"Harry, how do you feel?" asked Alex quietly, so Voldemort wouldn't hear.
"A little dizzy," said Harry, his voice husky. He attempted to get out of Alex's arms, but he faltered. "And it hurts everywhere."
Not good.
Alex had been hoping there had been something in Harry's reserves to keep him going, but that was obviously not the case. Harry's own magical core was darker than Alex's own, which wasn't good, considering Alex was already weak.
"Harry," he said, "I know this will hurt you, but we have to get out of here. We have to stop Voldemort. I can't do it alone though. I'll need your help."
Harry nodded, even if his eyes were a little glazed over. "Whatever you say Alex. Just tell me what to do, and I'll do it."
Alex glanced at Voldemort, who was watching them curiously, waiting to see their next move. Voldemort caught his eye and smirked.
"I'll let you do whatever you wish," he said. "There's not enough energy between the two of you for you to defeat me. Take all the time you need," he said smoothly. "But don't forget, the clock is ticking."
Harry, who had been feeling sleepier by the moment, struggled to pay attention to what Alex was saying. It took a while for the words to make sense, but it all finally clicked. When it did, Harry quickly forgot his sleepiness and pain and sat up quickly.
"What will happen-" he started.
"I'll be fine," said Alex reassuringly. "We'll make it out of here together if you follow my instructions. You'll just have to trust me."
Harry looked into Alex's eyes, searching for fault. Alex wouldn't do anything if he thought it would hurt him, but last time…Harry shook his head, ridding it of the thought. He looked at Voldemort, who was still watching them lazily.
"Alright, I'll do it."
Sirius was confused when he woke up in on the floor, surrounded by four walls and an olive-skinned girl with black hair bending over him. Sirius jumped back quickly, but he slipped on his shirtsleeve and fell.
The girl only laughed at him and tried to help him up. Sirius didn't know what to do. He had remembered transforming before the group had reached them, but after that…
"Don't worry, I haven't told anyone your secret," said the girl. "Hermione might figure it out though; she's pretty smart."
Sirius only backed farther away from her, looking for a way out.
"Who are you?"
If I told you that, I doubt you'd be so nice.
Sirius shook his head, backing further away.
"I see do you have amnesia like Hermione did?" she asked. "Or do you just not want to tell me."
Sirius still wasn't going to talk.
"Fine then," she said, "but if you're hungry," she pointed to a plate across the room, "there's some food for you." She giggled as he started salivating. It had been awhile since he had had a good meal.
As he devoured the meal, something started to occur to Sirius. This girl was familiar, but he had certainly never seen her before, he'd been locked up for six years, and this girl was around that age.
But that couldn't be. He looked at the girl. The similarities between the two though…oh no.
Alex didn't know if Harry could pull off wandless magic. It might work better if he used Alex's own wand, but he knew using someone else's wand wouldn't work as well as using their own. Unfortunately, Harry didn't have one, so he'd have to use Alex's. This meant that Alex would have to pull off some wandless magic, something he wasn't adept at.
"How will I know it's your core?" asked Harry, taking Alex's wand dubiously.
"You'll know," said Alex. "Now, do what I told you."
Harry took a deep breath before reciting the spell, pointing the wand at Alex's chest.
"Abrogo magus medios!"
There was a thundering noise as Alex shook, but Harry yanked on the wand, keeping a firm grip. Alex had told him to hold onto the wand, no matter what, so that the magical core would enter him. But the wand was fighting back.
"No!" Voldemort had stood up now and was watching the sight, eyes wide. "Let go of that wand Potter!"
Harry pulled harder, and could see a thick gold line leaving Alex's body. That was it! Strengthened by this, he gave a final yank, just as Voldemort, who had been running towards him, gave a shriek of rage.
"NO!"
Harry didn't see Alex's body collapse as the gold line rushed into his body. For a moment, that was the only color Harry saw and everything else around him was deafened. The pain in his body was ebbing away and he felt stronger.
The gold light finally dimmed away and sound rushed quickly back to his ears. The first thing he heard was Voldemort screaming at him, blown backwards by the rush of magical energy.
"It's not possible!" Voldemort was raging. "He shouldn't have had that much magical power left!"
Harry glanced at his body, and was surprised to see it was glowing like Voldemort. It was a strange swirling mix of gold and red. Voldemort's, which had seemed vivid, looked dim in comparison to Harry's.
Voldemort had stumbled up, shielding his eyes from Harry's glow. "You're mine, Potter," he said. "You don't know how to use your power and your guardian isn't here to help. You're dead."
Harry looked at Alex's limp body. Fighting down the coldness that was surging in him, he turned to the matter at hand, Alex's words pounding in his head. I'll be fine, take care of Voldemort first, or we both die.
Harry flicked the wand out in front of him, reciting the spell in his head before attempting it. One time, that was all he got.
Voldemort's hand was reaching out for him, eagerness on his face. Harry remembered how he had been caught off guard the first time, how the power had drained from him. He had tried to fight it, but he hadn't been able to stop it.
Alex's voice jolted Harry out of the memory, Voldemort mere feet away from him. "Harry, do it NOW!"
Without another thought, Harry waved his wand in the same graceful motion that Alex had shown him and shouted, "Oppressum magus medios!"
Voldemort had lightly touched him before his eyes widened with horror as he was blasted backwards. Harry heard the screaming, before everything went black.
Andry started as Harry's body started wracking against the bed. She moved towards him, but quickly jumped back as something emerged from Harry's body and ran into Alex's.
Harry stopped wracking and a white light engulfed him. Andry was completely at a loss as to what to do. She looked at Dumbledore for help, but he shook his head.
"Just watch."
The light eventually faded off of Harry's body. Andry was surprised to see most of his bruises were gone or had faded. She approached him tentatively before putting a hand to Harry's forehead.
"His fever broke," she said excitedly.
Dumbledore smiled and his eyes turned to Alex. "So he was successful."
Andry turned her attention away from Harry and to Alex. He looked haggard, but he was breathing easily. Still, she wanted to be sure.
"It'll take me awhile Headmaster, but I'll run some tests on them and see how they are."
Andry couldn't help but smile as she started the basic Respiratory Spell. Alex had succeeded, as always.
Like Dumbledore said, you can trust Alex with just about anything.
As Andry performed the next spell, she felt pity for the man as she got the results.
"You're a good man, Alex," she whispered, so Dumbledore wouldn't hear. "An idiot, but a good man."
"Andromeda, I must alert the Ministry," said Dumbledore. "I won't tell them the exact details," he said at her alarmed look, "but enough so that they'll be satisfied. Oh, and I believe you should contact Ted. But-"
Andry nodded. "I understand Headmaster. I'll make up something for Ted."
Harry had been confined to his bed for the past three days. Since then, he had met two people that said they were friends of Alex's; Andromeda Tonks, a Healer, and Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of some school Harry had never heard of called Hogwarts.
Alex hadn't awoken yet. Andry assured him everyday that Alex was fine, but Harry wasn't so sure. He had explained the events, he supposed, inside of his body to the two of them, albeit, rather reluctantly. Harry figured he had been drugged, because he didn't think he would've told it to a couple of strangers.
Andry was the only person Harry saw everyday besides Alex. Dumbledore had to take care of other matters. The two were always whispering about something or other and glanced at him nervously. He questioned her about this.
"Is there something wrong?" he asked as she prepared another potion for him to drink.
Andry hadn't even slipped up in her potion. "What would make you think that?" she asked calmly.
"You're always watching me," he said. "Even when I sleep, I know you're there."
"You're unusually observant," she said. "But it's because you're in a very tentative state right now. We're not exactly sure how you'll turn out."
Harry scrutinized her. What she said made sense, but Andry was always checking the wards and he could hear her checking all of the doors and windows at night and even in the middle of the day. Were they afraid someone was going to find him and take him away?
"I thought you said the people that had been looking for me weren't anymore," he said.
"They're not," said Andry, handing him the potion.
"Then why," started Harry taking a swig of the potion. He immediately felt dizzy, but he needed to get the question out. "Then why do you…" It was getting harder to see and Harry couldn't quite remember how to put words together. "Why are you always-?" he tried again, his words slurring together. But Harry couldn't see anything else and it became dark.
Andry smoothed the hair on Harry's head as he slept. Harry was watching a little too closely. She couldn't tell a seven-year-old however, that the man responsible for his parents' murders was on the loose though. Hadn't he gone through enough?
And with Alex out, it's up to me to keep watch over him day and night.
Andry had had a hard time explaining this to Ted. Dumbledore had been right; he had been going insane with worry, even going up to Hogwarts to look for her.
"It really was an emergency Ted," she had said to her angry husband. "I would've contacted you if I could've gotten away."
Ted had grumbled something incomprehensible.
"I'm sorry," said Andry lamely.
"What did you expect me to tell Tasha and Hermione?" he asked.
"I'd hoped you'd make up something," she started tentatively.
"I believe they're a bit smarter than that. They can tell when I'm worried." He had given her a sideways glance. "And I'm guessing there's a bit more to this emergency you haven't told me yet."
Andry had nodded. It was the last thing that she had wanted to do, but it was necessary. She didn't think she could live with herself if she left Harry alone with a magic-less Alex and Sirius Black out to kill him.
"The patient needs protection, at least," she added quickly, "until Dumbledore can set something up for him so he'll be safe."
Something had clicked in Ted's face at that moment, and Andry knew she had another problem. How would she explain to Dumbledore that her husband knew Harry Potter had been the emergency?
Explaining the situation to Ted had been easier than she had thought after he figured out it was Harry she had to protect. He even offered to help, but Andry had to be the one to administer the potions to Alex and Harry.
She only left Harry when Ted could watch him while he slept. That was when she saw the girls and the new addition to the family.
"A dog," she had confronted Ted. "You let them keep a dog."
"He was starving," said Ted. "And Tasha seems to really like him. She needs a companion."
Andry sighed. Ted had always been a sucker for animals. She was startled as Alex started coughing loudly. She moved towards him, but he settled before then, and opened his eyes.
"Hey," he said hoarsely. "What's been going on?"
A/N: A little rushed, I know. I'm nearing the ending, but I'm not quite there yet. What happened to Alex will be explained in Resolution...well, almost. I think probably two chapters. Or one chapter and an epilogue. Please review!