What Voldemort Left Behind

Chapter 50 - The Last Chance

AUTHORS NOTE: hey it's been a while but surprise, it's November now and this story is still being written. Two chapters today, this one is needed to move the story along but honestly i don't care about it anymore, i LOVED this chapter in like May when it was first thought of, but writing it in October was a BAD idea cause i was so bored of it that no emotion was put in so i'm just hoping my thoughts about it went down ok eventually. As you can tell by the chapter title, the story will change in some significant way during the course of this chapter and i PROMISE YOU that there isn't too many chapters left to go.

Afterwards, she could only remember bits and pieces of this day, some of the more horrible details were locked away in her mind, she couldn't bear to think about it.

Ginny woke suddenly one morning. She sat up, confused, it was still pitch black outside. She lit her wand, she wasn't quite sure what had woken her. 4am, according to the clock. She glanced to her left, shocked, she realized that Harry's face was covered in blood.

He twisted in his sleep, a silencing charm must be why Ginny hadn't noticed him. Harry had been told many times not to hide his nightmares and visions with silencing charms by their family, especially her, as well as various Healers and Aurors over the years, but he continued to try and hide it to a point which it was damaging him. It scared Ginny, concealing his emotions left him in more discomfort.

She began to clean the blood away from his scar, it was dripping down his face, sticking his eyelid together. His face was pale and Ginny was scared to wake him up, would she make him worse?

"Harry," she whispered, "Harry, can you hear me? It's just me, Harry, please, wake up."

She hadn't really expected it to work, but it was safer than waking him the magical way, she didn't know how much magic he could handle. Ginny cast the spell she had used before to wake him, at least if he was awake then she could help him.

"Gin," he breathed, his voice hoarse. A coughing fit overtook him.

"It's all right," she said soothingly, "I'm here, does it hurt? Do you need me to get anything?"

"Yeah."

Harry admitting he was in pain was not a good sign. He began to sit up very quickly before she could help him, she stretched her arm towards him and he fell unconscious on top of her.

For the next few hours Ginny was hesitant to move an inch, Harry lay crumpled half on the bed and half on her. She considered using a light immobilizing charm on him, but the strain of his magic  pushing against it would be greater than the good the charm would do to keep him still. It was horribly quiet, Harry's occasional gasps or involuntary shouts were the only noise, she could sense that talking to him wasn't helping. He drifted in and out of consciousness, at times his breathing would slow to the point that Ginny was scared he was...
No, she couldn't think like that.

She focused her thoughts on the previous days, of their beautiful Christmas. The sweet kiss they had shared on the holiday, everyone clapped and cheered when they saw him smile for once, she remembered Harry's clueless expression, he really had no idea how long it had been since their family had seen him happy. Probably the summer since Harry had taken it hard after he was told he could no longer fly, Quidditch was his escape.

Harry twisted his head in agony as Ginny did her best to keep him still.

"Ginny...," He whispered weakly, "Sorry I didn't keep them safe, I swore I would and..."

Ginny was confused, "Keep who safe?"

There was no answer. He appeared to drift off again, but she stayed alert.

"Take care of Teddy for me, I'm all he's got."

"Harry, he's as much part of my family as you are, this protecting thing of yours is a little ridiculous sometimes. Teddy has always had all the Weasleys and you would never change that."

Harry's eyes fought to stay open as he was dragged into another nightmare. Ginny knew it, this was close to the end.

"Kreacher," She mouthed as the house elf appeared, "Get Ron and Hermione, bring them in here. Alert Penny Haywood and Poppy of Harry's condition, if she has that potion even close to ready, this is the last chance."

Minutes later, Ron and Hermione stepped out of the Floo. Quickly, Ginny explained to the two of them and they helped to lift Harry from on top of Ginny, back to laying flat on the bed.

"Should we take him to Hogwarts?" Ron asked nervously.

Ginny sighed, she had been considering this all morning. "I don't know if he would make the journey through the wards, the magic could put a lot of strain on him, he's quite weak."

The three of them silently watched, at a loss of what to do, this was it.

"Jamie, Lily and Al deserve to be here," Hermione said, "I'll bring them up."

Ginny wound her hand around Harry's, she hoped he could at least feel her presence, he was always calmer when she was near.

"How do we..." Ron started.

"I don't know, people usually go so fast that there's no time to say anything. Harry would know, he always knew this kind of thing. I sent Kreacher... to Hogwarts, I told him to find Penny Haywood and say that this was the last chance, if the potion could be given in whatever state it's in. He was going there straight after seeing you." Ginny said quickly.

"It's only been five minutes," he told her, "give it time."

Ginny hated waiting, she always had, but waiting for her husband to die was unbearable. The seconds dragged by, Ron knelt at Harry's bedside and began to drone on about Quidditch statistics of all things, but somehow it calmed Ginny's fears.

"The Cannons will be making a comeback, I know it, they're playing Puddlemere next March, Harry, remember, Cannons tickets for my next birthday. Their last game wasn't so bad... all right they lost, but it was close mate, they almost had the Bats."

The kids came in for a while until Ginny insisted they waited downstairs after she saw the horror in James's face, as he stared at his father, Ginny didn't want that to be the last memory he had.

Finally, green flames erupted in the fireplace for the second time since Kreacher had been sent on a job.

"Ginny, I'm so sorry, the potion hasn't been tested or anything.... but it will have to do, how is he?" Penny asked breathlessly.

"Not good, scar started badly at about 4, I woke up to him bleeding everywhere. He was awake a few times, but he keeps drifting off."

Poppy Pomfrey appeared in the floo carrying a tray of different potions, none of which looked very special.

"I don't want to use very much magic on him in this state but sometimes it can't be avoided, he's in no state to drink these himself." She held her wand on the side of the glass, slowly making the liquid vanish. "We can't give him the main potion straight, it needs to be eased into," she explained. "He's weak... I don't know for sure if the potion... it may be too late."

Ginny's heart sank. The potion was her one hope. It was a rare curse, in all Hermione's research, she'd never heard of a Dark curse that was connected as strongly to its victim.

Poppy finished giving Harry the potions.

"Mr Weasley, help me lift him into a better position, this one needs to be swallowed," she said grimly. Penny Haywood looked terrified, but Ginny knew that anyone in her position would be, she was confident in Penny's abilities. How Harry would take it is the problem.

This could poison him... they could be so close to the end. She moved back, she would be no help in this state.

Harry stopped shaking, his body went limp.

"Ginny... he's just sleeping," Ron whispered through the silent room.