Chapter Thirty-Five: Open Your Eyes

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

The group went outside. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see that Hagrid's house was in flames.

The students approached the Tower and formed a circle around something. Katie stood on her tiptoes and felt her stomach drop. In the centre, Harry was kneeling down next to something crying. Fang was howling a slow, lonely howl. Next to them was Dumbledore, dead.

She looked away and felt tears in her eyes. Dumbledore could not be dead. That just simply wasn't possible. She looked around at her friends and saw that they were trying not to cry.

In front of Katie, someone raised their lighted wand. She and the others followed their motions creating a candlelight vigil for the fallen wizard. Katie stared up at the Dark Mark and watched as they light burned away the darkness. It was really a beautiful thing, but she could not let herself be happy. There wasn't anything beautiful about death, it just met that someone wasn't here to enjoy another day. A few minutes later, the wands went out casting a darkness over Hogwarts. Darkness was better; it fitted death.

Slowly, Katie turned away from Dumbledore's body. She didn't want to remember him like this. She closed her eyes and let the tears fall to the sound of the distant lament of the phoenix.

Katie stared at Marcus's limp form. She wanted to shake and wake him up, but knew that he needed to rest, no matter what she wanted.

Her father was alive! Words could not simply describe how she felt about that. It was as if a weight had been lifted off her chest. It was a once in a lifetime feeling. To lose someone and, then, have hope placed on you was the most amazing thing in the world. It just made you go "wow" and allowed you to believe that there was hoped once again.

To lose your heart and get it back was the greatest thing in the world.

Katie opened the worn paperback again. A Little Princess had been her favourite book as a child and reading it allowed her to escape into the innocence of childhood. However, she couldn't read. She couldn't even bring herself to slip out and check on Emily.

Everything was focused on finding out what happened to her father.

It was a selfish thing really. Katie knew that there was other things going on as well, but she just had to know. It was just human nature to be selfish, but that still didn't make it right.

Katie closed her book again and watched Marcus's rise and fall. She needed to get her act together. She was a wife and mother now; she had duties, but she wasn't really sure what they were.

Katie looked at the clock. Marcus would be okay for a few minutes, wouldn't he? He was a pretty sound sleeper, so she didn't really foresee him watching up in the next few minutes. She could just slip up, see Emily, and tell Jenna what she had just learned.

She got to her feet, gave Marcus a final look, and left the room.

Outside Jenna's room, Katie could feel her stepmother speaking to Emily. Katie stood outside for a few seconds to listen in, but couldn't make out what was being said.

Katie pushed open the door and stepped in.

Emily smiled and held her arms out the moment she saw Katie.

"How is he?" Jenna asked.

Katie sat down next to Emily and took her in her arms. "He's sleeping. They think he'll be alright now."

Jenna nodded. "That's good."
Katie looked down at Emily, unsure of how to word what she was going to say next.

Jenna smiled. "She'll probably be happy to see Marcus."
Katie nodded. "He asked about her."

"You seemed surprised."
Katie shook her head. "I'm not really. I just didn't expect him to so fast, with what's going on and everything."

Jenna touched Katie's arm. "People will always surprise you."

Katie nodded. "Surprise doesn't even cover it anymore."

"I know the feeling."
Katie shifted Emily around. "He told me something before he feel back asleep."

"Go on."
Katie looked ahead. "He said that Dad is alive and that he sent him ahead."

Jenna got to her feet and put her hand to her mouth. "Jim's alive?"
Katie nodded. "I guess, but Marcus didn't say much more than that."

Jenna paced the room. "How?"

"I'm not really sure. We still don't know where he is or anything like that."

"It doesn't matter. All that matters is that he is alive and hopefully safe."

Katie looked down at Emily. Safety was something that was not a certain thing anymore. How could her father still be safe if he was still in England? No one was safe in England. Blood didn't matter anymore.

Jenna sat back down next to Katie and looked at Katie with tears in her eyes. "He's alive. He's alive."

Katie smiled and felt tears form. "I know."

Jenna closed her eyes. "I just can't believe it." She paused. "But how did Marcus get him out?"

"That's how the Death Eaters caught him, I think," Katie said. "They were already watching him and I think this just sealed the deal."

Katie really could not believe what Marcus had done for her family- or rather their family. In the end, he was the one who paid the price that almost cost him his life. She had always known that Marcus had a big heart, but this just proved it to others.

Jenna wiped her tear stained cheek and reached for Emily. "You'd better get back downstairs."

Katie looked at Jenna. "Are you sure?"

Jenna nodded. "You have just brought me great news about a loved one, now it's your turn to go and be with yours."
Katie nodded.

"He's your husband. He needs you."
Katie handed Emily over. "Thanks."
Jenna smiled. "Now, go."
Katie rushed out of the room and downstairs, hoping that Marcus's dark eyes would be there to greet her.

CRASH!

Katie winced as someone ran into her.
"Katie, I'm sorry," Brad said.

She bent down to help Brad pick up the scrolls that he had dropped. "It's okay."

Brad nodded his thanks to her.

Katie reached for the final scroll and frowned as she realized what was on it. "Azkaban," she whispered as she looked up at Brad.

"It's just a thought. Nothing's been set in stone."
"You're thinking about taking the prison back?"
"We're going to try."

Katie didn't answer. She knew that Azkaban was now a prison for Muggles and those who opposed the Dark Side, but the thought of regaining control of it was another thing on its own. It would be symbol of power and possibly change who was going to win the war.

Brad reached for the final scroll. "Don't tell anyone."
Katie nodded. "I won't, but this is going to take a lot of people."

"I know. We're working on that."

Katie sucked in a deep breath. "I could go. That would add one more person."

Brad's only response was a nod as he disappeared down the long hall.

Katie watched him. He hadn't said no.

She headed downstairs to Marcus, who was still sleeping. The thought of taking back Azkaban was still in her mind. It would certainly be an eye opener to the Dark Side. However, she wasn't sure if the cost was worth it. How many lives would be lost? How many more must die?

Katie sat back hard in her chair. What was going to happen?

Death was not a joke. Once you were dead, you were no longer a part of this world. The people you loved would not see you for a long time.

"Katie?" Marcus whispered as he attempted to pull himself up, but fell back against the pillows with a gasp of pain.

Katie got out of her chair and went over to him. "I'm right here."
Marcus nodded. "Can I get something to drink?"
Katie went over to dresser and poured him glass of water from a pitcher. She went back over to him and handed it over.

Marcus took a drink. "That was very Muggle of you."
"Shut up," Katie laughed.

Marcus just smirked at her.

"How are you feeling?"

"Like a knife has been driven through me."
Katie touched him arm. "Well, we'll have to fix that."
"Yeah."
Katie looked down at him. She was not about to mention the whole Azkaban thing to him. There was no way he could be a part of that all at. She had no idea when he could be able to walk around in public like a normal person. As soon as the Death Eaters saw him, they would kill him.

"Katie?" Marcus whispered.

Katie looked at him. "Yes?"

"You got really quite."
"I was just thinking."

"About what?"

She bent down and kissed his forehead. "Nothing that you need to worry about."

"Yeah, that's strange at all."

"You just need to focus on healing and nothing else."

Marcus didn't respond.

"You'll be back on your feet come May."

"That two months from now!"
Katie giggled. "There is no way you make it with Muggle healing. You'd probably have to wait longer than that. Broken arm in Quidditch would take weeks to heal instead of seconds."
"So, what's wrong with that?"

"Nothing, you just need to be open to more ideas."
Jasmine stepped into the room with a bowl of steaming soup. "Here."

Marcus took it from her.

"It's been decided on how we are going to handle this. The Death Eaters can't know that you are alive, Marcus."

Marcus nodded and took a bite of soup.

"We've decided to tell everyone, but a select few that you are dead."

Marcus chocked. "What?"

"We are going to tell the world that you are dead until the time is right."

"Who is going to know that I'm not?"

"Everyone here, Tonks, Kingsley, my parents, your brothers, Arthur, and Molly. They are the only ones who need to know."
Marcus nodded.

"The fewer who know the better."

Jasmine handed Katie a few bandages. "I'll leave you two alone. Let me know if you need anything."

Katie watched Jasmine leave. "So, we're faking your death?"

"I'm taking it that you didn't know anything about this either."

"Nope, but it is a good idea."

"I hope it works."

Katie nodded, wondering how in the world they were going to pull this off. A lot of people did not know that Marcus was alive, but that was still too many for her liking. She would have been happy with keeping it to the people in the house, but knew that others still needed to know.

She looked into Marcus's open eyes. He was probably problem with this. Everyone could keep their mouths shut, but he needed to stay out of sight and he was not one for staying cooped up. She only hoped that he would heal slowly.

Yeah, not the best chapter. Anyway, I promise that there will be more action in later chapters. Thanks for reading and see you next week!