Luck of Nines

48

  
The healing area was a large space, but still ultimately enclosed in layers of dead stone, like all the other sections of the castle, thankfully it was also filled with large windows that went nearly from the floor to the large arched ceiling. He could probably just reach the ceiling in his completely human form if he stood on the bit of stone that protruded from the wall surrounding each window, the windows starting at roughly his knee height.

He was ushered towards one of the many simple beds covered in uncomfortably white linen. The cloth on his bed in the dorms was made of dark fabric and black, the curtains a brighter shade of green, so at least then it felt natural, but nothing as blindingly white as the sheets in the medical wing existed in nature and it left him with an uneasy feeling in his stomach.

He let himself be led to one of the beds and sat down on its edge, initially setting his hands on either side of him, but then uncomfortably lifting them and wiping them off on his robes before setting them in his lap and shifting slightly further onto the bed's edge.

The lady frowned some more, but handed him something to drink, he took a cautious sip but quickly spit the strangely bitter and sour liquid out. Her frown turned stern and she gestured once more that he should drink from the goblet, before setting both hands on her hips, wand out. At this distance he could win in a fight, but that wouldn't fix his ears.

Better deaf than dead, the more sensible side of himself reasoned, which was true, but then he would be hunted, and without his ears? The risks were significant.

They probably wouldn't poison him though, it's not like they didn't have plenty of chances. He ate the food in the dining hall that was provided by Hogwarts and it's staff, certain people even had their diets nearly completely controlled and monitored by the medical wing.

This woman wasn't Hogwarts though, she just worked for it.

There was no knowing the type of person someone was. There never was, and excuses could be made for a dead student now and then. Slytherins weren't particularly liked.

But he was. Multiple students had come to express their thanks and admiration for him rather than just stare at him from the distance as they initially had. He would be missed.

Under the woman's watchful eye he drank the mixture and was handed another which he also drank. The next thing he knew the world was tilting sidewise and fading to black.

He woke up again, which was a good sign, as was the lack of ringing in his ears, the pain was gone too, but that was it, only silence surrounded him. He glanced about, placing his back carefully against the wall and pushing his sense of smell to its limit to try and account for the lack of hearing.

He hated it.

The feeling was equivalent to being wounded while surrounded by predators or, he supposed, perhaps this was the feeling humans got when standing in a crowd and finding themselves naked.

He was vulnerable and exposed and he hated it. At least the ringing had given himself something to focus on, the silence, complete, terrifying, all encompassing, was something of his worst nightmare and he could feel his breathing going rough as he panicked despite his attempts to keep calm. His ears strained and no longer looked human, he was sure, but he didn't particularly care about that. His magic lashed out around him, but without something physical which he could focus on it might as well not even be there. He could see it faintly like before, sense it just as clearly as usual, even the familiar smell of it was there, but he couldn't hear it and that bothered him all the more.

The next thing he knew, there was a rushing noise like a strong wind in a cave and then a pop! and sound flooded his ears. He released a small, quiet mewl of pain as it rushed back a little too strongly and his hands clamped around them in pain. He could hear breathing, so many people breathing, smaller humanoids lined the walls, watching, he could hear them too and their faint rustling as they waited- for what he didn't know- the clattering of dishes being washed multiple floors below and talking all about. He could hear the sounds of the giant, Hagrid, marching towards the castle from his cabin on the grounds with his heavy footsteps, and in the room just next door to where Ch-Harry himself sat, the healer startled up from her chair and rushed towards him, no doubt from an alert she had sent.

Despite the sudden clamor of noise, he calmed. This was familiar, he knew what to do, and he quickly went about dulling his hearing again to the point where it became manageable when surrounded by creatures as noisy as humans were in an echoey stone building. He looked human once more before the healer had opened the door leading to the room he sat in with all of the beds, and his magic and breathing were once more under control. Although, he supposed that didn't do much for the damage he had done in the meantime, the beds beside him were ruffled and one of the pillows to his right had been thrown a small distance, but there wasn't much to destroy in the medical ward so he figured it was fine.

"Oh my!" He flinched at her loud call.

Apparently the healer disagreed though as she rushed over to him, a few sweeps of her wand setting the beds on either side of him to rights, his own blanket which had been tossed roughly to the floor folding itself neatly down at the edge of the bed. He saw glass shards lift themselves up as well though and it was only then that he turned wide-eyed to see; he had shattered the windows on his left and right as well.

He blinked, startled. He hadn't even known, too panicked at first and then released and overwhelmed by his hearing, to have felt the fresh breeze or seen the glass shards. His eyes weren't that great at catching clear objects on the best of days.

        That didn't matter though.

"Are you alright dear?" She looked as if she had been crying, and it was only then that he realized how panic-stricken he had really been. For all he had tried to compensate with his other senses, he hadn't really been paying much attention to them, too distracted by the lack of his hearing.

The healer continued talking, something about a recuperation spell that he had broken, and how were his ears? He wasn't really listening.

As much as he hated the realization he had been Parkinson walking into the mouth of a hungry beast.

In the far corner of the room on one of the uniform beds, hidden behind a set of curtains, was a corpse, a female corpse maybe his age or a year or so older. Of course, he couldn't just ask about it.

"I'm fine." He finally said, "How is everyone else? Is the troll gone now?"

She let out a tiny cry at his question and her lip began to wobble despite the healer's best effort to keep her composure, "I suppose you'll hear about it anyway..." her legs didn't seem able to support her anymore and she collapsed onto the bed, "Hermione Granger... was in the girl's bathroom at the time and three of her year mates went to go warn her...and the Gryffindor prefect went off to warn the teachers about missing students sometime later that evening," she sniffled, "they... should be back from St. Mungos in a day or two and be able to attend classes not long after that, but I'm afraid Fay Dunbar... she's dead!"

The healer sobbed for real now, "So many dead children... I don't... I don't know what to do! Nothing like this has ever happened before and Dumbeldore-! He just keeps saying he has complete faith in me and my abilities! I'm a medi-witch, not a healer!" Harry didn't know what the difference was and didn't particularly care, "I don't know what to do with all this.. all this death. Hogwarts is the safest place on earth for a young witch or wizard, how is it that they just keep...keep... I'm sorry... I'm sorry...I couldn't save them... I couldn't save any of them..."

Harry sat there, uncertain what to do as the Medi-witch cried and cried, head in her hands, alcohol faintly on her breath, not a lot, but a little. The strong stuff.

        A little out of character for madam Pompfrey, I admit, but keep in mind she's just seen like two children mauled by a dog and now some days later she is seeing more eleven year olds, this time beaten with a club to near death, torn apart, and possibly even partially eaten. I think she's allowed a break down.

       Anyway, hope you've liked the story so far,
-T.A.L.A.