The Tangled World!

Obvious in Hindsight

Returning to consciousness was more painful than Harry expected. At first, the pain felt like it was everywhere, but as his senses returned to him, it localised on his wand arm and the left side of his head. He groaned and slowly pushed himself upright as his eyes adjusted to the surprisingly bright room. His glasses were easily found by fumbling around on the nearby table, which thankfully had a much needed glass of water.

The room was... clean? There was a better word than clean, but he couldn't think of it through the fog in his brain. Despite being made of the typical... kinds of rocks that made up Hogwarts, the very essence of the room smelled clean, in a non-literal sense. Each side of the room was lined with beds with retractable curtains separating them. The upper half of each wall was lined with tall, frosted windows, letting lots of light in, but no details from outside.

"Wha' happen..." He mumbled, his voice coming out far more slurred than he would have expected.

"What happened is you suffered from a concussion and a minor skull fracture, in addition to severe bruising along most of your body!" The... Harry didn't know her name or title. She was the witch who ran the hospital wing — that was all he knew about her.

Harry tried to piece the memories together, but everything was jumbled. He remembered fighting, an explosion, and... chess?

"Your injuries are healing well, at least. Concussions are tricky to treat, but you weren't blasted into a wall, so you seem to be healing faster than the others."

The others...? The others...! "What happened to the others?" He tried to ask, though it came out more as "Wha' happen others?"

"Every one of you is badly bruised, though you and Miss Davis had bruises deep enough that they went down to your bones. Miss Davis and Miss Greengrass were both suffering from magical exhaustion, which can only be treated with time. Miss Greengrass suffered some spinal damage, and Miss Granger's skull was actually cracked."

Holy crap. That... that was bad. "They 'kay?" He slurred.

"Of course they'll be fine. I am a healer, after all, and I'm quite good at what I do, if I do say so myself. This may be more extreme than the usual gauntlet of injuries I'm used to treating, but most students don't end up in duels to the death with their defence professors. I'm going to administer a sleeping charm now. You still need rest."

Harry tensed slightly as she pointed her wand at him, but he didn't have any time to panic before the sleeping charm took him.

"I still say you should call the aurors over this, Albus." Minerva insisted. "Quirinus is dead, and even if he was killed in self-defence, I'd still say that this warrants a proper investigation. There are limits to what we can do without proper forensic specialists, you know."

"And as I have told you every time you've brought this up, I will not see these children slandered or brought to the attention of the public for their role in this unfortunate affair. Aurors may have a high professional integrity, but their lips can still be loose under the right circumstances... or for the right price."

Minerva felt her lips thin. Yes, Albus had a point — no child deserved to be dragged through the mud for murdering someone who, as all the evidence suggested, tried to kill them. At the same time, she was certain that Madame Bones could make some exceptions in procedure for the sake of discretion, should she be asked. Minerva was certain that there was more to this than that, though.

No, she was quite certain that this was just as much about discretion as it was about maintaining the sovereignty of Hogwarts. Albus was not afraid to exercise said sovereignty whenever the situation allowed it — most likely as a holdover from the days when the Ministry was controlled by either Voldemort's lackeys or those imperiused by said lackeys.