Disclaimer: See chapter 2.

A/N: I worked hard on this chapter and thank you for taking the time to read it.

Chapter 3

Harry noticed a few things upon becoming conscious. One, he was extremely sore. Two, his muscles were very stiff. And three, there was something warm and heavy on his chest. Cracking an eye open, all Harry saw was a fuzzy 'thing'. Realizing his glasses were not on his face, he cocked his head to the side to locate them. This action caused multiple bones in his neck and upper back to pop, and the muscles connected to them to strain, causing a loud groan to escape his throat. The fuzzy shape snapped to attention, leapt off his chest and dashed out of his eyesight. As Harry lay there, he recounted the event that brought him were he was. Voldemort had been looking for something in Harry's memories, but what it was puzzled the young man. 'Why would he not go back farther?' Harry thought 'If Voldemort had discovered that I had knowledge of his Horcruxes I would probably be dead; or at least at the permanent spell damage ward in St. Mungo's with the Longbottoms.'

Hurried footstep distracted Harry inner musings. They grew in volume and, soon enough, a door was thrown open and five blurred outlines entered his field of vision. He waited for them to move or start talking for about a minute before trying to speak himself. All he managed to produce was a pitiful gurgling noise, but they reacted as if he had said Voldemort was dead. Three of the figures came rushing toward him at the same time. The one to his right had what was obviously a wand out and was waving it over him from top to bottom. He now had an idea of where he was; it was confirmed by one of the figures on his left, a female, asking "Is he alright Madame Pomfrey?" She replied in a relieved and slightly confused voice with "Well, statistically he should be brain-dead at the least, but I can't find a thing wrong with him. Several more days' rest, a long soak and a hearty meal and he should be right as rain."

Harry heard sighs of relief all around except from one of the distant blobs, but he considered four out of five to be good enough. Frustrated by his lack of visibility, he tried unsuccessfully once again to find his glasses, this time almost dislocating his arm by reaching for the bedside table to his right. He saw the flash of a spell being cast on him and immediately his limbs snapped to his body and he lay flat as a board. "Now see here Mr. Potter, I will not have you further injuring yourself on my watch. I'm going to remove the spell now, but don't move too much okay; and when you must, move slowly." She released the spell and the female on his left put his glasses on the bridge of his nose for him. He sighed gratefully as the world swam into focus and he could identify the remaining four people in the room. The 2 on his left were Remus and Tonks, and the 2 that stood back a ways were Headmistress McGonagall and Argus Filch, who was holding a very fuzzy-looking Mrs. Norris in his arms.

Madame Pomfrey handed him a couple potions, one for his soreness and the other she said was to help his muscles get used to movement again and some water to wash them down with, after Remus helped him sit up against the headboard of the cot. When he finished with the water he cleared his throat and asked "What happened?" Everyone glanced to each other before Remus stepped forward. "We think that since the extra protection wards that Dumbledore had set up around Privet Drive are now gone, and that Voldemort used your blood in his rebirth, that the blood wards surrounding the property while strong enough to stop him from getting to you physically, had amplified the power of your connection to him through your scar." Remus left Harry to digest this information while he had a whispered conversation with Tonks. Tonks looked like she would rather not be having the discussion, but finally nodded her head and stepped toward Harry. "Wotcher, Harry" she said trying and failing to be cheerful, but she plowed on anyway. "Your probably wondering how you came to be here, right?" At his nod she continued "Well, I was at Grimmauld when I got your letter. I thought it would be a good idea and decided to pick you up and go that same day, so I went over after telling the others what was going on." She took a deep breath before continuing. "I got there and your aunt answered the door then started ranting about freaks and hooligans and 'you people' an all that crap. When she finally shut-up, I asked about seeing you, so she shouted up the stairs for you to come down and make me leave before the neighbors saw me. After she called a few times without any response I knew something was wrong, so I paged the Order with my medallion and ran up the stairs to see what was the matter. When I opened the door...and I saw you lying in all that blood, I thought you were...d-dead." She turned away sobbing as she recalled the grisly scene. Remus stepped forward and embraced her while the tears spilled down her anguished face. When her sobs had reduced to sniffles, Remus picked up the telling of what had happened for her.

"She put a stasis charm on you to stop the blood flow, and gave you a blood replenishing potion from her Auror emergency kit before securing the room. When you were somewhat stable, she levitated you onto the bed and sent us a message by spell saying you needed medical help. We arrived and brought you here. That's about it." When he finished speaking, he had a few murmured words with Tonks before they bid Harry well and left with Remus supporting a drained, but still slightly weepy, Tonks on his shoulder. Harry looked back around and noticed that Filch had left during the talk. The Headmistress approached and said in a voice that was less formal, but still serious "Mr. Potter, I have two things that I need to bring to your attention before I leave you to your rest." Harry nodded for her to continue and she nodded back. "Mr. Potter this may come as a shock to you, but you have been here in a coma for a little over a month." Harry's jaw dropped open. To forestall any interruption, she held up that morning's issue of the Daily Prophet so he could see that he had, in fact, been out around thirty-four days.

When Harry had processed this he nodded for her to continue. "The second thing I must mention is that this encounter with the Dark Lord has left you with another wound that cannot be healed by magic. It must heal the muggle way, I'm afraid. When it is completely healed, it will become yet another battle scar you have undeservedly been forced to bear in this war. Poppy told me that in a few days she will have to remove the bandages and apply fresh ones, and you can see the injured area at that time. She will be giving you a dose of concentrated dreamless sleep potion that will keep you asleep until then. When you wake, and are fed and bathed, she will inspect your injury, replace the bandages, and determine if you are fit to be discharged. That is all, get well soon Mr. Potter. " After she finished speaking, she stood, bid him goodbye and left the hospital wing. Harry sighed and sank back a little further into the pillows supporting him. As he sat thinking about just how much he was outgunned, he unconsciously reached to his bandaged chest. A slap on the hand alerted him Madame Pomfrey's presence. She gave him a disapproving look, before handing him the dreamless potion. Then, shaking her head, she turned and went to her office. Harry felt the affects of the potion immediately and soon fell into sleep's gentle embrace.

A/N: Lara will have an important part in the next chapter. Harry and her may or may not meet, I'm still deciding on that.