Chapter 27
On the eleventh of August, an auction was held at Gringotts, selling a small amount of the shed basilisk skin, in lots of varying size and quality. Apparently, even the oldest, most decayed skin had some uses. Even with Harry diverting half of his share from the House Potter vault to the House Gaunt vault, the Potter vault's gold had nearly doubled. The most valuable basilisk parts were still to be sold, and it would be spread out over time, to avoid causing a glut on the market; several of the auctions would take place in other countries' branches of Gringotts. Harry was apparently on track to increase House Potter's fortunes on an even more impressive scale than his grandfather Fleamont had done, all before he graduated from Hogwarts, and to bring House Gaunt's fortunes back to a level they had not seen for centuries. The Basilisk Foundation, likewise, had a very healthy amount of gold, projected to become an obscene amount within a decade. Harry immediately wrote out authorisations for Hagrid to be able to buy some adult hens and roosters; for Madam Hooch to purchase new brooms for Hogwarts first-years to learn on, or other school quidditch supplies she deemed necessary; for a selection of grapes from some of the finest vinyards in Europe to be sent to Hogwarts for Fawkes at the beginning of the autumn term; for Mr Filch to get Mrs Norris something nice. In all these cases, the purchasers were authorised to spend up to a certain maximum, and receipts were required. "It's just good practice," said Ted. Those owls went out straight away. Harry's name was not mentioned; the letters simply explained that a charitable foundation had been set up to divert some of the money from the sale of basilisk parts to make gestures of goodwill to those who had been harmed by the basilisk, or who had been instrumental in its defeat, and also to benefit Hogwarts as a whole. Madam Hooch, of course, had not been harmed by the basilisk; but Hogwarts quidditch had been, as half the term's fixtures had been cancelled, and the new brooms were quite badly needed. Hagrid's personal compensation (as opposed to the birds, which were for the school) would be arranged once it was clear what, exactly, had already been done to clear his name, restore his wand rights, and allow him to sit and pass his OWLs.
Going over the numbers with Ted and Gornuk, it transpired that the Basilisk Foundation would also be able to afford to pay half the yearly Hogwarts' tuition for Ron and Ginny Weasley, Colin Creevey, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Hermione Granger and Penelope Clearwater, for their remaining Hogwarts years. Since Penelope was about to start her last year, Harry wanted to have the Foundation pay all that year's tuition, and provide a gratuity upon her graduation from Hogwarts equivalent to another year's tuition; he also wanted to pay for summer tutoring, to help the four Petrification victims catch up on the schooling they had missed. Hermione wouldn't actually need it, but she would enjoy it. The students and their families might, of course, have other plans in place for this summer; and so what was specified was up to 80 hours per person of tutoring in any magical subject or subjects by a reputable and qualified tutor, or attendance at a respectable educational institution, to be undertaken before 1 September 1994; again with maximum costs given and receipts required. While the money for these additional things would, ultimately, be little more than a drop in the ocean for the Foundation, it would likely come to more than it would have in its vault for August, with most of the sales still to be scheduled, and six tuition payments due. Harry was insistent that the students really should have the opportunity to catch up on the education they had missed as soon as possible, and ended up authorising a one-year loan from House Potter to the Foundation, at a rate of interest very slightly over projected inflation for the period. It wasn't as if the gold was doing much good sitting around in his vault; Gornuk had already been heard to regret that there was too much else on, with the Riddle-destroying project taking up time and requiring a certain amount of liquidity, to really get into the subject of investments for Houses Potter and Gaunt.
Finally, Harry undertook to talk to Moaning Myrtle and Nearly Headless Nick at some point over the coming term, and also arranged for someone from Ted's office to find out the names of those petrified in the 1942-43 opening of the Chamber, whether they were still alive, and if not, who their heirs were. The last, Harry was warned, might be a little complicated and take some time. A brief twice-yearly overview of the Foundation's doings was to be sent to the Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts as a courtesy, and she would also be permitted to view the accounts if she so desired. Harry was sure Professor McGonagall would be interested in what was being done, but he didn't want to add to her burden of paperwork too much. That desk had looked terrifying!
For all Harry's worry over the ritual - he'd risked his life before on multiple occasions, but he'd never really had to contemplate it in advance before - it went more or less as planned. He followed the ritualists' directions through a variety of baths, warm and cold rooms, and showers of peculiar potions; lay down naked in the middle of an enormous diagram; felt the pain in his scar intensify as the goblins began to chant; passed out; and woke up in St Mungo's two days later. According to Andromeda Tonks' detailed briefing, the anchor had indeed been removed, but there had been some destabilisation to both his own magical power and the reworked bloodwards, since the power that had been continuously directed towards insulating him from the darkness in the scar now had to find somewhere else to go. It had been spotted before any permanent damage could ensue, and prompt cursebreaker intervention had re-stabilised the bloodwards. Harry himself now had far more magic at his disposal for spellcasting purposes than he had previously had; but he should refrain from actual spellcasting without Healer supervision, and should not expect to be discharged for another day, at minimum. At least now he was awake, he could have visitors. As well as Dobby and the twins, he also saw Hermione and - most unexpectedly - Neville. Dobby had noticed Neville was in the building, and had alerted him to Harry's presence.
Neville was, of course, curious about Harry's hospitalisation, but accepted the explanation that Harry had been having dark curse residue removed from his scar, and was simply recovering from the aftermath of the procedure; though he was rather shocked that Harry's previous guardians had allowed the damage to linger for over eleven years. Madam Augusta Longbottom, who was hardly about to allow her grandson to wander the hospital alone, was distinctly shocked. Strict and stern she might be, but she believed it anathema to deprive a magical child of necessary medical care. She insisted on learning the identity of Harry's former magical guardian; and was hardly mollified by Harry's explaining that nobody had ever formally introduced themself to him as his Regent or magical guardian; that the only guardians he'd ever known had been his Muggle aunt and uncle. Her tirade lasted for some time, even after the specialist Healer for pediatric magic use had appeared: an eccentric-looking elderly wizard, with five or six pairs of what seemed to be coloured sunglasses balanced on top of his head. He took them off and put them on, one after the other, then cut Madam Longbottom off mid-sentence.
"No, no, no, no!" he shouted. "All wrong!" Neville and Harry looked at each other, and at him. "Which one of you boys is supposed to be my patient now? Because the other one needs to go and make an appointment to see me another time! I won't have double-bookings! I won't have two patients in the room who both clearly need to see me! It's distracting! I need to focus on one patient at a time!" Madam Longbottom swelled up like a bullfrog, and the two shouted at each other for a good ten minutes. Harry did his best to tune them out, but phrases like "I remember you from Hogwarts, and even then you were a..." and "don't you lecture me on fashion sense" made themselves comprehensible. Neville had his arms crossed, hugging himself as if he was cold. Harry didn't like shouting either; he reached out and patted Neville's arm. Soon enough, Andromeda Tonks came in, and started rebuking both combatants for making a noise in the hospital; over Madam Longbottom's protests, she strong-armed her down to the front desk to make an appointment for Neville with Healer Gambol, "who, I assure you, is one of the best in his field despite his questionable demeanour."
"Humph," said Healer Gambol. "At least that's Gussie gone. Silly besom. Right, young man," he said to Harry. "Let's have a wingardium leviosa on this water-glass, see what you make of it." Harry swished and flicked, said the words, and the glass embedded itself in the ceiling. The old man looked utterly unsurprised, but Harry was horrified.
"I used that spell on toddlers less than a week ago!" he gasped.
"Well, now you know not to," was the reply. "Not until we've fixed this." He put Harry through his paces, going through almost every spell Harry knew, and asking for a fair few Harry didn't; all the while switching between sunglasses. "Hogwarts isn't what it was in my day," he harrumphed. "Now Lumos, and hold it." He talked Harry through making it brighter, and then making it dimmer; showed him how to dial back and increase power on a number of other spells; gave him a booklet of exercises; asked him more questions Harry didn't understand, and deplored the lacking education Harry had received; gave him some more pamphlets, and a list of book recommendations, insisting that he would never have thought he'd see the day when a wizard Harry's age didn't even know how to clear his mind, let alone connect to his magical core; forbade Harry from casting spells on animate beings until further notice, including on himself; ordered Harry to make another appointment with him at some point before returning to Hogwarts, at least a week away; and stomped out, adjuring Harry to do his exercises properly, and no slacking.
In the morning, Andromeda ran a battery of tests, and cleared Harry to leave. He was longing to go back to the tent, but instead, he dutifully went to Gringotts, where he was ushered into the ritual room and lent a variety of protective equipment. The stabbing of the crystal was straightforward enough, and the scream gave him a headache, but for once it wasn't centred in his scar. Gornuk was kind enough to put off going through the list of other anchors with him for another occasion; though he did ask Harry to authorise bringing the Black account manager on board, as well as Sirius Black. Harry didn't even bother asking why. Back at the tent, Dobby was pleased to see him, but the twins were downright exuberant. They had found his absence extremely distressing. How, Harry wondered, were they going to manage when he went to Hogwarts, if an absence of three days upset them this much? Even if Mrs Weasley agreed to foster them, and the Weasleys invited Harry to the Burrow for Christmas, he would still be away from the twins for over two months. He scrawled a quick owl to Ted, asking to meet to discuss the whole fostering thing, and staggered into the bathroom to prepare for bed. Catching sight of his scar in the mirror while brushing his teeth, he realised it must have broken open and scabbed over. It looked like a recent injury now, and a simple one. In the morning, it had faded to almost nothing.