Chapter Thirty-Two: The Whispers of Rain

Disclaimer: All characters belong to J.K. Rowling. The underlined portions are taken directly from the novel; I do not own those parts. They belong to J.K. Rowling.

Author's Note: This fanfiction is going to be different from my other stories. This picks up where "The Heart of Everything" and "The Heart of Everything: Shallow Bay" left off. The time in the books also changes. So, pay attention the time, so you don't get confused. Some of the chapters are other Marcus Flint/Katie Bell stories, just with more changes and deleted scenes added.

Time: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Genre: Romance, Drama, and Friendship

Rating: PG-13

Bold: Flashback

"Marcus, MARCUS!"

Someone was shaking him and yelling his name.

He woke up with a jerk and found himself looking at his thirteen-year-old sister, Haley. "Dad said that you have to get up."

Marcus rolled over and looked at his clock. It was nine o'clock in the morning.

Haley hit him. "Now! The little ones are wanting to open their presents!"

Marcus groaned. His stepbrothers were here with their families. "Give me a second to put some clothes on."

Haley stepped toward the door. "Yeah, you might need those."

She slammed it behind her.

He could still feel it in him even though he knew it was gone. The ghost of the knife was piercing his insides, causing the pain to race through his body. He wish that it would go away. He wished that he could just open his eyes.

There was something else racing through his veins. He could feel his body fighting to get it out, but this invader wasn't leaving. It was holding on and calling in aids just as fast as his body was fighting it.

He looked at the darkness. He was alone.

They say that when you are in this state that you could hear voices. There were no voices for him. He was completely alone.

He remembered a dream that he had all those years ago. He had known that this was going to happen, but he didn't listen to what his soul was saying. He just ignored it and went forward. He hadn't even thought about that dream for so long.

Why had he been so stupid?
He really could kick himself sometimes and this was one of those times. All the signs had been there and, yet, he had done nothing about it.

He could still even remember the panic he had felt after waking up from that nightmare. It had felt so real.

He blinked knowing that he had a long fight ahead of him. Why did everything just have to be so difficult?
He slowly got to his feet and walked to the edge of the room. He put his hand on the wall and applied pressure. Nothing happened; the wall didn't even give a little. He looked up, but there seemed to be no end to the darkness.

He really was trapped in his mind.

Haley looked down at the sleeping children, knowing it was only a matter of time before they woke up and demanded her to take care of them. She really didn't want to be here, feeling like there was nothing she could do. She knew that her needs were better needed somewhere else.

Yet, she hadn't fought with them. This was her older brother and she was not going to let him die because of some little hissy fit.

She sat down in the doorway and stared down the long hall. Things were really bad. She only had to see the blood to know that his life was in danger.

Haley sighed and looked back into the room. If looking after the children was the most she could do, then she would so do.

Amee and Dara rushed into the room, laughing.

Haley shot them a look. "Emily's sleeping."
Dara peered into Emily's crib. "No, she's not."

Haley got to her feet and looked into Emily's crib. Sure enough, she was staring up at Haley with big blue eyes.

"Told ya'," Dara said.

Amee sat in the centre of the room and took out her dolls. "So, we can play in here now."
Haley took Emily of out the crib. "I guess so."

Dara picked up a doll and looked around. "Where's Katie?"

"She had to run an errand," Haley said as she handed Emily a toy.

"Is Marcus going to die?" Amee asked as she looked up at Haley with big eyes.

Haley pretended to be busy with Emily. "What makes you think that?"

Amee starting combing her doll's hair. "I saw Grandpa carry him in."
Haley was not sure how to answer that one. "Marcus just got hurt, like he does when he plays Quidditch. He'll be alright."
"Oh," Amee said in the only way that an innocent child could. "So, we just jump on him for a few days?"

Haley nodded. "Yeah."
"I jumped on him once when he was hurt and he got really mad at me," Dara replied. "I didn't know he was hurt and I didn't mean too."
"I'm sure he's still not mad at you," Haley said.

Dara nodded. "I know, but I didn't like it when he yelled at me."

Haley smiled. She wished that she could be young and innocent again. She wished that she could believe, like Dara and Amee, that everything would be fine in a couple of days. Innocence was not a burden. It was a gift and something that had to be held onto.

Emily reached up and touched one of Haley's wavy locks. Emily smiled as she gave the hair a small yank. Haley winced. It was amazing how strong babies could be.

Amee looked up at Haley. "So, since Marcus and Katie had a baby, when are going you going to buy one?"

Haley chocked.

"You should pick out a girl. Boys are smelly," Amee went on.

Haley really didn't know what to say to that. She wondered how their conversation could turn to this.

"You should find out what factory Marcus and Katie got Emily from. They seemed to have picked a good one," Dara told Haley.

Haley tried not to roll her eyes. It was going to be a long day.

Jenna came up a few hours later to relieve Haley of her duties, which Haley was more than happy to give up.

Haley crept downstairs and into Marcus's room, where Jasmine and Nathanial where bent over him. She slowly walked in and stood next to her mother.

Marcus's face was pale with beads of sweat running down it. His cheeks were covered with a faint red. His breathing was laboured, but wasn't raspy, which Haley took as a good sign.

"How is he?" Haley slowly asked.

"The bleeding stopped," Jasmine asked.

"That's good, isn't it?" Haley asked.

Nathaniel nodded. "Yeah. We still have no idea when he'll wake up. It might not be until the others get back with the flower or it might be longer. His body's putting up a pretty good fight. So, he's tried."
Haley nodded. She really didn't want to ask the next question, but no one was flat out giving her the answer. "Is he stable?"

Nathaniel didn't answer right away. "It's hard to tell. I'm not really sure what this poison is capable of doing to him. He's got a strong immune system and he's young, but the knife pierced him twice and I don't know who long it was in him." He paused. "This is an example of how a wizard's medicine is better than a Muggle's. We can help someone hand on for about twice as long."
Haley briefly closed her eyes. She knew that things were not good.

Jasmine set her washcloth done. "I'm going to go grab something to eat. Does anyone else want something?"

"Yeah," Nathaniel whispered.

Haley shook her head. "I ate with the little kids."
Jasmine nodded and disappeared.

Haley picked Marcus's shirt off a chair and sat down. She peered over at her brother. "Do you need anything for him from upstairs?"

Nathaniel was filling a vial up with a potion. "I don't think so."
Haley nodded.

Nathaniel walked over to Marcus, moved his head over, and placed the needle in Marcus's neck. "There."

"What was that?" Haley asked.

"It'll help his body and make him able to relax. He's really tense right now and this is the only way to calm him down. He needs to relax or he may not pull out of it."

Haley snorted. "Good luck with getting him to relax."
"I know and that's why he has a hard time healing."

Haley nodded. "Is he in pain?"

"I really don't know. I've been giving him things for pain, just in case. He probably will be when he comes around."
Jasmine came back into the room and handed Nathaniel a sandwich. "Which is why it's important to keep an eye on him at all times."

Haley was starting to feel like she was getting lectured, which she hated. She looked away from her mother. "In other words, since I don't have anything to do right now, you want me to sit here with him."

Jasmine gave Haley a small smile. "Would you mind?"

Haley shook her head. "I guess not."

"We'll be back within the hour," Jasmine said as she and Nathaniel stepped out of the room.

Marcus could feel the darkness overpowering his body. He wasn't sure what was wrong, but knew he was dying. Life was slipping away. What was the point of living if he couldn't see his only family again?
He could hear voices now, but wasn't sure what the voice were saying. They didn't sound happy and he wanted to yell out to them that they should be happy. Happiness was what made the world go round.

Marcus stared out into the world of darkness. It had to get better than this. Death couldn't be spending forever left in darkness. What about all of those happy scenes of people being reunited in death? Was that all a lie?

The rain was starting to fall. It's whispers calling out to him, telling to hold on and to never give up hope. It was kind of funny how something as simple could call out to you.

He closed his eyes. He really did need to get out of his mind. It was a rather scary place to be.

Marcus opened his dark eyes and hoped to see light, but there was nothing there. He sighed. What did he have to do to get out of this world? Was there no simple answer?
He wanted to be touched, to make sure that he was at least still alive. He hoped he was, but there was really nothing to prove it. There was just nothing at all to put an end to this madness.

"Marcus, I'm serious!"

What are you going to do about it?"

Katie reached up under his shirt and tickled his stomach. He stopped tickling her. "That's cheating."

She looked innocently up at him. "Nope, it's not."

Marcus pinned her down to the bed and crawled over top of her. Their faces were centimetres apart. He also pinned her arms down. "Now, what are you going to do?"

Katie smiled a wicked smile at him. "This."

"Huh?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out."

Marcus looked confused.

Katie drew her legs up. Marcus jumped back thinking that she was going to kneel him in a bad spot. However, Katie had other intentions and without his knowledge, he was going exactly what she wanted him to do. She sit up quickly and shoved him from the top bunk. He landed on the floor with a loud thump.

Just as he was sitting up, the door opened and Katie's father, Jim, stuck his head in. "What on earth on you two doing in here?" He had not noticed Marcus on the floor.

"Nothing," Katie said.

"That hurt," Marcus said at the same time.

Jim looked at Marcus on the floor and then at Katie. He shook his head on walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Marcus looked up at Katie. "He didn't even ask if I was okay."

Katie responded by throwing a pillow at him, which hit him in the face.

It was her. She had always been the whispers of the rain.