Harry Potter and the Unexpected Powers
Disclaimer: I still don't own anything!!!
***************************************************************************
This chapter is dedicated to Keitaya, who was the first person to review!!!
And now, on with the story...
***************************************************************************
Chapter 2
The Rescue
***************************************************************************
"Boy! Get down here this instant! We want our breakfast!"
Harry groaned. Like he had presumed, he hadn't slept at all that night. He rolled himself out of his bed, put on his glasses and trudged down the stairs slowly, trying not to aggravate his various bruises too much.
Since his return from Hogwarts, things at 4 Privet Drive had become considerably worse. The Dursleys had apparently lost their fear of Harry's godfather, the sole fact that had him survive through the previous summer.
To make matters even worse, Uncle Vernon was still fuming after of the Ton- Tongue-Toffee-Incident that had occurred before the Quidditch World Cup the summer before. So his uncle had resorted to doing something else he enjoyed, and it wasn't drills or golf.
When Harry arrived in the kitchen, the Dursleys were already there, sitting at the table, waiting for their breakfast. Uncle Vernon looked up from his newspaper and shot a glare at Harry.
"About bloody time!" he snapped. "Now hurry up, you still have to finish your chores for the day. And no food today, because you are late!" he finished maliciously.
Harry sighed as he started to prepare his 'family's' food. He wasn't sure how long the human body could survive without food, but he knew that it couldn't be much longer than two weeks.
Harry hadn't had any food since his return from Hogwarts, which had been more than a week ago.
As punishment for who he was, the Dursleys made him prepare all meals, tend to the garden, clean the house, the car and anything else that came to their mind.
The worst so far had been cleaning the bathroom after Dudley had used it one night.
Harry thought deep down that his cousin had done it deliberately.
When the prospect of all this work hadn't seemed to phase Harry too much, Uncle Vernon had lost his temper. It had been a nasty shock to Harry, as the Dursleys hadn't hurt him in years- well, not after he'd received his first Hogwarts-letter, that is. Harry now had several bruises, a dislocated wrist and constant headache.
Vernon's new habit was acted out whenever he felt the need, with or without provocation, often using Dudley's Smeltings stick.
His back still hurt from that onslaught, and that had been on his second night back.
Harry hadn't been able to sleep well at all since he had come back from Hogwarts, and when he finally did manage to fall asleep, he was plagued by nightmares about the TriWizard Tournament or about Voldemort. After each nightmare his scar was hurting and he was more tired than before.
Harry thought about Cedric a lot. It wasn't like he had much else to do while weeding the garden and lying awake at night.
With the emotional turmoil, lack of food, endless work and physical battering, Harry wasn't very well. His body was under constant strain, so it was no surprise when he developed a slight fever.
Harry sighed as he flipped the bacon over in the frying pan. He didn't bother even thinking of stealing a piece, all eyes were on him as he cooked, and he didn't think his body would hold up to the repercussions.
He had become very dizzy, working in the garden yesterday, and blacked out. This had caused a fresh burst of Uncle Vernon's wrath. He had tried to tell him that he wasn't sleeping, that he was sick, but it just made things worse. Apparently, he was 'endangering Dudders's health with his freakish illness'- never mind that it was probably just an influenzal infection.
All in all, it had been a pretty bad summer for Harry so far, and he couldn't write even to his friends for support because Hedwig was locked up in her cage. The Dursleys had also placed bars on the windows so he couldn't receive any post. Or so they thought. Pigwidgeon was small enough to fit through the bars, but of course Ron hadn't written to Harry yet as it was still so early in the summer.
Luckily, Harry still had enough owl treats, so at least Hedwig wasn't suffering.
Harry was brought out of his reverie by his uncle's hand connecting solidly with the back of his head. Harry looked up dazedly.
"Boy! What do you think you are doing? You're burning Dudley's bacon!" Harry didn't even have time to see if that was true, as his uncle was already hauling him roughly up the stairs and to his room.
"Haven't you learnt your lesson yet boy?" Harry didn't answer. He knew what was coming and braced himself for the pain.....
And then the first blow came. His uncle's boot connected solidly with his ribs. Harry could feel them crack under the force and his breath being knocked out of him.
He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to feel as little as possible. Wasn't there a way to disconnect body and mind? There had to be, he thought desperately as his uncle grabbed Dudley's Smeltings stick and started to beat him with it. He was vaguely aware of begging Uncle Vernon to stop, then he succumbed to blissful oblivion.
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When he awoke again, it was dark in his room at the Dursleys. The moon was shining brightly and Harry noticed an owl in front of his window. It was bearing the Hogwarts crest. Just as Harry was looking at it, it spread its wings and took off flying again. The poor bird had probably been waiting for quite some time to be let in.
Harry himself was still lying on the floor and, he noticed with disgust, his clothes were tattered and sticky with sweat and a little blood. He tried to get up, but immediately fell back with a groan. His right arm and probably a few of his ribs were broken. He was bruised and hurting all over.
At that moment Harry was sized by a violent coughing fit. It hurt deeply in his chest and Harry noticed with a great shock that he was coughing up blood. Did he have any internal injuries? Harry hoped not. But he didn't have much time to ponder this, as the coughing spell had left him weak and dizzy and Harry soon lost consciousness again.
~*~
Albus Dumbledore paced the floor of his office worriedly. The owl he had sent to Harry last night had just returned with the letter unopened. Why hadn't Harry received his letter?
Albus had thought at first that maybe Harry wasn't home, but one of the protection spells on 4 Privet Drive clearly said that all the occupants of the house were there. Had something gone wrong? Maybe Harry was sick? But then he would have been able to at least take the letter off.....
This was getting him nowhere. Coming to a quick decision, Dumbledore took a handful of some strange blue powder out of a jar beside his fire place and threw it into the flames.
"Severus, Minerva! I need to talk to you. Please come to my office immediately. This is important!"
A few minutes later he heard quick footsteps approaching his office, and then the heads of Gryffindor and Slytherin house burst through the door.
"You wanted to talk to us?" Minerva asked, slightly out of breath. Albus nodded.
"Yes. Thank you two for coming so quickly. I will get straight to the point. You remember how I said that we had to contact Harry and bring him here for the next meeting?"
The two teachers nodded.
Albus continued.
"Well, I sent an owl to him last night with a letter that would work as a portkey after explaining everything to him. The thing is, the owl returned to me just now- but the letter was unopened. Though I have no real explanation, I'm very worried about Harry. I checked the wards protecting his aunt and uncle's house in Surrey, and they clearly stated that Harry, as well as the other members of the family, was home at the time. I would like you two to come with me to check up on Harry and bring him here immediately. Unless you have other plans?"
The tone of the headmaster's voice made it obvious that he didn't want any arguments, so that was really a rhetorical question.
Minerva and Severus glanced at each other, then back at Albus and agreed.
Together the three of them left the office and used one of the secret passages to Hogsmeade. They then apparated into a small alley near Privet Drive. It was very late in the evening and most of the muggles were already asleep.
Without talking much, Minerva, Albus and Severus walked along the deserted streets until they stopped in front of a certain house in Privet Drive.
Albus quickly drew out his wand and pointed it at the door.
"Alohomora!" The door opened quietly. Albus put a silencing spell on the muggle alarm system ("Tace!") and then they stepped into the house.
After quickly searching the downstairs rooms and not finding anything but Harry's trunk in the cupboard under the stairs (which Minerva shrunk and put into her pocket) the trio went up the stairs. Opening the first door to the left, they stepped into a luxurious bathroom. The second door led to the master bedroom.
The Dursleys (Petunia and Vernon) were sleeping fitfully. Minerva cast a quick sleeping charm on them so they wouldn't wake up before eight o'clock in the morning. The third door opened to a huge room stuffed with muggle toys and electronic devices. Snoring in the bed was Harry's *enormously* fat cousin Dudley. Severus's lip curled in disgust as he cast a sleeping charm over the whale-like boy.
That left only one door.
Opening it, the three of them expected to see much the same things as in the other rooms: luxurious furniture, expensive muggle devices, rich carpeting..... but the sight that met their eyes was a completely different one.
The room was sparsely furnished, there was really only a bed, a desk and a cupboard. The bed looked uncomfortable, the blanket was thin and looked like it was at least 10 years old..... with some amount of shock Minerva and Albus recognised the blanket Harry had been wrapped in when they had left him on the Dursleys' door step almost 14 years before.
Had those people never given him anything else? In one corner of the room there was a cage with a snowy owl that was peering at them with curiosity and worry in her beautiful, yellow eyes.
On the floor in the middle of the room lay a bundle of clothes.
Where was Harry? Severus closed the door behind them and pulled out his wand again. "Lumos!" he shouted and immediately the room was brightly lit by his wand.
The three adults gasped in shock.
What they had thought to be a bundle of clothing turned out to be a person. Harry Potter, the Boy-who-lived. He was lying on the floor, completely silent, his right arm at a strange angle.
What could be seen of his skin through the torn clothes, was covered in bruises and slight lacerations. Harry's face was deathly pale and on his left cheek there was a boot-shaped bruise. Apparently, Harry had received kicks to his head at some point.
The trio stared down in disbelief at the boy who had only left Hogwarts little over a week ago.
Minerva had silent tears streaming down her face.
Severus looked extremely pale and was biting his lip.
Albus had completely lost the twinkle in his eyes and was looking very grave. For the first time in ages the lines that were now on his face showed how old he truly was.
Silently, Albus conjured up a stretcher and levitated Harry onto it. Severus picked up Harry's owl while Minerva removed Harry's wand and invisibility cloak from under a loose floor board, having detected them with a simple "Inveni-Bona"- spell, and they quickly left the house.
Walking back to the alley they had come from they were relieved not to run into anyone. Then they apparated to Hogsmeade and used the secret passage back to Hogwarts.
All of them breathed a sigh of relief when they finally opened the front doors of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. They made it to the hospital wing in next to no time.
"Poppy!" Severus called. Madame Pomfrey came bursting out of her office. She gasped when she saw Harry.
"Goodness! What happened to him? Put him on the bed, quickly!"
Minerva levitated Harry carefully onto the next bed. Madame Pomfrey began to wave her wand over Harry's still form and mutter to herself.
While she was scanning Harry Albus, Severus and Minerva filled her in on the evening's events.
Poppy gasped when she heard how they had found the boy and began an endless tirade about incompetent, cruel muggles and poor defenceless children thrown at their mercy.
Albus let her rant and rave for a few minutes, then he interrupted her gently.
"How is he, Poppy?"
Madame Pomfrey looked back at Harry still lying on the bed unconsciously and her face softened. She sighed and said:
"He's not too good, headmaster. He has a broken right arm, dislocated wrist, three or four cracked ribs, and quite a bit of bruising, as well as a few slight lacerations.
He is suffering from severe malnutrition as well as slight dehydration. To make it even better he has the worst case of Dragon Pox I've ever seen, which, as you know, can be deadly to teenagers. At the moment he's running a high fever, 105.7 degrees, and it's still mounting."
She turned and addressed the Potions Master.
"Severus, I need a fever reducing potion immediately. Minerva, kindly get the bath ready with cool water, we need to clean Harry up and it might bring down his fever for a while. Albus, please help me with getting him ready for the bath."
The three nodded and Minerva and Severus left the room. Albus and Poppy gently took off Harry's clothing, fighting their nausea. Harry's chest and back were covered with bruises, many boot-shaped like the one on his cheek, and the lacerations still seeped a little blood..
Albus gently lifted Harry up, not caring if his robes got dirty. He felt incredibly guilty for ever leaving Harry with those muggles. How long had it been like this? Among the cuts and bruises on his back there were a few very old scars that showed clearly that this wasn't the first time Harry had been abused.
They stepped into the bathroom where Minerva was already waiting. She gasped in horror at the sight of her favourite student (though she would never admit it, Harry had touched a part of her heart that no student had ever before- apart from his mother, Lily Potter, and Hermione Granger to an extent).
Albus gently lowered Harry into the cool water and together the three of them cleaned the blood from his skin.
Then they carefully dried him and put him into one of the hospital wing pyjamas.
Albus carried him back to his bed and they gave him the fever reducing potion that Severus had made. Madam Pomfrey healed all the cuts and bruises and other injuries as well as she could.
"Will he be alright?" Minerva asked, almost afraid of the answer.
"I don't know." Poppy said quietly and sadly, "I just don't know."
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For the next two days, neither Severus, Minerva, Albus or Madam Pomfrey left Harry's side. The boy was delirious and obviously had horrible nightmares but he never woke up. The house-elves brought them food, though none of them were eating much.
All four of them were worried about the small, fourteen-year-old teenager lying in the bed in front of them who was currently fighting for his life.
The wounds had healed nicely and all Harry would be keeping from them were two thin scars on his back to add to the ones that were already there.
The reason why Harry was still fighting for his life was the severe case of Dragon Pox. Despite the fever reducing potions and cool baths and antibiotics he had received, the illness seemed to get worse every day.
Madam Pomfrey had said that by tonight they would know if Harry would live or not. Should his fever (107.1) not go down till ten o'clock tonight, there would be no chance of survival for Harry.
Now, it was 8.30 at night and the fever still hadn't dropped one degree, if anything it had gotten even higher. The people in the room found themselves losing hope rapidly, as much as they tried to prevent this.
Severus was feeling incredibly guilty. He had thought that Potter had been pampered by his family. This was one of the reasons, though not the main reason, why he had treated the boy so horribly.
Now he felt sorry for this and wanted to apologise to Potter badly, though the boy would probably never accept it. Severus would never be able to forgive himself should- Harry die now.
Minerva was feeling much like Severus. She hadn't treated Harry badly, but she had never shown him the affection she was really feeling for him, never told him of the special bond she and Lily had shared, and never tried to create this bond between the two of them. There were times, though, when Harry let down his guard, that she could see that he craved for someone to care about him, love him like a son, not a friend.
She vowed that should Harry survive, she would immediately take care of that.
Albus was still feeling guilty. How could he have not seen just how badly Harry had been treated by the Dursleys? Harry had always been so small and skinny, especially when he had come back from the Dursleys. He should never have left Harry with those people.....
He swore to himself that he would make this up to Harry.
After another hour of silent brooding it was 9.30, and finally something happened. The parchment above Harry's head that showed his temperature among other things glowed red, which meant that something was changing.
All four people stared at the parchment with bated breath.
The temperature still read 107.1 degrees. And then, ever so slowly, the writing changed...
A/N: HEHE! CLIFFHANGER!!!!!!! A/N: Nah, I'm not that evil.......
107.0. And seconds later, 106.9, 106.8.....
Albus laughed delightedly, feeling like a VERY big stone had just been lifted from his heart.
Minerva sunk back in her chair, feeling more exhausted and relieved than ever before and smiling broadly.
Severus's reaction was the most unexpected: For the first time in many, many years the man smiled- not sneered, or smirked, but really smiled, a true, genuine smile.
*************************************************************************** A/N: (FOR REAL THIS TIME): Ya know, I was really tempted to leave you there and have a nice little cliffie *whistles innocently*... but, oh well, as Aphrodite71685 pointed out to me in her review, cliffhangers aren't healthy for a reader and I wouldn't want any of you to become sick, right? ^_^
Thanks to everyone who reviewed!!!
See ya! Felinity
Disclaimer: I still don't own anything!!!
***************************************************************************
This chapter is dedicated to Keitaya, who was the first person to review!!!
And now, on with the story...
***************************************************************************
Chapter 2
The Rescue
***************************************************************************
"Boy! Get down here this instant! We want our breakfast!"
Harry groaned. Like he had presumed, he hadn't slept at all that night. He rolled himself out of his bed, put on his glasses and trudged down the stairs slowly, trying not to aggravate his various bruises too much.
Since his return from Hogwarts, things at 4 Privet Drive had become considerably worse. The Dursleys had apparently lost their fear of Harry's godfather, the sole fact that had him survive through the previous summer.
To make matters even worse, Uncle Vernon was still fuming after of the Ton- Tongue-Toffee-Incident that had occurred before the Quidditch World Cup the summer before. So his uncle had resorted to doing something else he enjoyed, and it wasn't drills or golf.
When Harry arrived in the kitchen, the Dursleys were already there, sitting at the table, waiting for their breakfast. Uncle Vernon looked up from his newspaper and shot a glare at Harry.
"About bloody time!" he snapped. "Now hurry up, you still have to finish your chores for the day. And no food today, because you are late!" he finished maliciously.
Harry sighed as he started to prepare his 'family's' food. He wasn't sure how long the human body could survive without food, but he knew that it couldn't be much longer than two weeks.
Harry hadn't had any food since his return from Hogwarts, which had been more than a week ago.
As punishment for who he was, the Dursleys made him prepare all meals, tend to the garden, clean the house, the car and anything else that came to their mind.
The worst so far had been cleaning the bathroom after Dudley had used it one night.
Harry thought deep down that his cousin had done it deliberately.
When the prospect of all this work hadn't seemed to phase Harry too much, Uncle Vernon had lost his temper. It had been a nasty shock to Harry, as the Dursleys hadn't hurt him in years- well, not after he'd received his first Hogwarts-letter, that is. Harry now had several bruises, a dislocated wrist and constant headache.
Vernon's new habit was acted out whenever he felt the need, with or without provocation, often using Dudley's Smeltings stick.
His back still hurt from that onslaught, and that had been on his second night back.
Harry hadn't been able to sleep well at all since he had come back from Hogwarts, and when he finally did manage to fall asleep, he was plagued by nightmares about the TriWizard Tournament or about Voldemort. After each nightmare his scar was hurting and he was more tired than before.
Harry thought about Cedric a lot. It wasn't like he had much else to do while weeding the garden and lying awake at night.
With the emotional turmoil, lack of food, endless work and physical battering, Harry wasn't very well. His body was under constant strain, so it was no surprise when he developed a slight fever.
Harry sighed as he flipped the bacon over in the frying pan. He didn't bother even thinking of stealing a piece, all eyes were on him as he cooked, and he didn't think his body would hold up to the repercussions.
He had become very dizzy, working in the garden yesterday, and blacked out. This had caused a fresh burst of Uncle Vernon's wrath. He had tried to tell him that he wasn't sleeping, that he was sick, but it just made things worse. Apparently, he was 'endangering Dudders's health with his freakish illness'- never mind that it was probably just an influenzal infection.
All in all, it had been a pretty bad summer for Harry so far, and he couldn't write even to his friends for support because Hedwig was locked up in her cage. The Dursleys had also placed bars on the windows so he couldn't receive any post. Or so they thought. Pigwidgeon was small enough to fit through the bars, but of course Ron hadn't written to Harry yet as it was still so early in the summer.
Luckily, Harry still had enough owl treats, so at least Hedwig wasn't suffering.
Harry was brought out of his reverie by his uncle's hand connecting solidly with the back of his head. Harry looked up dazedly.
"Boy! What do you think you are doing? You're burning Dudley's bacon!" Harry didn't even have time to see if that was true, as his uncle was already hauling him roughly up the stairs and to his room.
"Haven't you learnt your lesson yet boy?" Harry didn't answer. He knew what was coming and braced himself for the pain.....
And then the first blow came. His uncle's boot connected solidly with his ribs. Harry could feel them crack under the force and his breath being knocked out of him.
He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to feel as little as possible. Wasn't there a way to disconnect body and mind? There had to be, he thought desperately as his uncle grabbed Dudley's Smeltings stick and started to beat him with it. He was vaguely aware of begging Uncle Vernon to stop, then he succumbed to blissful oblivion.
***************************************************************************
When he awoke again, it was dark in his room at the Dursleys. The moon was shining brightly and Harry noticed an owl in front of his window. It was bearing the Hogwarts crest. Just as Harry was looking at it, it spread its wings and took off flying again. The poor bird had probably been waiting for quite some time to be let in.
Harry himself was still lying on the floor and, he noticed with disgust, his clothes were tattered and sticky with sweat and a little blood. He tried to get up, but immediately fell back with a groan. His right arm and probably a few of his ribs were broken. He was bruised and hurting all over.
At that moment Harry was sized by a violent coughing fit. It hurt deeply in his chest and Harry noticed with a great shock that he was coughing up blood. Did he have any internal injuries? Harry hoped not. But he didn't have much time to ponder this, as the coughing spell had left him weak and dizzy and Harry soon lost consciousness again.
~*~
Albus Dumbledore paced the floor of his office worriedly. The owl he had sent to Harry last night had just returned with the letter unopened. Why hadn't Harry received his letter?
Albus had thought at first that maybe Harry wasn't home, but one of the protection spells on 4 Privet Drive clearly said that all the occupants of the house were there. Had something gone wrong? Maybe Harry was sick? But then he would have been able to at least take the letter off.....
This was getting him nowhere. Coming to a quick decision, Dumbledore took a handful of some strange blue powder out of a jar beside his fire place and threw it into the flames.
"Severus, Minerva! I need to talk to you. Please come to my office immediately. This is important!"
A few minutes later he heard quick footsteps approaching his office, and then the heads of Gryffindor and Slytherin house burst through the door.
"You wanted to talk to us?" Minerva asked, slightly out of breath. Albus nodded.
"Yes. Thank you two for coming so quickly. I will get straight to the point. You remember how I said that we had to contact Harry and bring him here for the next meeting?"
The two teachers nodded.
Albus continued.
"Well, I sent an owl to him last night with a letter that would work as a portkey after explaining everything to him. The thing is, the owl returned to me just now- but the letter was unopened. Though I have no real explanation, I'm very worried about Harry. I checked the wards protecting his aunt and uncle's house in Surrey, and they clearly stated that Harry, as well as the other members of the family, was home at the time. I would like you two to come with me to check up on Harry and bring him here immediately. Unless you have other plans?"
The tone of the headmaster's voice made it obvious that he didn't want any arguments, so that was really a rhetorical question.
Minerva and Severus glanced at each other, then back at Albus and agreed.
Together the three of them left the office and used one of the secret passages to Hogsmeade. They then apparated into a small alley near Privet Drive. It was very late in the evening and most of the muggles were already asleep.
Without talking much, Minerva, Albus and Severus walked along the deserted streets until they stopped in front of a certain house in Privet Drive.
Albus quickly drew out his wand and pointed it at the door.
"Alohomora!" The door opened quietly. Albus put a silencing spell on the muggle alarm system ("Tace!") and then they stepped into the house.
After quickly searching the downstairs rooms and not finding anything but Harry's trunk in the cupboard under the stairs (which Minerva shrunk and put into her pocket) the trio went up the stairs. Opening the first door to the left, they stepped into a luxurious bathroom. The second door led to the master bedroom.
The Dursleys (Petunia and Vernon) were sleeping fitfully. Minerva cast a quick sleeping charm on them so they wouldn't wake up before eight o'clock in the morning. The third door opened to a huge room stuffed with muggle toys and electronic devices. Snoring in the bed was Harry's *enormously* fat cousin Dudley. Severus's lip curled in disgust as he cast a sleeping charm over the whale-like boy.
That left only one door.
Opening it, the three of them expected to see much the same things as in the other rooms: luxurious furniture, expensive muggle devices, rich carpeting..... but the sight that met their eyes was a completely different one.
The room was sparsely furnished, there was really only a bed, a desk and a cupboard. The bed looked uncomfortable, the blanket was thin and looked like it was at least 10 years old..... with some amount of shock Minerva and Albus recognised the blanket Harry had been wrapped in when they had left him on the Dursleys' door step almost 14 years before.
Had those people never given him anything else? In one corner of the room there was a cage with a snowy owl that was peering at them with curiosity and worry in her beautiful, yellow eyes.
On the floor in the middle of the room lay a bundle of clothes.
Where was Harry? Severus closed the door behind them and pulled out his wand again. "Lumos!" he shouted and immediately the room was brightly lit by his wand.
The three adults gasped in shock.
What they had thought to be a bundle of clothing turned out to be a person. Harry Potter, the Boy-who-lived. He was lying on the floor, completely silent, his right arm at a strange angle.
What could be seen of his skin through the torn clothes, was covered in bruises and slight lacerations. Harry's face was deathly pale and on his left cheek there was a boot-shaped bruise. Apparently, Harry had received kicks to his head at some point.
The trio stared down in disbelief at the boy who had only left Hogwarts little over a week ago.
Minerva had silent tears streaming down her face.
Severus looked extremely pale and was biting his lip.
Albus had completely lost the twinkle in his eyes and was looking very grave. For the first time in ages the lines that were now on his face showed how old he truly was.
Silently, Albus conjured up a stretcher and levitated Harry onto it. Severus picked up Harry's owl while Minerva removed Harry's wand and invisibility cloak from under a loose floor board, having detected them with a simple "Inveni-Bona"- spell, and they quickly left the house.
Walking back to the alley they had come from they were relieved not to run into anyone. Then they apparated to Hogsmeade and used the secret passage back to Hogwarts.
All of them breathed a sigh of relief when they finally opened the front doors of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. They made it to the hospital wing in next to no time.
"Poppy!" Severus called. Madame Pomfrey came bursting out of her office. She gasped when she saw Harry.
"Goodness! What happened to him? Put him on the bed, quickly!"
Minerva levitated Harry carefully onto the next bed. Madame Pomfrey began to wave her wand over Harry's still form and mutter to herself.
While she was scanning Harry Albus, Severus and Minerva filled her in on the evening's events.
Poppy gasped when she heard how they had found the boy and began an endless tirade about incompetent, cruel muggles and poor defenceless children thrown at their mercy.
Albus let her rant and rave for a few minutes, then he interrupted her gently.
"How is he, Poppy?"
Madame Pomfrey looked back at Harry still lying on the bed unconsciously and her face softened. She sighed and said:
"He's not too good, headmaster. He has a broken right arm, dislocated wrist, three or four cracked ribs, and quite a bit of bruising, as well as a few slight lacerations.
He is suffering from severe malnutrition as well as slight dehydration. To make it even better he has the worst case of Dragon Pox I've ever seen, which, as you know, can be deadly to teenagers. At the moment he's running a high fever, 105.7 degrees, and it's still mounting."
She turned and addressed the Potions Master.
"Severus, I need a fever reducing potion immediately. Minerva, kindly get the bath ready with cool water, we need to clean Harry up and it might bring down his fever for a while. Albus, please help me with getting him ready for the bath."
The three nodded and Minerva and Severus left the room. Albus and Poppy gently took off Harry's clothing, fighting their nausea. Harry's chest and back were covered with bruises, many boot-shaped like the one on his cheek, and the lacerations still seeped a little blood..
Albus gently lifted Harry up, not caring if his robes got dirty. He felt incredibly guilty for ever leaving Harry with those muggles. How long had it been like this? Among the cuts and bruises on his back there were a few very old scars that showed clearly that this wasn't the first time Harry had been abused.
They stepped into the bathroom where Minerva was already waiting. She gasped in horror at the sight of her favourite student (though she would never admit it, Harry had touched a part of her heart that no student had ever before- apart from his mother, Lily Potter, and Hermione Granger to an extent).
Albus gently lowered Harry into the cool water and together the three of them cleaned the blood from his skin.
Then they carefully dried him and put him into one of the hospital wing pyjamas.
Albus carried him back to his bed and they gave him the fever reducing potion that Severus had made. Madam Pomfrey healed all the cuts and bruises and other injuries as well as she could.
"Will he be alright?" Minerva asked, almost afraid of the answer.
"I don't know." Poppy said quietly and sadly, "I just don't know."
***************************************************************************
For the next two days, neither Severus, Minerva, Albus or Madam Pomfrey left Harry's side. The boy was delirious and obviously had horrible nightmares but he never woke up. The house-elves brought them food, though none of them were eating much.
All four of them were worried about the small, fourteen-year-old teenager lying in the bed in front of them who was currently fighting for his life.
The wounds had healed nicely and all Harry would be keeping from them were two thin scars on his back to add to the ones that were already there.
The reason why Harry was still fighting for his life was the severe case of Dragon Pox. Despite the fever reducing potions and cool baths and antibiotics he had received, the illness seemed to get worse every day.
Madam Pomfrey had said that by tonight they would know if Harry would live or not. Should his fever (107.1) not go down till ten o'clock tonight, there would be no chance of survival for Harry.
Now, it was 8.30 at night and the fever still hadn't dropped one degree, if anything it had gotten even higher. The people in the room found themselves losing hope rapidly, as much as they tried to prevent this.
Severus was feeling incredibly guilty. He had thought that Potter had been pampered by his family. This was one of the reasons, though not the main reason, why he had treated the boy so horribly.
Now he felt sorry for this and wanted to apologise to Potter badly, though the boy would probably never accept it. Severus would never be able to forgive himself should- Harry die now.
Minerva was feeling much like Severus. She hadn't treated Harry badly, but she had never shown him the affection she was really feeling for him, never told him of the special bond she and Lily had shared, and never tried to create this bond between the two of them. There were times, though, when Harry let down his guard, that she could see that he craved for someone to care about him, love him like a son, not a friend.
She vowed that should Harry survive, she would immediately take care of that.
Albus was still feeling guilty. How could he have not seen just how badly Harry had been treated by the Dursleys? Harry had always been so small and skinny, especially when he had come back from the Dursleys. He should never have left Harry with those people.....
He swore to himself that he would make this up to Harry.
After another hour of silent brooding it was 9.30, and finally something happened. The parchment above Harry's head that showed his temperature among other things glowed red, which meant that something was changing.
All four people stared at the parchment with bated breath.
The temperature still read 107.1 degrees. And then, ever so slowly, the writing changed...
A/N: HEHE! CLIFFHANGER!!!!!!! A/N: Nah, I'm not that evil.......
107.0. And seconds later, 106.9, 106.8.....
Albus laughed delightedly, feeling like a VERY big stone had just been lifted from his heart.
Minerva sunk back in her chair, feeling more exhausted and relieved than ever before and smiling broadly.
Severus's reaction was the most unexpected: For the first time in many, many years the man smiled- not sneered, or smirked, but really smiled, a true, genuine smile.
*************************************************************************** A/N: (FOR REAL THIS TIME): Ya know, I was really tempted to leave you there and have a nice little cliffie *whistles innocently*... but, oh well, as Aphrodite71685 pointed out to me in her review, cliffhangers aren't healthy for a reader and I wouldn't want any of you to become sick, right? ^_^
Thanks to everyone who reviewed!!!
See ya! Felinity