Chapter 7

"…fucking hell."

Harry groaned as his mind slowly rose to consciousness.  The instant he had started to awake, pain had assailed his senses.  And it was a familiar pain to him.

After all, he'd been shot before.

"Harry?" said a voice from his left.  "Are you okay?"

Harry growled in the back of his throat and opened one eye blearily to glare at Ron.

"I feel like shit.  Does that answer your question?"

"He's okay," said a voice from his right, laughter in it.  Harry turned his head in that direction and smiled as Ginny's face entered his sight.

"Hello there, lovely."

"You bastard," spat Ginny in a tearful tone.  "You had me scared for nearly half a day!"

"Sorry, love."

"You nearly didn't make it," explained Ron.  "They – they nearly lost you."

"Who's they?" asked Harry.  He peered about his room suddenly and swore he saw a moving painting.  "Where am I?"

"St. Mungo's," replied Ginny, clutching his hand in her own.  "Muggle hospital would have been too suspicious."

"I'm right with you on that, Gin.  Now who's 'they?'"

"Your doctors," replied the two redheads at the same time.

"One of which would be me," said Dennis as he entered the room, a Muggle clipboard in hand.

Harry blinked twice to make sure he wasn't hallucinating (about Dennis and the clipboard).

"Dennis Creevey?  You're a doctor?"

"The wizarding term is actually Healer but I suppose you could call me that too," said Dennis.  "How are you feeling, Harry?"

"Like I got shot."

Dennis smiled and said, "A sense of humor, I see.  Well…I'm glad to say you're doing just fine.  Judging by the rate that you're recovering, you should be out of here in say…three days?  Maybe four."

"Three.  Days," repeated Harry.  He then closed his eyes and moaned, "But I hate hospitals!"

Ginny smiled and kissed his forehead, smoothing back a lock of errant hair as she pulled back.  "Then you shouldn't get injured so much," she murmured.

"Thank you for that wonderful suggestion, love."

"You're welcome, dear heart."

Dennis smiled at the two of them then left the room.  He was replaced by Sirius a few moments later.

"The Minister wants you to be taken into custody immediately after your release," he stated with a scowl.

"What?" exclaimed Harry at the same time Ginny demanded, "On what grounds?"

"On the grounds that twenty-four wizards and one witch are dead, including Draco Malfoy.  All of them found in your house."

"They attacked us!" snarled Ginny.  "Didn't you put that in your report?"

Sirius nodded and said, "We both did but everyone seems to be ignoring it."  He looked at his godson and continued, "I think they just want you where they can keep tabs on you."

Harry scowled and sneered, "I am not going to stay caged up like some animal."

"We'll fight it," said Ron.  "I swear we will, Harry."

"You had better," growled Ginny.  "I won't let them take Harry."

"You may not have any choice," said Sirius.

Ginny shook her head and said, "You always have a choice.  I will not abandon him."

"Gin…" began Ron, only to be interrupted by Harry.

"Don't even, Ron.  If there's one thing I've learned about the vixen here, its that once she's made up her mind, there is no changing it."

"Damn right," murmured Ginny, leaning down to kiss his cheek.  She smiled and added, "Get some sleep, Harry."

"Mmm," said Harry, closing his eyes.  "You'd better be here when I wake up."

"Where else would I be, love?" asked Ginny.

Ron and Sirius exchanged looks and then left the room.

* * * *

"How are we going to fight this, Sirius?" asked Ron as the two of them walked down the hallway.  "They can't really take Harry in, can they?  Not without some sort of evidence."

"I don't know," said Sirius.  He suddenly stopped and turned towards the ginger-haired young man.  "Go and talk to Hermione.  See if she can help us figure out how to keep the Ministry from getting their claws into Harry."

"What are you going to do?" asked Ron.

"It'd be best if you didn't know."

"You're going to snoop around, aren't you?"

Sirius just grinned and Ron nodded.

"Yep, you're going to snoop around."

"Just go talk to Hermione," said Sirius, slapping the younger wizard on the back as he turned and walked off.  Ron blinked after him for a moment before he left to go find a fireplace to contact his ex-girlfriend.

When he found one and got a hold of Hermione, she began to immediately berate him.

"Ron, I've got no time to talk!  I've got umpteen files on my desk of twenty-five dead Death Eater's that I have to sort through!"

"I know," said Ron.  "They attacked Harry and Ginny."

"What?!" exclaimed Hermione.  "Are they alright?"

"Harry got shot."

"Harry got shot?"

"Twice.  Malfoy was carrying a pistol."

"A pistol?" said Hermione.  "But, Ron, it couldn't have worked.  Magic fouls up machinery, you know that.  Revolvers are much better."

"Could be the reason why Harry and Ginny carry them…" mused Ron.

Hermione nodded then asked, "Is Harry okay?"

"Yeah.  He's here at St. Mungo's.  So's Gin."

"What about…the Ministry?"

"They want to take him into custody.  I'm afraid that if they do, somebody's going to get killed."

Hermione frowned.

"Harry didn't take it well?"

"Neither did Gin.  Sirius and I need you to find out if there's anyway we can keep them from getting their claws into Harry."

"I think I remember something," muttered Hermione.  "I'll check.  How long do I have?"

"Three days."

"Shit," said Hermione and Ron grinned mentally.  He had had some effect on his ex-girlfriend.  "Alright.  I'll call you if I find anything.  Will you be at St. Mungo's the entire time?"

"Yeah," replied Ron.  "Going to keep an eye on Harry and Gin."

"Okay.  I'll see you later."

"Be careful."

Hermione winked at him and said, "Always," before her head vanished from the fireplace.  Ron sighed and turned away from it to head back down the hall towards Harry's room.  When he got inside, he saw Ginny talking on what looked like a Muggle cell phone.  He remembered what Hermione had said about magic fouling up technology.

"How are you getting that to work?" he asked.

Ginny held a finger to her lips and said something into the phone before she turned it off.  Turning towards him, she said, "What?"

"How are you getting that to work?" repeated Ron.  "Mione said that magic fouls up technology."

Ginny smiled and replied, "A little charm of mine.  I wired everything in our house to run off magic."

"Including the cars?"

Ginny nodded solemnly.

"Damn."  He then glanced at Harry and said, "He asleep?"

"Yeah," said Ginny, reaching out to brush a lock of hair behind Harry's ear.  She smiled almost to herself and softly said, "I love to watch him when he's sleeping.  He looks…innocent."

Ron nodded, his eyes locked on his old friend's face.  She was right.  When Harry was asleep, he looked just like the old Harry.  It was when he was awake that he scared the living shit out of Ron.

"Gin…"

"I love him, Ron," she said, looking at him.  "I really do.  Please…"  She swallowed hard and seemed to be having a hard time continuing.

"Gin?" queried Ron, taking a step forward.

Ginny looked at him with slightly teary eyes and whispered, "Please, Ron…don't let them take him away from me."

"I won't," promised Ron, moving towards her.  He gingerly placed a hand on her shoulder and added, "I swear I won't let anything happen to him."

"Thank you," whispered Ginny, bowing her head.

Ron smiled and just stood there with her, watching Harry sleep.  It felt sort of like old times again.

Except for the fact that he could smell the metal of her gun.