Harry kept to his promise and did not leave Minerva's side unless Poppy was treating his wounds, to which she insisted would only be happening when he laid down on the bed next to Minerva's, which now was his as he absolutely wouldn't move further away from her. Luckily the only wounds left to treat for Poppy were the burns on his arm and side, and because they were also healing fine, Poppy had been able to remove the bandages so that the regrowing skin was now on display.
After his latest examination from Poppy, Harry was now sitting at Minerva's bedside and held her hand in his for five hours straight. He had rarely felt so relieved than how he did at the moment. Just sitting here holding her hand helped him to fight the feeling that he was to blame Minerva had been hurt. But the peace was suddenly disturbed when the doors to the Hospital Wing flew open, and Aurora stood in the doorway. She paused for a moment before she hurried towards him.
"What in Merlin's name happened? You said you would protect her! She trusted you!" the Astronomy Professor said angrily and only came to a halt when she stood directly in front of Harry, glaring down at him.
"Believe me, you are not half as mad at me as you should be and not even nearly as mad as I am at myself," Harry answered calmly. This seemed to tame the woman in front of him a little as she sunk down on the mattress beside Minerva and carefully stroked over her friend's cheek.
"What happened?" she asked once again, but this time calmer.
"I was attacked by a Death Eater who arrived late. I have no idea how he knew I was there or if he just saw a fox and wanted to kill it. I could duck his Killing Curse and turn back, then we both fired a curse, and they met. I was flung against a tree and lost consciousness while he was killed. The moment I regained consciousness and saw what they were doing- I went to get Minerva out of there. I swear Aurora, when I saw what they did I...I showed no mercy." They both were quiet for a while, Harry felt terrible that he had to lie to the Astronomy Professor he came to like, but there was no way he could tell her the truth.
"I'm glad you are okay, and I know you did everything in your power to save her. It's just...I never expected anything to go wrong, at least not this much. I know that was naive, but..." the witch trailed off and looked at Harry, who nodded slowly.
"Neither did I," Harry answered her quietly, and once again, there was silence between them. In his thoughts, Harry tried to find a way to ask the question that was burning inside him since he regained consciousness but hadn't dared to ask anyone but Aurora. "Did they rape her?" Aurora shuddered but quickly shook her head.
"No, they examined her but at least that they didn't do to her," she answered, and Harry released the breath he had unknowingly held and looked visibly calmer than before. He had feared for the worst when he saw her lying before him in the Manor, but to know they hadn't forced themselves upon her was another great relief.
"We spread the rumour the two of you were meeting up with old school friends, a small reunion if you want to call it that, and that you were attacked on the way."
"Okay, sounds convincing enough. Who's been teaching the last three days?" the wizard asked and looked up at his friend.
"Dumbledore has been teaching Transfiguration, and I took over your DADA."
"Well, it seems like I'll have to start all over again," Harry said, not able to keep himself from teasing her. Knowing full well what he was doing, Aurora grinned and flipped him off.
"You wish shitty glasses I taught them more in three days than you did in two months."
"Sure you did," Harry mumbled sarcastically, neither of them would admit it, but they were glad they had each other at the moment. The two spend the rest of the day at Minerva's bedside; only Poppy would come by to make sure both her patients were doing fine. In the afternoon, a Healer from St. Mungos arrived to help Poppy get Minerva's procedure done, which consisted of a lot of complex spell casting. Harry and even Aurora only left the bedside of Minerva reluctantly. The only thing that made them do it was so the other two could perform the spells properly and help Minerva.
Then in the evening, when Aurora was gone, and Harry had been forced to lay down as well, the doors to the Hospital Wing opened once again, and James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, Lily and Marlene walked inside. In an instant, Madam Pomfrey walked out of her office and up to the students.
"No, no, no! No visitors! You can turn right around and leave the-" the nurse started to say when Harry lifted his uninjured arm.
"Please, Poppy, it's alright, just for a few minutes."
"But I have strict orders from the headmaster that I should not allow any visitors besides the other Professors!"
"They are a one-time exception to this," Harry said and left no room for arguments, huffing and muttering under her breath, she left the Hospital room towards her office. One the way, she sends the half-open curtains of Minerva's bed to close around it so she was not to be seen by the visitors. Once she was back inside her office, Harry's attention was back on the six students, who looked shocked at the sight of the still fresh pink skin on his shoulder, side and left arm.
"Merlin's beard Harry are you alright? What happened?" James asked, approaching his bed.
"Yeah, I'm alright again, thanks to our dear Madam Pomfrey and a healer from St Mungos… as to what happened, I'm sure you already heard," Harry told them and gave them a small smile.
"Well, the most likely story we heard was that you and Professor McGonagall went to visit school friends of yours and attacked. But you can never be sure. More than fifty rumours are going around as to what happened to you. One was sure you were trying to fight You Know Who on your own, and someone else swore you tried to rob Gringotts." Sirius answered the man in front of him.
Harry rolled his eyes, "To have the imagination of a teenager...but you were right, we were on our way to visit some friends we went to Hogwarts with when around a dozen Death Eaters attacked us. They had the moment of surprise on their side and outnumbered us...you can see the results." Harry said grimly and looked at the six, who looked really taken aback. The heads of Lily and Marlene turned to their left to the closed curtains of Minerva's bed.
"What about Professor McGonagall?" Lily asked, worried, "Nobody would tell us how the two of you were doing." Harry hesitated for a moment, unsure of whether or not to tell them.
"If I hear that you told one soul, I will make sure the rest of your last school year and exams are hell." knowing he wasn't joking, they all nodded. "They kept me under a body bind curse and tortured her the with Crucio while I had to watch," he said, and the hands of his future mother and her friend flew to their mouths in shock as both their eyes filled with tears. The other four simply looked like they couldn't or didn't want to believe what he had said.
"Oh Merlin, no...but... she'll get better or not?" Marlene asked, and all of them held their breath as Harry nodded.
"A little longer, and there would have been nothing the healers could've done, she hasn't woken up yet, but she'll recover," he answered her, and all of them were more than glad to hear that despite what their Head of House had gone through, she was going to be okay.
"If I get those dirty pureblood fuckers in my hands, I-" Sirius paused to think of an adequate thing to do, but Harry spoke up before he could continue.
"You might want to finish your education first. This is war, not a school duel, nobody plays by the rules, or do you think Professor McGonagall and I were easy targets?" all of them shook their heads. "Good, then give your best while you're here, study as hard as you can so you can defend yourself and the ones you love."
"We understand that Professor, but we want to fight against them for our freedom, our friends who already lost their lives or fled and are hiding only because they have no place in their ideology, for a world where children can grow up without the fear and horror of a war," Lupin said seriously. Knowing they would find a way to join the Order as well, Harry thought about it.
"Alright, you're sure about this?" he asked, and all of them nodded immediately, with Peter being the only exception. "Okay, as often as you and I can, I will give you special duelling lessons so that, if you still choose to fight when you leave the school, you can defend yourselves."
"Really?" Remus asked, and he nodded.
"That's awesome!" Sirius said, and a small smile appeared on his face.
"Well, now that we have discussed this, I'd be happy to rest now; regrowing skin isn't as pleasant or fun as it might sound." the six nodded, and all said their goodbye and left, only James stayed a moment longer.
"Did you make them pay for what they did to her?" he asked and couldn't help but shiver when he saw the cold look in his cousin's eyes a moment later.
"Each and every one of them," Harry growled, and with that, James also left. Harry slowly got up from the bed, using the opportunity that Poppy wasn't near to fuss about him to sit with Minerva once more. He sat down on his chair and took her hand back in his, letting his thump stroke lazily over her knuckles.
"I hope you wake up soon. I miss you, I miss talking to you and the way your eyes start to shine when you talk about Transfiguration, how fierce you get over the Quidditch Games. I never felt this lost before. I need you by my side...please wake up Minerva." he whispers to her, still unconscious form, which remained the same until Poppy found him an hour later and forced him into bed.
But to the nurse's annoyance, Harry spent the whole next day exactly like the day before, by Minerva's side. As the only thing left to heal was his skin, not even Poppy was able to find an excuse as to why he couldn't spend his day like this, so eventually, she gave up and left him alone. Only Aurora and a few other teachers stopped by during this day, but none of the others stayed too long except the Astronomy Professor.
In the evening, Harry was still sitting next to Minerva, his feet resting on another chair, while reading the new edition of Transfiguration Today to her, as Albus walked inside the Hospital Wing.
"Good evening Harry, how are you doing?" the Headmaster asked, and Harry sat up straight and laid the Magazine on Minerva's nightstand.
"Okay, Poppy said I'm good to leave tomorrow, though I'll have to put some cream on my new skin. I'd feel a lot better if Minerva would wake up...I know she needs time, and I would give her all the times she needed, but the thought that she believes I let her down is unbearable for me." Harry told him.
"I understand, and I wish I could do something to ease your pain, but I think that any words of mine won't help." Harry only nodded in response.
"Is there a reason for your visit?" he then asked, "I mean, besides seeing for yourself how we're doing."
Dumbledore put a few privacy charms around them and then sat down next to Harry. "Yes indeed, yesterday I was visiting Mr Chronos in the Ministry, at least I tried to, sadly he got notice of my visit and, and I have no other word for it, fled. We haven't found him yet, but as soon as we do, he might be able to give us the answers we, most importantly you, need." the older wizard finished, and Harry's hands had formed into tight fists as anger spread in his body upon hearing what Dumbledore said.
"He is lucky that I'm not searching for him myself. I don't know if I was capable of holding myself back, knowing I speak to the man who could be responsible for almost killing Minerva." he hissed.
"Indeed, I think he and his partner back in your time had something to do with it. He probably knew it would affect you in some way. So when I came to talk to him, he knew it wouldn't be good, so he went into hiding."
"Probably...but I just remembered something, when I arrived here, the door they used to get me back in time was destroyed, what if this caused me to get stuck between times?"
"It sounds reasonable, but like I said, there are too many possibilities. We have to find Chronos to know what exactly happened to you and what consequences we have to expect. My concern is that maybe this can happen more often, or worse that-"
"That I'm pulled back into my old time." Harry finished for him. He had thought of something like this since he woke up, he had tried to push these thoughts away, but a part of Harry wouldn't let him as it was the reason their Mission had been a disaster. What if these things would happen more often, what if it was going to be harder to get back with each time, what if he would end up back in his old time forced to leave his life behind again, or even worse, what if he got stuck between times?
"Yes, but until we find Chronos, we can only speculate. We will find a solution, Harry." Albus told him, and Harry sighed.
"I hope you're right, Albus." his eyes wandered back to Minerva "the mere thought of leaving her forever is unbearable for me."
"We'll do everything to keep that from happening, Harry." the Headmaster said and then looked at his watch. "I'm afraid I have to go. I just wanted to let you know about Chronos."
"Alright, thank you, Albus," Harry said, and with a final nod, the Headmaster lifted the charms around them and left. Harry sat closer to Minerva and took her hand in his, unconsciously his thump drew a lazy pattern on the back of her hand while he looked out the window, thinking about everything Dumbledore had told him.
Suddenly the unresponsive finger he held in his slightly moved and closed around his own. Surprised, Harry looked at the hand and then to Minerva's face. To his even greater surprise, she looked at him through half-lidded eyes.
"Harry..." Minerva said in a hoarse whisper before her voice gave away, not used to function after days of not speaking one word.
"Oh, thank Merlin, you're awake. How are you feeling? Do you want me to go and get Poppy?" Harry asked, sliding closer to her.
"Water." she managed to croak out, and Harry quickly filled a cup on her nightstand and then helped her drink in slow sips.
"Better?" Minerva nodded, "Do you want me to get Poppy?" he asked once more, but Minerva shook her head. Harry shifted even closer to her and brought her hand to his face to press a light kiss on it.
"I'm so glad you woke up again. I was so worried about you," he said, and Minerva gave him a weak smile, but it disappeared after a short moment.
"What happened? She asked him and Harry hesitated for a second, "What do you remember?" Minerva was quiet for a moment and then paled as she searched her memory. Her hold on Harry's hand tightened, and her eyes got a faraway look as she stared out the opposite windows.
"I was in the manor...they caught me, and Avery tortured me, they wanted to know what I heard...then there are just bits and pieces," she closed her eyes, and her left came to lay on her cleavage and neck and felt the skin.
"T-there was a werewolf, he-he found me-" Minervas breathing went faster, she vaguely remembered how Avery undressed her and in the next moment there was a monstrous man on top of her, she felt claws against her skin, calloused hands on her breasts and a hot breath on her neck.
Seeing her panicking, Harry didn't know what to do to calm her down, so he laid his hand against her cheek and gently shook it. "Minerva! Minerva, calm down please, you are safe-" her eyes flew open, and for a second, Harry was taken aback by the fear in her beautiful sapphire green eyes. Minerva's grip on his hand tightened so much like her life depends on it, and she would be back with her tormentors if she let go.
"Did- did they rape me?" she asked in a fearful whisper, and tears threatened to fall down her face. It broke Harry's heart to see her this way, his strong, fierce, independent Lioness.
"No, they didn't, I swear they didn't." hearing this and knowing he would never lie to her, Minerva visibly calmed down. Taking a deep breath, she nodded, then after a while, she faced him again, but the fear had made room for concern.
"What happened to you? I thought they had murdered you..." her eyes dropped to his left arm, where the skin still looked fresh and new. Harry swallowed the lump in his throat; should he tell her? But this wasn't the right moment, was it? Minerva had been through so much. He couldn't tell her the truth now, she had just woken up from a days-long unconsciousness after being tortured. What if it was too much for her? The absence of Minerva had been so painful and nearly unbearable for him. If there was such a great chance for her to leave him, then Harry couldn't tell her. He just had to have, if only, a few more days with her.
"I-I don't know if you can ever forgive me for breaking my promise to come and get you. I'm not even sure I want to forgive myself." he paused, his conscience trying one more time to persuade him to tell the truth.
"One of the Death Eaters arrived late. I don't even know if he knew I was there or if he only saw a fox and wanted to kill it. I was able to duck his Killing Curse and managed to turn back in time to fire a spell. He did the same, and our spells collided. He was killed while I was flung against a tree and lost my consciousness." Harry told her and then looked at her. Now he wasn't lying, so he could do so without fearing he his guilty conscience would make him tell her the truth.
"When I woke up and saw what happened, what they did to you, I swear I showed no mercy to them! I did everything to get you out of there," he raised his left a little, "One of them managed to get a blasting curse near me; it burned my arm a little, but nothing Poppy couldn't fix." he said.
"You fought against over more than a dozen Death Eaters alone?" Minerva asked, startled.
"Of course I did. I had to get you out of there. For you, I would do it again without hesitating Minerva." Harry murmured and then laid his forehead against hers," For a moment, I feared I had lost you." Minerva laid her free hand on his scarred right cheek, and this gesture was both painful and wonderful at the same time.
"I thought so too when you didn't come, I was so scared. The thought that you were dead or deadly injured was worse than the torture for me." Minerva whispered back and then laid her lips on his for a loving kiss. Harry had missed her lips and Minerva herself so much that he was able to ignore the guilt inside of him that had started to eat its way through his body like acid.
Just this little kiss was able to make it all go away. When they parted, Harry got up and laid down next to her on the bed. They continued to share little kisses and just enjoy each other's company after being parted from each other for five days; Minerva laid her head on his chest close to his right shoulder and savoured his warmth.
"What did they tell the students and other staff what happened?" Minerva asked quietly.
"That we went to visit friends from Hogwarts and got attacked on the way, but there are around fifty different rumours about what happened to us. According to Sirius, one kid even spread the rumour we tried to rob Gringotts."
Minerva gave a short huff of a laugh and shook her head, "To have the imagination of a child once again." she mumbled, and Harry couldn't help but chuckle. "What?"
"That was exactly what I told him," he answered her and pressed his lips on her forehead.
"We're not so different after all." at this moment, Minerva's stomach rumbled loudly, and Harry remembered that she hadn't eaten anything in the last few days. He knew from experience that nutrition potions gave the body what it needed but just didn't make up for the real thing.
"Damn, I forgot, you must be starving." Harry said as he got up as gently and fast as he could, "I'll call a house-elf what do you want?" but before Minerva could answer, Poppy walked inside the Hospital Wing and saw that her patient was up.
"Oh finally, thank Merlin, you woke up. You had us worried there for a moment, my dear." The nurse said as she rushed over. "How are you feeling, Minerva?" she then asked.
"I'm okay...everything is a little blurry sometimes. Still, a bit exhausted even though I don't know how that is possible and a bit hungry." the witch answered honestly.
"Alright, I'll see what I can do about the first two, Potter would you be so kind as to get Minerva something to eat?" Harry looked at Minerva. He knew that she wanted him to stay with her but also that Poppy wouldn't let him anyway, so she gave him a small nod.
"Of course, I'll be right back" With that, he left the two of them alone and called the house-elf he came to like the most.
"Fili." with a small pop, the elf appeared before him.
"Oh Professor Potter, Sir, how may Fili serve you?" the elf said in his high voice. He reminded Harry a little bit of Dobby. Of course, Fili didn't want to be free, and his help wasn't dangerous, but he was pretty similar to Dobby in many other things.
"Hello Fili, I just wanted to ask if you could bring me a bowl with warm porridge, cinnamon and fruits?"
"Of course, Professor Potter, Sir! Fili's happy to help you, Sir!" as a Professor, it had impossible to try and get Fili to call him by his first name, so Harry had given up.
"Thank you." only a few minutes later, the house-elf brought him the food and just when Fili had vanished after a low bow, Poppy was finished with Minerva and walked over to him.
"She is doing really well. If she feels better by tomorrow morning, you two will be able to leave." she then looked at the porridge in Harry's hands and seemed to approve of it. At least this was what Harry interpreted it like when she wordlessly left him.
When Minerva had finished her first meal in a week in record time, Harry laid down next to her once more. The dark-haired witch snuggled against him once more, and Harry had his good arm wrapped around her.
"I... don't remember everything I overheard at the meeting, so I will ask Albus to use Legilimency on me."
"What? Are you sure? Don't you want to wait until you recover?" Harry asked, genuinely surprised by what she had said.
"No, we need to know what I heard as fast as possible; I know that it was something important. I just can't remember it at the moment; I think he'll be able to get it."
"Okay...if you're sure you want to do it, then I'll be with you. I just want to say that nobody would blame you if you wouldn't do it. I hope you know that, Mina."
"Yes, but I-... Mina?" damn, Harry hadn't meant to actually call Minerva by his pet name for her; what if she thought it was stupid?
"Yeah...I just thought...well, if you don't like it, I won't call you that." but Minerva only turned in his arms and placed a gentle kiss on his lips.
"I like it..." with that, she laid her head on his chest again, and Harry couldn't help but smile. But suddenly, the happiness vanished as he looked down at her. Harry couldn't fight the guilt that was so strong that it threatened to overwhelm him. He had lied to her. He had not only broken his promise, but Harry had also lied to Minerva and deep down, he knew that when she found out, and it was only a matter of time before she did, there was a great chance he had destroyed their relationship beyond repair. With these thoughts on his mind, Harry only fell asleep an hour later, and even then, his sleep was far from pleasant.
When Madam Pomfrey came over to check on Minerva, she saw the two of them fast asleep. Shaking her head smiling, she made the blanket cover both Harry and Minerva and walked back to her own Quarters to go to bed.
"Those two, if they aren't made for each other, then no one is," she mumbled and shook her head, amused.
Hello again!
I really hope you like the new chapter, I know it took me a while, but I hope the wait was worth it!
So Minerva has woken up, how long will Harry be able to keep his secret? And will they get Chronos to get some answers? We'll see.
So please leave a review or follow/ favourite the story! Special Thanks to everyone out there who already reviewed and followed/favoured For You I Leave My Future Behind!
Until next time
Patti