The three Hufflepuffs looked at one another with worry in their eyes. Hesitantly, Susan reached out and touched his sleeve. "Harry? You okay?"
No answer. No movement.
Edward walked up to his friend and looked at his face, first moving to a lower position on his knee to look up since Harry was obviously concentrating on the book in his hands. The same book that had nothing written on its pages.
He gasped when he saw Harry's eyes. They were black. Completely black.
"What's going on here?" Jamie Summers asked, taking a small delight in startling the three students from her house. It was a small perk of being a prefect, but one she obviously tried to employ as often as she could.
"Jamie," Pam started, "something's wrong with Harry. We came here to find him and we did and well… see for yourself. He's not moving. He won't respond."
"And his eyes are like looking into a void," Edward put in, getting back to his feet.
"Maybe he's just messing with your heads. You're first years; that makes you easy targets. Harry? Harry! HARRY!"
"I don't think he's faking it, Jamie," Edward said.
The sixth year prefect stood for a moment taking in the scene. The three responsive students were looking to her for guidance and this was no laughing matter. "Edward, go to Professor Sprout's quarters and bring her here. Susan, go to the infirmary and bring Madame Pomfrey here. I'll go get Professor Dumbledore. Pam, you stay here and keep an eye on Harry in case… well, just in case.."
In short order, the adults had descended on the library and sent the students back to their rooms. After discerning that her newest patient was not the victim of a hex or curse, but was simply unresponsive, Madame Pomfrey whisked the apprentice back to her sterile lair and put him to bed. His expression was still the same and his hands still held the book as they were unable to remove it. Something resisted every attempt to wrest it away.
Professor Dumbledore had tried over 20 different spells in an attempt to get the book away from his hands, figuring that whatever was affecting their apprentice had something to do with that book. "I must say I am at a loss for this, Poppy," he said to the nurse. "This book simply does not want to be removed from young Mr. Potter's hands."
Poppy herself had not even tried removing the book other than seeing if she could take it out of his hands by pulling it. When it didn't budge, she had enlisted the help of the headmaster while she ran diagnostic spells on the boy. "Could the book be cursed, Albus?" Beep-beep-beep went a small green light near the lower end of her wand indicating his body functions were in the normal range. That indicator light had not changed during any of the attempts to remove the book.
"Anything is possible. It certainly wasn't cursed when we put it in the library years ago, but anyone could have cursed it since then. However, I do not believe so. I ran a check on the book and while magical, it does not display any of the characteristics of a cursed object."
"Then why can't it be removed?"
"That is the question of the night, isn't it? If I had to hazard a guess, I would say our young apprentice doesn't want that book removed and is using his own magic to counter my attempts at removing it."
"What makes you think that, Albus?"
"Other than being unresponsive to outside stimuli, the magical responses to my attempts have been equally met. If this was a cursed item, it would have been trying to overpower my attempts, or use Harry's lifeforce or own magic to avoid removal. Yet your diagnostic has not changed during any of my spells. If it is cursed, it is a passive curse, but I believe that there is no curse involved."
"Then what do you suggest is happening to him? I have not seen anything like this in all my days that has not been curse-related."
"This is new to me as well, Poppy. How is his health?"
"He is in excellent condition."
"No lingering spell residue?"
"Nothing that I can identify."
"I need to research this. Please place alert wards on him in case he wakes up or moves. I will check back in the morning to see if there is any change."
"What of his parents?"
....
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