Harry Potter and the Stitch in Time

Chapter 58

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Chapter 58

It was the day after Halloween, and Harry had a smile on his face. Despite missing Halloween the day before, which considering his history with the holiday he wasn't sure if he should count as a blessing, Harry had received the news that he would be allowed to go back to school today. This may not have gotten most teenagers smiling, but it was Hogwarts and all of the best people in his life were there. It also wasn't the hospital room he was currently stuck in.

So Harry was a little disappointed that all the medi-witches and wizards who popped into his room to check on him were in a rather agitated mood. Harry had asked a few what was wrong, only to have them all give him some variation of the line. 'It's nothing for you to worry over. You should be resting.' Only one of them looked like they actually believed what they were saying, something Harry put down the man being a better liar than his colleagues. It wasn't until his grandfather arrived that Harry got an answer.

"Morning Grandfather," Harry said with a grin as Charlus walked into his room carrying a bag Harry assumed held a change of clothes for him.

Charlus tried to smile at Harry but couldn't quite manage it. "Hey, Harry. I got you a change of robes here. Ron and Hermione are dying to see you."

Harry felt the same. He had asked if they could visit, but his grandfather had informed him the two were in a little trouble with the school because they had broken out of the school a couple of times while he was unconscious. He had gotten a broken pile of half-truths from his grandfather, but he did say that Ron and Hermione had done a lot to discover it was Malfoy who had stabbed him.

However, Harry was more concerned about the dark look on his grandfather's face. "Grandpa Charlus, please tell me what happened, what's going on? You look like someone's just kicked your puppy."

Charlus let out a sigh. " Something happened last night. It's something bad." Charles paused to work out how to phrase what he was going to say.

However, at that point, Harry's mind jumped to the worst possible conclusions. "Hermione, Sirius, Ron? Please tell me they're all safe."

Charlus held up his hand realising were Harry's mind had gone. "They're completely fine Harry, nobody you know was involved." His words had an immediate calming effect on Harry. It would take a few minutes for the adrenaline to dump out of his system and for his heart rate to return to normal, but he was prepared to sit and listen again. "Last night Lord Voldemort attacked Azkaban with a horde of Inferi and freed all the Death Eaters, a bunch of other criminals, some people waiting on their trial, and Draco Malfoy."

That put an end to any thoughts of Harry remaining calm. He let out a particularly vitriolic string of profanity that actually had Charlus impressed by just how colourful some of Harry's suggestions were. One theme that ran through it though was that Harry felt like everything he had suffered at the end of the Triwizard Tournament was now worthless. Neither Charlus nor Harry knew that one of the reasons Harry wasn't a complete emotional wreck after being kidnapped, ridiculed, forced to fight for his life, and both being murdered and committing murder was that he considered what he went through worth it. It was a steep price, but it had gotten the Death Eaters off the streets and made the wizarding world a safer place. It wasn't perfect compensation, but it was enough for him. Now that had all been thrown away, the suffering had been for nothing because they were all free and back on the streets. He wanted to rip his hair out and scream.