The Stubborn Old Headmaster

22

Harry immediately noticed, and was horrified, that the present was a Portkey. When the uncomfortable spinning stopped, he anxiously looked around, finding himself in a room he knew he had seen before. Still, he had no clue where he was. Only when he heard voices and turned around did he recognize that he found himself in the Dursleys' living room. He wearily noticed Dumbledore and Vernon Dursley sitting on the sofa, when his uncle began to verbally attack him while Dumbledore pointed his wand at him.

'Harry! Transform into your chameguise form and get away from wherever you are! You can do it!' Uncle Severus' voice suddenly penetrated his mind.

'Oh, that's right,' he thought and quickly transformed into his chameguise form, making himself invisible at the same time just as his body was riddled with pain. However, he still managed to escape and get back to Hogwarts in the blink of an eye.

'I'm in my room, hurts,' he managed to think to Severus, before he lost consciousness.

"Harry just informed me that he's all right. He's back in his room, but he's hurt, and we have to see what's wrong. However, now that he is back, he'll be all right," Severus' voice penetrated the Great Hall, where the children were huddled together in fright. "Go back to playing; Harry will join you as soon as he can," he told them, before he asked Minerva, Poppy and Tom to join him on his way up to Harry's room.

When they entered Harry's room, it was empty. "Stop!" Severus told the others. "Since we can't see him, he must be invisible."

"All right, I'll transform and check if I can see him," Tom announced and quickly transformed into his chameguise form. He walked next to the spot where Harry was lying in front of the bed and transformed back. "He's right here," he told the others pointing to the floor next to him.

Minerva immediately pointed her wand to the spot, transfiguring Harry back into his human form, before Severus carefully picked up the still invisible child and gently placed him down on his bed. Poppy waved her wand over him and frowned.

"He was hit with another dark spell that caused his whole body, meaning all his organs and joints, to become infected. He's suffering from an immense amount of pain. Thank Merlin that you found the antidote against the tenfold pain a few months ago; otherwise the pain would be unbearable. Severus, I'm afraid, as long as you don't have an antidote against the spell, we can only give him pain relieving potions." She pulled a small phial out of her robe pocket and spelled the content straight into Harry's stomach, before she woke him up and asked him to make himself visible.

"Harry, are you all right? What happened?" Minerva asked in concern as soon as Harry's eyes flung open.

"The dark blue present was a Portkey... took me to the Dursleys' living room... Dumbledore and Vernon there... Vernon shouted at me and Dumbledore attacked me... Uncle Sev told me to transform, and I did," Harry explained in a raspy voice.

"You did that extremely well, son," Minerva commended him and helped him to sit up, before she handed him a glass of water.

Everyone was terrified about the newest event. Who had placed the large, blue present onto the table, where all the other presents were? They had questioned everyone, who had attended Harry's birthday party, and all children and teachers had pointed out which of the presents was from them. The dark blue present seemed to belong to nobody.

One evening, Harry walked over into the living room, noticing that Minerva, Poppy, and Severus were drinking tea together and stood in front of Minerva, who automatically pulled him onto her lap.

"Trelawney said that she's seen Hagrid with the blue box right before the party started," Minerva told the others, after making sure that Harry was comfortable on her lap and had already drifted off to sleep again.