I'm baaaaaaaaaaack!!!!!!! And here it is...

Chapter31 part 3

Harry felt himself slowly waking up, but did nothing to speed up the process. His chest felt unusually heavy as he tried to ignore the pain that wracked his body. He breathed slowly for a few moments feeling himself coming around. He opened his eyes to find himself chained to a wall in an unfamiliar room, but he couldn’t make out the details around him because he wasn’t wearing his glasses and everything seemed to be a blur.
He clenched his teeth as he made himself sat up, the movement resulting extreme dizziness to erupt in his head. He leaned back to the wall and looked down at his legs. The damage on the right one appeared to be healing but the deep burn on the left had taken a strange black and green color, which clearly told Harry that it had been infected. His muscles also felt rather sore because of the extreme kindness they had that led the Death Eaters to use the cruciatus on him so often in the last three days. A smirk appeared on his face as he remembered the times they were trying to torture him, sometimes for hours, only to fail miserably; and he had more than just his training to thank that he didn’t even flinch or move an eyelid while he had the cruciatus curse set upon him.
The very first time he experienced the cruciatus curse was when he was only fourteen and since then he had felt so much pain and had gotten himself injured so severely, during the war and afterwards as an auror, that he thought he had developed some kind of immunity to pain. Of course he could still feel it, but he could force himself to ignore it and Dolohov’s infuriation to this was just bliss.
But he had to find a way to free himself, because if he was to believe Artemis, things would turn ugly soon and most importantly Ginny could be in danger. Yet the problem still stood; he could hardly walk and he didn’t have a wand in order to try and repair the damage in his legs. He groaned in frustration; this just couldn’t be it, Voldemort just couldn’t come back and most importantly Ginny couldn’t just die.

“So…so…” Hermione said walking up and down the room with a panicked look upon her face.
“So they took Ginny”, Ron growled.
Ron and Hermione had rushed to the Potter residence as soon as they got notified to find James, Albus, Lily and the baby all by their own in a wrecked house.
“Okay, so I’ll go to the Ministry and alert the aurors and then…”
“No!” James said jumping up. “We don’t have time for that! Enough time has gone by as it is! They said they’re gonna kill mum, we have to go find her now!”
“We won’t, James”, Hermione said strictly. “You must stay…”
“No!” James exclaimed again. “Aunt, mum is in danger and there’s the smallest chance that dad may be alive, so I’m definitely coming with you to…”
“What did you say?” Ron asked bewildered.
“What?”
“Harry…” Ron mumbled.
“The Death Eaters told mum that he’s not dead, that they have him”, Lily explained in a whisper.
Ron and Hermione exchanged a dumbstruck look and then Ron let out a cry that made them all jump.
“I KNEW IT!” he shouted. “I knew it couldn’t be true, that he couldn’t be dead!”
“Excuse me, I was the one who knew”, Albus pointed out.
“But Ron…” Hermione whispered looking at her husband with eyes full of sympathy.
“What?” he asked seeing the look she was giving him.
“Isn’t it obvious why would they say something like that?” she sighed.
“Artemis sure thought that the moment mum would hear that, she’d follow them willingly”, James said as Hermione nodded.
“So you’re saying it’s a lie?” Ron asked.
“Probably”, Hermione whispered.
“No”, Ron said stubbornly.
“Ron…”
“He’s right!” Albus said standing up too. “How many times do I have to say it? Dad is not dead! He’s alive and that’s that”.
“But…”
“No, Hermione”, Ron shook his head. “It’s true”.
“How can you be sure?” Hermione asked him.
“Because it has to be”, he sighed. “Okay, so…um…James, you’re right we don’t have time. So, Hermione we’ll have to go now and just sent a Patronus to the Ministry to alert them before we do”.
“And of course there is no way any of you is coming with”, Hermione added.
“But…”
“No, James, your Aunt is right”, Ron sighed. “You cannot come and we cannot jeopardize your lives!”
“But, we want to help”, Albus protested too. “It’s not about some Auror mission of yours, it’s about our parents!”
“Yes and we want to help!” Lily said too.
“Oh, there’s no way you are going to help Lil”, James said turning to look at his sister.
“And why is that?”
“You’re too…”
“And you’re not?” she yelled before he could finish his sentence.
“Look”, James sighed turning to look at his Aunt and Uncle again. “Send Albus and Lily to the Burrow with the baby and the Patronus to the Ministry and then we’ll apparate to Mexico, okay?”
“WHAT?” Albus exclaimed.
“No one is coming with us James and that’s just it!” Ron said with a final tone in his voice that made them stop protesting. “Hermione…” he said relieved turning to his wife.
She sighed and raised her wand making a circling move with it. A silver swan erupted from it and rushed out of the broken window in no time.
“Done”, she sighed.
“Okay, so…”
“We want to come too!” Albus said stubbornly.
Hermione grunted but before she could tell the kids off, Molly rushed into the living room, holding Hope in her arms.
“Come on”, she said taking Lily’s hand into hers. “We’re going to the Burrow to wait for…”
“No!” Lily exclaimed shrugging her grandmother’s hand off. “We want…”
“Forget about it!” Ron snapped.
“But…”
“James, do you honestly want to make this harder than it already is?” Hermione sighed and James grunted defeated.

Ginny hadn’t apparated since she had the baby, so when she and the Death Eaters finally reached their destination she almost lost her balance and fell down from the lightheadedness that engulfed her. She straightened up and looked around. They were in a dark room, that appeared to be rather ancient, but it was rather obvious that the Death Eaters were residing in this place for quite a while, because of the added dining table and the thrown cauldrons all over the room.
Artemis walked forward to come and stand in front of her. Ginny tried not to roll her eyes at her, but with difficulty.
“This is the temple your husband discovered the book that will allow us to bring back Voldemort”, she said.
“That’s really exciting Artemis, but you’ve already told me that”, she said with a mock sweetness. Artemis seemed irritated at her lack of panic but didn’t say anything, instead she waved her hand and the Death Eaters grabbed Ginny’s arms. “Put her away until we’re ready for the ceremony”.
“Should we put her…?”
“Yes”, Artemis replied crossly. Almost all of the Death Eaters followed the two that guided Ginny outside the room and only one stayed behind. When they left Dolohov took off his mask and turned to Artemis.
“What?” she asked him seeing the confused look upon his face.
“Why do you want to put her with Potter? Why let her know he’s alive? Why not let both of them suffer?” he asked her.
“Are you worried that I’m being merciful, Dolohov?” she smirked.
“Well, not exactly. I think you’re starting to get fond of the Potters”, he said hesitantly and as she turned to him, he flinched expecting a curse at any moment.
“Of course I’m fond of them”, she said matter of factly.
“What?” Dolohov asked incredulously.
“I’m fond of both of Harry and Ginny”, she replied casually. “If it wasn’t for them we wouldn’t be able to accomplish our plan, would we?”
“But…Artemis…”
“If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be able to relish that absolute and deep feeling of revenge, would I?” she went on. “They’re exactly what I needed and they’re both so passionate and determined to protect the people they love, that they only make this whole thing feel better. It wouldn’t be the same if Ginny refused to follows us today or if she broke down and begged us. And it sure wouldn’t be the same if Harry wasn’t Harry and he surrendered to us voluntarily. I mean, where’s the fun in that?”
Dolohov exhaled impatiently.
“I still don’t know if you’re a genius or a nutcase”, he said and Artemis laughed.
“I don’t know either, so don’t worry”, she replied. “And trust me I’m not merciful, far from actually. I just want Ginny to find out that Harry is alive now and them to meet again, so when the time is right, the pain would be worse”.
“I see”, Dolohov breathed relieved.
“You don’t really, but that’s okay, it’s not because of your brains that I need you”, she said and with that she too exited the room. Dolohov sighed and then followed her.

Ginny was fighting with the grip of the Death Eaters that held her arms all the way until they reached in front of a big iron door. The Death Eater on her right pulled out a bunch of keys from his pocket and started fumbling with them.
“It’s so hard to find a key?” Ginny asked him irritably. He made to hit her but the other Death Eater grabbed his arm before he did.
“No, remember, Apostollo wants her unharmed”, he said.
“Huh, so that means I can say whatever I want with no consequences?” Ginny asked as the Death Eater with the keys found the one he was looking for and adjust it to the lock. “Well, that would be fun, too bad you have to lock me up”.
“Don’t worry”, the one on her left said as the other one unlocked the door. “I’m sure you will not want to leave this cell”.
“What do you…?” Ginny started saying but she stopped as both of them pushed her inside with extreme force that made her fell down.
She got up and rushed to them, but they had pulled the door closed before she reached there. She growled with frustration. She was in trouble and she knew it, but what other choice did she really have but to follow them in order to keep Hope safe. And now what? She was going to die and the kids will be left all alone while Voldemort will be at large once again? She couldn’t permit it and again there was nothing that she could do to stop it and…
“Gin?”
She was so immersed into her panic and frustration that she didn’t immediately recognize the voice that called out to her, so the shock was greater when she turned. Her eyes searched the dark room for the source of the voice and then she saw him. And then she fainted.
“Gin!”
Harry struggled to get on his feet for a few moments, but then he gave up and crawled over to her, thankful that the chains around his wrists allowed him to go that far.
“Ginny, wake up”, he said taking her in his arms. She groaned, moving around and then she opened her eyes and just stared at him above her. “Are you okay? You fainted”.
“Well, of course I fainted, YOU’RE DEAD!” she yelled irritated pushing him aside and standing up.
“Um…yeah…about that…” he mumbled sheepishly.
“You were alive this whole time, I thought you were dead?” she asked. “God, what the hell sentence is that?” she asked herself then.
“Ginny, I know you’re in shock, but try to calm…”
“Don’t tell me to calm down! I thought you were dead, can you understand that?” she shouted. “I thought you were gone, we all thought you were gone! We...we actually buried you for crying out loud!”
“I know, but…”
“I was barely able to keep myself sane and you were fine this whole time?” she said as her eyes were starting to well up.
“Ginny, I’m sorry, but I couldn’t…”
“Don’t tell me you’re sorry!” she shouted and turned her back at him. Harry sighed and clenching his teeth together he managed to stand up.
“Ginny…” he started and made to walk towards her but his left and most damaged leg couldn’t hold his weight and he collapsed on the floor.
“Harry!” Ginny exclaimed and rushed to kneel beside him. “Baby? Honey? My love? Are you okay? Please be okay, please be okay”.
Harry opened his eyes and smiled at her.
“I didn’t die in the fire but I got some burns here and there”, he explained.
Ginny didn’t speak, only looked down at his legs as tears started running down her face. He wasn’t fine, far from. His legs were so damaged that he couldn’t walk and his face was pale and bruised in places. But the more she looked at him the more she realized that it was really him, Harry, her Harry. It was just beginning to dawn to her; Harry wasn’t gone, he was right there. She looked at him, taking his face into her hands. Harry stayed still for her as she traced his face with her fingers, her eyes never leaving his.
“You’re really here?” she whispered, Harry nodded and she kissed his lips and then his cheeks and then his jaw and then his eyelids and then every part of him that she could reach.
“It’s okay”, he murmured, hugging her and she sobbed into his chest. “It’s okay, Gin”.
“I thought…I thought…” she mumbled between her tears.
“I know”, he whispered, as he stroke her hair. She wrapped her arms tightly around his chest and turned her face into his neck, inhaling deeply and recognizing the scent she was so scared that she was going to forget, realization and understanding slowly dawning on her.
“I’m sorry”, she said then.
“For what?” he asked taken aback.
“For giving up on you”, she mumbled.
“You didn’t”, he said. “Anyone would have thought that…”
“But I shouldn’t”.
“It’s okay”, he said again and he made to kiss her forehead but she lifted her head and he found her lips. She felt him smile into their kiss and she did what felt natural to her and kissed him more passionately, not caring where they were or what was going to happen to them next; at least they were together.

-Angie-