Harry Potter and the Gift of Memories [Harry Potter Fan Fiction]

Chapter XXVI: Aftermath Part II

 It was nearly an hour later that Harry was finally allowed to leave the hospital wing. A quick casting of the tempus spell showed him that it was currently lunch time, and so the raven-haired young boy made his way toward the Great Hall, his shoes thudding along the stone floor, bouncing off the walls.

The halls were empty. Everyone was probably already in the Great Hall. That left Harry plenty of time to think about the reaction he would be receiving from the other students when he arrived.

He was under no illusion that everyone had heard about what happened by now. The Hogwarts rumor mill worked fast, especially when it came to anything concerning him. The fact that this particular incident involved him killing a troll would only exacerbate things. No doubt there would be hundreds of different rumors involving what he had done and how he had done it.

He wasn't too worried about rumors. In the grand scheme of things, rumors would only boost his reputation right now, though he did imagine some people would be afraid of him. No, what he was worried about was the reaction of his friends. Would they fear him like some of the other students surely would? Would they be disgusted by what he had done? Would they want to even continue being his friend? So many questions, all of which could only be answered by confronting them.

A part of him was bothered by how worried he was about their opinions of him. While he did indeed care about what others thought of him, perhaps even more than he should, he had never worried to this extent. He had cared, but only insomuch as how the beliefs and opinions of others would affect his reputation. This was different. In this instance, he was actually afraid they would think he was a monster and not want to spend anymore time with him. And that bothered him far more than he wanted to admit.

Before long Harry found himself standing just outside of the Great Hall. He closed his eyes, centering himself by taking several deep breaths and emptying his mind of his worries and concerns. Properly centered, he entered the Great Hall, prepared to face whatever came his way.

As expected, the moment he entered the entire hall became silent. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop, and Harry instantly likened the disquieting silence to the term 'silent as the grave,' a rather morbid phrase if there ever was one.

Just like he had theorized Harry received many varied looks. Everything from awe to fear to jealousy was displayed by the many faces around him. Harry's mind quickly went to work cataloging the reactions of everyone there and taking careful note of who had which expression. It would be invaluable to know who was afraid of him and who was simply in awe of him.

Slowly, Harry walked down the Great Hall, the heads of many students turning to keep him in sight. His eyes managed to find his friends quickly enough. They were seated at the Ravenclaw. Terry, Lisa and Neville were on one side, while Susan and Hannah were on the other. Their expressions all ran along the lines of being stunned, as if they didn't know what to make of him appearing before them.

Over at the Slytherin table he also saw Blaise giving him an expressionless look. When Harry caught the dark-skinned Italian boy's eyes, the Slytherin nodded in silent acknowledgment. He returned the nod with one of his own. Tracey, on the other hand, was biting her lower lip and looked like she was barely managing to restrain herself from leaping out of her seat and rushing over to him. Knowing her, he would be giving a full recounting of the event that led to him being admitted into the hospital wing.

He did get a bit of a surprise when he looked to Tracey's right and saw Daphne staring at him with a furrowed brow. He was surprise because she wasn't looking at him with cold disdain. Her lips were turned downwards into a small frown, and her eyes only contained a hint of the ice they normally had. Instead they looked pensive. He wondered what she was thinking about.