It took themn almost two hours 1t0 reach Gringotts, but they were in no huy. They even enjoyed walking hand-in: hand along some of the streets al decorated for Christmas, before they went to the Leokey Cauldron, sharpclaw welcomed thern. -What brings you here on such a cold day?" he asked politl,
You mnentioned something about my scar during our last meeting. Since the Hogwarts healer said she couldn treatit, then I thought you could; Harry replied.
Wel ant healit, personally, but our healers probably can. Let me cllthem, frst." Sharpelew used som nstrument on his desk to speak with somebody else. Harry couldnit say what that was, but it looked anc unctioned stimilar to muggle intercoms that hed seen at school and in some businesses,althoughit must havs been magical.
no That conversastion was arel,y over when the door opened and two goblis came in, b th wearing loMtgen robes.
Dne aked Hatry to stand and both started casting some spells on himn, resulting in various foggy form: appearing momentarily near him, One then said something to Sharpclaw, who summoned an additional goblin, That one was wearing a brown robe. The new goblin cast his own spells, concentrating mainly on Harry's heac near the scar.
They then conversed in thelr own anguage and finally spoke to Sharpclaw, who passed the infornatlon. Thes years, stunting your growath both physically and magically. You also have some binds on your magic and your ound quite a bit more than merely that scar. It tooks like you've been subjected to severe malnutrition for man, mind. Although you seem to have partially overcome them, removing themn completely will make you smarter and nuch more powerful, magically. Then, your scar is not a simple curse scar. It also contains a shard of malicious soul that could, under different circumstances, fuly possess your body. Luckily. you have some ancient protection, probably set on you by your parents, that prevents it from going any deeper than your skin. Removing that shard is evidently our highest priority. Once removed, your scar can be as easily healed as the rest of you body:
Harry cal to ugog hin et When enyou start and how ong willtl oke"he asked.
The goblins conferred for another momnent before Sharpclaw answerec "The frst step is done wilh a ritul. It wil robably tackle some of the other problems too. We need about half an hour to prepare the ritual room. Then,the ritual itself nay take anything from a few minutes to a fullday. depending on the power and the tenacity of the malicious hard. There's no way to asses it ahead, so they tell me. The rest is just a potion treatment thal can be given as soon as the ritual is over. It will put you to sleep for a few hours. By the time you wake up, you hould be fully healed . Well, there's also the problem of your eyesight. The healers belleve that treating you physical problems can correct that too, but it can only be checked after the rest is over. If needed, the process to correct your eyes takes less than half an hour"
lorry tried to think of the meaning of all his. Then, if take the suggested treatment,it may take fromn a fes hours to more than a full day. Am I right?
Sharpclaw nodded,
"Then,I think we should tell Hermione's parents before we start. Dont you think Hermione should also be hecked for various spells? Since she's my closest friend, she may be subjected to the same problemns harpclsw nodded and talked to the others. They checked Hermione and seerned concernec
"While you have no health problems and your magic is not bound, it looks like you have a very recent bind on your nind, making you slightly more confused and less concentrated. We can remove it with a short ritual while you friend wil be sleeping his healing potion off; Sharpclaw told ther
Hermione frowned."Do you know who cast x n me?
larry thought he knew and could also sense that Hermione had a distinct suspicion. Netither was surprised to hear the answer. "It was Dumbledore, sam as all the binds and other charms cast on your friend . While most o Lord Potter's binds were set about ten years ago,yours is only a fewrmonths old
tatry suspected t was cast uring the meeting affe the duelor posby the one afterthe tllinide
"How much wilthe restments cost? Hermione asked next.
tharpctlaw seemed amused. "The price is irelevant, considering how much you own. Besides,it's in Gringott: interest to keep such prominent customers healthy, so you'l get it for free.
IHow can we prevent him from casting them anewr Haryasked,
Sharpclaw gave it a morment of thought."Normall,.your Lord and Lady rings should have prevented thil although most were cast before you wore them. Stil Dumbledore is a very knowledgeable wizard. He might have used a different spell knowing about your ing, to circumwvent the protection. You can, if you like, maximize the protection so that it can stop all spells cast on you, except for the unforgivable. That is normally not recommended since it also stops healers diagnostics and healing charms 1 give it some more thought and consult with some experts while Lord Potter gets his treatment. 1I hope to have a better answer by the time it: fnished:
His expression changed to show a closed-lips smile."Now, I suggest you go inform your parents and come back for the treatment. The ritual room should be ready by then.?
Half an hour later, Harry was taken to the ritual toom. Hermione stayed with Sharpclaw, not quite knowing what o do. Waiting was never something she liked., Waiting for an undefined duration, possibly a full day, was way tox long for her,
harpclaw seemned to understand,"Would you like me to bring you some of the books we have about wizard magic? Most are very ancient books written either by wizards or by the goblins who interacted with them. believe you may find - them interesting."
Hermionesface tigtened el TRaoks Inaslywondering how Ican psthe timne:
te smiled Wat fewr minmute and"lil go fichn some boot . rd I so susgsestyou hsve somne uncthin an hour o two. The curse breakers tend to be very ague, but from my experience, 1 can estimate that theritul wiltlke more than four hours and possibly much Ionger. No need to wait here before that time passe:
lermnione just nodded. The advice was sound, but it lashed badly with her feelings,which insisted on he vaiting there for the whole time. Well, she'd first check the books, no doubt about tha
Heftione ate lunch at Diagon Alley She later ate diner tio, alhough she could barel hotice her her parents eemed endless to her and she wondered how Harry was coping. She also remembered to update food. The Itue
A
TwO hours later Sharpclaw led her to the hospitl, where Harry was expected to come after the ritual, and howed her to a free bed. "Y%ou may rest here until it's your turn at the ritual. I suggest you also try to sleep some Ifthat soul shard is what / bolileve it is, then the ritual may! need close to a full day. You shouldr't deprive yoursel of sleep due to it. Lord Potter will probably be asleep for most of the ritual anyway.
Hermione wante to read sotine more. She ly opened the op buton in her eans and lay on the bed reading
sorne noise woke her up, The clock an the wll showedi was sbout half post three She sowr sorne goblin evitating Harry's sleeping forr . It was too dark to discern many details, though. They lowered him to th edjacent bed and tucked him in. One noticed her awake. "Lord Potter will sleep a last two more hours.Isuggest you also sleep
"Dlidinal o welf"shie asked anwlousty
'It went well enough. only much slower than we liked. Lord Patteris nowfree of that scar and o althle binds and spells cast on him, but he needs o sleep some more. The ritua was very aexing on his magile and on ours. By the time he wakes up, another team willbe ready for you, Lady Ravenclaw.
Thast was good enough for her As she les her eyes close, she same clothes, too, since she was under a warm blanket, although stillin the noticed thet somebody had probably tucked her
The next tine, it was Harry's yawn that woke her. She almost jumped out of her bed,. "HantHow do ol lep Do you know what they did? Let me see your forehead:
Harry smiled and moved his bangs aside, allowing her a full view of his forehead, where only a sligh discolouration testified of where his scar had been. "They Said it will take another day before my skin will becomne uniform, vanishing any signs of the scar I once had:
Hermnione just grabbed his face and kissed him passionately t wss ll she could do, st the moment, since the room started filing with goblins. Three of them came to her
"Lady Ravenclow, theritual ron s ready for you. Please come with us. The itual wil nly loke a few minutes, bu the preparations take much longer, o e told her
she ws led to a nesarty rom that loked ike a changing room. "we must ldisrobe hore. Ary clothes mas nterfere with the ritul: her guide explained, starting to disrobe
termione wasnit sure she wanted to be naked in front of them but oblged. Amoment aster,she was suprised t tee that her escorts were also femnales. When clothed, she could see no gender differences
She was then led to a smal round metal door of the kind found on bank vauhts, They crswled through itito a ball-shaped metal room. Hermione was asked to stand in the centre while several goblins painted her body with rorious tunes and other symbo|s. tickled badly, but her resolve showed and she stayed as stllas a statue unti they finished.
Then,they formed a crigle sroundher. chanted and movad their armsin some weird movements quickly into a seemed to dance a bit. Before she could even see everything, her body started glowing. It turned and aler right flash that made them all feel like the room turned dark after it was gone. When her eyes readjusted, sh saw no signs of allthlat had beer previously painted on her body
"rs over. You bind is gone. You may get ressed and we shlead you beck to your ftend: the saome goblin ld her.
shortwhlilelater she ws looking agein at Hary, who seemed to sleep peaceflly one again. She sighed an, tucked herselfin bed. She also needed some more sleep
She woke up when she heard sorne people moving around. Opening her eyes, she noticed that theroom was iling with goblin healers. Looking at the adjacen bed, she saw that Harry seemed to wake up soon. Afte sharing a bed for several months, she could alreody discern that quite precisely,
Indced Houry wokeup ofew minites sie,boking wltested Hs gres anded nHtermlonesand he smld, "How are you? Slept well?
Hermione snied bsek, OuteweilANnd you?
slept wellto. 1 didit feltired aftfr the itul but they said needed my sleep to rescharge my magic sincel was heavily used during the ritual.:
They toi ne you ses wing the ituato" shesia,
Well t frst they panted various symbols on my body. Then Thad to le with my headinthe cenreof the rot ind they started chanting. Next, know, you were hugging me: His smile indicated that he liked the hu
bit similar, onlyl stood in the entre and itook mere minutes; she said
hampelow ws opprosching them, loking cested to,." ugest you es brskfostfist Then, Lord Poters ege vill be checked and corrected, if needed. Then, 'd like to talk somne imnore to you before you leave the bank, if yos dant minc
Hary noded is aqreement He then motied that he wes slilwrearing onl hospitol obes. T think houtd setun to my own clothes first though:
harpclsw chuckled."Idont think they stllftyou, Lord Potfr. Your treatment also made you grow and resac your right proportions, for your age. Our talilor wiljioin us shortly and will be able to adjust all your clothes to ft Untilthen, you moy stay in hospitlal robes Hary grimasced but nodld.
harpclaw pointed at a nearby table where a breakfast for two was waliting. t wasr't as big or as varied as Hogwarts, but it was more than good enough. Both children ate with gusto, easily finishing allthat they were served. By then, another goblin had joined them.
The is Colditvesd ol otlc ry geting des Hewl ust ach tomn as ou put ton, Shapcla, instructed.
once clothed (and Harry also tried on the overcoat, just to rmake sure it was also adjusted), another Healer lec them to a room assigned for eye treatment
Ten mninutes lote, withHary wearing his adjusted clothes and shoes,but no yesglosses Sharpclow escorted them back to his office and invited themn to sit before sitting in his chai