Disclaimer: I do not own the characters in this, or anything Harry Potter-ish
Notes: The Draconis dagger is not mine it belongs to Lady Mandara Snake (Thanks May) and in response to Kyliandra's review (chp4) eww that's wrong!
Death is a blessing
Chapter 6
Molly yelped as the blood started to spray from his neck, but it was Fred who responded first
"Impedimenta!" He screamed aiming his wand at Harry, the fountain of blood that had been cascading from him was slowed down, Charlie drew his wand next
"Sano!" the mortal wound started to knit together, it was slowed by the impediment charm Fred had used to stop Harry from bleeding to death but nonetheless it began to take effect, the edges of the cut crept toward each other, leaving a fine line. The line was fading but was going to take a long time to disappear entirely. The slowed down Harry was reaching for his wand; the other Weasley's had too begun to reach for theirs. Harry didn't get a chance to draw his; he was outnumbered and already at a disadvantage.
"Petrificus Totalus" this time it was Bill, Harry went stiff as a board and would have fallen to hit his head, but Percy and Arthur were there to catch him when Fred finally muttered
"Finite Incantatem". They lay Harry out on the bed, still unable to move because of the curse. The Weasley's gathered round him. Molly was beginning to regain control of her sense; she reached down and wrestled the dagger from the frozen Harry's grip
"Oh Sirius what were you thinking" she whispered as she turned it over in her hands.
"What do you think we should do with him? That hex will wear off eventually" George was experimentally poking Harry's arm to see if it moved. Molly nodded
"I know, we must contact Albus again, he thought Harry might be upset but he would not have let him out of his sight if he thought his reaction would be this bad." Charlie stepped forward
"But until then; Ceruchus" rope flew out of the end of his wand and tied Harry's arms and legs to the bed. At the surprised looks of his family he shrugged
"We use it to tie down the dragons"
"What is going on?" Ron and Ginny stood in the door way looking mortified, Ron's best friend had just tried to kill himself, and after being hexed charmed and cursed by pretty much every member of his family was now tied to a bed in the middle of the room. Bill looked back at the frozen Harry
"Finite Incantatem" but even with the body bind spell off him Harry didn't move; he had lost a quantity of blood and had passed out. Molly smiled at her youngest two
"All will be explained tomorrow I promise, when Hermione arrives."
No one got much sleep that night, Ginny was sent to bed immediately, Fred and George were kept up by Ron constantly pestering them as to what had happened to Harry. He finally gave up at 3am. At 4am Harry started shouting, he was asleep and relieving Cedrics death, Siruis's disappearance he was screaming about the curtain and to keep away. Fred, George and Ron were all trying to wake him but it wasn't until Molly flew in the room and turned the light on that he did finally awake from the nightmare world he was trapped in. Harry was disorientated, and it took him a moment to get his bearings, when he did he stopped moving, Molly tried to brush his hair away from his face, he flinched from her.
"It's ok Harry it was just a dream" Harry nodded. He closed his eyes like his was going back to sleep. Molly and Arthur left the room dousing the light. The other went back to their beds
"Bet you wished you used that silencing charm now" he said quietly.
"No Harry, we wished you didn't have the dreams" he was sure which one had spoken, but it was the last thing he heard that night.
Next morning Hermione arrived, after the greetings had been dealt with she went to put her stuff in Ginny's room. On her way back she heard voices in Ron's room; she smiled and put her head round the door. Her gasp got the attention of the occupants.
"What's going on?" Harry was still tied to the bed, Ron was sulking in the corner and it looked like Fred and George were trying (and failing) to convince Harry to drink a potion. The twins looked at her
"Ah Hermione, this is not what it looks like"
"Really?" she said with a chastising tone "and what do you think it looks like, because to me it seems you are trying to force feed a captive Harry a potion he obviously does not want to drink" Fred shrugged
"Ok it is what it looks like but there is a reason for it" Hermione crossed her arms
"A reason for which bit and what is it?"
"That's what I've been asking ever since Harry cut his throat" Ron muttered from the corner, Hermione's eyes went wide
"He did what?! Why?" George put down the potion, admitting defeat,
"Perhaps we better go find mum" he said before leading the way out of the room, Harmione cast one last look at Harry
"I can't free you, but I'll get Mrs. Weasley to I promise"
"No you won't but thanks for trying" he said softly, Hermione, his best friend always believing he was innocent, he wondered idly if she would still talk to him once she knew. He found out half an hour later when the bedroom door flew open, Hermione and Ron ran in, she had been crying her eyes were still wet, Ron hadn't but he looked clearly shaken. Hermione walked straight up to the side of Harry's bed and flung her arms around him, she held him tight for at least five minutes before sitting up and looking into his eyes, Ron was sitting on the other side looking at him as though seeing him for the first time
"Harry, why didn't you tell us?" She held his hand as she spoke to him.
"Yeah mate I mean if you had said anything about"
"I deserved it" Harry blurted out before even thinking his two best friends stared at
him with shock,
"How could you think that, there's no way that you deserved anything that bloody muggle…." Ron caught himself "I'm with Fred and George on this I want to kill him", Hermione hadn't said a word until Ron had finished
"Harry, it doesn't matter if a lie is said once or a thousand times it's still a lie isn't it?" Harry looked away; she squeezed his hand "Isn't it?"
"I guess" he muttered unable to look at either of them
"So, seeing as you didn't deserve anything that happened to you, the fact that you were told you did over and over, doesn't matter it's still a lie" she finished. A noise down stair signified that someone had just arrived by floo network. Ron sighed
"We should go see who that is" Hermione nodded
"You go, I'm going to stay here" she said simply. Ron left, Harry felt Hermione reach for his face, he drew away from her touch, she ignored it and placed a hand on his cheek.
"This must be so hard for you" She whispered. Harry couldn't speak and just nodded her hand moved from his face to his neck, she ran a finger over the fine scar that ran around the base of his neck.
"Why do this?" she asked, her soft voice was intoxicating, it compelled him to answer more then any spell could ever. The lump in his throat was back again, he could feel his own eyes moisten;
"I couldn't take it, they didn't even realise why I was upset. They could have stopped him, they could have at least tried." Crocodile tears slide down his face, he wanted to desperately curl up and hide, but the restraints offered only an inch of movement. Hermione wiped the tears away;
"They could have, one of them could have sat you down and talked it through, the way muggles do, which for the record seems for more effective, but they didn't, Harry don't blames them, they are wizards that have been bought up believing magic is the cure to all their problem, it's not their fault they don't know better they don't understand that they are better ways" Harry smiled slightly, the irony that all the magic that they could have all the magic in the world and all he wanted was a friend to talk to.
"You're good at this" he murmured
"I'm a muggle-born witch, I have the best of both worlds" she smiled, "now Harry please will you eat something?" Harry's contentment was short lived
"They sent you to make me eat didn't they?" Hermione considered her response, honesty looked like the best option
"No, they asked Ron and me to try and convince you to eat but I wasn't sent to" Harry moved his hand from hers and pulled his face away
"No, I can't live like this, I don't want to live like this, with everybody knowing and casting judgment. They won't let me die quickly then fine, but I won't eat" he turned to face away from her. He didn't see the hurt in her eyes
"Ok I tried, but please consider the good times you've had with Ron and me, how many people there are who love you and what this will do to them. then consider this would Sirius have given you the dagger if he knew what you used it for?" she rose and left the room. Harry found that he felt worse now then when she left the first time.
"He won't eat" she said simply when she arrived back downstairs, Professors Dumbledore, Snape and McGonagall were sitting in the rather overcrowded living room with all the Weasley's Dumbledore nodded
"Then we must endeavour to find a way to make him. Madame Pomfrey believes he will not last the holidays without food, and will die within days without water." Severus stirred
"There is always imperio" he said, the room collectively shuddered
"I don't think that an unforgivable curse is going to help him to trust us do?" Molly snapped. Snape was about to retaliate when Hermione jumped in
"There is one thing we could try" the room looked at her
"Yes Miss Granger" Dumbledore's eyes were friendly
"Muggle hospital have way of feeding patients that are unconscious or who can't eat food"
"Really and how do they do this?" Arthur had picked up the word muggle and was now interested.
"They put these tubes down their throats into the stomach which they can pump a special sort of ground up food through". Fred cringed
"And what's to stop him biting the tube and stopping the flow"
"The tubes go down the nose into the stomach" several people cringed
"That's barbaric" Percy stared at her "I can't believe you suggested it"
"More so then making him relieve every rape he's ever been through in the space of five minutes?" she replied tartly Percy looked away, Hermione reigned in her temper
"It's not that bad and it's done regularly, and ok it's uncomfortable, but that might persuade him to start eating again and well it works" she looked around, a couple of the Weasley's were still not convinced but Dumbledore was.
"Fair enough. We will need to acquire the relevant equipment, Miss Granger do you know what it looks like?" Hermione nodded "good you shall accompany Tonks and Kingsley on an expedition to collect these items from a local hospital tonight. Is there any other matters we need to discuss?" Fred poked George, George poked Fred harder. George won, Fred cleared his throat;
"There was one thing, last night Harry asked us to put a silencing spell on him while we slept so he didn't wake us up"
"Did you?" Dumbledore looked at them
"No, but he did wake the house up screaming. He was embarrassed about it, if he asks again what do we do?"
"I do not see the harm in using a silencing spell as long as the locator alarm is in place, and you remember to remove it in the morning" The twins nodded, Dumbledore had performed a locator alarm on Harry when he had arrive, it would sound an alarm if Harry left the Burrow with out permission, but it had to be activated each night.
"Well then if all is set, Miss Granger you will be picked up at 9 this evening and should be back by 11 at the latest. Good day" with that Dumbledore followed by Snape and McGonagall rose and left back to Hogwarts.