I'm sooooo sorry about the delay! My computer totally died on me and I haven't had internet access until now. Here's chapter seven, everything will be explaned shortly, so hold onto your socks:) I do feel really bad about how long you had to wait for this chapter, truely, but I had no control over the stupid computer:) Well, standard disclamer, If I owned it, I wouldn't have to shovel driveways and throw my back out to have enough money to buy notebooks. Please enjoy, drop me a review if you want, I love to hear from you.
You know, how in movies, people always wake up from unconsciousness with fluttering eyelashes and some romantic pain free moment? Well I have to say, whoever believes it's really like that is delusional. It's more like, Ow, ow, OUCH!
The first thing I remember is the pounding in my head, thud, thud, thud. Gods, it was like a herd of elephants were parading through my head. Then I heard Joe's voice.
"What's wrong with him?" Joe asked someone.
The unidentified voice replied, "We believe it was some sort of overload to his brain, but we don't know what caused it. He's bloody lucky that he doesn't have brain damage."
"Will he be all right?" Joe asked.
"Yes, hopefully he'll be waking up soon. It's strange, we tried to contact his parents, but instead we were put through to their agent, or manager, whatever. They told us just to treat him, and release him, and then burn his records. He's supposed to be completely erased, no one can know who he is. We actually have him listed under his mother's maiden name." I heard papers shuffling, "Ah, yes, Evans." The doctor paused; I assumed Joe was shaking his hand.
"Thank you Healer Wilson," Joe said.
All of a sudden, a vision hit.
"Thank you Healer Wilson," Joe said, shaking a man's hand who was dressed in a white Healer's robe. The man was somewhere in his late forty's, with graying dark brown hair and a square pair of glasses perched on his nose in front of his gray eyes. He prematurely had wrinkle lines, probably from his job, but it gave him character.
"No problem," Healer Wilson said, beaming, he had a small space between his two front teeth. "But I am curious, why hasn't Harry's parents visited him yet? I mean, usually a parent is frantic when their child is sent here."
Joe shook his head, "The Potters. I mean Evans, whatever, are a different breed. They are higher than us, above the law, above feelings, above remorse, guilt, pain, even above family. In short, Healer, they don't care. They have their perfect son who can see, a perfect daughter who can see, and one son who they forgot, because he isn't perfect, he can't see."
"That is……Just appalling." Healer Wilson said, "I always though highly of those people, until I read an interview with the father, James Potter, who sincerely is a conceited fool."
"Yes, they are all inhuman, cruel, people." Joe said with another sigh, tiredness etched on every inch of his face. "Harry, he's special, he's caring, loveable, sometimes moody and prickly, but he actually cares about other people, more than himself without a doubt. He's nothing like the Potters, he doesn't even use his last name, he's just Harry, or Harry James. It's so….Wrong, he's the sweetest, most wonderful kid, smart, funny, talented in so many ways, but because he's blind, the Potters didn't want them, they didn't care."
"That's terrible," the Healer said, "just terrible."
"You seem an intelligent man who can keep a secret." Joe said, "I think I may know what caused Harry's overload."
"What?" The Healer asked.
"You have to promise not to say a word." Joe said sternly, the Healer nodded. "Harry is a seer, and lately, he's been getting visions more and more frequently. They started when he was, I don't know, twelve, sometime around there. But in the past few days, he's been getting them minutes apart. It's not normal."
"Hmmmm, it could be, how long apart were the visions when he began convulsing?" The Healer asked.
Joe paused for a second, "Seconds, maybe less. We couldn't say anything, he asked us not to. No one can know."
"I understand, why don't you get some rest? You look exhausted." Healer Wilson said with a compassionate smile. Joe nodded and then left the room. As soon as Joe was gone, the Healer spoke, "Visions, did you hear that sir?"
All of a sudden, Albus Dumbledore appeared in the room. He had been there the whole time invisible. "It's intriguing. I think Mr. Potter here may be of more use than I thought in the past. Lily and James will pull him out of Cambridge Hall tomorrow, and then we'll work from there. Imagine how useful he'd be in the war, seeing where Voldemort will be before he strikes."
"Yes sir, very useful." The Healer agreed.
"You have done well Wilbert, very well." Dumbledore said, stroking his beard.
"Thank you sir," Wilson said with a smile, "Anything to help The Order."
"You are loyal, very loyal. Don't be surprised if your rank changes from stage one to stage two Wilbert, you have earned it." Dumbledore said, "I must take my leave now, contact me if anything changes." And then Dumbledore disappeared.
The Healer left the room.
I gasped, sitting up. Joe hadn't even begun speaking yet. It was like time had stopped during the vision, that didn't normally happen. "JOE!"
"Harry, you're awake!" Joe exclaimed, walking over to my bed.
Joe grabbed me in a huge bear hug, I couldn't move. The smell of his spicy after-shave overwhelming my senses. The smell of a father.
I braced myself for his bone crushing hug, which came a second later.
"I was so worried Harry," Joe said.
"Don't say anything about you-know-what," I whispered in Joe's ear. I felt him nod.
"I'm fine Joe, I just have a headache," I commented, "Now if you don't want to add a couple of broken ribs to the equation……"
Joe took the hint, letting go.
The Healer smiled, holding open the door to my room, which was standard hospital issue, he didn't exit, but Dumbledore, who I knew was invisible, did. The Healer paused before he exited the room as well, "I'll come back to check in on you later."
Joe nodded, so did I. "Thank you Healer," Joe said, gratitude in his voice. I smiled.
The Healer left the room. Score: Harry 1, Dumbledore 0.
I heard the door open; the Healer paused, still holding the door open. The sounds of the hospital drifted in. "I'll come back to check on you later."
"Thank you Healer," Joe said, nodding. I followed suit. The Healer left, and the door shut.
Joe sat down on the end of my bed, "Why did you say for me not to mention about your visions?"
"Because he was on Order of the Phoenix spy," I replied, rubbing my temples in a vain attempt to get rid of my pounding headache.
"Paranoid, aren't you. I think that little episode did something to your brain, seriously." Joe said, laughing lightly, though the sound was hollow.
"Dumbledore was here," I commented, that got Joe's attention.
"No he wasn't. I've been here since you were admitted, and he wasn't anywhere near you," Joe said, concern lacing his voice. "Are you sure you feel all right?"
"I'm fine Joe," I growled, "But I'm not crazy. Did you notice the Healer holding the door open before he left. Dumbledore was invisible. I had a vision, you told the Healer about my visions, and Dumbledore was going to have the Potters pull me out of CH so I could help figure out where Voldemort is." I said breathlessly.
Joe was silent.
"Seriously Joe, believe me, the Healer was bad news. Dumbledore's lap dog the whole way." I said, I heard Joe sigh.
"Okay, I believe you. So in your vision you saw the whole thing?" Joe asked, I nodded.
"Everything." I said.
"Fine. So what was up with you, like the whole episode. You scared poor Hermione enough to be sedated. Sonya was close to that stage as well. She's talking care of the rest of the kids." Joe said, I could hear he was tired as well.
"How long have I been out?" I asked, feeling the urge to stretch my legs out, but not wanting to push Joe off the edge of the bed.
"Two days," He said with a small laugh, "A long two days. I haven't been back to CH, but Sonya came up to visit earlier, she said she had never seen the kids so down. Hermione was quiet, not spouting out random facts, Neville just sat next to Luna, holding her hand, and Luna hasn't signed at all since you left. She said it was like a part of CH died with you gone."
I shook my head, "When do I get out of this joint?" I felt terrible, physically, and mentally. Physically because I've been unconscious for two days from a sensory overload, and mentally because I made my friends suffer so much, as well as Sonya and Joe. My family.
"As soon as Healer Wilson sees fit," Joe said sternly, "Don't 'but' me, you're not getting out of this one."
"Joe….." I whined.
"Don't even try it," he threatened, "If you have another episode while no one's around, you could die."
"Really?" I asked dryly, "I could die by falling through an open man-hole in the road."
"It's not like that kiddo," Joe said, exasperated. "We just want you to be safe."
"I know," I relented, "I just hate hospitals."
"I know kid, personally, they give me the heebe jeebies too," Joe said with a laugh. I couldn't resist laughing as well, but I had to stop with a wince when the pounding in my head got worse.
"You okay?" Joe asked.
"Yeah, just my head, this is bloody stupid." I grumbled, Joe laughed.
"Well, I now know we have our good 'ol Harry back." Joe said, still laughing.
"It's not that funny." I commented bluntly, stretching out my cramped legs headless of the fact that Joe was being pushed off the bed.
"I'm just happy that you're okay," Joe said, "And……"
"And…..With your visions acting up, we were worried about your brain being more damaged than it already was." Joe said with a laugh. Healer Wilson was standing at the door, he had entered just as Joe mentioned the visions.
Joe hit himself in the head with the palm of his hand as the Healer asked, "What visions?"
"Eh…….Joe, you moron." I growled.
"Joe, stop," I warned. "We have company."
Joe stopped his comment in mid-sentence, looking around. "Ah, Healer Wilson, I didn't see you come in."
"But it seems Harry heard me," Healer Wilson said.
"It's a gift, what can I say?" I joked.
Healer Wilson laughed lightly; his laugh was fake, just as he was. "I'm just going to run a few tests, see if we can get to the bottom of this little episode you had."
"Okay," I said with a shrug.
I heard the Healer's footsteps squeak across the tile floor, he was wearing expensive shoes, from the sounds of it. Probably dragon hide, Eric had a pair of dragon hide cowboy boots when we were kids, I always thought they sounded awful when he walked on tile or wood flooring. I could hear him coming for a mile.
"I'm just going to do a few spells, okay?" The Healer asked, I nodded.
After a few moments, Healer Wilson said, "Everything looks normal, temperature is a bit high, but nothing extremely bad, considering his temperature when he came in, ninety nine degrees is nothing."
"What did happen?" I asked, curious to hear what happened while I was unconscious.
"Let's see," Wilson said, flipping through some papers, "When you were brought in, your temperature was one hundred and six degrees, you were convulsing, and your heart rate was dangerously high." Wilson said. "You didn't respond to any spells or treatments, so we had to body bind you so you didn't do any more damage to your body. It's a miracle you didn't sustain any brain damage."
"What else?" I asked, I could tell the man was holding something back from me.
"Sir, is it all right to tell him?" Healer Wilson asked Joe.
"Yes, he has the right to know everything." Joe said with a sigh. He sounded so tired, so old.
"Your heart stopped twice, we don't know what caused it. But soon your vital signs dropped close to normal, and we placed you in a private room, where you are now. And this fellow," The Healer said, referring to Joe, "Never left your side."
I smiled, "Thank you Healer."
"No problem, now, how do you feel? Anything hurt?" Healer Wilson asked. With his fake caring, I just wanted to expose him here and now about being Dumbledore's little pet.
"I have a really bad headache, and my chest hurts a bit," I said.
"That is to be expected; the magic we used to resuscitate you was powerful and caused some heavy bruising on your chest. As for your headache, I'll get a aide to bring you some headache relieving potion, okay? Get some rest, I think, if there are no more problems, that you'll be released tomorrow afternoon or evening." Healer Wilson said as he scribbled on his papers.
"Thank you again sir," Joe said as the Healer got ready to leave the room.
"I'll check back in a bit." The Healer said as he left the room.
"So what did he say?" Dumbledore said, as Healer Wilson entered the staff lounge area where the old man sat on a couch.
"Nothing, he just acted like a normal teenager. He joked, laughed; nothing seemed out of the ordinary. His hearing is superb, I entered the room while they were speaking, and the boy still heard me. It was amazing at how acute his senses are." Healer Wilson said, sitting down in a chair with an exhausted sigh. "I'm releasing him tomorrow."
Dumbledore nodded, "I still get this feeling that somehow……Somehow he knew I was in the room, I think there is more to Harry Potter than meets the eye."
"I agree sir," Healer Wilson said. "There is something off about the boy. When I entered the room, he stiffened up for not even a second, and then told the other man, his guardian or whoever, to stop talking because they had company, meaning me. I think the man was going to say something about what happened to cause such a massive sensory overload, but the boy stopped him. They are keeping something from us."
Dumbledore stroked his long white beard. "I applaud you for your good work, Wilbert, keep an eye on the boy. I want to know what they are keeping from us."
"Yes sir," Healer Wilson said, "I'll make sure that his room's under surveillance, so we know who visits him as well sir."
"Yes, yes, that's a good idea," Dumbledore said, "I must take my leave now. I have a family who wants to tour of Hogwarts, in consideration of transferring their daughter from some school in the states."
"Good day sir," Healer Wilson said, getting to his feet. He opened the door for the older man, holding it open.
"Good day to you too." Dumbledore said with a smile. He had the man wrapped around his little finger.
"Dumbledore suspects something's up," I commented. "He has Healer Wilson keeping an eye on us."
"We'll be careful," Joe said with a yawn.
"Go back to CH, get some sleep." I ordered.
"What about you?" Joe asked.
"Could you send Neville up with some of my books? Non magical of course." I asked.
"Sure, you get some rest as well kiddo, you look like you've been to hell and back," Joe commented, getting up from his chair which creaked loudly.
"I'm sure you don't look like a spring flower either, you sure don't smell like one," I sniggered. "Go."
"If you're sure……" He said, leaving the room. I sighed into the emptiness. Life loved to screw me over in oh so many wonderful and delightful ways.
Okay! My two best friends ditced me so they could hang out after I made plans with them to sleep over at my house, so please drop me a sweet review so I can use my fustration and anger with them to fuel my writing:) The next chapter will be coming soon if my internet connection holds up, I just don't have enough money to get the work done on the blasted thing.