Wow, another marvelous influx of reviews! (dances) Thanks guys, you all rock! I think I've only got a few more chapters to go though.
One Week Later...
Healer and Psychological Specialist Doctor Abendigo Montel peered over at the admission papers of his newest patient.
"This can't be right," he said, filing through the manila folder again. His assistant, Madre Day, peered at him over her horn rimmed bifocals from her desk in the corner of the lobby. A grim expression pressed her lips into a very tight line.
" 'Fraid it is, sir," she answered. Abendigo sniffed and set the folder aside.
"I suppose it was just a matter of time."
"A matter of time?"
Abendigo stood from his desk and headed to the mental wards of Mungos; corridors full of patients who suffered from all sorts of dilemmas and delusions, and now the already hopeless patients were being joined by another tonight. After a week of tests and studies, the great Harry Potter had finally been admitted to Mungos' ward for the mentally disturbed.
"Yes, Miss Day," said Abendigo, pulling his impeccably white healer's robe over his regular wizarding ones. With a steady sigh, he straightened his stance and exited his office, journeying down the passageways of dizzying white walls until at last he reached room number 417. He did not bother to knock.
Lifting a key from his pocket, Abendigo twisted the knob of the windowless door and entered. There, standing near the barred window and peering out as though he were desperately searching for an escape, was the famous Harry Potter.
"Good morning!" Abendigo greeted cheerily, taking a seat in the corner. Harry said nothing. Abendigo cleared his throat. "How are you today, Harry?"
There was a long pause. Harry's teeth gnashed angrily, his jaw working ferociously along with the wheels in his head. He didn't seem insane, Abendigo noted with a twinge of suspicion. But then, there were other patients here that, at a glance, seemed just as sane as anyone else.
"Harry?" Abendigo asked gently.
"Fine."
The doctor nodded. "Good, good. Anything I can get you?"
Another pause. Then, "No."
"Is there something you'd like to tell me, Harry?" Abendigo asked. He whipped out a small quill and let lose a small roll of parchment. Settled in his seat, and quite ready to listen to whatever it was this boy had to say, Abendigo waited.
And waited...and waited.
"Harry?"
"I have nothing to say."
"Oh, but you must," said Abendigo with a certainty in his dry smile that made Harry's brow crease in anger. "Otherwise--"
"Otherwise what?" Harry challenged vehemently. "Otherwise I wouldn't be here?"
Abendigo ceased in his writing and peered up into Harry's eyes. For the first time, the young boy and turned to fully face him. His eyes were a brilliant shade of green, one that would put any emerald to shame. Their glow was only enforced by the weight of his anger. He was intimidating, Abendigo found himself ashamed to admit. All his training had taught him to never once fear the patient. Never give in to their demands, or acquiesce to their pleas. All that training had been for naught as his nerve slipped under the gaze of a sixteen year old boy who had been through more than should have ever been allowed.
A slight look of pleasure washed over that young, ashen face as Abendigo squirmed uncomfortably in his seat.
"Perhaps," he continued, finally finding his voice. "But aside from that--"
"I have nothing to say to you," Harry said very matter-of-factly. With that he turned back to the window, his gaze following those who walked freely below him.
Abendigo sighed. He gathered his things and left, feeling disheartened and angry.
"May I see him?"
Madre Day looked up from her desk in the lobby. Abendigo Montel had not returned to the office after his visit with Potter.
"Not without the Doctor's consent."
"Please," the man begged. He was a disheveled, haphazard looking creature who had undoubtedly seen better days. He had shoulder length, shaggy blonde hair that was streaked through with strong highlights of grey. His eyes, which in the past may have been a brilliant blue, were now shadowed with darker years that Madre did not truly wish to know of. "I must see him. It's very important."
Madre clicked her tongue behind her teeth as she tapped the tip of her quill upon a blank sheet of parchment. If Abendigo discovered what she were about to allow...
"Very well, Mr. Lupin, but do not make a scene of yourself and do not stay longer than is necessary."
A very relieved smile swept over Remus' face. He thanked Miss Day numerous times before springing into the hall toward room number 417.
Harry sat in a chair near the window. His knees were pulled up tight toward his chest, his chin perched between the knobby little things as his eyes gazed steadfast out toward the sinking sun. The hustling of nurses and Mungo personnel could be heard just outside his door, but Harry didn't bother with them. All he wanted was solace from the echoes in his head.
'He's giving up...he's letting go....why can't you do the same?'
Stretching his shoulders, Harry slumped into the back of the chair. He let his feet fall to touch the floor.
I'm trying, Harry thought bitterly while biting his lip. I can't let go if you won't do the same.
'I can't give up...not now...'
A rap on the door interrupted Harry's thoughts. He turned to acknowledge this newcomer. Nurses and doctors didn't knock, Harry learned quite early enough in his stay. Did he have a visitor? Who?
His question was answered when Remus Lupin slipped through the doorway. He smiled at Harry, forcing as much joy and warmth as he could into the creased face that seemed aged beyond it's natural time. Harry did not bother to return the expression.
"Come to put the straight jacket on me?" He asked bitterly, turning back to the window.
Remus didn't laugh. Whether he was supposed to or not he wasn't sure, but he had found little humor in the comment directed at him just now.
"Harry, why are you doing this to yourself?" Remus asked, not bothering with a greeting.
Getting straight down to business, are we? thought Harry with an even greater twinge of resentment. Very well.
"What am I doing, Remus? Tell me. Everyone seems to know what's so good for me, why don't you tell me what I'm doing wrong?"
If that hadn't been a slap in the face, Harry didn't know what was. Not that he cared. It was the least he could do to return the 'favor' Remus and the Weasley's had bestowed upon him for caring. Caring, Harry believed, far too much.
"Harry, you must face the facts. Sirius is gone."
"I never said that he wasn't."
"Then why are you doing this?"
Harry stopped. He considered this question delicately, realizing that neither sarcasm nor cynicism would get him far here now.
"I'm not doing it." Harry paused, waiting for a retaliation. There wasn't one. "I don't know what it is. Every day I wake up. I know Sirius isn't there. He never will be there. I've accepted that, even though I'm not happy with it. But I can't get it out of my head. I'm seeing him. I'm hearing him." Harry stopped, turning to look at Remus with a very intense gaze. Remus did not shift, but Harry could feel his trembling beneath the stare issued toward him. "None of you understand. I've been targeted before by Voldemort, by Death Eaters, by anything. But this is different and I don't know how to tell you...part of Sirius is alive...somewhere...and it's screaming and clawing at whatever will listen, trying to find a way out."
"And you're the vessel it's chosen?" Remus asked. Harry noted a very strong hint of skepticism in Lupin's voice.
"Why not? I seem to be a favorite choice for all sorts of things like this."
There was a very strange silence that rang in the air after Harry's words. For a moment, he thought that he had perhaps imagined Lupin's presence as well. But as Harry turned his head, he found that Remus was still there, very much on the physical plane. He didn't seem to be listening, however. His face was buried deep in his hands. His shoulders were heaving. He was crying.
If this didn't confuse Harry, it certainly made him angry. He found himself drifting through both as he unwilling stood and rested a hand on Remus' shoulder. A stiff attempt to comfort the person who had put him here to begin with.
"Remus, what is it?"
There was no response for a very long time, in which Remus only sat and sobbed silently. Harry partially wished that someone would come and take him away. He didn't know what to do or what to say to make Remus stop behaving this way, and part of him wasn't sure why he really cared anymore. Panicking between mixed emotions, Harry shook Remus violently.
"Remus!" He hissed through clenched teeth. "Remus stop this! What's wrong?"
The man looked up at Harry as though seeing him for the first time. His eyes were swollen as though he had been crying for hours, not just a few minutes. His face had suddenly lost a great deal of weight and even more of its color. He looked poor and beaten, like an aged statue that had been eroded away, with only the most vague impression of its past form left to be shown for the splendor it had once been. For the first time in weeks, Harry felt a twinge of pity for someone that was neither himself or Sirius.
"Harry?" Remus rasped. His voice was strange, as though it were coming from a great distance over distorted planes. "Harry, is that really you?"
Harry's eyes widened in fear. "Bloody hell," he whispered, backing away. "And they say I'm losing it?"
Remus stood and looked as though he were about to embrace Harry, but his gaze was soon turned, peering curiously at their surroundings. Remus' body shook as though he were having a mild seizure, but he didn't seem to notice. He was too overjoyed at the sight of Harry.
"Harry, where are we?" he asked in a very dry whisper.
"We're at Mungos." Harry raised an eyebrow. His heart was beating in his chest. What was wrong with Remus? Why was he acting so strangely?
"Still?"
This statement took Harry by complete surprise. "What do you mean, 'Still?', you've been here for the past ten minutes talking to me."
The head of shaggy blonde hair with streaks of grey rounded on Harry, but there was no anger in his eyes. There was no sense of sternness or an uncharacteristic lack of patience. It was the real Remus. Beneath that starved, frightening mask, was the man Harry had met in his third year at Hogwarts who had taken him under his wing and tacitly sworn to protect him against all evils that might come. Where that man had gone in the past, Harry was not sure, but the sight of him here and now filled Harry with hope.
"No I haven't...I've only just fallen asleep. I was in the lobby at Mungos...in the Critical Condition ward."
"Critical condition?" Harry raised an eyebrow. "Who's in Critical Condition?" Realization dawned on him. "Oh God, has something happened to one of the Weasleys?"
"No, Harry!" Remus raised his hands in a very swift motion. "No! You're the one in Critical Condition."
Harry stopped, swallowing both the bile that was threatening in his throat, and his confusion. "I'm waiting for the punch line, Remus." Harry said at last, placing his hands on his hips.
A smile cracked the pale surface of Lupin's countenance. "You don't understand, Harry. We've been waiting for you for weeks."
"Waiting for me?" Harry repeated. "What do you mean? Who's been waiting? Waiting for me to do what?"
Remus stepped forward and grasped Harry's hands in his own. His thumbs danced over the back of Harry's hands as his eyes gazed down onto his face.
"Waiting for you to pull through."
Trembling, Harry found the strength to ask one more question.
"You mean...to wake up?"
Remus smiled as tears formed in his eyes. Suddenly, an echoing voice grew to fill the room. Harry looked up, trying to hide his reaction. But Remus heard it too.
"What is that?" Remus asked, frowning.
"What I've been hearing for the past few weeks," Harry answered with an elongated sigh. Words soon started to form from the incoherent whispers, calling out at them from the shadows of an unknown world.
"Remus...Remus wake up."
Remus looked up and around, terrified.
"No!" He gasped desperately. His grip on Harry became tighter, almost painful in fact. "No, not yet!"
"What is it?" Harry asked, his voice raised in fear.
"They're trying to wake me up."
Harry grit his teeth. "I don't understand! What's going on?!"
Remus lifted his arms and held Harry at arm's length at his shoulders. His eyes gazed deeply into Harry's, showing a severe sternness that left no room for questioning. "Harry, you must promise me this. Don't give up, do you hear me?"
"I don't understand."
"You mustn't fall into Voldemort's trap! You must break free! You have to pull through this!"
There was a flicker of this world's Remus in those eyes. Harry feared he was losing the one person who could give him answers.
"What must I do!?" Harry bellowed, grasping Remus' arms just below the elbow in hopes that that might anchor him for a few moments longer.
"Fight!" Remus was now speaking through gritted teeth. He was struggling to stay. "No matter what! You mustn't leave us!"
"I never left!" Harry argued.
Something happened then that Harry did not expect. Remus smiled, sadly and gently. He pulled Harry close and embraced him in the very same manner as a father would a son. His right arm was draped across Harry's shoulders while his left hand and chin rested atop Harry's head. "Harry, you mean the world to us. Don't give in. You must break free."
With that, the embrace died, and Harry was left standing face to face with the Remus he had come to know these past few days. The Remus he had come to know and hate.
"What just happened?" he asked, his features going slack at the pale, tear-filled smile of the young man before him.
"Nothing," Harry lied, regaining his composure.
Remus left soon after. Harry continued to stare out the window, but this time he could find no anger in his heart. There was only hope. Somewhere out there, someone was waiting for him to come back. That feeling of purpose, of reason, made Harry feel more alive than anything else he had ever experienced.
All right everyone, sorry about the (yet another) cliff hanger. Its been a busy week so far and I've got a lot of stuff I need to get done. I don't think I'll be updating again till the weekend, so savor this chapter.
Thanks for all the reviews!
