Sorry if the dialog gets confusing. I had everything in different fonts, but ff only has 1 font. So, chapter 20. Enjoy!

Chapter 20

She didn't feel him beside her. She heard the yells. She smelt the smoke. Yet she was too afraid to move. Too afraid to move, and find her husband dyeing. And that's exactly what she found. She knew that he took walks at night sometimes. He said it calmed him. She had pulled on some shorts, threw a sweater on, and ran outside. She saw the bodies lying on the ground first. But the two figures standing was what scared her.

"Not so powerful with a knife in your back, aye?" Ginny gasped, and the man apparated. Harry fell to the ground, but she was glued to the spot. She heard him cough, and watched the blood pour out of his mouth.

"HARRY!" She screamed, and ran towards him. She saw him look up, and he fell sideways.

"Harry! Harry, open your eyes!" She patted his face, and she started to panic. She knew he wasn't invincible. She looked over at the other bodies laying in the ground. A head wound that was leaking blood. His hand was blown off and burns were all over him. Another was in his last seconds of life, his chest ripped open and his entrails were showing. The last man had a gash across his entire chest, blood leaking out.

She turned back to her husband, the panic setting in of how bad the situation was. She looked around and grabbed her wand. She had to send a message. A message to anyone.

"Expect-Expecto Patronum." A silvery light appeared out of the tip of her wand, but vanished. She had to think happy thoughts. She knew Harry would be able to cast one, but he wasn't conscious at the moment.

"Expecto Patronum!" The horse appeared out of her wand, and she sent the message to the first people she thought of. She looked back down, and looked at his face. He was burnt. His skin was bubbled and raw on one half, and the other half was misshapen. His nose was broken, she could tell that was a definite. His clothes were burnt all up his left side. She could see where the clothes had burned away that it looked just like his face. And then she saw the knife. The entire blade went into his back, blood soaking through his sweater and pouring onto the sideblock.

"Ginny? Are you okay?" She heard Hermione's voice through the lightly foggy street.

"Hermione, he's hurt!" Her friend ran over, and gasped.

"What-What happened?" Her friend dropped to her knees beside her, shaking as she touched the knife sticking out of Harry's back.

"He was attacked, or or, something! What do we do?" She sounded frantic, and they heard someone apparate into the street.

"Bloody hell, this is a murder scene! Is Harry okay?" They heard Ron run over to them, and he saw the tears rolling down his sister's face. He stopped at where his best friend lay, seeing the slight movement of his chest rising up and down.

"Bloody hell, this is mental! What happened?"

"I don't fucking know Ron! He left the house and know he's lying on the sidewalk almost dead!" She broke down into tears, and Hermione started panicking.

"Ron, go! Go get someone!"

"Who?" The panic in their voices was clear, and Ron was looking at the bodies with vomit rising in his throat.

"Go get dad! He can contact the ministry or something!" Ron nodded and turned on the spot, arriving at the Burrow within seconds. He ran into the house, crashing up the stairs. It was lucky that his father had been walking to his room, arriving home after working overtime in the office.

"Ron? You look scared, is something wrong?" He nodded.

"Dad, Harry's been attacked. Ginny said to get you and I-I don't-" His father stopped him. He ran into his room, waking Molly and grabbing his wand. He sent a message to as many people he could, and him, Molly, and Ron were gone within minutes.

"Ginny! Is he awake?" Ginny was bawling her eyes out, Hermione had pushed her away from Harry as she was in the way.

"He's n-not wa-waking up!" She managed to say between sobs. People started to arrive by the second.

"Dad, what's this about someone being attacked?" Aurors had been alerted, Bill and George had arrived, Kingsley himself had arrived with Percy on his tale.

"Dear lord, what happened here?" Aurors had run over to the bodies lying on the ground, and a large group had formed around Harry.

"We need to get him to St. Mungos right now!" Ginny had stood up, and was being questioned by her family as they moved him.

"I don't know! I don't know what happened to him just let me go with him!" Kingsley walked over to Mr. Weasley, pulling him to the side.

"I don't know what happened here, but two of the men over there are dead." Mr. Weasley palled, and nodded.

"And the third?" An auror near them walked over, telling them what information they gathered from the few minutes of being there.

"He'll live. Looks like there was a fire, or some type of explosion after seeing them. Mr. Potter looks to have gotten the full effect of it." He looked around the scene, people had started to emerge from their houses from hearing the commotion. The aurors couldn't apparate around muggles.

"Everyone, please go back into your houses!" People were shouting, and soon enough Harry and the live attacker were being transported to St. Mungos. Ginny had stopped crying, she had gotten ahold of her emotions. She walked over to someone who had been looking over Harry, and tapped on their arm.

"Can you tell me if he's going to live?" The auror looked into her face. She knew who she was, she was Harry Potter's wife.

"Well, we're quite sure he's going to survive." She lied. The tiny glimmer of relief went across Ginny's face. And the second she had said that, she regretted saying it. Ginny walked over to Hermione, her face now totally blank.

"Hermione, I need you to get me to St. Mungos." Hermione looked at her friend, and grabbed her arm. They apparated to the spot near the hospital, and half walked half ran into the building. The reporters were already there. They pushed their way to the front desk and were told immediately where to go. The reporters stopped them, grabbing at their arms and blocking their path, but they kept walking, following the directions they were given. They reached the corridor where Harry had been taken, and it was a mess. There was blood that had dripped onto the floor when they had taken him in. There was healers running in and out of the room. One of them spotted Ginny and Hermione and walked over.

"I'm sorry, but you two can't be in here right now. I'm going to have to ask you to-" Ginny stopped her.

"My husband was taken into here a few minutes ago. We won't leave, but we also won't get in the way." The healer clamped her lips together, and pointed towards some doors down the hall.

"There's a waiting room through there. You can wait in there and we can notify you when we're done working on him." Hermione and Ginny walked passed the room, and Ginny peaked inside. She almost cried at the state he was in.

The sound came through muffled, but he distinctly heard Ginny talking. He felt her hand in his, and he closed his fingers around hers. She looked at his half bandaged face, and saw his eye flutter open.

"Harry!" He saw family around the room, and watched as they all moved in closer.

"Is he really awake?" He closed his eye, the light hurting his eye.

"Harry?" He squeezed Ginny's hand again.

"He's awake!" She exclaimed quite happily. The head healer came in, and started checking his recovery.

"He's awake." The healer said, looking around. Ginny looked a bit ticked, as she had said that a minute ago. Harry opened his eye again, and suddenly realized the bandages across one half of his face. He twitched his left hand, and a searing pain burned through it. He looked around at everyone's eager faces, and sighed. Ginny looked at healer.

"Is he alright?" The healer moved towards his head, shining a light into his eye. He winced and turned his head slightly, before the searing pain spread through his neck.

"His eye seems to be a bit red. Then again he has been unconscious for about two days." Harry blinked.

Two days? How has it been two days?

Ginny looked into his eye. The overall green color had deepened, and the red flecks were hard to miss. Hermione and Ron glanced at each other. The healer left the room and Ron started to talk.

"You don't think he's like, becoming him, right?" Everyone looked at him, Hermione shook her head nervously.

"That's preposterous Ron." Ron shrugged.

"Well, his eyes say differently." Mrs. Weasley butt in.

"Who exactly are you talking about?" Hermione sighed.

"Voldemort." Harry closed his eye, sighing.

I'm not becoming him. I can't be. Voldemort was a murderer. I'm just, Harry.

Ginny looked at him. His eye was closed again. He slowly fell into another dark, dreamless, sleep.

He opened his eye again and looked around the room. Almost everyone had left, except for Ginny, her parents, Ron, and Hermione. Ginny ran over to him when she saw that he was awake, and grabbed his hand.

"Is he awake again?" The rest of them walked over, and were gathered around his bed. He closed his eye again, letting out a huff. He opened his eye again, and looked at Ginny's face.

"Should we get the healer? She said to get her when he wakes up." Harry closed his eye again, the light still hurting. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley went to find the healer, leaving the four friends in the room.

"Harry, can you speak?" He heard Hermione's voice slightly muffled, and knew he was on his left.

I can, but it's not like I want to.

He sighed again. They all looked at each other, then back at Harry. He opened his eye again and looked around at them.

Why are they giving me that look? It's like I've murdered someone.

He looked up at the ceiling, realizing what had happened. Hermione saw his expression, and moved nervously where she was standing.

"Harry, two of them are dead. The third was brought into the ministry the second he woke up." Harry huffed, not speaking as he had nothing to say.

"There was another one there, he apparated away. They haven't caught him yet." He closed his eye, suddenly aware of the pain that lived in half of his body. He held back tears and squeezed his eye shut, hoping to just fall back into that dreamless, painless sleep. The healer came back with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, and saw how Harry was in pain.

"Seems Mr. Potter is in some pain. We could give him a potion, but it looks like if he opens his mouth he might yell." She took out her wand and did a spell, a temporary numbness going through him. He opened his eye again, looking at the healer. She was getting a potion from a cabinet inside of the room, humming quietly to herself. She turned, and saw him looking at her.

"This will take the pain away, but it will also make you sleep for a while." She held up another potion.

"This is a potions to help heal your injuries." She helped him drink the first one, and the taste stayed in his mouth until she gave him the other one. He looked around at the five other people in the room, his vision blurring even more than it already was. He closed his eye, and sleep washed over him again.

His recovery was progressing very quickly. Within four days of the attack, he was able to sit up. Of course, when he had sat up, they changed his bandages soon after. The burns were no longer ripped open pieces of flesh he had once called his body, now they had closed up and started to scab over. They had been able to fix the injuries obtained from the knife in his back, and he quickly learned that the blade had been covered in poison. Of course, they had potions to counteract the poison, so that had been long gone. They had sealed up the wound, so, like the burns, it was now in the scab stage. He also learned that when the man punched him, he had broken his nose and part of his skull had been slightly fractured. Within a week, the healers, and his family, had been expecting him to talk.

"Mr. Potter, can you tell me how many fingers I'm holding up?" Harry looked at the healer, quite annoyed, but looked at his hand. While his face was bandaged, it was pointless to wear his glasses, so his vison was blurred. But he could still see that the healer was holding up three fingers. He raised his left hand and held up three fingers. The healer huffed.

"What?" Ginny had been sitting right beside Harry, and was worried with the response he gave.

"He can talk. There's nothing wrong with his vocal cords, and he has no charms cast on him. It's simply he's being defiant, or doesn't want to talk." Ginny looked at Harry, quite amused with that response. He simply did not want to talk.

"Do you have a quill? And possibly, a piece of paper?" The healer nodded, walking over to a cabinet in the room, pulling out a piece of paper. He set it on the table beside the bed, and then pulled a quill out of his pocket.

"Don't worry about the ink, it never runs out." Ginny nodded, pulling the paper towards herself.

Harry, why aren't you talking?

She pushed the paper towards him, turning it so he could read it. She handed him the quill, and he shakily started to write.

I simply don't want to.

Ginny read his response, looked at him, and huffed.

Well, you have to.

She pushed the paper over to him to read. He took the quill and began to write.

And why is that?

Because we need to know if you're alright.

I've been sitting in this bed all week, nothing has changed.

Well, are you mentally alright?

Not really, as I've said I've been in this bed all week, it's enough to make anyone go crazy.

She sighed. She pulled the paper closer to her, and thought of what to write next.

Well, I'm worried. First you've been attacked, now you won't speak.

Is me not speaking a bad thing?

Usually.

Well, nothing's wrong. It would just be annoying to speak to everyone.

So you aren't talking?

No.

Ginny sighed.

"He isn't talking." The healer looked at the two of them, then sighed.

"Well, he'll come around." Harry began to write again.

May I have my glasses? It's hard to see.

Ginny picked them up from the table, and handed them to him, and he put them on. The world became clearer instantly, and he saw how tired Ginny looked.

You should sleep.

I have slept.

You should sleep more.

I've been worrying.

I'm awake now, go to sleep.

The healer left them alone, seeing that they were having a conversation. Ginny decided to sleep, knowing that Harry wouldn't get into any trouble, and he was left to his thoughts once again. Ginny had watched Harry, and he watched her, before she eventually drifted into sleep. He continued to watch her, until he noticed his wand sitting on the table beside him.

She brought it here? I didn't think she would go back to the house.

He suddenly felt aware of the half of his face that was covered. He felt aware that he couldn't blink his eye. He felt aware of not being able to move the right side of his face. He saw a mirror sitting on a table across the room, and he grabbed his wand, waving it. The mirror floated over to him, and he looked into it. He saw the bandages, and they covered up more than he had thought.

Was it really this bad?

He reached up, touching the bandages. He put his wand down, and set the mirror in his lap, before tugging at them. He finally started to peel them off, and the healing burns appeared. He watched himself, more and more of it appearing, before all of the bandages were gone. He picked the mirror up, and stared at himself.

Will-will these heal?

The burns covered his entire cheek was a reddish brown mess. It spread across his forehead and his nose, and slightly went onto his chin. It looked like his hair had been burned, but had grown back, like always.

There's going to be scars.

He looked at his neck, and the bandages were there. He looked at his right arm, and they were there. Down his side, spreading inwards and behind him, and all up his leg.

This was dark magic. That's why it won't heal. But, something has to fix it.

He picked up his wand again, and pointed it at his face.

If I mess up, I could be injured forever. But I could fix it, instead of leaving it to scar.

He picked up his wand, and decided.

The healing process went quickly. Too quickly. He had replaced the bandages when he finished. They didn't change them until the next day. And it was gone. The burns had disappeared. The healers were amazed of how quickly they healed. There would always be a scar on his back, Harry had forgotten to fix that one, but he had still gotten rid of everything else.

"Well Mr. Potter, you'll be able to go home today. We've checked you out, and you're good to go." Ginny was still looking at him in awe, but she knew he had done something. They were out of St. Mungos within a few hours, and had apparated to their cottage. The street had been cleaned up, but there was still reporters snooping around. Harry and Ginny walked by, trying to stay clear of the reporters and stay inconspicuous, but they were mobbed almost immediately. They managed to get into their house with no problem, and Harry walked inside, leaving Ginny at the door.

"Harry, are you okay?" She walked into the living room, and he was sitting on the couch, the Resurrection Stone in his hand.

"Harry, can you please talk? We aren't in the hospital anymore. It's not like anyone can hear us." He sighed, but still remained silent. She sat on the couch next to him, and leaned her head on his arm.

"Please say something." He put the stone down on the table, and huffed.

I don't want to talk. Please understand this.

He summoned in a piece of paper and a quill, and wrote what he was thinking.

I have nothing to say.

She read what he wrote, and picked up the quill.

Please.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, until Ginny sighed and stood up.

"Harry, can't you just say one thing?" He closed his eyes.

"I love you." His whisper was soft and quiet, but good enough for Ginny.