Let the Hunt Begin
Cassia drew in a deep breath and let it out while she slowly stepped down the marble steps outside Gringotts. The sun was shining and Diagon Alley was busy. It was the first time she had been outside of the bank in three days. When she hadn’t undergone several rituals herself or recuperated from those, she had sat beside Harry and Dudley while they recuperated after their own rituals. It had not been a one-ritual-fix for any of them, and each ritual had been harrowing, but seldom painful as they could sleep through most of them. She had gotten the last bit of the curses removed from her person only hours ago and now she ventured out into the Alley with Harry, who had been bedridden from his very first ritual until just that morning.
But the changes in her beautiful nephew, the changes that had occurred in just three days! Mostly physical, but quite a few mental too, even some emotional. It was a wonder to watch and hear and understand how much better he was now! He moved and spoke easier, and his smile, she had seen him smile two times already, today alone.
The human Mind Healer that the goblin Healer had brought in to speak with all of them had helped them all. Harry most of all because he could take a potion at the same time that helped him sort through the worst of his trauma and let it slide farther away from his consciousness, even in his sleep, which led to less nightmares and better rest. If not for the fact that the goblin Healer had guaranteed that this was a well-tested and safe, magical method of getting through trauma, Cassia would have objected to the potions, but it truly had seemed to help. The trauma was still there, no doubt about it, but her boy already seemed easier, lighter, more childlike, as he always should have been.
Now, Vernon and Dudley were having a talk with the dietitian that Cassia and Harry already had talked to, and as Harry had been fidgety from the long time indoors, she had taken him out to the Alley.
“Now, what do you want to do? Just people-watch, window-shop or is there anything you want or need to buy now?” she asked as they slowly walked down the street.
While Harry had gone in for the first ritual three days ago, Vernon and Dudley had gone to their hotel and checked out from their room and got all their luggage. The last few nights they had spent in a guest suite beside the goblin healing wing. Or, at least those of them not in a bed in the wing had slept in that room.
“Hedwig could use some owl treats,” Harry said slowly. He was taller than he had been, just days ago, almost to the correct height for his age now, but as he was soon to be thirteen, the Healer predicted that he would go through his growth spurts as he was supposed to, now. “And … and Dudley’s birthday was yesterday?” He made it a question and swallowed hard while looking askance at her.
“It was indeed. Vernon and I have decided to give him a suitcase similar to yours, but with a tiger on it, some new clothes that he will need because he has already lost a considerable portion of his excess bulk thanks to the ritual, and to get him something magical from the Alley, within reason and as long as it is safe for Muggles to use. If he should find something that he would like. If he can’t find anything here, I know he wishes for a new game for his Game Boy.”
Harry stayed silent and continued to look up at her, waiting.
They continued walking down the street in the hustle and bustle of the magical world. So many strange sounds and smells and so many bright colours. Cassia remembered this from when she went shopping with Lily for her school supplies. It was just about a week since the school had been let out, and by now the children were allowed to leave their homes again, it seemed. She still held a careful eye on anyone and everyone that seemed to look at Harry a moment too long.
“That’s all, Harry,” she said when Harry still looked at her, “and given that we don’t know what he will end up getting from the Alley, it might be more than enough. He should never have gotten all those presents that he did for every birthday and every Christmas. We will not continue to spoil him so. Though, if the two of you can come up with something that you would like to do, as a birthday treat for the whole family, the cinema, the beach, an amusement park, or something like that, we will do that as soon as we are able. Just like we will when your birthday comes around.”
Harry nodded slowly, opened his mouth, and then closed it again.
“What did you want to say, Harry?”
“I just … I was about to ask if I should buy him some Muggle safe magical sweets, but with his new diet, that would probably be wrong.”
“Yes, probably. He will have to keep very strictly to his diet, just as we will have to, for at least a couple of years. Only on very special occasions can any of us break the diet. After that, we will all be able to relax the diet some. Though, birthdays are such a day, I believe. If not for the fact that the diet just began. He will have to wait for your birthday to get some sweets. It was a very nice thought, though.”
Harry scrunched up his nose in his no longer hollow cheeked and grey face.
“What if I buy some sweets now and hide them till my birthday?”
“That is very kind of you, Harry, but I believe it would be better to buy those sweets closer to your day, so no one finds them and gets tempted.”
Harry nodded in understanding just as the same blonde witch they had seen on their last trip to the Alley, stepped out of a shop right in front of them and she saw Harry immediately focus on the other woman. Well, if he was that interested … Cassia wanted to find out what this was all about, anyway.