After the War

Chapter 4

With a light bounce to his step, and the aching in his chest and body slightly lessened, Harry braved the lower floors of the castle. McGonagall had told him that repairs would begin tomorrow, but witches and wizards still strode throughout the broken halls and shattered corridors with a distinct purpose hovering around them. Per usual, people stared and pointed as he passed, a few shouting their gratitude or celebrations at him. Harry was confident that he had shaken every hand in Hogwarts the day before, yet some still approached him, eager to greet him again. As kindly as he could, he attempted to hurry the pleasantries along among strangers, all the while keeping his eyes peeled for Ron and Hermione. He had cruised through their common hallways with no sighting of them, and turned back to Gryffindor Tower to use the Marauder's Map to his advantage.

"Mr. Potter!" A stern voice broke through the din of chattering voices. "You have yet to come and see me!" He turned back around and saw Madam Pomfery striding towards him. He smiled sheepishly and was instantly transported to memories of basically every year prior when he was constantly being reprimanded to stay in his hospital bed in need of something called 'rest.' She reached where he stood and continued to scold him shamelessly.

"Honestly! It's been almost two days since the battle and you, of all people, haven't thought to see a healer." She grabbed his wrist and marched him towards the hospital wing. Harry decided it was probably best not to argue with her and walked along behind her, smiling to himself as people gaped at the tall witch dragging the Boy Who Lived.

The hospital wing was still full to capacity with the injured filling every bed. Although, most of the patients were happily chatting to visitors or catching up with old friends. Madame Pomfrey led Harry to the back corner where three wooden chairs sat, pressed away from the other patients. In two of them sat Ron and Hermione, now gash and scratch free. They began to greet him, but Madam Pomfrey cut them off almost instantaneously.

"Take off your jacket," she demanded. He complied and shrugged it off his shoulders and threw it onto the empty chair. She traced the gashes lining his arms with her wand while muttering incantations to herself. The bright red faded into a pale pink color before disappearing entirely. He dropped his arms when she came to a stop and made the mistake of thinking that they were done.

"Take off your shirt," she demanded again.

"What?" he balked, taking a hesitant step back.

"There's a cut on your back that I need to heal, so take off your shirt, Potter." Harry turned to Ron and Hermione, hoping someone would save him from the immodesty, but also from revealing his newest scar covering his chest.

"Just give in, mate," Ron advised with his own bashful smile. 

Hermione nodded alongside him and added "It's okay, you don't have to be embarrassed-- "

"No! No, it's not that!" he interrupted. "It's just... well, here..." He pulled the shirt over his head, still facing his two friends, as Madam Pomfrey tutted impatiently behind him. Still holding his shirt in a ball, he gazed down at the locket shaped mark just below his collar bone and the lightning strike that engulfed his skin. Madam Pomfrey was already healing the tear in his back when Hermione gasped and her hand flew to cover her mouth. Ron's eyes grew wide and his eyebrows disappeared into his hair.

"Oh, Harry! Is that from where... where...?" Hermione asked. Her confidence waned and she let her question hang in the air between them.

"Yeah," he sighed. His two friends looked at him in pity and Madam Pomfrey interrupted their exchange with no notice.

"All right, Potter. Let's just make sure everything else is in order," and without warning, she grabbed his shoulder and spun him around to face her. For the first time since the war had begun, she froze in shock, utterly unsure of what to do.