Disclaimer: I own no part of Harry Potter or its associated canon nor, any other already copyrighted material.

(A/N):

Chapter 24

Tortured Minds

Harry slowly came around the following morning and took his time waking up. It was a full half hour before he rose, showered and dressed. Heading out the door he found Ginny looking for him. Greeting her with a fairly restrained kiss, he smiled. "Good morning, love."

"Good morning. We just got some good news."

"What?"

"Fred just dropped by, Percy is waking up. He's still a little dazed, but he's coming around. My parents went back with him and they're expecting us in a few minutes."

"That is good news. Ron and Hermione ready?"

"Yeah, they're waiting downstairs."

"Then let's go." Descended the stairs arm in arm, they found the other pair indeed ready and waiting, both looking rather pleased with the news, if not entirely sure they should be. Harry really couldn't blame them. After how Percy had behaved they were entitled to a little anger. Pulling the portkey he had taken to carrying everywhere from his pocket, he held it out to them. Each took a firm grip and a moment later the key pulled them across half the island to land squarely in the Heads' room. Having been used to take them to Zonko's previously, it obeyed its inbuilt directive and brought them here.

Heading out from the portrait hole, Harry and Ginny hung back a little as Ron and Hermione led. The castle was fairly quiet the morning after Christmas and they only encountered a couple patrolling Aurors and some parents out for an early morning walk around the school that had been their second home for seven years too.

"Fred say what was wrong with him? Why he's just waking up now?" Ginny shook her head in response.

"No. Could be any of a dozen things. Who knows what Voldemort might have done to him?"

"Yeah…" Hermione and Ron now had a good lead on the pair and Harry reflexively started walking faster to catch up. At a brisk pace he came around the last corner to the medical wing and saw Ron and Hermione curiously standing stone still, staring into the ward. "Uh…guys…?"

"Avada Kedavra!" The shouted curse made the blood in Harry's veins run cold. A split second was all he had to comprehend Ron diving to his side and pushing Hermione clear of the doorway before his best mate was hit square in the chest by a green jet, his already dead body stumbling back across the hall and smashing against the far wall before crumpling to the ground.

"RON!" All three screamed the name of the already dead Weasley. Hermione rolled over from her landing on the floor and began scrambling toward him, Ginny appearing next to her and helping. Harry's blood rose in rage as he dashed for the door, and slid to a stop in the middle of the frame, ready to do murder. What he saw in the few hundredths of a second froze him again to the core.

"It…it can't be…"

"Harry. How kind of you to join us." Voldemort stood, in his dead black robes, in the middle of the ward, wand raised. All around his feet stood the crumpled forms of red headed wizards and medical staff. He could see, from halfway across the room, Arthur Weasley, eyes glazed in death, his wand half drawn. On either side of him were the twins, similarly cut down. Rage beyond anything he had ever felt flooded his body, clouding his mind and birthing hate beyond measure. As his wand rose, he could see Ginny and Hermione, the sister and the lover, charging ahead on either side of him. As one, they yelled again.

"Avada Kevara!" Voldemort made no move to dodge. Instead, at the last second, he raised the aspirating form of Molly Weasley, which had been hanging unnoticed in his hand, in front of his body. All three Killing Curses hit her instead, a heartbeat of shear terror shone in her eyes before they fell dull forever. Her body crumpled to the ground after being dropped, only to be joined a heartbeat later as Voldemort's reprisal struck down her daughter and Hermione. Both had been unable to recover from what had happened to dodge or even attempt to block. Harry was left alone, facing the creature that had tormented him since his birth.

"How…" Voldemort smiled and raised a hand to his side, holding a small canteen. Pouring out the thick liquid within, Harry instantly recognized it as Polyjuice Potion.

"You'd be amazed how easy this is to hide."

"But…I saw you! At the Ministry!"

"You saw…exactly what I wished you to see Potter. A little Polyjuice and the most easily done Imperius Curse. That young fool will be ever so helpful at destroying the rest of the "Ministry"…after I'm done with you of course. Avada Kedavra!" Somehow Harry's reflexes kicked in and he dove to the side behind a bed, the curse exploding against the wall over Ron's head. A series of follow up shots tore apart the bed, the wall and everything else around him. "Stand up and face me Potter! I want to see you die!" Be it bravery or insanity, Harry slowly stood, the same cold fire as in the graveyard steadying his muscles. "That's right. Stand alone…and die! Avada Kedavra!"

Harry stood perfectly still, his mind frozen with shock. A split second before the curse hit, a body flew across his vision and caught it full in the back. His eyes automatically followed it to see Matt's lifeless form slide to a stop against a bed. Looking back up, he found Professor Keystone and Sarah closing the distance with Voldemort. The professor shouted back to him.

"Harry! Run! Get help!" He was moving before he realized it, making his way through the door. A flash of light at the periphery of his vision told him another had fallen. Glancing back he saw Sarah also slump to the floor. He tore past the form of Ron, his wand falling from his grasp as he ran and clattering uselessly to the ground. He could feel the Dark Lord at his back, and yet, run as he might, he could find no other person in the castle.

He headed for a flight of stairs. If he could get out of the castle, he could apperate away. Taking the first too quickly he stumbled and stumbled worse on the next. A second later he fell forward at incredible speed, face first toward a wall, the cracks in the bricks becoming readily apparent and he reached them and…

Harry jerked awake in an ice cold sweat, his entire body spasming a foot off the bed. Jerking upright, he began panting raggedly, desperately trying to get air into his lungs. His eyes stared straight ahead at nothing, the entire world a colored blur without his glasses. He instinctively reached for his scar but felt no pain. Just a nightmare. His ears just came back in time to hear a timid tapping on his door.

"Harry? It's Ginny. Can I come in?"

"Uh…yeah." He wasn't sure he had spoken loudly enough for her to hear until the door slowly opened and she stepped in. Fumbling for his glasses, he slid them on and she resolved into her normal form, already dressed. A glance to the clock told him it was already late morning. He tried to settle himself down and muster a somewhat normal greeting. "Good morning."

"Morning." She turned from closing the door. "Just got some good news. Percy is… Harry! What's wrong?" He knew he failed miserably at sounding fine, but he did it anyway as she jumped the footboard to land next to him.

"Uh…nothing. I'm fine." She grabbed his head in both of her hands and looked over him in a way that was oddly reminiscent of Mrs. Weasley whenever he arrived in the summer.

"You…are a really bad liar. You're also deathly white, ice cold, sweating and trying to breathe in the North Wind. What's going on?" He smiled a little at her lightning quick assessment.

"It was…just a nightmare." She cocked an eyebrow at that. She knew the history of him and his 'dreams.'

"Just a nightmare?"

"Yeah. No vision…this time." She nodded slowly and lowered her hands.

"How do you know?"

"Because we were both in it." At her gesture, he continued. "We went to Hogwarts to check on Percy…only he wasn't Percy, he was Voldemort. And after that it got really bad."

"My parents?" He nodded slowly. "Ron and Hermione?" He nodded again. "Me?"

"Yeah…" She nodded in slow acceptance. After a moment he managed to run his mind back to what she had said as she entered. "You…said something about Percy when you came in. Or you were about to."

"Uh…yeah. We just got word, from Madam Pomfrey via George, that Percy is awake and they've transferred him to St. Mungo's to recover. Mum's going to visit him in a little while. Oh…and Hermione told me to remind you Neville would be there as well." Harry nodded slowly and made mental note of the last.

"Okay…good. Different from the dream. That's good." His body finally came back down from its panicked state and he was able to formulate some ideas. "Okay…then I'd better get ready to go."

"Yeah. Uh…first, could you put a shirt on? Cause without the whole fearing for your life thing, that's really distracting." He smiled a little and began looking for the closest shirt, which happened to be the one that had been so quickly removed last night.

A few minutes later he was walking arm in arm with Ginny past the now perpetually annoyed Mrs. Black. The house was still packed with Order members, many of whom were awaiting the large meeting scheduled for the next evening. Harry still hadn't decided if he was going to reveal himself as the new head of the Order. So far things had worked well, but the boost in respect from what he had done at the Ministry might be enough to convince them he could do it.

Pushing open the door to the kitchen he found it blessedly close to empty. Only Ron and Hermione were sitting on one side of the table, slowly working on a plate of sandwiches Mrs. Weasley must have put together. With a cursory greeting Harry sat down across form them and also began eating. Ron was concentrating on the food while Hermione looked over the newest edition of the Daily Prophet. For the third day in a row, the attack on the Ministry was still the front page story. Each day had consisted of a longwinded recounting of what had happened by people that often failed to give more than a vaguely accurate version of events and various other peripheral commentaries.

None of the Aurors had been interviewed, due mostly, Harry suspected, to embarrassment over their failure. The accounts were all from other employees that gave horrible disjointed information due to their incredible levels of panic. About the only things consistent in all the accounts was the fact Voldemort (whom the paper still referred to as You-Know-who) had attacked with his Death Eaters, they were certain they were going to die and that Harry Potter and a muggle with a sword had shown up and saved them. The paper also took pains to establish the muggle with the sword as being Professor Keystone.

No one seemed to have noticed that it was a well organized group of students that had come to the Ministry's rescue. He and Keystone had been noticed, as had Ron's hair by a few people, but by and large they were too shell shocked to notice much else. Even Acting Minister Fudge, in the short statement he had released Christmas morning, had only made mention of the 'heroic actions of a group from Hogwarts' in his (Harry thought rather accurate) description of what had occurred. There was even muted discussion on the commentary page about handing out Orders of Merlin. What the Death Eaters would report to their master could only be guessed, but with all the inaccurate reports in the Prophet, the public was as good as guessing at what had happened. Judging by Hermione's reaction, they were printing the same wild stories today.

He glanced back and noticed Ginny hadn't joined him. Instead she strode decisively down the other side of the table and stopped behind Ron and Hermione. Before Harry could do more than cock an eyebrow, she used both hands to smack both of them upside the head. Before either could recover from the shock, she was seated next him and reaching for a sandwich. As Harry predicted, Ron was the first to explode in rage.

"What the bloody hell was that for!?" He had half risen and was staring at his sister with fire in his eyes, nearly as red as his hair. Hermione, curiously, was staring straight ahead, simply looking stunned, her mouth moving but not speaking. Harry realized it was probably the first time anyone had done that to her and she wasn't sure how to respond. Without the years of practice growing up with a group of siblings provided, all she could do was stare in surprise. Ginny responded with cool serenity at the same moment Harry remembered her promise from the previous night and forced himself not to chuckle.

"For being you."

"What?!" Harry firmly clenched his jaw at this point, more at Hermione's continued refusal to say or do anything than Ron's blind annoyance that was perfectly setting up his sister's responses.

"For being you and never learning to control your…actions." She cut her eyes significantly to Hermione before returning attention to the sandwich.

"What the hell are you talking-" he caught on to the look, "…about…" Truly outrageous amounts of guilt crossed his face, which was also turning even redder than it had, and he fell slowly to his seat. Hermione choose this moment to recover and also turned beat red, confirming Harry's suspicions, and buried her head in the paper, hiding the best she could. Ginny, meanwhile, was looking incredulously serene as she ate, betraying no sense of anything else. Harry physically bit his tongue to keep from laughing. A moment later the thought they might question how she had found out and the circumstances it had been under sobered him right up. Suddenly he felt a strong desire to leave the room as well.

"Say…weren't we going to visit Percy?" Hermione leapt at the out and sprang to her feet.

"You're right! The others are probably waiting. Come on Ronald!" Nearly dragging him from his seat, they bolted up the stairs. Harry finally allowed himself a small chuckle as he stood.

"I didn't think you were actually going to do it."

"I'm surprised you didn't." He shrugged in response as she rose and they headed for the door.

"Figured you hit them hard enough for the both of us. At least you didn't hex them." She glanced away a little sheepish. "Did you?"

"I did think about it. But I figure St. Mungo's has enough on their hands."

"Fair enough." Climbing the stairs they found Charlie, Bill and Mrs. Weasley had arrived and were standing next to Ron and Hermione, both of whom were trying vainly to hide reddened faces and receiving confused glances from the others. After a round of greeting they had to wait only a moment before Arthur rushed down the stairs and slid to a halt in front of them.

"Morning all. Ready to go?"

"Are we going to take the train this time?"

"No Harry. Because of all the attacks, the Hospital has begun allowing apperation right into their lobby. So witches and wizards can spend less time outside you see?" Harry nodded in response, a little surprised. "So, without further adieu…" He turned on the spot and vanished, followed quickly by his three sons, wife and Hermione. Harry was a little surprised Mrs. Weasley hadn't tried to take Ginny with her and began to suspect a setup. With no other choice than to oblige though, he held out his hand, accepted her firm embrace and dissapperated.

They appeared close to the invisible door in the lobby of St. Mungo's. The pair quickly joined the red haired group that was already making its way to the receptionist. Harry glanced around and noticed far fewer people waiting for help. Either there were fewer accidents, they were getting treated quicker…or people were too scared to come in. A number of seemingly uninjured people stood around, and each instantly locked onto Harry as he passed, giving him a small nod. Harry realized after a minute that they were all Aurors, protecting the hospital. He came to a stop as they reached the desk, Arthur in the lead.

"Percy Weasley please." The reception witch, looking more haggard and worn that Harry remembered from his last, albeit rushed, visit glanced up from the desk.

"Yes…uh…Fourth Floor. Spell damage. Been a bugger of a case. No one knows what happened to him."

"Thank you." He turned to the stairs. Just before he could move, her hand shot out and grabbed his sleeve.

"Is…is it true he was attacked by…by…"

"Yes." Pulling himself free, he defiantly headed for the stairwell, the others in tow. It was a quiet climb up the four flights. As they passed the first door Harry recalled Arthur's failed attempt at stitches two years earlier and chuckled a little. Reaching the fourth floor, posted with the sign Spell Damage, they found Fred leaning against the wall, staring at nothing. As they approached, he rolled his head to the side and smiled.

"Good morning ladies and gentlemen. If you'll step right this way," he gestured to the door and pulled it open, "you can view the world's most annoying prat ahead on your left." Barely sparing a withering glance for him, they filed in and headed immediately for the bed Percy was propped up in and George sat next to. Though a little paler than before, he looked much like himself, thought the keen severity about his countenance had been seriously dulled. Led by Mrs. Weasley, the entire family pressed in tightly around the bed. Free of both a blood tie and any particular like for him, Harry and Hermione hung back from Percy's bed.

After standing uncomfortably for a few moments watching the various reactions of the patient's family and his rather somber mood, Harry felt a tug on his sleeve. Turning, he found Hermione jerking her head toward the door he knew led to the closed ward. Looking past her through the window he could just make out the figure of Neville at the far back of the room. Nodding in response he followed her as she headed for the door and away from the Weasley's. He caught Ginny's eye and gestured that he and Hermione were heading in. She gave an infinitesimal nod in response and turned back to her family.

Approaching the door, they were halted by a healer and an Auror. "Who are you here to see?" Harry though of the first name that came to mind.

"Uh…Gilderoy Lockhart." With a pleased smile the witch stepped aside and opened the door for them. Sliding inside they immediately sought Lockhart and found him blessedly asleep in his bed. They made it halfway down the ward of permanent residents before Neville noticed their approach. His grandmother was nowhere to be seen as he sat at the side of his father's bed and nodded to them in greeting.

"Hi."

"Hi Neville."

"Hey."

"You here to visit Percy? I saw him on the way in."

"Uh…yeah. We came with his family. He was just transferred in this morning." Neville nodded slowly at that.

"I heard some of the staff talking earlier…about the Ministry mostly and the patients from there. My gran overheard them and…" He stopped for a moment and Hermione lowered her head a little to see into his eyes. "She started talking about what I had done there and how proud she was…of me. Me." Harry smiled a little at that.

"Told you she was proud."

"Yeah… Thanks Harry. Without your help…" His gaze strayed back to his father who, like his mother, was currently wide awake, but staring at nothing.

"How…how are they?" The corner of his mouth jerked a little in response.

"The same as always. I try to keep some sort of hope that they might recover one day. But…"

"At least you still have them."

"Do I? Physically they're here but…it's like being on the other side of an unbreakable window. They're right there yet, try as I might…I can't reach them. It might have been better if…" He trailed off, but they both knew where that train of thought led. A moment later he looked up. "But you two didn't come here to talk about my parents. You should get back to Percy." Harry glanced over at Hermione and let her continue.

"Actually…we did." He glanced up, surprised. "We were hoping your Grandmother could tell us about…your father. He worked in the Department of Mysteries for a while. Right?" He nodded slowly.

"Yeah. She used to tell me stories about him. He was a great Auror, mum was too. Gran used to tell me all these stories about the both of them and the things they did. I think she was trying to make me into my dad by making him into a hero. He was too. But I'm not him."

"Did…did she ever talk about his work as an Unspeakable?" Neville shook his head slowly, as if double checking his memory as he did so.

"No. He was never allowed to talk about what he did." He frowned for a moment and his head cocked to the side. "Wait…wait a minute…" They did and his eyes slowly refocused. "She did tell me a story once…she was tired and I don't think she remembers cause when I asked about it again, she said she had no idea what I was talking about…" He trailed off and they waited patiently for him to continue.

"The day…the day before…this happened…he said he needed to meet with her, he had something really important to tell her. About his work at the Department of Mysteries. He had found out something about…V…Voldemort she needed to know." They both leaned in, hoping he had unwittingly remembered something important. "Unfortunately, the next time she saw them…they were like this." They both slumped back. "Not much of a story really. Just weird she would pretend it didn't happen."

"Yeah… Thanks Neville."

"Sure. Have a good break. I'll see you back at school."

"Yeah."

"See you later." He nodded as they turned to head back to the door.

"You know…it was weird…" They looked back over their shoulders as he spoke, again staring at his dad. "The first time I tried to use my original wand; it was my dad's you know, was to make a teacup float." Ron and Hermione glanced at each other, not sure where this little trip down memory lane had come from or where it was going.

"Did it work?"

"So to speak." He actually chuckled a little. "It lifted the cup about a foot into the air, only it was encased in some sort of weird light, not at all like a Leviosa spell. After a moment it fell straight to the table and broke. Gran had never seen anything like it. It was weird. She wasn't mad the cup was broke, she was more annoyed that she didn't know what spell I had actually cast." Hermione, ever the curious researcher, was the first to speak.

"Any chance you remember the name…?"

"That's the weirdest part. Somehow…I did know it. Sort of. Musex Aniimo. That's what I remember. I spent some time looking at school, but I could never find it. Probably some useless little thing." After a moment he started at having relayed the story to them. "I'm sorry. Nevermind, see you later." Harry and Hermione nodded together before heading rapidly for the door, heads spinning. Again passing the thankfully still sleeping Lockheart, they slipped back out the entrance and joined the remaining Weasleys.

Only Percy and Ron awaited them as they sat next to the bed. Neither was looking at the other and there seemed to an air of determined indifference. As they sat down, Percy's eyes focused on Harry.

"Harry…thank you. Mum told me what you did. For myself…and my father…thank you."

"You're welcome. You remember what happened?"

"Not really. Minister Scrimgeour was thrown back from his desk and then I leapt up from mine and jumped in front of him. In front of…"

"Voldemort."

"Yeah. Why did I do that? It's suicide."

"You're a Gryffindor. You couldn't do less."

"Maybe… But…why did he let me live?" He turned silent as his head fell to the side, deep in thought. None of them were able to come up with a satisfactory response. They were joined by the others a few minutes later and soon farewells were underway. Percy was to stay a few days just to recover and they would decide where he would go after that. Mrs. Weasley was patently annoyed as they headed down the stairs.

"I can't believe him! He almost gets killed and he wants to go right back to work for Fudge?" No one was foolish enough to say anything as they reached the lobby and apperated away.

Arriving back at Grimmauld place, the quartet broke off and headed immediately to Harry's room where Hermione relayed what had happened in the closed ward. Neither of the others could make heads or tails of it either. After sitting around and throwing out ideas for a few minutes, they eventually gave up.

Hermione again began perusing the copy of the Daily Prophet and Harry looked over the cover. It struck him a moment later how much it looked like the issue right after the Halloween attack. "I wonder if they'll want me, or rather us, to do a Heroes of the Ministry interview this time around?" Hermione folded the paper and tossed it to the side.

"I doubt it. They're not likely to run out of ministry workers any time soon." She glanced around for a moment. "Hey…speaking of that interview…you were going to show us what happened on Halloween. Remember?"

"Oh yeah. Well…no time like the present." Touching the tip of his wand to his temple, he pulled out a rather long strand of memory and dropped it into the pensieve still sitting on the table between them. "After you." One by one they leaned forward and fell in. He joined them a moment later and landed just outside Zonko's, jumping to the side to avoid being run over by himself.

As his memory self took off, they too rose and floated behind him at high speed. While Ginny seemed to be enjoying herself, Hermione instinctively grabbed on tightly to Ron. She never had liked flying.

(A/N): If you feel it is warranted feel free to review. I welcome any and all opinions.