CHAPTER ELEVEN AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR

Harry's head hit the carpet with a deafened thud. His eyes snapped back shut and he lay motionless on the floor, despite the major headache he must be feeling by now. Ginny stepped gingerly over top of his lifeless form to pull down the maroon sheet that once again shrouded the greatest wizard she had ever known.

"Well now dear, it is good to see you. Twice in one week even. And what is this that you've brought me? A present?" He looked down at the unconcious boy in front of him and a twinkle came into his moonlike eyes. "Well that's not how I would have told you to handle things, but I guess we don't have to worry about you taking care of yourself, eh?"

"What? No. I didn't do this. It was Ron. Well, and Fred. And George."

Ginny heard a gasp come from the back corner of the room followed shortly by a screech that made even Harry jump in his sleep. "I told you NOT to tell your brothers. Oh my Gods, Ginny, what have they done to him? Let me see, let me see. Have you called the hospital or....oh my God, it's not too late is it?" Molly was in hysterics and even Arthur, Bill, and Charlie couldn't keep her from running through the adjoining portraits to push her way roughly past Dumbledore so that she could see her youngest. "Oh Ginny, they didn't. Harry? Is he...?" She looked up at Dumbledore as if pleading for him to save him.

"He's not gone, mum. He's pretty messed up but Draco helped me to..."

"Draco Malfoy?! He helped you , not helped Ron do this?"

"Lots has changed since the final battles mum, but anyways, yes he helped me to clean him up, and he seems to think that he'll be alright. He somehow got from the bedroom down the hall to in front of this door while we were all downstairs so he must be coming around, but now he won't even look at me."

Dumbledore cleared his throat and both women jumped as they had forgotten that he was listening from the side of his chair. "Remember Ginny, 'not every closed eye is sleeping, and not every open eye is seeing.' I think our young man had help to bring him here tonight so that when his ears took in the sounds of it's surroundings, he would hear some comfort and advice that just might help to wake him on the right side of the bed." He winked knowingly at her as Ginny tried to figure out how one person could speak in so many riddles and still know what the hell they were talking about.

"So, Ron, Fred, and George are here?"

"Yes, mum, also Luna Lovegood, Draco, and Hermione. I was trying to have some people over so I wouldn't have to be alone and now all I want is to be able to sit alone with Harry until he wakes up."

"Well, there's no reason for you to be a bad hostess, Miss Weasley. Harry is now surrounded by watchful eyes. Just leave the door open and we will let you know if there's anything he needs.

Even though she knew it was impossible, she felt as if she was being pulled slightly out of the room. She fought the invisible force to keep her place next to Harry, but she was overtaken by a feeling of comfort knowing that he was in good hands. Besides the fact that she really didn't want to be around when he did come too and realized where he was. "Well, I will just be downstairs and I'll come up to check on him in about half an hour. I really should get back to my company." She was met with nods of approval as their eyes gently pushed her out the door.

The door was pulled until it was only cracked an inch or so and Ginny's eyes could be seen scanning over the scene until the wood blocked out her vision.

Molly looked woefully at Dumbledore. "Do you think he'll be alright lying on the floor like that?"

"If he's going to be alright at all, he'll be alright there." His voice was calm and there was no hint of worry.

"Just let the ass lay on the floor. He deserves no better." Bill yelled over to the doorway and Molly turned to go and give him her sternest motherly look.

"How's my baby, Molly?" Arthur asked as she entered their frame.

"Well, if her story checks out then she seems to be doing a little better, although worried over that boy, but if she's lying then she might just have tried to kill Harry. I've never known my Ron to be much of a fighter, but Fred and George I'd believe."

"I agree. I'd buy Ginny killing Harry over Ron. I remember that note we got from school about what she did to her at the time boyfriend when she caught him snogging some girl. What was his name again? Thomas?"

"No dear, it was Dean. I hope they got his nose back on straight. She is a little firecracker. But Harry? I think the only real explanation is that Ron really did it."

"It's amazing what love can do to people." Dumbledore said from the front of the room. His voice seemed to echo around the walls and since they couldn't see his face, his voice boomed from around them like some Omnipotent being. "Love can turn to pain so quickly and violently and then calm back to the sweetest feeling. Harry's love for his parents caused pain for Ginerva, Ron's love for her caused pain for Harry. Life plays in vicious circles, one half good, the other half bad, but the good thing about circles is that they will always come back to the other. Harry's outer wounds, as well as Ginny's, will heal, but I believe the real thing we need to focus on is the wounds that both of them have endured on their hearts."

For the first time since Harry had entered the room, the conversation finally carried far enough across the room that it was overheard by the farthest corner where the Potters' resided. At the mention of Harry's name, both Lily and James perked up from their slumber and tried to cross into the already crowded Weasley portraits.

"Harry's here?"

"What's this about him being hurt now?"

Molly grabbed onto Lily's shoulders and gave her a look that said that she may just want to stay right where she was. "He's pretty banged up Lily, and I'm afraid my boys are to blame. We're a very protective bunch over our little girl. I think it might just be better if you stayed here and let us look after him."

Lily looked softly into Molly's eyes. "You know as well as I do that no mother would ever agree to that, Molly." She softly lifted Molly's hand from her shoulder and held it in her hand. "If you'll excuse me, my son needs me."

James had already started to walk forward through the maze of frames that would lead them to Dumbledore's, and so he came first upon the sickening scene. He turned quickly to face Lily as she came up behind him and tried to convey through his eyes what he had just seen before she had to see it for herself. Not even the look of pure horror and sadness that crossed his face could detain her from pushing past him to see her son. Dumbledore stepped lightly to the side to let the parents through and pushed his chair slowly beneath Lily as she clutched at her chest and sat back into the chair. For several seconds, no one spoke.

"He is breathing, isn't he?" Lily asked as she choked on the words, terrified of the answer.

"Of course he is dear. Albus said that he would be alright so there's no doubt in my mind that he will be."

A few more moments of silence passed. "I guess, no matter how much you think you're ready, or how strong you believe you are, you're never prepared to see your child like that, are you?" She reached up to pull James' hand down on her shoulder so that she would have his constant reassuring strength next to her. He seemed so sturdy, and his hand was firm on her shivering shoulder.

"The one thing you have to remember, Lily, is that he did bring this on himself." Sirius had come around the corner to looks of utter disbelief from all parties. "I know it's not easy for a parent to watch their child suffer, but as nasty as it is, children have to take their medicine, so to speak. Not that he deserved thisbut he did need to be taught a lesson. Perhaps this will keep him from hitting a defenseless girl again."

James began to speak but Lily beat him to it. " Maybe it's a good thing you never became a parent, Sirius. 'Just let them pull that icebox down on their heads, that'll teach 'um'. Didn't you see Harry in the graveyard? His eyes? That was not my boy; that was not Harry. He's empty. I don't know where he is, but wherever it is, he's in pain. He's suffering, and I can't get to him. Ginny sees it too, I know she does. It's woman's intuition. We know when our boys are in trouble, and Harry's in trouble. He's calling to me, day and night. I dream about him, calling out to me from some place I don't know and he's alone. He may not be going about it the right way, but he's calling out to us, to her, to find him." She looked up longingly into her husbands eyes. "Where is my son, James? Why can't I find him." She buried her head into his hip and began to sob silently. Sirius felt his piece had been said and so he found his way back to his own corner, leaving the Potters to mourn their lost child. He didn't understand, and probably never would, how a person could be so upset about losing someone that was inches from their hands.

Molly looked up into Arthurs' eyes and knew the pain that Lily felt. She had felt the same when she watched Percy leave the house for the last time that they ever saw him. She had outlived only one other of her sons, so she had seen Charlie as he lay lifeless in his casket. Nothing in this world outmatched a mothers pain for her suffering child and it was strong enough to cross the room to penetrate Molly's heart.

"You don't think we turned our backs on him too quickly, do you Arthur? I mean, he has been a part of our family for nearly ten years now and we just abandoned him like he meant nothing to us. Of course Ginny is our daughter, but hasn't Harry become our son as well? Can we chose one child over the other?"

"What is the saying though, Molly? 'Blood is thicker than water'. Ginny will always come first to me. I understand what you mean though. We did sort of just assume that he was doing it for pleasure. Until I hear from my daughter that she is safe and that he is treating her right though, he will not be a part of this family."

"But Arthur..."

"No Molly. Harry Potter is no longer a Weasley." He turned and walked out of frame to leave Molly to look desperately around for something else to cling too.

Lupin looked at Sirius as he returned to his home. "So, how's he look?"

"He looks like someone that just got the living shit kicked out of him. He'll be alright." He added at Lupins look of concern. "Ginny and that Malfoy boy must have had some medical experience before. Looks like they got most of the pieces put back together."

"And Lily?"

"Right now she looks worse off then the boy. We always knew that a baby James would be a real heart breaker, we just didn't assume it would be his own mothers." Sirius tried to smile at his own joke but saw that Lupin was in no mood to join in. He sat wearily down in his chair and picked at the bottom of his worn boots. "You know, I spent thirteen years in Azkaban and I think at this rate I would go back there just to break the monotony of eternity. It's only been eight years in this god- forsaken prison and I can't even hang myself from my top bunk."

Lupin looked questioningly at his friend. "Just trying to make conversation." Sirius said.

Harry's mind was blinking in and out of focus and bits of voices seemed to trail across his ears that he hadn't heard in years. His body was insubordinate to his mind and would not move no matter what he told it to do. He felt his eyelids flicker but he couldn't keep them open, try as he might. In the brief seconds that his lids would open, he thought that he saw his mother and father sitting next to...but it couldn't be...Dumbledore? And that was Molly and Arthur he could hear. Tones and syllables made people recognizable but there was not a single word that came through clear. His head began to pound and he knew that he was dying. Where was he? What happened? He had to be dreaming again. Only a dream would bring him into a realm where all of these people would surround him. 'If it is a dream, let me dream forever,' Harry thought as he struggled to maintain consciousness. If he couldn't bring his eyes to open, he would bring these people into his dreams. He lay motionless on the floor and let the sounds of his loved ones voices wash over him as slowly one by one they all came into clearer focus in his subconscious mind. Mum, dad, Dumbledore. Arthur, Molly, Sirius, Lupin. Ginny...

If this is where I die, let her be the last thing that I see, Harry thought.

Lily watched as a solitary tear washed it's way down the side of her sleeping sons cheek.

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Chapter 12 Teaser

"Ginny, listen...I can't be involved with you anymore. We've got to stop seeing each other. We can't be together."

"No Harry. Not this..." She had braved his good-byes once without even a tear, but now her eyes watered heavily and she put her hands over her ears to block out his words. "I never gave up on you then, Harry, and I'm not going to give up on you now."