Healing Wounds

"The next thing the check informed me of are some incidents where his magic had to act, but he fought against it to come out. When his family tried to force his magic out they achieved the opposite. Neville's young mind connected magic with something that hurt when he was one. Now others hurt him again to get him to use it. It was overload for his mind, which is the reason he has so many problems with remembering things. I have heard from him about the incident with the remembrall he got when he was in the hospital wing after the flying accident. Those things are useless as they don't tell you what you forgot; they only let him feel worse than before because it is a visible reminder of his weakness. We can be glad that nobody teased him about it.

"Next is an overexertion of his core in the last weeks. It made his core more instable. I think that is due to the incompatible wand he had to use. It shouldn't have long-term consequences as the situation was remedied this early on. If he had continued to use Frank's wand, he would probably have really damaged his core. With how shy and insecure he is, I think it would be best if we kept him here at Hogwarts until the next summer holidays. 

The boy was abused, in his case it was more emotionally, but it still left scars on him, even if they aren't visible. For him to get better, he needs to get the encouragement he missed out on during his childhood. And somebody needs to talk to Augusta. She needs to be made aware that with her behaviour she is harming her grandson. I can take care of keeping Neville here over Christmas, that's within my medical competence, but if he has to deal with the abuse over the summer again, things could fall back into bad habits if nothing was arranged beforehand." Madam Pomfrey said.

"I had feared something like this when Neville, Hermione Granger and Miranda Lillowe came to me about the issue with his wand. She didn't even tell him that he had a trust vault that Alice and Frank set up for him. Hagrid took him to Diagon Alley to get this remedied with the goblins, he now has his new key to his vault and the old one was recalled. He also got his own wand. I didn't have him in class since then, so I can't tell you if it worked already though." McGonagall sighed.

"Well, good that you followed your instinct. This way we can neutralize the worst effects." Madam Pomfrey said.

Professor McGonagall just nodded.

.....

It was Halloween. There were only two classes in the morning for the Ravenclaw first-years. First they had Herbology with Slytherin, followed by Charms with Gryffindor. Harry wasn't that excited at the prospect of the feast in the evening. Ever since his childhood he had disliked Halloween. 

While he couldn't really remember the murder of his parents, the Dursleys had made sure he never felt welcome at Halloween. While Dudley was taken out by his mother and father to go trick or treating, Harry was locked up in the cupboard under the stairs. Dudley had paraded around gleefully after returning and enjoyed eating all the treats he got in front of him with gleefully telling that he (Harry) wouldn't get a single thing.

Later the Dursleys had proceeded with using the day to remind him that it was that day that had brought his unwanted stay at their home. When Vernon had drunk too much that was always a painful experience. They had gone so far to insinuate that he should just have died with his parents instead of being a burden to his hard working relatives and that he could be grateful they didn't leave him at an orphanage. With every hit of the belt Harry had wished he was at an orphanage.

So now, knowing what really happened that day, Harry didn't want to celebrate. While for others it was a holiday, one of the most important in the wizarding world, and it doubled as the date when Voldemort had been defeated by him, for Harry it meant the start of his personal hell. Ten years of abuse because his parents had been murdered by Voldemort. Many overlooked that Halloween had made him an orphan and robbed him the chance to grow up loved. When the Ravenclaws took their seats in the Charms classroom after getting back inside after re-potting some plants in greenhouse one, the Gryffindors also entered.

The lesson was about the levitation charm. Professor Flitwick reminded them of the wand movement they had practiced. The swish and flick. Harry, like usual, managed to do the charm on the first attempt.

"Oh, look, Mr Potter has done it, ten points for Ravenclaw." Professor Flitwick said.

Then three more feathers rose. This time it was the feathers from Hermione, Neville and Miranda.

"Ah, three more successful attempts. Take five points each for Gryffindor." He delightedly said.

That was normal procedure in Flitwick's class. The one to first get a spell got ten points, those that were second got five points. Harry noticed that Hermione's partner Ron Weasley didn't look happy at all. To be honest, he looked downright pissed. What could be the reason? Well, he would have fun with his floating feather for now, trying to push the date back in his mind. He directed his feather over to Neville's and looked at the blond boy challenging. Neville nodded and took the challenge. They both used their wands to have their feathers race each other around the classroom.

"A very good demonstration of control over the charm, Mr Potter and Mr Longbottom. Take another five points for your house each. As you seem to have mastered levitating a feather, try it with something heavier." He instructed.

Harry took different things from his bag; he first folded a paper-airplane and sent that flying around. Then other students managed to let their feathers float and Harry played obstacle course with his paper-airplane through the feathers. Now he saw Weasley glaring at him and Hermione. He wondered just what the redhead's problem was.

 Finally the lesson was over and as it was Halloween Professor Flitwick let them go without homework. The Ravenclaws were the first to leave the room. They went to have lunch, but Harry couldn't eat much and left the table quickly. He went in the direction of their common room. He went to his room, opened the window and let Hedwig inside. She seemed to have felt that he didn't feel well today and was there to keep him company.

"Thanks, Hedwig. I could use some company that doesn't seem to be influenced by the Halloween mania." He told her morosely.

She hooted and nuzzled his cheek with her head. Harry just stroked her and that was how Rick found him. Lost in his thoughts, stroking Hedwig.

"Hey, Harry, are you okay?" Rick asked concerned.

"Not really, but you can't help me. It's just the day." Harry said looking up with pain in his eyes.

Rick thought about it shortly and then understood.

"Sorry, I never really thought what this day would mean for you. Do you want to be alone?" He asked.

"If you don't mind. I don't want to spoil anybody's fun, but I simply can't celebrate Halloween." Harry answered. Hedwig gave him and assuring hoot which made him smile a little bit.

....

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