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IS - Chapter 165: Waking Up
🕑 Added 2025-07-23 10:45:43 +0000 UTCDisclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
“Dialogue”
‘Thoughts’
-Author notes-
Chapter 165: Waking Up
James opened his eyes and found himself lying on a comfortable bed, surrounded by a white curtain. “What the…”
He felt disoriented for a moment, and this was promptly followed by a wave of sharp pain that spread all over his body.
“Uggg… damn it.”
He recognized the signs of magical exhaustion.
‘This time, I may have pushed myself a bit too far…’
James then lifted his arms and noted they were completely covered in bandages. “Did I get burnt as well?”
The only thing he was sure of right now was that he was in the school infirmary. This was a place he had become very accustomed to over the years.
‘Who brought me here though?.’ He didn't think that either Primum or Nyxaris would be capable of dragging his body all the way here.
The only other person who could enter his laboratory was… Bellatrix.
A set of loud steps was soon followed by his curtain being opened.
Madam Pomfrey didn’t look too pleased with him right now.
“Mister Potter, do you have any idea how serious your condition was? You nearly exhausted your magic to completion. Something like that would have either killed you or left you as a squib. What were you thinking?”
“I was… working on something important.” James wanted nothing more than to return to his lab now and check on the results of his experiment.
“I hope it was something worth risking your life for,” Madam Pomfrey said in a sarcastic way.
“Me too,” James responded as he tried to push past the pain and stand up.
“Mister Potter, what are you doing?! You need to stay in bed. I have done what I can, but your body needs time to recover. Your arms and chest were also severely burned.”
“Tempus.” James waved his hand and conjured several glowing numbers in the air that told him what time it was.
“Looks like my magic works fine. Wait, it’s just four P.M.?” He had expected it to be much later, as he began his project around midday.
“Mister Potter, it is Sunday. You were brought here yesterday after dinner, and you have slept since then,” the nurse answered.
“Sunday?” More than a day had passed since he concluded his project. Now he wanted to go there even more. “After dinner?… Who brought me here?”
Madam Pomfrey took a moment to think about it. “I believe it was one of your friends. Mister Black, perhaps.”
“Sirius?” James wondered how Sirius had gotten involved in all of this. “Anyways…” James stood up from the bed, much to the complaints of the healer.
“Mister Potter, you must be in tremendous pain right now, and I cannot give you more calming draught, lest you not wake up again. What is so important that you have to go right now? There are no classes, so you can rest until tomorrow.”
“I’m fine. It doesn’t hurt that much.” His need to find out what happened was more important than his personal comfort.
The healer requested again for him to stay in bed, but James once more ignored her and walked out of the infirmary after grabbing his personal belongings.
As soon as he was out, he produced a potion that contained a rare fish poison and allowed a single drop to fall onto his tongue.
He had waited until now to do this, lest Madam Pomfrey go crazy.
In high doses, this poison would kill him. But a single drop would act as an anesthetic, numbing his nervous system and making it easier for him to move around.
Unfortunately, he could tell that his magic had yet to recover completely, so he could not cast any spell that was more exhausting than a Lumos.
“Maybe I should change first.” His robes were very damaged, despite all the protective enchantments on them.
He was relieved to see that all his pockets had survived, as well as all the items contained in them. If it wasn’t for these protections, he would have likely lost his arms altogether.
'That would have been annoying...'
However, despite this, the damage on the robes was very visible and eye-catching.
His eyes moved to the silver bracelet on his wrist. There were cracks on its surface.
“Tertivor has also been damaged. The cracks were likely produced due to its source of energy being depleted.”
What James didn't know at the moment was that one of the reasons he had not suffered further damage was because the metallic slime had protected him for as long as it could, until it ran out of magic, creating the cracks on its surface.
“It should still recover over the course of a few days.” He had designed it to be self-sustained after all.
“This reminds me…” His black and white rings were missing, meaning that Primum and Nyxaris were not with him.
“Where did those two go?”
He walked through the castle as he considered this, earning the stares of many of the students.
After all, despite Madam Pomfrey’s care, his looks were still a bit deplorable. His robes were burned in several places, while the hospital garments peeked from beneath them. His arms were covered in bandages, and several spots on his face had been affected as well, making it seem like he had just escaped from the hospital.
James ignored the stares and arrived at the Gryffindor Tower on the seventh floor. He walked past the painting of the old lady and entered the common room.
“James! Oh my God!”
He turned to the source of the voice and found Lily jumping from a sofa and rushing towards him.
“We were all about to go visit you at the infirmary. Did Madam Pomfrey let you out already?”
“Kind of…” James responded. She wasn’t exactly happy about him leaving so early. And he was already expecting to be called by the Headmaster at any time, to be scolded about his ‘reckless behavior.’
