Regarding Harry

by Tsujton

Disclaimer: Anything recognizable from the Harry Potter Universe belongs to J.K. Rowling et al. I make no profit (story of my life…).

Summary: Harry destroys the last Horcrux and defeats Voldemort – but in doing so, winds up back where he started the night he got his scar: with the mind of a fifteen month old – big baby!Harry. But the Death Eaters are out for revenge… Slightly slashy. Some abuse and violence, so rated: M

Chapter 3: Harry

Harry stirred slightly. He blinked a few times and opened his eyes. He did not recognize were he was and he did not remember coming here. Want… He spied a head of red hair to his left and reached out his bandaged hand to stroke it softly. "Mmm," he mumbled drowsily, and closed his eyes in sleep with a slight smile on his lips.

"What?" It was almost noon when Ginny woke with a start. Harry looked so peaceful beside her, but Ginny felt panicked rather than encouraged by this. She feared the worst and hesitantly leaned close to his face. He was still breathing. "Oh, Harry. Thank Merlin," she said aloud. At this, Harry's eyelids began to flutter. Surprised, Ginny sat upright. "Harry? Harry!"

"Mmm- Mummm…" Harry's eyes opened, and upon meeting Ginny's they widened in alarm and he leaned slightly away. The movement awakened a sharp pain in his head, and Harry grimaced, raising his bandaged hand to his forehead. The touch made him hurt more. He cried out, his expression a mixture of surprise and disbelief. It quickly changed back to fright.

Not her. "Mum-mum," he gasped. The redhead reached out a hand to Harry's cheek, but he recoiled further and looked around the room, his eyes darting wildly. Where?

"Harry. Harry, it's okay. It's me, Ginny."

At that moment, Hermione returned. She had the water bucket in one hand and the other held a few wilted-looking herbs. Harry turned hopefully to the sound of the door opening but, when Hermione walked through, his face fell and Hermione nearly dropped her things. Harry looked back and forth between Ginny and Hermione, his breath quickening in obvious panic.

"Hmm – M-Mum-Mum-ma – Mum-ma, Da-ee –" he repeated desperately between rapid breaths. Where?

Ginny looked to Hermione in dismay. "He –he's not making sense. He's…afraid of me." Ginny's voice cracked.

At this, Harry closed his eyes tightly and started sobbing, his breaths growing steadily louder and more frantic. Want Mum-ma – now.

Then Hermione did drop what she was holding and rushed to the bed. "Harry. Harry, please, shhh. I know it hurts, but we have to keep quiet. There may still be Death Eaters out there." She moved to hold his good hand reassuringly, but at her touch, it jerked away reflexively up to his chin. Harry opened his eyes, looked down at his hand, leaned forward and…began to suck noisily on his thumb. Hermione took a step back, stunned. She and Ginny exchanged looks of worry and confusion as Harry gazed at them, calming some and blinking warily over his fist.

Want her. Want her, want her, now.

Ginny put her hand to her mouth and shook her head. "W-What's wrong with him?"

Hermione hesitated. "He could be in shock, or…"

"Or what?"

"Ginny, Harry, he –he stabbed his scar pretty deeply with the basilisk's tooth. He might have – there might be brain damage," she finished softly.

"No," said Ginny, shaking her head in disbelief. "That…can't…be, please," she whispered desperately.

"Look at him, Ginny. He's like a ba-"

"Don't!" spat Ginny, holding up her hand. Harry started momentarily at the sudden shout. The two young witches remained in silence for a few moments, the only sounds being Harry's nasal breathing and sporadic sucking on his thumb. Then, Ginny crawled around Harry and climbed down from the giant bed. "I'll get him some water. He must be thirsty," she said, simply. She got a glass, dipped it in the bucket and carried it slowly to Harry so as not to startle him. "It's water, Harry. Are you thirsty?" She showed him the slightly dripping glass.

Harry only blinked in response. Wa-wa.

"Come on, Harry. You should drink." Ginny held the glass close to Harry's face. He eyed it charily for a moment, let his thumb slide out and opened his mouth. He flinched when Ginny lifted his head, but he slurped the water in greedily, much of it dribbling down his chin. "That's right, Harry," soothed Ginny. "Drink. It'll help you feel better. You're going to be just fine."

When the glass was empty, Harry let the stranger dab his neck and chin dry with a corner of the patchwork quilt without protest. He stuck out his lower lip a bit and just watched her silently as she went to set the empty glass on the table. Not her.

Hermione, meanwhile, had retrieved the herbs from the floor and had begun washing them in another of Hagrid's bowls. "There wasn't any food out there," her voice started out a bit shakily, as if she were afraid to set Ginny off again, but soon Hermione regained her composure and she continued. "But I found a few things that might help with Harry's pain – some feverfew and licorice – and some skullcap, valerian, and lemon balm to make a sleeping draught. I'm going to have to check his scar and…I'd rather he not be awake for that," she said grimly. "I'll make a fire in the smaller cauldron to brew the potions. We can't risk lighting the grate." She hoisted the iron cauldron onto the table and didn't share with Ginny her concerns as to how effective her potions might be, particularly as she would be making them wandlessly.

"What can I do to help?" Asked Ginny solemnly, not meeting Hermione's eyes.

"There's only rock cakes and sugar cubes to eat. See if you can do anything with that."

Ginny set to soaking the rock cakes in water in the hopes of making them palatable and absently popped a sugar cube in her mouth. I bet Harry would love this. He has such a sweet tooth. Grabbing another cube from Hagrid's well-worn sugar bowl she went back to Harry's side. "Here Harry. It's not much, but it's good." She held it up to show him and he surveyed the small object furtively. "Good, mmm," Ginny reassured him, and held the sweet to Harry's lips. After a bit, he parted them slightly to accept the cube.

He sucked on it once and paused a moment before resuming with a little mewling sound of contentment. "Mmm." He looked up at Ginny with a half smile. Tears sprang to Ginny's eyes and she blinked them back furiously as she returned the smile. When he had finished, Harry opened his mouth expectantly for another. He reminded Ginny of a baby bird and she quickly retrieved two more sugar cubes. Harry gave a little closed-mouth giggle as he enjoyed the second one, and before he was quite done with it, he said, "Moh," letting some sugary saliva slide out of the side of his mouth.

"Here you go, Harry. I want to see if the rock cakes are ready," said Ginny. She popped the sugar cube in his mouth and went back to the table. Using a spoon, Ginny pried off the softened outer layer of one of the smaller cakes and deposited the soggy mass into the water glass.

Harry eagerly opened his mouth when she held out the food to him. He closed his lips over the mush-filled spoon and Ginny pulled it, now empty, out. Suddenly, Harry's face screwed up and he pushed the glob out of his mouth with his tongue.

The glare of betrayal he gave Ginny would have been laughable – if it didn't break her heart so… Harry leaned his head forward and used his bandaged hand to help push his left thumb back in his mouth. Then he lay back, sucking, and looked pointedly away from Ginny.

Hermione continued to work on making the potions. The heat from the afternoon sun was warming the cabin considerably adding to Hermione's feeling of weariness. She had to hold the pot with the painkiller over the slightly smoking cauldron as it was boiling. Her arm was getting tired and the steam caused her face bead with sweat and made her hair even more frizzy than usual. At last, she deemed it ready, and set the pot down to cool, before next chopping up the skullcap for the sleeping potion.

Ginny had taken to trying to get Harry to eat more of the rock cake with a crushed sugar cube mixed in, but he would have none of it, scowling and turning his head away from her. The movement caused his scar wound to hurt more and so he reached his hand to it. Again the contact made it worse and he whimpered in confusion and pain.

"Ginny, pour that pot into a bowl to help it cool faster," instructed Hermione. Ginny did so, and when it was cool enough, poured some into another glass for Harry.

Ginny wondered fleetingly if he would even understand her, but said anyways, "Harry, drink this, it will help your hurts." She gently but firmly pulled out Harry's thumb, raised his head as before, and held the glass to his lips.

Wa-wa?

Harry took a swallow and sputtered at the acrid taste, but Ginny kept pouring. "I'm sorry, Harry. You have to drink this." She managed to get about half of it into him despite his coughing. The rest covered his chin, neck, robe front and much of Ginny's sleeve.

When Ginny took the glass away Harry coughed a bit more and let out another sob and a tiny, wretched-sounding "no."

"I'm sorry, Harry. I'm so sorry," whispered Ginny. She watched, feeling quite wretched herself as Harry half turned away to his right side, snuffling and whimpering forlornly. His left arm remained limply behind his back, but Ginny saw his thumb was twitching.

Ginny paused in thought and then carefully pulled back part of the quilt. She could see Harry's right arm and leg were pulled tightly to his body in a fetal position, while his left leg remained straight. Ginny tentatively reached out and patted Harry's left hand. It jerked in sudden movement and fell back behind him. Then Ginny lifted his arm, moving it over his body so that his hand was by his face. Harry glanced at her angrily out of the corner of his eye, looked down at his hand and pushed it up with the other so that he could again suck on his thumb. Ginny covered Harry up with the quilt and backed away to the table where Hermione was now brewing the second potion.

"Hermione. Something else is wrong," whispered Ginny. "His left side's not moving right."

Hermione did not look up from her work. She sighed heavily. "I was afraid of something like this," she said quietly, shaking her head. After a moment, she continued. "From what I've read about brain injuries, I'm afraid Harry may have damaged or even severed the connection between the left and right hemispheres of his brain, so that motor movement messages get garbled –"

"What the bloody hell are you talking about, Hermione? Is this more Muggle medical nonsense?" Ginny hissed, cutting her off.

Hermione looked up, clearly taken aback. "It's not nonsense. It's Muggle science and it's as legitimate as magic," she retorted hotly.

"I'm sorry," Ginny murmured, looking down, ashamed.

"I'm sorry, too, Ginny. I tend to get too technical when I'm under stress. What I'm trying to say is that when Harry stabbed his scar with the basilisk tooth, it went in deep and the wound could be preventing his mind from telling his body what to do."

Ginny just stared at her.

"Erm, I also tend to get condescending and 'know-it-all-ish'. I'm just guessing, really."

"Your potion's about to bubble over," pointed out Ginny, dryly.

"Distracted, too…" mumbled Hermione as she moved the pot off the fire. "He's going to like this one even less," she added dismally.

Ginny was not sure which she was dreading more: forcing another potion down Harry's gullet or the mysterious 'kotterize' that Hermione wouldn't speak of.

"I may as well give him this one, too. He's already mad at me. No sense in him hating us both," finished Ginny with a desolate sigh.

"I've got to distill it a bit more, first. It needs to be strong," said Hermione, silently praying that it would work.

When it was finally ready and cooled enough, Hermione poured some into the now empty and cleaned firewhiskey bottle. "It might be easier with the smaller opening," she explained.

"Right," said Ginny. "Pass it to me when I say, alright?" Taking a deep breath to brace herself, Ginny grabbed a serviette, climbed up onto the bed and sat beside Harry.

Harry was half dozing and regarded her through lidded eyes. Not her…

Ginny gently lifted and moved Harry's upper torso slightly over, sliding her knee under his shoulders and letting his head rest against her. Then she slowly pulled his thumb out of his mouth and tucked the serviette into his collar. "Okay," she reached out to Hermione and accepted the bottle from her. "Harry? I have another drink for you. Last one, Luv." She pressed the bottle firmly to his lips. "Open for me, Harry," she coaxed.

Harry kept his lips pressed tight together and huffed through his nose. No, no, no. He would not meet the girl's eyes. A small drop of potion leaked out and dribbled down his chin.

"Please, Harry. Don't make this hard…" Ginny pleaded, her voice wavering.

Hermione stepped closer. "Do you want me t-"

"NO!" Ginny snapped. "No. I'll do it." Harry was startled by the vehemence of her tone and half gasped. Ginny forced the bottle in and held his chin so that he couldn't spit anything out. But neither did he swallow and she watched as his cheeks filled with the liquid and he tried to force it back up into the bottleneck. She could hardly bear the look of utter misery in Harry's eyes.

"Help me, Hermione." Ginny's tone was defeated.

Hermione climbed on the bed. "When I say to, pull the bottle out." She nudged Ginny's hand aside and placed her own on Harry's chin. "Now!"

As Ginny pulled the bottle away, Hermione clamped her hand tightly over Harry's mouth. The small amount of liquid that was left in the bottle sloshed out and some went up Harry's nose causing him to cough and his eyes to water.

He snorted futilely at the burning sensation in his nose and throat, and began to whine piteously. Hurts.

"Stroke his neck, Gin. It'll help it go down."

Ginny was crying openly now and she could barely get her words out. "It's okay, Harry. I-It'll be okay. Just s-swallow, please," and she did as Hermione instructed. After several convulsive swallows the potion was gone and Hermione removed her hand.

At once, Harry inhaled in a deep, extended wheeze that seemed would never end. Finally, he let out his breath with a burst of tears. No, no, no, no…

Ginny wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his hair. "'M sorry, sorry. 'M so, so sorry," she repeated, rocking him gently back and forth.

Hermione mutely patted Harry's shoulder before it dawned on her that Ginny needed comfort just as much. She leaned closer and rubbed soothing circles on Ginny's back. After a while, Harry's sobs grew farther apart, and he began to loose consciousness until there were only occasional involuntary shuddering gasps.

"Gin?" Hermione patted her friend's back lightly. "Ginny, I need you to help me. I'll need you to hold his head absolutely still if I have to…" she trailed off.

Ginny looked up, eyes wet and nose running. Blinking, she wiped her face with her sleeve and nodded resolutely.

Hermione was torn. She was afraid to do more damage to the wound by removing the pressure of the bandage. She wasn't really sure how long to expect before the bleeding should slow down. On the other hand, a bleeding head wound was dangerous. If it wasn't clotting on its own she would need to take drastic measures to seal the wound. There was no telling how long it would be before they could get help, she worried, and she fervently wished she had read more on the subject of head wounds.

Coming to a decision, Hermione carefully began unwrapping the bandage she had fashioned, with Ginny lifting Harry's head to assist. Hermione gingerly removed the folded towel. It was blood-soaked – red, turning brown at the edges. Fresh blood seeped slowly out of the wound and oozed towards Harry's eye. Hermione stopped it with a corner of the towel.

"It's not good. We'll have to cauterize it." Before Ginny could ask, Hermione continued. "It means we have to burn it. It's the only way to seal the skin to stop the bleeding."

Ginny tried to stifle her gasp of horror. Hermione couldn't meet her gaze. She rewrapped the wound and went to the fireplace, taking up the fire irons. The poker seemed too thin to properly cover the wound, and the small shovel, too big. She settled on the tongs, figuring she could use the outer part of one side to do the job, and placed them into the smoldering cauldron. She added some tinder and a small log and the fire flared up some. "We have to wait until its red hot." Ginny shuddered and Hermione silently berated herself for not starting to heat the tongs up before. It was foolish of her to let denial will out over precaution.

"I'm going to get more water," murmured Hermione. "We'll need plenty to refresh cooling cloths." She poured the remaining water from the bucket into two of Hagrid's barrel-like tea mugs and went outside.

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Next up, Chapter 4: Lucius