CHAPTER FOUR
Secrets and Dreams
Harry awoke in his bed later that evening to a quiet room. He put on his glasses and after taking a steady breath attempted to sit up. He felt no pain and his heart rate had returned to normal. It must be late, he thought. He stood up and drifted slowly over to the windows. It was dark outside and the streetlights were providing interconnecting pools of light all down the road.
He turned towards the door, opened it, and stepped out into the hall. Hmm, everyone must be downstairs. I hope I didn't give them all a scare. Over to the stairwell he went and descended the stairs easily. He turned the corner and went into the kitchen.
There was nobody there. The fireplace looked to have not been lit in several months. How could that be? He asked himself. They wouldn't have just left me to sleep for several months, would they? Starting to feel a strange sickness overcome his senses, Harry walked out of the kitchen and back upstairs to the girl's room. Empty again. He could feel the panic starting to suffocate him and he ran to the study. Nothing. Bolting from the room, he cleared the staircase to the top floor in a few steps and checked each room.
Nobody was there. The only place he had neglected to look was in the basement. He'd never been down there, maybe they were all in a meeting of the Order?
Not wasting any time, Harry shot down the stairs to the first floor, he rammed his way past the kitchen door and to the trap door that lead to the basement. With a gulp of determination, he lifted the door and started down the stairs.
He couldn't catch himself in time as the stairway crumbled beneath his weight and he fell towards a bright blue pool of liquid that had been hidden from view beneath the staircase. As he hit the fluid he let out a mind numbing scream!
"IT BURNS! IT'S FREEZING! HELP ME!" He cried in fear.
Hands shot out and took a hold of his shoulders. He shot around to see who it was and could only scream in terror as the grey-green, scabbed hands of a dementor pulled him into the depths of the well of the lost.
"NOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Harry shot out of bed with terrifying speed and fell to his face on the floor of the hospital wing at Hogwarts. Madam Pomfrey looked up with alarm and rushed over to his side. "There, there, Harry. You're alright now. You've given us all quite a fright."
"Huh? Where ... where am I?" Was all he could get out, his head was killing him from the impact on the floor.
"Tut, tut. You're at Hogwarts. You were rushed here yesterday when you started having chest pains." The nurse explained. "We thought you were having a heart attack, but we were wrong. It seems that someone has found a way to use a new killing curse, one with a delayed activation time and the ability to reside within objects."
"Wait, do you mean that someone used a new curse on me? But ... but how?"
"Do you remember the night you left Privet Drive, Harry?" A most reassuring aged voice asked from behind him.
Dumbledore! I'm ok! Harry thought to himself. He turned and saw his headmaster sitting calmly in a bedside chair. "Yes, I think I remember it well enough." He replied.
"Do you recall that you took this," Dumbledore held up a long sleek wand with a silver knob on the end, "from the death eater that invaded your home?"
"Yeah, I remember. But what does that have to do ... Oh, was-was the curse cast on his wand then?" Harry reasoned.
"Indeed it was. That was quite a bold and devious trick they pulled, Harry." There was a twinkle in his headmaster's blue eyes. "I'm surprised that we could get you here and find the counter-curse in time."
Harry sighed, "Why was I so stupid? There were no other death eaters around, what if it was all a ruse to get me to take up the wand?"
"It could very well have been. Luckily, there were no tracing spells cast upon it as well, otherwise it would have given away your whereabouts for the past few weeks."
"How are the others doing, professor?" Harry asked.
"Miss Granger and Mr. Weasley have been by your side since last night. They just went to their dorm for some rest." The aged headmaster explained. "They'll be very happy to see that you are awake, you gave them quite a scare." Dumbledore grinned slightly. "Is there anything else about that night that you can think of, Harry, anything at all? Do you remember who picked you up and where you went?"
Harry's head started pounding again. "I don't feel too well." He said, "I think I might have gotten a concussion when I fell out of bed and hit the floor." The pain started to increase in intensity and he felt himself fall back into the pillows.
"Here, here. Let me see what's going on. Open your eyes." Poppy instructed and Harry did as he was told. "You've become quite the diagnostician, Mr. Potter. It seems that you do indeed have a concussion. Professor Dumbledore, would you please excuse us so that Harry can get more rest? He's been through quite a rough ride and this needs to be looked at."
"Very well, Poppy. Let me know when he is back to full health, will you?" The headmaster asked.
"Of course, of course, now shoo." She turned back to Harry and offered him a potion. "Go ahead, it won't hurt a bit. Just swallow it down and you'll be fine in a few hours."
Harry took the goblet with a shaky hand and brought it up to his lips when he noticed that his scar was bleeding. He reached up and touched his forehead gingerly, wincing when he felt a new wave of pain shoot from it. "What the?" He looked at Madam Pomfrey who smiled encouragingly at him.
"Go on, dear. It won't bite." She said compellingly and Harry found it very hard to resist.
"But-but my scar. I'm bleeding, it hurts so much." Harry pleaded a hint of panic and shock on his trembling voice.
Madam Pomfrey just looked at him calmly, dabbed his head with a white cloth, and pulled back smiling reassuringly. "It's quite alright, Harry. You did hit your head pretty hard, how else do you expect your bones to react when they hit stone like that?"
He could see something out of the corner of his eye. He slowly glanced at the bed next to him and saw what could only be a corpse. Ginny's body was lying in the next bed staring blankly at the ceiling.
Madam Pomfrey walked over and pulled the curtains shut. "I'm sorry you had to see that."
Something felt wrong, why is the nurse still smiling at me? He thought. His head exploded with renewed pain.
"Drink the potion, Harry. The pain and swelling will stop, it will all be over and you can go back to your friends in the morning." Poppy still had that annoyingly reassuring smile on her face and Harry had an extremely difficult time resisting her suggestions.
When you are deep in thought or protecting your mind, the time stop charm cannot hold you as its thrall. It is the same with most other mind affecting curses as well. The words rang in his head like an air raid siren. Harry looked down at his hand which was slowly placing the goblet to his parched lips.
Breathe deeply. Empty my mind. Step back into the shadows of still and quiet thought. His hand came back under his control and his scar burst into another fit of flaming pain.
"AH! So the whelp knows occlumency it seems!" A grating, high-pitched voice shot across the room at him. "No bother then, we've gotten all we will get from him now. Dispose of him!"
Where Dumbledore had been standing, Harry now saw the towering black form of the Dark Lord! He was addressing Madam Pomfrey who obediently pulled a scalpel from her apron and started for Harry's throat.
Something happened. Before he knew what was going on, he found himself sitting upright in bed. He was drenched from head to toe in sweat, the rivulets pooling on his lip and brow.
Ginny sat upright and gasped. She had fallen asleep next to him during the night and had kept hold of his hand. "HARRY! You're awake!"
He jumped back, confused. "Wh-where am I?" He asked weakly. He glanced around at the room at 12 Grimmauld Place and then back to Ginny's face. "Am ... Am I back?" He asked with a dazed look on his face.
"You never left! We came in when Ron started shouting and found you on the floor!" She wiped away the tears that started welling in her eyes. "I ... We thought you were going to die! Professor Dumbledore got here just in time and removed the wand splinter from your chest." She indicated the shattered death eater wand in a tray on the bedside table.
"What? H-how did that wand shatter? I vaguely remember picking it up off of Malfoy before I left my room the night of the attack."
"I-I don't know, Harry. We just found you crumpled on the floor. I thought that I'd lost you!"
"I'm sorry." He said with a confused look on his face. "Is everyone alright? Where are they?"
"They're downstairs in the kitchen. We haven't left your side for nearly ten hours. I told them to go ahead and get something to eat so I could watch over you." She stifled a sniffle. Before she had a chance to wipe her tears away, Harry's hands were already on her cheeks doing just that.
"I think I'll be ok now. I'm sorry I put you through that." His eyes met hers and it felt like he had been away for years only to return and find the one person he ever cared about had waited diligently for his return. He felt that warm feeling start to flow from his chest and into his arms and head. Without realizing what he was doing, he gently kissed her on the lips. "I-I'm sorry, Ginny, I-I wasn't thinking ... I didn't mean to ..." He stumbled over the apology as he pulled back from his best friend's little sister. IDIOT! He cursed at himself.
Ginny didn't say a word. She put her arms around his shoulders and kissed him gently on the lips. "It's ok, Harry." She whispered when she pulled away a few moments later. Harry felt his heart racing and his hands shaking. This was far different from the kiss he shared with Cho. He looked deeply into her eyes and saw that Ginny shared the same feelings flowing over her as he did.
The door opened and the two teenagers quickly pulled apart. "Ah, you're awake, Harry." Professor Dumbledore said with a slight chuckle. "And better off than I had foreseen!" He glanced at Ginny and gave her a playful wink.
"Sir," Harry began. "I think Voldemort was able to get into my mind again. He kept asking me where I went after I had left Privet Drive."
"Really?" Dumbledore asked with alarm. "What happened, please tell me."
Harry related his dream or dreams in this case and finished with a shudder. "I didn't tell him where the headquarters was, I think I was able to fall into my occlumency trance before that information was leaked." He had conveniently left the part about Ginny's corpse from the retelling, he didn't want to worry her, and worse, he didn't want the chance it could happen to come true.
"Well, Tom has gotten sneaky it seems. He is indeed growing in power if he was able to impersonate me in your dream. What, may I ask, brought you around to the truth of the matter?" The headmaster asked inquisitively.
"Actually, I heard your explanation of how occlumency could help to defeat mind affecting spells. I found it hard to resist the urges to drink that potion and when those words came to me, I went straight into the trance." Harry explained. "It seems I was able to break the curse and when I was fully in control, the dream ended and I woke up here."
"Yes. Very good, Harry, very good. I will relay what has happened to your worried friends. For now, you need your rest. We're going to portkey you to Hogwarts tomorrow for safety's sake. So get some rest and we'll all be here for you tomorrow."
"Sir?" Harry asked quietly.
"Yes, Harry."
"I don't remember the wand shattering when I took it from Malfoy." Harry confessed.
"Ah. It seems that a part of your dream was indeed true. There was a time delay set on the wand. I believe when you were looking through your trunk, it triggered and the splinter lodged itself in your chest at that time." He explained.
"Thanks, professor." Harry returned with a yawn.
"Miss Weasley?"
"Yes, sir?"
"Would you be so kind and watch over Harry until your brother comes up for bed? We shouldn't leave Harry alone at this crucial time. Please make sure that he is comfortable and well watched over." Dumbledore gave a short chuckle and stepped out of the room, closing the door behind him.
"Ginny, I ..." Harry couldn't finish with Ginny's finger over his lips.
"Shh, you heard what the professor said." She said with a coy smile spreading across her lips. "Now lie back and get some rest. We'll have more time to talk when we get to school." She bent over him and let her lips softly brush against his. It had been a long time since he had fallen asleep with a smile on his face and knowing that he wasn't alone anymore brought that smile in full force.
Ginny ... and he was asleep.