Alrighty, I'm back again! I have to say, I am very happy about how this chapter turned out! Well, the four have finaly gotten out of their rooms and gone out to do something, so we have a new character in this chapter. Hope you like her, or rather don't since she isn't the most likable of characters. thanks once again to my reviwers, Teleniel and Himura-Dumbledore, you two are awesome, and anyone else who stumbles across this little manuscript, pleas review! Well, I have delayed yo ulong enough, so enjoy!
Chapter Seven
Vacation
Harry's POV
Well, he couldn't pretend that he wasn't surprised. He probably shouldn't be so astonished that Ginny could figure that out. But he was. Oh, he had always known she was smart, maybe not in the same way as Hermione, but she was still really smart. And beautiful. And sweet (unless you got on her bad side). And amazing. No! Bad Harry! Ginny was even more off limits to him now then she was last summer.
He had to concentrate on other things, such as the sudden appearance of a new horcrux. He could barely begin to wrap his mind around it. This was one of those unpleasant surprises he had come to know so well over the course of his relatively short life. How could Dumbledore have forgotten to mention this? No, not forgotten, neglected, believing Harry was too easily distracted to concentrate. And now he had to deal with it.
It had been hard at first, secretly tracking down horcruxes while always in the public eye. He had hated it. It wasn't like it had been before, with people fawning over the boy who lived. No, now everyone treated the Chosen One with the reverence befitting his station. It was ridiculous. He couldn't walk two blocks without some old man patting his hand or a girl bursting into tears as he passed. He would have worn his invisibility cloak, but after a few weeks of that, the Daily Prophet started coming out with wild stories about Harry being tracked down and killed by death eaters, so over all he felt it better to go out and reassure the populace that he was still breathing.
It had been nice to believe that he had finished his first task, destroying the horcruxes. But now, he had more work to do. It would take months, even years, to find this unknown seventh of a soul. He did not want to deal with that right now. He was seventeen for God's sake! He wanted to go do normal seventeen year-old wizarding things, like taking Ginny to Diagon Alley and practicing quiditch and figuring out what he was doing with the rest of his life. He didn't want to be a public figurehead or a Chosen One or whatever else he was when he walked outside.
And for one day, I won't be, he thought.
Ron and Hermione were arguing again. Ron seemed to be taking Ginny's side.
"I'm taking a break," declared Harry, breaking the argument. "I'll see you later."
And with that he walked toward the door.
"Harry, can we please come in?"
It had been a happy five minutes with out interruption. He had been about to go to sleep. But of course Hermione had to come along and annoy him.
"No, Hermione," he sighed. "I'm on vacation. Go away."
He settled back down to relax. He had brought some Bertie Botts' with him and was about to bight into a bright yellow one when another disruption came along in the form of Ron.
"Sorry Harry, just have to get that letter… you know the letter… the one that one operative sent us… you know… the one who's in with the ministry…" he seemed to be expecting a reply from Harry as he had found the aforementioned letter and was not leaving.
"Yes, Ron," Harry replied through clenched teeth. "I just don't care. I'm on vacation."
Ron seemed confused. "Looks like your sitting in your bed. Oh! Bertie Bott's! Dive me some!"
Harry threw a handful at him. He seemed to get the message. Harry resumed sniffing the yellow bean, trying to decide if it was lemon or not. It certainly looked like lemon.
As Ron walked out the door, Harry heard him say, "I wouldn't go in there, he's in a mood." However, a couple seconds later. Ginny's red hair could be seen around the doorway.
"Excuse me Harry," she said in her most prim voice, "Hermione told me to bring these reports in for you to look at."
"Ginny! I am on vacation! Go away!" he yelled, though it was slightly muffled seeing as he had buried his head under a pillow.
She snorted and dumped the papers on the foot of his bed and walked out of the room calling behind her, "well, you might want to consider it a working vacation!"
He began pushing the reports off of the bed. One caught his eye, from that cousin of Malfoy's, Alsafi. He began to read it, but quickly caught himself and set it back down.
He sighed and settled back down to eat his beans. Mmm… lemon.
He spent the next twenty-four minutes (not that he was counting) free from annoyance. This might have something to do with the locked door. And the chair he had placed as a doorstop.
After those twenty-four minutes, he heard a knock at the door.
"Go away!" he yelled.
"Harry, get out here!" screamed Hermione. "It's urgent!"
"What?" he yelled back, somewhat worried.
"It's Tonks!" yelled Ron. "We just got an owl, she's in St. Mungo's!"
Harry jumped out of the bed and ran over to the door, slipping on the reports he had dropped on the floor some time ago. He got back up, trying not to walk on the ankle he had landed somewhat awkwardly on. It was already swelling. He started opening the locks, cursing under his breath as he went.
He exited the room and started hoping to the small closet they kept brooms in.
"Okay, Ron, here's yours. There's the firebolt, that's mine. Hermione, here's the spare and Ginny… did you bring a broom?"
"Yeah, I'll go get it."
"Hermione, did the letter say why Tonks was in St. Mungo's?"
"No," said Hermione, quiet pale. "It was one of those automatic ones. You know, they've rigged up those quick quote quills to write the letters now that they have so many new admittances. Here's the letter."
Dear Harry, Ron, Hermione:
We regret to inform you that Nymphadora Tonks-Lupin has been admitted to St. Mungo's hospital. We advise that you arrive at the hospital as quickly as your current situation allows.
Sincerely,
Doctor Lyra Alathfar
P.S. We advise you do not attempt to apparate directly into the hospital, as our new security measures would make this quiet impossible.
It was clearly a preprepared manuscript with blanks that had been hastily filled in as the patient arrived.
"Got my broom!" said Ginny, slightly out of breath.
"Okay, let's go." Said Ron.
It was a tense flight. Also a very cold one, seeing as it was late morning, making them quiet susceptible to muggle spottings. They had to cling to the clouds, using them as a cover.
They didn't talk, leaving room for their own imaginings of what could have happened to Tonks. Harry was running down the possible death eater attacks that he had seen over the year. He had reached disembowelment when they arrived at the hospital. Carefully, they waited for the crowded London street to clear off enough for them to land. Once they did, they slid into the glass store window that marked the barrier between the muggle street and the wizarding hospital.
Harry rushed up to the desk. There were at least thirty people in line. Three or four were crying profusely and nobody looked happy. Harry rushed past all of them, ignoring grumbles and shouts.
"Nymphadora Tonks," he panted, "where is she?"
"Young man," said one of the seven assistants sitting at the desk. She looked to be about a year or two older then Harry. "You can not simply barge in here and demand… I mean there is a line." And to demonstrate her point, she lifted one manicured hand to point at the long line of people. "You will have to go to the back, if you want assistance. Besides, you are entirely too young to be here without a parent or legal guardian."
"I'm seventeen!" Harry exclaimed indignantly.
"No matter," the manicured witch said, sniffing. "You and your… little friends… will just have to wait for the rest of these people."
"No he won't" piped up Hermione. Then to Harry she said in a whisper, "Harry, don't you still have those papers Scrimgeour gave you last time he tried to convince you to help out boosting morale?"
"Yeah…" said Harry, not following.
"Well, they let you into all ministry buildings and give you the ability to question all ministry employees, with in reason."
"Do you just memorize these things? You couldn't have seen those papers more then once!" said Ron.
"Anyway, that should be enough to get you in, shouldn't it?" finished Hermione.
"Oh! Yeah, it should," said Harry, whipping out the papers from his pocket. "Here you go ma'am," he said to the witch at the desk, not with out some snootiness.
The girl scanned them carefully, holding them up to the light. "Well," she said, trying to keep her voice polite. "Everything appears to be in order. Let me just check to see where Ms. Tonks may be." She scanned a few papers. "Tonash, Tonberri, Tone, Tongel, Tonlesh, I'm sorry, we don't seem to have anyone under the name of Tonks here."
"Try under Lupin," said Ginny.
"Young lady, I do not see any papers allowing you to question me in such a manner," the witch said, sticking her nose in the air.
"Fine," said Harry, teeth gritted. "Try under Lupin."
"Alright, no need to be so rude." She began flipping through papers again. 'Let me see, Lunel, Lunel, Lunen, Luo, Lupa, Lupid, Ah, here we go. Now are you looking for Lupin, Remus, or Lupin, Nymphadora?"
"Nymphadora," replied Hermione with tense smile.
"Papers!" said the witch in a singsong tone.
"Nymphadora!" yelled Harry.
"All right dear, no need to yell. Nymphadora Tonks-Lupin is in room 259, Azha Eridani ward."
"Thanks so much," said Ginny sarcastically.
"Now before you rush off, I'll need you to sign in. Here's a quill." She handed them a monstrous quill of at least two feet in length. Harry suspected that its color could be described as puce, although he wasn't really sure.
He began to write out his name, sighing, as he realized there as no ink.
Ginny guessed what was wrong. "Excuse me, but could you give us some ink?"
"Do you have papers, my dear?" asked the girl.
"May we have some ink?" asked Harry.
"Of course dear," she said with a smile. "Here you go."
They all signed the paper, sliding it back to the girl at the desk. Her eyes flitted across the list, landing on Harry's name. Her eyes widened. She smoothed her hair. "Now next time you need any help you just ask for me, alright Mr. Potter?" she said, her voice now caked with false sweetness.
"Yeah," said Harry, narrowing his eyes. "I'll do that."
"Here's my name," she said, grabbing his hand and pulling it toward her. Before Harry could stop her, she had written a name on his palm. "And this," she said writing out something else. "Is my home phone number. I'm muggle born." She said with a wink.
"Right," said Harry, slowly backing away. "I'll call you." They walked away from the desk as she giggled.
"You aren't really going to call her are you?" asked Ginny.
"Hell no," said Harry. He looked down at his hand. "I will not be calling umm… Eavan Wilson at 701-9035 any time soon."
They all headed toward room number 259.
"Umm, Harry, do you know what ward the Azha Eridani ward is?" asked Hermione.
"No why?"
"Well, that might give us some clue as to what happened."
"Don't worry," said Ron. "Here's the sign. Let's see, Azha Eridani, rooms 250-270. Oh."
"What is it?" said Ginny tensely.
Ron turned around, grinning. "We have all been really, really stupid." He said pointing to the sign.
Hermione read out loud, "Azha Eridani ward, rooms 250-270, maternity ward."
They all looked at each other and laughed.
Hope everyone enjoyed! The poll from last weeek still stands, so write in (unless you already have). Now go write a review!
