Chapter 18: Chapter 4: A Change for the Better. Part 4
It took a moment for the stalemate to end. A younger girl screamed and ran away from fear, and she was soon followed by the older girls in similar states of disarray. When all the bullies left, Neville waved his hand and every statue and suit of armor went back to their previous positions. Hermione broke from her daze and ran towards the young girl. She quickly gathered the girl into her arms and the little girl started to sob uncontrollably. Harry's heart broke at the sight of his would-be friend completely broken. He glanced towards Neville and marveled at the changes that Neville had gone through over the past day. Glimpses of the Neville that bravely led a war effort and stoically endured torture are now starting to manifest slowly. An ounce of confidence can go a long way. This alone makes me coming back worthwhile. Harry smiled and nodded at Neville, who returned a stoic nod.
He turned back to Luna and froze at what he saw. She was barefooted and was littered with a multitude of bruises, the worst being the bruising and the wounds on her face. He was right horrified, and his anger turned his rear head. The next time, Neville better let those statues loose on them. This is worse than I thought. I knew she was bullied, but this is way worse than I imagined.
Neville and Harry briskly walked towards the two girls. Neville looked completely horrified when he saw how badly the poor girl was wounded. Before anyone could say anything, Hermione took charge of the situation. "You two, help me take her to the Hospital Wing. Gather her stuff and she does not seem to have her shoes with her. I am going to talk to one of the portraits to inform Madame Pomfrey about her condition. Wait till I get back."
With that, the two gathered all her belongings that were spilled over the floor and cleaned up whatever they could. Hermione came back and informed them that Madam Pomfrey will be here in a few moments and that she will transport Luna to the hospital. Luna looked over to Neville and tried to reach for him. Neville noting that Luna was trying to reach for him, stepped close and crouched next to her. She grabbed on to him and continued sobbing. Neville froze, not knowing what to do. He looked towards Harry and Hermione pleadingly. Hermione signaled him to slowly draw circles in her back. Neville nodded and comforted her.
Madame Pomfrey came rushing in moments later. She conjured a floating stretcher and gently placed the injured girl into the stretcher. The trio followed her to the hospital wing and watched as Madame Pomfrey busied herself. More than an hour went by and they were still at the hospital wing. Madame Pomfrey did not chase them out except when she had to remove Luna's clothing to heal her. She had two broken ribs and several fractures across her limbs on top of the countless bruises she had. Luna fell asleep after she was treated for her injuries.
Just as the trio was about to leave, Flitwick and McGonagall were hurrying over to the Hospital Wing. He looked equal parts disappointed and furious. McGonagall had lips pursed, so much so that they were non-existent. Madame Pomfrey gave him a disapproving gaze, suitably cowed the minute half-goblin. She narrowed her eyes at her colleague. "Did I stutter Professor Flitwick, when I mentioned that Ms. Lovegood may have been subjected to bullying during our staff meeting? Quite repeatedly if I say so myself. I thought you were the head of your house. What would it take for you to get off your rear and do what is required of your station?"
Flitwick and McGonagall winced sharply at the sharp question raised by the Matron. He gave a sideways glance at the trio from the corners of his eyes. Madame Pomfrey did not respond to his silent query to have them leave. He sighed, "It is not my choice. Albus has sanctioned our capabilities to do anything when students do not approach us. Even then, we were advised to be 'lenient' and grant autonomy to the students of our respective houses."
Madame Pomfrey raised an eyebrow. "Are you telling me that the heads are leaving discipline and order to a bunch of teenagers? And what say does Albus have in house matters? Was the Hogwarts charter amended without my knowing? If so, why was I not notified? Or are you going to ignore suggestions that lead to incompetence and do the job that you were mandated to do?"
The trio watched with wide-eyed expressions as they saw two heads being cowed into submission by the verbal barbs orchestrated by the strict matron. Harry does respect the two professors quite a bit. However, he feels a minute sense of schadenfreude. It does feel good to have adults being berated for once. But wait, wasn't I physically abused? Being a healer, she should have been able to pick up on that stuff. Is she not contradicting herself?
Madam Pomfrey huffed and continued, "I know he had me bound to the Hospital Wing three years ago such that I cannot actively do any treatment to a student without them seeking me out and without a guardian's permission. Even then, I have found several loopholes around that to do my duty. There are severely abused students here at this school and I have tried my level best to make sure to do what I can to ensure they can function. Do you not find it odd that I keep some students longer than they should be? It is because I try my darndest to make sure that they don't break as a twig snapped in half!"
She gave a discrete glance at Harry which everyone except McGonagall and Harry missed. Others were already caught off guard by her to miss her body language.
There we go. Guess annual visits were a chance for her to fix things to the best of her ability. Even then, certain things do require long term medical help. Also, how Dumbledore timed her binding was of no small coincidence.
The strict matron sighed, "How many times must you really on miracles to save the day? Mr. Potter and his friends have stepped up and done what you should have done. You are not talking to my patient today. Come back tomorrow, if you need more information about the attack. It was an attack that should be reported to the DMLE. All of you get out of my sight," with that she shooed the professors and students out, rendering them speechless.
The trio gave the details of the attack, leaving out the description of Neville's magical feat. They gave the names that they did remember. The trio got twenty points each for their roles and the professors gathered what dignity had and left the scene as quickly as they possibly could.
A moment of silence pervaded the trio. Neville broke the silence. "Well, Dumbledore does not seem to be the man we thought he is."
Hermione looked conflicted and wanted to rebut his statement, she could not find any flaw in that reasoning. Harry just nodded at Neville, knowing full well that the revered Headmaster has some severe flaws. Thank Merlin that I was not the one to break his image to them. Madame Pomfrey did lay the law of the land there.
They went to the Great Hall and had their lunch in silence. Hermione and Neville excused themselves; Hermione to catch up with all her missed work (although Harry seriously doubts that she missed anything) and Neville to work on some work for Professor Sprout. Harry took this as an opportunity to go up to the Room of Requirement. Time to check my magic. Death did hint that my magic may have some surprises.
He requested for a room that would help maximize his magical potential in his war against Voldemort. When he went inside the room, the room was split between a library and a training ground. Ignoring the library, for now, he walked over to the training ground. The ground had several targets and other trinkets that would prove useful in training combat magic. He reached for his wand and when he grasped his wand he gasped.
Magic coursed through his veins and he felt move through his right arms, through his wand and burst into an image of a golden phoenix being reborn. Harry gasped at the majestic display his wand produced. The image circled him for several seconds before appearing in front of him and gazing directly into his eyes. The phoenix thrilled and burst into emerald flames, bathing his body with the flames. Weirdly enough the flames did not burn him nor anything else around him. Well, that was new, another question to ask our resident sorting hat.
He took a deep breath and cast several spells. He stated with several easier charms such as the Disarming Charm. He saw a slight increase in power and speed of the spells even in comparison to his seventeen-year-old self. He even felt that the magic felt smoother than it ever had before. Merlin! Did the Horcrux mess up my magic to this degree?
He moved onto more advanced charms and noticed that they all had seemed uniformly easier than they ever had been. I get why magic is addictive if it feels this good! His Patronus stunned him; it still maintained the shape of a stag, but it seemed brighter and powerful than what it was before his time-travel. It was less ethereal and more realistic. Although he doubts a Patronus can destroy a dementor, the potency of the spell seems to have risen several notches.
He switched to transfiguration. Now transfiguration was not a branch of magic he was ever comfortable with. He felt that transfiguration was rigid and required the use of intricate knowledge of formulae and structure. However, starting from the matchstick to needle transfiguration to conjuration, he felt more connected to the art. So much so that he felt his transfiguration skills may even equal his other skills if given time. He genuinely felt excited, this was an opportunity to grasp magic at its core and unearth his potential and he felt comforted by the fact that he related more to his father than his looks and his Patronus.
He repeated the same process with non-verbal and wandless magic. All in all, the repertoire of spells he could use non-verbally has increased a bit. Any spell he used to do non-verbally or windlessly before his time travel seem a lot smoother and potent, though they were not the same level when he wields his magic verbally with his wand. Satisfied with his results, he had Dobby bring him some parchment to record his results. A few minutes after writing his results down, Dobby popped in with a letter in hand. It was his reply from Ted Tonks.
Dear Mr. Potter,
I thank you for considering me as your legal counsel in both the magical world and the mundane world. I must confess, I find myself baffled as to why you would need representation. The magical authorities believe that Albus Dumbledore holds the power of attorney over your legal obligations. Thus, you must understand my surprise when you contacted me for legal representation.
I have done a cursory check obligated as a law wizard to check the record for who holds your power of attorney privileges. Usually, such legal obligations are held by your guardian, and by Dumbledore starting that he holds the power to act on your behalf in the magical world, the authorities have taken his word as law in this situation. My surprise only grew further when I discovered that there are no known records as to who your guardian is. There was a rumor that you lived among the mundane, which you confirmed in your letter, that might a reason why nothing was filled. However, I find that highly unlikely. Worry not, this why I exist as a law wizard, I do believe I can help you with this regard.
As you mentioned in your previous letter, the day after Hogwarts ends seems to be an agreeable time for us to meet. However, I suggest we meet at my house, it is well secured from prying eyes. Any public place including my office is subject to scrutiny and rumor, thus I highly recommend meeting in a more private location. If you feel uncomfortable holding the meeting in a location that suits your fancy, do let me know. Please feel free to reach out through mail at any time.
Best Regards,
Edward D. Tonks
P.S. My wife and I have been told to be excellent cooks if that is of any significance to you.
Harry furrowed his brows. I may have underestimated my legal battles. Regardless, I must meet with Ted and find out what he can do about this. Harry sighed for what may be the hundredth time today. Well, I am not opposed to meeting him at his place. Even though I am not supposed to 'know' about them right now, knowing that they were Nymphadora's (snickers) parents is good enough for me. Also, would not hurt to try out their cooking. I remember Tonks praising their cooking once. That was not what convinced me, no sir!
He wrote a short response accepting the location and clarifying the time for their meeting. He handed the letter to Dobby, who popped off to deliver the letter. He stepped outside the room and he went down to the library to find Hermione, and lo and behold, little Ms. Bookworm is nose deep into her books. The two of them spent the rest of the evening in companionable silence. Harry borrowed a copy of Numerology and Grammatica, the OWL level book for Arithmancy. The workings of the subject seemed awfully like mathematics and it seemed genuinely interesting. Hermione kept giving him glances that went unnoticed by Harry, but she looked pleased with his new attitude. An hour later, he remembered something he needed to address to Hermione.
"Hey Hermione, don't you think that doing all electives may be pushing yourself a little too much?"
Hermione looked offended at his implication and before she could launch him to space, he calmly held up a hand. "I understand that you want to do all those subjects but think about it. I talked to Professor McGonagall and she said that Divination is for people with the Gift of Sight, something neither of us has. Muggle Studies is outdated by at least by half a century and I am pretty sure you can teach the professor on the course," Hermione's cheeks gained a pink hue at the praise, "So why would you need to take all the electives?"
Hermione scrunched her eyebrows together and formulated her reasoning. She shook her head. "I wanted to take all those classes so that I can prove myself. Already my chances in Magical Britain to be successful are low thanks to the bold nonsense. I just want to show that we muggle-borns are just as good and if not better at times."
Harry smiled, "If it is any help, you are the most brilliant witch I have ever known. I just don't want you to exhaust yourself. If you want to do those subjects as an OWL, ask McGonagall if it is worth it."
Hermione beamed and nodded at her best friend's concerns. She felt warm inside that someone cares about his friend's concerns. Maybe Harry is right, maybe I will have to talk more with Professor McGonagall about my decision. Hermione took a glance to look at the time, it was almost dinner time.
"Harry it is almost dinner time, lets pack up and go!"
"Wait I thought books were more important than food for you!"
"Not when a girl is bloody hungry, move faster Potter!"
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Quatroquatro
Quatroquatro Hello All,
Just to let you know, I update ahead on fanfiction dot net. So if you want to read more, please head over to that site. It is under the same name.
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Quatroquatro.
P.S. Chapter 7 is up in Fanfiction dot net
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