Harry
grabbed the triwizard cup along with Cedric's lifeless arm. He
felt
the all to familiar pull of the portkey that would take him
back to Hogwarts.
The pain of his injuries was unbearable; he
couldn't take the image of
Voldemort stabbing him with that
sword, apparently the one that Salazar
Slytherin had once owned.
The same sword Harry had killed the basilisk with
back in his
second year.
Harry's world was spinning and he was making a
great effort to not faint.
He thought of the faces of all the
Weasley's and Hermione when they would
see him. Covered in blood
and bruised. He couldn't fight it anymore and he
fainted just as
he landed on the soft grass in the maze. He had made it back
to
the Hogwarts grounds.
What could have been an hour later or
even possibly just a few seconds later
Harry felt someone shaking
him and talking to him in a very worried voice. It
was Albus
Dumbledore the Headmaster of Hogwarts.
"Harry, Harry open
your eyes! Please-" Dumbledore was saying as he
checked Harry's
battered arm for a pulse and then Cedric's.
Harry opened his
eyes to assure Dumbledore that he wasn't dead even
though
Dumbledore had found his weak pulse. Every move he made was
painful so he just
lay still. He closed his eyes and then reopened
them. His eyes were unfocused
and after a few more blinks he saw
that many students were gathered around.
Some girls screaming and
other were crying hysterically.
He could see Hermione in
tears near to Mr. Weasley who was trying to comfort
Molly who was
crying and screaming. Next he saw Ron who was white as a
sheet
nearby. Then a wave of pain made him moan in agony. He
didn't want everybody
to hear the moan and so he tried to
silence it but it was a fruitless
attempt. He was in to much pain.
Suddenly he felt pressure on his stomach
where his stab wound was.
He looked up to see Madame Pomfrey kneeling next to
him with a
towel pressing against the wound. Her face was clouded with
worry
like most everybody who was clam enough to keep from crying
or screaming.
"Cedric." Harry croaked out. He was still
clutching his fallen friends
arm. "He… He… He didn't make
it."
Dumbledore hushed him and nodded his understanding.
"Albus, I can't heal this with magic. The
wounds been poisoned to make
sure magic couldn't help him. I'll
have to stop the flow of the blood or
he'll die." Madam
Pomfrey said.
'So I'm dying.' Harry thought in anger.
'It can't be worst than
life. I deserve this, it's my fault
that Cedric's dead, I told him to take
the cup with me.
Voldemort didn't even want him. He wanted me. I was
supposed to
die.' Harry's train of thought was lost as his world was
obscured
once again by darkness.
When Harry opened his eyes again every
part, known and unknown, was screaming
in pain. It was
excruciating. He felt a scream coming but something in his
throat
prevented him from this. He also felt cold, freezing really,
and
realized that he wasn't wearing a shirt, in fact he noticed
that he was
heavily bandaged around his torso.
Out of the
corner of his eyes he saw sudden movement next to him but dared
not
move from the fright of hurting himself more.
"Arthur,
Molly he's awake! Look his eyes are open! Call Madame
Pomfrey,
now!" Lupin's voice made his pounding headache worse.
Passing out, from
loss of blood and just pure pain, was not a
happy experience for him.
A moment later Arthur's head came
in to view. Harry didn't get a good
look and moved his head a
little. He happily noted that the pain in his neck
wasn't as bad
as the rest of his body and that he could move his head
without
feeling that he should pass back out.
"Harry, stay still."
Arthur ordered. "Madame Pomfrey is going to be
here in a moment.
I know you're uncomfortable, just hang on a minute."
Harry
could've swore but didn't. He wasn't sure his voice was
working.
He obviously couldn't scream. Wait, Arthur had said
uncomfortable. That was
a huge understatement. The largest one
Harry had heard in a while.
"Mr. Potter, I see you have
awoken. I imagine that you've noticed that
you have a tube in
your throat. I'm going to take it out. When I count up to
three
you just have to blow up really hard, okay?" Madam Pomfrey
asked.
Harry wanted to scream no but nodded just a little and
hoped it wouldn't
hurt.
Madame Pomfrey counted up to
three as she'd said and then Harry did his job
by blowing up. It
was a really uncomfortable situation but he was relieved to
find
out there was no pain to it. As the tube was removed the pain in his
neck
left with it. Seconds after the tube was out he felt some
hands putting a mask
over his face. Now that he was nearly in a
sitting position, he could see some
intravenous tubes that were
going into his arms and sucking potions out of IV
bags and into
his system.
"How are you feeling Harry?" Lupin asked just
as the door was opened and
Albus Dumbledore entered the
room.
"Please, I need a private word with Harry. Do you mind
leaving?"
Dumbledore said, all business.
Harry felt his
stomach do a flip and then butterflies entered. He knew
why
Dumbledore wanted to talk to him. Dumbledore wanted Harry to
tell him what had
happened.
