Chapter 49: What to do?

When Tom apparated them to the hospital Harry had managed to calm down again somewhat. Mostly by drinking a Calming Draught, but... yeah. At least he was reasonably sure to not burst into tears again in the foreseeable future. Much to his relief, it had been embarrassing enough in front of Tom, really. Even if it did not manage to rid him of his concerns, lurking at the corners of his mind.

Trying to focus on something to keep his mind occupied, Harry took a look around. They had appeared into what seemed to be a small side chamber - the apparition point of the hospital, if he had understood Tom's short explanation before correctly - and were now exiting it into the reception room.

In it sat a few witches and wizards on unsteady looking wooden chairs. Some seemed normal enough, reading what seemed to be the magic equivalent to the trivial magazines found at any muggle doctor's surgery, others were not quite as normal. Harry could see one person who had a thick horn growing directly out of their forehead and another whose skin was a rather ugly shade of purple. Also something - or someone - in the room must have been emitting a rather strong odour, as the air was smelling slightly strange.

Something that caused Shiva to hiss in discomfort. Loud enough for Harry to hear despite her currently being wrapped around Tom's arm - however reluctantly - as they were worried of anyone discovering her should Harry be examined more closely. And there was no need to induce some sort of panic right now, really.

Thankfully the general noise level in the room was quite high, so it seemed like nobody else had noticed yet.

Tom then started moving towards what must have been the reception or something, as there was a young, blonde witch sitting behind a desk, talking to people that were lined up in front of it, causing Harry to follow him, coming to halt at the end of the short queue. Time enough for him to read through the floor guide that was hanging next to the desk.

It really was a big hospital it seemed, with five floors treating all kinds of things, from exploded cauldrons to bites of magical creatures and poisoning...

Harry grimaced a little as he remembered that this must have been the hospital they had brought Snape to after Shiva had bitten him. Well, at least there was a whole floor dedicated to injuries from magical animals, so he must have been somewhat well cared for.

He was brought out of his thoughts when the last person in front of them moved away, causing the woman behind the desk to call out to them. "Next!"

Tom stepped up and Harry followed suit, watching the other as he put up a smile that looked so honest, if a little worried, it was almost creepy. Especially since his face obviously was different again, making him look like an honestly concerned, middle aged man. Obviously Harry had forgotten just how good of an actor Tom really was.

"Excuse me, is this the right place to register someone as a patient?" he asked politely, causing the witch, who had seemed ready to snap a quick answer at him to pause for a second, before she looked up and nodded.

"Yes. Who do I need to register?"

She was obviously looking at Tom, but he was only motioning to Harry.

"Harry Potter."

The moment the name was out the witch gasped, eyes shooting up until they came to rest on Harry's forehead, causing him to shift uncomfortably.

Right, back to being popular, he had almost forgotten. Again.

"O-Oh my, what's your ailment, then?" she asked once she had caught herself, now addressing Harry directly, if with a small stutter.

Tom answered for him anyway.

"I apologise, but it's a rather private matter, I would say."

She frowned lightly as her gaze returned to Tom.

"I'll have to write something for the records though, and we need to find the right healers for him..."

Tom nodded slowly.

"It was a cursed artefact. I assume this means the ground floor?"

The witch blinked in surprise, but nodded a moment later.

"Yes... Just... Please take a seat, a healer will be with you shortly."

She was still a bit flustered, that much was obvious, but she still motioned towards the chairs to the side and Tom nodded at her with another smile, before walking over to the seats. Harry, once again, simply followed him, feeling oddly out of place. A side effect from the Calming Draught?

Thinking about it, he didn't think he had said a word since Tom had offered him the potion. Mostly because it was all just too much.

As if sensing his thoughts, Tom looked over to him, looking almost worried again.

"How do you feel?" he asked quietly, causing Harry to grimace.

"Not so good... let's just hope for the best."

Tom nodded in understanding, before turning his head a bit to look around.

Something Harry decided was probably more interesting than just staring at the ground, so he did the same.

At least until he noticed how a few people stared at him. Damn, had their conversation with the welcome witch been too loud?

Returning his gaze to the ground to avoid even more attention Harry almost missed when a person stepped up in front of them, just looking up in time to see a rather young, dark skinned man in lime green robes hold out a hand in greeting.

"Good afternoon Mister Potter, I am Healer Johnson," he stated, though speaking at least somewhat quietly to perhaps not alert everyone to his presence. "We're going to have you looked at right away, please follow me."

So Harry did, wondering if there was a reason why other healers seemed to have talked to people waiting around first while he was immediately taken away. But then again, the way the welcome witch had looked...

If this was preferred treatment, he was for once happy to accept it. He was not discussing this where everyone could listen!

He was led down a side corridor he hadn't really looked at before, past a few nondescript doors and some portraits of other famous Healers until they reached a specific door it seemed, as it was opened and they all walked into it.

The room inside looked like some sort of office, with a plain, white desk standing in the middle and chairs around it. One behind it, presumably for the healer, three in front of it.

Only once Tom had closed the door behind him and the Healer turned back around to face them did he seem to notice that there was actually a third person in the room as he blinked in surprise.

"And who are you? I thought I would be looking at Mister Potter now?"

Tom nodded politely, looking not very bothered by the man's confused tone.

"You definitely should. My name is Thomas Grant, I'm a Curse-Breaker and the person who found young Harry yesterday and brought him here as soon as I could. Since I have some information about his case, perhaps more details than he is aware of, I thought it best to join this meeting, provided Harry does not mind."

At that, the heads of both men turned towards said boy, who squirmed uncomfortably.

"Uh, fine with me," he finally said, causing Healer Johnson to nod after another moment of hesitation.

"Very well then. Please take a seat." He pointed at the three chairs on one side of the desk before sitting down on his own on the other side.

Once everyone was seated, he looked back and forth between the two of them.

"Who can give me the best overview of what, exactly, is the problem? Curse damage is a very broad term after all, and usually Curse-Breakers are even more qualified to fix these than healers, so... what's the situation?"

"If I may?" Tom asked, looking at Harry, who all too readily nodded, leaving the talking to him. He wasn't sure if he could give an accurate explanation of what had happened, much less lie properly about it right now. Was the Calming Potion wearing off? He hoped not, ugh...

"To give a little bit of context, with me being a Curse-Breaker I travel a lot, mostly outside of Britain, so when I'm back home I tend to try and look into various more secluded spots, for adventure's sake. As such, imagine my surprise when I was travelling through one of the lesser known forests of Scotland and suddenly hearing a piercing scream."

Harry winced slightly at the reminder. Not that he remembered much of what had happened between putting on the ring and waking up in Tom's guest room, but... he did remember the pain, and the screaming, to a degree. Healer Johnson seemed to be listening intently though, eyes fixated on Tom in curiosity as he spoke on.

"Obviously I went to investigate, and... well, I found him." He motioned to Harry. "He was screaming his head off and his robes had been somewhat tangled so it wasn't too hard to see there was something very bad happening..."

"What do you mean?" the healer asked in confusion. Right, his sleeves were still down and they had decided it might make sense to wear thin gloves to not show the arm to the world.

With a soft sigh, Harry removed the glove before pushing up his sleeve, revealing the blackened lower arm to the man. Who gasped in shock once he noticed.

"What is that? Did you get hit with a Withering Curse?"

Harry winced and Tom frowned, but obviously waited if Harry wanted to answer himself.

Well, he didn't. He wasn't sure he could actually explain any of this right now.

As such, after a moment of silence and Harry slowly shaking his head, Tom took over again.

"No, it wasn't a Withering Curse. At least, not one of the usual variant. He put on... this."

He took out a small metal box from his pockets and put them on the table between them.

"Just as a heads up, I've destroyed the object inside, as there were some even darker forces at play. It was either that or carry a potentially lethal and probably highly illegal device around with me, so... my apologies. I am rather sure the curse was a one-time trigger though, so it did not seem like anything more could have been learned from the item in regards to it."

The healer frowned, but motioned for Tom to continue.

Opening the box with his wand, another flick of it had the broken pieces of what looked like the ring Harry had put on hovering in the air.

Harry's eyes widened and he barely stifled a gasp. Hadn't this been a Horcrux?!

Taking a look at Harry Tom actually looked apologetic, confusing him momentarily.

"I apologise for making you face this again," he explained, causing Harry to wonder for a moment if the other might have misinterpreted the gasp.

Not that he had much time to think about it as Tom turned back to the healer just then.

"In any case, the curse on this object was one of the vilest I have encountered in quite a while. And... I'm afraid, if untreated, it will end... badly."

"How bad...?" the healer asked carefully, suddenly seeming very focussed, looking back and forth between Harry and Tom.

It was a surprise Tom could speak as evenly as he did just then.

"In death."

Closing his eyes to try and hide the grimace that was threatening to form on his face, Harry couldn't see the healer's reaction, but when the man spoke again his voice was audibly shaky.

"That... what? I mean..." He was quiet for a moment before speaking on, a bit more steady. "This is not acceptable. I would suggest transferring him to the artefact accidents ward immediately! We need to see if there is anything we can do, perhaps let some of our own Curse-Breakers see the damage - all under medical confidentiality, of course!"

The last part seemed to have been added somewhat in a hurry, and when Harry opened his eyes again he saw Tom staring intently at the healer, so... perhaps that was connected.

In any case, this would probably be a long day... So Harry just took a few more calming breaths - he wasn't sure, but the Calming Draught must be wearing off because he could feel his heart rate increasing again as worry and fear gripped at him, if a bit weaker than before - before agreeing to the healer's terms. And perhaps, just perhaps, there was a method the people here could think of that Tom had missed? After all, the man was powerful, but not infallible. There had to be something...

ooo

As such, the next hours were filled with people bustling around, mostly healers going in and out of the room, each new person causing the knot of dread in Harry's stomach to tighten a bit.

It was obvious that no one really had a clue what to do.

Once, a younger healer suggested just chopping off the blackened part of his arm outright, possibly regrowing it later or replacing it with a prosthesis.

The idea was quickly shot down again though by one of the Curse-Breakers that had been brought in, claiming that the probability was way too high that a dark curse of such a lethality level would just jump over to another part of the body, as it was Harry who was cursed, not just his arm. And if he would be unlucky the next part the curse would travel to would be his heart, ending the whole thing rather quickly. And not in a good way.

Tom meanwhile was almost completely overlooked, much to Harry's surprise and confusion. He was standing in a corner of the room, quietly observing the happenings, commenting only when pointing out specific flaws with other people's plans or when directly asked about something in regards to the curse.

And still, his presence greatly helped Harry in staying somewhat calm through the whole process - possibly also connected to Tom interjecting most of the times when the constant questions of what had happened and how threatened to overwhelm Harry as, of course, every new person entering the room just had to ask the same stupid questions again and again.

ooo

This went on for a while longer, until the door of the room he was in was basically slammed open, causing everyone inside to turn and look at it.

Harry had only a second to process that Sirius and Remus stood there, both looking somewhat ruffled and out of breath, before the former was already rushing towards him, pretty much shoving a younger healer out of the way to get to him.

"Harry!" was the only thing Harry heard before being engulfed in a bone crushing hug.

It was probably a good thing he wasn't outwardly hurt, because that did seem a little bit insensible of his godfather - though at that moment Harry admittedly couldn't care less.

He just hugged Sirius back, for once grateful for this kind of physical expression. It just... made him feel so safe, somehow.

They stayed like that for a bit, with Sirius muttering some encouraging words about how the healer had told him the gist of what had happened but they would manage this and he would stop at nothing to help Harry to get over this, but finally one of the other people in the room cleared their throat rather pointedly and Remus put a hand on both of their shoulders, gently prying them apart.

"I'm as glad to see Harry as you are, but I think we should let the healers do their job," he said quietly, focussing mostly on Sirius, though shooting a few worried glances at Harry too.

With a sigh, Harry let go again, agreeing with the assessment but not feeling any better with it. Sirius seemed to agree as well, hesitantly, as he stepped back only very reluctantly, but still stayed nearby as Healer Johnson stepped back up.

"I took the liberty of informing your guardians, Mr Potter, as your... condition might need some time to be properly examined. We're doing all we can."

With that, and after waiting for a small nod of acknowledgement from Harry, he joined Sirius and Remus to discuss the situation with them, partly including Tom, while leaving Harry to the Curse-Breakers again. He tried to listen in to the conversation, but with the other people between them and him - who switched back and forth from casting diagnostic spells on him to asking him various, often seemingly random, questions or just scribbling some things on some parchments they had put on a nearby table - he didn't really catch much. Just great...

ooo

In the end, St. Mungo's had managed to keep him for a week. One week of endless streams of Curse-Breakers and healers, bustling around, mostly talking theory but sometimes actually testing one or another. Although nothing had been even slightly successful as of yet.

It had not helped either that somehow the Daily Prophet had learned of what had happened after all, releasing a special edition on the third day of Harry's stay in hospital - and with it summoning whole groups of new Curse-Breakers who wanted to try their luck in finding a solution to his problem.

To Harry it seemed like they really just wanted to have a try at the fame of having cured the Boy-Who-Lived... Or just ogle him, respectively.

At least the Prophet hadn't yet found out with what, exactly, he had been cursed, judging by the surprise, and even sometimes horror, on the Curse-Breaker's faces once they were told. Though that was disturbing on its own, somehow.

As such he was rather glad for Sirius and Remus' almost constant presence, with at least one of them in his room at basically all times, talking to him, taking his mind off of everything whenever no healer or Curse-Breaker was around. They had been the only visitors allowed too it seemed, for which Harry was very glad, considering the amount of complaints he had heard from Healer Johnson about people trying to sneak in after that newspaper article.

And then there was Tom, of course, who somehow had managed to be an almost constant presence as well, keeping some of the more overeager people at bay despite rarely leaving his corner, even when only Remus and Sirius were present.

Still, it had been... surprisingly touching, somehow, to see that they actually cared. But Harry was still very glad when he was finally allowed to leave again.

Sure, no cure had been found yet, but people were honestly trying, research was being made, experiments scheduled for the future... People were working on it, and while Harry wasn't exactly happy with it, he... well, he at least managed to push the darker thoughts from his mind most of the time now.

ooo

When he was finally being released he certainly breathed a little lighter as Sirius apparated him to the outskirts of Hogsmeade, from where they could make their way to the castle without being gawked at too much.

Remus had been contacting Professor McGonagall the day before, informing her, as the Gryffindor Head of House, of Harry's return, so she awaited them at the gates. To Harry's surprise, her usually impeccable look was slightly dishevelled.

"Potter," she said as a greeting, her serious expression seeming strangely forced, before briefly looking at Sirius. "Sirius. Good to see you made it back on time."

Sirius nodded once, a smile on his lips that didn't quite reach his eyes, his whole appearance making it rather clear that the week hadn't went by without leaving its mark on him as well.

Harry suppressed a wince. This was all his fault, he had been so stupid!

"We couldn't keep our favourite professor waiting after all," Sirius was just saying, putting an arm on Harry's shoulder. "I trust you'll take over?" His gaze darkened a bit. "And keep him from certain old meddlers who by now have overstepped their boundaries as headmaster so much that if this continues I think I will press charges?"

Harry watched as Professor McGonagall's own face darkened. For a moment he was worried that she would chew Sirius out, but what she said instead made his eyes widen slightly.

"Oh believe me, I have already spoken with Albus, such an... incident is not going to happen again." Suddenly, she looked directly at Harry. "If you receive another invitation from the headmaster, feel free to ask for me or another trusted adult to join you. If it is related to any topic concerning your schooling, that is. Otherwise, I would suggest to ignore the missive."

That... had not been what he had expected. And a quick look at Sirius proved that it hadn't been on Sirius's mind either. And still... Harry had to admit, he felt kind of touched by his Head of House's protectiveness. Even if he somewhat wished it would have been there from his first year.

"Alright then," Sirius finally said, sounding somewhat resigned. "I guess I should take my leave..." he looked at Harry for a moment, before pulling him into a hug. He really had become a lot more physical these last days somehow. "Take care of you Harry, you hear me? We will find a cure, somehow, so... try not to let it pull you down too much. And tell me if it ever starts bothering you, alright?"

Harry swallowed hardly, doing his best to keep composed while returning the hug. Really, he had never been one for tears, but seeing people close to him so worked up because of this, unable to do anything, knowing that it might... well... end badly... It really got to him.

Sometimes he wished he could just take up another Basilisk instead. He was that much better with handling direct danger than this kind of slowly creeping despair...

He cleared his throat, trying to push the dark thoughts away again.

"Thanks, Sirius. I'll... do my best. I'm sure it will work out." He... admittedly, didn't really believe in the last sentence, not without having seen any progress as of yet, but... well, he would just have to be patient.

For now, he just had to focus on his next step. Following Professor McGonagall to get back to the castle, just turning around one more time to look at Sirius, who kept standing at the gates, watching them go it seemed.

Deep breaths. Soon he would be back at school, there were things to distract him there, right? He would manage. He always did.

Surprise! I'm still alive after all!

No real excuses this time, I just encountered the writer's block of the century during that hospital scene, finding it incredibly hard to keep writing.
As such, what I have right now isn't really the best in my eyes, but I decided to publish it anyway - after all, there are still so many things I'd like to do with this universe, I don't want to let this stop me!
At least I managed to add an explanation about why I think simply removing Harry's arm is not an option, as I got a surprising amount of reviews with this suggestion. Sorry folks, I actually did not see this as a viable option from the beginning and I hope this chapter makes it a bit clearer as to why. :) (Besides, I guess Dumbledore would have had a similar option in the books but never took it, so... I kind of assume it's canon that this would not have helped the curse?)

Honestly though, when introducing that curse I didn't really expect Harry to be so difficult to write. I hope it's still somewhat clear what he's trying to deal with and that things might not be going back to normal as easily as he might have hoped...
Well, I'm trying my best - though it might happen that there will be some more skips and perhaps more 'tell' moments than 'show'. I'll still try to keep the balance with some dialogues though of course. I love writing dialogues actually, they're so much easier for me somehow!

Besides that, I actually want to take a moment to thank three reviewers specifically, who wrote reviews that were incredibly touching to me and actually helped a lot in making me force myself to continue writing to finally get over this specific scene:
LavenderMYSTery (FFnet) - who made me write that bit with Sirius and Remus in the middle at least, though I'm sad to say I got distracted afterwards once more. If you are reading this again, despite your review having been from July: Thank you so much, your review was really appreciated!
Ann982 (AO3) - whose review was so incredibly sweet that I, once again, realised how I should try and continue writing, as some people really like this story and I remembered why I liked writing it. Besides, your theories about the plot were amazingly funny and brought a smile to my face even though I cannot comment on them otherwise, sadly!
empressenvy (AO3) - who gave me just that last push to continue what I had already started again, finishing up this chapter and being about half into the next chapter as well now, with at least some basic idea of what I want to do next. I'm really grateful for your encouraging words and I hope that even after such a long break I will manage to keep Harry (and the other characters) somewhat balanced

I hope you, as well as anyone else who is still reading / might have just discovered this story is happy about this update, and I appreciate any and all reviews from you. They really do make me feel very happy! :)

And, because I feel this is almost 'mandatory' by now (and I like adding these small teasers actually): Next chapter will contain reactions from some Hogwarts people, students and teachers alike. As well as some extra problems Harry might not have been aware of that come with his arm.

Regards, Veysha