A Serpent Among Lions
Chapter 7- All choked up
Harry walked along the streets of London, his steps light and a smile on his face. He could not remember being this happy since before the Dursleys had turned up murdered. The events of the prior evening and that morning had seeped through the cloud of depression that had settled over his mind. He now had new grains of hope planted in his brain and he was excited to pursue new leads.
When Ginny had finally fallen asleep that morning, Harry had slipped away and magically warmed his forgotten coffee. Just as he sat down to drink it; he had received an owl with a message scrawled in a strangely familiar handwriting. 'Meet me in the center of Waterloo Bridge at high noon and you will have answers you seek.'
That was all, just a cryptic message with a meeting place and time. Harry had glanced at his wristwatch and seen that it was already half past eleven. Quickly but quietly, Harry had left the flat to make his way toward the meeting point. It was now five minutes before noon and he had just turned off of Cornwall Road and onto Stamford Street. He would be at the center of Waterloo Bridge by noon.
As he walked onto the bridge, Harry became more aware of his surroundings and pushed his elation to the back of his mind. Now was the time for caution and even though this was a public and visible place, it was public and visible mainly to muggles who could be fooled quite easily. He reached into his pocket and closed his hand around his wand, ready for whatever he was about to meet.
Harry stopped in the center of the bridge and turned out towards the river. He did not get down to the river often enough. As he gazed out at the boats passing beneath him, Harry felt a presence behind him. He spun around, his wand at the ready but there was no one near. He heard a soft whispering but the words seemed to be just out of his reach.
Suddenly, what felt like a pair of hands closed around his throat, blocking his windpipe. Harry struggled mightily against the hold, at the same time throwing curses at the invisible presence behind him. As his efforts became weaker and weaker, a soft voice whispered in his ear. Harry understood that these words were very important and his brain struggled to listen and remember them. Then all was black.
Ginny awoke to find herself alone in bed. Figuring that Harry was someplace in the flat, being quiet so that he wouldn't wake her, she went into the master bathroom and used the loo, then went in search of her husband.
After a few minutes of searching through the small apartment, she didn't find him but found a note instead, asking him to meet someone at the Waterloo Bridge at noon. She looked at the clock, it was already 1:30. He should have been back by now.
She had a bad feeling in her gut. Finding Harry's invisibility cloak, she draped it around her, grabbed her wand and apparated to the Waterloo bridge, in a part where the noise would override the crack of apparition.
Looking around, she saw a dark form laying on the ground and knew that it was Harry. Running towards him, tears streaming down her face, collapsed on the bridge beside him, surrounded them with a spell of silence and tried to wake him up.
"Harry! Harry! Wake up!" She screamed, praying that she wasn't too late. She checked to make sure that he was breathing, and checked his neck and his wrist and was thankful to find a weak pulse. She got no response from Harry, though, and knew that she had to get the both of them back to the flat where she could care for him.
"Mobilicorpus," She said, quietly, standing him up and taking him by the arm, then apparating both of them back to his flat. Taking him into the bedroom, she lay him on the bed and examined him for injuries. It didn't appear to be a magical attack, but rather someone had tried to strangle him.
Taking a cool washcloth, she placed it on his head and gently stroked his hand, talking to him and hoping that he would wake up.
Harry rolled up the legs of his pants and kicked off his shoes before stepping into the waves. He turned to his mother with a smile and said, "I love the ocean. I'm so glad Dad was able to take time off of work so that we could holiday at the beach." He looked back at his father sunbathing on a towel. He and Lily had decided to take a walk among the waves to cool themselves off.
Lily returned her son's smile and slipped her arm around his shoulders. "Your dad and I wanted to take one more holiday before your graduation from Hogwarts. You'll be returning to school in a fortnight and then time will fly. Before we know it, you'll be graduated and out of the house on your own."
Harry's excitement showed in his response. "This year will be so great! Quidditch captain and Head Boy will be hard to balance but I know Ron and Hermione will be great helps. One thing I'm not looking forward to, though, are my NEWT's. Hermione has been harping on them since we took our OWLs and I'm really starting to get nervous. You know how much I want to be an auror just like dad don't you, mum?"
"You know how proud your father and I are of you, Harry. No matter the results of your NEWT's, we will always love you and support you in anything you do." Lily looked back at her husband and said, "Just look at how much your father is enjoying this holiday. He so rarely gets to see the sun these days."
Harry looked back at his father but found he couldn't see James any longer. He turned back to his mother to ask where he had gone but found she had left him as well. A soft voice seemed to be emanating from the clouds but he could not make out the words. Slowly, Harry felt himself being sucked away from the sandy beach and the glistening waves toward the skies above.
Opening his eyes, Harry looked frantically around the room. He calmed slightly when he saw Ginny beside him. He opened his mouth to tell Ginny he was alright but no sound came out.
Ginny was elated when she saw Harry open his eyes, but her joy turned to panic when she saw that he couldn't speak. Fear crossed her face and she realized that she had none of the potion ingredients that she would need there to help him. Squeezing his hand, she smiled at him and tried not to show how worried she was, and said, "Harry, I'm going home real quick to get some things to help you. I won't be gone long," Giving his hand one last squeeze, she apparated home before he could argue with her.
She began just grabbing what she would need for the potion for his throat, but then she realized that she might as well bring everything with her, including some more changes of clothes and other things she would need. She put everything in her old Hogwarts trunk and made it smaller so that it would fit into her pocket. If she left anything else that she needed behind she could always return.
Apparating back to the flat, she let Harry see that she had returned and set up a makeshift pharmacy on the kitchen table. She mixed different ingredients and combined them into a potion. Before she'd had Meghan she had learned to mix healing potions and salves, figuring that with a small child it would be rather handy.
Pouring the potion into a vial, she brought it to Harry and gave it to him, "Here, drink this. It will allow you to talk again."
Harry gulped down the potion Ginny poured into his mouth and coughed. Instantly, he could feel his windpipe healing and he tested his vocal chords. "How do I sound?" he croaked. He answered his own question with, "Well, I guess it's better than silence," and laughed
Ginny breathed a sigh of relief, "Harry, I was so worried," She said, giving him a gentle hug, "How do you feel? Do you hurt anywhere else?" She said, giving him a cursory examination for other injuries.
He did a quick self-examination before replying. "Well, my head feels about to burst but other than that, I believe I am okay." His expression became graver. "I have the feeling I got off easy with that encounter. I can't believe I was so stupid to let down my guard. Whoever that was should not have been able to get close enough to attack me without being seen."
He paused, thoughtful. "Come to think of it, even when I was being strangled I got the sense that there was no one behind me. Only a nebulous 'presence'."
Ginny thought about this, "Could it have been someone using an invisibility cloak? I used yours when I came to get you. I found the letter that you had received and knew that you were in trouble. You were laying so still when I got there...I thought I had lost you," Ginny said, her eyes misting up with tears, "I don't know what I would have done."
For the first time, Harry realized how truly stupid he had been. "I'm so sorry, Ginny. I can't believe I was such a dolt going out there on my own without being completely aware of my surroundings. The last thing I wanted to do was worry or frighten you. In fact, just before I reached the meeting place, I was thinking about how happy I was for the first time in months. Being with you for the past day has been the lift I needed to get me out of the depression I had fallen into." He took her hand in his and drew it to his mouth. "Please forgive me for worrying you. I love you so much, my sweet."
Harry considered her question about the invisibility cloak. "As for the attacker wearing an invisibility cloak, it is certainly possible. For some reason, though, I have the instinct that it was some other form of deception. The hands on my throat did not feel like real, human hands. I can't explain it, but I need to find out what attacked me. This is the first real break I've had in weeks."
Ginny put her hands up to her temples and massaged them, "You are forgiven, Harry," She said, smiling at him as he took her hand and kissed it, "But you need to rest for now. You almost died out there," She said, sadly, then realized something, "Harry, whoever this is that is doing this to you knows what you look like now! The disguise is no good."
Appearing to be in deep thought, she said, "At least we know they can't follow me apparating back with you. I don't know what we are going to do. There is no one outside the family who is convinced that you are innocent. If only Dumbledore were alive, he could give us some advice. He would know what to do I'm sure," She said, sadly.
Harry had not yet had time to think about his disguise being compromised. He sighed and said, "Ah, well. My disguise was never any good anyway. Like I said last night, it would never have fooled anyone upon close examination. I was only hoping to avoid drawing attention in crowds."
Harry still became sad when he thought of his old friend Dumbledore. At times, he still craved the headmaster's quiet comfort and strength. Thinking about the dream from which he had been recently awoken he said sadly, "There are more people than just Dumbledore that I wish were around to give me advice. When we have calmed down a bit and things aren't so crazy, I'd like to tell you about a dream I had before you woke me up just now. It was so vivid and real and I remember feeling angry for being dragged out of it." He shook his head in amazement. "The imagination is a strange phenomenon," he said with a wondering shake of his head.
Ginny looked at her husband with love and concern, then gave him a hug, "I think that I am going to send Mum an owl and see if she will go and talk to Meghan for us. I want to stay here with you and make sure that you are okay, and I need to rest some too for the baby's sake. Do you have any problem at all with her going and talking with Meghan instead of me?"
Harry settled into a more comfortable position on the bed and shook his head. "I think it would be wise for us both to rest. Molly will do a fine job explaining the situation, I expect. Make sure to have her stress that I love Meghan and that I am doing me best to return home soon." His eyes began to droop and he yawned widely. "If you don't mind, I think I'll close my eyes for a few minutes. Feeling so tired all of a sudden." His words became slurred as he began to drift off. "Thank you again for coming to my rescue. I don't know what I would have done if it hadn't been for you."
Ginny kissed him tenderly on the lips, then watched him for a few minutes, making sure that he was in a peaceful slumber. She knew that she really should be the one to go and talk to Meghan, but after the day's events, she knew that she needed her rest as well.
Going to the fireplace out in the living room, she used some floo powder and plainly said, "The Burrow." When the flames turned green, she stuck her head into the fireplace and called out for her mother, "Mum!" It hadn't been easy to get the fireplace registered on the floo network, but with her dad being Minister of Magic they didn't ask too many questions.
Molly heard her daughter calling her and came to the kitchen, "Ginny, dear, what's wrong?"
"Can you come to the flat, Mum? There's something I need to talk to you about."
Molly assured her that she would be right there, and Ginny made some tea for the both of them, decaffeinated for her and regular for her mother. Going back to their bedroom, she made it soundproof one way so that he couldn't hear noises but she could hear him if needed anything.
Realizing that she hadn't eaten that much, she got out some scones and jelly as well and had it all set up when Molly apparated in.
"Ginny, what's wrong? You have me worried!" Molly said, embracing her in a tight hug.
Ginny told her about the attack on Harry, the baby and the plans to visit Meghan that evening. Molly looked with concern at her daughter, "Ginny, you should rest after everything you have been through today."
Nodding, Ginny agreed with her, "Would you be willing to go and talk to Meghan for us? Tell her that Harry loves her and only has her best interests at heart? Maybe Minerva would let her come and see him this weekend. I know that usually doesn't happen but this is a special case."
"Of course I'll go and talk to Meghan, sweetheart," She said, looking fondly at her daughter, "You and Harry rest and don't worry about a thing, I will tell her everything is going to be fine, and I'll ask Minerva about her coming to visit this weekend."
Molly stayed only a little while to fuss over her daughter and to help keep her spirits up before she left, knowing that Ginny was tired and needed to rest. After her mother left, Ginny undressed and joined her sleeping husband in bed, needing some respite herself.