49 Chapter 49
Harry tipped his head to one side and contemplated the fleshy strip in his hand with more interest than he'd shown when he'd first unwrapped the box. He then narrowed his eyes slightly as he flicked the Lip Trap at Fred before either twin realized what he was doing and watched as the strip plastered itself over Fred's mouth and faded out of view, appearing to take Fred's mouth with it.
"Cool," Harry drawled with the tiniest smirk of his own as he carefully replaced the lid on the remaining Lip Traps and sent them to his Inventory while the other three Weasleys laughed… well two of them laughed, Percy (the oldest of the Weasleys still attending Hogwarts and Harry's tutor for Defense Against the Dark Arts, History of Magic, and Magical Theory) just sort of smirked at his younger brother.
"If only you had got them both," Ron lamented once he stopped laughing. "What else did you get?"
Seeing as how it didn't look like the four boys were going to let him neglect his gifts, Harry picked up a random package that had been roughly wrapped in coarse brown paper and opened it to find a hand carved flute that was shaped like Hedwig. Her beak was the mouth piece and her tail fanned out in a circle to form the base of the flute. Bringing the homemade instrument up to his mouth, Harry gave an experimental blow and produced a low pitched note that sounded remarkably like Hedwig when she comforted him with her crooning each time Harry felt depressed. A quick search of the wrapping paper turned up a tag saying the gift was from Hagrid.
Next he opened a box that contained a knitted red and gold sweater and scarf, a large box of homemade fudge, a small loaf of homemade fruitcake, and a handmade card with a Christmas tree on the front decorated with sparkling snitches and brooms. The entire package had been from the Weasley Family (specifically from Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and their youngest child). A confused glance up at the Weasleys, since he'd never met their parents, had George confessing that he and Fred had asked their mother to send Harry a holiday care package when they'd heard that he was staying at Hogwarts all alone for Christmas.
Harry was just reaching for one of the three last remaining presents sitting beside him when a high-pitched squeal drew everyone's attention. To Harry's chagrin and Ron and Percy's horror, an invisible Hedwig had caught hold of Ron's rat (which had originally belonged to Percy) by the base of the tail and was currently holding him about six feet off the floor as she hovered in the air. Harry stood up intending to rescue the rat only to stop and stare in confusion as the rat began swelling until it was so large that Hedwig was forced to release it as the rat turned into a man. Apparently, the four Weasley brothers hadn't expected a man to take the place of the family pet rat either, as they let out startled cries and flung themselves backwards.
The confusion lasted only for about twenty seconds before the rat-turned-man picked up Ron's wand (the redhead had dropped it when he'd flung himself away from the rat-man in shock) and fired several spells at the still invisible Hedwig. Harry sprang into action the moment his familiar was threatened; he pulled his steel cable out of his Inventory and quickly fashioned a net trap that he wrapped around the filthy man and used to pull him off his feet. The man then attacked Harry in retaliation using the stolen wand and struck the eleven year old with a silent, unseen spell that easily sliced through his clothes and cut him open across the chest from his left shoulder to his right hip (turning his green HP Bar red as it dropped dangerously low).
Hedwig prevented the man from attacking a second time by pouncing on his chest, anchoring her tail around his neck through the weave of the net with the tips of her talons piercing the skin of his chest, and poising her beak right over the man's eye as she dropped her invisibility which caused the man to cry out in shock before he immediately began begging and pleading for his life as he dropped the wand and froze out of terror (the rodent instincts of his alternate form taking control of his mind in response to the sudden attack).
"Ronald, run as fast as you can and fetch Professor McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey; tell them it's an emergency," Percy ordered sharply as he dragged Harry back away from the trapped man and tried to stop the bleeding by wadding up Harry's new sweater and pressing it up against the long gash.
"Wands out, ya reckon?" George asked shakily while Fred gave a muffled affirmative (the other teen's mouth still sealed by their prank invention).
Harry wanted to scream, the cut on his chest burned with searing pain. It hurt worse than when the Mossy Wyvern had clawed him on the face or even when he got caught by a Giant Ant one time (it had sliced his right leg open from knee to ankle and flooded the wound with acid like venom). Worse yet, Harry felt like he was suffocating because he couldn't catch his breath due to the pain constricting his chest and the more Percy pushed on the wound to stop the bleeding, the worse the pain got. Gritting his teeth, Harry lifted his right hand to open his Player Menu and quickly navigated to his Inventory.
Scrolling rapidly through the list of supplies and treasures, Harry searched for a healing potion; he knew he should have several of them left since he'd never gotten the chance to use any of them the day Aincrad was destroyed. He'd just found the potions and pulled one from his Inventory when Madam Pomfrey, Professor McGonagall, Professor Snape, Professor Flitwick, and Headmaster Dumbledore burst into the room with their wands drawn. Ignoring the adults, Harry cracked the seal on the pink healing potion and choked it down, praying that it would be enough to at least stop the pain.
The next thing he knew, he was laying on his back on the floor and his shirt had been removed. Professor Snape and Madam Pomfrey both had their wands out and were running them over the bleeding gash that bisected his torso as they chanted the same incantation over and over under their breath. Over top of the muttered incantations the two were saying as they sought to heal his wound, Harry could hear the Headmaster quizzing the oldest Weasley.
"Can you please tell us exactly what happened, Prefect Weasley?" Dumbledore requested and Harry imagined he could hear the man frowning.
"Of course, Headmaster," Percy replied in an overly formal tone. "My brothers and I came down approximately forty-five minutes earlier and found Potter sitting beside the fireplace, where he'd been since sometime yesterday morning, with his occamy coiled up on his lap and his presents untouched. The occamy vanished the moment we turned up and then my brothers persuaded Potter to open his gifts. He was just about half finished when the invisible occamy attacked my old rat; which I'd given to my youngest brother to bring as a pet at the start of term."
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