Chapter Sixty Two
The next morning Harry awoke to the smell of coffee and toast. He pushed himself up in the hospital bed noting that his arm was definitely less painful than it had been the night before. The others in the rather full hospital wing were also stirring and beginning to wake.
Madam Pomfrey had insisted that they all stay overnight for observation and no one was in a great hurry to argue with her, finding some small level of comfort in each others company.
"Any news on Sirius and Nikka?" Tonks asked rather groggily, wincing as she tried to sit up.
"No, not yet." Madam Pomfrey said, helping her to a sitting position, "And after breakfast I'm going to have you transferred to St Mungo's, I'm worried about a few of your internal wounds and you will have better care there."
Tonks nodded sadly, "Well, at least I get breakfast."
"Toast with a hot drink for you all." Madam Pomfrey said waving her wand.
Eighteen plates of warm, buttered toast floated over to them with large mugs and three floating tea pots that held tea, coffee and hot chocolate.
Harry pointed to the coffee pot and it poured in him a mug followed by fresh cream and sugar. He took a deep sip, it burned his throat a little but warmed him nicely from the inside.
He ate his toast, asking for more, he was more hungry than he realised and managed to eat through six slices before Madam Pomfrey cut him off.
"I should get home as soon as I can." Lily said, looking worriedly towards Harry, "It's just Danica was crying her eyes out when we left."
"Is she OK?" Harry said, sitting up much more quickly than he should of.
"She was just scared." Severus said quietly.
"You should go to her." Harry nodded.
"Do you want to come home?" Lily asked.
Harry wasn't sure, he wanted to go and see Sirius, he wanted Danica to laugh and for things to be normal again; but they weren't going to be normal for a while, where ever he was.
"You don't need to decide now." Madam Pomfrey said, "There has been several people calling asking to speak to you anyway. I suggest you talk to Professor Dumbledore about you all leaving school early."
It wasn't long after Madam Pomfrey had cleared away the empty breakfast plates when a large brown owl flew in and delivered two copies of the Daily Prophet to Daphne and Hermione.
"You're a super star again." Daphne said.
Hermione gave a weak nod in agreement and lay her head back on the pillow. Madam Pomfrey bustled over and checked Hermione's pulse, waving her wand over her torso where the violent purple slashing spell had hit.
"If there is no improvement by tomorrow, or you get any worse, you're off to St Mungo's as well." she informed Hermione.
"Can I see your copy of the paper?" Harry asked Hermione.
She smiled and asked Narcissa to pass it over. Narcissa did so, moving over to sit on the edge of Draco's bed and generally fuss over him, something which Draco happily allowed her to do.
Harry scanned the paper. They'd taken back everything. They made references to other papers defaming Harry's character, they failed to mention that it was mostly, if not completely, them writing the horrid articles.
They had also gotten the article Rita Skeeter had written for the Quibbler from somewhere and were passing it off as an exclusive.
"Did you know about this?" Harry asked Luna who was drawing patterns on a scrap of parchment in her own little world.
Luna nodded, "Yep. Dad sold it to them, says we're going to go on a big holiday this summer. He made a fortune, even more of a fortune than he had from selling the actual copy in the Quibbler." she said absently.
Harry laughed, he loved the way that Luna thought and saw the world, and he was very happy that Luna's father had taken the Daily Prophet for all it was worth.
"How nice of them to change their tone." Lucius hissed, "Pity they lowered it in the first place."
There was a knock on the door and several official looking witches and wizards came in, including Fudge and a rather embarrassed looking Percy.
"Get out." Tonks snapped.
"We need to speak with several of you." Fudge said.
"Listen to me closely," Alice said, getting out of bed and looking far more fierce than a woman in pyjamas should be able to, "you do not have permission to speak to our children, and if you try, we will not hesitate to knock you on your ass."
Fudge took a step back and nodded quickly, "Understood. Actually one of the main things that we needed to discuss is with Mr and Mrs Malfoy."
Narcissa and Lucius looked up from around Draco's bed.
"Is there a problem?" Narcissa asked, shifting to both be able to view Fudge more easily and shield Draco from them.
"Yes, but not with you." Fudge said awkwardly, "This is Madam Horwood. She is in charge of magical child services. Well… I'll let her explain."
"Would you like to move somewhere more private?" an older witch with grey hair asked, she was wearing dark grey robes and looked exactly like the sort of person you'd expect to care for children.
"No." Lucius said crisply, "We would much rather stay here."
Madam Horwood nodded a little awkwardly, "Of course, it's admirable that you wish to stay with your child. And it's not about young Mr Malfoy to reassure you. It's about the three young Lestranges."
"Gemini, Rodolphus and Corvus? Are they all right?" Narcissa asked.
"Yes, they haven't yet been informed that their father and uncle have been arrested and their mother is on the run, Dumbledore wouldn't allow us access to the school until after breakfast, but no doubt they will have read it in the paper this morning." Madam Horwood sighed.
Harry loudly flipped open that paper, "Yeah there is a list of who was arrested. Rabastan, Rodolphus, Nott, Crabbe, Dolohov, Rookwood and Mulciber. Jugson was treated for injuries caused by several falling shelves before being transferred to Azkaban and Avery is dead." he said looking worriedly towards Pansy.
She forced a smile and shrugged, "It's fine, we knew that already and I didn't have a choice."
"Means Goyle and Mcnair escaped, as well as Bellatrix." Daphne said.
"Yes we have people out looking for them right now, we had them out first thing this morning." Percy informed them, offering them a copy of the order to look at which they all ignored.
"Anyway," Madam Horwood interjected, a little annoyed at the interruption, "it means that they have no one to look after them this summer."
"Oh please!" Neville said, rolling his eyes, "They just get looked after by the house elves anyway."
Madam Horwood huffed loudly, "Are you sure we can't go somewhere more private?"
"We're quite happy here." Lucius said, trying not to smirk at her discomfort.
"You are their next closest relatives, you Mrs Malfoy and Mrs Tonks, I was able to talk to her this morning and she has offered to take them in, but considering the… blood status of Mr Tonks and the children's attitudes from their parents, she suggested that they might be… less trouble with you." Madam Horwood explained.
"They are going to make trouble anywhere." Narcissa said, shaking her head, "From what Draco has told us Gemini and Rodolphus at least are just as bad as their parents."
"Corvus isn't so bad though." Draco said. He really couldn't say anything nice about Rodolphus or Gemini.
"They will all be magically sealed inside the Malfoy grounds and they will be unable to receive any letters or correspondence of any sort." Madam Horwood assured them.
Narcissa sighed and nodded, "Yes, of course we will look after them."
Lucius shot her a quick, questioning look before smiling and nodding, "It's only a few years before they turn seventeen."
"Thank you." Madam Horwood said, breathing a sigh of relief, "I am most grateful. It's a rare to have magical children lose both parents like this, not something I often have to deal with! I'll get back to the office Fudge, try and get some more things sorted and the paperwork ticking though for this."
Madam Horwood left the room, with a quick wave. Fudge took a quick step towards Harry.
Harry shuffled awkwardly in the bed, glaring at Fudge, he really didn't feel like talking to him right now.
"Harry!" Fudge beamed, "You are looking well!"
"Thanks!" Harry said sarcastically, "I almost died last night! The exercise is very good for the skin!"
Fudge gave him an awkward smile, "I am very sorry that you… you had to go through all of that. I trust you are recovered?"
Harry was about to open his mouth to give a nasty reply, he felt like he was never going to be OK again, but it was too much effort right now, he just didn't have the fight left in him.
"Yeah, yeah I guess." Harry choked out, "Can I help you with something?"
"Harry my boy, I was wondering if you could do the Ministry a small favour?" Fudge asked, playing with his bowler hat, "I was wondering if you could say a few words, about the Ministry and what happened last night?"
"Oh you…" Alice said getting out of bed again.
Harry raised his hand, "It's OK… it's OK… you want a few words? Let me tell you a few, the Ministry put be on trial, and tried to get me kicked out of school rather than listen to me. They ignored me when me and my baby sister were attacked! Then when, despite their best efforts, I got back to school they put a psycho in charge of us! She made us carve into our hands for detention!"
"WHAT?!" Lily yelled, glaring at Fudge.
"None of that was cleared by the Ministry." he said quickly.
"It was all cleared by the Ministry!" Harry hissed, "and done in your name, not the Ministry's, yours! And then they cut me off from everyone I loved. Severus fired, all of my letters searched, and not even arriving in the end. You had her hurt my owl! Which all led to last night, when I had no choice but to put me and my friends in danger because of what you did! And that ended with Hermione cursed and Pansy with a broken leg and Neville nearly going insane… and… and Sirius lying in St Mungo's… maybe never waking up. There, that's your few words on the Ministry."
Harry heaved himself over, turning away from Fudge and trying not to cry. Fudge stood awkwardly, Percy scribbling Harry's answer down.
"For goodness sakes boy!" Fudge snapped, "Stop writing and think for once."
"I am going to have to ask you to leave my ward now." Madam Pomfrey instructed, shepherding the Ministry officials out of the room.
"We still have a few more things to go over." Percy said over Madam Pomfrey's arm.
"No." Madam Pomfrey said firmly, "You don't. Leave."
Fudge shoved his stupid bowler hat onto his head and swept from the room. Harry waited until the door was firmly shut behind them before sitting up again.
They talked quietly between each other until the door flew open once again.
"GINNY!" Mrs Weasley yelled, barrelling over to where Ginny was propped up in bed and burying her in a hug.
Mr Weasley and Ron followed her in at a slightly slower pace.
"Hi Mum…" Ginny said, gently pushing her mother away, she was too bruised to have such strong hugs right now.
"We heard what happened! Oh my god my poor baby!" Mrs Weasley sobbed, "Why did you take her with you?" she snapped to Harry.
"Mum I wanted to go!" Ginny insisted.
"You're a child!" Mrs Weasley said, dabbing her eyes, "I mean, Ronald is the only one who listened to me this year, who didn't go around getting himself into trouble!"
"And this will be the last year I will do that!" Ron snapped back, "I was a total idiot this year and now every paper has 'the war begins' plastered all over it and I can't disarm a… a chicken!"
Mrs Weasley looked at him, her mouth open slightly in shock, "I… we'll protect you! You're a child, you shouldn't have to worry about things like this!"
Ron's bottom lip quivered as he tried to stop himself from crying, "Mum… don't be stupid. We all have to worry about this. And… and it's time to stop pretending that not taking a side is OK. You'd hate an adult that acted the way that I have been; I turned in my own brothers because it was 'the rules'! I mean… that's… that's not OK! I'm not going to do that again. So if you tell me to stay out of it, if you tell me not to worry and not to work out how I can protect myself and my family and everyone else, you are giving me no choice but to disobey you."
Harry found himself feeling slightly impressed. It made no sense, right now Ron looked the total opposite of a heroic figure, his robes were a mess, his stupid red hair sticking out at strange angles and dark puffy rings his eyes. He was crying and frayed the edges of his robes he'd picked at them so much but Harry knew how much courage standing up to his mother must have taken, and for the first time, to Harry, Ron looked like he might have the bravery of a Gryffindor.
Later that day, after a good lunch of thick hot soup and more bread than they could eat and an equally hearty dinner Harry felt much better, physically at least.
They had had only a single note from St Mungo's. Nikka had been taken for surgery due to internal bleeding and to remove a shard of glass embedded in her rib, that had caused the bleeding in the first place. The pain must have been unbearable whenever she moved. She was currently sedated and was expected to be woken the next morning.
Sirius was in a stable but critical condition. Harry had no idea what that really meant, it seemed to be completely contradicting stable but critical, surely you couldn't be both at the same time. He still hadn't woken up.
The note had been delivered by a pretty brown owl with a white band around it's wing, which had taken off before they'd had a chance to offer it a drink let alone write a reply.
"We'll go and see him." Severus said, Lily having left earlier in the day to make sure that Danica was all right.
Harry had all but had to shove her out of the door to get her to leave. Fleur had gone with her, she wanted to go and visit Bill Weasley and let him know she was OK.
Harry nodded and gave a small smile, he wanted to visit Sirius of course but was also terrified of what he would find there.
Lily had had a fierce row with Dumbledore, she'd wanted to take Harry home then but Dumbledore wanted them to stay, it was only a week until the end of term. In the end, the parents had agreed that the children could stay, on the conditions that each child would write everyday, if there was any disruption in the letters, or they appeared in anyway tampered with or forced the children would be collected before Dumbledore or anyone else knew what happened.
Dumbledore had agreed gracefully and said that now that Umbridge had been removed from the school, there should be no more issues with letters getting through. This was further proved by Hermione getting half a dozen letters from Viktor asking if she was OK as he was getting worried she hadn't replied in months, when she normally wrote at least once a week.
Harry was both glad and not to be staying at school. The quiet lessons helped, he thought, it was routine and normality in a world that felt very un-normal right now. After a few days in the hospital wing all the students were released and Harry could pretend that the world hadn't come crashing down around his ears.