and deep disgust. A devilish smile appeared on his pale face.
"Did a dementor kiss you or did you hit your head again when you fell off your formidable broom?" He said close to his ear.
The girl behind him started to laugh, although to Harry it seemed like a forced laugh.
That girl caused mixed feelings in him.
Unlike the blond who was only repelled by looking at him, the girl made him feel a wide range of sensations, such as anger, melancholy, sadness and…
Nostalgia.
She was different from all the people he'd seen today.
"Are you listening to me Potter?!" the blond cried into his ear.
There was a pitcher of water on the nightstand by the bed that the blond immediately noticed. He took it and poured it all over Harry's head.
He couldn't stop him.
He felt humiliated.
"Draco..." the girl whispered who stopped laughing and watched the scene worried.
"What is it? We can do anything we want! Right, buddy?!" the blond teased him by taking off his glasses and breaking them in his hands.
"I always hated how you bragged about that stupid scar of boy who survived the Dark lord..."
He took a stick of wood out of his pocket and began to aim it at Harry's cheek.
"Maybe I could make you some more, how about? Maybe with a nice diffindo here!"
A bloody cut appeared there.
It hurt but he couldn't scream.
"Maybe I could do it on your neck and put an end to your suffering, what do you think?" He whispered menacingly as he aimed the bloodstained twig at the neck.
"ENOUGH!" cried the frightened and trembling girl behind him.
He glared at her, she had dared to interrupt him from his amusement.
"If they find out, we're finished. S-stop it."
The boy seemed to think about it for a moment and then put his wand in a pocket.
"You're lucky, Potter." He replied with disgust.
"Go away Draco, I'll clean up your mess before anyone comes..." she said with a hint of bitterness in her voice.
"I'll leave him in your care!" And he burst out laughing maniacally as he triumphantly walked out of the room.
"What an idiot."
She also pulled a stick of wood from her pocket, held it to Harry's wound and healed it while muttering unintelligible words. She then pointed the twig on the rest of his body which it heated and dried with hot air.
"You know Draco, he gets a little carried away sometimes and…oh right, Reparo!" And she fixed the broken glasses on his sheets.
She took them and made Harry put them on.
He could see his savior's face and she smiled at him.
"Here you go, all settled!"
She was saddened to see that she received no response.
"I hope you can recover soon, teasing it isn't fun if you don't reactScarhead."
She emphasized that name hoping to see some kind of reaction but got nothing.
"Now I have to go but I hope to see you soon." She whispered giving him a huge smile before closing the door and walking away.
He didn't want her to leave.
He didn't want to be alone again.
He wanted to talk to her.
He wanted to see her beautiful smile again.
He couldn't explain why but he was sure that being with her, everything would be solved.
He had to reach her.
He got out of bed after many efforts.
"Pansy, I have to go to Pansy..." he mumbled, before collapsing on the cold infirmary floor.
