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

Keep Calm and Panic IV

Sitting at the table by himself, Harry wasn't really sure what to do next.

Based on the clock, it was past dinner time and Harry had nothing to eat today beside his below average breakfast. But he was not really that hungry as today had been quite the adventure, and not the good kind. He learned so much about what happened to his friends and the thought made him sick to his stomach.

None of them deserved what they had to go through. Not even Malfoy.

In this situation, Harry wished he could go back to the time when his problems could be solved by destroying seven horcruxes.

Of course, that task was not simple, but it was a task with simple rules. Get. Rid. Of. Horcruxes.

Here, Harry had no idea what exactly to do. Get. Rid. Of. Schizophrenia?

He didn't know how to help Seamus or Dean. He didn't know how to calm Neville. He had no idea what was wrong with George.

He was stuck. Utterly stuck.

A part of Harry, the logical side (the Hermione side), reasoned that perhaps Harry had created his fantasy world with the seven horcruxes so it would make his life easier. Give his life a purpose. And then the last horcrux was himself. So he had to destroy part of himself, the schizophrenic side, to complete his mission. Maybe that's why he woke up and ended up here, the same night he had just defeated Voldemort. The same night he had died (gone through his deep brain stimulation surgery) and came back to life (woke up).

Harry shook his head to clear his thoughts. Squinting and rubbing his eyes, Harry tried to deny the fact that it all made sense.

How could magic even exist? It was crazy!

No, no. He couldn't think like that.

He couldn't think like they wanted him to.

Getting up from the table, Harry decided to walk around to clear his head.

Strolling through various hallways, Harry walked past Moaning Myrtle cleaning the bathrooms, the Bloody Baron wiping away something that bore a strong resemblance to vomit, and Nearly Headless Nick whistling as he vacuumed the floors.

Turns out, Nearly Headless Nick was not nearly headless at all! It was simply an intricate tattoo that made it look like his head was separated from his body. Easy mistake to make, Harry guessed. You know, if one was crazy.

So the headmaster is the doctor, the professors are the nurses, the ghosts are the janitors, and the students are the patients.

What's next? The owls are just really hairy mailmen?

Whatever, he did not want to find out.

Then, Harry came across something familiar.

The Hogwarts library!

Harry entered the room and ran his hands across the spines of the books on the shelves. Those books brought back so many memories.

He remembered Hermione excitedly flipping through the books, quoting her favorite lines out loud, and then proceeding to check twenty books out at the same time. Usually, that wasn't allowed, but the librarian loved her so much, she could take out as many books as she wanted. It really helped during the OWLs, to have a friend who literally had all the books, and information, within her grasp. Oh, how he missed his friends.

A specific book caught his eye. It was about how to help a friend with an eating disorder. Remembering Dean, Harry gingerly reached for the book and flipped through it.

Deciding it was worth a read, Harry brought the paperback instruction manual over to Madam Pince to check it out and walked out to bring it back to his room.

Once he stepped out of the library, Harry felt a chill run down his back.

Right in front of him was the man he had just recently killed.

Lord Voldemort.

Except, the face he had now was not the face that haunted Harry's dream.

No, this Voldemort was the one from the Chamber of Secrets.

Tom Riddle.

Rather than the pale skin and slit nose, this Voldemort had a healthy complexion, a chiseled jaw, and rather flouncy soft dark hair.

He looked... normal and young and... human. Nothing like the soul sucking monster back home.

But Harry couldn't process any of that. All he could see was Lord Voldemort: the monster who killed his friends and family. The monster who should be dead.

Harry dropped his book to the ground and seeing flashes of red in his eye, let out a feral shout and pounced at Riddle, punching him and kicking him and viciously attacking him as much as he could.

He didn't really have a plan. He just knew he couldn't allow Voldemort to hurt any more of his friends. Not when they were as weak and vulnerable as they were now.

"Harry!" Riddle shouted, "Harry! Stop! Help! Help!" Riddle used his arms to block any attacks to his face, but did not engage in any behaviors to hit Harry back or harm him in any way.

The whole time, Riddle kept shouting at Harry to calm down and stop attacking him, but Harry heard none of it. This monster had to pay for what he did... again.

Suddenly, Harry felt a sharp prick in his neck and something being injected.

At once, Harry felt woozy and his grip on Tom Riddle loosened.

"Doctor Riddle, are you alright?" Hagrid asked. He was the one who injected Harry.

"Hagrid?" Harry whispered as he stumbled around for balance. "Hagrid, he's back. Voldemort's back."

Harry was getting dizzier and dizzier as the tranquilizer set in. He heard Hagrid say, "I'll take him to the Isolation Room."

"Yes, thank you, Hagrid," Riddle replied.

No, no, no, no, no.

"He's back," Harry kept muttering.

The same words spilled out of his mouth, and it kept coming until he lost consciousness and drifted into oblivion.

He's back, he's back. Voldemort is back.