Chapter 124: Back to normalcy

Disclaimer: 

Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K Rowling.

I own nothing but the original characters I make.

"Dialogue"

'Thoughts'

-Author notes-

Chapter 124: Back to normalcy

December 5

Harry entered the Great Hall on the next morning and went to sit at his usual spot, between his sister and Hermione.

"Good morning." There was a strain in his voice as he sat down. His muscles still felt sore and his chest hurt.

'This young body is still far from being completely developed. I must have pushed way past its limits that day.'

The good news was that Christmas break was around the corner and he will have plenty of time to recover properly.

"Good morning, Harry." His sister Lyra greeted him.

"Morning!" Ginny said before taking another sip of her juice.

"Harry!, there you are. Are you feeling better now?" Hermione turned to look at him.

"Yes…I'm all better." Harry wondered if the Headmaster had come up with some excuse for his absence again.

"Hey, Harry!" Lavender joined in.

"Your sister told us that you had a strong case of…. stomach cramps, was it?" Hermione looked unsure.

"She said that you spent most of the day in the infirmary bathroom," Parvati added.

"Is this the Dungarian fever again?." Asked Hermione with concern.

"Harry, I'm worried for you. Maybe you should change your diet."

Harry glanced at his sister with cold eyes.

Lyra made an apologetic gesture.

"Sorry…it was the first thing I could come up with." She whispered in his ear.

"Fine…" He turned around to look at Hermione, Lavender, and Parvati.

"In any case, I'm all better now. No need for details."

"Harry, you are finally back!" The Captain of the Quidditch team came walking towards him from the other side of the table.

"Say…how are you feeling?. I was told you were very sick."

"Yes…I'm all fine now, Captain." Harry then realized why Oliver Wood was there.

"I missed a game, right?" 

Oliver nodded with a sad smile.

"Against Hufflepuff, yes. We had to use the reserve seeker for that game."

"And…how did it go?" Seeing the face Oliver was making, Harry already had an idea.

The Captain scratched his head and shrugged.

"We lost….Darry actually played better than expected and even managed to stay on the broom the entire game, but…I have to admit that Cedric Diggory is an amazing seeker. He ended the game in only twenty minutes. There wasn't much we could do, unfortunately."

"Thats…I'm sorry for not being there." 

"Is okay Harry, you were not feeling well. But I was wondering…we have a game against Ravenclaw next week, do you think…"

"Of course, Captain. I'll be there." Harry ensured him.

"Wonderful!, I'll send you the training schedule." Oliver looked a lot happier as he left.

"That boy only cares about Quidditch…" Lavender commented.

"That's too bad, he is kinda cute," Parvati added.

Ignoring the girls' comments, Harry thought of something kinda important.

'I did assure him that I was going to play but…I have run out of brooms... I suppose that I could buy another one during the next break and use one from the school in the meantime, the brooms are old but that should be good enough for one game.'

"Harry, are you listening to me?!" 

He heard a voice to his right and turned only to find a frowning Hermione.

"Sorry, care to repeat?"

"I was asking you if Lyra had given you the news about the tremors. The Headmaster made an announcement a few days ago while you were in the infirmary." She asked.

"No…it must have slipped her mind. What did the Headmaster say?" He was curious to know what kind of excuse that man came up with to explain 'that'.

"Then, you will be glad to know that the tremors are officially over!." Lavender leaned forward.

"Lav!, I was going to give him the news!" Hermione huffed.

"The Headmaster said the tremors were caused by some unusual planet alignment that was interfering with the castle wards and causing all the trouble. But that situation has already been solved and there should be no more tremors…thank Merlin." Parvati added.

"Pav!" Hermione shouted.

"Mmm…a planet alignment…that's..." Harry did not know what to say. That seemed like a poor excuse, but people seem to believe it.

'I guess it goes to show how much influence that man has. But I can at least hope he consulted with Professor Sinistra…'

"I went to the library and tried to find more information about planet alignments and their influence on wards but did not have any luck…" Hermione looked depressed.

'And you won't find any….' Harry thought.

"He also said that we are not allowed to leave the castle for the rest of the week," Lyra recalled.

"We can't go outside?" 

"No, we can only visit the inner gardens…how boring." Lavender frowned.

"The Headmaster said that it was for our own protection until the wards recovered. Apparently, there was some damage on the outside of the castle too. He assured us that it would only take a bit longer." Hermione hurried to say.

'He probably said that to give Snape the time to fix the damage done to the landscape by the basilisk.' Harry concluded.

"Well, is not like we can go anywhere interesting. At least until next year when we can finally visit Hogsmeade." Parvati said with excitement.

"That's right, I had forgotten about that!" Lavender cheered up immediately.

"We can start going on dates!"

"Dates?!" Hermione looked alarmed.

Lyra gave a mischievous smile and got closer to him.

"Oh? what about you, Harry? Are you planning on going on many dates next year.?"

Harry sighed.

"Please, leave me out of this conversation…" 

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