Chapter 2: Potter's Black Surrender

Madame Pomfrey stood in front of her Potion's cabinet when the alerts went off in the Infirmary, letting her know that she had another patient. But she wasn't expecting anyone to be there because the summer holidays were well underway.

Still she turned and rushed into the main infirmary only to stop short when she saw who was in one bed marked for her favorite but least wanted patient.

"Only you could wind up here, wounded, during the summer, Potter." she grumbled in semi-amusement until she began to cast diagnostic spells and charms to identify his condition.

"Sweet Maeve! What have you done to yourself!?" she murmured as the charms showed her a young man that was on the edge of death and slowly draining away into that realm.

Once she knew what was plaguing his physical health she began summoning potions and spelling them into his system after she managed to suspend the stasis field around his body.

Dumbledore showed up as she was working and he stood there to await her report on his condition.

When he saw that she had finished her work and returned the stasis field around Harry Potter's young body, Dumbledore finally cleared his throat to ask his questions.

"Merlin, Albus Dumbledore, don't do that to me!" she shrieked as she grabbed her heart and turned to face him.

"I apologize, Poppy. But I need to know. How is young Harry?" Dumbledore finally asked her in a low whisper.

"WHY? That poor boy is malnourished, beaten and broken! I came to you at the beginning of every school year with a report of his physical condition and you've always ignored it to do as you will. Now you want to know how he is when he is laying in my infirmary about ready to die? GET OUT! MERLIN HELP YOU IF I SEE YOU AGAIN TONIGHT BECAUSE I MAY WELL DEMAND AN HONOR DUEL FOR THAT POOR CHILD! Just get out. Send his family and friends to me so that they may have a chance to say good-bye. It may be the only chance they have to say it." Poppy finished in a near whisper as she slowly regained control of herself.

Albus went white at her words and his heart was gripped in a fist of fear as he finally realized what she was saying to him.

In his own hubris of thinking that only he knew the best way to guide Harry Potter and shape him into the weapon of destiny that they needed to survive, he may very well have destroyed their only hope.

His familiar looked at him and trilled a sorrowful note before flying over to land on his shoulder.

"Fawkes, take me to Headquarters. I fear I may be in for a long night." Albus said, his own sorrow finally coming out as he began to examine his own action with a view toward what he may have truly become.

As the phoenix trilled one last note, he flashed himself and the old wizard away from Hogwarts to the place where the old man would be taken to task for his seeming inaction when the truth became known.

Once he was gone, Madame Pomfrey turned back to sit by her patients bedside and began to ray for the miracle that she knew he would need to come through this.

In the realm between life and death hovered the spirit of that same boy, waiting for the judgment that he felt he deserved for letting his school friend and fellow champion die for him. Harry felt that he deserved to be condemned to the pit itself for failing to save Cedric from being killed by Wormtail.

That's when he heard laughter filled with no hard feelings or ill will and it seemed to lift his own spirit and carry it over the waves of despair until an island garden seemed to take form and he was standing on the shores looking at a young man he had learned to call a friend during that damned tournament,

"Cedric!" Harry called out in disbelief. "NO WAY! It can't be you?"

"Are you sure? I mean, I sure feel like me." Cedric replied laughing.

As he got closer, the remorse started to rise up and Harry ducked his head as the guilt started to flow once more.

"HEY NOW! NONE OF THAT SHITE, LITTLE BROTHER!" Cedric said as he put one hand on Harry's shoulder and shook him.

"But I got you killed when all I wanted to do was play fair." Harry replied in a small voice, like a child speaking to a revered older sibling.

"Bull! Pettigrew killed me at Voldemort's orders. Don' t take the blame for something you couldn't control. Besides, you did alright, kid. You battled the bastard to a draw and managed to get away with my body! That's what matters. So don't go around feeling guilty about something you had nothing to do with. Got it!" Cedric demanded as he stepped back.

"Yeah, I got it." Harry agreed on a low tone.

"Now there are some other people here who want to meet you worse than I did. Are you up for it?" Cedric said with a smirk as two people came forward and Harry almost died from shock."

Cedric watched as Harry looked them over and turned back to him with a with a question in his eyes and Cedric only nodded as he faded away.

Harry just stood there shaking as he considered who he was looking at and tried to fathom where they had come from.

"Mum, Da? Is it really you?" he finally managed to whimper as tears started to slowly run down his face in his shock.

The woman stepped forward and took him in her arms, tears running down her own face as she finally held her son in her arms again if only for a little while.

"Yes, Honey, it's me and your father. You don't have to worry, it's us." she comforted as she held him while they cried together.

"Yeah, Prongslet. We're so proud of you. But you can't give up now." James Potter admonished his son.

"I can't do it anymore, Da. I just can't. Everybody who gets close to me either gets hurt or dies."Harry cried out, his spirit tortured by what he was feeling.

"Harry James Potter! I don't want to hear that out of you ever again! What's going on isn't your fault. But there are some things you need to know as well. Dumbledore hasn't told you the truth about a lot of things and you need to know about them. So we're going to fill you in on what we can. But you have to make a choice soon." Lilly told him.

"What kind of choice?" Harry asked nervously.

"Harry, right now you are in between living and dying. Soon you will have to make a choice on whether to go on or go back. But before you can make that choice we're supposed to fill you in on a few things so you can make what your mother calls an informed decision." James explained.

With that, they led the way to a garden pond set by a small cabin and had him look in the waters.