The New Trio and the Philosopher's Stone

Chapter 3: The Questions to No One

Notes:

Anyone noticing the chapter titles? I think they're brilliant... but then again, I'm slightly biased towards me.

Anyway, it's 2:30 am where I am, so it counts as Monday, my update day. Fight me.

JK's fantastic, her story is incredible, I'm just a fan, trying to get some of her headcanons out there.

I'm so tired.

It took him a total of three weeks for his magical core to recover from the horrible ordeal. The first week was spent mostly sleeping, since it had tired out his body trying to stay conscious, and when he woke up, he found he was different from what he remembered. Since he had always been rather small and skinny, he'd figured that it was due to genetics, or some other such subject that Remus liked to quiz him on sometimes. However, he woke to a definite growth spurt, and he didn't feel quite so skinny.

When he came downstairs for breakfast, he felt absolutely ravenous. Logically, this could have been put down to him not having eaten for the past week, but when it came to magic, this was not the case. Remus and Sirius had spelled Nutrition Potions, which provided all the necessary nutrients and vitamins to keep him alive, into his stomach shortly after they were done with their own meals. No, this was the appetite of someone whose mental need to not eat much had been removed. The Healer had provided a list of all the blocks removed, which turned out to be very helpful as he recovered.

His next revelation came the following week when he was suddenly itching to know what Remus was reading. He crept up behind his godfather and poked his head over his shoulder. "Harry, if you wanted to know what I was reading, all you had to do was ask."

Harry shrugged. "I wouldn't have stopped there. I would have asked what it was about, what you thought about it, and if you could hurry up so I could read it."

Remus blinked. "You were always rather curious about any secrets, but this is certainly new."

"I know, it's weird. Then again, I didn't feel like asking what you were doing sneaking around the kitchen late last night. I felt curious, yes, but I didn't have the urge to get up and confront you or do something about it. It's a bit disconcerting, because I knew that that was what I normally felt, but I just didn't."

Harry saw Remus' cheeks redden a bit. "I was sneaking a bowl of ice cream upstairs, and anyway, what were you doing up so late?"

"Drawing," Harry said in nonchalance.

By this time, the book had been abandoned on a nearby end table, and Harry was sitting in Remus' lap. This allowed Harry to see Remus simply raise one eyebrow, and he squirmed under his questioning gaze. "I just had all these really great ideas, and I felt like I couldn't sleep until I had drawn out at least sketches of them. Maybe there was a net that prevented me from using up too many precious resources or something. You told me how Sirius saved me from being put with my relatives, so maybe Dumbledore put these things on me to make me meek, malleable, and easy to abuse or something. The freedoms I've encountered so far certainly seem to fit the bill."

Remus' eyes were now boggling out of their sockets, and in a slightly hoarse voice said, "Your talking style has also changed. You don't talk like a ten-year-old anymore, and your hypothesis as to that man's motivations is quite possible."

Harry looked chagrined. "That might be because I went into the library yesterday, and researched some of the blocks on the list, and then read up on some of your psychology textbooks."

Remus gave a low whistle. Then, he said in a slightly louder voice, "Hey Siri, come in here for a sec!"

Sirius strolled in, a pear in one hand and a Daily Prophet in the other. "What is it, Rem?"