Chapter Twenty Two: From the Dead
Harry came to himself slowly, not quite sure where he was or what was going on around him. He remembered the pain, a like a sharp blow to his head, and then nothing. He couldn’t see anything, but that was nothing new. He could vaguely hear voices, but they seemed to be coming from a great distance. He could also feel Fawkes’ presence, like a protective blanket wrapped around his mind, but he couldn’t seem to communicate with him no matter how hard he tried.
Suddenly he felt himself being lifted off of the ground, and he could hear Hagrid’s voice much closer, explaining to someone else where they were going. Harry also realized that he couldn’t move.
What’s happening to me? Harry thought to himself wonderingly. He felt Hagrid running, and the ride became rough. After a few minutes, Harry heard a shouted spell that caused Hagrid to yell in pain, and felt himself fall, though he felt no pain as he hit. He heard Grawp’s familiar voice cry out in fear and anger, and felt himself being lifted again. After a much longer period of time, and many sounds he couldn’t quite understand, Harry heard Ginny’s and Hermione’s voices, and then Ginny crying, and tried frantically to call to them, to let them know he was there. He heard the assault on the gates, and Ginny and Ron left; then he heard Hermione talking with Hagrid, sending for help, and then charging into the battle.
Harry would have wept with frustration, but he didn’t even have the ability to cry. His friends were fighting a battle without him, and while he didn’t doubt their abilities, it just always seemed as though the odds favored the Death Eaters. He rejoiced to hear his friends returning as they achieved victory.
“What’s wrong with Harry?” he heard Ginny ask “What do we do?”
I’m here! Harry cried out in his mind, unable to make his mouth respond.
He listened with despair as Hermione tried to say that he was dead.
I’m not! He wanted to scream. Hermione announced what must have happened with the spell that he was hit with. His heart almost broke as he heard Ginny declare him to be alive, and then begin sobbing. It’s alright, he wanted to say, please don’t cry. All of the knowledge he had from Dumbledore included nothing that could help him understand what was happening. Somehow, Fawkes had been hit by the spell and changed its effects such that it incapacitated both of them, and made him seem as if he were dead. Harry could still feel Fawkes’ presence, but he couldn’t communicate with him any more than he could with the others. I’m not dead… I can’t be.
***
Ginny found a hiding place fairly quickly after they left the castle; it was a small flat spot on top of a rocky promontory, with a scattering of trees that would make them harder to spot from below, but not hinder them from watching anyone below them. There was only a small trail leading up to the area, barely large enough for Grawp and certainly not big enough for a larger giant. They would be able to defend themselves reasonably well from any Death Eaters that might come up the trail, as the rocks provided excellent cover.
Hagrid tearfully set down Harry’s body and began making camp, while Ron and Hermione went to a corner alone, crying on each other’s shoulders and providing what comfort they could to the other. Ginny walked slowly over to where Harry lay peacefully on the ground, wrapped in a blanket that Hermione had conjured. She sat on the ground next to him and pulled the blanket down away from his face. His eyes had been closed and he appeared to be sleeping peacefully, and Ginny couldn’t help reaching her hand out to brush the hair away out of his face.
“Harry…” she started quietly, but had to stop and clear her throat. After a moment she continued.
“I don’t know what to do, Harry. You can’t be gone; I can’t live without you… what do I do? Tell me what to do!”
She began crying again, wishing desperately that he would wrap his arms around her and comfort her again. Carefully she arranged his body so that he looked comfortable and unrolled her sleeping bag next to him. She also placed Fawkes on Harry’s other side; they had been together so much this year that Harry almost didn’t look right without Fawkes next to him. The phoenix was still staring blankly into space, though the bird was breathing. Hermione didn’t know what was wrong with him, but assumed he was alive since a phoenix couldn’t really die anyway. Still crying, Ginny climbed into her sleeping bag and lay facing Harry, desperately wishing that they had never come to Germany.
***
Hermione lay awake as the light of early dawn crept over the horizon. The owl that Hagrid had sent, apparently McGonagall’s, would know how to find them and bring help, but it wouldn’t take too much effort for the Death Eaters to find them either. The area had been carefully warded, and anyone coming up the trail would find themselves in a great deal of trouble.
Hermione sighed in misery. Ron had completely closed himself off since learning his best friend was dead; he had held her in his arms, but had refused to talk about what he was feeling. He just looked lost, unsure what to do or what to think, and Hermione wasn’t sure how she was supposed to deal with all of it. Ginny was even worse, though that was understandable. She had stayed next to Harry’s body all night, and refused to let anyone put the blanket back over his face. And sometime around midnight, Hagrid had started howling in sorrow, and no one had been able to comfort him. Hermione didn’t feel great herself, but she knew she was the most in control of her emotions at present, excluding Grawp, who really didn’t know what was going on, and she needed to be strong for the others.
Suddenly a brief blue light flashed in the little clearing, invisible to anyone but Hermione, as one of her wards was tripped. Blue means they’re coming from the air, she thought in horror.
She rushed to Ron and shook his shoulder. He hadn’t been asleep but it was still like waking him up. He looked up at her with a mildly curious look on his face, wondering what she wanted.
“Someone’s coming from the air,” she told him briefly. His eyes widened and he got to his feet.
Rushing to his pack, Ron rummaged around inside until he produced his Omnioculars from the Quidditch World Cup and began scanning around the sky, looking for brooms. Hermione watched him, stunned.
“You brought your Omnioculars?” she asked incredulously. Ron merely nodded and continued searching. Hermione was stunned at his foresight; Ron didn’t normally think things through in advance.
Suddenly he pointed to a growing little cloud of dots speeding toward them, coming from out of the rising light of the morning and making them difficult to see.
“Death Eaters!” he spat, his voice filled with venom, and surprising Hermione with their intensity.
“How do you know?” she asked anxiously.
Ron wordlessly handed her the Omnioculars and she zeroed in on the approaching group, zooming in until she could make them out. Riding at the front of the formation was Lucious Malfoy, his white hair streaming out behind him and his face filled with madness.
***
Ginny heard the exchange between Ron and Hermione and watched until she could also make out the Death Eaters flying towards them. She looked back at Harry’s peaceful face, and suddenly felt an incredible burning hatred welling up inside of her. These were the people that had taken Harry away from her… and they would pay for it.
She jumped up out of her sleeping bag and changed into the falcon, ignoring Ron and Hermione’s startled cries for her to come back. She found a thermal updraft and began circling, higher and higher, before winging out towards where the Death Eaters were still on their way. There were around thirty of them and they were laughing and telling each other of the rewards they would receive from their Dark Lord, when Ginny ploughed into the rearmost flyer. Screaming, he fell from his broom to the ground a few hundred feet below, while Ginny once again circled into the air. The other Death Eaters hadn’t seen her, and knew only that one of their number had been eliminated. Malfoy called for them to tighten their formation and keep flying ahead. By the time they were within spell range of the hilltop camp, Ginny had knocked three more of them off their brooms and they had little more idea what was going on. Just as Malfoy began screaming for them to attack and something about avenging the death of his son, which Ginny didn’t understand, spells began rising from the rocks below them, and the broomstick riders began dodging frantically trying to protect themselves as best they could. Unfortunately, the broomsticks provided many of them with much greater agility, and soon they knew exactly where the spells were coming from and launching counter-attacks of their own. Also, half a dozen of them landed their brooms and began making their way up the trail, determined to attack them on two fronts.
By now Ginny was growing tired and even more angry. Her beak and talons were once again red with blood, but she was past caring. As Harry had told her, those were the weapons she had available, and she was going to use them. Suddenly, Malfoy began hurling blasting curses down on the camp indiscriminately, while dodging anything aimed back at him. The spells were impacting on shields thrown up by Ron and Hermione, but they would never be able to keep it up. As she began making her way over to take out Malfoy, Ginny suddenly became aware of a second group of broomstick riders speeding into the battle. With her acute avian vision, Ginny was quickly able to make out Moody, Tonks, and Lupin at the forefront of the group, and she was surprised to see a large crowd of red-headed flyers in their midst. Also, she was somewhat disturbed to see that many of them already appeared to be somewhat battered even though they hadn’t yet joined the fight, and they were still outnumbered by the Death Eaters.
Malfoy also noticed the Order of the Phoenix approaching, and began shouting for the Death Eaters to turn and face this new threat, sending a few last blasting curses at the hilltop. Two of them were stopped by shields, but the third flew into the clearing striking the ground with an explosive crack at the exact spot where Harry’s body had been hidden.
Screeching out in rage and sorrow, Ginny abandoned the fight and flew down to find the body of the boy she loved.
***
Harry also heard the conversation between Ron and Hermione concerning the approaching Death Eaters, and wanted to panic. He listened helplessly as Ginny took off despite Ron and Hermione’s calls for her to come back. She was going into the midst of deadly danger, convinced that he was dead. Harry frantically reached out with his mind, determined to break free of whatever was holding his mind captive, even if it drained all of his magic once again. Unfortunately, he couldn’t even connect himself to his magic; he was completely cut off.
He swore in his mind, desperate to do something. When Ginny had sat next to him the night before and begged him to tell her what to do, it had broken his heart. He was frantic to tell her that he was still there, that somehow he would return.
After what seemed like an eternity of listening to spells being cast and deflected, he suddenly heard a resounding crack and felt himself being flung into the air. He hit the ground, hard, though he still felt no pain, and wondered what had happened, cursing his lack of sensory input.
Then he heard Ginny scream “Harry!” and felt intense relief. She was still alright.
***
“Harry!” Ginny screamed as she turned back into herself and ran across the clearing to where his body had been thrown into the rocks, surprisingly right next to Fawkes. As she began clearing the debris off of Harry’s face she immediately became aware of two things. First, while Fawkes was more battered than before, Harry wasn’t showing any sign of having been blasted twenty feet through the air to land on some rocks. Second, while Hermione had said he was dead the day before, he was showing no signs of rigor mortis; his body was limp, not stiff like a corpse. Clutching his cold body in her arms, she dragged him to cover, while levitating Fawkes behind them. Once under cover she tried to think about what this could mean. Is he alive? she asked herself hopefully.
Sure that she didn’t have the time to worry about it right then, Ginny ran to where she could see the battle. She had never seen a full Wizard battle on broomsticks before, and the sight was frightening. Dozens of wizards and witched flying around at dizzying speeds, occasionally falling, and shooting powerful spells at each other that hit people they weren’t aiming at as often as not. Her family was right in the thick of the battle, though her mother and father had landed and were fighting from the ground with Ron and Hermione. She was also surprised to see Percy flying in the battle, handling himself well against two or three opponents; not for nothing had he been Head Boy. Suddenly, two more Death Eaters joined the fight against him, and Ginny watched in horror as he was hit by several minor spells before he went into a steep dive. There was no way she could get there in time to help her long-estranged brother. A sudden thought occurred to her, and she pulled one of the phoenix feather quills Harry had given her from her pocket. Perhaps Fawkes couldn’t respond, but Harry had promised that no matter what, if she used the quill and called Fawkes’ name, the phoenix would come to her. Holding the feather tight, she shouted out “Fawkes.”
The feather burst into flames in her hands, though it didn’t burn her, and suddenly Fawkes was there flying next to her. He saw in an instant what she wanted and in a flash had transported to Percy and transported him back. Ginny hugged Percy joyfully, while he groaned in agony from his injuries, and Fawkes cried out in rage and challenge, before flying into the thick of the fight.
***
Harry felt Ginny drag his body to yet another location; the constant movement without him knowing where he was going was getting very tiring. After a while however, Harry felt a sudden flash of heat next to him, and Fawkes’ presence was gone from around his mind. In that same instant, Harry felt his mind return to control of his body; he was free!
***
Ron and Hermione were working together from the cover of some of the rocks while Hagrid was further into some trees with Harry’s wand, though it seemed he was planning on throwing more rocks than spells. Grawp was waiting for the dismounted Death Eaters to come far enough up the trail so that he could jump on them, so no one really worried about the attack from that direction. As the attack became more intense they began to despair of surviving the attack at all. Then the Order of the Phoenix was there and they were given a reprieve from the fighting. Molly and Arthur Weasley landed next to them, joining their fight from the ground.
“What have you gotten yourselves into this time?” Molly asked irately. “Where are Harry and Ginny?”
“I don’t know where Ginny is,” Ron shouted, his voice cracking slightly, “and Harry… Harry is dead.”
Hermione was chilled at the deadness to Ron’s voice as he revealed this last part. Molly stared at them both in disbelief, unwilling to believe what was being said. Suddenly, she glared at Ron with intense rage.
“That wasn’t funny at all, Ron! When we get home I’ll have a few things to say to you about inappropriate jokes!” Molly yelled as she threw several high powered spells at some Death Eaters who had flown too close. Everyone was momentarily distracted as Grawp finally made his move, scattering all six Death Eaters at once while laughing gleefully. Ron turned back to his mother, confused.
“What are you talking about?” he asked.
“Harry’s right over there. He looks fine, so either you’re joking or he’s back from the dead.” Molly said, while pointing exasperatedly.
Harry had walked purposefully into the center of the clearing. His hands were glowing with power and he had a look of intense concentration on his face. Suddenly Fawkes swooped down and clutched the back of Harry’s shirt in his talons, lifting both of them into the air. Spells began shooting out of Harry’s hands, and not many of them missed their mark. Between Harry’s unerring aim and the efforts of the Order, the tide of the battle changed completely. Before long, Malfoy was calling the retreat, screaming madly at the people around him. As soon as they were running, Harry let them go, abandoning the chase and flying back down to where Ginny was standing, dumbstruck.
About four feet off the ground, Harry dropped from Fawkes’ grip and landed firmly on two feet, rushing to Ginny’s side and flinging his arms around her. She still couldn’t move, too stunned to do anything but cry. Harry also had tears in his eyes as he spoke to her.
“I’m so sorry,” he said into her ear, keeping his arms around her. “I don’t want to leave you ever again. I’ll try to…”
Ginny, finally coming to her senses, cut him off by clasping him tightly to herself, crying happily and saying his name over and over again. Ron and Hermione couldn’t hold back any longer and rushed to join the embrace. Hagrid walked into the clearing and saw Harry and began dancing and shouting with glee, until Grawp joined in and had to be stopped before he stepped on Order members.
It was Percy who broke up the happy moment.
“That’s enough, everyone,” he said stuffily, grunting in pain as he climbed to his feet. “We need to get back to the battle.”
“The battle is over,” Ron said incredulously.
“Only here,” Remus said tiredly, and they suddenly noticed the dark circles under his eyes, and the eyes of many of the others. “Things have been busy since you left.”
Harry didn’t move from where he was in Ginny’s arms.
“What do you mean?” he asked cautiously.
“Voldemort himself attacked the Ministry yesterday,” Percy said, sounding lost and confused. “He brought dozens of Death Eaters and no one could stop him… he killed Minister Scrimgeour when the Minister tried to lead a counter-attack, and he’s freed all of the Death Eaters that we had captured before.”
“What Percy isn’t saying is that if the Order hadn’t shown up to help drive them back, the entire ministry would have been destroyed. The Order is still helping there, but this group left around the time we got the owl from Hagrid,” Fred said venomously, shooting Percy an angry look.
“What I am saying is that we need to get back to the Ministry and drive them off!” Percy shouted desperately.
“I can’t face Voldemort yet,” Harry said evenly. “There are other things I have to do first. I’m sorry about the Ministry, but we should evacuate everyone we can to Hogwarts and leave it at that.”
“Harry, you’ve been able to drive off large numbers of Death Eaters single-handedly on several occasions,” Percy pleaded, “With the Order and the Ministry behind you, I’m sure we could win, even if Voldemort is there.”
“Go yourself, Percy,” George interrupted. “If Harry says he’s not ready, then that’s that.”
“I promise we will get rid of him eventually,” Harry added, “but right now I can’t.”
Percy let his head fall bitterly, while his mother went and put her arms around him, speaking softly. Tonks chose this moment to walk up to Harry and fold her arms sternly.
“You promised, Harry. You said you wouldn’t come to Germany to look for Hagrid, and here you are! Why couldn’t you just let us handle it?”
“I wasn’t here just for Hagrid. We were coming anyway, and all I said was that my plans hadn’t changed. If I had it to do over, I would have brought more of the Order with me, but I can’t be too sure when someone will decide that I’m not ready to handle something because I’m too young, can I?”
Ginny turned to Harry and mirrored Tonks’ pose.
“We thought you were dead, Harry. Were you ready to handle that by yourself? You should have at least taken us with you, but you decided you had to do it all on your own. Why? And what happened to you, anyway?” she said angrily, her relief and finding him alive finally giving way to her frustration at being left behind.
Harry turned to Fawkes for several moments, conversing with the phoenix, trying to determine what happened. Finally, he turned back to them.
“I guess when Fawkes was hit by that spell his mind stopped working properly. He says that his only instincts were to protect me, and he was able to put me in some kind of stasis that protected both my mind and body, but also kept me trapped. When you called for him, Ginny, he remembered that he was supposed to come to you no matter what danger I was in, and once he left I was free. He says he feels fine now.”
Ginny looked at him in astonishment, glad that she was able to free Harry, even if it was unintentional.
“So what should we do, Harry? We at least need to go back to the Ministry and get the rest of the Order and anyone else left alive out of there.” Remus asked quietly.
“You’ll have to go without me,” Harry said, frustrated. “If Voldemort sees me now, he will kill me. I’m not ready yet, and I can’t take chances with him. Everything else I am doing is necessary, I promise, but you’ll have to get them out without me.”
“We’ll follow you, Harry. No matter what,” Ginny said quietly, while those around her agreed wholeheartedly.
A/N: Okay, so I want you all to know, I would never kill Harry or Ginny. Making Harry seem dead was an idea I didn't come up with until I started on this chapter, and I liked it so I went back and changed the last chapter. Sorry to everyone who thought Harry would get his sight back here. He may or may not in the future, though, so don't give up hope!