Chapter Twenty

Awakenings

There was laughing. It wasn't funny nor was it jolly. It was cold and it was cruel. It sent a shock of icy fear down his limbs. Harry snapped his eyes open and stared up the terribly familiar ceiling. For a moment he stared at the ceiling, then he was hit with a pounding roar in his mind. He clenched his eyes shut and groaned softly to himself, clutching his head in his hands.

The pain. It was terrible.

Harry gasped and shuddered as it began to fade. His vision was blurry, until he realized he didn't have his glasses. He spotted them upon a small shelf beside the bed, fumbling to put them on as his weaken arms ached with the strain.

He heavily lay back in his bed, his breathing beginning to become ragged and a cold sweat covering him. He panted and clenched his eyes shut; it almost hurt to look. The room seemed to be slowly spinning, a sickening queasy feeling began in his stomach and Harry took a deep breath.

Why was he here? He opened his eyes again and looked about. A tall curtain surrounding the bed blocked out the rest of the Hospital Wing, but he could tell it was morning. The light was low, almost dark, but he could make things out. It was near dawn, he knew that much.

Shakily he sat up, the covers falling back and revealing the hospital gown he wore. He shook his head. How long had he been here? He tried to grasp at the last thing he remembered, but he couldn't. He shook his head, the last thing he could recall was preparing to leave the Hospital Wing. He looked around, did he have a relapse? Did he faint or lose consciousness? Harry shook his head, he couldn't remember anything.

The laughter, though. The cold laughter filled his mind. Harry shuddered, suddenly feeling very cold inside. He threw off the blankets and hissed as his feet touched the cold floor. His legs felt wobbly, but they held his weight. The room spun for a moment and he thought he would vomit, but it stopped and he began searching for his robes.

They weren't anywhere.

Harry looked down at the gown and shrugged his shoulders, he felt a twinge and ignored it, padding to the curtains and drawing them back. How long had he been out? A day? He saw Hermione lying in the bed across from him. She hadn't been in that bed when he left. Hadn't she? Harry shook his head, he couldn't grasp the memory. It was like everything was broken, disconnected and disjointed.

The cruel laughter filled his mind. What was that?

Maybe it was a side effect from the repairing of his memories. Whatever it was he felt disorientated and his head was still hurting terribly. Harry leaned against his bed, feeling tired. He felt a moment of irony. He had wiped his memories clean and that hadn't done anything to him but knock him out. But restoring his memories now were causing side effects.

Harry walked across the short aisle and stood at the foot of Hermione's bed. She was lying still, her breathing soft and regular. He didn't remember why she was here. Something about Myrtle? Harry nodded. Yes, Myrtle had attacked her. He remembered it now, the talk in the dark. He had been making plans. Again those memories were elusive, he couldn't grasp them.

He clenched his fists in frustration. Why couldn't he recall them? Why couldn't he remember things clearly? And what the hell was with the damned headache!

Angrily Harry padded down the aisles and toward the stout wooden doors. He glanced toward the windows and saw that it was nearly dawn. The sky was lightening as the sun began to rise, the deep violet of the night being pushed back. Harry noticed he wasn't wearing his watch.

He sighed and took a glance back at Hermione. She was still asleep. For a moment he watched her and shaking his head he walked out the door.

XXX

Harry pulled on clean robes. His head still ached, but a shower had calmed it down a bit. Later he could ask Pomfrey for something, for now he could handle it. It was down to a pulsing pain in his head, maybe this too was a side effect of the procedure. Harry snorted, better to be blissfully ignorant than have your head about to explode.

"Oi!" Someone said as Harry walked out of the dorm room. Harry looked up to see Seamus and Dean walking toward him. Both were damp from recent shower and Harry couldn't help but smirk as he saw Seamus in large fluffy slippers.

"Look. Its Sleeping Beauty." Seamus said, grinning.

Dean walked over and clapped Harry on his back. "Its good to see you up and about." He said.

Harry laughed, though he noticed it held little humor in it. "Its good to be up and about. I was beginning to think the Hospital Wing was the dorms." He replied.

Dean and Seamus glanced at one another. "Hold on a bit, we'll head down to the Great Hall with you." Dean said.

"Speaking of Sleeping Beauty." Dean said, nodding toward Ron.

"Told you he wouldn't last a day staying awake." Seamus said, pulling out robes from his trunk.

Dean shrugged. "He was worrying too much. Wore himself out hovering over Hermione like a mother hen."

Harry glanced to Ron. "Why?"

Again Dean and Seamus glanced at one another. Dean cleared his throat. "Hermione was attacked yesterday. No one knows by who." Dean said hesitantly.

Harry nodded. "You mean two days ago. By Myrtle?"

Again that look, Harry was becoming annoyed. "No. At lunch yesterday someone attacked her on the stairs. She's been out since then." Seamus said.

Harry stared for a moment. "What's the date?" He asked.

"It's the 28." Dean replied.

Harry shook his head. Saturday? It was Wednesday that he had left the Hospital Wing. If anything it should be Thursday. "How?" Harry began, he couldn't finish his sentence. Three days? How could have three days pass him by?

"You've been in the Hospital Wing for three days." Dean said.

"Didn't anyone tell you?" Seamus asked.

Harry shook his head. "I woke up there and left. I didn't see anyone." He replied.

"Maybe we should take you to see Pomfrey. You're not looking well." Dean said.

Harry shook his head violently, the room began to spin and his head began to ache. "No. No more Hospital Wing."

"What do you remember?" Seamus asked.

"Leaving the Hospital Wing the first time. After they 'fixed' my memory problem." Harry grunted. Maybe they had damaged something instead of fixing. He suddenly remembered the terrible pain as Hightower used her potion and machine on him. "Maybe it's a relapse or something. Maybe they didn't fix it completely, chunks of my memory seem to be missing and I have this damned headache that keeping pounding against my skull."

Dean and Seamus glanced at one another again.

"What?" Harry growled.

"You don't remember being attacked?" Dean asked slowly.

"What?" Harry asked. The laughter began again. That cold cruel laughter. Harry closed his eyes as his head began pounding again. "What attack?" He managed, through clenched teeth.

"After you left the Hospital Wing, Wednesday, someone attacked you on your way to the Great Hall. No one knows who, but they say they used a botched Memory Charm on you. Maybe so you wouldn't remember what happened to you." Dean said hesitantly, he stopped and started many times and kept glancing to Seamus for support. "Maybe we should go get Pomfrey."

Harry shook his head. "No." He snapped. Ron suddenly grunted in his bed and turned over, muttering something. Harry stood up. "I'm going to the Great Hall." He said and began walking out the dorm room.

Seamus and Dean quickly changed and hurried after him.

"Hold on, Harry." Dean said, catching up to him. Harry felt a little winded, he had only walked down a few steps. They crossed the empty common room, through the portrait, and headed down the stairs. All in silence.

Harry tried wrapping his mind around the thought that he had been attacked. Who had done it? He looked up for a moment and saw that Dean was walking in front of him and Seamus was at his side, forcing Harry to walk closest to the wall. He smirked; they were trying to protect him. Harry didn't know how to react to that. He suddenly felt cold and almost angry. Why were they protecting him? Why were they willing to risk themselves to make sure he would be okay? Harry closed his eyes. He didn't deserve people like this in his life. He didn't deserve their friendship, their loyalty. In the end it would just get them hurt, or worst.

"Whoa, Neville! Where's the fire?" Seamus called out as Neville ran past them. He didn't give them a glance or pause, instead he kept running, moments later disappearing as he hopped onto a moving staircase. An acrobatic feat that left Seamus shaking his head and grinning. 'Everyone around here's acting strange." He glanced at Harry. "He didn't even say hi to the Returning Hero."

The remark was made in jest, but Harry felt something twinge within himself.

"Probably didn't even see Harry. You see how fast he was running?" Dean said, shaking his head also. He then laughed. "It was like he saw a ghost or something."

Seamus groaned at the bad joke and they continued down the stairs. Harry watched and listened as they joked, though he could see them scanning the stairs, the corridors, and pretty much everywhere they could as they walked. Harry was filled with shame as he realized he was glad they were at his side

They passed several students that stopped and gaped at him, then whispering furiously in small groups as he passed them by. Harry knew they were talking about him and he didn't really care. He would have to pump Dean and Seamus for more details about his attack. The thought that someone was out to hurt him didn't really bother him, after all wasn't Voldemort out to get him? For all he knew this could have been because of him.

His stomach began growling as he smelled the food in the Great Hall. Harry stopped at the entrance and saw that there was only a few students from each house there. Due to the early hour and the fact that it was a Saturday, many would sleep in late and wait until noon to eat. Harry noticed a few familiar faces, many were Gryffindors and a few were from classes and from the DA meetings the year before, though by the far the largest table in the Great Hall were the Slytherins.

"Of course the whole Slytherin house has to turn out to see their team practice at this dreadful hour." Seamus said. Harry looked at the table and saw that it wasn't the whole house, no more than thirty at the most, roughly half of the people that filled the Great Hall. They were all clustered together and joking. Harry made out the pointed face of Malfoy, surrounded by his friends who all seemed to be hanging on his every word.

Dean was nodding. "McGonagall's gotta start letting the team begin practice. She still hasn't even picked a new captain." He gave Harry a look. "I hear Malfoy's been made captain of the Slytherin team. We're already two weeks behind in training."

"We? You're not even on the team. You probably couldn't even ride a broom straight." Seamus said jokingly, though Dean didn't find it very funny.

Harry was watching Malfoy when he tilted his head back and began laughing. It rang out loud and clear through the Great Hall. That cold and cruel laughter that had been filling his head. Shards of memory, like broken glass, flashed through Harry's mind, sharp and painful. The cruel laugh, the pain, the terrible agony as petty revenge was inflicted upon him.

"Harry! NO!" Dean and Seamus cried together, but Harry was already sprinting for the Slytherin table, wand out. and a curse on his lips.