And here's the forty eighth chapter of "A Year Too Soon"! Enjoy!
* Review Response:
Clavyus, Sparky She-Demon, Yaw6113, kyuubi7, Zorobak, griffin blackwood, BMS, orion0905, nkh1, N. A. Wennerholm, magitech, Clearhorse, Wulfkin17, Uday Sra, lord of the east, DarkRavie, Nice Egan, Blue Luver5000, Guest, Majerus, thank you for your reviews, folks!
SiriusOrionBitch, no idea. I assume that they are within hour or so walking distance of each other.
Luiz4200, possibly.
udm17, TheGreatBubbaJ, this chapter does try looking into that. Whether the answer to the question will be explicitly spelled out within the story remains to be seen.
Mieszak, not idiots. Just insane sociopath.
mizzrazz72, considering that he went down to the Chamber of Secrets to talk to the basilisk the previous year, 'no longer' may not be exactly appropriate in that statement.
Urgazhi, in this story, Flora and Hestia are orphans: their father died sometime before they were born, and their mother - a couple of years after the fall of Voldemort. And as of this chapter, the House of Carrow is reduced to them, their grandmother and their granduncle. The said granduncle is NOT the Lord of the House, despite being the oldest Carrow by blood, because his children - Amycus and Alecto - are are incestous insane sociopaths.
JPElles, yes, this attack against him will prompt Harry into learning how to fight Magically beyond whatever is taught in DADA, even by real Moody.
decoy73, yeah, 'slight troubles'.
* AN: This chapter has not been beta-read.
Disclaimer: I DO NOT own "Harry Potter" franchise. No profit is being made. Same goes for any books, video games, anime or manga I may or may not use for ideas.
"speaking"
"parseltongue"
'thinking'
written text
spells
A Year Too Soon
Chapter XLVIII: On the Road to Recovery
"What do you want, Malfoy." One of the older students snapped when Draco demanded a House meeting. Three of their housemates had been taken to St. Mungo's following the attack by Amycus and Alecto Carrow mere hours ago and everyone was still on edge.
"This concerns the leadership of the House." The blonde said. His declaration sent a wave of whispers across the Slytherin common room. Taking that as a sign that he had the floor, Draco continued: "As we have seen today, Potter is weak and stupid. An upstart half-blood like him is not fit to lead the Noble house of Slytherin! Our leader has to be a powerful wizard that commandeers respect with but his mere presence. Someone like me! And as my first act I promise to abolish the stupid rule about giving mudbloods respect they don't deserve that Potter had forced upon us." Some people cheered for him, but they were far fewer in numbers than the Malfoy heir would've liked. Not even a third of Slytherin was supporting him. Even many of those who came from traditionally-Dark families refrained from joining his cause.
"I think not, Malfoy." Markus Flint spoke. Several students from different years took a step towards him to show their support while quite a few more clearly preferred Potter as their 'leader' but chose to remain on the sidelines of this conflict for one reason or another.
"Traitors!" Draco hissed. "Why do you wish to remain under the tyranny of that half-blood? What would Lord Slytherin say about you all?" Unfortunately, there were no Parselmouths in the room to translate what Salazar's portrait had to say about the young Mr. Malfoy. And those weren't kind words.
"As if a whiny, impulsive brat with an over-inflated ego like you could ever be even half as good a leader, Malfoy." Flint shot back. "And, 'tyranny', really? I have no problem keeping my views to myself if I know it would make getting things I need that much easier." Having failed his NEWTs the previous summer - even if it wasn't entirely due to his own shortcomings - and being forced to repeat his last year, Marcus was very determined not to bring such a shame to his family again. If that it meant asking for help outside of Slytherin and from people who weren't of Noble houses, so be it. And thanks to Potter's rules, Slytherin was now seen in a more positive light, which made asking for such help much easier.
Draco let out an angry growl but had to back down: he didn't have enough people on his side to actually perform a coup.
"House Malfoy will not forget your treachery, Flint." He threatened. "When my father hears of this, do not expect to have favorable deals with House Malfoy any longer." Not many truly believed his words though: Lucius Malfoy wouldn't give up on business deals just to appease his heir's ego.
Meanwhile an emergency staff meeting was taking place in the Headmaster's office. The subject of the meeting, of course, was the attack against Mr. Potter and Misses Carrow.
"I want to know how those two managed to get into the castle." Professor Snape demanded.
"Those bastards were let in by Argus Filch." Professor Moody grumbled. "He says, they claimed to be here to speak to Misses Carrow about some important family matters."
"And it's not against the rules for parents, blood relatives and Magical guardians to visit children at the castle at any time. Few actually exercise this right, but it exists." Dumbledore added. "If Argus really was unaware of Mr. and Ms. Carrows' true intentions, we can't fault him for what has happened as he did nothing wrong." There was a small pause before he added. "That said, until his innocence has been conclusively proven, I've suspended him. I'm sure Hogwarts' elves will be able to take care of the castle even without him around."
"I'm more interested in why the wards didn't get triggered until they began Cursing Mr. Potter." Professor McGonagall spoke up while the school's Potions Master nodded in agreement. He too was curious about that. "Shouldn't the alert have been raised the moment those two raised their wands against Misses Carrow?" That was a good question and, unfortunately, it looked like no one had an actual answer to it.
"It could be that the wards around the dormitories somehow interfere with the castle's main scheme and blind it to certain events." Dumbledore theorized. "Or the interference could have come from personal wards Misses Carrow might have placed to protect their room. Regardless of what caused this, I will investigate this thoroughly to ensure nothing like this can happen ever again. That said, I will need Misses Carrows' permission to study their room, so it will have to wait until they are back from the hospital."
"Or the bastards were so insane that they managed to fool Hogwarts' intent-based wards." Professor Moody suggested. "If those two believed that by torturing their nieces they were doing nothing but helping them… Standard intent-based wards wouldn't get triggered."
"That is a possibility too." The Headmaster agreed. And it was a very troublesome possibility because intent-based wards were finicky enough already without trying to account for insane people with their twisted mentalities.
"And what should we tell the parents? With three students in St. Mungo's, there is no way this incident will stay out of the Prophet. People will want assurances that something like this will not happen to their children." Professor McGonagall said. There was a bit of a pause, before Dumbledore spoke up:
"Tell them that it was something that should not have happened under normal circumstances and that we are doing everything in our powers to make sure such an attack on our students can never happen again." He said. The Deputy Headmistress nodded.
"Understood."
"While the Slytherin dungeon will be the first one to have its security checked and upgraded where necessary, the other dormitories and common rooms will be looked at as well." Dumbledore continued after another pause. "Please inform your students that I will be visiting their dormitories to check up on the wards in the near future." He said, addressing the four Heads of the Houses. After receiving their nods of acknowledgment, he continued: "Does anyone here have anything about today's incident they would like to add?"
"I would like to be notified of it when Mr. Potter regains consciousness." Professor Snape said. Normally, when something happened to a student under their care, St. Mungo's would notify the said student's parents and either the school's Matron or the Headmaster and not their head of the House.
"Of course." Dumbledore promised. "Anything else?" No one had anything else to add. "Very well then. This meeting is adjourned."
~/ *** \~
Harry was roused back to consciousness by a strong smell of medical potions. His first thought was that he was in the Hospital wing, however this place just didn't feel like Hogwarts. After just lying there for Merlin knows how long, he finally opened his eyes and saw that he was in a tiny hospital room.
The room was pretty bare and the walls were painted with dull grayish paint. The single window was covered with faded-orange curtains that let in just enough light to show that it was daytime outside. Next to the bed, there was a small table with a decanter of water and a couple of glasses on it, and a single stool. On the opposite side, there was a small wardrobe. And that was it.
He was at St. Mungo's, Harry guessed. This place definitely wasn't at Hogwarts and he didn't know of any other Magical hospital in Great Britain. His guess was confirmed a few minutes later when a Medi-Witch in lime-green robes walked into 'his' room.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Potter." She said. "I'd say welcome to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, but I doubt you wanted to be there, not like this." That the green-eyed wizard could fully agree. He definitely hadn't wanted to be attacked by a pair of psychos badly enough to end in a hospital. "How are you feeling?" The Medi-Witch asked him then.
"Sore, tired and somewhat numb." Harry replied after taking a few moments to assess his current state.
"That is to be expected after what you've been through, Mr. Potter." The Medi-Witch said. "And I'm happy to say that your internal injuries were not as severe as was initially feared and you will make a full recovery, provided you follow the prescribed potions regimen for the next month. We weren't as lucky with your burns, though. There will be scars." Harry looked downwards at the left side of his stomach. He, of course, couldn't see anything through the blanket, but even under pain-relief potions he could tell exactly where the fire whips had struck him.
"Thank you, I guess." He said.
"You're welcome, Mr. Potter." The Medi-Witch replied. This was followed by a pause before Harry spoke again:
"How long was I out?" He asked as really doubted it was still the same afternoon.
"It's been a couple of hours short of three days." The Medi-Witch said. Then, seeing surprise in Harry's eyes, she added: "You've been given powerful sleeping potions to keep you unconscious throughout the initial phase of healing."
"I see…" The green-eyed teen said. "And do you know how long I will have to stay there?" He asked after a few moments of silence.
"If everything goes well, you will be released into Hogwarts' Matron's care within a week." The Medi-Witch replied. Harry nodded. That sounded like a long stay - Magic could regrow one's bones overnight, or so he had heard - but he supposed it was fair given the Curses he had been subjected to.
About an hour later, Harry was visited by another Medi-Witch, who brought him a goblet with a steaming yellow potion. Drinking it proved to be a surprising challenge and not just because the concoction tasted just as awful as its appearance implied. The numbness of his body did way more than just dull his senses. It also made small, precise movements really hard and the young Potter nearly spilled the potion more than once as forced himself to down it.
The dinner was even more frustrating. Just holding cutlery without dropping it every other minute was a chore because he could barely feel them in his hands and he could only make big, jerky moves with his hands. Actually using it was a lot worse. Still, with a lot of patience and effort, Harry was able to feed himself without dropping too much food.
Hopefully, the first Medi-Witch wasn't lying about him making full recovery within a month because he certainly didn't fancy going through this much trouble several times a day. Especially not for the rest of his life.
The next morning Harry had a visitor he wasn't sure he wanted to - or was ready to - receive.
"Good morning, heir Potter." Regent Carrow said as she stepped into his ward. And the green-eyed teen immediately noted how she looked tired. Whatever had happened over the past few days had definitely taken its toll on her.
"Lady Carrow." He acknowledged her.
"Heir Potter, as the acting head of the Noble House of Carrow I offer you sincerest apologies for the vile act carried out against you by former members of my House and ask you not to judge the whole House based on their disgraceful and unsanctioned actions." The old witch spoke. There was a brief pause before she continued: "The House of Carrow is taking responsibility for crimes against you that its former members have committed. Your medical bills will be paid in full and a further monetary compensation has been deposited into your Gringotts vault. In addition to that, the House of Carrow now owes you a favor with the stipulation that this favor cannot be used to bring harm upon the House or any of its current members."
"I… Thank you, Lady Carrow." Harry replied. The ward then fell into silence for a short while before he spoke again: "Uhm… Excuse me… You said, former members..?" He asked.
"Yes." The witch confirmed. And while it looked like this was a rather sore topic, she nevertheless answered his question: "Alecto No-Name and Amycus No-Name, were cast out of the House Carrow for the crimes they've committed. In addition to their attack against you, heir Potter, they've befuddled the elders of the House with potentially-dangerous potions, escaped from their house arrest and assaulted and tortured the heiresses of the House."
"I see…" The green-eyed teen breathed out. Then, suddenly, something clicked in his mind. "Wait, you've been poisoned, Lady Carrow? Are you alright?"
"I'm quite alright now, heir Potter. Thank you. It was just a powerful sleeping potion they had secretly mixed into my drinks and those of their father, my brother-in-law." She replied. "It would've kept us asleep, right there at the dining table, for a couple of days had Professor Dumbledore not found us when he came to inform us about the incident at Hogwarts."
"A-And what of Flora and Hestia?" Harry asked next. He still cared about his girlfriends very much even though this relationship was the reason why he had been attacked. "Will they be alright too?"
"Those bastards attacked my granddaughters as well and hurt them a lot." Lady Carrow said regretfully. "And as much as I want to believe that Flora and Hestia are strong girls, this trauma is going to be haunting them for a while." She paused for a moment, before saying: "I know you have your own scars, both figurative and literal ones, from this horrible incident, heir Potter, but, please, can I ask you to be there for my granddaughters when they need it?"
"I don't really know what I can do to help them, but I promise to do my best." The green-eyed teen said.
~/ *** \~
The next few days were extremely boring for Harry, who was stuck in his ward with absolutely nothing to do but stare at the blank wall in front of him for hours on ends. He didn't even get a newspaper to read. Nor any personal letters or any other correspondence. One day, a pair of Aurors dropped by to get his testimony, but the whole thing took barely an hour. Then he was back to the world of boredom.
At least the horribly-tasting potion he had to drink was doing its job: Harry might still feel a little numb, but it wasn't noticeably impairing him anymore.
"You're recovering quickly, Mr. Potter." A Healer said after the morning checkup. "I don't think there is any good reason to keep you here anymore. I wouldn't recommend flying on a broomstick or doing other activities that require good coordination just yet, though." Harry nodded. He'd have to be careful during DADA and probably sit out whichever practical exercises Professor Moody decides to give the class. "You will still need to take your potions twice a day for the next three weeks, though." The Healer continued. "The potions will be sent to Hogwarts' Matron, so don't make her hunt you down. I'm sure Madam Pomfrey is busy enough as is."
"Alright." Harry agreed. He knew he needed those potions to finish healing, but that didn't mean he was looking forward to taking them for three more weeks.
"Well then." The Medi-Wizard continued. "Since your treatment has already been paid for by Lady Carrow, all that you need to do before we can discharge you is sign a few forms." He said before producing several parchments and a self-inking quill from the pockets of his lime-green robes. Quickly scanning the offered documents to make sure it all was benign, the Potter scion put his signature on them.
Some twenty minutes later, now finally dressed in his own clothes - house elves working for St. Mungo's had done an marvelous job repairing them - rather than a hospital gown, Harry was ready to leave the Magical hospital.
And as he made his way towards the elevators that would take him to the ground floor, he couldn't help but note that he had been quite lucky to have a whole ward to himself. Most patients had to share a room with a few strangers, most of whom were suffering from various, sometimes rather grotesque spell damage. That didn't sound like an experience he would've enjoyed.
As for the hospital itself, the green-eyed teen wasn't sure what to think of it. Up until now, his only experience with hospitals were his infrequent visits into Madam Pomfrey's domain.
St. Mungo's wasn't a part of a Magical school, though, and served the entirety of Magical Britain instead, while also dealing with much more complicated cases. As such, it had more staff and was much bigger than Hogwarts' Medical wing. Indeed, it occupied a whole building with six floors, four of which were dedicated to patients with different kinds of injuries and Magical maladies.
Yet, despite its importance, St. Mungo's looked like it hadn't had any major renovations in decades. Sure, it was kept clean and any wear and tear was swiftly patched up, but as a whole this place was like something straight out of the Roaring twenties.
Upon arriving at the ground floor, Harry quickly crossed the mostly-empty reception area and stepped up to the fireplace next to the receptionists' booth. Taking a pinch of floo powder from a jar on a nearby shelf, he threw it into the fire and, once it turned emerald-green, he announced his destination:
"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." Then he stepped into the fire and a few seconds of disorienting spinning through the weird dimension that connected Magical fireplaces later he was at Hogwarts. Though, he didn't arrive at the main public floo of the castle like he had expected and instead found himself in the Hospital wing.
On second thought, it actually made sense that St. Mungo's would connect here. He was brought out of his musing by Madam Pomfrey's greeting:
"Good morning, Mr. Potter." She said. "It's nice to see that you're doing much better now." Pausing for a brief moment, she continued: "Before I let you go, I need to cast a few diagnostics Charms on you."
"Alright." Harry replied before taking a seat on the edge of the nearest bed. The Matron then started waving her wand in a complicated pattern. It made his body briefly glow muted yellow and green a couple of times. The green-eyed teen had no idea what any of that meant, but since Madam Pomfrey didn't look worried it probably wasn't anything bad.
"The Healers did a good job patching you up." The witch said. "However, your recovery isn't complete yet and your body still needs more time to finish repairing the damage those monsters have inflicted upon you. St. Mungo's is sending potions that will help, and you will come here every day after dinner to drink it. Am I clear, Mr. Potter?"
"Y-Yes, Madam Pomfrey." Harry replied, rather scared of the Matron.
"Now then." The Hogwarts' Nurse continued as she returned her wand to its holster. "I have everything I need for the moment, so you're free to go." The young Potter nodded. As he stood up, Madam Pomfrey continued: "Lunch will be served in… half an hour, and you may join your friends for the afternoon classes if you wish. I'd recommend taking it easy today, though. I'm sure your Professor won't mind too much if you skip a bit."
"Ah… Okay." Harry said, not sure how he should respond that suggestion.
That's all, folks!
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