Disclaimer: See Chapter One.
A/N: Hey there people! Thank you all so much for your reviews! I'm very glad that you are all liking it so far. A huge thank you to my beta enb2004! You rock girl! As promised, here is Chapter 6! Enjoy!
For a moment, there was another akward silence as Harry tried desperatley to come up with a plausible reason for how he looked. Before he could though, Ron and the twins bodily dragged Harry back onto the shore and sat him down when they noticed that Harry was shivering despite the summer heat.
"Bloody hell Harry! What did those bastards do to you?" George hissed.
"Um, it's nothing, just some scrapes and bruises," Harry said looking down in order to avoid eye contact. He knew that he was a miserable liar and that he would be called on it. Still, he had to try! He didn't want everybody to think that he was weak.
Harry felt a hand raise his chin up and he was forced to look up into Bill's concerned eyes.
"Harry, you don't have to lie to us. Did the Dursley's do this to you?" Bill asked.
When it looked as though Harry was going to try to come up with another excuse, when Charlie stepped in.
"Harry, please don't make up excuses for those miserable excuses for human beings. You can tell us the truth Harry. Please, we want to help you," he said.
Harry looked down when Bill released his grasp on his chin. "I don't want to be a bother," he whispered brokenly. His entire life, his "Uncle" had told Harry that if he told anyone about the physical abuse, he would be looked down upon as a bother and a weakling. That was the last thing he wanted the Weasley's to see him as.
"Harry James Potter! You are no bother!" Ginny said fiercely while inwardly cursing the Dursley's for making Harry feel so unwanted and unloved.
"Did they do this to you Harry?" Ron asked gently.
"Yes," Harry whispered, being careful not to look at anyone.
There were soft swears at Harry's admission and mutters about how they should have known. "All right then Harry, let's get you into the house," Bill said helping Harry to his feet.
Harry swayed precariously once on his feet as his vision blacked out. Dimly, he heard someone swear as they steadied him. The injuries he had been hiding for days had finally caught up with him at the worst possible time. Fighting it all the way, Harry sank into the oblivion of unconsciousness.
-
Ron was more than horrified to hear Harry admit that the Dursley's had harmed him. He had always suspected that there was more going on in that household than Harry let on, but he had not expected it to be this bad! None of them had.
Ron watched as Bill helped Harry to his feet, only to gasp in surprise as Harry swayed dangerously.
Bill swore and quickly grasped Harry's arm in order to steady him. Ron and the others hurried over just in time to see Harry's eyes roll back into his head and fall against Bill unconscious.
"Damn!" Ron swore loudly as Harry collapsed.
"He must be worse off than we thought," Percy said softly as he helped Bill gently lower Harry to the ground.
"Let's get him into the house then," George said.
"Ron, run ahead and get Mum and Dad," Fred said.
"They're not home Fred. They left a note saying that they had to go to meeting," Bill said while gently picking Harry up and cradling him in his arms.
The younger Weasley's all swore again. "Ron, go firecall Hermione and Madame Pomfrey. Harry needs a healer and Hermione will have all our heads if we don't tell her what's going on," Charlie said.
Ron paled at the thought of what Hermione would do to him if he kept her in the dark. "Okay, I'll firecall them!"
Without looking back, Ron ran into the house and flung the floo powder into the fireplace. "Hogwarts! Madame Pomfrey's office," Ron shouted as he stuck his head in.
In seconds, Ron's head appeared had appeared in the healing wing. "Madame Pomfrey!" Ron shouted as he didn't see the nurse.
Seconds later a frazzled looking Pomfrey came running out of her office. "Mr. Weasley? What in the name of Merlin are you doing here?" she asked.
"Madame Pomfrey, please, you have to help us. Harry's badly injured and just collapsed at the Burrow," Ron said quickly.
The nurse sighed in exasperation. "Honestly, that boy can not keep out of trouble. I'll be there in a few minutes Mr. Weasley."
Ron nodded and pulled back his head. Seconds later he contacted Hermione by floo as well. Her house had been connected the day after school let out in case of an emergency. This most certainly qualified.
Ron's head appeared in the fire place at the Grangers, giving Mr. Granger quite the fright. "I'm sorry Mr. Granger! Is Hermione home? I really need to talk to her, it's an emergency."
Mr. Granger just nodded and went to fetch Hermione. He still wasn't used to peoples heads appearing in flames and he doubted he ever would.
A few moments later, Hermione appeared. "Ron? What's wrong? My dad said it was an emergency," she said.
"It is Mione. Harry's hurt, badly. I'll tell you all the details when you get here. I don't know how secure this connection is," Ron said hurriedly.
Hermione frowned but nodded. I'll get all my stuff together and be there within a few minutes."
"Thanks Mione," Ron said very relieved. "Harry is going to need all our help," he said before disappearing and leaving Hermione wondering just what on Earth was going on.
When Ron took his head out of the fire place, he saw that Bill was just placing Harry down on the couch. "How is he?" he asked.
Bill just gave Ron a sad look. "I wish I could say Ron but I'm not a medi-wizard. We need Madame Pomfrey to tell us what's wrong, other than the obvious that is."
Just then the fireplace blazed green and Madame Pomfrey came tumbling out. "Okay, where is he?" she asked.
Ginny just pointed mutely at the couch.
In full nurse mode, she immediately hastened to the couch and shot various, complicated looking spells at Harry. It was easy to tell that she did not like whatever it was that the spells revealed.
"Mr. Weasley! You should have called for me days ago! Some of these injuries are quite serious and days old to boot!" she exclaimed.
"We didn't know about the injuries until about a half an hour ago ma'am," Fred said.
"And Harry has only been here for two days," George said.
Madam Pomfrey turned around to face the Weasley children. "These injuries are certainly more than two days old," she said in a calm voice, too calm. "You know he got these injuries, and I fear, so do I. Tell me anyway though," she demanded.
"Harry only just admitted to being abused, Madam Pomfrey," Percy said shakily. He could hardly believe that Harry had been abused this viscously under their noses all this time.
"So the injuries would indicate," Pomfrey hissed. "The Headmaster needs to be informed. There is no way this poor boy is going back to those abominable so called relatives of his."
"What does the Headmaster need to know about," Hermione coughed from behind them. Like Harry, she had never really mastered the art of flooing.
The Weasley's and Madam Pomfrey all turned around in surprise. "Oh good, I'm glad that you're here Mione," Ron started to say but was cut off by Hermione when she saw Harry.
"Harry! My God, what happened to him?" she asked turning to the Weasley's and Madam Pomfrey.
"It would appear that the Dursley's have been abusing Harry, rather viscously at that," Madam Pomfrey said, her normally kind face showing her extreme anger at the situation.
Hermione gasped and put a hand over her mouth. She knew that the Dursley's were terrible but she had not expected this. None of them had.
"Will one of you floo the headmaster while I treat Harry please?" the nurse requested, her total concentration on the poor boy in front of her.
Charlie nodded and was about to put his head in the fireplace when Professor Dumbledore, his mother, father, Sirius, and Remus all stepped out of the fireplace.
"Professor! I was just coming to get you!" Charlie said anxiously. He didn't like the grave expression on his former Headmaster's face.
"Is that so? I was just coming to see Harry. I've been told he is here," he said gravely. This whole situation was just becoming more and more complicated. With the blood protection broken, Merlin only knew what would happen to the poor boy.
"You can't see him right now Albus," Poppy said without looking at the Headmaster.
The others all stopped in their tracks seeing Poppy in the Burrow. "Poppy? What's wrong? Why are you here? Are one of the children hurt?" Molly asked fearfully.
"You could say that," Poppy muttered.
"Poppy, I really must talk to Harry right now," Albus said patiently.
"No Albus, you can't. He's unconscious and will likely remain that way for a good while yet," Poppy said.
The adults in the room paled and rushed towards where Poppy was standing. "What happened to him!" Molly cried out upon seeing Harry's battered body.
"His relatives are what happened," Madame Pomfrey muttered softly.
She didn't mutter it softly enough though. Everyone heard her say it. Albus sat down heavily in the nearest chair while Remus guided Sirius over to the couch before he could collapse onto the floor.
"The Dursley's abused my godson!" Sirius exclaimed, a look in his eye that Hermione and Ron hadn't seen since the Shrieking Shack.
"We had always suspected it. That's why we appealed to the courts for custody of him," Molly said while crying.
"We never suspected that it was this bad though," Arthur said, tears in his own eyes.
"Forgive me Molly. You were quite correct to remove Harry from the Dursley's care. I just wish that I had not been so blind by my hope that Petunia would come to love her sisters son. I should have realized that she never would," Albus said defeatedly.
"We can talk about this later. Right now, Harry really needs to be at Hogwarts where I can treat him properly," Madame Pomfrey said gently. She knew how upset everyone was. Hell, she was too. Right now though, she had a patient to consider. Only when Harry was healed would she allow her anger and sadness to break all the way through.
Everyone nodded and quickly made preparations for an extended stay at Hogwarts. It was going to be a very long summer, they could see that already.
-
Upon returning to Hogwarts and seeing to it that Harry was being well cared for, Albus Dumbledore had returned to his office. He had failed Harry in more ways than he had thought possible. Minerva had been right. He never should have left Harry with those people.
A knock at his door brought him out of his thoughts. "Come in," he said wearily.
"Albus? What is all the commotion? I could have sworn I saw the Weasley twins sneaking into one of the bathrooms and I know I heard Poppy ranting."
Albus smiled at the mention of the twins sneaking into one of the bathrooms. He had quite the good inkling of what they were going to do, but he wouldn't stop it. Everyone would need a good laugh in the coming days.
"Ah Minerva. As to the Weasley twins sneaking into one of the bathrooms, I wouldn't put it past them. As to Poppy's ranting, that is something I wanted to talk to you about," he said.
Minerva sat down heavily. "Then the Weasley twins are here! Why in the name of Merlin are they here? In the summer!" she said somewhat hysterically. While she loved the twins, and in fact, all of her lions, the twins pranks were enough to frighten even the most courageous person.
"They are here because Harry is here," Albus said wearily, recalling the injuries that Harry had.
Minerva was instantly alert. "Harry? Why is he here? Was he attacked? Why weren't we notified!"
"Yes, he was attacked, but not by Voldemort," Albus said, a dangerous edge creeping into his voice.
"Then by who?" Minerva asked puzzled.
"The Dursley's," he said angrily.
For a moment, Minerva gaped at the Headmaster before standing up and ranting about good for nothing muggles for a full five minutes.
"Why did we never check on him Albus? I should have at least! I told you myself that they were the worst sort of muggles, and still I never checked on Harry!" she said near tears.
"It's not your fault Minerva but mine and mine alone. Thankfully, the Weasley's have gained custody of Harry with the Dursley's permission. Harry will never have to return to the Dursley's. I will find a way to invoke the blood magic protection somehow," Albus said.
"It is not your fault Albus any more than it is mine. More importantly thought, where is Harry now?" Minerva asked.
"In the hospital wing, being tended to by Madam Pomfrey. I take it you would like to go down and wait with the Weasley's?" Dumbledore said more than asked.
"Damn straight," Minerva said already walking out the door.
Albus followed her with an amused smile. It was good to know that somethings would never change.