An Unhealthy Escape

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, or any of the characters used in this story. Harry Potter belongs to J K Rowling. Also, any of the little quotes in between the +'s are from the internet. The ones that aren't inside the +'s are mine.

A/N: Hello! I know it's been ages, but it has been a very long week for me. I promise I am not abandoning this story! Sorry it's been so long. This chapter should be a little longer than the previous ones. I think all of the chapters up to this point have been very short, but from now on they should be longer. I have also been working on my other story, 'Her Life Written in Lyrics.' I hope you enjoy, and please leave a review telling me what you think! From now on I will make sure I personally reply to all reviews. Milo.

Chapter 7:

A week passed, the days all the same;

Faking smiles and saying I'm okay…

Harry woke in his bed at Grimmauld Place, his throat sore from screaming.

"Harry, are you okay?" Ron asked groggily from the other side of the room.

"Fine. Sorry," Harry answered. He was sure Ron was getting tired of being woken at some ungodly hour every single night. A few minutes later, Ron's snores filled the room and Harry slipped out of his bed, tiptoed over to the door and moved silently out of the room, closing the door behind him. Harry was on his way to the bathroom when someone called his name, making him jump.

"Harry?" the soft voice cut through the silence of the house like a blade through soft, delicate skin. Harry hurriedly reached into the pocket of his pajama pants, before realizing he had left his wand on his bedside table.

"It's just me," the voice said, moving out of the shadows.

"Sirius?" Harry asked. "Why are you awake?" Harry hoped he hadn't heard him screaming.

"I heard you were having a nightmare," Sirius answered, brows furrowed in concern.

Damn.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah I'm fine!" Harry smiled a little too enthusiastically. Sirius raised an eyebrow.

"Why don't you come down to the kitchen for a bit, have a cup of tea or something?" It was phrased as a question, but Harry knew that he didn't have a choice. Sirius walked down the stairs, Harry following behind him, silently cursing his stupid overlarge jumper. They were never going to let him have a moment of peace.

+HPSBRLHPSBRL+

"So, how are you?" Sirius asked as he poured two cups of hot chocolate and placed them on the table.

"I'm good," Harry said. The small crack in the mug in front of him had become very interesting all of a sudden.

"Don't give me that crap kid." Sirius looked at his godson's face and saw nothing but pain. Pain that the forced smile could not fully mask. "What's going on?"

"Nothing," Harry insisted. He vaguely wondered where the small crack had come from.

"Harry!" Sirius said loudly. He was getting frustrated.

"Yes?" Harry said, looking up at Sirius. "You need to talk about this. We've left you alone because it's clear that you don't want to talk about it. We hoped having your friend's here would help you. If anything it's just making things worse," Sirius leaned toward Harry.

"Harry, you can tell me anything, you know that. I'm not going to be angry or upset; I'm not going to judge you. You need to talk to someone. If you can't talk to either me or Remus, then we need to talk to Dumbledore." Harry's head snapped up so fast Sirius was sure it probably hurt.

"You wouldn't tell him! Please don't tell him!" Harry pleaded, panic evident in his voice. The air around him seemed to disappear and his throat constricted.

"Harry, calm down please," Sirius started to panic. Harry was very pale, and he didn't seem to be breathing. Harry closed his eyes, forcing himself to take deep breaths.

"Please don't tell Dumbledore. He can't know about… this," Harry whispered without opening his eyes.

"Harry, if it doesn't stop, then Remus and I will go to Dumbledore." Harry opened his eyes and was about to say something, but he was cut off by Sirius.

"Don't tell me you've stopped, I know you haven't. I'm not stupid." It was true. Harry hadn't stopped cutting himself after Remus had taken his blade. He had found a muggle razor in the bathroom cupboard and taken it apart, using the tiny thin strips of metal to slice open his wrist.

"Fine, so I haven't stopped! What does it matter to you? I'm not hurting anyone else." Harry was getting quite annoyed with people telling him what to do. Even if some tiny part of his brain knew they were right.

"Harry, it matters to me because you are my godson, and I love you. You're hurting yourself, and it needs to stop. You're hurting me, you're hurting Remus and you're hurting the people who care about you most," Sirius told the teen firmly. He fully expected Harry to start yelling and raging at him; he expected him to scream and wake the entire house up. Harry didn't do any of that.

Harry sighed and put his head in his hands, fighting back tears. He knew Sirius was right; he was hurting anyone stupid enough to give a damn about him. They were hurting and it was his entire fault. Everything was his fault. He felt his eyes burn and his throat tighten, but he refused to cry in front of Sirius. He would not cry in front of anyone.

Before Harry could get too lost in his mind, they heard a scream from upstairs. Sirius jumped up, clearly thinking that something was wrong but Harry recognized that scream.

"Its fine Sirius, let me go see her," Harry said before turning to race up the stairs. Sirius stopped him, grabbing his bicep in a firm grip.

"What happened, is everyone okay?" he asked concerned.

"Everything's fine, Sirius. It's just Ginny." Sirius didn't look reassured.

"Well, what's wrong with Ginny?" he asked, now suspicious. Harry didn't seem to want to give him a straight answer.

"Just let me go see her and I'll explain later," Harry said, dashing up the stairs two at a time as another scream pierced the air. He burst into the room, throwing open the door so violently it slammed against the wall. He kneeled next the bed on the right side of the room and began shaking the small girl who was tossing and turning, all tangled up in the sheets.

"Ginny, wake up. Wake up, it's just a nightmare. It's not real." He continued to shake her until finally she bolted upright into a sitting position.

+HPGWHPGWHPGW+

Ginny looked towards the source of the voice, and saw a figure in the shadows next to her bed. She screamed again, her hand reaching for her wand on the table next to her.

"Ginny, it's just me," said the voice. Ginny calmed instantly. She'd recognize that voice anywhere. If she were in a crowd full of screaming people she was sure she could still pick his voice out.

"Harry," she whispered. Harry moved forward, into the sliver of light created by the open door."Hey," Harry whispered. Ginny wrapped her arms around his neck and cried silently into his shoulder. Harry patted her on the back, whispering meaningless reassurance into her ear. He knew that despite what he told her, it wouldn't be alright. The nightmares weren't going to go away.

Tom (Ginny refused to refer to him as Voldemort) had left his mark on her, and it would never go away. Time wouldn't change it; it was permanent. It would fade, but it would never fully disappear. It may not be visible, but it would always be there, haunting her while she slept, turning the most beautiful dreams into the most terrible nightmares. Tom had hurt a lot of people, but he hadn't hurt many people as much as he had hurt Ginny.

That's why Ginny needed Harry, and Harry needed Ginny. Sure Sirius had lost his best friends and twelve years of his life to Tom. He had been locked up for something he didn't do because of him. Molly had lost her brothers, and many friends to Tom. But neither of them knew what it was like to be personally targeted by Tom. To be possessed, controlled, or have their minds taken over and invaded by the darkest wizard in history. Even Grindelwald didn't hold a candle to what Voldemort had done.

"Sorry Harry," Ginny whispered as she pulled away from Harry, her face turning a deep shade of pink. She hoped he wouldn't notice in the poor light.

"Hey, it's alright. You don't have to apologize," Harry told her. "Do you want to come downstairs for a bit? Sirius and I were having some hot chocolate."

"Sure. It's not like I'll be sleeping any time soon." They sat there for a minute longer, saying nothing.

Neither of them noticed the man standing at the door, watching their exchange with a curious expression on his face. Sirius Black watched as his godson gently wiped the tears off the small redhead's face with his thumb. He turned and walked slowly back down to the kitchen, lost in his memories of another raven haired boy and fiery tempered, red haired girl with sparkling green eyes. He walked into the kitchen and placed a third mug of hot chocolate next to Harry's.

+HPGWHPGWHPGW+

"Let's go," whispered Harry. He took Ginny by the hand and pulled her up. They walked towards the stairs, apparently not noticing that their hands were still clasped between them. Ginny smiled up at Harry. She didn't see the loose floorboard until she tripped on it.

"Ginny!" Harry yelled, taking hold of her waist and only just stopping her from falling head first down the stairs. Ginny grabbed Harry's wrists to steady herself. Harry screamed.

"Harry! What's wrong?" Harry doubled over in agony as Ginny tightened her grip on his wrists in concern. He wrenched his arms out of her grasp, tears threatening to spill over.

Merlin that hurt.

"Nothing, I'm fine," Harry growled, trying to recover.

"Harry you're clearly not – IS THAT BLOOD?!" Ginny shrieked in alarm. The sleeve of Harry's gray long sleeve top was indeed soaked with wet blood. Upon hearing Ginny's scream, Sirius thundered up the stairs to where Harry and Ginny were. It was a wonder that they had yet to wake anybody else up.

"Gin, it's nothing, I just tripped the other day and landed on something sharp. Its fine," Harry said quickly, his eyes darting around nervously. Ginny knew he was lying. She had suspected before, but now she was certain.

"Harry show me your arm," she whispered, tears silently making their way down her pale face, their silvery tracks shining in the dull light that filtered through the dusty window.

"Ginny honestly, it's fine, it's nothing," Harry said, now panicking. Ginny couldn't know. What would she think of him? She couldn't find out.

"Harry, don't lie to me," she said, so quiet Harry almost didn't hear her. Again, neither of them noticed Sirius watching the whole scene unfold from the bottom of the staircase.

"Ginny, it's nothing. I swear it." Harry tried to convince her to no avail.

"Harry, show me your wrist," Ginny said in the same quiet yet firm voice. When Harry didn't respond, she reached out slowly and grabbed his wrist gently, trying not to hurt him. Harry didn't protest. He knew it was no use. He closed his eyes and waited.

Ginny slowly lifted up his sleeve; she knew what she was going to find but that didn't make it any less shocking. Her breath caught in her throat and her eyes filled with more tears when she saw Harry's exposed arm. It was covered in a mixture of dry and fresh blood. The deep gashes and faded scars formed intricate patterns running along his arm all the way from his wrist to his elbow. There were four fresh cuts near his wrist, which had opened when Ginny grabbed his wrist and blood was now dripping down his wrist and onto the wooden floorboards.

"Oh Harry," Ginny whispered.

"I understand if you don't want to talk to me anymore. I wouldn't want to talk to me either," Harry said, opening his emerald eyes and looking into her soft chocolate ones. Ginny let go of his wrist, lowering it carefully so as not to hurt him. She looked down at the floor, gathering up the courage for what she was about to do.

Harry watched as Ginny silently rolled the sleeve of her own shirt up to her elbow. She held her arm in the light so that Harry could see the small white lines that criss-crossed her ivory skin. Harry looked at her in shock.

+How does someone so perfect feel so insecure?+

+As to scar her skin with cuts and burns and still want to hurt more+

"Why Ginny? Why would you do that to yourself?" Harry asked, frowning at the young girl in front of him. He couldn't imagine what could make her feel so sad, so vulnerable.

"I don't really know myself. Sometimes the voices in my head just take over and there's nothing I can do to stop it." Ginny winced as she heard how insane she probably sounded.

"I feel exactly the same way," Harry told her. Ginny pulled her sleeve back down and looked at Harry's soaked shirt.

"We need to get you cleaned up," she whispered. Before Harry had time to argue, she grabbed his good arm and led him into the bathroom to wash the blood off. Little did the two know, their nighttime conversation would form a bond between the two that couldn't be broken.

+I think you're crazy too, I know you're gone,+

+It's probably the reason that we get along…+

The two troubled teens still didn't see the man making his was slowly and silently towards the kitchen.

+HPGWSBRLHPGWSBRL+

Sirius stood in shock. He couldn't believe what he had just witnessed. What should he do about it? He knew that he should tell someone, but he also knew that it wasn't his business; he shouldn't have been listening to their conversation in the first place. Harry and Ginny would definitely be mad at him if he knew that they had overheard them, and Ginny would be upset if she knew Sirius had seen her deepest darkest secret.

After a few minutes, he was still standing there, thoughts and questions racing through his mind so fast he could barely decipher them. He had to tell Dumbledore. About both Harry and Ginny. Dumbledore would have enough sense not to tell anyone, especially the two teens who were currently in the bathroom cleaning the blood off Harry's arm.

As soon as he made this decision, he realized that he should probably wait to consult with Remus first. No doubt the wise werewolf would be able to help him figure out what to do. He really didn't fancy the idea of betraying Harry's trust when he had only just started to open up to them. He hadn't really opened up much but it was still progress, and Harry was very stubborn; once his trust was broken it was very difficult to get it back.

"Something on your mind?" A voice from behind Sirius made him jump.

"Remus, you scared me," he whispered. "Why are you up?"

"I heard Ginny screaming. I wasn't sure what it was at first, but then I saw Harry go into her room to calm her down."

"Remus I need your help with something. But you have to promise not to tell anyone about this until we have decided what to do. Not even Harry. Not even Arthur or Molly or Dumbledore," Sirius whispered, his voice sharp and urgent.

"Of course." Remus was immediately intrigued. There wasn't much that could make his prankster best friend this serious.

"I accidently overheard a conversation between Harry and Ginny before," Sirius started. He stopped at the stern look on Remus' face.

"Accidently?" He asked, his voice a flat monotone.

"Well, perhaps not accidently, but that's really not the point. Anyway, Ginny accidently tripped and she grabbed Harry's wrist and it started bleeding. Like really badly."

Remus gasped at this. Apparently he was under the impression that taking away Harry's blade had stopped him from cutting himself.

"Remus did you really believe that he had stopped?" asked Sirius, annoyed at the interruption and eager to get on with recounting the events of the last half-hour.

"No, I suppose not. I've tried talking to him about a million times since we found out, but he always makes sure there's someone with him. Even when I manage to get him on his own he doesn't say much," Remus told him. Sirius winced. He wondered if either of them truly had any idea how much pain harry was really in.

Sometimes when Harry thought no one was watching his face would change from his fake happy mask to a haunting expression of pain and grief and guilt. It was as if his whole world was crashing down around him and he had given up on picking up the pieces. He had given up trying to put himself back together again just to be smashed apart again right afterwards.

"Well anyway, Ginny told Harry to show her his wrist. I think she already knew, or suspected at least. Harry protested for a bit trying to tell her it was nothing but eventually he gave up. He said he understood if she didn't want to talk to him anymore," Sirius said, the words spilling out of his mouth so fast Remus could barely keep up.

"So-," Remus was cut off by Sirius' glare.

"Then Ginny rolled up her own sleeve and there were heaps of scars, not as deep as Harry's but still quite deep." When Sirius had finished he collapsed into one of the dining chairs and buried his head in his hands.

Remus closed his eyes and ran a hand tiredly over his face. He had suspected that Ginny was troubled when he had taught her in her second year. He of course knew about her ordeal in the Chamber, and tried to get her to talk to him. Frankly, he wasn't really that surprised by this new revelation. Sirius looked up at Remus looking older and more tired than he ever had before.

Harry cutting himself was bad enough, but both Harry and Ginny? How were they going to deal with this? Would Ginny be able to help Harry considering she was just as upset as him?

"What do we do Remus?" asked Sirius. "I mean… what if they both…" Sirius winced unable to think about what could happen if they didn't do something.

"We tell Dumbledore," Remus replied.

A/N: Hello! I know I said it before, but I'm sorry that it's been so long! This chapter is longer than usual, so I hope that makes up for it! I hope you enjoyed it and the next chapter should be up soon. I have already started working on it! Milo.