Betrayal of the Best Kind
Rise
By Draco664
Rise
"Poppy! POPPY! Help!"
Madam Pomfrey's head jerked up at the panicked exclamation of her name. In a flash, she had risen from her desk and bolted into the ward. The headmaster had appeared in the hospital wing, holding onto the wrist of a floating corpse. It had to be a corpse. She had seen what damage a person could withstand. There was no way the mangled body hovering in front of her could hold life, she thought.
Until it coughed.
Within a heartbeat, Madam Pomfrey had the body on a bed, and with a practiced flick of her wand, began cataloguing the injuries. The eyes slowly opened, and two startling green orbs focused on her.
"Hello, Madam. Good to see you again." Harry whispered.
"Quiet. Save your str-," began the nurse, before recognising her patient's eyes. "Albus! This is Potter!"
"Yes, I know Poppy. Can you save him?"
Madam Pomfrey shook her head, but continued to work. "Any one of a half-dozen injuries should have killed him by now. He needs to be in St. Mungo's."
"We cannot afford the time to explain that he is innocent."
"Innocent?"
"Yes, he has been spying for me."
"I'll do what I can, but I'm amazed he is still alive."
Dumbledore moved around the bed and took hold of Harry's hand.
Madam Pomfrey continued to desperately try and keep her patient alive. "Mr. Potter, I've seen you battered and bruised before, but this is definitely your personal best." Looking up at the headmaster she said, "He needs strength, Albus. I can't spare any."
Dumbledore let go of Harry's hand, reached into his robes and extracted his wand. He placed the tip of his wand over Harry's critically injured chest and muttered, "Fulcio."
The headmaster sat down heavily as a surge of strength left him and entered the injured young man. Harry's breathing became a little less laboured. "Stay with us Harry. You have one hell of a story for us."
Bill Weasley was a little disgruntled at being raised so early from his home in Cairo, and transported to a small clearing in the English midlands without so much as a by your leave. At least twenty aurors were milling around one edge of the clearing; the rest of the clearing was covered in robed bodies. Or at least, parts of robed bodies.
"Bill!"
Bill turned and came face to face with his father. His irritation vanished and he gave his father a big hug.
"Good to see you, Dad. Tell me, are you the one who authorised my trip? Because if so, I have a bone to pick with you, you know how I need my sleep," he said with a grin.
"Guilty, son. Believe me, I know how much you need your sleep. Your mother nearly had a fit getting you and Charlie out of bed in time for you to apparate to the Quidditch World Cup if you recall."
Bill's grin widened. "True. Why the urgency?"
Arthur Weasley made a broad gesture to the battlefield-like scene. "One of the ministry's most top-secret spies set a trap for You-know-who. Lots of traps really. According to an eyewitness, about seventy Death Eaters and minions attacked the spy here. The eyewitness is being interviewed now, she is quite distressed."
Bill looked around at the once pristine ground, a look of disbelief on his face. "One spy managed to kill this many Death Eaters?"
Arthur nodded. "He set several traps and made a number of lethal 'toys'. One of the aurors first on the scene went straight into the middle of that field, to check for any survivors, and collapsed in agony with a spike in his foot. We need someone with experience at curse-breaking and avoiding muggle booby-traps to make sure the field is safe."
Bill sighed and drew his wand. "Tell you what, I'll make sure the place is safe if you do me a favour just as difficult."
"And that is?"
"Get Mum to stop going on about my hair."
Arthur's face split into a broad grin. "Done."
Bill moved slowly out into the carnage, casting detection spells for all he was worth. Less than a minute later he sighed and straightened. "There are no spell-traps here, just ordinary items with either potions or charms on them." he called out to his father.
On hearing the news, the aurors busied themselves retrieving the bodies, casting levitation and summoning charms. With the threat of magical counter attacks confirmed gone, their work began in earnest.
Just under an hour later, Bill walked from the now clear field. On the makeshift table, he had deposited all the caltrops detected, along with the bags of powders and other items dispersed by the initial explosions.
"All clear." He told his father. "Whoever set up these traps did a good job. I'm not surprised the auror with a caltrop in his foot was in pain, they have been coated with a potion designed to heighten the amount of pain you feel." He held up a caltrop and pointed to the slight discolouration at the four points. "Puts you in so much pain, it stops you from casting spells."
He pointed at the remains of a fine powder in a burst bag he had retrieved from the field. "There are also traces of a drug out there that the Ancient Egyptians used that caused hallucinations. Made you think you were being attacked from all sides by your worst nightmares. Also, all the insect bodies are bloated with an enchanted form of Royal Jelly. Anyone with that stuff on them would have been eaten to death by millions of insects. Flies, bees, wasps, anything that runs around on six legs really."
Moving over to where a particularly grisly and unidentified corpse was lying, Bill pointed to nearby dark, smoking bare patches on the ground. "Some sort of acid trap was sprung on this poor bastard. The only way you may be able to identify these guys is to ask Ollivander who he sold the wands to."
Bill looked once more over the carnage and shook his head in awe. "Whatever you are paying this spy, it isn't enough; you'd best be giving him a raise."
"He's not on the payroll. As I said, his identity is top secret. Except for the Department of Mysteries, I'm the only one in the entire Ministry who knows who he is."
Bill gave his father a sidelong glance. "And how many people outside the Ministry know who he is?"
Arthur looked uneasy. "You always were too smart for your own good."
"And you were never a good enough liar to be the Minister of Magic before."
Arthur smiled. "Actually, his identity will probably become public knowledge soon. Thanks to his efforts, there are probably no more than a handful of You-know-who's supporters left who are both free and alive."
Bill nodded. "Good news indeed." He looked again at the collection of items on the flattened log. "Keep an eye on him anyway. I'm guessing he was in Slytherin to have come up with some of these ideas." He pointed to a pile of unopened powders. "Look, he hadn't even finished setting up his defences. I have no idea what he wanted some of this stuff for, but I'd not have liked to be anywhere nearby when it became apparent."
"That makes two of us. Come on, let's go home, have some breakfast, and I'll convince your mother to ignore your hair."
Bill nodded and smiled. "This I've got to see."
Cho sat and stared blankly into space.
For what had seemed like eternity, she had been subjected to an interrogation by aurors who thought that since she was cradling the head of a wanted man, she was a Death Eater.
Dumbledore's arrival had put an end to that, but he had grabbed Harry's wrist and disappeared. This startling display of apparent treason had culminated in the summoning of the interim Minister of Magic.
Cho's first meeting with Ron and Ginny's father had not gone as she had expected. This was the most powerful political wizard in the UK, yet he had dropped the name Snuffles in his first sentence, and had then authorised her transportation back to Hogwarts.
Now she sat, emotions writhing inside her. The Minister, the bloody Minister himself, knew about Sirius and his innocence, yet Sirius was still a wanted man. The Minister also knew about Harry, since he had gone out of his way to reassure the aurors present that Dumbledore was working for him and that he had taken Harry for a good reason.
Harry. Harry was just on the other side of that door in front of her. Cho could hear Madam Pomfrey's voice as she cast healing charm after healing charm on him.
Cho had entered the hospital wing at a flat run on her arrival at Hogwarts, only to be escorted out of the infirmary by the headmaster immediately. In that one glimpse of him, she had learned all she needed to know.
Harry was not going to make it.
Cho buried her face in her hands and wept.
Cho was still crying a while later when a cold, wet nose touched the back of her hand. She jerked up to see Snuffles standing in front of her, sympathy and shared pain in his dark, liquid eyes.
With a cry, Cho threw her arms around the grim's neck and continued crying.
An hour later, it was a sombre group that stood silently around the bed. Madam Pomfrey had done all she could, but Harry had slipped away. She was now sound asleep on a chair, completely exhausted.
Dumbledore stood at the foot of Harry's bed, looking down at the body of the brave young man who had sacrificed everything he had to protect the world. Sirius and Cho stood on either side of the bed, each holding a hand, tears running down their faces.
Hermione and Ron stood together, clutching each other fiercely. Ginny stood stunned, a hand on Harry's leg, desperately willing him to sit up.
For long minutes they looked down at Harry's body, still mangled beyond help. Madam Pomfrey had kept him alive for longer than was humanly possible, but in the end, nothing could help. Harry had gutted Voldemort's ranks, but had given his life to do it.
Dumbledore wasn't sure what he was seeing, but tendrils of smoke slowly started rising from Harry's corpse. He was about to mention it when both Sirius and Cho gave a startled yelp and dropped Harry's hands as though they were burning.
With a great flash of heat and light, the body on the bed was consumed by fire. A raging flame that caused all those present to avert their eyes at the intense brightness.
Just as it had come, the fire and heat quickly disappeared. On the now blackened and smoking sheets was a pile of ashes. Hermione, Ron and Ginny were looking at Dumbledore, alarm had overtaken curiosity on their features.
In the middle of the pile of ashes, a small round object rose. A baby's head slowly appeared, covered with the dark ashes.
A smattering of dark, downy hair adorned the top of its head, a small lightning bolt shaped scar was clearly evident on its forehead. Emerald green eyes looked from one astonished face to another. The baby's face screwed up with intense concentration, and gave a sneeze, scattering the ashes across the bed.
"H-H-H-," stammered Sirius.
"Harry!" shouted Cho, finishing Sirius' sentence for him.
Baby Harry gave Cho an enormous, toothless grin, and held out his tiny arms. With a cry of relief, Cho swept up her boyfriend and held him in her arms. A definite baby chuckle came from his mouth.
Hermione was the first to find her voice. "Damn you Harry! If you're not dead, I'm going to kill you!"
Excited squealing woke Madam Pomfrey from her deep slumber. She stood on shakey legs and moved out into the ward, expecting to have to deal with some more trivial injuries. The sight of Professor Dumbledore hoisting a baby boy over his head and laughing made her pause. Miss. Granger and Mr. Weasely were shouting and jumping for joy in each other's arms. Miss. Chang and Miss. Weasley were also crying and squealing while dancing with joy.
A strange man was sitting in a chair, laughing and crying at the same time.
"What on earth is wrong with you people?" Madam Pomfrey screamed. "Mr. Potter is not dead for a few minutes and you are all dancing for joy?"
"Poppy!" Dumbledore exclaimed. "I'd like to introduce you to someone very special."
Madam Pomfrey frowned. "Who?"
Dumbledore gestured to the baby in his arms. "Poppy, this is, as named by the esteemed Miss. Granger, The-Boy-Who-Just-Won't-Bloody-Die-No-Matter-What-Anyone-Does."
Poppy Pomfrey's eyes flicked from the baby in the headmaster's arms to the blackened bed and back again. She took in the tiny scar on baby Harry's forehead, his piercing green eyes, and his mischievous grin. With a flash of recognition, Madam Pomfrey did something she would never in her life live down, and fainted.
Voices slowly intruded on her conscious. The darkness gently receeded, allowing the nurse to become more aware of her surroundings.
"Good thing she fainted, Snuffles would have had a hell of a time explaining himself."
"Ron! Mind your language!"
"Very true, Mr. Weasley. Though I think that Harry will have a more difficult a job explaining how he managed to loose sixteen years of his life."
"I don't care how he did it, he is such a cute baby!"
"I think we'd better leave it to Harry to explain, but you better stop drooling over my boyfriend Ginny, before I get jealous."
"You can't be his girlfriend yet, he isn't old enough for a relationship."
"Yeah, Cho! You really are attracted to younger guys, aren't you?"
"Hey! He is sixteen years old. He is just in a baby's body."
Madam Pomfrey sat up in a flash. "Where is he?" she demanded.
"You're awake!" Dumbledore said in surprise.
"Yes, yes, yes. Now where is he?" she replied, waspishly
Wordlessly, Cho brought over Harry, wrapped in a sheet. She passed him to the nurse, who was herself lying in one of the infirmary beds.
Madam Pomfrey started giving Harry an examination, checking the baby's health. After the seventh time Harry's flailing leg knocked her hand out of the way, she said, "It is definately Mr. Potter. Only one person I know is this difficult a patient."
"That is hardly a grounds for definite identification, Poppy."
"How did you manage this, Mr. Potter?" the nurse asked Harry, ignoring the headmaster. "I watched you take your last breath myself."
Harry just looked up at the nurse and smiled the most evil smile ever seen on a baby's face. A vague expression of concentration and a damp stain spread over Madam Pomfrey's sheets.
"Mr. Potter!" she shrieked, holding him up.
Harry just laughed his baby laugh.
Ginny snatched Harry from Madam Pomfrey and cradled him in her arms. "I'll clean him."
Cho snarled at the redhead. "Let him go! You'll hurt him!" Cho reached for Harry.
"Ladies, please!" said Dumbledore, his soft voice somehow heard over both their yells. "Mr. Potter will be put in the custody of Poppy here. I have no idea how fast he will grow, but until his is declared fit and well, and aged sixteen, no one is to know of his condition."
Ginny and Cho stared daggers at each other as Ginny handed Harry back to Madam Pomfrey. Harry seemed rather distressed at the headmaster's proclamation.
--