Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns Harry Potter and friends.

A/N: I wanted to put the explanation of what happened between Harry and Voldemort in this chapter, but that has been pushed back into the next chapter. Oh, well. That just means that at least there will be another chapter or two before the end. Thanks to my reviewers.


Harry had been in the Hospital Wing unconscious for three days. His vitals had improved, but he still hadn't woken up. Sirius was currently sleeping in his dog form at the foot of Harry's bed while Dumbledore was sitting in a chair beside the bed answering the many letters he had received. Madame Pomfrey would check on Harry every now and then, and Snape was busy making potions to help Harry heal.

Harry slowly fought his way to consciousness. His eyes cracked open as he blinked them a few times to clear his vision. Harry gradually raised his head off the pillow in order to look around and figure out where he was. He was able to watch Sirius and Dumbledore unobserved for a few minutes. They hadn't realized that Harry had finally awoken. When Harry tried to pull his body up with his weak arms, he caught the attention of the Headmaster and Sirius.

Sirius's head quickly jerked up when he felt the bed covers being pulled out from under his body. He gazed at Harry for a moment before jumping out of bed and changing into a human while in midair. Sirius rushed over to Harry's side and grabbed him in a bone crushing hug. Harry allowed his head to be buried in Sirius's shoulder as he wrapped his arms around his godfather.

Once Dumbledore had noticed that Harry was awake, he moved the letters that he had been working on over to the table. The twinkle that had been absent in his eyes for the past few days had finally returned. He had to patiently wait his turn to greet Harry as Sirius didn't seem to want to let Harry go any time soon.

After sitting silently for a while, Dumbledore decided to speak up. "Sirius, you might want to let Harry breathe for a little bit."

Sirius looked up horrified and quickly backed up. "I'm so sorry, Harry. Did I hurt you? I was just so happy to know that you were awake. We have been so worried about you…"

A small smile spread on Harry's face. Harry's voice was a little hoarse when he responded. "Don't worry about it. You didn't hurt me, Sirius."

Dumbledore came over and gently gave Harry a hug. Once he had pulled back, he poured Harry a glass of cold water. Harry greedily slurped down the refreshing drink as it helped to soothe his throat. He handed the glass back to the Headmaster after he had finished drinking and slumped back on the pillows with a sigh.

"How did I end up here? The last thing that I remember is that we were stuck in Voldemort's lair with no way out and the Order members couldn't get in." Harry paused for a moment before his eyes grew wide in remembrance. "How did I manage to survive the Killing Curse again? That shouldn't have been possible."

Dumbledore and Sirius exchanged a quick glance before Dumbledore started to speak. "I know that you have a lot of questions, but I think that all of this should wait for a little while. Madam Pomfrey is going to want to examine you now that you are awake, and you should probably go to sleep soon."

"But I don't want to go to sleep. I just woke up," Harry argued.

"Harry, you've been in a coma-like state for a few days now. You need to rest. I promise that I will explain everything to you later," Dumbledore replied.

Their conversation was cut short when Madam Pomfrey walked into the ward. She was looking at Harry's chart as she was walking down the aisle towards Harry, so she didn't notice that her patient was sitting up and awake.

"I think that Harry should wake up pretty soon. His heart rate is steady and strong, and he is looking a lot healthier than before…"

She stopped talking once she looked up and noticed that Harry was looking at her amusedly. She jumped a little in surprise and gasped out loud before picking up the chart that she had dropped and then rushing over to Harry's bedside. Madam Pomfrey began quickly running her wand over Harry's body and reading the data that was being magically added to the chart.

"You should have alerted me as soon as he woke up," Madam Pomfrey sternly told Sirius and Dumbledore. "How can I take care of my patients if I don't know everything that is going on with them?"

Madam Pomfrey's voice softened as she looked at Harry. "I'm glad that you are awake now, Mr. Potter. You are healing very nicely. You will have to stay here for a few more days, however, just so that I can observe you and make sure that you have a full recovery."

Harry rolled his eyes at that statement and gave a loud exaggerated sigh. Sirius and Dumbledore laughed at Harry's antics while Madam Pomfrey couldn't help but smile a bit.

Madam Pomfrey went over to one of the cabinets and pulled out several vials filled with colorful potions. She floated them over to a table beside Harry's bed. She managed to catch the disgusted look that Harry made once he saw how many potions he would have to take. The stern face was back as she handed the first vial to Harry.

"You can make all of the faces that you want, but you have to take every single one of these potions, Mr. Potter."

After Harry had taken the last potion, his eyes drooped closed and the vial slipped from his fingers. Dumbledore was quick to catch the vial as Sirius settled Harry back into a reclining position while tucking the covers tightly around him.

Madam Pomfrey collected the empty vials and took them over to the sink. Once she had accomplished that task, she walked back into her office and shut the door. Dumbledore smoothed the hair away from Harry's forehead before looking over at Sirius.

"I'm going to go tell Severus that Harry has finally woken up. I don't think that he wants anyone to see it, but he's been worried about Harry too. We could probably all use some rest after all of this," Dumbledore said before walking out the door.

Sirius sat down in the chair that the Headmaster had vacated. He stared at Harry as if he couldn't believe what had happened in the past hour. He was afraid that if he went to sleep everything would turn out to have been a dream. Sirius grabbed one of Harry's hands in his own before slowly closing his eyes and allowing sleep to claim him once more.


Harry loved his godfather, but he was afraid that he would go crazy from having Sirius hovering over him all of the time. Whenever Harry had wanted to get up and go to the bathroom earlier, Sirius had wanted to pick him up and carry him to the bathroom. Harry had argued that he had to get up and move around at some point in time. Sirius would have kept arguing with Harry about the topic except for the fact that Harry ignored his godfather's protests while beginning to climb out of the bed. Sirius had been instantly by his side trying to decide whether he should allow Harry to try to walk by himself or give him a helping hand. Sirius finally decided to just follow Harry and give assistance when needed. Fortunately for Harry, he had been able to make it across the room by only needing his godfather's help twice.

Harry had already consumed a light lunch and taken a short nap. He was beginning to tire of being in the Hospital Wing. Sirius was trying to keep Harry entertained by telling him stories from his Marauder days at Hogwarts and the pranks that they had played on everyone. Harry enjoyed hearing stories about his father, and his stomach was beginning to hurt from laughing so much at everything his godfather was telling him.

When Harry began to have a little trouble breathing after hearing so many stories, Sirius immediately stopped talking and hurried over to Harry's side. Harry had to take deep breaths in order to calm himself down.

"Harry, are you okay? I didn't mean for this to happen. I just wanted to..."

Harry tried to tell Sirius that he was okay, but Sirius didn't seem to be listening. Snape had entered the room with a box of freshly brewed potions while Sirius was apologizing to Harry. Harry threw a pleading look at the Potions Master. Snape seemed to understand what Harry wanted because he gave him a slight nod.

"Black, why don't you make yourself useful and go find something for Potter to do? I'm sure that he doesn't want to hear your incessant prattle all day. Why don't you go to the library and find him something to read?"

Sirius turned to Snape and gave him a dark look. Sirius was about to argue with Snape, but Harry intervened.

"He's right, Sirius," Harry said. He quickly continued speaking at Sirius's hurt look. "Not about me not wanting to listen to you talk, but about you finding me a book to read. I can read while you take a break. You've been very helpful to me all day, but I'm sure that you need to rest a bit. Please do this for me, Sirius."

Sirius finally relented when he heard Harry pleading. "Okay, but I'll be back as soon as I can."

Once Sirius had left, Harry turned to Snape. "Thanks for helping me, Professor. I love Sirius, but his constant hovering was starting to get on my nerves."

"Your welcome, Potter," Snape replied.

Snape went over to the potions cabinet and began emptying the contents of his box into it. The Hospital Wing was quiet as Snape and Harry stayed silent for a few minutes. When Snape had finished his task, he walked over to Harry's bed and stood scrutinizing Harry's appearance. Harry felt a little bit uncomfortable having Snape staring at him, but he figured that this was the first time that the man had seen him since he was awake.

"Are you in any pain?" Snape suddenly questioned. "There are some potions that I just brought up that could help you if you are."

"I feel fine. I've been a little more tired than I usually am, but other than that, I'm okay."

"That's good," answered Snape.

"I've been meaning to ask. How are you feeling? You were in a lot of pain while we were held captive," Harry said.

"It wasn't anything that a few potions couldn't fix."

Harry hesitated before asking the question that he had been wondering about since he woke up. He finally decided that he needed to know even though he was afraid of what the answer might be. "Professor, what happened to Voldemort?"

Snape looked carefully at Harry as he answered. "You defeated him. He will not be coming back this time."

Harry's mouth fell open at the news. He could feel a few tears of happiness welling up in his eyes, but he refused to allow them to fall. Voldemort would never be able to ruin his life again. He didn't have to worry any more about when Voldemort might try to attack him.

"How did that happen?" Harry finally questioned.

"I believe that Albus wants to be the one to explain everything to you. He said that he will meet with you tonight if you feel up to it," Snape responded.

"Would you just answer one thing for me, please? How do you know that he won't be able to come back again? He was able to return before when most everyone thought that he was gone for good."

Wordlessly, Snape rolled up the sleeve of his left arm. Harry gazed astonished at the smooth clear skin. The Dark Mark was not there.

"When he vanished the first time, the Mark became very dim; however, if you looked really closely at it, you would be able to tell where it was. I was always aware that he would come back because I could faintly still feel his evil. All of that is gone now," replied Snape.

Harry and Snape looked at each other in understanding. Both had been marked by Voldemort, so they knew a little bit about what the other person was going through.

Snape gazed over at the door. "I need to return to my dungeons now. I don't want to be here when the mutt finally returns."

"Thanks for everything, Professor."

Snape nodded in acknowledgement before heading out the door.