“There you are mate, we have been looking everywhere for you” Ron said

Harry’s head snapped up at the sound of his friend. He had been sleeping on his transfiguration book after having read only 3 pages.

‘Oh yeah sorry, Snape lectured me about how only spoiled Gryffindors would fall asleep during class and when I was finally dismissed there were only 15 more minutes left, and I did not want to have to explain to Mcgonnagol why I was late for her class at start of the year, so I decided to read for a bit. “ Harry lied. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust his friend to keep a secret, but he still hadn’t figured out why Snape had sent him to Madame Pomfrey.

“No problem mate, did Snape give you a detention?” Ron asked.

“Nah, he only warned me that next time I would be scrubbing cauldrons for quite some time.”

Ron’s stomach made a sound and the two friends laughed.

“let’s get to lunch before your stomach decided to give the whole library a concert.” Harry happily said.

“That’s one good idea Harry, one very good idea.” Ron grinned back.

When they arrived in the Great Hall Snape wasn’t there.

Harry let out a sigh of relief, at least he didn’t have to tell Snape anything now and if he avoided Snape just a little longer he might actually forget about it.

Harry was talking with Seamus about his holiday, when Seamus stopped and looked up with big eyes.

Harry turned around to see what he was looking at. Behind him was one very angry looking Potions Professor.

“Follow me if you will Mr. Potter” was the only thing needed to be said, to give Harry goosebumps over his whole body.

Ron gave him a questioning look, but Harry only shrugged with in response. He couldn’t tell his friend in the great hall where Snape was most likely going to take him.

As soon as Snape and Harry had left the great hall Snape started speaking. “So what did you think Mr Potter? That I only talk for the walls to hear me?”

Harry gulped, he knew he was in trouble now. “No sir, neither Healer Daniel, nor Madame Pomfrey were there when I arrived, so I decided to come back later.” Harry said, hoping that Snape hadn’t been to the infirmary to inquire about Harry’s presence.

“Oh, is that correct? And how do you explain that I just spoke with Madame Pomfrey and that she told me she had been restocking potions in the middle of the infirmary and that she hadn’t heard nor seen you all morning?” Snape snidely asked.

“Uh, maybe she hadn’t heard me, sir” Harry responded, knowing that the professor wouldn’t believe him whatever he said, but he didn’t know what else to say.

Snape only gave him a sideway glare and opened the doors to the infirmary.

“Ah Mr Potter good to see you, Professor Snape here told me you should receive a full check-up, so jump on the bed and let us have a look.”

Harry gulped, he knew he couldn’t let Madame Pomfrey examine him knowing all of his secrets would be out.

“But Madame I really need to go back to class, it’s only the first day.” Harry started to walk away again when a strong hand took him by his arm. He looked up and saw the shaking head of Snape, he had a different kind of look in his eyes, not the stern or annoyed one he usual had, but Harry couldn’t identify what it did was. “You are not going anywhere until you have let Madame Pomfrey examine you, Mr Potter, now jump on the bed” Snape told him in a tone that made it clear there were no other options.

Harry felt his breath quicken when Snape guided him to the bed. He started to see little black dots in front of his eyes and could vaguely hear Madame Pomfrey and Professor Snape say things, but he could not understand them.

A moment later he felt some kind of sting in his arm. He took a big breath which he didn’t notice he was holding, he looked at his arm, while the little black dots faded. A big needle was in it. It must have been something like a calming draught, because he felt himself relaxing.

“That was quite a shock wasn’t it Mr Potter, now relax for a bit and we will talk about what happened later.” A voice , which he couldn’t identify, said. He slowly felt himself falling asleep in a deep deep sleep.

When Harry woke up he wondered where he was, when slowly the memories of the afternoon came back to him. He slightly started to panic and tried getting out of his bed. He was however stopped by a woman he didn’t recognise. “Please Harry, stay in bed Healer Tom will soon come over” the woman told him.

“Sorry Madame, I really have to go to class now.” Harry said and he threw his feet over the side of the bed. When he tried to jump of however he was stopped by some kind of force. He looked questioningly up to the women sitting next to his bed. “That Harry, is the result of a sticking charm, Healer Tom foresaw that you might want to leave early, but that’s however not possible until you get a full check up.” The still unknown woman said.

Harry’s breath started to quicken, he was stuck in this bed and couldn’t get off. It reminded him of his days in the cupboard and his breath started to quicken again. He was working himself up in another panic attack, when he felt a relaxing kind of energy go through him. He slowly started to pick up sounds from his environment and hear someone talking. “Breath in and out again, in and out” the voice and the energy went on for another minute until Harry had relaxed a bit. He couldn’t remember why he was so worked up again, must be a side effect of the calming energy that was going through his body he thought.

“Okay Harry, I am slowly decreasing the flow of calming energy and then we will talk, just keep on breathing” Harry did what he was told and slowly he felt the calming energy leave his body.

He felt the healer taking his hands of him after and felt he was given a slight push backwards, so he could relax against his pillows.

“Now Harry, I am Healer Tom, as you might know, I help Madame Pomfrey on some of the more busy days, or if she needs my expertise. I also have my own clinic for children who need help recovering from for example a trauma.” Harry had known there worked some other healer in the infirmary, but event though he had spent a good deal of his time at Hogwarts in the infirmary never met him before.

“Professor Snape brought you in here, because he noticed you were a bit off in his lesson. As you might remember you had a bit of a panic attack when Madame Pomfrey wanted to examine you, so we gave you something against it, which makes you relax, but also sleepy, so that why you fell asleep. Madame Pomfrey has asked if I could give you a check-up, because she had to do some office work. Do you have any question Mr Potter or shall we start?”

Harry had so fair silently listened to what the Healer had said, but when he mentioned he would give him the check up his heartbeat started to rise again. Healer Tom foresaw this and gave Harry a quick touch of calming energy and started to talk to Harry. “It’s perfectly natural to be a bit afraid of an examination Harry, but we really have to give you one. The better you work with me, the sooner you will be released from the infirmary. Why don't you help me with it, Harry”

At first, Harry wanted to decline this offer, he wasn’t a child anymore he was fourteen, but then he realised he might have a hand in the result if he helped so he agreed.

“Okay Harry, you might have heard of diagnostic charms before, I already performed one on you when you were asleep, but it shows only the current state of affairs and it isn’t always very accurate, so I would like to give you a muggle kind of examination as well. For the first test I will measure your blood pressure , if you can just shove your sleeve up I will wrap something around your arm. “

Harry quickly tried to remember if he had any scars on his arms, but his uncle didn’t want him to attract attention when he was wearing short sleeves, so he usually left his arms untouched. Even though he didn’t think the healer would find anything, he was still a bit tensed rolling up his sleeve. Healer Tom saw this and tried to comfort him: “ It’s okay Harry, I will do nothing without giving a clear explanation of what I am doing”

Harry couldn’t help but relax a little bit at these words and gave his arm to the healer. Healer Tom put something around his arm and wrote something down. After his blood pressure was measured a couple of other things were measured. His weight, length, lung capacity and some more things he didn’t know the name of.

“Okay Harry, now I want to listen to your lungs, you will have to take off your shirt for this so I can listen with this” he pointed at a stethoscope “to your lungs.”

Harry hadn’t said much the whole time Healer Daniel had been around, but he knew for sure he had scars on his upper body and so he couldn’t let Healer Daniel take off his shirt.

Considering between several options like running away or just outright refusing he decided to try for an honest approach “I am sorry, I don’t feel comfortable with taking off my shirt, can I just leave it on? “

“Sorry Harry, I really need you to take off your shirt for this. “

Then the woman who Harry had already forgotten was present spoke up “I will go for a walk, you might feel more comfortable taking it off without my presence” and so she left.

Harry hadn’t minded her presence, he had totally forgotten that she was there actually, but just didn’t want to take off his shirt for anyone until the bruises were gone.

“Do you mind taking off your shirt now Harry?” the Healer asked again.

He realised he wouldn't be able to talk himself out of it, so decided to go for the only option that was left. Run as fast as he could in the hope he would be able to leave the infirmary before the healer was over his confusion of Harry leaving.

So that’s what he did. He ran past the curtains surrounding his bed, hearing the shouts of the healer in the background, and was relieved to see that he was near the doors of the infirmary.

Just as he wanted to bolt out of the door, he saw something black moving in the corner of his eye and felt a strong grip on his upper arm, which he knew could only mean one thing.

“And where do you think we are going Potter” a silky voice asked him.

Oh, how he knew he was in for it now.