The Family that Chooses You

Chapter 74: St Mungo's Care

Harry looked about the exam room with mild interest.  He vaguely remembered visiting the Nurse's office before when he went to Muggle school.  More often than once to be honest, usually due to the not-so-tender care from Dudley and his friends.  He remembered a very clean and white room with a nurse who at first was rather kind.  Then the nurse somehow thought Harry was responsible for his own injuries, even going so far to accuse him of self-inflicting them for attention, and he never went back.

Of course, he had spent more than a few hours in the Infirmary at Hogwarts.  Enough for Madam Pomfrey to sarcastically dub one of the medical beds as "Potter's Bed".  He did not mind the tongue-in-cheek term; he really did use the same bed each time and it was rather comfortable.

St Mungo's was a proper magical hospital.  Upon entering, he was shocked to feel the sheer amount of magic in the air.  Places like Hogwarts and Diagon Alley literally felt magical.  One could feel the energy play across your skin, feel it tingle on your tongue.  You were fully aware that a high density of magic surrounded you.  It saturated the air like humidity after a hard rain.

St Mungo's was just like that, if not more so.  It was very clean and on the surface it appeared organized.  The patients that waited in the main room brought the chaos in, sporting all sorts of magical maladies and cursed appearances.  Harry had looked around with gigantic eyes at the sheer range of magical afflictions.  It was equal parts impressive and horrifying.

He and Sirius had been sent to the Continuing Care floor.  Here people undergoing long term treatment as well as being seen for routine exams visited and it was much more quiet than the loud waiting room.  Sirius had gone into the room slightly down the hall from Harry's and so Harry sat on the exam table quietly.  He looked around, not pretending to guess at the contents of vials and potions bottles that filled a cabinet, nor did he want to guess what some of the instruments did.

The door finally opened and much to his relief, he recognized the woman that stepped in.  "Hi Mrs. Bell!"

Samantha smiled warmly at Harry.  "Hello dear, it's lovely to see you."  She closed the door behind her and beamed at him.  "May I give you a hug?"

He nodded eagerly and happily embraced her.  "It's good to see you too."

She stepped back after he let go.  "Now before we begin, I wanted to ask you something.  To be honest, I saw your name on the schedule and requested to see you.  If you're comfortable with me, I'd be more than happy to be your primary care Medi-Witch.  You're allowed to request another considering I'm the mother of one of your friends.  I assure you I will divulge nothing to anyone save you and your magical guardian."

"Why would I request anyone else?" Harry asked.

"You might not be comfortable with me because I'm Katie's mother," she explained.  "Or for any other reason really."

"Is it bad that I want you to be my primary because of that?" he asked sheepishly.  "You've been really nice to me and I trust you."

She smiled brightly.  "Not bad at all and don't worry, I'll take extra good care of you."  She looked furtively about and her voice dropped into a conspiratorial whisper.  "Don't tell anyone I said that though."  She delighted in his giggle.

With a wave of her wand, she soon had several things floating around Harry.  "Since you've never had a proper exam before, I'm going to do an in-depth analysis.  This is going to take a bit of time, but it will make records of your health and that way we can figure out what's going on and what needs fixing.  You'll feel some poking and prodding and you might feel slight changes in your temperature, but that's just the charms doing their work.  However, feel free to ask me any questions while it's running."