Title: Draco Requital

Chapter: OVA 3 – Harry's Turmoil

Author: GoddessOfMars2

Updated: December 24th 2005

Rated: R for violence, language, and mature theme

Featuring: Draco Malfoy/Ginny Weasley/Harry Potter + Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley

Disclaimer: I own nothing but old socks and a worn-out Asimov collection

Summary: Now that Draco has been given his task, how is he to convince McGonagall that his motives are true? And how close to snapping is Ginny? In addition, What's happening with Harry's search for the Hufflepuff goblets? Is anything?

A/N I apologize in advance for the very little appearance of Draco/Ginny in this chapter, but I need layers in this plot, not to mention that you'll be getting so much Draco-Ginny once year 6/7 starts for them both that you'll be throwing rocks at me to stop.

P.S. youknow what I always found retarded? Those fics where the author would make Ginny be so smart that she skips a year -laughs- those are seriously messed.

Harry wasn't holding his wand out this time, he wasn't worrying about an injured Ron, or what might have happened to Neville and Luna, he wasn't worrying about Hermione, or having thoughts on where Lucius Malfoy may pop out from; he was just walking through the Department of Mysteries, breathing in the cool, muggy air

'Here we are' said Kingsley, stopping by the familiar entrance

Harry snapped out of his zone

'Tha… thanks' he managed

'Would you like me to wait at the door?'

There was a pause, and then 'I would like that'

Harry's tone came out quietly, sounding as if it were not he whom was in control of his mouth. Kingsley smiled at what he saw as a boy, a boy come to visit the closest thing he'd ever had to a father figure. A scared little soul with nothing but hope, a sad hope…

'Scrimgeour doesn't want me to let you in there alone, so I'm going to have to make you promise me, that you wont step into that veil' his tone was soft yet strict

'I promises' Harry whispered, and then walked into the room where his godfather found his death.

Harry stood at the top of the stairs, he remembered seeing Dumbledore standing it this exact spot when the old wizard came to save the day

Everyone's gone

That's what war's all about Harry

A sigh, Harry started on the stairs down to the veil, stopping mere feet away from it, he could hear people on the other side

'Sirius…' he whispered 'Sirius?' nothing. 'Sirius!' Harry felt his tong between his teeth making the final hissing sounds of a name, that up until last year, he'd been convinced he would have the pleasure to say forever

A feeling of dizziness came over him; I'm such a wimp he thought, and sat by the horrid fabric.

The boy in muggle clothing sat by the veil for quite a while, looking at the shadows he could barely make out from beyond, trying to see if he could notice Sirius' unwashed or combed figure

The feeling of dizziness grew, the room began to grow dimmer and his glasses blurry, Harry removed them and wiped the lenses on his T, hoping he wasn't missing Sirius among the shadows, the replaced his glasses, the dimness remained, but the blurriness hadn't seemed to re-appear

He's not coming back, is he? Harry thought

You left me! A voice screamed in his head

'You left me' he whispered into the hands that had found their way to his face 'you left me before I could ever talk to you like you used to talk to dad, about girls and mischief and life-callings' Harry's voice cracked with what he recognized as the arrival of tears

His voice shaking 'I need you, and you're not here!' he cried

Harry broke down, letting the lump in his throat swell to three times tit's original size, feeling the tears gathering in his eyes, closing them, the tears trickled onto his cheeks, glazing the skin of his throat as they lay a wet trail southward, his chest heaving…

The room grew blurrier when Harry opened his eyes and took another shallow breath, but he'd assumed it was due to the tears; the feeling of dizziness now clouded his brain, but he'd assumed it was due to his excessive breathing; the room went really dim, but he's assumed it was due to the feeling of doom he was only feeling on the inside, and then – the room went dead silent.

The whispering's stopped Harry remembered thinking, before the dizziness grew so strong he'd been forced to lay his head down on the ground, his eyes still following the now-not-moving shadows.

OWWW! He thought, as his eyes closed as the blurriness that was now hurting his eyeballs grew even stronger

And then

'Harry…'

'Si.. Sirius?' Harry whispered back, with his eyes closed he tried to open his ears, but had no clue how

A sigh, and then 'what are you doing here?' the voice was sad, as if exhausted by a day's work, barely audible in the huge ancient room

'I… I came to see you' Harry whispered again 'Sirius? Is that really you?' he tried to open his eyes but found them shut tight, he tried to lift of the ground but couldn't manage to shift his weight

'Oh Harry…' the godfather began, but his voice trailed away

'Sirius… Sirius! How long do you have? How long can you stay?' the boy whispered frantically, feeling as if he were going to faint

'What's been happening with you?' the deadman asked, as if he did not hear the boy's inquiries

'Hogwarts… it's been attacked Sirius, Bill was attacked by Grayback trying to defend-'

'Hogwarts? Taken?' there seemed to be no alarm or feeling in the tone his godfather carried, just a tiredness

'The Death Eaters were let in by Malfoy, he used those weird cupboards-'

'Malfoy?' Sirius' tired voice seemed to be growing more distant 'Lucius!'

'No!' Harry said, 'Draco'

'Oh…' the voice droned

'They're thinking of closing it down, but it doesn't matter, because I'm not going back! I need to find Voldemort's-' Harry was cut off

'Where's Dumbledore?'

The question seemed to have cut into him like sharp knife should I tell him? Sirius Black died not knowing a world without Albus Dumbledore, who am I to ruin that for him?

A silence

'Where is he Harry? He's still around right? I mean, as long as he was around, the school would never be shut down'

'He's around' Harry kicked himself mentally 'but the ministry, you know, have the last word'

His godfather sighed, or he thought he did

'Good. Harry, you need to tell him to find Emily The Wanderer' the voice beyond the veil seemed to be growing even more distant and tired

'Emily?' Harry asked

'Yes. She'll be able to-' Harry could barely hear the rest, he tilted his head slightly off the floor, releasing his second ear from suction with the ground '-kill Voldemort, then all of this will be over'

Harry was dumbfounded 'she'll be able to kill him?'

'No! Not kill him!' Harry noticed that his godfather was placing great strain on himself to get the next sentence out as loud as he could, though it was still close to inaudible Harry made out 'she'll be able to show you how to kill Voldemort! She's been working on a plan'

'What plan?' asked Harry 'and why didn't you tell me before?' he was tired, barely hearing his godfather

Harry heard a muffle of words followed by what he thought was 'da... dangerous'

'pfft, danger' Harry muttered to himself, and then 'Sirius! But how do I find her? Where is she? Does she work for the ministry? Would Arthur know where she is?' but even though Harry paused between each question, listening with all his might, he heard nothing. Buzzing had been added to the dizziness in his mind, and then an indescribable pain shot through his head, as if he'd stepped into sunlight after hiding in a dark cave for many years.

'Enter' an answer she'd been giving anyone who'd had time to climb up the staircases these days, the Gargoyle after all, could not possibly close before she'd programmed it with a new password

'Professor?' an older female voice came drifting to her, soft and broken. She could not recognize it as belonging to any of the staff; she looked up from her frantic planning. She needed to pull off this disguising before-

'Mrs. Malfoy' she said with amazement 'and Draco' she couldn't believe her eyes

'May… may we sit?' the frail woman's voice almost pleaded

'Of course!' McGonagall said, gesturing to a couple of seats before her 'have a seat'

The two took their places, Draco looking anywhere in the room but her, she'd just seen him scanning the Headmasters' portraits behind her, when she saw him lay eyes upon the one of Dumbledore's and drop his eyes to his shoes

'Professor-' the blond woman began

'Please, call me Minerva' McGonagall said

'Yes… Minerva' the blond paused, glancing at her son, then back at the headmistress 'I have come to you to ask if you would allow my son back into school for his final year' she sounded uncertain of herself

A pause

'Mrs. Malfoy, what Draco has done would land any wizard in Azkaban if of-age –which he is-' the other woman let out a yelp and began crying, McGonagall could not believe what Mrs. Malfoy was asking of her letting a Death Eater walk among her students but then again was he a death eater? Or just a lost boy, after all… Dumbledore said…

'Draco' the Headmistress addressed the boy; he did not look up at her, but still at his shoes. She looked him over, could make out a few faint bruises on his hand and wrist, they looked as if whomever had put them there had done so in a great deal of rage.

'Yes ma'am?' he asked, quietly

'Draco, do you wish to return to this school next year?' she was expecting a "no" he looked as if he were being forced to come here

'I must' the boy looked up at her for the first time 'Professor, if I do not return to Hogwarts, the Dark Lord will kill me'

A half-truth Draco thought

'And how is that Draco?' she was curious as to the boy's reasoning. After all, wasn't he a very loyal follower to Voldemort if he'd spent his 6th year plotting to kill the leader of the Order?

'Well,' Draco began, lowering his eyes back to his hands 'My mission last year was-'

But he was cut of

'he was forced into it Minerva, forced into it so to save my life!' the woman across the table from her was begging, pleading, her tears still streaming down her pale face, with eyes for nothing but her son at the moment.

The two did not look at the professor

'Draco,' McGonagall began after a moment 'is this true?'. She wasn't stupid, she could detect lies, if this was a cover story, she would defiantly be able to read it on the boy's face, and if not there than his mind would give way

Draco looked up at his teacher, repressing a grin when he thought the idiot thinks that the Dark Lord would not force Occulemancy lessons on me prior to this? Ha! Then 'It is truth, there was no way for me to get around it ether' he dropped his gaze to his hands this time and continued 'he would have known if I came to Dumbledore, and he would have had her, I cannot loose my mother!' Draco moved his hand to touch his wand through his robe-pocket ever so slightly and thought of the eye-irritating hex he'd practiced for this meeting; his eyes obediently began to water, and he looked at the professor the pussies on the good side always fall for tears.

There was a pause, McGonagall put her fingers together, in the same way he could remember Dumbledore did once at dinner during the misshap in fourth year with the tournament.

'I shall consider this and-' the professor began but was cut off

'Please Headmistress, please let my son return! I shall die if he is not able to retain a proper education, and Durmstrang –the horrid place- will just make people talk. Make people think he really is evil'

'… very well Mrs. Malfoy' McGonagall sighed, but I shall need your wand Draco' she turned to the boy, and he reached defensively to the area of it's location, spattering 'Why!' in a manner than took the Headmistress aback

'Well young Malfoy, because considering the events of last a few weeks past, we must take a few precautions concerning you.' She tried to keep her voice calm, not become defensive as she would with other students whom questioned her paths.

'What are you going to do with it? And more importantly: how on earth am I going to pass the summer without a wand?' he was talking down to her now, the Professor was getting agitated, and Mrs. Malfoy could obviously tell because she began fidgeting in her seat

'First off young Malfoy,' McGonagall found herself tittering on the brink of an angry tone 'we shall do with your wand as we wish, if it is your wish to return to Hogwarts for your final year, then I recommend you go along with it. As for what you are to do this summer without it: just pretend you're not of age yet, though I'm sure a house-elf could do your simple biddings for the next –what is it three or four? - weeks of summer' she finished off, Draco was about ready to pop, but he couldn't blow this, not with the Dark Lord on his case.

Malfoy felt McGonagall poking at his brain, trying to get in, and immediately threw up those barriers Snape had educated him so well in constructing

Draco got up from his seat, furious, producing his wand and placing it delicately on the edge of her desk. 'Have a good summer professor'

'It's headmistress now Draco' she corrected him

'-Headmistress' he echoed, then bowed and turned away to walk down the steps

'Thank you!' Mrs. Malfoy said, bowing her head, and placing one hand on McGonagall's desk to help elevate herself 'you have no idea how much this means to him' and then the blond exited the room in the footsteps of her son.

The door closed behind her with a silent click, and she stood in the dark entrance hall, a small light illuminating a section of the corridor from a reading lamp she knew came from the living room

She turned around and locked the white door, first with her key and then the padlock if muggles think that this stuff will keep them safe when the war breaks out…

'Hermione…' a tired voice came from behind her, and she turned to it.

Her mother was standing with her nightgown, blocking the little light from the living room lamp, rubbing her eyes

'Why are you home so late again sweetie?' her mother yawned

'It was nothing mom' the girl dismissed, pulling her hair tighter in the pony-tail it was presently in

'Your father…'

'Mom. Please.' Hermione cut the woman off softly 'It's been a long day, it's 4am, I just want to go to bed…'

'How did you get home?' her father was now standing by her mother, the hallway was completely dark now that the light was blocked out by those two. He didn't sound happy.

'I need to sit down, or I'm going to fall asleep right here by the door' Hermione insisted

'How, child, did you arrive back home?' her father pronounced that more as a command than a question. His glasses –or the shadows of- making funny oval shapes on his darkened face, his arms pressed in neat fists against his gangly meter-sixty-five body.

'I used that weird transport-powder to get to London, and then flew the rest of the way' she said in a tired voice, stating to make her way to the short staircase that lead to their bedrooms.

'You were outside of London?' her father seemed furious

'Earl' her mother's tired voice was acting as a soft shield to his tone of voice 'lets discuss this tomorrow over breakfast-'

'No!' he exclaimed, 'I will not have my only child tell me she's going to visit that Harry Potter boy and then end up leaving London and returning home at 4 in the bloody morning. Not to mention without any bloody permission.'

Hermione couldn't believe this, her father was puffing, she could hear him

'You're grounded!' he exclaimed

'Darling!' her mother inhaled

'No! I will not have it!' and then he just stood there

'We'll discuss this in the morning' she whispered in Hermione's direction

'No, we wont' her father tried to keep up the fight

'Ok, ok, we wont discuss it in the morning ok!' Hermione spoke, She wanted to sleep. Now!

And when there was no answer apart from her Father's abnormal puffing, she made her way to the bedroom, onto her bed and collapsed. She heard the faint noises of her parents quarreling downstairs. They always had disagreements on how to raise her; she'd just thought that they would lay off now that she was of age.

Having twelve Hogwarts professors messing with your magical anatomy for hours on end with sure could drain a girl… were her last thoughts before sweet sweet sleep took her away to a land with Magic nothing like the kind she knew

Mere hours from dawn, and Ginny Weasley could not sleep

She could not sleep!

The blankets were too warm, and then the room was too cold, and then her pajama pants were too silky and then her boxer shorts –which she'd changed into- kept riding up. Everything that could have been keeping her from sleep, was.

Ginny got violently out of bed stamping her foot and silently let out the largest puff of air she could

All this planning, all this cleaning and decorating, and the wedding being tomorrow was probably getting to her, not to mention Harry not showing up to dinner, and Phlegm's amazing ability to…

'ARRG' she murmured

She paused, listening to see if anyone else was moving around in the house

I need sanity! Now! And with that in mind she pulled on a semi-fresh cloak and restored her silk pajama bottoms, with them she marched down to the fireplace –making sure to creep by her parent's room-

Ginny pulled a jar off of the fireplace, took some of the powder into her hand and threw it into the now dwindling fire-place I hope this works she prayed, replacing the jar

Seconds later, the very soot-covered redhead emerged out of a fireplace two time zones away

Now, to find Charlie

'What's the diagnosis?'

'I've never been able solved this before, I've told you already'

'But... what are we going to do then?'

'I have no clue. I have my best researchers on it'

'how did he get here?'

'an Auror brought him in, said he couldn't tell us what exactly happened' an annoyed tone took over 'Ministry rules'

silence, and then 'should we tell the family?'

'He's an orphan remember?'

'I know, I meant his muggle relatives, or Arthur maybe he's close with the boy'

'NO! I have strict orders from the ministry to not let any of this out'

A chart closing sounded in the room, followed by a single set of footsteps, and a door closing

'Oh Harry Potter... how are you planning to save us now?'

the nurse by his bed sighed, and readjusted the covers around him.

Harry Potter heard none of this, he was captured in darkness, in buzzing, in blurry dizziness, his mind captured behind the veil.

a house elf made it's way quietly passed Draco, but all he noticed was the shadow of it, carrying an oversize tray of beverages.

Draco was sitting at the foot of the dark dragon-skin couch, a dark potions book sitting in front of him, it's yellow pages glaring at him.

Draco closed his eyes and leaned his head back onto the couch's arm why father... I never asked for this...

He could hear the Death Eaters snickering drunkenly from the other side of the study

'Hey Drakey! Come show Parkinson that trick with resisting the Imperious that your father said you can almost pull off!'

Draco sighed, he'd hoped his hiding would make them forget he was there

'NOW!' the man's voice echoed

Draco inhaled, allowing the feeling of crying fall back into the depths of his chest. Malfoys' don't cry. He assured himself as he rose to the call,

Fuck you father...

Ginny quietly opened the door to the Charlie's cabin, there were seven singles in there, it kind of reminded her of Fred's room at Hogwarts, and as pissed off as she was, she allowed herself to smile as she shut the cabin door behind her and slowly stepped down the three creaky stairs.

She froze to the spot as there was some stirring in a bed she passed. The man within it allowing his covers to drop away, revealing nothing but a pair of sleeping shorts. The man shifted to the other side, a muffled mutter was heard, and returned to his sleeping state. She allowed herself to inhale and relax, taking a couple more creaking steps towards another bed to check for her brother.

She looked over another man, he had his thumb in his mouth. She stiffened a giggle. Proceeding to the next bed four down, three to go she though, passing over a couple more beds containing very dark haired boys.

She squinted at the final three beds, there they were all side-by-side, the gloomy early morning air making it hard to make out anything. Two of the beds seemed to be empty probably the one's on early-morning feeding duty she though. The last bed though... she froze, seeing the red hair peeking so violently out of it within the early morning gleam, another smile. She walked over to the side of it, bending down close and smudging a finger into what she assumed to be his side. Everything happened so fast from then on:

The sleeping Charlie opened his eyes and sat up in one fluid motion, tossing the covers down to his waist, revealing a bare chest,

Ginny squeaked as his rapid movement threw her off balance and she landed on the floor in a thump,

Charlie looked at her with wide and sleepy eyes, trying to make out the figure in the darkness of the cabin,

Another figure rose from his side, disturbed by the movement, looked over at Ginny, gasped and grasped at the covers, pulling them away from the rest of Charlie's being,

Charlie pulled the pillow from behind his head and placed it where the covers had been snatched from instinctively,

The two on the bed look over at the girl on the floor dumbfounded, and after a few milliseconds of silence, Ginny let a laugh so full of heart that it bellowed from her chest.

'GINNY!' Charlie managed to hiss angrily

Ginny just sat there on the floor, trying as best as she could to muffle her giggles so not to wake the other sleeping men.

'Char, who's this?' the naked woman beside him asked

Charlie sighed 'That's my baby sister' he looked at Ginny 'would you get the fuck out so I can put some unders on?' he zapped at Ginny

Ginny giggled, took a deep breath, wiping tears away from her eyes, making sure to not look up at her brother on the bed 'seriously Charlie, the least you could do is put a sign up on the door... and in a communal residence!' she kept giggling

'GET OUT!' he whispered loudly

'Fine, fine, I'm outside...' she smiled at the floor, brining her hand to cover her eyes as she lifter herself off of the floor and then removed it once she turned away, sneaking quietly back towards the door she came from.

Beyond the buzzing and fogginess that had dominated his mind he managed to make out what sounded like a boy's screaming, or was it sobbing, or was it thrashing?

A moment later, it grew louder and more violent

I must help him! Where is that coming from? Is something wrong?

The noise got ever so louder, and more vivid

When he opened his eyes and lifted his head off the pillow Harry could see the source of the screaming, but it lay in a curtained off area of the room

Harry lifted himself off the bed dammit kid, I'm coming! He hissed as the movement sent sparks of pain into his buzzing mind. He flung his legs over the side of the bad as he pushed the covers aside and in a fluid motion he landed smack on the floor

And crumbled to his feed, the boy on the other side of the room still screaming, thrashing and panting in what seemed to be the largest amount of agony Harry had ever heard, not that he wasn't missing out on the feeling himself

Fuck! His legs just seemed to not respond, there he was, on the floor of what seemed to be a hospital, with the largest racket going on in the room, and his legs wouldn't fucking work

How the fuck did I get here? He managed to think as the door he hadn't noticed flung open, a healers rushed in towards the screaming boy behind the curtains. As he entered Harry managed to get a glimpse of the boy inside, he had to have been no older than six, his body as tiny as a kinder gardener.

The healer had seemed to have cast a silencing spell on the boy, because there still seemed to be as much thrashing as before, Harry could hear the boy's hospital bed squeak. And the men who entered exited the curtains and began making his way back to the door promptly, the man stopped right in his tracks, noticing Harry on the floor for the first time.

"M.. Mr. Potter" he mumbled

Harry opened his mouth to reply, but his voice came out raspy and pained in some sort of a gigrling sound.

The healer rushed over to the floor where harry lay, his arms the only thing holding him off the ground. "I'll be right back" he said, looking over at the other boy's curtains as he helped Harry back onto the bed, then back at Harry. "Look at me" he said, and Harry obeyed, tearing his eyes away from the silently screaming boy "Don't move, ok?"

Harry nodded

The healer disappeared

what's going on here? Harry wondered

The sound of a door creaking shut was made behind her, but she made no effort to turn to it's source, she was hypnotized by a view she was sure was a crime not to be documented,

The sun was sluggishly making it's way into view, casing a pink glare on the dark green scenery of the forest surrounding the clearing. The whistling and chirping of birds could be heard from all around, a waterfall -probably not too far off- was adding to the mix of sounds as huge bestial wings flapping to the southern end of the camp... the dragons she thought

"I can see why you love this place so bloody much" Ginny muttered as she heard the door to the cabin creak open, not breaking away from the picture, the hands she was using to prop up her head from her knees making her speech a little slurred.

Charlie exhaled, taking a seat by his sister "you shouldn't be here Gin" he sighed "let alone in my cabin!" he let a smile slip into his tone, and then knocked her in the shoulder playfully, causing her to lose her trans and look over at him, smiling

"Someone got actioooon..." she teased

Charlie smiled at the horizon "and you just had to stop my fun!" he said pouting, then turned and ruffled her hair, "what are you doing here anyways Ginny, mom'll flip if she finds you came"

Ginny exhaled, letting the amused smile fade from her face "I just needed..."

"Space?" Charlie added

"Yeah"

"I know what you mean" he said, laying over to one side on the wooden outskirts of the cabin and looking out "Another reason why I haven't come around while the wedding plans are going"

"Youknow... now that Bill's signed off, it's your turn next" Ginny smiled

"fuck no!" her brother said quickly, applying a horrified look onto his face "no way I'm ever letting something like Fleur run my life" he shuddered playfully

"You have no choice" Ginny began "she's practically assigned herself 'Weasley Family Manager' you should see her quietly redecorating while mom's not watching, and throwing out dad's bits and pieces to make room for ornaments... not to mention how she's put a Slow-Glow-Flow spell on almost all the walls so that they'll slowly repaint to fit the carpets without mom noticing; i'd wager a large sum on her already having someone lined up for you"

"You don't say..." Charlie stated in false amusement

"mmhm,"Ginny replied "and wait till you see the robes she's making Bill wear!" she giggled

"now I'm defiantly not getting married!" Charlie said

And just as he finished that one off, his little naked girl came out of the cabin, she just wasn't so naked any more. Both red head's turned to look at her,

"Char? Are you serious?" she asked quietly, trying so obviously to avoid looking at Ginny

"What is sweets?" he asked nonchalant

"That's I'm nothing but temporary entertainment?" a sob seemed eager to break her voice and it was then that Charlie realized that she had probably overheard them

"Sweets, come here" he said, getting up off the floor boards and taking her into a hug "I love you ok! Gin and I were only joking, well, see, I..." Charlie stopped and looked at the girl, Ginny watching with great intent.

Her brother? In a sustainable relationship? Ha! She thought

"And what's that supposed to mean Char? That I'm more than a temporary play toy? I'm a long term one!" her voice was actually cracking... Ginny felt bad having to watch

"Bunny!" Charlie exclaimed as the girl pushed him away, pulled out her wand, pointing it right in between Charlie's eyes and her brother's eyes widened

"Don't bother owling me" was the last thing she said before the popping sound indicating her Disapperation filled a moment.

It was no longer than a few more seconds before Charlie sat back down next to Ginny.

"Girl problems?" she asked staring back at the now pink-yellowish sunrise

"No shit!" Charlie said, joining her in the show "I couldn't even remember her name... oh well"

Ginny rolled her eyes

"Mom's going to be a very disappointed woman"

"Why?" he asked "because I'm not throwing my life away and marrying some controlling moron?"

"There's that," Ginny smiled "And then there's the fact that you don't have a date for the wedding now"

A moment of silence filled the air between the siblings, and as the realization dawned on him:

"SHIT!"

It wasn't until what felt a good five minutes later that the healer returned, another in his footsteps carrying a couple bottles of pink substance. And they ignored him, walking right into to other boy's area.

A moment later, the thrashing stopped, and the room fell silent. The healer from before exited towards him with a bottle of green sludgy stuff, allowing the other to remain with the 'screamer'.

"Here, take this" the man said, handing the bottle over to Harry

Harry looked at him questioningly, but opened the bottle and allowed the slime to crawl down his throat. In the beginning it seemed to have no effect, but then a burst of chill took him aback and he had to reorient himself.

The healer smiled at Harry for the first time "So, so... Harry Potter makes another amazing recovery, how're you feeling?"

"be... be..." Harry tried, but his voice just seemed to not want to co-operate

"try clearing your throat" the healer suggested calmly

Harry complied and then "be... better" he said with great effort

"Good" the healer said, getting up and picking up the older boy's chart "5:46 Pacient awakes to one of Dustin McPherson's disturbances" the healer talked at the parchment clipped down. Then turned it over to let Harry watch the words magically scratch themselves under many other sentences on a parchment to the title of Harry J. Potter, St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Remedies: Brain Damage Department.

"Wha... What am I doing in the Brain Damage department?" Harry asked, horrified

The healer replaced the chart on what Harry assumed to be the end of his bed, and then "Because Mr. Potter, you weren't supposed to recover... ever" the healer stated

Harry didn't know what to say

"See," the healer began, and then glanced over in the curtained boy's direction, where the other healer was making himself busy with spell-casting Harry couldn't quite make out the purpose off.

The healer by his own bed side lowered his voice "wherever it was that you came from, and whatever it is that you saw or heard or touched..." the old healer paused, his old eyes gleaming even thought there was very little light in the room "there were two others that came before you... that were found the way you were found"

Harry gave him a quizzical look "What do you mean? What are you talking about?"

The healer sighed "I've been here, in this department, on night duty for the past forty five years, and in those years I've seen scars and wounds from lack of ministry control, old magic, dark magic, black magic, and the rise and fall of He Who Must Not Be Named. To most magic, one can put a face to, one can explain, but once in a while someone comes to this department with symptoms so unique that there's not even an explanation as to how they attained their current condition..."

"What does this have anything to do with anything?" Harry yawned, his hand coming up to cover his mouth, his eyes rolling shut

The old healer seemed to take on a look of panic at this sudden action "open your eyes!" he commanded at Harry urgently

Harry's eyes snapped open, alarmed "wha? What's the matter?" he asked in sleepy panic

"listen to me and listen close" the healer said, getting a little too close to Harry for comfort's sake, "I want you to keep your eyes open, don't. Even. Blink. I'm going to get something, and you're going to keep your eyes open. Do you unsertand?" the healer asked in urgency "Mr. Potter, are you listening?"

Harry's eyes were bug eyed, he was holding them as open as he could, they began to sting from lack of moisture... oh how he longed to close them. When he realized the healer was awaiting a response he nodded.

"good, i'll be back" he said, and disappeared

She tiptoed down the stairs, through the hall, picked her shoes up and held them in her hand

trying to put them on now isn't worth the risk she thought, and turned to open the door.

The girl yawned, two and a half hours sleep, god how she craved more.

She stepped outside, holding her breath as she closed the door behind her, letting it out only after she heard the lock click back into place.

It was around 6am... Ron was in for a nice awakening. She smiled mischievously

POP the girl dissaparated, leaving only an early muggle jogger wondering if what he'd just seen truly occurred.

"Open your mouth!" the healer commanded, as he speed-walked his way over to Harry's bed from the door.

Harry knew better than to object, his eyes were tearing, he longed to close them, disappear into sleep-land, but instead he opened his mouth, and watched as the healer opened a can filled with... what were those? Orbs of light?

Before he could think about it any longer one of them flew right into his mouth and down his throat. The boy coughed for a short while, then looked up at his healer, grudgingly

"What was that?" Harry asked while clutching his throat

"it's an old trick, but never mind that for now, I need to get your statement in case it doesn't work. We don't have much time." the healer went for the writing pad he'd previously shown Harry.

"In case what doesn't work? What's wrong with me?" Harry began to feel frustration bubble in his chest, he was tired of being treated like a child. First Dumbledore, then Sirius, Lupin, Molle Weasley, the minister of magic his hyness Scrimgeour, harry thought grudgingly a child, a poor little orphan boy with no parents...

the healer must have noticed the change in Harry's tone, because he softened the urgency of his own "Listen Mr. Potter, I can tell you all I know, but first I need to get this statement down, please." he stressed

Harry let out a groan of disapproval, and the healer took this as consent

"ok, so here goes, I'll put this pad down, you talk, it'll record whatever you say, then I'll fill you in on what I know, agreed?"

Harry looked at the pad grudgingly "I've had bad experiences with writing utensils left to their own merits"

The man must have missing Harry's innuendo, so he went on "please Harry, we might be wasting precious time"

"ok, ok, fine... so I was down in the department of mysteries...

and the pad scratched his story away, Sirius Black's reappearance in Harry's life, reduced to parchment carrying a Brain Damage Ward crest...

The Headmistress sat in her office – or to be exact, slept in her office - her head laid on a pile of parchments and letters.

A Phoenix swooped down on her, coming to rest on her shoulder. Dawn was breaking.

The bird nibbled at her ear, she opened her old eyes and looked at the bird

"Oh Albus, how we miss you..." she spoke to the bird, pretending -even if it be for a moment- that it would be able to transfer the message to her old friend who lay out in the world after life.

"Well, you're right, no time to waste, we have a big day ahead of us don't we?" she spoke to the bird "lot's of things to do, magic to be done, spells to be cast, charms to be set" she stopped and smiled at the bird still stationed on her shoulder while she collected her parchments and quills "and I'm speaking to a bloody bird" she picked up Draco's wand and pocketed it.

McGonagall shook her head at herself, Merlin, what am I thinking?

And on that note she made her way down the staircase, out the stone gargoyle, passed the great hall, and down to the Slytherin dungeon where she was to meet Slughorn... what am I getting myself into she wondered... and where's Remus? He promised he'd be here by now. Gosh I overslept...

And as the sun broke the horizon of the Hogwarts grounds, and the flowers opened their petals to accept the dew of morning, no one would have wondered that anything had changed at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry... or that the unthinkable was about to transpire.

"All of those were magic I could explain, put a face to, apart from two patients that showed up here about twenty three years ago." The healer looked back over to the other end of the room, seeing that his colleague had completed his work. He waited for the other to exit the room and then continued, "It was a case of a woman and son, they had both been found, by their family. At the time I wasn't told what happened, but I can just assume now that they had been fond beside that unexplained veil of yours..."

Harry's eyes grew wide

"I never got to visit the scene of the injury, the minister of magic at the time, Rowan Quinsy, said it had been cleared and clensed so to avoid anyone else from contracting whatever it was that the two first victims had"

Typical minister of magic behavior. Harry thought, rolling his eyes

"I had never heard of the supposed 'outbreak' thing again, until last night when Kingsley dropped you off in the same state Dustin and his mother came in"

Harry looked over at the boy behind the curtains

"Yes" the healer said, knowing the question unuttered "that's Dustin..." a sigh escaped the man's lips

"But... but he cant be any older than six! Maybe seven!" Harry said in horror, remembering the screams and thrashes

The healer smiled at Harry as The Boy Who Lived turned his attention back upon the old man. "True say Harry... see, Dustin came in a few months shy of his seventh birthday, his mother at the time was fifty four years of age, Dustin was her youngest from what I understood, and her only son."

"I don't understand..." Harry uttered

"Dustin's mother died five years after she was brought in... a heart attack resulting from a night just like what happened to Dustin tonight had brought it on, and there was nothing we could do. The two of them have these screaming nightmares, where nothing could stop their thrashing. All we could do is put silencing spells on them and fight them so that they caused themselves any unnecessary damage."

"but that doesn't explain Dustin's size..." Harry said awkwardly

"True say" the healer continued "Dustin hasn't grown an inch since he came in here, because, from what we can assume his mind is frozen in a state of chaos, nothing is functioning properly, not even his digestive or bladder control. He's not changing Mr. Potter"

Harry looked at the healer in total shock "what about me?" he asked fearfully "will I become him?"

"no no no," the healer said "or I hope not. Dustin and Mrs. McPherson came in unconscious, and shall probably remain that way to both of their extinctions. You woke up, I don't know why... but I'm sure that once we're sure you don't sink back into that state; the head of department MaChemist will be more than happy to run some tests" his nonchalant tone was beginning to register with Harry... and irritate him

"So what was that thing that flew into my mouth before?" Harry finally got around to asking, trying to get his mind off the eternal doom the healer was suggesting he might live out.

The healer smiled at him "you know those dreamless sleep potions?"

"mmhm" Harry answered, confused.

"This is a sleepless day bug" the man said, pulling the jar from his hospital robes "it crawls into your bloodstream and effects your brain, not allowing it to rest. It's the only way we've found to counter sleep effectively." the healer was cut off when the door to Harry and Dustin's room was opened

"Malcolm, Ms. Perduty is claiming she's seeing spirits again" the healer at the door said

"sorry Harry, we're going to have to discuss this later... you just take a couple of those and...here" the healer pulled another object out of his robes... it appeared to be something with a copy of 'The Nightly Prophet: The Extras and Latest Events' scrolled across the top "find something to do...READ... do anything..." the healer got up to leave, sighed, and then looked at Harry again "and remember: Don't. Fall. Asleep"

Harry turned the folded newspaper over in his hands, realizing it was in fact wrapping something... he unfolded it... a copy of 'The Mysteries of the 20th Century: a Wizard's Edition By: Rowalda Greengrass' rolled out.

Harry smiled to himself... gotcha' he said stay awake.

A/N

So the third installment of Draco Requital is up... sorry for the delay... sorry that us authors always write that we're sorry... but to tell you the truth, it's harder to write shit that's worth publishing than to read it... I used to get frustrated with Cassy Claire back in the 90s when she took too long with her fics (did anyone catch that reference or am I just old in the FanFic world?) :p anyways.. it's Friday and my friend want to see me tonights, so... meh. Goodnight. OH! And Marry Christmas! hope you've been naughty... save poor 'ol fat Santa a trip -wink-

I had SUCH a problem with the story sequence of Harry In The Hospital, What's Going On With Me, and What's That Thing You Just Let Fly Down My Throat that it's taken me three (or has it been four?) months to finish. Believe it or not I write the important sequence of the chapter first, then fill in the occurrences around it in... you'll realize it if you try to read the hospital sequence in order without the connecting parts... they flow -smile-. Yay for me... but not really... seeing as I'm incompetent at getting these out at a nice rate. believe it or not I'm writing this on my laptop at a Tim Horton's at Dufferin and Center St.

Dark Angels Voldy might not be the guy to say 'fuck' much, but I was going for the whole 'shit! My spy's cover has been blown and the Order were killing off my death eater shit shit shit' kind'a mood -smile-, Trisha If you're reading this you got the link I sent you (o: but why not just put the story on 'Story Alert' in your profile? Jeeths thanks! As you should see I've made the changes… and I'll make sure a couple of people look over the next chapter, duckiez143 we've discussed the matter via e-mail, all I recommend is that you don't let your curiosity get the best of you and keep yourself from continuing to read when there's capital letters declaring a spoiler and you haven't completed the reading of the book,