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Chapter Three: Healing

A few hours after Harry had pulled himself out of his state, the Turtles and Splinter were sitting around the Room of Requirement, wondering what to do next.

"So now what, Master Splinter?" asked Don breaking the uncomfortable silence.

Splinter remained quiet for a moment, before deciding to answer.

"Time will be the only thing to answer our next course of action," said Splinter quietly. "Harry may have pulled himself out of his state but right now, he still needs time to heal his wounds from the battle with the Shredder, both physical and mental."

"In the meantime, I believe we should have something to eat," said Mikey eagerly. "I am up for something pepperoni and in a deep dished crust if I may say so myself. So, as this room seems to give us whatever we require, I say give me pizza and give me out now, oh Room of Magical Giving."

Mikey looked down, but there appeared to be no pizza in front of him.

"I don't think you understand this, I want pizza!" said Mikey frantically but still no pizza appeared.

"That's odd, let me try something," said Don, concentrating on a chocolate cake. Sure enough, the cake appeared in front of him. "Fascinating, this appeared, but yet Mikey's desire for pizza did not."

"Okay, there will be no pizza, but I'm not going to panic," said Mikey trying to keep calm before walking over to the electronics. "I am just going to play some video games to try to keep my mind off of the lack of pizza that exists in this wacky room."

Mikey picked up the controller, preparing to turn it on but as he presses the button, nothing happen end. Pressing the button over and over again, before freaking out.

"Oh my, oh no, the electronics, they don't work," said Mikey in horror. "No video games, no pizzas, no, no no!"

Raph smacked Mikey across the back of the head in an attempt to calm him down

"Relax dipstick, it's not the end of the world," said Raph. "So Don, do you have a theory on the limitations of this room."

"Fascinating, this room only seems to be able to create things known by the Wizarding World," said Don. "For example, they know of electronics but due to the magical energy flowing through the air, there is no way for the electronics to be able to work. The magic would short out and magical people have yet to figure out how to control the electric static impulse of the flux waves created by the magical energy."

"Come again?" said Mikey in confusion, scratching his head.

"The magic shorts out the circuits of electronics, causing it to go haywire and wizards cannot figure out how to correct the problem," said Don, explaining it more simply.

"Ah, I see," said Leo nodding his head. "So anything known by the Magical World in general at this time will appear at the Room of Requirement but nothing not known like electricity working with magical energy in the air and pizza will not."

Mikey shuddered in horror at the thought of a world with no pizza or video games.

"Not knowing about pizza, that is something that I do not want a part of for too long," said Mikey darkly. "Not to mention video games, what should we ever do?"

"We will rest for a few days then we will pick up your training my sons," said Splinter. "Skills are no good when they grow rusty and your ninjitsu training must be kept up to par."

Everyone nodded in agreement but as Harry was out of the woods as far as near death was concerned; they decided to call it a night. The Turtles and Splinter went to the replicas of their bedrooms that had been materialized in the Room of Requirement. The last couple of days had been very eventful with their first glimpse of Hogwarts shortly after the attack by the Shredder and the Foot.

A few weeks went by as the Turtles and Splinter adjusted to their new temporary home. Harry managed to get back on his feet within a few days although he felt rather distant and quiet with everyone, no doubt still feeling the effects of the last battle with the Shredder. The Turtles only saw their brother when he joined them for training and Splinter became very worried about his son, but knew better than to push the issue. Harry would come to his own senses on his own; it would just take a little bit of time. The wise old rat was worried that Harry doubted his own abilities and was unwilling to take risks due to his own self-doubts. The methods he used during his training were extremely subdued but Splinter could sense Harry seemed focused on something else.

Another day had begun, and the Turtles and Splinter were sitting around the makeshift lair of the Room of Requirement. Raphael looked around and noticed Harry was missing once again.

"Is Harry still in his room?" asked Raph.

"Yes, he's in his room, working on something, although I’m not sure what," responded Leo. "He seems to be focused on something, really determined, in a scary manner almost."

"Just give him time, my sons," said Splinter although there was an air of sadness in the rat's voice. "After all, Harry does have summer homework to complete so he could very well be working on that right at the moment."

"Wait, wait, whoa, Homework in the summertime?" asked Mikey incredulously. "First no pizza, and now this. Did I miss the memo that the Wizarding World was ran by insane people?"

"Well, we do have Dumbledore..." said Raph but he did not finish his sentence. Raph did not like Dumbledore at all, period, no two ways about it. If Raph ever met up with Dumbledore, there would be no doubt the hotheaded terrapin would give him a piece of his mind or rather a piece of his Sai.

Leo saw a newspaper lying on the table, titled the Daily Prophet.

"Let's see what's in the news today, shall we," said Leo, steering the conversation away from dangerous waters. "Even through this is not our world, I believe we should keep up on current events while we are here."

Don nodded, while picking up the newspaper. The turtle only had the paper for about twenty seconds before he gasped in horror before regaining his composure.

"Well you know the saying there's no news that sells papers like bad news," said Donatello grimly. "Even in the Wizarding World that holds no exception."

"What is it, Donatello?" asked Leonardo anxiously.

"Listen to this, Two High Security Prisoners of Azkaban Escape, Perhaps to Join Forces and Resurrect You-Know-Who, read Donatello.

"No sorry, I don't know who," said Raph looking puzzled.

"No wait, that is what the majority of the Wizarding World calls Lord Voldemort," said Leo in horror.

"Meep," said Mikey, with a wide-eyed look. "What if, what if he comes back? He will kill a whole bunch of people, torture them until they wet themselves even, Harry told us what happened the last time, how no one could stop him until that Halloween night."

"I hate to ask, but what does the rest of the article say, Donatello?" asked Splinter

Don lifted up the paper, reading it.

Word finally got out from the Ministry of Magic that a couple of weeks ago, two high security prisoners from Azkaban Prison escaped, Bellatrix Lestrange and Sirius Black, writes special Correspondent, Rita Skeeter. Two of the most deadly followers of the Dark Lord somehow eluded the security defenses of the prison. Sources tell this reporter that Black escaped first in the late Afternoon and when Aurors arrived, Lestrange seized her change. One source says that Lestrange stole a wand from one of the Aurors, and managed to fight off an entire squadron of at least a twelve to fifteen Aurors, with the Aurors not offering much resistance. This fact speaks poorly at the current Auror training program at the Ministry of Magic and the Auror division itself. This reporter believes changes should be made and the refusal to eliminate restrictions on what the Aurors can use in combat, has allowed Lestrange to make her escape. The Ministry warns the public that Black, who slaughtered thirteen people with a single curse and is said to be the second in command of You-Know-Who, is slightly unhinged and should be avoided at all costs. Lestrange, whose specialty is the deadly Unforgiven Curse known as the Cruciatus Curse a method she used to incapacitate many unfortunate victims, is given similar warnings by the Ministry. This reporter would also like to add her own warning that Lestrange is a psychotic nutcase and personally if this reporter sees Lestrange, I will be taking the nearest Portkey out of the country at the soonest time of possible. The public is requested to Floo the Department of Magical Law Enforcement if they sight any of these two fugitives. The motive of the escape of these two former Death Eaters, who happen to be related as cousins, is widely believed to be an attempt to resurrect You-Know-Who (the most evil Dark Wizard in a century for those of you who have been living underneath a rock for the last twenty five years). This reporter wonders what Minister Cornelius Fudge is going to do to prevent future prison breaks and believes that this reflects accurately on the quality of work Fudge has brought so far during his reign as Minister of Magic.

Don finished reading as the other three Turtles and Splinter looked at him, with looks of horror on their faces.

"Here's a picture," said Don, holding up a picture of a female and a male with two gaunt looking shadowed faces. "It says these are the last known pictures of Lestrange and Black, taken nearly a year ago in Azkaban when the Ministry had to replace all their records due to a Doxy infestation."

"What a dandy duo that is!" exclaimed Raph sarcastically. "You know, I do hear the waxy, lifeless look in the face is in this year."

"Yeah, talk about a pair you don’t really want to meet in a dark alley," said Mikey. "They have a look on their face that clearly states and I quote adding in Transylvania accent for emphasis at this very moment, "Vell, I am gonna suck your blood."

"Way too many horror movies, Mikey, at such a young age, if I didn’t know any better, I would say it warped your mind," remarked Don casually.

Leo looked rather troubled. Two followers of Voldemort out at the same time, something troubling and Leonardo jumped to a grim conclusion.

"So, should we tell Harry about this?" asked Leo. "I mean, these two followed Lord Voldemort and Voldemort tried to kill Harry three times, so maybe they want some sort of twisted measure of revenge. They seem like two individuals that could reek some serious damage and Harry may not be up to fighting either of them."

"Yeah, plus they'll likely have years and years of magical knowledge ahead of Harry," said Don. "Think about it logically, those who would be that high in Voldemort's ranks would know quite the variety of lethal spells. Harry should know to keep him from doing something reckless that puts him in grave danger."

"I dunno, Harry's been through a lot over the past few weeks," said Raph looking rather uncertain at the prospect of telling his younger brother. "That whole mess with the Chamber of Secrets and the last battle with the Foot, don't you think something like this close to the other two horrible events would kind of, you know, push Harry over the edge."

"Raph's right, Harry can get really testy when he gets in one of his moods," said Mikey.

Splinter gave a sigh, the news was definitely rather troubling.

"We will wait a couple of days before informing Harry but I daresay he will learn of it anyway once Hogwarts begins for the year," said Splinter darkly. "From what your brother has told me, news tends to travel fast in this school."

Harry was lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling, reflecting at all that happened. If only he had not stood their gaping at Shredder like at idiot, if only he leapt up to engage the Shredder in combat, he would have not been battered by the Foot Elite Guard.

Harry felt underneath his right eye, the new scar that was left by the nasty gash he suffered at the hands of the Elite Guard. It appeared to be some crude version of the Foot symbol, turned sideways. Every time Harry looked at his own face, he saw his failure to protect his family from the attack staring back at him. No matter how much he tried to shake the specter of the past, the Shredder's evil laugh haunted his dreams night after night.

Harry vowed from now on to protect his family and his friends at all costs, even if the price for his efforts was his life. Harry was brought of his thoughts by the sounds of an irritated voice.

"Harry James Potter, I’m ordering you to pick up this bloody mirror right now!" said Ginny angrily from the other side of the two-way connection. "Don't make me track you down and hex you into oblivion!"

Harry reached over wordlessly, picking up the mirror. He had been avoiding his friends for the last few weeks after the Shredder, every time a call came in on his mirror, he ignored them. It seemed now Ginny had lost her patience and was going to call him out on it.

"Hello, Ginny," said Harry weakly.

"Harry, what is the matter with you?" asked Ginny. "Ever since Hogwarts ended, I have been trying to get in touch with you but you haven’t answered. I thought you said you would talk to me at anytime. I talked to Hermione, Theodore, and Daphne as well on the mirrors and they said you have been avoiding them as well. So, tell me, Harry, what happened?"

Harry winced, feeling guilty at upsetting his friends, but for some reason Harry could not figure out, he felt his most horrible for upsetting Ginny.

"It's...well it's complicated," said Harry lamely, saying pretty much the most he had said in weeks.

Ginny frowned, something bad had happened and Harry was not spilling the beans. As she looked at Harry's face closely through the connection through the mirror, she noticed a very troubling addition underneath Harry's right eye.

"Harry, what happened to your face?" demanded Ginny looking horrified, noticing the new scar underneath Harry's eye for the first time.

"I just got a small cut, Ginny, nothing more," said Harry weakly. "I fell...face first on some glass, that's it."

"Harry, I'm not a Healer but I know for a fact that was no small cut, not the way it scarred anyway and I can tell by your voice you didn’t just fall on glass," said Ginny. "Please, tell me what happened Harry? I’m just concerned as your friend, I don't mean to pry in your personal life or anything."

Harry hated lying to Ginny, she was very honest with him when she talked about the diary in the weeks after she was possessed and Harry felt he had to tell the truth, even if it was a portion of it.

"I was ambushed by a dark and sinister force," said Harry as Ginny looked horrified. "It was a Muggle crime organization that me and my family had the misfortunate of stumbling upon my operation. We managed to escape barely."

Harry neglected to tell his friend that he came close to dying but he did not want to worry Ginny any more than he had to.

"Harry, I'm sorry," whispered Ginny softly. "I didn't know I was bringing something up that troubled you."

"Ginny, you didn't know," said Harry. "Look, I really don't want to talk about it. How have you been holding up after what happened with you last year?"

"I'm starting to get back to normal, I still feel guilty about it," said Ginny although she seemed to be a little shaky at what she was saying. Harry wondered if he was the only one who was telling just a portion of the truth.

"It's not your fault, Ginny," said Harry. "I just wish I was able to save you before you got taken down into the Chamber or better yet, was able to find a way to destroy that diary when I had it in my possession."

"Harry, you couldn't have known what would happen, I think you believe that anything bad that has ever happened is your fault," said Ginny with a frown. "You didn't possess me, it was Tom. Harry, you're only human like everyone else, you can't expect to stop everything right away. You have your limitations just like everyone else."

"Since when did you get so wise, Ginny?" asked Harry in awe.

"I am just repeating the advice you gave to me Harry after the Chamber with a bit of my own input, nothing more," said Ginny. "Basically, I only know what you told me, I think you would do well by following your own advice."

"That's the thing, the Wizarding public seems to expect me to leap in and fix its mistakes," said Harry. "With both the Philosopher's Stone and the Chamber of Secrets, while everyone else was sitting on their thumbs doing nothing, I had to jump in and stop the evil that was plotted from occurring. I just have a feeling next time I am forced into action due the incompetence of those in power in the government or at this school, I might not be coming back alive."

"It won't come to that, Harry," said Ginny. "You'll survive every time, I have faith you will."

"Thank you Ginny but I can't just shake the fact that something will happen if I keep playing the savior," said Harry. "I wonder if the Wizarding World in general, not my friends, cares about me personally, whether I live or not. What do they see me as?"

"I don't know about them, but I see you as Harry and that is all that matters to me," said Ginny. "I’m sure the others feel the same way."

"You're right Ginny," said Harry. "So let's get to more happy matters. How have you been, other than the obvious ramifications of the incident that happened last year?"

"I've been great Harry, in fact, we are on holiday right now, visiting Bill in Egypt" said Ginny excitedly. "Dad won the Daily Prophet drawing and we finally had enough money to make this trip."

"Egypt, that sounds exciting, I remember reading about the tombs there a while back, they were supposed to be cursed to keep Muggles from stealing their treasures," said Harry with interest, looking happier then he had been in weeks.

"Yes too bad Mum won't let me go in them at all, she seems to think I’m too mentally fragile," said Ginny with a bit of irritation. "That's why I tried to call you because I was bored staying at the hotel while the others get to have fun by exploring the tombs."

"Ginny, don't try and dwell on it too much, your mother may attempt to protect you in this fanatical manner for a while," said Harry reassuringly. "She had to be terrified once that fiend took you down in the Chamber of Secrets."

"Yes, Harry, I suppose you're right, it's just irritating me," said Ginny. "It's like I'm five sometimes but at least Ron isn't being a prat anymore. He actually asked me if I was talking to you the other day and told me to thank you for saving me from the Chamber."

"Nice to know I am not Voldy Junior anymore," said Harry.

"Voldy!" yelled Ginny incredulously. "Where in the blazes did you come up with that one?"

"A little nickname I came up for Voldemort to lessen any fear I might have for him," said Harry shrugging his shoulders. "After all, he is nothing but shadow and vapor right now, so I can't fear the past even if it is at times a reflection into the future/."

"Okay Harry, that's just a bit too deep for me," said Ginny shaking her head in amusement. "Just for your own health, do not call him that to his face if you should ever meet him again."

"I'll try not to, I should be do to meet him or some version of him by the end of the year if he remains on schedule," said Harry. "Happened the last two years, so I don't see why it shouldn’t happen this year."

Ginny shuddered at the very thought.

"Let's hope he decided to take the year off, heck, he can take the next several years off until say, the rest of time," said Ginny before pausing as if to listen for something in the background. "Listen, Harry, as much as I'd like to do this for the rest of the Afternoon and through the night, Mum’s calling for me, we are supposed to go to Dinner right now as the boys are back from the tombs."

"Thank you, Ginny, talking to you helped ease my mind," said Harry with a smile. "I'll call the others, let them know I did not drop off the face of the earth. Bye Ginny."

"Bye Harry," said Ginny as her face vanished from the mirror. Harry felt a small twinge of sadness to see her go.

Harry looked up with a smirk, lost in his thoughts, thinking about Ginny for a few more minutes before shaking his head, clearing it of all thought. He needed to talk to the others.

A couple hours later, the Turtles and Splinter were sitting around, eating dinner when Harry arrived outside of his room. The Turtles and Splinter looked up. To their pleasant surprise, Harry looked rather cheerful.

"Good evening, everyone," said Harry brightly as if the last few weeks never happened.

"Hey Harry," said Leo.

"Nice to see you ain't moody anymore bro," said Mikey.

"I have had some time to think of some things that had been happening and talked it over with someone, realizing how much of an idiot I have been," said Harry.

"Betcha five bucks he talked to Ginny and she gave him an earful about him ignoring everyone. Honestly he is so whipped and he probably won't realize it for a couple of years," said Don in an undertone to Raph so Harry could not hear what he said. Raph grinned but did not respond.

"Ah, it is excellent to see that I have my son back," said Splinter brightly. "Do join us for some dinner, Harry."

Harry sat down to join his family as the world looked a lot brighter than it did a few hours ago.