There shall be an age of Darkness. But when Dark strikes at half the Light, He shall be driven away. And Light shall be praised and cursed in the years before the Battle.
- Order of the Phoenix, Phoenix Chronicles, Part I
'Oh God, I'm gonna die. He's really going to kill me!' Harry thought; panicking. He tried to pull away, body screaming in protest, but Vernon held tight, and the blood in his arm barely circulated. Harry's uncle then raised the knife and cut, almost delicately, across Harry's scar, causing it to look new-made. Harry flinched, and then screamed as Vernon slowly began to gauge a hole in Harry's arm. It was the first sound he had uttered through the entire beating. Harry squirmed and writhed to no avail. His free hand was no good because it was broken, and his blows would have been weak from almost two months of little or no food and insomnia. He finally collapsed, creating a new gash up his shoulder. Vernon scowled, slapped him hard across the face, and tore a gash down Harry's good leg.
As he grabbed the wilting teen's hand to cut off the fingers, a loud BANG! erupted from downstairs. Vernon frowned in confusion before pulling Harry up by the hair. Grabbing up a noose Dudley had used to strangle Harry, he hung it from the ceiling and shoved Harry's head into it. He released Harry and left the room.
Drained, Harry hung limply, lost in his pain and all alone. He didn't bother to struggle as his air was closed out.
Darkness consumed him.
***
When Hedwig saw the knife, she knew there was trouble. Panicking, the bird flew to the person nearest the house. For the moment, this was Sirius Black, accused murderer and godfather to Harry.
***
Ten blocks away from Number Four Privet Drive, Sirius was contemplating his godson. He was on assignment from Dumbledore that would keep him in the area for a few days. Walking about in his animagus form, he was startled when a terrified owl collided with him. It took a bit for him to recognize it as Harry's Hedwig, and when he did he grew grim.
Harry was in trouble, and if his bird was this worked up about it, it was something big. Knowing that the protective wards at Harry's house kept anyone from Apparating there, Sirius Apparated to the Weasley home where the family was sleeping soundly.
When the startled Weasley's appeared downstairs, they found Sirius in a dither, hunting for the Floo Powder. After the whole Sirius-is-really-innocent-please-don't-kill-him-thing was over, Sirius got to the point of his intrusion. Molly Weasely immediately rushed to the flowerpot.
"Here it is dear, but first we need to wait for Harry's home to be hooked into the Network-"
"Alright, let's go!" shouted Mr. Weasley as the connection was completed. No one hesitated as they all seized some powder and roared "The Dursley's!"
***
Needless to say, when they arrived in Harry's blocked fireplace, there was even less room than last time.
Squished closest to the blockage, Charlie muttered, "Reducto!" and blew away the fake fireplace with a loud BANG! Everyone tumbled into the darkened house and ran to the stairs when Vernon Dursley stamped out to glare down on them.
"What in bloody hell are you doing in my house?" he shouted.
"We have reason to believe something is wrong with Harry," said Arthur hastily, "is he all right?"
"As perfect as he can get, and that's how it's supposed to be, isn't it?" Vernon grinned suddenly.
"Umm, Ron?" Ginny squeaked, tugging his robes.
"What?" asked the latter impatiently.
"Mr. Dursley has blood on his clothes." Ron looked and gulped when he saw she was correct.
"Umm, Dad?" he squeaked, tugging his robes. (sound familiar yet?)
"What is it, Ron?" asked his father absently.
"Mr. Dursley's got blood on his clothes." Mr. Weasley jumped and asked Vernon worriedly, "Why is there blood on your clothes?"
Vernon's face grew red with anger as he shouted, "Get yourselves and all your sorry asses out of my bloody house! GET OUT!"
"What's wrong with Harry?" asked Sirius menacingly, advancing on his godson's guardian.
"Nothing is bloody wrong with the freak. In fact, he's probably in the very best condition I can make hi-"
"What's going on, Vernon?" asked Petunia's voice from behind him. "Have you been drinking again? Dudley's gone off to get Harry to fetch you something for that hangover you'll have. Perhaps he won't mess it up this time, and have breakfast-" her voice cut off abruptly as she peered over his shoulder. "Are there actually people down there? What type of freak would be here at this time of-" she stopped again as she saw Sirius and wand-carrying nightmares.
"Sirius Black! Freaks! Out! GET OUT OF MY HOME IMMEDIALTELY!"
"Not until we see Harry," Sirius growled grimly.
Dudley appeared behind his father, but didn't see the uninvited wizards.
"Mum, he won't wake up. I cut him down and shook him, but he wouldn't even look at me. I even tried kicking, and you know how well that-"
"YOU KICKED HARRY POTTER?" came nine shocked voices.
"That's practically sacrilege!" added Percy.
"Stupefy!" snarled Sirius, and Bill and Charlie followed suit, stunning the Dursley family where they stood before rushing upstairs. They found the Master Bedroom empty, but Fred and George led them to Harry's room at the far end of the hall.
The door was open, and the group collectively stopped in shock. Harry was lying on the floor, and didn't appear to be breathing. Blood flowed freely in several places, and his hand was twisted at a weird angle. A few things were turned over or bloodstained from Vernon's rage, and Mr. Weasley quickly hurried out to contact Dumbledore.
A stretcher was conjured, Sirius transformed, and all hurried out of the house. Mr. Weasley caught up to them.
"Dumbledore says to Apparate straight to St. Mungo's since they aren't on the Floo Network. He'd prefer Hogwarts, but Harry might be dead before we get there, so he'll meet us in a few minutes." They crossed the last of the wards.
"Now you younger people, grab someone who can Apparate so we can take you too," instructed Bill, sounding like a lecturer 80 years old.
Soon, everyone reappeared in front of St. Mungo's and levitated Harry in as a nurse rushed over.
No one noticed that two of their number were missing.
***
Ginny looked around, puzzled, before looking up at her mother in shock.
"Mum! The Maternity Ward?" Mrs. Weasley blushed.
"I suppose I was thinking of babies and how helpless they are, just like Harry is now, and-" she was explaining when a nurse walked by and gasped in recognition.
"Mrs. Weasley! You're not pregnant again, are you?" she asked, sounding half scandalized and amused, and half resigned. "Just wait right there; I'll go get Dr. Wendinsbouro," she called over her shoulder as she left at a dead run.
A few seconds later she was back, panting, with a doctor in tow. He immediately began to scold Mrs. Weasley.
"Really Molly! You're getting too old for this sort of thing you know! Why in fact, I do believe-" Mrs. Weasley interrupted hurriedly.
"Wait, sir. I am NOT pregnant. I just Apparated to the wrong room in the hospital, that is all. Sorry, must be going!" and she ran off, dragging along a giggling Ginny and panting from her rapid speech.
Meanwhile…
A nurse bent over him and backed away in shock.
"Is that Harry Potter?!" she screeched. "What happened?" All the people in the waiting room swiveled their heads around in startled interest, and at least ten doctors hurried over with a lucky news reporter, who had expected her day to be dull.
"He needs medical attention; not people gawking over him," growled the twins protectively. Ron looked at them in surprise – he had been about to say that.
"Um, oh! Right you are, lads," said a doctor, and began to wheel him down the hall. Another nurse followed with a tablet, and began scribbling information while muttering to herself.
"Name…Harry Potter, age…umm, how old is he?"
"Fifteen yesterday," muttered George.
"Fifteen…height, about 5'4"…weight…how much?"
"I dunno. A lot less then when I last saw him," muttered Ron anxiously, "and that's saying a lot."
"Weight; blank space. Reason for hospitalization?" she looked at them expectantly.
"Beatings, we believe," responded Mr. Weasley. They heard a gasp and flurry of scribbles and turned to find a trailing reporter scribbling furiously and looking delighted.
"Oh, no," moaned Ron, "Harry's not going to like this."
"Hey," said Charlie suddenly, "where's Mum?" They stopped and looked about.
"Ginny's missing, too," George commented. "Maybe they went off somewhere."
Just then, the two females in question appeared down the hall at a dead run.
"How's Harry?" asked Mrs. Weasley when they caught up.
"Same. Where were you? And why's Ginny laughing like a maniac?"
"Ooh," she squealed, "just wait till you hear-" Mrs. Weasley interrupted hurriedly.
"I'm sure they don't want to hear about that dear." That set her off again as they all chased Harry's stretcher. He was wheeled into a room and they were all halted by a new doctor.
"We can do without distractions; please wait outside. And get that dog out! He's not allowed!" Sirius growled a warning to the pompous doctor, who reached nervously for her wand.
"The dog will stay, or else Harry may be very unhappy upon awakening," came a new voice. The doctor turned in surprise to Dumbledore, who looked worried.
"How is Harry?"
"They just took him in as you got here," replied Mr. Weasley. Suddenly, there was a BANG, and the first doctor flew out, holding his wand and eyes wide.
Everyone jumped in shock, but Dumbledore strode forward calling. "Harry, it's ok. You're safe; the doctor wasn't trying to hurt you." He entered the room. After nothing else happened, the Weasley's followed with Sirius in the lead.
They found Dumbledore at the head of Harry's hospital stretcher. The boy was awake and blinking confusedly. As though responding to something said by Dumbledore, Harry was saying, "-asn't Vernon? I'm sorry, I thought he was holding a knife," he added sheepishly.
"It's all right, Harry," soothed Dumbledore, "at least you didn't hurt him."
"Hurt me?! Forget hurt me, what did he DO?!!" shouted the overexcited and irate doctor. "He starts to wake up as I was about to heal him, and next thing I know, I've been blasted through the doors!" At this, the reporter literally bubbled over in anticipation as Dumbledore sighed.
"I'm afraid I can't tell you at the moment. Harry has obviously been injured severely, and had a hallucination from starvation and blood loss. He will not do anything like that again."
"Yeah, I'm really sorry, sir. I didn't hurt you, did I?" piped Harry anxiously. He looked relieved when the doctor shook his head no.
"Now, if we could get back to business?" asked the doctor with renewed vigor.
"Certainly," replied Dumbledore, and he herded the audience out.
