Hey guys, sorry that this has taken so long. My life is kind of hectic right now (I know, the excuse everyone uses) but this is going to be good!
TJL TJL TJL TJL TJL TJL = change in scene/time
Enjoy!
Chapter 10
(Harry's POV)
I sighed as I pulled on my sweater the next morning, I felt so drained after yesterday. We had spent the better part of the evening there with Draco. It was a rather happy evening even though it felt like the time was slowly running out. Even Severus was there in the evening.
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(Flashback)
We had come back after about a half and hour after leaving Luna and Draco alone to find them sitting together, their hands intertwined in a firm grip. Needless to say we teased them a little bit before just sitting around and talking for several hours.
At five o'clock Severus arrived carrying a large brown bag that smelt delicious. Edward, Alice and Rosalie smiled at him before saying that they would go find Carlisle for a while. I smiled at Edward as he walked out the door in thanks; we really needed a moment to be a family.
Severus cleared his throat as he sat down and started unpacking take out dishes from the bag, "Hello children," he smiled softly, "I thought I'd share a family tradition with you all," he said softly and I remained quiet, knowing interrupting him would make him probably stop talking. "When I was a child and I was very sick, my mother would always buy Indian take-out and we'd share it in my room. In truth this was so that the spices would make my nose run and she was usually exhausted from taking care of me," I smiled at this, because I knew from Madam Pomfrey that Sev was a menace when he's ill, "but I thought that perhaps this one time would be a good occasion to revisit the tradition."
I felt my breath stick in my throat; and I felt my eyes water. He was doing this because he saw this as the end. He wanted us to be together and a family before it was too late. I felt my hands start to shake and I quickly held them together in hopes to make it less obvious. Hermione smiled tearfully, she too obviously saw what he meant behind those words. "Thanks, Sev," she croaked slightly, "It smells wonderful."
He smiled, "Now, you three," he said nodding to Ron, Draco and Luna, "I suppose you've never had this food before, so it'll be an experience. So..." he said and started launching into what each dish was, the three peering at them with avid curiosity.
The rest of our dinner was rather light hearted. Thankfully the elephant in the room remained quiet and unobtrusive in the conversations that night and too soon the sun had set and Severus beckoned us to leave. I remained seated beside Draco with Luna, staring at him, not wanting to leave. "Please Sev," I whispered unable to take my eyes off him, "Let us just stay to sing him to sleep."
Luna brushed a tear from her cheek as Sev stood by the door watching. "Alright," He said softly and left. Luna smiled at me and pulled up her sleeves as Edward, Rose and Alice came back in the room.
"We'll stay with him all night if you like," Alice offered and I smiled at her in thanks.
"That would be appreciated," I answered a slight croak in my voice.
Draco looked over at me with a smile, "Can you sing me the one that first made me sleep?"
I smiled softly, "Alright," and looked over at Luna, "You'll have to make the music," I said sheepishly and she nodded smiling.
It was something Luna had taught to me when she was teaching me guitar; she could manipulate sound with her hands with the help of her magic. It was an easily taught skill surprisingly, all it required was for magic to be channelled through one's hands but instead of into a wand, one just manipulated the air into sound. It didn't work well for complex things like actual words, but otherwise it worked fairly well for the sounds instruments make and some vocalizations. She started it up as I began, her left hand making soft pushing motions like she was kneading something in the air.
When your tears are spent
On your last pretense
And your tired eyes refuse to close
And sleep in your defense
When it's in your spine
Like you've walked for miles
And the only thing you want is just to be still for a while
I remembered the day when I first sang this song to Draco. It was after the Slytherins had attacked him and he was given his own room. He hadn't been able to sleep without potions and Madam Pomfrey had to take him off them for his health, so he had spent days awake unable to get any sleep. I had come to his room every night to sing him to sleep, but nothing worked.
Luna flung out her right hand to bring out the background vocals and drums. She had a small smile on her face as she did it; Luna always greatly enjoyed making music her way.
And if your heart wears thin
I will hold you up
And I will hide you
When it gets too much
I'll be right beside you
I'll be right beside you
When you're overwhelmed
And you've lost your breath
And the space between the things you know
Is blurring nonetheless
When you try to speak, but you make no sound
And the words you want are out of reach
But they've never been so loud
Draco originally told me that he was afraid of his nightmares of his father attacking him for choosing the light side and was afraid the Slytherins would attack him in his sleep. I tried to tell him I wouldn't let that happen, but he didn't seem to believe me, and when he did believe me he still seemed too anxious to sleep. After some time I couldn't see what it was that was really bothering him.
And if your heart wears thin
I will hold you up
And I will hide you
When it gets too much
I'll be right beside you
I'll be right beside you
I will stay
Nobody will break you, yeah,
Trust in me, trust in me, don't pull away
Just trust in me, trust me
Cause I'm just trying to keep it together
Cause I could do worse and you could do better
It had actually been Hermione who had figured out what would put him to sleep. She reasoned that he wasn't afraid of his nightmares or that they'd attack him in his sleep, but that now he'd be alone, that everyone would abandon him. So then I realized what I had to do was make him realize I wasn't going to abandon him like his other friends had.
When your tears are spent
On your last pretense
And your tired eyes refuse to close
And sleep in your defense
And if your heart wears thin
I will hold you up
And I will hide you
When it gets too much
I'll be right beside you
Nobody will break you
I looked at Draco now, taking his hand in mine and squeezing his hand tightly. I really meant it then and now, I wouldn't let anyone hurt him then and I wasn't going to let this hurt him now. I was going to make sure his last days were amazing, even if it was hard. I couldn't lose my brother, but losing him by letting him go voluntarily now would hurt more later and would hurt him.
And if your heart wears thin
I will hold you up
And I will hide you
When it gets too much
I'll be right beside you
Nobody will break you
I let go of his hand slowly, seeing that he was asleep and brushed away a tear. "Come on," I whispered to Luna, taking her hand and getting up.
The two of us left the room and she hugged me tightly. She took a shuddering breath against my shoulder before slowly pulling away. She looked up at me, pain in her eyes. "I should go," she whispered and turned away, leaving me in the hall feeling confused. She didn't have to go so abruptly, I would rather she had stayed here and we comforted each other.
"I didn't know you could sing like that," Edward's voice whispered in my ear, his arms coming around me from behind and just simply held me there.
I leaned back on him, sighing. I chose not to answer, just merely rested against him. I stared down the hall into the bright light beyond it. The hallway just went on and on, seeming to never end, with bright lights all around and doorways leading to rooms full of patients slowly dying. I wondered if they had anyone to sit beside their beds at night to comfort them. I wondered if they felt like anyone was trying to help them. Finally after a moment of us simply staring down the hall into nothing, I turned around in his arms. I kissed his cheek softly before whispering, "I should go," and he let me.
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I tried to convince myself that Draco would be okay today as I walked to school. I pushed my hands into my pockets to rid myself of the cold air around me. I assumed that they in fact had actually stayed last night rather than run off to wherever they go, and I assumed that I had some time, a little bit of time at the least, before the end.
Dear God and Merlin and all the rest, I hope we have time.
I arrived at about the same time as Luna, Ron and Hermione. It didn't seem odd to me, as I had walked and they had drove and I had left earlier than them, but all the same I felt an off sense of foreboding, like something terrible was about to happen. I glanced around subtly for the Cullens; I noticed them on the opposite side of the parking lot among the rest of the students milling about. I frowned, nearly all of Forks High School as standing around in the parking lot heading inside, so why did I feel this feeling? Maybe it was the look on Luna's face, the one distinctly telling me something was wrong, but even she didn't know what.
I was about five feet from my siblings when she seemed to come out of nowhere, screaming her head off. "You took him from me!" She shrieked, pushing me, causing me to stumble backwards slightly. Heads swung to our direction and then flew to Edward's for a moment. That was all we really needed, documentation from nearly all of the students in their minds that Edward was way over there when we were fighting. Alice and Edward started moving towards us as Luna when stiff as a board and Ron was being restrained by Hermione. I was thankful for that. This was between Bella and I, I didn't need him to get in trouble as well for this.
"You took him and Jacob from me!" she screeched looking mad, her hair was flying everywhere and her hands were balled into fists. "You turned them against me! I don't know how, but you did! And you'll pay for it!" she screamed reaching into her coat and pulling out something metal and L shaped.
I didn't have time to think about it. In that split second I could see Edward and Alice running at human speed towards us, Luna unfroze, and Hermione's eyes went wide as she let go of Ron in surprise. In the next I was being pushed to the ground and Luna stood in my place as there was a loud bang that went off.
Luna crumpled to the ground beside me as Ron tackled Bella to the ground. Two more shots went off before Edward and Alice arrived. There was screaming everywhere, a loud shrill ringing in my ear. I saw one of Ron's pale arms shoot out, holding the gun and chucked it as far away from Bella as he could before rolling off her, exposing two dark red spots on his chest. Hermione was by his side, screaming his name and putting pressure on his chest wounds the next second as Edward and Alice arrived grabbing Bella's writhing arms and hoisting her to her feet and holding in their stone arms.
I scrambled over to Luna and looked down at her, she was breathing raggedly, and I pressed down on the dark red spot on her chest like Hermione was doing to Ron. "Luna?" I asked worriedly, tears were building in my eyes. Not again, I won't lose more people. She was getting paler by the second and she grasped any part that she could reach and I let her, taking comfort in the bruising hold she had on my arms.
She took a shuddering breath, and smiled at me, "Don't worry Harry, everything will be fine," she whispered, pain in her eyes as she made a choking noise. I stared into her eyes, trying to see if she was just trying to console me or if she meant it, but all I could see was agony. "I can see it now," she whispered gazing off past me to somewhere I couldn't see, "We're going to be happy."
Happy where? I couldn't help but think. Somewhere in the back of my mind I registered that Bella was screaming that Edward and Alice were vampires and that was why they were pale and she couldn't get away. However, given the circumstances I didn't think anyone believed her, that and Alice and Edward pretended, when Bella gave one particularly violent tug, that she almost got free of them.
An ambulance arrived and an EMT guy came over to me and knelt down beside me, "Okay, son, you can let her go now. We are going to take good care of her." I backed away from her slightly so that they could get in there to help her and I looked down at my blood soaked hands.
That was Luna's blood on my hands, for real this time. She was hurt because of me, could die because of me. Another EMT guy was already wheeling Ron into an ambulance, a sobbing Hermione behind them.
The crimson liquid was dripping from my hands. I felt violently sick right then, but I managed to keep it down. I began to shake and wondered if I was in shock. I couldn't look away from it; it just kept screaming at me that this was my fault. Luna was suffering because of my actions. I was a selfish and cruel person. I felt tears well in my eyes, my stomach rebelling and I noticed Edward and Alice keeping their distance with Bella. Some part of my mind registered that they were because the blood could send them into a bit of frenzy but the other part told me they were disgusted by me. I should have taken that bullet.
Mr. Swan was gazing at his daughter sadly as he put her in handcuffs. He led her over to the cop care and gently as he could put her in the back seat. It was not an easy feat, considering the amount of screaming and thrashing she was doing.
I just sat there, with my blood soaked hands.
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Eventually another EMT guy came over to me and began wiping my hands and asking me questions. I guess he was seeing if I was in shock at all, but I wasn't really paying attention. Severus arrived and sat down beside me, putting an arm around me but not saying a word. I was sort of glad he didn't. I looked down at my hands, I could still see a bit of the blood on them, under my fingernails.
"This isn't your fault," Severus finally said.
I looked up at Edward and Alice who were a ways away talking to the police. School had been cancelled but there were still staff, students and even parents milling about among the cops and medical personnel talking to people about what happened. I even saw a few reporters with their camera men walking around.
I sighed, "I don't know about that. She was trying to kill me, not Luna, not Ron."
Severus nodding slowly, "Yes, it's true. However, it was Luna's choice to push you out of the way, was it not? And Ron, was it not his choice to tackle Bella? Did you ask them to do it?" He looked down at me knowingly. "We need to go to the hospital, but I need you to be first aware that none of this is your fault, because I won't have you there, being upset and upsetting them over whose fault it is. It's Bella Swan's fault."
I bit my lip and looked up at him. I guess I saw his side, if only a little bit. I nodded, "Alright," I whispered.
"Good," he said helping me stand and leading me over to the car. The EMT guys were done with me anyways, so they wouldn't miss us.
Halfway to the car Edward and Alice headed us off. Edward pulled me into a tight hug and kissed the breath out of me. "Oh God, Harry, oh God, I have never been so terrified in my life," he whispered kissing me everywhere. Guilt bubbled in my chest and I felt nauseous again, but I simply buried my face in his chest, shaking and hoping he wouldn't leave me.
"Come on, Edward," Alice growled getting into the passenger seat of Severus' car, although she didn't ask I suppose she foresaw it would be alright.
Edward had his arm around me the whole car ride as if he had to be sure I was really there in order to be sure I was still alive. I rested my head on his shoulder; there was still a residue of old shock and panic. I clung to a bit of Edward's shirt over his stomach and squeezed my eyes shut, trying to just calm down a bit. Edward rubbed my shoulder and pulled me closer to him, "You're okay," he whispered kissing my hair, "you're fine."
I took in a shaky breath, nodding as Severus pulled into the hospital parking lot. Alice looked up sharply, "Severus, you and I will need to go see Carlisle right away," she predicted and Severus nodded as he pulled into a spot.
"Alright, Harry and Edward, would you please inform Draco about what has happened?" Severus said sternly, "You may want to let Edward do the talking," he added as an afterthought as he looked down at me.
Edward and I stumbled through the hospital, I looked at the doors, wondering behind which ones my friends were lying, possibly dying, because of me. I didn't even realized that Edward was supporting most of my weight as we walked, I started shaking again and I let out a sob and would have slid to the floor if Edward hadn't been holding me up. He suddenly pulled me up to his chest so he was carrying me and he continued towards Draco's room, holding me as if I was a small child as I sobbed into his shoulder.