Author's note: Hey everyone! I'm moving to college tomorrow! I have sort of procrastinated on my packing and errand running, so now I'm completely swamped. Unfortunately, that means that if I want to get the chapter out today, I can't do review responses, and since I don't know when the next time I'll have a chance to upload this will be, I figured you all would want it now rather than waiting forever. Semi-important: I hope everyone checks out the writing contest on my yahoo group. The prize is an early chapter (Chapter 26 for this one) and I hope you all will try for it! Make sure to read the prompt, which is in Message #237 and stick to it, though it's pretty broad. The deadline is next Thursday (9/23) at Midnight (Pac. Standard time). Also, I'm not sure how this move and the start of college will affect the next few updates, so if the next update or two are a little late, please bear with me! Once I get settled in, I'll also try getting Flawed a bit more up to date on the yahoo group. Sorry for any inconvenience. So, on with the chapter and please review!!

.........

The Death Eaters soon began to emerge from their states of shock and Harry, ignoring the painful protests of his body, jumped into action. He crawled over to Lucius's body and quickly grabbed his own wand from the man's pocket. He looked back and saw some Death Eaters turning on Draco, who was oblivious as he stood there, staring at his father's body in shock.

Harry quickly stunned those Death Eaters and began hurling curses at others. He quickly grabbed his invisibility cloak and ran toward Draco, not even bothering to throw it over them as it would only slow them down. He grabbed Draco's wrist and pulled him along, sending curses over his shoulder as they once again ran from the room out the nearest door.

Harry prayed to anyone who was listening to help them get out of there alive as he pelted down a dark hall, Draco running along with him numbly, still in shock. Harry shot engorgement charms behind them at everything from spider webs to pebbles, hoping to slow their pursuers down. It was helping, but also meant Harry was looking behind him, rather than in front.

Suddenly, Draco knocked Harry to the side, slamming the two of them against a wall as the killing curse shot down the center of the aisle. It hit the closest Death Eater behind them.

Draco had obviously snapped out of it and grabbed Harry's wrist, pulling him forward at a bit of a crouch. Draco cast spells at the Death Eaters in front of them as Harry worked on those behind them. Thankfully, Draco pulled him down an intersecting hall and the two ran full speed as Draco led the way, pulling them down a zigzag of paths, trying to throw the Death Eaters off.

They passed a painting of a man wearing a cold, commanding sneer with a plaque saying "Ozymandias."

"I know where we are!" Draco exclaimed in inexplicable relief before turning them down the next hall. Harry could have cried in relief.

They slammed to a halt when they heard a voice around the corner ordering someone to guard the door.

Harry threw the invisibility cloak he still had in his arms over the two of them just in time for several Death Eaters to race down the hall intersecting theirs, moving to cover all the doors.

"Someone go back to the main room and get the crystal and map of this place so we can get a track going on Potter," somebody commanded. "We need to kill that little bastard now!"

As soon as they were passed, Draco led the way across the hall, under the invisibility cloak, into a large room. They closed the door and worked together to levitate a large desk in front of it, the room being a very old study that looked as if it hadn't been used in years. The two ran to the window and tried to yank it open, but the wood had swelled and it wouldn't budge.

Unfortunately, it seemed as though the closed door hadn't gone unnoticed, or someone had been able to do a tracking spell on Harry, because soon there was a Death Eater banging at the door, calling for backup. He apparently didn't want to fight the boys alone, especially now that they had wands.

Harry ran and grabbed a paperweight, throwing it with all his might through the glass. He grabbed a small rug and draped it over the bottom of the frame so they wouldn't get stabbed by the glass shards jutting out of the bottom.

"Go!" he yelled at Draco and the blonde immediately crawled through the small opening, his back getting several cuts on it from the broken glass from the top of the windowpane.

Harry followed after him, jumping slightly as he heard the door explode behind him. Draco grabbed his arms and pulled him through, and the two fell to the muddy grass before immediately scrambling to their feet and racing away from the house to get cover from the trees as spells were being shot from behind them and Death Eaters started pouring out of the house.

As they ran, Harry pointed his wand up at the sky and shot several colorful flares up into the sky. Draco figured out what he was doing and jutted his wand upwards. "Morsmordre!" he yelled, and the Dark Mark appeared huge in the sky. Now the Order would be able to find the Death Eater's main headquarter.

Harry pictured the Burrow in his mind as they ran and held onto Draco's wrist tightly.

"The Burrow!" Harry shouted, activating the Portkey Hermione had made out of his shoe. He quickly prayed they would end up some place they recognized and not in the middle of a tree or something. He prayed that it would work period.

Then he felt a familiar tug at his navel and thanked anyone who was listening.

Harry felt his feet hit the ground and his legs give out from under him as pain shot through his right ankle from landing on his foot awkwardly, bringing him to his hands and knees. Draco was lying next to him on his back, catching his breath.

Harry raised his tired head and looked around. They were on the side of the dirt road that would lead to the Burrow. They would have a long walk ahead of them, but at least he knew where they were. He sat back and gently wiped his hands on his pants to try to get the dirt out of the cuts and scrapes on his palms, including the deep slices from crawling on glass in the Nightmare Chamber. He felt a drop of water hit his hand. It was raining lightly. He looked down at his chest and tenderly ran his fingers over the gash there. It really didn't seem that deep, but it hadn't started closing up and was still bleeding slightly. He wasn't sure why it wasn't healing at all yet, but there was nothing he could do about it here.

He looked over at Draco. The blonde had sat up and was staring blankly into the distance.

"The Burrow's that way. I'd say we have a pretty big walk ahead of us," Harry quietly informed him. Draco numbly nodded but otherwise made no move. "Draco?" Harry asked gently.

"D-do you mind if we don't start back quite yet?" he asked quietly, not looking at Harry.

Harry stood up and winced as he put his weight on his right leg. He limped over to the blonde and sat down next to him.

"We can take as long as you need," Harry assured him, even though it was beginning to rain a bit harder.

"Thanks," Draco whispered.

There was a long silence.

"Draco, talk to me," Harry pleaded. Draco took a shuddering breath and hung his head.

"I'm a murderer. I killed my own father," he said shakily.

"You did it to save us. You had no other choice. Besides, he's not your father, Draco, not really. He was going to kill you. That's not a father," Harry said softly.

Draco shook his head.

"He raised me. Even if he hated me, I was still his son and I killed him! No matter how much I tried to change, I'm still evil!" he cried, choking back a sob.

"Do you think I'm evil for killing Voldemort?" Harry asked gently.

"No, but that's different. He was the Dark Lord. He was going to kill so many. You did it to save people."

"Can't you see they're exactly the same? Lucius Malfoy was the next Dark Lord!" Harry insisted.

Draco turned to him angrily. "You better not be comparing my father with the Dark Lord," he yelled.

Harry didn't let the boy's anger faze him, as he knew it was misplaced. He had to stop the blonde's guilt before it was too deeply rooted to fix.

"Well I am. He was nothing but a greedy git who betrayed his family."

"Shut your damn mouth!" Draco screamed.

"He thought he was so great, but he was nothing but a coward who would have killed his own son to save his neck. He was the evil one."

"You bastard!" Draco yelled furiously. He turned to Harry and swung a fist at the Gryffindor's face as well as he could while sitting. Yet the blonde was too emotionally distraught to aim properly and Harry easily dodged the punch.

"That's why he can't be your father, Draco. Don't you see? You're nothing like him. You aren't Lucius Malfoy because he could never even dream of being the person you are. You're not evil; you're good. You're brave and you did what you had to do, even if you didn't want to."

Draco shook his head, trying desperately to fight back tears. "No, he was a great man. I looked up to him. He was the only person I could turn to for help. He's the only one who was ever concerned with things I had to say! And now, I'm all alone. I killed him!" he cried, shaking with the effort of holding back his tears. It was raining heavily now, but neither of them seemed to notice.

"Draco, listen to me, listen to yourself! You know he was only interested in you when it was in his favor to be. You could never turn to him for help with real things! Would he have given you advice if you fancied a girl? And what if she was Muggleborn? He would have killed you! Could you have told him when you were scared or sad or worried? Would he have ever been excited about something only because you were excited?" Harry asked wildly.

A warm tear slid down his cheek, blending in with the raindrops on his face, because though he was directing these inquiries at Draco, they could have easily been directed at himself about the Dursleys, and he knew what the answer would be. He took a deep breath and continued.

"But that's back with your old family. Now you have Professor Snape. He thinks of you as his own son. He loves you, even if he doesn't always know how to show it. He's there for you, really there. Not the kind of 'there' your father was where he just bought you off."

"Sev's going to hate me after he finds out what I did," Draco said shakily.

"No he's not. I swear to you that he won't."

"But if he does..."

"Then we'd have to stick another bed in my room, but that's not going to happen since Professor Snape is probably never going to let you leave his sight again," Harry said with a comforting smile.

"You'd really let me move in with you if I needed to?"

"Of course. That's what best friends are for," Harry said reassuringly. Draco looked at him in shock.

"I thought Weasley was your best friend."

"You can have more than one best friend, but you're definitely in an elite three for me," Harry said.

There was a long silence.

"Why did he have to hate me so much?" Draco asked tearfully.

"He was an idiot."

"But it still hurts," Draco said quietly.

"Yeah, I know," Harry said softly.

A tear slid out of the blonde's eye and he wiped it away in a near panic.

"Draco, it's okay. You can cry. There's nobody here but me," Harry said softly.

"Malfoys don't cry," he said firmly.

"You don't have to be a Malfoy anymore," Harry said quietly.

Draco looked up at him with a pained expression.

With a sudden sob, Draco hesitantly put his wet arms around Harry's neck and buried his face into the Gryffindor's shoulder as he began to cry for the first time in a very long time.

Harry slid his arms around Draco and rubbed his back comfortingly as he had seen the twins do to calm Ron after his nightmares. Draco gripped the back of Harry's now-soaked shirt as his body wracked with sobs, his tears mixing with the rain, his weeping occasionally muffled by the distant crash of thunder.

Finally, Draco was cried out. He sat back sniffling. He had Harry's blood on his shirt, but Harry didn't bother pointing it out. There was nothing they could do about it out here.

"I guess we should start heading back before our godfathers kill someone," he said, climbing to his feet.

Harry tried standing as well, but had a slightly more difficult time. Even the slightest pressure on his foot was met with flashes of pain.

Draco was quickly at his side, helping him to his feet. He pulled Harry's arm around his shoulder and steadied him.

"Come on gimpy," he said with a smirk. Harry glared at him.

"Oh shut it," he muttered. He tested putting weight on his hurt leg and grimaced, immediately shifting his weight back to Draco.

"Are you sure you can do this?" Draco asked as they began to walk, looking at Harry's blood-soaked shirt with a grimace.

"Well, I'm sure not staying here."

The sky seemed to light up as lightning flashed in the distant. A crash of thunder soon followed it.

"Of course it had to start raining when we have to walk a thousand miles outdoors," Draco grumbled.

"Yeah, it's sort of fitting. But damn, it's freezing out here," said Harry, who was starting to shiver.

"Really? I'm not that cold," Draco mused.

As they continued to walk, Harry began leaning on Draco more and more.

"You know," Draco said, "I think you're getting heavier with each step."

"Sorry," Harry muttered. He shifted some of his weight back to his good leg and nearly fell.

"Okay, maybe you should keep leaning on me," Draco said, keeping Harry from falling and holding tighter to the arm around his shoulders.

Harry only nodded.

As they continued to walk through the rain, Harry's shivering kept getting more obvious.

"Jeez, Har, it's not that cold," Draco said, looking over at his friend. "Are you al..."

"Draco?" Harry interrupted. He sounded a bit frightened. "You remember when Hr. Callahan gave me that potion when we ran into him in the hallway? I don't think it was a healing potion."

Draco stopped walking and looked at Harry in fright. "Why, what's wrong?"

"I really don't feel good," he whimpered with a sigh.

"Oh shit. Um...okay, can you still walk?" he asked in a panicky voice. Harry nodded. "Okay, then let's try to just get to the Burrow. You can lean on me as much as you want."

Harry nodded and the two began walking in silence. Harry had to lean on Draco more and more for support and was having a more difficult time breathing.

"Dray, I can't go anymore," Harry finally said as even his good leg was nearly giving out on him each time he stepped on it. He was so dizzy and so tired. His whole body ached. He just wanted to go to sleep.

"Harry, you have to," Draco said, trying to keep Harry up, but the Gryffindor sunk to the ground shakily.

"I can't," Harry said quietly. Everything was spinning.

"Please, Harry. Don't do this to me," Draco pleaded. "You're gonna make it. You can't give up now."

Harry winced as he took in shaky breaths. It hurt to do so but he felt as if he wasn't getting enough oxygen. His head was swimming.

"Tell Sirius I'm sorry about all this," he muttered as he lied down.

"Harry, no!" Draco yelled tearfully. It was obvious, though, that Harry wasn't going to stay conscious for long. Draco looked around frantically, up and down the dirt road with nothing but some trees along the sides. He prayed that somehow someone would be there, but there was no one. "Alright, I'm going to go for help, okay?" he said to Harry. "Let's get you under that tree over there to try to keep you a little more dry. Put your arms around my neck. Come on, that's it."

Draco wrapped his arms under Harry's and hauled him to his feet. Harry did his best to limp over to the tree, but Draco had to practically carry him. He helped the raven-haired boy lie down next to the tree trunk. Harry was barely conscious as Draco took off the Death Eater robe he was wearing over his clothes and covered him with it to try to keep him warm, even though it was soaking wet.

"Just hold on, Harry. I'm going to be right back with help."

Harry barely nodded.

Draco got up and started running through the darkness down the dirt road. After a few minutes, he got a cramp in his side, but didn't let it slow him down. Finally, the Burrow came into sight and Draco nearly cried in relief. He put on an extra burst of speed as he sprinted across the grass toward the crooked house.

He nearly fell up the steps and burst through the door. He gasped for breath as his eyes darted around for anybody. The house seemed to be empty.

He fell to his knees with exhaustion and defeat and burst into tears.

"Draco!"

Draco looked up to see his godfather running toward him. The Potions master fell to his knees beside Draco and roughly pulled his soaked godson to his chest.

"Oh thank Merlin! Oh thank Merlin!" he cried, letting a few tears of relief drip out.

"Where's Harry?" Sirius asked desperately, running up to the pair. Ginny was right next to him.

Draco shakily pulled away from his godfather. "Down the road. Hr. Callahan gave him a potion," he said frantically.

"Hr. Callahan? Draco what are you talking about?" Snape asked.

"He's a Death Eater...he was there...he gave Harry a potion when we thought he was good...made Harry sick. You have to get to him! I'll show you," Draco said hysterically, trying to climb to his feet, but Snape pulled him back down.

"Draco, just tell us where to find him. You're not going back out there right now," he said firmly.

"Umm...down the road, on the left side if you walked from here. He's under a big tree near the edge of the road. It was a few minutes before you're able to see the Burrow. You've got to hurry!"

"You stay here with Draco, Professor. We'll find him," Ginny said, racing out after Sirius.

They got to the edge of the wards and Sirius grabbed onto Ginny's upper arms as he Apparated to the end of the stretch of the road, taking the younger redhead along with him to help him look. The two glanced back. They could barely see the Burrow, so Harry still had to be further along the road.

They jogged along the left side, squinting along the dark line of trees and calling Harry's name. It was difficult to see anything. Sirius Apparated to further down the road to look so they could cover ground more quickly.

Ginny saw a dark lump on the ground near one of the trees and hurried closer. Sure enough, it was Harry.

"Sirius! He's here!" she shouted as she sprinted over and knelt by his side. Harry was unconscious and was taking shallow breaths. She looked in horror at the blood covering the front of his shirt. She picked up one of his hands to get a closer look at the deep cuts on his hands.

"Harry? Harry, please wake up," Ginny pleaded, wiping the rain off Harry's face. Harry didn't make a move or a sound.

Sirius appeared behind her and knelt down on Harry's other side.

"Harry. Oh Merlin, Harry, just wake up. It's Sirius, come on," Sirius said frantically. He took in the deep bruises on Harry's neck in the shape of handprints and the one on his cheek, along with the several deep cuts scattered across his body. "Somebody was choking him," he said in shock. He quickly snapped out of it. "We need to get him some help. Let's get him back to the Burrow."

He put one arm under his knees and the other under his back, and lifted the soaked boy into his arms. Harry moaned softly at the movement and his eyebrows knitted together.

"Harry? Harry can you hear me?" Sirius yelled frantically, but Harry didn't respond.

"Ginny, wrap your arms around my stomach and hold on, I'm going to Apparate to the edge of the wards."

Ginny nodded and followed the instructions, closing her eyes tightly as they Disapparated and reappeared with a pop at the edge of the Burrow's wards. The two began running toward the Burrow, as Sirius cradled Harry tightly to his chest.

When they got inside, Draco, who was sitting on the couch holding a cup of tea, jumped to his feet. Snape strode over quickly, and quickly checked to see what was wrong with him.

"We need to get him to St. Mungo's," he said quickly.

"What's wrong with him?" Sirius asked tearfully.

"That bastard Callahan gave him something that can't be fought off by his immune system. It's too weak. We need to get him to the hospital immediately," he said urgently. "Draco, come on, I want someone to look you over as well."

Draco wearily hurried to his godfather who put a comforting hand on his shoulder and led him to the fireplace after Sirius and Harry.

They flooed to the emergency room at St. Mungo's, where they were quickly met by several officials who helped Sirius get Harry onto a stretcher. Snape jogged along with them quickly, explaining to one Healer about Harry's medical condition. Sirius, Draco and Ginny jogged along on the other side as they both explained as much as they knew as to what had happened and what they knew about Hr. Callahan.

"Hr. Callahan, a Death Eater?" the healer they were speaking to asked incredulously. "Impossible."

"Hey! I saw him! He handed us right over to the rest of them and they almost killed us! He's been using those healer appointments to do weird tests on Harry! He gave Harry that potion and then led us back to the room with all the Death Eaters in it! He cast the Cruciatus curse on him!" Draco yelled angrily.

"If you say so," the healer sighed, sounding slightly overwhelmed.

They finally arrived at a room and the healers went in, allowing Snape to enter as well once he claimed to be Harry's physician. Before leaving, he made sure Sirius would stay with Draco and make sure someone looked over him. Though Sirius desperately wanted to be with his godson, he agreed so Snape, who knew more about Harry's medical condition, could help Harry.

Sirius used his nervous pent-up energy to get a healer to look over Draco, barking at the first nurse that walked by to fetch a healer who was familiar with the Cruciatus curse's effects. Ginny sat next to him, distracting herself from what was happening with Harry by making sure Draco had someone there while he was being looked over.

As a healer was checking over the shaky blonde right there in the waiting room, since Draco refused to leave until he found out what was wrong with his friend, a few healers raced out of Harry's room and began running down the halls without giving the three of them any indication of what was going on.

All they could do was wait.

.........

Meanwhile, upstairs, the Weasley parents and the twins sat in the room where Ron had just been examined and subjected to many potions and a few healing spells. The hall's main healer was in the room talking to them all.

"Ron will be just fine. He can go home tomorrow, but he must get plenty of rest and food. I'll give you some potions..."

He was interrupted as one of the healers from Harry's room burst in the door.

"Murphy, we need you over in emergency, right now," she gasped.

"Can't you borrow Callahan or Gomez?" he asked. "I'm a with a patient whose been with Death Eaters for days."

"Well, this boy's just gotten back from Death Eaters as well, and his friend insists Callahan is one of them. We need your expertise in immune systems because apparently this kid's is shot from having some Muggle illness," the woman explained urgently. "Hurry up now. We're not sure if this kid's going to make it!"

Ron shot straight up in bed. "Wait, Harry? Are you talking about Harry Potter?"

"That's confidential," the female healer snapped as she hurried from the room, Hr. Murphy apologizing quickly before running after her. Fred and George immediately followed them while the Weasley parents kept Ron from running with them.

"Mum, Dad, Hr. Callahan, that was..." Ron said frantically.

"We know, Ron. Harry's healer. Oh Merlin," Mr. Weasley said closing his eyes.

"Did you hear her? She said he might not make it! That means he's hurt really bad! He might be dying! You have to let me go there!" he shouted hysterically.

"Ron, honey, the healer wanted you to stay in bed," Mrs. Weasley protested.

"Mum, Dad, Harry put his life on the line to rescue me, and now he might die. I have to be there," Ron said firmly.

His parents exchanged a look.

"All right, Ron, but we're coming with you and you're not to run ahead of us," Mrs. Weasley said sternly, pulling off her cloak and wrapping it around her son as he weakly climbed out of bed.

"Somebody has to tell Hermione..." Ron started before the bushy haired girl pushed open the door, returning from telling Dumbledore what had happened.

"Ron, what are you doing out of bed?" she asked in concern.

"It's Harry. He's in the emergency ward and it sounds bad," Ron said, sounding frightened. Hermione's breath hitched and she closed her eyes momentarily.

"I'm going to run ahead. I need to find out what's happening. I'll meet you there," Hermione said, tearing off out of the room.

Ron and his parents began hurriedly making their way to the emergency ward.

.....

Fred and George followed the healers until they reached Harry's room. The two medi-wizards dashed through the doors while the twins caught sight of two familiar faces.

Draco was sitting in a chair against the wall. He had his arms wrapped around himself and a blank look on his face. Sirius and Ginny were pacing anxiously, the former occasionally kneeling in front of Draco and asking him how he was holding up or telling him it would all be okay, the latter being a reassurance to himself as well.

The twins walked up.

"So it's really Harry in there?" Fred asked miserably.

"What exactly is going on?" George asked anxiously.

Sirius quickly explained the situation, pausing only once to jump at a nurse passing by, asking her to please find out what was going on with his godson. The nurse gently refused, telling him she couldn't interrupt them like that, especially if it was an emergency case. She assured him that she was sure the healers would be out soon.

Fred and George sat down in slight shock on either side of Draco, who looked at them, slightly intimidated. He didn't want to deal with the twins right then.

"Hey, Malfoy," Fred said quietly.

"Do you mind if we call you Draco?" George asked.

Draco looked at them weakly. "Sure. I'd prefer it, actually," he said softly.

"We owe you some thanks, for helping save Ron," Fred said.

"I didn't go to save your brother," Draco said bitterly, once again staring into space. "I went to make sure Harry didn't get himself killed. And now he...I don't even know what's happening! He's my best friend," he admitted. "My only friend," he added quietly. "He's the only one that ever even gave me a chance."

Hermione dashed up and started talking to Ginny.

"Well, no matter the reason, you still helped to save him," said George.

"And we also owe you an apology, because you're right. We never did give you a chance," said Fred.

"We know it's sort of late..."

"But we want to give you a chance now."

Draco looked up and was about to say something sarcastic, to laugh in their faces and tell them that it was way too late, but for some reason, the sneering words didn't come out.

"Okay," he said tiredly.

Ron and his parents spotted the group and Ron raced toward them, his parents running after him.

"Where's Harry? What's wrong with him?" he asked urgently.

"We don't know," Sirius said in frustration. "The stupid healers haven't come out of there yet....What are you doing here?" he spat angrily, spotting Mr. Weasley.

"Listen, Sirius, I'm sorry. I care about Harry's welfare just as much you do," the elder redhead said gently.

"Don't give me that shit!" Sirius yelled. "Harry only thought you cared about him, but really, he wouldn't be in there right now if you hadn't been pushing him to go! You made that damn Portkey for him!"

"Sirius," Hermione piped up, "Harry would've gone whether Mr. Weasley made him a Portkey or not. He figured out how to get passed the wards and he would've gone no matter what. It was his decision to go, just as it was mine and Draco's decisions to go with him."

"Listen," Mrs. Weasley interrupted sternly, "we have much more important matters on our hands than running around trying to blame each other. It will not help the situation any, all right? So everyone sit down or leave."

Everyone followed orders and sat down in various chairs, Sirius and Mr. Weasley far away from each other. Mrs. Weasley could be a very intimidating woman.

A while later, the healer came out with a solemn expression on his face. Everyone stood up with terrified looks on their faces.

"Is Harry's guardian present?" he asked hopefully. Sirius stepped forward.

"I'm his godfather. What's going on? Is Harry all right? You've had him in there for nearly two hours and nobody's told us a damn thing!" he yelled shakily.

The healer looked at him sympathetically, a look that did nothing to ease anybody's minds.

"I apologize for that. We've had our best healers in there with him trying to identify the poison he was given. It appears to have been an original creation designed with Harry's weak immune system especially in mind. It seems that it is very likely that what Draco here has claimed is true. All of Hr. Callahan's records on Harry have disappeared, but we have reason to believe that the medicinal potions he has been giving Harry all summer have included small traces of things like blood thinners, which was why he bled so much tonight, and other small things that made this poison work so swiftly and effectively, and is making it difficult to fight against. It first shut down his immune system and then began to slowly shut down his respiratory system and others as well. We had many scares in the past few hours where we nearly lost him. It seems we have finally brought Harry to a stabilized condition, though we are unsure of its lasting stability."

"What does that mean?" Mrs. Weasley asked frantically. "Is he going to be okay? Is he awake?"

"What I mean is that Harry has slipped into a coma. If he makes it through the night, we feel it will be a temporary condition," the healer said grimly.

"If he makes it through the night? That makes it sound as if he..." Hermione trailed off.

"We aren't sure whether he will survive until morning. Now it really depends on his will to live. He has to really want to in order for him to make it through this. However..." he trailed off sadly.

"However what?" George asked breathlessly.

"However, Harry appears to be giving up," the healer said regretfully. Everyone looked at him in horror.

"No. No," Mrs. Weasley gasped.

"I'm sorry to have to tell you that, but it's the unfortunate reality of the situation. This happens often with patients that have been through a lot within a recent period of time or maybe have been depressed recently and are perhaps confused about things," the healer said gently, as if trying to make them understand something without having to say it himself.

"Confused about things?!" Draco yelled jumping to his feet. "What the hell is that supposed to mean? Why don't you just talk to us in plain English? Confused as in why to come back? Is that what you're trying to say?"

"Yes, that's what I'm saying," the healer said regretfully.

"You mean Harry can't figure out a reason to live?" Ron asked shakily.

"I would suggest talking to him. He won't be able to hear you consciously, but he might be able to sense your presence, and though he won't be able to understand you, it couldn't hurt. Hearing familiar voices might be comforting to him. It might be a good time to say your goodbyes, just in case he doesn't pull through," the healer said as gently as possible before leaving.

Sirius sunk down into the waiting room chair shakily, eyes wide, staring blankly ahead.

"He's giving up," he whispered. "Because he doesn't think he's worth anything. Because I never told him he was worth anything. And now he doesn't know why to live."

Sirius was not the only one present who felt guilty about this. Mr. Weasley looked deeply ashamed, and everyone hung their heads a little. They had all seen Harry withdrawing into himself. They had all been very aware of what the incident with his uncle had done to him. But all their attempts to reach him had been too little too late. Most had relied on someone else to do the dirty work and, in the end, nobody had gotten through. Now Harry was paying the consequence.

Mrs. Weasley walked up to Sirius and looked at him intently.

"Well, don't you put it off any longer. Go in there and give him a reason to fight."

.......

Sorry guys, no review responses right now! I'm so sorry, but the only way I could get this chapter out today was to skip them and if I didn't get the chapter out today, it would have been a long time before I could. Please review, nonetheless!!