I Saw My Lady Weep

29: Life Carries On And On And On

The next day...

Harry stared in horror at the jumbled mass of wires and tubes and machines that surrounded Ginny. She lay motionless on the bed, and it was all he could do not to rush in and hold her. Healer Allen had assured him that this was the last thing he actually should do, however. At least right now. Harry could see why. The entire left side of her body seemed to be encased in plaster and inflatable rubber. Ginny's head was in some sort of ring-like metal cage. There were plastic tubes taped to her face, and wires stuck to her chest, and bags of liquid slowly seeping things into her arms.

The Healer was carefully and slowly running his wand over Ginny's body, occasionally making comments over his shoulder to a quill automatically recording everything on a floating piece of parchment. Every once in a while the Healer made a comment that was loud enough for Harry to hear. Most were along the lines of Oh, very clever, or Huh... now why did they do that? It was beginning to drive the boy spare. He glanced around the ward... Percy and Arthur Weasley were making sure none of the Muggle doctors and nurses noticed what was going on right under their noses, but it still made Harry nervous.

Eventually, the Healer turned back to Harry. Allen summoned the parchment over and nodded occasionally as he went over his own notes. "All right, Mister Potter... let me tell you first that it should be no problem at all to move Miss Weasley to St. Mungo's, and once there most of her injuries can be corrected instantly. Others... others will take longer; some of them will take much longer. She's going to be in that bed for at least a month, I'll tell you that right now."

Harry looked grim. "What happened to her?" The Muggle policeman had told him that Ginny had been hit by a lorry while crossing the street, but he hadn't actually spoken to any of the doctors about her condition. "I mean... what's wrong?"

"Well, to begin with, her left leg and arm are broken in several places apiece. In fact her femur was broken so many times in such a small space I'm surprised the Muggles didn't just amputate." At Harry's shocked expression, he added, "But she'll regain use of the leg, don't you worry."

"She suffered three broken ribs... these have been reset with little metal pins, which I think is incredibly clever. The Muggles have thought of so many new things since I last had a chance to study their medicine. Anyway, where was I...? Oh yes! She suffered a punctured lung, which the Muggles apparently sewed closed like you or I would sew up a rip in a shirt. If I'm reading the doctor's notes correctly..." Healer Allen gestured toward the clip-board he'd set aside on a table before going to examine Ginny "... they had a machine breathing for her until the lung re-expanded and she started breathing for herself."

"Her skull was fractured in two places, and there's a hairline fracture in one of the vertebrae in her neck. That's why they have that... thing... around her head. It is there to keep Miss Potter from injuring herself further by moving her neck. They actually screwed it into her skull... very clever, I must say..." Harry was beginning to turn green. "Luckily, she didn't seem to suffer brain damage beyond that of a simple concussion, and the Muggles have already treated her for that."

The Healer took a deep breath and continued. "Here's where we get to the problem injuries... the Muggles apparently were forced to remove a small part of her liver, her entire gall bladder, and a short length of small intestine." The Healer noted Harry's face and stopped. "Young man? Are you going to be all right?" Harry was breathing in gulps. He nodded to the Healer, not trusting himself to speak.

Healer Allen had his wand out again, this time waving it over Harry. "Mister Potter, you should sit down... I'll get you some water. You're hyperventilating, and your blood pressure's dropping... Help! Mister Weasley!" The Healer caught Harry as the younger man's eyes rolled up and his knees buckled. Healer Allen wasn't as young as he once was, unfortunately, and while he could keep Harry from simply dropping to the floor, all he was really doing was slowing the fall.

Arthur was there instantly. "If you could assist me, sir... Mister Potter has fainted. He'll be okay in a moment... let's get him to the chair," the Healer said. They maneuvered Harry into the chair, and Healer Allen used his wand to revive Harry. "Should I go on, Mister Potter?" He conjured a small cup of cold water and handed it over to his newest patient.

Harry looked confused for a moment, but sipped at the water. "Hold on... just a second... I need to catch my breath..."

"Perfectly understandable reaction, Mister Potter. Perfectly understandable... just let me know when you're ready..."

Harry nodded, not saying anything. Arthur looked at him warily. "Harry... are things... is she..." Arthur swallowed visibly, obviously not wanting to ask the question. "Is it that bad? Is she going to...?"

Before Harry could speak, the Healer had jumped in. "Oh, not at all... she's going to be just fine. It sounds much worse than it is, really... it might take a month, but eventually she'll be right as rain. None of her injuries are life threatening, at least for magical healing. I think Mister Potter was overwhelmed by the fact that she's suffered so many injuries at once."

At this comment, Harry nodded. "Yeah, it sort of... hit me all at once. Now, you were saying, Healer? Please... continue..."

The Healer appraised Harry's condition with an experienced eye before speaking. "All right... as I was saying, the Muggles had to remove one of her minor organs, and part of two others. I presume it was because they were too injured for them to repair. As no magic was involved, we should be able to coax her body into re-growing the missing organs, making her right as rain." Allen consulted his notes one more time. "The tube they've got down her throat right now is a feeding tube... they've been feeding her a liquid remarkably similar in content to a Nutrition Potion... so similar, in fact, that I wonder where they got the formula... I must admit though that putting the potion into a bag and having it drip slowly into the patient's stomach is an absolutely brilliant idea! I might have to talk to my superiors at Saint Mungo's to see if we couldn't... adapt..." he trailed off, seeing their faces.

Arthur and Harry were both scowling. "Healer..." Arthur began. "I'm as fascinated at Muggle technology as you are, but..."

"Right, right... now is hardly the time... as I said, getting her to Saint Mungo's will be easy, and getting her up and about again is just a matter of time. There will be some rough spots, but from what you tell me, she's a strong young woman and will come out of it just fine in the end..."

"Rough spots? What do you mean?" Harry couldn't keep the worry out of his voice.

"Well... I'll give you an example. Right now, the Muggles are pumping Miss Weasley full of a rather powerful painkiller. Otherwise... well, I won't lie to you, she wouldn't be asleep right now; she'd be fully awake and screaming." Both Harry and Arthur nodded. It made sense, seeing as Ginny had barely woken up since the night before, and then only for a few minutes at a time. "Unfortunately... and Mister Potter, Mister Weasley, this is going to be hard for you, I warn you right now... when we get her to Saint Mungo's we're going to have to wait until that painkiller has worked its way completely out of her system."

Harry gasped, but Arthur just scowled. "I'm not sure I understand what you are saying," the older man said.

"Let me put it this way, Mister Weasley... before we can begin treating your daughter with Healing magic and with potions, we're going to have to basically remove the Muggle treatments. Now..." he held up a hand "... that doesn't mean we're going to reinjure her or anything, but we're going to have to take out the screws in her skull, and we're going to have to wait until the Muggle drugs wear off."

"You're telling us that to heal her, you're going to have to let her hurt first." Harry was angry, visibly angry.

Healer Allen looked nervous; whether or not it was the truth, the fact that Harry had defeated Voldemort caused the wizarding public to perceive him as extremely powerful... on the same scale as Voldemort or Dumbledore themselves... and angry and powerful was a combination that wracked the nerves of anyone.

Still, the Healer had a duty to tell this angry and powerful young man the truth. "Yes, Mister Potter... that is exactly what I am saying. I wish there were another way, but there simply isn't. You see... many of the ingredients found in Muggle medicines come from the same sort of substances we use in Healing potions. Arrowfrog venom, for example, is an anesthetic to both us and the Muggles, as is an alkaline produced by the leaves of the coca plant, or an acid extracted from willow bark... and because of this, if we mix Muggle medicines with potions, there's a risk of poisoning the patient. She can survive being in pain... she couldn't survive being poisoned."

Percy walked over from where he had been watching the Muggle doctors. "Whatever is going to be done should be done quickly... Notice-Me-Not Charms lose effectiveness over time, not to mention the more often they're cast on the same area... we could start being noticed any time now..."

Harry nodded. "Thanks, Perce..." He turned to the Healer. "You said that it would be easy to transport Ginny to Saint Mungo's. How are we going to get her out of here without the Muggles knowing?"

"Oh, very easily... we'll turn her entire bed into a Portkey. After that... I assume Director Weasley will call in the Obliviators to make sure the Muggle hospital has no record of her ever being here. Simple and easy."

At this, Arthur nodded. "That certainly won't be a problem. The benefits of being the Director of Magical Law Enforcement, you know. I can also authorize the creation of the Portkey, if that's needed."

"Yes, thank you, Director. Well... let me Apparate ahead to get things ready. I'll be back presently and we can begin moving her." With that, Healer Allen disappeared. Some of the Muggles jumped at the sound of his disappearance, but none looked their way... the Notice-Me-Not Charms were still working, for now at least.

Harry stepped to Ginny's bedside and took her hand in his. His eyes never left her face. She was heavily bruised, and the left side of her face was scraped badly, but to Harry the discoloration and the injury did nothing to diminish her beauty. He gently brushed a lock of hair away from her eyes, and in response she seemed to smile. Lazily, first one and then the other of her eyes opened. They seemed unfocused at first, but slowly rested on his face.

"Hey, love," he said to her, quietly. "We're going to get you out of here, soon. The Healer said you'd be fine. Just fine."

When she gave his hand a light squeeze, he smiled. "I know, I love you too," he whispered, and was immediately rewarded with another squeeze, this one longer and likely as hard as she could manage. Harry looked up as Arthur approached. "Love, your dad's here... I'm going to let him talk to you, okay?"

Squeeze...

Harry stepped back, motioning Arthur forward. "She likes it if you hold her hand," he said.

Arthur took his daughter's hand in his own. His eyes traveled over his little girl's face, taking in the bruises and the scrapes and the tubes and the metal cage... he immediately burst into tears at the sight of his little girl and how badly she was hurt.

"Oh, pumpkin..." Arthur wiped at his eyes. "We're all going to take care of you... I promise. You're going to be just fine. The Healer says..." Arthur swallowed again "... he says you're going to be fine. It'll be hard, but you've always been strong. I am so proud of that... the fact that you're so strong."

Arthur almost jumped when Ginny squeezed his hand. Her eyes were only vaguely focused on him, but for a few short seconds seemed to hold a longing. "I love you, too, Ginny."

The Healer appeared suddenly, causing everyone to jump. "Oh, sorry... sorry about that..." Healer Allen said, embarrassed. "Her room is ready. Mister Potter, if you could unhook that bag there from the pole and hand it to me? Yes, thank you... and Mister Weasley, if you could... yes, that... thank you."

Percy stepped forward. "Are we ready to go?"

"I believe so, yes." The healer pointed his wand at the bed. "Portus! All right everyone, touch the bed... we have ten seconds. Five... and... now!"

The duty nurse in the critical care ward jumped at the explosion of sound coming from one of the treatment areas. She pushed back the curtain, only to find an empty space. If there had been a bed there, there was no sign.