Three Hallows' Eve || Harmione & Jily

Chapter 10.3

The WAND potions were absolutely the worst thing that existed on Earth, and that was just a fact. At this point Harry thought that he'd prefer to have actually gone through both spattergroit and mumblemumps rather than be lying back on this cot in St. Mungo's feeling horribly sick as the room spun at pace around him. Add to that the compulsive urge to wiggle the toes on his right foot, and the need to keep flexing and right hand to assure himself that his fingers were still there. This was even worse than he remembered it being three years ago. He was sure that he'd never been so uncomfortable in his short life, which was saying something because he'd actually died as a toddler.

A sudden shiver ran over his body, and he became aware of the by now familiar sensation of needing to do something. What that something was exactly, he wasn't sure, but he'd find out soon enough. His vision darkened slightly as the room stopped spinning and regular feeling returned to his extremities. He cocked his head and squinted as he searched for whatever it was that he was supposed to be noticing.

Over the years, he'd gotten quite good at this, despite not really knowing what this was. Last year he had tried to explain it to his Mum. It always started the same way: a strange kind of magic would wash over his body, soon followed by the uncanny intuition that he was needed. Normal vision would fade as though somebody had turned the lights right down, but not completely off, and unseen connections between people would become suddenly visible. They were like thin threads of any given colour, tying people together.

They weren't typical connections, though - Mum and Dad didn't have one between them showing their marriage, and there wasn't a new one connected to him signifying the vow Bertha had made earlier. When he described them to Mum, she suggested that they connected people who were fundamental to each other in some way, kind of like they were fated for one reason or another. That explanation sounded about right to Harry, and he was further convinced earlier when leading Bertha through the corridor and they had passed a Healer who had almost a dozen threads connecting him with different people, some within the waiting room and some not.

At the moment, there were two threads tied to Harry himself. One had always been there, pure white and familiar despite his not knowing who it tied him to. He'd always had the sense that he didn't need to know who it connected him to - not yet, anyway - so he'd never sought it out. The other had appeared after his first dream about the girl, the Raven's daughter. That thread had started out as glittering silver colour, but over the last couple of years had slowly started changing to a beautiful gold. It hadn't completely changed colour yet, and he figured it wouldn't until he met her, which was probably a little while away still.

Experience told him that there was a new connection coming now, though, and it was just a matter of letting it find him. He didn't have to wait long.

A wispy, crimson thread slowly snaked its way through the ajar door and started in his direction. Harry sat patiently as it reached out towards him and gently touched his chest. A veritable flood of information made itself known to him, and he took a deep, shuddering breath as he worked his way through it. There was a woman in the hospital who was dying, and there was nothing the Healers could do for her. The illness wasn't a magical one, which was uncommon as most Muggle illnesses didn't affect witches and wizards. She'd contracted it from caring for her parents, which meant she was probably Muggle-born, and it had taken its hold on her. The woman had more to do though - it wasn't her time yet - which was why he needed to help her.

'Harry? Everything okay?' Mum asked.

He nodded, before turning to her so she'd see his eyes. 'Have you got my glasses on you?'

She rifled through her handbag and produced a pair of sunglasses for him. It was an elegant, if not a bit bizarre, solution to making sure that people didn't see his eyes. The last thing they wanted was more rumours and speculation in the papers about the family, particularly him. 'What's going on?' she asked as he put them on. They also provided the unintended effect of darkening his vision further, which made it easier to follow threads, which was handy.

'I need to go upstairs before we leave. There's someone in the hospital who needs help.'

'I imagine there's more than one,' his Dad interjected, chuckling at his own joke, though he stopped soon enough as both Harry and his Mum shot him twin reproachful glares. He was saved from any further reprimand by the Healer coming back into the room, accompanied by a floating quill and healer's pad.

'Well those are some fancy glasses there, Harry,' she chirped as she came to his side.

'They block out light,' he explained. 'Valerian gives me a headache, always has, so I put these on to help.'

She waved her wand over him as he spoke, silently casting a diagnostic charm, and the quill started scribbling away the results. 'Ah, yes. My cousin had a similar reaction to peppermint when she was younger. We usually grow out of things like that in our teens, though, you'll be glad to know.' The quill stopped writing and she gave a quick glance over the results before looking back at him. 'Well everything looks practically perfect here. How are you feeling?'

He wiggled his fingers at her demonstratively and smiled. 'Fine, actually. Last time my fingers were tingling for hours but they feel like they're back to normal already this time.'

'Excellent! In that case, if I can just ask Mum or Dad to sign at the bottom of here for me, then you're free to go,' the Healer responded cheerfully, plucking the quill and pad out of the air and passing them over to Mum, who dutifully signed her name. 'Fantastic. Have a good day, folks!'

'I wish I had even half of her positivity,' Dad mumbled as she left.

Harry snorted and swung himself off the cot, pushing the glasses up the bridge of his nose. 'Follow me,' he said, leading his parents out of the room and further into the hospital.