Hi There! So sorry for the long wait and thanks to everyone who favourite and followed – You guys are awesome! , and everyone who reviewed the last chapter! A.K.A. The-Girl-Who-Dreamed, Harry Albus Potter Dumbledore, ObsessedwReading, and Nagagoo!
Sirius' face snapped to Remus who had removed his own hand from his shoulder after hearing the exact same faint moan that had caused Sirius to look so alarmed.
"Did you hear that?" Sirius asked an edge of hope and panic in his tone, but Remus was paying any attention to him. He was staring at Harry as though a miracle had occurred, his eyes wide. Seeing this, Sirius quickly changed his direction back to Harry whose eyes were fluttering ever so slightly.
"Harry?" Sirius whispered before he cleared his throat and repeated in a louder voice. "Harry, it's okay. Come on, you can do it, wake up."
There was silence in the room for a few more moments as Sirius' grey dark eyes desperately stared at Harry's pale, still face.
Maybe they had both imagined it. Maybe they were so desperate for him to be awake, just to prove to them both that he would be alright, that they had imagined it.
But, suddenly, there was another moan, and there was no denying that Harry was no longer unconscious, or at least not fully.
"Harry, squeeze my hand if you can hear me, okay?" Sirius said gently, as one hand gripped his Godson's, the other smoothing back his hair. "One squeeze", Sirius silently prayed, "please just let him be okay".
Harry P.O.V.
Everywhere was dark, there was no light, no light at all. Just darkness. He could almost make out a sound, a voice, but it seemed to be coming from hundreds of miles away. A mere echo in his mind. Where was he? What had happened? Why couldn't he see anything?
"Harry." The voice echoed. He could have sworn that he has heard that voice before. "Harry wake up."
Wake up? Who wanted him to wake up? Why would he have to wake up, unless…unless this was a dream. But if it was a dream why was it so dark? Why was it so still?
"Harry please, please, squeeze my hand. Please be okay." The voice pleaded again, the pain in it so very apparent.
It was obviously talking to him, and it obviously wanted him to wake up as well… if only he could. But who was it?
"Sirius…" Another male voice rang through the darkness. Sirius? Sirius. His Godfather, of course. As though a distant memory the image of Sirius' face appeared in Harry's mind. But why was he here? Why couldn't he see him?
He had to wake up. He had to get out of the darkness of wherever he was. Sirius had wanted him to squeeze a hand, but there was no hands anywhere, there was just never ending darkness. Harry attempted to clear him mind as he focused on one thing and one thing alone. His need to escape, and wake up. He thought of Sirius. Would he care? Would he care if he never escaped this place, if he never saw him again?
But then if he didn't why would he sound so desperate. Squeeze my hand he had said. Harry pictured his Godfather's hand in his, and as he thought it, he suddenly felt something, something gripping his hand, if he could just…
"Thank Merlin." Sirius breathed out with a sigh of relief. It had worked. "That's it, Harry, keep going." He squeezed again. A faint light had appeared before him, it was getting bigger and bigger as it came closer and closer, and Harry found that he could not move, he could do nothing but embrace it as it engulfed him.
Neither Sirius or Remus could believe what they were seeing, there was never any guarantee that Harry would survive the ordeal that the Dursley's had put him through, that he would wake up and yet here he was slowly but steadily regaining consciousness.
Sirius could have cried with joy as he felt Harry squeeze his hand…he was alive. He would see those emerald eyes of his that he had been terrified he would never see again.
"Harry, it's okay. You're okay, you're safe now." Sirius promised as Harry's eyes fluttered even more, they would open, he knew they would … they had to.
Suddenly emerald orbs were looking into misty grey eyes as Sirius finally laid eyes on Harry, his own watering up with relief and love.
"Sirius?" Harry choked out as he looked up at his Godfather. "Why...You shouldn't….be here. Not safe" Harry mumbled, his throat painfully dry.
"Shhh , Don't worry about that." Sirius soothed as he gently rubbed circles into Harry's hand. "You're at my house, nobody will get me here. Nobody will hurt you here."
It took barley a few seconds for the use of those words to dawn on Harry, even in his exhausted state. Nobody will hurt you here. They knew. They knew what had happened at the Dursley's What Uncle Vernon had done to him, the way Aunt Petunia and Dudley had treated him. The one secret that he had managed to keep to himself all of these years. They knew it all.
They had come to Privet Drive and they would have found him battered and bruised, weak, a piece of artwork in the eyes of his uncle. He had spent so long, worked so hard, just to make sure that not a single soul would find out what a weak pathetic freak he really was. He had hidden the evidence, told the odd white lies, and it had all been for nought.
As if sensing what Harry was so frantically thinking about Sirius pulled him from his thoughts.
"Harry. We found you in your bedroom…you were really badly injured. We weren't sure if you were going to make it." Sirius said using every ounce of will that he had. "You nearly died."
Maybe that would have been better. Harry thought, scolding himself for his lack of Gryffindor courage in the thought. If he had died then he wouldn't have had to face the aftermath. The looks of disgust and shame, the world knowing that the great boy who lived, the saviour of the wizarding world, couldn't even fight back a measly unmagical muggle.
"Harry, what happened?" Sirius asked him desperately, but he was cut off as Remus calmly but sternly said;
"Enough! Sirius, now is not the time to talk about this." Remus told him gesturing to Harry who had only just noticed that he and Sirius were not the only ones in the room.
So they both know? Harry thought as he noticed Professor Lupin was also in the room. Of course they would have gone together. The first time he had saw him in over a year and this was the state that he had found Harry in. He would be running miles away the first chance he got.
"Harry, you must be tired." Remus said kindly to the young teenager. "But I think that perhaps you should try to eat and drink something before you go back to sleep."
Food. Harry couldn't even remember the last time he had eaten, and his throat was desperately screaming out for water. But he couldn't. He had to get away before anyone else found out what had happened, what if Vernon came after him? What if someone showed up and found out Sirius was here. They would take him away.
"Thank you." Harry quietly said, to which both Sirius and Remus smiled sadly. "But I have to go. I can't stay here."
Both of their expressions quickly changed to those of worry and horror, as Harry attempted to get out of the bed with the desire to get away.
"No, Harry…" Sirius started, as he watched Harry struggle to get out of the bed, his face scrunched with pain. "You can't leave. Nobody will get you, I promise. Just listen…" But before he could say another word, Harry had let out a cry of pain as he collapsed to the floor, Remus only just managing to catch him as his legs gave out.
"Whoah!" Remus exclaimed as his Werewolf reflexes allowed him to catch the young man. "It's Okay, I've got you." He reassured him.
Sirius was quickly pulled out of his own thoughts as he rushed over to Remus, helping him settle Harry back into the bed, pulling the covers over him, despite his Godson's obvious desperation to leave.
"What…" Harry started to ask, a silent edge of fear in his voice. Why had his legs collapsed? Why he couldn't he as much as walk a single step?
"Your legs were injured." Sirius told him after a few moments, aware of both Remus and Harry watching him. "When your Uncle…when you were hurt. Madame Pomfrey's checked you over already, but…she doesn't know when they will heal."
Harry watched his Godfather. It was true that he hadn't known him for very long, the odd Hogsmeade day he had seen him on, the night in the shrieking shack, the night that Cedric had… the last night of the Triwizard Tournament. But he knew him well enough to know when he wasn't entirely telling the truth, and this was definitely one of those times.
"What aren't you telling me?" Harry asked nervously as Sirius and Remus both exchanged looks. Sirius opened his mouth as though to tell him, but found that all that came out was a choked noise, before he looked at the floor.
Remus walked around Sirius' chair as he knelt on the ground next to Harry, gently placing a hand on Harry's lap, before pulling away as he flinched.
"Madame Pomfrey said your legs should heal, you more than likely just need time, but…" Remus chanced a glance at Sirius who had his head in his hands to Harry who was looking at him silently begging him not to make his world go crashing down. "But there's no guarantee that they will ever heal. You might not be able to walk again, Harry."
It was amazing how one sentence that could only take a matter of seconds to say could break a person. How it could make their world come tumbling down around them. It was safe to say that neither Remus nor Sirius or anyone else for that matter had ever seen Harry look quite so vulnerable as he did now.
"But…if I can't walk." Harry slowly said. "How am I going to defeat Voldemort?"
It broke a part of Sirius' heart that those were the first words to come out of his Godson's mouth after hearing that he may never walk, may never be able to fly a broom, win a qudditch match again. The only worry and thought on his mind was defeating the darkest wizard who had ever lived.
"Don't worry about that." Remus told him, his own eyes hardened with disgust or anger, Sirius could not tell, but he knew that more than likely he was thinking exactly the same thing as he was – just what had this world turned Harry into. He was not a solider. He was a boy. A teenage boy.
"I can't stay here…" Harry repeated. "I don't care whether I can walk or not, I can't be here. I'm putting you both in danger. Sirius, they could catch you…you'd go back to Azkaban, you'd…."
"We're protected here." Sirius reassured him. "The house has got certain wards on it, spells that will keep people away. Only a few people know where it is. Besides, I'm not leaving you. Not now when I've only just go you back. Me and Remus are going to protect you."
Harry watched the both of them looking at him with such devotion, so much so that he swore they almost reflected love, but then why would they? They were right though. They wouldn't let him leave, not when he was in the state that he was.
"Okay." Harry whispered, admitting defeat…for now.
"Right." Remus said, clapping his hands and standing up, getting back to business. "How about some food, Harry, you must be starving."
Harry couldn't see how he could actually manage to stomach any food after he had gone for so long with eating nothing, but the idea did sound somewhat appealing, so he silently nodded. He watched Remus leave the room, presumably to prepare food, leaving both him and Sirius alone.
The pair sat in silence for a few moments, Harry staring at the blanket where his legs were concealed, conscious of Sirius staring at him as though he would disappear at any moment.
"I missed you." Sirius told him quietly as Harry finally made eye contact with him. Harry didn't know whether he believed him or not. "You gave me the fright of my life…"
"Sorry." Harry apologised reflexively.
"There's nothing to apologise for." Sirius told him sadly. "I wish I knew. I could have helped you, I would never have let you go back there if I knew what they were doing to you. I wish you had told me."
"I'm not your burden." Harry told him quietly. Sirius frowned with concern and heartbreak, but before he could correct him, Remus came into the room carrying a tray with a bowl and a glass of ice cold water.
"I'm afraid soup will have to do for now, Harry." Remus told him with a soft smile. "Madame Pomfrey would probably be less than happy if we gave you anything more."
Harry gave a small smile in return as the tray was gently placed on his lap, he somehow doubted that he could handle anything stronger than soup even if the Hogwarts matron had ordered it.
He moved to pick up the spoon as he dipped it into the piping hot soup, but suddenly became aware of the fact that he was shaking so much that the soup ended up on the bed sheets rather than in his mouth.
"Here." Sirius said as he pulled his chair forwards and took the spoon from Harry. "Let me."
Harry stared at him with mortification, giving him a look as though to say 'You are joking, aren't you?'. It was too embarrassing to admit that he couldn't even feed himself.
"It's nothing to be embaressed about." Sirius reassured him with a winning smile. "If it's any consolation we've all been in the same position. Remus has had to feed me, and I've certainly had the chance to feed our resident Werewolf a few times, haven't I Mooney."
Remus sent him a playful glare as Harry smiled slightly, but he still wasn't sure if he was comfortable with this. He was the boy who lived, he was supposed to be able to feed himself.
"You've been through a terrible ordeal." Remus told him as though sensing his thoughts. "Something that many other wizards may not have got through. You are still ill, Harry. Just let us help. Just because you can't walk or feed yourself doesn't make you any weaker than anyone else."
Harry didn't reply. He didn't say a word. But maybe Remus had a point, maybe, just maybe they didn't think of him as some useless, stupid boy. So he once again nodded and opened his mouth as Sirius fed him his soup, and helped him sip the refreshing water from the glass. Maybe everything would be alright after all.
Thanks for reading! Hope you liked Chapter 5…or maybe you didn't? Let me know! Every Favourite, Follow, and Review means so much to me! Let me know any thoughts you have, any requests!
The next chapter should be up soon …. Dumbledore will also more than likely be maing an appearance!
So until next time …