A/N: Ha! Bet you didn't think we would keep our promise and get this up on time! We hope you enjoy!
I………..I
Chapter 17: Innocent Eyes
The double doors of St. Mungos burst open, followed by a mass of people pushing a stretcher, which held a lifeless, young boy.
"Is that Harry Potter?"
"Harry Potter?"
"What's he doing here?"
"Is he alright?"
"Always gets himself into trouble."
People started to get up from their seats to get a better view of the boy, blocking the path of the stretcher so it couldn't get through.
"EVERYONE OUT OF THE WAY!" roared Dumbledore, "HE'S IN CRITICAL CONDITION. YOU BETTER MOVE, NOW, QUICKLY. THE FASTER WE GET THERE THE BETTER." Dumbledore raised his wand to the air, ready to move people himself if they didn't get a move on.
People moved as fast as lightening to their seats, not wanting to get hit with a curse from one of the greatest wizards of all time.
Many Healers ran from their positions to help Harry get into a room for immediate attention.
"Please, only one person may come with us!"
Moody gave Dumbledore a stern look. "You best go with the boy, Dumbledore."
"NO!"
Dumbledore and Moody both turned around at the voice. "Mr. Weasley, what's the matter?"
"I'm not going to leave Harry alone. I told him I'd be there for him," Ron answered, very distressed.
"Mr. Weasley, I'm sure Harry would understand. You need to let the Healers take care of him. You'll see him later."
"You don't understand! Harry was always there for me. I've never been there for him when he needed it-ever! What kind of friend am I?" he wailed.
"Mr. Weasley, Harry knows you want to be there for him, but please, you have to listen to me."
Ron felt Moody grab hold of his shoulders as he tried to get near Harry in his stretcher.
"Ron, listen, you're delaying us. We have to get Harry help. You know that he may die," Moody said, tightening his grip on the boy.
Ron tensed up. It was enough that he thought Harry was going to die himself-but when other people thought the same thing, it made it worse, more real, more definite.
Moody led the poor, shocked boy away and placed him in a seat next to his mum.
Ron stared blankly ahead as he watched the Healers quickly cart his best friend down the hall, and out of his sight.
I………………………………………….I
What seemed like hours later, a Healer walked into the room that everyone was waiting in, with a sad look on his face.
"I'm afraid I have bad news," said the Healer.
Everyone tensed up, afraid that their hero, friend, brother, and son had died.
"Right now, Harry is in critical condition. I'm afraid that he's losing the will to live. He's not responding to any treatments. He's dying. We're going to try the best we can to keep him stable, but I suggest you go and say goodbye to him, even if he's not awake. It may be the last time. He may not last the night. He's down that hall in room 178," the Healer paused. "I-I really am sorry. H-He's everybody's hero," the healer smiled sadly, turned and left.
There was an awkward silence throughout the room as everyone sadly let their tears fall.
"Who should go first?" Moody asked, quietly.
Hermione wiped the tears from her eyes and spoke up. "I-I'll go. C-Can I go? Please?"
"Of course dear," replied Molly.
"Do-do you want me to wake Ron up to go?" wondered Hermione. She had arrived when Ron was already asleep and she had not yet gotten the chance to speak to her beloved.
Mrs. Weasley forced a smile. "You go on by yourself dear. Ron needs his rest. Do you want me to walk you down there?"
Hermione shook her head and got up and walked down the hall. Frightened to go and see her best friend. She hadn't seen what he looked like yet, and truthfully she was scared.
She turned the doorknob to Harry's room and walked in. At the sight of Harry tears started to quietly roll down her face. Her best friend looked to be almost dead.
"Oh, Harry," she cried as she walked over to where Harry lay. "I missed you so much." She didn't have any idea what to say to him, considering he wouldn't talk back. She should be use to seeing Harry in this hospital like this, he'd gone to Madam Pomfrey numerous times, but seeing him now was just different…
Hermione composed herself. It wouldn't get her or Harry anywhere if she just sat there crying. "Harry, please, wake up. I need you so much. I need you and Ron, without one of you, I wouldn't be here. Just because Ron and I are going out doesn't mean I don't need you too. Harry, I love you, please, wake up." Hermione knew she shouldn't be sitting there begging Harry to come back, but what else was she suppose to say?
Hermione cleared her throat, and blinked her eyes numerous times to keep the tears at bay. "Harry, wake up, please! Don't die! Please!" she whispered loudly. The tears that she tried to hard to hold back came running down her cheeks. She took hold of Harry's cold hand. Hermione laid her head on Harry's bed, while she rubbed her fingers against Harry's cold hand, trying to comfort him.
"Come back, Harry. I love you, please." Hermione laid there on Harry's bed for a long time, holding his hand, until she too fell asleep.
I…………………………………………..I
As soon as Mrs. Weasley set foot into Harry's room, she burst into tears. She couldn't stand seeing a child she considered her son in such a condition.
Harry was lying flat on his back in a small hospital bed. His bruised eyes were closed and he looked to be sleeping peacefully for once. The room smelt of potions and Mrs. Weasley figured they had to give Harry them periodically to try and regain his health back.
Mr. Weasley looked over at his wife to see her staring blankly at the boy. Maybe this was too much for her? They both cared for Harry but Mrs. Weasley always had an overprotective side, he didn't want her doing anything stupid.
"Honey, if this is too much for you, we can have some one else go," suggested Mr. Weasley. He would never admit it to anyone, but seeing Harry lying there, close to death, was beginning to prove too hard for him.
"No, no, no, no," Mrs. Weasley shook her head as she sat down next to Harry and took his cold hand in hers.
"Hello, baby, Mrs. Weasley's here. I'm going to take great care of you when you wake up. I'm going to make you a great feast. Oh, baby, we're so sorry for not coming sooner," tears started to stream down her face, which made it more difficult to focus on any one particular spot.
Mr. Weasley intervened. "Hey, son. You need to get better. Everything's going to be alright, you just need to wake up first. Everyone is worried, Harry," Mr. Weasley felt tears start to form at the back of his eyes and he couldn't help them from falling. "You need to wake up Harry! You need to do it! Not only for yourself, but for Ron, for all your friends, and for Molly and I please, Harry you need to wake up."
"One of my baby's might die," wailed Mrs. Weasley suddenly, she grabbed onto Harry's hand more tightly, "and it's all because we didn't protect him enough. Arthur, what are we going to do?"
"Molly, love, please, think positive right now just talk to Harry. That's what he needs," told Mr. Weasley.
Molly nodded her head as she went back to Harry. "Harry? Why didn't you ever come to me? I would have always listened. You could've come to me and told me about the Dursley's I would have never let you go back. Why do you always bottle your emotions up? You never came to me for anything, not if you were sad, hurt, and sick. You always dealt with it. Why, baby? Were you scared? Were you scared that I would hurt you? I would never hurt you. I love you."
Mrs. Weasley took her free hand and smoothed Harry's black hair out of his face. She kissed his forehead, as more tears fell down her cheeks and onto Harry's crisp white sheets.
Mrs. Weasley felt someone touch her shoulders and help her get out of the seat. "Let's go now, Molly. Other people want to see him."
I……………………………………….I
"Come on, Molly. It's all going to be alright," Mr. Weasley said softly, leading his crying wife out of the hospital room in which the injured Harry lay.
"I know," Molly sobbed, "I just can't stand seeing him like this. He's just an innocent little boy- he doesn't deserve any of this. Oh, Arthur, what are we going to do?"
"I just don't know, Molly. I just don't know," Mr. Weasley whispered as they walked past McGonagall.
McGonagall looked up at them with tears in her eyes. "Is it-er- my turn?" she asked quietly.
Mr. Weasley silently nodded his head.
McGonagall's lip quivered. "Oh, Arthur, I just don't know if I can go in there."
Tonks took her friends hand in her own and squeezed it. "If you like, I can go in with you."
McGonagall looked at her friend with gratitude in her weepy eyes. "Could you?"
Tonks smiled sadly. "Of course, anything for you and Harry."
The two stood up together and walked across the hall to Harry's room. McGonagall paused.
Tonks gave her an encouraging smile, "It's going to be alright, Minerva. Come on."
They slowly opened the door, McGonagall smiling gently down at the unconscious boy.
"Wotcher Harry," Tonks said gently, taking a seat next to the young man's bedside.
McGonagall flickered a smile at the younger woman. "Hello, Harry."
There was an awkward pause. "Well, Harry, I know you can't really hear us- well, actually deep down inside I'm sure you can, but even if you can't we need you to listen because you can't give up," Tonks began. "Harry, it's just that, well, you're the closest thing I've ever had to a little brother. I've always thought of you as that. You've always just been so much fun and Harry, if you leave I'll be stuck with no one. I-I've already lost my cousin and I just can't lose you too. I mean, you're all I got, Harry. You're all I have," Tonks finished tears freely leaking down her face.
McGonagall smiled encouragingly at her. "You're doing great, Tonks."
Tonks nodded her head. "Why don't you say something to Harry?"
McGonagall dropped her head. "I'm not so sure Harry wants to hear something from his old head of house."
Tonks let out a slight giggle, "I think if Harry were here with us, you would be one of the most important people Harry would want to talk to."
McGonagall slightly blushed.
"Here, take my seat," Tonks added standing from where she sat.
McGonagall slowly sat down next to Harry and took his cold hand into her own. "H-Harry, I know that I may have been hard on you all of those years at Hogwarts, but you have to understand that it- it never was because I didn't like you, because Harry, I never told you this b-but I love you. You are the sweetest boy I've ever known and you have so much potential and please- please, Harry don't throw that away," McGonagall paused. She slowly turned Harry's hand over in her own, noticing the remnants of a scar that discreetly read I Must Not Tell Lies.
She suddenly burst into tears. "Oh, Harry! How could you of not told me that you were suffering so much? How could you just suffer through everything alone like you have been? Harry, you could have told me! I could have done something! You shouldn't have to go through this like you have! Harry, why? Why?" McGonagall sobbed.
Tonks kneeled beside her, holding the older lady tightly. "Shhh, it's alright. It's alright."
"No, Tonks, it can't be alright," McGonagall whispered, reaching into a pocket of her long robes for a tissue. "He just doesn't deserve-" McGonagall paused as she pulled a small figure out of her pocket. "What's this?"
Tonks gasped, "Minerva! That's Lily and Petunia's photo album that we found in the attic. Do you remember?"
"Of course, I completely forgot about it during all of this excitement," McGonagall said in shock. She took out her wand, pointed it at the photo album and mutter, "Enigmus!"
The smaller version of the photo album suddenly turned to the full-fledged size of the book.
McGonagall placed it gently on Harry's bedside table, next to his glasses. "When he wakes up, he'll want to look at this," she said sadly, hoping in her heart that he would wake up in the first place.
I………………………………………….I
"I owe you an apology, Harry," an older voice spoke from the shadows, as if out of no where.
A man with a long beard and a crooked noise stepped over to Harry's bed, sitting down in the cushioned chair beside him. He reached out his old and wrinkled hand to grasp Harry's but reluctantly pulled back.
The twinkle had left Dumbledore's eye as he watched the young, unconscious boy. "Harry, for the first time, I just don't know what to say," Dumbledore began. "I mean, I should say it all- you're right here- but I can't."
Dumbledore paused and took a deep breath.
"Harry, Harry, Harry, it's entirely my fault. I didn't listen, I didn't tell you, I didn't protect you like I should of. I-I just don't know if you can ever forgive me. I, just, don't know what went wrong.
"No, I do know what went wrong. I promised myself that I wouldn't let this happen and in return I failed both you and me. Harry, I stopped looking at you as if you were a human being and started using you as a weapon. I pretended like you didn't have any feelings so that I would feel better about sacrificing you if I had to. I thought that you could handle it, even though I knew in my heart that you would eventually break. I put the weight of the world on your shoulders.
"Oh, Harry, I have made so many mistakes, and it's all my fault that you're here right now. I don't even know if I'm worthy to ask your forgiveness. I'm just an old, foolish man who- who has made so many mistakes," Dumbledore paused, a tear running down his cheek.
"Please Harry, please pull through this. I know you can. And I swear, just give me one last chance- one last chance- that's all I ask Harry. I know I don't deserve it, but Harry, you do. You deserve to know everything.
"Please Harry, just one last chance. One last chance…"
I………………………………………….I
"Ron. Ron, sweetie, wake up," Mrs. Weasley whispered, shaking her young son awake.
"Mum?" Ron asked sleepily. "What are you doing here?"
"Ron, you need to come with me. Harry needs you."
"Harry?" Ron suddenly shot up out of his make-shift bed of cushions in the lobby of the hospital. "Oh, Merlin! How is he? Where is he? Is he going to be alright? Where is he?"
"Ron, honey, take a deep breath. I need you to listen to me, okay?" Mrs. Weasley asked.
Ron nodded his head quickly; worry filling every inch of his red face.
Mrs. Weasley took a deep breath. "Harry is in critical condition. He's extremely ill, and he's unconscious still. Honey, Harry has simply lost the will to live and he's not going to unless something happens. Harry needs you, Ron. Please go talk to him."
Ron was silent, a tear running down his cheek. "Lost- lost the will? How can you do that? You can just not want to live!"
Mrs. Weasley silently nodded her head. "I know, it's hard to believe. I'm mean, it's Harry. Our happy Harry, so selfless and happy, but you have to understand that he has been suffering so much since Cedric's dea-"
"I know he's suffered! Hello! I was right there with him throughout everything! How can you think that I don't know? You weren't there with him during fifth year! You weren't there during the department of mysteries! You weren't there with him in Adflictation Lair! You have no idea how much he's suffered!" Ron screamed, tears heavily pouring down his face, his breathing turning grave.
Mrs. Weasley pulled her injured son to her bosom. "Honey, honey, I know- it's hard. I'm sorry, sweetie. I'm so sorry."
Ron cried into his mother's soft chest. He cried the tears of love and the tears of death. "I just don't understand why it has to be Harry. He doesn't deserve this. He deserves to be a normal kid like me, he deserves to have everything that I have. But no! They took that from him! I hate them all!"
"I know, sweetie. I know," Mrs. Weasley whispered. "But Ron, honey, he needs you now. He needs you to be with him. Can you go talk to him?"
Ron looked up at his mother with his weepy eyes, "Yeah, he needs me."
"Do you want me to go with you?"
Ron shook his head. "This is something I need to do by myself."
Mrs. Weasley nodded her head, understandingly. "Go on."
Ron slowly stood up, his body aching considerably less then his broken heart. He walked across the hall towards Harry's room, turning around to slip a foreboding look at his sorrowful mother.
Ron entered Harry's room, his eyes immediately attracted to Harry's utterly destroyed young body. He walked over to Harry's bed, sitting beside him and taking his best friend's hand into his own.
The nurses had done their best to clean up Harry, all of the blood had been wiped from his body and essences of shampoos and perfume could be smelt from his messy hair. But remnants of Harry's torture still were visible; bruises littered Harry's body and the scars from Bellatrix's whip, her nails, and Vernon's poker shined through on his pale skin.
"Hey Harry. How are you?" Ron asked quietly, tears once again slipping down his face.
Ron paused. "Harry, how can you just give up? I know it's hard but Harry, if it wasn't for the harder things, the best things in life wouldn't be so great."
Ron dropped his head. "Harry, you are the most selfless person I know. You always think of other people and put them before yourself, but is it so entirely selfish of me to ask you to stay? Harry, I need you- I simply can't live with out you! You have to stay with me. You're the best friend I got. My life is nothing without you here Harry.
"You have suffered so much, and you damn don't deserve it! But Harry, just remember everything that you love. Remember Hogwarts? We have so much fun there with all of our little adventures. Our beds are so soft and warm, and the food- it's delicious. You'll get to go back to that, just hold on."
Ron squeezed Harry's hand. "Oh, Harry. You're so cold. Let me get you another blanket." Ron pulled an afghan from the back of a chair and laid it softly over Harry. "It's going to be alright."
Ron sat next to Harry, silently holding his hand, not letting go.
He just sat there for what seemed like hours, until his mother came in. "Ron, the healers want to look you over now."
Ron shook his head, "I can't leave Harry. He needs me."
"Ron, we can send in someone else to look after Harry, but they really need you."
"No," Ron said simply.
"Ronald Weasley, I now that this is important to you. But what if something's wrong? I don't want to lose you to," Mrs. Weasley said softly, a tear trickling down her face.
Ron looked from Harry to his mom and slowly nodded his head. "Okay, but someone has to stay with him."
Ron softly let go of Harry's hand and stood up from his bedside. Walking towards the door, Ron looked back at his best friend- injured and bruised.
"Let's make this quick," Ron added.
Suddenly, a loud beeping noise ripped through the room. Not understanding what that meant, Ron shot an alarmed look at his mother. "What the hell?"
The room was suddenly enveloped with healers. "We're losing him!" one screamed out.
"Take his pulse now, Hr. Nielsen!"
Hr. Nielsen shook his head, "He's not going to make it," he turned to Ron and Mrs. Weasley. "We're sorry, you have to leave."
"No!" Ron screamed. "I'm not leaving him! I need him! Let go of me!"
Hr. Hudson looked at him. He shot a look at Hr. Nielsen, "It might be the only chance Harry has."
"Harry! Harry! Don't go! I need you! We need you! Don't leave me here! Please! Stay with me, damn it! You have to live! Come back!"
Hr. Nielsen once again took his pulse. "It's coming back up. Hudson, the pulse is coming back up!"
Ron raced to Harry's side. "Harry I need you! Everyone needs you! Hermione needs you, my family needs you! Dumbledore, everyone at Hogwarts- we all need you! They're all out there! All out there waiting for you to come back! Please, Harry, I need you! Come back, please!" Ron sobbed to his best friend. "Harry, please."
Suddenly, Harry's eyes snapped opened. He grabbed Ron, "Please, stay with me."
"I'm not going anywhere Harry. I'm by your side forever."
"He's stable!" a healer shouted out victoriously.
"Harry, you have no idea how worried I was. You were so close- I need you here."
Harry slightly smiled, "I know, I heard. I heard everything. Thank you."
I……………………………………..I
CheshireCat04402- Thank you so much for your review! You were the first person we got a review from for this chapter and we were absolutely thrilled to see that you liked this chapter. It was definitely a great kick start for our day, and a fantastic boost to get chapter 17 out as soon as possible! Fortunately for Harry, we didn't have enough guts to kill off the poor boy- hopefully he will find something truly worth living for. Thank you so more for your review and your enthusiasm! You certainly made our day!
Monica85- No, we don't intend on killing Harry in this story. But who knows what will happen in the sequels to follow Adflictation Lair? We hope that this chapter filled your anxiety and we hope that you thoroughly enjoyed it!
Melissa89- Thank you so much for your review and your compliment! Thank goodness finals are over! Now we can truly buckle down and get to writing! We hope that your finals are going as well as ours did and we hope that you enjoyed this chapter!
Patriot Girl- Don't worry! Harry's not dead! Thanks to the love and support that his friends gave him. Don't cry, please, everything will be alright! Thank you for your review and also thank you for reviewing our other fic!
Truthxinxshadow- We're SO sorry for making you wait so long for chapter 16, but hopefully we got chapter 17 up soon enough for you! Thank you so much for all of your compliments! They were so encouraging to us and made us feel confident about the chapter.
We've gotten a few comments from people letting us know that they also found the last Ron/Harry scene to be like Lord of the Rings, which we found funny because there is absolutely no correlation that is meant to be between the two. We did re-watch that scene in LOTR and there are quite a few similarities between the two scenes but they were most certainly not meant to be the same. Harry most certainly would not make it without Ron and their friendship is going to be even stronger because of that.
Arthur got his chance to tell Harry that he was like his son in this chapter, hopefully Harry will take that to heart. You're right, people do think that Lucius is cruel and heartless, but he is most certainly a deeper character then what is on the surface.
Thank you so much again for your review and all of your compliments! You have been so encouraging and amazing. Thank you so much for everything and we hope that you're feeling better! Congrats on getting your license!
HPfreakout- Thank you so much for your review! We truly hope that you have enjoyed this chapter, and hope that it has filled all of your anticipation! Thank you for all of your compliments! They mean so much to us. Oh, and don't worry- Harry isn't going to die in this story, but you never know what is going to happen in our sequals…DUNDUNDUN
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Curiosity100- Thank you so much for your review! That was so nice; we hope that you enjoy this chapter just as much!
Christina- Wow! What a compliment! Thank you so much for your awesome review! It deeply touched us and we hope that you enjoy this chapter just as much! And don't worry- there is more to come.
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Freedom Isn't Free- Wow! You seemed really excited! We're glad that you liked the chapter so much and are so excited about it! Wow! You make us feel so special! Lol, you're so funny. We're sorry that you couldn't get a hold of Patriot but we hope that you enjoyed it just the same.
Thank you so much for saying that this was the best chapter, that was most certainly a boost to our confidence. And saying that our story is the best in all fandom is kind of out there- but we felt great just the same after reading that! Thank you so much!
You have a fantastic gift with your writing and how dare you say otherwise? You're just as great a writer as us and we're honored that you compared us. Now, all we need you to do is calm down and take a deep breath.
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Flamegirl22- Thank you so much for the review! We didn't have enough guts to kill off Harry… yet. Ron is such a great friend, we're glad you liked him in this chapter. Hope you enjoyed this chapter just as much!