Chapter 34
It was finally time to start the school year, third year specifically, and he was excited. He was currently sitting in a compartment with Draco, Neville, Luna, and Theo who decided to use his shoulder as a pillow. Ever since the two confessed to each other they had started spending more time together, and Theo had started to get a little more affectionate then usual. Harry knew he didn’t really love Theo, but he still feels a strong connection and longing for the boy. It wasn’t inherently sexual, but he did love the attention and physical affection that Theo provided. He knew everyone saw the shift in their relationship, but they obviously couldn’t tell what was different, or they didn’t say anything. Homosexual relationships in the wizarding world were a new concept, but even then, most people just ignored it. Yes, there was a few people who treated them rudely, most people would just stare or ignore it.
But his thoughts where mostly focused on the Daily Prophet, last week an Azkaban breakout had occurred, and the apparent leader was none other than his Godfather. Apparently, he was the person who betrayed his parents, even if he didn’t necessarily regret his parent’s death it still made something in him extremely mad. He wanted to kill Sirius Black. He wondered why the Dark Lord didn’t tell him anything about it. He was also peeved when the Dark Lord brushed his questions off, its not like he could pry because he had school the next day. He would have to wait till nighttime. But suddenly the bus stopped, and things got darker, an everything cooled. Theo jerked awake with the sudden bus stop.
“What happened?” He asked the group, the temperature soon got so cold Harry could see the breathes leaving his mouth.
Draco’s eyes widened and pointed towards the door; it was a dementor. His friend was just spluttering but was clearly trying to say something. The creature entered the compartment and suddenly Harry screamed out loud and the world turned black.
Harry swore he could hear screaming of a young woman
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At first all he could feel was an unspeakable amount of pain, his body ached and burned, and he could move that well. Then he could hear talking but it was faint, he then tried opening his eyes, but it took an unruly amount of effort, so he decided to keep them shut. For now, he focused on the audio, which was now clear enough to hear.
“I d-don’t get it, the child should be dead! No one has ever survived there should being sucked out, the other students just said that it just re-entered his body. From what they describe the dementor was also shocked to the point where it left. I did a diagnostic test; everything is fine with the boy other than magical exhaustion, shock induced spams, and his mind! Not that I’m unhappy that he’s alive, I am very happy that the way things turned out, it just makes no sense.” The woman said frantically in a high-pitched voice, Harry assumed it was Madam Pomfrey. He wondered what she meant by his arm being affected, he did feel terrible, but his mind felt intact. Yes, he had a slight headache, but that would be normal predicament.
“Calm down Poppy, I’m sure that the sure when the boy wakes up, he can clear some things for us. But you right, it does make very little sense for Harry to be alive.” Harry immediately recognized this as Albus Dumbledore, the man’s grandfatherly voice was just too noticeable.
He heard a sigh from the woman as he continued, “We really can’t do anything other than wait, it’s terrible that someone so young has to go through this already.”
The pit in Harry’s stomach grew, he knew exactly why he’s still alive. He knew Voldemort wasn’t lying to him, but it still made everything so disgustingly surreal. But in the end, he was glad that it was him instead of his other friends, after all his friends would die if they experienced it. He growled in frustration, and it seemed to gain the other teachers attention.
“Harry are you awake?” Professor Dumbledore asked as he walked closer to Harry.
Harry tried again to open his eyes and with success he managed to open them, painfully he turned his head to look at the headmaster and he said, “Y-Yes.” Dumbledore’s eyes widened as he motioned for Madam pomfrey to look at him.
As a result, she immediately scurried over to the hospital bed, and she openly gasped before calming herself down as she said, “Harry can you see?”
His face morphed into something of confusion, and he responded in a raspy tone, “W-What’s w-wrong with m-my eye? I-I can see fine.”
She visibly relaxed but learned over to Professor Dumbledore and whispered something in his ear, and at that the ancient man nodded and left the room. Madam Pomfrey turned back to him and said sweetly, “Harry, why don’t you try and moving a little bit? I need to go in the other room and talk with Professor Dumbledore.” She then left the room, it started on a walk then turned into fast walking.
He nodded and proceeded to try and wiggle his fingers and toes, it hurt but he still does it easily. He then continued to try and move his arms up and down, that was harder to do, but he could still bend it a little.
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“Albus, do you know what this means? This is just so bizarre; I have never seen a dementor cause physical differences. I mean one of his eyes are black!”
Albus frowned, he had some theories on what could have happened, but all of them just seemed so outrageous for a thirteen-year-old boy. Could Potter have really fallen that much into the darkness? He knew that the boy practiced or was around dark magic, he could feel the aura around him, it was darker than most. But he never felt the usual black and grimy aura on him that most Dark magic users had. Usually, excessive amounts of use of the dark arts alters one’s mind, but only extreme cases it alters physical appearances. Maybe the dementors dark magic morphed with his magic and was enough to cause such an extreme change.
Sighing, he said, “I feel like this is caused by extreme use of dark magic, mixed with magic with the dementor. We all know dementors are dark creatures, it might have extenuated the darkness in his magic.”
“Wait, that’s probably why my diagnostic test said something was wrong with his brain, gosh I should have noticed that sooner. And also, dark magic is prohibited in Hogwarts he must face punishment immediately! Especially if its severe enough to cause physical changes to his body, Albus, I have a hard time that you didn’t know this before now. We need to-“ Albus held up his hand, and she stopped.
He continued, “You do realize once we expel him, we are basically giving him free range to dark magic? His current guardians are the Malfoy’s, he will be exposed to darker things there than here. I would normally agree with you, but we aren’t dealing with a normal student. We will put more security on the restricted section, and I will personally talk to him.”
Poppy hesitated before responding quietly, “Fine, but you better keep your promise. I don’t know the boy very well, but you must know I care about all the students in the school. I’m not doing this specifically to hurt him, especially after what has come out.”
“I know that Poppy, you don’t need to assure me. When do you think he’ll be released?”
“By tomorrow morning he should be fine, its mostly getting his body to loosen up. His body just tensed before he passed out, it stayed tensed due to the dementor attacking him.”
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When they re-entered the room Harry was holding his arms and twisting it, the movements where slow but fluent. He was glad that the pain seemed to be dying down the more he moved, it still ached but was no longer so bad he couldn’t move. He was also relieved to see that his gloved where on, so no questions about the mark on his hand, he wondered if Voldemort knew he was in danger. He probably did, he doubts that Voldemort did the spell incorrect, the Dark Lord is a magical prodigy after all.
They basically just told him to be safe and avoid the dementors from now on and mentioned that the exposure and the severity of the attack caused one of his eyes to go black. Although he didn’t cry or yell, he was visibility upset by that, he hated that he was already so scarred, and now it just extenuated it even further. They also explained that dementors will be around the castle due to Sirius Black’s and the other Death eater’s escape. All they told, “How can I defeat a dementor? There must be a way to stop them.” He would need to protect his friends, or at least he could teach them how to defend themselves.
“There is a way, but it is very hard to do. Especially since only the purest wizards and witches can cast it, but I will give you a book on it. Tomorrow after school come to my office. Your friends should be here any moment, they are very worried about you.” Professor Dumbledore smiled at him and left. And almost on cue Draco, Theo, and Luna came in. He wondered where the others where, but Harry was sure that they where probably had some reason. Theo was walking faster then the others and he immediately wrapped him in a hug, it sent a jolt of pain through him, but he didn’t push away.
His friend (Boyfriend?) exclaimed, “Harry I was so worried about you! To see you go through that, I thought you were going to die. I don’t think I have ever seen you look so scared, you where screaming, then you suddenly went quiet…” Theo then pulled away from him and turned
“Well, I am fine now, although Madame Pomfrey said I can leave tomorrow morning.”
Draco smiled and said, “That’s good, luckily the first day isn’t that bad. But we can fill you up to-“ His friend stopped and his faced morphed into confusion, he then continued, “What on earth happened to your eye?”
Harry was about to respond but Luna frowned and said, “The dementors must have caused it, the whispy’s warned me of this… Although this does seem like an extreme reaction compared to other incidents.”
“Yeah, Luna is correct. I’m just hoping its gonna fade away in time, although I doubt it.”
“What, why would you want it to fade!? You look totally bad ass, Harry, you look like a fallen angel or something.” Draco stated confidently before shrinking into himself and then said sheepishly, “Sorry, that might have been insensitive.”
Harry sighed and said, “No, it’s okay.”
Theo smiled coolly at him and said, “But even I have to admit, you do look pretty cool.” The four stayed silent for a moment before entering a laughing fit, they all felt a little silly for just standing there just complimenting his eye. Well mostly Theo and Draco, but he and Luna still laughed anyway.
They talked about other things for a while, mostly menial things that didn’t matter, but it was still a nice way to distract himself from his thoughts. Although he was surprised to hear that the headmaster had a brother, and that he would be the defense against the dark arts teacher. No one had met him yet other than the small introduction at the feast, but his friends tell him that he seemed very strict. Harry couldn’t help but feel excited, last year it was the idiot Lockhart, so hopefully this will be a pleasant surprise. He has a hard time believing that the older brother of Albus Dumbledore would be incompetent. But eventually they had to leave since visiting hours where over, and Harry couldn’t wait for it to be tomorrow morning.
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Voldemort had just finished his paperwork, and he had decided to use this as a rare moment to relax. He was exhausted after orchestrating the Azkaban escape, it had been hard to make Sirius escape without knowing the whole thing had been coordinated. He smirked at the Daily Prophet, it was exactly what he wanted to see, it was stating that Sirius Black had escaped Azkaban and brought the other death eaters with him. He knew he should have told Potter his plans, but he also had a very specific reason not to. You see, if everything goes to plan then Potter will kill Sirius Black, and then confirming his place with him. He relied on his underlining hatred for him and hoped that he would project it on Black. After all, in Potters mind it’s his fault that his parents are dead. The Dark Lord knew by Potter allowing him to mark him (He ignored the fact that he allowed Potter to do the same) was a big step to getting him on the side, this was simply insurance. Ever since he met the boy, he had always been possessive of him, and it had simply increased when he learned what he is, as a result he knew he would do anything to keep the boy on his side.
Even if that meant manipulating him into killing an innocent man. After all Ha- Potter was HIS, and no one will stop that from happening, even if he must force the boy into it.