A/N: Not much to say here, just that I'm sorry for the late update(s). Please read and review! Oh, and my dad bought my sister and me a pair of kick-ass Harley Davidson boots today!

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Harry Potter or anything officially related to it, I'm just writing this story for fun.

Warnings: Some language and SLASH in later chapters.

Spoilers: The first four books

( . . .) Godric speaking telepathiclly

' . . .' Harry speaking telepathically

Chapter Eleven: Painful Awakening I know that title sucks.
Pain.

Blinding, suffocating, pain.

Excruciating, searing hot, pain.

Darkness.

Cold, lonely, darkness.

Loud, pulsating, darkness.

The wild beating of a frantic, terrified, heartbeat.

Deep, ragged breathing harsh with panic.

His? Or somebody else's?

He couldn't see, could barely hear, couldn't feel anything beyond the agony flowing through his body. His chest felt tight, like a heavy weight was pressing him into the ground, constricting his breathing to little gasps of anguish. Pain coursed through him, tainting him, covering his insides with rancid slime, boiling his blood to nothingness, tearing holes in his innards, and eroding his bones to brittle sticks of ivory.

His skin crawled, a thousand ants, and shriveled up, peeling and flaking away from deteriorating muscle.

Tiny claws raked along his taut skin, drawing thin, dark red blood to the pale surface, his flesh split as easily as the meat of a rotten melon. Minute teeth pulled at him, small portions of skin clenched tightly between them, deeper and deeper they burrowed and sank into his body, tearing through muscle and fat, until they reached bone, gnawing until it splintered.

Suddenly bright red, the color of an innocent's blood, flashed behind his eyes and a new pain caused his body to spasm. It tore at his guts, like a ravenous carnivore trying desperately to eat its way out of his stomach, and spread through him like acid. His heart struggled to pump the small amount of sluggish, blood that was left in his body slowly through his withered veins. His breath rattled in his husk like lungs, passed his shriveled tongue, and escaped through his cracked, bloodless lips.

"Holy fuck, that hurts."

"Harry, child, can you hear me?"

"Merlin, do you think he'll be alright?"

"Damn it, Snake-Face, what the hell did you do!"

"Oh, calm down, you idiot. If the boy can't survive this then he doesn't deserve to bare my name."

Worried voices, angry voices, and hysterical sobbing was the first thing he became aware of after the pain had lessened to a dull throbbing behind his eyes.

He tried to open his eyes but found he couldn't, it hurt his head too much. He tried to speak but his throat felt scorched, and only a tiny, pained moan came from him.

"Harry?" A voice said to his left. "Can you me?"

Harry tried to answer but still he couldn't. Getting desperate, he went to raise his hand but just the light twitch his index finger made was enough movement to send white-hot fire up his arm and another pathetic groan was heard.

'I can't move!' He thought fearfully.

(Harry, can you hear me now?)

'Godric?' Harry thought with both relief and surprise. 'Godric, that is you isn't? I mean I'm not loosing it am I?'

(Not that I know, kid.) Godric's relived chuckled was heard in his head and some of the pain went away. (How do you feel?)

'My head hurts and I can't move, it hurts too much to move, and my throat is too dry to talk. What happened?'

(That evil man overloaded your head with the Dark Arts and you passed out. I'm telling you now, kid, you were flopping all over the floor, screaming and crying, and we weren't really sure if you would live. Ha, ha, you should have seen Helga's reaction. I thought she was going to tear Salazar to pieces with her bare hands! Ha, ha, ha, it was hilarious!)

'Godric? Godric! This will pass won't it? I mean I'm not stuck like this am I? The pains going to fade, right?'

(Huh? Oh, um, I'm not sure. Let me ask Merlin.)

Godric's voice disappeared from his head and instead Harry heard it to the right of him. "Merlin, Harry wants to know if the pain will pass?"

"Pain! Just how much pain is he in?"

"Be easy, Helga. Tell Harry not to worry, the pain will pass once his brain has absorbed all the new information crowded into his head."

(Hey, Harry-)

'I heard, god that's a relief. Now, how long will it take for me to "absorb" the info?'

"Harry wants to know how long that will take?"

"Um, well, that depends." Merlin's voice was nervous. "It could be over by tonight or, uh, it could take a couple of weeks."

'Weeks!'

(Ouch, Harry! Not so loud.)

'Weeks! I can't be like this for weeks!'

(Don't worry, Harry, I'll take care of you myself if it comes down to that.)

Godric thought that that would cheer the boy up, but instead it had the complete opposite affect on Harry.

'No! For the love of God, Somebody help me! Absorb faster dammit! Why me, God, why!'

(Um, Harry, maybe you should calm down.)

'I'll be good from now on! I won't break any more rules and I'll never lie again!'

(Harry?)

'Oh for the love of all things good in this world, don't make me be at the mercy of Godric for one day let alone WEEKS!'

(Harry!)

"I don't want to die!"

"Um, Harry, are you okay?"

Harry's panicked thoughts ground to a halt at the sound of Rowena's shocked question. Harry opened his eyed and realized that the pain was gone and he was sitting up in a soft bed with his hand buried in his tangled hair, gripping it tightly in fear. The founders and Merlin were all standing on sitting around his bed looking worried.

"Harry-bear, do feel better?" Helga asked softly as though if she asked any louder her voice might damage his ears.

"I feel –" Harry paused and tested out his limbs by wiggling his fingers and toes and flexing his arms. "Fine. I feel fine." A touch of amazement entered his voice.

"Oh, thank God!" Harry suddenly was enveloped in Helga's arms as she crushed him against her chest. "I was so worried, cookie!"

"See, the boy's fine." Salazar snorted from the background.

Helga glared at him and Salazar paled slightly. "What? I knew from the very beginning he would make."

"Oh, really? So, just who was that other black haired, bearded man in green robes earlier? You know the one that was screaming 'This has never happened before!' and 'Oh, dear lord, that wasn't supposed to happen!' all in a really high, girly voice."

Salazar refused to meet anyone's eyes; instead he just sniffed and said. "I haven't the foggiest clue as to whom you are referring to, Godric."

"You were worried?" Harry asked timidly.

Salazar blinked and flushed slightly. "Of course. You are the only heir I have that isn't an evil bastard or an inbred bastard."

"Oh."

Merlin put his hand on Harry's forehead. "So, no more aches and pains? Nothing?"

Harry closed his eyes and did a check of his body. He felt slightly sore, not unlike the way he felt after a hard Quidditch practice, but other then that nothing hurt. However there was a strange, pressure inside his head that while it wasn't painful it was uncomfortable.

"My head feels like it has cotton in it or something, but it doesn't hurt." He replied and Merlin smiled.

"You're just full of surprises. I'm not sure how you did it but took in all that new information in a couple of minutes, something I didn't think was possible. Usually it takes a while for a persons brain to make room for all the new facts being forced into their mind and it can be very, very painful, that's why in the future Mind-Enhancing Potions and Spells will be forbidden to the public."

"The process was so quick because here was nothing in his head to begin with. His brain didn't need to make room because it was empty to begin with."

Godric frowned at him and smacked him upside the head. "Don't be mean, you dick-head."

"Don't listen to him, pet, he's just trying to make up from being embarrassed earlier." Helga whispered to Harry and stroked his hair. "We all love you."

Harry's eyes widened then became shiny with unshed tears. He bowed his head to hide them. "Thank you."

"Now, then," Merlin said briskly and tapped his staff on the floor. "I'm sure the boy is tired and wants to rest, but is too polite to tell us all to get the hell out his room, so I suggest we leave him to regain his strength, besides he has a lot in store for him tomorrow."

Helga tried to protest but she also noticed how haggard Harry looked and soon all of his ancestors had wished him goodnight, and left him snuggling under the thick down comforter covering his bed.

A/N: I know it's short and rather pointless, with a terrible ending, but I was reading my reviews again and just had to update! I know the beginning of the chapter is totally out of place in this story and that's because due to writer's block I took it from one of my original stories and changed it a bit. My original story is about vampires and blood and guts-gore, but I couldn't type anything to show the pain Harry went through without it sucking horrendously - not that it doesn't suck now – but it worked out okay in the end. Sorta.

Thanks to my reviewers!

Guten Tag - Reine