Harry Potter and the Prince of Slytherin

Chapter 28: Meet Peter Pettigrew

8 November 1992
9:00 a.m.

Harry sat patiently while Poppy Pomfrey waved her wand over his head to perform a final diagnosis before his discharge.

"Well, Mr. Potter. Everything seems to be perfectly alright. That said, the brain is a tricky thing. I am 99.99% certain you are completely well, but it is still possible that you have suffered some sort of brain injury too subtle to show up in my diagnostic scans. If there is any damage at all, it will be to your temporal lobe, in that portion of your brain that handles speech and communication. Damage to that area sometimes results in communicative disorders, so if you find at any point that you are unable to understand something that someone else says, if you notice you are unable to remember words that you understood before yesterday, if you unintentionally substitute words in a random manner, or if you notice any other problems with communication, come see me immediately and we'll get you sent off to St. Mungo's for a more thorough examination and treatment regimen. However, that looks to be very, very unlikely based on what I've seen, so I see no reason not to release you at this time."

"Thank you, Madam Pomfrey," Harry said. "Um, do I have any school clothes here?" His Quidditch uniform was gone, replaced by plain pajamas.

"Ah, yes. Your friends Mr. Zabini and Mr. Nott brought some of your school clothes last night. They're on the chair next to your bed. Oh, I almost forgot. Your glasses didn't survive the Bludger, I'm afraid. Too damaged even for a Reparo spell. So, I took the liberty of contacting Healer Tonks in Hogsmeade, and he sent you a new pair. They're on the night stand."

Harry turned and picked up the glasses. They were of the same style he'd been wearing since his first day in Diagon Alley – circular lenses with wire frames, just like his father and brother wore. James had bought him a new pair to replace the awful ones Petunia Dursley had gotten for him out of a bin for donated glasses. Harry suddenly considered how acquiring glasses like these represented a part of his initiation into the House of Potter."I wonder if Ted could send me a catalog so I can look for some different frames. It's high time I stop following their lead."

The boy had just finished getting dressed when he heard a familiar voice call his name. It was Hermione, and as he peered around the curtain, he was pleased to see Neville with her.

"Hermione! Neville! What brings my two favorite Gryffindors here? I was just about to leave for breakfast. I haven't eaten solid food since yesterday morning." Then, he noticed their serious expressions. "Uh-oh. I know that look. What's happened?"

"We thought we'd best come in and walk you to breakfast," said Neville. "And on the way, we'd fill you in on the insanity that hit Gryffindor Tower this morning."

"Oh, good grief. What now?" asked Harry.

"You may have forgotten," Hermione said, "but no one has turned in Jim's missing invisibility cloak, so today was the day the castle was to be searched." He hadn't forgotten – the only questionable materials he owned were two slightly controversial Occlumency books and a pensieve of mysterious provenance, all of which he'd sealed away in the Lair. "And for reasons which defy all sanity and sense, the Gryffindor male dorms were searched by Professor Snape and your father."

Harry stared at Hermione as if she'd just said the moon was on fire. "Whose stupid idea was that?" he exclaimed.

Neville responded. "Apparently, Snape insisted on being the one to search Gryffindor Tower because he's convinced that Jim still has the cloak but hid it in order to get you into trouble. When your father heard that, he pitched a fit and insisted on following Snape around to make sure he didn't plant contraband among Jim's things. He needn't have bothered. Jim was apparently capable of leaving his own contraband around to find."