Work Text:
The staff tended to gossip in the break room when they had overlapping 'wellness time'. For a few minutes they would give their aching feet a rest and sip cheap tea or coffee while they warned each other about the patients who were not cooperative today. Occasionally the gossip would wander away from the patients causing problems to the family of patients causing problems. So and so's children were demanding a better view for their father or they wanted more medications for their violent brother. The staff heard so many demands from well meaning but under-informed family members that they all eventually developed a glazed over expression for whenever they were cornered and talked at. The expression said 'I am listening and agree with you' without the listener ever having to speak or do anything but wait to be rescued.
On this particular day a few of the staff members from the children's ward were spending their wellness time swapping stories of most outrageous parents they had come across. The chuckles were replaced with scowles when an older worker mentioned the family of one Harry Potter. It was well know in the facility that Harry was a mostly harmless child who seemed to suffer from schizophrenia and anger management problems. He only ever got angry when people entered his personal space or touched his things without permission, but was otherwise quiet and eager to learn.
"I was pretty new when the cops brought him here. I had thought I was prepared to come across bad parenting, after all a lot of our cases grow out of some kind of abuse. But man, these people were just awful to their kid. Harry's a small kid today, but when he arrived he was stick thin, dirty, and covered in bruises. The police said he was found wondering around London at 2 am, talking to himself and crying. Poor kid said the last thing he could remember was falling asleep in a car before being pushed out of it. We had to estimate his age, but I suspect because of abuse he was mentally behind his age group and we may have guessed too low. He refused, and still refuses, to talk about his family and there were no records of him in any databases. I think his parents must have been some of those 'hide and hit the problem until it fixes itself' sort," this was said with a derisive snort. Everyone listening nodded with a mix of sad and angry expressions. If there was one thing everyone who worked in their field could agree on it was the only thing worse than family members who tried overly hard to help, was family who didn't try at all.
One of the nuses glanced at the clock before getting up to clock back in. As he left he put what everyone was thinking into words, "I hope his parents are suffering wherever they are."
Meanwhile Harry Potter was meeting with his assigned tutor working on some math problems. Harry liked math, it was one of the subjects his voices liked to explain to him without arguing with each other. For as long as Harry could remember there had been voices in his head. A psychologist that Harry liked once told him it was normal to have voices in your head, narrating your life back to you, but Harry's voices came with the belief that his thoughts aren't his own. Harry liked this explanation, it made him feel powerful, like he was the true one while the voices where just stray thoughts he forgot about having. Sometimes the voices got so loud fighting with each other that he felt like he was the I intruder and they were the real ones.
This particular psychologist had accepted the names Harry and the voices had come up with for each voice. The voices were very picky about what they were called. Some of Harry's oldest memories were of them arguing about someone discovering them and disagreements about who was most powerful when they were deciding what each of them should be called. Eventually each of them agreed and Harry was instructed by the voices to never call or even think of them as anything else.
Harry was looking over his work sheet when his favorite voice chimed in, "You made a mistake on number 3," said The Professor. Harry looked at the problem again before erasing it and redoing it. Unlike the other voices The Professor rarely just gave him the answers, but unlike the others he would patiently explain difficult things and liked answering Harry's questions.
"Ask if he's seen any owls outside," said The Student. This voice was one of the more volatile voices. He seemed younger than the others, on good days he was more interested in having Harry ask questions or try new things. On bad days he would call Harry and others names and curse a lot.
Harry thought the question was weird but not strange enough to argue over. However he still waited a moment to see if the other voices would chime in against The Student. Harry had learned that doing something for one voice could enrage the others and start a full screaming match that lasted the entire day. When no voices objected Harry asked the bored looking tutor about there being any owls outside.
The man looked surprised, but somewhat used to the strange things the mental patients come up with, replied saying, "None that I've noticed, after lunch we can look for some on our walk if you want, but they are nocturnal so it may be too early for them to be out. Have you seen or heard any recently?" He asked sounding vaugly interested.
Harry shook his head, "No just wondering."
The Student let out a expletive Harry did not understand but had been told by The Detctive to not repeat out loud. Harry thought his apology to The Student before distracting his tutor with the now corrected and completed worksheet.
The Student was still grumbling about owls and letters when The Master chimed in, "Patince. It will come soon, and when it dose we will all play our parts to finally get out of this mess."
The other voices made sounds of agrement and seemed to pull tinto themselves. Whenever they did this it was like they turned into the crocodiles Harry had seen on TV, sinking below the surface to watch what happened to Harry but otherwise remaining unnoticed. Harry was glad The Master had so much authority over the others. While The Master spoke the least, whenever he did the other voices listened and usually went quiet for awhile.
What Harry and the staff at Horizons Mental Hospital did not know was that today was Harry's eleventh birthday. The voices howver knew this and were eagerly awaiting Harry's invitation to Hogwarts and their chance to get back into the magical world.