The Young Padfoot *Book One*

Cracking Cauldrons

When we eventually got Harry up to the hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey was far from pleased at his state.

"You should have come straight to me," Madam Pomfrey tutted, as she held up Harry's limb arm. "I can mend bones in a hear beat—but growing them back—"

"You will be able to, won't you?" Harry asked desperately, as we walked him over to an empty bed.

"Oh, I'll be able to, most certainly, but it will be painful," Madam Pomfrey warned him, going over to get something from a cupboard. Ron and I helped Harry sit on the edge of the bed as if we let go, he would probably topple over to the side and as funny as that would be for us, it wouldn't be for him. "You'll have to stay the night." Madam Pomfrey had returned with a pair of pyjamas for Harry to wear and handed them to Hermione.

After handing them over to Ron, Hermione and I stepped outside of the curtain that was pulled across so Harry could change in privacy. Ron had stayed to help Harry as it was clear he was gonna have some trouble fitting his limb arm through the sleeves. We were stood out of the curtain for a while as they were clearly struggling.

"How can you stick up for Lockhart now, Hermione?" Ron called through the curtain. "If Harry had wanted de-boning he would have asked."

"Anyone can make a mistake," Hermione defended. "And it doesn't hurt anymore, does it, Harry?"

"No, but it doesn't do anything else either," Harry replied.

A few moments later, Ron opened the curtain and we walked back in to see Harry laying in the bed, his arm hanging their uselessly. There were three seats in Harry's little area so we all took a seat, watching Madam Pomfrey re-enter the room with a large bottle that was labelled 'Skele-Gro'.

"You're in for a rough night, Potter," Madam Pomfrey told him, pouring out some of the liquid into a cup. "Regrowing bones is a nasty business."

Harry took the cup and took a gulp of it, immediately spitting it out, missing Ron by inches. After sending him a look, Madam Pomfrey poured another cup and ordered he drank it properly. He did just that but it made him cough and splutter uncontrollably. Satisfied with Harry's effort, Madam Pomfrey left us alone as I handed Harry a glass of water.

"We won, though," Ron spoke up with a smile.

"That was some catch you made," I complimented. "Malfoy's face... he looked ready to kill."

"I want to know how he fixed that Bludger," Hermione admitted.

"We can add that to the list of questions we'll ask him when we've taken the Polyjuice Potion," Harry said. "Hope it tastes better than this stuff."

"If it's got bits of Slytherins in? You've got to be joking," Ron muttered.

Just then, the door to the hospital wing burst open revealing the whole Gryffindor Quidditch team, all soaking wet and covered in mud.

"Unbelievable flying, Harry," George said excitedly as the team reached us. "I've just seen Flint yelling at Malfoy. Something about having the Snitch on top of his head and not noticing. Malfoy didn't seem too happy."

The team then started getting out a whole bunch of cakes, sweets, and bottles of pumpkin juice.

"Can't have the Seeker missing out on the party so we brought it to you," Fred said when he saw our confused faces.

Not waiting for any more discussions, everyone started helping themselves to the food and juice, chatting excitedly about the match. Just as it started to turn into what could've been a good party, Madam Pomfrey came storming over.