Harry Potter and the Hand of Gryffindor, My version of book six Options

[Alice I]

After I read the Harry Potter series I was so hopelessly hooked on the story

The thought of waiting 2-3 years for the next book to come out made me nuts. :crazy:
This was before I knew about places like this. :highfive:
To keep myself from going bonkers :blink: I started writing the next book myself. I have since come to find out that doing that sort of thing is called Fan Fiction.
Cool :spin:

I have never written anything before this and I have been working on this piece for about a year now so please let me know what you think of it. I would really appreciate any feedback that you might care to give.

Each of my chapters are full sized book chapters so I have broken them up into several parts. You will know when Chapter Two comes along when you see the header for it.

If you like it :clap: I will post more.
If not :yuck: then the thread will die a natural death. :ouch:


Chapter One
The Worst Birthday Ever

Life at Number 4 Privet Drive had reached a new high in tension for the skinny dark haired boy who lived there. Harry Potter was likely the most unusual teenager that Little Whinging had ever seen yet he lived with the most stubbornly ordinary people you could ever hope to meet. Aunt Petunia, a tall and rather severe woman, spent more time spying on the neighbors than noticing the comings and goings of her own home while Uncle Vernon, when he wasn’t raving about something, could usually be found watching the news or reading the newspaper. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon’s son Dudley was an extremely fat boy who was spoiled and loved bullying people around. The Dursley’s, all of them, hated anything that was out of the ordinary and Harry was definitely out of the ordinary. Harry was a wizard.
The Dursley’s had kept Harry’s past a secret that Harry himself only found out about five years ago on his eleventh birthday. That was the first year that Harry Potter attended Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry.
The Dursley’s had always mistreated Harry, refusing to buy him his own clothes, giving him Dudley’s old ones that hung on him like drapes. They would starve him as punishment, he spent the first ten years with the Dursleys sleeping in a cupboard under the stairs and he was expected to do a bulk of the housework. In almost all ways Harry had always been treated like a house elf, magical creatures who act as servants in the wizarding world.
This treatment did not sit well with Harry’s wizarding friends, some of whom were impressively fearsome. One such character was Mad Eye Moody, an ex-Auror who had lost his eye and a chunk of his nose fighting dark wizards. He had an electric blue magical eyeball that he wore in place of his missing real eye that usually spun around wildly in it’s socket and could see through all manner of things including invisibility cloaks and even walls. Mad Eye and several other members of the Order of the Phoenix, an organization dedicated to fighting the return of the most feared dark wizard in a hundred years, approached the Dursleys at Kings Cross train station where they were to pick up Harry for another dismal summer. Moody had made it quite clear to Uncle Vernon that there would be consequences if Harry was mistreated.
The Dursley’s, fearing reprisals from the wizarding world, started out the summer being stiffly polite to Harry. This actually made him more uneasy than their outright dislike had. At least then he knew where he stood. Dudley was feeling sullen at the prospect of no one picking on Harry for the summer and stayed out late most evenings going straight to his room when he got home.
Dudley Dursley, Harry’s only cousin, was the same age as Harry but he was easily three times larger than his cousin as was evidenced by the clothes Harry wore. Dudley had always been extremely fat prompting the school nurse at Smeltings to put Dudley on a diet two years ago which did very little to solve Dudley’s weight problem. All it did do was make everyone at 4 Privet Drive extremely irritable. Over the past school year however Dudley had actually managed to drop some of his weight. The boxing lessons and weight training that he had taken up in his fourth year had done a far more effective job on Dudley than the diet originally imposed by his school nurse. Much of that weight had been replaced with strong well trained muscles and the neighborhood bully had become far more effective. The smaller kids, and even some not so small, avoided Dudley and his gang as much as possible. Harry didn’t pay much attention to him for he had stopped being a target for Dudley since he found out Harry was a wizard.
Dudley was far too scared of Harry and his “kind” owing to the fact that since Harry had found out that he was a wizard Dudley has had a pig’s tail magically attached to his bottom, had his tongue enlarged to nearly four feet, and has been attacked by a dementor nearly having his soul sucked out through his mouth.
Harry spent most of his time in his room doing homework and trying to sleep or sometimes to fend off sleep as he had been plagued by nightmares ever since his return from school this summer. Hedwig, Harry’s snowy owl arrived with a letter from Ron Weasley one week into the summer holiday. Ron was Harry’s best friend from school along with Hermione Granger. They were one of the things Harry had always missed most during summers holidays especially being so isolated from the wizarding world when he was on Privet Drive.
Harry was glad that his friends were keeping in contact with him but he felt oddly distant from them now. Harry read Ron’s letter without feeling much enthusiasm. He was very tired as he had had another restless night filled with nightmares. Ever since his return to Privet Drive, Harry had been having nightmares almost every night, usually about his God Father Sirius Black and the day he died last June. It seemed that every time he closed his eyes he would see Sirius’s face with stunned disbelief just before he fell through the curtain of an archway in the Department of Mysteries never to return. Sirius had spent thirteen years in Azkaban Prison for a murder he did not commit. At the end of the previous school year Voldemort had lured Harry to the Ministry of Magic to save him, but it was Sirius who ended up saving Harry and his friends. During that fight Harry saw Bellitrix Lestrange kill Sirius. If Harry went to bed with food in his stomach he would almost always get sick when he woke up screaming and panting from the dreams. His scar prickled quite often but somehow it didn’t seem connected with the nightmares. Harry also dreamed of the graveyard where Voldemort returned, Cedric’s murder and of his parent’s voices the night they had died trying to save him. Harry was sinking into a depression that was only deepened by the Dursley’s odd behavior. He felt isolated and totally alone in the world.
He put off returning Ron’s letter until several days later when Hedwig brought it to him again from his desk. “All right, I’ll return the note OK?” Harry didn’t mean to snap at Hedwig and rather sheepishly said “I’m sorry, just a bit tired. Hang on it’ll only take a minute.” Harry crossed the room to his desk. He pulled out a fresh piece of parchment and wrote:

Hi Ron,
How’s it going? Life here at Privet drive is pretty much the
same except for the weird way Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon
are being polite to me. They seem to think that Mad Eye is
going to swoop down on them if they say anything nasty.
Well they are pretty much leaving me alone which is just fine
with me. Hope your summer is going well.
Harry

Harry rolled up the parchment and Hedwig looking reproachfully at him reluctantly held out her leg. “Hey, I can’t help it if it is short; nothing much to tell. No one around here even notices me.” Hedwig stood staring at him. Anger flashed up in Harry “Look I replied so go on deliver it!” With an angry hoot Hedwig took off out of the open window. Harry followed her with his eyes feeling angry and rubbing his forehead.

[missgranger123]

It's really good! Keep writing!

[Nina79]

It was great! Keep writing! :)

[ginapotter]

ya very good :D

[Alice I]

Thanks for the replys everyone. :D

Here is the next part of chapter one please let me know what you think.


Harry’s frequent nightmares were taking their toll on Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon as well. After two weeks of being wakened by Harry nearly every night a rather stunning change came about. Harry and Dudley were given chores to do during the day. The Dursley’s felt that if Harry were tired enough he might sleep at night and Aunt Petunia privately was hoping that Harry would also work up an appetite. Harry’s loss of interest in food was not missed on her even if no one else noticed. Dudley was also required to do chores so that nothing could be construed as unfair even though Dudley was given far less to do than Harry. This did not sit well at all with Dudley who complained loudly that he shouldn’t have to work through his vacation just because Harry was a whiney little git, but Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had made up their minds.
After cleaning the garage and scrubbing its floor, weeding the garden, washing the car, mowing the lawn and trimming the hedge Harry was so tired he had no appetite. Dudley on the other had who had washed the windows and haphazardly straightened the attic was famished. Even though he did not do nearly as much work as Harry, Dudley glowered at him all the way through dinner. After picking at his food for half an hour Harry went up to bed. For the next two weeks Harry and Dudley worked around the house until there simply was nothing left for them to do or for Harry to re-do. Number 4 Privet drive had become the cleanest most well kept house in Little Whinging.
Unfortunately this did very little to solve Harry’s nightmares. All of the extra physical work, lack of sleep and appetite was taking its toll on him. He was thinner than usual and his face and eyes had taken on a sunken and gaunt look. Deep dark rings around his eyes made Harry’s pale face look ghostly.

The morning of his birthday Harry woke up to find Hedwig, Pigwidgeon, Errol and two other owls he had never seen sitting on his desk with packages tied to their legs. Pigwidgeon called Pig for short and Errol were the Weasley family owls. Pig, a tiny scop belonged to Ron and Errol a aging old barn owl belonged to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. After untying all of the packages Harry opened the parcel brought by the one of the strange owls, who had both taken off into the morning light as soon as their burdens was untied. It contained a birthday present and a card from Hermione. It took Harry a moment to realize that it was his birthday. He glanced over at the wall where he always hung a calendar counting down the days to his return to Hogwarts on September 1st. He hadn’t marked off any days almost a week. Harry picked up his quill and loaded it up with ink. He crossed off the days up to his birthday and shook his head wondering what had gotten into him lately. He returned to his packages with a slight smile on his face. Hermione had gotten Harry a book entitled “The Traveling Wizard’s Guide to Spells, Curses and Antidotes”. The book was rather thick but small so that it would fit into his pocket.
The other owl had brought a very official looking envelope with Harry’s name on it. It was his O.W.L. (Ordinary Wizarding Level) final grades from last term. Harry had forgotten that he was going to be receiving his grades and wondered why they had taken so long to arrive. It had been five long miserable weeks since his return to Private Drive and they should have been here ages ago. He opened the envelope eagerly and found that he had passed most of his O.W.L. exams. He had gotten an E for Exceeds Expectations in Care of Magical Creatures, another E for Transfiguration which he needed to continue to the N.E.W.T. level for auror training, and an A for Acceptable in Astronomy. He failed Divination getting a P for Poor, but got an A for Herbology and an O for Outstanding in Charms but failed History of Magic with a D for Dreadful.
He had never even finished taking that exam as he had fallen asleep during the examination and it was then that he dreamed of Sirius being attacked by Voldemort at the ministry. Harry smiled broadly when he saw that he had indeed received and O for his Defense Against the Dark Arts exam. An O was the highest grade you could get and he was pleased to have proven Delores Umbridge very wrong about his abilities in this field of study. Harry had received an E for Potions. Severus Snape was Harry’s least favorite teacher at Hogwarts, and the Potions Master. Snape had always thoroughly hated Harry and would have failed him in Potions if he were the one examining the students in their O.W.L. year. As it was Harry was tested by a completely impartial wizard along with all of his classmates and Snape’s bias had no bearing on these grades. Harry smiled and imagined the image of Snape’s scowling face at this grade, and then his smile faded. Harry had only received an E in Potions not an O. Professor McGonagall had told him last year that Snape refused to take any students into his N.E.W.T. level potions class unless they received an O in the O.W.L. exam. If Harry wanted to pursue a career as an auror he had to continue to take Potions but it seemed that this was no longer an option for him. He knew that Snape would never make an exception for him and indeed would take great delight in dashing Harry’s hopes for a future as an auror.
All of the happiness seeped out of him with this realization even though he had a total of seven O.W.L.s and that was something to be very proud of. The image of Professor McGonagall standing up to Delores Umbridge and screaming that she would help Harry to become an auror if it was the last thing that she did came to mind and Harry felt a horrible pang of guilt. She had put herself on the line with a powerful ministry witch that was out for blood on his behalf and he had failed to get the required marks to continue. Harry tossed the parchment aside no longer in the mood to open his gifts and just looked out the window and stared for a few minutes. Hedwig cooed at him softly for she had brought a small package and card from Hagrid. Harry sighed and looked at the small package; a felt pouch that contained a pearly white stone a little smaller than a snitch and slightly oval shaped. Harry opened Hagrid’s card and read:

Happy Birthday Harry.
I won this in a game o cards with a bloke down at the
Three Broomsticks. It’s an Saxulmens or feeling stone.
The ider is when yer feelin’ a bit down yer take it had
hold it in yer hand thinking about summat happy
and the stone helps yer to keep that feeling. Thought
yer might have some use fer it.
Hagrid.

Harry gazed at the small white stone wonderingly. He definitely needed something like this right now.
He held the stone tightly in his fist and tried to bring to mind the happiest thing he could think of. The first thought that popped into his head was when he thought he was going to be leaving Privet Drive to go and live with Sirius but that thought turned quickly to the fact that Sirius was now dead and he was still living with the Dursley’s. Harry pictured firmly in his mind the day Gryffindor won the Quidditch Cup. That did it; the stone became slightly warm and that warmth seemed to spread through his hand, up his arm and down through his whole body. Harry stared down at the small stone in his hand to find that it had turned pale blue while he had been holding it tightly feeling the warmth of that happy thought spreading through him. Harry wasn’t even upset about his grades anymore and wondered faintly what he was making such a fuss about. No more Snape; that was something to be happy about not depressed. The stone was fading back to a pearly white but the happy feeling remained and he chuckled softly under his breath. Harry carefully replaced the stone into the pouch and pocketed it. Errol had brought a birthday cake from Mrs. Weasley and card. Ron sent a package of Bertie Bott’s every flavor beans, Chocolate Frogs and Harry’s Favorite; Fizzing Wizbee’s.

Harry went down to breakfast feeling happier than he had in weeks and found himself actually hungry for the first time since arriving back at Privet Drive. He hadn’t even had a nightmare last night. Since there was nothing left to clean, fix or scrub the boys were allowed to spend the day as they chose. Not wanting to loose his good mood Harry ate quickly and left the house. Aunt Petunia would never have let it show but she was relieved to see an empty plate at Harry’s seat and was privately sure that the hard work had paid off.
Harry walked around the neighborhood feeling better than he had in months. He munched on the treats that Ron had sent him and kept the saxulmens in his pocket. He stopped at the play park and sat on a bench to look over the book Hermione had sent him. The book was full of really useful information. It was divided into sections. Under Spells there were sections like: Keep Warm and Dry on Your Broom in a Storm, Enlarging the Inside of Your Small Traveling Case, Portable Fire and Feather Weight Charms. There were simple antidotes to most forms of accidental poisoning as well as some complicated potions that could be brewed for not so accidental poisoning. As Harry sat immersed in his book he did not see Dudley come up from behind him.
Dudley grabbed the book from Harry’s hands before Harry even realized that he was there. “What are you reading freak boy?” Harry looked up at Dudley and said very quietly “Give it back” Dudley who hadn’t even looked at the cover was holding the book above his head so that Harry couldn’t reach it. Harry wanted to use a summoning charm to get it back but he wasn’t allowed to use magic outside of school. Last year when he had used a patronus charm to save himself and Dudley from a dementor he was nearly thrown out of school, so he tried a different tactic. “What would Aunt Petunia say if she saw you with that ‘kind’ of book?” Dudley stopped grinning and looked at the title of the book he was holding and dropped it as though it had burned him. “You… You can’t read this out in public! Someone will see, I’m telling!” Dudley took off at almost a run for home.
Harry picked up his book and decided to move. He did not want to have Aunt Petunia catch him in the play park with this book so he wandered off to find a quiet place in the public park. Harry didn’t even remember taking the saxulmens out of his pocket. He was holding it tightly in his fist feeling angry with Dudley and a little scared of the reaction he would get from Aunt Petunia when she found out that he had been reading a spell book in public. The stone became very warm and a seething anger filled Harry. He looked down and saw that the saxulmens had turned scarlet. He threw it down on the ground under a nearby Oak tree. Harry was feeling very angry and he realized that the stone must work with negative feelings as well a positive ones. “What’s Hagrid playing at!” Harry shouted to the stone on the ground. It was now fading back to pearly white but Harry was still very angry. Harry tried to picture winning the Quidditch cup but it was difficult to do when he was feeling so angry. A small voice in Harry’s head told him to get a grip. Harry tried to find a happy thought but couldn’t seem to get past the angry feeling. He kicked the tree very hard and felt searing pain in his foot. Then a memory popped into his head. The memory of Dudley lying on the living room floor with his tongue the size of a great salamander hanging out of his mouth. Harry sized the stone and concentrated on that memory. It became warm again and the anger he was feeling washed away like rainwater through a drain and was replaced with another feeling. Not happiness so much as satisfaction. Harry looked down at the saxulmens which had turned a misty swirling green. Harry put the stone back in its pouch in his pocket. He wasn’t so sure that the stone was such a good idea now.
After having his emotions rocketed around he didn’t feel like reading anymore and pocketed his book as well. Harry walked around the park and the neighborhood lost in thought. He checked his watch and realized that he needed to get back to the house. He was already in enough trouble for reading a spell book in public, there wasn’t much point in being late for dinner as well.

[Nina79]

Great chapter! :clap: :clap:

[Alice I]

When Harry arrived back at the house he braced himself for the screaming session he knew was coming but it never did. What Harry didn’t know is that Dudley had run into his friends on the way home and had gone off with them forgetting about Harry and his book. If however Harry thought that this day might just end up a decent birthday after all he was sorely mistaken. By the time dinner rolled around Harry’s brief happiness evaporated with the news of another visit from Aunt Marge. Harry and the Dursley’s remember all too well Aunt Marge’s last visit.
Aunt Marge was Uncle Vernon’s sister who looks remarkably like her brother except for his rather large mustache. She was a very large woman with almost no neck who raised bulldogs. On her last visit Aunt Marge harassed Harry for a full week about what a rotten, lazy burden he had been on his Aunt and Uncle. On the last night of her visit she had gone into such a triad of insults about Harry’s father, whom she never knew, that Harry finally lost his temper and blew her up, that is, Harry had managed to magically inflate her into a huge round ball with hands and feet sticking out that floated up to the kitchen ceiling.
Uncle Vernon rounded on Harry as though he was threatening everyone at wand point. “When Marge arrives tomorrow evening if you so much as put a toe out of line, YOU will be locked in the cupboard for the rest of the summer. Marge doesn’t remember what you did to her and I want it kept that way boy!” Harry couldn’t imagine why Uncle Vernon thought that he would try and remind Aunt Marge about that, but then again Uncle Vernon would say all sorts of nonsensical things when he was in the middle of a rant.
Harry sat at the dinner table only barely aware of the repeated admonishments from Uncle Vernon about leaving Aunt Marge alone. His dinner untouched Harry left the house with a lump in the pit of his stomach. He considered trying to use the saxulmens but a surge of panic welled up inside of him. ‘What if it makes me angry again? What if it makes me feel worse than I do now?’ These thoughts ran around in Harry’s head and he decided that he would not use the stone again until he knew more about it and how it functioned. The knot of fear that Harry had been feeling all summer was making him sick to his stomach but he didn’t really realize that this was the reason that he was sick all the time nor was he aware that this fear was ever present to some degree. What Harry found himself wishing for was a stone that would take away all emotion. He was tried of feeling sad, or scared or angry. He was tired of the nightmares and tired of getting sick almost every night.
After wandering the neighborhood until well after dark Harry decided to head back and as he passed the play park he saw Dudley saying goodbye to his gang then stumbling toward Magnolia Crescent between lawns. ‘Why was Dudley stumbling?’ he thought bemused. Curiosity got the better of him and he jogged over and caught up with Dudley in the alley that connected Magnolia Crescent and Wisteria Walk. “Hello Big D” Harry whispered in Dudley’s ear. Dudley started with a cry and turned around quickly swaying a little. He smelled horrible and Harry was grinning at him. “Oooh Dudders, are you drunk?”
“What do you want freak?”
“Me? You just provided me with the perfect birthday present.” Dudley straightened up immediately.
“What are you talking about?”
“Well now I get to tell Aunt Petunia that her little Diddy Kins is a drunk. Thanks Duds that should round off my day nicely.” To Harry’s astonishment Dudley spoke quite clearly, and after taking a large swig of mouthwash in a small flask that he carried in his pocket said “So who do you think they will believe?”
“Good point cuz. I guess I’ll just have to run home ahead of you and say something like: ‘Aunt Petunia I think Dudley is sick or something. He is walking funny.’ She might just cotton on don’t ya think?”
Before Harry could make good on his threat Dudley [THIS ENTIRE SECTION HAS BEEN EDITED UPON THE REQUEST OF A MODERATOR. SORRY FOLKS] Harry was dimly aware of Dudley howling in pain and running away.
Hedwig had been flying over head and saw Harry and Dudley. She dived down on Dudley, talons out and beat at him scratching his face and hands all the way out of the alley. Harry tried to get up but when he moved the left side of his chest felt like knives were being driven into him. He was gasping for breath but couldn’t seem to get enough air. A cold fear gripped him, ‘Is this how it is going to end, here in this alley? Won’t Voldemort be pleased?’ Hedwig flew back to Harry and landed right in front of his face just as his scar exploded in white hot pain. Harry let out a strangled cry and coughed blood onto Hedwig’s tail feathers and the front of his shirt as everything went black and he passed out. Harry’s glasses had been stepped on by Dudley as he tried to fend off Hedwig and were lying on the ground near him. Hedwig hopped over and grabbed the glasses in her talons then took off into the night.
Dudley’s cries preceded him home and Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon ran outside to see what the matter was. When Aunt Petunia saw Dudley’s bloody face she screamed and grabbed him hurrying him inside. “What Happened!?”
“Mum it was him and that horrible bird. He sicked that thing on me!”
“Petunia, this is too much!” Uncle Vernon roared. “He is out!” Aunt Petunia was too busy mopping up Dudley to argue with him. Uncle Vernon locked all the doors to the house as well as the window in Harry’s room. He need not have worried about Hedwig returning as she was flying as fast as she could in the other direction. It took her just under two hours to make the journey to the Burrow and the Weasleys, a trip that normally took her three hours.
The home of Harry’s best friend was a lopsided, haphazard house that rooms had been added to as the family grew. The foundation of the house looked like it may have once been a large stone pig pen that had been added on to over the years. The house was dark so she flew directly to Ron’s window at the top screeching and hitting the glass until Ron let her in. Hedwig’s arrival set Pig into a frenzy made worse by Hedwig’s screeching and flying madly around the room.
The noise aroused the whole house. “Hedwig! What’s wrong?” Ron shouted. It was then that she turned around and Ron saw the blood splattered on her tail. Ron bolted to the door and yanked it open. “Mum, Dad come quick!” Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were already headed up the stairs to their youngest son’s room. Ginny, Ron’s little sister, got there first. As soon as she saw Hedwig she let out a scream. “What in the world?” Mrs. Weasley stormed into the room followed closely by Mr. Weasley.
Hedwig was still screeching and headed straight for Mrs. Weasley dropping Harry’s glasses into her hands and landing on Mr. Weasley’s shoulder flapping her wings and batting him around the ears.
Fred and George came into Ron’s room at just that moment. Horror struck Mrs. Weasley gasped “My God, Arthur these are Harry’s” She was looking at the broken glasses in her hands. There were a couple of drops of dried blood on the shattered lenses. Ron, who had been trying to catch Pigwidgeon, turned white faced to his parents. “Harry? Mum Hedwig has blood on her tail, Harry must be hurt!” Ginny started crying “What are we going to do.?” “What is going on?” Fred and George said together. “Harry’s hurt?” “What happened” Everyone was talking at the same time.
“EVERYONE CALM DOWN!” roared Mr. Weasley. Amazingly enough complete silence fell on the room; even Pigwidgeon stopped zooming around and perched on the top of Ron’s head. “Molly I’ll contact the ministry and have a car sent to the Dursley’s, and then I’ll go myself to see what is going on.”
“No Arthur, let me deal with the car you go now.” She looked white and frightened. Mr. Weasley nodded and left the room.
Hedwig took off for the open window. “Hedwig! Wait!” Ron yelled but she had already flown out into the night. Mrs. Weasley looked around at the scared faces of her children and took a deep breath. “No one will be sleeping tonight, everyone down stairs to the kitchen. After everyone had sat down and Mrs. Weasley was brewing tea Mr. Weasley came down the stairs and into the kitchen. He had changed into muggle clothes. “I’m ready to go Molly, try not to worry until we know what has happened. I’ll send word as soon as I can.” With a look of encouragement to his gathered family he disapparated with a loud pop.

Harry was roused by something rough and raspy rubbing his face. He opened his eyes and saw Mr. Tibbles, one of Mrs. Figg’s cats licking him. Mrs. Figg was an old lady who lived in the neighborhood. The Dursley’s often times left Harry with her while he was growing up so that they would not have to take him with them on family outings.
Last summer when Harry and Dudley were attacked by dementors, Harry had found out that Mrs. Figg came from the wizarding world. She was a squib, a non-magical person born to magical parents. It took Harry a moment to realize where he was and what had happened. Harry wondered for a moment if he was dead, but he couldn’t be. There was a stabbing pain in his chest and he was pretty sure ghosts didn’t feel pain. His mind cleared a little and he realized with a start, Mrs. Figg! She could get help but how do I get to her?
Harry tried to get up but a crippling pain in the left side of his chest stopped him. Panting roughly he collapsed again on the ground. I need to let her know that I am here but how? Mr. Tibbles had darted off when Harry tried to get up. “Think Harry, what does a wizard do when he’s in trouble?” Then it hit him, send up red sparks. With every ounce of determination he reached around to his back pocket for his wand. The effort cost him though. He was lying on his right arm and couldn’t move it and reaching with his left arm sent waves of pain coursing through his chest. He closed his shaking fingers around the wand and pulled it out but started coughing again splattering fresh blood on himself and the ground. After the coughing fit eased up he lay there breathing shallowly. Harry raised a shaking arm into the air and sent red sparks up into the night sky. He dropped his arm and everything went black and quiet.

Arthur Weasley arrived at the front door of 4 Privet Drive with a loud pop. He squinted up and down the street to make sure no muggles had seen him suddenly appear. As he looked north he saw the red sparks hovering in the air a couple of blocks away and set out for those sparks running. He turned down Wisteria Walk and as he came to the alley he heard a pop and spun around wand raised. “Whoa there Arthur! It’s Dung. I saw the sparks and came. What are you doing here, what’s going on?”
“I don’t know yet.” Arthur turned back to the darkened alley and both of them headed toward the sparks still shining brightly overhead until something lying on the ground ten feet ahead of them came into view.
A chill ran down Arthur’s spine. “Lumos” he whispered and his wand light fell on Harry. “Harry!” Arthur closed the distance in three great strides. Harry was unconscious with blood splattered all around him. Arthur gently rolled Harry onto his back and his eyes fluttered open. “Harry, don’t move. It’s OK; Mundungus and I are going to get you out of here.” He lifted Harry in his arms, but he was so light. When they emerged from the alley and the light of a street lamp lit Harry’s face. Arthur and Mundungus gasped, Harry was too skinny, and the gaunt look on his pale face did not get there in the last couple of hours. Holding Harry as gently as he could, Arthur and Mundungus headed for number 4 Privet Drive.

[ginapotter]

wow this is great!

[baty4potter]

WOW is correct!!!!

[sweetsixteen]

Baty your right it is good!

Thought i'd read it quickly before bed

Keep writing, its GREAT (there you go bats...) Poor Harry!

[Nina79]

This is GREAT!! :D :clap:

[Alice I]

The movement of being carried was incredibly painful and Harry wavered in and out of consciousness. As they approached the front door Mundungus pointed his wand at it and bellowed “Alohamora!” and the front door sprang open with a loud bang. Arthur came up the front walk and stepped through the threshold with Harry just as Uncle Vernon came down the stairs holding a shotgun followed closely by Aunt Petunia.
When Aunt Petunia saw Harry unconscious in Mr. Weasley’s arms she screamed. Arthur looked up at the Dursley’s with pure loathing then proceeded to the living room without saying a word to them and he laid Harry down gently on the couch. When Uncle Vernon had recovered from what they had just seen he stepped down the rest of the stairs and closed the still open front door. Aunt Petunia went directly to the living room followed now by Dudley as well as Uncle Vernon for her scream had roused him.
When Dudley saw Harry he went as white as the bandages on his face and hands. Mr. Weasley turned to face the Dursley’s and saw Dudley. He knew at once what had caused his injuries. “It was you!” he hissed as he got to his feet. Dudley looking frightened back up and sat down heavily in the chair behind him. “Hedwig did that to you!” he bellowed then he turned on the Dursley’s “She was protecting Harry!” he shouted even louder. Uncle Vernon started giving nervous glances at the window afraid that the neighbors might hear all this shouting. “LOOK WHAT YOUR SON DID!” Arthur was screaming now and pointing a shaking finger at Harry.
Mundungus was looking nervously from the Dursley’s to Arthur Weasley his wand still out. He had never seen mild, good natured Arthur Weasley in a towering rage before and it was a bit frightening. Aunt Petunia was staring fixedly at Harry, all the blood had drained from her bony face and a silent tear fell down her cheek. It was Aunt Petunia’s reaction that calmed Arthur down and the fact that he had to stop her calling for an ambulance.
As she reached for the phone and started dialing Arthur asked her what she was doing in a much quieter tone. “I’m phoning for an ambulance of course.” She tried to sound business-like but the quiver in her voice could not be hidden.
“Please don’t do that. Harry is very seriously hurt and our healers can help him much more effectively than your muggle doctors can. A car is on its way here right now. We will take him to St. Mungos.” He stepped over to the couch bending over he placed a hand on Harry’s head. Arthur watched him breath raggedly for a minute then he straightened up and looked at all of the Dursley’s. Uncle Vernon was nervously puffing his mustache and glancing at the front window, Aunt Petunia couldn’t seem to take her eyes off Harry and Dudley just sat in the large arm chair looking from person to person and the door as if trying to figure out how to get out of this.
Harry moaned and Arthur knelt down next to him. He was still unconscious and every tortured breath he took was obviously causing him considerable pain as Harry’s brow furrowed with each breath. The silence in the room was palpable and for nearly twenty minutes the Dursleys sat or stood frozen to the spot not saying a word. Arthur got up and looked out the front window then glanced down at his watch. He turned to the Dursleys took a deep breath and said “Harry will not be returning to this house for the duration of the summer holiday. We will come for his things tomorrow.”
Uncle Vernon did finally seem to recover his voice “Now see here, just who do you think you are coming into my home and giving orders!” Arthur turned on Uncle Vernon so quickly that he backed up into Dudley’s big feet and almost tripped. “I am the only father in this room who cares about this boy and I will do everything in my power to remove him permanently from a home that can spare him no kindness!”
Uncle Vernon sputtered at these words. Aunt Petunia was still staring at Harry when he slowly opened his eyes. It took him a moment to figure out where he was. ‘This is the living room’ he thought numbly. He turned toward the voices and saw Mr. Weasley, angry and towering over Uncle Vernon. Then Uncle Vernon moved and Harry saw Dudley. His face and hands were covered in little white bandages.
When Dudley realized that Harry was looking at him his pale cheeks reddened with fury as he glared hatefully at him. The fear that Harry had felt in the alley returned in full measure and Aunt Petunia seeing the terror in her nephew’s eyes turned to Dudley.
He did not see his mother cross the room to him, but her quick movement caused everyone else in the room to stop and look at her. Aunt Petunia, in full view of Harry, reached back her bony hand and slapped Dudley hard across the face. “How could you!?” She turned on her heel and swept out of the room weeping, went up stairs and slammed her bedroom door.
Dudley sat stunned. Uncle Vernon was staring at the door to the hallway where his wife had stormed out of the room. Harry could not fathom what he had just seen. ‘Did Aunt Petunia just hit Dudley? What was going on? Everything was upside down. I must have dreamed it.’ Harry thought dimly as he drifted off into unconsciousness again.
The sound of the doorbell made everyone jump. “That will be the car” said Mr. Weasley heading for the hallway. When he pulled open the front door two medi wizards wearing knee length muggle lab coats over their robes stood there with a muggle ambulance parked and running out front. Seeing Mr. Weasley's confused look the shorter wizard with long dark hair said “We are from St. Mungos, and you would be Molly Weasley's husband. That is quite some witch you have there.” Mr. Weasley couldn't help but smile. “Where is the boy?” he asked more seriously.
The brief smile vanished from Mr. Weasley's face replaced by a grim look “Right this way” he said and lead them into the living room. The medi wizards exchanged shocked looks when they saw Harry. “Madam Tosh will not be pleased.” said the younger wizard. After a cursory examination the middle aged wizard conjured a stretcher and levitated Harry on to it. “This boy is in serious shape, we need to hurry.” without a word to Uncle Vernon or Dudley the whole group moved out into the hallway through the front door, down the front walk and into the waiting ambulance.
Uncle Vernon moved to the front window and peered out at the strange group of people who had just left his house in the middle of the night and wondered slightly panicky how they were all going to fit into the rather small old looking ambulance but they did; apparently easily.


Well that's Chapter One. I have 17 chapters already written.
I'm glad you all like my first attempt at writing. If you are ready I'll start posting Chapter Two.
Also I am good at taking constructive critism so if you feel the need to correct technical errors that I have made please feel free to post suggestions.

[Nina79]

All I can say is WOW!! :) It's so great!

[kandie_spirit_dr...]

OMG! this is SOOOOOO GOOD!!!!! IN FACT IT"S GREAT!!!!! NICE IDEAS N ALL!!!!!! :snitch:

[Alice I]

Sorry folks I won't be posting anymore of the story.
It is too graphic for this site.
If anyone is interested in the rest of the chapters PM me with an e-mail address and I'll provide you with a link to another site where it is allowed.
I am sorry but I can not post the link itself because it would not be allowed since the story's content isn't allowed.

[missgranger123]

:o Aaaahhh! Is there anyway you can change it, or tell us what happened very briefly without content? Please??? It's so good!!! :unsure:

[Alice I]

The problem is in Chapter Eight Voldemort's Orders there is another scene where Harry gets it.
The scene is as discriptive as the one edited out above and is refered to at least twice afterward.

OK I'll tell you what. I will continue to post my chapters, but when we get to Chapter Eight the Admin will have to decide what will be allowed. I just don't know how to change it without killing the story.

For right now I don't think anyone should object to Chapters Two or Three, at least I hope not.

So here is the first part of Chapter Two. I will wait for either Moderator or Administrative approval before posting more.


Chapter Two
St. Mungos

The ambulance was magically larger on the inside than the outside and had a small bench table set into the side next to a wash basin and jug. Harry’s stretcher came to rest on a padded platform on the left side of the ambulance. They headed off to St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies at once. Mr. Weasley sat beside Harry's stretcher with a grim face and the older medi wizard put a hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “He'll be fine once we get him there.” The trip to St. Mungo's seemed to take forever as it was about a thirty minute drive.
When they arrived, Mrs. Weasley, Ron, Ginny, Fred & George were in the waiting room looking extremely anxious. All the color drained from their faces when they saw Harry being taken through on the stretcher. “Arthur, my Lord what happened?” Mrs. Weasley almost whispered looking shaken.
“Let's all go up to the tea shop, it may be awhile.” he replied wearily so they all mutely followed Mr. Weasley from the waiting room. Another pair of eyes followed the procession of red heads; Pansy Parkinson was at St. Mungo’s.
Pansy and Millicent Bulstrode, both from Slytherin house, had been working on a transfiguration spell that went badly wrong for Pansy. In their second year at Hogwarts, Hermione Granger had to spend several weeks in the hospital wing because she had acquired fur all over her face and the tail of a cat. Pansy and Millicent had assumed that Hermione was trying to master human transfiguration and it went wrong. As it was that is not at all how Hermione had gotten the fur and tail. She, Ron and Harry had brewed up a polyjuice potion so that they could turn themselves into Slytherin students in order to sneak into the Slytherin common room and interrogate Malfoy. Hermione thought that she had one of Millicent’s hairs for the potion but it turned out to be a hair from Millicent’s cat and polyjuice potion is only supposed to be used for human transformations. Pansy and Millicent had been practicing cross species transfiguration on Millicent’s cat and had finally managed to turn the cat into a short stout girl. This girl could only meow rather than speak but they felt that they had perfected this spell well enough to try it out on each other. Millicent however did not perform the spell correctly and Pansy ended up with the legs and tail of a cat from the waist down. Panic stricken Pansy tried to correct the mess Millicent had made and nearly did it. Pansy now had her own legs back but the tail simply wouldn’t go. Pansy’s parents ended up taking her to St. Mungo’s to have her tail removed. Pansy now no longer had a tail but she was still experiencing side effects of the botched transfiguration. She was finding it very hard to sleep at night as cats are nocturnal creatures so she wandered down to the waiting area to watch the comings and goings of the busy hospital. She found some of the maladies that people were coming in with quite humorous. She had to hold her hand to her mouth to stifle her laughter when a tall wizard came in with a grindylow sticking out of his left ear all the while scratching and clawing at the man’s head. Then Pansy saw something that made her withdraw into the shadows. Mrs. Weasley, Ron, Ginny, Fred and George were stepping out of the large fireplace at the end of the waiting area. Mrs. Weasley marched right up to the desk. “I need an ambulance sent to 4 Privet Drive Little Whinging, Surry immediately!” The witch behind the desk surveyed Mrs. Weasley crossly. “What is the nature of the emergency?”
“I don’t know. What I do know is that a young boy there is in trouble and needs help right away.” The witch looked even more crossly at Mrs. Weasley. “We do not just send ambulances into Muggle suburbs with out knowing…” but she stopped abruptly as Hedwig soared down the stairs and landed on Mrs. Weasley’s shoulder. “Hedwig!” said Mrs. Weasley startled. She didn’t want to take time to figure out why Hedwig was at St. Mungos and turned back to the witch behind the counter. “I am going to be very polite now.” Mrs. Weasley said in a deadly tone. “You will please send an ambulance to number 4 Privet Dr. right now. A boy had been injured and he lives with muggles. He has no way of getting here on his own. Is there anything that I have said to you that you do not understand?” Fred and George exchanged looks. They had rarely seen their mother so angry that she spoke softly and in such a steely voice.
Neither Mrs. Weasley nor her children had noticed the tall healer and two medi wizards who had followed Hedwig down the stairs. They stood watching the interchange quietly for a moment then the healer stepped forward and addressed the witch behind the desk. “Is there a problem with this lady’s request Gretchen?” the healer asked in a calm voice. The witch looked up startled. “Madam Tosh? No, I just… We don’t usually send… I have no idea who this woman is.” she finished lamely. The healer turned to Mrs. Weasley and asked her name. “My name is Molly Weasley and there is a young boy in trouble! Why won’t anyone listen to me?” She took Harry’s glasses out of her pocket and handed them to the healer “Hedwig” she indicated the owl still perched on her shoulder “brought these to our home. They belong to my son’s best friend. My husband has already gone to Little Whinging to try and find out what has happened.” Madam Tosh took the glasses and noted the blood splatter on the shattered lenses. She placed a hand on Mrs. Weasley’s shoulder “I believe you; everything will be alright.” She turned to the two medi wizards “Please go to 4 Privet Dr, and bring young Harry here as quickly as possible.” The two medics nodded and left. She turned once again to Molly and said “Try not to worry too much until we know the extent of Harry’s injuries.”
Molly Weasley was staring dumfounded at this healer who seemed to know exactly what was going on. How had she known Harry’s name? Madam Tosh looked at Hedwig still perched on Molly’s shoulder and an obvious communication passed between them. Hedwig stretched her wings and took off and flew through the barrier hiding St. Mungos from muggle London. Just then a commotion on the next floor took everyone’s attention as the wizard with the grindylow in his ear started howling. Apparently the grindylow did not want to be extracted from the wizard’s ear and began ruthlessly scratching the man's head and any of the healer’s hands that got near him. Madam Tosh turned to Molly “I must go and deal with that. Why don’t you go have a seat, they will bring Harry in from the front.” Madam Tosh gave Molly a reassuring smile and turned to climb the stairs.
The Weasleys anxiously took seats near the front of the waiting room. Pansy edged closer to the Weasleys but kept to the shadows as Ron and Ginny kept looking over in her direction. She could tell that Mrs. Weasley was very upset but she couldn’t get close enough to hear what they were talking about.
An hour passed quietly while they waited and Pansy kept trying to figure out what could have possibly brought the whole Weasley family out at nearly two o’clock in the morning when a stretcher was brought in carrying a pale skinny boy with dark hair. It took Pansy a moment to recognize him before her eyes flew open wide in shock. She kept a close watch on the family and tried to hear what they were saying to each other but they were too far away. They all left following a man, with bright red hair, who had come in with the stretcher while another man who also came in left in another direction. The Weasley’s were headed up the stairs to the upper levels. She got up quietly and followed at a distance. Once she realized that they were heading for the tea shop she waited until they had all settled down at a table before entering herself. She quietly got some tea and sat down at a small table behind a stained glass privacy shield but near enough to the Weasley family that she could hear what was being discussed. After everyone had sat down Mr. Weasley retold the whole story of how he and Mundungus, who had left on other business, had found Harry in the alley and everything that had happened at the Dursley's.
“Good Lord Arthur, didn't they even go looking for him when he didn't come home?” Mrs. Weasley said real anger rising in her. Ron slammed his fist down on the table making everyone jump. “Dudley left him to die the filthy bas--!”
“Ron!” Mrs. Weasley snapped. “Ron, Molly, Everyone; I don't think the Dursley's knew that Harry was hurt. Dudley obviously didn’t tell his parents what he had done. Mrs. Dursley's reaction confirms that. The important thing is Harry will be all right. Molly, he was seriously injured but those injuries can be easily healed.”
Mrs. Weasley stood up from the table and walked away. She stopped a short way from them staring at the picture of a famous healer from the middle ages not seeing it at all. She had wandered very close to Pansy who shrank down in her seat and pretended to be dosing. Mrs. Weasley didn’t really notice Pansy when she turned back to face her family and said “Harry's injuries are not all easily healed. He is going to need the love and support of a family, something that he has never had, to get through this.” Molly looked to her husband and a sort of silent communication passed between them.

Madam Tosh, the healer who would be caring for Harry, walked into an empty ward followed by the medi wizards and Harry on his stretcher. She took out her wand and levitated Harry onto the bed near the window at the end of the ward. With another flick of her wand the stretcher vanished. The younger of the two medi wizards handed her a parchment then began to help the older wizard undress Harry who was still unconscious. They put loose fitting pajamas on him and laid him back down gently before leaving the ward. While they were changing Harry, Madam Tosh examined the parchment given to her. It was the Medic Report and read:

Patient: Harry Potter Age: 16 Weight: 44.5kg
Injuries: No magical injuries sustained
Non magical injuries include
Five broken ribs on the left numbers 5-9
Left Pneumothroax left middle lobe
Midline fracture of the sternum
Some bleeding around the tear in the left lung
General Condition: Seriously malnourished, shows physical symptoms of prolonged intense stress.

Madam Tosh placed the report on a clipboard and attached it to the end of the bed. She pointed her wand at Harry’s chest and with a look of complete concentration said “Specerecorpus” Her eyes rolled up in her head for a minute as a bright light glowed around Harry and her. When she looked down at Harry again she could see through his bed clothes, skin and tissues to see his breast bone and ribs. The Sternum was cracked horizontally through the middle. All of the ribs indicated in the report were indeed broken and she could see where the broken end of the seventh rib had punctured his lung. A large portion of this lung quivered with every ragged breath but did not inflate. Still pointing her wand at Harry’s chest she muttered “Sentire” and she had the sensation of magically feeling the hole in Harry’s lung. The tear was jagged with much fraying and there was a small bone sliver in one of the torn edges. This wasn’t right; Madam Tosh began to examine the ends of the broken ribs. They were not clean breaks; the bones had splintered. A sixteen year old boy should have clean breaks not splintered bones. The brittle bone disease Osteoporosis just wasn’t something you should see in a teenage boy. How badly malnourished was he? She turned her attention to the sternum. This one was a clean break and the two pieces were together. This would heal well. Now she magically felt along the surface of Harry’s heart making sure there were no more bone slivers and checking the muscle for damage. His heart was bruised directly behind the breast bone but seemed otherwise undamaged. She felt along the surfaces of his unbroken ribs. Using a control that made a line of sweat trickle down her neck she gently pulled on an undamaged rib testing its strength.
The ability to pull on the bones had nothing to do with magic. Madam Tosh got her magic from her father a wizard and a great healer but her mother, a muggle, imparted other gifts on her daughter. Abigail Tosh was no ordinary muggle. She was clairvoyant, empathic and telekinetic. When Abigail’s daughter first displayed some mild empathic abilities and some ability with telekinesis she was thrilled and when it became clear that she was also a witch Abigail and Henry Tosh thrust their daughter into a path that would follow her father’s. She did not fight her parent’s desire for her to become a healer as it is the only profession she would ever have considered for herself.
Harry’s rib felt light to her magical touch and yielded a little too easily to her telekinetic tugging. Harry’s bones were too brittle but she didn’t think it was too bad. She knew that he had been starved and she would personally make sure that he received proper nutrition from now on, and in the meantime a light dose of skele-gro would suffice. Harry’s heart started to beat a little faster and his shallow breathing changed. He was waking up. Madam Tosh lowered her wand and broke connection with Harry. His eyes fluttered open and looked around dazed and confused. ‘This isn’t the living room’ was all his muttled mind could comprehend. He smelled something mildly sweet like honey suckle or maybe cherry blossoms. ‘Where was Neville when you wanted to ask a herbology question?’ Harry thought numbly. He couldn’t remember why he wanted to talk to Neville anyway and drifted back to sleep. Madam Tosh sat down for a minute. She had been trained to counter the effects of a sleeping spell but the exploratory of Harry’s injuries took a lot out of her. She chuckled to herself “With age comes wisdom and weakness.” She looked up to the night sky outside the window then took a deep breath and stood up crossing to Harry’s bed. She looked down at him and said softly “Well my dear it’s time to repair what we can.” She closed her eyes and concentrated on magically and telekinetically healing Harry’s damaged body.

After two hours of nervous pacing Madam Tosh came into the tea shop. She pulled Mr. & Mrs. Weasley aside speaking quietly then turned and abruptly left. Mrs. Weasley turned to the pensive faces of her children and smiled. A palpable relief washed over the room. “He will be fine. He is sleeping now. We can go in and see him but we are not to wake him.” Mr. Weasley turned to his wife and said “Go on Molly, you and the kids take care of Harry, I am going to see Albus.” She nodded and he set off.
Pansy was so relieved to see the Weasley family leave. She had to sit there for the last two hours pretending to be asleep, and her back, neck and bottom were very sore. At one point Ron and Ginny Weasley walked right by her. She held her breath and prayed that they would not try to speak to her or recognize her. She had her head down in her arms on the table and no one took notice of her.
The rest of the family sat in the ward where Harry was sleeping. He was the only patient in the large room in the bed by the window. He looked vary small and pale but he was breathing evenly in deep sleep. They kept vigil with Harry talking quietly amongst themselves for nearly two hours when Albus Dumbeldore silently entered the ward. He wore a grim expression.
Professor Dumbledore had just come from an interview with Madam Tosh. She had fully described the extent of Harry’s physical injuries, but she also went into great detail about his malnutrition and the resulting brittle bone problems he was experiencing.
“Molly, Madam Tosh tells me that Harry will be roused shortly for a treatment. I would like to speak with him at that time. Please wait for me to finish with Harry before anyone goes home.” Mrs. Weasley stood up and handed something to him then ushered everyone out of the room as Madam Tosh came in with a smoking goblet.
She closed the door and moved down the ward to Harry's bed side. Setting the goblet down, she pulled out her wand and pointed it at Harry's chest and murmured “Ennervate”. Harry opened his eyes and the first thing that he saw was a fan mounted on the ceiling just to the right of him. Suddenly the memory of the past few hours came back to him. A flash of fiery panic shown in his green eyes that was lost neither on Madam Tosh nor Albus Dumbledore.
Madam Tosh stepped in front of Harry and said “Good morning Harry.” The warm and surprisingly familiar tone she used took Harry by surprise and the almost feral look in his eyes disappeared. “Er, good morning” Harry said. She helped him to sit up, propping him with pillows. Harry looked up at her and she smiled at him so genuinely that Harry was slightly startled.
“Harry, I am Madam Tosh, you will need to drink all of this.” she said indicating the smoking goblet. Harry looked at it nervously. “Actually it tastes strongly of raspberry.” She winked at Harry and he took the goblet and drank all of it.
As soon as he did things seemed to come into focus. The tightness in his chest was almost gone and breathing was definitely easier. The stabbing pain every time he moved was completely gone. “How are you feeling?” she asked him.
“Much better now, thank you. I am a bit tired though.”
“You will be for a couple of days. Your injuries were fairly serious and no amount of magic makes a better healer than time. You have a visitor who would like to see you.” Madam Tosh stepped aside from Harry's bed and he looked up into the face of Albus Dumbledore.
Harry looked to the bedside table for his glasses but did not see them. “Are you looking for these?” Professor Dumbledore held out Harry's, now repaired, glasses. “Thanks Professor” said Harry as he took them and put them on. Harry felt calmer seeing Professor Dumbledore, he had always had that effect on Harry and at the moment he was grateful for it. “Am I at St Mungos?”
“Yes Harry. Arthur Weasley and Mundungus Fletcher brought you here.” Professor Dumbledore pulled out his wand and conjured a chintz chair and sat down beside Harry's bed. With a calm but very serious expression Professor Dumbledore asked “Harry, what happened last night?” Harry hesitated a moment. “It was my cousin Dudley sir. A lot of it is kind of fuzzy; I think Hedwig drove him off. I saw him later in the living room and he had little bandages on his face and hands. I think Hedwig might have done that to him. Some stuff I’m not sure about”
“What are you unsure of Harry?”
“Well I must have dreamed it or something. I remember seeing Aunt Petunia slapping Dudley hard. She has never hit Dudley in his whole life. It’s all so mixed up and I’m not sure what happened and what didn’t” Harry fell silent for a moment.
“Harry, I want you to tell me the complete truth now. Has this ever happened before?”
“No sir, well not really. See, Dudley has been beating me up ever since we were five, but this was different.” Dumbledore looked hard at Harry “How so?”
“Well for one thing, Dudley was drunk. I have never seen him drunk before.” Harry reddened with embarrassment but continued “I told him that I was going to tell on him. I was bating him and I never saw it coming. He punched me so hard I lost my breath.
He was acting mental, he kept hitting me and blaming me for all sorts of stuff that I had nothing to do with, and...” Harry trailed off and looked down at his hands.
“And what Harry?” Dumbledore persisted. Harry looked up into Dumbledore's eyes and almost whispered “I was afraid.”
Professor Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and believed by many to be the most powerful wizard of the age looked kindly at Harry and said “Harry there is no shame in feeling fear. If I had found myself in your situation I would have felt no differently.” Dumbledore considered Harry for a moment.
He was far too skinny, he had deep circles under his eyes and his face was sunken making his cheek bones far too prominent. His face was quite pale but what struck Dumbledore most strongly was the haunted look in Harry’s eyes. He needed to be sure of what had been happening to Harry over the summer.
“Now I am going to ask you to be totally honest with me again. Are you being fed?” Harry seemed puzzled by this question and just stared blankly at his headmaster for a moment. “Harry, you are the skinniest I have ever seen you. You are at least 10 kilograms underweight. Are the Dursley's feeding you?”
Harry's face reddened with embarrassment and he lowered his eyes again. “It's not their fault. I haven't been eating very well. I'm tired all the time but when I sleep I have nightmares.” At this statement Dumbledore sat up sharply. “Nightmares? Has your scar been hurting you?”
“Well yeah but not like when I was seeing Voldemort doing something. It’s not like last year. I mean it has hurt a lot ever since he came back. The nightmares I have are coming from me. Sirius’ death, the graveyard where Voldemort came back and my parents. I can’t get these pictures out of my head. There are other dreams too, I can’t remember them all but they are bad dreams about my friends or school. Sometimes I get sick when I dream. Aunt Petunia makes meals but I’m mostly too queasy to eat or just not hungry. Dudley and I have been doing lots of chores; I think Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon thought I would sleep better if I was tired. Then the fight with Dudley happened. I didn’t fight back, I didn’t even try. I have escaped from Voldemort four times now but…” again Harry trailed off. He looked out the window at the rising sun. Harry didn’t even feel the tear that fell down his face and dropped to his shirt. Professor Dumbledore took Harry’s hand and looked into his troubled eyes. “But what Harry?”
“Maybe he has already won.”
“Harry; do you remember last June when I told you that it was your heart that saved you from Voldemort?” Harry nodded “Harry often times our greatest asset is also our greatest burden. Your heart is capable of so much goodness, bravery and determination, but it also feels the pain of loss as strongly. Voldemort has not defeated you Harry, far from it. You need rest now.” Before Harry thought about it or could stop himself he grabbed Professor Dumbledore’s arm. He had been possessed by a blinding panic and his hand was shaking but his grip was almost painful. “Professor, do I have to go back?”
Professor Dumbledore looked closely at Harry. He seemed to have been gripped by the same panic he had felt when he first awoke. Dumbledore wondered for a moment if Harry had told him everything. He took Harry’s hand clutching his arm and held it firmly. “No Harry, you will be going home with the Weasley’s. Now you rest.”
He got up and vanished his chair “We will speak again soon Harry.” he said before leaving the room. Harry sat there feeling drained and confused. So much had happened in the last twelve hours that he couldn’t seem to sort out the events into some kind of order; he wasn’t even sure what had been real or imagined. His head hurt and he wanted everything to just stop.

[Nina79]

Great chapter! :)

[ginapotter]

ya amazing :D

[baty4potter]

Great writing Alice!!!