Too Young

The appointment with Poppy for a checkup was only a few hours away. Harry was beyond distracted. He had decided that classes could wait until he knew for sure that Olivia was okay. Draco had gone to classes, one of them had to. He was, however, utterly useless. He turned his potion into a gelatinous mush, he transfigured his bar of soap into a teapot instead of a small bird and he was about to lose his mind in Charms. Perhaps Harry was right; he shouldn’t have gone to class.

He skipped Arithmancy to meet Harry and Olivia at the infirmary. They sat on the bench and waited while Madame Pomfrey fixed up a First Year who had fallen while running in the halls. He only had a few scrapes from the stone floor. Olivia had insisted that he needed kisses to fix it and had gladly been the one to deliver them.

When it was her turn she got upon the bed using a stool to help. She lay down just as she was asked, and was ready for her exam. She knew only that she was getting a check up. Madam Pomfrey smiled as she watched the two young men try to hide their nerves. She was sure there was nothing wrong, but a delayed magical reaction to her mother’s death. So she started her exam.

The tests were a little different for one too young to have a wand. She did a spell, saying invenio vires medius. Then she hummed at the result. She cast the spell again and made a note on her parchment. Several spells and some reading in a book and she came back with several potions and a stack of parchment.

She gave the potion to Olivia, who fell asleep immediately after she drank it, then asked the boys to follow her into her office. Harry looked nervously at his daughter and gave her a kiss on the forehead before he followed after the mediwitch.

“Mr. Potter, I think perhaps you may want to have an adult here with you for this. Perhaps the headmaster? Or Professor McGonagall?” Poppy offered.

“Why? What’s wrong? Is something wrong with Olivia?” He begged.

He was now beginning to panic. “Mrs. Weasley, can we firecall her?” He asked.

He reached over to take his boyfriend’s hand in his… he was shaking and barely able to stand up.

***
Not fifteen minutes later the Infirmary office was crowded. When the call had gone out to Mrs. Weasley, Dumbledore had been surprised by the floo activity. He had come to the hospital wing to see what the problem was

He was surprised to find that the call was for Mrs. Weasley to hear the results of a simple checkup. However he could tell that the results were not so simple.

Madam Pomfrey sat at her desk making notations inside a folder. She was running her wrinkled hands through her salt and pepper hair. She looked stressed. Poppy never looked stressed. Dumbledore walked over to her side and read over her shoulder.

Harry watched Dumbledore’s face for any sign of what was wrong with his baby girl and any indicator of how bad it was. Mrs. Weasley sat in a chair between the two boys. She held their hands in her lap and squeezed them reassuringly.

“Remember boys, magical medicine can fix almost anything.” She whispered to them. She could tell that this might be beyond Poppy’s ability to heal, but there would be someone out there who could do it, and they would find them and they would heal this child. Olivia was her first grandchild, as far as she was concerned. That little girl owned a pieced of her heart just as Harry did, just as Draco was slowly claiming.

Harry cleared his throat. He was losing his patience. He wanted Madam Pomfrey to be sure of her diagnosis, but he needed to hear now what was wrong. Even if it was only supposition.

Poppy looked up at the Boy-Who-Lived. She was at a loss. She had been treating him since he was an eleven year old poppet, come in for his first checkup with all of his new Gryffindor housemates. Now here he was, father to that tiny child lying out there in the wing, sick. She had no idea if they were going to be able to help her. The cure was complex, and the sacrifice unthinkable.

She finally sat up straight, patted down her clothes as if smoothing out wrinkles, straightened the papers on her desk and got down to business. Sometimes you had to deliver bad news in her profession. She had just never had to give it to a parent so young before.

“Mr. Potter.” Goodness she couldn’t call him Harry now, “Olivia is in almost every way a healthy 32-month old child - except for one.” She took a moment to compose herself before she let them hear the bad news.

“She has Browning-Himple disorder. What that means is that her magical core is slowly disintegrating. Each burst of magic that you have seen recently has been a demonstration of the disease. You see, she develops what we call an aneurism in the wall of her magical core, as it weakens the magic contained within can not be contained and it burst free. It will display itself in many ways, whatever she is looking at, thinking about, happens to be nearest to her. The amount of control she appears to have depends on how tired she is, how much magic is released before her core is able to seal the hole, etcetera.” She stopped to rub her hands over her face.

“As the disease progresses, she will be less able to seal the holes on her own and may need to be here to have patches put on them. Those patches will have to come from donors. For this no matching is needed and anyone can donate, but not more than once per day. I’m sorry Mr. Potter. I know you want to help as much as you can, but as her father, you need to stay strong for her, and over donating will not allow you to do that.”

“She is not at that point now. Currently she is still patching, however I believe that her magic is coming to that dangerous level. I think that perhaps she should either sleep in the hospital wing from now on, and yes Mr. Potter, Mr. Malfoy I can provide beds for you as well. Or I will need direct floo access to her room and a medical setup in her bedroom. Full potions relating to her case, medical cart with all supplies I might need should something happen. As much as I hate to say this, Olivia is no longer a normal little girl.”

Harry sat in shock. Inside was a broken boy who didn’t know what to do. He turned to face the only mother he had ever known and the minute his eyes made contact with hers he broke down into sobs. Mrs. Weasley let go of Draco’s hand to pull Harry over into her lap and comfort him. Draco didn’t mind one bit and placed his hand on Harry’s head to offer what comfort he could as he also slowly fell apart.

Mrs. Weasley took on her role then, as Mother and Grandmother and stood for her adopted family here. “Poppy, what is the end result of the disorder?” She asked.

Poppy looked startled. She had hoped to put off telling them the end result of the disorder. She stammered before she got out “In the end she won’t be able to contain her magic and it will leak into her body, overwhelming her organs and causing a system wide failure. She will die.” She whispered quietly.

Harry’s sobbing stopped. He turned in his adopted mothers lap and faced the mediwitch. “She’ll die? What do you mean she’ll die? There isn’t any treatment? Any cure? What can you do? What can I do? I’ll do anything, you know that. Tell me and I’ll get it. I’ve got money, I can pay. Tell me what to do!” He pounded on the witches’ desk moaning in his misery.

“Now, Harry, let’s give Madame Pomfrey a minute to tell us what the treatment is sweetie. Come back over here with me.” She placed him in the middle chair, and pulled his old chair over to touch hers, where she could sit with her arms around him. Draco got up and did the same.

“Is there anything I can do?” The blond croaked.

“There is only one treatment. We will need to test you Mr. Potter to see how compatible you are with her, magically. If you match we can use a part of your core to balance hers. How much is necessary will depend on how powerful she is, and how close the match is.” She said.

“What if…what if…I’m not a match?” The brunet asked.

“Then we have a problem. Usually only family members are a match as magical signatures tend to match only among family members. We would have to try to find someone magical in her family to test. You say her mother was a muggle? That might make it difficult Mr. Potter.” Poppy answered.

“No, her mother was a squib. Not a muggle.” He said, hope flaring inside him. He turned and looked desperately at the blond next to him.

“I’ll be tested.” Draco said without any prompting.

“Mr. Malfoy, that is very generous of you, however, as I said; only family will be compatible.” She repeated.

“I am family. Olivia’s Mother was my first cousin. My father’s brother William was a squib and was stricken from the family roll. His daughter Sarah is Olivia’s mother. I am related to Olivia and I will be tested and I will donate if needed.” He stated severely.

Madam Pomfrey looked amazed. Of all the people for Harry Potter to father a child with, he found the squib relation to the Malfoy’s? Would anything normal ever happen to this child?

“While you may be a match then, Mr. Malfoy, you need to be aware that it is not a safe procedure by any means.” She told the blond. “You will be giving your magic to Olivia to help her reform her magical core. We will have to wait until she is drained completely, but still possessing the shell of her original core. If we wait too long, she will not survive the procedure. If we do not wait long enough, she will remain infected. The risks to you are as follows. You, at best, will remain magically drained for weeks to months. How long will depend upon how much of your magic it takes to help Olivia. The closer match you are, the less of your magic she will need.”

“There is a chance that when the procedure is done, you will only retain enough magic to function as a squib. Other complications can be discussed later, but right now, I think you need to take that little girl back to her bed and try to calm yourselves down. Molly, I will send a few calming draughts with you, in case they are needed. Boys remember you must be strong for Olivia. She won’t understand what is happening.”

***

Over the next few days it was decided to set up a corner of Olivia’s bedroom to hold all of the supplies that Madame Pomfrey might need should anything happen. Mrs. Weasley had added Harry and Olivia to the family clock, and placed an alarm on Olivia so that she could rush to Hogwarts if she was needed. Harry was not at all equipped to deal with his daughter’s potentially fatal illness. He desperately needed as much support as he could get.

Draco had taken to sleeping on the sofa in Harry’s suite again, feeling the need to be there in case something happened. Even the extra 15 meters to his room was more than he could handle. Had Harry been thinking at all he would have invited Draco to share his bed, however, most nights he spent in a chair beside a sleeping Olivia.

The Gryffindor wondered when something was going to go right for him? When was someone he loved going to live? He had already convinced himself that Olivia was going to die. After all, that’s what happened to people who loved him, to people who he loved.

This time, he had warning, he could fight this. He knew his enemy and he could fight it. The first thing he wanted to do was to get more time. More time for Madame Pomfrey to study the disease and to research the treatments. More time to prepare Olivia for what was to come

He started thinking about what he could do. He had so much love in his heart for his child he could feel it trying to burst out of his chest. He had to find some way that he could help her. His gaze lifted from her sleeping face to wander around her room.

He smiled at the pile of stuffed animals she had in the corner. At her dresses all neatly sorted by color in the closet, which had to be Coco’s doing. Finally his eyes rested on the candle from Samhain that was resting in a place of honor on her dresser. Perhaps now would be a good time to call upon the Spirits and the Goddess. Now would be time to invoke energy and healing. Now was time for the old ways.

***

Harry had gotten permission from Madame Pomfrey and they had set up one of the private exam rooms to use for the ritual. He had explained to Olivia that this would help her to control her magic just a bit and give her more energy. He was there early setting the candles up, and mentally placing his friends in their places in the circle. They had all agreed to come. Even Ron and Hermione, who had been distant, had given him support and comfort.

He started by purifying the room. He took the bowl to the center of the room and placed the herbs into it, praying to the Goddess as he did so and lit them letting them smoke. Then he turned to his salt slowly sprinkled a line around the outer edge of the room.

Once the salt was done, he took out his smudge stick, and rolled it in the burning herbs, collecting them on the end and letting them smoke a bit before adding a bit more flame to assure that the stick continued to release its smoke into the room. He walked around waving the stick throughout the room whispering “Great Mother, I ask you to purify this room, to help in the healing of your earth daughter Olivia.” He continued this until he was sure the entire room was filled with the sweet scent of the sage.

Next came holy water from a sacred temple. He dipped a feather into the water, shaking it outward toward each wall and all the corners. Then he walked from the center to shake it back being sure to cover the area he just stood in. Now that the purification was done, he was ready to begin the ritual drawings.

He took out the chalk he had and drew the pentacle on the ground, carefully closing each point. It was larger than most ceremonial sites he had drawn before, but Olivia had to fit in the center of this one.

He carefully placed three round, fat, red candles onto the pentacle. They would guide the energy that Olivia so needed. Then he placed a single green one, so that the energy would heal. The final candle there was black, so that no evil could corrupt this ritual.

Once he was ready, it was time to call everyone in.

***

They filed in one at a time, shrouded in black. They filled the edges of the room, teachers and students alike. Most were friends of Harry’s, but several were students who also practiced the Old Ways at the school. Harry had asked those that could not believe in the healing of the Old Ways to please not attend. He was surprised when no one had stayed away.

He had chosen conduct the circle himself, as he had the closest connection to Olivia, he was most likely to open a conduit to her. He would be the North. Draco would be in the East. Ron and Hermione had expressed an interest in being South and West, but Harry had explained his desire to have someone who practiced the Old Ways.

He had asked Dumbledore to be the West, and Neville to be the South. He had given long thin candles to all of those who came to offer their strength to the ritual and began with the lighting.

“Today I ask the Goddess, our earth mother to come to us, to be present here, where we ask for healing energy. I offer my light, faith and belief to the circle, so mote it be.” He said, and lit his white taper he then turned to the person in the circle to the right of him.

Hermione declared her intentions next, to the assembled. “Today I ask the Goddess, our earth mother to come to us, to be present here, where we ask for healing energy. I offer my light, faith and belief to the circle, so mote it be.” And she turned to face Harry, placed the wick of her candle into the flame of his and added her light to the circle. Once her candle was lit she turned to the person to her right and repeated the process with them.

They continued this until they were finished lighting all of the long tapers being held by the witnesses. Then Harry stepped into his north position holding his white taper.

“I stand in the North. In the name of all present I offer our light, our belief and our faith, please accept our offer and help in the healing of Olivia Selenia Potter.” Harry bent down to light the first Candle with his thin white taper.

He passed the candle to Draco in the east position, who took it and closed his eyes for just a moment as he felt the power in it. “I stand in the East. In the name of all present I offer our light, our belief and our faith. Please accept our offer and help in the healing of Olivia Selenia Potter” He bent down and lit another candle.

Passing the taper on to Neville in the South, he repeated the process and then passed it on to Dumbledore who then lit the forth candle. After he handed the white candle back to Harry, who placed it in a holder directly behind him, the drummer started.

The drummer strode clockwise around the circle. The people standing against the wall began to chant to the drum beat. “Cast out the negative, bring back the positive, cast out the bad and bring back the good,” their arms lifted and swayed.

It was then that the last two candles lit themselves. The black protection candle lit first.

The second candle, the white one was directly in front of where Olivia was sleeping.

Red energy swirled around the small child, beginning at the bottom of the cot she was lying on, and tracing her body all the way up to the top. She was covered by a blanket of red energy and it was hoped that perhaps this would be enough to heal her? Maybe no other procedures would be needed? Harry had hope and faith. He knew that the Goddess could heal his daughter

***

Harry waited, hands fisted by his side while the Mediwitch examined his child. He knew that she was only trying to be thorough, but it was taking so long. He watched her face for any sign: a twitch, a frown, a smile. She betrayed nothing.

Draco stood beside him, aching to reach out and protect the little girl from anything that could hurt her. He could feel the bile rise in his stomach as each minute ticked by. ‘She has to be okay’ he kept chanting in his head. Harry and Olivia meant everything to him.

Mrs. Weasely sat patiently in the chair that was provided for her. She knew there was no rushing now. Whatever happened happened and nothing would change that. She had been through too many illnesses with her own children to let the anxiety take her. She was scared for Olivia. Scared that this didn’t work, but she knew that something had occurred in the ritual room. Ron had told her about the red energy that had engulfed Olivia. How she looked so peaceful after it had happened, almost smiling in her sleep.

Poppy Pomfrey was confused. Her family had given up the old ways three generations back. She hadn’t seen a ritual like this performed, although she had read about them when studying to become a mediwitch. Since that time she had never had a patient use one. Now she wondered why? Olivia was not cured; however there was a new stability in her magical core that had not been there the last time she had checked. There was a red swirling energy surrounding it, holding it in check. It was not a part of Olivia; the magic was unlike anything she had ever seen in a patient before. She was at a loss for what to tell her father.

Poppy stood up and took a deep breath. “If you could all please come into my office? I’d also like to ask if it’s okay to include the Headmaster in this discussion?” She asked them as she made her way across the Infirmary.

“Is she going to be okay? Did the ritual fix her magical core?” Harry blurted out. He didn’t have the patience to wait for the headmaster to find out about his daughter. Poppy just held up her hand asking him to wait as she threw the floo powder into the fireplace in her office.

***


Professor Dumbledore made haste to get to the infirmary. He immediately came through the floo and motioned to the Mediwitch that he was ready to hear the news.

Poppy faced them all. She stood behind her desk with her palms planted on its top. “I don’t know if this is good news. “I’ve done all the tests on Olivia. I can say that she is stable for now. She still has the syndrome; however, a shield has formed around her core. It is currently preventing the passage of magic into and out of her core.”

The mediwitch stopped for a breath and to check the faces of those around her. “She will have no further outbursts of magic, and will remain stable for as long as the shield is present.”

“That’s great!! She’ll be okay. The shield will protect her!” Harry cried out.

“Mr. Potter, there is only one problem. The shield will not allow Olivia to do any magic at all.” Poppy said to the shocked room. “We will have to continue with the original treatment plan if Olivia has any hope of being a magical person.”

Harry was devastated. He wanted magic for his daughter. He wanted her to know the rush he felt when casting his first spell with his wand, the beauty and awe of complicated spell work. But how could he justify giving up his magic for that when he had to defeat Voldemort, or worse, asking someone else to do the same.

“But if we remove the shield, she’ll die?” He asked.

“Yes Harry, the shield will keep the disease in check, for as long as it is there. Remove the shield, however, and the disease will progress and she will die.” Poppy told them.
“I need to be with Livvie.” Harry told them all, and quietly walked out of the room.


**AN Continued thanks to Keikokin my wonderful Beta. Thank you all again for your wonderful reviews. More story to come.