Harry Potter - The awakening.

Fading

Harry seemed to fade as the day went on.

He started off seeming fairly normal, managing to eat breakfast in the Great Hall without a problem. However, the problems started to occur when he had gone through all of the morning lessons and eaten lunch. 

After lunch, Harry had double transfiguration. He had seemed a little 'off' before the lesson, but now he was in there Ginny, who was sat next to him, was getting more and more worried.

"Harry, are you alright?" Ginny asked when she saw him starting to nod off.

"Yeah," Harry replied, his eyes drooping.

Ginny caught eyes with McGonagall, who hadn't been able to find a suitable replacement for Newt transfiguration. McGonagall nodded to Harry and flicked her head towards the door, signalling for Ginny to take Harry back to Gryffindor tower. Ginny nodded her thanks and tugged Harry up and left the room, trusting Ron and Hermione to bring both of their things.

"Gin, what're you doing?" Harry asked groggily and they walked through the corridors.

"You need to sleep." Ginny replied, giving Harry a stern look that he didn't take notice of.

"Okay," Harry replied, stumbling over his own feet.

Ginny looked at Harry carefully, his face was pale and he had purple bags under his eyes. His thin frame seemed thinner than usual and his green eyes seemed dull and listless. If Ginny had to say how much Harry was improving, she'd say he was getting worse, and that scared her. 

Five minutes later and they reached Gryffindor tower. Harry went to go and sit down on an armchair, but Ginny pulled him up the stairs into the boys dormitory. Harry flopped onto his bed and Ginny sighed, watching as Harry cracked open an eye.

"Come on, lets get you changed into your Pajamas."

Harry sat up and lent against the headboard, his eyes half closed as he watched Ginny tug off his trousers and tug his pajama bottoms on, helping her tug them up to his waist. Harry closed his eyes for a second, not meaning to let sleep take over him.

*

Ginny decided to leave Harry leaning against the headboard as he slept, she would only disturb him is she moved him. 

Ginny decided to pay a visit to Madam Pomfrey, to talk to her about Harry's recovery and the worries she had. Ten minutes later Ginny walked into the infirmary to find Madam Pomfrey checking all of her potions.

"Excuse me, Madam Pomfrey." Ginny said hesitantly.

Madam Pomfrey's head snapped up, and she smiled at Ginny. "Come in, come in. I presume you're here about Harry?"

Ginny nodded again and sat herself on one of the beds. "I'm... worried about him. He's getting tired easily, he's actually sleeping now. He seems to have gotten worse since coming back."

Madam Pomfrey nodded and gave a smile. "It's his first day back, he will be tired with all of the extra walking he is doing. I think it would be good if he only spent half a day in classes to start off with. I'll talk to Lily and James about it today. However, I do want to be sure that he is okay. I cannot leave at this moment in time, in case an urgent injury comes in, but if you managed to get Harry here, even if you only do it later when he awakes, I will check him over."

Ginny nodded and said her thanks before making her way back to the common room, she'd wait a few hours before taking him down.

*

Harry opened his eyes and a wave of nausea enveloped him as he turned onto his side and violently threw up. He heard a shriek and someone trying to stand him up, saying something about poppies. Harry didn't understand, why would he want some poppies? He didn't need any poppies. Harry turned back onto his back and closed his eyes, wondering why everything was so  confusing. 

It seemed like an eternity before he heard more voices, there seemed to be three or four all trying to speak to him. Harry didn't understand, all he wanted to do was sleep and the voices weren't making any sense. Harry then had the sense of floating, but he didn't understand. Why would he be moving? Why couldn't he just sleep?

Why didn't anything make sense?

*

He was in the hospital wing. That was all he knew. He didn't know why he was here, but he was. He could tell by the antiseptic smell that he had been hit with, as soon as his mind has returned to consciousness. 

It was clearly the middle of the night as the hospital wing was doused in a blanket of darkness, only vague shapes could be seen. Harry wondered how long he had been here, was it hours, minutes or days? How had he gotten here? Did he walk? 

Ah, he was carried here, he knew that now. Everything had seemed so confusing, but now it was all starting to fit together. He had thrown up, there had been screaming, voices and then a floating sensation.

So he was ill, the pulsing headache made sense now.

Nausea started to rise again, along with a metallic taste. He was going to throw up. An alarm sounded just as Harry turned to his side and violently threw up. A door opened and a hand was rubbing Harry's back soothingly as he threw up.

Groaning, Harry rolled back over and looked up into Madam Pofrey's worried face. She started to talk to Harry, as he groggily looked at her.

"Harry, you are in the hospital wing. You are very ill at the moment and you need to sleep as much as possible. If you wake up and I am not here, you need to call me so I can give you a few potions. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Harry replied, his voice weak. "What is wrong with me?"

Madam Pomfrey looked at Harry with sympathy, " Quite a few things. You just need to focus on recovering. Don't worry, you will get better, now sleep."

Harry closed his eyes and drifted off into a fevered sleep.

 *

Harry awoke again. Ginny was next to him, smiling softly while sitting next to Mrs Weasley. On the other side his parents were looking at him, clearly worried.

"Sweetie, we're sorry. We shouldn't have let you attend school, you were too weak." Lily whispered, a tear rolling down her cheek.

Harry tried to sit up, as he was feeling slightly stronger. With help, he was soon sat up, his chin against his chest as his neck muscles refused to support his head.

"It's fine. I'm just tired."

With that, Harry fell asleep.

* 

Harry Potter was trying not to fall asleep over his dinner. He had been in the hospital wing for a week now, and whatever illness that was plaguing him seemed to be losing the battle over his body, so he had been deemed well enough to sit up and eat his dinner without assistance.

Easier said than done.

Eating seemed to take a lot of energy, as Harry's eyes started to droop, much to the amusement of those around him, but Harry was determined to stay awake for him meal.

He joined in with the cheerful chatter around him, trying his best to distract himself from the exhaustion he was feeling.

Harry smiled as he put his fork down, he had managed it! Harry's eyes slipped closed and his body slumped foreward, his head coming to rest in his empty dinner plate.