Snape got very little sleep that night after leaving Dumbledore's office. Following the meeting, he had slowly paced back to the quiet sanctum of the dungeons and began gathering ingredients from his personal storeroom in preparation of making the special potion that would be needed to allow them to complete the spell successfully. In order for the spell to work, the subject would need to be in an altered state of mind to allow the magic access to all thoughts and memories; no matter how repressed they may be in the subconscious.

The finished potion was gently simmering in a golden cauldron as the sun slowly began to rise above the horizon, announcing to the entire world that a new day had begun. Snape, being in the dungeon, could not see the sunlight, but knew it would soon be time to head to the hospital wing with a full flask of the recently finished potion.

Meanwhile, those rays of sunlight that failed to reach Snape's sallow skin, had found their way into the small private room at the back of the infirmary. Harry Potter lay in a restless sleep, his face twisting in a grimace of remembered pain that always seemed to find him  in his sleep. The rays of light fell gently upon his chest and he slowly began to rouse himself from his nightmare laden slumber.

Madam Pomfrey stepped briskly into the room with a tray of potions and supplies that would be needed that day. She sat the tray on the nightstand, the slight metallic ping of the metal sounding loud in the room. She attached another bag of the nutrient mix to the feeding tube and then went through her daily routine of checking Harry's vitals and accessing how healed he was. Luckily, most of the physical reminders of the torture had healed; all that was left was some swelling and pain where the broken bones had been repaired.

As the medi-witch finished up, she was joined in the room by Dumbledore, Snape, and Mrs. Weasley.

"Good morning, Poppy," Molly exclaimed, "How is the poor dear this morning?"

"He's doing much better than he was a few days ago. Most of the damage is gone, but he'll probably be sore for quite some time."

Pomfrey moved to the side to allow Snape to step closer to that side of the bed.  "So, Severus, were you able to finish the mind relaxing potion?"

In answer, the potions master simply raised the flask up for all to see, the shimmering pink liquid catching the rays of sunlight streaming into the window.

"Very well," Dumbledore announced, "Let's get things under way, shall we?"

"Indeed." Snape replied. He never was very talkative in the mornings.

Snape uncorked the flask and tipped it into Harry's mouth. The boy was still half asleep and swallowed most of the potion before realizing what was going on. As his awareness returned, he suddenly threw his head to the side and tried to spit out the lingering drops of the foul tasting substance, spit and potion dribbling down the side of his face. Pomfrey stepped forward with a soft moist cloth in her hand and wiped the mess off of the child's cheek and chin.

Harry was unable to focus his eyes enough to know who or how many were in the room with him, but he could sense that he was not alone and began to panic. His breathing became erratic and he started to whimper and jerk on his restraints. The adults in the room sat themselves down in the wooden chairs that were sitting along the wall opposite the bed as they waited for the potion to take full effect.

It only took about 10 minutes for the effects of the potion to be obvious to all present. The boy's head lay peacefully back upon the pillows and his breathing seemed to have slowed down. His mouth hung open and his eyes were almost completely closed in this heightened form of relaxation.

Snape stepped closer to the bed and leaned down over the boy's form, pulling up the eyelids to check the effectiveness of the potion. He was apparently pleased with what he found since he then turned around and nodded to the Headmaster. As Dumbledore rose from his seat to approach the bed, Snape backed up until he was out of the way, but still staying close in case something went wrong. The last thing they needed was to send the child into shock.

Dumbledore raised his wand, pointing it directly at Harry's head. The Headmaster closed his eyes as he began chanting a stream of words in Latin that none of the others in the room had ever heard before. This was the type of spell only very rarely mentioned in even the more obscure books that were available on mind magic.

The chanting continued for several minutes, growing louder every time the words were repeated. Suddenly, a great blast of yellow light went flying towards the bed, encasing Harry's head as it pulsed, seeming to glow despite the brightness of the room. Harry's brow was slightly furrowed, but that was the only outward sign of distress he made during the entire process.

After the blast of light had left his wand, Dumbledore dropped his wand and would have fallen to his knees if Snape had not been there to catch him before he hit the ground. The other two scurried forward to help the man to a seat where he rested; trying to recuperate from the strong burst of magic he had to produce in order to complete the spell.

"Well, Severus," Molly asked, "How long will Harry be asleep now that this is over?"

"It's hard to say, really. But most realistically, He will most likely not be awake and aware of his surroundings until tomorrow. We'll have to wait until then."

"Yes," Pomfrey agreed, "And even after he awakes, we'll need to keep the restraints on. He won't understand what is going on and, in his confusion, he might hurt himself and the restraints will keep him from falling out of the bed or pulling out the feeding tube, which will have to stay in place until he is fully able to get all the sustenance he needs by mouth. It looks like the feeding tube may be a long term thing." She finished her little speech with a sad look to her face as she stared at the pale faced child asleep on the bed.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

As usual, Harry Potter could not follow in the norm of things. Although he should have woke the day after the spell was cast, he remained asleep for almost a full day beyond that. By the time his eyelids fluttered open, there was a small gathering of various people standing around his bed waiting for some sign that everything had went as planned.

Molly Weasley was the first to notice that Harry was starting to rouse. "Shh...He's waking up," She announced to the room in a loud whisper. All attention was turned to the boy in the bed as those who had been waiting in the chairs stood and made their way over to the bed, where they stood around it watching to see what would happen.

Harry's eyes opened wide as he took in his surroundings. His mouth opened wide in a sleepy yawn that made a few of those standing there chuckle quietly. Suddenly, Mrs. Weasley remembered something, "Harry dear..." He looked in her direction since she was the only one talking, but he couldn't comprehend any of what she was saying.

"We got another pair of glasses made for you." She slid them onto his face and his eyes opened even wider as everything slid into focus. Harry looked at her a few more moments before swiveling his head in the other direction, taking everything in. Before anyone realized what was going on, his eyes filled with tears and he began sobbing. All of those strange faces staring at him had scared him and his body was hurting but he didn't know why.

At that moment, Madam Pomfrey came bustling into view. "Why was I not alerted when he started to wake?" She asked irritably.  She shooed out most of the people, which consisted largely of Order members, until it was only herself and Molly left in the small room. She then marched herself over to the boy who was now sobbing harder than ever.

She reached into the large pockets of her robe and pulled out a large medicine dropper and a small flask filled with a light blue potion. She filled the medicine dropper with the calming draught and attached it to the end of the feeding tube, pushing the plunger down and causing the potion to flow through the tube and into the distraught child's stomach.

During all of this, Molly had not left his side. She stood there carding her hand through his messy hair, speaking soothing words in a quiet tone, trying to calm him as best she could. As the potion started having an effect and Harry's cries quieted, he looked up at Molly and kept his eyes locked with hers. Harry sighed deeply as he relaxed into the bed, the comforting words and actions of this woman bringing a small grin to his face. He felt safe with this person and she made him feel better. He studied her face, wanting to remember what she looks like in case he started to feel scared again, then he would know who to look for to make things better.

Pomfrey brought one of the chairs that were against the wall over to the side of the bed so that Molly would have a place to sit. Molly did indeed sit down, but she kept her hand stroking through Harry's hair until he fell into a light sleep.

The next time Harry opened his eyes, he could see several figures standing in the corner of the room talking. He watched them with interest, not understanding any of the strange sounds that they uttered.

Madam Pomfrey, Professor Snape, and Molly Weasley were standing in the corner of the room having a hushed conversation regarding several issues related to Harry's care.

"I know you want to take him home with you, Molly," Pomfrey argued, "But like I said before, Albus would never let Harry leave the safety of Hogwarts castle. And besides, he will need someone with a medical background to care for him until he is more capable of taking care of himself."

"I anticipate," Pomfrey continued, "that with intensive physical therapy and speech therapy, Harry should be able to recover at a very quick rate."  She saw the temporary look of hope in Molly's eyes that her last few words had caused, but she continued on, "Do realize that I am using that term in context. Although Harry's mind is like that of a small child's right now, his cognitive development is physically unchanged. He is still capable of the reasoning and other thought processes of any other 16 year old. And while he won't have to relive 16 years of his life, he will need at least a year or two, depending on his progress, before he will be able to relate to his peers enough to interact with them on a normal level."

The other two adults listened intently as the medi-witch continued her assessment, "Anyone put in charge of his care will need to expose him to as many new experiences as possible and we all need to talk to him as often as we can; that will be the best way to speed up his recovery."

Molly than glanced over her shoulder and gave a little jump. She hadn't expected the child to be wide awake and staring at them all like he was. She drew her companions' attention to him and walked over to the bed. 

"I see you're awake now, did you have a good rest?" She knew he would not answer, but she continued to talk to him until their conversation was interrupted by a loud gurgling sound. Molly turned her head in Poppy's direction. "I think Harry here is hungry."

Pomfrey gave a small smile and left the room to get something for Harry to eat. When she returned, she was carrying a bottle filled with juice, a small bowl with a watery-looking grey substance sitting in it, and a bag of the nutrient mix that had been keeping Harry alive since he had returned to Hogwarts.

"Let's see if we can get this young man to eat any real food for a change, shall we?" She smiled warmly in his direction.

She sat the few items on the nightstand and pulled a spoon and a few soft cloths out of her robe pocket. After placing the spoon into the bowl, she tucked one of the cloths up under Harry's chin in anticipation of a mess since this would be his "first" experience with food. Harry watched all of this with wide eyes.

Pomfrey picked up the bowl and stirred the contents for a few seconds to make sure they wouldn't be too hot, and then scooped a little onto the end of the spoon before raising it to the boy's lips. Using the bottom of the spoon to push his lower jaw down, she then stuck the spoon into the open mouth, only to be rewarded with a funny grimace of displeasure from Harry. That was the only warning she got before he used his tongue to push the contents of what had been on the spoon out of his mouth, the soupy mixture dripping down his chin and onto the cloth that she had placed there earlier.

Snape rolled his eyes at Potter's antics and excused himself from the room, muttering something about how the boy's manners were just the same as they were before. Molly ignored this and turned to Poppy, "What are you trying to feed him?"

"Its porridge mixed with some nutritional supplements."

Molly grinned and replied, "Add sugar."

Pomfrey looked into the bowl for a few seconds, stirring the mixture around before deciding to agree. As she got up to leave the room again, she handed the bottle of juice to Molly. "See if you can get him to drink any of that; his instincts will help him learn how to get the juice out."

It only took Molly a matter of a few minutes before she had the boy taking a tentative suck on the bottle. But by the time Pomfrey made her way back into the room, he had already downed half of it . The second try to get Harry to eat the porridge went much more smoothly, and he ate most of it before he turned his face away from the approaching spoon. Molly then let him finish off his juice, while she ran her fingers through his hair; she was amazed how much this simple gesture always seemed to relax him.

After he had fallen to sleep, Pomfrey set up a monitoring spell, attached the bag of nutrient potion to the feeding tube, and then both ladies left the room, dimming the lights as they left. Hopefully he would sleep through the night and be ready to face tomorrow, which was promising to be a big day. It was the day when Harry would meet the other two-thirds of the Gryffindor Trio.