When Harry began to come around, he was first observant of the silence. Other than the crackling of the fire, there was no other sound in the room. He couldn't see far, as his glasses had fallen off when he had hit the ground and it took him a few attempts before he could piece together what had happened. When he remembered the part about Ron not answering the badge there was a rush of noise in his head and he frantically tried to get up but quickly collapsed back to his original spot. If Ron hadn't come that meant something was wrong, and that also meant that Hermione was possibly in danger as well.
Harry tried to reach out and sense her but he couldn't, he was too drained from fighting off the veritaserum to do anything right then. He vaguely recalled Lupin in the fireplace and something about portkeys and hoped that they would be arriving soon.
Harry shut his eyes and began a mental lashing of himself. How could he have been so careless? He shouldn't have let things with Caige go to the point they did. He knew she wasn't rational but he really didn't think any auror would go to the lengths that she had and by misjudging her he had now incapacitated himself. Most powerful wizard in the world, completely useless and unable to help the most important people in his life. He didn't know how he would ever forgive himself if something happened to Hermione because of his recklessness.
He tried again to sense her, but was met with the same results. A loud commotion in the lobby of the inn caught his attention and he hoped it was Lupin and the others. A moment later the door flew open and in rushed his former professor, wand drawn. Following him were Tonks, Moody, Shacklebot and an anxious looking Madam Pomfrey.
"Harry!" Lupin cried and rushed directly to his side.
Madam Pomfrey pushed past the others and immediately began performing diagnostic spells on him.
"Harry! Harry!" Lupin was trying to get his attention, but it was so very difficult to focus right then.
"Re…Remus?" he was finally able to stutter out "How...how did you…" but Harry trailed off as it proved too tiring to speak, but then a thought shot through his head and he forced himself to focus. "Ron? Where are Ron and Hermione? Ron didn't answer."
"Hush Mr.Potter! There will be time enough for questions later." Madam Pomfrey scolded and gave Lupin a stern look as well.
"I don't know Harry. We haven't tried to contact them yet, our main concern was getting to you." Remus answered honestly
Harry took a deep breath and leveled Lupin with the strongest look he could. "Try."
Remus backed away so Poppy could work and went over to where the others were waiting.
Tonks ran a hand down his arm reassuringly and then gave his hand a tight squeeze, they usually weren't overtly affectionate in the field but she knew seeing Harry like this was hard on him. Remus gave her a small but grateful smile and then ran a hand through his hair.
"We need to find Ron. Harry says he tried to contact him too through the badge but that he never arrived." Remus took a pause before he continued "Hermione is most likely with Ron."
Moody muttered a curse under his breath and stabbed the floor with his staff. "That blasted woman is a menace." He growled and was immediately met with incredulous looks. "Not Granger! Caige!"
"I'll put a trace on Ron's badge and see what we come up with. Tonks, check their rooms and see if there is any evidence of where the two of them may have gone." Shacklebot stated and the moved towards the fireplace.
"Remus, your assistance please." Poppy called from Harry's side.
Harry was still in the same spot he had been in when they arrived, eyes shut and his breathing was shallow.
"He's very weak right now, magically and physically. The magical effort he had to make to fight off the veritaserum drained him and there was a residual effect on his body." Poppy explained, while Remus looked on with concern.
"Will he…what I mean to say is…can he still…" Remus stumbled over his words, hating to say what he was thinking
"Not to worry, he still has his magics. They are understandably diminished right now but with some time and rest there will be no lasting damage. This is not the worst condition I have seen Potter in." she assured him
"Well, that's good news, good news indeed."
"Now, help me get him on this settee, we'll allow him to rest here for a bit before moving him to his room."
The jostling and moving around seemed to have woken Harry up some and once he was settled he opened his eyes and saw Remus' worried face. "What's happening?" he said softly, trying to force himself to concentrate on what was going on around him.
"Don't worry about it right now Harry, just rest." Remus replied
But Harry shook his head in disagreement and spoke again "What's happening? Where are Ron and Hermione?" then he shut his eyes and tried once more to reach out and sense her.
Madam Pomfrey noticed the intense look on his face "Mr.Potter! Do not try and use and magics!"
Harry's eyes flew open and he met her gaze. "Why? What's wrong with me? Why can't I sense her?"
"Your magics are almost entirely depleted right now. The strain you took fighting off the veritaserum was too much. They will need time to recover on their own." She informed him
"How long?" he asked
"I would say that with proper rest and some regenerative potions you should be back to normal in two to three days."
"Two to three days! I don't have two to three days!" Harry exclaimed as loud as he could and attempted to stand up but immediately realized that his legs were too weak. "Ron and Hermione are missing aren't they? Ron didn't respond, he always responds. I can't just sit around here and wait. Some madman is trying to KILL Hermione, we don't have that sort of time!"
Shacklebot strode over to where Harry was sitting after hearing his outburst. "Settle down Potter, we're trying to trace Weasley's badge right now. Tonks is investigating your rooms to see if we can't get an idea of where they went. We're doing everything we can. You need to listen to Poppy."
"We're not doing everything we can sir!" Harry spat out "If I had my magics I could tell you exactly where Hermione was and we could be there in an instant!" he turned a hard eye to Madam Pomfrey "Is there another way?"
"No, Potter, there isn't." she replied a bit tetchily
"I don't care if its dangerous or if it will make me feel worse when this is all said and done. I just need access to my magics now." Harry knew that there had to be some way for him to get them back without having to wait.
"Harry, be reasonable, there is no other way. Now I'm sorry, but we're just going to have to find them the old fashioned way. But we will find them Harry. I promise you." Remus implored, hoping that he was saying the right thing.
Harry locked his gaze with Lupin's and was silent for a moment, looking years older than he should. When he spoke it was soft but forceful and meant only for Remus' ears. "What if it was Tonks that was missing?"
Remus held the look with Harry as long as he could before tearing his eyes away. He knew that Harry was right, if their positions were reversed there was not much anyone could do to keep him from finding her. He acknowledged Harry with a small nod and turned towards Poppy, prepared to go to battle for the young man he considered a son.
But a battle was not necessary it would seem. There was an odd expression on her face, a mixture of recognition and fear. "What is it Poppy? What have you remembered?"
"Don't ask me that Remus." She said carefully "It can't be…no…I won't allow it."
"Madam Pomfrey, what is it? I'm willing to do anything?" Harry said anxiously "Please"
"Mr.Potter, its just…it's so dangerous. I can't guarantee anything. You have to know this, you have to know what you would be getting into." The healer was now wringing her hands and looking more upset than he had ever seen her.
"I'd do anything for her. Please, tell me what it is."
"There is a potion that would allow you to restore your magics and your physical strength completely. It functions much like adrenaline does, but at a concentration that your body is incapable of producing." She explained tentatively, still obviously nervous.
"Well, that doesn't seem so bad. If its something that's natural anyways, I don't see where the harm is." Harry replied, wondering what the fuss was about.
"You don't understand Mr.Potter. This is a dark potion. You Know Who had it made especially for his Death Eaters. When in battle, if they were grievously injured they could take the potion and continue fighting. What no one knew at the time was the effect the potion would have on the body. While it did restore health it also put such an enormous strain on the person that they were unable to recover after the potion wore off. Their original injuries were still there as well as massive damage to all the major organs from the restorative potion. The only ones who survived after taking it had taken it believing their wounds had been life threatening when they had not been and even they never fully recovered because of what the potion did." She paused for a moment before continuing "So you see Mr.Potter, its just not possible. I don't believe you would survive after the potion was out of your system, the internal damage done would simply be too widespread and too extensive."
The room was completely quiet for a moment before everyone began speaking at once. Everyone except Harry that is. Tonks had entered the room while Madam Pomfrey had been explaining the potion and was locked into a heated debate with Moody over its potential use. The din was broken by Harry suddenly yelling "STOP!"
When the room was quiet once again he turned to Madam Pomfrey. "It was Snape wasn't it? Voldemort had Snape develop the potion."
"Yes"
With his answer Harry swore loudly and again attempted to rise, but to no avail. He pounded the seat of the settee in frustration. Snape had been instrumental in the final battle. He had never betrayed Dumbledore all those years ago like Harry had initially assumed and continued to act as a double agent. He and Harry had never become friends, there were too many years of animosity between them, but they did come to have a mutual level of respect for one another. After the war however, he resigned from Hogwart's and disappeared. To Harry's knowledge no one knew where he was or what he had been doing.
Harry exchanged a look with Lupin before taking a deep breath and continuing "Find me Snape."
"It won't be easy Harry, no one has heard from him since the war and if Snape doesn't want to be found he won't be." Shacklebot responded, knowing what a difficult thing Harry was asking
"I don't care. I need that potion." Harry held up a hand to stop Lupin's forthcoming protests. "Don't Remus. I'm taking it, we'll figure out later how to keep me alive, right now the only thing I care about is finding Hermione."
Remus nodded, knowing that Harry couldn't be convinced otherwise "You do know that if this potion doesn't kill you Hermione will when she finds out what you've done."
"Yeah, I've already thought of that, but it'll be worth it."
Tonks spoke up now "I searched the rooms. Harry would probably be able to tell us better but it did seem as if some bags had been rifled through quickly. Hermione's especially."
Harry nodded in understanding "She took her kit."
"Her kit!" Remus exclaimed "Her auror kit? Why would she have had that with her at a conference?"
"She always took it with her. I never asked her about it, but I think it was just habit, left over from the war."
Remus nodded sadly, the three of them had never really had a normal life, he had assumed that after the war was over they had moved on, but he realized now that the affects of that time would always be with them. "Where do you think they went Harry?"
"We had been talking about going back to the apothecary shop, give it a look and see what we could come up with to connect them to Donnegan's murder." Harry was careful not to look at Shacklebot while he spoke of their slightly unorthodox and not exactly legal plans.
"Do you honestly think they would have gone off without you though? That seems terribly rash for Hermione." Lupin replied
"No, I wouldn't normally expect her to do that, but if she thought the chance of danger was low and the fact that I would be providing an effective distraction for Caige I can see her convincing Ron it was a good idea."
Moody came stomping in their direction "Snape isn't to be found. Tried all the contacts I know, he's completely underground or dead."
Refusing to believe Moody's later suggestion Harry knew that there was one way that would definitely work. "Remus, I need to contact Hogwarts."
Lupin helped Harry up and supported him the short distance to the fireplace, then stuck his head in and called up the office of the Headmistress "Minerva! Minerva are you there? It's an emergency!"
In a moment the distorted image of Minerva McGonagall appeared in the glowing embers "Yes, yes Remus what is it?"
"It's too much to explain right now, but Harry is here and he needs to speak with you." Remus moved out of the way and helped Harry down to the level of the fire.
"Hello Headmistress I'm sorry to disturb you so late and I wish I had time to tell you what is happening but I'm in a hurry. I need you to send Fawkes through the Floo please." Harry requested, knowing that she would immediately begin questioning why he didn't just call Fawkes to him as he always did.
But Harry was wrong, there was only a small slip of confusion on her face before she replied "Of course Potter." And disappeared from the fire, the next moment the majestic form of Fawkes was coming through the Floo and settling on Harry's shoulder.
Harry stumbled back to the chair and heard the chattering of those around him. After Dumbledore's death, Fawkes had appointed himself to Harry and had remained as the symbol of the Order, but since the war had ended he spent his days quietly at Hogwarts, occasionally going to Harry if he called him for a visit.
Fawkes nudged Harry's head with his and let out a long, soft trill of Phoenix song. Harry felt strong enough now to sit upright in the chair without danger of falling over but he knew the damage done to him was too much even for the magical bird. He stroked a hand over his colorful plumage and spoke to him quietly "Fawkes ol' boy, I need you to find Snape for me. He'll know to go with you, I told him years ago if you showed up one day to go with you, no questions asked." Harry let out a low chuckle at the seemingly quizzical expression in Fawkes eyes "I know, it doesn't make much sense, Snape and I never really saw eye to eye. But he won't be doing it for me, he'll be doing it for Dumbledore and for the Order." Fawkes seemed to nod in understanding before lightly leaving Harry's shoulder.
The others in the room were watching them expectantly, when there was a sudden flash of fire and Fawkes was gone.
A/N: Next chapter will deal with what is happening to Ron and Hermione and then I'm thinking there will be one more chapter to finish it off, with perhaps an epilogue thrown in for good measure. We're in the home stretch folks. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!
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