Redo

Chapter 11

As they had expected, Dumbledore acted perfectly shocked at the news Harry had almost died, but tried to convince the two it had been an accident. If they had actually been 11 year olds they might have even believed him, but not after they watched his reaction to Harry's death.

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"How long are you going to wear that bonnet?" Neville asked Hermione, it was around breakfast time the next day, and McGonagall had given them permission to miss the Transfiguration lesson to spend the time with Harry, so they weren't in the school robes yet.

"Until I have the time to do a protective hairstyle on it. I'm out of practice and my hair is way too unhealthy at the moment to be natural and not in a bonnet." Hermione shrugged, it was always damaging to the hair to take a hair growth potion, but it was even more so for 4c hair. She guessed she shouldn't have expected it to be any better when it was made by white people. Still, it was better than feeling dysphoric.

"I'll braid it for you." Ron hopped off his chair, smacking the crumbs off his hands as he approached Hermione's chair.

"Since when did you know how to braid hair?" She asked, though she still took off her bonnet for him.

"You mum taught me, practiced on your dad. She said if I was going to come over as often as I did I would need to know how to care for your hair if you ever grew it out again." Ron flicked his wand at the knife that lay unused on Harry's bedside table, turning it into a comb with a fine end to separate her hair. "Let me know if I pull too hard."

Hermione had noticed her father's odd hair styles a few times, but had never paid them much heed as she was more focused on Harry's case. It made her smile to think that the closest people to her were trying to help her care for her hair, she may have shaved it at the time, but long hair had always been her dream.

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"It's Potions next, isn't it?" Draco's voice.

"I'm never entering that classroom again." Ron's voice.

"No shit, I mean we might need to make room for more people. We've all already told people about what Snape did so Lexsaidh has been preparing a boycott of Snape's lessons." Draco's voice again, who was Lexsaidh?

Harry was confused, he was awake, but he couldn't open his eyes, his back felt stiff and he felt the need to yawn, but he could neither stretch nor yawn. Even as he used all of his will power he couldn't even move his fingertips. Just as he realised that, though, he felt warmth on both of his hands, different temperatures, though.

"I am going to kill him." Ron's voice.

"If you do that you won't be able to see Harry again." Hermione's voice, she did seem more reasonable than Ron. "What we're going to do is make him disappear with no evidence. We should also try to get some people to help us produce alibies."

Maybe not all that reasonable.

"Do you think he's awake yet?" Neville's voice.

Harry then heard shifting, and his skin felt like it was prickling that he knew mean that all eyes were on him. He hated being the centre of attention, but somehow this time it didn't feel too bad. Whoever was holding his left hand started stroking the back of his hand, it felt nice.

"I guess there's no way for us to know." Hermione's voice, she sounded sad.

"Mme Pomfrey said today is the earliest he could wake up." Draco's voice.

"There's no way he knows what's going on, right?" Neville, he almost sounded scared.

"Harry, we don't know if you can hear us, but you almost died two days ago. Snape burnt ash wood in the classroom and you're allergic, only when it's burning, but if you're even around a little you need to get to the Hospital Wing immediately because you will get paralysed. If you don't take the potion you will die. You're fine now, but you will be like this for a while. We'll stay with you as much as we can." Ron's explanation made Harry feel a lot more secure.

Sure, all of this sucked, and even though it had only been a few moments since he woke up he still wanted it to be over already, but at least he knew what was going on. He didn't know how long this would last, but he at least knew he was safe.

"And what if he's not awake now?" Hermione's voice.

"Well I'm going to keep telling him." Ron's voice.

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By the time it was Friday, not only was every Potions lesson being boycotted, but not a single student was even vaguely acknowledging Snape's attention. Fred and George had even found a way to make the giant hourglasses keeping score of the House Points to not acknowledge his points.

Everyone had, of course, received many detentions from him, but nobody attended them, after all, nobody had given those detentions to them.

Lexsaidh was the first to be interviewed by the reporter, followed by Ron and Hermione together, Hermione handing over the recording of Dumbledore's tantrum after they left once they told him about what had happened with Harry. Ron put on a brilliant act with tears that wasn't entirely fake, though he was rather angrier than his expressions during the interview would imply. Draco was next, who described the events that had taken place in enough detail to show how horrific it was, but without anything even potentially private. Mme Pomfrey was the next specific interview, able to say for certain that Snape knew what he was doing.

After that the reporter got a few random interviews with other students, including Fred and George, though nobody thought their interview would be published as more than anything else they were ranting about how Harry was their brother.

"So what do we do now?" Ron asked the room, his eyes on Harry, the number of visitors he got had been limited since the Hospital Wing was filled the day they had started the boycott of Snape's lessons, so it was once again just the 5 of them, though Lexsaidh was outside the curtains surrounding Harry's bed.

"I don't think there's anything more we can do." Hermione's face was downcast as she said that, she was really no good at just waiting around. That was why she had always been so obsessed with Harry's case in the previous timeline, it gave her something to do that took enough time and energy that she would be unlikely to ever stop.

"The next step is to wait for the article to be published, I know most of the school is going to buy it, and hope it gets first page. This will be enough to stain Snape, but in order to get anything to stick to Dumbledore it will be my turn soon." Lexsaidh's breathing was shaky as she said that.

"I'm here if you need me." Draco held his hand out of the curtain for her.

"Thanks." Lexsaidh smiled though Draco couldn't see it, she was once again playing with the old, scratched, smiley face bracelet.

"For us we can't do anything more, we don't have anything on Dumbledore and we can't do anything to speed up Harry's recovery. Just stay with him." Neville looked over Harry, it was almost scary how he looked like he was sleeping.

"I hope he wakes up soon." Ron lay on the bed, holding Harry's hand tightly.

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Harry had no way of keeping track of time, he couldn't move or even see. He liked it when the others were around him, but it was terrifying when he couldn't hear or feel anything. That was the worst, when he was terrified; he couldn't feel scared properly, his mind was terrified, but his heart and lungs refused to cooperate. It was almost painful to experience, but the pain was like it was fighting its way through a thick curtain.

Sometimes, though, Harry could tell there were no people around him, but he knew he wasn't alone. Hedwig's hooting, ruffling, and other noises could be heard, occasionally her grooming his hair too. Her presence and actions making him feel cared for. A cat, probably Crookshanks from the small, would also visit him fairly regularly, curling up on his chest as a warm, heavy lump that purred. It was extremely comforting.

He couldn't wait until this was over.