Ch 3
Subduing The Reluctant
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Mrs. Weasley was sitting in the hospital wing kitting one of her famous jumpers and watching over her son and Hermione, when all of a sudden there was a rush of magical power and a great flash of light.
When the light cleared she saw Ron and Hermione slumped over, unconscious, still clasping hands in a circle with Harry. Madam Pomfrey came rushing out demanding to know what happened.
"I have no idea, one minute they're just sitting there holding hands, and then there was a flash of light and they were like that!" Molly sobbed as Pomfrey tried to check on the trio.
"I can't get near them! There is some kind of barrier here."
"I'll go get Bill, he can get through anything!" Molly replied, the motherly pride evident in her voice.
"No Molly, we will not interfere." Dumbledore said as he entered the hospital wing, "They need to finish what they have started."
"But Albus! They could be in serious trouble!"
"If I am right then young Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger have gone to get their friend." Albus stated his trademark twinkle in overdrive.
"What are you talking about, Albus? What was that?"
"The energy signature was the final binding of a friendship bond. The three of them are so close that they, at one point must have sworn to do everything in their power to protect each other and that started the bonding process. If I am right then Ronald and Hermione's desire to help Harry was so strong that it completed the bonding process."
"Why can't we get to them?" Poppy asked.
"The magic of the bond recognizes that a circle is needed for Ron and Hermione to save Harry so it is preventing anything from interfering." Was the wise headmaster's response, "All we can do now is watch over the three of them and hope that they are successful in bringing Harry back to us."
Molly looked over at the three friends, trying to choke back a sob.
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Harry continued to float. That voice had finally gone away and he was free to enjoy the bliss of nothing….. But the nothing was not absolute any more.
Something had intruded upon his sanctuary.
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Ron and Hermione suddenly found themselves in an indescribable blackness, no that's not right it was describable but by one word alone. Nothingness.
"Where are we?" Ron asked thinking 'Should I be feeling nervous or afraid?'
"I don't know, but this place gives me the willies."
"This is The Void," injected a third voice, "A 'waiting room' if you will between life and what comes after."
Ron and Hermione whirled around to see a beautiful red head with very familiar green eyes.
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Remus sat out in the waiting room with the rest of the Weasleys. Watching all of them worry about his cub. But he noticed that one of them seemed to be just as worried as he was. He Moved over and sat beside the youngest Weasley and nudged her with his shoulder. She looked up at him and he could see the tears that were ready to fall.
"Hey now, It's not that bad. We do know that he's alive and that he's healing. We just have to wait for him to wake up."
"I know Remus; it's just that he was so still when I got to him, I thought that he was dead. And I thought I lost him ... I mean I thought we had lost him."
The pink hue that crossed her cheeks as she said that caused him to grin, leaning closer to her he whispered.
"Don't worry too much about it Ginny, I have a feeling that you will get what you need and want before too much longer. We must not give up hope, Harry is strong and we must believe that he will come out of this. Kay?"
Ginny wiped her eyes and nodded at Remus.
He then gave her a hug, which she returned with enthusiasm. Hope shining in her eyes.
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"You're Harry's mum, aren't you?" Hermione asked.
That redhead before them smiled and nodded.
"I would first like to say thank you. You have no idea how much you have done for my baby over the years, or how much it means to me that he has friends like you! And Ronald, Thank your mother for me. She has been a wonderful surrogate mum to Harry.
Now that's out of the way, I don't have much time left. What I have done can be explained by your headmaster, but for now, Harry needs you he is floating in here and sees no reason to return to a life that has been full of pain and little else. If he does not snap out of it and return to the world of the living soon then he will not be able to."
"But what do we do?"
"As long as Harry is awake and unwilling to leave it will be impossible to bring him back so you must do one of two things. Either find a way to render him unconscious, or convince him to go back. All you have to do to go back is form a circle between the three of you, like this." She floated forward and made them hold hands as she took their other hands in her own. "Then focus on the real world, if even one of you does not want to go back it will not work, which is why Harry needs to either be willing or not awake."
Keeping her hands in theirs she looked at each of them. As tears showed in her eyes neither one of them doubted that she was thanking them for loving her son.
"Talk to him. Show him that he has people who love him, show him what he has to live for." Lily started to fade away at this point. "With bringing you here I have finished the task I stayed behind to do. I will now rejoin my husband, tell Harry I love him and both James and I are very proud!" With those final words Lily Potter faded away.
Ron looked over at Hermione to see silent tears running down her cheeks.
"You o.k. Mione?"
"It must have torn her apart inside to know that Harry was growing up without her. Not being there for him, not being able to hug him when he had a nightmare or see him off to Hogwarts…." Hermione was very upset.
Ron did the only thing he could think of, "Come, Mione, you heard what Mrs. Potter said. We need to find Harry, and fast!"
Mione nodded then dried her tears; they had a friend to find.
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It was weird. He wanted to be left alone, right? It was why he was here. He didn't want to go back to that pain filled place because there was nothing there for him, right?
Harry floated, unsure if this was where he wanted to be for the first time since entering the void, his sanctuary. 'What brought about this change?' he thought to himself. He knew. Someone entered his sanctuary. Someone had come to take him away from it.
He could not allow that to happen! He would attack, he would defend, he would…….the intruder……no there were two of them. They felt…….right, this isn't making any sense!
'I need to figure this out' the thought raced through his mind as he floated towards the intruders.
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Ron and Hermione floated as they came up with a plan of action, they were NOT leaving without Harry!
Ron noticed him first. As Harry approached the first thing that Ron noticed was the dead look in his eye. Ron paled as he nudged Hermione and pointed towards Harry.
"What do you want? Who are you? Why do you want to take me away?" Harry asked defensively.
"Harry, we have come to take you to where you belong," Hermione started answering Harry's questions with tears in her eyes, "We are your friends and we love you!"
"You belong with us mate," Ron added, "we're not leaving without you."
Harry looked from one to the other; they could see something warring with the dead look in his eyes. They floated closer.
"I'm not going back."
"Harry we….."
"NO! I am not going BACK!" With that Harry went to leave his two friends behind when all of a sudden he was flooded with a totally new sensation.
It was overpowering, it was terrifying, it was unbelievable, it was………wonderful. It was so much better than the void.
"What is that?"
Ron and Hermione had been able to feel a little of what Harry felt, they were in the void as well after all. They looked at each other then turned back to Harry.
"That is love, Harry. This is how someone on the outside feels about you!" Hermione replied to Harry's question, "Yes there is pain out there, but there is also love."
Harry just looked at her then screamed, "I AM NOT GOING BACK!" Suddenly he griped his head and with a whimper he passed out as a strong glow started to envelop him.
"Well that was handy." Ron stated as they both floated closer to Harry, to take him back to the people who loved him.
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Ginny sat a little apart from the rest of her family. She knew something was happening with Harry, she could feel it. They were losing him. She knew this for a fact, but they had not lost him yet.
She would not let him go without knowing how she felt.
Ginny didn't notice when she started to glow, but her father did. Arthur made to go to his daughter when Dumbledore stopped him. "This needs to happen, Arthur."
"But what is happening, Albus?"
"Your daughter has discovered inside herself a pure and true love. When a witch or wizard finds themselves in possession of such love they often do wondrous and amazing things because of it. Especially if the recipient of the aforementioned emotion is in dire straights of some kind."
The patriarch of the Weasley family looked confused for a moment, and then it hit him like a ton of bricks. (Alright where did that pile of bricks come from?) "You mean Harry, don't you?"
"Yes Arthur I do." Albus twinkled at him over his half moon spectacles and said, "Young Ginny is a remarkably strong woman, gets it from her mother I should think, if any one can help Harry it will be her."
"I couldn't agree more, Albus. I think it is the Prewett blood." Then he looked over at his daughter. The glow was increasing with each passing moment. "I hope your right, Albus. I don't want to lose either one of them."
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Ginny found herself unable to focus on anything else; she didn't want to focus on anything else. Harry was here she just knew it! She visualized a rope with one end in her hand and the other end in Harry's and focused all of her love for him into the rope.
She had no idea what she was doing, but she was not stopping. She would not lose Harry!
A.N. well another chappie! I hope my readers aren't too disappointed! (lol)
I would like to thank A cRaZy FiSh NaMeD kArU (that NAME is crazy man! Lol), Tom Riddle Charlie, Quillian and niem for reviewing. It really makes it easy to want to update as soon as possible when I know that someone is not only reading my story but enjoying it.
Now I have my first question to deal with (woo hoo!) niem, Ginny has admitted her love for Harry to no one but herself. Harry has been to busy training and too focused on fulfilling the prophesy to notice anything of that nature, but rest assured, Ginny's feelings for Harry will be an integral part of the story!