And here's the sixty fifth chapter of "A Year Too Soon"! Enjoy!
* Review Response:
Fuck Names, Yaw613, BMS, , mwinter1, DarkRavie, Agnes Fonta, nkh1, griffin blackwood, RedOuroboros, PasiveNox, Guest, thank you for your reviews, folks!
magitech, I personally think it has more with what is culturally acceptable as 'clean enough'. Or, in some cases like public entrance to St. Mungo's or the Ministry (broken telephone booth), with the need to keep appearance of a dilapidated/abandoned property to keep nosy Muggles away.
Luiz4200, magnoliarossa, something tell me, he's not going to accept the truth easily when it slaps him in the face.
Brockster550, this is not the first time Draco has tried to play victim when he actually was the cause of an incident, and as much as Lucius loves his son, he (now) knows better than always accept his word without a question.
* 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.
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A Year Too Soon
Chapter LXV: A Day at St. Mungo's
The next few days were rather uneventful and Harry used this as an opportunity to finish some more of the summer homework the teachers had oh-so-generously assigned. Even Professor Moody, who had repeatedly stated that he will not be returning the next year, had assigned them a large essay on defensive Charms and counter-Jinxes.
Then, on Saturday, a letter from Daphne arrived. The Greengrass girls were planning to throw one of their summer parties the next weekend and right now were asking who would be able to attend. Harry's response, of course, was 'Yes!'. And he was sure that it was the case for Flora and Hestia as well.
Unfortunately for everyone looking forward to this meet-up, the Fates decided it was not meant to be. Just three days later an owl brought him a hastily-scribbled, panicked note in which the Greengrass heiress told that the party was being postponed sine die because of a family emergency. Apparently, Astoria's curse had struck again.
The green-eyed teen immediately sent back a letter with wishes of speedy recovery for 'Tori. In this same letter he also asked whether there was anything he could do to help.
The response he received over a day later wasn't from Daphne, but actually from her father. Lord Greengrass thanked him for his offer and assured him that despite the initial scare things weren't actually that bad: according to the St. Mungo's Healers, the curse acting up did surprisingly little damage and they were keeping Astoria at the hospital mostly for observation. The man also told him that he had used some Magic to update the prescription in order to buy more of those 'miraculous' Muggle medicines.
Harry sent a letter back that very afternoon, thanking the man for telling him Astoria was doing alright and once again offered the Greengrasses his assistance.
With Astoria's hospitalization, the festive mood everyone was having in anticipation of the mid-summer party at the Greengrass manor all but disappeared. Instead, everyone was now worrying about 'Tori, even over her father's assurances that she was doing as well as she could under the circumstances. And, after an exchange of letters, Tracey, Harry and the twins decided to visit her at St. Mungo's to cheer her up. He remembered how dreadfully-boring his own stay there had been.
The young Potter also decided that, perhaps, he should also use this as an opportunity to have a medical checkup as well. He didn't feel like there was anything wrong with him, but those bastards had hit with some very nasty Curses, so… Better be safe than sorry.
So he had contacted St. Mungo's help desk via an owl, inquiring whether he needed to make an appointment for a checkup. And, if so, he asked to make one for him.
He received a response from the hospital the next morning telling him that, yes, he indeed needed to make an appointment if he wanted a regular health checkup and that he had been slotted into Healer Spleen's schedule at four in the afternoon. That wasn't the most convenient time for Harry - he and his friends were meeting at half past noon to visit Astoria - but he'd take it if it meant he didn't need to come to St. Mungo's again on another day.
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Harry, after a bit of thinking, decided that he should try using the St. Mungo's visitors' entrance. Sure, the place was connected to the Floo Network and he could easily floo there, but… Knowing how to access the Magical Britain's only real hospital from the mundane side of the world could be important, right?
Plus, it let him visit the markets in London's downtown on his way there. He wanted to get something special for Astoria to cheer her up, and the shops in Diagon Alley didn't really have the greatest selection of fruit on sale.
His little shopping excursion didn't take very long and, once he got everything he wanted, Harry made his way towards the spot where, he had been told, the visitors' entrance to the St. Mungo's hospital was located: a supposedly-abandoned department store called Purge and Dowse, Ltd. Finding it took him a bit of time, but soon the green-eyed teen was standing in front of an old and dilapidated red-brick building with a lone mannequin standing a silent guard within one of its windows.
Following the instructions he had been given, Harry approached this mannequin and asked it to let him inside so that he could visit his friend. Normally this interaction would draw attention from passersby but the wards over the place ensured that those without Magic completely ignored the 'abnormal' scene in front of them. The mannequin remained motionless for a couple of long moments, before finally giving a nod, silently telling Harry that the Magical passage through its window was now open. Wasting no time, the young Potter stepped through it and found himself in the reception area of St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.
The place hasn't changed much since last fall. The walls were still of the same drab, faded-with-age color and had the same equally-faded safety posters on them. And the rickety wooden chairs still had wizards and witches seated upon them, awaiting help from the hospital's Healers. Some of those people looked perfectly normal, if bored enough to try entertaining themselves by perusing out-of-date copies of Witch Weekly. Others, meanwhile, had obvious Magical-in-nature disfigurements, a few of which looked nasty enough that Harry didn't want to think about what caused them.
Looking further around, he finally spots a couple of familiar faces. Standing near a large fireplace at the back of the reception area were Lady Greengrass, Daphne and Tracey. He then quickly made his way towards them.
"Good morning." He greeted them.
"Hello, Harry." Tracey greeted him back while Daphne gave him a polite nod.
"Heir Potter." Lady Greengrass said. Then her eyes landed on the parcel he was carrying, and its contents. "Oh my!" She exclaimed. "You needn't…"
"Astoria is our friend. Why wouldn't I do my best to cheer her up?" Before this conversation could've gone any further, it got interrupted by the fire in the fireplace turning emerald green and the Carrow sisters stepping out of it a moment later.
Another round of greetings ensued.
"Shall we?" Tracey asked once it was over.
"Yes, let's not keep 'Tori waiting any more." Daphne seconded. Her mother nodded.
"Alright." The witch said as she turned on her heels and headed for the stairs, the five teens hurrying after past a rather long queue of would-be patients and visitors waiting for their turn to speak to the hospital's Welcome Witch.
A short walk later - or, perhaps, not so short, as they needed to ascend to the fourth floor and walk down a long corridor past the Janus Thickey Ward - the group finally arrived at the room where Astoria was being kept by the Healers for observation.
"Astoria, dear. It's me." Lady Greengrass said after knocking on the room's door. A few moments later a muffled 'Mom?' could be heard from inside. "I've brought your friends too." The witch said next.
"Come in." Her youngest daughter called then, now sounding much more excited than moments ago. Lady Greengrass pushed the door open and everyone quickly filtered into the room. It was very much like the one Harry had been given during his own stay at the hospital, down to the mostly bare dull-gray walls and faded-orange curtains covering the room's single window.
Astoria herself was half-seated on her hospital bed, almost beaming with happiness at having so many of her friends there. That still couldn't completely hide the signs that the Greengrass Curse did hit her just a few days ago. Being stuck in this room with very little to do since didn't particularly help, either.
The next couple of minutes were quite awkward as, one by one, Harry, Tracey, Flora and Hestia, and even Daphne herself gave 'Tori their 'gifts' - even if in the latter case those were just some books from the girl's own bookshelf - while embarrassedly thanking everyone for the things they brought her.
And then it was story time.
Being stuck in the hospital, Astoria of course wanted to know what was going on in her friends' lives. Which, admittedly, wasn't much, especially since everyone was getting ready for the party at her parent's estate when the Curse struck. They still give her the most dramatic accounts of their battles against the pure evil of summer homework and other mundane events of their daily lives.
Somehow, these stories kept flowing for almost two hours until a nurse interrupted them, insisting that the patient needs to eat her lunch in peace, and shooed all of the visitors out. Much to Astoria's displeasure. The fact that the aforementioned lunch is once again nothing but the Bland Hospital Food™ only makes it all worse in 'Tori's option.
After being politely told to leave Astoria's room by the nurse, the group headed upstairs to get some lunch of their own. Why exactly the visitors' tearoom - along with the apothecary and the hospital's gift shop - were located (vertical-wise) on the opposite end of the building from the public entrance and the reception area was anyone's guess. Not to mention four floors full of sick people in-between…
And it wasn't like this even was the oddest decision one could find in the Magical World. Though, thankfully, the worse ones were implemented elsewhere.
The food sold at the tearoom was also much more palatable and varied than whatever was given to the patients. Thus, the teens plus Lady Greengrass were able to have a rather enjoyable lunch. During this time they also talked some more with Astoria naturally being the main topic of their conversation. The summer party has been talked about as well and some new plans for it have been made. Very tentative ones at the moment as no one knew for sure how long the Healers would want to keep 'Tori under their watch at St. Mungo's. And the party, for many reasons, just wouldn't be the same without her there.
Eventually, the group was done with their lunch and bid each other goodbye before going their separate ways. Daphne and her mother, of course, went back to keep Astoria's company. Meanwhile, Tracey and the Carrow sisters had plans for the afternoon that called for them to be elsewhere. And after a quick moment of contemplation, Harry decided to leave St. Mungo's for a bit as well - he did have his appointment with Healer Spleen at four o'clock, but that was over two hours away and he wasn't very keen on spending all this time cooped inside the hospital.
Thus he flooed to the Leaky Cauldron and from there went to wander about the Diagon Alley, window-shopping for anything interesting as he did his best to kill some time.
And as he roamed the alley, he noticed that a few shops were starting to get on the Quidditch craze even though the World Cup finals were still over a month away. Quality Quidditch Supplies was a given - indeed, the shop had various memorabilia for the four teams that managed to get into semi-finals proudly on display (Ireland was given some preferential treatment since the were the only 'British' team left) - but several shops selling clothes now sold robes, hats and scarves in the national teams' colors as well.
Other than that, Diagon Alley was the same as always. Well, except for Florean Fortescue introducing a new line of ice cream flavors at his parlor. On second thought, the man was always experimenting like that, so this was a norm too.
Eventually, it was the time for Harry to head back to St. Mungo's for his medical checkup. So he, somewhat-reluctantly, returned to the Leaky Cauldron before flooing back to the hospital. And since the Welcome Witch was more or less the receptionist there, he had to talk to her to let Healer Spleen know he was there for his appointment. Unfortunately, there was a long line of other hospital visitors ahead of him who needed to speak to the Welcome Witch too…
Some ten or so minutes later - though it definitely felt more like an hour - it was finally Harry's turn.
"Next." The Welcome Witch called in a tired and not-really-welcoming voice.
"Harry Potter." He introduced himself. "I have an appointment with Healer Spleen at four o'clock."
"Right." The witch said before quickly scribbling something on a piece of parchment. She then tapped it with her wand, turning it into an origami bird that then quickly flew away. Presumably to notify Healer Spleen that his patient was coming. "Fourth floor, room four-two-six." And then without waiting for Harry to say anything in response, she called for the next visitor.
Letting out a small sigh, the green-eyed teen stepped away from the Welcome Witch's post and headed upstairs. It took him a bit of time to locate room 426 there: St. Mungo's was just as haphazard in its internal planning as any other wizarding building with branching corridors and patients' wards being intermixed with Healers' offices. Still, he managed to get there with maybe five minutes to spare.
And once it was exactly four o'clock in the afternoon, he knocked on Healer Spleen's door. The man's response came a few moments later:
"Mr. Potter? Come in." A rough, smoke-filled voice on the other side of the door said. And so Harry did just that. The Healer's office was not very big and rather simple with barely anything obviously-Magical in sight. For the most part, it was just a large table, several chairs and a bookcase at least half of which was filled with patients' cards. And several plaques to show that the man was a professional of the highest order were hanging on the walls.
Despite all of those, the man himself didn't look very impressive, though. He was short, with unkempt dirty-gray hair. His face was wrinkled with age, which made his beady eyes behind thick-lensed glasses seem even smaller. And the lime-green color of St. Mungo's robes didn't suit him well. At all.
Still, he was a good Healer, and that was the only thing that mattered here.
"Good afternoon." Harry greeted him. The man merely nodded in response.
"Is there any particular reason why you're seeking a medical check-up? Your request for appointment didn't mention you experiencing any pains or anything else that would require you to see a Healer." He asked then.
"Well…" Harry began a little sheepishly. "I was coming here today to visit a friend anyway and decided that it wouldn't hurt to make sure everything's alright with me as well. I was here last fall after… you know. And while Madam Pomfrey did say that I made a full recovery…"
"I see." Healer Spleen said, cutting him off. "That was very thoughtful of you, Mr. Potter." There was a moment of silence, during which he reached for his wand in a way that no person would ever see as threatening, before asking: "Shall we begin then?"
"Yes." Harry said with a nod. A couple of seconds later he was subjected to the first of many diagnostic Charms Healers used to assert the health of their patients.
~/ *** \~
"Yes! Yes! I did it. I did it!" Bartemius Crouch Jr. shouted into the night, waking up Peter Pettigrew, who was dozing off on a couch in the next room. The rat animagus shook his head in an attempt to get rid of his doziness before heading over to find out exactly why he was woken up.
"What's going on?" He asked, peeking into the study Junior had turned into his workshop.
"I have finally done it, Wormtail!" The said man announced. "I've finally managed to complete the ritual we need to bring the Dark Lord back!" Still sleepy, Peter needed a few moments to properly process what he had just heard.
"That's great!" He finally said. "When are we doing it?" His question made Barty lose quite a bit of his triumphant mood.
"We missed our chance a couple of weeks ago. And the next good date to perform it is next May." Junior admitted. He then fell silent for a few seconds, before suddenly speaking again, his good mood suddenly restored: "But that means we have time to prepare for it properly. Our Master is the greatest wizard of our time, and his return to glory must be just as glorious as his being is!" Somehow, Peter got a feeling that he wouldn't like where this was going… "And I just know the perfect setting for Master's rebirth!"
"W-What would it be?" The rat animagus asked, fearful of what he might hear in response.
"What would be the perfect place for the Dark Lord to return to the world of living if not the heart of Magical Britain?" Barty said. "Hogwarts would make the perfect place for our Master to start uniting the world under his rule, don't you think?"
"A-ah?.." Peter didn't think so. That didn't sound like a good idea to him. After all, Hogwarts was Dumbledore's seat of power. And whatever one might think about the man, he was a very powerful wizard - one of the few who could match the Dark Lord in a Magical duel. Why did Junior think that resurrecting their Master right in front of his greatest nemesis was a good idea. Assuming Dumbledore would even allow them to complete the ritual in the first place. "I don't think that-..." Pettigrew began, only to be interrupted by other wizard:
"No." Crouch Jr. said forcefully. "The world needs to witness the glory of our Master's rebirth. And Hogwarts will be the perfect place for that in the coming year." Right, the Triwizard Tournament, Peter realized. And it only reinforced his opinion that this was a bad idea.
"B-But!…" He tried to protest, again.
"Do you not want the Dark Lord to return?" Junior asked him while pointedly glaring at him. He was quite intimidating like that, at least to Pettigrew.
"O-Of course I want." The rat animagus began. "I just don't t-think that Hogwarts is the best place to c-conduct the ritual, especially with D-Dumbledore around."
"That old fool will not know what is going on until it's too late." Barty said with supreme confidence. "Our Master will be reborn right under his crooked nose. And then he will send the old fool on his 'next great adventure'." That wasn't enough to convince Pettigrew, though.
"B-But…" He tried once more.
"Are you with me, Peter?" Bartemius Crouch Jr. asked dangerously as his hand inched close to his wand. "Or are you against me and the Dark Lord?" Despite still thinking that conducting the Dark Lord revival ritual at Hogwarts was a bad idea, Peter folded.
"I… I… I'm with you, Barty." He said.
"Then we will bring our Master back to life at Hogwarts where everyone can witness the glory of his return. And to achieve that, you will do exactly as I say." Pettigrew gave him a fearful nod. "Good." Junior said. Then after a few moments, he spoke again: "Now, this calls for a celebration! Bring a bottle of Ogden's finest from my father's storage. I'm sure he wouldn't mind."
That's all, folks!
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