Chapter 24
The voice in his ears was stronger than ever now, and he wanted to do as it commanded, to kill the man who had caused him so much pain, but something held him back.
Kill him boy, what are you waiting for, he would have done the same to you
The voice was now screaming in his ears and he felt the blood pounding in his head as he resisted, felt pain coursing through his veins as though his own body were attacking him. He was acutely aware of everything around him, from the tangible silence of every other occupant of the room to the feeling of the warm blood seeping through his robes and running down his side.
Just do it boy! Kill this miserable being! Get your revenge for the pain he inflicted on you!
"No" he said aloud, barley above a whisper as he continued to look at the man trembling in fear at his feet, his arm still outstretched.
'Why do you deny yourself the satisfaction? Think about the feeling you will get when you exact your revenge!
"No" he said, more forcefully this time
'You should know better than to defy me by now boy, kill this miserable excuse for a man now!'
"No, I refuse to kill him!" he yelled in defiance, which caused several people in the room to gasp in alarm.
'You will regret this boy!'
Suddenly, the room around him began to spin violently as he felt pain worse than the Cruciatus curse wash thorough his body from the inside, successfully blocking out his surroundings and the immense pain in his side as he fell to his knees on the hard floor.
"NO! I WILL NEVER OBEY YOU!" he screamed as he collapsed in pain, blackness almost overtaking him as he fell to the floor beside his enemy, his hands clasped to his side in an attempt to dull the pain.
After a few moments of stunned silence, all hell broke loose in the Great Hall. Several Aurors cast stunning spells on their superior before they bound him tightly and set off by portkey to the ministry.
Ginny, Ron, and Hermione, after they had finally been released by their housemates, ran to Harry's side along with the professors, who were all still in a state of shock.
During the end of the duel, after Shaw had cast Crucio on Harry, all of the professors had been slowly making their way out of the Aurors line of vision so they could have attacked him from behind, but their going had been slow as they tried to move as cautiously as possible through the gathered students since their original seats had been directly behind Harry, thus in front of Shaw.
Ginny knelt by Harry's head and gently rolled him onto his back, pulling his head into her lap and running her small hands down the side of his bloodless face while tears ran down her own cheeks.
Upon her gentle touch, Harry forced his eyes open and reached a shaky hand for hers, grasping it tightly for a moment before his body became limp and his hand fell to the ground beside him.
"Harry, please wake up" she pleaded quietly as Dumbledore rested a hand on her shoulder. She turned and looked at him with worry written on her features. "What happened to him sir?" she asked as she noticed Remus and Sirius come running from behind the headmaster.
"I don't know Ginny, but we need to get his to the hospital wing immediately" he answered, looking as old and haggard as she had ever seen him. She nodded mutely as he conjured a stretcher and levitated the boy onto it gently, but when he was off of her lap, she looked to her hands in helplessness and all around her heard a sharp intake of breath from the red haired girl.
"Ginny, what is it?" asked Ron frantically as he kneeled beside his younger sister.
"Blood" she whispered hoarsely, still starring at her hand in shock.
Terrified, Ron took her hand in his and saw that her palm was stained scarlet with the thick fluid. Those who had been looking over his shoulder saw it too and immediately jumped into action.
"Harry!" said Sirius urgently as he caught sight of the liquid on Ginny's hand. He hastily approached the form of his godson on the stretcher and cautiously pulled back the side of his robes to reveal the black and silver hilt of a blade that was covered in the boys' blood.
With this new revelation, the headmaster rushed from the hall with Sirius, Remus, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione close on his heals as they made their way silently to the infirmary.
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Madame Pomfrey was just finishing with the last of the mild injuries that students had received during the dueling demonstrations that morning when the doors banged opened to show the headmaster levitating a stretcher behind him.
"Albus what happened!" she exclaimed at seeing the frantic expression on his face
As she looked around at the gathered students and professors though, she knew who she would find on the stretcher, Harry Potter.
"Put him here" she instructed crisply "and please tell me what happened to him" she demanded of the silent group. It was Remus who spoke up though
"He dueled with the head Auror and his second in command. He was beating them too, then Shaw cast the cruciatus curse on him. Turns out he was a dark wizard, Harry got his wand, but then Shaw pinned him to the ground and stabbed him"
"What!" she exclaimed as she removed the blood soaked robes gently, and then her eyes came to rest on the weapons hilt "oh my God" she muttered before ordering everyone to give her some room to work "Black, please find Severus and tell him what has happened, I will need his assistance"
"No need Poppy, I'm here" came a voice from the doorway. They all turned to see the potions master standing there holding several bottles of potions they didn't recognize and quite out of breath, giving them the impression that he had sprinted to the dungeon and back again
"Good, let's get started" she said as she pulled her wand and aimed it at the boy on the bed before her, muttering a spell. At once, the weapon began to glow a faint blue color before it slid out of the place where it was lodged, showing it to be nearly six inches long and two inches wide. As soon as it was free, Snape grabbed it and set to work with his various potions.
It was only then that they could clearly see the weapon that had caused so much damage. The blade was sleek and sharp, and if it hadn't been for the blood, it would have been the brightest silver in color. The hilt was the darkest black of the starless sky, and curled around it was a silver snake with red eyes that seemed to be watching them everywhere they went.
Madame Pomfrey busied herself with trying to see just how much damage was done by the weapon. She took up her wand again and began to use it to unbutton the saturated black shirt when Remus spoke to the three students.
"Ginny, Ron, Hermione, come here for a moment please" he asked them quietly. They grudgingly obeyed their professor and followed him into the office of the infirmary.
"What is it Professor, I want to be with Harry" said Ginny immediately, looking over her shoulder toward the open door.
"Perhaps it would be best if you three waited in the common room until Madame Pomfrey is finished" he said quietly
"No! We want to be with him" said Hermione defiantly
"I know, but it's probably best for you to wait until she is finished"
"Why don't you want us to stay Remus?" asked Ginny suspiciously
"It's not that I don't think you should stay, but I don't think Harry would want you to see him like this" he said instantly
"What do you mean, we've seen him injured before" said Ron just as suspiciously as his sister, knowing the defense professor was holding something back.
"Listen to me, all of you, Harry went through a great deal while he was missing and suffered some terrible wounds"
"We know that Remus" interrupted Ron "I've already seen his wounds and right now he needs us more than ever and I for one am not going to sit in an office and talk when my best friend is hurt. I've done that once already and I refuse to do that again!" he snapped, and before Remus could say another word, Ron had thrown the door open and stalked back to the side of the bed, showing off the famous Weasley temper with a flourish, Hermione on his heels.
Ginny stood to leave as well, but Remus was quick enough to grab her wrist in his firm grip.
"Professor Lupin, please let me go, I agree with Ron and want to be with Harry as well" she said coldly as she twisted her arm and broke his grip as she too approached the door, but his words stopped her abruptly.
"Ginny, please hear me out, it is important to Harry that you find out this way rather than another, he would want you to be prepared for what you are going to see when you go back out there and I promise you won't like it one bit" he said, almost in a whisper, but loud enough to catch her attention fully and cause her to close the door and place herself directly in front of her professor.
"Alright Remus, tell me what this is all about, but be quick because I won't be this patient for long" she threatened him and he wondered for a moment after looking into her hard eyes just how bad of a temper she had, because he knew Ron probably had nothing on the petite girl in front of him, but he pulled his thoughts away from that as he began to speak again, thankful that she at least was willing to listen to him.
"Well, some of those injuries he is quite ashamed of, and I know he doesn't want you to see them" he said shortly, not like himself at all as he tried to make her see what he was saying without actually having to say it, but the change in her expression showed him that it would not be so easy
"Remus, I want to be with him and he has no wounds he should be ashamed for me to see" said Ginny bluntly, looking up at her professor as though she dared him to try and stop her as she turned to go back into the main part of the hospital again
"Ginny wait, I need you to promise me something before you go back in there" he knew he couldn't stop her once she set mind on something, such as being with Harry, but he would at least try to prepare her for what she would see one last time.
His pleading tone caused her to look at him curiously, but she stopped and waited for his words.
"Promise me that whatever you may see, that you won't jump to conclusions, please, Harry has been through enough, he can't afford to loose you as well"
His words and the emotion startled her so much that she couldn't think of how to respond to his question.
"What are you talking about Remus? What could I possible see that would cause me to turn on him other than.oh." Ginny's voice caught as she suddenly realized what he was getting at.
"What is it Ginny?" asked Remus in concern as she stopped speaking suddenly, her eyes wide and color leaving her face as though she had seem a ghost
"Are you trying to say is that Harry has the mark of you-know-who professor?" she asked as she looked back at the older man, who silently nodded in agreement. Ginny visibly paling even more at this news as her worst nightmare came true.
"Do you know why he has it?" she asked eventually
"No, he hasn't told anyone, and anytime we ask, he closes up and starts to shake as though he is remembering a particularly painful memory. What I do know though, is that he would not voluntarily take on the mark of a death eater, and I ask you to believe me"
"I know he would never join them, they must have forced it on him somehow, and I would never leave him or turn on him" said Ginny with certainty, as she nodded vigorously in agreement with her own words causing a smile to be barely visible on Remus' face.
"Good, now let's go see how he is" he said as he led the way out the door and back to Harry's bedside.
Sirius was standing there in silent shock with Dumbledore at his side as they watched the nurse work on the wound frantically. Snape was still working with his potions, apparently trying to determine what type of poison was on the blade since it was a well known fact that dark wizards were fans of such things. Ron and Hermione were standing in each others arms watching the entire thing without blinking.
The entire side of the bed was red with the free flowing blood and Harry's skin was deathly pale from the immense blood loss he was suffering from. The three friends took in his condition silently, or as much of it as they could see through the black shirt that he still wore, though now it was lying unbuttoned with his arms the only thing still encased by the fabric, noticing the terrible pattern of scars covering his entire chest and stomach, which only Ron had gotten a glimpse of before on the first night back, causing all present to shudder when they thought about how much pain he must have suffered.
As she seated herself next to Harry again, she heard her brother tell Hermione that he was going to go get some fresh cloths for Harry from their dormitory, and she agreed to go with him, thankfully since they still didn't know about the mark and seeing it by accident was probably not the best way for them to find out.
What caught her attention next was the underside of his left arm, where, as Madame Pomfrey rolled the sleeve of his shirt up and felt his pulse, there was the unmistakable mark of Voldemort, a black tattoo of a snake slithering out of the mouth of a skull.
The mark caused her to shudder involuntarily, but she refused to leave his side regardless of the uneasiness it caused.
As Madame Pomfrey worked steadily to stop the constant flow of blood from his left side, she could be heard muttering to herself about how Harry spent more time in the hospital wing than any other student in Hogwarts history. Suddenly, Snape jumped to his feet and rushed to the bedside and forced Harry's mouth open ad he poured three separate potions down his throat before he poured another one over the still bleeding wound, causing it to hiss and smoke painfully for a moment before the blood flow decreased rapidly.
Sighing in relief, Remus turned to the potions master.
"What was on the blade Severus"
"A combination of several fast killing poisons, the three antidotes I gave him should cover all of them" he said wearily as he watched the nurse continue to clean the wound with her hands and other potions before she drew her wand and pointed it at the wound, muttering a few choice words.
As the stream of magic hit Harry's body, a slight shimmering gold could be seen surrounding him for a moment before flickering dangerously and disappearing completely.
"That's not good" they heard Snape muter from beside them
"What do you mean professor, the wound is closing?" asked Hermione, completely confused for one of the few times in her life. She and Ron had just returned and had joined the group around the bed, Ron with a fresh set of pajamas in his arms.
"That shield has been in place somehow since Potter was found, and we figured out that it was the result of him being so powerful. The shield prevented any spells from hitting him as long as he was unable to defend himself, like when he's sleeping or unconscious. We couldn't manage to find a way to drop it to heal him while he was here, that's why it took him so long, he had to heal the muggle way" he explained with none of the usual malice in his voice.
"What would cause it to drop then?"
"I'm not entirely sure, but my best guess would be that he is injured bad enough that instead of his body focusing on maintaining the shield, it has had to focus on just keeping him alive. That poison has been in his body for almost too long, assuming he was stabbed when he screamed, a fraction of the time they have been in his system would have killed a normal wizard, but as we know, Potter is far from normal"
As they were talking, Madame Pomfrey closed the outermost layer of the injury before slumping down into a chair. Nearly two hours had passed since he had been brought in and she was exhausted. Other than Harry on a regular basis and the battle last year, she didn't see many life or death situations, and therefore, they tended to exhaust her.
"Will he be alright Poppy?" asked Dumbledore quietly
"I think so Albus, but we'll know more in the morning. Physically, he's lost a massive amount of blood and as Severus noted, he had the poisons in his system for a lengthily period of time, but I think he'll bounce back from those. I can't believe this happened to him, he's come so far since he was brought back here, but I don't know if he'll be able to do it again. It never fails, everywhere he goes, someone attacks him" she said quietly, meeting the gaze of the aged wizard before her.
Nodding mutely, he settled himself in a chair as well.
"I assume you will all want to stay here tonight as well" he asked looking at the three professors and three students who nodded at him. He then conjured six more chairs for them and the settled in for what promised to be a long night of waiting to see if Harry could pull out of this latest attempt on his life.
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It was cold, so very cold. He could faintly hear voices all around him, screaming and crying, but who they were and where he was he didn't know. He felt someone turn him over gently and begin to caress his head, saying quiet words to him, soothing him.
He forced his eyes open and saw the tear streaked face of Ginny over him. Lifting his hand with effort, he grasped hers for a moment and looked deep into her eyes before the darkness began to overtake him again and his muscles gave out.
He felt something lift him and move him before he was again lying on his back, the screams still echoing in the corners of his mind, he felt someone else pull back the side of his robes and the crying increased ten fold before there was utter and complete silence, and the blackness that had been threatening enfolded him completely in its warmth.
When the world returned to his senses, he was lying on a soft bed under layers of thick blankets, but the cold was still penetrating his entire body. His muscles ached and his side was throbbing, but the pain was ignored as the sounds surrounding him came into focus. He heard a gentle snoring from his right side and the sound of a chair creaking under someone's movement, and the sound of birds could be heard in the distance.
Curious, he though back in his foggy mind, trying to figure out where he was, and the image of a tall man with brown hair and eyes holding a silver blade showed it's self in his mind. Startled, he forced his eyes opened to find the man he saw, but instead of the great hall, his eyes were met with the blurry image of the hospital wing.
He silently shifted his weight as he reached to the bed side table where he knew his glasses would by only to see the fuzzy image of someone with long auburn hair sitting beside him sound asleep. The sight caused a small smile to grace his face as he picked up his glasses and looked around the room.
Ginny was right next to his head on his right side, and Sirius was in the same position on his left, leaned up against the wall in an uncomfortable position in a deep sleep.
Behind him, Harry could make out the forms of Ron and Hermione lying together on a bed asleep as well. Dumbledore and Remus were sitting in chairs behind Ginny, also both fast asleep, and standing at the foot of his bed with a pale face was Snape, looking down at him with no smirk or hate, but instead with concern.
Harry sat up slowly, trying not to wince too much as his muscles strained themselves, but was unsuccessful, and his professor noticed his reaction and pulled a small vile of dark blue potion out of his pocket and handed it to the boy.
Noticing the apprehensive look on his face though brought a smirk to his own before he spoke quietly.
"Drink it Potter, it's a post cruciatus potion, it will help to dull the lingering effects"
Nodding once, Harry put the foul smelling potion to his lips and swallowed it in one gulp, trying not to gag at the taste.
"Thanks" he said quietly to the sallow skinned man before lying back down on the bed as he felt some of the pain leave his muscles immediately.
His voice had woken Ginny though, who gave a small start at seeing him awake, and thus in an instant, all in the room were standing around his bed.
"Harry, thank God you're awake!" exclaimed Ginny as she embraced him in a tight hug. He gave her a small smile before turning to Dumbledore.
"What happened?" he asked hesitantly
"You don't remember?" asked Ron in shock
"I remember Shaw and I dueling and I stunned him and I was standing over him, but then everything went black" he stated
"Well, it seems Mr. Shaw was a supporter of Voldemort, one of the few who are still free I might add, and he was intent on succeeding where his master failed in killing you. Don't worry though, after you lost consciousness he was taken into custody and sent directly to Azkaban. During your duel though, he stabbed you with a poisoned blade and we didn't know if you would survive it, but as usual, you defied the odds" said Dumbledore with a slight twinkle in his tired eyes.
As he was speaking, Madame Pomfrey came out of her office and began to tenderly examine his sore side. As he felt the contact of her warm fingers on his cool skin though, he became aware of the fact that he was wearing no shirt.
His eyes immediately shot to those of his girlfriend who was seated next to his left arm, shielding it from the view of Ron and Hermione but not from herself, trying to figure out if she had seen the mark on his arm as he realized that his forearm was being gripped in her hands, completely covering the offending tattoo. Shocked, he slowly looked into her eyes, expecting to see hate, mistrust, anything but what he saw. She smiled slightly at him before leaning to whisper in his ear.
"It's alright Harry, I know you didn't want it. This changes nothing" she said forcefully and he met her eyes in disbelief before giving her a small and astonished smile of gratitude.
Not believing his luck at having such a terrific girlfriend who was willing to ignore such a thing, he felt the gentle pull of exhaustion taking control of him and he once again fell into a fitful sleep.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* A/N: sorry this took so long to get out guys, but I have spent the past two weeks taking midterms and for those of you who have never had university midterms, I'm jealous because there is nothing like living off coffee for fourteen days and getting no sleep at all. But, the good news is, I'm done with everything but one term paper now, so I can write more and get back to my usual schedule of updating every day or every other day! Enough of my rambling now, thanks for reviewing the last couple of chapters and please do the same with this one. Hope you enjoy!
PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The voice in his ears was stronger than ever now, and he wanted to do as it commanded, to kill the man who had caused him so much pain, but something held him back.
Kill him boy, what are you waiting for, he would have done the same to you
The voice was now screaming in his ears and he felt the blood pounding in his head as he resisted, felt pain coursing through his veins as though his own body were attacking him. He was acutely aware of everything around him, from the tangible silence of every other occupant of the room to the feeling of the warm blood seeping through his robes and running down his side.
Just do it boy! Kill this miserable being! Get your revenge for the pain he inflicted on you!
"No" he said aloud, barley above a whisper as he continued to look at the man trembling in fear at his feet, his arm still outstretched.
'Why do you deny yourself the satisfaction? Think about the feeling you will get when you exact your revenge!
"No" he said, more forcefully this time
'You should know better than to defy me by now boy, kill this miserable excuse for a man now!'
"No, I refuse to kill him!" he yelled in defiance, which caused several people in the room to gasp in alarm.
'You will regret this boy!'
Suddenly, the room around him began to spin violently as he felt pain worse than the Cruciatus curse wash thorough his body from the inside, successfully blocking out his surroundings and the immense pain in his side as he fell to his knees on the hard floor.
"NO! I WILL NEVER OBEY YOU!" he screamed as he collapsed in pain, blackness almost overtaking him as he fell to the floor beside his enemy, his hands clasped to his side in an attempt to dull the pain.
After a few moments of stunned silence, all hell broke loose in the Great Hall. Several Aurors cast stunning spells on their superior before they bound him tightly and set off by portkey to the ministry.
Ginny, Ron, and Hermione, after they had finally been released by their housemates, ran to Harry's side along with the professors, who were all still in a state of shock.
During the end of the duel, after Shaw had cast Crucio on Harry, all of the professors had been slowly making their way out of the Aurors line of vision so they could have attacked him from behind, but their going had been slow as they tried to move as cautiously as possible through the gathered students since their original seats had been directly behind Harry, thus in front of Shaw.
Ginny knelt by Harry's head and gently rolled him onto his back, pulling his head into her lap and running her small hands down the side of his bloodless face while tears ran down her own cheeks.
Upon her gentle touch, Harry forced his eyes open and reached a shaky hand for hers, grasping it tightly for a moment before his body became limp and his hand fell to the ground beside him.
"Harry, please wake up" she pleaded quietly as Dumbledore rested a hand on her shoulder. She turned and looked at him with worry written on her features. "What happened to him sir?" she asked as she noticed Remus and Sirius come running from behind the headmaster.
"I don't know Ginny, but we need to get his to the hospital wing immediately" he answered, looking as old and haggard as she had ever seen him. She nodded mutely as he conjured a stretcher and levitated the boy onto it gently, but when he was off of her lap, she looked to her hands in helplessness and all around her heard a sharp intake of breath from the red haired girl.
"Ginny, what is it?" asked Ron frantically as he kneeled beside his younger sister.
"Blood" she whispered hoarsely, still starring at her hand in shock.
Terrified, Ron took her hand in his and saw that her palm was stained scarlet with the thick fluid. Those who had been looking over his shoulder saw it too and immediately jumped into action.
"Harry!" said Sirius urgently as he caught sight of the liquid on Ginny's hand. He hastily approached the form of his godson on the stretcher and cautiously pulled back the side of his robes to reveal the black and silver hilt of a blade that was covered in the boys' blood.
With this new revelation, the headmaster rushed from the hall with Sirius, Remus, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione close on his heals as they made their way silently to the infirmary.
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Madame Pomfrey was just finishing with the last of the mild injuries that students had received during the dueling demonstrations that morning when the doors banged opened to show the headmaster levitating a stretcher behind him.
"Albus what happened!" she exclaimed at seeing the frantic expression on his face
As she looked around at the gathered students and professors though, she knew who she would find on the stretcher, Harry Potter.
"Put him here" she instructed crisply "and please tell me what happened to him" she demanded of the silent group. It was Remus who spoke up though
"He dueled with the head Auror and his second in command. He was beating them too, then Shaw cast the cruciatus curse on him. Turns out he was a dark wizard, Harry got his wand, but then Shaw pinned him to the ground and stabbed him"
"What!" she exclaimed as she removed the blood soaked robes gently, and then her eyes came to rest on the weapons hilt "oh my God" she muttered before ordering everyone to give her some room to work "Black, please find Severus and tell him what has happened, I will need his assistance"
"No need Poppy, I'm here" came a voice from the doorway. They all turned to see the potions master standing there holding several bottles of potions they didn't recognize and quite out of breath, giving them the impression that he had sprinted to the dungeon and back again
"Good, let's get started" she said as she pulled her wand and aimed it at the boy on the bed before her, muttering a spell. At once, the weapon began to glow a faint blue color before it slid out of the place where it was lodged, showing it to be nearly six inches long and two inches wide. As soon as it was free, Snape grabbed it and set to work with his various potions.
It was only then that they could clearly see the weapon that had caused so much damage. The blade was sleek and sharp, and if it hadn't been for the blood, it would have been the brightest silver in color. The hilt was the darkest black of the starless sky, and curled around it was a silver snake with red eyes that seemed to be watching them everywhere they went.
Madame Pomfrey busied herself with trying to see just how much damage was done by the weapon. She took up her wand again and began to use it to unbutton the saturated black shirt when Remus spoke to the three students.
"Ginny, Ron, Hermione, come here for a moment please" he asked them quietly. They grudgingly obeyed their professor and followed him into the office of the infirmary.
"What is it Professor, I want to be with Harry" said Ginny immediately, looking over her shoulder toward the open door.
"Perhaps it would be best if you three waited in the common room until Madame Pomfrey is finished" he said quietly
"No! We want to be with him" said Hermione defiantly
"I know, but it's probably best for you to wait until she is finished"
"Why don't you want us to stay Remus?" asked Ginny suspiciously
"It's not that I don't think you should stay, but I don't think Harry would want you to see him like this" he said instantly
"What do you mean, we've seen him injured before" said Ron just as suspiciously as his sister, knowing the defense professor was holding something back.
"Listen to me, all of you, Harry went through a great deal while he was missing and suffered some terrible wounds"
"We know that Remus" interrupted Ron "I've already seen his wounds and right now he needs us more than ever and I for one am not going to sit in an office and talk when my best friend is hurt. I've done that once already and I refuse to do that again!" he snapped, and before Remus could say another word, Ron had thrown the door open and stalked back to the side of the bed, showing off the famous Weasley temper with a flourish, Hermione on his heels.
Ginny stood to leave as well, but Remus was quick enough to grab her wrist in his firm grip.
"Professor Lupin, please let me go, I agree with Ron and want to be with Harry as well" she said coldly as she twisted her arm and broke his grip as she too approached the door, but his words stopped her abruptly.
"Ginny, please hear me out, it is important to Harry that you find out this way rather than another, he would want you to be prepared for what you are going to see when you go back out there and I promise you won't like it one bit" he said, almost in a whisper, but loud enough to catch her attention fully and cause her to close the door and place herself directly in front of her professor.
"Alright Remus, tell me what this is all about, but be quick because I won't be this patient for long" she threatened him and he wondered for a moment after looking into her hard eyes just how bad of a temper she had, because he knew Ron probably had nothing on the petite girl in front of him, but he pulled his thoughts away from that as he began to speak again, thankful that she at least was willing to listen to him.
"Well, some of those injuries he is quite ashamed of, and I know he doesn't want you to see them" he said shortly, not like himself at all as he tried to make her see what he was saying without actually having to say it, but the change in her expression showed him that it would not be so easy
"Remus, I want to be with him and he has no wounds he should be ashamed for me to see" said Ginny bluntly, looking up at her professor as though she dared him to try and stop her as she turned to go back into the main part of the hospital again
"Ginny wait, I need you to promise me something before you go back in there" he knew he couldn't stop her once she set mind on something, such as being with Harry, but he would at least try to prepare her for what she would see one last time.
His pleading tone caused her to look at him curiously, but she stopped and waited for his words.
"Promise me that whatever you may see, that you won't jump to conclusions, please, Harry has been through enough, he can't afford to loose you as well"
His words and the emotion startled her so much that she couldn't think of how to respond to his question.
"What are you talking about Remus? What could I possible see that would cause me to turn on him other than.oh." Ginny's voice caught as she suddenly realized what he was getting at.
"What is it Ginny?" asked Remus in concern as she stopped speaking suddenly, her eyes wide and color leaving her face as though she had seem a ghost
"Are you trying to say is that Harry has the mark of you-know-who professor?" she asked as she looked back at the older man, who silently nodded in agreement. Ginny visibly paling even more at this news as her worst nightmare came true.
"Do you know why he has it?" she asked eventually
"No, he hasn't told anyone, and anytime we ask, he closes up and starts to shake as though he is remembering a particularly painful memory. What I do know though, is that he would not voluntarily take on the mark of a death eater, and I ask you to believe me"
"I know he would never join them, they must have forced it on him somehow, and I would never leave him or turn on him" said Ginny with certainty, as she nodded vigorously in agreement with her own words causing a smile to be barely visible on Remus' face.
"Good, now let's go see how he is" he said as he led the way out the door and back to Harry's bedside.
Sirius was standing there in silent shock with Dumbledore at his side as they watched the nurse work on the wound frantically. Snape was still working with his potions, apparently trying to determine what type of poison was on the blade since it was a well known fact that dark wizards were fans of such things. Ron and Hermione were standing in each others arms watching the entire thing without blinking.
The entire side of the bed was red with the free flowing blood and Harry's skin was deathly pale from the immense blood loss he was suffering from. The three friends took in his condition silently, or as much of it as they could see through the black shirt that he still wore, though now it was lying unbuttoned with his arms the only thing still encased by the fabric, noticing the terrible pattern of scars covering his entire chest and stomach, which only Ron had gotten a glimpse of before on the first night back, causing all present to shudder when they thought about how much pain he must have suffered.
As she seated herself next to Harry again, she heard her brother tell Hermione that he was going to go get some fresh cloths for Harry from their dormitory, and she agreed to go with him, thankfully since they still didn't know about the mark and seeing it by accident was probably not the best way for them to find out.
What caught her attention next was the underside of his left arm, where, as Madame Pomfrey rolled the sleeve of his shirt up and felt his pulse, there was the unmistakable mark of Voldemort, a black tattoo of a snake slithering out of the mouth of a skull.
The mark caused her to shudder involuntarily, but she refused to leave his side regardless of the uneasiness it caused.
As Madame Pomfrey worked steadily to stop the constant flow of blood from his left side, she could be heard muttering to herself about how Harry spent more time in the hospital wing than any other student in Hogwarts history. Suddenly, Snape jumped to his feet and rushed to the bedside and forced Harry's mouth open ad he poured three separate potions down his throat before he poured another one over the still bleeding wound, causing it to hiss and smoke painfully for a moment before the blood flow decreased rapidly.
Sighing in relief, Remus turned to the potions master.
"What was on the blade Severus"
"A combination of several fast killing poisons, the three antidotes I gave him should cover all of them" he said wearily as he watched the nurse continue to clean the wound with her hands and other potions before she drew her wand and pointed it at the wound, muttering a few choice words.
As the stream of magic hit Harry's body, a slight shimmering gold could be seen surrounding him for a moment before flickering dangerously and disappearing completely.
"That's not good" they heard Snape muter from beside them
"What do you mean professor, the wound is closing?" asked Hermione, completely confused for one of the few times in her life. She and Ron had just returned and had joined the group around the bed, Ron with a fresh set of pajamas in his arms.
"That shield has been in place somehow since Potter was found, and we figured out that it was the result of him being so powerful. The shield prevented any spells from hitting him as long as he was unable to defend himself, like when he's sleeping or unconscious. We couldn't manage to find a way to drop it to heal him while he was here, that's why it took him so long, he had to heal the muggle way" he explained with none of the usual malice in his voice.
"What would cause it to drop then?"
"I'm not entirely sure, but my best guess would be that he is injured bad enough that instead of his body focusing on maintaining the shield, it has had to focus on just keeping him alive. That poison has been in his body for almost too long, assuming he was stabbed when he screamed, a fraction of the time they have been in his system would have killed a normal wizard, but as we know, Potter is far from normal"
As they were talking, Madame Pomfrey closed the outermost layer of the injury before slumping down into a chair. Nearly two hours had passed since he had been brought in and she was exhausted. Other than Harry on a regular basis and the battle last year, she didn't see many life or death situations, and therefore, they tended to exhaust her.
"Will he be alright Poppy?" asked Dumbledore quietly
"I think so Albus, but we'll know more in the morning. Physically, he's lost a massive amount of blood and as Severus noted, he had the poisons in his system for a lengthily period of time, but I think he'll bounce back from those. I can't believe this happened to him, he's come so far since he was brought back here, but I don't know if he'll be able to do it again. It never fails, everywhere he goes, someone attacks him" she said quietly, meeting the gaze of the aged wizard before her.
Nodding mutely, he settled himself in a chair as well.
"I assume you will all want to stay here tonight as well" he asked looking at the three professors and three students who nodded at him. He then conjured six more chairs for them and the settled in for what promised to be a long night of waiting to see if Harry could pull out of this latest attempt on his life.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
It was cold, so very cold. He could faintly hear voices all around him, screaming and crying, but who they were and where he was he didn't know. He felt someone turn him over gently and begin to caress his head, saying quiet words to him, soothing him.
He forced his eyes open and saw the tear streaked face of Ginny over him. Lifting his hand with effort, he grasped hers for a moment and looked deep into her eyes before the darkness began to overtake him again and his muscles gave out.
He felt something lift him and move him before he was again lying on his back, the screams still echoing in the corners of his mind, he felt someone else pull back the side of his robes and the crying increased ten fold before there was utter and complete silence, and the blackness that had been threatening enfolded him completely in its warmth.
When the world returned to his senses, he was lying on a soft bed under layers of thick blankets, but the cold was still penetrating his entire body. His muscles ached and his side was throbbing, but the pain was ignored as the sounds surrounding him came into focus. He heard a gentle snoring from his right side and the sound of a chair creaking under someone's movement, and the sound of birds could be heard in the distance.
Curious, he though back in his foggy mind, trying to figure out where he was, and the image of a tall man with brown hair and eyes holding a silver blade showed it's self in his mind. Startled, he forced his eyes opened to find the man he saw, but instead of the great hall, his eyes were met with the blurry image of the hospital wing.
He silently shifted his weight as he reached to the bed side table where he knew his glasses would by only to see the fuzzy image of someone with long auburn hair sitting beside him sound asleep. The sight caused a small smile to grace his face as he picked up his glasses and looked around the room.
Ginny was right next to his head on his right side, and Sirius was in the same position on his left, leaned up against the wall in an uncomfortable position in a deep sleep.
Behind him, Harry could make out the forms of Ron and Hermione lying together on a bed asleep as well. Dumbledore and Remus were sitting in chairs behind Ginny, also both fast asleep, and standing at the foot of his bed with a pale face was Snape, looking down at him with no smirk or hate, but instead with concern.
Harry sat up slowly, trying not to wince too much as his muscles strained themselves, but was unsuccessful, and his professor noticed his reaction and pulled a small vile of dark blue potion out of his pocket and handed it to the boy.
Noticing the apprehensive look on his face though brought a smirk to his own before he spoke quietly.
"Drink it Potter, it's a post cruciatus potion, it will help to dull the lingering effects"
Nodding once, Harry put the foul smelling potion to his lips and swallowed it in one gulp, trying not to gag at the taste.
"Thanks" he said quietly to the sallow skinned man before lying back down on the bed as he felt some of the pain leave his muscles immediately.
His voice had woken Ginny though, who gave a small start at seeing him awake, and thus in an instant, all in the room were standing around his bed.
"Harry, thank God you're awake!" exclaimed Ginny as she embraced him in a tight hug. He gave her a small smile before turning to Dumbledore.
"What happened?" he asked hesitantly
"You don't remember?" asked Ron in shock
"I remember Shaw and I dueling and I stunned him and I was standing over him, but then everything went black" he stated
"Well, it seems Mr. Shaw was a supporter of Voldemort, one of the few who are still free I might add, and he was intent on succeeding where his master failed in killing you. Don't worry though, after you lost consciousness he was taken into custody and sent directly to Azkaban. During your duel though, he stabbed you with a poisoned blade and we didn't know if you would survive it, but as usual, you defied the odds" said Dumbledore with a slight twinkle in his tired eyes.
As he was speaking, Madame Pomfrey came out of her office and began to tenderly examine his sore side. As he felt the contact of her warm fingers on his cool skin though, he became aware of the fact that he was wearing no shirt.
His eyes immediately shot to those of his girlfriend who was seated next to his left arm, shielding it from the view of Ron and Hermione but not from herself, trying to figure out if she had seen the mark on his arm as he realized that his forearm was being gripped in her hands, completely covering the offending tattoo. Shocked, he slowly looked into her eyes, expecting to see hate, mistrust, anything but what he saw. She smiled slightly at him before leaning to whisper in his ear.
"It's alright Harry, I know you didn't want it. This changes nothing" she said forcefully and he met her eyes in disbelief before giving her a small and astonished smile of gratitude.
Not believing his luck at having such a terrific girlfriend who was willing to ignore such a thing, he felt the gentle pull of exhaustion taking control of him and he once again fell into a fitful sleep.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* A/N: sorry this took so long to get out guys, but I have spent the past two weeks taking midterms and for those of you who have never had university midterms, I'm jealous because there is nothing like living off coffee for fourteen days and getting no sleep at all. But, the good news is, I'm done with everything but one term paper now, so I can write more and get back to my usual schedule of updating every day or every other day! Enough of my rambling now, thanks for reviewing the last couple of chapters and please do the same with this one. Hope you enjoy!
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