AUTHOR'S NOTES: I've been thinking on how to rewrite my story 'Silent Screams Are the Loudest' for a while and this is one of the few rewrites I've done where I'm scrapping the original. I'm even changing the title. I'm still using the original as a guide, but there's going to be some fairly big changes later on, especially with the disabilities Harry will be facing.
STORY SUMMARY: Tortured by Death Eaters after the battle with Voldemort, Harry is trying to deal with his recovery. Harry's twin sister, Morgan, is trying to deal with her own illness, and their older sister, Ardelia, is doing her best to help them both. AU! Disabled!Harry and Sick!OFC
HARRY POTTER: Silence and Scars
The crowd of people watching the final task of the TriWizard Tournament cheered as Cedric Diggory suddenly appeared out of nowhere, the TriWizard Cup clutched in his hand even as he fell limply to the ground, his robes ripped and singed. There was blood on his shirt and many cuts and scratches on his face, chest, and arms.
The crowds hushed as they noticed that the teenager was unmoving, wondering what had happened and also, where the second Hogwarts champion was.
As Dumbledore led the way towards Cedric—followed by the young man's parents—the headmaster looked worried when he noticed that Cedric still wasn't moving. Going to the boy, he knelt down and checked that the young man was still breathing. Thankfully, he was and Dumbledore hastily wrangled two of Cedric's classmates to get him to the hospital wing of Hogwarts
"Where's Harry?" Someone shouted, sparking several follow-up questions. "Didn't he come back yet?"
Dumbledore quickly got to his feet and raised his wand before sending a silvery phoenix into the maze to search for the young Gryffindor student. He had a bad feeling that something had happened in the maze but until Cedric regained consciousness, there was no way of knowing for certain what had transpired.
"Professor! Professor, where's Harry?"
The headmaster looked up as he saw the rest of the Potter Family heading in his direction and he wished he knew what to tell them.
It had been the surprise of a lifetime when James and Lily had survived the attack by Voldemort and his cohorts, 13 years ago. And it had been even more surprising that the three Potter children—Ardelia, Harry, and Morgan—had survived unscathed as well.
Well, mostly, Dumbledore realized as he looked at Harry's older sister, Ardelia, whose green eyes were darting about, no doubt searching frantically for her younger brother.
Ardelia had been 3 years old when Voldemort had attacked the Potter home and ever since that night, she hadn't said a word. The magical healers and muggle doctors had never been able to find anything which could have caused the loss of Ardelia's voice and, eventually, James and Lily had been forced to accept that their oldest child might possibly never speak again.
When Ardelia (who preferred to be called 'Ari') had turned 5, her muggle schoolteachers had sat down with James and Lily and the group had discussed how best to go about Ari's education. At first, the parents had been confused by the subject, but Ari's art teacher had simply explained that since Ardelia still remained mute, that she would need to learn other methods of communication.
By the time Ardelia was ready to go to Hogwarts, she was exceptionally proficient in sign language and was even starting to get the hang of a few nonverbal spells—something she'd been trained in very early on. James had hoped that studying the nonverbal magic would help coax his daughter into finally speaking, but that hadn't been the case.
"Professor, where is Harry?" Lily asked again, pulling Dumbledore from his reverie.
But Dumbledore didn't reply as his Patronus had returned from searching the maze and the grounds. When the silvery phoenix let out a few sad notes, Dumbledore's heart sank. "Harry is gone from the grounds," he reported to the Potters. "I don't know where he is." That news frightened the headmaster as he realized that not only was Harry missing, but if he had been taken by someone, there was also no way to tell who it was or where they might have gone.
"What does he mean 'I don't know'?" Ari signed to her father, looking alarmed. "Where could Harry have gone?" With set determination, she started towards the entrance to the maze, but her mother blocked her way.
Lily took her eldest child by the shoulders and did her best to push her own fears and worries aside as she said, "Harry's got to be somewhere. We'll find him. I promise, sweetheart."
Next to James, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin also looked alarmed and worried that Harry was missing. Where could he have gone? The three Marauders wordlessly split up, heading for the edges of the Hogwarts grounds so they could apparate and start searching for Harry.
Harry didn't know where he was.
One moment he'd been dueling Voldemort in that graveyard—and somehow destroying him—and the next he'd found himself lying on a cold cement floor in absolute darkness. He thought about the last time he'd seen Cedric Diggory, watching the older student run for the TriWizard Cup, promising to come back with help. Cedric had managed to dodge the killing curses, but he had taken some hits, disappearing as he'd grabbed the cup.
Then the Death Eaters had descended on Harry, grabbing him roughly and throwing his wand far beyond his reach before McNair fired some curse at him.
That blast of light was the last thing Harry saw.
"You will pay for what you did to the Dark Lord," a cold voice hissed to Harry's right.
Harry tried to get up but he screamed in pain as he felt the bones in his legs shatter. He tried to crawl away but then he felt something hard slam into his back before he felt himself being hoisted roughly by the left arm, crying out as he felt his elbow dislocate.
He was flung against a wall, and as he landed on the floor, Harry felt his right forearm and wrist break.
"Stop…" Harry pleaded, his voice choked with sobs. "Please. D-don't…ARGHHHH!" He screamed in pain again as a furious blow was again delivered to his back and it felt as though lightning was shooting up and down his entire body.
"You think you know pain now?" Another voice said, sounding coldly amused. "Wait. Your life of agony has only begun."
Between the laughter from other Death Eaters and his own screams, Harry couldn't make out the words of the curse he was hit with before he lost consciousness.
For the first two weeks after Harry's disappearance, every single witch and wizard was looking for Harry and even the foreign magical governments were looking for any sign of the Death Eaters who had been present in the graveyard the night Voldemort was defeated.
Once Cedric had woken up, he'd told Dumbledore and an astonished Cornelius Fudge about Voldemort's rebirth and the fight between Harry Potter and the Dark Lord himself.
After touching the TriWizard Cup—which had been turned into a Portkey—Cedric and Harry had landed in an old graveyard where they had both been promptly restrained before Peter Pettigrew—also known as 'Wormtail'—used some sort of potion to resurrect Voldemort.
When Harry and Voldemort had begun dueling, Cedric used the fact that the other Death Eaters were distracted to his advantage and started trying to free himself. When Harry had managed to turn Voldemort's spells against him, Cedric got loose and ran towards the portkey, promising to get help.
The last Cedric had seen of Harry, the younger student had been on the ground, no doubt spent from his victorious duel.
"I should have tried to take Harry with me," Cedric lamented as he finished telling Fudge and Dumbledore about that night. "But the Death Eaters were firing curses at me and I knew I had to get help. I was afraid both of us would end up dead if I'd stayed."
"You did what you thought was the right thing," Dumbledore assured his student, quietly. "Now, help us find where Harry was taken. Tell us as much as you can about this ritual and Voldemort's resurrection."
With the cemetary's location known, Dumbledore led a team of aurors to the grave of Tom Riddle, but a search of the area yielded nothing except for Harry's wand which was lying, abandoned, by a headstone.
Another few weeks dragged on and after it was confirmed that Voldemort was truly gone, the search for Harry intensified. The entire wizarding world was searching for The Boy Who Lived, checking every possible place the boy might be held prisoner or any hospital—magical or muggle—he may have ended up in.
Some believed that some of the Death Eaters were hiding the boy and others assumed the worst and thought that Harry must already be dead.
However, Harry's family and friends refused to give up hope and felt certain that soon something would happen and Harry would be found.
But as May gave way to June and July grew closer, the Potters had begun to wonder if their hopes were in vain…
But Harry's disappearance was only the beginning of the troubles plaguing the Potter family as Harry's twin sister, Morgan, started feeling ill only days after her bother went missing.
x
It started as simply being short of breath and she'd done her best to dismiss the problem whenever someone tried to bring it up. But in a matter of weeks, Morgan's breathing became more and more labored, and no matter what she tried to keep the issue under control, nothing helped. To make matters worse, she'd started having problems swallowing, and her voice was becoming more and more hoarse.
The longer her illness went on, the more Morgan knew that something was wrong but the last thing she wanted to do was add to her parents' problems since they were already frantically worried about finding Harry. But she also knew that she needed to get help as none of her symptoms had been improving over time.
The only good news lately was that one of the muggle hospitals in the United States had put out a notice that they were looking for the family of a young patient who matched Harry's description. Sirius Black and Remus Lupin were already talking to the local wizarding government to get the details and were set to leave for the States the day after tomorrow.
"Morgan?"
Morgan started to turn to look at her mother, who looked more worried than usual, but her vision swam and suddenly, Morgan couldn't breathe. It was worse than the other moments of respiratory distress she'd had lately. It was as if her lungs had suddenly stopped working just as her throat closed up. "Mom!" she tried to call out to her mother as she fell to the floor, but the only sound that escaped the teenager was a painful, strangled gasp.
Lily darted towards her daughter, catching her just before she hit the floor, and felt panic rising in her chest when she realized that Morgan had stopped breathing.
When James came into the room a split second later, having heard the sound of someone falling to the ground, he stopped dead when he saw that it was his daughter lying on the floor. "What happened?" James exclaimed.
"I don't know!" Lily said in a rushed voice. "She's not breathing!"
"What?" James said, quickly. He bent down and picked Morgan up in his arms and quickly apparated to the nearest hospital—Fairbotham Memorial which catered to muggles as well as witches and wizards. "I need help!" James said, urgently to one of the nurses standing nearby. "My daughter's not breathing!"
Immediately, the nurses got Morgan onto a gurney and whisked her into the emergency room just as Lily arrived. "James," Lily said, going to her husband who quickly pulled her into his arms. "What happened?"
James shook his head, bewildered. "I don't know, Lil. They just took Morgan into emergency. I mean, why'd Morgan stop breathing? Was she sick?"
Lily shook her head that she didn't know, but as she actually took a moment to think, she realized that she'd been so wrapped up with trying to find Harry she hadn't paid any attention to her daughters. And thinking back on things, she remembered that Morgan had looked peaked the past month and a half and she had been having trouble breathing and talking for a while now.
The Potters went to sit down in the waiting room as they waited for news about Morgan, both parents feeling wave after wave of guilt about not noticing that something was wrong with their younger daughter.
xxx
Surprisingly, it was only about an hour before one of the doctors came out of the ER and headed towards James and Lily.
James stood quickly, Lily next to him holding his hand and both looked incredibly anxious to hear what was wrong with their daughter. "Any news?" James asked, almost dreading the response.
The doctor, Pamela Braeden, looked grave as she studied the parents. "The good news is that we managed to get your daughter breathing again. There was a blockage in her throat so we had to do what's called a tracheotomy. Basically, it means that we cut a small hole in your daughter's throat so that we could insert a tube directly into her windpipe."
Lily looked horrified at what she'd just been told and she squeezed James' hand harder. "So what's causing the blockage?" Lily asked, trying not to think of the worst case scenarios.
Dr. Braeden didn't believe in sugarcoating bad situations and after a moment of thinking how best to explain, she replied, "We took x-rays of your daughter's chest and throat which showed several solid masses. One was pressing against her throat. The other was much larger and was invading her right lung. Your daughter's on her way up to surgery right now. We're going to remove the masses and do a biopsy."
The word 'biopsy' set off alarms in James' head. He remembered the word quite well as he'd heard it right before his father had died of terminal liver cancer. "What kinds of masses?" he asked, dreading the answer.
Lily shot her husband a look of dismay and panic before turning, open-mouthed, to the doctor.
But the doctor was reluctant to say anything definitive, even though she knew the odds of good news were slim to none. "We have to wait for the biopsy results to be certain… But the masses are solid and look deeply ingrained which is usually a sign that they're malignant."
Lily's hands flew to her mouth as she gasped and she wasn't even aware of James putting an arm around her and holding her tightly to him. "What…?" She had so many questions but for the life of her, she couldn't articulate any of them. This was what caused Morgan to stop breathing? How had this happened? Was Morgan going to die? And what would happen after the doctors and healers removed the tumors from Morgan's throat and lung?
James didn't seem to be doing any better and Lily could see the same questions in his eyes that were now running through her mind. "So…" James rubbed his face with one hand and took a deep breath before asking, "What's the best case and what's the worst case?"
Dr. Braeden knew that the Potters wanted as much information as possible but at the moment, nothing was definitive. "Without the biopsy results, I can't give you anything concrete," she cautioned. But when she saw that James and Lily just wanted to know something, she sighed. "The tumors are most likely cancerous. But you shouldn't feel too guilty about not noticing. 25% of lung cancer cases present without any major symptoms. Unfortunately, that's also why lung cancer has such a significant mortality rate."
"Okay," James said, quietly. His mouth had gone dry and his brain was going numb. "So after Morgan's surgery… what then?"
But that was the loaded question, Braeden thought, sadly. And there were quite a few factors involved. "It depends, first of all, how ingrained the tumors are," she started, finally. "Best case, we remove them and if the biopsy confirms cancer, we start your daughter on chemotherapy and radiation therapy. But the main problem—best and worst case—is the fact that the main mass is interfering with Morgan's lung function."
"What does that mean?" Lily asked, looking even more worried. She felt weak in the knees and she was only dimly aware of sitting back down.
Braeden looked grim as she explained. "Judging from the x-rays, the tumor in your daughter's lower right lung was spreading into the muscles which control breathing. Depending on the damage, the surgeons may need to remove part of that muscle."
Lily just took a few deep breaths as she tried to take in everything she'd just been told. Between Harry's kidnapping and Morgan's illness, Lily wasn't sure how much more bad news she could handle.
"But if you remove the muscle," James said, squeezing his wife's hand as she fell silent. "—what about…?"
The doctor went on. "Right now Morgan is on a ventilator." Catching James' confused look, she explained. "It's a machine that's essentially acting as her lungs and breathing for her." After a long pause, Braeden added, "If the tumor has infiltrated Morgan's diaphragm—that's the muscle group that controls her breathing—too much, she'll have to stay on the ventilator indefinitely."
"So…" Lily said, her voice catching in her throat. "So, the… the tracheotomy tube and ventilator would… It'd be permanent?" Thinking of the machines her daughter was now dependant on, she asked, "Is Morgan going to be in the hospital indefinitely? How…?"
Braeden shook her head at the last question. "Morgan would be using a portable ventilator. The device is no bigger than your average knapsack. And eventually, she'll be able to go back to school same as before. But again, that's only the worst case. If the infiltration isn't too severe and the tumors can be removed without further damage to your daughter's lungs and trachea, she will eventually be able to get off the ventilator in a few months or even weeks, and we might even be able to remove the trach tube."
James and Lily just sat there for a moment, letting everything sink in as once again, they found their lives being ripped apart.
Pinckney General Hospital
Pinckney, Michigan
36 Hours Later
x
For Dr. Marla Corman, there was nothing more heartbreaking than pediatric John Does. The idea that a child or teenager was in the hospital in a serious condition with no one aware that they were there was a terrible thing, indeed.
Sometimes the identity of a patient was unknown because the young person in question was unconscious or they couldn't remember their own name.
More than once, someone remained unknown to avoid being found out by a parent.
But the young man currently in Dr. Corman's care was in the third group of unknowns—those patients whose injuries made communication and identification incredibly difficult.
The teenager had been found in the woods by a group of hikers and had been brought in barely alive. He remained unconscious for nearly a month before finally regaining consciousness, but the extent of his injuries made things complicated.
After nearly a month, however, Corman had finally received word that a family in England had reported their son missing and preliminary descriptions matched her John Doe. Walking briskly down the hall towards the front desk, she saw a tall, thin man with brown hair waiting nervously.
Figuring that this was the family friend she'd been told to expect, she held out a hand as she approached him. "Remus Lupin? I'm Dr. Corman."
"Thanks for seeing me," Remus replied, shaking the woman's hand. "I realize it's a bit late, but my plane was delayed."
"Well, if you know who my mystery patient is," Corman replied. "—I'll be the one thanking you." She led Remus upstairs and to the Pediatric ICU. Pausing outside one of the rooms, she turned to face her companion as she said, "I have to warn you, the poor boy's in very bad shape. When he was brought in, both his legs were badly crushed. Unfortunately, his right leg was beyond repair and there were several open fractures which were severely infected. We had to amputate the entire limb about three quarters of the way up his thigh."
Remus looked shocked at that news and he seemed to be thinking of any scars or identifying marks which could confirm the teenager's identity. Finally, he asked, "Did you find an—an odd scar on his forehead? Like a lightning bolt?"
It was the first thing she'd noticed when the boy came into the emergency room. She'd wondered what could have caused such a curiously shaped cut. Dr. Corman nodded in confirmation. "Yes, we did. So, this is…?" It would be nice to finally learn her patient's name.
"His name is Harry," Remus said, feeling both relief that the boy had finally been found, but also forboding at what the teenager's other injuries were. "Harry Potter. He's my best friend's son."
Corman looked rueful about giving Remus the rest of the report, but she knew she had to prepare him for seeing Harry's condition. "Well, as I said, we were able to save Harry's left leg, but how much function he regains isn't clear right now."
"Is that the worst of Harry's injuries?" Remus wanted to know, although he sincerely doubted that it was.
"No… Far from," Corman went on. After a moment, she opened the door to Harry's room and led Remus inside.
Harry's left leg was in a cast and traction rig and he wore a back and neck brace as well. His right arm was in a cast up to his shoulder and suspended in a cradle system and his left arm was missing halfway between his elbow and shoulder. There were bandages over Harry's left eye and across the left side of his face. There was also a tube inserted directly into Harry's throat and he was hooked up to several IVs which were feeding him various medicines and painkillers.
Remus didn't know what to say as he studied Harry's still form, but when Harry's right eye opened, he stepped forward. "Harry? It's Remus." Going next to the bed, he saw that Harry wasn't actually looking at him and that the eye was unfocused.
Looking at the teenager's injuries, Remus thought quickly about how he was going to get Harry out of here and to the nearest wizarding hospital. The healers could regrow Harry's arm and leg and repair the other injuries, but because of the fact that Harry had already been treated by the muggle doctors, the healing time could be longer than normal. For some unknown reason, that was usually the case when magic was used on an already healing injury.
"He can hear you," Corman informed Remus as he studied the teenager. "But he can't see you. Harry came in with damage to his optic nerves and someone hit him in the left side of his face so hard it caused a cheekbone fracture and damaged his left eye so badly we had to remove it."
Remus sat down next to Harry's bed, putting a hand on what was left of Harry's left arm. Studying the back and neck brace, he asked, "His spine was injured as well, I take it?"
Nodding, Corman replied, "Harry's back was broken in 4 places. Right now he's paralyzed from the chest down. That's why he's on the ventilator. He can't breathe on his own. The good news is that none of the damage to Harry's spinal cord is permanent so there is a possibility of him regaining some use of his body."
Hearing what the doctor wasn't saying outright—no doubt because she didn't want to rob Harry of whatever hopes he had—Remus excused himself to Harry and stood, heading out of the room with Dr. Corman and closing the door behind them. "It's not likely Harry will recover?"
"Even if Harry's spine heals completely," Corman warned. "Harry will still have to learn to deal with not being able to see, missing an arm and a leg, and having limited use of his remaining limbs. He's going to need help for the rest of his life." Thinking about Harry's parents, she asked, "How soon will Harry's family be able to get here?" Corman asked, curiously. "I'm sure they're eager to hear about his condition."
"It may be several days," Remus replied, sadly, thinking about the latest news from James and Lily. "Harry's twin sister, Morgan, was just diagnosed with lung cancer. The doctors just removed multiple tumors from her right lung and throat and she'll be recovering for several weeks before starting the cancer treatments."
Dr. Corman couldn't help the look of extreme dismay she wore and she immediately wished she had better news for the Potter family. It was bad enough that their daughter was facing a critical—potentially fatal—illness, but their son was severely injured and would have to learn to live with several permanent disabilities. "Well, please let me know as soon as you hear from them," Corman replied.
Remus agreed and as he thought of the plan to get Harry back to England, a problem suddenly occurred to him. Namely, was it currently safe to transport Harry to another hospital with his injuries? Voicing the question out loud, he was surprised when the doctor thought a moment instead of saying 'no' outright.
"I wouldn't really recommend transferring Harry just now," Corman said, cautiously. "But if that's what you want, it can be arranged. However, I would like to keep him here for a minimum of one more week, just to be safe.""
"As soon as possible, then, please," Remus agreed, wishing he could get Harry to a wizarding medical facility sooner. Still, the last thing he wanted was for his impatience to cause Harry further harm.
Dr. Corman didn't like the idea of sending Harry to another hospital at all. Between Harry's broken bones, the amputated limbs, and the damage to the teenager's spinal cord, she had serious misgivings about her patient going anywhere right now. But when Remus Lupin handed her the consent forms sighed by James and Lily Potter giving Remus authority to make any medical decisions regarding Harry, she knew she didn't have a choice.
Handing the forms to a nurse to be filed with the rest of Harry's paperwork, Dr. Corman said, "Let me know where you want Harry transferred to. It will take us a day or two to get Harry prepped and there are special procedures we should follow."
Looking puzzled, Remus asked, "What sorts of procedures?"
Corman glanced in the direction of Harry's room. "We'll have to make sure Harry is properly secured on the stretcher before he's loaded into the ambulance. We don't want to jar his spinal cord since, though he's healing very nicely, that could cause further injury. We also have to make sure his left leg is properly supported." Thinking for a moment, she added, "I have to warn you that, no matter how careful the paramedics are, the trip will be incredibly painful for Harry if he is awake. The better choice would be for us to sedate him here, then let him wake up in the new facility."
Remus nodded in agreement and instructed Harry's doctor to make the necessary arrangements before he headed out to contact the nearest wizarding hospital so they would be prepared to receive Harry in a week or so.