After three days of rest, I was released from the infirmary, and by the second day, I was already feeling fine, but the nurse insisted on keeping me under observation one more day.
My stay in the infirmary was extremely boring, very very boring, there was nothing to do, they wouldn't let me read and there was no one to talk to, the only occasional visits I got were from Hermione and the boys, the nurse said it wasn't good to overload my mind now that it was fragile, and that stress could trigger migraines. I didn't miss much in class thanks to Hermione's notes, though I couldn't practice magic.
When I returned to class, I learned of multiple rumors surrounding my stay in the infirmary, such as that I had a strange disease, I was cursed for the sins of my parents, and several other senseless rumors.
My Occlumency practices were also suspended indefinitely due to a nosebleed, and I was scolded by Madam Pomfrey for overexerting myself.
Soon, the weather got warmer, and during breakfast, the owls started arriving with the mail. I continued eating, ignoring everyone's joy about hearing from home or the little gifts from their families; none of that had anything to do with me. Then I felt someone watching me—when I looked, I saw Professor Dumbledore smiling in this direction, oh, maybe I was wrong and he was smiling at Harry. I was about to take another piece of meat when a letter fell in front of me, clumsy animals, well, I'll read the recipient.
To: Elizabeth Lestrange
Eh? My face frowned, and I felt great confusion. Who would send me a letter? I don't have any acquaintances or family. I turned to see who sent it, but it only said Durmstrang Institute. At the same time, a large owl landed on my shoulder. Oh, great, now I'm a bird stand?
- Did you bring this?
Curu...
Well, it's not like I expected it to say yes, but seeing that it stayed there, I assumed so, so I had no choice but to open the letter.
Hello! I'm Andre.
I was surprised to find out four days later that you were unconscious after our goodbye. Frankly, I thought you'd only suffer dizziness or vomiting.
My teacher explained it was due to mental overexertion and lack of practice, though we still don't know the reason for your invasion.
I don't know what our Headmasters talked about, but I was forbidden to practice that magic since we don't know if you'll invade again and suffer a greater relapse.
I hope you recover soon. By the way, don't try to grab Azur's head because he's very grumpy and tends to peck strangers.
Whew, luckily I didn't try to shake the animal off, or it would have attacked me. To avoid aggression, I offered it some food and it accepted.
I didn't know what to do; was I supposed to reply or something? Somehow, I squeezed out a bit of sociability and told everything I'd missed due to the illness, and gave it to the owl.
Somehow, I felt happy to have received a letter. I kept it and finished my breakfast. It made me think, it would be nice if we could exchange letters occasionally, well, that was a selfish wish, maybe he only sent this letter at his headmaster's request. I decided to suppress my expectations.
The following week, to my surprise, I received another letter. My breakfast was quite cheerful, even though the letter only mentioned trivial matters of his week.
It was refreshing to hear about another school. Unlike Hogwarts, where only fifth years and up were taught a bit of dark arts, at Durmstrang, from first year, they began introducing them to the dark arts. I knew there was a lot of controversy on that subject, but from my perspective, everything depended on how you used the magic; even simple spells could become harmful if used improperly.
It soon became a habit to receive and send letters; there were many rare and strange spells he knew, and that surely would be in the restricted section of the library. He couldn't go into detail due to possible monitoring in the letters, but the topics were interesting.
Soon, due to the consistency of the letters, Hermione and the boys began to get curious about who it was I communicated with every week, but they could only see that it came from Durmstrang. I had no desire to explain everything and didn't know if I could talk about it, so I limited myself to explaining that it was a friend I met by chance some time ago.
As the weeks passed, I realized that according to the plot, soon Hagrid would receive the dragon egg, and a unicorn would die. I must make sure to stay close to the golden trio to see the dragon. How exciting it will be to see and touch that scaly creature. So I started reading about dragons, those aggressive creatures that had great resistance to magic, and it would be useful to have that interesting ability too. Unfortunately, the books in the library were just large glossaries about dragons, and if there was something more, I wasn't allowed to take it without a professor's signature. While I was lost in thought, I opened Andre's letter, then I thought—he's a bit older, he has easier access to information, maybe he knows something about dragons. With expectations, I sent the letter, hoping for luck.
As the weeks passed, I realized that according to the plot, soon Hagrid would receive the dragon egg, and a unicorn would die. I must make sure to stay close to the golden trio to see the dragon.
How exciting it will be to see and touch that scaly creature. So I started reading about dragons, those aggressive creatures had great resistance to magic, which would be useful to have that interesting ability too.
Unfortunately, the books in the library were just large glossaries about dragons, and if there was something more, I wasn't allowed to take it without a professor's signature.
While I was lost in thought, I opened Andre's letter, then I thought—he's a bit older, he has easier access to information, maybe he knows something about dragons. With expectations, I sent the letter, hoping for luck.
Two days later, at breakfast, I heard murmurs and saw two owls flying in with something square, then they flew toward me and dropped the package in front of me.
Everyone stared at me, even though I didn't know what that was.
Taking it, I saw the letter and knew it was from Andre. I quickly finished my breakfast and went straight to the common room. The boys were burning with curiosity, so they hurried too and followed me.
- Is it from your Durmstrang friend? - Hermione asked with her brow somewhat furrowed.
I was a bit uneasy about what he sent, considering that sometimes we talked about... dark... magic.
I opened the small box a bit nervously, and it turned out to be some books about dragons, potions with dragon ingredients, which sounded kind of illegal, so I kept them away from their eyes quickly. There were about 5 books. The "small box" had a space-enlargement and weight-change spell.
Hermione, with even more furrowed brows, looked at me strangely. - Why are you interested in dragons? They're quite dangerous creatures.
While Ron took a book and exclaimed,- Wow! This book—I think it's the one Charlie told us about a while ago! They don't sell it to just any family, even if they're purebloods, and there are few editions. How did he get it?
Great, now it'll seem strange and suspicious when they hear about Hagrid winning it in a bar. I could only come up with an absurd excuse, praying Hermione wouldn't dig too deep into it.
-To tell the truth, remember when I was unconscious for a few hours? I had some strange "dreams", at first I thought they were just dreams, but some of those events have actually happened, and one of them was precisely a dragon. In my dream, Hagrid received a dragon egg from someone with a covered face. I don't know when that'll happen, but just in case, I asked my friend for information.
I acted all mysterious, looking around while I spoke quietly, hoping they'd buy my dirty lies. With her usual dose of skepticism, Hermione asked about another of my dreams, and I narrated some events from the previous weeks. I even let slip that Fluffy adored and fell asleep with music.
The boys just looked confused. Not wanting to give Hermione the chance to continue her interrogation and see the suspicious books at the bottom, I left and quickly exited the common room with the box.
I headed to the Room of Requirement. I had found it some time ago, and this was the perfect time to use it. The two books at the bottom of the box looked quite dark, and the last thing I needed was a worried Hermione telling McGonagall about dark magic books in the hands of her sweet little friend.
I quickly entered the Room of Requirement and buried them a bit among the junk.