Hooked - A Harry Potter Story

Chapter 22

Harry still said nothing, this time due to shock

"You seem surprised" said Healer Johnson

"I am..." started Harry "I've always wanted to leave the Dursleys... and now suddenly I am... I never have to go back..."

He stared off to the wall with an unreadable expression trying to process everything

"How do you feel about it?" asked the Healer

"Good, obviously..." said Harry "It's just weird..."

"What is?"

"Being told I don't have to go back" replied Harry

There was a few moments silence again when Healer Johnson started to speak

"The rest of your friends will be returning tomorrow" she stated "Have you thought any more about what you're going to tell them?"

Over the last few days Harry had been thinking about that exact question and he still didn't know the answer. How was he supposed to tell his best friends everything that had happened in the last few months?

"Look you don't need to get worked up over this" started the Healer "Just tell them what your comfortable with and let the rest out over time. They should understand"

With that Harry left the office and started thinking about what the healer had just said. He highly doubted that Hermione and Ron would remotely understand as they were probably two of the most sheltered people he had ever met. They didn't know what it was like to have no parents, having to live with crazy relatives and to watch someone die. He honestly wished everyone would just forget about the last few months and leave him alone.

So far things hadn't been too bad in the castle. The Slytherins had been giving him some real weird looks along with quite a few people from other houses but seeing as the majority of the school were away for the holidays it wasn't really a big deal. He had spoke to Seamus and Dean a bit and they seemed to be okay with him but it was getting increasingly awkward as the days went by as they had to remind him of things he did while high. Only yesterday Harry had wondered out loud why a 7th year Hufflepuff was giving him evil looks and Dean had reminded him that it was because he threw a pudding plate at him after the 7th year called him bat shit crazy.

"Fair enough" Harry had said flippantly, he wasn't the one who started it.

"Yeah but he did only call you that after you and that Ella girl went swimming in the lake... in the middle of November..." Seamus had said curiously hoping that Harry would give some kind of explanation for his behaviour.

"Huh" hummed Harry only vaguely remembering the event while making a note to mention anything about people giving him weird looks again, at least not to Seamus and Dean.

This of course was another problem for Harry. He couldn't remember the last few months properly. His memories were all blurry and plagued with blackouts which according to Healer Johnson was normal but was still a pain. Meanwhile he was still finding it hard to sleep, although the length of time sleeping had improved he would have dreams of Davy and some of Sirius which would wake him up feeling sad and alone. The dreams mostly consisted of memories but there were some of him and Davy just talking like they usually would have last summer. Another reason he found it hard to sleep was because he couldn't distract himself from the withdrawal symptoms like he could in the day. The cravings were still definitely there, he was just waiting for them to go away completely which was seeming less and less likely.

Harry found himself already facing the common room door when he broke out of him thoughts. He paused for a few seconds and decided to turn around and head to the room of requirement. He didn't feel like being with people right at the moment. He got to the room which had transformed itself into a regular room with a few chairs and a fire place and a large window facing the west side of the grounds. He sat by the window staring out at it trying to ignore the heavy weight he felt pressing down on him.