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Daughter of the Moon - Thanks for the idea. I've used it in this chapter. Please let me know what you think. :)

Chapter 35: Aftermath

'… Ennervate! … Enner –'

'Sirius! Stop! He's waking up.'

'Harry? Harry, can you hear me?' asked a familiar voice.

Pain pulsed through his body. His throat was tight… too tight. He couldn't seem to manage to draw enough oxygen into his screaming lungs; his chest was on fire; his arm throbbed dreadfully.

'Harry, please look at me. I need to know how you feel. Are you okay?'

With his remaining strength, Harry forced his eyes open.

Sirius was bending over him, face alabaster white. 'Harry! You really gave us a scare… Harry? Harry, what –'

He broke off abruptly, for Harry had reached up and clutched a handful of Sirius' robes in a weak grip. 'S-siri-us,' he slurred. 'C-can't… c-can't…'

But he couldn't finish. The pain, exhaustion and lack of oxygen were too much for him. Harry's body went limp; his hand released Sirius's robes and fell to the ground; his eyes closed as his head lolled backward. No breath escaped his lips.

It was the oddest sensation, as though he were floating invisible and weightless watching the chaos unfold below. Dumbledore, Remus and Moody were huddled around Emily's unconscious form, their wands flicking through the air furiously. Aurors bustled around, binding the masked group in coarse ropes and leading them out of the room. With a jolt of shock, Harry noticed his own inert body lying on the cold polished floor surrounded by Sirius, Ron and Hermione. Lissa was sitting a couple feet away, head bowed and panting. What was going on?

'Sirius, he's not breathing!' Hermione screamed, tears running down her face.

Ron went deathly pale. 'Do something!' he yelled at Sirius.

'Ouch! Lissa, what are –'

The small girl shoved them aside with surprising strength, knelt beside Harry and extended both hands toward him. Once again, her eyes blazed a brilliant blue and an aura of power throbbed around them. Magic was thick in the air.

Those nearby gasped as a blindingly bright stream of blue light emerged from Lissa's palms and extended until it reached Harry's chest; a second light, a gleaming silver, joined the blue, also originating from Lissa's hands. The different coloured beams began to twist around each other tightly, looking like a blue and silver candy cane. A hint of green appeared at Harry's end. It too, began to wrap itself around the other beams as it edged its way slowly upward.

Harry felt something tugging at him. He fought against it. Below him, he saw Lissa begin to tremble from exertion. Her gentle voice reached his ears.

*It's okay, Harry. It's Lissa and Ben. Don't fight us.*

Lissa's body was now shaking violently; her face was damp with perspiration and her breathing laboured. Harry saw Sirius's tortured expression as the man looked between Emily, Harry and Lissa.

He reached out to touch his daughter's shoulder. 'Come on, Lissie. You can do it!'

The green strand was still crawling toward Lissa's hands. Harry could feel himself slowly sliding backward; the scene below him was beginning to grow faint.

'Hold on, Ben…' Lissa was murmuring under her breath. 'Just a little longer…'

Sirius went, if possible, even more pale, obviously having thought Ben too far away to be able to contribute. Now four members of his family were in danger, with him powerless to do anything.

Lissa swayed; Sirius put a hand to her waist to steady her. Waves of affection and tranquillity pulsed through the room, so strong that everyone could feel them. They could hear snatches of a conversation between the threesome.

'… can feel him again, Ben!'

'Liss? … Ben? … What's going on?'

'Liss, I-I c-can't… much l-longer…'

'… just a little longer… memories… family… increase strength…'

The green thread increased the speed of its ascent; it was almost at the top. By now, Harry could barely make out people's faces. Their voices were faint, as though coming from a badly tuned radio.

'He's breathing again!'

There was a dull thud of a body hitting the ground.

'Lissa? Lissa?'

'… exhausted… carry… Portkey… meet…'

'Pomfrey… can't… no way… know…'

'… Hogwarts…'

The voices continued to fade out entirely.

'Shocking business… shocking… miracle no one died… never would have thought it – Fudge, of all people… You'll be pleased to hear that he's being kept in a stronghold deep within the Ministry until a trial is arranged. If it weren't for that little girl… well, I shudder to think… remarkable powers… and for those children to create a bond of such magnitude at their age! Extraordinary! Of course, I understand that it needs to be kept as quiet as possible. I've taken the liberty of speaking to the Aurors who witnessed it. They'll keep mum or they're out of a job with no references.'

'Thank you, Minister Bones.'

'I'll try to wangle it so that you don't have to appear in court for Fudge's trial. I daresay you've had quite enough of trials, Mr Black. Your testimonies and perhaps a memory or two should suffice. They can wait though, whenever you're ready.'

'I'd appreciate that, Minister.'

Harry lay listening with his eyes tight shut. He felt very groggy. The words he was hearing seemed to be travelling very slowly from his ears to his brain, so that it was difficult to understand… His limbs felt like lead; his eyelids too heavy to lift… He wanted to lie here, on this comfortable bed, forever…

'What amazes me most is how many followers he managed to collect – how none of us noticed – it's nothing short of abominable, I'm working to get all Ministry employees screened to avoid this kind of thing happening again.'

'That'll certainly cause a lot of ruckas.'

'Yes, but I'm sure I can convince enough people to get the vote passed. Speaking of which, how would you like to resume your old job? You'd have to undergo training of course, but we could use you – Auror Moody has informed me that you were, to quote him, 'of adequate skill and not too annoying to have underfoot' – that's the nicest thing I've ever heard him say about anybody.'

'Thank you, Minister. I'll need to discuss it with my wife… once she awakens…'

'Of course, take as much time as you need… Have there been any changes in Mr. Potter and Mrs. Black?'

'Poppy thinks Harry will wake up any day now… it was close for a while there, but he'll make a full recovery with enough rest… as for Emily, well… we don't know anything for certain…'

There was a pause. Harry's brain seemed to be moving a little faster, and as it did, a gnawing sensation grew in the pit of his stomach…

He opened his eyes. Everything was slightly blurred. Somebody had removed his glasses. He was lying in the dark hospital wing. At the very end of the ward, he could make out Madam Pomfrey emerging from behind a screen. Harry squinted. Someone's dark hair was visible beneath Madam Pomfrey's arm for a moment before she pulled the screens securely closed behind her. A murmur of grave voices could be heard behind it.

A clear mask had been placed over Harry's nose and mouth, continuously providing additional oxygen; he could feel the cool air against his skin. He slowly moved his head over on the pillow. In the bed to his right lay Lissa, with Ben and Laura curled up asleep on either side of her. Moonlight was falling across the bed. Lissa's eyes were open but she looked exhausted. She seemed to be listening for something. When she saw that Harry was awake, a relieved expression smoothed her tense features. She pressed a finger to her lips, then pointed to the hospital wing door. It was ajar, and the voices of Madam Bones and Sirius were coming through it from the corridor outside.

Madam Pomfrey now came walking swiftly up the dark ward to Harry's bed. He turned to look at her. She was carrying several potions, one of which was emitting blue sparks at irregular intervals.

'Ah, you're awake!' she said briskly. She placed the goblets on Harry's bedside table, bustled to the door, and stuck her head out. 'Excuse me, Mr. Black. Potter has woken up.'

Sirius rounded the door in a second. His face was as white and strained as it had been when he had escaped Azkaban. In one swift moment, he had crossed the room to Harry's bed. 'Harry, are you all right?' His hands shook as he reached out to grip Harry's forearms. 'How are you feeling?' he asked more urgently.

Harry tried to answer but his voice didn't seem to work. As the cobwebs in his mind gradually cleared he realised that his throat felt unnaturally tight. Now he was awake, his breathing became less an instinctive action and more a controlled one. When he found he could only take shallow breaths he began to panic.

'Harry?'

He slowly turned his head toward Sirius, still feeling woozy and sore.

'Just take it easy. Small breaths… that's it,' said Sirius anxiously.

Lissa was watching them carefully from where she lay wedged between her younger siblings. 'Is he okay?' she asked softly. Harry was shocked to hear how weak her voice sounded.

'Yeah, he just panicked a bit. He's fine now.'

After another failed attempt at speaking, Harry mentally reached out for Lissa. *What happened? Is everyone okay?*

'Sirius, he wants to know what happened,' she murmured tiredly, fighting to keep her eyes open.

Harry looked back at his godfather expectantly. Sirius took a deep breath before launching into the story of how Lissa and Ben saved his life – twice. Harry couldn't contain a smile at Ben pulling a prank in the midst of a serious situation.

'We brought you all back by Portkey,' Sirius continued. 'Tonks came tearing in here about a minute after we arrived; Ben had collapsed just before Lissa, scaring her out of her wits. Since he was so far away from you both he used up a lot of energy maintaining the connection. He's been asleep for over twelve hours.' At Harry's anxious expression he hurriedly added, 'But Pomfrey said he's fine; he just needs a good long rest.'

'Em?' Harry managed to croak out.

Lissa let out a small whimper and glanced toward the screened bed at the end of the ward. Sirius' eyes were suddenly over bright. 'She was hit. We don't know if –' His voice broke. He turned away.

Harry's heart began to race and his breathing quickened, his swollen and damaged windpipe failing to bring him the gulps of air he was fighting to take in. As breathing became twice as difficult, his panic increased tenfold. Black spots crept across his vision. He heard raised voices around him.

'Poppy!'

'What – Oh, my! Accio Potion! Lift his head, Mr. Black.'

An arm slipped underneath his shoulders and lifted him into a sitting position. The mask was snatched off his face and something was forced to his lips. He struggled weakly against it, but a warm liquid trickled down his throat regardless, burning slightly on the way down. Caught off guard, Harry started to choke until a hand gently massaged his throat forcing his swallow reflex to take over.

Almost immediately a feeling of irresistible calm spread through him. It was a calm so complete it spread from the centre of his chest to the tips of his fingers and toes. Someone replaced the oxygen mask. A hand touched his wrist, feeling for his pulse. He heard Madam Pomfrey scold Sirius for upsetting her patients, before marching off in a huff, muttering angrily to herself.

When she was safely out of earshot, his godfather spoke again. 'Em's a fighter, Harry. She'll get through this.' Sirius looked as though every word was causing him pain. 'Dumbledore called in an old friend from St. Mungo's who's an expert in Curse Reversal. If anyone can save her, it's Healer O'Bryan.'

Harry nodded. A kind of numbness and a sense of complete unreality were upon him, but he did not care; he was even glad of it. So tired every bone in his body was aching, he wanted nothing more than to sit here, undisturbed, for hours and hours, until he fell asleep and didn't have to think or feel anymore.

There was a rustle of sheets as Laura shifted on the bed beside her older sister. The little girl gave a huge yawn and blinked her blue eyes several times. 'Issa,' she mumbled drowsily as she sat up.

'Hey, Laura,' said Lissa as she pushed the child's sleep-tousled hair away from her face.

Laura responded by trying to clamber over Lissa and Ben; the former winced as a small knee was thrust none too gently into her stomach. Sirius scooped the toddler up into his arms; a faint smile appeared on his face when she rested her head against his chest and beamed up at him, mercifully oblivious to their worry and distress.

To Harry and Lissa he said, 'You two should try to get some sleep. You look like you could use it.'