He didn't know what woke him up; he just simply went from
asleep to awake. Harry's first thought was the dream he had just had. The
more he thought about it, the more he didn't want to remember it. Slowly he
felt his sense of hearing and touch come alive. These were even more
disturbing than the dream.
Even with his eyes closed he could tell something wasn't right about his surroundings. The ground he was laying on, no, sitting on was hard, too hard to be a bed or even earth. Then he heard sounds, not of a slight snoring next to him or the Weasleys talking beneath his floor below him, but sounds of an urban life. Cars and bells with the thumping of busy people walking to and fro. Even most his clothes were still on.
And yet he let nothing of this make sense, he refused to let his brain do its normal job of making a reason out of the un-natural things around him. Even his eyes were still not open, hoping it would lessen the speed of the train of thought. But that only lasted a few seconds as he slowly opened one eye, then the next. Darkness. Groaning he lifted his head out of his propped up legs and looked at the blurry would around him. Another wall.
He turned his head to were the sound of city life was coming from. The opening was a few yards away. Opening? He was in an ally. He could see the street past it and the random person walking past.
"The hell?" He thought, letting his sight focus better. The sentence, "Why am I in this ally?" kept running though his mind, yet another teqniqe to lesson his thoughts. But try as he might, another thought, nearly parrell to the last one crept up. "I shouldn't have been sleeping in an alley."
Before he could stop it, the thoughts branched. He wasn't supposed to go to sleep in the ally, but he put himself their. Why? Didn't he have somewhere to go? "The hotel." He thought. "Why didn't I go there?" Now it was too late, every thought was making other thoughts to which was opening more and more doors to his memory. Then the door leading to last night was opened.
This door lead to a vast hallway of different events. He went though most of them quickly, recognizing almost all of them from his dream. Then he was at the start again. A dream. THE dream. But now he knew it wasn't a dream. Something he thought was his worst nightmare was real.
When he got to were he went into this ally way so he would not lead Voldemort to the others, his face was already red and tear soaked. His breath came in quick gasp for air, giving him the life he now didn't wish he had. No one on the street had seemed to notice him, giving him the hope that he had died and became a ghost. But no, he knew it wasn't true.
Wiping whatever trace of tears off his face that he could, Harry stood up and wiped the dust and loose gravel off of him. His watch told him it was almost 11:00; he didn't bother thinking of why he had slept so late. Taking the blow of remembering the worst night of his life was hard enough; dwelling on it would destroy him. The only way he thought he could continue to cope with it was no think, just take one thing at a time.
"Find the others." He told himself. That was the first thing to do. The thought of Voldemort still waiting for Harry to lead him to the others crossed his mind, but Harry would have been dead by then. Even so, no matter how powerful Voldemort was, Harry had no doubt four powerful wizards and one witch could take him down.
He had no doubt they was now hanging to hope, pushing the thought away that Sirius and Harry were dead. If things were still going the way they were for Harry, they had gone back in trying to help them, getting themselves killed. Not wanting to give them that chance, Harry started to walk in the direction of the hotel. He took of his robes before he went onto the sidewalk, but he still got looks at the clothing hanging over his shoulder.
Five minuets later he was walking in the parking lot of the motel, his eyes already fixed on the door were his friends and partners should be. For some reason he thought of how he should do this, it might be too much for him and them if he just walked in. A nice dramatic one would be nice, calling them with a spell right before he walked in. In spite of himself, he smiled slightly.
*****************************
He stood facing the hotel door in front of him. He had been for minuets. He could hear slight talking on the other side, giving him the satisfaction of knowing that they was still alive and reliving him of the thought of him having to look for them. He could hear a voice clearly now.
"I don't care, George!" It was Hermione. "We still just can't forget about it. I'm going, with or without both of your help. I've already lost Ron, if I lose Harry, at least I'll know I done what I could to change that."
The door in front of Harry opened, giving everyone in the motel room of a clear view of him. Hermione was the one who opened the door; she stared at him with his mouth half way open. George was in the very back of the room, leaning next to the window, his face was in shadow, so Harry couldn't see his face. Orcrist was sitting on the bed, wearing the same look as Hermione. And Harry himself didn't think he wore an expression.
"Harry." Hermione breathed.
********************************
Harry was lying on the bed, breathless after telling his tell. Now he couldn't move, it had taken everything he had to speak, and his dignity had already been taking away by him breaking down when he started to talk about Sirius. Even now, after everyone had taken everything in and trying to figure out what to do next, Harry was still lying on the bed slightly crying. Hermione was sitting next to him, trying her best to comported him. But Harry knew nothing was going to help him. What could?
Harry felt another hand on his shoulder, bigger than Hermione's. He didn't look up, but kept his eyes fixed on the wall next to him. "Harry." It was Orcrist. "I know it's hard, but we still have to get Ron."
"I can't." Harry whispered. The subject had been on his mind for some time.
"Then what are we..."
"No, I mean I can't. I won't be able to go though something like that." What ever pride Harry had left was just taken away from him with those words. Admitting he was too weak to handle such a thing. Orcrist didn't say anything; Harry took that as I sign of understanding what Harry already knew. He heard the faint footsteps of Orcrist walking away.
"We need to go soon anyways." George said, still standing by the window.
Harry thought about what he would be going though in the next few days. Resurrecting Ron would be hard enough to handle, but he still had to tell his family, and then tell the whole wizarding world that Voldemort was still in action, that it was in fact not over with.
He didn't know when he fell asleep, he was sure that his thoughts had went in with him. But he did not dream, or couldn't remember any. When he woke up, he felt more refreshed than he had in a long time. He opened his eyes and looked around himself. It was dark outside, the window was open without light and a light wind blowing lightly though. He didn't know were he was, it was a place he hadn't been before. No one was in the room with him, and the blankets were stacked on him with his shirt off.
This time he knew what had happened, he didn't have to fake it for a dream. The room was bare except for a dresser with a mirror to his left and this bed. His bag was also lying right next to him with a glass of water on the floor. He realized for the first time that he was thirsty, and immediately reached out for it and took a long drink out of it.
Not knowing what to do next, Harry lied back down without closing his eyes. He knew he would be in a new place every night for five days, waiting for the time were he would be meeting Fudge on the other side of the Diagon ally wall, hopefully with Ron. The door to his left opened and he couldn't see who walked in. Forgetting the urge to pretend to be asleep, he turned around on his back and looked at the person. It was Hermione, but her red had given Harry the thought that it may be Ron for a slight second.
"Hi Harry." Hermione said in greeting. "How long you been awake?"
"Not long." Harry said. "Where am I?"
"Just a hotel in Diagon Ally, we thought the leaky cauldron might be pushing it so we choose a lesser known place."
Harry smiled slightly. "Who's paying for all this? I take it we all have our own room."
Hermione mirroid Harry's smirk. "We billed it to Fudge, just to see what he would do." Something else was on her mind, anyone could tell that with her, she didn't come in here for nothing, and her taking a seat on the bed next to Harry only proved this.
"Where are the others?" He asked.
"They went ahead and tried to find a good time and place to get Ron; his funeral is tomorrow so I thought it was a good idea."
Harry nodded. "Why didn't you go?"
"You should know. Anyways someone needed to stay behind and wait for you to wake up. You've been asleep for awhile."
"How did I get here?"
"Orcrist done some kind of spell, I don't know what it was but I will soon enough."
Harry thought about this for a second then remembered a talk the two had a few days ago, before they had went back in time. "Do you still not agree?"
"About what?" Her face gave away the sign that she already knew.
"Us saving Ron like this, the whole time traveling thing."
"I'll know when I see him tomorrow. It's going to be hard for me Harry, it really is."
Harry nodded, understanding, but didn't say anything. She already knew he felt the same way.
"Harry. I'm really sorry about Sirius." Harry then knew this is what she came in for, but again he said nothing, letting her follow it. "I know he was like a father to you, and you seemed to never be happier when you moved in with him, and now." She stopped and hid her face. Harry reached out and laid a hand on her shoulder.
"I'll be ok, really." He said. "It will just take me awhile to." He stopped, not knowing what it was. He still felt bad about it, even devastated, but he couldn't let it stop him. "I'm sorry but I need to get started on a report to Fudge, it's going to take awhile."
"I already done it, I thought it was the least I could do."
Harry nodded. "Thank you."
**************************************
Three days later Harry woke up groggy and sore. Taking a look at his watch he had forgot to take off told him the time was after noon, and he was still tired. He rolled over off his back and discovered another pain in his side by the way he had slept. He left his eyes closed for a little bit, listened to the slow breathing on the bed next to him. Last night had been a small party of five, and the night had been fast.
He finally forced his legs over the side of the bed and stood up quietly. Grabbing the discarded shirt on the floor he threw it over his head and then put on his glasses, bringing the room into view. It wasn't much different than the other hotels they had stayed in, plain and welcoming at the same time. He looked at the lump of blankets over on the other bed moving slowly up and down. He walked over next to the bed and shook the lump violently, stopping only when it gave signs of life.
Ron poked his head out of the blankets, his eyes only half open.
"Mourning Ron." Harry said.
"That early?" Ron said gruffly, his voice had been bad ever sense they woke him up yesterday.
"Not really. It never is."
Ron cocked an eyebrow at Harry and moved back under the covers, hiding his entire body under the blankets. "I'll get up in a bit." Ron said, his voice muffled by the blankets.
"Haven't you slept enough?" Harry asked, wondering if he should make a joke out of such a thing. A grunt being his only reply, Harry turned and walked out the door into a narrow wooden hallway. Light shining though the above window illuminated the huge amount of dust floating around. Harry turned left, heading in the direction of the stairs.
Harry slowed his pace of walking when he heard some one walking up the stairs. Orcrist appeared at the head of the stairs in a few moments. He stopped when he saw Harry walking over to him. "Mourning Harry." He said.
Harry nodded to him in reply.
"Is he still cold?" Orcrist asked, wondering about Ron.
Again Harry nodded, not saying anything.
"I got a little something for that." Orcrist said while reaching into his robes. He pulled out a rather large vile of a colebolt blue liquid, it seemed very thick.
"He's going to love drinking that." Harry commented, eyeing the vile.
"Well. uh, he doesn't really drink it." Harry gave him a puzzled look. "He's got to bathe in it." Said Orcrist, sounding a little amused.
"In only that?" Harry asked.
"Mixed with some water of course. But he is going to wish he only had to drink it, supposed to be very hot..."
Harry smiled slightly. "Tell the others I'm going to go find some breakfast OK?"
"I will. Just make sure to stay out of the limelight. Oh, and Hermione is down at the Wand Light Café if you want to join her."
Harry nodded his head for the third time and walked past Orcrist and down the stairs at a brisk pace. Two minuets later he sat down across from Hermione, her hair slightly askew. She looked up from her tea and smiled. "Mourning." She said.
"Good mourning Hermione. Surprised you could get up this early after last night."
Hermione blushed. "I'm paying for it now. Is he ok?"
"Yea I suppose. I still don't think he's let it sunk in though."
"Would you want it to?"
Harry didn't answer, knowing he didn't need to. "Well, what about now?"
"What?"
"Are you happy about saving him now?"
Hermione didn't talk for a long time, her eyes staring at her cup. "Of course I am Harry. I don't care if we just gave time an un-fixable tear, I'm glad we did."
Harry's head tilted down to stare at the table, a slight smile still on his face.
"You ok?" Hermione asked.
"I had to trade one friend for another. I'm not sure I'm happy about it anymore. And I can't even do anything about it this time."
This caught Hermione off guard, and she took a few moments to answer. "You can't think about it like that Harry. You had no way of knowing, and now it's too late."
"I almost got you killed too." Harry said, shaking his head. "I almost got you all killed."
"We never came because you told us to, or for you. We came because we all felt like getting Ron back, and a few other reasons. Don't take the blame like you do all the time. please."
Harry didn't answer for a long time. They sat there in silence for a long time, not even glancing at each other. Both were surprised to hear someone sit down next to them. Harry look up to see Ron, looking at both of them awkwardly.
"There is no way. Ron muttered under his breath. "That man is crazy."
Harry smiled and looked over at Hermione. "Maybe it was worth it."
END
Even with his eyes closed he could tell something wasn't right about his surroundings. The ground he was laying on, no, sitting on was hard, too hard to be a bed or even earth. Then he heard sounds, not of a slight snoring next to him or the Weasleys talking beneath his floor below him, but sounds of an urban life. Cars and bells with the thumping of busy people walking to and fro. Even most his clothes were still on.
And yet he let nothing of this make sense, he refused to let his brain do its normal job of making a reason out of the un-natural things around him. Even his eyes were still not open, hoping it would lessen the speed of the train of thought. But that only lasted a few seconds as he slowly opened one eye, then the next. Darkness. Groaning he lifted his head out of his propped up legs and looked at the blurry would around him. Another wall.
He turned his head to were the sound of city life was coming from. The opening was a few yards away. Opening? He was in an ally. He could see the street past it and the random person walking past.
"The hell?" He thought, letting his sight focus better. The sentence, "Why am I in this ally?" kept running though his mind, yet another teqniqe to lesson his thoughts. But try as he might, another thought, nearly parrell to the last one crept up. "I shouldn't have been sleeping in an alley."
Before he could stop it, the thoughts branched. He wasn't supposed to go to sleep in the ally, but he put himself their. Why? Didn't he have somewhere to go? "The hotel." He thought. "Why didn't I go there?" Now it was too late, every thought was making other thoughts to which was opening more and more doors to his memory. Then the door leading to last night was opened.
This door lead to a vast hallway of different events. He went though most of them quickly, recognizing almost all of them from his dream. Then he was at the start again. A dream. THE dream. But now he knew it wasn't a dream. Something he thought was his worst nightmare was real.
When he got to were he went into this ally way so he would not lead Voldemort to the others, his face was already red and tear soaked. His breath came in quick gasp for air, giving him the life he now didn't wish he had. No one on the street had seemed to notice him, giving him the hope that he had died and became a ghost. But no, he knew it wasn't true.
Wiping whatever trace of tears off his face that he could, Harry stood up and wiped the dust and loose gravel off of him. His watch told him it was almost 11:00; he didn't bother thinking of why he had slept so late. Taking the blow of remembering the worst night of his life was hard enough; dwelling on it would destroy him. The only way he thought he could continue to cope with it was no think, just take one thing at a time.
"Find the others." He told himself. That was the first thing to do. The thought of Voldemort still waiting for Harry to lead him to the others crossed his mind, but Harry would have been dead by then. Even so, no matter how powerful Voldemort was, Harry had no doubt four powerful wizards and one witch could take him down.
He had no doubt they was now hanging to hope, pushing the thought away that Sirius and Harry were dead. If things were still going the way they were for Harry, they had gone back in trying to help them, getting themselves killed. Not wanting to give them that chance, Harry started to walk in the direction of the hotel. He took of his robes before he went onto the sidewalk, but he still got looks at the clothing hanging over his shoulder.
Five minuets later he was walking in the parking lot of the motel, his eyes already fixed on the door were his friends and partners should be. For some reason he thought of how he should do this, it might be too much for him and them if he just walked in. A nice dramatic one would be nice, calling them with a spell right before he walked in. In spite of himself, he smiled slightly.
*****************************
He stood facing the hotel door in front of him. He had been for minuets. He could hear slight talking on the other side, giving him the satisfaction of knowing that they was still alive and reliving him of the thought of him having to look for them. He could hear a voice clearly now.
"I don't care, George!" It was Hermione. "We still just can't forget about it. I'm going, with or without both of your help. I've already lost Ron, if I lose Harry, at least I'll know I done what I could to change that."
The door in front of Harry opened, giving everyone in the motel room of a clear view of him. Hermione was the one who opened the door; she stared at him with his mouth half way open. George was in the very back of the room, leaning next to the window, his face was in shadow, so Harry couldn't see his face. Orcrist was sitting on the bed, wearing the same look as Hermione. And Harry himself didn't think he wore an expression.
"Harry." Hermione breathed.
********************************
Harry was lying on the bed, breathless after telling his tell. Now he couldn't move, it had taken everything he had to speak, and his dignity had already been taking away by him breaking down when he started to talk about Sirius. Even now, after everyone had taken everything in and trying to figure out what to do next, Harry was still lying on the bed slightly crying. Hermione was sitting next to him, trying her best to comported him. But Harry knew nothing was going to help him. What could?
Harry felt another hand on his shoulder, bigger than Hermione's. He didn't look up, but kept his eyes fixed on the wall next to him. "Harry." It was Orcrist. "I know it's hard, but we still have to get Ron."
"I can't." Harry whispered. The subject had been on his mind for some time.
"Then what are we..."
"No, I mean I can't. I won't be able to go though something like that." What ever pride Harry had left was just taken away from him with those words. Admitting he was too weak to handle such a thing. Orcrist didn't say anything; Harry took that as I sign of understanding what Harry already knew. He heard the faint footsteps of Orcrist walking away.
"We need to go soon anyways." George said, still standing by the window.
Harry thought about what he would be going though in the next few days. Resurrecting Ron would be hard enough to handle, but he still had to tell his family, and then tell the whole wizarding world that Voldemort was still in action, that it was in fact not over with.
He didn't know when he fell asleep, he was sure that his thoughts had went in with him. But he did not dream, or couldn't remember any. When he woke up, he felt more refreshed than he had in a long time. He opened his eyes and looked around himself. It was dark outside, the window was open without light and a light wind blowing lightly though. He didn't know were he was, it was a place he hadn't been before. No one was in the room with him, and the blankets were stacked on him with his shirt off.
This time he knew what had happened, he didn't have to fake it for a dream. The room was bare except for a dresser with a mirror to his left and this bed. His bag was also lying right next to him with a glass of water on the floor. He realized for the first time that he was thirsty, and immediately reached out for it and took a long drink out of it.
Not knowing what to do next, Harry lied back down without closing his eyes. He knew he would be in a new place every night for five days, waiting for the time were he would be meeting Fudge on the other side of the Diagon ally wall, hopefully with Ron. The door to his left opened and he couldn't see who walked in. Forgetting the urge to pretend to be asleep, he turned around on his back and looked at the person. It was Hermione, but her red had given Harry the thought that it may be Ron for a slight second.
"Hi Harry." Hermione said in greeting. "How long you been awake?"
"Not long." Harry said. "Where am I?"
"Just a hotel in Diagon Ally, we thought the leaky cauldron might be pushing it so we choose a lesser known place."
Harry smiled slightly. "Who's paying for all this? I take it we all have our own room."
Hermione mirroid Harry's smirk. "We billed it to Fudge, just to see what he would do." Something else was on her mind, anyone could tell that with her, she didn't come in here for nothing, and her taking a seat on the bed next to Harry only proved this.
"Where are the others?" He asked.
"They went ahead and tried to find a good time and place to get Ron; his funeral is tomorrow so I thought it was a good idea."
Harry nodded. "Why didn't you go?"
"You should know. Anyways someone needed to stay behind and wait for you to wake up. You've been asleep for awhile."
"How did I get here?"
"Orcrist done some kind of spell, I don't know what it was but I will soon enough."
Harry thought about this for a second then remembered a talk the two had a few days ago, before they had went back in time. "Do you still not agree?"
"About what?" Her face gave away the sign that she already knew.
"Us saving Ron like this, the whole time traveling thing."
"I'll know when I see him tomorrow. It's going to be hard for me Harry, it really is."
Harry nodded, understanding, but didn't say anything. She already knew he felt the same way.
"Harry. I'm really sorry about Sirius." Harry then knew this is what she came in for, but again he said nothing, letting her follow it. "I know he was like a father to you, and you seemed to never be happier when you moved in with him, and now." She stopped and hid her face. Harry reached out and laid a hand on her shoulder.
"I'll be ok, really." He said. "It will just take me awhile to." He stopped, not knowing what it was. He still felt bad about it, even devastated, but he couldn't let it stop him. "I'm sorry but I need to get started on a report to Fudge, it's going to take awhile."
"I already done it, I thought it was the least I could do."
Harry nodded. "Thank you."
**************************************
Three days later Harry woke up groggy and sore. Taking a look at his watch he had forgot to take off told him the time was after noon, and he was still tired. He rolled over off his back and discovered another pain in his side by the way he had slept. He left his eyes closed for a little bit, listened to the slow breathing on the bed next to him. Last night had been a small party of five, and the night had been fast.
He finally forced his legs over the side of the bed and stood up quietly. Grabbing the discarded shirt on the floor he threw it over his head and then put on his glasses, bringing the room into view. It wasn't much different than the other hotels they had stayed in, plain and welcoming at the same time. He looked at the lump of blankets over on the other bed moving slowly up and down. He walked over next to the bed and shook the lump violently, stopping only when it gave signs of life.
Ron poked his head out of the blankets, his eyes only half open.
"Mourning Ron." Harry said.
"That early?" Ron said gruffly, his voice had been bad ever sense they woke him up yesterday.
"Not really. It never is."
Ron cocked an eyebrow at Harry and moved back under the covers, hiding his entire body under the blankets. "I'll get up in a bit." Ron said, his voice muffled by the blankets.
"Haven't you slept enough?" Harry asked, wondering if he should make a joke out of such a thing. A grunt being his only reply, Harry turned and walked out the door into a narrow wooden hallway. Light shining though the above window illuminated the huge amount of dust floating around. Harry turned left, heading in the direction of the stairs.
Harry slowed his pace of walking when he heard some one walking up the stairs. Orcrist appeared at the head of the stairs in a few moments. He stopped when he saw Harry walking over to him. "Mourning Harry." He said.
Harry nodded to him in reply.
"Is he still cold?" Orcrist asked, wondering about Ron.
Again Harry nodded, not saying anything.
"I got a little something for that." Orcrist said while reaching into his robes. He pulled out a rather large vile of a colebolt blue liquid, it seemed very thick.
"He's going to love drinking that." Harry commented, eyeing the vile.
"Well. uh, he doesn't really drink it." Harry gave him a puzzled look. "He's got to bathe in it." Said Orcrist, sounding a little amused.
"In only that?" Harry asked.
"Mixed with some water of course. But he is going to wish he only had to drink it, supposed to be very hot..."
Harry smiled slightly. "Tell the others I'm going to go find some breakfast OK?"
"I will. Just make sure to stay out of the limelight. Oh, and Hermione is down at the Wand Light Café if you want to join her."
Harry nodded his head for the third time and walked past Orcrist and down the stairs at a brisk pace. Two minuets later he sat down across from Hermione, her hair slightly askew. She looked up from her tea and smiled. "Mourning." She said.
"Good mourning Hermione. Surprised you could get up this early after last night."
Hermione blushed. "I'm paying for it now. Is he ok?"
"Yea I suppose. I still don't think he's let it sunk in though."
"Would you want it to?"
Harry didn't answer, knowing he didn't need to. "Well, what about now?"
"What?"
"Are you happy about saving him now?"
Hermione didn't talk for a long time, her eyes staring at her cup. "Of course I am Harry. I don't care if we just gave time an un-fixable tear, I'm glad we did."
Harry's head tilted down to stare at the table, a slight smile still on his face.
"You ok?" Hermione asked.
"I had to trade one friend for another. I'm not sure I'm happy about it anymore. And I can't even do anything about it this time."
This caught Hermione off guard, and she took a few moments to answer. "You can't think about it like that Harry. You had no way of knowing, and now it's too late."
"I almost got you killed too." Harry said, shaking his head. "I almost got you all killed."
"We never came because you told us to, or for you. We came because we all felt like getting Ron back, and a few other reasons. Don't take the blame like you do all the time. please."
Harry didn't answer for a long time. They sat there in silence for a long time, not even glancing at each other. Both were surprised to hear someone sit down next to them. Harry look up to see Ron, looking at both of them awkwardly.
"There is no way. Ron muttered under his breath. "That man is crazy."
Harry smiled and looked over at Hermione. "Maybe it was worth it."
END