Chapter 3: Hysterics and the Final Journey Home
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters, settings, and situations created and owned by J. K. Rowling as published by, including and not limited, to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books, Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. The use of these characters and settings is for entertainment purposes only; no infringement is intended or should be inferred.
(A/N): Sorry for not posting this chapter earlier but life has been throwing me curveballs as of late. My grandmother passed away. So you can probably imagine why my writing has taken backseat to my life. Plus HBP kind of took a toll on my writing as well. I hope you enjoy this next chapter. Also beware the language and scenes will be more graphic and violent in nature than the previous chapters.
"What happened? Is he alive?" Hermione screamed. After the killing curse had been fired at Harry and he had fallen, the Death Eaters thought they had won and made their escape.
Remus went to Harry, his hand trembled as his finger reached for the artery in the young wizard's neck to check for a pulse. He nearly fainted as he felt the thump-thump of the steady pulse, and turned to Hermione. Her eyes had clouded over and her cheeks tear streaked as she waited for Remus to fill her in.
"Don't worry, he's alive," he reassured her, and then looked over at the young man in wonder.
"But how is this possible?" Remus mused inwardly, looking at those around him. From the expressions directed his way he realized he had spoken out loud.
Pop!
No less that twenty Aurors appeared, late as usual, at the scene looking around at the street. They bound the unconscious and therefore abandoned Death Eaters, including one gel-legged Lucius Malfoy, and began to revive those who had been stunned. When they tried to revive Harry they found him unresponsive. Hermione grabbed him and began to shake him.
"Harry wake up, please wake up, you can't do this to me!" She broke into choked sobs and whispered, "I love you Harry. Please come back to me."
Just then Harry muttered, "Not so rough Hermione. I think I had too much fire whisky."
Everyone just stared as Harry sat up and looked at the upset expressions.
"What's going on? Why are you looking at me like I just-" He stopped and then remembered the elder Malfoy's curse flying toward Hermione. "Uh, just how the hell did I survive that curse?"
When he looked up at Hermione he saw her tears and it tore his heart apart. "No love, I'm alright. Come here."
He tried to open his arms when he realized his left arm wouldn't move. So instead he wrapped her in a one armed hug.
"I think we need to go to St. Mungos," he commented lamely. She looked at him and the realized his arm was hanging uselessly at his side. "Sorry love but it jus-"
She silenced him with a kiss and looked to the others who were still in shock. "Um Mr. Weasley Harry needs to get to St. Mungos. Could we use a portkey since he probably shouldn't apparate in his condition?"
Mr. Weasley numbly drew out his wand tapping a piece of parchment from his pocket and said, "Portus."
The parchment glowed a faint blue before returning to normal and he held it out for them to touch. Once everyone had at least a finger on the parchment he counted, "3…2…1."
Everyone felt a tug behind their navels and reappeared on the floor (thanks to a certain couple) of St. Mungos and began to disentangle themselves from one another.
Harry was beginning to find the whole 'I can't move my arm' thing slightly aggravating as he tried reaching for Hermione's hand. She turned and found him glaring at the offending limb before he wrapped his right arm around her. Soon they were on the fourth floor of the hospital. It was all Harry could do not to cringe as they walked on.
'For once couldn't I get through a year of my life as a wizard and not end up needing medical attention?' he wondered silently.
After checking in, a healer almost seemed to appear out of thin air, probably literally. He chalked this up to one of his actually useful advantages of being 'Harry Potter.' She greeted him in a rather enthusiastic manner and tried to shake his left hand only to realize that arm was his problem. She blushed at this mistake as Harry looked about impatiently, reached for Hermione's hand, and waited for the healer to examine his arm.
However, about thirty minutes the healer was looking very upset. When Harry inquired as to why she said, "I'm sorry Harry but I can't fix it. By all rights you shouldn't be, well, alive and I can't figure out what's wrong with your arm. I'm sorry."
She repeated and was surprised to see Harry with a slightly disappointed smile on his face. "It's alright. I mean it'll be hard only having one arm to use-"
"Well Harry I can't fix your arm completely but I can give you partial control over it." At his intrigued look she continued, "It will allow you to move the arm but it is going to make you seem clumsy and will have to maintained by casting the spell once a week. Are you willing to accept a clumsy limb?"
Harry nodded and she tapped her wand on his arm saying, "artus motus." A yellow glow consumed his arm and it began to twitch. Harry looked at the appendage and tried flexing it. The arm's movements were jerky and slow but it was a start.
"Thank you!" he stated before rushing over and pulling Hermione into a slightly clumsy two armed hug. After thanking the healer again they left the hospital to journey back to number twelve.
…
It was a couple of days after the incident and Harry was beginning to get more than annoyed with his arm. He could use the arm but it was clumsy, and to date he knocked over four glasses of juice, elbowed both Ron and Draco, knocked two knives off the table, spilled an uncountable amount of food on himself and those next to him (Ron and Hermione).
The most mortifying incident had been when he had touched Hermione in a very inappropriate area. He had been reaching for her shoulder and she had turned around before his hand was fully extended. She had said it was alright but she blushed every time she looked at him since.
Currently, he was sitting in his room of number 12 and silently berating himself for something he considered his fault. He let out a frustrated sigh as he heard a tapping at the door and called out, "Yes!?"
The way he said it was probably a little harsh but he was into his pity party to much to care, or at least until he noticed that it had been Hermione at the door. He looked down at his feet ashamed at his actions toward her.
"Sorry 'Mione, I guess this damned arm is frustrating me more than I tho-" He was interrupted as she had flung herself upon him.
"It's alright Harry I told you before that it was so. Now come on dinner is ready and Mrs. Weasley will get upset if you miss another meal." He actually let out a chuckle to this and pulled her into a firmer hug.
"I know you're right, but I don't know if I want to move. I'm quite happy here." In response to this Hermione playfully smacked his arm before they left for dinner.
…
"Mum where's my jumper?"
"Harry have you seen my wand?"
"Where is that bloody owl?"
"Have you seen any crumple horned Snorcacks?"*
The conversation about number twelve made it obvious that it was once again the day they were supposed to get back to Hogwarts and as usual they were running late. Some how they managed to get things sorted and were all riding in Mr. Weasley's newest 'toy,' a 1987 Ford Crown Victoria. They made it onto platform 9¾ with just a minute to spare.
Just as the last bag was loaded and hug was exchanged this Hogwarts Express began moving. The group ran, quickly boarding the train, and amazingly found an empty compartment in the prefects' car as they waited for the other prefects to gather. The couples seated themselves next to each other, although in a six person compartment, with three couples vying to sit with his or her partner, that can be difficult. Hermione found herself, much to her and Harry's mutual pleasure, seated on Harry's lap.
Harry looked off at each of his friends and wondered what had brought them to this moment, and whether or not they would all be around for more moments like it. Harry's eyes strayed upon Ginny and Draco holding each other, lost in their own world. Harry remembered the events that had led up to these two falling for one another. It started as every other trip to Hogsmeade, at least until the death eaters showed up:
Begin Flashback
Harry, Hermione and Ron were out on a Hogsmeade visit. They were currently in the Three Broomsticks enjoying butterbeers. The day had been fairly peaceful and, for the first time in about six months, Harry began to feel himself relax. It was then that a muted explosion was heard.
Immediately, much to Harry's satisfaction, every present member of the renewed D.A. jumped to their, feet wands in hand. Harry cautiously strode toward the door of the building when a spell hit the door and sent both him and it flying back in. As he struggled to his feet, thankful that he had only been hit by the door, someone shouted immobilis. Suddenly, everyone, minus his/her eyes, was frozen in place.
That was when twelve Death Eaters, four minus their masks, entered. The four could be easily identified as Pansy Parkinson, Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, and Draco Malfoy. Then a fifth Death Eater raised her mask, Bellatrix Lestrange, and smiled malevolently down at the semi-prone Harry.
Harry was currently thinking, 'Shit, how the hell do I fix this fucking situation? How do you end this curse when you can't speak? SHIT!'
"Don't worry Potter, we're not here to kill you. Yet," Bellatrix taunted. "No Potter, we are here to make you suffer. Draco, come here. You'll be first to be tested."
Draco stepped up with an emotionless face, drew his wand and pointed it straight at Harry.
"Not him Draco. We want Potter to suffer another way." She made a motion to gain his attention and pointed at a small child. "She will do as to make Potter suffer."
Draco again without showing any emotion raised his wand toward the frightened child but then he suddenly froze as he looked into her eyes.
'Damn it! I've got to stop this. Why did he stop?' Harry's thought process became jumbled as he looked at Draco's unmoving form.
Draco's blank face hid a myriad of emotions. The number one thought on his mind was, 'I can't do this to a child.' Draco was finally realizing that the price one paid to serve the dark lord was one he wasn't willing to pay.
"Draco it would be your fathers will that you do this, and if you don't you will not be accepted by the Dark lord." stated another female death eater who sounded suspiciously like, and probably was, Draco's mother.
The young Malfoy's wand lowered and he turned toward the others.
"Then to hell with the Dark Lord and my father. I will not torture children. Abrogare carmen!" Suddenly, everyone previously frozen could move again, and Draco let loose a flurry of stunning, disarming, and other jinxes/curses. Harry was quick to join in, shouting curses barely an instant after Malfoy.
"Flagrare," a ball of orange flame hit Lestrange. "Gellare," he shouted jumping over a stunning curse. An ice blue light jetted from his wand and encased a still befuddled Pansy in ice. Ron followed with a stunning spell that clipped Goyle.
"Clipeus," shouted Hermione as four curses flew toward her. Her shield caused all the curses to fizzle out on contacted. Harry moved forward stunning or binding every standing Death Eater he could.
Out of the corner of his eye Harry saw Ron draw his wand back and let loose with a, "perturbatio." Harry nearly laughed as the chaos spell formed a stream of water that connected with Crabbe and transfigured the Death Eater wanna-be into a panda.
That was when he heard the shout of Hermione, "Harry behind you!"
Turning Harry saw Lestrange's slightly charred frame pointing her wand right at his face. Her lips curled in a hideous smile that made her time in Azkaban all the more apparent. Her face was gaunt and her eyes seemed to have sunken into it. The hate and insanity that lay behind her eyes only served to make the woman only more repulsive.
"You lose, Potter." She drew a breath for what Harry knew was a killing curse.
With reflexes honed by Quidditch, he ducked quickly shoving his wand into her stomach before simply saying, "fulgur." Bellatrix then found out first hand what a lightning rod felt like as two bolts of lightning struck her in the back.
When he looked up he saw his one time enemy currently looking down at his mother's unconscious form. He then went up to Draco and said, "You made the right choice Malfoy."
"I hope so Potter. I hope so," was the uncertain, yet still somewhat bitter reply.
End Flashback
From that day Harry and Draco became uneasy friends, but since he had started dating Ginny they became closer to real friends. Harry was snapped out of his reverie when a Ravenclaw prefect looked poked his head in, saying that the last prefect was there.
They made there way out and found all of the new and returning prefects minus Pansy as she, Crabbe and Goyle had been expelled and imprisoned. Hermione led the meeting as Harry was only slightly versed in the duties of a new prefect or, for that matter, Head Boy. He sat and listened to his girlfriend brief the others in the room on what they would be expected to do. She also gave the seventh year prefects a small briefing on the graduation ball.
Soon the meeting was over and the six went back to the compartment and once again found themselves in a comfortable silence. It was Draco's turn to reminisce about that fateful day when Ginny had walked into his heart.
Flashback (Draco's POV Third person)
'Did I make the right choice?' Draco thought for the hundredth time that day. It had been nearly a month since that fateful Hogsmeade weekend, and the question still came to him more often than not. He was currently working on his transfiguration essay although it was more staring than writing.
So lost in those thoughts was he that he never noticed a certain female, red haired Gryffindor come over to his table and sit down. She looked at him waiting for him to acknowledge her in some way. When he wasn't forthcoming with a greeting, or a get lost for that matter, she waved her hand in front of his face. He was startled out of his internal bickering and found him looking at the highly amused Gryffindor.
"What is it Weasley?" Draco asked, though it lacked the venom it usually had for the Weasley name.
"You looked like you could use a friend," was Ginny's simple reply. Malfoy snorted.
"I need no one, especially not a blood traitor like you." Again his words lacked the conviction they once had.
"Well if you ever need someone to talk to you know who to look for," she stated ignoring the lacking insult. Then, she surprised Draco by bending low and giving him a chaste kiss on the lips.
Stunned, Draco sat with his hand on his lips for a moment before getting up and calling out. "Wait… Ginny?"
When she turned back to look at him he said. "I'd like to take you up on your offer."
As they walked out neither noticed as Harry and Hermione tried, and nearly failed, to silence and restrain the red head of their trio.
End Flashback
After that incident Draco and Ginny had started dating, even with the protests from her older brother. Harry was glad that Ginny had found someone to love.
The teens finally noticed that it was getting dark and decided to change into their school robes. As they departed from the train they saw Hagrid smiling and waved to him. The biggest change since sixth year was shown when Hermione and Ron gasp as they approached the carriages. Harry felt a pang of guilt as he realized that they too could see the thestrals.
'It's only going to get harder from here on in.' thought Harry as he stroked one of the thestrals. The trip up to the school was made in companionable silence and soon they all were listening to the sorting hat's song of unity and the like. Harry had to nearly shove his fist in his mouth as Hermione told Ron of for his eating habits and Ron nearly spat food on her trying to retort.
Next Dumbledore stood up, the food vanished, and everyone quieted down.
"First of all," the aged wizard began, "to all first years, welcome to Hogwarts. And of course, to all returning students welcome back. I would like say that you are all in for a great year filled with learning, love, and fun."
"But that would be a lie." A collective gasp went up from the students. "The truth is that with the events of the past years, one has no idea if they will even live one more day."
"With Voldemort," a collective of shudders and gasps among many students interrupted Dumbledore, and he patiently waited for it to quiet down. "As I was saying, with him on the loose all we can hope for is to live life to its fullest.
"But that is not to say that there will be no learning, love or fun to be had while you are here. For that is why you are here. And I want you to know right now that this is why we," Dumbledore languidly gestured across the table where he and the other professors sat, "are going to try our best to make it so.
"So for now, young witches and wizards, eat your fill and drink merrily with your fellow classmates. Pay no mind of what comes tomorrow, only of the sweet bliss that you each share in tonight. Tomorrow will come soon enough.
"But when tomorrow comes, and the happiness of this night is just a memory, the real battle will begin. It won't be a battle fought between opposing sides, but rather a battle to ensure that each of you survives once those who wish harm upon us come. But when that day comes, I want you all to remember one thing.
"Remember," Dumbledore concluded, "that no matter what else happens in our lives, we each shape our own destiny."
There was a polite applause from the students as the headmaster concluded his sobering, yet still awe-inspiring speech. Not long after bade them all a good night and sent them off to bed. As the students made their way to their respective houses, it seemed that everyone's mind was on the welcome speech.
Well, all but one. As Harry's head hit his pillow his last thought for the night was 'What am I going to do for Hermione's birthday?'
*A/N: Sorry, hard to resist.