Chapter 11: Saint Mungos
Ron could barely believe what had happened just a couple of days ago. Everything had moved so fast. First he had been in for the grounding of his life, and then he was rushed away to the hospital where his best friend now lay as if dead. He was currently on what had been dubbed "Harry-sitting." It was late at night and everyone else had left to go home. At first Mrs. Weasley had been reluctant to let her 13-year-old son sit alone with his best friend this late at night, but Mr. Weasley had convinced her that there were enough Aurors stationed around the hospital wing to keep Ron safe from harm. It was the first peaceful moment that Ron had had all day. It gave him time to reflect.
'This isn't how its was supposed to go,' the red-head thought to himself. 'We were supposed to rescue Harry, and he was going to be at the Burrow for the rest of the summer.' But instead Black, who they had been trying to save Harry from, had stabbed the Boy-Who-Lived the very next day. Ron felt like it was his fault that Harry was lieing here, close to death. Maybe if they hadn't tried to rescue Harry in the first place then Black wouldn't have gotten angry. Or at least they could have come up with a better plan that would actually get Harry out of that house for good. This was worse then the events of the last two years together. He had never seen Harry look so…weak before. Harry looked as though he would die at any moment. Thankfully there were many levels of monitoring spells that told Ron that his best friend was still alive. The door of Harry's room opened, startling Ron out of his thoughts. It was the man with graying hair that had taken Ron and his brothers home the other night, after they had tried to rescue Harry. Ron stood up quickly, wand drawn, ready to defend Harry if this man was here to finish the job. The man put his hands up in the air to signal peace.
"I'm sorry I didn't realize that anyone would still be here this late. I just wanted to check on Harry."
Ron narrowed his eyes and didn't lower his wand. "What do you care if Harry's alright? You helped Black!"
Remus remained calm. "I think you better lower your wand…Ronald is it? We can talk this over like civilized men."
"I can hardly call the man who helped in the near murder of my best friend civilized."
"Ronald, if I were really responsible for this, do you think that the Aurors would have let me pass? I certainly hope not, for Harry's safety and yours." Ron still didn't back down, but he was beginning to look uncertain. "If I give you my wand, as a sign of peace, than can we talk?" Remus offered his wand out to the teenager. Ron nodded reluctantly and took the wand, before sitting down next to Harry again, still with a protective look on his face. Remus smiled lightly. "Now that's better. How is Harry doing?"
Ron looked at his best friend, who was still unconscious on the bed. "He hasn't woken up yet, but the healers think that he will be better in a couple of days. They think that they have gotten all the poison out of his system." The elder man looked relieved.
"That's some of the best news so far. So how long have you known Harry?"
"Since the train ride, during our first year." Remus nodded.
"I met my friends in the same way. You know I was a good friend of James and Lily Potter before they died. I knew Harry as a baby." Ron didn't say anything in reply to that. He just looked at Harry sadly. Remus began to talk again. "You know, I think that it is really great that you are such a loyal friend to Harry—he really needs—" However, the werewolf never got the chance to say what Harry really needed. The magical sensors monitoring Harry's condition started beeping and glowing red. Both Ron and Remus stood up suddenly, shocked by the loud noise. Before either of them had a chance to run for help, about six mediwizards came running into the room wands brandishing. They started performing medical spells on the Boy-Who-Lived.
"You have to leave!" One of them yelled.
"But—" Ron started, but before he could finish he found himself being pushed magically out the room, to join Remus, who had already been pushed out, in the hallway. Ron desperately looked in the windows and banged on the door. "Let me in!" He yelled, very worried about his friend. Lupin pulled Ron back to stop him from breaking into the room. "Let me go back! I have to see if he's ok!" The hysterical teenager shouted.
"Ronald, there is nothing that you can do for him now, let the mediwizards do their job. They'll take care of him. Why don't you go home, and come back tomorrow, when hopefully things will be less hectic."
"No! I can't leave! What if he…what if Harry doesn't…" Remus wanted to tell the poor boy that Harry would be just fine, and that everything would turn out for the better, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Plus the kid probably wouldn't believe him anyway. So the older man just nodded. "I'll stay with you, and we will wait for Harry to get better together." Ron responded by sitting down heavily into a chair of the waiting room, just outside of where Harry was. Remus sat beside him and together the two of the got ready for a very long night.
III
Boy-Who-Lived Stabbed By Godfather!
It has recently been found out that on the evening of July 22nd, Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, was stabbed by his godfather, Sirius Black. Black recently gained custody of Potter, much to the distaste of most of the wizarding public. "I knew he was dangerous," states a ministry employee, who wished to remain anonymous. "I think that the Minister did as well, but he didn't do anything about it." This reporter has to wonder what Minister Weasley was thinking, allowing for Harry Potter to be in the custody of a well known murderer. Mr. Potter is currently being healed at Saint Mungo's Hospital, where he is yet to wake up from this terrible incident. Black is currently in the Ministry custody, awaiting his trail, which will be held three days from today, on July 31st.
III
"Who leaked this information?" Minister Weasley was angry. Actually, he was more than angry, he was furious. And all those around him knew it from his scary quiet tone of voice. "Do I need to ask again? Who let this information out?" He glared at all the aids around him. There were very few people who knew about the stabbing of Harry Potter, and the Minister had been hoping to keep it that way until long after the trail was over. One of the Aurors stepped forward.
"We don't know yet sir, but we can launch a full investigation right now, if you want."
"Please do so. And increase the security around Harry, I want Aurors stationed in his room at all time, as well as more standing in the hallway. No one, I mean no one, except for me, my family, Hermione Granger, Headmaster Dumbledore, and Remus Lupin is allowed in that room. Is that understood?"
"Yes Minister. We'll get right on that." All the people that had been previously surrounding the minister took off in a frenzy, to make sure that everything was done. Arthur sat down heavily in a chair of the waiting room. The newspaper had only been released a couple of hours ago, but things had gone from hectic to pure chaos. There were a million reporters, well wishers, and probably some non-well wishers, standing around outside the hospital trying to get in and have a look at the Boy-Who-Lived. Meanwhile, the Minster had had troubles getting a full trail for Black on such short notice, and Harry was getting worse by the minute, according to the mediwizards. And as Harry got worse, Arthur's own family was beginning to break down with him.
Ron had barely talked to anyone since the incident, and when he did, it was only to Hermione. Poor Ginny had been crying for days straight, and the twins had never been so serious in their entire lives. Percy was trying his best to keep everyone organized, in his usual bossy way, which annoyed everyone around him. And then there was Molly. Arthur's poor wife had barely slept since she had heard the news and she spent all day looking after everyone. The Minister didn't even want to think about what would happen if Harry was to die. Not only would he have to deal with grief within his family, but for the whole wizarding world. The whole thing was a disaster.
"Arthur, do you need anything?" Molly had noticed her husband's distress from the other side of the room.
He sighed. "I'm fine, thanks Molly, how is everyone holding up?"
"As well as can be expected…the poor dears…and poor Harry!"
"I don't know what is going to happen if he dies…"
"Arthur Weasley, don't you dare say that! Don't you dare even think it. That boy has been through too much not to make it now. If you give up, everyone will give up."
"You're right, as always Molly." He gave a deep sigh again and stood up. "I better get back to work. Snape has been trying to make an antidote to the poison and he thinks that he made be close."
"That's good news dear. If you need anything, you know where I am."
"Yes, of course, thank you Molly. I love you."
"I love you too Arthur. Good luck."
"Thanks." With that the Minster of Magic went off to try and prevent any further disasters from happening.
III
"Remus if I could please have a quick word with you?" Dumbledore poked his head into the room where Lupin was sitting with Harry. Remus looked at the inanimate boy, then at Dumbledore, before deciding to get up and follow Dumbledore to an empty room in the hospital wing. This whole floor of the hospital had been cleared of all patients except for Harry, to ensure the safety of the Boy-Who-Lived. Dumbledore put up a silencing spell. The old man looked extremely tired.
"Remus, I know that this is a lot to ask of you, but I need you to testify in the trail." Remus' stomach lurched. How was he supposed to defend Sirius and stay in Dumbledore's good graces at the same time?
"But Headmaster, will anyone believe me…I mean I am a werewolf…"
"Not to worry dear boy, I will make it perfectly clear that you have been working for me all these years." Yep, there was no way to get out of this, Remus thought to himself. "Unfortunately I don't only need to you to testify, I need you to swear that Sirius is of sound mind." Remus snorted. "Otherwise, it may be decided that Black is insane, and that may get him out of a life sentence in Azkaban." There was a pause.
"What if he is insane?" Remus asked hesitantly, thinking that this was pretty good defense for Sirius. Dumbledore gave him a stern look.
"You don't honestly think that Black stabbed Harry out of his own free will?"
"I don't know, I mean, Black won't talk about it, and Harry isn't awake…what if there is something else at work here?"
"I hope for Harry's sake that there isn't. The boy is dieing Remus, and he probably won't live to tell the tale. Don't you think that he deserves justice?"
Remus hung his head, as if in shame, but his mind was reeling. What should he do? He wouldn't…he couldn't betray his best friend. But what would that mean for after the trail, if Sirius didn't get off? Remus already faced a lot of persecution because he was a werewolf, he couldn't imagine what would happen if people thought that he was also the best friend of the murderer (or almost murderer) of the Boy-Who-Lived. And then there was Harry, if Harry woke up… 'No,' Remus thought to himself, 'when' Harry wakes up.' He had to try and stay positive. Dumbledore was now looking at the younger man with great concern.
"Remus, are you alright?"
"Not really, what if you need me, you know, after the trial, if for some reason Sirius—I mean Black gets off? What if you need me to watch him again, for Harry's sake."
Dumbledore looked thoughtful. "I have thought of this Remus, and I promised you that I would never make you spy on Black again, that you wouldn't have to pretend anymore. And Black should be put into jail for the rest of his natural born life for what he's done to Harry, but he's been let off before. That's why I need you Remus…Harry needs you. We need to make sure that Black doesn't get away with these crimes."
Remus closed his eyes slightly; there was no getting out of it. He was going to have to testify. And he was about to tell his former headmaster just that, but someone came running into the room that they were in. It was Percy Weasley, and he was very out of breath. "Headmaster, you have to come now, its Harry, he's not breathing!"
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AN- Merry Christmas, a couple of days late everyone! I know its been awhile since the last update, but all my pre-written stuff is gone, and things have been crazy! (Typical holiday stuff) The good news is that I have mostly finished my college apps, and I've been accepted to two school already! So, this is the second to last chapter, I was going to end it with this one, but this was long already, and I would hate to have 11 chapters in a fic, I would prefer the even 12.
Also, I live in Seattle, and as you might have heard, we were all out of power for like four days, meaning four days I couldn't work on this! They called FEMA, which may be certain that we were all going to die.
Exciting news about the 7th book title! I can't wait to see the fanfics that are going to come out of that. YAY! So anyway, I hope to update quicker next time, but there is only one left, so it wont be too long! Thank you to everyone for reviewing:
EsScaper- I was fairly surprised by your last review, but I can see where you got confused. My Remus is actually somewhat of a mix of the canon Remus and one that has suffered much less. If you look at the timeline below, you will see that Remus believed that Sirius was guilty for two years…and while that may not be long, it was long enough to change him. Also, the flashback was simply a continuation of the flashback in Chapter 5. You could match the two up and you would see that they take place on the same day. I think that if you go back and read that flashback you will understand. I don't like to label things "flashback" in the story, because I find it to be unprofessional and it reminds the reader that they are reading a story, therefore taking them out of the events within the story. I was hoping that the italics would give it away…but maybe not.
lucerito-del-alma- Ah yes, I am very good at procrastinating, however, this fanfic and other writings are what I use to waste time instead of writing my college essays or doing my homework for school. Good for all you, bad for my grades.
Timeline for My Parent's Secret KeeperJuly 31st 1980- Harry Born
September 30th 1981- Peter made Secret Keeper of the Potters- Potters go into hiding
October 31st 1981- Betrayal and Death of the Potters, Harry goes to the Dursleys
November 1st 1981- Sirius Black arrested
November 6th 1981- Sirius Black acquitted due to lack of evidence
November 15th 1981- Trial for custody of Harry, Sirius loses
April 2nd 1983- Remus approached by the Minister and Dumbledore
September 1st 1991- Harry goes to Hogwarts
June 20th 1992- Harry ends his 2nd year
July 11th 1992- Sirius gets custody of Harry--Harry visits the Weasleys
July 18th 1992- Harry goes to live with Sirius
July 21st 1992- Weasleys come to rescue Harry
July 22nd 1992- Pettigrew attacks Harry
July 23rd 1992- Remus visits Sirius in prison
July 31st 1992- Sirius' second trail
September 1st 1992- 3rd year of Hogwarts