The Family that Chooses You

Chapter 90: The L Word, Again

Harry woke and for a brief moment, he wished he had not.

His body ached.  He could not think of a time he felt this much residual pain all over his body.  Even the worse beating and broken bones did not give him this much pain.  He felt like his skin was throbbing, burned.  The bedclothes felt too heavy, pressing down on him and making the pain worse.  He felt his extremities tingle unpleasantly.  His head was heavy, his brain raw.

He coughed and his insides roiled.

"Mister Potter, you scared us."

He blearily recognized Pomfrey speaking to him.  Her voice was muted and distant.  "Sorry," he croaked.

She sighed.  "At least I know you're still you, apologizing when you need not."

He just managed to bite off the second apology.  He took his glasses from her, slipping them on with a wince.

"How are you feeling?" she asked kindly.  "And don't say 'Fine' because everyone knows you aren't."

He almost chuckled.  He did not because his insides ached enough.  "I hurt," he said instead, breathing hard to say it.  The events of what happened flooded into him.  "Is Katie okay?!"

"Miss Bell is fine, actually fine," Pomfrey said soothingly.  "She hurt her throat a bit but that was fixed easily.  Are you up to seeing some people?  A lot of us have been worried."

He nodded, wincing at the action.

Pomfrey left his side, murmuring to people far away.  Moments later Sirius, Andromeda, and Tonks were by his side.

"I'm glad to see you awake," Sirius said shakily.  "Gave us a scare.  It's been a few days."

"I'm sorry.  What happened?" Harry asked.

They told him that Mr. Crouch was actually Barty Crouch Junior, his son.  He had come, masquerading as his father, to attack Harry.  They told him that he and Katie managed to subdue him and the Aurors came and arrested him.  They did not explain why he was attacked, not yet.  Nor how a dead Death Eater was still alive.

They sat in silence for a long time.

"Thank you, for telling me," Harry said at last.  He looked at the teary-eyed Tonks with long, limp, brown hair.  "Thank you.  You were right, I had to know how to defend myself."

Tonks gulped.  "Maybe I should have taught you how to evade better," she joked feebly.

Harry smiled wanly.  "Maybe next time.  If you didn't teach me how to duel..." his voice faded as he contemplated the possibility.

Tonks whimpered and hugged him.  He hugged her back, trying to stifle his gasp of pain.

"Oh!  Sorry!" Tonks said as she let him go.

"Why do I still hurt so much?" Harry asked Andromeda.

"The Cruciatus Curse is one of the foulest Curses to ever exist.  It takes the caster's intent to harm, to cause pain, and magnifies it in the victim.  Dark magic scours their entire body, leaving a taint in their flesh to continue to hurt them."  Her eyes were wet as she explained.  "Pain relief spells and potions do little against it.  We have to extract the dark essence as much as possible before we can treat the pain.  With enough time under the Curse and if you have too much taint, it can cause permanent damage."

Her smile was sad.  "You were struck three times with it, for a long time each.  Crouch's malice was especially heinous, he desired for you to be in great pain.  It will be a long time before you'll be taint free completely.  But luckily, we don't think you'll have lasting damage.  Everything can be fixed eventually."