Apocalypse Return

Chapter Five

"C'mon, Harry. Come over here."

Ginny motioned him over as the person in the bed struggled to sit up. At first, Harry thought that it was just a skeleton, somehow animated. It took him a couple moments as he cautiously walked over to realize that it was just an extremely gaunt man. Harry's brain was trying to tell him something, but his mind just couldn't seem to grasp it. Instead of concentrating on figuring out what it was, he absorbed the man's appearance.

Skeletal was certainly the correct first impression. If there was any meat on the man's bones, it was certainly doing a good job at hiding. Harry could almost count the ribs covered by the sheet. The skin that was the only covering for the fragile bones was almost translucent and paper-thin. The pallidness was accentuated by the scraggly black hair covering the top of his head, thin stringy strands limply lying on the pillow. When Harry met the man's sunken, pale eyes, a washed-out blue-gray color, it finally hit him.

"S- s- s-" He couldn't speak, his knees felt about to give out.

"Harry," Sirius Black croaked, trying his damndest to sit up.

Miraculously, Ginny was by Harry's side and hustled him to the bed before his legs could crumple. As he sat down on the edge, still shocked speechless, Ginny propped Sirius up with a couple pillows. Then she kissed Harry on the cheek and headed for the door.

"I'll leave you two alone," she said brightly. "Just be quiet so Dumbledore doesn't catch you."

Harry didn't want her to go, but couldn't think up a plausible excuse to keep her in the room before she left and closed the door behind her. He was left alone in a room with a man he had been certain was dead only a few moments ago.

He wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry.

Sirius wanted to reach out and hug his godson. But... he couldn't. First of all, he was too weak; he could barely move. More importantly, it had been two years. Many things could change in a shorter period of time. Two years was certainly enough time to go through those ridiculous stages of grief, enough time to get over his death. It was possible that Harry wouldn't want to bother with restarting a relationship of any sort.

Harry stared at the skeleton-man in the bed, utter shock overwhelming his mind. He couldn't formulate any coherent sentences for a long time. When he finally regained his voice, he said the first thing that came to mind.

"My God, you look awful."

A sober laugh rattled out of Sirius' throat. "Being one of the living in the land of the dead tends to do that to you,' he said dryly.

Abruptly, Harry lost his battle with his tears. Hot, salty liquid was pouring down his cheeks before he realized he was crying. He leaned down and hugged Sirius tightly, able to feel each and every bone in the older man's body. Deep sorrow moved through him at this, but it was no contest to the fervent joy that was already there.

Sirius held Harry as tightly as he could in his weakened condition. They had told him that Voldemort was dead, that Harry had survived the epic battle. Btu there was a piece of him, a large piece of him, that had refused to believe them. The only proof it needed to keep the dark whisper in the back of his mind was that everyone refused to let him see his godson and they rarely talked about how he was doing.

Now, all that constant fretting seemed ridiculous to him, the product of a restless mind suffering from cabin fever. It was ridiculous to think that Dumbledore would have lied to him, that Moony would have too, along with everyone else. His name was cleared, he was alive again, Voldemort was dead, and Harry had survived. Could life get better?

Harry's thoughts were running along similar lines. His mind was still having a hard time wrapping around the sudden return of the first family he had ever had. Not ever having been a touchy-feely person, not even with Ginny, Harry was soon overcome by embarrassment at his tears and self-consciousness of the close contact.

For a moment after he drew away, Sirius' eyes were sad. Once in a while, he thought that he was back behind the veil, hallucinating all of this. Perhaps he had stopped for a bit of a rest after traveling across the jagged landscape, tortured spirits dogging every step. It was quite conceivable that he would wake to the land of the black sky and red sea, this all being a pleasant dream. Having someone around him, talking to him, touching him helped to bring him back to reality during those times and reassure him that everything was real. It got to the point where he wanted someone in the room, sitting next to him, all the time.

Harry turned away for a moment to dry off his face and try to regain his self-control, Sirius taking a moment to do the same. When he turned back, his godfather was studying him intently.

"You look awful," the haggard man said matter-of-factly. "But you grew up well."

"Thanks," Harry replied, smiling softly. The simple approval in the man's voice buoyed his spirits, for the first time making him want to 'get better'.

Cutting their time together short, Ginny popped back into the room. "It's almost time for the nurse to come 'round again, Harry. C'mon now, you have to get back to the ward."

She skipped forward happily and hugged Sirius, pecking him on the cheek. "See you tomorrow, Sirius. Glad you were awake."

"Thank you, Ginny."

Harry hadn't remembered the two being that close, since they hardly knew each other before Sirius... and Ginny was just a child then. He supposed that while he had been unconscious, Ginny must have been visiting Sirius, knowing that there were few who would be by to see the wrongly accused criminal.

"Sneak back again soon, Harry, okay?" Sirius asked, his smile conspiratory but his eyes begging.

"Soon as I can," Harry nodded, reluctant to leave.

"Let's go Harry." Ginny grabbed his arm and began to pull him out of the room. "I promise, I'll bring him back as soon as possible tomorrow, Sirius."

She dragged Harry back to the other room, letting him lean almost his full weight against her in order to get there faster. Just as he was sitting on the edge of the bed, the nurse with the pinched face came in, inspecting every bed and checking every patient.

~~End Chapter Five~~