CHAPTER 37

She couldn't see a thing, her eyelids were too heavy, even if she tried, Ginny couldn't open her eyes. The last thing she remembered was drinking Theodore's potions and some kind of explosion. She didn't know where she was now, she knew she was lying down on some bed because it felt soft, everything was way too quiet. Her whole body hurt, she tried to move but she only achieved to yell in pain.

"Ginny!" she heard someone call her on the side, she didn't recognised the voice, the pain was too much and didn't let her concentrate on anything else.

Harry was desperate; he didn't know what to do. It was evident that Ginny was suffering and there was nothing he could do to make it better. Besides, every time he tried to touch her, she seemed to be in even more pain. The healers were also at lost, they had never had a case comparable to this one. The only positive thing was that they had succeed in reintroducing Ginny's magical core in her body. The problem was that her health hadn't improved much. It had already been three days since she had been rescued. All that time she had been in, although not completely unconscious, an out of reality state of mind.

"Mr Potter! I've already told you many times that you are not allow to be in here. Only family is permitted, and even then, just on visitation hours." Healer Helsing chastised him when he saw Harry sitting next to Ginny's bed.

"And how many times do I have to tell you that I don't care?!" he said angrily. "Why isn't she getting better? She's been like this for days! Can't you see she is suffering?! You're supposed to be the best healer in the country! Do something!"

"We're doing the best we can." He said in a calm manner, already used to dealing with families fury in his profession.

"It's not enough!" he shouted when he heard another one of Ginny's sob of pain.

"Mr Potter, please leave the room." Healer Helsing uttered trying to make him go through the door. Harry gave up and did what he was told. He couldn't stand another one of Ginny's agony moans, it broke his heart every time he heard one.

"Harry! What were you doing in there? You know you are not allowed to be inside." Hermione recriminate him when she saw him exiting the room. She and Ron had arrived to the hospital while he was with Ginny.

"I don't care. They aren't doing anything!"

"That's not true. I've talked to the healers and Dalton, the Potions Master, and they are trying the best they can. It's just a difficult case."

"It's not a case! It's Ginny!" he yelled as if that justified everything.

"Harry, please take a breath. Ginny is the strongest woman we now, she is going to be okay. Besides, Terry just told me they are preparing a potion that might help her." Ron added giving him a pat on the back and forcing him to sit on a chair in the Waiting Room.

"What? How? When are they testing it?" he asked urgently.

"They'll test it in the afternoon. I didn't understand that well what it involves. I think they succeeded in taking a sample of Nott's potion from Ginny's body and they studied it. Terry told me it was one of the most complicated potions he had ever seen and that it was made up from many poisons and dark spells. It's a miracle Ginny is still alive." Ron explained with a shudder. Harry paled at hearing what Nott had made Ginny drink.

"I talked to Neville. He'll be bringing Haley, Thomas and Emma." Hermione informed breaking the heavy silence.

"I don't know if it's such a great idea for them to see their mother in this condition." Harry didn't want the children to see Ginny in pain, it wouldn't do them any good.

"Harry, they are really worried. It had been days since they last saw her. I think they won't believe she is alive until they see her with their own eyes. They don't care about what we have to say, they just want to see their mother."

"I think Ginny wouldn't like her children to see her like that."

"They are her children, mate. I think we should let them." Ron told him trying to make him see that it wasn't Ginny's or Harry's choice but the children's.

"Dad!" Emma's greeting interrupted them. She ran to Harry's arms, Haley following her. Thomas was next to Neville, not knowing what to do.

"Hadry, where's mom?" Haley asked him in a fearful little voice.

"In that room." He pointed at the doors he had exited just a few minutes before. "Let me find out if you can visit her now."

Harry got up from his seat and opened the doors, sticking his head in. The healers told him that the children would be able to visit their mother at night, since they were working on her at the moment. They were preparing her to try the potion, they speculated that she would be out of it the whole afternoon. If everything went according to plan, they'd be able to see an improvement that night.

The answer they got wasn't well received by the young Notts. They wanted to see their mother at that precise moment, they had been waiting for a long time already. But, they couldn't do anything, only sit still in the Waiting Room.

It was silent. Neville, Ron and Hermione had left already. It was only Harry and the children. Haley had fallen asleep on Thomas arms and he was distractedly watching outside through the window. Emma was stuck to Harry's side, her head on his shoulders, trying to stay awake but failing many times. If it had been another situation, Harry would have felt fortunate to have his daughter near him in that way.

"Mr Potter." Healer Helsing interrupted his thinking.

"Yes?"

"Mrs Nott children can enter her room." At hearing that, Thomas jumped up from his seat, a sleeping Haley still on his arms, and Emma opened wide her eyes, trying to wipe out her tiredness.

"How is she?" the oldest daughter asked.

"Stable. She's awake at the moment, in pain, so I don't want you touching her."

"Did the potion work?" Thomas hopefully asked.

"We're still analysing the result, they are good but we don't want to get too confident about them. Your mother's case a unique one and anything could happen."

"But she is okay, right?" Harry inquired feeling more relieved because Ginny was finally awake.

"For now, yes. Do you want to go in?" the healer asked Emma, Thomas and Haley.

"Let's go" Harry told the children and started walking to the doors.

"You can't go in, Mr Potter, only family is allowed." The man stopped him before he could make another step.

"Of course he's going in! He is my dad and mom's boyfriend, he brought her here. He is family." Emma firmly said taking Harry's hand in hers.

"Mrs Nott, I cannot allow that, Hospital Policies."

"Fuck those stupid rules. Harry is going in. Mom wants him there and us too." Thomas said with such powerful tone that he left the healer speechless. He then opened the door with his free hand making way for Harry and Emma to enter the room.

The four people walk into the place and got closer to Ginny's bed. Harry noted that she looked better than the last few days, her face had lost some of the paleness. It was still obvious she was in pain, though she was trying not to show it in front of her children. Harry couldn't stopped the tears of emotion that fell down his face at seeing her awake.

"Gin." He whispered when their eyes met.

"Mom!" Emma and Thomas exclaimed at the same time, both ran to her side. Haley woke up at that and slipped down of her brother's arm and launched herself at her mother to hug her. Ginny almost let out a scream of pain but managed to only let a growl out of her mouth. She was sore but didn't want her daughter to stop hugging her.

"Haley! Don't touch her! The healer said it hurts her." Emma reprimanded her, she had seen and heard her mother when Haley hugged her.

"I'm sorry mommy, I wanted to say hello to you." The little girl apologised, her eyes watery.

"It's okay, Haley. I loved your hug." Ginny calmed her down. Her voice was hoarsely, it took a lot of effort to speak.

"How are you feeling, Gin?" Harry asked while grabbing Haley upon his arms.

"Lousy." she answered with a little smile.

"Do you need anything? Maybe some water? To arrange your pillows better? Anything you want just say it and I'll do it" Harry spoke with urgency, we wanted to do something to make her feel better.

"Just you. All of you." She answered giving them another smile.

"The healer said you'll get better soon." Thomas said trying to give her mother some encouragement.

"He said your case is unique." Emma added.

"I don't doubt it. What happened exactly? I remember the Imperius, drinking the potion and feeling like I was burning inside and then an explosion, maybe?" Ginny asked slowly, between breaths.

"After you and… him" he said the last word with loathing. "disappeared, I grabbed Haley and went to look for Harry and told him everything. We stayed with Headmistress McGonagall and he went to search for you."

"Neville invoked the DA" Harry continued with the tale. "Seamus, Dean, Hannah, Luna, Rolf, Ron, Hermione, your whole family and many others, came to help with the rescue. Rolf thought about this incredible plan to use the Thestrals to locate you and it worked. We found you in an old creepy house. Your brother, father, Seamus, Neville and I went inside and found you in the basement."

"What happened with Theodore?" Ginny asked a little bit fearful. Her children's eyes got full of tears without a single one falling down. Harry's ones became hard and he stood straight.

"He isn't going to be a problem anymore. Your father made sure of it." He finally answered.

"He is… dead." Thomas said with difficulty, his voice breaking down at the end and his tears finally running down his face. His sisters and mother weren't able to resist it anymore and too started crying.

Ginny made a superhuman effort and sat up in the bed. She opened her arms for her children to get closer for her to hug them. They did it carefully, not wanting to hurt their mother but really wanting to be between her arms. Five whole minutes they stayed like that, Harry observed them not knowing what to do, he felt out of place.

"I know that I shouldn't be crying but… I don't know." Thomas said trying to recover his composure and cleaning his face. Ginny gazed at him with tenderness.

"You can cry all you want, Tommy, he was your father after all."

"Barely." Her son growled.

"You have good memories with him, like when he taught you how to make Stink Pellets, or when he took you to the Ancient Magic Exhibition. You can cry for the father he used to be, for the one he wasn't, and for the one you hoped he would have been. I know that these last years he wasn't that great but, that doesn't mean you can't mourn his death, Tommy. I do." Ginny ended in grief, making Harry feel guilty for the ex-Slytherin's death. Even though he hadn't been the one to throw the final blow, he had been the one who threw the reductor cursed weakening and leaving Nott at everybody else mercy. Arthur Weasley had been the one who killed him. From what Neville had told Harry, Ginny's father had let out all his anger on Nott. He had thrown curse after curse hurting him as much as he could and finally ending Nott's life with the Avada Kedavra.

Ginny knew that Theodore's death was for the better. She wouldn't have to worry so much about her children's security nor her own, she could finally start living again. However, a part of her would have rather he had been arrested and not killed. She had loved him, he had been her husband, the father of two of her children, the one who had been there for her at a very difficult moment in her life. Even after having heard everything Theodore had confessed when he kidnapped her, there was still a part of Ginny that wished he had had the opportunity to regret his actions and ask for forgiveness.

"Well." Healer Helsing interrupted them. "It's time for your mother to rest, so if you please leave the room."

Harry was about to replied that they would stay a little bit more but when he saw Ginny's eyes trying to stay open he gave in. She was making a great effort to be awake for her children and not to show her soreness. Harry could see her doing some grimaces in pain. So he and the three children left the room.