Hermione shook her head. "Well, they claimed they caught a house-elf who was using someone's wand to cast the Dark Mark, but the house-elf's owner sacked her, and that was the end of that. I think they know perfectly well who it was, and they're just ignoring it so they don't have to do something about it…"
Harry let Hermione ramble on about it, while he caught sight of his reflection in the glass again. He did his best to smile and sit up.
He really had to get over his fear that the Horcrux was just going to eat him from the inside out someday. There was a reason that he'd lived so far. And if he was going to get eaten by the Horcrux tomorrow, he couldn't prevent it.
...
"Are you planning to build regular flying exercise into your routine?" Healer Letham asked, seemingly out of the blue, during their first visit they'd had that term.
Harry blinked at her. As always, Healer Letham had a cup of tea with her. Dobby was thrilled to be able to Apparate to Hogwarts and make it for them, so Harry had one, too, but he didn't feel like drinking it.
"What do you mean?"
"I know that flying lifts your mood, and there won't be any Quidditch for you to play this year." Healer Letham pinched her lips. "I think they are making a mistake with the Tournament. But it shouldn't affect you, I hope."
Harry nodded. The Headmaster and the Ministry had had to announce they were holding the Triwizard Tournament at Hogwarts since the rumors had already spread all over the place anyway. "I hope not. And I didn't think about flying regularly. Do you think it would help?"
"It would." Healer Letham leaned towards him "Particularly as you will not tell me the cause of your current misery."
Harry grimaced. His parents had asked him not to tell anyone, and although he thought Healer Letham could be an exception to that, he also dreaded to see how her expression would change when she heard about the Horcrux.
"Harry?"
"My parents asked me not to," Harry murmured. "They think—well, it's a private thing, and they want to keep it close until we can get it taken care of."
"Ah. You believe it is a temporary condition that will end at some point, then?"
Harry nodded, still looking down. He had to believe that. And in a way, it was true. Either they would find some way to get the Horcrux out of him, or it would kill him.
"Are you only keeping silent because your parents asked you to? Would you like to tell me?"
Harry would have, honestly. It would be someone other than the Healers—who were caught up in the theoretical possibilities of it—or his family—who were all caught up in worry—to talk to about it.
But he still imagined the way that Healer Letham's face would change when she heard about the shard of Voldemort's soul, and winced.
"I want to talk to you about it someday. But I can't right now."
Healer Letham studied him for long enough that Harry thought she might ask him to speak anyway, or end the session. But then she nodded, and relaxed back into the chair she was sitting on. "Tell me about the new Potions professor. And the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. How are you getting along with them?"
"Professor Slughorn is okay," Harry said, although he grimaced a little. The man had seemed eager to talk to him at first, but when he realized that Harry didn't like hearing himself called "the Boy-Who-Lived," he'd backed off. Draco, on the other hand, was soaking in the praise and attention, as the uncomplicated Malfoy son who had always been a Malfoy. "I'm learning more from him than I did from Snape."
"And Professor Moody?"
"I don't know, actually. Draco and I are still taking lessons from Ted. Sometimes Professor Moody tries to stop me in the corridors and speak to me, but he's always dropping these hints and saying he has to invite me back to his office to tell me more. I haven't gone."
"I think that a wise decision," Healer Letham said mildly. "It might be that Professor Moody would offer you the same kind of training Ted is, but if so, I'm afraid that he's close enough to the Headmaster, he would be doing it Dumbledore's instigation. And you don't want to start down that road."
"No. My friends seem to like him well enough," Harry added.
"Good. And what of your brother?"
The conversation passed pleasantly enough, and Harry was surprised to find at the end that it almost had worked as if he'd told Healer Letham about the Horcrux. He'd managed to forget about it and remember there were other things in the world, at least.
And that was all he really needed.
....
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