Jonquils And Lightning

Learning Harry

"Where did you learn those spells?"

"From books about healing animals before I came here."

Tom leaned on the fence and watched as Harry moved through the same repertoire of spells over and over again, first on the mare called Princess, then on her foal, then on a few other horses that stood grazing here and there. They didn't seem to harm the horses, although they did sometimes twitch their ears and walk a few steps in response.

Of course they don't harm the horses. Can you see Harry using spells that hurt innocents like that?

Tom had to admit he couldn't. And that thought made something low in his belly tighten with excitement, instead of the contempt it would have a fortnight ago.

"What do the spells test for?" Tom murmured. A brown gelding ambled towards him, nostrils flared, and Tom held out his hand flat. The gelding sniffed for a second more, then evidently decided Tom had nothing interesting to offer and turned away to flick his tail at a fly.

"Some diseases. The solidity of bone. How well they're digesting the food in their stomachs. The soundness of their hooves. The state of their coats. I found one horse that way that wasn't being groomed well enough by her owner." Harry sighed a little. "It turned out she was trusting her teenage son to do it and he just hadn't been. He cast illusions to make it look like the horse was being taken care of instead."

Tom snorted. It would never have occurred to him to lie about something like that, much less to use illusions to reinforce it. "You need to check all the horses for the same things? Even the foal?"

"No, I use slightly different spells on him. But there are still some conditions I'd need to know about right away if they were affecting him."

"Why did you decide that you wanted to heal animals?"

"I took enough away from the world during the war," Harry said, shaking his head a little. "And had enough taken away. Even after the war, it seemed all I could do was destroy. This is a way to give something back to the world. And keep helpless animals safe."

Tom turned to watch him. He'd finished casting the spells on the gelding, and was scratching the back of his neck with what looked like a Transfigured brush. The gelding was stretching and rubbing back and forth, lips wrinkled, seemingly caught up in the moment. "You didn't destroy. You saved your world, from what I can tell."

Harry wrinkled his nose. "Yes, but then I couldn't build up a normal life or even bind the Death Eaters who attacked me and deliver them to prison. I ended up killing them instead." He took the brush away, and the gelding turned his head and gave Harry a look that even Tom could read as reproachful. Harry paid no attention, instead staring at his hands. "I did try. My magic was too powerful. And my intent too murderous."

He said the last words softly, but Tom heard them. "You had the right to be as murderous as you wanted, after what they tried to do to you. I'm only surprised that as many people survived as did."

Harry shuddered a little and sent the brush flying back to the barn with a flick of his hand. "Well. It doesn't matter. That part is behind me now."

"Is it, if it bothers you so much?"

"Yes. Dorea asked me much the same thing, if I could be content to stay here after spending so much of my life fighting. I told her the same thing I'll tell you now: I'm glad to be done with it. I deserve some peace and quiet, and I don't want war or excitement, the way you and Jonquil do."

"Not subtle, Harry," Tom said with a faint smile. He felt as if he could stand here for hours and watch Harry, even though he was doing nothing more now than scratching the gelding with crooked fingers. "And I think there is something my world that would appeal to you."