Chapter 9
The doctor just stood in the doorway and watched the sight unfold before his eyes.
Black had pulled a chair up to the side of the bed and was gently holding the boys injured right hand in his and speaking quietly to him.
Lupin and Snape had stood by the bed in shock for several minutes before going to the far side of the room to talk without being overheard by either himself or the boys godfather.
His curiosity getting the best of him as he watched the hushed conversation, he strode purposely forward and came to a stop in between the men who had gone silent at his arrival.
"Is it safe to assume that this is the boy you are looking for then?"
"Yes, this is Harry" said Remus miserably while looking back over his shoulder at the boy on the bed before asking the question that had been hanging in the back of his mind since had read the article in the paper, "how serious are the injuries?"
"Quite, he has bruising to his heart and both of his lungs as well as most of his other internal organs. His left lung has been punctured by one of several broken ribs and his right arm and collar bone are almost completely shattered and he will never fully recover use of it. His right leg has been broken in three separate places and his knee is useless as well. The external bruising and lacerations are all quite deep, in fact, I haven't even been able to see any improvement in those injuries at all. It's a miracle he survived all he has been through" he concluded, once again running his hand through his hair.
"Has he waken up at all yet?" asked Snape quietly, afraid of the answer.
"Yes, he regained consciousness about a week and a half ago, he's just sleeping right now"
At this statement, all three men looked at the doctor hopefully.
"Has he said anything about what happened?" asked Remus
"Not while he is awake no, but when he is asleep he seems to suffer from some pretty vivid nightmares and he keeps mentioning the names Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Dumbledore, Sirius, and Remus. Originally we though he was talking nonsense but seeing as the two of you are here, apparently he wasn't" the doctor smiled at this statement.
"Did he say anything else?" asked Snape.
"Well, he kept saying he was sorry and to tell Ginny he loved her, but that's just about all, the rest of the time he was speaking incoherently."
"Why won't he wake up?" asked Sirius while never taking his eyes of the boys face.
"I had the nurse give him a pretty strong sedative so he could get some peaceful sleep. His nightmares are so violent that I'm afraid he'll just cause more damage to himself by thrashing around like he does. He should wake up in a couple hours" the doctor said while giving the men a reassuring smile that faltered as soon as Snape spoke.
"Why did you ask us if he had any tattoos?"
Rather than answering the mans question, he walked up to the bed with the pair following him and pulled back the blankets that covered the boy to his shoulders except for his bandaged right arm which Sirius still held.
He removed the blankets down to the boys waist and gently unbuttoned the cuff of his pajama shirts left arm and rolled the sleeve up as he revealed the underside of the thin pale arm.
Apparently shocked by what they saw, Remus stumbled backward and was caught by Snape before he fell to the floor.
Sirius dropped the boys right hand as though it had suddenly caught fire and jumped to his feet, sending the chair he had been seated on to the floor with a crash.
"Oh my God, Harry" was all Sirius was able to say as he stood in shock and starred at the hideous tattoo on his godsons arm.
Once Remus had regained his footing enough to stand on his own, Snape began to rub his own arm subconsciously as he too starred at the thing the doctor had revealed.
"Doctor, would you please excuse us for a moment?" said Snape as he steered his friends out the door and into the empty hallway.
Doctor Jacobs had not been expecting such a reaction from these men who had seemed like they cared so much for this boy and he was starting to wonder just what the symbol on his arm was meant to represent to these strange men.
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"We need to contact Albus and try to figure what happened to Harry. Remus, could you apparate to somewhere where you can use the floo network and bring the headmaster back here?" asked Snape looking at the man beside him.
"Yeah, I go to the Weasley's home. Author and Molly are trustworthy. Give me about an hour. Sirius, pull yourself together, Harry needs you and we don't know why he has the dark mark, it could very well have been forced on him. Go back in there so he has someone he cares about present when he wakes up" said the man to his best friend.
"You're right Moony, I shouldn't have reacted that way, it is still Harry and we don't know what he's gone through lately. Bring Albus back and maybe he can explain this, be careful" and he left the others to rejoin Harry and the doctor in the room.
Snape nodded his head to the werewolf as he too went back into the room, and Remus walked briskly down the hall and back out into the busy street and headed back toward the Leaky Cauldron where he could safely apparate to the Weasley's and not be overheard as he contacted the headmaster of Hogwarts.
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Due to what all had occurred at Hogwarts that year and the questions surrounding the outcome of the attack on the castle, the Weasley's had invited Hermione to spend the summer at the Burrow to not only be close by at the first sign of any news, but to also keep Ginny company and herself safe.
The past two weeks had passed uneventfully for Ron, Hermione, and Ginny and they spent the majority of their waking hours in the living room talking about innocent topics, reading, or playing chess by themselves.
Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred and George were involved in various aspects with the search for Harry and Voldemort outside of England, and were rarely seen at the Burrow, and if they did come by it was for only a couple of hours to get a quick nap, a home cooked meal and a shower before heading out again to search.
Molly was almost always at the ministry with Arthur assisting him with his work there.
After the battle had occurred, many of the members of the ministry had been discovered to have dark ties thanks to the apprehended death eaters and were therefore in custody awaiting trial or had already been sent to Azkaban by the new minister of magic, an old friend of Dumbledore's named Fletcher.
The former minister, Fudge, had been forced to step down from his position by a public outcry from the entire wizarding community since he had refused to believe that Voldemort had returned and therefore had contributed to the attack on the castle.
These developments caused Author Weasley to be promoted to head of the department of magical cooperation and he was responsible for about a hundred lower ranking employees and was in charge of the search efforts. His wife was more than happy to help him out several days a week since her home was unusually calm after all but two of her children became involved in the search, and she knew that Ginny and Hermione would keep Ron out of trouble.
As Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were sitting around the small living room at the burrow working on their potions essays for the next term, (with no argument from Ron about doing homework so early in the summer) they were discussing how nice it had been to have Professor's Lupin and Black for Defense Against the Dark Arts and how they hoped they would both be returning to teach the next term, the last for Ron and Hermione when a loud banging on the door was heard.
All three pulled their wands, since they were expecting no one, knowing all to well what would happen as soon as they let their guard down.
Ginny got to her feet first and went to open the door, revealing a winded and flushed Remus Lupin.
"Professor! What are you doing here? Did you find something?" she asked in a rush, and she held her breath awaiting his answer.
Her astonished voice at seeing him got the attention of the other two and they came skidding to the door immediately.
"Calm down you three, I'll explain everything in a moment, but could I first use your fire to contact the headmaster, it's important"
"Certainly, come on in" answered Hermione instantly as the pair of red heads still waited expectantly for the man to answer Ginny's question, but he just walked passed them and followed Hermione into the living room.
He took a pinch of the powder from the jar on the mantle and threw it into the flames, and when the fire turned a bright green color, he called Dumbledore's name into the flames.
A few seconds later the call was answered by the old mans smiling head appearing in the midst of the roaring flames.
"Remus, what is it?" he asked, the smile fading from his face once he got a good look at the younger mans anxious face.
"We were right Albus, but there have been some unexpected developments, perhaps you should come to the Weasley's and accompany me back to Sirius and Severus, it would be better to explain this in person."
"Very well, I shall come at once, but while you are waiting for me to arrive, you might want to explain what you have found so far to the students standing behind you there" he said, with a small smile back on his face before his face disappeared from the fire with a small pop.
Remus had forgotten that he hadn't been alone in the room in his haste to speak to the headmaster, and as he turned around to face those behind him, he was met with three very confused but hopeful faces.
"Perhaps you three should take a seat" he suggested, and was surprised when they all did so on the couch, Ginny between Ron and Hermione.
"Please professor, what is going on? What have you found out?" asked Ron hesitantly.
"This morning there was an article in a muggle newspaper about an unidentified boy who wandered into St. Josephs hospital two weeks ago. The boy matched Harry's description so Sirius, Severus, and I went to check it out this morning and the boy in the hospital is Harry" his words were cut off by a startled cry from the couch.
"You found him! How is he? Is he alright? When can he come home?" exclaimed Ginny from her place on the couch, her hands tightly clasped in those of her friend and brother.
Her face was glowing in excitement and there were tears of joy running down her face.
Ron and Hermione appeared to be in shock though, both of them with their jaws hanging open in disbelief at their professors words.
The doctor just stood in the doorway and watched the sight unfold before his eyes.
Black had pulled a chair up to the side of the bed and was gently holding the boys injured right hand in his and speaking quietly to him.
Lupin and Snape had stood by the bed in shock for several minutes before going to the far side of the room to talk without being overheard by either himself or the boys godfather.
His curiosity getting the best of him as he watched the hushed conversation, he strode purposely forward and came to a stop in between the men who had gone silent at his arrival.
"Is it safe to assume that this is the boy you are looking for then?"
"Yes, this is Harry" said Remus miserably while looking back over his shoulder at the boy on the bed before asking the question that had been hanging in the back of his mind since had read the article in the paper, "how serious are the injuries?"
"Quite, he has bruising to his heart and both of his lungs as well as most of his other internal organs. His left lung has been punctured by one of several broken ribs and his right arm and collar bone are almost completely shattered and he will never fully recover use of it. His right leg has been broken in three separate places and his knee is useless as well. The external bruising and lacerations are all quite deep, in fact, I haven't even been able to see any improvement in those injuries at all. It's a miracle he survived all he has been through" he concluded, once again running his hand through his hair.
"Has he waken up at all yet?" asked Snape quietly, afraid of the answer.
"Yes, he regained consciousness about a week and a half ago, he's just sleeping right now"
At this statement, all three men looked at the doctor hopefully.
"Has he said anything about what happened?" asked Remus
"Not while he is awake no, but when he is asleep he seems to suffer from some pretty vivid nightmares and he keeps mentioning the names Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Dumbledore, Sirius, and Remus. Originally we though he was talking nonsense but seeing as the two of you are here, apparently he wasn't" the doctor smiled at this statement.
"Did he say anything else?" asked Snape.
"Well, he kept saying he was sorry and to tell Ginny he loved her, but that's just about all, the rest of the time he was speaking incoherently."
"Why won't he wake up?" asked Sirius while never taking his eyes of the boys face.
"I had the nurse give him a pretty strong sedative so he could get some peaceful sleep. His nightmares are so violent that I'm afraid he'll just cause more damage to himself by thrashing around like he does. He should wake up in a couple hours" the doctor said while giving the men a reassuring smile that faltered as soon as Snape spoke.
"Why did you ask us if he had any tattoos?"
Rather than answering the mans question, he walked up to the bed with the pair following him and pulled back the blankets that covered the boy to his shoulders except for his bandaged right arm which Sirius still held.
He removed the blankets down to the boys waist and gently unbuttoned the cuff of his pajama shirts left arm and rolled the sleeve up as he revealed the underside of the thin pale arm.
Apparently shocked by what they saw, Remus stumbled backward and was caught by Snape before he fell to the floor.
Sirius dropped the boys right hand as though it had suddenly caught fire and jumped to his feet, sending the chair he had been seated on to the floor with a crash.
"Oh my God, Harry" was all Sirius was able to say as he stood in shock and starred at the hideous tattoo on his godsons arm.
Once Remus had regained his footing enough to stand on his own, Snape began to rub his own arm subconsciously as he too starred at the thing the doctor had revealed.
"Doctor, would you please excuse us for a moment?" said Snape as he steered his friends out the door and into the empty hallway.
Doctor Jacobs had not been expecting such a reaction from these men who had seemed like they cared so much for this boy and he was starting to wonder just what the symbol on his arm was meant to represent to these strange men.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"We need to contact Albus and try to figure what happened to Harry. Remus, could you apparate to somewhere where you can use the floo network and bring the headmaster back here?" asked Snape looking at the man beside him.
"Yeah, I go to the Weasley's home. Author and Molly are trustworthy. Give me about an hour. Sirius, pull yourself together, Harry needs you and we don't know why he has the dark mark, it could very well have been forced on him. Go back in there so he has someone he cares about present when he wakes up" said the man to his best friend.
"You're right Moony, I shouldn't have reacted that way, it is still Harry and we don't know what he's gone through lately. Bring Albus back and maybe he can explain this, be careful" and he left the others to rejoin Harry and the doctor in the room.
Snape nodded his head to the werewolf as he too went back into the room, and Remus walked briskly down the hall and back out into the busy street and headed back toward the Leaky Cauldron where he could safely apparate to the Weasley's and not be overheard as he contacted the headmaster of Hogwarts.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Due to what all had occurred at Hogwarts that year and the questions surrounding the outcome of the attack on the castle, the Weasley's had invited Hermione to spend the summer at the Burrow to not only be close by at the first sign of any news, but to also keep Ginny company and herself safe.
The past two weeks had passed uneventfully for Ron, Hermione, and Ginny and they spent the majority of their waking hours in the living room talking about innocent topics, reading, or playing chess by themselves.
Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred and George were involved in various aspects with the search for Harry and Voldemort outside of England, and were rarely seen at the Burrow, and if they did come by it was for only a couple of hours to get a quick nap, a home cooked meal and a shower before heading out again to search.
Molly was almost always at the ministry with Arthur assisting him with his work there.
After the battle had occurred, many of the members of the ministry had been discovered to have dark ties thanks to the apprehended death eaters and were therefore in custody awaiting trial or had already been sent to Azkaban by the new minister of magic, an old friend of Dumbledore's named Fletcher.
The former minister, Fudge, had been forced to step down from his position by a public outcry from the entire wizarding community since he had refused to believe that Voldemort had returned and therefore had contributed to the attack on the castle.
These developments caused Author Weasley to be promoted to head of the department of magical cooperation and he was responsible for about a hundred lower ranking employees and was in charge of the search efforts. His wife was more than happy to help him out several days a week since her home was unusually calm after all but two of her children became involved in the search, and she knew that Ginny and Hermione would keep Ron out of trouble.
As Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were sitting around the small living room at the burrow working on their potions essays for the next term, (with no argument from Ron about doing homework so early in the summer) they were discussing how nice it had been to have Professor's Lupin and Black for Defense Against the Dark Arts and how they hoped they would both be returning to teach the next term, the last for Ron and Hermione when a loud banging on the door was heard.
All three pulled their wands, since they were expecting no one, knowing all to well what would happen as soon as they let their guard down.
Ginny got to her feet first and went to open the door, revealing a winded and flushed Remus Lupin.
"Professor! What are you doing here? Did you find something?" she asked in a rush, and she held her breath awaiting his answer.
Her astonished voice at seeing him got the attention of the other two and they came skidding to the door immediately.
"Calm down you three, I'll explain everything in a moment, but could I first use your fire to contact the headmaster, it's important"
"Certainly, come on in" answered Hermione instantly as the pair of red heads still waited expectantly for the man to answer Ginny's question, but he just walked passed them and followed Hermione into the living room.
He took a pinch of the powder from the jar on the mantle and threw it into the flames, and when the fire turned a bright green color, he called Dumbledore's name into the flames.
A few seconds later the call was answered by the old mans smiling head appearing in the midst of the roaring flames.
"Remus, what is it?" he asked, the smile fading from his face once he got a good look at the younger mans anxious face.
"We were right Albus, but there have been some unexpected developments, perhaps you should come to the Weasley's and accompany me back to Sirius and Severus, it would be better to explain this in person."
"Very well, I shall come at once, but while you are waiting for me to arrive, you might want to explain what you have found so far to the students standing behind you there" he said, with a small smile back on his face before his face disappeared from the fire with a small pop.
Remus had forgotten that he hadn't been alone in the room in his haste to speak to the headmaster, and as he turned around to face those behind him, he was met with three very confused but hopeful faces.
"Perhaps you three should take a seat" he suggested, and was surprised when they all did so on the couch, Ginny between Ron and Hermione.
"Please professor, what is going on? What have you found out?" asked Ron hesitantly.
"This morning there was an article in a muggle newspaper about an unidentified boy who wandered into St. Josephs hospital two weeks ago. The boy matched Harry's description so Sirius, Severus, and I went to check it out this morning and the boy in the hospital is Harry" his words were cut off by a startled cry from the couch.
"You found him! How is he? Is he alright? When can he come home?" exclaimed Ginny from her place on the couch, her hands tightly clasped in those of her friend and brother.
Her face was glowing in excitement and there were tears of joy running down her face.
Ron and Hermione appeared to be in shock though, both of them with their jaws hanging open in disbelief at their professors words.