Disclaimer- same as always(that will never change)

Chapter Twenty

Venom

Ron stood looking down at his two friends as they lay in the beds at the Hospital Wing.

The sun was just setting and the sound of birds was coming in through an open window on the beautiful, early October day. It had been two days since they had gone down into the tunnel and neither Harry nor Taylor had yet regained consciousness. Ron had dropped by to check on Harry and Taylor after his last class of the day. He knew Hermione and Ginny would be along shortly. McGonagall had been so angry when he had gotten back with Taylor that night, he was sure if it hadn't been for Lupin and Shacklebolt suggesting that this was Order business, he would have at the very least had detention. Not that he had told any of them what Harry, Taylor and he had found in the cave. But Lupin and Shacklebolt seemed to know that Harry was searching for something, and they had stepped in to vouch for their 'reckless actions' as McGonagall had put it.

"Mr. Weasley, I'm sure you will be pleased to hear that Mr. Potter has improved a lot the past day, and I believe that he should be waking up sometime soon," Madam Pomfrey said as she came over to check on Harry.

Ron sighed with relief, "That's good news. Maybe Ginny will stop hexing me every time she's seen me. She is upset that I let Harry get bit by that snake. Sisters!" he mumbled as he shook his head. "What about Taylor, is she going to wake up soon too?" Ron knew by the look on Madam Pomfrey's face though that it wasn't good news.

"No, I'm sorry Mr. Weasley but Miss Porter isn't doing so well. The venom from her snake bites isn't responding nearly as well. I've done everything I know of. Only time will tell if she's strong enough to fight, well…" Madam Pomfrey's voice trailed off and she shook her head sadly as she finished her check on Taylor and turned and went back into her office.

Ron looked down at Taylor. Her face was as white as the sheets she was laying on. He didn't hear Hermione and Ginny come into the Hospital Wing until Hermione touched his shoulder. He turned towards Hermione and pulled her into a fierce hug.

"Ron, what's wrong?" Hermione asked as she hugged him back. She had seen the worry on his face when he hugged her.

Ginny's voice quivered when she spoke, "Is Harry going to be alright? Ron! Tell me what Madam Pomfrey told you!"

Ron looked over at his sister and said, "She said Harry should be okay, he should be waking up sometime soon." He looked down at Hermione, his own voice quivering a little when he said, "She said, Taylor isn't doing so well. She said that there isn't anything more she can do for her. Hermione, I shouldn't have left her, I should have brought her back with Harry. If I had, maybe she …" his voice trailed off.

Hermione hugged him tightly again, then said "Ron, you couldn't have brought them both back together, we've already been over that. I know Taylor would never have let you bring her back first, not with Harry hurt. You didn't have a choice. You made the right decision. Taylor is strong, she'll be okay."

The three friends sat down, with nothing to do but wait and hope. But tonight they didn't have that long to wait. After only a few minutes Harry began to stir. Ginny who was holding his hand looked up.

"Ginny," Harry's voice was barely a whisper, but Ginny heard him.

"Harry! Oh thank Merlin!" Ginny cried, her hand squeezing his.

"Harry, mate you've had us worried," Ron choked out.

Harry's eyes opened and he looked at a blurry Ginny and his two best friends. He felt so tired, but he did manage a weak smile.

"Here Harry, these will help," Hermione said as she slid his glasses onto his face. "How are you feeling? Madam Pomfrey said you are going to be okay."

"Yeah, thanks 'Mione," Harry whispered. "Where's Taylor?"

Ron and Hermione exchanged a quick look, "She's right beside you Harry," Hermione said, as she nodded her head towards the bed beside him.

Harry turned his head in the direction Hermione had nodded and he could see Taylor laying there. His head pounded as he tried to remember why he was here in the first place. Suddenly images of a cup and a huge snake came to him. He groaned softly as he remembered, but what had happened to Taylor? She had carried him back to the safety of the rock wall, or at least he thought she had. He turned his head to look at Ron.

Ron glanced nervously at Hermione and cleared his throat. "I ah, well, you see, by the time Taylor got you back to the wall, you were unconscious. I ah… well… Taylor told me to take you and go get help," Ron looked at Harry. He wasn't sure just how much he should say right now. He didn't want to upset Harry.

Ginny spoke again, her voice soft, "When Ron got you to the Hospital Wing, he went back to get Taylor. She had been bitten too and Madam Pomfrey is looking after her."

Harry looked at Ginny and she smiled. He closed his eyes. He was so tired. Ginny's hand felt so warm holding his, he could feel the blackness closing in again. He felt safe laying here with his friends and he welcomed the blackness like an old friend.

Hermione sighed as she saw Harry's eyes close and he went back to sleep. She knew the next time Harry awoke he would want more answers. She only hoped they weren't full of bad news, and she looked over at Taylor who was as pale as death.

Over the next week Ron, Hermione and Ginny would visit with Harry as often as they could. He was weak but he was getting stronger every day. Taylor on the other hand hadn't woken up yet, nor did she appear to get any better.

Madam Pomfrey had just finished fussing over him and he watched as she went to check on Taylor. His jaw clamped tight and he tried unsuccessfully to not become angry at what he had allowed to happen to his little sister. How could he have been so stupid? He should have known better than to let her go down there with him. A small voice in the back of his head said "You know damn well that you would have had to put her in a full body bind to keep her from going with you." "Yeah, well, it would have just been payback," Harry mumbled to himself.

"Talking to yourself, Harry? That's never a good sign," a familiar voice said.

Harry looked up to see Lupin standing at the end of his bed. "Hey, sorry I missed you the other day. Ron said you were by. I get tired so easily still and then I sort of pass out, as Ron puts it," Harry grinned at Lupin, who was smiling back.

"I'm glad to see that you're feeling better." Lupin said, but his eyes flicked over to where Taylor was laying. "I heard you were mad at Taylor about what she did for our greasy haired friend, but she had no choice. Harry, you can't expect her to watch someone die or worse, if she can help. She's not like that, she has too much of her mother in her."

Harry was quiet for a moment and he looked at the still form of Taylor, she was so pale. "I'm not mad at Taylor, not anymore. Lupin, I don't know what I'll do if I lose her. You know she put me in a full body bind to tell me about her 'detention' with you and Moody?" Harry chuckled at that, as did Lupin. "You know what? And this is a funny thing. I saw more fear in her eyes that night when she told me about that, then those snakes we had to face at the end of that tunnel. How do you make someone you love more afraid to tell you the truth, then when they have to face thousands of poisonous snakes?" Harry's voice wavered, and he looked down at the floor. He wasn't sure what had made him confess that to Lupin.

"You know Harry, I was fortunate enough to have a few very good friends, and I know that sometimes having to tell them something that you know is going to upset them, is harder then facing thousands of poisonous snakes, or a full moon." Lupin replied with a nod of his head, and a knowing half smile.

Harry looked up at the worn face and graying hair of his parents' friend, and his too. "I don't know how to protect her. I have, … a job to do, but at every turn I seem to get her deeper involved. I think part of the problem is I want her around. That is so selfish of me, right?"

Lupin looked at Harry with a sadness in his eyes, that seemed to go right to his soul, "Harry, I am the wrong person to talk to about protecting the ones you love. In that I have failed miserably, but I can offer you this piece of advice, in my opinion the ones you love will fight beside you or fight with you, to be beside you. There's no way to truly protect those we love. Look at all the people Voldemort has had killed, a lot of them thought that they were safe and they weren't. All you can do is try. Your friends will be seen by some, as your greatest weakness, but really they are your greatest allies. Besides, which of them do you think you could convince, that they can't help you?"

Harry turned his head and he could see Ron, Hermione and Ginny coming through the doors of the Hospital Wing. Even from this distance he could see the mischievous glint in Ginny's eyes. Her hair was pulled up in a bun and a few pieces had fallen out, she looked so pretty. Hermione's hair was tied up too, but it didn't have the same effect, as frizzy pieces of hair stuck out everywhere, but she was smiling at something Ginny was saying. Ron looked like he had just woken up, and he probably had, if Harry could remember correctly Ron would have just had History of Magic, an excellent class to catch up on one's sleep, in Harry's opinion.

"Yeah, you do have a point there," Harry said with a smile, as his friends came over to his bed.

"Hi, Lupin," Hermione said as Ginny went and gave Harry a kiss on the cheek, then sat down beside him.

Ron was able to get out something that sounded like, "Hey, Lupin" as he yawned and then stretched.

Lupin smiled at them with a twinkle in his eye and said, "Hello. Nice to see you guys are keeping Harry up to date with his school work. Well I better go. I've got guard duty tonight. Take care." He gave them a nod, then he turned and left the friends so they could be alone together to talk.

Madam Pomfrey decided that Harry was well enough the following morning to be released from her care, and he went straight to the Great Hall for breakfast. He met Ginny on the way there, she had been coming to see him, so they entered the Great Hall together and sat down opposite Hermione and Ron, who was making his way through a big plate of pancakes.

"Hi Harry," Hermione smiled at her friend, she was so glad to see he was out of the hospital. "You and Ron have a free period, so you can finish your reading for double DADA. How is Taylor this morning?"

Harry looked up from the eggs he had put on his plate and started to devour, his appetite was back anyway. Leave it to Hermione to think about schoolwork first, but he said as soon as he took a drink of pumpkin juice, "Yeah, Ron and I should get those chapters read, no problem. (Harry could see Ron rolling his eyes behind Hermione's back) There's no change with Taylor, she hasn't…" Harry shook his head and looked down at his plate.

Ginny put her hand on his arm and said quietly, "She's going to be okay, Harry."

When Ron and Harry got back up to the Gryffindor common room after breakfast, it was empty except for a couple of their fellow Gryffindor seventh years. They both flopped down in front of the fireplace in the comfy chairs they usually sat in.

They sat, enjoying just sitting there, as any teenage boys would do, instead of doing their homework. Ron was the first to break the silence "You know Harry, I was thinking maybe we should take a closer look at that cup. We still have almost a half hour before our next class."

Harry nodded and he followed Ron up to their empty dorm room. Once inside with the door shut and magically sealed, Ron went over to his trunk and took out the cup that Harry and Taylor had brought back through the sea of snakes. He carefully unwrapped it from the socks he had wrapped around it and passed it to Harry.

Harry took the cup and sat on his bed. He was flooded by a mixture of emotions. Anger, relief, sadness, worry, but in the end anger won out over all the others. Too many people had paid the ultimate sacrifice for these Horcruxes. He could only hope his sister wouldn't be the next.

Slowly he began to turn the cup around in his hand, looking at it carefully. It was a small golden cup with two thin handles and a badger engraved on the side. It was Helga Hufflepuff's. But other than that the cup looked to be just that, a cup. Harry ran his finger along the rim of the cup and it was then that he felt the first indication that this was not just an ordinary cup. Suddenly his hair all stood on end and sparks flew from the cup to anything within a ten-foot radius.

Ron let out a yelp and jumped back, "Bloody hell Harry! What's going on?"

With great difficulty, the cup seemed to be stuck to his hands, he put it down on his bed and stepped back. "I guess maybe it has something guarding it too," Harry mumbled as he remembered what Dumbledore had said about the Horcruxes and spells guarding them. Carefully he took the sock and wrapped the cup back up. He then opened his trunk and placed it inside. Closing the lid he said to Ron, "maybe we'll wait and see if Hermione can find anything out about what's guarding it." Ron nodded his agreement.

Over the next week, with any free time they had, Hermione had them all researching in the library for any spell that could be used to protect an object. They had a large list already and were finding more everyday.

"If we hurry and eat our lunch we could get a half hour or so in the library before our next class," Hermione said to Ron and Harry as they were eating.

Harry looked at Hermione and wondered, for the thousandth time since he had known her, how she could read all those books and remember what was in them. His head was swimming with all the spell books he had read over the past week, besides all the reading that he had to do for his schoolwork. He had only been up to check on Taylor a couple of times, he was ashamed to admit it, but the sight of her laying there like that made him feel so helpless. So he had decided to try to focus on a task instead of dwell on the condition of his sister.

As if somehow fate knew what he was thinking.

"Harry!" Colin Creevey came running up to him as he was finishing his lunch. Breathlessly he said. "Harry! Madam Pomfrey wants to see you right away!"

Harry was up out of his seat and out the Great Hall doors before Hermione, Ron and Ginny could grab their bags, and Harry's, and head out after him.

Harry ran all the way to the hospital wing, his heart pounding, his chest constricting tightly with fear, the "what if", paralyzing his mind. When he reached the doors to the hospital he forced himself to slow to a walk, and with a shaking hand he opened the door and went in.

Madam Pomfrey was tending to another student, but when Harry entered she looked up and smiling she said, "Oh good Mr. Potter, someone wishes to speak to you," and she pointed over towards the bed where Taylor was laying.

Harry's eyes flew to the bed and he could see Taylor was looking at him. Waves of relief hit him. He had to blink his eyes rapidly, as he made his way over to her bed. She still looked so pale, but there was a weak smile on her face. "Taylor," he choked out as he sat down beside her.

"Hey, Harry," she whispered and a tear slid down her face.

Harry reached over and wiped the tear away, trying to get a hold of his own racing heart, he smiled at her and said. "You scared the hell out of me."

Taylor's eyes slid closed then slowly opened again, "I'm sorry, I was scared when I woke up and you weren't here. I just wanted to see you," her voice barely above a whisper.

Hermione, Ron and Ginny arrived then and after they all said their hellos, Taylor couldn't keep her eyes open any longer, so they waited until they were sure she was asleep and they got up to go.

Madam Pomfrey came over and said to them, "Miss Porter is a fighter. I think she is going to be okay now but it will take a week or two before she has completely recovered. I hope I didn't worry you unduly Mr. Potter, but when Miss Porter woke I had to threaten to tie her to the bed to keep her from getting up to go search for you. I trust that you will be stopping by to check on her daily?"

Harry nodded to Madam Pomfrey, then he took Ginny's hand in his and the four friends walked out of the hospital, with a much lighter heart.

A/N Well there you have it, another chapter that was written before the seventh book came out. Hopefully you enjoyed it. Reviews are all greatly cherished! As are alerts and favorites! Thank you if you have read this far as well... though reviews are a writters pay... the only thing that I get for the time that I have so lovingly and anxciously poured into this story over the last four years.

Thank you to my bata barbc... you are the best! So until next time, cytpotter.