Disclaimer I do not own Harry Potter and everything recognisable belongs to JK Rowling. Also this story is inspired by 'A Shattered Prophecy' by Project Dark Overlord.

Chapter Fifty Five

"Wait," Ginny said. "That's not fair. It wasn't your fault Death Eaters followed you. Why is Harry blaming you?" she asked.

"He has every right to blame me," Damien said miserably. "He could have been captured, or worse, killed because I was too stupid to realise I was being tailed by Death Eaters."

Hermione wrapped an arm around Damien. "You didn't know you were being followed. It's not your fault."

But Damien only shook his head. "I should have been more careful. I should have checked if anyone was watching me when I went to meet Harry. Harry's right, how could I have not noticed I was being followed by three men?" He dropped his head into his hands. "If I had been more vigilant, I would've realised I was being watched by Death Eaters."

"You're starting to sound like Mad-Eye Moody," Ron joked. "No one is that aware of their surroundings, Damy."

"Harry is," Damien said, lifting his head to look at Ron. "When he was at Hogwarts, he knew exactly how many Aurors were watching him at all times, and exactly who was following him around. Despite being on the run from the Ministry, the Order and Voldemort, Harry came to St Mungos to help dad but he didn't let anyone else know he was there. Harry's always careful, always alert, always aware." Damien stopped and closed his eyes, shaking his head. "I let him down," he said quietly. "Harry was vulnerable after donating his core to dad, and he needed me to be just as careful as he usually is. I should have made sure it was safe before going to see him."

"What's done is done," Ron said. "Beating yourself up about it isn't going to do anyone any good." He looked around his room, at the two girls seated on either side of Damien. "We should focus on keeping Harry hidden here until he fully recovers. Then he can decide if he wants to continue hiding out in the muggle world or not."

The other three nodded their heads.

"Harry was making good progress with his recovery, but those Death Eaters' attack has left him with more injuries," Ron continued. "There's no broken bones, which is good, but there's a lot of bruising around his neck." Ron suppressed the shudder that came at the memory of the thick rope the Death Eaters had tied around Harry's neck. "We are going to need some bruise-healing salve. I don't think Mum has a lot–"

"I can sneak a tub from home," Damien said. "Mum has a stock of it."

"Great." Ron turned to Hermione, "Harry's gonna need to keep taking the muggle medicines you've been giving him, they seem to take their time but they do work."

"I've got all of them in my bag," Hermione said. "He could probably do with some pain killers right about now," she added thoughtfully.

"And some food," Ginny said. "God only knows when he last ate anything."

Ron nodded. "Good point," he said. "There's plenty of leftovers from last night's dinner. I'll get a plate ready."

Damien got to his feet. "I'll take it to him."

Ron paused. "Maybe it's better if one of us take it to him," he said. "Harry's pretty pissed at you. Let him cool down before you go to see him again."

Damien looked ready to argue, so Ginny stepped forward. "Why don't you floo home and bring the bruise-healing salve?"

Damien didn't say anything. He just nodded and moved to the fireplace in Ron's room.

xxx

Ginny knocked on the door at the top of the stairs leading to the room above their garage. It was more out of courtesy than anything else. But Harry didn't call for her to enter, so Ginny cleared her throat.

"It's me – Ginny," she announced. "I'm coming in."

She opened the door as quietly as possible, in case Harry was sleeping. He'd had been through such an horrendous ordeal at the hands of those Death Eaters, and he was still recovering from donating his core to his dad, it wouldn't be surprising if Harry had fallen into an exhausted sleep. But when Ginny entered the room she found Harry awake and sitting on the bed. He was at the very edge of the bed, his head in his hands, but he looked up the moment Ginny came in. His eyes were blood-shot, the left eye particularly bloodied: the blood vessels must have burst when the Death Eaters were choking him with the rope. The reddish bruise around his throat stood out horribly against his paler-than-usual skin. His split lip was no longer bleeding but still looked awfully raw and painful. Ginny felt an ache in her chest at the sight of him so badly beaten up. She tried not to stare too much at him – knowing how much Harry hated the attention – as she walked over, carrying a plate of last night's dinner.

"I thought you might be hungry," she said as she set the plate of chicken pasta onto the bed, next to him.

Harry didn't say anything, and he didn't as much as glance at the food.

Ginny reached into her pocket and pulled out the bottle of pain killers Hermione had given her and the tub of salve Damien had retrieved from Godric's Hollow.

"Figured you'd need these," she said, holding out both items.

Harry reached over to take the pain killers first. Ginny picked up the bottle of water they had left for him on the floor beside his bed and offered it to him. Harry took it without a word, and with trembling hands, began to uncap the pain killers. Ginny waited a moment or two, watching him silently, but Harry was struggling to open the bottle of pills; his hands were shaking so badly.

"Okay," she said as she slowly knelt to the floor before him. "I know that you don't need help," she started. "Before you start shouting at me that you're more than capable of looking after yourself, how about if, just this once –" she gently took the bottle of water and the pain killers from him –"you let me help you."

Harry didn't speak, but just looked at her. He gave a very small, brief nod. Ginny pushed down on the cap and twisted it to open the muggle medicine bottle and dropped two tablets in Harry's palm. Harry swallowed the pills before Ginny could open the bottle of water for him. She didn't say anything. She could only imagine how much pain Harry was in; it was no wonder he was so quick to take the pills. Her eyes pulled to the bruising around his throat.

Ginny uncapped the small tub of salve and held it out to Harry. Again, he took it without comment. Ginny's gaze flickered from Harry's face to his throat and then to his bloodied eye before looking away. Harry wasn't much of a talker, but his complete silence seemed to suggest it wasn't a matter of choice this time; his throat was so badly bruised he couldn't speak.

"I know you're mad at Damy," Ginny started quietly. "You must know that he didn't mean–" she stopped abruptly when Harry raised a hand, gesturing for her to stop. He looked away from her, anger in his expression. Ginny waited a moment before gently trying again. "He feels terrible."

Harry shot her a glare, which felt harsher than usual because of his blood-shot eyes. Ginny clicked her mouth shut and nodded. Perhaps right now wasn't the right time to fight Damien's case. Harry had been tortured and very nearly killed by Death Eaters; Death Eaters who had only found him because they had been following Damien.

xxx

For the next two days Harry stayed in the room above the Weasley's garage, slowly recovering from his various injuries. His throat had healed tremendously but he still couldn't speak without pain.

Damien flooed to the Burrow every day to see Harry, and tried to earn his brother's forgiveness. But no matter what he said, or what he promised, Harry didn't respond.

It was on the morning of the third day, while Damien sat on the bed next to Harry's, telling him all about the new ingenious way he was going to travel to meet Harry in the future – he was going to use the invisibility cloak – that both boys heard a familiar voice calling from outside the room.

"Damien? Damy?"

Harry snapped his head around to look at Damien, his eyes widening in recognition.

"Oh crap!" Damien whispered. "Dad."

"Damien? Are you up here?" James's voice called, his footsteps on the stairs on the other side of the door.

Harry made a wild gesture for Damien to move towards the door, and scrambled out of bed himself.

Damien was halfway across the room, when the door rattled by James's knock. "Damien? You in here?"

Harry dashed forward and only just managed to wedge himself behind the door before it started to open.

"Damy?" James poked his head in just as Damien reached the door.

"Dad!" Damien's voice betrayed his panic. He told himself to calm down, and drop his voice a few octaves, and tried again. "What – um – what are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same," James said, pushing the door wider by just a crack and scanning the bare room.

Harry had to hold his breath. He was mere inches away from his dad, standing side-by-side, only the door between them. He was sure if he as much as breathed a little louder, his dad would find him.

James frowned at the unmade beds, and turned his eyes back on Damien.

"I was just – I was hanging with Ron and then he went into the house and I – I kinda needed some... some time to myself," Damien made up on the spot. "So I was just...sitting...here," Damien said, fighting not to look a bare fraction to his right and see Harry. He forced himself to keep his eyes on his dad. "No one comes here any more, ever since Fred and George got their shop. So it's – it's a good place to come for some peace and quiet."

James was looking at him with a strange expression. "Damy," he started, "I know why you're really here."

Damien knew there was no way that could be true, so he frowned and pretended to be confused. "I don't – I don't know what you mean. I just told you why I'm here–"

"You're here because of Harry," James said.

From the corner of his eye, Damien caught Harry's startled expression. It was with everything that Damien possessed that he stopped himself from looking over at Harry. Instead he stared at his dad.

"What?" he asked.

James reached into his pocket and pulled out a rolled copy of the Daily Prophet. He unfurled it and held it up for Damien to see. It was from two days ago, the headline reading, 'The Dark Prince's Attack On St Mungo's Hospital!'

Damien had read the article the morning the paper arrived. The healer had stayed true to his word and reported Harry's visit to the Ministry after seven days. As usual, the story was twisted and turned into an ugly version of the actual events; in which Harry came to kill the injured Aurors and was thwarted by the Ministry's excellent security forces. In was maddening to no end how much the newspaper changed the real story, but Damien wasn't surprised. Minister Fudge wanted everyone to believe the Dark Prince was an evil soulless assassin of Voldemort's. It wouldn't do to reveal the truth; that Harry had come to the hospital to save a life, not take several of them.

Damien looked up from the paper to meet his dad's eyes.

"I know you're upset because of what's written in here," James said. "Truth is, I'm just as upset. I have reported the article, demanding a retraction, and for the truth to be told; that Harry came to save my life, and that he donated his core in order to do it." He rolled the paper and pocketed it again.

"I know you're angry that the papers are lying about Harry," James said. "I know that's why you're up here, on your own, so you can sort out your head and deal with everything. You've been coming here ever since the article was published." James reached out to touch Damien's shoulder. "I know you're worried about Harry. I am too. I haven't forgotten what the healer said about Harry being weakened because of what he – what he did for me." Damien could hear the guilt in his dad's voice. He knew Harry could hear it too. "I know he's vulnerable and I know that's frightening to imagine, what with the whole world out there hunting him–" James stopped and forced out a breath, calming himself. "But I promise you, Damy, I will find him. I will bring Harry home and I'll keep him safe."

Damien's eyes flickered to Harry, just for a second, but it was long enough to see his heartbroken expression. Harry leant his head back to rest on the wall and closed his eyes. Even Damien's brief glance was enough to see Harry was fighting with himself to keep hidden.

"I don't want you to bottle up your feelings like this," James continued, oblivious to his eldest son's presence and pain. "You know that you can come to me and your mum to talk. Both of us are worried about you."

Damien felt awful. His parents were already full to the brim with anxiousness over Harry, they didn't need to fret over him too. He had been sneaking off to the Burrow to see Harry, but his parents thought his disappearances was because he was struggling to cope with what was happening with Harry. Damien couldn't even reassure his parents that he was okay, not without telling them the truth about helping Harry.

"I'm sorry," he said, and meant it sincerely. "I didn't mean to worry you and mum. I was just trying–"

"To deal with everything, I get it," James finished for him. "You don't have to apologise. You just have to spend less time on your own from now on."

Damien nodded.

"Come on," James said, tilting his head. "I took the afternoon off from work so we can spend it together, as a family."

Damien's heart skipped a beat. He looked to Harry again, not any longer than a few seconds. Harry looked torn, like he was putting everything he had into staying where he was. It was clear to see how desperately Harry wanted to step out and reveal himself, and go home with them, to be with his family.

Damien wanted to reach out and take Harry's arm, to take him home so for the first time, their family could truly be together. But he couldn't do that. Not now. Not today. Not until the Ministry stopped being Harry's enemy. No matter what his dad said, he wouldn't be able to keep Harry safe. Damien knew that, and he knew Harry knew it too.

With great effort, Harry nodded at Damien; a silent command for him to go. Damien didn't want to leave Harry on his own, not when he looked this vulnerable. He wanted to stay by his side, but he couldn't refuse his dad either. What excuse could he use?

With a heavy heart, and a last fleeting look to Harry, Damien walked out the door, closing it softly behind him. James smiled and put an arm around Damien's shoulders as they walked downstairs, telling Damien all about the nice family dinner they were going to have. But all Damien could think about was his brother, who he had left on his own, still hidden behind the door.

xxx

Damien knew he was risking it, but he couldn't wait until tomorrow to see Harry. He used the charm Ginny had shown him to create the illusion that he was sleeping in his bed, before flooing to the Burrow, arriving in Ron's room.

Ron was in his bed, fast asleep. Damien hoped the same was true for the rest of the Weasleys. But to his dismay, he found Mr Weasley in the living room, dozing off in his chair, a book resting on his chest. Damien reached into his pocket and pulled out the invisibility cloak. Slipping it on, Damien took his time to quietly sneak past Mr Weasley, who was more asleep than awake.

Damien used the back door in the kitchen to finally get outside. He took off the cloak and stuffed it back into his pocket as he ran to the garage. He didn't bother knocking on the door, just pushed it open to quickly get into Harry's room.

"I'm so sorry, Harry," he started as he hurried in, but then stopped short. Harry wasn't in the room. Neither were any of Harry's medicines.

Damien could have told himself Harry had snuck into Godric's Hollow for some reason or another but he didn't bother lying to himself. He knew the moment he walked into the room. Truthfully, he had feared it when Harry had silently gestured for him to go with their dad earlier today.

Harry was gone.

And he wasn't coming back.