Summer of Several Attempts by allieb
Harry woke up on the floor of the pub. He was still tied up to the branch. It took a minute before he figured out why he woke up, but when he tried to move, his whole body protested. He winced and then looked around the room moving as little of himself as possible, trying to figure out where he was. He saw Remus Lupin standing over him. “Hey,” Harry said weakly. “Where am I?”
Lupin smiled, the relief evident, “You’re at Jim and Marie’s pub in Builth Wells.” Lupin leaned in really close and whispered, “Hang on a few more minutes and the Ministry will be here, including Arthur Weasley.”
Jim leaned over to talk to him, “Harry, are you awake? Land sake boy you gave us a scare. I don’t know how you came in, but I heard you fall on the floor. I don’t how you got in without us seeing you, it is the strangest thing I ever saw, or didn’t see I guess.”
Harry was weak, very weak. He started shuddering and shaking. He was ice cold and his body, especially his chest was very painful. Lupin started to cut the ropes to release his hands.
Marie was nearby too, she knelt down next to Harry and said, “Harry, what happened? You look as though you’ve been attacked. Have you?”
Harry winced as Lupin finished the first cut and his hands came free from the branch. His arms relaxed and fell to the floor. He didn’t have the strength to move them. His wrists were cut through from the ropes. “I was attacked,” Harry murmured in reply.
“It’s going to be all right, Harry,” Jim said, “this man here is named Lupin, he’s a doctor, he’s going to help you.”
Harry looked at Lupin and managed to give him a weak smile.
“Can you tell me what happened?” Jim asked as Lupin continued to cut away at the ropes that held his feet.
Lupin spoke up first, “Actually, Harry, why don’t you lay quietly for a minute while I get these ropes off. I don’t want to accidentally cut you.”
Harry understood. Lupin didn’t want him to talk about anything around all these Muggles. He closed his eyes and quietly waited for Lupin to finish cutting his bonds. In that time, Harry heard the door open and he opened his eyes to see several people dressed in wizards ropes come into the room. Within three strides, Mr. Weasley had crossed the room to Harry and knelt down next to him.
“Harry!” he gasped. “Oh my God, what happened?” He turned to Lupin.
Lupin finished cutting the ropes that held Harry. “There that should do it.” He turned and looked at Mr. Weasley, “Thanks for getting here so quickly Arthur. He’s pretty bad; we need to get him to St. Mungo’s right away.”
“What happened, Remus? All we heard was there was accidental use of magic in a Muggle pub. We came as soon as we could.” The other wizards in the room were containing all the Muggles including Marie and Jim.
“I don’t know everything, but I’m assuming that he was hit by the Avada Kedavra again.”
“Why?” Mr. Weasley asked.
“Look at his forehead,” Lupin commanded quietly.
“My God!” Arthur commented.
Harry weakly asked, “What? What about my forehead?”
It took Lupin a minute. He seemed to be deciding what to say and finally he came up with, “You have another scar Harry. You’ll have to see it to understand.”
“Let’s get him out of here,” Mr. Weasley said to Lupin. “It might not be the safest place, but he needs to get to St. Mungo’s. Who knows what the side effects of living through the killing curse are?”
“Agreed, he needs to be seen immediately. Can they take care of this without you? I think we should both be there to guard Harry.”
“They’ll be fine without me. I’ll just check in and tell them we’re taking Harry to St. Mungo’s.”
Mr. Weasley left and returned a few moments later with an Auror he’d never met.
The new Auror said, “Hello Harry. We need to get you to St. Mungo’s. We are going to take you there by Portkey. But before you go, can you tell me how you got here.”
Harry said weakly, “I don’t know.”
Lupin spoke up, “He Apparated.”
The Auror looked puzzled and said, “He’s a bit young for that isn’t he?”
“I’m positive he Apparated. That’s how I found him. As soon as I heard that Harry was kidnapped, I asked the Wizards who monitor underage magic to pay special attention to anything odd. They found an underage use of Apparation in this pub. That’s the only way Harry could have gotten here. He was kidnapped from the Hogwarts Express just a couple of hours ago. He must have accidentally Apparated away from Voldemort.”
The Auror shuddered at the mention of the name. Harry’s own shaking grew more violent and Lupin once again kneeled over him. Lupin continued, “I think he’s going into shock. We really need to get him out of here.” Lupin pulled off his cloak and tucked it in around Harry. His shuddering decreased some
The Auror nodded and pulled out an extra long quill. He handed it to Mr. Weasley and said, “When you get to St. Mungo’s, hang on to this and give it back to me. It’s our injury transport for victims. We reuse it. Report into me after Harry is stable, Arthur.”
Mr. Weasley nodded and the two men put their hands on the Portkey. Lupin grabbed Harry’s limp hand and forced him to grab a hold. The Auror did a countdown, “5…4…3…2…1…” The three were whisked into St. Mungos.
They arrived in a part of St. Mungos that Harry had never seen. Upon their arrival, the people in the room began to hurry around them.
People were asking Harry questions and he was having trouble keeping everything straight. He found that he couldn’t answer and was having trouble focusing. The lights in the room started dancing with beautiful lights. He heard noises in his ears and watched the lights fascinated. He felt something in his mouth and he swallowed it. Almost instantly the lights stopped dancing and he could understand the world around him.
Lupin was looking at him very concerned, “Harry?” he asked “they want to know what happened so they can treat you. Can you tell us what happened?”
Harry started to think about it and then he began to shake again. Visions of the night flashed, Voldemort’s face, the green light flashing toward him over and over again, and the worst, watching the ground approaching after being thrown off the cliff. He shut his eyes and willed the thoughts away.
Mr. Weasley’s sharp voice came in from somewhere, “You can treat him without knowing what exactly what happened. He was tortured by You-Know-Who, let’s not make him relive it again.”
Someone gave Harry another potion and he was washed away to peaceful blackness.
When Harry woke, he was in a soft bed with some light flickering around him. He glanced around his room. Mrs. Weasley and Mrs. Granger were both resting in makeshift beds in the room. There were a few Wizards standing at Harry’s door that looked like part of his farmhouse guard. One of them saw that Harry was awake and quickly left the room. He returned with Albus Dumbledore, Lupin, and a healer.
The room was filled with anxious sighs and relieved voices. Dumbledore spoke first, Harry, how are you feeling?”
Harry sighed, he didn’t know, “I’m here I guess, wherever here is.”
“Are you in any pain?” the healer asked.
“No, not really. My head aches a bit, I guess.”
Dumbledore continued, “You were hit with the killing curse again weren’t you?”
Harry nodded the flash of green light coming toward him again, “Once by Pettigrew, once by Malfoy.”
“What happened?” Dumbledore questioned, “How did you stop the curse?”
“I didn’t,” Harry admitted, “Pettigrew’s hit me and it felt like I was suffocating for a minute, but then I was fine, weak but fine. Malfoy’s curse bounced. It hit me and I heard my mother screaming and it went back toward him. It didn’t hit him though; it was like he was expecting that to happen.”
“Malfoy is the most cleaver of them all, except for maybe Voldemort himself,” Dumbledore commented. “Can you tell me what else happened?”
Harry’s eyes closed, he didn’t want to think about it. He didn’t want to have to relive the night again. But from experience he knew Dumbledore would make him, so he continued. “Once they realized that the killing curse wouldn’t work, they decided to kill me using less magical means.”
“Meaning?” Dumbledore asked gently.
“They first tried to slit my throat with a knife, and when that didn’t work, they tried a sword, which also didn’t work so then they tied me up and threw me off a cliff.”
Mrs. Weasley gasped, “They threw you off a cliff?”
“Yeah, it was really weird. I was falling in the ravine and then all of a sudden I was in that pub in Builth Wells,” Harry admitted.
“He Apparated, Molly,” Lupin said. “That’s how I found him. I was watching for unauthorized underage magic outside of Hogwarts. There was use of Apparation magic in Builth Wells and I knew it had to him.”
“Do you know how to Apparate Harry?” Mrs. Weasley asked.
“No,” Harry admitted tiredly, “I have no idea how.”
Lupin handed the piece of parchment he’d been holding to Mrs. Weasley. “See what I mean.”
“Yes,” she said scanning the paper quickly, “but it’s highly unusual.”
“So were the circumstances,” Lupin stated dryly. “Harry was under extreme duress, and he is extremely powerful. He did it when he was nine too; check the top of the report. Harry has a long history with the Ministry. They’ve been cleaning up his accidental magic since he got to Privet Drive.”
“Harry we have to get you out of here. St. Mungo’s is not safe for you. We’re leaving as soon as possible. We’re taking you back to Hogwarts. You’ll be safer there,” Dumbledore told him.
The healer in the room looked irritated, but said, “I’m going to be sending special instructions to Madam Pomfrey. You had a couple of broken ribs, a broken arm, and some pretty nasty cuts and scrapes. Those are all repaired now, but you’ve been through a serious trauma. You’ll be weak for quite a well, an after effect of being hit by the killing curse. Take it slowly. Most people would be dead three times over tonight and your body will feel the effects.”
Harry nodded and moved to sit up. She was right, now that he tried to move, every muscle in his body hurt. He felt like he had been run over. He moved slowly to a sit and then moved to stand. He tried to stand, but his vision filled with stars and he had to sit down again.
The healer said, “Please wait Harry, I’ll get you some potion that will to help.” She left the room and returned a few moments later. She handed a vial to Harry.
Harry drank the peppery liquid and slowly got to his feet. They walked out of the room into the hallway where there was a fireplace at the end of the hall. Dumbledore took some Floo powder out and threw it into the fire. He stepped in and called “Hogwarts.” Harry followed suit and found himself, at last, finally at Hogwarts. Granted he was in the staff room, but it was Hogwarts.
Lupin came out of the fire behind Harry and then the three of them walked quietly to the hospital wing. Even with the help of the potion, the effort of walking to the hospital wing was exhausting. Harry started to stumble and Lupin caught him.
“Come on Harry,” he encouraged, “it’s not too much further.”
They made it to the hospital wing and Harry collapsed on nearby bed. Dumbledore talked to Madam Pomfrey while Lupin got Harry settled. Harry fell asleep soon afterward.
Harry awoke to find sunshine streaming in the windows of the hospital wing. He tried to sit up again and his body once again told him that he didn’t want to move. He adjusted himself into a more comfortable position and then saw Ron and Hermione chatting at the far end of the room with Madam Pomfrey.
They saw him moving and all quickly came over.
“Harry!” Hermione exclaimed, “It’s so good to see you. I can’t believe you’re alive.” She started to cry.
Ron piped up, “I thought you were a goner too mate.”
Before Harry could answer, Madam Pomfrey asked, “Well, Potter, how are you feeling? They said that you would be very weak for quite awhile. You have a lot of healing to do.”
Harry considered, “I’m okay,” he said, “I am weak and sore, but otherwise I’m fine.”
“You look like hell mate,” Ron put in. “We can’t stay,” he continued giving Madam Pomfrey a nasty look. “But we’ll be back this evening after classes.”
“Dumbledore’s orders,” Madam Pomfrey said, “he wants Harry to get as much rest as possible.”
Harry was already feeling tired and his eyes started closing on their own accord, “I don’t think that is going to be a problem,” he conceded. “Its okay guys, get going, I’ll just rest.”
Hermione gave his hand a squeeze still crying and then she and Ron left. Harry was asleep again almost instantly.
Harry spent most of the next couple of days asleep in the hospital wing. It was very quiet. Harry wasn’t allowed many visitors, which was fine because Harry wasn’t really awake for much of it anyway. Ron and Hermione stopped by each evening with some of Harry’s other friends. But Madam Pomfrey only let them stay about an hour before they had to leave. That’s about all Harry could take before he’d need to rest again. He spent most of the day asleep.
By the end of the first week of classes, Harry was feeling better. Not great, but better. Madam Pomfrey allowed him to go back to Gryffindor tower for the weekend. She made him promise to come back each morning for his potions, and made it clear that he was not going to start classes for at least another week. He left the hospital wing late Friday night and to his surprise, they threw a huge party for him. There were balloons, food, and lots of noise. There was a sign that said “Harry, the True Gryffindor.”
Harry milled around saying hello to everyone, glad to be back. He mentioned the sign to Hermione and she said, “I finally did the research you wanted. You are descended from Godrick Gryffindor on your father’s side; you are from the bravest of the brave. You have proven it to everyone. You were willing to die for us. You are the True Gryffindor.”
Harry smiled and thanked her.
From behind him he heard Colin Creevy asked, “So Harry how was the rest of your summer?”
“Well Colin,” Harry answered, “it stunk. That was the worse summer holiday I have ever had.”
Colin didn’t know what to say, but Ron who was standing next to Harry said, “Mate, for you, summer always sucks.”
“I suppose,” Harry conceded, “but I don’t think I’ve ever been happier to get back to school. It just nice to know that at least now I’m not going to be shot, stabbed, knifed, unforgivably cursed, or thrown off of a cliff.”
“You’re safe now, Harry,” Hermione stated, “Voldemort can’t touch you here.”
Harry smiled at her, and said, “I know, Hermione, I know.”
Ron asked, “So how many times did he attempt to kill you this summer?”
Harry sighed, “I don’t know, Ron, several.”
“Well at least, the summer of several attempts is now over.”
“Let’s just hope I can survive the rest of the year.”
“You worry too much, mate.”
Harry stayed in Gryffindor tower resting for the next week. Ron, Hermione, or Neville brought him his meals and he left the tower only to go to the hospital wing for his daily doses of potions. His body was slowly recovering. He was determined to start classes again on Monday.
Finally the Monday of the third week of classes arrived and Harry got up early. He cleaned up and dressed in the bathroom. Harry finally got a good look at himself. Even after two weeks he still looked ill. But most of all he noticed his scar, or scars would be more correct. The 2nd killing curse had also left a mark. An identical scar a little bit to the right of the first one. It enhanced them both making them both appear more substantial somehow.
Harry sighed, now instead of having one scar for people to gawk at, there were two. He was brooding about going through another year where everyone started at his scar when he got to the great hall. He walked in and everyone in the room got really quiet. Harry walked over to the Gryffindor table and was starting to sit down when he realized that every eye in the place was on him. Used to this, Harry tried to ignore the room as a whole. He just wanted to eat his breakfast.
Before he could sit down, he was hugged around the chest by a small dark haired girl. She was in tears. She cried into his shirt, “You saved my life, you save my life. They were going to kill me, and you stopped them.”
Harry awkwardly patted her head. “It’s okay. What’s your name?”
She looked at him teary eyed, “Ruchi Patil.” And to the point, Padma and Parvati came walking toward them. Both of the twins started crying and hugged Harry too.
“Thank you, Harry for saving Ruchi,” Padma sobbed into Harry’s shoulder.
“Thank you Harry,” Parvati sobbed into Harry’s back.
The great hall was beginning to fill up and all of sudden Harry was surrounded. Everyone was thanking him. Eventually most of the students were surrounding Harry, and they starting cheering. Chants of “Harry, Harry,” started through the hall.
Harry sat down dazed as the chanting starting dying off. He sat next to Hermione and Neville. They smiled at him and Hermione leaned over and gave him a hug.
“I don’t get it,” Harry said to Hermione and Neville.
“For the first time everyone saw what happened Harry. You sacrificed yourself to save everyone else on the train and you lived. They know if it hadn’t been for you, they might be dead. They all see what we’ve always seen Harry.”
Harry shrugged and said, “Well, I’m hungry, what’s for breakfast?”
Hermione shook her head at him and laughed. “Toast and eggs, here you go.”
Harry quickly wolfed down his breakfast and headed out of the great hall without another thought, the school year had begun.