I brought Harry outside and we started walking towards an emptier area of town.
"Where are we going?" He suddenly asked.
"Just need to head somewhere muggles won't spot us. Can't let them see us disappearing now." I answer with a smile.
"Ok. Um, but what did you do to them before we left?" He then asked curiously.
"That Harry, was an application of a less practiced magical art known as Legilimency."
"Legili-what?" Was his confused response.
"Legilimency, is the ability to enter and attack the minds of others. What I did to the pile of blubber with a mustache and the shrew was very simple, I forced one of my own memories into their minds and made them experience it." I explain to the kid.
"A memory made them that scared? What did you show them?" He asked in shock, not realizing that if that was their reactions, the memory mustn't be pleasant.
"That is a very personal bit of my past Harry. I just used a small clip to give them an idea." I reply with less of a smile this time.
"Oh. I'm sorry, didn't think it through." He apologized sheepishly.
"I understand Harry. Ah, this alley will do." I say suddenly as I enter said alley. I then take out a steel chain and stretch out my hand holding it to the kid.
"Grab onto this and don't let go of either it or Hedwig. It's going to feel weird, but its the quickest way to get out of here without breaking many laws. And these ones can't be detected." I say with a little grin.
"We're breaking laws?!" Was his very shocked response.
"Hahaha! I'm teasing you on this one. No way my aunt would let me set up an illegal portkey to our house, she's the head of the magical law enforcement and damn strict when it comes to these things. It's just for this time. I've got other ways to get you over to my place next time." I laugh as I explained. He gives me a little glare but grabs the chain and the familiar feeling of being pulled by your navel occurs, sending us off.
We landed in the middle of the backyard, me on my feet, Harry on his butt and Hedwig complaining about him dropping her cage upon landing.
"First couple of times leave people with a hard time landing." I say to reassure the kid and give him a hand to stand up.
"Welcome to House Bones Harry. It's simple, but it's home." I introduce with a warm smile.
"You have a nice garden." He said as he looks around the place.
"Thanks. Started it when I was 6. I wanted a place to practice Herbology, but after I started going to Hogwarts it basically became Susan's." I say with a nostalgic smile, remembering little me and Susan playing in the dirt.
"Wait. Susan, from Hufflepuff?" He asked in surprise.
"Well yeah. We're cousins, but we grow up like siblings. You know Aedan Bones and Susan Bones." I explain with a little smile a the kids thoughts.
"But you don't look anything alike!" He tried to justify, never having noticed.
"Well to be honest here, have you ever seen anyone who looks like me?" I ask with a chuckle in response, effectively leaving him with no answer.
"Well enough of that. TILLY!" I shouted for the house-elf.
"Yes young master Aedan?" She popped in and said.
"Tilly, this is Harry. He will be coming here frequently this summer. Can you bring his owl to where Artemis is please. Also a good lunch for the two of us would be lovely, and if Susan wants to join all the better." I say to her.
"With pleasure!" She replied excitedly as she began her tasks.
"What was that!?" Asked Harry again in shock.
"That is a House-elf. Beings who need the magical energy of wizards or magical dwellings to survive. Unfortunately, through centuries of this happening in noble houses, they've become a slave race in the eyes of many and horrible treatment became common. We treat her like family but that's still how she acts, no matter what." I explain with some reluctance in my voice.
"But for now let's get you a proper meal. After that I can get a good look at you and start healing you properly." I declare as I lead the boy into the house.
He was looking around the place with very curious eyes, this being the first wizard home he's been too since the Weasleys haven't brought him there yet.
"Might As well introduce you to the house while we wait for the food." I say to the kid who nods back.
"Here we have the common room, like the dorms it's used for relaxation, reading or light work in a peaceful environment. The fireplace is connected to the Floo network and since I'm pretty sure you don't know what that is I'll explain quickly. It basically a mean to travel near instantaneously from one connected fireplace to another by calling out the destinations registered name. For example, if you wanted to go to Diagon Alley, you would grab a handful of the powder, step in the fireplace and yell out Diagon Alley as you threw it into the fire. It has to be set to its Floo Fire first, which is bright green, so don't just walk into any burning fireplace and it has to be connected by the ministry." I explain to be boy as he marvels at magical means of travel.
"Next is our home library. It mostly filled with history and law books because of my aunts interests and job, but I have every Hogwarts subject and then some in my room, which I'll show you later."
"Then we have the dining room over here, connected to a kitchen I don't suggest you enter unless you want to make Tilly cry a lot. If you ever need anything she'll be ecstatic to get it for you, believe me on that. I know because of your upbringing you'll have a lot of problems doing that, but take it slow and try to get over it. It will do you some good." I say gently.
"Upstairs we've got the various bedrooms, mine, my aunts, Susan's and the guest room. You'll be able to go in and out of mine pretty freely, but you know better than going into the others I'm sure. The last room is the home Office, which I spend a fair amount of time in, so if ever you're over and I'm not anywhere else, just knock to find out if I'm there." I finish with a smile and a small flourish. "Once again, welcome to house Bones."
"Thanks for having me" he responds shyly.
"And now, lunch!" I announce just as Tilly pops in to say it was ready.
After a nice meal with the two kids, Susan chatting a lot and Harry becoming more comfortable due to her presence, things felt better. I had asked Susan to not bother me until supper because I was going to deal with something personal with Harry, and as the good little sister she is, she agreed without any fuss. Good girls get head pats.
So I set up everything i need in the guest room.
"Alright Harry. I'm going to run diagnostic spells on you to understand exactly what the damage is. There is absolutely no need to be afraid or embarrassed about any of this. You are the victim of horrible people and I'll make sure you can be the best you can be." I reassure with my healer voice.
I tapped his head with my wand and my face immediately went cold. Harry noticed.
"What's wrong?" He asked nervously.
"I should have castrated the fat piece of shit and shoved that witch you call an aunt into her oven." I declared in anger, shocking the boy with my anger. I took a deep breath and calmed myself.
"Sorry Harry. Seeing these types of things is a bit of a sore spot in the family. Bad memories." I say with an apologetic smile.
But I had every right to be angry. Incorrectly healed bones in his arms, hands and multiple ribs. Numerous bit of scar tissue throughout his body. No vaccinations for muggle diseases past those required at the age of five or magical vaccines either. And when I looked at his core, it was under constant stress due to the protection his mother imparted to him, making it larger than average by a great deal, but lacking in energy. If this keeps up it'll be a miracle if the kid goes through a second maturity in his lifetime. He's lucky being at such a magical place like Hogwarts offset the damages for the upcoming years, but this isn't a good thing.
"Ok Harry. This is going to take more than a day to fix. Your body is very week for someone your age and it's a good thing we're doing this before you hit puberty properly, let's you hit a good amount of potential. I'm going to start by fixing all those badly healed and damaged bones in your body. To do that I'll use a spell to make the specific bone vanish and use a potion called Skelegrow to bring them back in perfect shape. Now the process isn't pleasant and i can't do too many at once, so you will be unconscious when the potion is taking effect and you'll be coming back tomorrow to fix the rest of it. After that, I'll work on the scar tissue in your body and we will start you off on a regiment of nutrition potions to deal with the rather severe case of malnutrition you've had to endure. Being at Hogwarts is helping you gain weight, but not make up for the losses you've suffered your entire childhood. They don't taste good at all, so drink them once before breakfast and supper to get rid of the taste and still take the required doses. And unfortunately for you, that's going to last all summer. I'll get Tilly to leave them on your nightstand everyday. She will also be the one to bring you here from now on."
"Alright. Thanks for doing this then. I'll do my best to do as you ask." Said a grateful Harry.
"No problem kid. Plus, these are my modified version. They're already reducing your recovery time by four months." I say with a smile as I ruffle his hair.
"What? Really? You can modify potions?" He asked I surprise, becoming a common reaction for the kid at this point.
"Yeah, Im actually going to release a few books after my OWL's next year. It's going to make quite the bang." I say with a crazy grin, getting him to smile at my enthusiasm.
"Alright. Get on the bed and try not to get surprised too much as some bones disappear. They'll be back by the time you wake." I say as I got my magic spells rolling.