Beep! Beep! Beep!
"So this gadget only works where you can 'plug it in'? Is that right?"
Harry still had his eyes shut but he was certain he knew that voice.
"Well this one is designed for use with mains supply, yes, but there are portable ones that use a re-chargeable power pack. They can be used anywhere, on top of a mountain or even out at sea."
Harry knew that voice too. But… they shouldn't be talking to each other! Now he was totally confused. He tried to open his eyes but was not able to. He reached a hand up to his face and his fingers found bandages over his eyes.
"What's happened?" Harry tried to speak but he only made rasping noises. His visitors realised his plight.
"Harry, it's OK. You're going to be fine." He felt a soft hand take his own. The words were the voice he wanted to hear above all others.
It was Ginny.
"Here, let's sit you up a bit, there's no need for you to lie down now," these words, comfortingly familiar, were spoken by Madame Pomfrey. Harry obeyed without question.
"Drink this love, it's only a cup of tea but it will help soothe your throat," coaxed Ginny. "Don't try and speak yet. I'll try and tell you what's happened, OK? Just nod your answer."
Again Harry obeyed, nodding only once as the pain made him unwilling to repeat the action and he screwed up his forehead as he reached for the cup of tea and sipped it. His throat felt easier but still very sore.
Ginny continued, "your throat is sore because as you screamed you tore your vocal chords. Madame Pomfrey has repaired them but she wants you to say silent for a couple of days at least. Nod if you understand."
Reluctantly Harry nodded his consent and continued to sip his tea but he felt that there was something more and that Ginny was hesitant to say. After a few minutes searching for the right words she said, "Now your eyes, Harry, are something else again."
Harry was aware that his pulse had started racing. "We don't know exactly what happened but when Mad-Eye, Eleanor and Jenny got into the bathroom both your eyes were bleeding. They don't know if your sight is affected but you also took a blow to the back of your head when you fell. It looks like you hit the edge of the bath. Again they want to leave the dressings on for a couple of days. You had another concussion and that's got to be checked out." Added Ginny as she took the now empty cup from Harry's hands and placed it on his bedside cabinet.
"I take it that Voldemort discovered Sam's escape then?" Harry nodded once more. "I won't ask anymore questions, it's obvious you are still in a lot of pain and nodding isn't helping. Harry, love, why don't you go back to sleep. I'm dead beat as I've sat up next to you for the past two nights. I'll tell you all that has happened in a little while. OK?" Harry smiled instead of nodding, it was really more of a grimace but Ginny understood regardless and helped him to lie flat again. She leaned over and kissed him gently on the cheek. Warmth flooded through their bodies and Harry drifted off almost immediately.
----zzzzzz----
When Harry opened his eyes Ginny was sitting next to his bed exactly where he thought she would be. He gently ran his fingers through her long silky hair and Ginny 'woke up' and stretched her arms out in front of her.
"Hello sleepy head."
"You'd be sleepy too if you had a boyfriend who kept getting himself injured, and you spent hours at a time sitting waiting for him to wait up," muttered Ginny, yawning widely.
Sheepishly Harry replied "Sorry."
"Oh, don't get me wrong Harry, I'm not blaming you. You didn't choose to be Number 1 on Voldemort's hit list."
"On what?" asked Harry, thoroughly perplexed.
"Oh, it's just a phrase I picked up in muggle studies. Anyway, are you going to lie there like Lord Muck or are you going to show me around properly? I didn't see much last time I was here." Ginny challenged as she stood and stretched her aching back muscles.
Harry threw back the bedclothes to find he was already dressed in jeans and a t-shirt and a pair of trainers was on the floor waiting to be put on.
"I like this dream world of ours. We can make anything real if we want to. The best bit though is having you in it with me." As he stood up Harry slipped his arms around Ginny's waist. He rang his fingers through her hair once more - he didn't think he'd ever tire of doing that – and turned her head gently as he bent down and kissed her lips.
After a minute Harry realised he could taste tears that were trailing silently from Ginny's eyes and could feel her trembling.
"I… I thought I was going to lose you. After all you'd been through. It seemed so unfair!" Ginny was distraught but Harry didn't understand.
"What do you mean loose me?"
"Harry, Voldemort nearly killed you!"
"But I thought…?"
"When Mad-Eye got the door open you were lying unconscious on the floor. There was blood everywhere. It was pouring from your eyes, out of your mouth and from a great gash on the back of your head!"
"Well that explains the king-size headache I woke up with." Harry tried to lighten the mood a little but Ginny was having none of it.
"Don't!" She said, her annoyance all too evident which made Harry feel guilty at making light of her anxiety.
"Sorry love. It's just all too familiar, you know?" said Harry apologetically.
"Doctor McGregor's been working with Madame Pomfrey to tray and work out what's wrong with your eyes."
"Doctor McGregor? You mean Harry?" said Harry.
"Harry? Is that his name? Jenny just said a friend of hers who is a Doctor. Apparently when he got the call saying you needed help he said 'One good turn deserves another'. Do you have any idea what he meant?"
"You could say that but first what happened after Mad-Eye got the door open?"
"Well, Eleanor fire-called Madame Pomfrey and she flooed straight over but at the same time Jenny had rung Harry on his – mobile, is that right?" Harry nodded is confirmation and Ginny continued, "Well he was just passing and turned up while they were still talking."
"Just passing! Who's he kidding?" smiled Harry.
"Anyway, Jenny had just shown him into the parlour when Madame Pomfrey comes through the floo!"
"You're joking?" said Harry a whopping great grin plastered on his face. "What'd he do?"
"Well Jenny had apparently told Harry that her grandmother was a little eccentric so he thought Poppy was her and, cool as you like, he sticks out his hand and introduces himself. 'So pleased to meet you,' he says and gives Poppy a kiss on the cheek."
"At that moment Eleanor came in from the garden through the French doors."
By now Harry was doubling up laughing. "Oh, I wish I'd seen that! But what did Madame Pomfrey do?"
"She stayed as calm as ever and said 'an interesting bedside manner Doctor. Is this how you treat all your colleagues?' but Jenny swears she saw her blush."
"I wish I'd been awake to see that." Said Harry.
"Eleanor asked if he had any French blood in him but before he could answer Jenny grabbed his arm and dragged him up to the bathroom."
"What then? Asked Harry.
"Then it was all business. Harry was astonished when Madame Pomfrey used a basic evanesco spell to clear away all the blood so she could see the wounds clear. At the same time Harry was checking you over and was worried about your very slow pulse. Poppy used a diagnostic spell and said there was no internal bleeding but there was another bad concussion."
"Gin, the way you tell all this, are you sure you weren't there? It certainly sounds as though you were," asked Harry curiously.
"I certainly feel as though I was. It's just that I got Jenny to tell me every minute detail she could remember while we were sitting at your bedside waiting for you to come round."
"Oh, I see. Sorry" said Harry sadly.
"Stop apologising for goodness sake! You didn't ask for this to happen nor did you provoke it. It's just typical Tom, isn't it? You know sometimes I swear he almost gets jealous of what we've got and he can never know."
"But the only thing he wants is power and immortality."
Ginny astonished Harry when she replied, "The only way to immortality, in my opinion, is by bringing children into the world. The only true power is the power of love. That's a power Tom can search for but will never find."
As she finished speaking Ginny started to blush and went to turn away from Harry, embarrassed by her own mentioning of children and love.
"You got good looks and brains Miss Weasley, a very sexy combination!" said Harry as he embraced her from behind and nuzzled the side of her neck. Ginny turned around and snaked her arms around Harry's neck.
"I also have got a gorgeous boyfriend!" said Ginny as she went up on tiptoe to kiss Harry playfully on the tip of his nose.
At this gesture Harry pretended to swoon theatrically but the gesture backfired – big time!
"Oh, don't Harry. Not even pretending." The tears were back. This time Harry just held her close until her breathing slowed back to normal.
"I didn't think."
"No. You didn't." Ginny scolded.
"How am I doing anyway? Can you bear to tell me?"
Slipping back into a practical-mode seemed to help. "The concussion isn't much to worry about, Poppy saw to that. Your throat should heal OK as long as you refrain from speaking and gargle with the Lavinia Lovegood's Larynx Lotion three times a day. Poppy left a huge bottle but I'm glad it's you and not me that have to take it. That stuff's foul. Mum always made us use it whenever we got a sore throat." Ginny grimaced at the memory.
Harry then asked the question to which he was dying to know the answer – dying and dreading! "Gin. What about my eyes?"
"Oh, Harry. They just don't know. Poppy says it's one area of medicine where muggles seem better than wizards."
"But what seems wrong with them? Do they work or will I be blind?"
"They have no idea. Poppy said her results were' inconclusive' whatever that means. Harry said that the cornea, I think he called it, can be replaced if need be and so too the lens. If the nerve is damaged though it's a different story."
"What do you mean?" asked Harry.
"Well magical eyes like Mad-eye's only work if the nerve is OK. If it's not…!" Harry didn't need Ginny to finish her sentence.
Sorry for thedelay in uploading of the new chapter, as it is both delayed and shorter than normal I've decided to upload the next chapter as well...
Rosy