Healing Harry Potter

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Published: 4/24/2021

Having Harry calm down and keeping him calm were two entirely different things, Draco deduced, as Harry went from quiet to agitated in seconds flat. Periodic mood swings, he added to the list in his mind. Draco knew he needed to develop his own assessment of his condition, as the file that Laura handed him through the door was thicker than any he had seen. He had settled in for the room as Weasley and Granger had babysit Potter 24/7, he concluded that it would be unwise to break that protocol without at least a few nights of observation first.

Potter didn't seem to be offended or agitated by his presence, nor his observation. With his mates with him every minute of the day, he was probably used to it. Draco spent the rest of the day arguing with Harry about eating, taking Nutrient Potions and keeping up small talk with him. Potter made no task easy. Draco knew that his recovery would take a long while, but there was nothing he saw that indicated that Potter was beyond help.

Unfortunately, Harry had many panic attacks that Draco had to navigate through without the help of potions, spells or touching him. He also wanted to avoid using Occlumency every time Harry had a minor attack. It was the art of negotiation in most cases. He trickled in plenty of their schoolboy antics to keep Potter engaged and in the present, or at least not thinking about his captivity and torture. He was making headway in getting him to open up, and he had started sorting the areas of concern and facts he had gathered so far in his head to develop a treatment plan.

First, and arguably the most concerning of all, was Potter's wandless magic. Wandless magic isn't anything new, however, it comes from two primary places: skill and accidental magic. Most children grow out of accidental magic by the time they are of age. The accepted theory is that their magic is developing, so their core still is in a malleable state. Once temperament and restraint set in, tantrums and outbursts of magic disappear altogether. In fact, it is incredibly rare that an adult is able to unconsciously, or even consciously, do wandless magic.

When someone is being tortured or attacked, they don't "throw" off their attacker, like Potter did to Laura. Even in cases of a sudden attack, people can't just freeze or incapacitate their attackers and walk away unscathed. Potter never showed any ability whilst imprisoned by Draco's father, nor during the war or at school. He was concerned that if his core was "cracked", then Potter would never be able to control his wandless magic and therefore, would be doomed to a lifetime of supervision.

Potter would have to have considerable control over his emotions to be unsupervised, which would be impossible with a cracked core. He was nowhere close to having any control, and why Stout and every other healer had planned him to isolate in a magic-restricting room. Draco did not want that, which is why he was concerned, as Potter did not handle confinement, especially solitary confinement, easily. 

Still, Draco wasn't convinced that permanent hospital commitment would be required, as the other accepted explanation was skill. However, it takes decades of practice, and calm focus to do wandless magic. Potter was not calm, nor focused, nor significantly aged, which is why everyone had dismissed it. Draco didn't. Potter was a strong and powerful wizard. There was nothing random about his "accidental" magic. Things didn't randomly move or explode. He didn't hurt Laura when he blasted her into the wall. Potter didn't send him across the room if he moved too quickly.

No, his magic, as accidental or unconscious as it appeared, was really neither. His restraints Vanished. He wanted to be free, so he was free. Laura was raising her wand, then she was knocked to the ground. His friends said that he could bypass wards and walk through walls... and that was no accident. Having spent five years without his wand, Potter must have adapted and that meant his core wasn't cracked. He was almost sure Potter was able to do magic, any magic, at will or at least to some degree of conscious effort. That meant he wouldn't need to be supervised for the rest of his life.