Harry Potter and the Legend of the Twelve

The Awakening

At Carly's scream, Harry and Ginny leapt to their feet and rushed through the door. Neither wanted to think of what could have happened.

Once they were inside the Hospital Wing, Harry and Ginny stopped in their tracks, unable to breathe. Albus was sitting up in bed. Carly had her arms wrapped around him, practically lying on top of him sobbing into his neck uncontrollably. The most wonderful thing of all, Albus had his arms around Carly. He was awake.

Harry and Ginny ran to the bedside. Each wanted to hug him, but they knew better than to try and dislodge Carly. They knew she wouldn't budge.

"Al, are you all right?" asked Ginny with tears in her eyes, kissing his forehead, and trying to smooth his hair.

"Yeah, Mum, I'm fine," said Albus, confusedly. "What happened? All I remember is I was doing some reading for class, something threw me into the air, and I landed on something. I heard Carly scream my name. Then I woke up, and Carly was in the other bed, holding my hand. I pulled myself up in the bed, and I must have woken her." Albus placed a hand on the back Carly's head, and gently stroked her long red hair, she was still sobbing. "She screamed my name, jumped on top of me, and started crying."

Albus rubbed Carly's back to try and calm her. "Carly, I'm all right," whispered Albus in her ear, and then he tenderly kissed her cheek.

After a few moments, Carly pulled away and sat on the edge of the bed holding his hand, her face glistening with tears. Carly said nothing. Harry and Ginny each took turns hugging Albus for several long moments.

Albus had no idea what was going on. He just knew he was starving.

Harry and Ginny told Albus what happened, and he told them he felt fine except that he was hungry. Harry asked if he had any dreams while he was unconscious, but Albus had no memory of anything from the explosion in the Common Room until he woke up.

They sat for a few minutes, just talking. Harry and Ginny were overjoyed beyond words to have Albus back and all right.

A few minutes later, the door to the Hospital Wing opened. Rose was the first person through the door, and when she saw Albus sitting up in bed, she screamed, "Al!" She ran to the bed and threw her arms around him. "Al, I was so worried!"

"Sorry, I didn't mean to worry anyone," said Albus, as he gave his best friend a hug. The rest of the group crowded around, and most demanded a hug.

Even James hugged his brother, whispering in his ear so no one could hear, "Don't you ever scare me like that again."

The happy reunion went on for a few minutes. The Healer told Harry he wanted to examine Albus, and as long as he didn't find anything wrong, Albus could go. He said he would wait to do the examination until after they visited for a while.

"How long was I out?" asked Albus, now realizing that this was certainly more than a few days.

"Almost eleven days," said Harry.

Albus couldn't imagine that he had been unconscious that long. It felt like he was in the Common Room reading less than an hour earlier. Then something else occurred to him.

"Well, at least I didn't miss the match against Hufflepuff," said Albus. This was greeted by laughter all around.

The door of the Hospital Wing opened again, and in walked Hermione. "Al, you're awake," said Hermione, who came to the bed and demanded a hug from him.

A few minutes later, Hermione suggested that they leave the children together for a minute. It was obvious to Harry that she wanted to talk to them about something. In the hall outside of the Hospital Wing, they all gathered around Hermione.