Obliviate: The untold story of JK Rowling

Chapter 5: The Paper Bird

Harry's POV:

I wake up to a girl leaning over me. It is hard to tell which girl as she looks like a blurry mass; my glasses are placed on the hospital bedside table. She squeaks as if surprised to see me and hurriedly leans across to reach them, passing them to me awkwardly. Pushing my glasses up my nose, I sit up and groan; my chest feels like one giant bruise. She is tucking her long hair behind her ear, avoiding my eyes and looking rather flustered. I rub my head and groan again. My whole body throbs as I say groggily, 'What time is it?'

She checks her battered, leather watch and says shakily 'Ten past seven,' and adds, 'on Saturday.'

I look out the window at the dimming autumn sky, the first stars beginning to appear.

Saturday? That means I've been asleep for two days. I think back to the last thing I remember and my memory clicks.

'It's you!' I exclaim, peering at her wide-eyed. She peeps from beneath her hair and smiles faintly, nodding. The girl who saved me. I remember her running from the shadows and telling Ron and I not to lock the bathroom door. I remember Hermione's scream and our panic as she stayed calm and told us what to do. I remember her casting spells I had never known or heard of, and hoisting me into the air by my ankle, dodging the Troll's club. I remember the club swinging at me and a horrible, cracking pain but from there on it is just black.

'What happened after the Troll hit me?'

'McGonagall brought you up, and Madam Pomfrey gave you loads of healing potions. You had a few broken ribs,' she says, smiling apologetically.

I stare at her again and find that she is blushing, only briefly glancing at me. She has mousy brown hair, a kind face and blue eyes the colour of a frosty morning. Purple bags droop from them, and where her hand is resting on her bouncing knee I can see her nails have been bitten away. It occurs to me that I don't even know her name.

'I'm Harry. Well, I guess you know that,' I say awkwardly, 'what's you're name?'

'Joanne... Rowling,' she utters, 'but call me Jo.'

'Jo...' I said, trying the name out on my tongue.

The silence grows awkward, and Jo keeps fidgeting in the chair, stealing glances at me and blushing. She eventually breaks it by saying, 'I'd better go-'

'No! Stay!' I urge, before I know what is coming out of my mouth. I want to find out more about this girl, and why she seems to know so much about magic.

She stares at me, surprised, but sinks back into the chair. I then remember her being in some of my classes - a quiet Hufflepuff who never seems at all noteworthy, but I don't suppose it's in the nature of a Hufflepuff to shout about anything. I say, 'what spells can you do?', eager to find out more.

She sits in thought for a moment, but then bends over and opens the schoolbag by her feet. She whispers 'Accio parchment,' and I watch, amazed, as a yellowed scroll flies into her hand. Looking up, she is obviously curious at my awe, but only for a second. I guess that isn't the spell I'm supposed to be impressed by.

She then delicately folds the parchment into the shape of a bird and sets it by my feet on the bed. Pointing with her wand, a single blue spark shoots out the end and hits it. The paper bird flickers to life and shakes its wings as Jo lays out her hand. The bird hops on and pecks at her fingers. She lifts it to her mouth and blows, the paper bird taking flight and darting into the air with a sweet whistle. Jo watches it with a soft grin. The bird swoops and twitters, whizzing past my head. Suddenly it dives and I yelp as it brushes my nose. Jo bursts into a fit of laughter and soon I'm joining in too, but we stop abruptly as we hear a scuffle and loud footsteps coming from Madam Pomfrey's office. The smiles die on our faces as we look at each other, panicking.

But Jo has a plan.

She lifts a finger to her lips and winks, simultaneously pointing her wand at the bird and sending a red spark at it. I watch in wonder as the parchment catches alight and spirals to the ground. Jo then taps the wand to her head, and I can't tug my eyes away as she slowly became invisible, the spell like water trickling down her body. She merges with the background, but I can still see the air rippling slightly as she moves. Then from out of nowhere a real bird appears, and I guess this is from Jo's wand.

The door then opens and slams against the wall, appearing from it a harassed looking Madam Pomfrey. 'Potter!' she shrieks, clearly seeing that I'm no longer asleep. 'What on earth was all that racket?'

I point innocently at the robin that is circling the beams of the hospital ceiling and say, 'A bird got in, Professor.'

She looks up, annoyed, and says, 'Filch will get that later. Now Potter, I hope you're feeling better,' and begins to prod me with her finger saying, 'ah yes, this one has repaired,' or 'no, this needs a little more time,' then selects various potions with her wand from the cabinet across the room and spoons them into my mouth. Madam Pomfrey finishes quickly and sends the bottles of potion whooshing back to their shelves. 'A days rest, Potter and I expect you'll be back to normal,' and with that she leaves, tutting at the bird on her way out.

A giggle shatters the calm as Jo reappears, colour oozing back to her. 'That was close,' she says. I grin stupidly and say, 'That was amazing.'

She blushes deeply and looks away, studying her watch. Jo sighs and says, 'I better go,' and stands up to leave, grabbing her schoolbag. 'Bye, Harry,' she adds, and is halfway to the door when I shout, 'Jo!'

She turns expectantly as I say, 'how do you do it?'

She just smiles.

When I return to my dorm later the next day, I find a singing robin perched on the end of my bed.

**********

All the characters, apart from Jo, as well as the setting belong to JK Rowling.

I hope you're enjoying reading this so far, and would love any comments or any votes, helps a lot :) x