Chapter Two
St. Mungo's
"Ah Mr. Potter. Good to see you awake."
Harry's Healer-in-Charge came into the room.
"My name is Augustus Pye and I'm the Healer-in-Charge for this floor. Do you know where you are Harry?"
"I think I'm in St. Mungo's," Harry replied. He couldn't see any details of the surrounding room without his glasses.
"Correct Mr. Potter. You are on the ground floor here which is for artifact accidents but we'll get to that later. If you're feeling up to it I would like to ask you a few questions."
"I.. ugh.. where's Ginny? Where is everyone?" Harry said.
"Fine Harry, they're all fine, here's your glasses."
Augustus handed Harry his glasses. Ginny was asleep on a small little chair in the corner of the room. Harry could see Mrs. Weasley with her head on Mr. Weasley's shoulder as they both were napping on a bench outside the room.
"You've had a lot of visitors Mr. Potter. This one has not left in the three days you've been here." The healer pointed towards Ginny as she slightly stirred in her sleep.
"Special girl you have there Harry."
Harry still felt groggy but still mustered up a smile when he saw Ginny in the room with him.
Harry tried to get out of his bed when the pain in his chest became excruciating.
"AH!" Harry groaned.
"Easy Mr. Potter. You need rest. Just relax for now. Can I get you anything to eat or drink?" The healer said.
"Water please," Harry replied.
"Sure thing," said the Healer.
Augustus gave a goblet to Harry.
"Aguamenti."
The glass filled to the brim with water.
"Thanks," Harry said.
Harry was so parched that the glass of ice-cold water tasted better than pumpkin juice.
"I'll let you rest for a little Harry, I'll be back to discuss your condition later."
Ron and Hermione came into the room as Augustus was leaving.
"How are you feeling?" Hermione asked as she sat down next to Harry's bed.
"Not terrific," Harry replied. "What happened?"
"Later Harry. Just rest for now."
Harry had several visitors when he was unconscious. The table across the room from his bed was cluttered with gifts and cards.
Arthur Weasley woke up. He carefully maneuvered around Mrs. Weasley to avoid disturbing her slumber. He came into the room to greet Harry.
"Ah Harry good you're awake. How are you feeling?"
"Okay I guess."
"Good. I'm glad I have you three together. We need to talk."
Mr. Weasley grabbed a chair while requesting that Ron and Hermione sit as well. Arthur began to talk in a low hushed voice so Ginny couldn't accidently hear their conversation.
"Now I need to ask you three some questions because Harry's condition is among some concern with the healers here. They've really never seen an injury like yours."
Harry perked his ears up while being slightly concerned.
When you three were on the run from Voldemort, were any of you exposed to any form of dark magic for an extended period of time?" Arthur asked.
Harry immediately knew what his condition was. Hermione was quickest to reply as to not expose the reason why Voldemort was so strong.
"We had to find out how to defeat Voldemort," She said. "That's all we can tell you."
Arthur's tone changed from pleasant to hacked off.
"This is a very serious situation Hermione, Harry's health may be in danger. I need to know exactly what you three did when you left the Burrow after the wedding."
Ron decided to speak up after looking down at the floor like a child being scolded.
"We were hunting horcruxes. Voldemort split his soul into horcruxes and had seven of them. We had to destroy them before he could die."
The fluid in Arthur's face began to drain of any distinguishable color. He looked like a ghost roaming the corridors at Hogwarts.
"I had worried that was how Voldemort did it. I had a meeting several months before Dumbledore died. He told me to watch over Harry and that he has an important job to do. He told me to trust Harry because he was the best chance we had. Tell me about the Horcruxes."
Hermione began to list the Horcruxes.
"Voldemort split his soul into seven pieces and placed them into objects. He hid them in the Diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw, the Locket of Salazar Slytherin, The cup of Helga Hufflepuff, The ring of Marvolo Gaunt, the Diary of Tom Riddle himself, Voldemort's snake Nagini, and one other….."
"How did you destroy them?" Arthur asked.
"Harry stabbed Tom Riddle's diary with a basilisk fang, the venom from a basilisk has the power to destroy horcruxes. When Ginny was taken into the Chamber of Secrets, Harry stabbed the basilisk with the sword of Godric Gryffindor. The sword isn't affected by dirt or rust but it takes that in which makes the sword stronger. The basilisk venom was impregnated into the sword which gave it the ability to destroy horcruxes. Dumbledore destroyed the Gaunt ring but cursed his arm in the process and Snape saved him but we'll get to that later. Ron destroyed the locket with the sword of Gryffindor, Neville killed Nagani with the sword. I destroyed Hufflepuff's cup with a basilisk fang. The diadem of Ravenclaw was destroyed by fiendfyre. The other Horcrux was… well…." said Hermione
Arthur took this information better than what Harry had expected.
"So Voldemort split his soul into seven pieces. The snake, the ring of his father, his diary, Ravenclaw's diadem, Hufflepuff's cup, Slytherin's locket. I don't understand how you found all these."
Ron began before Hermione could start.
"Harry destroyed the diary, Nevilled killed the snake, Dumbledore destroyed the ring. We found Slytherin's locket when we went inside the Ministry."
Arthur interjected his son. Arthur looked so infuriated that Harry thought he was about to jump across the room and strangle the trio.
"You actually went inside the Ministry!" Arthur yelled at a quiet tone, almost a sort of shouting whisper, so he wouldn't wake Ginny.
"Are you three actually mad! I thought that was someone being funny when they said Harry Potter was inside the Ministry that day!"
Arthur was a bit hacked off. It took him several minutes to calm down.
"How did you pull it off?" Arthur asked as he regained the color in his face.
"Mr. Weasley," Harry began. "Do you remember when Albert Runcorn said you were being tracked when you two were in the elevator?"
"I.. uh… yeah, but how did you kn-"
"That was me with the use of polyjuice potion. Ron was Reginald Cattermole and Hermione was Mafalda Hopkirk."
"You were Runcorn?"
Harry nodded.
"You three really are mad."
Hermione continued.
"Yaxley grabbed me as I was in the middle of apparating back to Grimmauld Place and we think the Death Eaters outside there saw us so we had to camp in rural areas throughout the country. We had no way to destroy the horcrux so we wore the locket so we wouldn't leave it lying around."
Arthur look concerned
"You three wore an extremely unstable piece of dark magic? What did it feel like?"
Ron spoke first because he fully knew what the locket was capable of as it affected him the most.
"It spoke to me. It had a beating heart and it started to speak to me as if it knew me. It was a bit of a nightmare really. Like it invaded my thoughts."
Arthur started
"Long term exposure to a dark magical artifact like that could lead to health problems but I find it difficult to see why Harry would be here in the hospital for that. I also find it odd that you haven't told me what you-know-who's seventh horcrux was."
Harry knew he was going to have to divulge the information sooner or later. He didn't even tell Ron and Hermione the entire story of his meeting with Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest. He didn't want to even say goodbye to them when he was marching towards his death.
"I went into the Forbidden Forest," Harry began. "I met with Voldemort and he cast the killing curse at me. He cast the killing curse at me and destroyed the horcrux that was inside of me. Voldemort made me a horcrux the night he killed my parents. My mother protected me with her love and after he killed my parents and tried to kill me, the curse rebounded. His soul was already split so many times that it became unstable and destroyed his physical body and gave me the scar on my forehead which was where the horcrux entered. That's why I could speak to snakes because he gave me some of his powers. I could also see some of his thoughts from the time after he regained power in Little Hangleton during the Triwizard Tournament. That's how I saw Nagini attack you at the Department of Mysteries."
Harry couldn't explain the meeting with Voldemort in the Forbidden Forest any further.
"And I can never repay you for that Harry. I can never repay you for everything you have done for all of us."
Arthur already felt a great deal of gratitude for everything Harry had done but now hearing this story made him appreciate Harry even more. Arthur then turned to Hermione.
"I can't thank you enough for everything you did too Hermione."
Hermione blushed a bright red as she was given this compliment. Arthur now turned to Ron.
"I can't be anymore proud of you Son. You truly are a brave young man."
Arthur got up and gave Ron a hug. They gave each other a pat on the back and Arthur began to exit the room.
"I better explain these things to the healer. Now I want you three to pay attention closely to what I'm about to say. I don't want any of you repeating the previous conversation to anyone outside the Order. I don't want the secret to Voldemort's life published in the Daily Prophet. Do you understand?"
The trio simultaneously agreed. Arthur left the room.
"Professor McGonagall was in here earlier. So was Kingsley," Ron said.
"They all wish you the best," Hermione finished.
Harry turned on his side to watch Ginny sleep. She lightly snored in her chair while her hand lightly scraped the floor. Harry would love to be holding her hand right now.
Arthur came back into the room and walked over to Ginny and woke her up.
"Ginny dear wake up."
"Hmm?"
"Ginny the Healer needs to speak with Harry. You, Ron, and Hermione need to leave while he speaks with him."
Her face turned red when her eyes met Harry's. Harry's heart skipped a beat. Ginny began to protest about leaving but a glare that she rarely sees from her Father made her change her mind. They didn't have time for introductions as Augustus came in and ushered Ron, Hermione, and Ginny out.
"Hello again Harry, Arthur has explained the situation to me." The healer said. "You have a pretty nasty bruise on your chest where the killing curse hit you. You have been exposed to an unusually high amount of dark magic. Arthur just explained to me that you were actually a horcrux. Since you are no longer a horcrux it will take time for your body to heal. It is important that your body heal naturally and only use magical remedies as a last resort. Your body is trying to adjust to living without the horcrux that was inside you. You probably have lost the qualities and skills that Voldemort passed on to you. Can you speak parseltongue anymore?"
Harry tried his hardest to form words in parseltongue. What used to be so easy to speak now became impossible. He struggled internally until any hope of speaking parseltongue subsided.
"I can't speak it anymore."
"Excellent, that's a good sign."
Augustus continued.
"I don't see you having any major health concerns at the time. That bruise will have to heal naturally. We tried everything to reduce the swelling on your chest but it nothing works. You need to rest for several days. I want you to stay here at St. Mungo's for a few days and get some rest before I can send you home. Don't worry Harry, if it was serious, you'd be dead by now."
Harry was glad it wasn't serious. Harry had no trouble sleeping for the next several days.
"Breakfast Harry!"
"Huh!?"
The voice startled Harry. Mrs. Weasley jolted Harry awake as a tray of food floated towards his lap. The tray consisted of a bowl of pea soup, three pieces of toast, a glass of pumpkin juice, three scrambled eggs, six slices of crisp bacon, a small cup of tea, and small cup of a few Bertie Bott's Every-Flavored Beans for desert.
Harry looked at his watch that read 7:30 a.m. Before Harry could ask any questions Mrs. Weasley already snapped at Harry for not immediately eating.
"Harry you need your strength. Today is the day you come home!" Mrs. Weasley gleamed in anticipation.
Ginny entered the room as Harry was eating. Mrs. Weasley already left to find Ron and Hermione.
"She's driving us crazy," Ginny said. "She hasn't left the Hospital and neither have I even though she forced me to go home. I just hid in the lounge on the fifth floor. "
She walked up to Harry's bed and gave him a kiss on the cheek, leaving a burning mark where her lips touched.
"How are you feeling?"
"Better."
"That's good. Professor McGonagall visited again. She wants to meet with you whenever you feel up to it. "
Ginny burst out from anticipation.
"She wants to talk to you about the new quidditch stadium that Hogwarts is going to build!"
"What!?" Harry said.
"Yeah I know! Oh I heard her talking about it, it's going to be brilliant! It's supposed to hold twenty-five-thousand people!"
Harry's mood changed dramatically. The prospect of a new quidditch stadium at Hogwarts made him want to go back and see if it's true.
"I can't wait! They will probably make me Quidditch Captain for Gryffindor!" Ginny screeched.
Harry thought about the prospect of a new quidditch stadium. He longed for another opportunity to play quidditch at Hogwarts.
