Disclaimer: JKR owns.
Safe Harbour
Chapter 6: A Moth On The Wall
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"Where are you going?" Harry asked Hermione quietly.
It had been a few hours since the police and medics had left with Kevin's body. No conversation had been made between him and Hermione and she hadn't moved from her spot on the couch.
He had been leaning on the wall and looking out the window at the innocent kids playing American football in the park below when he heard Hermione grab her bag and walk off down the hall.
"Hermione? Where are you going?" he repeated louder, still staring after her.
Again, she did not answer so Harry moved off the wall and followed her into the bedroom.
"Hermione?"
"What Harry?" she snapped, turning to look at him with her bag open on the bed.
"What are you doing?" he asked back in the same tone.
"Unpacking, what's it look like?"
"Oh," he mumbled, "You know you don't have to be angry at me. I was just curious…" he continued in a small voice, even though he half expected her to be furious with him.
"I'm not angry!" she shouted, throwing her hands up and turning wildly to him. Harry raised an unconvinced eyebrow, but made no comment.
Hermione sighed and shook her head heatedly, "Fine, I am! I'm frustrated as all hell!"
Harry looked down to his shoes as she carried on. He felt somewhat responsible for her being in the state she was in, so he didn't find himself deserving to look her in the eye.
"It's like whatever we do they're two steps ahead of us!" By now she resumed meddling with her bag- her wand was out and she had sent various articles of clothing zooming back into the closet, "And I can't figure out how! How do they know what we're planning?"
Harry grunted as one of her shoes hit him in the chest. She sent him an apologetic look as he bent down and picked it up.
"I don't know Hermione, but," he stopped, spotting a moth on the wall and slamming it with the bottom of the shoe before tossing it back into the closet. He walked to her and wrapped his arms around her waist, "They're bound to slip up soon. And when they do we have to make sure we take advantage of it and get the hell out."
Hermione had started tearing again, "Do you think we'll even get that opportunity?"
Harry didn't answer. He couldn't. How the hell was he supposed to know if these people- whoever they were- would ever make any faults?
He didn't want to tempt fate, so after a moment he said, "I'm not going to let them get you two, even if it kills me…"
He pulled her into the tightest embrace they could muster given the bump in between them.
Harry's words repeated over and over again in Hermione's head, and she couldn't help but feel truly scared by the sincerity of his message.
As she leaned into his embrace she let her eyes wander, hoping beyond all hope it wouldn't have to escalate to his death, or hers for that matter. 'We've survived through far too much to die now…'
Suddenly Hermione's eyes caught sight of something, and she gasped, pushing away from Harry.
"Herm-"
"Harry look!" she directed, pointing a shaky hand in front of her.
Harry turned, and instantly stepped back into Hermione as his right hand went for his wand.
"What is it?" Hermione asked, visibly shaken, with her eyes still glued to a quivering, flesh coloured shape, about the size of a large duffle bag. It was lying on what looked to be a pool of dark red blood.
'It's definitely blood,' Harry determined, getting a whiff of the familiar scent.
"Harry, what is it?"
"I-I…"
But he didn't have to answer because just then, the shape sprouted four limbs, clearly two arms and two legs based on where they sprouted from, and a round shape, smaller than a football, appeared at its top. It was clear that it was a person transforming- but from what?
"Oh, shit…" Harry muttered, his eyes glancing back up to the place near the closet door in which he had swatted a moth minutes prior.
"Harry!"
He registered the amount of distress in Hermione's voice and quickly looked back to the form- now a bloody and still bleeding body of a young man.
The bloke's body was completely mangled. His arms and legs were all poking out in different directions- none of which the way they should have been.
But his head was by far the most gruesome. Hermione had turned and pressed her head into the opposite wall while her hands clamped tight over her mouth. Harry had to look away and gag.
The bloke's sandy coloured hair was dyed darker and matted to his head from the blood. None of the identifiable bone structure could be seen on his face.
If Harry had to guess, he would say that the beak rutted out to the right side of his face was his chin, the sinking gaps underneath his eyes were his collapsed eye sockets, and as for his nose- it was probably all but bone powder.
But the most jarring and irksome thing about the corpse was that his chest was still shaking quite visibly, and he had started foaming and spitting up blood out of his mouth.
'He's still alive… he's trying to breathe…'
"Hermione, he's alive… what should we do?" Harry asked frantically, glancing back at Hermione who was still pressed against the wall, before turning back to the man.
Chunks of something were starting to flow out of his mouth. It took a moment for Harry to recognize them as teeth.
"Hermione!" Harry now shouted, turning back to her.
She had started shaking her head back and forth, before she turned to the rubbish bin at the side of the night stand and threw up.
Harry looked back and without another moment's thought, pointed his wand at the man.
"Pretificus Totalus!"
"Harry?" Hermione panted, still knelt next to the rubbish bin, giving him a questioning look.
"We have to get him to the hospital!" Harry stated, quickly coming over to help her up.
"B-But-"
"Hermione, we have to!" Harry cut her off, giving her a look that pretty much
explained everything for her.
'Of course they had to- he was Harry Potter. He wasn't about to just sit back and watch the man die…'
Hermione nodded mutely. With a swish of his wand, the petrified man hastily floated out of the room and towards the front door.
Harry guided Hermione with him, following after the body and before she knew it, the familiar yet sickening sense of being squeezed through a small tube was being bestowed upon her.
She didn't even have time to remind Harry of the consequences of apparition.
…
Harry's feet met ground, and he looked around, recognizing the front entrance to the E.R. of St. Elizabeth's Hospital a few yards ahead of them.
He had purposefully apparated them into the small enclosure where they kept the large garbage bins as to avoid from having to float the immobile bloke's body all the way from the alley a street over.
"Alright, come on," Harry muttered, looking around to make sure no one was looking their way. When he didn't hear Hermione behind him, he turned back to find her.
His heart dropped when he saw Hermione laying on the ground with her back to him, struggling to get up.
"Hermione!" He ran to her, gently helping to her feet.
"Are you-"
"I-I'm fine..." Hermione lied, not meeting Harry's eyes. In all truth, she felt like a tornado was spinning through her head and she knew that if she hadn't just emptied her stomach a few minutes ago, then she'd be vomiting all over Harry right now.
Harry stared at her with a guilty and worried look on his face. He couldn't believe how careless he'd been with her...
"We should hurry," Hermione voiced, finally meeting his eyes and breaking Harry from his thoughts.
Harry nodded, remembering why they had apparated in the first place and turned back to the man who was still frozen into the same eerie, broken position.
...
"Hey!" Harry called out to a team of paramedics who were lingering near their ambulance, "This guy needs help!"
The men turned to look at Harry and Hermione. Harry was now kneeling next to the man on the ground, acting like he had just drug them there, while Hermione stood- her face suddenly very pale.
"Rob, get the gurney!" One of the medics yelled, as he and another ran forward.
"What happened to him?" asked the first medic, quickly checking for a pulse.
Harry glanced at Hermione before turning back, "We uh, we don't know. We just found him like this in an alley."
The medic who had yelled at Rob gave Harry a probing look, "Sir, we need to know what happened to him so we can determine the best way to help him..."
"We said we found him!" Hermione cut in, "We don't know who he is or what happened to him."
"I can't get a pulse," the first man muttered before being distracted by Rob coming up with the gurney.
Hermione nudged Harry, who took the opportunity to pull out his wand.
"Enervate."
As if being turned on by a switch, the bloke started shaking again and bubbling at the mouth.
"Look!" Hermione alerted the others.
The next few minutes went by in a blur for both Harry and Hermione. The medics had lifted the blonde man onto a gurney and had called a E.R. team down. They were all shouting rushed commands at each other while a nurse was clearing the man's airway, preparing to put a tube in him to assist his breathing.
They started wheeling him forward into the hospital, took a right and disappeared from Harry and Hermione's view.
Harry blinked and drew in a few deep breaths, still staring in the same direction. His head was spinning and mind was going haywire with pounding thoughts.
He had done the right thing… right? He was the one to cause him to be in the state he was in, so it was right that Harry brought him to the hospital. He couldn't let the man die on his carpet. Could he? Should he have left him?
It was obvious, that whoever that man was, he was no friend to Harry or Hermione.
'Why was he there in the first place?' Something clicked in Harry's head and he blinked. Why didn't he think of that before?
'The wizard could transfigure into a moth… That's how they've been keeping tabs on us…'
"He's with them. He was a spy…" Harry muttered lowly, his hands forming into fists. Anger and frustration ran through his veins, enraging his senses. Anger, because, like a ponce, he willingly brought the bloke to the hospital so he could get treatment, and frustration for not thinking of it before. He could have done something back at the apartment; searched his pockets for I.D. or even perform some healing charms on him, at least enough so he could get to the point where he could talk so Harry could get some information on him and the people he was working with.
Now his opportunities had been washed down the drain. He openly admitted that he and Hermione didn't know the bloke, so why would the staff let them in to see him?
He'd probably never see the kid again…
"If he even makes it," Harry muttered to himself bitterly.
Letting out another irate breath, he turned around wanting to get Hermione home soon so she could rest.
When he saw her though, his shoulders fell and the previous thoughts of anger evaporated in his mind, being replaced with worry and concern.
Hermione had sauntered over to the rubbish bin by the entrance of the E.R., and had one hand holding onto it's rim tightly while the other was gripping her stomach. Just by her stance, Harry could tell she was breathing heavily.
He hurried over, "Hermione?"
"Yeah?" she asked breathlessly.
"Are you alright? Do you need to sit down or something?"
She shook her head, "I'm just a little dizzy…"
"Come on, let's get you home," he said grabbing her waist so she could ease off the bin and start walking. She let go, and would have collapsed if it weren't for Harry holding her.
"Hermione?!" he asked in panic as she let out a quiet groan, her eye lids opening and closing very slowly.
"Hey, is she okay?" asked a woman coming out of the hospital doors in a blue medic suit. She was just about to light a cigarette when she saw Harry with Hermione in his arms, struggling to stay conscious.
"Something's wrong with her," Harry told her, trying to shake Hermione awake.
"Oh my…" she whispered after she got a good look at Hermione, particularly her abdomen, "Sir, how far along is she?"
"33 weeks," Harry replied anxiously, distracted by Hermione's eyes drifting shut and the trail of blood now leaking from her nose.
"We're gonna need a doctor!" the woman shouted through the open hospital doors, throwing her cigarette to the side and coming forward to take Hermione from Harry's trembling arms.
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I know this is getting ridiculously dramatic but please review.
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