An Unhealthy Escape

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and its characters belong to J K Rowling.

A/N: Hello! I am so sorry this chapter is late! We have just finished all our assignments for the term though, so I should be able to post more frequently. Hope that you enjoy it. Milo.

Chapter 9:

"AGHHH!"

Sirius screamed as he stumbled forward out of the fireplace and landed face first on hard wooden floor. Remus followed closely behind him and simply raised an eyebrow at the sight of his best friend lying on the floor. He stepped over him and stood in front of the huge mahogany desk in the centre of the room.

Albus Dumbledore watched this scene unfold, his eyes twinkling and smiling slightly. Sirius Black really will never grow up, he thought to himself.

"To what do I owe this very late pleasure?" Dumbledore asked Remus, glancing at the clock on the wall beside him; it read 11:45pm. Remus looked up at his ex-headmaster and opened his mouth before closing it again. He really didn't know where to start.

"Why don't you both take a seat?" Dumbledore asked politely before looking sternly at Sirius who still had not moved from him ridiculous position on the floor in front of the fireplace. Sirius groaned and stood up, dragging his feet and collapsing into in to the chair beside Remus. Remus rolled his eyes at Sirius' theatrics before turning back to Dumbledore.

"Sirius is something the matter?" asked Dumbledore with a slightly amused expression on his face.

"No. I'm tired," Sirius grumbled. Dumbledore almost laughed. There were only two people who had ever dared talk to him like that. Sirius and James Potter were just lucky that Dumbledore had always had a soft spot for them; otherwise they would probably have been in a lot of trouble when they were younger. More than they already were, anyway.

"Yes Professor, we're here to talk about Harry and Ginevra," Remus said politely, glaring at Sirius as if to tell him that that was how you should speak to your old headmaster. Sirius ignored him.

"Harry and Ginevra?" Dumbledore asked, slightly surprised and more than a little curious.

"Yes. They're crazy and we want to help them," Sirius told him in a flat monotone. He really did not want to be here. He knew that Harry would be mad at him, and he was scared that he would hate him. He knew that it was his idea in the first place, and that he needed to do it, but was it really worth it if Harry ended up hating him? Wasn't there another way that they could help Harry, preferably without hurting him even more?

But then Sirius thought about Harry's arm, the scars and scabs that littered the pale skin, and the bloodstain on his shirt the night Ginny had grabbed his wrist and he knew that he didn't have another option. Harry was too far gone for them to be able to help him on their own. Sirius winced slightly as he thought about what could happen if Harry kept going the way he was.

"Sirius! What the hell is wrong with you tonight?" Remus punched the idiot in question on the arm and turned back to Dumbledore who was now listening intently.

"We found some things out about Harry and Ginny… we think you might like to know about it," Remus started hesitantly. He was interrupted by Dumbledore.

"Have you spoken to Molly and Arthur?" Dumbledore asked, surveying the two over his half-moon spectacles.

"Yes, we have. They were going to come with us, but there was no one else available to look after the kids," Sirius told him, his voice now more alert and serious. Dumbledore merely nodded, urging them to keep speaking.

"Well, I kind of accidently overheard a conversation between Harry and Ginny the other night," Sirius started. Dumbledore interrupted once again.

"Accidently?" he asked, X-raying Sirius with his piercing gaze. Remus couldn't stop himself from laughing, but he hurriedly turned it into a cough when Dumbledore looked at him. Sirius just rolled his eyes and made a 'humph' noise; he sounded rather like an annoyed child.

"Yes, well, moving on!" Sirius shouted dramatically. Dumbledore had to refrain from rolling his eyes. Honestly he had thought that he had finished having to put up with the Marauders nonsense when they left school, but apparently not.

"Well, we kind of found out something about Harry about a week and a bit before this conversation," Remus took over, deciding that they would never get their story told if he let Sirius tell it. "See Harry's been… well he hasn't been himself lately. Ever since he came to Grimmauld Place he's been a little – subdued, kind of sad."

"Understandable," Dumbledore nodded.

"We tried to speak to him about it, but he wouldn't talk to us. We found out he was having bad nightmares most nights, often multiple times a night." Dumbledore suddenly looked quite concerned. If he knew Harry Potter, and he thought he knew the boy quite well, then he would be blaming himself for Cedric's death. He tried not to let it show though, for as immature as Sirius could be, if there was one thing that could make him act like a grownup it was his godson. And considering this is Sirius he was thinking about, that really was saying something.

"Well, we pulled him aside one day to try to speak to him, and I saw he was fiddling with his sleeve. I think I had suspected something was wrong for a while, but I convinced myself it was nothing. That he would never do anything that stupid."

Dumbledore's eyes hardened considerably. He thought he knew where this conversation was going, he just desperately wished that the two would come up with a different explanation and prove him wrong.

"I saw something on Harry's jacket while we were talking to him; he was playing with the sleeve and it came up a bit because it was too big. I pulled his sleeve up to get a closer look."

Dumbledore closed his eyes and buried his head in his hands, looking more like an old man than usual. In fact, in that moment Remus thought that he looked older than anyone had ever seen him look. Remus didn't need to finish his sentence for Dumbledore to figure out what the two had seen on Harry's arm, but he did anyway.

"There were scars and cuts all up his wrist, Albus. They were deep. I took his blade and tried to get him to stop but he just wouldn't listen, and I don't know what else to do," Remus whispered, his voice cracking slightly.

"I am assuming you have not told Harry that you are here?" Dumbledore asked tiredly. If Sirius had asked Harry's permission, Harry would have begged him not to come and talk to him. Albus had seen Sirius look after Harry when he was a baby, and he had seen him look after him now that he was older. All Harry had to do was look at him with those eyes; exact replicas of his mother's and Sirius would give him whatever it was that he wanted. Sirius turned to absolute mush when it came to Harry, though he would never admit it to anyone. James used to tease him about it all the time.

Sirius and Remus looked at each other guiltily. They knew that they should have asked Harry's permission, or at least told him beforehand.

"So where exactly does Miss Weasley fit into all of this?" Dumbledore asked them both when neither of them answered.

"Well, as I said before I overheard a conversation between the two of them the other night. She fell and grabbed Harry's wrist and it started bleeding," Sirius started. Dumbledore closed his eyes, a look of pain and grief on his face. He did truly care about Harry.

"Ginny asked Harry to show her his wrist, and after a while he realized he wasn't going to be able to convince her it was nothing so he showed her. I think she suspected what was happening. Anyway Harry told her that he understood if she never wanted to speak to him again."

At this Dumbledore couldn't help but sigh. When was Harry going to learn that he had so many good friends here in the wizarding world that would be there for him no matter what? His blood boiled at the thought of the muggles that had raised him, how they had taught him that he was worthless and that no one could ever possibly care for him.

Dumbledore of course didn't know exactly how bad the abuse was that Harry suffered, for if he did he would surely speak to the muggles himself. He did not know that Harry was beaten within an inch of his life on a regular basis, that he was constantly starved and locked in a tiny cupboard for days on end, that he was used as a punch bag by his cousin and that his aunt would hit him with frying pans or wooden spoons or whatever other kitchen utensil happened to be available at the time whenever he did something wrong. No one knew that, and Harry was determined to keep it that way.

"Well anyway," Sirius said when Dumbledore didn't say anything, "Ginny rolled up her own sleeve and her arm was covered in almost as many scars as Harry's is. They're not as deep, but they are still bad. Molly and Arthur talked to her yesterday but that didn't go very well. I heard the screaming from the other side of the house. I also heard her blow up every bit of glass or breakable stuff in about a twenty meter radius," Sirius said. "I must remember to thank her for that later." Sirius said thoughtfully. He really hated that house.

The three of them sat in silence for a while before Dumbledore spoke.

"Thank you both for telling me this. I will address the issue as I see fit and will inform you both, as well as Molly and Arthur, of my decision straight away."

Sirius and Remus took this as their cue to leave. They made their way back towards the fireplace, threw the powder in the flames and shouted the right address before swirling away from the office.

Dumbledore sat in silence a little while longer. He wasn't quite sure what to do. Usually when a student was self-harming or suicidal they went straight to St. Mungos, but that surely wouldn't work in this situation. It would be terrible for Harry's emotional state if it got into the press that he was mentally unwell, and he didn't think that Ginevra would be too pleased either. No he would have to think of a different way to handle these two particular students. After all, what with being The-Boy-Who-Lived and The-Eleven-Year-Old-Girl-Who-Fought-Off-Voldemort, they were not normal children, and they were certainly not inconspicuous in the magical community.

No, he would find another solution. But this had to stop. He couldn't believe two amazing young teenagers could feel so sad that they would do this to themselves. It really was quite upsetting.

+APWBDAPWBDAPWBD+

"Where have you guys been?" Harry asked as both Sirius and Remus stumbled out of the fireplace, the latter considerably more graceful than the former.

"Oh, just talking to Dumbledore," Sirius remarked in what he hoped to be an offhand tone. Harry raised an eyebrow, instantly suspicious. Sirius supposed he must not have done a very good job at the whole offhand thing.

"Oh? What about?" Harry asked. Sirius wasn't really helping as he shot a clearly panicked glance towards Remus who had to once again refrain from rolling his eyes. Sirius could be about as thick as a brick wall some days.

"Just security arrangements for next year, for your safety," Remus replied. Harry was instantly annoyed. Remus knew it would annoy him, but it would also stop him from being suspicious.

"I don't need security," Harry growled stomping his way up the stairs. Remus heard him mumble to himself, something about being normal, stupid Death Eaters, and stupid Tom. Remus found that funny; Harry always called him Voldemort and to his knowledge had never referred to the psychopath as Tom before. Remus just shook his head, before moving towards the drawing room where he was sure Sirius was brooding. Sirius didn't brood often, usually referring to prank someone, but if anything could make him brood it was the possibility that he had made Harry angry.

+HPGWHPGWHPGWHPGW+

"Come in!" Harry called when he heard a knock at the door. He frowned; who would want to talk to him this late at night? He consulted the digital clock on his nightstand which read 12.57am. Unless it was Sirius or Remus. He looked towards the door as it opened, and a small face framed by glowing red hair appeared.

"Hey," he whispered quietly, an unconscious smile lighting up his usually miserable face.

"Hey," she whispered back, creeping silently into the room and closing the door behind her.

"What's wrong?" Harry asked, his voice filled with concern as he took in the tear tracks on her beautiful face. Beautiful? He thought to himself. Where did that come from?

Harry shook his head a little to clear it after realizing that he had been staring at her for a little too long. He hurriedly averted his gaze.

"Nightmare," she said, her voice only a little lower than normal volume now that the door was shut. She walked towards the bed and sat next to Harry, leaning her head against his shoulder, her eyes closed. She relished in the feeling of being so close to Harry. She silently reprimanded herself. They would never be more than friends. She was just Ron's baby sister after all, the poor little girl who had nightmares and cut herself for relief.

Harry wrapped his arm around her waist, drawing her closer to him. They had grown quite close ever since that whispered conversation on the landing so many nights ago. Ginny always went to Harry for comfort now; he was there for her when her parents found out, when she had nightmares, when her brothers were mean to her, and would clean her up when things got too much and she would once again seek relief in the cool sharp metal blade.

Ginny did the same for Harry. They would both crawl into each other's beds if they had a nightmare, seeking comfort from the other. She cleaned up his blood and helped him cope with everything, with being the Boy-Who-Lived.

The funny thing was, the two didn't even realize how much closer they had gotten. It was as if it had always been that way, as it that was how it was meant to be. Ginny didn't know how to describe it; it was just right. She had never had a friend like Harry, one who could empathize instead of sympathize. Harry had quickly become her best friend, her confidant, her brother almost. Except the feeling she held for him were far from brotherly.

Harry held the small witch close, drawing comfort and peace from her embrace. He didn't know what he would do without this, without her. He could tell her things that he would never tell anyone else, not Ron, not Hermione, not even Sirius. She already knew him better than anyone else and it had only been a week and a bit since that whispered conversation that seemed so much longer ago.

The two held each other. Nothing more needed to be said as the two drifted back into a peaceful sleep.

A/N: Hi! Sorry, I know that one was a bit boring. The next one should be a bit more exciting though I hope. I hope that you enjoyed this one, sorry again that it is so late. The next one should be up shortly. Please leave a review telling me what you thought! I love hearing from people. Milo.