Disclaimer: The characters and places and stuff belong to JKR. But for now, they are at my mercy. *evil grin* I'll return them as soon as I'm finished…maybe.
In this chapter: Family and friends, treatment, prayers, and love
~~~
Chapter 8
August 7, 1997
The next morning, Sirius carried Harry up to the infirmary and helped him to get comfortable on a bed. All of the Weasleys were in there, as were Hermione, Remus, Draco, Severus, Albus, Minerva, and Poppy. The matron asked Hermione to explain to Harry what was going to happen, as everybody else had already been told. Hermione sat next to Harry and took one of his hands in her own. He could see the tears in her eyes, and he tried to give her a comforting smile.
"Hi, 'Mione..." he murmured, tiredly.
"Hi, Harry," she said, softly. "Madam Pomfrey and Professor Snape found out yesterday that you have a condition called Ecilam. It causes you to relive non-magic inflicted injuries and incidents through flashbacks. Each time you have a flashback, you're drained of more and more energy. If it goes untreated for too long, you could die. But don't worry about that. We're treating it today."
"What will you do?"
"Professor Snape made a potion which, along with a repeated spell, will enable Madam Pomfrey and me to extract what we're calling 'poison' from your body. We're going to physically remove the pain and the malice.
"The thing is, Harry... It will be very painful, and it may take several hours before the treatment is complete. We won't be able to give you any pain relievers or cast any sleeping spells because it would react with the other potion and spell we're using."
"Pain." Harry chuckled mirthlessly. "Nothing I can't handle..." A tear dripped from Hermione's eye, but she continued to explain.
"The pain is going to be immense for the first hours of the procedure, but it will lessen gradually. We can't have you moving around, but that will probably happen, at least until you wear yourself out. That's where all the stronger people in here come in. Mr. Weasley, Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George, Ron, Draco, Sirius, Remus, Professor Dumbledore, and Professor Snape will all be taking turns holding you down by your arms and legs. Mrs. Weasley, Ginny, and Professor McGonagall will take turns sitting at the head of the bed with water and a rag to cool you off. Madam Pomfrey and I will take care of the spell. We'll take turns chanting when the other is too tired."
"How will you get it out?" Harry wondered, his eyes wide. Hermione held up a small, clear object strapped to her hand.
"Madam Pomfrey and I each have one of these. It's kind of like a magnet that we'll hold above you. Once we start chanting the spell, beams of light--most likely red or black, or a combination of both--will shoot out of your body. That will be the pain leaving your body, and it will be attracted to this little magnet. Once we're sure that the pain has all been extracted and contained in the magnet, we'll cast a spell to destroy it."
"Though it can be reused," Arthur Weasley, Minister of Magic, stated mischievously. "We can send the pain straight back to those who caused it." Harry smiled weakly, then looked back up at Hermione.
"After this is over, you'll still feel sick and tired for a week or so because your body will still be trying to regain its energy. To help with that, Professor Snape will be making a potion for you tonight, and starting tomorrow, you'll have to drink some of it every four hours, except between midnight and eight in the morning."
"Anything else?"
"No, that's all. Are you ready?"
"As ready as I'll ever be," Harry muttered. Hermione touched his cheek with her hand.
"If you have to, scream and cry. If you try to hold it in, it will only make things worse. It will be over in a few hours."
At that, everyone assumed their positions. Molly Weasley sat at the head of the bed, armed with a bowl of water and a rag. Sirius and Remus knelt down on either side of the bed, each holding onto one of Harry's arms. Severus sat at the foot of the bed, holding onto Harry's legs. Poppy brought a light-blue potion over to Harry and helped him to drink it, and then she and Hermione sat on either side of the bed, armed with their 'magnet-thingies,' as Harry called them. Hermione drew the curtain around the area.
Poppy began to speak a Latin phrase over and over, and after a moment, an excruciating pain took over Harry's body. He cried out in anguish and began to struggle against the hands that were holding him down as black beams of light shot out of his body and into Poppy's magnet.
The rest of Harry's loved ones on the other side of the curtain exchanged looks of horror when they heard Harry's screams. Ginny wrapped her arms around her father's waist, burying her face in his robes. Ron sank to the floor, covering his face with his hands. Albus sat in a chair, seeming to be deep in thought. Tears made their way out of Minerva's eyes, and try as he might, Draco couldn't hold his tears back, either. He was reminded of Harry's flashback the day before and how the other boy had been screaming and crying.
Draco needed something to do, other than pace the floor back and forth. So he sat down on the floor, folded his hands, and began to pray. He'd never been taught to pray to any kind of god, so instead, he prayed to his parents, lips moving rapidly as he whispered.
"Mother, Father, if you can hear me..." he whispered almost inaudibly. "We need some help down here, and if there's anything you can do, it would be great. Father, I know you hated all of the Potters, but Harry's in a lot of pain. I know we only started to be civil to one another a couple of days ago, but I think he and I could end up being good friends. Please, if there's anything either of you could do to, I don't know, lessen the pain or anything...do it. Please."
Draco paused as he listened to Harry's screaming and begging for the pain to end. He wiped his eyes and shook his head, then continued to 'talk' to his parents.
"Think about Aidan. Think about how you would feel if I were in Harry's place, if someone had caused me so much pain. You would want to do anything in your power to help me, because you love me. So help him. For me. Because I care about him."
~~~
Hours later, Harry's screams had died out, and he was quietly whimpering as Hermione extracted the 'poison' from his body. Ginny, Bill, Charlie, and Draco were in there with him, though the guys weren't really needed. Harry's pain had lessened to the point where he was no longer struggling; he was too exhausted.
"How are you feeling, Harry?" Charlie asked, gently.
"Like shite," Harry muttered, closing his eyes.
Hermione watched as a tiny beam of black light flew into the magnet, and then there was no more. She let out a breath and collapsed back into her chair, nearly as exhausted as Harry.
"That's all," Poppy stated before calling, "Severus!"
Severus stepped through an opening in the curtain, and Poppy handed the magnets over to him.
"You know how to dispose of those," she told him, yawning.
"I do," Severus confirmed. "And Albus and I know what to do for Harry now that this is finished. Perhaps you and Miss Granger ought to go and rest for a while."
Poppy and Hermione made their way to other beds in the infirmary, while Severus destroyed the 'poison.' He then opened the curtain and saw everyone's eyes on him. Ginny, Bill, Charlie, and Draco left Harry's bedside, and Severus and Albus went over to the boy. Severus knelt down and touched Harry's cheek. Harry opened his eyes and saw Severus, then closed them again. Albus grabbed a small phial of Dreamless Sleep Potion, and Severus poured a bit of it into Harry's mouth.
"There you go," Severus murmured, soothingly. "Just go to sleep for a while. Don't worry about anything. You'll be fine now. Just sleep."
"Mmm-hmm..." Harry mumbled before drifting off to sleep.
Albus turned to everyone else, who were all waiting for news. He gave them all a reassuring smile.
"He'll be just fine," he told them, and everyone let out a sigh of relief. "We've given him a sleeping draught, so he will be sleeping for a while; probably until tomorrow morning. Thank you all for your assistance. You may stay the night, if you wish, or you can go ahead home."
"Before you all leave," Severus announced, "to make the potion that Harry needs, I will require a hair from those of you who love him. It lessens the side effects and makes the potion work faster. But you must truly love him. If you care for him, that doesn't count. If you truly love him, please come over here."
Severus collected hairs from Sirius, Remus, Albus, Minerva, Arthur, Molly, Charlie, Fred, George, Ron, Ginny, Poppy, and Hermione. He thanked them and left the room, and Albus spoke up.
"Mr. Weasley--Charlie--may I speak with you, please?"
Charlie followed Albus and Minerva out of the room. Everyone decided to stay at Hogwarts for the night, except for Arthur and Percy. All of Harry's remaining visitors decided to stay in the hospital wing, so that they would be close to him if they were needed.
Remus conjured sleeping bags and pillows, so that Draco, Ginny, Ron, and the twins could sleep comfortably on the floor, while the other people took the beds. Sirius transformed and crawled up to lay with Harry on the bed. Remus moved another bed to sit next to Harry's and lay down on it, rubbing his hand over Harry's back. Harry turned over in his sleep and leaned into the touch a bit before curling up against Remus's chest. Remus smiled as Sirius whined and crawled over to cuddle up against Harry's back.
"Stop that, Padfoot," Remus murmured. "I'm his favorite this time." Sirius let out a doggy-sigh, and Remus reached over to scratch behind his ears. "Good night, Siri."
~~~
Meanwhile, Severus was in his laboratory, preparing the ingredients for the potion Harry needed. He chopped up the whiteroot fiercely as he thought about how much pain Harry had been in. He hadn't thought it was possible for someone to scream for that long. One would have thought that the boy had been held under the Cruciatus Curse for hours.
"He'll never have a reason to be in that much pain again," Severus muttered softly to himself. "Not if I have anything to say about it."
Severus hadn't been able to stand seeing and hearing Harry in so much pain. During the hours of treatment, he, along with several of the others, had periodically left the room because it had been too much to bear.
I feel bad for Granger and Poppy, Severus thought. They had to stay there the entire time. And Black and Lupin... I could tell that they didn't want to see it, but they stayed because Harry needed them.
It was true: Sirius and Remus had stayed in the room the whole time. When they weren't assisting in keeping Harry still, they were sitting on the bed right on the other side of the curtain, holding onto each other as tears spilled from their eyes.
They love him, probably more than anything else in the world, Severus continued in his mind.
He then realized that it was time to add the hairs. One by one, he dropped each strand in, chuckling a little when he saw that they were mostly red. Finally, after the last hair was added, he sighed and stared at the potion for a moment.
And I think I do, too.
With that, he pulled a strand of his own dark hair from his head and stirred it into the potion.
