Hello all,

I'll make this quick as I'm not feeling well and I really need to get some rest. Thanks to all my reviews, to my beta fragonknight01, To my sectary and to Dray-Kun.

Chapter 28: Waking

Sunlight burned against Theo's closed eyes and the small teen groaned, annoyed by the unwanted light. Slowly honey brown eyes fluttered open and the Slytherin was able to see exactly where he was.

He wasn't in the dorms but the hospital wing, sleeping on one of the narrow beds. Beside him Sin slept on peacefully, unaware that Theo was awake. Smiling a little, Theo looked around the room as last nights events flooded back into his mind. Pomfrey had allowed them, most reluctantly, to stay in the hospital wing with Harry.

Weasley and Hermione were curled on one bed, while the other Weasleys slept on other beds around the room. Even Draco was there, sleeping in an awkward position. He was still seated on a chair but his head was rested beside Harry's hand. Lupin was sleeping in the bed on the other side of Black's still body.

Turning slightly Theo realized just how uncomfortable he was in his costume. He tried to wriggle out of Sin's grip but the Harpy tightened his hold. Giving a small annoyed huff Theo thought about his other options. Deciding on the most obvious action (besides waking Sin) He grabbed a pillow, wedged it between them and then rolled off the bed.

He smirked as Sin's arms curled around the pillow. Turning, Theo decided to head back to his dorm that was until a horse voice caught his attention.

"No…"

Theo turned to Black's bed. The escaped convict's face was scrunched up, pain marring his features as his body twisted and turned. Cautiously Theo walked over, "Um….Mr. Black?"

Black gave a groan. "Remmy…"

Theo took this to be Lupin and he looked over at the Werewolf, who was still sound asleep, oblivious.

"Mr. Black, Mr. Lupin is here." Theo called gently, making his way closer.

"The….baby…" Black was muttering. He seemed to be talking to someone who wasn't Theo. Curiously Theo leant closer. "Don't….the baby…."

"Baby?" Theo asked before he could help himself.

Black's arm flew up, grabbing Theo's wrist in a hard grip. Letting out a shocked scream Theo tried to jump back, trying to dislodge himself but Black held fast. "It's mine! You can't take him!" He screamed at someone.

"Sin!" Theo screamed instinctively, struggling.

The Harpy seemed to have woken (as had everyone else) and rushed to his side. Sin immediately tugged Black's hand away from Theo's arm then checked to make sure his mate was not damaged unduly.

Theo, panting, looked at Black with a mix of surprise, fear and curiosity on his expressive face.

Lupin was sitting up, looking startled. "What's going on?"

"I…Black was talking about some baby." Theo explained weakly, glancing at Black's writhing body.

Lupin's gaze shifted to Black and pain passed in his eyes. "It's all right; he must just be having nightmares."

Theo nodded and looked at Sin who was standing silently beside him. His body was tense and Theo guessed his Harpy blood was still on alert. "I'm fine." Theo mumbled, embarrassed he had displayed weakness.

Sin wrapped an arm around his shoulders and pulled him close while silently watching a ruffled Pomfrey check Black over. Theo distractedly rubbed at his wrist, far too used to injuries. An angry red mark was already starting to appear.

Draco was standing now and the others had approached, displaying varying degrees of curiosity.

"What happened?" Hermione asked.

"Black was having a nightmare or something." Theo explained. He had a horrible feeling Black was reliving his worst memories.

By the time Theo finished explaining what had happened, Pomfrey had managed to feed Black a dreamless sleep potion and he was back to sleeping peacefully.

Lupin took up a position beside Black's bed and listened with concern as Theo described what had triggered the outburst.

"I'm gonna go shower." Theo finally muttered, feeling uncomfortable. He was not in Slytherin for nothing; having put together several reactions the others had displayed, he felt as if he had learnt something he should not have.

Sin nodded and walked with him out of the hospital wing. It was only when they had reached the marble staircase that Sin noticed his mate's wrist.

"Did he hurt you badly?" He asked, taking Theo's hand delicately.

"I'm fine, it's nothing." Theo shrugged, allowing him to inspect it. He had not shared his family secrets with Sin and he had no intention of revealing the gruesome details of his abuse.

The Harpy didn't seem satisfied and was about to say something when Lupin appeared.

"Theodore, may I have a word?"

Theo looked at Sin and shrugged. "I'll see you later." He offered, kissing Sin's cheek and following Lupin to a deserted corridor. "Is something wrong?" Theo asked when they were alone. He had never really had a one-on-one with his ex-Professor.

"I just wanted to apologize I guess." His eyes drifted to Theo's wrist. "I hope he didn't hurt you too badly."

Theo shook his head. "Nah, it's nothing, really." He hesitated then went on, "Mr. Lupin, could I ask, what did Black mean? About the baby?"

Lupin's face didn't change, although his amber eyes flickered. He was obviously uncomfortable with the question.

Theo regarded him calmly. He knew it was a personal question he had asked and understood that Lupin was carefully considering an answer. As he gazed at the werewolf he noticed that he was incredibly thin. He also looked quite a bit older than he really was because of the grey streaks in his sandy colored hair. There was also something familiar about Lupin that had Theo confused.

Lupin shrugged. "Sirius and I were together, before he was sent to prison."

Theo interrupted before he could go on. "You had a baby?"

Lupin nodded once. "I didn't think he knew." He stopped as though he had said too much then coughed. "You should go and get some proper sleep."

Theo nodded and was about to turn to leave but decided one last question needed to be asked. "May I ask what happened to your baby?"

There was another long pause and Theo thought Lupin wasn't going to answer until he said quietly, "It is alive."

Seeing as this was about the only explanation Theo was likely to receive, he turned and continued on to the dungeons, his mind swirling with thoughts of Black, Lupin and a secret love child.


While Sirius cried out for his lost child, Harry sat calmly in his own darkened mind, content to rest. His Harpy-Self was still fussing over the after affects of the spell but Harry found he couldn't really be bothered. He felt so detached from the world, from his own body, as though he were floating in nothing.

How much time had passed was far beyond him as he struggled to remember how he had ended up in this bizarre place. There had definitely been children, he could remember that, and a lot of fog, screaming too.

Deciding such things were trivial, Harry just sat in his dark abyss and listened to the faint hum of voices that seemed to come from far away, yet so close. They were familiar, comforting, and Harry listened contently.

"Harry?"

That voice was definitely close and clear. Turning, Harry found himself facing his mother. Today she was dressed in white and seemed to be floating too.

"Mum." Harry smiled. Something about her brought a pang to his heart. He had wanted to help her…he had wanted to…save her! Yes! He had wanted to bring her back but…he had failed. "I-I'm sorry." Harry whispered, his smile vanishing. "I-I tried."

Lily reached out and her arms wrapped around the dream-abyss Harry, comforting and familiar. "I know, honey." They remained like that for a long time. Or at least if felt like a long time since Harry had no way of judging time in this realm.

Finally she let go and they were facing each other once more. "At least you have saved one life." There was something in her voice that quivered. It sounded like…disappointment? Had Harry done wrong in trying to save their lives? In saving Sirius?

"Mum?"

Lily shook her head, her hair swirling around her shoulders in a cloud of dark red. "You should not have done it, Harry." She was scolding him softly.

"I…I wanted you back." Harry whispered. "I wanted all of you back."

"I know you did, Harry, but dealing with Life and Death is not a one-off meeting, you and Sirius will be bound to them, and there are high consequences in dealing with such powerful Elements."

"What do you mean? What will happen?"

"I don't know. I have no idea what they could possibly inflict upon you and Sirius." Lily looked at him seriously. "You have to be careful, Harry."

Harry nodded. He should have listened to Theo, but somehow he knew that if he went back, he would do it again, no matter the consequences. Lily seemed to have read his mind as she smiled sadly.

"Ever the Gryffindor." She murmured.

Harry couldn't help but feel a little pride and happiness, however small, at such a comment from his mother.

"Harry…" A distant voice called.

"You have to wake up." Lily told him, beginning to fade. "Good luck."

She was gone now and Harry was slowly rising, his mind was beginning to lighten and he felt as though he were breaking the surface of a particularly dark lake. His eyes fluttered and he realized just how weak he felt lying on the soft bed.

The lights were dazzling and faintly he made out fuzzy outlines. He could see patches of flaming red and there was some white-blond quite close to him. He then realized that someone was holding his hand. The contact was cool against his flushed and heated skin. He couldn't remember feeling so hot in his life, like living in a fire.

"He's awake!" A voice cried. That definitely sounded like Mr. Weasley.

Harry realized the red blurs were Weasleys just before Molly asked from somewhere to his left, "Oh Harry dear, how do you feel?"

"You scared us there, mate." Ron added. He sounded like he was near Mr. Weasley.

His surroundings began to lighten, but everything was still fuzzy. Someone slipped his glasses on and everything came fully into view. Around him were Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Hermione, Ron, Remus, Madame Pomfrey and Draco. Draco was the one with a death grip on his hand. When Harry smiled at him, Draco loosened his hold and let his thumb lightly graze his knuckles.

Harry was half glad that Theo wasn't present. He felt that crushing guilt would suffocate him if the Slytherin were present now.

Hermione finally spoke up, there were unshed tears glittering in her eyes. Harry's heart skipped a beat to see the dark bruises under them that spoke of missed sleep and anxiety. "Harry, you scared us all so much."

"Sorry." Harry said in a scratching tone. His voice sounded as though he hadn't used it for years. He was still dressed in his costume, as was Draco, but the rest were in clean, fresh clothes. They must have had time to change while Harry was sleeping. That brought up the question of how long he had been sleeping.

Madame Pomfrey came bustling over, making them move aside to allow her through. "How do you feel, Mr. Potter?" She asked while taking his temperature.

"Fine." Harry said, in the same tone.

She tutted as she checked him over, doing her best to work around Draco who had yet to let go of his hand. After administering several potions and casting a few more diagnostic spells she moved away, but not before saying, "you were lucky, Potter."

Harry's eyes drifted to the bed beside his. The curtains had been drawn to limit the view, but he could hear faint sounds. As he watched, Pomfrey disappeared into the gap.

"Sirius?" He asked no one in particular.

"He'll be fine." Remus assured him. "He's resting." There was something in his eyes which suggested otherwise.

"Theo? Sin?" He found asking simple things instead of elaborating was easier.

"Both fine although you gave them a scare." Hermione assured him. "They left about two hours ago."

Harry tried to nod but found his body felt so heavy.

"Also," Ron paused as though reconsidering telling Harry, "Your aunt was here."

Harry gave him a confused look. Aunt Petunia couldn't possibly come into Hogwarts. Besides, why would she care?

"The Queen." Hermione whispered.

Oh! Silvia. Harry felt a strange comforting to know that Silvia had been concerned enough to visit him. He looked at Draco, who hadn't said anything to him since he had woken. The blond was staring at their joined hands silently; his eyes clouded and his expression unreadable. The look on Draco's face scared Harry worse than meeting Death and Life, or facing Voldermort.

A cry alerted them all to Sirius's bed. "NO!" The cry echoed around the room and Pomfrey quickly preformed a silencing charm, drowning out the rest of Sirius's shouts.

"What…?" Harry looked around at them all.

"He's been doing that for a while." Ron explained. "Scared Nott half to death, grabbed him and started shouting stuff." Ron looked secretly pleased that Theo had been scared.

While Hermione scolded Ron, Harry looked to the curtains. What was happening to Sirius? Had he been like that while sleeping? Was this what his mother had warned him of? What Theo tried to prevent?

What had he done?


Well there you are. Please leave a REVIEW! Thanks to my anonymous reviewers:

Nomifairy: Thanks for the review! Lol, yep. I love Sirius and I brought him back because Dray-Kun requested it, but I was happy too, and to get rid of Bella. Oh and she appreciates the note of thanks. Please review!

Tasha: Thanks for the review! I'm glad you loved it; hopefully you loved this chapter too. Please review, much thanks.

Lil Kitsune: Thanks for the review! Nah, I won't discontinue this fic, I love it way too much. Death is freaky, sorry about scary you. Hopefully this was soon enough for you. Please review, much thanks!

Olupotter18: Thanks for the review! Well that sucks. I'm glade you enjoyed it Bella needed to go and Harry proved to help. You'll just have to wait and see. Please review, much thanks!

Tsuri: Thanks for the review! Yep, there are. We've met Arwen but Haveline, but you soon will. Please review, much thanks!

Storm: Thanks for the review! There will be backlash of course, nothing can go down smoothly. Please review, much thanks!

Again to everyone big thanks and PLEASE REVIEW!

With love,

Harpy Wings