1Chapter 9: the mission
The next morning, Harry found himself crouched down behind a large bush outside of the pub, shivering. It had started raining about an hour before they arrived and hadn't let up yet. Worse yet, was the fact that Avery had yet to show himself. Harry shifted himself to try to find a more comfortable position. He glanced over at Rhodes, who was crouched down next to him, smirking.
Harry was in no mood to deal with him. When he had returned to the Ministry the night before after visiting the Burrow, Rhodes had been making snide comments. Before Harry could say anything, he caught sight of a tall hooded figure approaching the pub out of the corner of his eye. Rhodes reached into his pocket and pulled out a medallion that had the Protean charm placed on it. Each of the other Aurors stationed around the pub had one so they could alert each other if Avery was spotted.
Still hidden, they watched as Avery was joined by several other hooded figures, including Carrow. When the group turned to leave, Rhodes whispered, 'Come on. We need to find out where they are going.'
Harry nodded once and together they began following the Death Eater, shrouded from view by the line of trees that bordered the path that led up to the pub. Harry looked behind him and saw that both Peters and Dunn were covering them from behind.
They followed them for about ten minutes before Avery led the group into an old, abandoned and boarded up house. When Peters and Dunn caught up to them, the four of them stooped behind a large cluster of rocks.
'All right. You two stay here and keep watch', said Dunn. 'Peters and I will go back to the Ministry to inform Valentine so we can get the MLE out here with us. We'll notify you when we're on our way.'
Both Harry and Rhodes nodded as the other two silently made there way back toward the pub to find a safe place to apparate.
An hour later, Harry felt his medallion heat up in his pocket and reached down to pull it out.
'They'll be here in about 10 minutes with MLE', he told Rhodes. 'They want us to take up position on the east side of the house.'
Harry reached inside his robes and pulled out his invisibility cloak, throwing it over himself and Rhodes. They crouched down under the cloak so they would not be detected and moved into position just as the others arrived. Barnett gave the signal and the group moved forward to surround the house right before he blasted the door open.
Harry aimed stunning spell after stunning spell toward the group of Death Eaters that came rushing out of the house. He heard movement from behind him and spun around, his wand raised. There was a flash of white light and Harry crumpled to the ground.
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Back at the Burrow, Ginny was in the sitting room with Hermione.
'I can't stand this', said Ginny. She was becoming more and more frustrated. They still had not heard anything from Harry. She stood up and started pacing around the room, wringing her hands together.
'Ginny, come back over here and sit down. I'm sure Harry's fine', said Hermione. She felt like she was saying this for the hundredth time since Harry had left.
'I just don't know what to do with myself', said Ginny as she flopped back down on the sofa next to Hermione. 'Is it going to be like this every time he leaves on one of these assignments?' she asked.
'I don't know Ginny, I don't know', said Hermione shaking her head.
The two girls looked up to find Mrs. Weasley standing in the doorway, clutching a piece of parchment. Taking in the expression on her mothers face, Ginny jumped up from the sofa.
'Mum? What happened?', she asked anxiously.
'This just arrived', said Mrs. Weasley, holding up the piece parchment. 'It's a letter from the Ministry. Harry's been injured. He's at St. Mungo's.'
Ginny's face paled. Her knees buckled and she fell back onto the couch. 'When can we leave?', she asked shakily.
'Right now if you want', said Mrs. Weasley. 'They've reconnected our floo.'
Ginny stood up slowly and walked into the kitchen with Hermione behind her. When she reached the fireplace she scooped up a handful of floo powder and threw it in the flames. She turned to face her mum and Hermione, who were exchanging nervous glances.
'Are you guys coming?', she asked.
'We're right behind you, dear', said Mrs. Weasley.
Ginny stepped into the fireplace, said 'St. Mungo's', and disappeared in a whirl of green flames, reappearing a moment later in the busy waiting area of the hospital. A moment later, Hermione and Mrs. Weasley stumbled out of the fireplace and the three women dashed to the front desk.
'We're here to see Harry Potter', said Ginny to the Welcome Witch.
'Spell Damage, fourth floor'
Ginny tore off toward the stairwell and ran up the stairs until she reached the fourth floor with Hermione and Mrs. Weasley right behind her.
'Miss. Weasley', said a voice from behind her when she opened the door leading to the Spell Damage ward. She turned around to see a man with a heavily scared face limping in her direction.
'Miss. Weasley, my name is Archie Valentine. I head the Auror department', he said.
'Where's Harry?', asked Ginny peering down the hall.
'Follow me', he said.
Ginny glanced over her shoulder at the other two women and followed Valentine down the hall. Harry's room was at the very end of the hall and the doorway was flanked by two guards.
'Ginny, you go ahead in. We'll wait out here', said Hermione, giving her an encouraging smile.
Harry was lying in the hospital bed, apparently unconscious. There were several tubes going into his arm administering different potions, Ginny looked up at Valentine, who had followed her into the room and asked, 'What happened?'
'Avery snuck out the back door unnoticed, snuck up on him. We don't know what spell hit him. No one heard the incantation', said Valentine.
'Is he going to be ok?'
'The healers tell me that he'll be fine. They said he should be waking up soon', he said.
Ginny moved over to stand next to the bed. Valentine waved his wand and conjured a chair which she sank into. She reached over and tentatively grabbed Harry's hand.
'I'll just leave you alone now', said Valentine, backing out the door. Ginny nodded without looking up. When she heard the door close, she buried her head in her arms.
'Miss. Weasley?'
Ginny's head jerked up. One of the healers was standing in the doorway. Ginny sat up, wiping her tear stained face on her sleeve.
'I'm sorry Miss. Weasley, I'm going to have to ask you to wait outside while I check on Mr. Potter', said the healer apologetically.
Ginny sighed. 'That's ok.'
When she walked out of the room, she found her entire family crowded around the waiting area. They all looked up expectantly when she entered.
'He's still unconscious', she said. 'They're checking on him now. What time is it?'
'It's almost eight', said Mrs. Weasley. 'Visiting hours are over soon.'
Ginny spun around at the sound of a door opening just in time to see the healer exiting Harry's room.
'Excuse me', said Ginny. 'Could you please tell us how he's doing?'
'He should be fine. We're unsure of what curse actually hit him so we're not really sure when he's going to wake up but his vital signs look good', said the healer. 'But I'm afraid visiting hours are over for the evening', she added.
'If he wakes up, I want to be notified immediately', said Ginny forcefully.
'Yes, ma'am'
When she returned to the Burrow that night, she retreated to her bedroom and broke down. All the fear and uncertainty from the past year came flooding back. She couldn't stand the thought of losing him. She had visited Harry in the hospital wing at school dozens of times but most of those were for quidditch injuries. And she didn't know about the more serious injuries until Harry himself told her about them.
She fell into a fitful sleep a little after midnight, but was woken mere hours later by an insistent tapping. She got out of bed and went to her window, admitting a small barn owl. She hurriedly untied the letter attached to its leg and it soared back out the window. When she turned it over, she noticed that the return address was St. Mungo's. She ripped it open and pulled out the letter, it only had one line: "He's awake"
