Chapter - 4 : Wrath Part - 4

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Several times Harry awoke only to be put back to sleep in minutes. Finally, however he opened his eyes and felt much more like himself.

Most of the bandages around his torso and legs were gone, though his glasses were still missing, but he didn't let that stop him from inspecting the damage.

It was much as Madam Pomfrey had said. He was scarred. He wasn't Moody quite yet, but lines criss-crossed on every part of his body and where skin had been regrown they traced areas like landmarks on a map. Some were an angry red still, but most of them had sunken into his skin, forming a recognisable pink that he feared would never fade away.

For the first time he wondered how long he had been in the hospital. He remembered several days passing, but with his injuries as severe as the nurse hinted at he had undoubtedly been unconscious long before that. A week must've passed at least. Maybe even several.

A small hand mirror lay on the bedside table and Harry hesitantly lifted it to inspect his face, fearing it would look like so much hamburger all the while.

It was better and worse at the same time.

His face still looked like a face. It just didn't look like his own. Green eyes were offset by angry red lines of scarring. The familiar lightning bolt one was only partially visible as two thirds of it was obscured by a new one. Worse, his jawline and cheekbones looked different, as if Madam Pomfrey had regrown his bones without knowing for sure what they were supposed to look like.

The mirror dropped from his unresponsive hands and clattered to the floor. Harry felt an urge to smash it, but a very similar scene at the end of his fifth year stayed his foot.

Feeling faintly disgusted, Harry covered himself with the sheet once more. He wanted to hide under the covers in a childish effort to pretend this was all a bad dream. For a moment he allowed himself to do so, until familiar sounds and smells protruded into his brain and an urge to move, to run, to escape filled him.

He always felt like that here – he didn't like Hospitals – but this time it was much stronger than ever before.

Cautiously he peeked from between the sheets, but the nurse was nowhere to be seen. Well, if he was ever going to get out of here, now would be the time.

Except... he was practically naked apart from the flimsy hospital gown and there were no clothes in sight. More worryingly, neither was his wand.

That was a problem he could do something about though, and Harry grabbed the opportunity like a lifeline.

"Um, can I get help from a Hogwarts house-elf, please?" he spoke hesitantly.

A pop sounded to his left. "Master calls for Tilly?"

The high-pitched voice reminded him so very much of Dobby that Harry felt a pang shoot through his heart and he swallowed back a sob. While he saw Kreacher regularly, his croaking made him sound so very different. This was the first time since... that day that he heard such a young and squeaking voice again.

"Hello Tilly," he said a little wistfully, "My name is Harry. I can't find my wand or my glasses and I don't have any clothes so that I could go look for them. Do you know where they are?"

The little elf blinked his tennis-ball sized eyes and tilted his head. "Is Master a student?"

A corner of his mouth lifted. Hermione had certainly pleaded for hours to return to Hogwarts and while Ron had caved to his new girlfriend, Harry had put his foot down. She had, however, got him to agree to study on his own to take his NEWTs at the end of the year. Her parents were very encouraging taskmasters while Andy Tonks proved herself quite the tutor.

"Not for a while now, Tilly."

The elf frowned. "Is master a Teacher?"

He bit back a snort. "No."

The elf pulled gently on one of his ears in agitation. "Then where should Tilly go look for Master's things?"

That... was an annoyingly astute observation. "That's a good question, Tilly. I was hoping you'd know where they are, but since you don't I'll just have to make do for the moment. Could you bring me some clothes, though? Things that nobody uses any more, that got left behind. From the Come and Go Room, maybe?"

"Tilly can do that." With a happy bounce the elf popped away, to return a few minutes later standing triumphantly on a pile of both muggle clothes and wizard robes two feet high.

This time Harry did snort and quickly pointed out several items that looked worn but were otherwise in decent shape. Again he felt the loss of his wand as he had no means to resize them, but Tilly was very willing to help him out.

"Are there any shoes there that would fit me, Tilly?"

His head bounced up and down in an enthusiastic nod. "Tilly finds shoes for training and slipping and booting and heeling."

Harry blinked and forced himself not to laugh. "I'd prefer trainers, Tilly."

The elf obliged and five minutes later Harry was comfortably dressed in well-fitting second-hand clothes.

"You're amazing, Tilly," he said, causing the elf to beam. "You've been a great help."

Suddenly the elf went shy and started shuffling his little green feet. "If Master can't find Master's things then Tilly could get glasses and wands from the Come and Go Room too?"

"That... might not be a bad idea. If nobody uses them anyway, I'll at least be able to walk around without running into things."

"Tilly go search," he announced enthusiastically.

Finding glasses that worked for him was decidedly harder. However good the elf was with clothes, he had no idea about prescriptions so in the end he just brought a small pile over and Harry started trying them.

There weren't very many – how often do you lose a pair of glasses anyway? – and most didn't even come close to his prescription. Two different ones were obviously enchanted to see through clothes – inevitable in a school filled with hormonal teenagers – and Harry would now forever know what a house-elf looked like naked.

He did not foresee a sudden surge in wizard-house-elf relationships based on this new information.

In the end he settled on a set with horn-rimmed frames – reminding him of Rita Skeeter – that he thought would make him look ridiculous. It allowed him to see though, if not as well as his usual glasses so it was better than nothing.

Finding a wand was nearly a bust.

He'd always been picky – even his first visit to Ollivander's took close to an hour – and none of the wands Tilly brought responded to him. Worse, most made him feel uneasy. Since most of these wands were probably hidden on purpose Harry had some very unpleasant thoughts on why they felt that way.

Frowning, he stared at a twelve inch length of ash in his right hand. It was the best of a bad lot.

"This'll have to do then," he murmured.

Movement from the corner of his eye made him realise that Tilly was feeling unsure of himself so he quickly tried to calm him down.

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30+Advanced Chapters there.

(P).(A).(T).(R).(E).(O).(N)

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