Chapter Five- Worried Friends.
Weeks quickly went by and professor Umbridge was still being an evil toady bitch, and giving Harry detentions for no reason, and Ron was still being hostile towards him. Despite this Harry's relationship between his new friends was growing stronger day by day. However, he had yet to tell them about the horrible quill he was forced to write with and had started hiding his right hand from view as much as possible.
Early one Monday morning Harry woke up feeling a bit dizzy and noticed the skin on his hand was irritated and felt incredibly itchy, looking at his clock he saw it was 6:45am. Seeing that all of his dorm mates were still asleep he quietly grabbed a roll of bandages and clothes for the day from his trunk before making his way into the bathroom to get ready.
Placing his clothes and the roll of bandages in a neat pile by the sink Harry quickly got undressed before grabbing his wash stuff and jumping into the shower to get washed. Finished with his shower Harry wrapped his towel around his waist and proceeded to brush his teeth and wash his face before getting dressed.
Fully dressed he used the bandages to carefully wrap up his sore, irritated hand and gently pulled the sleeve of his robe down over said hand to conceal the bandages. Happy with his handy work Harry picked up his dirty laundry and made his way back to his dorm putting his laundry in the hamper as he walked in.
Humming he then checked his bag had all of the resources he needed as his dorm mates started to stir around him. Smiling happily, Harry made his way down to the common room and waited for Hermione and Neville to come down. Once they appeared his greeted them before the three of them walked to the great hall to get some breakfast, before their first class of the day.
At the great hall the three Gryffindors walked past their new friends and greeted them as they made their way to the Gryffindor table, making sure to sit as far away from Ron Weasley as possible. Once seated they proceeded to help themselves to the food on the table, and Neville couldn't help but notice that Harry who was right handed reached for the food with his left hand. However when he inquired why this was, Harry simply refused to meet his friend's eye contact and took a big bite of the Bacon and egg sandwich he had made.
Neville shook his head in amusement before turning to Hermione and whispering "we've got to keep an eye on him, he's been acting strange lately" to which she nodded at before starting up a conversation about the classes they had that day. Soon all conversation came to a halt as the bell for first class went off.
Gathering their bags from by their feet, the three Gryffindors met up with Draco and walked to transfiguration class where they quickly sat at their desks and took their books out from their bags. Soon Professor McGonagall started class and taught the class a new spell.
Once she'd demonstrated the spell she got the class to try it out on the buttons that she'd handed out to each student. As she walked past Draco and Harry's desk she called out "well done Mr Malfoy 10 points to Slytherin" gaining a happy smile from Draco, before turning to Harry and saying "Mr Potter you'll get better results if you use your wand hand as your wand movements won't be so shaky" which caused Draco, Hermione and Neville to give each other confused looks. Harry smiled sheepishly at his button and muttered "yes professor" as she walked away.
Looking up Harry saw his friends looking concerned and quickly redid the spell using his wand hand ignoring the pain it caused him, causing his button to turn into a small statue of Hedwig. An hour later after the class had tried the spell on a variety of different objects McGonagall let them go after setting a 6" essay on the spell they'd just learned and giving them the advice "keep practicing and you should be able to transfigure just about any object easily".
As the quartet walked away from the Transfigurations classroom Neville checked his schedule and announced excitedly to Harry and Hermione "we have Herbology next" Causing Draco to snort with amusement before parting ways with the trio to go to his next class which was charms. Hermione shook her head with fondness as Harry turned to her and Neville and asked "what plant do you think we'll learn about today?" Sounding equally as excited as Neville.
Soon they made their way to the greenhouses where Professor Sprout ushered them and the rest of their class into greenhouse four. Once the class was all stood facing her, Professor Sprout announced "today we will be looking after Fire Lilies, I will show you how to tend to them properly and then I want you to have a go".
The class watched it fascination as Professor Sprout showed them how to tend for the flower without causing any damage to it. As Professor Sprout was demonstrating Harry declared "that flower is bloody amazing" causing Hermione to snicker in amusement as Neville agreed excitedly. Finished with her Demonstration Professor Sprout put the class into groups of four and one group of three luckily for Harry, Hermione, Neville, as they were grouped together.
They quickly picked up their Fire Lilies and made their way to the table they had been assigned to, before quickly tending to the flowers. But what Harry hadn't noticed was that as he tended to his Fire Lily that the right sleeve of his robes had risen up slightly and had revealed a bit of his bandages to his two friends who shared a quick look of confusion and worry before watching him carefully for the rest of the lesson. As the lesson came an end Neville quietly whispered to Hermione "something is definitely wrong with Harry" without Harry hearing.
The rest of the morning progressed quickly and soon it was lunchtime. As The Gryffindor who had just finished their charms lesson for the day started to make their way to the great hall, Harry who unknowingly to his friends had started to feel incredibly dizzy and nauseous throughout the morning quietly spoke up "I'll join you in there in a couple of minutes" before walking off until he was out of sight of his friends and running to the closest boys bathroom with a hand over he mouth. As soon as he reached the bathroom Harry let his bag fall to the floor and raced into the nearest cubicle where he proceeded to fall to his knees in front of the toilet and throw up all he'd eaten that morning into it. Once finished He one handily flushed the toilet and dizzily attempted to stand up, before everything went black as he fell unconscious all alone in the bathroom.
Unknown to the unconscious boy, Harry's five friends met up in the great hall and sat at end of the Gryffindor table and picked at their lunches as they quietly discussed their worry about what might be wrong with him as they had all noticed he had been acting strangely all morning. Suddenly Pansy quired "where is Harry, he said he'd meet us here in a few minutes, twenty minutes ago?".
They all looked at each other for a couple of seconds before Luna said in a dreamy tone "Draco, you and Neville should go and check on him in the bathroom". Quickly grabbing their bags the two boys made their way to the closest boys bathroom not questioning how Luna knew that Harry would be there. As they entered the room they saw the familiar figure of their friend sitting on the ground of an open cubicle with his head in his hands. The two boys quickly looked at each other at the sight in front of them before quietly walking over to the boy and kneeling in front of him.
Feeling someone watching him Harry dizzily looked up and met the concerned gazes of his two male friends before looking down at the ground and admitting "I think there is something wrong with my hand, it's really sore and it's making me feel ill" .
The two blond boys sighed before Neville gently grabbed the dark haired teen's right hand from his lap and held it as Draco carefully unwrapped the bandages from it. Once the hand was fully unwrapped Draco took one look at it and asked in shock "what happened Harry?". Standing up with support from the blond boys Harry said sheepishly "Umbridge makes me use a black quill that makes me write with my blood for detention, I've been treating my hand with Murtlap Essence every night but obviously it's not working. I didn't tell you guys about it because Umbridge threatened to target all of you if I did".
Neville growled out angrily "she won't get a way with this, now let's get that infection treated properly" as Harry bent over and picked up the black backpack he had discarded outside the cubicle before putting one of the straps on his shoulder. Nodding Harry walked out of the bathroom alongside the two other boys and was shocked to see his three female friends waiting for them.
Before either of the girls could open their mouth and ask a question, Draco quickly said "we're going to the hospital wing, Harry's hand is infected we'll explain there" to which the girls quickly nodded at and walked with the boys to the hospital wing.
Once at the hospital wing which was empty Harry sheepishly called out "Madam Pomfrey?", gaining the attention of the school nurse who had been restocking the potions cupboard. Hearing the voice of one of her most common patients she turned around and seeing his pale appearance uttered "bed now, I'll be right with you". Harry listened and immediately went and sat on one of the hospital beds as his five friends sat down near him. The nurse quickly came over and queried "what happened?" sounding incredibly worried. Harry showed her his right hand and quietly spoke up "Professor Umbridge has been making me use a black quill that makes me write with my blood for detentions. I was afraid to speak up as she threatened my friends if I did. I have been treating it with Murtlap Essence but when I woke up this morning it was sore and irritated, and I was sick earlier before passing out". Causing the nurse to gasp and quickly call for Professor McGonagall through floo-call before grabbing the necessary potions and equipment to treat the infection, before doing so.
The room was quiet for a few minutes as they waited for their deputy-headmistress to turn up before Pansy suddenly exploded "A BLOOD QUILL, THAT BITCH HAS BEEN USING A BLOOD QUILL ON YOU, THAT BITCH WILL PAY" . Hearing what the young Slytherin's words as she'd walked into the hospital wing Professor McGonagall rushed over to her favourite student and rapidly asked "Mr Potter how long has this being going on?, are you OK?" To which Harry admitted "since the start of the term, I am now". After Harry was finished explaining everything to Professor McGonagall, she immediately went into Madam Pomfrey's office and used the floo powder in the fireplace to call for the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and told her what was going on.
Two minutes later Madam Bones appeared and alongside her were two familiar aurors, Nymphadora Tonks and Kingsley Schacklebolt. Madam Bones politely greeted everyone before ordering "Tonks go and make enquiries about anyone else has been punished with the quill, Kingsley go and check her office for the quill, I'll get Mr Potter's statement".
Nodding silently both aurors left the hospital wing to follow the orders of the head of the DMLE (Department of Magical Law Enforcement), as Madam Bones started to question Harry. The boy told her everything from when it started to why he never spoke up, making sure to include every detail such as why he was being punished and how often. Madam Bones noted everything down and declared the statement done five minutes later just as Tonks walked back in with a large pile of parchment
Turning to the head of the DMLE she spoke up "These are the statements of the students that have all been targeted by Umbridge's quill, they are either muggleborn or students that believed Harry". A few minutes later Shacklebolt returned holding a large Black Quill and declared "she had it in the top drawer of her desk, the amount of pink in there is disgusting by the way" making all six students snicker.
Grinning wickedly Madam Bones uttered "I never liked that bitch, now I have a good excuse to arrest her, and I am not going to play nice". McGonagall muttered "now I understand why you were friends with Lily and Marauders, you're vicious sometimes". Hearing this Harry excitedly exclaimed "what's your opinion on Sirius' innocence?" Causing Tonks to snort.
Amelia looked at the boy before responding "I want to believe that he'd never betray you guys as he was one of my closet friends but I need proof". "Oh dear, you had to say the words proof didn't you?" Sighed Hermione as Harry quickly shook out his backpack's contents onto the bed he was sat on to the surprise of everyone else. Sorting through the pile of books, quills, and pieces of parchment, and other knickknacks he picked up an envelope with his name on it before handing it to her.
Opening the envelope Amelia found a letter, looking at Harry for permission she unfolded it and after receiving a small nod from the boy read aloud "Harry, my precious boy if you are reading this it means we have been betrayed and Voldemort has found us. We swapped secret keepers at the last minute as me, your dad and Sirius decided that Sirius was too much of an obvious choice. Our secret keeper was Peter Pettigrew. Love from Mum, 30th October 1981".
Once finished reading, Amelia put the letter back in the envelope before embracing the dark haired teen in a tight hug before releasing him. Harry then spoke up "if you know legilimency, I can show you my memory of meeting Sirius in third year and Pettigrew was alive in it" To which she nodded and asked kindly "can you show me now?". Harry agreed and looked at her in the eyes letting her see the memory from his third year at Hogwarts. Once the memory was watched Amelia asked if she could copy the letter and take a copy of the memory to get Sirius a trial. To which Harry agreed to excitedly to the amusement of all of his friends and the adults.
Cackling slightly Tonks declared "time to arrest a pink toad" whilst acting as crazy as her murderous aunt Bellatrix, before falling over her own feet making all of the teens giggle in amusement. Getting up from the floor with help from Shacklebolt, Tonks brushed herself of before striding off towards the great hall where lunch was coming to an end with Shacklebolt, Madam Bones and Professor McGonagall following behind her.
Harry looked over at Madam Pomfrey with a pleading look in his eyes, before she gave in and responded "Fine Mr Potter you can go and watch the arrest but I want back here when it's over with", causing Harry's five friends who knew how much Harry hated staying in the hospital wing to smirk.
Ignoring the smirks he ran to the great hall with his friends following behind him to watch the show down he knew was about to happen. The six teens got there just in time to see Madam Bones walk up to Professor Umbridge at the Professors table with her aurors and Professor McGonagall and declare loudly "DELORES JANE UMBRIDGE, YOU ARE UNDER ARREST FOR THE UNAUTHORIZED POSSESSION OF A BLOOD QUILL, AND FOR USING IT ON STUDENTS IN DETENTIONS, ANYTHING YOU SAY WILL BE HELD AGAINST YOU IN TRIAL, ESPECIALLY AS WE HAVE STATEMENTS AND EVIDENCE AGAINST YOU".
Umbridge quickly stood up and tried to escape but she was unsuccessful as Tonks suddenly jumped forwards and pinned her to the wall with her hands behind her back. The Aurors and Madam Bones then took a way the foul woman saying they'd be in touch with trial details.
Grinning Harry leaned on Neville tiredly and exclaimed loudly "the wicked bitch is gone, the wicked bitch is gone" to the amusement of all of the students around him before they all started to celebrate. Seeing that all of the students were riled up Professor McGonagall shouted "ALL CLASSES FOR THE REST OF THE DAY ARE HEREBY CANCELLED, A FEAST WILL BE HELD TO CELEBRATE THE DEPARTURE OF THAT HORRIBLE WITCH".
Harry was feeling so happy he didn't even realise that his friends had dragged him back to the hospital wing until he was sat on the bed he had left his belongings on. Putting his stuff back in his bag and popping it on the floor, he looked up and asked Madam Pomfrey quietly "can I have something to eat please?". She readily agreed and requested a house elf to grab him something light to eat. A few seconds later a tray with fried egg on toast and a bowl fruit appeared into front of him. Picking up his cutlery Harry quickly devoured his egg on toast. Picking up the small desert fork and bowl of fruit Harry realised that the fruit was a variety of all of his favourites such as: Strawberries, pineapple chunks, melon cubes, watermelon cubes and kiwi slices.
Harry grinned down at his bowl and ate all the fruit quickly before taking his shoes off and laying down on the bed and taking the potions Madam Pomfrey handed him. Soon he was asleep and his friends had been ushered out of the hospital wing with the promise that they could see him later on.