The Final Battle

And here's chapter 4, just like I promised. You might ask yourself, why I don't post as often as I did with The Last Marauder, but have you ever taken a closer look at the chapter length? Chapter 3 was about 10.000 words long, the Complete Last Marauder with 24 chapters had only slightly less than 50.000 words. So - longer chapters, but also longer pauses between the posts. But I'll try not to get beyond a week, I promise.

More A/N at the end of the chapter, because they are quite long this time. Keep it up, I LOVE long reviews! (Short ones aren't loved any less, though...)

Threats and Dreams

Shocked silence filled Dumbledore's office after this. Remus inwardly cursed. Of all the things that could have happened, why did it have to be the Dementors?

Professor McGonagall was the first to regain speech.

"When did it happen?"

"As far as I know, they left last night. And before you ask, yes, Hermes is sure that it has to do with Voldemort. The four human guards have been hit with the Killing Curse, but none of their wands has been used for this purpose. So somebody else must have come to the island, nobody except the guards carried wands. And somebody has conjured the Dark Mark afterwards."

"Do we know where the Dementors left to?"

"No Severus, they seemed to have vanished without a trace. And if it really has been Voldemort who planned this, then I'm sure we won't see them again until he wants us to."

Professor Sprout threw her hands in the air in desperation.

"If only those dreaded things had been removed from Azkaban!"

Dumbledore shook his head.

"No, it would have done no good. It was the first thing Hermes wanted to do, and everybody in the Ministry agreed with the thought, but the fact remained that first a place had to be found where they should be sent to. Otherwise they would have only wandered around without control, not to imagine what could have happened then. But obviously it took too long to find just such a place."

A sudden thought struck Remus.

"What about the prisoners?"

Again, Dumbledore sighed deeply.

"Most of the prisoners from Voldemort's first reign have remained in the Fortress. They were in no condition to leave it, let alone be of help for their lord. But all the prisoners that were brought there lately have escaped. Without a trace as well."

"So Voldemort has his Death Eaters back."

I was a statement, not a question. Slowly, Dumbledore nodded.

"Only Lucius Malfoy remained in captivity of the Ministry, but only because he was not in Azkaban last night. He had been questioned at the Ministry building till late in the night and they kept him there for the night. He's the only imprisoned Death Eater that could still be of help."

Snape laughed harshly.

"If he knows anything at all about the Dark Lords latest plans. And even if, I don't think he would tell us. But what are we supposed to do now? We still don't know what Voldemort wants to use the Dementors for."

Remus interrupted.

"Maybe we do."

All heads in the office turned towards Remus, and all except Dumbledore's gave him questioning looks. Remus merely shrugged.

"Well, if Voldemort hasn't completely changed his plans, he still wants the people who stand in his way dead. Which means that the Ministry should be one of his main aims, especially now after Fudge is no longer Minister of Magic. But other than that, he still has some scores to settle which should be more of our concern. We all stand in his way as well, especially Albus and Harry. And during the past years he has shown how badly he wants to kill Harry, so we should maybe get used to the idea that he might attack Hogwarts."

"My Inner Eye sees much trouble and suffering for our future. Only yesterday my crystal ball showed me hurt and death on the castle grounds." Sybil piped up.

"Oh really, my Inner Eye tells me that this fraud has no Inner Eye at all!"

Snape looked at McGonagall with newly gained respect after this remark, but Dumbledore quickly interrupted before they could involve themselves too far in such a discussion.

"Remus is right, we should admit the fact that Voldemort, the Death Eaters and the Dementors could attack Hogwarts. Which would leave us in a very defenceless situation. Over fifty prisoners have escaped, and the Ministry estimates the number of Dementors at about two hundred and fifty.

The first thing we have to do is to add security wards around the castle. All Hogsmeade weekends will be cancelled, as will be the Quidditch tournament. There's no need to attract the Dementors with so many concentrated emotions, we have seen what has happened three years ago.

But if the wards around the castle break down, there will be only us to defend the students. The Ministry doesn't have the capacity to station Auror units at Hogwarts, and if we really get under attack it might take some time before they send us reinforcements.

How many of you are able to produce a steady Patronus?"

Remus, McGonagall, Flitwick, Madam Hooch, Professor Vector, Professor Sprout and, much to Remus' surprise, Snape immediately raised their hands. Remus had always doubted that a man with Snape's past could have enough happy memories to feed a Patronus.

Dumbledore nodded.

"And how many of you have been able to produce a Patronus in the presence of a Dementor?"

Professors Flitwick, Vector and Sprout lowered their hands again, as well as Madam Hooch. The four of them never had had encounters with the Azkaban guards before.

"I see. This leaves Remus, Minerva, Severus and myself."

He nodded and thought hard for a minute. When he looked up again, his eyes showed some of his will and strength again, even if they didn't sparkle like they usually did.

"Remus, how many students do you think would be able to learn the Patronus charm?"

Remus thought for a moment, mentally going through all of his classes.

"Harry is the only one of whom I am sure that he can produce a Patronus already. A really strong Patronus. But even if he was able to learn it during his third year, I don't think that there are any students below or in fourth year who will be able to learn it yet. Some of the fifth years should be able to, mostly Gryffindors and Ravenclaw, some Slytherin amongst them. But a steady Patronus...nobody below sixth year, possibly half of sixth and seventh year. And I'm not talking about steady in front of a Dementor, I'm talking about the mere charm."

"Nevertheless, we'll have to try. Lessons will continue as usual, but we'll double the amount of Defence lessons. On Monday morning the Daily Prophet will report about the escape of the Dementors, so there's no use in hiding it from the students. Each class will have lessons on the Patronus Charm twice a week. Professors Flitwick, Vector and Sprout as well as Madam Hooch will teach the basics, Remus, Minerva, Severus and myself will then cover the difficulties of that charm when performed in the presence of a Dementor."

Remus shook his head.

"Albus, how do you want to do that? We can teach them the charm, that's true, but you as well as I know that this is not enough to perform it when you are confronted with a Dementor. I used a Boggart when I taught Harry that charm, but that only worked because they were his biggest fear. As soon as the Boggart would turn on another person, the Dementor would be gone."

Dumbledore nodded.

"I know. But at least we can try to describe what it feels like in such a situation. Maybe we can even find another Boggart and convince Harry to face it. Though the others in the room would not feel its full extend, they at least would get a slight inside into it. I'll ask Filch and the ghosts to look out for a Boggart."

Dumbledore checked his watch.

"It's late, maybe we should retire. I would ask you to come back tomorrow after breakfast, then we can talk about the additional wards around the castle."

He nodded at the teachers and one after another they rose and left the room. Remus was about to turn towards the door when Dumbledore called for him.

"Remus, would you please wait another moment? I want to have another word with you, Minerva and Severus."

Remus was slightly puzzled by this, but one look at Snape and McGonagall told him that they didn't know what Dumbledore wanted either. The four of them waited until the other teachers had left the office, then the headmaster gestured them to sit down again.

"There is another thing about which we need to talk. It won't be in the papers tomorrow and I wanted to have word with you before I inform the other teachers tomorrow.

Remus, when was the last time that you have been or have received news from Romania?"

Whatever Remus had expected, it had not been this. He drew in a sharp breath. His memories from Romania weren't ones about which he liked to think, in fact he had avoided doing so for many years. Summoning all his courage, he spoke.

"The only time I've been to Romania has been, what is it, seventeen years ago now, when you sent me there on Order business shortly after graduation. Since then, I've even avoided thinking about it, let alone gathered news from there. Why do you ask?"

Dumbledore sighed deeply.

"The news about the Dementors have not been the only disturbances lately. Romania has always been an area with a very high number of werewolves, I guess all of you knew that already. Their wizarding community has never been able to develop a system to keep them under control."

Remus shifted uncomfortably in his chair. It was true that in England such a system had been developed, but his own experiences with it had made him come to believe that is was far from being perfect. Dumbledore noticed Remus' uneasiness.

"I do not say that our system is without faults, on the contrary. To my mind we still have to learn a lot about the treatment of werewolves as well. But it cannot be denied that it has been managed to limit the amount of werewolf bites during the last three decades. That alone is an improvement.

However, as I said, Romania has reached a sad fame for its uncontrolled population of werewolves. Rarely a month passed in which no attacks were reported. But during the last three months, this has changed completely."

The leaden lump in Remus' stomach was back again.

"What do you mean?"

"During the last three months, not a single werewolf attack has been reported in Romania. Neither on human beings nor on animals. Not a single werewolf has even been sighted. The authorities have no explanation for this, and to be totally honest, neither have I."

He gave Remus a questioning look, but the other didn't even notice it. He was too lost in his own thoughts about the meaning behind those words.

"Remus?"

Remus sighed deeply.

"Albus, you know just as well as I do that there is nothing that could prevent a werewolf from changing and hunting during full moon nights. And estimated by the number of werewolves in Romania, which I guess has not diminished since I've been there, it is nearly impossible that not a single attack took place for three months. It would only be possible if somebody had either hunted down every single werewolf or if all of them had been given the Wolfsbane Potion. And the last option would rise the question why somebody would do that."

Professor McGonagall spoke up for the first time since the private meeting had started.

"Didn't the Dark Lord try to recruit the werewolves during his first reign? What if...he has done the same thing again?"

"It could be possible. To be honest, it's the same idea that I had, and it is supported by the fact that there have been Death Eater activities in Romania during the last two weeks. My only doubt about it is how Voldemort manages to keep them in check during full moon, wherever he brought them to. He would need Wolfsbane in large amounts, and his usual Potions master is not at his service anymore."

The three others turned their eyes on Snape with these words from Dumbledore. Snape nodded slowly, then he looked up.

"Albus, I don't think that this would be too much of an obstacle for him. One of Voldemort's doctrines is always to have a replacement at hand. Even while I was still at his service, as a double agent and before that, I was not the only Potions master whose skills he took advantage of. As soon as my cover blew up, he had a replacement for me, I'm sure about that. And the Dark Lord is known to chose his servants carefully, at least those who have to fulfil such delicate tasks.

I don't think that producing enough Wolfsbane would be a problem for him."

Remus buried his head in his hands. Things had gotten from 'not so good' to 'bad', and during the last minutes they had quickly moved on to 'it can hardly get worse'. It was difficult enough to fight more than two hundred Dementors, but if they came along with the entire werewolf population of Romania, it was nearly impossible. There were only fourteen fully qualified wizards at the castle, maybe Hagrid could be of use if it really came to fighting the werewolves, but other than that there were only seven hundred under aged wizards, most of them merely children. They could not fight such a battle with children.

"Albus, surely the Ministry should be able to send help under those circumstances. Wielding knows as well as we do that Hogwarts could be one of Voldemort's first targets."

"Remus, as I said, they simply don't have the capacities. A third of their Aurors are on several missions right now, another huge party tries to clean up the mess in Azkaban, and in case the Ministry gets attacked they also need forces there. The amount of Aurors is very limited at the moment, the Ministry can't spare some of them merely on suspicions. No, we'll have to prepare ourselves as well as the students. We will give them the Patronus lessons just as it was planned and we'll also teach them how to fight werewolves."

Remus nodded.

"Fifth years and above should know it by now, third years and above have not been taught in fighting werewolves but at least have covered them in lessons already. I'll add it to the first and second year's curriculum from next week on."

He looked up and straight into Dumbledore's eyes.

"Albus, does Sirius know about this by now? Because if he gets to know it, there won't be anything that can keep him away from the castle anymore. You know how over-protective he is of Harry, and if he knew that Voldemort might strike here soon, he wouldn't want to leave again."

"I don't think that he already knows, but there is no way to hide it from him for long. His group has only been sent to Scotland as reinforcements, and by now they surely realize that it's just been a distraction. And I guess that the squads in Scotland will receive the first owls tomorrow morning. Let's just hope that he doesn't act rashly."

Snape made a snorting sound and muttered something under his breath, but Remus wisely chose to ignore it. Dumbledore clapped his hands and got up from his chair.

"I know that this have been a lot of bad news, but that doesn't mean that the worst we fear must come true. Nevertheless, we need to be prepared. Tomorrow morning we will decide how to strengthen the wards.

Remus, please try to remember if there is any secret passage, no matter if within the castle or leading out, that we have not noticed yet.

Severus, you know the dungeons better than any other person in the castle. Please make sure once more that there is no way in or out of the castle that we don't know about.

Thank you. Now, maybe we should retire and try to get some sleep."

The three teachers nodded and rose from their chairs. They bid their good nights and left the headmaster's office, each lost in his own thoughts.

Remus arrived at his room without any memories of how he had gotten there. All the way he had been thinking about how very much their situation had changed during the last couple of hours.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Harry knew nothing of all this, of course. He, Ron and Hermione had eaten their dinner in the Great Hall and had not given very much thought to the fact that no teacher had been present at all. It was unusual, but none of them thought that it could mean bad news. After their dinner, Harry had spent two hours with cleaning up a boy's toilet in which some third years had let off a dung bomb, then he had gone straight back into their Common Room where Ron and Harry now sat over their Divination homework while Hermione was doing Arithmacy calculations together with Dean.

This term, Sybil Trelawney had decided to teach them about trance divination, and though neither Ron nor Harry claimed to have the Inner Eye, both of them easily predicted that this term would become even more boring than the previous.

It didn't take long until Harry finished reading on trances in their Divination book and threw it onto the table with a sigh.

"That's a load of rubbish. It has been easy to make up some predictions about my untimely death, but how on earth am I supposed to fall into a trance? I don't think I could fake one."

Ron laughed.

"Well, well. I get the feeling that somebody doesn't appreciate the finer branches of the art of Divination. Harry, where shall this lead to?"

"A term in which that old bat doesn't look at me with such a compassionate expression would be enough for me, thank you. It's hard to stand her if she's only waiting for my death to come."

From the other side of the table, Hermione gave them her famous 'didn't-I-tell-you' look and returned back to her conversation with Dean. Hermione had skipped Divination in their third year and ever since then had tried to convince the boys to do the same. Without any avail, of course.

Harry sighed and started collecting his things together and packed them in his bag.

"I think I'll go to bed now. Sirius made me promise to go and see Madam Pomfrey if I'm still tired tomorrow. And I'd do anything to prevent that, it would only result in Remus fretting over me. Good night Ron, good night Hermione."

"Good night Harry."

Upstairs in his dormitory, Harry quickly changed into his pyjamas and crawled under his blanket. If only he could sleep normally tonight. Shortly after he had lain down, his eyes were closed and he had fallen asleep.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Like in the nights before, Harry soon found himself surrounded by thick, grey fog that took away his ability to see farther than his outstretched hands.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Ron came into the dormitory about two hours later and without a further glance at his friend lay down to sleep himself.

The next morning, Ron woke up early and went into the showers. It was Sunday, and so he didn't expect any of his dorm mates to wake up within the next couple of hours. Especially not Harry.

So Ron went down into the Great Hall and sat down for some breakfast. Ginny and Hermione were already sitting on the otherwise empty Gryffindor table and gestured him to join them.

"Morning Ron, why are you up so early?"

Ron shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know, I just woke up and couldn't fall asleep again. The others are not awake yet, so I decided to come down here alone. And why are you two up so early?"

Hermione and Ginny grinned.

"Well, if Lavender is right, Draco Malfoy will make his first appearance after his encounter with Harry 'Hitman' Potter. We didn't want to miss the show."

Ron gave them merely another shrug with his shoulders.

"Don't know why that's such a big deal. I rather enjoyed not seeing him."

Again, the two girls grinned at him.

"Alright, that's enough. What do you know that I don't?"

Hermione laughed.

"Well, Lavender had to go to the infirmary yesterday because a charm she tried had gone wrong somehow. And there she saw Malfoy and heard a very interesting conversation between him and Madam Pomfrey. Obviously, Madam Pomfrey has mended his jaw, but she refused to remove the bruises. She said that if the students felt the urge to fight, then their bruises would have to heal the normal way. And from what Lavender told us, Draco has a rather large bruise on the left side of his face. She said that from the nose downwards, there was hardly any face to be seen anymore. That's why we didn't want to miss it."

Ron broke into a very wide, very sly grin.

"It seems my birthday has come early this year."

He quickly sat down on the other side of the table so that he had a clear view on the Slytherin table and waited for his arch nemesis to arrive. And truly, after only a few minutes, Crabbe and Goyle came into the Great Hall, followed closely by Malfoy. He had pulled up the collar of his shirt and robes as far as possible, but even despite this, the bruise on his face could clearly be seen.

Harry had done a remarkable job. Like Lavender had said, there was a huge bruise on the left side of Malfoy's face. It went up from the jaw line to the corner of his mouth and nearly reached the hairline next to his ear.

Ron realized with a grim satisfaction that Malfoy didn't seem to like the fact that Ron was present to see him in such a state. It was a feast to witness this for Ron. And just to imagine that this bruise would slowly become dark purple, then blue, then turn a yellowish green shade - Ron felt like he had died and gone to heaven.

"Ginny, do you thing that Colin would lend me his camera? Would be a shame if I had no pictures of this to show to my children."

Ginny giggled, but Ron also noticed the look Hermione gave him at this statement. Why did he always feel as if his legs were made of jelly and his stomach fell to his knees when she had that look on her face?

The three Gryffindors truly enjoyed the rest of their breakfast and not for a second they regretted having gotten up so early. Unfortunately Malfoy decided to leave again after only fifteen minutes, and after his retreat there was nothing that held Ron in the Great Hall anymore. He decided to get back into his dormitory, he simply had to tell Harry and his other dorm mates about this.

However, he met Seamus, Dean and Neville already in the Common Room where they were playing an early game of Exploding Snap.

"Guys, you don't know what you missed at breakfast!"

Three heads turned towards Ron who grinned like a maniac.

"What, did you finally dare to kiss Hermione?"

"What???"

Ron's face quickly became redder than his hair and he glared daggers at Seamus, who raised his hands in a gesture of defeat.

"Okay, okay, calm down again. I was...merely joking. So, what did we miss?"

Ron quickly overcame his former confusion and the grin returned to his face.

"Well, it seems that Harry should have become a boxer instead of a Quidditch player. Malfoy showed up at breakfast and believe me, I have never seen such a large bruise in my entire life. And its deep purple contrasts wonderfully with his pale face. It's an image I will carry with me for the rest of my life."

"Not really!" Neville piped up. Ron only nodded feverishly.

"Believe me. It's been the most enjoyable breakfast I can remember. I will have to thank Harry for this for the rest of my life."

Dean moved uncomfortably in his chair.

"Speaking of which, do you think Harry is okay? We tried to wake him up earlier on, but he didn't even react."

Ron shook his head.

"Well, that's how it's been for the last couple of days. But desperate times call for desperate measures. Let's get some water and wake him up, he wouldn't want to miss Malfoy in this state."

The four boys laughed and made their way back into the dorm, where Harry still slept soundly in his four-poster.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

As if his legs knew the way, Harry started walking straight ahead into the fog without hesitation. Soon, the fog became thinner again and the murmur of many voices filled the air. A shiver went down Harry's spine.

"Hello? Is anybody here?"

The voices kept on whispering without giving an answer to Harry. He tried to shut them out with his hands over his ears, but they also seemed to be inside his head. Then, suddenly he thought he heard somebody call his name, the sound was far away but clearly differed from the whispers around him.

"Hello?"

"Harry..."

Still far away, but clearly somebody called for him. Curious, Harry made his way towards the source of this voice.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

"Harry! Come on mate, wake up!"

"Ron, this has no use. Don't you think we tried that already?"

"Neville, hand me that cauldron with water, will you?"

Neville shook his head.

"Ron, I don't think we should do this..."

"It worked yesterday, so I don't see why it shouldn't work now."

"Do you really think he is okay? I think that's not normal."

Deans voice clearly showed his concern. Ron sighed.

"Well, he promised Sirius and Professor Lupin to go to the infirmary today. We only need to wake him up so that he can get there."

Ron took the cauldron full of water and quickly, before any of the other boys could hinder him, emptied it over Harry's head.

When Harry didn't even do as much as stir, Ron realized that something was terribly wrong.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

"Harry? Harry, where are you?"

The voice wasn't far away anymore and if the fog had not been so thick, Harry should have been able to see its owner by now. The voice was familiar, Harry had already figured out that much, but so far he could not put it in its proper place.

"Hello, I am here! Who are you?"

"Harry, over here. Come closer, you are nearly there."

Harry made some more steps in the direction from which the voice came, and all of a sudden the layer of fog around him lifted. It was like stepping onto a clearing in a forest. And in the middle of that clearing stood a very familiar, red haired woman. Harry's jaw dropped in amazement.

"Mom?"

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

"Dean, Seamus - go and get Madam Pomfrey or a teacher immediately."

The urgency in Ron's voice made the two boys practically storm out of the room. Neville looked as if he would collapse any moment.

"Ron, is he...I mean, does he still...?"

"Neville, don't be daft, he's still breathing. It's just that he doesn't wake up.

Harry! Harry, come on, you must wake up! Open your eyes! Harry! HARRY!"

Frantically, Ron took his friend's shoulders and shook him nearly violently, but to no avail. There was no sign indicating that Harry even noticed their presence.

"Harry, please wake up! Come on, what's wrong with you?"

Ron continued his frantic attempts to shake Harry awake for the next couple of minutes, until a voice from the doorway interrupted him.

"Okay, what has happened here?"

Ron and Neville spun around and saw Remus Lupin hurry into the room, Dean and Seamus at his heels. Ron had never before been so glad to see his teacher.

"Professor Lupin, Harry doesn't wake up. We tried everything, he just doesn't react."

Remus gently pushed Ron out of the way and sat down on the edge of Harry's bed. With a frown he noticed the wet state of the sheets.

"I guess you already tried to pour cold water over him, didn't you?"

Ron stared at the floor and blushed.

"It worked yesterday."

Remus turned around and gave Ron a questioning look.

"Since when has this been going on? I realized that he looked tired, but I didn't know that there were sincere problems in waking him up."

"Well, the day before yesterday I had to call him several times, and yesterday I had to pour water over him. I told him to go to the infirmary, but he said that he was only tired."

Lupin nodded and turned back towards Harry. He put his palm on Harry's forehead, then checked his pulse. Then he sighed.

"Okay Harry, I am sorry for this."

With these words, he slapped Harry in the face, gently, but still firm enough to wake somebody who was merely sleeping. Again, Harry didn't move.

"Ron, could you give me another pair of Harry's pyjamas? I need to get him out of these wet clothes."

Ron quickly searched Harry's trunk and pulled out a pair of blue cotton pyjamas which he handed to Remus. Carefully, Remus pulled Harry into a sitting position so that he rested on his side, then pulled off Harry's wet pyjama top and replaced it with the dry one he had received from Ron. He muttered a drying charm for Harry's wet hair then put his arms under Harry's shoulders and knees and carefully lifted him up. The other four boys had watched the entire procedure in silence.

"Will he be okay, Professor Lupin?"

"I'll bring him to the infirmary now, Ron. I don't know why he doesn't wake, but I am not a doctor. I'm sure Madam Pomfrey will find out what is wrong."

With this, he stood up and left the room, Harry in his arms.

Ron suddenly remembered the morning a couple of months ago, when he had woken up and found Harry on the floor in front of his bed, screaming in pain. He had hoped never to feel so helpless again, but that day, at least Dumbledore seemed to have known what had been ailing his friend. And there had been symptoms, Harry had at least moved and winced. As horrible as those memories were for him, it still had been better than seeing Harry like this, lying there, oblivious to the world around him. A knock on the door pulled him away from his thoughts. Hermione stood in the doorframe, confusion clearly showing on her face.

"Ron, what has happened? I nearly ran into Professor Lupin, and he was carrying Harry out of the Common Room. Is he sick?"

Ron sighed.

"Sit down, Hermione. It might be better to tell you while you're seated."

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Meanwhile, Remus hurried down the corridors towards the Hospital Wing. Inwardly, he cursed himself that he had not been more persistent in finding out the reason for Harry's fatigue. If he had acted earlier, maybe this would not have happened.

He had not wanted to show it in front of Harry's friends, but he was deeply concerned about Harry's wellbeing. It was true, he was no doctor, but nevertheless he had gathered a certain medical knowledge over the years. And he could see no reason why the boy didn't wake up.

After what seemed like ages, he arrived at the infirmary. Quickly he pushed the doors open and stormed inside. He put Harry down onto the nearest bed and called out for Madam Pomfrey. It took only moments until the nurse stormed towards him, ready to scold Remus for making such a noise in the hospital, but nevertheless alarmed by the urgency in his voice.

"Remus, what in Merlin's name has happened that makes you shout around like that?"

"Madam Pomfrey, it's Harry. Some minutes ago, his dorm mates ran across me in the corridor and told me that they wouldn't wake up, not even when they poured cold water over him. I checked him as good as I could, he has no fever and his heartbeat is steady and regular. I don't see any reason why he doesn't wake."

The nurse raised an eyebrow.

"Has he had such problems before?"

"According to Ron, he's had it for three days now, and it got worse."

Madam Pomfrey nodded.

"Okay, I'll have a look at him. Maybe there's a simple explanation for it. Did he eat or drink something unusual that could have caused this?"

"Not that I know, but I can ask his friends."

As if on cue, the doors to the infirmary opened again and Ron and Hermione entered the room. While Madam Pomfrey closed the curtains around Harry and her, Remus made his way towards his students.

"Professor, what's wrong with Harry?"

"Ron, we don't know yet, I arrived just minutes ago. Madam Pomfrey has just started checking him, give her some time. Why don't we sit down and you tell me everything you know about this."

He directed the two distracted teenagers towards the group of chairs in the corner and they sat down.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

"Mom, is that really you?"

The red haired woman smiled warmly.

"Yes Harry, it's me. I'm glad that you came."

"But...what are you doing here? And where is 'here' anyway?"

"Oh Harry, that's not important now. Come here."

Harry cautiously made a step towards his mother while Lily opened her arms. And when he reached her, he realized that she was real, that he could touch her without grabbing nothing but thin air. With a deep sigh, he made another step forward and for the first time since fifteen years, Harry sank into his mother's embrace. For long moments they stood there, surrounded by fog, holding tightly onto each other, until Lily let go of her son and held him at arm's length.

"Where's Dad?"

"Oh, he is waiting for us at home. Shall we leave?"

"Home?"

Lily smiled.

"Yes, home. You didn't think that we were standing around in the fog all day, did you?"

Harry smiled.

"Well, actually I had not thought about it at all."

"Oh, it's alright dear, we'll have much time to talk about everything."

Lily pulled her son away into the fog and all the way he couldn't take his eyes off her. When she suddenly stopped in front of a house, he had no memory of how they had gotten here. Curiously, Harry stared at the house. It was rather large with a huge front garden, a swing silently dangling from a thick tree branch. The walls were white and the door and window frames had been painted in a dark blue colour. Upon the roof the smoking chimney showed that somebody inside of the house had lit a fire.

"This is it?" Harry asked with a smile on his face. Lily returned the smile.

"Yes, this is home. Come on in Harry, there is somebody who wants to meet you."

She opened the door and led Harry into the hall and then into a large and warm living room. While Harry looked around in amazement, he nearly missed the tall figure that was standing in front of the fireplace and looked at him. When his eyes finally settled on the man, his jaw dropped. This time, however, he didn't need a request to run into the man's open arms.

"Dad!"

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Remus sighed deeply. The conversation with Ron and Hermione had brought no explanation for Harry's state, and neither could Madam Pomfrey find a reason for his strange coma. The latter really scared Remus, because Madam Pomfrey might not be able to cure everything, but Remus had never seen her that clueless about something.

It was now late in the afternoon and Harry had not stirred once since he had been brought here.

Professor Dumbledore had been informed as soon as Madam Pomfrey had admitted that she could find nothing wrong with him, and he had examined Harry himself very closely. Now at least they were sure that no Dark Magic had been used on Harry.

In the afternoon they had called Snape into the infirmary to check whether Harry had been poisoned. The Potions master had examined the boy's entire body for wounds through which poison could have come into Harry's blood system, then he had taken a blood sample to exclude the possibility of food poisoning. He had returned to the dungeons to carry out the necessary tests and so far, he had not returned.

An hour ago, Remus had started pacing the small single room of the infirmary into which Harry had been moved to save him from the curious glances of other students. He felt utterly helpless and this feeling slowly drove him mad. There had to be something he could do, there simply had to. If he thought hard enough, he would have an idea. 'Think Remus, for Merlin's sake, think!'

"If you don't stop pacing around here, I'll throw you out Remus. Though we don't know what is wrong with Harry, your nervous behaviour surely is no help for him."

Madam Pomfrey had come into the room without Remus realizing it, and behind her came Dumbledore and Snape. Remus' eyes widened.

"And? Did you find something, Severus?"

Snape shook his head.

"If Potter has been poisoned, then with something I neither know nor am able to find. I think we can rule out the possibility of poison then."

Remus' shoulders sank down and he buried his face in his hands.

"But what are we supposed to do?"

Dumbledore made a step forward and put a hand on Remus' shoulder.

"I guess we only have to wait. It appears to be that Harry is really only sleeping, even though he doesn't react to any stimulus from us. Maybe he will wake up soon. But if his state does not change considerably during the next couple of days, we might have to move him to somewhere where he can receive a special kind of care."

Remus' eyes widened.

"St. Mungo's?"

The headmaster only answered with a calming gesture of his hands.

"Let's see and wait whether he wakes up or not. I'm not talking about hours here, I was saying that we would move him if his state doesn't change within days, maybe a week or even more. Until then, he is in more than qualified hands."

Remus nodded.

"Sirius will want to know this."

"I already sent an owl to his squad leader. If they can do without him, I'm sure he'll be here by tomorrow afternoon. And after everything that has happened during the last couple of days, I am convinced that the Death Eater sightings in Scotland were merely a distraction for the Aurors. He should be here soon."

Dumbledore gave Remus a serious look.

"Remus, I know that you care a lot about Harry, but after the conversation we had yesterday evening, I hope you know how important it is that the Defence lessons continue as scheduled."

Remus nodded.

"Yes Albus, I know. I'll stay here tonight, though. I will get some sleep, I promise. But I don't want to leave Harry alone now."

"Good. If anything changes, please inform me straight away. The boy is strong, Remus. Whatever is keeping him asleep at the moment, it won't keep him forever."

"I hope so, Albus. I really do."

Dumbledore and Snape left the office and while Madam Pomfrey checked Harry once again, Remus transfigured one of the chairs into a camp bed with a cushion and a blanket. It would become a long night, and though he had given his word to Dumbledore, he was not entirely sure that he would get any sleep at all.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Harry held tightly onto his father's robes as if he would vanish as soon as he let go. Tears were streaming down his face, but at the moment he could not care less. James patted his back and muttered comforting words into his son's ear. After some long moments, Harry finally let go and made a step back to watch his father closely.

James didn't appear to be older than twenty-one, the age at which he had been killed. Of course Harry had seen pictures of James before, but only now he fully understood why everybody told him that he looked just like his father. Standing in front of him was like standing in front of a mirror that showed a slightly older version, and had it not been for James' brown eyes, both could have been mistaken for one and the same person.

Confusedly, Harry glanced from his father towards his mother and back again.

"Where are we? How come that I can see you, talk to you and even touch you?"

Lily smiled.

"We're in your dream Harry."

Harry's stomach clenched.

"Then you're...you're not real?"

"Harry, we are as real as you want us to be."

"But, I mean you are dead, and if this only is a dream, then Ron will surely wake me up soon."

James shook his head.

"No Harry, you won't. If you want it, this is real. We are not merely your imagination, if you want us to be real, then we will be. It all depends on you."

He gave his son a warm smile.

"Harry, I'm so glad to see you. It's fine to see that Sirius has obviously taken good care of you. I wouldn't have expected less."

Harry returned the smile, but somewhat awkwardly. James' forehead frowned as he pushed his son down onto the sofa.

"What is it, Harry? Hasn't Sirius been a good guardian?"

Harry quickly shook his head.

"No, no that's not it. Sirius is simply great, and ever since I live with him he has done everything for me. He's the best person you could have chosen as my godfather."

James smiled a relieved smile, but Lily sat down next to them with a questioning look.

"What do you mean 'ever since you live with him'? Hasn't he taken you in right after we died?"

Harry sighed.

"He could not."

"What do you mean?"

"It's not easy to explain. You know why Voldemort could find you, don't you? That Wormtail betrayed you?"

His parents nodded.

"Well, when Sirius got to know this, he went after Wormtail. He cornered him in a street, but then Wormtail started shouting around that Sirius had been the one who had given you away, cut off his finger and blew up the street before he escaped as a rat. Sirius was blamed for your murder and for the twelve dead muggles in the street. He was sent to Azkaban without a trial and it took twelve years before he managed to escape. He has been freed barely a year ago, and ever since then I've been living with him."

Harry had often imagined how his father would have reacted if he had known what had been done to Sirius. He had imagined him to become angry at Wormtail, to feel sorry for Sirius or even to make a remark about the fact that Sirius had been the first wizard ever to escape from Azkaban. Never had he imagined him to react like this. James' lips moved into a thin, angry line and his eyes sparkled furiously.

"That idiot did what? Hunt down the traitor on his own? I swear, if I were still alive, I'd beat some sense into him. It was his task to take care of you if ever anything happened to us, the only thing I ever asked of him, and he threw that responsibility away for his personal revenge? How stupid is that? And where did you live instead? I doubt that the Ministry allowed Remus to take you in."

Harry shook his head.

"No, they didn't. In fact, I didn't get to know Remus until my third year at Hogwarts, when he came to teach DADA."

James merely raised an eyebrow, but without further comments about his friend being a teacher, he repeated the question.

"But where did you live?"

Harry sighed.

"With mom's sister and her husband."

"Petunia?" Lily shrieked. "You lived with Petunia and Vernon? Who came up with that idiotic idea?"

"Dumbledore."

"What?"

"He said that I would be safest with my blood relatives. Voldemort still wanted me dead."

Lily sighed deeply.

"Well, from what I know about my sister and Vernon, I guess you didn't have a fantastic childhood, did you?"

"It was okay."

Harry decided to keep the harsh treatment he had often received secret from his parents, especially after he had seen his father's earlier reaction.

"And all this is Sirius' fault. If that stupid idiot for once in his life had used his head before he acted, none of this would have happened to you. You would have gone and lived with him, just as he said it would be in case we died. But no, Mr. Black once more had to abuse my faith in him and do things his way - the way that never works out."

"Dad, please don't talk like that. Sirius is really sorry for what happened and I don't bear a grudge on him for what he did. And while he was still a fugitive, he more than once put himself into danger to be there for me. He's done more than anybody else for me, he was the first adult who really cared for me, the closest thing to a parent that I've ever had."

"Which would not have been the case if you had had a proper home and a proper guardian. Then you'd have received the treatment you deserved right from the start. If that poor excuse of a godfather had done what he was supposed to do for once in his life!"

"James, leave it. Harry surely doesn't want us to fight about this."

With a smile Lily turned towards her son.

"Tell me, I want to know everything that has happened to you Harry. Everything. We've got all the time in the world. So, who is this Ron you've been talking about?"

And with a content smile on his face, Harry began to tell.

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~

Remus woke with a start when he heard the sound of a closing door. At first, he didn't really know where he was, but as soon as his eyes fell onto the still unmoving figure of Harry next to him, his memory returned. He couldn't remember that he had lain down to sleep, he must have drifted off during his vigil at Harry's bed.

The sound that had woken him had been caused by Madam Pomfrey, who had entered Harry's small room with a tray of potions in her hand.

"Oh, sorry Remus. I didn't mean to wake you up."

"Nothing to be sorry about, I didn't mean to fall asleep in the first place."

Madam Pomfrey only shook her head at that statement.

"Well, don't let Albus hear that. But if you're already awake, you might help me with this."

She pointed at the potions she had positioned on the bedside table. Remus raised his eyebrows.

"What are these?"

"Some nutrition potions, vitamins and water. In his current state, Harry won't be able to eat on his own, so we'll have to give his body some support. He also needs liquid so that he doesn't dehydrate."

Remus nodded. Of course, he should have known that. He quickly got up from his bed and moved to Harry's side.

"Could you lift him up into a sitting position, Remus? That would be very helpful, thank you."

Carefully, Remus lifted Harry by the shoulders and brought him into a sitting position, supporting him with the side of his own body. Harry's head immediately dropped to the side, so Remus used his free hand to keep it steady.

"Let's just hope that he swallows on his own, otherwise we have a problem."

The nurse only shook her head.

"I don't think that this will be very much of a problem. He has not shown any signs that would indicate such complications, if he really is fast asleep, his reflexes ought to be normal."

Madam Pomfrey took the first goblet from the tray and raised it to Harry's lips. True to her words, Harry started swallowing as soon as she started pouring the liquid into his mouth. Remus let out a sigh of relief. Two goblets of potion and another one with water were given to the oblivious boy before the nurse gestured Remus to put him down onto the pillow again.

"I will repeat this procedure every morning and evening, and he should be given a glass of water every six hours at least. I'm afraid that's all I can do for him at the moment. When do you have your first class, Remus?"

"At half past ten. What time is it?"

"Some minutes past six, it's still quite early. I wanted to come here before the first students come running into the infirmary with made up excuses to get some free time."

Remus smiled. He knew very well what a hard time the nurse could give to those who only pretended to be ill, mostly this included a variety of very foul tasting potions that had no effect at all, except maybe from curing the students from their urge to miss classes.

"I think I'll stay here until ten, that should give me enough time for a quick shower before classes."

"Good. If something changes, call me immediately."

"Of course."

Madam Pomfrey left the room and Remus pulled a chair next to Harry's bed. He took one of the boy's hands into his own and searched frantically for any change in Harry's state.

"Oh Harry, I am so sorry that it always has to be you. If there was anything I could do to change this, believe me, I would not hesitate to do it. But we'll find a way, just don't give up. Do you hear me? Don't give up, Harry."

Remus didn't know why, but while he was sitting there and talked to the unresponsive form of Harry, he remembered their mocking conversation on the train ride to Hogwarts a week ago, when they had contemplated what kind of relationship they were actually having.

'Friends' was the term they had agreed on, but Remus knew that this word could never fully describe what he felt for Harry. Truly, he had never wanted to be 'uncle Remus', a nickname with which Sirius had teased him mercilessly. But he had held Harry as a baby, only minutes after he had been born, he had babysitted him on various occasions, he had been there when Sirius had taken him flying for the first time (and had afterward prevented Lily from murdering the child's godfather in cold blood), he had seen him starting to walk and talk. Remus could clearly remember the day when Harry had first said 'Moo'y' when seeing him, his arms outstretched to be lifted up.

And even though he had had no contact with Harry for twelve years, he had thought about him very often, wishing that he could have taken him in. But Dumbledore had decided that he should be raised far from the wizarding world, and that included no contact between him and the child. It had hurt, but Remus had trusted the old headmaster.

But as soon as Harry had finally found the world into which he truly belonged, his past had caught up with him with a vengeance. Ever since he had been eleven, Harry had been forced to face things nobody should ever witness.

Remus sighed.

Harry had never done something wrong, so why did he have to go through this, again and again? It was unfair!

Remus knew that he was being childish, but he couldn't help it.

Loud voices from the infirmary pulled him out of his thoughts. Madam Pomfrey was arguing with somebody, and that somebody sounded astonishingly like Sirius. How on earth could the owl have reached him so fast?

Only moments later, the door to the small backroom was pulled open and Sirius literally stormed into the room. Without even noticing Remus' presence, he ran to Harry's side and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Harry! Harry! Come on kiddo, what's wrong? Wake up Harry, please. It's me, Sirius!"

Madam Pomfrey came in shortly afterwards, a very stern expression on her face.

"Sirius, do you think that we didn't try that already? If you run and shout around in the infirmary, it will help nobody. Remain calm or I'll have to throw you out."

Sirius didn't even seem to notice her, his eyes were fixed on Harry as he tried everything he could think of to raise his godson from his sleep. Remus quietly told the nurse that he would take care of the disturbed man, and putting all her faith into Remus' reason, she left Harry's room, though somewhat reluctantly.

"Harry, please wake up!"

Remus got up, walked to the other side of the bed and forced Sirius to look into his eyes.

"Sirius, calm down please. It's no good if you start panicking now, okay?"

Sirius sighed.

"I know that you already tried everything, it's just...I thought that maybe if it was I who tried it, he'd wake up, you know? Stupid, isn't it?"

Remus smiled.

"No, no it's not. We need to try everything we can think of to wake him, but I'm afraid that we've ruled out every possible cause and we tried everything we could think of."

"You checked him on poisons?"

"Snape himself did it. If he can't find anything, then nothing's there."

"Dark Magic?"

"Neither Dumbledore nor I could find any indication for that."

"Any physical reasons?"

"Madam Pomfrey says no."

"Obviously, you also tried to rise him."

Remus nodded.

"Talked to him?"

"Yes."

"Shook him?"

"I think Ron did that, yes."

"Enervate?"

"I tried it myself."

"Cold water?"

"Definitely. He was dripping wet when I was called to him."

"Slapped him."

"Erm...yes."

Sirius' eyes grew wide.

"Who slapped my godson?"

"I did it. I didn't like it, but I thought maybe it might work. And I apologized."

Sirius buried his face in his hands.

"And what are we supposed to do now?"

"I know you don't like it, and neither do I, but we can only wait. It appears that he is really 'only' asleep, somehow caught wherever he is. We have to wait until he frees himself or decides to wake up again."

"That can't be all, Remus."

Startled, Remus realized that Sirius had started crying. He couldn't remember when he had last seen him crying, if he had ever seen him cry at all. Sirius had always been the strong one.

Tear filled eyes focussed on Remus, searching for anything that could give him hope.

"It can't be all we can do. We're supposed to help him..."

Remus didn't answer but pulled Sirius into his arms and let him cry on his shoulder. Sirius grabbed Remus' robes tightly, so tight that his knuckles turned white.

"I feel so helpless. Remus, I can't just sit by and watch this, hoping that he will wake up again."

"I know Sirius, I know. Don't think that I like the idea, but I'm afraid that we'll have to accept it. It's up to Harry to wake up again, and all we can do is being strong for him now. Don't give up Sirius, he needs you now. You more than anybody else."