THE BOYS WHO LIVED

Chapter 05: A debt repaid

"So how are they?" a nervous voice asked, and slowly green eyes opened to the world once again to find Harry Potter staring into the eyes of his friends. "Look he is coming to," said a voice one that Harry recognized as his friend Neville. Looking up Neville had his arm in a sling along with several bandages on his head and a long gash on his face. Harry winced as he tried to blink, "Don't do that mate it is not a pleasant feeling," Ron his red headed friend said. Harry then glared at his friend as he looked at himself in the reflection of the television. With the device he realized that he is indeed in a Muggle hospital.

"They placed us here because a lot of Muggles already saw the incident too many to Obliviate," said Neville, "What happened?" Harry asked, "Well since it took you longer to wake we figured that who ever did this to you two…" "Sean did it," said Neville with as much hatred in his voice as ever. "Sean as in Sean McKnight?" asked Hermione and Neville nodded, "Came up behind us and dragged us to this room full of his mates and beat us up," Neville then described the events that happened, "You can tell the police and they can do something about it," Hermione said but already Harry shook his head, "We have no proof," Harry reasoned quietly and they all fell silent, "We should…."

"No Hermione we don't," said Ron, "We don't need to go snooping around a zoo when You-know-who is out there as well," Ron said, "Besides let the Muggles deal with it Granger," Draco said from the sidelines. All of them turned to him, "Who invited you into this conversation Malfoy," snapped Hermione, "Now Herm give him a break he is after all our dorm mate and he was just as worried as us," said Seamus. Hermione flicked him off which was a surprise to both Harry and Ron. "Herm you did not just give Malfoy the finger?" he asked and the girl blushed. Draco lifted an eyebrow in a Snape-like fashion.

Hermione blushed at this statement and they all got a good laugh at the witch. "Well why didn't anyone come and give Harry and Neville some potions?" she asked, "For starters it would seem strange to see two boys suddenly become healed after an ordeal with sharks," replied Draco, "What? You don't think I dealt with Muggles before," he said innocently. "For a pureblood no," Ron said flatly, "Well I have a few times and I may not have liked it but it was a necessary evil," Draco said, "Who is the person that helped us?" asked Neville, "I don't know but she is over there sleeping," said Dean, "We are not allowed to go past the curtains for the nurses said it was not a good idea to disturb the sleep of their most injured patient." "Why what happened to her?" asked Ron, "We don't know but from what I reckoned she was bitten by a shark." Draco replied

As they left Harry and Neville looked at each other from across the room on their beds. Their beds were straight across from each other so both boys could have some fun talking about Quidditch. They also shared some of the adventures from school when the nurse came back in to tell them to go to bed.

THREE DAYS LATER

It was rather late when Harry and Neville woke to find that there are a lot of cards to get well, some flowers and their missing homework assignments. But the thing that startled them the most was the missing person that the doctors have been looking for.

"Are you sure you've seen her?" said one doctor

"I am pretty sure I saw her go into this room?" said another as they searched everywhere for the missing person.

"It is impossible for someone to recover from a shark attack that quickly!" said a nurse, "I mean think of all the possibilities to modern science!" she said as she continued to look around. After much talking the nurses left with the doctor and Harry and Neville turned to each other, "What was that all about?" Neville asked and Harry shrugged. He then turned and found the bed that had their third occupant empty.

TWO DAYS LATER 11:42 P.M.

It was well into the night when Harry was awoken to some strange feeling of wrongness. That same feeling came when he heard a click and was now at gunpoint along with Neville. The poor boy looked terrified as the object clicked into place. "You know what this is don't you?" said a voice and Harry looked up to see a gun in his face. "Yeah I remember; you threw us into a shark tank!" Harry hissed at him. "Yeah and I see you're still alive," said Sean McKnight as he walked towards him from behind his friend's back. The said friend was the one who held Harry at gun point. Harry was still as the gun came closer, "I think splattered brains suit him fine eh boss?" said the boy and Sean smirked. "Yeah it does," Sean replied and the boy was about to pull the trigger when suddenly.

"My hand!" he shouted when they all looked indeed his hand or where he hand was is nothing but a squirting stub. Harry sat there shocked that something like this could happen so fast. At first he thought that he had cast a spell but soon discovered that Neville had the same look. Turning Harry looked at the wall to find a very cleanly cut hand on the ground.

Hospital Security ran into the room as the boy held his hand still screaming before he fell to the floor with shock. "Shoot him!" Sean yelled and the second boy stood to shoot Neville but felt the same effect only this time it was his whole arm. Darkness was clearly evident in the room as the next person was heard by a sickening crack and a gurgling noise sounding like someone drowning.

It was then that security managed held up their guns. "FREEZE!" the one in the lead shouted and the last few boys wanted to bolt and ran towards the window only to find it blocked.

Harry and Neville both covered in blood stood as pale as ghosts as they looked at the very being sitting there on the window sill. Dark hair flailing wildly in the wind and eyes full of a deep dark inner fire as ferocious as that of a wild animal's and dressed in only a hospital gown with the dark mark showing clearly on her forearm was none other then Hakkai Hunter. Her dark eagle eyes penetrated those of Sean's as he backed away; "Stay away from me you psycho!" he shouted and started to bolt for the door while the nurses rushed in to help the boys on the ground. Before Sean could get past security Kai was on him in two seconds pinning him to the ground.

Sean screamed as Kai gripped his shoulders in spots the clearly would cause a normal person to scream. Scream he did like a girl would Sean could not move. "Get off of him!" said one of the police officers, "What the fuck do you want!" Sean shouted at Hakkai but the girl's grip was like a vise as she squeezed harder and she whispered something to them. Harry being the closest heard it very clear, "tell them!" she hissed her voice raspy as if not being in use for a long time.

Sean was sweating still by the time he shouted his confession but it was due to the fact that Hakkai held him in places that were very painful. Her fingernails were pressed so hard into him that they drew blood. Harry could barely make out the appearance of claws under them. "I did it! I tried to kill them! I put them in the shark tank!" he shouted, "I only was looking for some fun!" he said as the police pulled him away.

The open window let in a fresh cold autumn breeze as Hakkai's hair flowed with it. Her piercing gaze and bloodied gown flowed with it and slowly she stepped out the door with the doctors to do some examinations.

Both Harry and Neville looked at each other before either began to speak. "Did you see that?" they both said at the same time.

THREE DAYS LATER

Harry and Neville were moved to another room and to their surprise was the same room as Kai. She sat in her bed with note book in her hand and writing something down while humming a song to herself and seemed to click at something in the air before writing more. Her mind was whirling and the scratching of her pencil on paper was all Harry needed to know what she is up to. She looked almost like Hermione with her pencil and her tongue sticking out deep in though. Her wild dark hair flowing down as she wrote the notes to a song she either made up or she got from somewhere else.

"I see your up," said Kai her American Accent clearly sounding. Harry and Neville jumped to the sound of it. It was raspy as if never used in a long time and kind rough it fit her personality well. They looked at her while she finished writing something and put the notebook down to stare at them. "Why are you here?" asked Neville and without saying anything more Kai lifted her gown and the boys blushed and hid away. "It is ok to look nothing crucial is out," she said amused and they slowly turned bright red at the fact but all the red was replaced by white when they saw her side.

The right side of Kai was white with gauze that still showed a bit of red for blood. The dark mark shown brightly on her skin but they ignored it. The gauze was large and when they looked closer they could see large stitching as if someone sowed her back together. It was a gruesome sight but she put the gown back down and they sat back on the bed stunned.

"It was you who saved them!" said a voice and the group turned to find Ron, Dean, Seamus and Draco out the door, "Hermione wishes you well guys but she couldn't be here today." Ron said as they brought in some sweets and things from the dorms. "How much did you hear?" Kai said her eyes narrowed, "not much only the part of the shark tank," Ron replied for the group. Kai's keen eyes stared at Draco piercing him and making him uneasy.

Draco turned pale, "I can smell fear on you," she said looking at Draco, Dean and Seamus turned to look at the Slytherin, "And I can smell blood," she said and the others now turned to Draco. Draco winced as he walked holding his arm. "Why are you holding your arm?" asked Dean and Draco looked down to the floor. "You've been marked haven't you?" asked Harry and Draco started to back away towards the door. Just as he turned around he found himself at wand point.

Hermione stepped in and closed the door locking it and walked in. "Neville put a locking charm on the door I don't want anyone to hear this," she said her voice firm. "What are you doing here Herm?" asked Ron, "I got out of studying early," Hermione replied as she walked further in and Draco found himself tripping on the ground and fell backwards landing on his rear. "Now then Malfoy I heard those friends of yours mentioning it so I had to see for myself if it was true. Well come my surprise when I walk in and find you trying to run," she said and Draco tried to run again but Ron held him and threw him into the seat.

When Draco fell into the seat Hermione cast a binding charm on him and then produced a vial. "Know what this is?" she said and Draco's face went chalk white but nodded, "Good because you are going to take it unless you want to talk," she growled and Draco tried to move as Hermione put three drops of the truth serum down his throat. Draco's eyes began to water but they soon fogged as he appeared to be in a dreamlike state.

"What is your name?" Hermione asked, "Draco Lucius Malfoy," he said and Hermione nodded, "Good, now tell me do you have the dark mark?" she asked, "Yes," he said, "Since when?" she asked again, "Since this summer when my father was thrown into Azkaban," Draco replied. "Why did Kai say she smelled fear on you?" Hermione asked, "I was just given a mission this summer by the dark lord," Draco replied, "What is the mission," Hermione pressed, "The mission is that I have to kill Dumbledore," he said and this time he had tears coming out of his fogged eyes, "Do you want to do it?" Harry asked, "No," Draco replied, "Why did Voldemort tell you to do this?" Harry asked, "He says that because my father failed to do the task he was assigned last year I have to do it or else he would kill my family," Draco said, "Kill your family?" asked Neville, "I have to do it or he will kill them all," Draco replied, "And if you don't?" Hermione asked, "Not only will my family and I die but Professor Snape as well," said Draco and the room fell silent, "What does Snape have to do with this?" Harry asked, "Snape made and unbreakable vow with my mother that if I don't do this task; then he will have to do it or die," now it was clear that Draco was crying. "Does this Snape person want to do the task assigned to him?" asked an unfamiliar voice and Draco replied, "No," "Why doesn't he want to kill this Dumbledore?" was the next question, "Because Dumbledore saved him from a lifetime in Azkaban and treated him like the family he never had."

Draco stood there under the truth serum as Hakkai walked slowly up to them her side still hurting but she showed strength that no one could muster given her circumstance. Standing beside Draco she slowly put her hand on his shoulder, "So this Snape is he also marked?" she asked, "Yes," Was the reply, "Is he as horrible as the one called Voldemort?" asked Hakkai and Draco replied, "No he is only a teacher," said Draco and Hakkai nodded before making her way back to bed. Her face was sweating as the last of her strength ebbed from her and she returned to bed. As soon as the interrogation is over Hermione administered the antidote and Draco only glared at them before turning away. "So what are you going to do about it Potter gloat?" Draco demanded but Harry shook his head, "Gloating is never my nature," he said and this time the other Gryffindors nodded.

"The thing that surprised me is why Hakkai joined in as well," asked Dean as they turned to the now sleeping figure and Hermione walked up to her, "Well she can't know of this event," Hermione said, "After all she is only a Muggle," she said and this time the others looked at her with strange looks. "A Muggle? Hermione Hakkai grows claws on her fingers and you just called her a Muggle," Seamus seemed to say, "Well she obviously can't perform magic, or at least any known spells," she said, "But how are we going to deal with her?" Harry asked and it was then that Draco seemed to have calmed down a lot. "let her in," he said between sobs, "After all she knows and probably understood some how anyways." He said and Hermione sniffed before she pulled out her wand, "Well just in case, Obliviate!" she called and a stream of white light emerged from her wand and hit Hakkai.

Everyone gasped as the spell seemed to be absorbed by some kind of field. Hermione gasped as did the rest of the group. The spell was cast again with the same results. "A protection spell?" asked Dean coming in closer, "Don't get too close Dean," Harry warned and Dean stopped in his tracks. "That happened when I tried to see what she was drawing and she gave me that back hand," Harry said and the others nodded remembering the incident earlier in the year. "Ok forget the memory charm how will we get Hakkai to remain quiet?" asked Hermione, "We just tell her the truth," Draco said voicing his opinion, "After all she did save Potter and Longbottom along with speaking to snakes I think she just about qualifies as a witch," he says, "Then why isn't she in a magical school?" asked Hermione, "Maybe she wasn't enrolled in one because she is dangerous?" asked Ron, "Weasley you idiot anyone is able to participate in order to learn how to control their powers. In my opinion Hunter moved around a lot so the schools have a hard time tracking her," he said and the others seemed to nod at this.

"Well at any rate Hakkai is not getting up any time soon she exhausted herself by just questioning Malfoy," Seamus said, "Yeah but why did she do what she did?" asked Seamus, "Well she told us already it was her way of repaying a debt," Harry replied.

TBC