Chapter One:
Healing Charms and Phoenixes
Hermione spent the better part of a half an hour in her room going through books. She looked up what she could on curses, and even the Imperious Curse didn't fit this particular display. She was, as she had suspected, right that Harry was not under a curse, or spell. This was something else entirely, and she was pretty sure it had to do with whatever traumatic events had happened in the three years he had been gone. There was a part of her that wanted to grab him by the shoulders and shake him, yell at him for taking off the way he did and making them worry the way they had - but that was going to have to wait. She'd yell at him when he was better. She piled her books neatly on her desk and sighed. She pulled her messy hair back into a ponytail and set to the task of cleaning Harry up, and waiting for Lupin and Tonks and Professor McGonagall to get there. As she passed Ron's room she noticed the clothes on the floor by the dresser, and assumed that Ron had also come up here to get clothes for Harry to change into, not expecting him to go into whatever sort of fit had happened downstairs. Maybe it was being in this place again… She grabbed the clothes and hung them over her arm, the floorboards creaking as she left his room.
She filled an old, but clean basin with warm water and grabbed a cloth from the bathroom. Before the others got there she wanted to at least tend to the visible signs of struggle; she didn't want to worry them more than they needed to be, and she felt a strong need to take care of him. She knew Ron would want to help, and he would do what he could, but she knew that the majority of it would be left up to her as she was the one who, aside from a magical life, education, and career, was studying muggle medicine. Her parents were dentists, after all. When she returned to the living room the fire was still going strong and Ron was sitting in the armchair watching Harry, who hadn't moved since she and Ron put him on the sofa. Ron heard the telltale floorboards and looked to Hermione, carrying a basin with water, a cloth, and clean clothes he'd thrown on the floor when he heard the shattering tea mug. She noticed he'd cleaned up the mess.
"Any word from Lupin?" she asked as Ron stood and came to her, taking the basin of water from her and carrying it over to the sofa. He nodded.
"He sent an owl back. He'll be here with Tonks within the hour." he said as she handed him the clothes he was holding. "What did you bring these down for? He can't change himself while he's unconscious."
"No," she said, kneeling beside the sofa and brushing his black hair off his forehead. She mused that he needed a haircut. "But, we're his best friends, so I doubt he would mind."
"What? You mean we're going to change his clothes for him?" he looked a little uncomfortable, and she nodded. "Hermione, best friends share a lot of things, but really, I have to draw the line at taking Harry's clothes off."
"Ronald," she scolded. "It's not like I'm suggesting we bathe him."
"Thank god," he mumbled.
"We're not going to strip him naked," she said, dipping the cloth into the water and wringing it out. "We're just going to get him into dry clothes. I'll do it if you don't feel comfortable."
"I'm not sure I'm comfortable with seeing you taking Harry's clothes off either," he replied.
"Oh honestly, Ronald," she tutted and shook her head.
"Well, I'm not."
"Come off it," she said. She took the cloth and gently dabbed at the scrapes above his left eye, removing dirt and blood. She dipped the cloth in the water and wrung it out again, this time dabbing at the cut across his cheek. She wished he would wake up and tell them what had happened to him.
"He looks like he's been through hell," Ron said, sitting in the armchair again and watching her.
"He does, but we don't really know what happened. Although, I have my suspicions." she said and looked up at him.
"What suspicions?" he asked her, creasing his brow. He didn't have any suspicions and he wanted to know what ones she had. She just looked at him before going back to tending to Harry. "Honestly, Hermione, what suspicions?"
"Death Eaters," she said. She looked up at him and his mouth had snapped shut, and his eyes were slightly wider. "Think about it Ron, who else would do this? I mean, I know Harry has made enemies, but no one else would do this. This has Voldemort written all over it."
"I hate it when you say that name," Ron said quietly, shivering a little. He still couldn't say his name without stuttering, and oftentimes avoided saying it altogether. He watched her tending carefully to Harry, who still didn't wake, and he knew that she was right. They knew that when he left the fight was far from over, but without him there, there didn't seem to be anything left to fight, which had given Hermione the sneaking suspicion that Harry had left because of some stupid sense of heroism; she was almost positive he knew that once he was gone the threat to them would be gone as well, as it would chase after him. The things he did made her so angry some times. She set the cloth in the basin full of water and set it aside.
"Give me those clothes," she said to Ron, who leaned over and gave them to her without question. He stayed in the armchair. He loved Harry like a brother, yes, but he wasn't going to undress, or dress him for that matter. He figured it was better to just let Hermione handle this part; she was the one studying to be a muggle doctor aside from a witch.
She took off his glasses and handed them to Ron, moving to his side again. She carefully pulled his arms out of his jacket and set it aside; next, she pulled his arms from his tee-shirt, carefully pulling it up and over his head. She gasped out loud and Ron looked down at his feet. There were several wounds over the front of him. His chest was littered with bruises and cuts that looked less than taken care of, his ribs a little too visible for her comfort. There were what looked like unhealed burns, and he looked altogether disconcerting. She pressed her lips together, feeling her chest tighten with apprehension as she picked up the cloth from the basin and wrung it out once more. She began to dab lightly at the wounds on his chest, his rib cage, his stomach. She wet the cloth again, wringing out more dirt and more blood. The more she tried to help him the worse she felt about the entire situation.
"I really hope they get here soon," Ron said quietly. "He needs some serious healing."
"If they can even heal all of this," she said quietly. "I'm keeping his shirt off until Tonks has looked at him. I'd rather she see him straight away and heal him as soon as possible, if possible." Ron was determinedly looking at his feet as he nodded. He didn't want to see Harry looking like that. She made quick work into getting him into a pair of Ron's pajama pants without so much as blushing; if she were going to be a doctor she had to learn not to be embarrassed about these sorts of things, but strangely she wasn't embarrassed anyway. She touched his face gently, leaning down to kiss his forehead and finding that his forehead was burning, and finding that she was unsure if it was a fever or just the scar - Voldemort doing what he could to torture Harry. She practically leapt up when she heard the popping sound coming from across the room. She wasn't sure she had ever been so happy to see Professor Lupin and Tonks; Professor Lupin looking as he always did, and Tonks with her shockingly pink hair. True to form she ran to Professor Lupin and threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly.
"It's good to see you, Hermione," he said softly, hugging her in return and patting her back.
"Oh Professor, there has to be something you can do," she said pulling away, and determined not to let him see the tears in her eyes she looked at Harry.
"I don't know how much I can do, but I assure you that there is at least something Nymphadora can do." With that she looked at Tonks who looked less than pleased to have been called by her first name. From the first time they met her she'd made it known she didn't want to be called by her first name, and so far the only person she had seen or heard get away with it was Professor Lupin. "Where is he?"
"The sofa," Hermione replied pointing and heading towards it, Ron standing as his former professor and Tonks approached him.
"When did he get here?" Professor Lupin asked stopping in front of Ron. "Hello Ron," he said, outstretching his hand. Ron shook it thankfully, and nodded to Tonks. Professor Lupin looked at Harry. "My goodness…"
"He got here almost an hour ago. I told you it was urgent," Ron said. "He had a fit or something a while ago and he hasn't woken up since." They watched as Tonks passed Professor Lupin and went straight to Harry; she bent down to inspect him and her mouth hung open slightly in shock.
"I'm sure we can all guess who did this." Tonks said, looking at them all for a moment and then back at Harry. "I'm assuming no one followed him," she said, and then added quietly, "not that they could find this place."
"No, I don't think so," Hermione said. "Why?"
"There has been an increase in Death Eater activity of late," Professor Lupin said. "We just don't want our next report to happen on your doorstep."
"Neither do we," Ron said. "How can we be sure?"
"Ron, think about it." Hermione said, "This place is protected. Death Eaters couldn't find it if they wanted to. When Harry inherited this place it was under a Fidelis Charm, and as far as I know, it still is."
"Oh," was all he said, and by the look on Professor Lupin's face he too remembered this key factor, and looked a little more at ease. Ron looked at Tonks, touching one of the darkest bruises in the center of Harry's chest. "Can you help him?"
"Yes, of course," she said. "I can't heal him completely, but I can heal him enough." She touched the dark spot. "This looks like a…a scorch mark, or something of that nature. He was hit here," she said as she gently touched the mark with her fingertips, "with a curse, and a powerful one at that." She pulled out her wand. "Episkey," she said quietly, pointing her wand at his chest. The rather large, dark spot diminished but did not disappear. She did the same over various bruises, cuts and abrasions - some disappeared altogether, and others merely were lessened in their intensity. This hadn't been what Hermione or Ron had been hoping for, and judging by the expression on Professor Lupin's face, as well as the one Tonks wore, they had been hoping for more than this as well.
"Perhaps he needs a stronger healing charm," Professor Lupin said, coming to stand beside her. She looked up at him for a moment before nodding, and then muttered another healing charm. Some wounds lessened, and others did something peculiar: they seemed to heal for the moment, only to reopen moments later.
"Why aren't all the injuries gone? Why isn't he healing?" Ron asked.
"Some of these injuries are extensive, and they've been here for some time," Tonks answered. "Whoever cast the curses on him to cause these wounds knew what they were doing, and they knew they were powerful enough to cause real damage. Which is why, I imagine, they cast them on him in the first place," she said. "I'm not sure how some of these wounds didn't kill him, and I'm not going to question it right now." In truth, none of them wanted to question it. None of them wanted to think of the fact he should be dead but thankfully wasn't. It seemed that the only thing that mattered was that he was there at all, even if he was unconscious on the sofa - he was there, breathing, and alive. After three years of wondering if he even was alive, it was a relief just to see him there. At least now they knew he was safe, or at least as safe as he could be. "Did he say anything?"
"The only thing he said was…" Hermione hesitated.
"Yes, Hermione?" Professor Lupin said, eager to know if it was anything of use to them in figuring out where this boy had gone, been, and done.
"He said… `None of it made any difference'." She said sadly, confusedly. "I don't know what he meant." Professor Lupin simply gazed down at him, remembering when Harry had said those words to him more than three years ago, after Sirius was freed but not a free man. Harry had felt then that he had failed, and what he had done made no difference, when in fact it had and he just couldn't see it. This, as it would seem, was a similar circumstance. Professor Lupin had no doubt in his mind that Harry had been out there, somewhere, fighting everything that threatened to take away the things and people that he loved; there was no doubt in his mind that Harry had been out there alone, fighting with everything he had to keep the last few things and people he loved so deeply safe and out of harms way. He only wished he had known Harry would try to do such a thing, because he would have done anything in his own power to stop him from doing something so foolish.
"Should we wake him now, Nymphadora?" Professor Lupin asked. "He might be able to tell us something about where he was all this time; at the very least he can tell us who did this to him." But they were interrupted by something, and Tonks looked away from Harry in search of the source; it sounded almost like a song - a song that they hadn't heard in years. All of them seemed mesmerized by it for a moment, and as it grew closer it seemed almost calming to them, if not somewhat saddened as well. The melodic sound was something they had heard before, though in an entirely different context and circumstance, and it was no less beautiful now than it was then.
"Ron, open the window," Hermione commanded, feeling strongly that she knew what, or rather who it was, and he did so without question. The song grew louder, closer, and within minutes its source became apparent. With great ease and inherent grace the bird glided through the open window, the mere sight of it a personification of beauty and splendor.
"Is that…" Ron started, staring in awe as it perched on Harry's stomach.
"A phoenix," Hermione finished. "Fawkes, to be precise."
"That's Dumbledore's phoenix?" Ron asked in astonishment. "No one has seen or heard from him since… since the funeral at Hogwarts."
"Yes," Lupin said quietly. "It seems that Fawkes had one other person besides Dumbledore that he was, and apparently still is quite loyal to." They all watched in amazement as Fawkes gave a few more notes to his beautiful song before leaning over the wound at the center of Harry's chest. They watched as a few precious, powerful tears touched the surface of his skin; they all seemed to hold their breath and watched as it was returned to a state of health. In one swift movement Fawkes moved to perch on the back of the sofa, looking down on Harry. Professor Lupin and Tonks exchanged glances and nodded to one another as Ron and Hermione watched them in anticipation. If Tonks succeeded in bringing Harry back to consciousness he might be able to tell them where he last was with the Death Eaters, if that were indeed the case; if she succeeded in waking him, he might be able to tell them anything he might have learned about Voldemort's plans to give them the upper hand. Really, the most important thing on all of their minds was just hearing from him that he was ok. If that was all he could say, the only thing he knew, that would be more than enough. It seemed they all collectively held their breath, hearts beating a little more quickly than they had been moments ago. Hermione found herself thinking just wake up, Harry; just please wake up; Ron found himself thinking please, just be ok. Professor Lupin looked at Tonks, and she at him.
"I think, perhaps, we might try now," he said softly, with a grateful glance at Fawkes.
"Ennervate," Tonks said quietly. They all watched anxiously, including the phoenix, waiting for Harry to move, to open his eyes, say something, anything; but it was a few moments before Harry showed signs of waking. First his brow creased, and then he took a deep, shaky breath. He didn't open his eyes right away, and for a moment they worried he wouldn't.
"Harry?" Hermione's voice was soft and tentative, unsure what kind of reaction she would receive if any. He swallowed a little harshly, and took another shaky breath.
"He knows I've come back."
-->