Chapter 28:

Harry woke up in a sadly familiar place. He was in the hospital wing, and it was still dark outside. His head hurt like hell, and had an awful taste in his mouth, probably from all the potions. His body felt numb, but he felt an odd sense of safety when he reached around and found his wand nearby.

At this his eyes continued to adjust, he could tell they were swollen from the beating he had taken and groaned in pain as he tried to sit up. Suddenly he heard two heavy footsteps coming towards him slowly, and out of fear he drew his wand up so fast pointing it towards the noise when he heard a gasp of surprise, "Harry relax it's me, Cedric. Merlin mate what happened?"

Harry felt his arm go limp at the sound and name of his friend, as he spoke raspily, "I was attacked coming back from the headmaster's office. How long have I been out?"

Cedric checked his watch for a split second before responding, "Maybe an hour or two. Darrel carried you up here, but then came straight to get me, Tonks, and Heidi."

"Who was with Darrel when he found me?" Harry questioned with a thickly battered voice.

"Percy Weasley. He quickly informed the headmaster and our head of house what had happened, while he then rushed to Neville and woke him up. I am sure Longbottom is going crazy in the common room because he was told he would have to wait until the morning to come to see you." Cedric explained gently.

Harry attempted to open his eyes a little more, but the pain was simply too great, and that was even on potions, "Where are the others?"

Cedric grinned, "Darrel is outside the doors standing guard. He refused to leave the hospital wing, in fact, he almost pulled his wand on the headmaster when he was told to go back to his common room. I am sure he will want to talk to you if you are going to be up for a while."

Harry tried to nod, but he couldn't quite manage it, in fear he said, "Please don't leave. They might come back."

Cedric came close grabbing his friend's hand gently, "Who did this to you, Harry?"

Harry choked out, "Hillard, Davies..."

Being as attune to magic as he was he felt a powerful surge next to him, and then a growl, "Those bastards!"

He then heard the sound of feet coming at a high speed, but he knew as long as Cedric was with him, no one could flat out attack him, and the familiar voice that followed the footsteps actually relaxed him further, "Cedric what's going on? I felt that spike in the air outside the hospital wing."

Cedric walked over to Darrel Abbot in a rage, "I'm going to fucking kill those Ravenclaw, Hillard, and Davies who attacked him."

Before Darrel could retort he looked over to his friend who looked beaten to hell and frowned, "That can wait till morning. Tonks went to get Professor Potter, who is in the Headmaster's office. Right now we need to take care of our friend. Madame Pomphrey is out of the castle right now Harry. She will be back first thing in the morning. Snape was in here earlier but figured you would be out for a few more hours, I will send him for him if you are going to be up?"

Harry shook his head, "Don't awaken the professor. It will be fine till morning. Sleep soon."

Darrel came over to the side of Harry's bed, while Cedric pulled up a set next to him on the other side. Darrel spoke softly, "Heidi went back to the common room to wake up the girls and tell them what happened. Tonks if you didn't hear went to get your mum. Your safe Harry. We aren't going to leave until you are able to stand on your own feet."

Harry felt tears come to his eyes, as he spoke in pain, "I wasn't going to quit. They couldn't make me. I wasn't going to give up on you guys like that."

Darrel hushed him gently speaking very quietly, "It's okay Harry. You can tell us everything in the morning. Just get some sleep."

Harry didn't know who did it, but he felt a potion go down his throat and he slowly began to lose consciousness.

Over the next few hours, Harry would not even move from his position, and in the case of his older Hufflepuff friends, they refused to move too. They were not going to allow their friend to wake up alone after whatever had happened to him. Several times throughout the night the green-eyed boy caught glimpses of a conversation Cedric and Darrel were having, and clearly, they were not happy with the two Ravenclaws that had caused this. However, it was just glazed over in the night.

The next time Harry opened his eyes he felt loads better. He could feel that the swelling in his eye and jaw had gone down severely and that his body felt more normal. He felt fragile but mostly healed in comparison to last night. As he opened his eyes he saw two familiar boys sleeping in what were likely uncomfortable positions. Harry spoke softly, "Cedric, Darrel."

At the sound of their names, both boys made matching jerks eyes shooting open, Cedric exclaiming, "What, what did I miss?"

Harry tried not to laugh as he could tell his ribs were still bruised, but by not doing so he coughed which hurt much worse, "What time is it?"

Cedric checked his watch same as he did earlier saying, "It's about 6:30, everyone is probably at dinner."

Darrel nodded rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, "You've had a pretty steady flow of visitors all day. Your mum and dad have both been by, but I imagine they are at dinner now. We figured you'd be waking up soon though and didn't want you to take up with no one here."

Harry was rather touched that the older boys had not left his side, "What's happened while I was out?"

Cedric growled, "Well I told the heads of the house what you told me, and when it was investigated they both had alibis, and their wands were clean."

Harry sighed, "They used their fist. Told me they were going to fight at my mother's filthy mudblood level."

Darrel shook his head sadly, "Can you provide the memory for us in a pensive? That should clear up any confusion on the matter, and allow justice to come into play."

Harry nodded, "Yeah just bring me a pensieve later."

The boys went into silence for a few minutes before Cedric spoke in a deadly calm voice, "I can't believe those cowards would attack an eleven-year-old. No matter who you may be Harry, it is still cowardice on their part. Did they want something or did they just beat on you?"

Harry closed his eyes for a few moments, as the memories hazily came back to him, "They wanted me to quit the quidditch and dueling team. They made some deal with Flint and gave me an initial beating before they told me what they wanted. When I refused it kept going. Then they asked again, and I told them to f* off each time."

Both of the Hufflepuff leaders stared at their friend in a bit of awe, while Darrel asked, "Why didn't you just tell them you would so they would leave you alone?"

Coughing again Harry rasped out, "They wanted an oath."

Cedric put his head in his hands and was shaking with fury, while Darrel now had to maintain the deadly calm attitude, "Why didn't you just give in Harry? It's just a sport, it's just a game!"

Harry gave the boys a sad smile, "It's not about the game. It wasn't about the game. If I had given in, who was going to stop the next set of idiots that was going to attack me. If I gave in every time someone was going to torture me for something so trivial, then eventually I would give up something so important I couldn't live with myself."

"Besides, I didn't want to let you guys down. I have three days to heal for the quidditch match and had I quit the team you would've had to surrender because we wouldn't have had a seven-man roster. What kind of Potter or Hufflepuff would I be if that happened?"

At this, a voice came from behind the group, "One that would live a lot longer!"

The voice was distinctly female and disapproving. Harry looked up to see a redhead standing at the edge of his bed now with a familiar dark-haired man standing behind her with his hands on her shoulder. Harry grinned, "Hey mum, you look beautiful today, did you do something different with your hair?"

James Potter laughed, "The son of a Marauder no doubt, sorry son, I don't think charming your mother is going to help you out of this one."

Harry sighed, "I did what I had to do. If they hadn't taken my wand from me so quickly things may have been different. But I only detected one magical aura in the hallway, and when the disarming charm came from two different directions, it caught me completely by surprise."

Before anyone else could comment a furious woman came around the corner, "My critical patient is awake and no one saw fit to tell me. Outrageous! All of you back up for a moment, while I examine my patient...Good evening Mr. Potter you are looking much better now that you are awake."

Harry grinned, "Thanks Poppy, but you always look good so what standard do I have to live up to!"

The woman sighed, "Well at least we know there is no more brain damage than there already was because each time he ends up in my care I remind him that I am Madame Pomphrey!"

This caused the three men in the room to grin, while the mothers stared down disapprovingly, as Poppy asked what hurt Harry responded cheekily, "My heart hurts that you are still denying me the privilege of first name basis! It's been years Poppy!"

He then heard a proper scolding coming his way, "Harry James Potter this is not a joking matter!"

Harry immediately straightened up, "Yes mum, sorry mum."

The nurse then stared at expectantly at the young man while he sighed, "I feel fine, a little tender, but seriously I feel fine. My ribs still hurt like they were beaten in with a beater's bat, but considering the pain I was in last night, I am fine now. Just ready to go see my friends, and get back in my own bed."

The matron of Hogwarts merely nodded as she cast a few diagnostic charms over the boy, "You do seem to have recovered remarkably well, of course, you won't be sleeping in your own bed tonight. You will remain here till morning and will take classes easy tomorrow. By Friday you should be back to most of your strength."

Harry asked gently, "Then I am cleared to play quidditch Saturday?"

Poppy Pomphrey crossed her arms, "Absolutely not! You had major brain damage last night Potter, and if you go out on the field Saturday you could seriously rattle something that is already not right. You will have to miss this weekend's game."

Before the woman could turn around Harry gently grabbed the woman's hand, "Please Poppy. It's the reason I was put in here. If you bench me, then they win, and I will have taken a serious beating for nothing."

Lily chastised her son, "You are in a hospital wing, where you were beaten within an inch of your life, and the only thing you can think about is quidditch? That is so-"

James interrupted his wife, "Very Potter-ish...I will sign whatever form it takes to allow Harry to play Saturday."

Both women looked at the Potter Lord like he had lost his mind, while even the two Hufflepuff leaders looked a little bewildered at that, but remained quiet in the family dispute, "James Potter you will do no such thing. He is my son too, and you can't just go putting him in danger like that! Not for some stupid sport."

James retorted sharply back, "Give me those stones, or I will throw Harry from the roof!"

A/N: Just Kidding~ or am I?