Disclaimer: Everything in the Harry Potter world belongs to JK Rowling and no money is being made from this story.

A/N:hey everyone sorry about the late update but one of my other fics was going strong and this one kind of fell by the wayside. I know it is short but hopefully it will tide you all over until I update again.

Chapter 3: Learning to Live Again

Harry was currently staying in the Hospital Wing. The hospital bed in fact. The only time he would get up was to go to the bathroom. Professor Snape and Madame Pomfrey had been working on his hearing so that he would be able to locate things by it. They would stand somewhere and make a sound and get him to point to it. He was now about 99 percent accurate as opposed to the approximately 50 percent he was before.

The day that Harry got everything right Snape thought it was time to talk to Harry about Dudley so while getting Harry his lunch he also retrieved Dudley.

"Dudley, what are you doing here?" Harry asked as Dudley came in.

"You asked me to come to keep me safe"

"I don't remember that. Oh well at least you're safe"

"Yes he is safe, now we need to talk about something and I need you to be completely honest in your answers" Severus asked. Harry nodded uncertainly at him. "Alright when your uncle was abusing you as a child what did you think about Dudley?" Harry thought for a while and just when Severus thought he wasn't going to answer he said "I wondered why he wasn't treated like me, glad he wasn't in pain because that wasn't nice and hoped that he wasn't a freak like me so he wouldn't get hurt."

Snape waited thinking "do you associate magic with being a freak?" Harry looking very nervous nodded. Snape noticing the look on Harry's face was quick to reassure him that he could say anything and wouldn't get in trouble for it.

"Do you believe Dudley is safe now Harry?" Snape inquired

"So long as he doesn't have to go back to his parents. Why?"

"Because Harry, when Dudley first arrive he could see the castle which a muggle is not supposed to be able to do so I examined him and in his mind I found a magical core but it had two different colours blocking it, green and gold. The gold was most dominant and Harry I believe that that is your magic. You didn't want Dudley to go through what you did so you did something to prevent it with Dudley helping a little; after seeing went through his mind and magic tried to make him 'normal' by filling in the gaps you had left in the block."

Harry cringed "I'm sorry Dudley; I didn't know I was depriving you of your magic. I didn't mean too."

"It's alright Harry it was the best thing you could have done, and it worked didn't it? I was safe at home. But now that I am here it would be safe to have my magic back, don't you think?"

Harry nodded. Snape smirked "I was hoping you would say that Harry because you have to be the one to take the wall down. No one else can do it. I will take you with me into Dudley's mind. Ok? Are you ready? Close your eyes."

They travelled into Dudley's mind where Harry, once he was presented with the brick wall formed a golden spear out of instinct with his magic and hurled it at the wall. The spear stuck where it landed and the wall began to slowly dissolve in circular ripples around it. Seeing the dissolution Snape was happy and pulled them back out.

When they were fully aware again Snape looked at Dudley who seemed a little bit uncomfortable but otherwise fine but Harry had his hand to his head and looked unwell. "Professor? My head feels funny" he muttered. Telling Harry that he was going to enter his mind to check everything was alright Snape did so and was surprised to find an all gold wall similar to Dudley's slowly dissolving in the depths of Harry's mind. Coming back to the hospital wing Snape took a moment to orient himself before saying "you had a block similar to Dudley's in your own mind but some of your magic was getting past it. Destroying Dudley's wall caused yours to start to dissolve as well. I suggest that both of you get some sleep while the blocks dissolve. We will come by later to see how you are." The two of them slowly drifted off to sleep.

Then next morning Harry and Dudley woke within seconds of each other. The first words out of Dudley's mouth were "I feel weird!" Harry giggled. "No seriously Harry I feel different, tingly is that normal?" Harry's giggle turned into a full blown laugh.

"Dudley you're a wizard now things will very rarely be normal. But what you feel is your magic; you will probably be doing a lot of accidental magic for a while as you're magic has never had an outlet before. Come to think of it mine might too, though hopefully not because I've already trained some. Any way doesn't magic feel good?"

"Yeah it does."

They sat in silence for a while waiting for someone to come and check on them.

Dudley thinking to offer Harry some help to go to the bathroom reached out and gently touched his hand. Harry jerked his hand away beginning to tremble. "Don't …please don't … touch me" Harry muttered. Dudley backed away unsure how to calm Harry, who was now rocking and muttering with his knees to his chest, down.

Luckily for both of them Snape was down the hall and he began to feel waves of pure magic emanating from the direction of the hospital wing, so he picked up his pace until he was nearly running. Taking in the scene that met him he moved close to Harry, making sure that he didn't touch him and began talking soothingly calling him Harry and trying to draw him out of his memories and assure him that he was safe. It worked slowly and eventually, Harry relaxed his legs leaving his chest to rest on the bed. As Harry relaxed further his body decided it needed rest after the recent stress and Harry slowly fell asleep.

"What did you do?" Snape asked scathingly.

"I only wanted to help him to the bathroom so I touched his hand to let him know where I was. That's all I promise"

"Well that at least lets us know how he will react to unexpected touch, we have been avoiding touching him as much as possible. Now tell me how do you feel"

"Tingly. Harry said I would do accidental magic"

"He was right in a sense, you won't necessarily do the sort if accidental magic that a child does but when you try to use the magic it may not do what you want or it will escape your grasp. Also it might be slightly destructive which is why I am going to take you both outside today. I imagine it will also be good for Harry it has been a long while since he has been outside he told me last week. I will come back soon with breakfast."