Chapter 5 – The Examination, Part One

Like I promised this chapter is much longer than the last one. I hope you will like it and review!

I'm not a native speaker of English!

Chapter 5 – The Examination, Part One

Poppy informed Healer James Smith about the results of her diagnostic spell and Harry's reaction when she wanted to examine him closer. The Healer immediately packed his bag and came over to see his new patient.

When he approached the bed, he found Severus speaking softly to the boy. It seemed to be calming him. James knew him well; he'd become good friends with the whole Dumbledore-Snape family during the time he'd spent working with the other man. He'd first met Severus when he'd helped Healer Pearce heal him after a meeting with the Dark Lord. He'd also helped the Potions master work through the emotional wounds Voldemort had inflicted while he was in his service.

"Hello, Severus!" He greeted his friend when he came over to him. The boy hid himself behind his knees at his voice.

"Hello, James! I'm glad that you had time to come. Did Poppy give you all the information you needed?"

"Not all I need," the Healer said while taking the place Severus had occupied a few minutes before. He observed his patient, who didn't dare to look up to see who was sitting on his bed. "I take it he didn't come to you?" he asked Severus.

"No, I already had a close eye on him because he didn't eat much during the feast yesterday and left it very early. Then this morning he hardly ate anything again. His first class was mine, so I finally got a closer look and saw that he was wearing a Glamour Charm. He was unfocused, his hands shook, he was sweating and obviously extremely tired, so I confronted him about it, but he refused to tell me what was wrong with him."

That caused a movement from the other end of the bed like he had hoped it would. "You didn't ask me. You just tricked me into coming here." Harry looked reproachfully at Severus.

"Oh, so you would have spoken with your Professor if he had asked you?" Healer Smith was now addressing Harry.

With shock Harry realized that he had moved from his hiding place behind his knees and was now looking at the Healer. He was a kind-looking man of maybe 45 years.

"No! But he didn't even try. He tricked me." Harry felt more and more like a child, but he didn't care at the moment.

"And why do you think he tricked you, eh? What is your name by the way?" the Healer asked innocently.

"Harry. Just Harry!" he glared at Severus as if to dare him to tell his last name. Even though the chance was very low, he hoped that the Healer didn't know who he was. My picture was in all the newspapers; what's the chance that he doesn't know me, unless he's been living under a rock , Harry thought sarcastically.

"I'm Healer James Smith. But you can just call me James if you want." Healer Smith offered his hand for Harry to shake it.

Harry eyed the hand sceptically. The man was nice, and he had the same first name as his dead dad, but could he trust him?

"I have heard about Healers like you," Harry said without taking the offered hand.

James let his hand sink again. "And what did you hear that makes you afraid to greet me?"

Harry stared at the hand that now innocently rested on the bed. "You can read people with your hands. You can not only feel all their illnesses and wounds through it, but also their feelings."

James smiled warmly. "So you fear that when you shake my hand, I could read that you are very scared of being examined and that I'll take you with me into the clinic or contact your relatives, that I'll realize you are embarrassed that I see what's under your shirt, and that I will hurt you with my treatment?"

Harry's mouth fell open as James talked. He was shocked. "But–but–you need skin contact to read someone," Harry stuttered.

"Yes, I do need skin contact to magically scan someone! But I didn't need it to read your thoughts; they're written all over your face, Harry," James said, relaxed and with a warm voice. "But you don't have to fear this at all. I just want to check if you need something other than a healing salve. I will have to examine you head to toe. I know that is a little awkward, but I can assure you that I have done this hundreds of times. For example, I've done it several times on your Potions master. I'm sure there is nothing that can shock me about you. This hospital wing is well supplied, so there will also be no need to move you from here to the clinic. I will also try to be as gentle as possible and not hurt you, but of course I can't promise it because I don't know how badly you are hurt and what treatments I will have to do, but I do promise to warn you before I do something that could hurt. And before you tell us who has caused your wounds... I won't inform anyone, okay?"

Harry's gaze moved between the Healer and Severus several times. You could almost hear his mind working.

"He is one of the best Healers I know, Harry. You can trust him," Severus said encouragingly.

Harry swallowed and then nodded his head.

"Okay, so I'll try again. Hello, Harry, I'm James."

This time Harry took the offered hand. His grip was reluctant, but he took it. He waited anxiously for the crazy tickle that he had read about happening when Healers examine their patients, but nothing happened. It was just the same as greeting a 'normal' person.

When James let go of his hand, Harry even looked stupidly at his hand for a few seconds.

"What are you waiting for?" James asked, smiling.

"A tickle. I read about it, and my friend Hermione also said it would tickle. She had a Healer examine her when she had Dragon Pox last year."

"It will tickle when I read you, but not when I just touch you. My wife wouldn't be happy if it was the other way around, would she?"

Harry even had to smile about that. James was very kind.

Harry had finally calmed down.

"So, just Harry, you didn't answer my first question. Why do you think Professor Snape tricked you?"

Harry looked at Severus, who was half sitting on the bed next to Harry's. "I think he knew that I wouldn't come with him on my own, and so he didn't even try to ask me first."

"And why was he interested at all?" James had moved from the bed and started to place some instruments on a small table, but he looked at Harry several times to show that he was still listening.

Again, Harry's eyes wandered to his professor. "I don't know."

"Severus?" James asked in Severus's direction.

"What?" Severus was startled by this question. He didn't know that he would be involved in this discussion.

"Why did you care?" James asked innocently.

Severus frowned. "What do you mean why do I care? He is my student, I'm his professor. He is a child, I'm an adult. What kind of stupid question is that?"

James grinned.

Harry was touched by Severus's words. He cares , he thought happily. Finally someone cares.

Seeing the emotions play on Harry's face, James knew he did the right thing to involve Severus. It seemed that the boy trusted him.

Severus himself wasn't glad to be involved at all. James was a good friend, but the man could still be so damn manipulative, which put Severus at a disadvantage. James had tricked him so many times into an examination or into speaking about things he just wanted to forget.

James had moved a high chair beside the instrument table and was now facing the empty space on the bed which he had occupied a few minutes before. "What do you think, Harry? Do you want to start?" James patted the empty spot in front of him to encourage Harry to come over.

He is nice, Harry started to reason with himself. Until now, he didn't do anything against my will. Maybe I'd better let him examine me rather than Madam Pomfrey.

But then Harry realized that the hospital door was still open, and anyone could come in. Again he started to panic and breathe fast.

Madam Pomfrey must have realized his gaze was focused on the door, because she started to close the curtain around Harry's bed. Severus had to leave his seat to stand near Harry.

When the curtains were closed, Harry moved slowly over to James.

"Just let your feet dangle over here," James said while helping Harry to move his legs over the edge. "Okay, so we first make it a little more comfortable for both of us." Saying that he removed Harry's left shoe.

Harry hadn't realized that he was still wearing his shoes and now looked apologetically at Madam Pomfrey.

Madam Pomfrey just smiled at him.

Quickly the other shoe followed, and James stood up from his chair and shoved it a little back to have more free space.

"I will now examine your head, Harry, okay?"

Harry looked anxiously on the instruments on the table.

"Just with my hands first," James said when he noticed Harry's glance. "I will scan your head for new and old injuries. That means I will use some Healer magic. So now the famous tickle will come. You just have to tell me if something hurts, okay?"

Harry nodded his head.

James felt the bone structure of Harry's head and lingered a few times at several spots to scan deeper.

Harry was a little startled when a sheet and a quill popped up in the air a few inches away from James. The quill moved over the sheet without James doing or saying anything, even though Harry was sure that it was noting down the results of the examination.

James stopped at the spot where Harry had hit his head hard at the beginning of the summer while Uncle Vernon had pushed him in a corner. His head had hurt several days afterwards, and he had felt dizzy. "Does this still give you problems, Harry?" James asked.

Harry could feel the tickle increase. "No." Harry tried the whole time to see James's hands. His eyes started to hurt because of the crazy angles they were forced into. I wish I had Professor Moody's magical eye, Harry thought.

The quill moved again over the sheet.

When James reached his jaw, he asked, "I will let my finger stay here, and you try to move your lower jaw to each side, okay?"

Harry did as he was asked, but flinched in pain.

"Sorry," James said, and Harry could immediately feel a warm tingle in his jaw and a crazy sensation that made him relax and feel sleepy. Harry closed his eyes and even moaned a little in relief. The pain was washed away by it.

"Your jaw is inflamed. Maybe it was dislocated or sprained."

James patted Harry's head and said, "Okay, that was the first part."

Harry took a deep breath in relief, but quickly he remembered the instruments on the table and stiffened. He looked fearfully at the instrument table and wished James's hand away from it.

"So you've grown up in a Muggle household, right?"

Fantastic. So much for having a chance that he doesn't know who I am, Harry thought disappointedly.

Seeing that no reaction came from his patient, James went on. "How often have you seen a Muggle doctor?"

"Never?" Harry said.

"Was that a question or an answer, Harry?" James asked amusedly. He wasn't surprised that Harry had never been examined by a doctor. His fear of the instruments and the examination made it clear.

"No, I was never seen by a doctor. My aunt said 'what comes by itself leaves by itself'."

"So you don't know all these instruments, right?"

Harry shook his head and looked at the Healer with big, scared eyes.

James turned to address Poppy. "When was Severus's last check up, Poppy?"

Harry could see Severus stiffen. "What does that have to do with Harry's examination here, James?" Severus asked angrily because he already knew where this was leading.

"Way too long ago, I would say, James," was Poppy's reply. She was already moving in Severus's direction as he backed away.

"You cannot be serious, James," he tried to argue with the Healer.

"Something to hide?" James asked with amusement while Poppy lowered the headboard of the bed and shoved Severus to sit beside Harry. Then she summoned her own instruments.