The Hybrid

Chapter 10

The world came back to Zack slowly. He felt like hell, but in his mind that was better than being in hell. His body, though down right pain filled in some places, didn't seem to be that badly damaged. In the hazy pain that was his body, there were two things he took a lot of comfort in. The first was the small, fragile and very familiar hand clenched in his own. The second was the two masses of warm on either side of him.

As he eased his eyes open, Zack groaned at the seemingly bright light that caressed his eyes. "Zack?" a small, tentative voice asked. Focusing on his surroundings, Zack found a pair of eyes of the lightest blue right above him. He tried to great his eventual mate, but found himself only able to make a sandpapered groaning noise.

'Water?' he finally mouthed to the girl, after several more failed attempts at talking. She nodded, moving out of his line of vision. After several seconds, she returned with a cup and straw, the cup filled with water. Two cups of water later he finally managed a greeting. "Hey Luna."

All of the commotion seemed to wake the two lumps on either side of Zack, both of whom jumped into action at seeing the teenager's eyes open. "Zachawy!" the twins yelled, sitting up and hugging their older brother, all thoughts of sleepiness gone immediately.

Zack stifled a yelp as the two landed on his ribs, but didn't say anything to his younger siblings. The twin's yells seemed to stir up everyone in the hospital wing, and soon, Zack was sitting up getting yelled at by all five of the older females in his life. He was secretly thankful that Natalie wasn't old enough to start yelling at him yet.

"Of all of the stupid, irresponsible things you could have done! You were in no condition to try and fight a wizard like that!" Zack cringed away from his mother. He knew, in retrospect, what he'd done was stupid. He should have waited for an opening, instead of trying to make one himself. "But," Selene continued, "at least you're alright."

Zack flinched as his mother pulled him into a rib-cracking hug. "Mom, ribs, ouch." Zack choked. His ribs were on fire once again, and breathing didn't seem like such a good idea.

Selene loosened her grip, but didn't let go. Her son was a Vycan, one of the first, and could stand up to a hug with broken ribs. "Don't you ever, ever do something like that again, understood?" Selene demanded. Zack nodded.

Zack paused, a question rising in his mind. "That girl that Pettigrew came here with, is she alright?" Zack asked.

"Her name is Leila, and she's fine. She was home schooled in magic, but now that her parents are dead, Dumbledore is trying to get her into one of the schools," Hermione answered.

"So she might be going here?" Zack asked. Hermione shrugged and Zack suddenly felt slightly ill. "When can I get out of here?" he finally asked.

"Not for a while. You aren't healing the way you're supposed to. You're body won't be up to anything physical for a while," said Madam Pomfrey, whom was standing a few feet behind his mother.

Zack raised an eyebrow at the older woman. After mentally checking that he had at least boxers on under the hospital blanket, Zack cast it aside, easing himself to the edge of the bed. Pomfrey looked as if she wanted to stop the young Vycan, but one look from Michael stopped her. Zack would have to learn about physical limitations on his own.

At first Zack was able to stand perfectly fine on his own, but slowly the pain in his legs increased, and breathing became hard. Still, Zack didn't miss a step as he pulled on an old pair of jeans that his mother had slung over a chair for him. To the well-trained eye, Zack was shaking with exertion. He hardly managed to get each button on his shirt into place before he had to sit down. He used putting his shoes on as an excuse.

"Nothing physical, huh?" Zack asked, as soon as he'd finished tying his shoes. His father, mother and sister were all giving him knowing looks, but he ignored them. Pushing himself to his feet once more, Zack set one goal in mind, returning to his room. As fast as he could, which was about his normal walking pace, Zack left the Infirmary, his only thoughts of returning to his room.

Twice, he stumbled, but each time his lunar angel held him up. He hadn't even noticed her following until she caught his weight before he could hit the ground. For being nearly a head shorter than Zack, and twice as skinny, Luna was very strong, carrying much of Zack's weight on her shoulders.

Upon reaching Zack's room, Luna whispered the password. Zack was dazed and slightly oblivious as to his surroundings, so he didn't notice when Luna removed his shoes, and unbuttoned his shirt, single handedly setting his heavy frame under the comforter of his bed. Zack did notice, however, when Luna turned to leave. Faster than the human eye could follow, Zack's hand shot out, gently capturing Luna's in his own.

"Please, stay," said Zack. All of his aches and pains, once ignored, were now back in full force, and Zack was having a hard time keeping conscious. The last thing he wanted, however, was to be pulled back into his own hell, knowing he was alone, with no one to help him should things get bad.

Luna offered Zack a shy, pretty smile. Pulling away from him, Luna crossed the room, to the other side of Zack's queen sized bed. Removing her shoes and outer robes, Luna eased her way onto Zack's bed, lying on top of the comforter. Zack shifted onto his side, ignoring the pain it caused. With no warning, he wrapped his arms around the girl's petite figure, pulling her tightly against him. Luna didn't struggle as Zack locked her within his arms, falling into a deep sleep only seconds later. Shifting slightly, Luna melted into the older boy's embrace, joining him in his world of slumber.

BLAH

A few days passed. It took Zack only a few attempts at standing to figure out exactly how physically limited he really was. Most of his time was spent in his room either reading or sleeping. A few times someone had come to visit, but they were very quick visits, everyone having to revolve around their classes.

The times Zack wasn't reading or sleeping or talking to his friends, he was talking or playing with Kitala. Despite her age Kitala still acted much like a young kit. More often than not she could be seen chasing her tail or chasing other random things around the castle. According to a book Zack had read in the library, fire and trinity foxes were known for their fast mental again, and slow physical aging. That was one of the reasons why Kitala's parents had been able to mate.

Now, Zack was sitting on his bed, holding a book he was reading in one hand, and teasing Kitala with a curtain tassel with the other. Kitala growled and hissed at the tassel, jumping and trying to leap on it. She had yet to even get close.

Zack's reading and teasing was interrupted by the slamming of his door. He hadn't even heard it open. In less than a second his wand was pointed at the intruder. The intruder stood in front of him, it's form covered by a black, hooded cloak. Zack could see nothing of its face, and suddenly he felt very cold. Realization clicked in his mind. "Expecto Patronum!" Zack yelled. There wasn't even a puff in response.

"Expecto Patronum!" Zack yelled again, trying with all of his might to think happy thoughts. Nothing happened. Frantically looking down at his wand, Zack discovered it was no longer his wand, but a deadly black cobra with its hood up as it hissed at him. Zack through the cobra at the figure as hard as he could, searching around for his wand. He didn't find it.

"Kitala!" Zack yelled desperately. Images started flashing before his eyes of his life with the Dursleys, and some of the other hardships he'd suffered so far in his life. The worst of them was when Vernon, he refused to call him his Uncle magically bound or not, had come home drunk after loosing a huge business deal.

Flashback

"BOY!" Vernon roared.

Young Harry Potter, a.k.a. Zack, came tottering out of the kitchen. He'd just finished with the dishes, and was in a fairly good mood because he'd known all of the answers on his spelling test, even if he hadn't been allowed to answer them all correctly. He had to keep his grade point average less than Dudley's of course. His good mood changed when he saw Vernon's dark red face and impaired walk.

"Boy! Get here now!" Vernon yelled, pointing to the white carpet at his feet. Carefully, Zack made his way over to Vernon, limping slightly on the ankle he'd twisted while 'playing in the park'. As soon as he'd stopped within the larger man's reach, he was greeted with a powerful smack to the face. Zack was knocked backwards by the force of the slap, and was soon huddled into a ball as Vernon hit and kicked him. After several minutes, the beating slowed, and then stopped.

Slowly, Zack uncurled himself, thinking Vernon too tired to continue. He was proven wrong by a sharp object connecting with his shoulder. Zack only got a half a second's look at the object before more blows reigned down on him. It was a wooden baseball bat with what looked like barbed wire wrapped tightly around it.

The wire cut into Zack's skin as head curled up into a tight ball, protecting his head, and trying not to scream. Vernon never beat him as long or as badly if he didn't give a reaction. After what seemed like forever, Zack heard something crash, and then a loud thump. Vernon had passed out, leaving Zack cut and bloody on the floor.

The crash seemed to draw the attention of Petunia, who nearly screamed when she saw one of her best vases broken on the floor, her husband lying next to it, and her nephew beaten and bloody on the carpet.

"You ungrateful little whelp! You're getting blood all over my carpet, and you've broken my favorite vase!" Petunia dragged Zack up by his arm, careful not to touch the bloody parts. Unmindful of his injuries Petunia dragged the small boy to the cupboard under the stairs, tossing him in, giving a distasteful look at the streak of blood he'd made across her white carpet. "You will scrub this carpet clean tomorrow morning, first thing, and you won't eat a thing until then!" She screamed, slamming the door in the broken face of the child.

End Flashback

Zack screamed, holding his head as the memories of the pain he'd gone through flashed behind his eyes, and through his body. The Dementor was even closer than before, almost touching the bed, as Zack crawled slowly backward. "Get the fuck away from me!" Zack yelled, falling backward off of his bed, flipping back and connecting with the wall. The Dementor floated over the bed, and came to a halt on top of Zack's prone form.

It leaned down, and Zack felt his body grow colder. Bright red eyes shown from under the hood as it leaned close to Zack's face. It came to a stop mere inches from Zack's face. "I know where you are, Harry Potter!" it hissed in a serpent like voice, before pressing its serpentine, cold lips to his own. Zack screamed.

BLAH

"ZACK!" Only a few minutes before, Luna had been sound asleep in the room she shared with Hermione, Ginny and Seri. Something however, woke her up, and unable to get back to sleep she decided to take a walk down to Zack's room. Upon entering the room, she was nearly deafened by the sound of Zack's screams.

He sounded like he was being ripped apart, the way he was screaming. Luna ran in the direction of Zack's bedroom, the screams getting louder the closer she got to her destination. Upon entering the room, it took Luna a second to focus on her surroundings, and then to locate Zack.

He lay at the foot of his bed, the screaming dying down to moans as he writhed on the floor. He was paler than normal, and all of the charms he'd used to conceal the scarring on his body were gone, revealing the patchwork that was his skin. "Zack?" Luna asked, dropping to her knees at his side. She didn't want to touch him for fear of messing him up even worse than he was. "Please Zack…"

Tempting fate, Luna reached out and brushed his hair away from his eyes, but he flinched away. "Zack! Wake up!" Luna screamed. He was starting to scare her, something that didn't come with ease.

A long while later, Zack's twitching and moans stopped, and Luna felt it safe to touch him. "Zack?" Luna asked, brushing Zack lightly on the arm. She might as well have shocked him, as he sat up bolt right. His eyes were wild and Luna could see the animalistic tinge swirling in his irises.

Zack turned, and his eyes fell on her. "Luna?" He asked, his voice rough, and scratching. Luna nodded hesitantly, drops of moisture falling from her eyes. She flinched as his arms shot out, but relaxed when Zack pulled her into a tight, warming hug. He muttered unrecognizable words as he rocked back and forth, holding her tightly.

As Zack rocked her in his embrace, Luna made out two words that made her blood run cold. "He knows…"

(A/N: Hey guys. I'm so sorry this took so long to get out. I'm so busy it isn't even funny. Most of this chapter I wrote while in my Web Design class. I'm sure my teacher really appreciates it, but she can't complain because I'm the only good student she has. Anyway, I was supposed to be in bed an hour ago, but I wanted to get this out before heads began to roll. Tomorrow if I have the time I'm going to respond to your reviews, but I just don't have the time at the moment. I'm sorry!)