A/N: This chapter has been beta read by Lord Otello. Thanks.

Chapter 24 – Magic

Albus Dumbledore was watching inertly the scene in his sight, too haunted to speak, too haunted to act.

It was tough for an old man to be forced to admit his own stupidity. It was tough to be forced to admit his own arrogance. After all those mistakes he had made and fixed in his life, he hadn't learnt yet he could fail. By his own fault, he was now watching the wizarding world's hope dying before him. Voldemort was slowly killing Harry Potter and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

Earlier that week

In the morning, Albus received an owl with a convocation to attend a meeting with the Minister for Magic. He was a man with many responsibilities. When he visited the Ministry, many questions took their time, people want to talk to him and consulting him in diverse cases.

In that morning, the Ministry was in an uproar. The Auror Department had been called, because the youngest child of Arthur Weasley had mysteriously disappeared. Arthur's wife was inconsolable and the whole Ministry was deeply touched. Searches were being done, but there were no clues.

Albus couldn't fail to give his support to the Weasley family, especially when most of their children had been, or still are, under his care in the school. Truly, he forgot the meeting with the Minister and, taking into account the situation, he didn't believe that a bureaucratic discussion with Cornelius was so important.

After many hours, the Minister came to show his solidarity to the Weasley family. With his usual lack of tact, Cornelius tried to appease the situation by asking Molly if Ginny wouldn't be in the house of some friend.

'Sometimes, children do that. They run to their little friends' house by the floo network, thinking they will come back before their parents would notice.' The Minister joked.

Molly denied with her head. 'I spoke to Lovegoods.' She explained. 'Ginny hasn't seen Luna for days and her only other friend she really has is Harry Potter, and he's in Hogwarts now…'

Those words alerted Albus. To ease his sudden feeling of panic, he questioned the Minister about the meeting. Too late, he discovered the meeting was false. Feeling something was wrong, Albus decided to return to the school. However, before he made it to the closest fireplace, he was approached by the training Auror Nymphadora Tonks.

'Headmaster Dumbledore, my superiors have been informed that you, sir, were here, in the Ministry. I was sent to warn you. The Department got a call from Hogwarts' Deputy Headmistress, Minerva McGonagall.' The young woman was talking quickly, and seemed anxious to actualize him about the situation. 'She informed that a team of teachers captured a former Death Eater in Hogwarts.' Tonks continued. 'The individual is involved in the kidnapping of Harry Potter and Ginevra Weasley. The two children were found at Hogwarts in a serious health condition. Ginevra shows signs of long exposition to the Cruciatus Curse, and Harry was exposed to a curse that is quickly deteriorating his magical core. As far as we know, he may die.'

Albus heard everything in a state of complete astonishment.

'A squad was already sent to the school.' She explained. 'Madam Bones, in person, will take part in the investigation and…' Tonks seemed unsecured about transmitting the next bit of information.

'Say it, Nymphadora. I find it hard to believe this situation can get any worse.' He assured.

'The captured Death Eater has the Dark mark and was erroneously pronounced dead. His name is Peter Pettigrew, and, as far as I was informed, he might be the real responsible for all the crimes that Sirius Black was imprisoned for. The Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher seems to be involved in the case and was found dead. Madam Bones awaits you in Hogwarts to provide clarifications, sir.'

'Thank you, Nymphadora. I'll be there soon.'

When Albus arrived at Hogwarts, the chaos was installed. Many legal and bureaucratic questions needed to be solved, and he didn't know until when the information could be kept from the press and the public in general. The Philosopher's Stone, Voldemort, Quirinus Quirrel, Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black, a tortured Ginny Weasley, a dying Harry Potter… It was many things to work on. The political pressures would soon begin and his positions would be at stake. He needed to act, but Harry was dying. Poppy Pomfrey and the healers from St Mungo's didn't know what to do. Severus was trying his best to find a way to heal Harry's magical core.

'The curse used is little known, but the Dark Lord liked to use it sometimes.' Severus explained. 'It should've just weakened his magical core. Theoretically, this curse should turn him into a squib, not affecting his health. Potter is showing an unprecedented reaction to the curse.'

'Magic is not predicable, Severus.' Albus mused. 'Not always we can think of it as an exact science. Harry seems to have a peculiar relationship with his own magic. His mother had similar abilities. At the same time, I suspect Harry is even more powerful than her.'

'What do you mean?'

'Lily Potter had an exceptional gift. I supposed you might know that better than me. Besides her obvious talents, she had a particular affinity with wandless magic and she studied deeply the subject. When she died, she used her sacrifice to give Harry a powerful magical protection against his enemies...'

'Yes, we already discussed that.' Severus didn't understand where Albus was going with that talk.

'There are moments I suspect Lily didn't do that by accident. I think the extraordinary young woman knew more than what we believe.' He explained. 'I've been watching Harry during the year and I noticed many similarities with his mother's. And, after the visit to the Potters' cottage, he seemed very… inspired. His talents became more obvious to everybody, he's been an exemplar student, and what we saw in Miss Weasley's memories doesn't let doubts about the boy's magical potential.'

'How does that relate to what's happening now?'

'Particularly powerful wizards and witches have a different relationship with their own magic. In the beginning of the year, Harry showed an amazing occurrence of self-healing. His magic healed him after the attack during the Quidditch game. I suspect Harry cannot live without magic. If his magic dies, he will die too.'

'And what can we do, Albus?'

'Unfortunately, nothing. Just wait and hope that Harry can surprise us once more and heal himself.'

Two days after that terrible night, Ginny was already physically healed, but her heart and soul were broken. Harry was dying. The pain the Cruciatus Cursed had caused to her was nothing compared to the pain she was now feeling. Harry was dying and no one had thought in telling her. She accidentally found out. She was faking sleeping to avoid the excessive care of her mother, when she heard a muttered conversation between her and Madam Pomfrey. Harry was dying, dying because of that curse, dying because he couldn't live without magic…

He hadn't been moved to St Mungo's, because no one could do anything to help him. He would die and no one would do anything about it. She felt outraged. How could no one do anything?

She asked them to see Harry and no one allowed. They thought she was too weak and traumatized to see him. She wanted to curse someone. The hell with them, she would see him anyway. After diner, she pretended to drink her Sleeping Potion. She waited quietly in her bed until Madam Pomfrey went to sleep. Then, she silently left her bed and walked towards the white curtains.

Harry was there in the bed. He seemed so… pale. Not only that, it was missing life on him. She always saw Harry as someone cheerful, full of life, full of magic. It was too sad to see him like that. Without noticing, she began crying softly. How could she lose him? He had become so important to her that she didn't know if she could bear a world without Harry Potter.

'He can die at any moment.' Those had been Madam Pomfrey's words.

She couldn't take it. The big hospital bed seemed huge to him. He was so fragile, so small… A crazy idea crossed her mind. She wanted to lie next to him, to sleep next to him, to protect him. If he was going to die, she didn't want him to be alone in that moment.

Without second thoughts, she did what her instinct told her to. Quietly, she climbed over the bed and lied down next to him under the blankets. She thought she would feel weird doing so, but she didn't. It seemed right. She settled down next to him and laid her head on his shoulder, hugging him. Tears now came with brutal force. She cried and cried, because she didn't know what else to do.

She stayed there, quiet, wishing she could do anything to heal him. In her head, she was repeating, 'Heal, heal, heal, heal, please…' Ginny ended up falling asleep right there, in Harry's bed, hugging him, and wishing he would heal. She had a dream that night, and Harry was there. It was a nice and beautiful dream. Harry was fine and happy next to her. She didn't want to wake up.

Who woke up was Poppy Pomfrey. In the middle of the night, a strong golden light illuminated the whole hospital wing. She ran, concerned about her patients, and found Ginny Weasley lying beside Harry Potter. The two were peacefully sleeping and the light… was them.

A/N: Hello! I hope you enjoy this chapter. The next chapter's title is Lord Black.

See you in the next chapter,

Inês

scrappy8: Thanks. I'm glad you like them. It will take a while, but they will be alright.