I decided to dedicate this chapter, which I do every once in a while if I feel like it. Thank you k00lgirl1808 for being a very faithful reviewer!

Lost in Darkness

Chap. 3: The Darneywort Drink and the Last of Dudley

Ginny woke up the next morning lying on her couch with her blanket on top of her. It took her a moment to remember why she wasn't in her bed.

She had given her bed to Jay, as several Slytherins nearly knocked her out after she left the Great Hall after kissing Neville. Neville had slept in Harry's room.

Sure enough, when Ginny turned to look at the couch behind her, Harry was sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

"Good morning, love," she said to him.

"Good morning, Gin," he said.

"Hey, lovebirds!" Hermione called from the little balcony above the common room. "Let's go do something! We're bored!"

"Oh, I do not believe it is we who are the lovebirds," Harry said, watching Hermione kissing Ron as he came out of his room.

"Where are our resident Romeo and Juliet?" Ginny called.

"Still asleep."

"I'm not," Jay said, coming out of Ginny's room.

Her hair was rumpled from being asleep and her eyelids still drooped. She looked like a sleepy ten-year-old.

Suddenly ten owls came fluttering through the window carrying copies of the Daily Prophet. They deposited their loads at the doors of the recipients. Harry and Ginny went up stairs to get their copies.

"Harry, look," Ginny said, staring at the headline.

"What is it?"

He gasped when he saw the headline.

FAMILY OF FOUR MURDERED

"Whose family was it? Anyone we knew?" Hermione asked in a hushed voice.

"Yeah," Ginny said. "Hannah Abbott."

"Come on, we should wake her."

Ginny and Hermione rapped on Hannah's door. She opened it after about fifteen knocks, brown hair sticking up everywhere.

"What is it?" she asked, yawning.

Hermione picked up her copy of the Prophet and silently handed it to her. Hannah gasped.

"Oh my God!"

Hermione laid a hand on her shoulder and Ginny went to find Hannah's boyfriend, Justin Finch-Fletchley. She knocked on his door hard. When he didn't wake up, she tried the doorknob.

It was locked. Ginny started getting a really bad feeling. She could tell that the others had it, too, from the way they glanced up at her. She pulled out her wand and pointed it at the lock.

"Alohomora!"

The door still didn't open. Harry came up the stairs and Ginny moved aside. Harry was quite strong from his years of Quidditch.

Harry backed up and pointed his shoulder at the door. He suddenly ran forward into the door with surprising speed. It fell to the floor immediately. Ginny screamed at what came out of the room.

Blood was pouring out of the room from under the bed. Everyone leaped backwards except for Harry and Ginny, who went in.

Harry started cleaning all the blood into a little basin he conjured. Ginny went towards the bed and looked under it. She screamed but didn't run.

Justin was lying under the mattress, pale as death, with multiple stab wounds all over his body.

"I'll get Dumbledore," Ginny volunteered, quite desperate to get away from the body.

She ran out of their personal portrait hole and straight to Dumbledore's office. She decided her personal clearance would be easiest.

"Weasly, Virginia Nicole, Gold," she said impatiently.

The gargoyle leaped aside and Ginny ran up the spiral staircase. She was surprised to see her father talking with Dumbledore.

"Justin's dead!" she said in a rush.

Her father and Dumbledore glanced at each other gravely.

"Miss Weasly, why don't you slow down and start from the beginning?" Dumbledore suggested.

So Ginny explained how they had woken up and seen the headline and found Justin's body under his bed. Dumbledore looked grave and turned to Mr. Weasly.

"What do you think, Minister?" he asked.

"Death Eaters," he said instantly. "This girl, Hannah Abbot's, mother, father, brother, sister, and serious boyfriend all died the same day? And we already know her family was killed by Death Eaters."

"Not boyfriend," Ginny said. "Fiancé. She showed us the ring." Then she realized what Dumbledore had called her father. "Minister?! Oh my God, you beat Perce!"

"The voters decided that the fact that Percy's girlfriend was pregnant turned them off a little. By the way, you're going to be an aunt again. And where are the prefect rooms?"

"Down the stairs and to the left. Portrait of the Hogwarts founders. Password's 'pétales roses.'"

He left silently. Ginny started to follow, but Dumbledore stopped her.

"I'd like to speak to you about something."

"What?"

"Mr. Filch seems to have found a mysterious potion," Dumbledore said. "He found it in a broom closet yesterday. When taken to Professor Snape, he found it happened to be the Darneywort Drink. I don't suppose you would know anything about this?"

"No," Ginny lied. "It's supposed to be really hard to make. And I don't know where to get the ingredients."

Ginny winced, realizing what she had said.

"I realize that you want Rosemary back. But cutting off Harry's skin and draining Hermione of blood is not a good way to do it."

Ginny suddenly felt a hot surge of anger. A window shattered.

"They voted for it!" she yelled. "I'm not doing this for me! Harry's a mess! So are Bill and Hermione and all her godparents! The only person I know who isn't going to pieces is you!"

She stood up and stormed out of the office.

*~*~*

Hannah was crying on her couch with her blanket over her. Hermione was sitting next to her. There were Ministry members and reporters everywhere.

"Do you want to go to your room?" Hermione asked gently.

"No," she sobbed. "I've got pictures of them everywhere."

Harry was feeling very out of place. He wasn't good at comforting people. He decided to try out one of his other powers.

He brought out the mind control power from the back of his brain and focused on Hannah calming down. He turned towards her and noticed that it had actually worked.

He went up to his room, quite pleased with himself. He sat down at his desk and began working on homework.

Ginny came knocking on his door a few minutes later. She was in full redhead wrath.

"What is it?"

"Filch found the potion and showed it to Snape, who told Dumbledore. Harry, he knows it's us."

"Crap! Is there any way to speed it up? Preferably edit out the memory part, too."

"There's one thing," Ginny said hesitantly. "There's another ingredient you need to add, though."

"What?"

"I'd rather not say."

"Virginia Nicole Weasly! What is it?!"

"The, er, well."

"What?"

"Marrow of."

"What?"

"An empath."

"How much?"

"At least the amount that would be needed for a transplant."

"Ugh."

"You're not the one who'd lose it."

"Would you give it up?"

"For Rose? Duh."

*Virginia Nicole Weasly, I am touched by how much you care about me but I am sickened by the thought of me drinking your marrow, Harry's flesh, Hermione's skin, feathers, and Unisus skin.*

*Hello Rose. Just remember, it's all for you.*

*I hate it when you help me.*

*You do know you're DYING.*

*Technically I'm half-dead. It's actually kind of nice here.*

*Where?*

*Heaven. Bill described it to me once, too.*

*See anyone you know?*

*Yes, as a matter of fact I do.*

*~*~*

Rose was in a sort of dream state. She was aware of being in a hospital bed and aware of the people around her there, but was also aware of the people around her in Heaven.

"Can he hear you?" a woman's voice asked.

"Can you hear him?" a man's voice added.

"Yes, Mummy. Yes, Daddy. We can hear each other," Rose said.

She opened her eyes and smiled at the faces of the three people she hadn't seen in sixteen years.

"You named your children for us?" her mother said.

"Yep," Rose said happily. "Lillian Molly Potter and James Arthur Potter. I want to name my next girl after you, Sarah."

Sarah Black looked flattered.

"Your husband took your last name?"

"I wouldn't," her father said.

Lily Potter sr. and Sarah rolled their eyes.

"Actually, we settled on Weasly-Potter, but everyone calls us the Potters because Weasly-Potter takes too long to say."

"How's Harry?"

"Dating my sister-in-law. I had a dream about their kids."

"Describe them. Your kids and Harry's, the ones you dreamed about."

"Well, my little Lily flower looks just like you, Mum." Lily beamed. "James looks just like you, Dad." James beamed, too.

"In the dream, I saw me with two other kids, a boy and a girl, both with the Weasly hair, but they had green eyes. I saw Harry with four kids, too. Three girls and a boy. They all had green eyes. The boy had the Weasly hair, one girl had Weasly hair, another girl had messy black hair, and the last girl had the Evans auburn."

"I feel loved," Lily said.

"I'm going to have to leave soon, you know," Rose told them sadly.

"How soon?"

"Days. They're making the Darneywort."

"Have you tried talking them out of it?"

"Tried. Mother, Harry and Mione have the Evans stubbornness and the Potter temper. You try talking them out of something."

"What about your sister-in-law, the one Harry's dating? The empath?"

"Redhead. You know how we are."

"Yes, I do."

"Why didn't you two come back as ghosts?" Rose asked suddenly.

Her parents were silent for a moment. Then her father began speaking again.

"Our purpose on Earth was finished. Our purpose was to make you and Harry. You two are the ones who will save the planet from Voldemort."

"How melodramatic does that sound?" Lily said with a laugh.

"Plenty," Rose said, laughing.

"Rose, look," Sarah said.

Rose looked down at herself. Where before she had been almost completely invisible, she now looked about as clear as a ghost.

*~*~*

Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione stared anxiously at Rose. They had been sent an owl saying that she was getting worse.

"But she's still in the coma," Hermione said, hearing Harry's thoughts.

"We make the potion tonight," Harry said firmly.

"There's something we want to do first," Ginny said.

Hermione and she pulled out their wands at the same time.

"Bourgeons fleurissants!" they said simultaneously.

The room burst into a garden of flowers, mostly pink and white roses, Rose's favorite, but with some of her other favorites, like marigolds, lilies, rosemary, mint, and cinnamon.

"She's going to love it," Harry said.

"The doctors won't. Let's go," Ron said, holding out the Portkey.

They grabbed on and were instantly back at Hogwarts in the closet where the Darneywort Drink was brewing.

"What's first?" Hermione asked.

"Feather of phoenix," Ron said.

Ron pulled a red and gold feather from her pocket.

"From Plumor," he explained, naming her phoenix.

He dropped it into the cauldron, where it dissolved with a loud hiss.

"Clipping of Unisus," Ron said, withdrawing a silver wing tip from her pocket. "From a certain Animagi."

Hermione shuddered.

"Blood of healer," Hermione said nervously.

She rolled up her sleeve and held her arm over the cauldron. She took a long knife and made a long cut along the backside of her forearm. She winced as she watched her own blood pouring into the cauldron and dissolving.

"Flesh of loved one," Hermione said.

She seemed calmer now that her part was over. Ron wasn't. Harry bravely rolled up his sleeve and turned away his head.

He felt a searing pain as his cousin made a long cut all the way around his upper arm, then another one parallel. She made one last cut between the two and Harry bit back a scream as she pulled it off.

He heard another hiss as it dropped into the cauldron.

"Marrow of empath," Hermione said.

Ginny had opted for breastbone marrow. She had joked that it was better than hip. She sure wasn't joking now.

Harry took her hand as she lay down onto a cot they had set up on her back. He saw blood drip onto the mattress and realized he was using the arm Ron had cut. He quickly switched hands before catching a glimpse of the gory cut.

Hermione was the one holding the knife now. She rubbed a potion onto the spot where she would remove the marrow.

"Numbs the skin," she explained.

She wiped her hands and picked up another knife, this one sharper.

Harry looked away but felt Ginny wince as Hermione dug out the marrow. He heard a final hiss and turned around.

Hermione was kneeling by the cauldron, chanting something. Harry perked his ears to listen.

"Feather of phoenix, wing of Unisus, blood of healer, flesh of beloved. Join together, blend yourselves, change from hate to love."

The potion hissed. It sounded almost like it was talking back. It turned red and stopped boiling.

"Marrow of empath, life-sustainer, give us the time!"

The potion boiled and turned pale blue. The fire went out and the bubbling stopped. Hermione leaned against the wall.

"There," she panted. "Done."

And Harry blacked out.

*~*~*

Rose felt something being poured into her mouth. She swallowed it.

Her eyes shot open and she sat up, panting. Bill was standing over her, holding an empty goblet.

"Darneywort Drink," he said grimly, waving the steaming goblet. "Courtesy of your brother, my brother, your cousin, and my sister."

"Are they all right?"

"Ron keeps throwing up. The others are unconscious."

Rose shuddered.

"I drank that stuff?"

"Actually, Bill force-fed it to you," Sirius said from a chair.

He was trying to look calm and relaxed, but from the looks of him, he had been completely panicking.

"Missed you," she said.

He came over and hugged her. He then moved aside for Bill.

"Did you like heaven?" he whispered in her ear.

"I saw Mum and Dad," she whispered back. "And Sarah."

"I saw them too, when I went there."

"Pardon me, lovebirds, but there's someone here to see you," Sirius said.

Hermione came in, sitting on a wheelchair and fussing at the attendant holding it.

"I can push it myself," she argued. "Let go."

"Hospital policy," he said stubbornly.

Hermione snorted and muttered something. The wheelchair was suddenly next to Rose's bed.

"Mione, what did you do to yourself?' Rose sighed.

"The twins missed you. We missed you. What's life without you around to drive us insane?"

"Very funny. Others still out?"

Hermione looked at the floor. "Ron's hurling in the toilet. Didn't like the sight of the blood much. Harry and Gin are still unconscious. Blood loss."

"It wasn't your fault."

"Yes it was!" Hermione said fiercely. "I was the one who cut the skin and the marrow."

Rose put her hand on Hermione's arm and stared into her eyes, forming a private connection only they could hear.

*Stop this! You'll destroy yourself.*

*I don't care.*

*Yes you do! Hermione, imagine yourself not able to do magic at all. None. Not even a simple Lumos. And, to make things even better, you were so depressed you were on suicide watch! You'd literally die from the inside out! It would be like getting the Dementor's Kiss, but slowly, losing a little each day, before finally losing your soul. Eventually, the rest of your body would die.*

Hermione looked away, breaking the contact.

"Where are the twins?" Rose asked.

"With McGonagall and Snape," Sirius said, smirking.

"Oh no," Rose laughed. "That will be something to see. I'm going to see my brother and sister-in-law."

"No you're not."

"Sirius Jonathon Black do you remember what I did to Father when he tried to control me?"

Sirius smiled, remembering the time his goddaughter had put the Body-Bind on Snape.

"Fine. Go. Room 493."

"Thanks."

She stood up and began to walk out of the room, but the pesky attendant stopped her.

"Wheelchair," he said, pushing one towards her.

"Fine. But I push," she said stubbornly.

"No."

"Fine," she said airily, casually brushing up her bangs. The attendant's eye widened. "But my father-in-law, Minister Arthur Weasly, just might take offense to his daughter-in-law's treatment here. He might even cut off funding."

The attendant scurried off. Rose smirked.

"You coming, Mione?"

"Sure."

Hermione followed her cousin out the door and down the hall into room 493. Rose gasped and stopped so quickly Hermione bumped into her.

Harry was lying on the hospital bed, literally white. Rose wheeled over and gently touched his shoulder.

"Oh my God," she whispered.

She looked at the next bed over. Ginny was not as pale, but quite close. Rose pushed a curl away from her face.

She heard a coughing and a squelching noise from a little door off to the right of the room. Hermione and Rose looked at each other.

"Ron," they said simultaneously.

"I'll go get him," Hermione said.

Rose nodded and wheeled over to where her brother lay. She took his hand and laid her long fingers on the vein. She was frightened at how weak his pulse felt. She closed her eyes and wished with everything she had that he would get better.

"Rose?" Hermione said softly.

Rose's eyes shot open, as if she was coming out of a trance.

"Hello, Ron," she said, seeing him standing next to Mione.

He was a nasty shade of apple green and he was leaning rather heavily against the wall.

"Here," Rose said, handing him two small pills. "Palmed these from the meds room. Non-prescription."

"Bless you," Ron said as he snatched the pills and swallowed them. He gagged immediately, but apparently had already thrown up everything he had eaten.

"Liar," he said hoarsely. "You made these yourself."

"They're good though. It's what I use. Why did they send you here, anyways?"

"Oh, let me just show you," Hermione said impatiently.

Rose opened her mind and felt Hermione showing her the memory.

::Flashback::

Hermione was leaning against a wall. Ron was unconscious and so were Ginny and Harry. But the potion had worked. Unfortunately, Harry and Ginny looked really terrible and were still losing blood.

Hermione knew she couldn't heal something this bad. The only thing she could do was stop the bleeding temporarily. She tried to crawl over to them, but she was too weak. Apparently, she had lost more blood than she thought. She weakly called out.

"Professor McGonagall?" she said weakly. She switched to mental.

*Professor McGonagall? Professor Snape?*

She called for what seemed like an hour before they found her. Professor McGonagall gasped and staggered backwards. Professor Snape just looked grim.

"It was you making the Darneywort. If it was not for my goddaughter, you have no idea how many points you would lose from Gryffindor."

"I take it you are the healer?" Professor McGonagall said. She seemed to have recovered.

"Ginny's empath," Hermione said dreamily.

She recognized that she was going to faint from blood loss, so she lay in a position where it wouldn't hurt as much. She blacked out.

::End Flashback::

"Where are Mother and Father now, anyways?" Rose asked.

"At your house," Hermione said, easing herself back into her bed.

"I see. With the twins."

Ron snickered. A feeble laugh came from another part of the room.

"Ginny!" Hermione said.

She leaped over to the edge of the bed and sat down.

"How are you feeling?"

"My chest hurts."

"Now, there's a shock," Ron said. "You know, Mum and Dad will kill us."

"We were brave and sacrificed to help a friend," Ginny informed him. "Where's Rose's room, anyways?"

"No need to come," Rose said. "I'm right here."

She wheeled over and lowered herself into a chair.

"Why are you in a wheelchair?"

"Damn hospital attendants."

"I see."

"Where's Harry?"

"Turn your head right. Just your head, otherwise the rest of you will experience a flash of extreme pain."

She did so and gasped at Harry's face.

"Oh my God! He's so pale!"

"You should see yourself."

"Has he regained consciousness at all yet?"

"No."

*I am so damn bored in here,* came a voice in their heads.

*HARRY!* the girls and Ron said at once.

*Ow.*

*Where are you?* Rose asked. She was afraid of the answer.

*Where do ya think?*

*Say hi to them for me,* Rose said softly.

*Okay. But according to Mum and Dad, I shouldn't be here. I need to go back NOW.*

*Slight problem, oh incredibly intelligent cousin,* Hermione said sarcastically. *If we could, we would have.*

*Ask Sarah how to bring you back. She was a healer.*

*Cool.* There was a short pause. *She says just get Mione and you Rose to heal me.*

*That simple? Ask her the side effects.*

*According to her, slight lapses in concentration.*

"Better than the Verichaserum problem," Rose muttered to herself.

*What?*

*Ask me about it sometime. Now I'm breaking the connection.*

*Bye.*

*Bye.*

Rose settled into a chair next to her brother's bed. Hermione took the chair on the other side. Each of them laid a finger on his wrist and concentrated on bringing him back to consciousness.

Rose felt him coming back, slowly but steadily. It was working. She concentrated on speeding it up and felt Hermione do the same.

Harry's wrist suddenly twitched. Rose jerked her finger away. His eyes flickered and opened. He smiled.

"Hi."

"Harry!" the girls screeched.

Sirius and Bill came skidding into the room.

"What is it?"

Rose sighed.

"Take a look. How soon can we get out of this trap?"

"Anytime you want, now that Harry's conscious again. But you have to use the wheelchair to get downstairs. All of you."

Rose growled but let herself be lowered back into the wheelchair.

*~*~*

Harry, Ron, Ginny and Hermione were sent straight to Hogwarts, while Bill, Rose, and Sirius went straight home.

"What happened here?" Hermione said in dismay, gazing at the common room.

"It looks like a herd of elephants came through," Ginny said.

Their common room was a mess. The blankets were spread all over the couches and the floor. There were ashes from the fire on the carpet and several couches were turned over. The room was smothered in flour. Hermione screamed when she looked in the library, and almost burst into tears.

The shelves were turned over onto the floor, and there were ripped books everywhere. The only shelves still standing had all of the books either dumped onto the floor or scrambled up. Everything was covered in what looked like red crayon.

"My library!" Hermione cried.

"Where are O'Connell and Durseley?" Harry asked through gritted teeth.

They raced up the stairs to the Slytherin prefects' rooms. O'Connell's was empty except for a note.

Hello, little Gryffindors. Knew you'd love my new decorations. Hope you like them; I worked on them quite hard. So did Durseley, unfortunately the work injured him slightly. I'm afraid it could be permanent. I'll see you at your place tomorrow at six with your friends!

-Erin O'Connell

"Damn, that nasty little bitch pisses me off!!!" Ginny said, to the others' surprise.

"Virginia Nicole Weasly-"

"Oh, shut up, Ronnykins, I've heard you use worse."

Ron shut up. Then he reread the note, and noticed the part about Durseley.

"Hey, I think she killed Durseley!"

He did not sound too sad. Hermione swatted him on the arm.

"Hey! Ow!"

"You didn't think three years of Quidditch would toughen up my arm a bit? At least pretend to be sad."

"Not a chance."

Ginny whipped out her wand and did a silencing spell on him.

"Thank you, Ginny."

"You're welcome, Mione."

They calmly walked down the hall, Harry laughing like mad and Ron furiously mouthing something.

"Here's Durseley's room," Ginny said.

She pushed the door open and jumped back, as if suspecting to be attacked by some animal. But nothing came out at all, not a single drop of blood.

"Then how the hell did she kill him?" Harry said, voicing all their thoughts.

"We're assuming it wasn't magical," Hermione said grimly. "She's definitely powerful enough to do Avada. After all, Lucretia Diabolique chose her as her heir. I don't think she'd choose someone too weak to do Avada."

"Point taken. Ron, you can use that x-ray vision thingy, can't you?"

He stubbornly crossed his arms.

"Fine!" Hermione said exasperatedly.

She undid the Silencing Spell and Ron looked around the room. He yelped when he looked over at the bathroom.

"Obviously, over there," Harry said.

They nervously approached the door, pulled it open, and jumped back. Water gushed from the room onto the floor.

"Just water," Hermione said.

"Yeah, right."

They split up and searched all the corners. Harry was looking in a cabinet when he heard Ginny scream.

She was pointing at the full bathtub. Lying at the bottom of the ten-foot area was Dudley Durseley, tied to a bookcase.

"Ugh," Ginny said.

"I'll get Professor Dumbledore," Ron and Ginny said at the same time. They bolted.

Harry pulled off his robes and dove down into the water to bring up his cousin's body. Getting the ties off was a challenge. He had to go up for air eight times before they finally came undone. When the last rope was cut, Dudley floated to the surface. That was when Harry noticed he wasn't just thinner. He was literally skin and bones.

"What did she do to him?" Ginny said at the sight of the body.

"Starved him apparently," Harry said calmly. "Horrible torture for this particular one."

"I agree."

Professor Dumbledore suddenly cam in the room, followed by Snape, McGonagall, Ron, and Ginny.

"He was tied to a bookcase on the bottom of the ten-foot," Harry explained.

"We should notify Miss O'Connell," McGonagall suggested. "They were quite close."

"She left," Harry said.

Dumbledore looked at him in that odd way he had.

"She left no hints as to where she would be?"

"No," Harry quickly lied.

He felt terrible immediately. He hushed his conscience by telling himself that as this was Dumbledore, he would probably know anyways.

"Where are the other prefects?" Snape asked.

"We didn't look for them."

"Then do it now!"

The four scuttled off and began opening and closing doors. No one was in any of the prefects' rooms. They got nervous and checked the bathrooms. No body. (Oh, what a demented joke.) When they checked the Ravenclaw girl's room, they found out where they were.

There was a note on Padma's bed from O'Connell again.

Sigh. You Gryffindors really are stupid people, aren't you? I told you I'd meet you at you at your house with your friends. They're still alive, for now. But that can be, shall we say.reversed. Be at your house.

-Erin O'Connell