Harry Potter- The New Prophecy

Long Road To Recovery

November 29th, 2009
A week had passed since Harry had woken up, and he still couldn't feel his legs. The days seemed to pass by slowly and held very little meaning to Harry. Every day was the same. He would wake up in the uncomfortable hospital bed, eat the bland breakfast that was served to all the patients, and wait for his physical therapist to arrive.

Physical therapy had begun almost immediately after Harry had woken up, and he hated it. His physical therapist, Freya, was a young blonde woman with far too much energy. She arrived each and every morning with a smile on her face and the hope that her exercises would work to improve mobility in Harry's legs. She was far too talkative for Harry's liking, and her upbeat personality and overly friendly demeanor gave Harry a headache. She was, in his opinion, like an excited first-year, ready for anything that came her way, and Harry couldn't wait until the day when he would no longer have to see her smiling face. Unfortunately, this was likely to be a while. Hermione seemed to think that Harry's dislike for the woman had more to do with his anger at the situation than with Freya herself, but all Harry knew was that if she shared one more success story with him, he was sure to explode.

Fred, on the other hand, liked Freya a lot. The young Weasley man would come by every morning just to see the woman, and he had even joked about hurting himself so that Freya could use her massage techniques on him. Unfortunately, Molly had heard her son say this, and the young man had gotten an earful from his mum.

When Harry wasn't in physical therapy, he spent most of his time cooped up in his hospital room, talking with his many visitors or playing a game of chess. Occasionally his dad or Sirius would wheel him outside to get some fresh air, but he never made it any farther than just outside the doors of St Mungo's. Most of his time was spent staring at the peeling paint on the walls and wishing he was anywhere else. There were even times when Harry wished he had never woken up at all. Today was one of those times.

Harry watched as Freya massaged his right leg and then his left. This was supposed to increase blood flow and possibly help him one day regain feeling in his legs, but so far it had done nothing more than make him uncomfortable. As she massaged his legs, Freya blabbed on and on about her own life-changing injury that had shaped her entire future. This was a story she had shared before, and Harry didn't have to listen to know what she was going to say.

When Freya was eight years old, she was in a car accident with a muggle friend and her friend's family. The accident had been a bad one, and they were all lucky to have survived. They had all been injured in the accident, but Freya, who wasn't wearing her seatbelt, had received the worst of it. She was told by several healers that she would likely never walk again.

In a last attempt to help their daughter, Freya's parents had taken her to a muggle physical therapist. A couple months after the accident, Freya stood for the first time. A few days later, she took her first steps. Within a few more months, it was like the accident had never happened at all.

"It was after I was healed that I knew what I wanted to do in life." Freya said. "I knew from that moment that I wanted to help people the same way my physical therapist helped me. So I went to Muggle College after leaving Hogwarts and used many of the techniques I was taught, bringing them into the wizarding world. I've helped several people over the years, and over half of them have recovered."

As Freya continued to talk, Harry did his best to tune her out. All he wanted to do was crawl in bed and never wake up. He went through the rest of his therapy session in a sort of daze, barely aware of the stretches and exercises Freya was performing.

"That's it for today." Freya said, snapping Harry out of his thoughts. "We'll pick up where we left off tomorrow."

When Harry got back to his room, he found that there were a group of people waiting for him. Fred stood just inside the door, no doubt waiting for Freya. The moment he saw her, he winked.