Ambling Home by henri8l
Disclaimer: I own no rights to HP books or film franchise or any tv series only these invented plot changes and any added characters.
Ch8 A Fellow Escapee
3 months later
Dean and Sam hustled through the hospital corridors to get to room 6402. The hospital was a Wizarding entity of the Italian Ministry of Magic. Dean had been the one to do most of their talking from Peretola airport to the taxi they took. This came as a shock to Sam.
"Since when do you speak Italian?" Sam asked, almost laughing at the absurdity.
"Since I dated Chiara de Medici in Senior year."
Sam had to laugh. Now, he knew that Dean was lying. "How did you really learn Italian? The Medici's died out a long time ago."
"Not the Wizarding ones," Dean replied, smugly. "Boy, was she worth it."
Sam only shook his head as he watched the scenery go by. They whizzed through the small streets, somehow avoiding pedestrians and motorini's alike. The address on the letter took them to a small and empty piazza. After a few quick maze-like turns the people had become sparse and the taxi parked itself at the entrance. The driver had been reluctant to leave them on their own. He was convinced that they were tourists, and their look did nothing to dissuade him. He was certain that this was a trap set for them, and refused to tell them his fee. Sick of the man's protestations, Dean got out of the taxi and promptly told the man to mind his own business in rapid Italian. He then turned to Sam who was busy twisting his body out of the small taxi with a duffel in each hand, and told him to pay the man. Once they were alone Dean dug the letter out of his pocket and read the magic words, 'Casa di Innocenti,' and passed it to Sam pointing the words out. Before their eyes the small piazza became a bustling hospital. Healers, Mediwitches, and Mediwizards walked, strolled or ran around the surrounding piazza depending on their shifts. Parents were leaving with small bundles, ambulances careened in from a neighboring street. Sam stood in awe. Dean went in, immediately. It didn't take long for the Mediwitch on duty to send them to his son's room.
Sam stationed himself outside as Dean pushed the door open. '6402,' Dean thought as he turned the doorknob.
When Dean entered he saw an empty bed with numerous cords and wires strewn over the bed and hanging over the railings. Other than that, there we few personal things in the room. There was a stuffed ball with wings on the table next to the bed, and an open window, but no son.
"Where is he?" Dean asked the empty room. He knocked on the bathroom door only to have it bounce back at him, open. Showing him that it was dark inside.
The door to the hospital room opened and a tall man in a white lab coat entered. "Mr. Winchester."
"Healer Conti?" Dean asked. He was hoping this was the man that had written him. Maybe he could locate his son. 'Maybe he needed tests or something?' Dean thought, trying to temper his worrying.
"Yes, I'm happy to see that you responded to my letter so fast. Do you have the locket?" Healer Conti asked. Dean nodded and took off his chain that he kept his father's dog tags on. There beside them was a rose gold locket that the healer sent in the letter. He hadn't even shown it Sam. "Open it, please." Opening the clasp, the locket revealed two pictures of a boy. On one side was there was a picture of him when he was a baby and the other was a recent picture because the black haired boy had the beginnings of stubble. "Thank you, Mr. Winchester. We can never be too careful these days with You-Know-Who back. I specifically spelled these pictures to only be visible to you and me."
"If it was such a risk, why the letter?" Dean asked, putting the chain back on.
"The letter was general enough that no one would suspect it was about Harry. The pictures, well no one would mistake his face." Dean could understand that.
He looked back towards the bed and to the healer. "So where is he?"
The healer shook his head and held his folders to his chest. "Despite our efforts it would seem that he is on the run again. I set my assistant in to check his vitals before his evening meal and he was gone. Out the window, we suspect." Dean's nervous excitement deflated.
"How could a kid just walk out of a hospital? " Dean asked as he tried to forget how easy it had been anytime he had done it.
"Your son has a talent for narrow escapes, Mr. Winchester," said Healer Conti. Dean knocked on the door to call Sam.
His brother poked his head in. "What? Doctor?" Sam asked looking around the room for his nephew. "Where?"
"He's not here, Sam. He pulled a Winchester. Healer Conti was telling me that he made his escape about an hour or two ago," Dean said. His hands were tight around the metal railings of the bed.
"Could you tell us about his condition when he came here?" Sam asked. The healer kept his expression professional and cool. He pictured the condition the boy had been left to him in, and began to get angry all over again.
"He didn't come on his own. A man who went by Rus brought him. He was the one who gave me the potion to test Harry's lineage. He's well known in some circles so he asked me to only call him that. Rus brought Harry here for me to heal him and protect him with my life. I swore to and Rus left."
Sam's face was scrunched up in concentration, "Rus?"
Dean gave him an annoyed look. "Snape, genius. Healer Conti, please?"
"Yes. I think you should sit down for this. This will be a long explanation." Dean took the instruction and sat with his leg over the corner railings.
"Please don't spare us any details. Harry is my only son and I know of him, thanks to you. So. Please tell us. It's the only way we might find him." The healer nodded and adjusted his stethoscope.
"I know who he was as soon as I saw him. Who wouldn't know that scar?"
Sam and Dean shared a look. 'Scar?' they both said mentally.
"He was nearly unrecognizable, his eyes were swollen shut by the beating he received. His arm was broken in three places. Two of them were recent. One from what I could see was previously an unhealed fracture, which was then broken in the attack. His skin was covered in lacerations. Three broken ribs, loss of a tooth, one ear drum was shot out and he was missing most of a phalange."
"Phalange?" asked Dean.
"Finger," answered Sam.
"Yes, his small one on his left hand. It was down to the last phalange on the pinky."
"Jesus!" Sam said, covering his mouth.
"Is that all?" Dean asked, hoping with everything that was good, that it was.
"No. He showed evidence of being under cruciatus curse for an extended period of time. It was only yesterday, when he began talking and responding that I was able to tell what effect it had on his mind."
"But that's illegal! I remember that much!" said Sam.
"So is beating a kid within inch of his life, Sam. Please, Healer, what else?"
"His magic was no longer responding to his wand. It was healing him, but he couldn't access it. He really shouldn't be out there right now. He is completely vulnerable."
Dean got up from the bed and walked to the window. "So you're sure he wasn't taken."
"Yes, to the best of my knowledge, he made it out on his own. He's a very resourceful young man," said Healer Conti. Sam could see that. 'Must've gotten that from Dean. Seems like they're both stubborn and damn near suicidal in their determination.'
"He's the savior and will be again, many say. The impression is that he was spoiled celebrity, but I saw the evidence. Whatever hell he's enjoyed it's been for nearly his entire life. Albus Dumbledore kept a close hand and interest on him. He recently disappeared, but I have my doubts. Death Eaters would kill him, right away. If it were a robbery there would be a stabbing or a gun shot or an Avada. But this, this was personal." Dean agreed. That was just what he was thinking.
Knock, Knock. Before any of them could answer, the door was opened and a short man in a blue lab coat ushered into the room one Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.
"Well I'll be damned," said Dean.
A/N. Casa di Innocenti- House of Innocents. Phalanges- finger bones. Please read and review. Thanks, H.