What Voldemort Left Behind

Chapter 25 - An Aftermath

AUTHORS NOTE: It took a while to write this because i lose concentration a lot when i'm doing something, every few lines were written at a different time and some sentences were written like half a sentence 1 day and then finish it the next 😂 Let me know in the comments if the next chapter should be a continuation of this storyline or skipping a bit of time, i'm not sure which way to go but i'll probably disregard it and do my own thing like i did with the happy or sad end on the insta poll 😂

Harry awoke to bright white light and he tried to fumble for his glasses which were gently placed on his face as red hair swam into view.

"Harry... please don't move right now, whatever you need I'll get it for you... You did so, so well we managed to arrest both of them."

"James, Albus, Lily... are they all right?" Harry found it difficult to speak, his throat was painful and his voice came out raspy and barely audible. The figure that he assumed was Ginny turned, muffling her voice, he could barely hear her words.

"Come closer so Dad can see you three, yes stand there and you'll be in his eyeline, don't make him have to move too much."

Harry breathed a sigh of relief as he saw the three of them, they looked exhausted but otherwise unharmed, but it was difficult for him to keep his eyes open to look at them. Lily sat down beside the bed.

"Thank you Dad, I remembered all our  Defense lessons, so I recognized the potion yesterday."

"Yesterday?" Harry repeated.

Ginny moved closer to help him hear her.
"Harry... we had to put you in an enchanted sleep when you started to wake up from the stunning spell, you were badly injured, there was two of them and they attacked you while you were stunned, the cowards," she added angrily, "escaped Death Eaters, some idiot at the Ministry forgot to put a warning out which almost cost people their lives... Kingsley's already started an investigation. No deaths... but they tortured an elderly wizarding couple for information, finding that you were still alive with three children and came straight to Hogwarts planning to murder Lily and then you, probably James and Albus afterwards. They left you, thinking you were dead and then ran but I caught them round the next corridor, they ran straight into me. After I'd trapped them I ran off to find you..."
She broke off, not wanting to share some details.
"They used more force than actual spells, when we checked their wands we realized that you'd already searched that, I think after that they tried to avoid being traced because they thought they could escape. I don't even know all that they did to you."

James, Albus and Lily exchanged scared glances, clearly they hadn't been told the full story yet. Poppy Pomfrey walked in, she looked tired and quite worried as far as Harry could see, his vision was still blurred even with his glasses and it took all his willpower to keep his eyes open.

"I've repaired as many of your injuries as I can at the moment, the rest I'm sorry to say will take some time. You'll find it difficult to talk, it looks like they attempted to strangle you, they almost succeeded. I've regrown a couple of your bones, it was easier than mending them because they were crushed. Here, Ginny, help him to drink this potion."

Harry hated being this helpless, he was supposed to protect his family but he had failed and got himself injured which just added to their problems. Ginny helped him to sit up slightly but it was taking all of his energy to not fall back down. Ginny moved closer to him so that no one else could hear what she was saying.

"I almost killed one of those Death Eaters when I caught him... I would have... but I knew you, you wouldn't. Seeing you lying like that, I just wanted to curse them, rip them apart, murder them on the spot. Does that make, make me a terrible person or was it right to stop them forever from doing what they did to you?"

-

Lily felt awful. They had spent the last twenty four hours in a side room off the hospital wing with their mother and their dad was lying injured on the bed, still apparently in a critical condition. He had just passed out again as their mother was whispering something to him that she didn't seem to want to share. At one point her mum had encouraged the three of them to do some schoolwork to keep their minds off things but she didn't push it, she knew that they wouldn't. People had been in and out all day, often exchanging a quiet word with her mother before leaving again. Lily knew that they were lucky to be allowed to stay in the room as Madam Pomfrey was quite strict, even with adult patients, but the school healer had explained to the three of them that their parents would not like them to be out of their sight after what happened to their dad. They had stayed awake for most of the last night, it was hard to sleep as they were worried. Lily kept picturing the awful moment when Professor McGonagall had first brought them up to see their dad, it was a horrible sight. Blood pouring down his face, a stark contrast from his too pale skin, he was lying at an awkward angle as they were still too scared to move him, magic or no magic, bruises everywhere, especially around his neck. In the hours following, there had been some improvements made with help of healing potions and spells but he was still quite scary to look at. Lily felt like a horrible person for being scared, it wasn't her dad's fault that he looked like that. She wished they could all go home, not back to their dorms at Hogwarts, but their own house where she could just be alone with her family, and she was pretty sure her siblings felt the same way, and her parents definitely did. James beside her was agitated, he wanted to hunt the Death Eaters down, fight them himself. Lily wished she could too, but she knew that it would result in nothing good and so she tried to reassure her brother that their mum had taken care of things.
Occasionally Madam Pomfrey left to get something and would need someone to help her, and all of them jumped at the chance to do something, to help their dad in some way since they couldn't personally  go after the dark wizards who harmed him. Three weeks to go until the end of term, the end of this horrible year where so many bad things happened, maybe the summer would be better and they could have some time just to be normal, to not have to watch everyone suffer all the time.