I Only Took a Few Days Off Sick

When Gavin followed Professor McGonagall through the castle's front doors, he was prepared for a quiet return to school.

As it turned out, he had badly underestimated how quickly news traveled among Hogwarts students.

The moment he entered, Gavin saw people.

A line of people, to be precise.

A very conspicuous line stretched from the Entrance Hall along the corridor, with students craning their necks now and then. Ernie stood at the front, back ramrod straight, wearing the solemn expression of someone welcoming a decorated hero home from battle on behalf of his house.

Justin stood beside him with an expression that said, "I told you this would happen."

Behind them were several more Hufflepuffs: Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones, and Wayne Hopkins. Even a few older students had come, including Cho Chang and Cedric.

Gavin stopped short.

"...What is this?"

Professor McGonagall glanced over. The corner of her mouth seemed to twitch ever so slightly.

"It appears," she said, "to be a welcome ceremony."

Gavin finally understood why Professor McGonagall had insisted on bringing him through the front doors instead of taking the Fireplace in her office.

"Can I refuse?"

"I'm afraid not."

That answer was very Hogwarts.

The next second, Ernie stepped forward and cleared his throat.

"Welcome back, Gu."

At his words, all the Hufflepuffs behind him immediately burst into supportive applause.

It was not especially loud. Hufflepuffs, on the whole, were not particularly good at producing the kind of intimidating, coordinated display Slytherins could manage. But it was sincere, and there were enough of them that the applause made an impression.

Gavin stood there in silence for two seconds.

"Thank you." He was not used to this sort of occasion.

"You should say something else," Justin murmured beside him.

"Like what?"

"Like 'I missed everyone too.'"

"But I only took a few days off sick."

"Now's not the time to be so practical," Justin said.

Gavin thought it over and decided to play along with the mood.

"I'm also..." He looked over the row of Hufflepuffs watching him. "...glad to be back."

That was already pretty good.

At least Ernie looked quite satisfied, with the gratified air of someone watching his house spokesman finally improve at expressing his feelings.

Meanwhile, a few students at the back had started whispering.

"He still looks a little pale."

"Well, he almost died."

"Could you not say that word?"

"I'm just telling the truth."

"Anyway, it's good he's back."

That sort of chatter on the Hufflepuff grapevine did make the place feel more alive than the uniform white quiet of St. Mungo's.

Before Gavin could say anything else, footsteps sounded from the other side.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione came around the corner of the corridor. They had clearly been waiting there for a while.

The three of them wore very different expressions.

Harry looked a little nervous. Ron looked awkward, as though he wanted to say thank you but worried that making too much of it would feel strange. Hermione stood straight, her expression the most complicated of all, as though she had prepared an entire speech in her head but did not want to seem too deliberate.

In the end, Harry spoke first.

"It's good to see you back, Gu."

"Thanks, Harry." Gavin nodded. "I'm glad you're all right too."

Harry visibly relaxed a little and smiled.

"We wanted to... thank you," he said.

Ron immediately nodded beside him, and quite vigorously at that.

"Really," he said. "If it hadn't been for you—"

At that point, the scene in the Girls' Bathroom must have flashed through his mind again, because his face went faintly pale. Dumbledore had sealed away the bloodiest part of the memory, but Ron still remembered Gavin saving them in the end.

Hermione took over.

"Thank you for saving us," she said.

She spoke formally, but after a few days apart, Gavin felt that Miss Know-It-All had clearly grown a little more cheerful.

Hearing the three of them thank him, Gavin rubbed his nose awkwardly. The trio had no idea that if Gavin had not wanted to see that famous scene for himself, they probably would not have been in danger in the first place.

Gavin had saved the day in the end, but it was best not to ask why the day had needed saving.

"Actually, I heard later that the professors arrived right afterward," Gavin said. "You probably would have been fine anyway." He was not sure he deserved much credit for this.

"Who knows? We might have been dead by then," Harry said, still shaken by the thought.

Gavin did not argue further.

Then another loud, unmistakable voice rang out behind Gavin.

"So—"

"You're the Hufflepuff who beat the living daylights out of a troll in the Girls' Bathroom?"

He did not need to look to know who it was.

Fred and George sauntered out, one on either side of him. Red-haired and long-limbed, they wore identical expressions of irrepressible energy.

They circled Gavin twice, as though inspecting a rare exhibit in a museum.

"We've wanted to meet you for ages," Fred said.

"Very much," George added.

"Especially after we heard—"

"That you were still alive."

"Thanks," Gavin said. "That's definitely news worth passing along."

The twins burst out laughing.

"Excellent," Fred said. "I like the way this Hufflepuff talks."

"Me too," George said. "At least he's more interesting than certain people who used to do nothing but frown over dinner and say, 'The rules don't allow it.'"

Hermione blushed at that and glared at them. After the troll incident, she was not quite so opposed to breaking school rules.

The twins clearly had no plans to pull anything on the spot today, though. They just gave Gavin an enthusiastic pat on the shoulder, left him with a "Let's work on something fun together sometime," and swept off like a gust of wind.

On the way out, they also ruffled Ron's hair.

"They're always like that," Ron muttered.

"I can see that," Gavin said.

The four of them chatted a little longer before the trio left for class. The Gryffindor first-years had a double Potions Class that morning, and nobody dared show up late to Snape's lesson.

On the way back to the Great Hall, the crowd finally began to disperse.

Hogwarts was still a school, after all. However excited everyone was, they still had classes to attend. Ernie solemnly announced that "Gu has returned to the house's normal routine," while Justin reminded everyone that Gavin had only just come back from being ill, so they should not keep him trapped in the Entrance Hall with a crowd around him until noon.

In the end, only Cedric, Cho Chang, and Gavin's two roommates stayed beside him.

The group walked slowly down the corridor, the mood much more relaxed than before.

Cho Chang glanced at Gavin first.

"You look a little thinner."

"Hospital food in London," Gavin said. "You can't expect more from it."

Cedric, meanwhile, clearly had something he wanted to say.

Gavin glanced at him.

"What is it?"

Cedric paused for two seconds before finally speaking.

"You missed the first match."

"Quidditch?"

"Yeah." Cedric nodded. "Gryffindor versus Slytherin."

Gavin slowed slightly.

"The one where Harry played for the first time?"

"How did you know?"

"I heard a little about it."

"That's right," Cho Chang said. "The whole school's talking about it now."

"What are they saying?" Gavin asked.

"That he flew fast," Cedric said. "Very fast."

Coming from Cedric, that carried weight.

He was an excellent flyer himself, and not the type to be easily impressed.

"And that Nimbus 2000," Ernie added from beside them, with a touch of plain Hufflepuff indignation. "It's far too fast."

Justin immediately seized on the point.

"So you Quidditch players really don't think that kind of equipment gap is ridiculous?"

"We do," Cedric said. "But it doesn't matter what we think. The rules won't change just because I think it's ridiculous."

As he said it, the worry on his face grew more obvious.

"To be honest," he said, looking at Gavin, "I'm a little worried now."

"About what?"

"That I can't outfly Harry," Cedric said. "He really is talented. His reactions are quick, he's brave, and that Nimbus 2000—"

He paused.

"It really is fast."

Silence settled over the group for a few seconds.

Cho Chang said nothing, merely looking at him. She clearly knew this was not just polite talk before a match.

Cedric was genuinely feeling the pressure.

Gavin thought for a moment, then asked, "Did you watch the whole match?"

"I did."

"How was his judgment on flight paths?"

"Much better than a beginner's," Cedric said. "At times he didn't look like a beginner at all."

"And his Broomstick control?"

"Still unsteady, but his speed makes up for a lot."

"Got it." Gavin nodded.

Cedric looked up at him.

"What do you mean, 'got it'?"

"It's not a big problem," Gavin said. "Everything's still under control."

Justin laughed. "That's such a Gavin way to reassure someone."

"I'm not reassuring him," Gavin said. "I mean, not being able to outfly him is one thing. Not being able to catch the Golden Snitch is another. A Seeker's match isn't just a race from one end of the pitch to the other."

Cedric looked at him, his gaze growing a little steadier.

"You have an idea?"

"How has your training been going?" Gavin asked instead of answering. "Our first match is against Ravenclaw, and they don't have a Nimbus 2000."

"Not bad, but I only manage it four or five times out of ten. And after twenty minutes, it gets really difficult," Cedric said quietly, casting a wary glance at Cho Chang, Ravenclaw's new Seeker.

"What are you two talking about?" Cho Chang demanded, displeased.

"That proves we're on the right track. Just focus on beating Ravenclaw first." Gavin waved a hand, looking unconcerned. "You won't face Harry until February."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Cho Chang looked even more annoyed. "You're talking as if Ravenclaw's already lost."

Gavin and Cedric exchanged mysterious smiles but did not argue. Cedric even began to look excited, as though he had thought of something delightful. The gloom cast by the Nimbus 2000 vanished from his face completely.

"So you'll start training me again tomorrow?" Cedric asked Gavin eagerly.

"Of course," Gavin said. "You didn't think my sick leave meant you got time off too, did you?"

Cedric's mouth twitched.

"For a moment there, I really did hope you'd rest a few more days first."

"You're quite good-looking." Cedric blinked at the sudden compliment. "So stop dreaming."

"..."

Once Gavin returned to his usual classes, he quickly noticed something.

The Hogwarts professors all seemed rather pleased to have him back.

They each showed it in their own way.

Professor McGonagall looked at him twice during Transfiguration, then quite naturally awarded Hufflepuff two points on the grounds that "you're recovering well, Mr. Gu. At least you still remember how to perform a basic transformation correctly."

Professor Flitwick was more direct.

When he saw Gavin raise his hand in Charms, his eyes lit up almost at once, as though he had been waiting for a favorite student to return. So Gavin answered one question about the incantation for Alohomora in full, and Hufflepuff gained another five points.

Professor Sprout's approach was the most straightforward.

She patted Gavin on the shoulder in the greenhouse. Once she had confirmed the boy had not done himself any lasting harm, she happily found an excuse to award Gavin two points and slipped a freshly baked pumpkin biscuit into his pocket.

Even in Professor Binns's class, Gavin earned a rare point for "correctly stating when the International Confederation of Wizards was founded."

Unfortunately, not every professor took that approach.

Snape was clearly the exception.

In Potions Class, the dungeon classroom was as gloomy as ever. Gavin had barely sat down before Professor Snape's gaze settled on him, growing colder still.

Everyone in the classroom fell even more silent.

After all, the story of how "Gu subjected a troll to some very thorough physical persuasion in the Girls' Bathroom on Halloween eve" had long since circulated in multiple versions among all seven years at Hogwarts. In one version, Snape had seen the troll's mangled brain, berated Gavin for wasting potion ingredients, and threatened to expel him.

There was no denying that Hogwarts knew how to spread rumors.

But Snape did not immediately lash out.

He merely set the roll book on his desk and began the lesson at a leisurely pace.

Only when half the lesson had passed, and everyone thought he probably intended to give the matter the silent treatment today, did he suddenly stop beside Gavin's desk during his rounds.

"Mr. Gu," he said.

"Professor."

"I notice that you have ground your Snake Fangs too finely today."

Gavin looked down at his mortar.

Honestly, the fineness was perfectly standard.

So standard it could practically serve as a textbook illustration.

"Have I?" Gavin asked, puzzled.

"Yes," Snape said, his tone so level it was almost gentle. "An excessively fine powder will affect the rate of blending. It appears that St. Mungo's failed to restore your judgment along with the rest of you."

Everyone in the dungeon classroom stopped breathing for a moment.

Then, with perfect nonchalance, Snape delivered the second half:

"Five points from Hufflepuff."

Even the stirring rod in Ernie's hand paused.

Beside him, Justin slowly closed his eyes, his expression practically translating into a thoroughly British sentiment:

Of course.

Gavin showed little reaction, though he was rather puzzled. He had no idea what he had done to offend the professor.

"Thank you for the reminder, Professor," Gavin replied politely.

Snape watched him for two seconds, then swept away in a swirl of black robes.

Justin only started breathing again once he was some distance away.

"You nearly died, and he's still taking points off you?"

"It shows that his mental state is stable," Gavin said.

"What does that have to do with stability?"

"It shows he hasn't changed his behavioral patterns just because I nearly died," Gavin said. "For someone who's expressed pretty much the same emotion for years, that's actually quite stable."

Justin opened his mouth, then finally decided to abandon any further wrestling with this monster of logic.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're actually quite good at getting under people's skin?"

"Thank you."

"That wasn't entirely a compliment."

"Thank you anyway."

By the time the day's lessons ended, it was slowly growing dark.

The Great Hall was as lively as ever at dinner. The Fireplace burned warmly, the Pumpkin Juice was as sweet and fragrant as always, and discussion at the Hufflepuff table continued to revolve around two topics: "Snape really did take five points from Gu" and "I told you that troll was Professor Snape's pet."

Gavin thoroughly enjoyed his meal. After an entire week of British hospital food, the Chinese dishes prepared by Hogwarts' house-elves tasted like the finest food in the world.

After dinner, Gavin went alone to the Seventh Floor.

He opened the door to the Room of Requirement and found the familiar practice room inside.

The long table, blackboard, wall lamps, open floor, and piles of notes and drafts on the table—everything was just as he had left it.

Gavin first walked slowly over to the blackboard and examined the notes he had left there.

[Levitation Charm: height, speed, stability]

[Slowing research direction: enhanced localized resistance]

[Transfiguration: whole/partial/lifelike]

[Gamp's Law and information boundaries]

Farther down were records of other experiments, more fragmentary and more like the products of brief bouts of obsession.

He approached the long table, where he kept his own theories about magic and a few potential avenues of research.

Gavin first gathered the drafts from the table one by one, sorted them into stacks, and put them into his Dragon Hide Bag. Then he picked up the eraser and wiped away every word covering the blackboard.

Chalk dust drifted beneath the wall lamps, swirling into every corner of the room.

Soon, the entire blackboard was blank again.

Spotless.

Gavin stood there, raised his hand, and carefully wrote a new heading across the top in chalk.

Research proposal for stopping an Obscurus from draining its host's life

Once he finished, he stepped back and looked up at the words.

For a long time, he said nothing.