Spur of the Moment

Chapter 69

Harry grinned in triumph as he stunned Kingsley and bound him. He had finally beaten his brother in his defence training. He had practically begged for a half hour session in order to ignore everything else for a while. A week had passed since the diadem had been destroyed. They had quickly discovered that the Room of Hidden Things had been destroyed as well. Despite being the magical Room of Requirement, it hadn't been able to fix the Room of Hidden Things, instead making it inaccessible.

After catching their breath and verifying that they were, indeed, alive, they had brought Seamus to the infirmary. They ended up having to carry him as he was no longer able to walk from his injuries. Pomfrey examined them all, treating them for their minor injuries and then focused on Seamus. She told them he had suffered first degree burns, second degree in some areas on his legs from the knee down. Also, the cursed fire had begun to burn his bones. She would be able to heal him, but it would take some time. She figured he wouldn't be walking for at least a week and a half, and wouldn't leave the Hospital Wing for at least two weeks, three at the most.

Harry visited Seamus every day with Draco and Luna, Neville coming every two or three days. Dean never left the Hospital Wing despite Pomfrey's attempts to make him leave. Dean wasn't about to leave the person he loved, a feeling Harry knew all too well. Seamus was healing, but it was slow and painful. He still couldn't walk even though Pomfrey had thought he would be by now or at least beginning to. She figured he now wouldn't be out of the infirmary for at least a month. The fire had caused too much damage, especially to his bones.

His skin had been healed mostly and it was easy to see where the worst spots had been as the skin was pink and fresh. Pomfrey said it would always look like that now, as though skin had been taken from somewhere else and placed on the burn spots. She said he could get a salve from Severus that could help the appearance and make it look less like skin had been attached and more like it had been re-grown just as it had been.

Severus had been less than pleased when he heard they were all in the infirmary. He had walked in and immediately began lecturing them. They had all listened silently and looked down before grinning when Severus congratulated them on managing to destroy the horcrux even if it had basically been by accident. When they returned home, Harry and Severus had their own private celebration.

"Rennervate," Harry said, pointing his wand at Kingsley. He watched as the man's eyes opened and remembered what had happened. Kingsley grinned as he sat up.

"Well done, kid."

Harry smiled.

"Do you want to continue?" Kingsley asked, standing up.

"No, I think I'm okay for today. I just wanted a distraction and to do something different for a bit," Harry said. "All I've been doing is looking at the attacks and researching the Dark Mark. I'm still waiting for something from Hermione, though, so the Dark Mark stuff has kind of been halted."

"Hermione's helping you? I wasn't aware that you guys still really talked," Kingsley said as they left the spare classroom they had been using.

"We don't talk too much anymore, mostly when we need help with something, but we're still friends. Just not as close as we used to be," Harry said.

"I see," Kingsley said. "So, what is Hermione doing for you?"

"She's translating a book," Harry told him.

"Really? What book?"

"The Book of Camelot," Harry said and rolled his eyes at the same shocked expression he gained from everyone. "Yes, it's really The Book of Camelot. It just appeared in Slytherin's library. No, I don't know how."