Chapter 30: 30 Consequences
Sophia Foster stood on Platform 9¾, her heart heavy with a growing sense of worry. She had arrived earlier than usual, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Hogwarts Express, her usual anticipation replaced by a gnawing anxiety. The platform buzzed with excitement as families and students prepared to welcome their loved ones home for the winter break.
With each passing minute, Sophia's concern deepened. She clutched the letters she had written to Lucas in her hand, tightly creasing the edges in nervous anticipation. It had been a long time since she'd received a letter from her son. Normally, he'd write to her faithfully once a week, sharing stories of his magical adventures, his friendships, and his experiences at Hogwarts. But the letters had stopped abruptly, and she had no way of knowing why. They were the last few letters she had received and they all had a distinct lack of writing. At first she was amused at the messy talon marks, but after the second and third time she had begun to think that something is off.
Sophia glanced at the clock, her eyes tracing the minute hand as it ticked forward. The train had arrived by now and children were flooding out of its doors. She couldn't help but recall the countless times Lucas had stepped off the Hogwarts Express, his face lighting up with joy as he spotted her in the crowd. It always brought butterflies to her stomach. But today, there was no sign of him.
Panic began to creep in, and Sophia's grip on the letters tightened. She looked around the platform, searching for any familiar face among the crowd. Maybe she had missed him. Her heart sank as the reality of the situation settled in. Lucas wasn't there.
Her son had not come back from Hogwarts for the winter break, and Sophia had no idea why. The worry that had gnawed at her for weeks had now grown into a painful certainty that something was wrong. She had to find out what had happened, where Lucas was, and if he was safe.
Sophia swallowed hard, her eyes moist with tears. But she knew she had to do something, to find out what had happened.
Sophia resolutely approached a family nearby, who seemed to be wizards themselves, and asked for their help. She could see their eyes narrow with disdain as they noticed her Muggle attire, a reaction that stung like an unprovoked insult, but not as much as the dreaded scenarios that were already running through her mind. That's why her concern for her son pushed her past their prejudiced attitude.
"Excuse me," Sophia began, her voice steady but filled with a mother's desperation, "I've been waiting for my son, Lucas. He's a student at Hogwarts, but he hasn't come back from school for the winter break. I'm not a witch myself, but I think something may have happened to him, and I don't know where else to turn. Can you please help me find out what's going on?"
The family exchanged uneasy glances as Sophia's plea hung in the air. Her eyes held a world of concern and a mother's desperation, cutting through their initial prejudice. But as they glanced at each other, their old biases came to the surface, and their compassion began to erode.
"I'm sorry," one of them finally said, a cold edge creeping into his voice. "We have our own concerns to attend to. We can't be bothered with the affairs of Muggles. You should seek help from your own kind."
Sophia felt a heavy sinking in her chest as his words hit her like a crushing blow. She had hoped for their understanding, for a glimpse of humanity, for some compassion. But their decision was clear, they were not going to help her.
Disheartened but not defeated, Sophia turned away from the pureblood family, realizing that she might be alone in this. A sense of hopelessness washed over her and tears threatened to pour out.
However, she remained strong and tried a few more times.
The few she had approached either didn't know anything or insulted her simply for being a Muggle and now she was sitting with her back pressed against a wall all alone. Everyone else had already left, she was the only one left.
"Lucas sweety, where are you?!" Her thoughts spiralled into a mess of worry and anxiety. Eventually she broke down and sat on the cold stony floor crying her heart out. She had given up. She saw no way out of her dilemma. No one wanted to help her.
Her eyes were red and her face was a mess, when a shadow flew over her head. She didn't even notice it until two talons landed on her left shoulder.
Through her messed up hair and teary eyes she weakly looked at whatever had gripped her shoulder.
What she saw brought her a spark of hope, it was William, the owl, and around his feet was a small letter fixed. She hastily and clumsily, to the misfortune of William, ripped the message from his feet and hirriedly unrolled it. The owl screeched in annoyance as he jumped down onto the ground as well.
Sophia ignored his complaints as she focused on the writing, her heart skipped another beat at the first word, because it wasn't anything Lucas would ever write. Nonetheless she kept reading the letter.
"Dear Ms. Foster, it pains me to keep your extraordinary son at Hogwarts over the holidays, however, he agreed to help me with a task of utmost importance. I apologise that I couldn't inform you earlier, but I hope your son's owl will arrive before the Hogwarts Express. Again my sincerest apologies, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore."
She clutched the letter close to her heart. At least now she had something that proofed to her that her son was safe.
----
Unbeknownst to Lucas, in the same room he was laying in, dozens of artifacts were strewn around the room and at least another dozen of bottles filled with liquid floated in the air. In all this chaos a frowning Dumbledore was mumbling bits of sentences to himself. "Why isn't it working?"
He had tried everything he knew but he couldn't wrap his head around how Lucas was able to cast magic while petrified without the help of any external artifacts or enchantments.
"What is your secret?" The headmaster whispered to himself as he looked away from the student's body towards the vial in his hand. He curiously examined the dark red liquid inside. "It makes no sense."
Having run out of ideas to test, he carefully stowed his toys away, "Do I have to wait for him to wake up?"
He wasn't yet sure how he would get the answer out of Lucas, but he had time. Eventually the boy would need his help, they always did. He just needed to be patient.
Regardless of his currently fruitless endeavour, he installed an additional protective barrier around Lucas that would shield any guest from being mentally influenced. After all he wouldn't get any additional information from having Madam Pomfrey exposed to his aura. There was no point.
----
'FUCK'
It has been a long time since Lucas invaded Madam Pomfrey's mind, unfortunately he never managed to do it another time, causing him immense frustration. He already did it once, then why couldn't he do it again? It just didn't make any sense to him. Even the feeling that had guided him had vanished. It didn't matter for how long he wandered along the edges of his mind, he never felt that pull.
He had tried everything that came to mind, but nothing helped.
'Shit! Why can't I do it again?' He was frustrated to no end. It was already bad enough that he was stuck here all by himself, but when the only opportunity to kill time and achieve one of his goals of coming to Hogwarts simultaneously was barred from him, he naturally got angry.
But this time he was done micromanaging his emotions, he had done that enough for 9 years. Ever since he had that accident he never showed an ounce of bad emotions, always smiling and being friendly. Always pushing his negative emotions down. He was done with that. If he wanted to cherish this live then he had to take it with all the bad and good. He wouldn't be able to form genuine relationships otherwise. It would come off as fake.
'*Sigh* when will this end?'
----
Time never stopped and weeks turned into months the golden quartet did their thing and Lucas bore through his solitary confinement.
Eventually the end of the year approached.
With a deafening *BANG*, the double door leading into the hospital wing flung open and Dumbledore as well as McGonagall and the Matron rushed a screaming boy inside. His cries would have been so loud your ears would have started to bleed, were you standing next to him, if he wasn't under a silencing spell.
"Dumbledore can't you just tell me what happened?" Madam Pomfrey said a little aggressive. She was fed up that the headmaster refused to tell her what caused the boy to scream like that.
"Poppy, what I am about to tell you can under no circumstances leave this room, do you understand?" Dumbledore said in his normal relaxed voice, as if the students injury wasn't important in the least.
"Sometimes I think your age is getting to you." The matron smacked back, she had had to sign a special magical contract before starting at the school, courtesy of Dumbledore and his concerns for the students mental health. Madam Pomfrey judgingly waited for him to diclose more inormation.
"He was bitten by a Basilisk. Fortunately, my phoenix was at the scene and could counteract the venom with his tears. But it seems like that was not enough to cure him. My guess is that they are in a kind of stalemate, the wound appears to open and heal over and over again." Dumbledore said wisely as he lifted the linen showing the matron Harry's right side with two destinct wounds. One on his arm and the other on his leg.
It looked strange, as if you played a video of your wound healing back and forth sped up. It was truly a sight to see.
'You never stop learning new things, do you?' Dumbledore meanwhile thought as he glimpsed at a corner of the hospital wing.
"And what do you want me to do? Basilisk venom isn't exactly part of the curriculum!" Madam Pomfrey complained, every year Albus seemed to bring her stranger and stranger injuries. 'I should get a pay increase.'
"I am aware that Basilisks are not in the medical curriculum, I hoped you would have an idea how to proceed from here." the headmaster reassured her that he wasn't looking for something unreasonable.
"Well, luckily for him the venom seems to be contained. And thankfully there doesn't seem to be any dark magic involved, which means I could cut off the affected section of his upper arm, regrow that part and then stick the rest back on. Same with his leg. That way it should only take about three weeks, give or take a few days. If you want me to regrow everything from scratch you would be looking at four months to half a year. Hands are a pain to work with." Madam Pomfrey gave him her best estimate after inspecting the wounds.
'Three weeks. That's too long to keep it from his parents.' the headmaster thought as he covered the boy with the linen again and said with a smile, before walking away "Three weeks sounds good, please start treating him immediately."
----
AN:
I decided to buff the Basilisk a little, I just thought it should be more deadly. I put it at the same level as phoenixes. I was a little disappointed when I watched the film.
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