Chapter Fifty Two

Harry lay, feeling the cold that had crept into his bones while he was laying outside.

"Come on, Potter, time to get up." he moaned to himself, hauling himself, stiffly to his feet.

Everywhere hurt from the cold, from the exhaustion and the trauma the night had brought. He shuffled towards the castle, struggling to find the energy for every step.

He reached the castle and plodded onwards towards the hospital wing. It was a fair bet that Madam Pomfrey would be fussing over everyone who was caught in the battle, whether or not they were really hurt and it was certain that was where Danica would be, they wouldn't have had time to move her to St Mungo's yet even if she did need to go.

An image of Sirius and Danica laying in hospital beds next to each other smashed into his mind, both of them still, unmoving, like dolls.

Harry threw up against the wall, wiping his mouth with the back of his sleeve and he fought to steady himself.

"Harry?" Nikka's voice came at him down the hall, "Gods you look awful!"

She rushed over and put his arm over her shoulder, holding him up.

"I'm OK." Harry mumbled.

"No you're not." Nikka said, matter of factly, "Can you walk?"

Harry nodded and let her help him towards the hospital wing.

"Lily had sent me to find you, she was worried sick." Nikka told him, "You seem in one piece at least."

"So do you." Harry said, managing to find a smile some how.

Nikka nodded, "Yeah, few bruises but I got off really lucky though. My brothers are still panicking. They've all been on missions over seas, you see but you can bet they're all on their way here as soon as they can get the clearance."

Harry looked around as they walked. The castle was not a pretty sight but he noticed it was nothing structural, just scorch marks, blood and broken decorations. The paintings were all helping one another to the less broken frames, organising who would stay where until they could be fixed. Everything would be perfect again in a few days.

As Harry had expected, there were no Death Eaters left in the castle, just the remains of the battle. However he spotted no large blood pools and no charred shapes on the walls that were human sized so he hoped that they hadn't lost anyone.

They reached the hospital wing, hearing a fair amount of bustle inside and stopped.

"You OK?" Nikka asked, "Stupid question I know but…"

Harry felt his mouth grow dry, "I… I don't want to go in there."

He hated himself for thinking it, let alone saying it but he was terrified of what he might see. He wasn't sure he was strong enough to see his baby sister's face ripped open, or half missing, or missing a limb, or all of the above.

"I know it's hard, but you need treatment yourself." Nikka said softly, "So, in the nicest way possible, suck it up buttercup!"

Harry let out a laugh, followed by another painful sob.

Nikka gave him a half hug, not easy considering she was still the only reason he was still upright, "Come on. On three."

Harry counted down in his head, and walked forward into the hospital wing. Unsurprisingly, most of the beds were already filled.

Pansy and Daphne looked very injured, their faced black and blue, and Daphne's leg propped up on several pillows, wrapped in a thick bandage. William's pyjama sleeve was rolled up on the right, his arm deeply bruised. It would have been broken before Madam Pomfrey had worked her magic on it.

William's bed was empty as he was sitting firmly next to Pansy, even though their beds were right next to one another.

Bill was propped up in bed, smiling and talking to Fleur, the rest of his family sitting rather stiffly slightly further away. Bill's face was also covered in a thick bandage, blocking one eye completely.

Hermione, Neville and Draco seemed unharmed, as did Luna who was sporting a small cut on her collar bone but seemed to have barely noticed. They sat in a group on one of the beds, generally trying to keep out of the way. Lucius sat close to his son, his arm wrapped around Draco's shoulders like he was afraid to let go.

Remus and Tonks were talking calmly to Fleur, who nodded and kept making notes in a small note book with an angel on the front. Harry guessed that it had been Fenrir who attacked Bill as well and Tonks and Remus were giving hints and tips on how to cope.

Alice, Neville's mother, was sitting with Lily. Both were bruised and looked exhausted, sitting around a bed.

Danica was in that bed, Harry knew that, although he couldn't see her from where he was and he could hear his heart hammering in his chest at the thought of moving closer so he could see her.

Corvus still sat in bed. He'd been crying recently and looked like he needed a month of sleep and a good hug, Thomas sitting protectively close.

At the end of the room there were five beds, covered with clean, soft white sheets. Five people lost.

One of them would be Dumbledore but Harry didn't know who the other four would belong to. He just hoped that they were Death Eaters rather than anyone on their side.

"Harry." Lily said, standing up the moment she saw him and wrapping her arms around him.

Harry flinched, "I'm OK."

"Into bed now, Mr Potter." Madam Pomfrey ordered, "And into pyjamas, no arguments."

Harry didn't need to be told twice and ducked behind the screens to change before climbing gratefully into the warm, soft bed.

Madam Pomfrey came over and covered Harry's many bruises in Witch's Hazel before giving him a sleeping draft, close up Harry could tell that she had also been crying.

"Are you OK?" Harry asked softly.

Madam Pomfrey gave him a small smile, "I will be, Mr Potter. I don't know if you know or not, but Professor Dumbledore is dead." she let out a loud sniff, "He was found at the base of the Astronomy tower."

Harry felt like he was going to be sick again, "I know… it was… it was Dad, Professor Snape. He killed him."

The whole room fell silent.

"Harry, are you sure?" Lily asked, "He wouldn't…"

Harry nodded forcefully, "Yes I'm sure. I saw him do it. After you'd talked to Dumbledore, Mum, D… Snape went up and cursed him, sent him flying from the window."

"Why did you go up to see him?" Madam Pomfrey asked, narrowing her eyes slightly.

"I wanted to check on him, make sure he could defend himself." Lily lied, without a hint of the truth in her voice, "I knew his hand had been bothering him. But he said he was fine."

Madam Pomfrey nodded, "Sounds like him. He wouldn't of wanted to put you in danger, or anyone else, knowing that you could help them."

Lily smiled, "Yes… I'm sure that was the case."

Harry sat silently for a moment, not sure what he should be feeling so feeling everything at once.

"What happened with you two?" he said, after a while, turning to Daphne and Pansy.

"We did what you said, emptied the Slytherin common room, tried to stop Rodolphus from going with his mother but he wouldn't listen." Pansy explained.

"Managed to shatter my leg," Daphne said, pointing to leg that was propped up, "Madam Pomfrey managed to get the bone back in but said I'll need to not move it for a couple of days. It was bad."

"I thought the potion would have saved you from all that, I'm really sorry." Harry said, feeling like the worst friend in the world.

"It did save us." Pansy insisted, "We must have managed to escape half a dozen or more killing curses, and at least twice as many torture ones."

"Honestly Harry, that potion saved our lives for sure." Daphne agreed, "We're really grateful to you."

Harry shook his head, "I should of known that Rodolphus would have gone with his mother, should of just let it happen."

"You couldn't of known." Lucius said firmly, "Corvus refused."

Harry was surprised that she'd bothered to even try and get Corvus, "She came to get you?"

Corvus shrugged, he seemed to be confused that he was being talked to, "She didn't exactly put up much of a fight, she came up and demanded that I go to her, she couldn't get in, you see. I said no, that I was meant to stay in bed. She said I was a useless blood traitor and she didn't want me anyway and left." he wiped his eyes as a fresh stream of tears escaped him.

"She's wrong." Thomas said firmly, "And I'm glad you stayed, you did the right thing."

Harry's eyes drifted over to Danica's bed. He still hadn't seen her, the blankets were covering her too well.

"She's asleep." Lily said calmly, "Severus sedated her almost immediately, she'll be out for hours still."

Harry nodded feeling his stomach sink; if Severus had had to sedate her, it means she was still awake when they had found her and hurt so badly she couldn't even scream. He slowly got out of bed, knowing that every eye in the room was watching him. Lily came over and took his hand, helping him over to the bed where his little sister was.

Harry didn't know what he was expecting, but it wasn't expecting her to look so normal. There wasn't a mark on her.

Danica lay in the bed, her arms resting softly on top of the sheets tucked in around her. Her face was untouched, as where her hands and wrists. He knew the marks must be there somewhere, but with her pyjamas on you would think she was just sleeping, her chest rising and falling softly.

Someone had washed her hair, it was still damp and neatly plaited to the left of her head. She was clean and tidy and peaceful.

Harry would see the scars before too long, as she was coming out of the bath and Lily was fighting with her to put some oil on them to attempt to stop the worst of the scarring. He would never forgive himself for his reaction, which was to turn and run to the nearest bathroom and throw up.

Thankfully Danica would never know that bit, and Harry would look back to now, to how untouched she looked and remember how easy it had been to lull himself into the belief that she would, just maybe, be OK.

For now he stood there, tears running silently down his cheeks as the minutes ticked by and everyone continued to watch him.

"Will she be turned?" Harry asked, forcing the words from his painfully dry throat, "It's not a full moon or anything."

"It's likely." Remus said softly, "We always have a certain level of the venom on our teeth, more so for someone like Fenrir who wishes he could be a wolf all the time, and has worked towards that goal."

"Madam Pom-free said that it was unlikely for my Bill." Fleur explained, "As 'e is so big, but Danica… she is so petite…"

Harry nodded, none of the information wasn't sticking in his brain, it was all just words, flowing in one ear and out the other, but still he nodded.

"We'll be waiting until the next full moon really." Bill said, giving Harry a small, and painful smile, "For her and me."

"Will the scars fade, for you?" Harry asked, morbid curiosity making him want to see under Bill's bandages.

Bill shook his head, "A bit but not really. They'll never go away, if that's what you mean, just get paler."

"I do not mind." Fleur said, gazing at him with nothing but love, "Now ever'ry one will know, like I do, that my Bill is a 'ero!"

Harry couldn't help but smile at the two of them, cuddled together on Bills bed. Mrs Weasley looked less impressed however.

Harry looked over to the five covered beds at the end of the room and took a few wobbly steps towards them.

"Who else did we loose?"

"Petal." Lucius said softly, "Horace, Professor Slughorn, found her laying out on the road to Hogsmead."

"Gemini used her to get into the castle." Harry said. It wasn't a question, or an accusation, just a matter of fact, of very sad fact.

Lucius nodded, "It seems likely, there were high traces of Dark Magic on her when she was found. Dobby knows, I told him myself."

Harry nodded, "And the others?"

"Them, not us." Nikka said, "Rowle got taken down by Fleur, and Remus took down Gibbon." her eyes flicked towards Lucius.

"And I took out Fenrir." Lucius said, "Can't exactly say I'm sorry about that."

"Good." Harry said simply. He just wished he'd been the one to kill Fenrir.

"You need your rest." Madam Pomfrey said, shuffling Harry into bed, "Mr Malfoy, I'm going to have yours and Harry's things brought here for the rest of the term. I think it would be best for you to not be forced into the dorm again."

Harry and Draco nodded, neither of them wanted to have to deal with Crabbe and Goyle with no one else around.

Harry slipped into bed and let his mother tuck him in. He didn't drink the sleeping draft he was given though. He wasn't ready for dreamless sleep.

Exhaustion swept over him quickly though and it didn't take him long to fall asleep.

And for the first night, in a very long time, Harry dreamt of James.