In the eye of the wolf

Written by Becca

Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognise. So basically, I own nothing and JK owns it all

Summary: Harry returns to Hogwarts late with many secrets. His friends seem to have gone their separate ways and he finds he can only find the peace he needs in his own mind. He becomes withdrawn and depressed; will he allow anyone to break through the ice he has wrapped around his own heart? Will he find love and learn to shoulder his burden with a straight face or will he sink further into the darkness until he is lost.

Author Notes: Just a short note to thank you all for your reviews again. This is just a shortish chapter but I thought that it was a perfect place to end it. I'll try and have the next one up as soon as I can. Thanks for reading.

Chapter Nine

Albus walked swiftly through the castle, not bothering to answer any of the questions from the wizards who were following him. Once he was sure Poppy was still behind him, he quickened his pace. His heart seemed to have found a permanent lodging in his stomach and he felt a dread within him that he had not beheld since the death of his family during the war against Grindlewald. Students stopped to stare as they walked past but Albus just brushed this aside, after all, it wasn't every day that one saw the Headmaster of Hogwarts nearly running in the corridors.

As he neared the corridor that held the bathroom of Moaning Myrtle, the dread gnawed and twisted inside him, the castle walls and wards seemed to be whispering in his ear, pleading with him to hurry before it was too late. A firm weight settled on his shoulders and a bead of sweat trickled down his forehead as he stared ahead with such a firm intensity.

He could hear nothing besides the sound of his own heartbeat, he couldn't even feel his feet touch the floor and it was almost as if he was gliding, being pushed along by an unseen force; he didn't protest. He looked up when he heard a trill and found that the weight on his shoulder was his own distressed phoenix and then he knew that his fears were confirmed. Fawkes had chosen Harry to be his next owner when Albus's time came to an end, Albus knew that in Harry's second year when the phoenix had shed a tear to heal Harry's poisoned wound and help him fight against the Basilisk. As far as Albus was concerned, the phoenix couldn't have chosen a better companion.

He paused outside of the door, pulling his expressionless mask over his face and trying to get enough courage to walk inside. The decision was made for him when the door burst open of its own accord and before he knew it, Albus had entered and was walking straight to the third toilet cubicle on the left. With a trembling hand that he could not stop, Albus pushed the door open and his breath caught in his throat.

Harry was half sitting, half lying against the left wall. His sleeves were pushed right up and his hands lay palm up either side of him. From wrist to elbow on either arm was a deep cut from which most of the blood had come from. Albus noted that the blood had not yet dried and hoped that they would be in time as he let his eyes trail down to the palm of Harry's hand. He saw two large balls stuck down with muggle tape and froze. No. Harry wasn't stupid; if he were going to do this then he would do it right... And Merlin he had.

Without pausing for thought, Albus dragged Harry out into the open where there was more room and then pulled out his wand. With one simple charm, the tape sticking the balls to his hands was cut away and one of the balls rolled away and stopped as it hit Severus's foot. Albus knocked the other away from Harry forcefully and then quickly moved out of the way as Poppy crouched down to check.

"He's still breathing but barely," she said as she checked his vital signs and then she looked at the cuts on his arms when a simple binding charm wouldn't close the wounds. "He used a silver blade. The skin has been burnt apart" she whispered in horror and then looked up at Albus with tears in her eyes. "Albus. I have never been in this situation before, nor have I trained for it... I don't know what to do..."

"Do whatever you can Poppy, whatever it takes. If you need anything, anything at all to help then just say the word," he said wearily. He pulled Harry further onto his lap, his sky blue robes stained with blood as he rested the boy-who-lived's head on his knee. He ran gentle fingers through the boy's hair and listened only half-heartedly as Poppy pulled herself together.

"Right. Severus I need some potions, the strongest healing potions you can find, some cream for burns, some blood restoring potion, wakefulness, pepper up... Whatever you can think of that might help. Go now, I can't move him until he is stabilised. Sirius I need you to go and get Molly Weasley. She has had some training as a Medi-Witch and may be able to assist me. The poison is in his blood... Remus fetch Minerva and Pomona, bring them straight here, they may know of something I can do." As Poppy finished giving her orders, the three wizards in question immediately left to do as she asked, she looked up at Albus and smiled softly at the terror she saw in his eyes.

"Will he live? Does he have a chance?" he asked hoarsely and Poppy sighed. She considered just saying the usual response she had been taught to give to families and friends of such fatal incidents but she knew he would see straight through it and so she sighed, forcing herself to get Harry into a more comfortable position

"I do not know. I will do all I can," she said eventually. Just as the words left her mouth, the door opened and Remus returned with Minerva McGonagall and Pomona Sprout. Both stopped and gasped at what they saw, it seemed Remus hadn't bothered to explain. Severus returned and dropped to his knees gracefully besides Harry and the piles of potion bottle in his arms were dumped on the floor before he took Harry and dragged him closer, away from Albus. Everyone just stared at him, unsure of what to do, watching as he tried to pour potions down Harry's mouth that was stubbornly clamped shut. After a minute, he looked up with tears in his eyes

"Help me" he chocked, his eyes locked with his colleagues. With that one plea from the man who never asked for anything, the others burst into action. Sprout started to list off the herbs and plants that may offer some help whilst McGonagall and Remus sifted through all they knew and had read over the years.

"We need to get these wounds closed first, he cant afford to lose anymore blood" Poppy said quickly as she sorted through the pile of potions and ointments Severus had brought. They tried everything they could think off, they forced pepper up potions and a blood restorer down his throat but the wounds wouldn't respond to either the burn cream or the strongest healing potions. After what felt like hours, Fawkes trilled softly and he hoped down from where he was watching and held his head over Harry's left arm, crying gentle tears for his future master.

Everyone watched with bated breath and then as one let out a sigh of relief when very slowly the wounds started to close. Molly and Sirius had arrived by now and Molly took in the sight before her, gasped and then pulled up the mask she had been taught when she was training as a Medi-Witch. She moved to Harry's side and waited patiently for Poppy to tell her to do something whilst holding on to his hand.

"We should give him the wakefulness potion..." Severus said but Poppy shook her head

"Not yet, if we give him that now then not only will he feel every bit of pain but he will also have the chance to stop fighting." She said seriously. She looked up and noticed that Sprout had run off to find some of her herbs whilst Sirius and Remus paced up and down fretfully.

"This is all my fault, I shouldn't have let him go!" Sirius burst out after a minute. Remus sighed and put a hand on his shoulder

"No, this is none of our faults, nor Harry's. He's scared Siri and I don't blame him. I know what it does to someone who believes they have to go through that every single month..." he said softly

"What? You mean he's a..." Molly started to say but was cut off by Poppy's gasp

"We're losing him, his pulse has weakened. Severus the wakefulness potions quick!" she pried Harry's jaw open as much as she could and helped Severus pour the potions down his throat and then rubbed two of her fingers down his neck, soothing the passage of the potion. Harry's body tensed completely and his fingers curled as his eyes snapped open. He looked both scared and completely exhausted as those emerald eyes of his quickly assessed the situation.

"No" he said weakly "No, no, no" he tried to shake his head but Severus held it tight and stopped him from moving and the emerald eyes darted from face to face again "No! You're not supposed to be here! This isn't supposed to happen! NO!" he said as loud as he could but it came out no more than a whisper

"Don't you leave me now Harry, don't you dare" Severus whispered and stroked the hair out of his face. "I'm sorry, don't leave me. I didn't mean to hurt you; I'm your mate Harry, its ok, its fine. Come back to us, come back to me"

"No, no, no" Harry repeated again and again, his eyes dropping closed and Albus crawled up to him and tapped his cheek lightly, forcing his eyes open again

"Don't you dare Harry, come on. Everything will be fine, you'll see. We're all here for you Harry, we love you, you can't leave us now" he whispered, ignoring the single tear that fell down his cheek that was closely followed by more. Harry stared at him transfixed for a minute before he lifted a weak hand, ignoring the protests from Poppy, and touched the Headmaster's cheek, wiping away the tears and then he smiled.

"Don't pretend, no need to pretend," he whispered but Albus shook his head sadly

"I don't pretend, never. I love you Harry. With all my heart, you are like a son to me, please fight this Harry, please come back to us"

"You – you love me?" Harry whispered in awe, seeing the truth in those blue eyes and in the tears the old man was shredding. He couldn't seem to comprehend the fact that anybody would care for someone like him... But Dumbledore did.

"I love you too Harry, I love you so much. I just wanted to talk to you about what happened, I just wanted to understand but I do now. I know, you are my soul mate, my other half. Don't leave me when I have only just found you" Severus whispered fiercely and Harry closed his eyes briefly and turned his head to the side a little

"Now I know your lying, you're just saying that. Someone like you couldn't love someone like me." He said painfully, his voice getting weaker and his eyes dropping closed again

"No! That's what I thought about you Harry, you're beautiful and you don't even know it. You're innocent, beautiful, intelligent and funny... I'm just a washed up deatheater but I love you. You know I have never lied to you, I never have and never will." Severus insisted and Harry looked at him closely, he opened his mouth to say something but then his body tensed rigid again and his face clouded in pain.

"I – I love you too, all of you" Harry whispered as he forced his eyes open again. He worried his bottom lip and then winced in pain as he remembered the night before when he bit through it completely. He knew he had a brief moment of decision here, he could fight and live, he could be with Severus and his family and he could endure the rest of this miserable life just as anyone else had too or he could rest in peace and meet his parents for once. He wouldn't have the threat of Voldemort nor the pain the man brought... He looked into Severus's eyes and then into Dumbledore's, Sirius's and Remus's.

With a newfound strength and determination, he forced himself to fight his death, every ounce of his being, his magic and his soul fought to restore his blood and fight back the poison of the silver. He made sure to keep his eyes open and gripped onto the two hands he held for dear life. He borrowed strength from both his mate and his Headmaster and he tried his damn best to live.

Who would have thought?