Everlasting ⁂ Harry Potter [1]

Chapter Forty Two

The word had spread through the castle, as it always seemed to do. The rumour mill of students, thrilled by new bits of exciting gossip made it spread like wildfire, and soon enough everyone knew about the Chamber of Secrets being closed and the monster within them having been defeated. Once again, the school was saved by no other than Harry and Ron.

And it all happened just in time. For days now, ever since Professor McGonagall had announced that the Mandrake Draught would be finished soon, everyone had been waiting for the day when the Petrified students would be cured and everything was once more as it should be.

And while other students were banned from the Hospital Wing as the cure was administered and Madam Pomfrey only needed to wait for the potion to take hold and do its work, the Hogwarts Mediwitch still had some company in her wing as some parents found it hard to stay away once the good news reached them.

"So how long should it take? Are you sure it's going to work? How does it even work?" The string of questions made all eyes turned towards the only Muggle in the Hospital Wing, in the whole school, as he paced up and down the length of the space in front of his daughter's bed.

When Nadia Volkov had suddenly appeared in the middle of his kitchen, quite literally, Ted first had to get past his heart attack to be able to listen to what she had to say. But once he heard her proposition, it was one Ted couldn't possibly turn down. Ever since Olivia got accepted into Hogwarts, he knew his chances of seeing the school himself were quite slim. However, as during the months in which both their children had been Petrified, he had grown quite close to the trio of parents and surprisingly enough, it was what made Nadia willing enough to break the rules and get him into the school so he could be there when his daughter woke up.

And when they arrived, he was more ready to pull Olivia out of school for all eternity when he saw the disarray and chaotic state of the castle. However, Nadia, Nicholas and Henry found it all very amusing to his surprise. It wasn't until Nadia used a spell, one he couldn't repeat for the life of him, that he was able to see the reality of the school and all its glory. And were he there for any other cause, perhaps he would have taken hours, maybe even days, to gawk at every corner, but he was in a rush, wanting to be there when Olivia was back and not wanting to have her wake up when he wasn't there.

For months he had been twisting and turning with nerves and worry. He missed receiving letters from Olivia and reading about her adventures and what she was learning. Although, he received plenty from the Volkov, Cahill, Rawlins trio who continued to send him updates after their every visit to the school. Oliver was the only Muggleborn child whose parents could still come around considering they themselves weren't Muggles or Muggleborn even. And after all these months, now he wasn't going to get a letter, but he would actually see his little girl again.

"Ted, it'll work. I helped make it myself." Nadia reassured him, her voice sympathetic as she could certainly understand the man's anxiety at the moment. Perhaps not even fully. Nicholas, Henry and she at least had some understanding over what was happening, for Ted, this was all unknown.