Harry drifted in and out of consciousness, never really waking up. He heard voices around him, monitors clicking, people coming in and out. He couldn’t wake up. Eventually, he finally decided to open his eyes. It was very bright. He flinched at the light and gave a little grunt. He tried to move his hand to rub his eye. But his hand wasn’t cooperating.
“Harry?” he heard an anxious voice to his left say, “Harry can you hear me?”
“Yeah,” he croaked. Harry looked over, Mrs. Weasley was sitting next to him.
“Thank God. I was wondering when you were going to wake up. We’ve got to call Dumbledore. Bill, go, tell him Harry is awake.”
Harry watched Bill Weasley get up and leave the room giving Harry a relieved smile as he left.
“Where am I?” Harry whispered to Mrs. Weasley.
“You’re at St. Mary’s Hospital in Little Whinging, a Muggle hospital.”
“What happened?”
“You were shot by something the Muggles call a gun. You were brought here, they operated on you two days ago. You’ve been out since then.”
“Oh...” Harry drifted off again.
More time past. There were more voices, more people. He finally decided to see if Mrs. Weasley was still there. He opened his eyes, and croaked, “Mrs. Weasley?”
“No Harry,” came the reply. “It’s Hermione.”
Harry focused on her. Hermione and her mother were sitting next to him on two chairs near the bed. Harry saw Mad Eye Moody behind them playing chess with Ron’s father.
“Hermione,” Harry said, closing his eyes again. Then he opened them again after a few seconds. “Dr. Granger,” he said hoarsely.
“Hi Harry,” said Hermione’s mother quietly. “How do you feel?”
Harry let his eyes drift shut again. “Tired.”
“Do you know where you are?” Hermione’s mother continued.
“No,” Harry said wearily. “Wait,” he said again, “I’m in the hospital.”
“That’s good Harry,” she said. “Do you know what day it is?”
“No,” he said and his eyes drifted shut again.
“Are you in any pain?”
“No.”
“Good. Tell us if you are in pain. We can help. Hermione’s Dad and I are going to stay here in the hospital with you until you are well enough to be transferred to St. Mungo’s,” Dr. Granger said quietly.
“’kay,” Harry said drifting away again off into the nothingness.
More time past. More people. More sounds, lights, voices, nothingness, blackness. But sometime later, Harry felt stronger. He woke up and took in his surroundings. He saw Ron and Hermione’s Dad playing chess by the window. Tonks was reading a magazine in another chair.
“Hey mate,” Harry called to Ron weakly.
“Harry!” Ron turned and quickly walked over to Harry. Ron, Dr. Granger, and Tonks took places by his bed.
Hermione’s Dad looked at Tonks. “Tonks, run down and tell the nurses that Harry is awake.”
Tonks left the room quickly, and Dr. Granger continued. “Harry, do you know where you are?”
“I’m in the hospital in Little Whinging,” he replied looking at Dr. Granger.
“Do you know why you are here?”
Harry pondered this for awhile. “Yeah,” he said after a bit. “Some nutter shot me. My leg, my stomach.” Harry quickly looked down and saw bandages covering his leg and side of his chest.
“Uncle Vernon, Lupin, Dudley, Aunt Petunia,” Harry said in quick succession. “How are they?”
Dr. Granger ignored Harry’s question. “Do you know what day it is?”
“Er… No… no clue,” Harry answered.
“Who is the headmaster of your school?”
Harry looked puzzled at this question, “Dumbledore. Albus Dumbledore. What day is it anyway? And why does everyone keep asking me questions?”
Dr. Granger smiled. “It’s July 4th around 2:30 in the afternoon. We keep asking you questions to check your mental state. We just want to make sure that your injuries didn’t cause any brain trauma.”
“Brain trauma?” Harry asked. “You mean like brain damage?”
“I told them it was going to be hard to figure that out, mate” Ron smiled from behind Dr. Granger, “but they all insist on checking.”
Harry managed a smile for Ron. “Wait a minute, July 4th? That can’t be right; I just got back from Hogwarts.”
“That was three days ago Harry. You were shot in the evening of July 1st, your first day of vacation. You’ve been hospitalized for the last three days.”
“Three days ago.” Harry searched his murky brain. Those days were totally gone. Harry tried to shift himself in bed, but his leg was very heavy. All of a sudden he felt very weak, the act of moving had drained all of his energy.
“Harry, don’t try to move,” Dr. Granger said anxiously, “you need to get some more rest. You are safe here.”
Harry let himself drift off again. He rested peacefully this time. And when he woke up, it was dark. For the first time he feel really awake, like his brain worked. And for the first time he felt pain, a dull nagging pain in his leg and stomach.
He looked down at his leg. His leg was bound from the mid-calf all the way up the top of his thigh. It was suspended in a traction, hanging roughly 6 inches above the bed. Harry then inspected his aching side. There was a gauze pad over top of the left lower side, right over his hip. He was laying flat on his back with no pillow and he was quite uncomfortable. He tried to move, but found it very difficult. He saw Professor Lupin, Mr. Weasley, and Bill Weasley all dozing lightly in chairs around the room. Lupin was the closest.
“Professor Lupin,” Harry said. “Professor?”
Lupin woke up with a start. “Harry! How are you?”
Harry looked at him helplessly. “I’ve been better. What’s the day and time?” Harry attempted to move himself into a more comfortable position. His left arm was attached to an IV, his leg wouldn’t move at all, and there was some uncomfortable tube coming out of his nose.
“It’s around 10 pm, on July 4th.”
“Good, it’s still today. At least I haven’t lost anymore days. Do you think I could sit up?” Harry asked craning his neck around at Lupin.
Lupin looked very nervous. “Let me go grab a nurse. She’ll want to know that you’re awake.” Lupin stood and walked out into the hallway. He returned a moment later with a nurse. She was a young woman, pretty, with light brown hair.
“Hi Harry, I’m Marsha, I’m your nurse. You’ve given us quite a fright. How are you feeling?”
“I’m pretty uncomfortable. Could I sit up?”
“Sure, let me help. We’ll need to keep your leg elevated until the swelling goes down. It might not be too comfortable with your side. Let me know if it hurts okay?”
Harry nodded his agreement and she started working the bed until he was in a semi-sitting position. He wanted to sit up further, but it hurt his side too much.
“Are you thirsty? I could get you some apple juice,” the nurse asked cheerfully.
“Yes, thank you.” She left the room. The Weasleys were up and the three men took sitting positions around Harry’s bed.
“Molly’s going to be so relieved to know you’re awake, Harry. You gave us quite a scare,” Mr. Weasley said.
“Yeah,” Bill continued. “I don’t think I’ve seen Mom so upset.”
The nurse returned with the apple juice. “Go easy on that Harry. You haven’t had anything to eat or drink in quite awhile. I’m going to go give your doctor a call and let him know that you’re awake. How’s the pain?”
“My leg and side ache, but it’s not horrible,” Harry answered.
“You can have more pain meds in an hour. We cut back the pain killers to bring you back around. They had to give a rather large dose of anesthesia to complete your surgery. It took you quite awhile to come out of it.” Harry noticed that Lupin looked at hands guiltily.
“How long am I going to be here?” he asked the nurse blankly.
“I’m not exactly sure. Another few days at least,” she answered.
“What all is wrong with me?” Harry asked.
“Well,” the nurse began. “What do you remember?”
“I was shot, in the leg and the side, by some nutter that my Uncle knows,” Harry began. He remembered the rest of the night fairly well, but he was in a Muggle hospital.
“Yes you were shot, twice, once in the upper right thigh, once in the lower left abdomen. The bullet in your leg shattered your femur bone, and implanted into the muscle behind the bone. The abdominal wound was more serious. It went right through you, piercing the intestines, and it hit a large artery. It is amazing that you didn’t bleed to death.” Lupin was still looking at his hands. “You were in shock when you were brought in and you were rushed into surgery. Your doctor will be in tomorrow morning and give you all the details. There are some more matters that need to be cleared up, but I’ll let your friends here fill you in.” The nurse looked at them expectantly.
Harry looked at her and then to the men in the room, and it dawned on him. “My Aunt and Uncle and Dudley. How are they?”
Arthur Weasley looked into his hands as well. “They’re all alive Harry. No one from your family was killed in the attack. Your cousin Dudley is shaken, but he’s fine. He’s with your Aunt Marge at your house on Privet Drive. But neither your Aunt nor your Uncle is well. Your Uncle Vernon was shot several times and from what I understand is in critical condition. He’s just down the hall from you. No one is sure if he is going to pull through. If he does make it through, there will probably be permanent damage. Your Aunt, well…” he looked at the nurse, “how do I put this… She was unharmed physically, but she was in hysterics and they couldn’t calm her. She is in another ward, sedated. She doesn’t seem quite there, if you get my meaning.”
The nurse continued, “That leaves us with a bit of a problem Harry. Your legal guardians are both indisposed, and you do not have another legal guardian. Your Uncle’s sister, Marge Dursley found a copy of your Aunt and Uncle will. She was named as guardian for your cousin Dudley, but they didn’t name a guardian for you. Miss Dursley has specifically stated that she will not extend the spirit of the will to include you as her ward. Do you have any other family?”
Harry sighed, “No, I don’t. I don’t know much about my father’s family, but I assume that they are all dead.” He looked at Lupin for confirmation. Lupin nodded. “My mother was Aunt Petunia sister. At the time of my mother’s death, Aunt Petunia was my mother’s only living relative.”
“So you don’t have anyone who could legally step in and claim guardianship over you?” the nurse asked pointedly.
Harry looked at Mr. Weasley for help.
“There are people who would willingly step in for Harry,” Mr. Weasley said, “but I don’t know about the legality of it. My wife and I are more than willing to become Harry’s legal guardians, but we are not related to Harry.”
The nurse sighed and looked tired, “You and your whole family have been wonderful Mr. Weasley, I would wish nothing more than to have Harry be your ward, but the law is the law. Without a relative, Harry will become a ward of the state, at least until either his Aunt or Uncle recovers. We’ve already been in contact with social services, they’ll send a case worker down tomorrow.” She looked over at Harry. “It’s not really so bad, and besides it’s only until your Aunt recovers. I’ll be back in an hour or so with your meds.” With that she left leaving a thoroughly exhausted, confused Harry.
Bill stood up and pushed his chair away and exclaimed angrily, “What a bloody mess this is!” Lupin dropped his head into his hands, and Arthur Weasily pushed back and slouched in his chair. Bill turned to his father, “Why don’t we create a Portkey and get him out of here, Dad. This is ridiculous.”
Harry looked over at them and realized he had a whole lot of questions, the first one was, “What am I doing in a Muggle hospital?”
Mr. Weasely looked at Lupin. “You were there for the whole thing Remus, why don’t you fill him in.”
Lupin sighed, took a deep breath and began talking.
“From what I understand, you and your Uncle were shot by a Muggle whom your Uncle had fired from the company he works for, Gruntings, or something like that. This man was seriously depressed and blamed all his problems on your Uncle. I arrived shortly after the shooting, after you had already stunned the Muggle.”
Harry interrupted, “Where is he now?”
Lupin continued, “He is in Muggle custody. He will be tried in Muggle court for attempted murder on your whole family. If your Uncle dies, the charges will be more serious, but that’s another matter. After I arrived, I stabilized you.”
Arthur put in, “Which is why you didn’t bleed to death laying the pavement.”
“But also why the needed to extra sedation in the operating room, and why you haven’t come around sooner.” Lupin went on, “We have known for a long time that your house at Privet Drive is constantly being watched by death eaters. As soon as I saw the situation, I knew that Death Eaters would be arriving shortly afterward, to maximize on the confusion and try to get you away for the Dursleys. I don’t know if you know, but while you are at the Dursley’s, Voldemort and his supporters cannot touch you. It has something to do with your mother’s sacrificing herself to save you. They tried to curse you, but the spells rebounded. Your family was another matter. Your Aunt became the target next. I shielded her as best as I could, but I am not sure if I was entirely successful. I’m worried that some of the spells hit her, which is why she is in such a bad way now.” He took a significant pause. “The Muggle police arrived next. They saw the Death Eater attacking me and went after them. It gave me time to get your Aunt out of harms way. But many officers fell. I don’t know how many were killed or injured.” Lupin stopped and shook his head. “It was such a massacre. Muggles taking on Death Eaters with only nightsticks! Then the ministry Aurors arrived. They began fighting the Death Eaters with more success, but the Muggle officers couldn’t distinguish between them. The Muggles wandered through the din randomly attacking wizards from both sides. Eventually the Death Eaters gave up and left, after starting your neighbor’s house on fire and firing the dark mark into the sky. The Aurors tried to secure the situation by stunning all the Muggles on the scene.”
“That’s standard practice for such a large breach of secrecy,” Mr. Weasley put in.
“The Muggle police officers began attacking the Aurors again. They called in for back-up and they brought in a SWAT team, with all sorts of guns. It took another half an hour for the Aurors to subdue the Muggle police. Several Aurors and Muggle police were killed.” Lupin paused again.
Mr. Weasley started talking then. “It was the largest breach of the statute of secrecy I’ve ever seen. The Ministry still hasn’t finished cleaning it up. It could take weeks.”
“Why?” Harry mumbled
Mr. Weasley sighed. “Between the fire, the spells, the dark mark, the Muggle police deaths, there are a significant number of Muggles involved. Estimates put it at somewhere around 1000 Muggles are somehow involved. Pretty much anyone who lives within a mile of you, Harry needed a memory charm.”
Lupin picked up again. “In the middle of all of this, the Muggle healers showed up. Your cousin had pulled you out of danger Harry, underneath your Uncle’s car. I was trapped behind the car, protecting your aunt and I couldn’t see what was going on. Before I knew what was happening, your cousin and the healer had you loaded in a Muggle vehicle and were speeding you here. By the time we arrived at the hospital to get you, you were already in surgery. They had assessed who you were, that you lived with your Aunt and Uncle, and your parents were deceased. While you were in surgery, your Aunt and Uncle were brought in, both in no condition to make any decisions for you. The hospital has been providing your care in the manner they believe is correct given certain Muggle laws. Upon the insistence of Dumbledore, and due to the fact that you were almost murdered, they allowed us to guard you. You are safe here, now. Dumbledore has placed certain protections around the hospital, and there are also 2 Muggle guards at the door to this ward. To be safe, there have also been at least 2 or 3 Order members around at all times. Do you remember asking for the hospital to contact Hermione when you got here?”
Harry nodded.
“That was very smart, and our only saving grace. Per your request, the hospital staff contacted the Grangers. They arrived shortly after you got out of surgery. They are both familiar with Muggle medicine, and since you requested them, the hospital staff has been deferring to them for all the major decisions on your care. They have been acting as your de-facto guardians. It was them who got the rest of us in to see you. The hospital would have forced us away otherwise.”
“But why don’t you just take me out of here?” Harry said, wincing slightly at the growing pain in his side and leg. “Can’t Madam Pomfrey or someone at St. Mungo’s just fix me up?”
“Well, that’s a sticky situation Harry,” Lupin said.
“Why, Professor?” Harry asked tiredly.
“By the time we arrived, you were in surgery. You had been in Muggle care, filled with Muggle potions. We don’t know how magical potions react with the Muggle potions. At that point, our interference might have killed you. Since your family was all here, we knew that we could secure you here and we didn’t feel that moving you was a good idea. And then there was the matter of guardianship.”
“Huh?”
Mr. Weasley picked up, “Harry, whether you like or not, your Aunt Petunia is your legal guardian, both in the Magic world and the Muggle world. We can’t take you out of the hospital without her permission. Removing you from the hospital would be kidnapping.”
Harry’s head began to swim. “So you can’t take me to St. Mungo’s because of bunch of Muggle laws? Do you have any idea how much this hurts?”
Mr. Weasley continued, “I’m sorry Harry, but it’s not just Muggle Laws, Magic laws as well. If we did take you out of here to St. Mungo’s, we wouldn’t be able to treat you unless we had permission from your guardian. And we’d still be kidnapping you, taking you away from your family without their permission is also kidnapping in the Magic World. Except in the Magic world, you’re famous and it wouldn’t go unnoticed.”
Bill put in, “You can just picture the headline in the Daily Prophet, ‘The Boy Who Lived, Kidnapped by Ministry Employee, Werewolf, and Gringotts Charm Beaker’. They would have a field day with it.”
Harry all of sudden felt very tired, Bill had a point. “I guess I’m stuck then.” His leg throbbed and his side ached.
Lupin stood up next to him and put a hand on his shoulder. He said in a very soothing voice, “It’s going to be alright Harry, just rest. We’ll get it all figured out in the morning.”
Harry nodded as he felt himself ebbing away again into the blackness, and he knew no more.