Chapter Ten: Blood, Sweat, and Tears
An hour later Harry, Hermione, the entire Weasley clan along with Tom and nine Australian Aurors had surrounded a large old unkempt mansion prepared to strike. The mansion walls were encompassed by overgrown vegetation as thick vines covered the walls like the veins that ran through the body. Hidden in the shadows produced by the large wall of shrub trees that surround the perimeter of the mansion Harry and his companions quietly crept into position to attack.
Harry had organized their force into groups of fives to assault the mansion from several directions and in force in hopes to use the element of surprise to send confusion running rampant through Malfoy's ranks.
Their first task was to silently dispose of Malfoy's guards that were roaming the perimeter and perched on the roof of the mansion. This task was given to a group of Australian Aurors which was completed quickly and efficiently as Harry looked on as one by one the guards began to quietly disappear.
Harry quickly looked at the group that would be accompanying him through the frontal assault on the mansion. With him were Ron, Hermione, Tom, and Ginny who refused to stay behind no matter how much he insisted. "Ginny no matter what happens stay right beside me so I know where you are, okay?"
Ginny glared at Harry with her blazing eyes and in a hushed yet obviously furious tone she began to scold him, "Oh Harry I will not have you treating me like a child, I am…"
"Ginevra Molly Weasley, there is not time to argue you will do as I say or you will sit this one out, non-negotiable," Harry injected firmly leaving no room for argument and Ginny continued to glare at Harry but gave a small curt nod.
Harry turned to the others as he rose to his feet, "Okay remember the plan, be safe and let's get this over a quickly as possible."
The others followed Harry as he calmly walked up the walking path leading to the front door of the mansion. When he was about twenty feet from the front door he stopped raised his wand in the air and shot off a brilliantly bright golden flare into the purple night sky.
He then pointed his wand at his throat and muttered the voice magnifying spell before he called out, "LUCIUS MALFOY I KNOW YOU ARE IN THERE! THIS IS HARRY POTTER. COME OUT WITH THE GRANGERS UNHARMED AND I GIVE YOU MY WORD NO HARM WILL COME TO YOU. YOU HAVE TEN SECONDS TO COMPLY BEFORE I COME IN AFTER YOU!"
With that Harry began to silently count down from ten, knowing very well that the others had heard him and were doing the same. No response came from inside the mansion and as Harry finished his countdown he once again raised his wand and aimed at the front door.
"Expulso!" Harry bellowed. The spell hit the door and exploded with so much force that shook the ground beneath their feet. The explosion turned large chunks of the mansion into debris and deadly shards of concrete and wood as they pelted inside the mansion searching for a victim. Harry could hear multiple explosions from the other teams as the assault began. Quickly before the dust and smoke dissipated Harry and the others stormed into the mansion through the large hole he had created. Once inside they immediately began to hear cries of agony and pain as wounded witches and wizards laid amidst the debris along with several unmoving bodies.
Witches and wizards inside were running in all directions in disarray. Harry, Ron and Tom taking advantage of the chaos began to throw stunning spells at the disordered defenders causing several to fall to the ground unconscious. Lucius followed by a large burly wizard came bounding down the stairs gathering defenders on his way.
As Lucius reached the bottom landing he stood there with his followers and glared daggers at Harry. With an arrogant snarl he addressed Harry, "Potter I commend you on your valiant attempt, but now you find yourself highly outnumbered. Now you, your mudblood and blood traitors will finally get what you deserve a very painful death."
With a quick nod from Malfoy the brawny wizard and about eleven more witches and wizards charged forward and engaged the invaders. Harry quickly threw up a shield charm in front of Ginny to deflect several spells aimed at her, and was barely able to parry a spell thrown at him by the large wizard.
The large wizard was joined by four others as they began to throw powerful spells at Harry in such a rapid motion that he was unable to lower the shield charm in front of him. Harry looked around for a quick assessment on the others and found them furiously battling several witches and wizards together.
Harry began to fear that they were in over their heads as he still had not been able to throw and offensive spell since he'd been engaged. Harry then found a gap in their attack and quickly lowered his shield charm and threw a few stunning spells at the defenders while lunging to the right to avoid the incoming volley of spells sending two to the ground. Harry continued to fire off spells while dodging incoming spells and soon the only wizard left attacking Harry was Lucius's burly henchman.
Harry expertly deflected several spells with a quick wave of his wand and in the next second had thrown two stunning spells rapidly at the large wizard that he had no time to dodge both, and he too fell to the ground. The others were still battling the remainder of the defenders as Harry scanned the room looking for Lucius and was grazed on his left arm by a spell that burnt through the sleeve of his robes and left a bleeding gash in his arm.
"Bloody hell," Harry cursed as he grabbed his arm. He then turned to Hermione and called in grimace as he turned and engaged the remaining attackers giving the others a chance to slip through, "Hermione take Ginny and you lot go find your parents I'll hold them off. Hurry!"
Hermione and the others rushed through the chaos and out of sight as with a backhanded wave of his wand through the air Harry sent a small wizard flying through the air and landed in a crumpled heap against the far wall. Harry let out an audible sigh as more defenders joined the fray. He furiously battled all those that charged forward for what seemed like eternity until an explosion spell hit his shield charm sending him sprawling backwards to the ground slightly dazed.
"Harry!" Hermione screamed from the top of the stairs where she, Ron, Tom the Grangers and the others stood. Groggily Harry returned to his feet and continued to block incoming spells. He looked up to Hermione and noticed that she was pointing towards Ginny who had rushed down the stairs when Harry was knocked off his feet, was engaged with Lucius. Lucius was beating relentlessly onto Ginny's shield charm with powerful spells in rapid succession.
One particularly powerful spell sent Ginny to her knees as she did all she could do to keep her shield charm up. Anger was boiling through Harry as all he could think of was getting to Ginny. Suddenly a blinding white orb of magic erupted from within Harry sending all of his attackers backwards and to the ground. Harry quickly began running towards Ginny.
"You've always been a foolish little girl, rushing forward to die with your hero the chosen one." Lucius snarled at Ginny with an evil laugh, "Avada Kedavra!"
"NO!" screamed Harry as he lunged forward trying to get in between Ginny and Lucius but he was too far away and fell several feet short. Another figure had also rushed through the air and being closer had taken the curse in the chest, the force of which thrown the body into Ginny knocking her to the ground as well. Harry not seeing the other person taking the spell felt his heart crumble inside and jumped to his feet in blind rage with anger radiating around him. He threw Lucius into the wall with a fierce wave of his arm. Lucius hit the wall with a sickening thud and slid half-conscious to the floor. Blinded by rage Harry made a motion with his wand as he pointed it at Lucius's throat. Lucius began to struggle for air as Harry lifted him off the floor and off his feet and held him there watching the life slowly start to ebb away from his body. Harry's body began to tremble as he glared coldly at Lucius as he struggled to cling to his pathetic life. She's dead because of me... Ginny's dead because of this scum…Harry thought to himself.
Suddenly someone rushed forward and grasped Harry's outstretched arm, it was Ginny. As she looked into his eyes she gasped as they were no longer the emerald green that had captivated her heart in the past, they had been replaced by eyes that were dull with rage and pain as tears began to fall. "Harry no! Harry look at me I am okay. Harry stop it don't become like him, don't give him that Harry!"
Harry held Lucius suspended in the air and due to his rage didn't hear Ginny's pleads until she placed both hand on his face and pointed it to look into her eyes. Ginny began to think to herself, Harry love it's okay, I'm okay. I am not hurt don't do this Harry let him go. Harry as if just awoken from a trance looked at Ginny in confusion, he had heard the curse, heard her body fall to the ground. He had heard Ginny speaking clearly to him yet her lips remained unmoving except for a slight tremble of fear. Ginny grabbed Harry's other hand and placed his palm on her cheek. Harry lowered he arms until they had Ginny wrapped tightly within them. Lucius fell to the ground gasping for air and was quickly secured by a binding curse from Hermione. Harry and Ginny held each other tightly and began to cry seeking comfort from each other. Harry raised Ginny's face to look into her tear filled eyes and gave her passionate embrace. Harry felt like a weight had been lifted from his heart as he held the only thing that mattered to him as he kissed her zealously.
Soft sobbing and surprised gasps brought Harry and Ginny out of their embrace as they looked to the others who were gathered around one of their fallen. Harry quickly tried to search the pale faces of those standing around the body and felt his stomach tightened when he realized he didn't know who was down. With a sickening feeling in his gut Harry approached the group.
"He's breathing! How can that be we all saw it happen?" Ron asked in amazement. Harry squeezed through the cluster and looked down and was surprised to find that he was looking into the unconscious face of Draco. Harry knelt beside Draco, Ron was right he could hear him breathing. Harry began to inspect Draco and found a charred hole in his shirt just over his heart. Upon a closer look Harry found that Draco was wearing a large silver locket which appeared to have taken the brunt of the curse. The locket was smoldering and burning Draco's flesh on which it rested. The locket sizzled in Harry's hand as he quickly grabbed and removed it by forcefully yanking on it causing the chain to break. Suddenly Harry began to feel weak and light headed. Last thing he heard was Ginny calling his name and the world around him began to dim into darkness as he collapsed unconscious beside Draco.
Harry had no idea how long he had been out when he finally awoken but could fell the stiffness in his body from being laid up. He hand bandages on his arm and on the hand in which he had clasped the locket in to remove it from Draco's body.
As he looked around he found that he was alone. The room he was occupying was small and only contained the bed which he was in, an old wooden rocking chair and a small well used chest at the foot of the bed. The pale yellow walls were bare and only contained one window which was to the right of the bed. The curtain for the window had been pulled to the side allowing sunlight to flood into the room.
Harry went to rise up on his elbows to peer out the window but collapsed back onto the bed when he was overtaken by a strong waive of nausea and the room began to spin. Harry closed his eyes and massaged his temples with a groan as he tried to collect his-self. Harry began to rack his brain trying to remember what had happened as he laid there uninterrupted.
Suddenly there was an audible pop in the air. Harry opened his eyes to find Kreacher approaching him with a goblet. He attempted to talk to Kreacher but was unable to make words due to extremely dry condition of his mouth and throat.
"Easy there Master Potter don't try to speak. Drink this, Kreacher is here to help his Master he is." Kreacher stated as he slid one of his small arms beneath Harry's head and raised it enough so that he could drain some of the contents in the goblet into Harry's parched mouth. Harry dutifully and slowly swallowed the contents as they were poured into his mouth.
"Good I shall go fetch Miss Ginny now Master she will be very pleased to see that you are awake. Been here every day she has, very worried she is." Kreacher said approvingly and with another pop was no longer there.
It was mere seconds later Harry could hear several sets of feet approaching the room in a hurried pace. Frantically Harry looked around for his glasses and wand; unable to find either he laid back and hoped for the best. Suddenly the door flew open and Ginny came barreling into the room closely follow by Ron, Hermione, the Grangers, and the rest of the Weasleys.
Ginny continued into the room until she had reached Harry. She was close enough that Harry could tell that she had spent a lot of time crying as her face was red and eyes were puffy.
"Oh Harry you're awake, I thought… I don't know what I thought I have just been terrified and worried about you." Ginny cried as she flung herself across his chest.
"I'm fine love," Harry said hoarsely as he returned Ginny's embrace and kissed the top of her head.
Ron looking relieved to see his friend awake said softly, "You had us all worried mate. Ginny here has been beside herself."
A single silent tear ran down Harry's cheek as he kissed Ginny's head again and said softly, "I'm sorry love. It's okay now."
No one spoke for a few moments as they all let out a sigh of relief and taking comfort in the fact that Harry had returned to them. Mr. Weasley began to draw up chairs for everyone with his wand placing them around Harry's bed.
"My glasses?" Harry asked. Ginny rose up from his chest and withdrew his glasses from within her robes and placed them on Harry's face. Harry took a moment to glance at everyone who had been seated around him. Besides being slightly pale and showing obvious signs of being short of sleep they looked okay. Harry let out a sigh of relief and asked, "Where are we and how long have I been out?"
"We're back in Britain Harry, Grimmauld Place to be exact. You been in and out by mostly out for a week dear," Mrs. Weasley said softly as she gently patted his leg.
Harry looked around confused, "What happened and how did we get back?"
"We'll we aren't sure Harry. I mean you lost a lot of blood from a wound on your arm. We'll then you grabbed the locket off of Draco and the next thing we knew you were unconscious, and it's really thanks to Kreacher that we are all here. Somehow he sensed that you needed help. He apparated to your side and then quickly apparated all of us to St Mungo's. They kept you there for three days and when there was no longer anything they could do, they released you to Kreacher. With the help of Mrs. Weasley and Ginny he's been nursing you since." Hermione informed.
"Draco?" Harry inquired as he attempted raise up enough to see everyone's faces. Once again he was overcome by dizziness and nausea and collapsed back onto his pillow.
"I'm sorry Harry dear, that's enough for now you need to rest. Come on you lot let's go he needs to rest." Mrs. Weasley stated in a motherly tone which everyone knew not to argue.
Everyone rose to their feet and began to leave the room, all except Ginny who remained at Harry's side. Mrs. Weasley laid her hand gently onto Ginny's shoulder and followed the rest out of the room.
Once everyone had left and only Harry and Ginny remained he looked at her waiting to see if she would answer his previous question. Ginny did not answer his question but climbed into bed with Harry and laid her head upon his chest, "Mum's right Harry there'll be plenty of time to answer all of your questions later, now you need to rest love."
Harry was about to argue but thought better of it and settled with holding Ginny who quickly fell asleep to the rhythmic beat of Harry's heart. Harry laid there for moments after Ginny fell asleep but joined her as he too drifted off to the Ginny's soft breathing.
Three days later Harry was able to have the bandages removed and noticed that he had another scar. This one was in the form of the locket that had seared his hand with the snake imprint that would remain on his palm for the rest of his days.
Harry had gotten enough strength back, along with permission from both Ginny and Mrs. Weasley to get out of bed to get some fresh air in the garden. For the most part everyone had been given strict instructions by Mrs. Weasley, and Ginny not to disturb Harry. Whenever someone would check on him and he began to ask questions Kreacher would pop up and interrupt. Harry knew this had to be on Ginny's or Mrs. Weasley's orders.
Finally that evening Harry having insisted on joining everyone for dinner began to get some answers to his questions. Kreacher and his children had prepared a large cauldron of stew for dinner which the famished Harry, and the always hungry Ron began to devour immediately upon sitting down.
Halfway through his second bowl Harry addressed everyone at the table, "While I appreciate all of you worrying about my health and taking care of me I want to know about Draco, Lucius and the other Death Eaters."
The table talk quickly died away as everyone glanced at Mrs. Weasley and Ginny nervously. No one wanted to be on the receiving end of either of the two formidable witches and remained quiet.
Mr. Weasley cleared his throat and gave Mrs. Weasley a gentle pat on her hand and then turned to Harry, "Well Harry let's begin with Lucius and the Death Eaters then. Lucius and the other Death Eaters that had fled England with him have been extradited back to England and are currently in Azkaban. Lucius will have a trial and then hopefully spend the remainder of his life in Azkaban. The Australians that assisted Lucius and were caught were arrested by Australian Aurors. As for Draco, he is at St. Mungo's in a secure room with guards. He, just as you were, has been in and out of consciousness. We are still unclear what he was doing in Australia and what made him do what he did."
"I'm glad Lucius is in Azkaban, but how are we going to keep him there?" Harry stated. Harry then gave a sigh and asked, "What about Draco and the locket?"
"Draco is still in and out. The locket is currently being examined by Ministry employees to deem if it is safe to handle." Mr. Weasley advised.
Harry thoughtfully examined the scar on his hand running his index finger of the snake portion of the scar. After several minutes of silence Harry looked up from his hand and at Mr. Weasley and stated, "When he wakes up I want to talk to Draco."
Mr. Weasley gave Harry a nod and everyone returned to eating. Eventually the casual table talk would pick back up as everyone visually relaxed and did their best to satisfy their incredulous hunger. After dinner everyone retired to the drawling room where they sat enjoying each-others company with small talk and tea.
The next morning Harry was startled awake when someone pounced on top of him while in his bed. Alarm and confused Harry's eyes jolted open as he went for his wand. There straddled atop of him with a guilty impish grin was Ginny. "Happy birthday dear, I wanted to be the first to see you this morning. Sorry about the pouncing."
"Sure you are," Harry laughed while raising his eyebrows and grasping Ginny's waist.
"How are you feeling this morning old man?" Ginny asked in a sultry voice as she leaned over to kiss Harry.
Moments later after Ginny released him he responded, "I feel great."
"Good, now get up and clean your-self up. You're not going to spend your birthday stuck in the house." Ginny instructed as she leapt from the bed and pulled the covers off of him. "Do you need any help?"
"I do have something you could help me with," Harry said with a coy look as he grabbed her arm and pulled her back to him and initiated a much needed brief but fantastic session of snogging.
After their quick snogging session Ginny left Harry to prepare his-self for the day. They began the day with a nice slow walk through the neighborhood. They enjoyed watching muggles going on about their days while they strolled hand in hand. After their walk they returned to Grimmauld Place.
As they entered Grimmauld Place everyone had gathered in the dining-room for lunch consisting of sandwiches prepared by Kreacher and Molly. Lunch was followed by a large cake that Ginny proudly announced that she had made with a little assistance from her mother. Ginny glowed in happiness when Harry had two helpings of the cake. As Harry finished his second helping of cake Ginny announced that it was time for presents which Mrs. Weasley summoned with a quickly flick of her wand.
Just as Harry had finished thanking everyone for their gifts Kingsley's patronous appeared with a message, "Draco is awake and requesting to see Harry."