In The Infirmary
Hari was awoken in the middle of the night, startled by someone furiously shaking him awake. “Hari, mate, get up!” George called, his voice panicked. “Wake up.”
“G-George! What’s going on?” Hari placed his hands on George’s forearms, trying to steady him.
“Get your wand and glasses. Come with me to the infirmary.” The tall redhead released him, and Hari scrambled to collect his things and follow him out the door. They raced down the corridors. “George, what is going on?!”
“It’s better to see for yourself. Jason is just ahead of us.” George was panting slightly, the exertion evident in his heaving breaths. He glanced sideways, surprised at how unaffected Hari seemed, his calm, rhythmic breathing contrasting with George’s gasps.
Arriving at the infirmary, they saw Jason, red-faced, bellowing at Professor Dumbledore. Though they couldn’t hear the words due to a muffling spell, the anger was palpable.
George guided Hari towards an infirmary bed where Fred was sitting, holding the hand of a patient. Hari’s eyes locked with familiar mint-green ones, just as they had a year prior. Instead of the sense of belonging and the anchoring of his magic he felt the first time, all he felt now was rage.
Hari didn’t realize he was trembling until he gripped the metal end of the bed in a death-like grip. His core felt hot, a burning sensation deep inside. “What happened?”
“We were coming back from something and we found her—” Fred started to explain, but George was lying flat on the ground, hyperventilating from all the running.
“I wasn’t talking to you,” Hari snapped, his voice curt and jaw tense.
Charlie raised an eyebrow at him, a bit taken aback by the intensity in his gaze. Those green eyes were glowing with power, as if something inside had snapped and magic was running wild within him. “I was careless. I—”
“Try again,” Those weren’t the right words, not the ones Hari was looking for.
Charlie sipped her potion-filled water cup, her gaze unblinking. “I was kidnapped.”
“Who was it?” Hari gripped the bed tighter, ignoring the creaking sound it made under his hands.
Charlie shrugged nonchalantly. “They’re dead now.”
“Did they work for anyone?” Hari’s scar pulsed with pain for a second before the sensation disappeared.
“Death Eaters.”
“What do you need?” Hari’s question had her pausing. Seeing this side of him made her skin tingle in a way she hadn’t felt before. Those eyes hadn’t wavered once since they made eye contact. He had grown a fair amount since she last saw him, and he looked more like James, but in a much more attractive way to Charlie.
She raised her hand, opening and closing it, signaling she wanted him to hold her hand that Fred had released. Swiftly, Hari sat where the redhead was sitting previously and held her hand in both of his.
“I see you’re here now, Hari. Char, you’ll be moved to St. Mungo’s soon,” Jason said, climbing into the bed and pulling the small girl to himself. “McGonagall and Sirius are going to get ahold of Bruce and Alfred. They’ll meet you there.”
Hari’s eyes softened as he looked at the pair. “Why were you yelling at Dumbledore?”
Jason and Charlie scoffed in unison. “Dumbass wanted her to heal here instead of the hospital,” Jason explained.
“Ridiculous,” Hari began.
“Utterly ridiculous,” they finished in unison, smiling at each other.