How They Fell

Chapter Eighteen

Madam Pomfrey had been beyond horrified when Ron and Hermione had dragged an unconscious and un-breathing Harry Potter into the Hospital wing. But as with Draco’s parents she had responded immediately, casting spells to start and regulate Harry’s breathing and others to ensure that he stayed in a stable condition.

Then she ran over to the fireplace, threw in some floor powder and called for Dumbledore.

“Oh God!” She moaned quietly, pulling her head out, “he’s at a conference.” She paused momentarily as though making a decision, then moved back to Harry and continued to inspect him. As she did so her brow furrowed more and more, until she finally turned to Ron and Hermione.

“What happened?”

“H-he took a potion.” Spluttered Ron.

“What kind?”

“A-a…” He began, but was interrupted by Hermione.

“One of great importance to the Order. It’s a long lasting potion which should have resulted in a permanent shift in Harry’s magical capabilities, a shift for the better.” Ron looked as though he were stuck between shock and admiration. “Much more I am not allowed to tell you. But the potion was thoroughly tested and showed no side-effects. What ever has gone wrong is peculiar to Harry.” Madam Pomfrey nodded, signalling that she accepted the reason and the secrecy, but she still had questions.

“Are you absolutely positive that the potion was correct?”

“Yes, it was exactly as it should have been and worked perfectly on others.” There was a pause as Madam Pomfrey thought about it. “Please Madam Pomfrey what’s wrong with Harry?”

“I’m not sure. It may be as simple as an allergic reaction against one of the potions ingredients. However, judging from the strength of the reaction I am tempted to doubt that. I will simply have to wait and see how he fairs.”

“But at the moment…?” Asked Hermione.

“He’s in a coma.” Hermione gasped and Ron turned pale. “But in a stable condition and it is very likely that once his body has recovered from the shock of such a reaction that he will awaken.” Hermione and Ron nodded dumbly and Madam Pomfrey miraculously managed to get them to back to their common room.

* * *

However, as the days passed and Harry stayed unconscious Madam Pomfrey’s prediction of the reason behind Harry’s illness began to grow much less likely due to the worrying effect it was having on Harry.

Ron noticed it on the second day after they had taken the potion, when they were sitting with Harry.

“Ummm, Herm?”

“Yes?”

“Ummm, Harry…” He coughed in an embarrassed and confused manner.

“Yes Ron?”

“Ummm, it’s just that Harry seems to be…flashing a bit.”

Hermione looked down. The bed sheets were covering Harry perfectly, and besides he was wearing pyjama bottoms, she really did not know what Ron was on about. She shot Ron a look of incomprehension.

“I mean, he’s kinda…glowing.”

“Glowing?”

“Yeah, he is if you look closely.”

Hermione did and was shocked to discover that Ron was right. Harry had a faint greenish cast to his complexion, then it was bronze, a darker colour, then green again.

Hermione called for Madam Pomfrey.

However, when she was faced with the problem of a flashing student Madam Pomfrey found that there was nothing she could do except close the curtain around his bed.

When Ron and Hermione visited Harry on Wednesday they found that he was still unconscious, but the flashing had got worse. It was no longer a slight tinge of colour, but a distinct pulsation of light.

“He looks like a bloody Christmas tree.” Moaned Ron.

Hermione was tempted to agree, were it not for the colours of Harry’s flashes. They were a really weird mixture of green, brown and black, Hermione wondered what their significance was.

They were all beginning to really worry about Harry, he should have woken up by now and he defiantly should not be flashing. Madam Pomfrey was panicking that she should have told Dumbledore and Ron and Hermione were terrified that they should have told her what potion it was.

Gradually over the next few days the flashing worsened. It grew faster and brighter until Madam Pomfrey was forced to transfigure the curtains into blackout blinds.

By Friday night any space with Harry in it looked like a fireworks display. Ron and Hermione sat with him for half the night, until the lights gave them both headaches with their rapid flashing. They were mostly green and black now, the brown colours flashing less and less often.

They stayed for the whole of Saturday watching as the flashing grew to a fever pitch. They both had to sit with their eyes closed and blindfolded to prevent their eyes from being damaged. Eventually Madam Pomfrey managed to throw them out of the Hospital wing with the promise that if anything changed she would inform them as soon as possible although that seemed unlikely. The flashing was now unbearable. The colours flashing so quickly and brightly it was almost impossible to follow them.

* * *

Harry awoke to the sound of a massive crash. He could feel it rumble around his head and he could feel his body tremble with the force of it.

Instantly alert now that danger was near he tried to sit up to look around and see the cause of such a loud noise. However he found himself unable to move very far, and he gladly gave up trying as his body was protesting loudly. He felt as though he had been hit by the night bus.

When Madam Pomfrey walked through the curtains Harry nearly jumped out of his skin. He had been expecting some visitation of certain death that he would once more have to miraculously escape. A smiling nurse took him by surprise.

“Ah, good your awake.”

“Nnnaghha.” Harry tried again. “Wha – what – what was that crash?”

“What crash?”

“Umm, that huge one that just shook the entire building.”

“Hmm, I didn’t hear anything.”

“Oh!” Harry looked confused.

“Don’t worry about it, I’m sure it’s just a recovery thing. And if it woke you up then all the better. How do you feel?”

“As though someone tried to beat me to death with a saucepan.” Harry laughed feebly. “What was wrong with me this time?”

“You mean you don’t remember taking the potion?”

This time Harry did manage to sit up in surprise, his mouth opening and closing wordlessly.

Of course, the potion! How could he forget? Had it worked? Shit! Did Madam Pomfrey know?

As though she were reading his mind Madam Pomfrey answered. “Don’t worry. Miss Granger refused to tell me the details. Perfectly understandable,” she continued with biting sarcasm, “if it’s for the order. Oh yes, it’s fine to risk the lives of students if its for the order! Honestly!” Madam Pomfrey continued to mutter to herself as she examined him, and Harry breathed a sigh of relief. Something inside of him did not want others knowing of his attempt at transformation. It was one part of his life that he intended to keep secret. He privately thanked who ever controlled these things, for Hermione’s quick thinking.

“Well there is nothing wrong with you at the moment. You’ve had a bit of a trauma so you’ll probably feel week and achy for a while.” She prescribed.

“But what was wrong with me?” Madam Pomfrey sighed as she answered.

“I’m afraid I don’t really know. I had thought that you had suffered a strong allergic reaction to one of the potion ingredients, but certain symptoms of your illness, which I’m sure Mr Weasley and Miss Granger will tell you of in full, disabused me of that notion. The length of your illness also made it unlikely.”

“Why?” Interrupted Harry. “How long have I been unconscious?”

“Not unconscious, in a coma. For a week.” She ignored Harry’s violent start and shell-shocked expression. “Now you need plenty of rest, so drink this and go back to sleep.” Harry was about to refuse in order to ask more questions, but Madam Pomfrey caught his eye and he drank. No one messed with Madam Pomfrey when she looked at you like that.

* * *

That night Harry dreamed.

It was a strange dream, both vague and detailed at the same time.

He dreamed of what he could only describe as possibilities.

There were many of them, lots of potential…things. They showed themselves as thousands of glowing circles of all different colours. But Harry knew, without knowing how, that they wouldn’t fit him. He could take/use them but there was a wrongness about all of them. All but three.

One was black, one was bottle green and the last was a darker green.

Harry then dreamed that he was being divided into three. One part of him, his mind went to the dark green and there was a small flash as the two bonded. The second part of him, his voice and tongue flew to the black light and flashed. The last part of him, his heart, bonded with the light green and was followed by a final enormous flash, which seemed to echo the massive crash he had heard earlier.

Harry found himself waking up. He could hear panicked voices and Hermione yelling.

“Madam Pomfrey, come quick! He’s flashing again!”

‘Odd,’ thought Harry’s half asleep brain, ‘I was flashing in my dream. And what did she mean by again.’

Cautiously he opened his eyes. It was practically pitch black in the Hospital wing. However, he could vaguely make out a fuzzy shape.

“Ron?” He asked questioningly.

There was a shocked gasp, and then the curtains were wrenched back and bright light flooded into the space. Harry groaned and quickly shut his eyes.

“Harry!” Came Ron’s euphoric shout. “Herm! Harry’s awake!”

There was the sound of running feet and then Harry felt her literally throw herself on top of him.

“Oh Harry! Thank God you’re ok! We were all so worried!”

Harry cracked an eye open to look at his friends and grinned. It was so good that they cared about him that much.

* * *

He was allowed to leave the Hospital wing later that day, although Madam Pomfrey didn’t like it. Still there was nothing wrong with Harry, he was just a bit week.

He was welcomed back into the Gryffindor common room with cheers and happy greetings from all of his friends. He talked to them all happily for a couple of minuets before politely excusing himself and motioning Ron and Hermione to follow him up to his dorm.

One inside with the door locked and silencing charms cast, Harry flopped onto his bed and turned to his friends.

“What the hell happened?”

Ron and Hermione shared miserable glances.

“Well, Harry…we’re not really sure.” Hermione blurted. “I mean the potion was correct, it worked fine for Ron and me. And – I mean I researched it, about what happened when the transformation went wrong and there was nothing like what happened to you.”

“Well,” interrupted Ron, “there was one, this girl wasn’t really compatible with one single animal, something about conflicting personalities. But the account wasn’t anything like what you were doing – didn’t mention flashing.”

There was a brief pause.

“Flashing?”

“Oh! Didn’t Madam Pomfrey tell you?” Asked Ron.

“No.” Again Ron and Hermione shared glances.

“Well…” Started Hermione but she was interrupted by Ron.

“You were flashing mate, really, really badly.”

“Flashing?” Harry repeated.

Hermione rolled her eyes and briskly started telling Harry about his very peculiar symptoms.

“That’s really weird!” Concluded Harry when they were finished.

“Yeah, we know!” Agreed Ron.

“No I mean I dreamt that I was flashing.” Ron and Hermione started. “Last night and they were the right colours, black, dark green and light green. No brown though, and there were a lot of other possible colours…I just couldn’t use them.”

“Wait, wait Harry…Did the potion work?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean do you know what animal you are and how you transform?”

Harry sighed, he had realised that the transformation hadn’t worked when he was thinking about it that day.

“No.”

“But…but then why the flashing?” Asked Hermione. “No other account we read mentioned it. And why those particular colours? And you dreamed them as well, why?”

“Well,” put in Harry diffidently. “I guess because they’re the colours of my essence.”

“What! Colours of your essence? You’re only meant to have one!” Ron and Hermione both looked shocked.

Harry groaned. So that was why Mr Plumpit had looked at him like that when he had seen his essence. Great! He was officially completely weird.

“I have three.” Stated Harry, his heart sinking. “Black, green and dark green.”

Hermione thrust a piece of parchment and a quill at Harry. “Draw it!”

Harry complied, drawing the inter-connecting bands of colour that made up the circle. “This one hear is black,” he indicated the correct band, “this one is bright green, and in the middle is the dark green, kind of like the other two colours have mixed together.” He looked up at his friends only to find them staring at him open mouthed.

“But that’s impossible!” Hermione asserted.

“Well it’s happened.”

“But your magical essence is precisely that, your magical essence. If you have three…”

“It’s two really; the dark green is just a blend of the other two.” Harry put in helpfully.

“Still,” Hermione said with a glare that told him to shut up and let her think. “Two essences would indicate that you have two sources of power – an impossibility!”

“Why?”

“It wouldn’t work Harry. The mixture of two different types of magic shouldn’t be able to co-exist in one person! The only case I know of where this is possible is with werewolves and even then you only get them working signally, not together as yours seems to.”

“Oh.”

Harry sat in silence for a moment thinking about the possible connotations of what Hermione had said.

Eventually Ron groaned and put his head in his hands. “And you didn’t think to tell us this before, why?”

Harry shrugged. “It didn’t really seem important, I mean I didn’t know it was important and then I kind of got caught up in the whole I’m gay thing and I guess it slipped my mind.”

Ron groaned again. Then said in a resigned voice, “Hillary Wasjig.”

“Umm, what?”

“The witch Harry.” Again Harry looked lost. “The witch who had more than one aspect to her personality, ie, who’s essence was more than one colour! She was a werewolf who attempted the animagus transformation.”

“Oh!…Well what happened to her? Did the transformation work?”

“No, she was already a werewolf her body couldn’t handle more than one possible animal to change into. But you’re not a werewolf!”

But Harry didn’t hear Hermione’s exclamation, he was still stuck on the ‘possible animals’ bit. It kept repeating itself around his head. ‘Possible animals,’ ‘possible animals,’ ‘possible,’ – possibilities!

Again Harry felt like that giant crash had sounded and had shaken right through him with his new understanding.

“It did work!” He exclaimed, his voice sounding every bit as shocked as he was. “The transformation it did work! Just weirdly!”

“What?”

“The dream, possible animals, possibilities…I don’t understand!”

Harry watched as comprehension dawned on Hermione’s face.

“Three possibilities! And Harry, there the same colours as your essence!”

“I have to try them!” Said Harry bouncing to his feet with excitement. Unfortunately he had forgotten how tired a week he was, and he stumbled as his muscles protested.

Hermione shook her head. “No Harry, not now.”

“But…?”

“No! You’re too tired, you can barley stand up. We are also unsure about what would happen, think! You could fall back into a coma if you tried again!” She paused a moment before continuing, “And besides you’ve got a weeks worth of homework to catch up on.”

Harry groaned loudly and sank back onto his bed.

“What?” Asked Ron, still uncomprehending.

*****************

Author’s note: Hi! Hope your enjoying this. I’m afraid that I’m going on holiday for three weeks, and to a place where there is no internet access (*gasp* I know those places still exist!) so I will not be able to update for a while – sorry.
Another thing, thank you to all those that have reviewed, it really means a lot to me. And for those who are wondering where the romance is between Harry and Draco, I’m afraid patience is required in this story. It will happen, but not until the characters are ready for it to happen – and let’s face it Draco really isn’t.
Anyway, thank you again for reading my fic and if you could possibly review it would be a massive incentive for me to start posting as soon as I get back.
Thanks
Phoenixchild