It May Be Raining

Chapter Thirteen

A Rainbow Above You

"You´d better let somebody love you, before it´s too late..."

Harry felt that all too familiar stab of pain at the back of his neck as he lifted his head to look around. If he remembered correctly, he should be dead. He was hit directly with the Killing Curse, he was sure of it. If this is what being dead felt like, Harry thought, it´s not so bad, it sort of feels like nothing. He couldn´t see really, everything was a blur, his right arm felt numb and his head pounding was the only thing that made him think that maybe he was still alive. Of course he was alive, he thought rationally as he tried to move, sending acute shocks of pain through his limbs. He felt with his free hand and discovered that his vision was only blurry because his glasses had been removed. They must be around somewhere. He had to see where he was.

He pulled himself slowly to a sitting position. His right arm seemed to be caught under something. He reached over and found his glasses on a table next to his bed. School? Was he back at school? That seemed too much to hope. Harry found that it was only a vague hope as the sterile white walls and curtains came into view telling him that he was in a hospital room somewhere.

Ginny´s head was lying on the bed beside him, one arm he could feel, was draped across his knee. Her other hand was holding his, explaining why it was numb--it must be asleep. He hated that feeling, but couldn´t chance to move it out from under her for fear that he would wake her. Despite the pain in his neck and spine, Harry sat up and leaned over Ginny examining her pale face, just to assure himself that she was not hurt. Other than a livid purple bruise on her left cheek and the cut on her lip she seemed fine, peaceful in sleep. Harry noted her bandaged hand that was resting on his knee. Only her small fingers peeked out from the mass of gauze wrapped around it.

He breathed a sigh of relief. She was safe, they were both safe.

His movement must have been enough to wake her as he felt her stir and lift her head off of the covers.

"Harry, are you awake?" she asked in a whisper, not wanting to wake him if he wasn´t.

Harry nodded groggily and she smiled.

"How do you feel," she asked standing up and leaning over him to check his vitals.

"Terrible. No, worse than that I think," Harry said shifting his pillows into a more comfortable position. Ginny helped him with the pillows and then laughed.

"Well, that´s to be expected under the circumstances," she smiled down at him.

"Ginny, I have to talk to you," Harry said, rubbing his forehead. It hadn´t bothered him so much back in Azkaban, but now that he´d had time to notice it, his scar was burning dully.

"What is it, Harry?" Ginny asked.

"About the amulet," Harry elaborated.

A look of disdain flashed across Ginny´s face briefly and she cut him off.

"Sirius asked me to let him know when you were awake. I think I´d better go and get him," she said, retreating before Harry had the chance to stop her.

She was angry with him, Harry could tell.

***

"Harry, I´m glad you´re awake. There´s a lot we were hoping you´d clear up for us," Sirius said with a relieved smile as he took a seat beside Harry´s bed. "Hermione said that it was Voldemort she´d seen attack you. Is that correct?"

"Yes, he used the Killing Curse," Harry said bluntly. He was more interested in his friends than Voldemort at the moment. "How is Hermione? And Ron, is Ron all right?"

Sirius placed a hand on Harry´s arm and assured him that both of his friends were fine. Ron was found in the Great Hall among other survivors. He wasn´t awake at the moment but Hermione was with him and was unhurt. Harry also learned that he´d been out cold for two days.

"How about Imogen and Malfoy. I saw them fall. And Professor Lupin, did you get to Professor Lupin-," A dark expression passed over his godfather´s face telling him that one or all of the people he´d just mentioned did not make it out of Azkaban alive. Harry watched Sirius with impatience as he sat next to him with a far off stare.

"I don´t know who Imogen is, but if you could give me a last name, I´ll look into it for you. If by Malfoy you mean Draco Malfoy, he´s about to be released. He suffered a head injury but he should be fine. Professor Snape will be looking after him for a while, as his father seems a little too busy at the moment to bother." There was a note of disgust in his voice as he spoke. "As for Remus," he paused and closed his eyes. He would have to tell Harry. As much as he didn´t want to say it out loud, he had to. For two days he´d been suspending the belief that his last true friend was dead. Saying it would bring about a finality that he just wasn´t ready to deal with yet.

Harry didn´t need him to say it. All he needed was a negative shake of the head. That was all Sirius could offer at the moment. Harry knew how it felt to be powerless in the face of evil. He´d watched people he loved and cared about die. It was a hard reality to be faced with: the fact that you can´t save everyone, no matter how much they meant to you.

For Sirius it was haunting. His life seemed to be littered with the memories of people he´d loved and lost. In the matter of only two short days, he´d lost one of the greatest and best of friends he´d ever had. He´d lost another school mate, Mundungus Fletcher, who´d also died shortly after the siege on Azkaban from complications of a curse, and he´d almost lost his reason for living, his purpose in life, his godson, Harry. He seemed to teeter on the breaking point. If Harry had died, and it was a pretty close fight, he might as well have flung himself over the edge without even blinking. He was that close.

"I´m sorry, Sirius. I saw him. I saw him and I couldn´t get to him. It´s my fault. I should have known that Peter would go for Remus. His hand is silver, it would have been the only way-," Harry stopped at the weary expression on Sirius´ face. He looked as if another word, another syllable would drive him over the edge of sanity. Harry fell silent.

Sirius´ mask of calm composure crumbled into one of intense anguish. He bent to Harry´s level and gathered him into his arms hugging him so tight that Harry had to shut his eyes at the pain it produced in his neck and back. But it was comforting. Only Mrs. Weasley had ever hugged Harry like that before.

"Don´t be sorry, Harry. Remus knows there was nothing you could do. He doesn´t blame you and neither do I. I´m glad I still have you. We all thought it was too late, but-I´m glad you´re okay, Harry." He was bordering on insanity but Harry let him have it out. They´d all been under a vast amount of pressure in just a few short days. Sirius just needed one small moment to show weakness. He was always the strong and collected one. Harry was more than willing to be that for him if he´d needed it. He´d finally grasped the concept of family.

After a moment Sirius stood and cleared his throat. "Until Ron wakes up, we can´t finalize the funeral arrangements, so everything´s sort of up in the air at the moment."

`Until Ron wakes up´, what did that mean? Harry must have had a confused look on his face because Sirius explained immediately.

"The ministry was attacked just before Hogwarts was invaded. Several Ministry workers were killed in the siege."

Harry felt his insides shift uncomfortably. Had Mr. Weasley been killed as well? He didn´t think he could take it if another person died right now. It was all too much. His head swam with the realization.

"Who was it?" Harry said, dreading the answer.

"I don´t think I´m the right one to tell you that, Harry. But Hermione would like to talk to you, if you´re up to it," Sirius said with a glance at the door, where the puffy eyed and tired but familiar face of his friend peeked in.

"Of course," Harry said, eager to talk to her, to see if she and Ron were all right.

Sirius squeezed his hand and then left. He´d had a lot of things to attend to. Harry knew he couldn´t stay for long.

***

"How´s Ron?" Harry asked as Hermione took Sirius´ vacated seat.

"Hasn´t woken up yet. He has a lot more color now, though. Ginny´s with him at the moment," Hermione said with her best attempt at a smile.

"And you, Hermione? How are you holding up?" Harry asked tentatively. Before he´d even finished the sentence, silent tears began to form in her eyes.

"Not very well, I´m afraid," she admitted wringing her hands methodically. "I talked to the Patils yesterday afternoon. They took Parvati off of the drip she was on. There was no hope for her. She was too far-gone. I tried to get to her, Harry. Really, I tried. The Dementor overtook both of us." She was almost hysterical now.

Harry nodded silently.

He knew she was not to blame, but also knew how it felt to be close to a situation like that. Constantly wondering if there was something different you could have done. Harry thought about his meeting with Cedric´s parents after his death. He´d felt awful. Hermione felt the same at the moment, he was sure.

Harry moved to one side of his bed inviting Hermione to sit next to him. She smiled gratefully, moving to sit next to him on the hospital bed, burying her head in his shoulder and weeping silently. Harry wrapped his arms around her and rested his head on hers.

There was nothing more to do or say.

He just let her cry.

***

"Hermione! He´s awake!" Ginny came barreling into the hospital room and stopped as she caught sight of Harry and Hermione. Asleep. She reproached herself for being less than considerate and was glad that her racket hadn´t startled them. Hermione hadn´t slept in days. Of course, none of them had, really.

She almost regretted having to wake them. They looked so peaceful and unaware of their problems back here on earth.

With a sigh she shook Hermione´s shoulder.

"Hmmm?" Hermione muttered.

Ginny apologized quickly and informed her of Ron´s progress. Hermione jumped up suddenly asking what time it was. As Ginny told her, she realized that she´d been sleeping for forty-five minutes, record time for Hermione lately.

She rushed hurriedly from the room and then dashed back to the door to ask Ginny to stay with Harry. As if Ginny needed asking. She glanced over at Harry who remained asleep. She pulled the covers back up to his chest and moved his arm so that it wasn´t hanging off the bed.

She sat in the chair beside the bed and watched him. There was so much she needed to tell him but there was never an opportunity suitable. For instance, at this very moment she knew that her mother and Hermione were informing Ron that their older brother, Percy had been killed in the attack on the Ministry. She didn´t want to be the one to tell Harry. She hoped that he would remain asleep until Hermione returned.

Running on auto kept Ginny alert enough to perform her duties but dead enough to ignore the pain. She hadn´t believed her mother and father when they´d both told her about Percy. She hadn´t even been back from Azkaban for twenty minutes when she´d gotten the news. She insisted that her dad take her along to identify the body. She was firm on this point. She would never really believe it until she saw him for herself. She´d been sick immediately afterward.

Harry was stirring. Oh God! She knew what would be coming next. The amulet, he would want to know why she´d kept its real powers from him. He would be angry. Another part of her rationalized, she was mad at him as well for ignoring her and taking it off. Why did he always feel that he needed to be so bloody brave and noble all the time? He´d almost died. He was far more important than her. It was reckless the way he threw his life around, really.

"Hermione had to leave," Ginny said mechanically as Harry turned and spotted her, "Ron´s awake, she´s with him now."

"Well, I wanted to see you anyway," Harry said and smiled at her.

She did not smile back.

She would have done anything for him to smile like that a year ago, before everything happened. It was still charming but she needed to distance herself from him. She was really, far more dangerous to him than he realized.

"Why did you do it, Harry?" Ginny asked, sounding a little angrier than she´d intended.

"Do what, Ginny?" he asked, smile replaced by a confused frown.

"The amulet. Why did you ignore me? I said not to take it off."

"They would have killed you if I hadn´t and it would have killed you if I´d kept it on," he said, raising his voice to match hers. He was getting just as upset as she was.

"Then you should have let me die! Harry, you really don´t know what you´ve done. I will only hurt you. Don´t you understand that?" she said frantically. It frightened Harry a little to see her so adamant about her own death. He couldn´t hurt her and vice-versa. He loved her. Why wouldn´t she allow herself to see that? There was only one possibility and Harry wasn´t willing to admit it. She didn´t love him.

"What is all of this shouting, Virginia Ellen Weasley?" Mrs. Weasley asked in a thoroughly shocked voice as she came through the door. "How could you yell at one of the patients? At Harry! Explain yourself young lady!"

Ginny stopped to look at her mother and then brushed past her, excusing herself with, "I have to make my rounds."

Molly looked after her and then came to sit next to the shell shocked Harry.

***

"You´ll have to excuse her, dear. She´s been under a lot of stress, you understand. With all of this business and her brother dying and dear Professor Lupin, she was always so fond of him," she stopped, producing a tissue to wipe her eyes. "She´s been volunteering as and assistant on top of it all." She shook her head at the door that Ginny had just left.

Harry knew that it was rude to interrupt but he couldn´t take it anymore, "I´m sorry, Mrs. Weasley, her brother died? Ron? That´s not possible-."

Molly cut him off with a shake of her head, "No, Harry. Not Ron, dear. Percy. The Ministry was ambushed the night you poor dears were attacked. He died along with a few others at Ministry. Professor Dumbledore, bless his heart, tried to help but there where too many for even a great wizard such as himself."

"The Headmaster was at the Ministry?" Harry asked, putting the pieces together.

"Yes, and he feels awful about leaving you dears on your own," she added placing a hand over her heart.

"Have you seen Ron?" He asked as he remembered that he´d just woken up.

"Yes, dear. Ron is perfectly fine. Would you like to see him," she asked with the smallest of smiles. Harry nodded, eager to see his friend. "Of course you may, dear. But after you eat." She stepped out into the hall and forcefully pulled an orderly aside, asking that Harry be brought some food. "It´s not as good as mine, dear, but it´ll do," she said as the orderly came back with a tray.

Ginny followed shortly after the busy man whisked out and announced to her mother that the Grangers had arrived and Penelope was asking for her.

"I´ll be right back, dear," Mrs. Weasley said, gently patting Harry´s arm and bustled out into the lobby.

Ginny stood awkwardly in the doorway, but was relieved at not having the opportunity to speak or be spoken to. Dumbledore emerged in the doorway behind her and asked for a private word. Ginny seemed more than happy to oblige.

***

"I was wondering if you could clear up a few matters for me, Harry," the weary Headmaster asked producing Ginny´s gift she´d given to Harry and taking the vacant seat next to Harry. Placing it gently on the table beside the bed he surveyed Harry guiltily.

Harry heaved a sigh and sat up. He knew what was coming, the customary chat that seemed to take place after some dastardly event that usually punctuated his year at Hogwarts, as it had for every year he´d attended there. Just once, he´d like to have a normal year with no ominous conversation with the Headmaster at the end of it.

"Go ahead, Professor," Harry said dully.

"Let me see if I´ve put the pieces together correctly. Stop me if I miss anything."

Harry nodded.

"Miss Weasley made this for you with Professor Flitwick´s help. She didn´t fully explain how it worked to you for fear that you would never accept it, quite brilliant of her, really. I never realized what a determined and intelligent girl she was, kind of course, caring, yes, naturally. But when it comes to you she can be very narrow sighted." He stopped to check Harry´s expression with a twinkle in his spectacle-framed eyes. So he suspected that he´d had feelings for her. Great. What a mystery.

"Yes, she was willing to spare you pain and death at the expense of her own, very noble of her, or very desperate. I´m not quite certain which it is myself. She´s determined to keep her secrets. However, Voldemort was lying in wait, as we suspected he would be. Fudge, God rest his foolish soul, would not listen to reason and take the Dementors out of Azkaban. Voldemort used them to strike at the Ministry first as it had been divided by followers of both Fudge and himself and those loyal to justice, truth, the overall good of human kind and all that goes along with it, people like Mr. Weasley and his son."

Dumbledore betrayed a hint of regret at the mention, but recovered almost instantly. "As I was out visiting the Ministry at the time of the attack, Voldemort chose that moment to get to you at the school. Lucius Malfoy knew that I was not present to protect you and so struck accordingly. Lucius Malfoy was masquerading as one of our teachers. A teacher, loyal and trusted, had been spying on Voldemort and his inner circle, disguised as a Death Eater. Crouch, Jr. to be precise. He´d been doing it all summer. I regret that I never knew he was in any danger."

"But," Harry interrupted, "the school is protected. How could they all have just Apparated in like that?"

Dumbledore smiled. "Yes, the school has defenses, called wards. When Lucius Malfoy posed as Porofessor Snape, through a Polyjuice mixture, he was able to disassemble the recent security measures that we put in place as well as those that have existed for centuries. I regret that I let him slip unnoticed into my school. A lot could have been avoided if I had taken the time to really look at him. I always thought I knew Professor Snape well enough to tell if there was an impersonator, but alas! Lucius Malfoy was a good pretender. He fooled me and the rest of the staff." He sat in quiet reflection for a moment before continuing,

"The fact still remains that we have no idea how you survived the Killing Curse as your defenses had weakened with Voldemort´s regeneration. As I suppose it, he took a little of the curse´s power on himself. He´d collapsed just as you had. His Death Eaters pulled out soon after that. Wormtail Apparated away with his motionless master before I had a chance to investigate further. You are still linked to him, Harry, even more so now, you share the same blood. That´s a very strong form of magic," Dumbledore finished as Harry listened intently. It all made sense except the part where he was still alive. Harry still couldn´t fathom how he´d gotten out of there with his life. In the back of his mind he´d hoped that Voldemort had perished along with the rest of his evil band, but he knew that this was too much to wish for. He was still out there.

"I´m very sorry that I wasn´t there to protect all of you. My students are my life and I care about each and every one of you. Please know that, Harry." Dumbledore paused as Harry nodded. He´d known that instinctively somehow. "I´ve had to let countless of my loved ones go. Numerous students died two days ago. That was my fault and I will never live to see a day where I can forgive myself for that."

Dumbledore got up quickly and exited the hospital room. Harry did not see the tears forming in the old man´s eyes. He really had regretted not being there for his students, he always would.

***

Harry dressed dispassionately in black trousers and a shirt and sweater of the same color. All of this black, along with that of his hair, lent a washed out and weary pallor to his skin. The long period of mourning that they´d entered into seemed to have no ending in sight. They´d been to at least five funerals and countless memorial services. This would be the hardest of them all.

Harry really didn´t mind. It was a way to remember all of these innocent, would-be saints and heroes that seemed to live to meet a sad end. Harry felt as though he was one of them simply waiting his turn. But the thing about the collective mourning of the whole community over so many lost at once was that Harry was not alienated. He was just one in a sea of people wearing black. It gave him a chance to regret the loss of the people he´d loved openly, instead of putting on a face that seemed to say everything was okay so stop asking. He´d had to do that with Cedric. Oh, he´d felt the loss all right. But a loss he´d felt and witnessed all on his own, a place that no one else could reach.

Today a lot of people, people who loved Remus Lupin would be in that place, with him and he wouldn´t be alone. He´d blend in, for once in his life.

He walked slowly down to the kitchen where Sirius was drinking his tea distractedly, two piles of papers in front of him. They were mostly legal documents that he´d been bent over for two days. Case files in manila folders, yellowing Daily Prophet articles. Boxes of photos were stacked neatly in a chair next to him. This was what Sirius did before Azkaban. Harry couldn´t believe it. It still looked strange to him. Brow furrowed as he poured over tiny print and large stacks of boring legalese. He´d been an attorney for the Ministry before it all. He insisted that he would never go back to that life. Twenty hours of everyday spent hunched over other people´s problems. Now he was reviewing his own case, the one that never made it to trial. He was free to do what he liked now, no more hiding with the way things were at the Ministry. Plus, there were witnesses, scores of witnesses. Peter, in a fit of over zealous loyalty to his master, murdered Cornelius Fudge and was also seen at Azkaban, though Lucius Malfoy escaped undetected. Sirius was bound to find both of them, and their leader.

Harry was still getting used to the new place. He sometimes lost his way to his room or the kitchen or the bathroom. The place was big. Sirius didn´t seem too comfortable in it either. Although Harry didn´t know the story, Sirius had given him some cryptic information about it. The house was his father´s. Trent Black was President of a large bank in London, a muggle. For some reason that Harry chose not to canvas at the moment, Sirius did not have fond memories of this place or its former owner. He´d never spent more than two days in it after his father died when he was five years of age.

They would be moving again after Sirius had set all of his affairs in order. The house, Hampstead Green Park, would be sold at auction. Now that Sirius had it back along with his other possessions and immense amount of back pay and lost wages, this was not something he wanted to keep around. It´s all for the best, Harry reasoned. Sirius was unhappy here and Harry was none too fond of the place either.

Harry sat at the polished oak table and pulled the most recent issue of the Prophet in front of him, the issue that ran after the siege on the Ministry and Azkaban.

Victims of the attack on the Ministry of Magic:

(Lovely, he thought, they´d give us a run down of whose out for the count. He shook his head and read on.)

Timothy S. Anderson, Dept. of the Mysteries

Sarah C. Bright, Secretary to Ministry Staff Advisor

Collin Brooks, Custodial

Camilla C. Cresley, Dept. of the Mysteries

David Crowley, Accidental Magic Reversal Squad

Amos C. Diggory, Dept. For the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures

Lincoln M. Durham, Committee on Experimental Charms

Mundungus G. Fletcher, Dept. of Magical Law Enforcement

Theresa Frond, Dept. of Magical Law Enforcement

Cornelius R. Fudge, Minister of Magic...

And the list went on interminably. Percy´s name was on it, spelled wrong of course. Crouch had gone around for a year referring to him as Weatherby. He´d been the target of numerous jokes on the subject forever. Harry remembered how funny it had been at the time. Fred and George had loved to push his buttons. It was visible at yesterday´s memorial service for their older brother that the two of them regretted not taking him seriously. He didn´t know much about siblings, but he was sure Percy knew it was just their way of caring.

All of the Weasleys had taken the loss pretty hard. Harry had seen Ginny at the funeral. He was surprised at how ill she´d looked. She never cried once though, giving rise to concern for Harry. She seemed to be going through the motions of life but had given up the bit where you actually live. There was nothing he could do. He´d already tried to talk to her. She wouldn´t forgive him for choosing to forfeit his safety for her own, yet she´d wanted to do the same for him in giving him the amulet. He couldn´t take the double standard.

Of those that lost their lives at Hogwarts and Azkaban, the ones Harry felt the most were Parvati Patil who´d received the Dementor´s Kiss, Dennis Creevey who Voldemort had killed along with scores of others when they´d refused his legion and creed, Alicia Spinnet who Harry had always seen as a big sister, dispensing advice and the odd Quidditch tip, she was taken out by the Killing Curse, Fred had informed him yesterday at the funeral, Cho Chang, who´d just given up on it all and did not bother to fight back and Dean Thomas, who would be remembered as one of those legendary heroes, he´d saved five lower year students, seeing them safely out of the castle before he was struck down in the end.

Their voids would be felt in the halls of the school interminably.

"Ready to go, Harry? Its nearly time," Sirius asked, not looking up from the file he was scanning, it was his own, a thick file documenting every one of his charges: Twelve Counts of Murder, Two Counts of Conspiracy to Murder and one Count of Attempted Conspiracy to Murder, a long rap sheet for an innocent man.

"Yep, nearly," Harry said tossing the paper aside and throwing back the rest of his tea.

***

It was a perfect late May morning. Too perfect in Harry´s opinion, the air had the faint smell of wildflowers on the gentle breeze. The more elaborate bouquets that lined the mahogany coffin danced gaily around it. Harry sat next to Sirius, hands folded in his lap, he stared at the grass that swayed at his feet as some people he´d never seen before spoke in succession about the `dearly departed.´ It sounded like bullshit in Harry´s opinion. He wondered if half of the people present would still be here if they knew about his `condition´. He´d always been persecuted and went through life loving everyone, treating them fairly when they would just as soon slam the door in his face. Harry had loved Remus. He was Harry´s first tangible and real link to his father. He´d helped him through a time when he´d thought his godfather had betrayed his parents and was hunting him. He´d come to save him last week and lost his life for it. Harry would always love Remus.

He lifted his head to pay attention as Dumbledore got slowly to his feet and neared the coffin. He turned to speak.

"Many of you will never realize just how lucky you have been to know this man. The realization of it has already passed you by. It will never come again. Others knew the real Remus--intelligent bordering on genius, quiet, gentle; had a certain knack for causing mischief and coming out of it as innocent as a boy angel, yet never allowing his friends to take the rap for something that he´d had a hand in as well," Dumbledore paused to smile in Sirius´ direction. Sirius nodded his agreement. "Loyal," he continued, "loyal to his friends even when it seemed that they were less than deserving of it. Passionate about his work and his students, some of his happiest days where when he was teaching, teaching some of you out there and some who are no longer with us," his expression darkened and he paused for composure. Harry watched his every move, listened to every syllable. "Remus," he said, turning to speak, placing a hand on the shiny, polished wood of the casket, "we will not forget all that you have done for those you loved. Do not forget us."

Harry and Sirius stood by the casket as the mourners moved past and fizzled out. The funeral was over and most people had gone. Harry sat in a chair next to Arabella Figg and watched Sirius silently as he talked with a bent elderly lady, Remus´ mother. She handed him a case and they embraced. She walked away dabbing at her eyes.

Sirius opened the case and removed the walnut hued violin that it contained. Surprising! Sirius knew how to play it--extremely well.

Arabella wept silently at Harry´s side as the sounds of `Danny Boy´ drifted past them on the air. Harry had often heard Remus whistling that tune as he graded essays and the like. He smiled.

When Sirius had finished, he tossed both violin and bow into the six-foot hole that Remus lie at the bottom of. Harry heard him say, "It´s yours now friend. Play it well in heaven."

He moved to where the last two mourners sat and placed a hand on Arabella´s shoulder, which she covered with one of her own, burying her face in the other as she cried silently.

Harry walked back to the car lined avenue beside a stoic Sirius when, out of nowhere, he quoted Christ, saying, "Come to me all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."

***

"Desperado, why don´t you come to your senses?

You´ve been out ridin´ fences

For so long now

Oh, and you´re a hard one

But I know that you´ve got your reasons

The things that are pleasin´ you

Can hurt you somehow

Don´t you draw the Queen of Diamonds boy,

She´ll beat you if she´s able

You know the Queen of Hearts is always your best bet

Now it seems to me some fine things

Have been laid upon your table

But you only want the ones that you can´t get

Desperado, you ain´t getting no younger

Your pain and your hunger

They´re drivin´ you home

And freedom, oh freedom

Well that´s just some people talkin´

Your prison is walkin´ through this world all alone

Don´t your feet get cold in the wintertime?

The sky won´t snow and the sun won´t shine

It´s hard to tell the nighttime from the day

And you´re losin´ all your highs and lows

Ain´t it funny how the feelin´ goes away?

Desperado, why don´t you come to your senses?

Come down from your fences-

Open the gates

It may be rainin´

But there´s a rainbow above you

You´d better let somebody love you

Before it´s too late."

`Desperado´ by The Eagles