Black Blood

Chapter 4
Truth And Lies

"Harry! Harry wake up! Wake up!" A girls voice pleaded. Harry twitched and his eyelashes fluttered against his cheek. Before he even opened his eyes, the same familiar girlie voice shouted, "I think he's awake! Come quick!"
Harry heard footsteps pounding toward his bed. His head rang. The headache took the better of him and he leaned over and threw up. He heard jumps and moans of disgust. He coughed and lay back down on the bed. He opened his eyes but everything was a blur. Everything he saw was double, double blurs, double headaches.
Before he could get his glasses, someone threw their arms around Harry's neck, nearly choking Harry. He didn't know what to do, or who is even was, so he just patted their back gently. The girl slowly pulled back. A wet mark stained his shirt. Harry looked up and saw the girl wipe her cheek. He could tell their movements, but not who that person actually was.
Harry reached over and tried to feel around for his glasses.
"Oh," a woman said, "here you are, dear."
"Thanks," Harry said in a scratchy voice. Where was he? He reached out and grabbed the glasses from the woman's hand and put them on. He looked around at everybody.
Mrs. Molly Weasley stood by the corner foot of where Harry lay. She looked at Harry with a smile on her face. But Harry could still see the twitch in the corners of her mouth. What was everybody so worried about and where was he?
Hermione Granger was sitting in a chair close to Harry's bed. Her hand grasping the edge of the bed tightly, as if thinking if she let go, she'd lose Harry forever. Tears streamed down her cheeks. Her eyes were puffy and red swelled in circles around her eyes. Teardrop lines stained her cheeks.
Ron Weasley was standing a few feet behind Hermione. His face held a look of confusion and terror. His eyes were bright, but looked tired.
"Where am I," Harry whispered to himself so no one could hear. His lips were parted slightly and his eyes looked confused.
Ginny Weasley was next to her brothers, Fred and Gorge Weasley. A wet tissue held under her left eye. Her eyes were as red as Hermione's, and as teary. Fred and Gorge had the first serious look on their faces that had seen in a long time. They both were sitting in chairs next to Ginny and had their fingers laced in their laps.
On the other side of Harry's bed, Mr. Arthur Weasley sat in a chair close to the corner edge of the bed Harry was in. His glasses sloped to the tip of his nose.
"How are you feeling, dear," Mrs. Weasley asked gently.
"Fine, thanks," Harry said in a confused voice. "Where am I?"
Hermione looked at Mrs. Weasley quickly. Her eyes looked scared, as if debating whether or not to tell Harry. She looked back down at the bed and bounced her fingers against the bed.
"Uh, well, Harry," she finally said, but her voice was shaky. "You're in St. Mungo's."
"What," Harry asked, barely believing where he was. He had pictured that he was at Ron's home or Hermione's. Not St. Mungo's.
"St. Mungo's, Harry," Hermione repeated. "St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries."
"Well, why am I here?" Harry asked trying to sit up. His back wouldn't allow him.
"Here." Hermione said levitating Harry's pillows.
"Thanks. Why am I here?" Harry leaned against the pillows and closed his eyes. What could've happened to him? Then the dream flashed through his head. The snake. Voldemort. The girl. Malfoy. Everything was so clear.
His chest stung. He winced and tightly held onto his chest.
"Harry, what's wrong?" Ginny asked, but staying away from Harry, as if he was a deadly virus she feared she would catch.
A painful sound came out of Harry's mouth and he ripped the hospital nightgown in front of his chest, along with the blankets. There was the snakebite. It was purple, black, red, and blue. They had obviously tried to get rid of it because Harry could still see the scar. But the mark and swell had still stayed.
Harry looked around at everybody. They were all looking down, or avoiding Harry's eye.
"What happened?" Since he knew the last person he saw or had talked to was Hermione, he looked at her. "What happened?"
She looked up and looked into Harry's eye. They were serious and demanding. Finding no way to back out of this, she said, "Well, uh, Harry. I came to pick you up after I picked up Ron, like I said I would, thinking you needed to see your friends again. He came with me and when we got there, you weren't there. The first thing Ron said was 'Department of Mysteries'. We still have no clue how you got there, but it wasn't the first time. We found you in...in that room and saw you on the floor bleeding to death-."
"Hey, hey, hey. What do you mean it wasn't the first time?" Harry asked stopping Hermione. When had this happened before and why couldn't he remember it?
"Oh. I was hoping you could talk to Professor Dumble-." Hermione said but stopped when the door suddenly swung open.
"Mr. Potter, you have another visitor." A lady with long blonde hair said.
Harry nodded.
"Right in here, sir." The lady said to someone behind the door.
"Thank you, nurse." A familiar old man's voice said. Professor Albus Dumbledore walked through the door. The nurse closed the door.
"Hello, Harry," Dumbledore said. "This may come as a shock to you, seeing as you have no memory of ever being here before. But you have been."
"Albus, maybe you should tell him." Mrs. Weasley suggested.
"My thoughts exactly, Molly." Dumbledore said.
"Hey, Hermione was telling me something I want to know." Harry said angered that people had interrupted Hermione. He wanted to know exactly what was going on.
"No. He needs to tell you. I wasn't even supposed to say a word about it." Hermione blushed and looked down at her hands.
"What is going on? Why am I here?" Harry asked. Anger bubbled inside him. The snakebite burned.
"You are here because of an unfortunate event. Of course, anytime you are admitted to St. Mungo's is an unfortunate. Although this is not the first time, you have no memory, correct? Yes. Are you sure you want to know exactly what had happened the first time you were here?"
"Um, let me think. I just got here and have no clue why. People are telling me I've been here before. Uh, of course I want to know why I'm here."
"Hermione, where did you leave off at?" Dumbledore asked looking at Hermione.
"When you came in, I was about to tell Harry about the first time. Even though you said not to, I had to. Before that, I was telling him how Ron and I found him in the Department of Mysteries."
"Good. Well, now. Where to begin? Oh yes. The first time, you arrived here, was during the first week of summer vacation. The guards of the Department were searching the area. When they reached the Department of Mysteries, they found you in there, lying on the floor twitching. They automatically reached me at the school, and informed me. When I heard, I contacted St. Mungo's and they said that Harry Potter had been admitted here. When I arrived here, they said you had been found twitching, bleeding, and abusing yourself, still no explanation why. Their guess and partly my guess is self-insanity. Before you had been found, earlier in the summer, your Aunt Petunia said you had been talking in your sleep. Saying things to your parents. Your aunt and uncle were worried, that usually lead to suicide.
"You were in a coma for about seven weeks. You would just stare at the ceiling, in this very room. You would say the designs on the ceiling were your parents. Your friends would often visit you and try to talk to you. But whenever you opened you mouth to speak, you would call them mum or dad.
"About five days ago, you were released. Your doctors had talked to me about memory reductions. I said it would be for the best. They performed a simple surgery to stop the insanity and make you forget about ever being here. Forty-two hours later, they let you go home. I had your Aunt Petunia stop by, after many hours of talking to her to convince her to come down. She reluctantly came and brought you back to her house. You pretty much lived like you always had before.
"But then a day after you were back at the Dursley's house, the insanity came back. It would only come back at night. When you'd wake up the next morning, you'd forget all about it and everything that happened the night, except your dreams. At some point during your dream, you would suddenly disappear to them. You would appear wherever your dream took you. Again, it was the Department of Mysteries. You would go there during the night, but when the dream was over, you'd appear back in your bed at the Dursley house.
"Fifteen days ago, you were found back in the Department of Mysteries again. Apparently, you hadn't gone back to the Dursley's. You were found bleeding to death and screaming. You pulse had gone down very low. You were on the verge of death. You've been in a deathly coma ever since."
Everyone was quiet. Hermione reached out and held Harry's hand. Her touch stung and hurt Harry.
"Why didn't anyone tell me before?" Harry asked solemnly. His best friends had been keeping something from Harry for the entire summer. They hadn't told him about his insanity until they were forced. And they hadn't even wanted to then.
Nobody answered.
"Why?" Harry asked again. Looking back up at all of them. "Why?! Why didn't you guys tell me before?! How could you have kept this from me?! You're supposed to be my best friends! Why?" Silently invisible tears fell down Harry's cheek.
"We were trying to protect you, Harry! We didn't want you getting hurt!" Hermione said. Tears fell down her cheeks. "We knew that if you found out, you'd go insane again and try to commit suicide! It always happens! Self-insanity always leads to suicide! We love you too much to see you die!"
Harry looked down at his hand that was being tightly held by Hermione. He looked at Ron who avoided his eye and looked down at his feet.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I wanted to. It was killing me that I couldn't tell you. You don't understand. I'm sorry. Professor Dumbledore's sorry. Ron's sorry. We're sorry! Okay? I know you probably hate us for lying to you. But please, you don't know why we did it. It was to protect you." Hermione held onto Harry's hand tighter. She looked down and rested her forehead on his hand. Her teardrops landed next to Harry's hand.
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
"Hermione's right, Harry," Mrs. Weasley said after being silent for about an hour. "We didn't want to see you hurting, but we couldn't tell you. Poor Hermione was practically starving herself she hated herself so much for not telling you the truth."
"You should count yourself lucky for even being alive," Ron said looking at Harry. "If the guards found you any later, you'd probably be dead right now."
"Ronald! Shh! Harry doesn't need to hear that! After all he's been through, you think he wants to know he could've died? Not another word about it." Mrs. Weasley warned.
"Ron's right, Harry," Hermione said still holding onto Harry's hand, but lifting her head. "If you had been found any later then you were, you'd be dead."
Harry looked at everyone around the room. Hermione and Ginny were crying. Ron couldn't look Harry in the eye. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley looked at Harry with sorrow in their eyes. Dumbledore looked at Harry. The twinkle in his blue eyes didn't show. And Fred and Gorge Weasley were looking down.
For the first time in six years, Harry felt alone again.
About two hours of awkward silence later, the door to Harry's room opened.
"Visiting hours is over. Mr. Potter needs to rest. You may come back tomorrow at noon." A nurse said.
Hermione, Ginny, Fred, and George stood up as the other walked out. Hermione left the room last.
"I'm sorry, Harry," was the last thing Harry heard her say before the door was slammed behind her.