Charmolypi

Chapter 26

The screen went black for a few seconds before it revealed the hospital wing. Harry was laying in his bed with his arm bandaged. His eyes started fluttering open, as he reached out to grab his glasses and put them on. As he started sitting up, he noticed that there were cards and candies all over the table at the foot of his bed. Right before Harry could reach out and devour one of the various sweets, Dumbledore entered the hospital wing.

Everyone was relieved knowing that Harry was safe. They were not fully satisfied considering that they still didn't know what happened for Thea.

"Good afternoon, Harry." Dumbledore said with a small smile, right before his eyes landed on the gifts the boy had received. "Ah. Tokens form your admirers?"

"Admirers?" Harry asked. He started looking around the room in slight panic.

"What happened down in the dungeons between you and Professor Quirrell is a complete secret, so, naturally, the whole school knows." Dumbledore said, regaining the boy's attention. "Ah, I see your friend Ronald has saved you the trouble of opening your chocolate frogs." He says with a slight chuckle.

"Ron was here? Is he alright? What about Hermione? And Thea?" Harry rushed out.

"Your friends are fine, Harry." The old wizard reassured him.

"What about my sister?" Harry insisted seeing as the old wizard dodged the question previously. Dumbledore moved, revealing the sleeping girl in the bed opposed to him. She had received at least three times the number of gifts that he had, along with some plants and flowers. Harry let out a relieved breath before he turned back to the headmaster. "But what happened to the Stone?"

"Relax, dear boy." Dumbledore dismissed. "The stone has been destroyed. My friend Nicholas and I had a little chat and agreed it was best all around."

Harry was silent for a moment. "But Flamel, he'll die, won't he?"

Dumbledore sat down on the bed. "He has enough Elixir to set his affairs in order. But yes, he will die."

"How is it I got the Stone, sir? One minute I was staring in the mirror, and the next..."

"Ah. You see, only a person who wanted the Stone, find it, but not use it, would be able to get it. That is one of my most brilliant ideas. And between you and me, that's saying something."

"Does that mean, with the Stone gone, I mean, that Voldemort can never come back?" Harry asked hopefully.

"Ah, I'm afraid there are ways in which he can return. Harry, do you know why Professor Quirrell couldn't bear to have you or your sister touch him?" Harry shook his head at the question. "It was because of your mother. She sacrificed herself for you two, and that kind of act leaves a mark." Instinctively, Harry's hand went to his scar, and Dumbledore shook his head. "No, no, this kind of mark cannot be seen. It lives in your very skin."

"But... when Thea touched him nothing happened..."

"What is it?" Harry asked anxiously.

"Love, Harry. Love." Dumbledore answered. He gently patted Harry's head and stood up. He looked down at the collection of sweets and smiled. "Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. I was most unfortunate in my youth to come across a vomit flavored one, and since then I have lost my liking for them. But I think I could be safe with a nice toffee..." He picks up a bean and eats it. "Alas. Earwax." With that, the headmaster left.

Harry turned to his sister's bed and smirked. "You can stop pretending, he's gone." Without a moment of hesitation, Thea sprang up in her bed, her head bandaged.

"Thank the Gods, I thought he would never leave." Thea grabbed a basket full of pastries from the collection of gifts and made her way to her brother's bed. The pair sat and munched on the delicacies they had received. They were sitting in comfortable silence until Thea broke it. "I don't think what happened this year was a coincidence. It's like the Stone was used so that Voldemort could meet us." Thea shook her head. "I don't know, I might just be paranoid."