Chapter 25: Time-skip to appointment
Quirrell had definitely been caught.
Oh sure, according to the teachers he'd gone on a 'sabbatical to improve his mental health' but the fact that he went missing literally the next lesson after I stole the philosopher's stone made it quite obvious that wasn't the case, even without the knowledge that he was possessed by Voldemort. Though, I'll admit that I had no idea what actually happened to the possessed man.
I mean, I very much doubt he had been killed by the protection placed on Harry by his mother like he had been in canon. Maybe Dumbledore had him locked away somewhere or hell, maybe he killed him after seeing Voldemort possessing him. There was also the possibility that he had escaped, but that seemed unlikely with how soon after me stealing the stone he disappeared.
Not that Quirell fate really mattered to me, I had after all stolen the stone away from under his nose, but it was one of the most interesting things that had happened for the rest of the year.
The only other things of note that happened was that I was called a few more times to Dumbledore's office and that the replacement of Quirrell was an auror I don't remember from canon.
The first of those had stopped being significant a long time ago. Dumbledore would call me to his office once every two weeks, he'd ask me about my health, I'd say that nothing has changed and then we'd have some small talk about how I was doing in a more general sense. All very routine.
The second thing, that is Quirrell's auror replacement, had been exciting… for all of a week.
Yeah, say what you will about Mister Zathar, as he told us to address him, but interesting was not one of the things he was. Not to say he was a bad teacher, far from it, it's just that he had the personality and teaching capabilities as generic as white bread, constantly giving mock tests and making the class constantly drill spells.
So yeah, the rest of the year was really uneventful, especially since I didn't want to add more essences to my body with the upcoming 'doctors appointment'… and so I finally decided to do what I had wished to do, but put off, for a long time. Learn Occlumency.
Yes, I know. How come I was only now going to learn Occlumency after spending half a year in a castle with two mind readers. Well, I had a couple very good reasons, but the most relevant one was that the method of learning Occlumency was incredibly tedious and slow.
See, the main method of learning Occlumency was done in two simple steps, the first of which was to saturate your mind with magic. To do this you first learn to meditate until you can clear your mind for at least a moment, then you need to will yourself to cast a spell (but not actually cast one) to force your magic to surge while in that state of non-thought, and finally you need to consistently do that three times a day every day for around a couple of months.
Now that seemed simple, and it was, but then came the complication. Every day you fail to do that the progress goes back by about a week. Which, considering the fact that it took me an hour of trying to do it once, meant that if I was going to learning Occlumency then I was going to need a lot of free time to not end up completely wasting my time. That meant not doing any planning or preparation for most of my plans.
Of course, there's the faster way of saturating my mind with magic, that being having someone skilled cast legilemency dozens of times a day while I try to blank my mind. Which… no. Not just no but hell the fuck no.
Even if it wasn't considered a painful as balls experience, there was no way I was going to let anyone enter my mind. Especially when I could just ignore the more non-aggressive methods of mind reading by just avoiding direct eye contact and I hadn't urgently needed the other advantages of Occlumency.
But anyway, that is why I now had learning Occlumency on my already overcrowded studying schedule. Well, that and because it was one of the few 'magics' I'd be able to use once I get back to the orphanage since I hadn't found a way to bypass the trace.
---- last day of Hogwarts – Next to the Hogwarts express ----
"So, you going to tell us why you need a healer?" George, who had a slightly lower hairline compared to his twin, asked me.
"Nope," I reply, popping the 'p' as I help them load their trunks into the train. Apparently, we weren't allowed to use magic because it'll get us 'used to living with muggles' or something.
"It's haemorrhoids isn't it?" I nearly drop the trunk I was carrying but quickly recover.
"Ah fuck!", instead only getting smacked in the face by the trunk instead of dropping it.
"Language!" one of the two, the one not cackling like an idiot, mock admonishes, "there are innocent ears present."
"Innocent my ass," with a final grunt of effort I push the trunk into the luggage space, finally turning to them, "how the hell do you even know what that is?"
"So, you admit that's why you're going to the healers?" they ask at the same time, shit eating grins on their face.
"You know what? I see what you're doing. I'm not telling you the details," I give them a blank stare.
"Come on, we won't judge if it's something embarrassing," I continue to stare blankly at them, "okay, yeah. We'll definitely judge, but you gotta tell your mates."
I massaged the bridge of my brow, regretting ever telling them anything.
---- some time later ----
"Are you quite alright now?" one of the 'professional friends' of Professor Dumbledore asked me, "would you like some water?"
"Yeah, sorry," I accept the glass offered and down it, feeling my stomach slowly settle, before finally sitting upright in my seat, "apparating really doesn't agree with me, but I feel much better than before."
"No worries lad, Claus is much the same," she assured me, ignoring the protests of her husband from behind her.
If it wasn't obvious, shortly after the Hogwarts express left the station I, along with Dumbledore, had apparated to the house of the professionals he'd told me about. I had also found out that my reaction to apparating hadn't gotten any better, in fact it had gotten significantly worse. Which was quite the bad timing for that discovery, though it did make me consider that it was the essences that were the cause of this, since Dumbledore had to urgently do something else and couldn't stick around to help me more. Thankfully 'Nell' and 'Claus' were quite aware of how to help me and a quick potion later I was in my current state of 'relatively fine'.
Speaking of Nell and Claus, the two were… nice. To an extent they reminded me of my grandparents from my past life, the ones who always called me despite not knowing how to use phones.
Nell was the epitome of what you'd expect a kind old grandmother to look like. She was of average height with short, curly and dense hair with a warm brown colour like mahogany, even though her pale skin was wrinkled like she was fifty. There was also the mirth and good humour ever present in her sky blue eyes, along with the darkness that old people who'd seen some things had. The same sort of darkness that Dumbledore had in his twinkling eyes.
Her husband, Clause, on the other hand was the physical embodiment of a mischievous grandfather. Tall and lanky, he possessed completely silver hair as opposed to his wife, a clean shaven face that made him seem younger than he was and a near constant smile on his face. What's more, unlike his wife, his silver eyes were filled only with mirth and humour, nothing else.
"Well, I suppose you and Clause should get on with the examination while I go make some food, Albus did say he'll be a while," Nell says after looking over me a couple more times, "do you have any requests lad?"
"Uhh, something with meat I guess?" I answer, recognising the tone of voice as the 'I'm asking but you can't refuse' voice that elders use before making you eat five plates of food and prepare to have my cholesterol shoot through the roof.
"Excellent, I'll have something in an hour," she turned to address Claus, "you hear that? One hour."
"It was one time woman and it was important," he jokingly replied, before immediately backpedalling when she gave him a glare, "but fine, I'll have it done in an hour."
Nodding happily at that she exited the room, to what I presume is the kitchen, and so the only people in the room were me and Claus.
"So sir, how exactly is this going to happen. Do I have to get up or…"
"First, call me Claus, sir makes me feel old," I look at him, specifically the wrinkles on his face, as he gets up and begins to walk around me with wand out, "and no you don't need to get up. Just stay still while I get some readings."
I nod and relax back into the seat, at least as much as I could, as the man continues circling me, occasionally having his wand. About fifteen minutes later he speaks again, not stopping his circling.
"So how old are you boy?" he asks.
"Uhh, I don't know exactly when I was born, I'm an orphan and all, but I should be twelve now," I mean, I knew that I was at least eleven since I got my Hogwarts letter last year but my birthday was a mystery.
"According to the diagnostics your bones hit exactly twelve twenty-three days ago," huh, at least I knew my birthday now, "but that isn't what I meant. I meant how old are you combined?"
"What?"
"It's a simple question. How old were you when you died in your last life?"
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