The Hogwarts Mental Institution || Harry Potter AU || ✔️

I Must Not Tell Truths II

Harry woke up to those whispering voices. Wait a minute. He knew those voices!

"Harry, you're awake!" the bushy haired girl exclaimed.

"Took you long enough," the red haired boy stated.

"Ron! Hermione! Are you guys a sight for sore eyes! You will not believe what is happening," Harry exclaimed leaning towards them.

"Woah, mate." Ron put both his hands up and backed away. "We don't want your crazy juices all over us."

Hermione hit Ron on the arm and glared. Hermione, unlike Ron, did not shy away from Harry. Rather, she sat at the edge of the bed, close enough to touch.

"Crazy juices? You—you think I'm crazy too?" Harry was heartbroken.

"We don't think you're crazy, Harry. You just need some time to heal your mind. Doctor Riddle told us that the abuse you faced from Nurse Umbridge set your recovery back but he also said that the surgery should help," Hermione assured, softly.

Harry looked alarmed. "Umbridge is here too?"

"No, you don't have to worry about that. Officer Firenze arrested her, she will never be able to hurt you or anyone else ever again."

"So the centaurs are police officers?"

"They're not half horses, Harry. They just eat like horses," Ron joked.

"And that's funny coming from the king of eating himself," Harry joked back, getting used to the old golden trio dynamic. He was also kind of, maybe, adjusting to the idea that different groups of people represented different things in his mind. It was all very systematic. How convenient.

Harry was shaken out of his musings by Hermione's disappointed sigh. "You still believe in centaurs. So... the surgery didn't work," she concluded, looking downcast.

Harry shimmied his body until he was positioned at the edge of the bed next to Hermione. Out of everyone in his life, he would have thought for sure that Ron and Hermione would have believed him.

At Harry's dejected silence, Hermione continued, "We still love you, Harry. You are our best friend and nothing, absolutely nothing, is ever going to change that."

She reached her hand out to him and rubbed his arm in a way that comforted Harry, down to the bottom of his soul, as Ron sat on the ground criss-cross facing the two of them.

"You two are still my friends, even though you think I'm crazy?" Strangely, the thought did make him feel better. This was the best news he had heard in a while.

"Of course!" Ron commented, "It just makes for better stories. Remember when you told me that I used my amazing chess skills to get some psychology rock?"

"Philosopher's Stone and that would be first year, yes."

"And—and" Ron burst out laughing, "Remember when you told us that Hermione made a ponydrink potion that turned her into a cat?"

"Polyjuice," Harry muttered.

Hermione tried to hide her smile. "Quiet, Ronald. Harry, we are always going to be here for you. You don't ever have to worry about that."

Harry mutely nodded.

Just then, the door opened and profess-sorry, nurse Slughorn walked in.

"Harry," Slughorn announced, "my favorite patient! Are you ready for your medication?"

"Please, I'm fine. I don't need it," Harry protested as he watched Ron and Hermione get up and make way for Slughorn to walk to his bedside.

"Come now, Harry! I promise you will like this. I brought you Madam Rosmerta's famous pumpkin juice to wash it all down with."