Chapter Sixty One

Lily reached forwards and knocked solidly on the door. Madam Pomfrey opened in, wrapped in a dressing gown.

"What is… oh my!" she gasped, looking over the ragged lot.

"We are in need of a little help, Poppy." Lily said, forcing a smile, "And there are more on their way."

"Come in, come in!" Madam Pomfrey said, opening both doors, "Boys beds on the left, girls on the right and no I won't hear of anyone not in a bed. That includes you Lily."

"I'm fine." Lily said.

Madam Pomfrey turned from her medicine shelf to glare at Lily, who smiled and burst into tears.

"Bed, Miss Evans." Madam Pomfrey said softly, "Take the one opposite Harry."

Lily didn't have the energy to argue further and changed into the standard Hogwarts Hospital pyjamas once the screens were in place. Once everyone was changed, Madam Pomfrey having to help several people as well as removing the arm from Harry's set so it wouldn't touch his burn and the leg from Pansy's so she could get to the break, she removed the screens.

There was another knock on the door, Harry sitting up as quickly as he could. Madam Pomfrey swept over and opened the doors again.

"Same for you, girls on the right, boys to the left, everyone in a bed!" she ordered.

The Polyjuice potion had mostly worn off now, Severus had blond streaks towards the bottom of his hair still and Narcissa had an unflattering brown clump in her hair but they looked otherwise like themselves once more.

"I didn't know it was you." Draco said with a wince.

"We couldn't be seen." Narcissa explained, wrinkling her nose at the idea of putting on the supplied pyjamas, "We need the option of going back under cover but we couldn't not come and help you."

Draco lay back in his bed feeling very loved.

"You all look the worse for wear." Madam Pomfrey said, "Any others coming?"

"No, this is it." Lily whispered, "Sirius and Nikka are at St Mungo's."

"I hope they're all right." Madam Pomfrey said, white faced, "I think some of you may be joining them anyway." She said composing herself and focusing on her work.

"It was a very nasty fight." Fleur said, slipping into her bed, she was as white as a sheet, "I 'ave grown fond of Nikka, I 'ope she is all right. And Sirius."

Madam Pomfrey went from bed to bed fixing the small bruises and cuts with sweet smelling ointment and asking if there was anything more serious, doing all she could for the injuries before giving them all something to help them sleep. They didn't take it.

"This is a nasty burn, Mr Potter." Madam Pomfrey said, trying to distract him from the pain as she dabbed at it, "And you're right, the start of an infection. Thankfully we have many magical ways to fight infection and being a burn it at least stopped you from bleeding to death!"

Harry forced a smile and nodded, "Thanks." he mumbled.

"Is it Nikka or Sirius that's badly hurt?" Madam Pomfrey asked, barely above a whisper.

Harry was amazed at how steady her hands were despite the tightness of her movements and how white her face was.

"Sirius." he told her, "Nikka wasn't great either but walking, just. Sirius he… he was… barely…"

Madam Pomfrey nodded, "Thank you, and I'm sorry, I shouldn't of asked, I just had to know. I remember them both so well, from school…"

Harry shook his head, "It's fine. Ministry is going to run with this, everyone is going to want us to talk about it."

"Not until Dumbledore and your parents let them." Madam Pomfrey said, "I'm sure of that." she finished strapping his arm up and gave him something for the pain.

Harry nodded, he was as well and right now he was very glad his mother was likely to either curse or punch anyone who got too close.

They lay in bed for a while, all too afraid to say anything out loud before Madam Pomfrey informed them that Dumbledore had returned to the school and wished to speak to Harry, alone.

"I'm going with him." Lily said, trying to pull herself out of bed.

"Lily please," Madam Pomfrey sighed, "Every time you move too fast your head starts to bleed again."

Lily looked desperately between Harry and the door, "I… I…"

"I'll go." Severus said, "I've just got bumps and bruises."

Madam Pomfrey gave an unhappy nod, "If you insist but he will be perfectly fine with Dumbledore."

Harry pulled himself out of the warm and comfy bed and forced his feet back into his mucky shoes. It seemed a long walk through the all but empty corridors to Dumbledore's office. They had barely arrived when the gargoyle jumped to attention and moved aside, clearly happy to have the true headmaster back.

Severus knocked on the door at the top of the moving stairs and it opened, allowing him and Harry to walk in.

"Severus, Harry." Dumbledore said, looking up from a letter, "I am very please you could make it. Just one moment, another letter to the Ministry. Professor Umbridge appeared shortly after I arrived, I left her, guarded by Kingsley, in a classroom until the Ministry can come and collect her."

"You asked to see me Professor." Harry said after a few moments of Dumbledore just staring at him.

"Yes." Dumbledore nodded, "I wanted to tell you how sorry I am and that I know how you're feeling."

"No you don't!" Harry snapped, not sure why his temper was so short, "You have no idea how I'm feeling!"

Dumbledore smiled, "I know it feels like that. And I am very sorry that Sirius was harmed."

"It's my fault." Harry said, wiping his eyes angrily, "I should never of gone."

"It was for the best in the end." Dumbledore suggested, "The Ministry is now no longer able to pretend that nothing is happening, this will be of great benefit during the coming days."

"It wasn't worth it." Harry spat, "The Ministry are useless anyway."

Dumbledore nodded, "As an organisation they could do with some work but they have brilliant Aurors and we will need the man power."

"So it was worth it?!" Harry yelled, jumping to his feet, "Sirius could die!"

"And that is most unfair, and no, nothing would be worth his life." Dumbledore said, although Harry was sure he was lying.

Harry sat back down and clutched at his burned arm, the daggers of pain made it easier for him to think straight.

"I asked you to come here, now," Dumbledore said, "so I could apologise for my… mistake."

Harry raised his head and looked at him curiously, "What do you mean?"

"For one reason and another I thought that Voldemort might have a link to you Harry, to you mind but that he was not aware of it." Dumbledore began, "I wanted to give him no reason to become aware of it so I stayed away as much as I could. But then something happened, and at that point I am sure that Voldemort was aware of what lay between you."

"The attack." Harry said, "On Mr Weasley?"

Dumbledore nodded, "Yes, exactly. I knew it was time for you to learn to shield you mind so I set you to lessons."

"The Occlumency." Harry sighed, "I… I just couldn't get it."

Severus shifted, "There is every chance that the lessons made his mind more open though? Is there not? It often happens when first learning Occlumency or Legilimency."

Dumbledore nodded, "Yes and it was a risk I thought was worth taking but unfortunately things did not play out the way I wished and your mind was indeed more open to assault than it was before."

Harry felt his stomach sink even further. It wouldn't of mattered how hard he tried then, he was doomed to fail either way; Dumbledore had taken a gamble and lost.

"I thought that the more I stayed away from you, the less you knew, the less interesting you would be to Voldemort." Dumbledore said, "I was wrong there. I underestimated just how interesting you are to Voldemort."

"You seem to have been wrong a lot this year. You would almost think that it actually wasn't all about you!" Harry hissed. He was quickly losing interest what Dumbledore had to say. He wanted to find out if there was any news on Sirius and then go to sleep.

"Everyone makes mistakes." Dumbledore said softly.

"Yes!" Harry snapped, "But most people don't make mistakes playing with peoples' lives!"

Dumbledore nodded in agreement, "It is true. And I wish I was not forced into a position where I had to. I had also underestimated you, Harry. I thought you'd be happier not knowing, but you have your mother's mind, always wanting to know what's going on."

Harry snorted a laugh, "It wasn't just me, everyone wanted to know what was going on. People don't like being kept in the dark."

"Then maybe it was the mistake of an old man then." Dumbledore said, annoyingly calm still, "But either way, it is a mistake I am ready to fix."

Harry looked at him curiously, "How exactly do you plan on fixing this?"

"I believe that you sacrificed finding out what was in the prophecy to stop Bellatrix and the other Death Eaters present from hearing it, is this correct?" Dumbledore asked.

Harry nodded, "I figured anything they wanted so badly it was a good idea for them not to get hold of it."

Dumbledore smiled, "And right you are. I do not pretend to know what Voldemort would have done with the knowledge of the prophecy but he did want it very badly."

"Well it's gone." Harry shrugged, "No one knows what it said."

"I do." Dumbledore smiled, looking at Harry over his glasses.

Harry looked at him stunned, "Wait… what?"

"The information I gave to Voldemort, that lead to… to him going after you and your parents. Was the first half of the prophecy." Severus said softly, "The Dark Lord knows that bit already."

"I know that." Harry said, throwing his hands in the air, "Everyone kept saying it was a weapon. The knowledge that there is someone out there that can kill you is not a weapon! It's common sense!"

Dumbledore smiled, "Yes, to most of us but as you saw today, for Voldemort the worst thing he can imagine is dying. It makes people think along strange lines when they get that attached to life."

"It was Professor Trelawney? That said the prophecy? A fluke from her past, like the one I over heard in third year?" Harry guessed.

Dumbledore looked pleasantly surprised that Harry had worked that out, "Yes. I was interviewing her for the teaching position here and was unimpressed until she changed, and what I knew had to be a true prophecy gave spilling from her mouth, and I thought it would be best to keep her around."

Harry snorted, it was possibly the worst reason ever to hire someone and then make years of students suffer with her as a teacher over an important subject when he could of just given her a teachers assistants post and kept just as close an eye on her.

"I am willing and ready to show you the full prophecy that she told me that day." Dumbledore said, touching his wand tip to his head and beginning to pull out a silvery memory.

"No." Harry said quietly.

Dumbledore stopped, a look of surprise on his face for a moment before he recovered himself, "I can assure you, Voldemort will be staying out of your head from now on, I don't think after feeling such strong emotion he is willing to take that risk again. You hurt him a great deal this evening Harry."

Harry shook his head, "That's good to know, but it's not the reason why I don't want to hear it. Voldemort was obsessed with that thing and I've turned a lot of peoples' lives upside down tonight. Sirius obviously, but Nikka's as well. She was going to propose, they'd have been getting married next year or the year after but not any more. And also people I don't even like, gods only knows what Voldemort is going to do to those who failed him. And Gemini, Rodolphus and Corvus, where are they going? Their parents are either on the run or in prison. And over what? A few words that won't change anything."

"Fore warned is fore armed Harry." Dumbledore said quietly, annoyance simmering under the surface that he was trying his best to contain, it wasn't meant to happen like this.

"Not with this." Harry shrugged, "I bet it either said that I'm going to die or Voldemort is, and we already knew this, why? Because Voldemort went after my family. I don't care who kills him, I really don't, I just want him dead. He can get hit by a bus for all I care. But I am going to try and kill him, along with a lot of other people and we will either kill him, or die trying." Harry said, standing up, "Now if there is nothing else, I need to get some sleep; it's been a very long day."

Dumbledore continued to take the memory from his head and placed it in a small glass bottle, "Take this for when you feel ready to see it."

Harry took the bottle and smiled at him, before dropping it on the stone floor where it shattered, much like the prophecy itself had just a few hours before.

"Thanks for the thought, but I'm just not interested." Harry shrugged, leaving the office with Severus following close behind.