The dark wizard paced in front of his prey with an icy smirk.
"Once again, it comes down to you and me, dear Harry." Stops in front of him "Kind of an ongoing thing wouldn't you say?"
Cold dark eyes stared at the messy haired boy. Harry tried to struggle against the ropes, which didn't budge, and caused the dark wizard to laugh. Dark green eyes glowed with hatred.
"Not in a talking mood I see…" laughs "Very well….I'll quicken the pace…"
He flicked his wand. The ropes disappeared and Harry was forced to his feet. There was swishing of cloaks as chuckles from a few Death Eaters were heard. If Voldemort wasn't so wrapped up in his plan for Harry, he would have noticed two empty spots among the group.
"Last time we met, I underestimated you. That won't happen again…" He walked over and tapped his wand on Harry's cheek "There's no portkey to save you this time." He circled around him "I've been thinking over the ancient spell your mother used to protect you the first time. With me having your blood as well, I'm able to breach that part of the spell" Shakes his wand "But there's still a source of your power that I have to over come…"
He points his wand at the dark haired boy's eyes. "Your eyes are ever the unique color of green. Do you know why?" Voldemort pauses and smirks at him "I suppose they are in remembrance of your mother's, correct?"
Harry stared at him not saying anything. He'd never give Voldemort the pleasure of breaking him.
"Well, besides such sentimental comparisons; it's also another part of the spell, one that I can't take on, but I can get rid of." Smirks "As green as Avada Kedavra curse itself; ironically it's going to be the cause of you becoming powerless…" Pauses "Casting the curse on you this time will not only kill you, but give me your power…"
Flicks his wand and ropes appear around the raven haired boy's arms and legs. "Can't having you moving now can we?" More chuckles from the cloaked figures "Forgive me if I keep this at a short summary. Your defeat and death have been postponed long enough…" An evil grin spread across the pale snake like face.
"Avada Kedavra!"
There was a flash of green light, Harry tried to close his eyes and turn his head, but found he couldn't. He began to feel overwhelmed at the surge of power around him, as the light intensified. Almost immediately, it vanished leaving him in total darkness. Harry felt drained and weak. He collapsed to the ground still bound with the ropes. Shouts, noises, and chaos surrounded him. A few of the voices sounded familiar, but he couldn't tell where they were. Suddenly the ropes binding him were gone and he laid there in a less awkward position, trying to breathe correctly. He felt someone lift him off the ground and in to their arms
"Harry? Harry? Are you alright?"
"Are we too late?"
Pain and soreness ran through every inch of his body. Too weak to open his eyes or mouth he merely groaned. Relief washed over his rescuers as sounds of the war continued on.
"Harry, it's me Lupin. You're safe now. Hang on until we can get you some medical help."
Harry could only nod and groan. He felt himself slipping in to total darkness and being too weakened to fight it, he let it take him over.
He tired to stretch, but felt no strength to move his body or even open his eyes; which seemed to be wrapped in a blindfold. And for a spilt second fear ran through him and he jerked up panicking.
I'm still captured….their going to torture me…
What little strength he could manage, his hands shot up to the blindfold and began feeling around for the knot. He tensed when he felt soft hands stop him.
"You must be patient Mr. Potter. Now that you are awake I can thoroughly check you before I remove the blindfold."
Harry momentarily wondered why he was blindfolded in the first place, but decided it was probably just a precaution.
M-Madam Pomfrey, is that you?
His voice was horse and it hurt to talk.
"H-How long have I been h-here?"
Harry's skin tingled as the medical spells surrounded him. Madam Pomfrey gave the dark haired boy a sad look, knowing what news she had to give him.
"About a week, but you've been in and out of consciousness for a month; and then Dumbledore had you brought here feeling it was best for your safety."
Pain and failure ran through him.
"Not safe? You mean Voldemort's still alive?"
She put a bottle in his hands.
"Drink this please." Then she went back to casting charms on him. "No, he's gone for good this time. Whatever passed between you two when the killing curse was cast had unintended affects on both of you. But some of his followers are still trying to get revenge."
Harry hesitantly gulped down the potion which tasted strongly of chocolate. He instantly felt his energy returned though the soreness was still there.
"The curse didn't go as Tom had expected. It seems aiming for your eye was not the best plan. It hit your eyes directly and sort of rebound off of them and in to his. The rest that happened is quite obvious."
She put another bottle in his hand and he quickly drank it; noting the citrus flavor, hoping it would stop the soreness. All he could do was sit there taking in everything she had said. The soreness slowly simmered to a dull feeling, as he heard voices and shouts from somewhere in the room.
"It's been a bloody month since we've talked to him. He's our friend…"
As Madam Pomfrey's footsteps where heard hurrying off towards the noise. Harry recognized Ron's voice immediately. A rush of longing to see and talk to his friends washed over him. He blindly climbed over to the edge of the bed and slowly stood up. The cold floor seemed to awaken his sense and he realized he didn't have shoes or a shirt on. But that was the last thing on his mind, as he stumbled towards the sounds of his friend's voice. There were gasps as he bumped in to a chair and held on to it for balance. Professor Dumbledore, Ron, and Hermione watched in silence and Madam Pomfrey shook her head.
"Mr. Potter, you shouldn't be out of bed. I'm not through checking you up…"
"I simply wanted to talk to my friends Madam Pomfrey…." He paused and brought his hands up to the blindfold "And when can I take this thing off?"
Professor Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey glanced at each other. "Keep it on for a while longer Mr. Potter, once I get your test results you will be released."
This reply seemed to unnerve Harry a little, but he nodded his head anyway.
"I think a short visitation might be for the best Poppy…"
Harry gasped at the shock of Professor Dumbledore being there.
"Professor Dumbledore, when did you get here?"
The old wizard stared at Harry with a relieved smile "I arrived just after Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger did."
Ron and Hermione seemed to take this as their cue to hug him. He gasped at the sudden warm embrace from them and slowly his arms wrapped around them returning the hug. There was a silent moment as they hugged then they broke away each smiling at being reunited.
"We were so worried Harry." Hermione shook her head deeply relieved that her friend was alright.
Trying his best to not get caught up in the moment, Ron patted Harry's back "I knew Voldemort didn't stand a chance against you mate…."
Professor Dumbledore cleared his throat and the trio remembered he and Madam Pomfrey were there also
"I'm happy to witness your show of affection for one another and I see no reason why Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger can't stay for lunch. He smiled and turned to Madam Pomfrey. "How about we leave them to catch up a bit? You and I can have a spot of tea and discuss some matters."
Madam Pomfrey clearly didn't like the idea of Harry being out of bed so soon, but she knew it was a useless fight so sighing she summoned a house elf and after taking the trio's request, let herself be led out of the ward by a smiling Professor Dumbledore.
After eating their fill of the delicious food and treats, they settled in to aimless chatter as if Harry was just in the ward due to his usual Quidditch injuries.
"So what's the gossip mill saying about me?" Harry sighed knowing eventually he'd have to face his fellow classmates once again. In a way he felt separated from his peers, due to what had taken place between him and Voldemort.
Hermione and Ron exchanged looks "Well, um you of course have been in all the news papers and magazines. All about your battle with Voldemort…."
Ron looked at Hermione for help. She sighed and hesitated slightly.
"Harry, how much of the battle do you remember?"
The dark haired boy shrugged.
"It's still a little blurry…." His brows narrow as he tries to remember "But the part between me and Voldemort are clear until he cast the spell then all I saw was green and then black. Then I remember hearing Lupin's voice and someone else's. " He paused "Come to think of it the other voice wounded familiar too, but I couldn't really think at the time, I only knew one of them was Lupin because he told me."
Hermione looked at Ron who shook his head
"Well Harry, it just so happened that two Death Eaters were not present at that meeting. They had slipped away to alert the Order of your whereabouts"
Harry gasped softy "Are you serious? You're telling me that Snape actually saved me?"
Ron paused "Yes, well he was one of them….."
"Who was the other one?"
Hermione opened her mouth to speak, but Madam Pomfrey walked in clearing away the mess.
"I believe you've had enough of a visit there's some more potions I need to give you, we also need to go over your results and you need plenty of rest. Professor Dumbledore wishes for you to return to your lessons on Monday."
Harry sighed. He wasn't looking forward to going back.
"What day is it?"
"It's Friday." She turned to Hermione and Ron "Now say your goodbyes you can come visit him tomorrow."
They nodded at her and turned to Harry. Hermione gave his tanned hand a supportive squeeze and Ron patted his shoulder.
"Hermione and I will be here bright and early tomorrow morning to have breakfast with you mate. Don't worry. We'll bring Neville and Ginny too. I'm sure they'd love to visit you."
Harry smiled. At least he had something to look foreword to cause the tone in Madam Pomfrey's voice made him dread hearing his results. After saying goodbye to Hermione and Ron, Harry was led back to his bed. He reluctantly climbed in,
"Well go ahead and give me my results. No sense in dragging out the inevitable."
Madam Pomfrey stared at the dark haired young man sadly. "You don't always have to be brave Harry."
Harry gasped at her using his first name "I'm not trying to be brave, I just want to find out so I can move on and enjoy the rest of my 7th year."
She smiled at him and handed him a bottle. 'This potion will help you sleep and take care of any internal damage we might have not noticed."
He gulped it down and almost spit it back up. Polyjuice potion tasted better even with essence of Goyle or Crabbe.
"Well, you can't expect them all to taste yummy." She paused and signaled for Professor Dumbledore to join them.
"How was your afternoon Harry?"
He smiled "Oh it was nice. Thank you for letting them visit, Professor Dumbledore"
"No problem, I know how much they mean to you. Now Harry I'm going to attempt to explain your condition to you, so forgive me if I babble,"
An hour later, sleep was tugging at Harry's conciseness keeping him from going in to shock overload at finding out the curse had left him blind. He suspected Madam Pomfrey had planned it that way and as he felt the blindfold be removed sleep finally won him over and he drifted off in to the darkness.