Chapter 6 St Mungo's

Harry dreamed that night; well it was more of a nightmare. Voldemort had just learned about the students' disappearances and he was furious, causing the teen to view what was happening. Harry flailed on his bed and tangled the sheets around his legs. Sweat was pouring down his face and body, his scar was inflamed and burning with pain. His breathing labored as he felt how Tom was feeling and desperately trying not to. It had been ages since this happened and Harry was not happy about it. He tried to yank his mind away from that vile creature's, but he was stuck.

The Dark Lord was sitting in a room which looked to be an office redecorated to be a throne room. The walls were wooden and unadorned, but you could see where there used to hang diplomas and such. The carpet was beige, with a gold runner down the middle. The only piece of furniture was the hideous golden, high back chair the man sat in, which was on golden dais. There was a large empty space in front of that throne, where Harry figured Death Eaters would stand. The torches on the wall cast shadows, making the Dark Lord's snake like features appear ominous. Nagini slithered around the chair, hissing at her master, who would hiss in return, causing the man before him to shiver in fear.

Right now, there was only one other man in the room. He was kneeling before the Dark Lord, his head on the floor, trembling in terror. The male Carrow twin, Harry didn't know his name, raised his head when his master spoke.

He was already upset over the gutting of the camps and just knew it was Potter and his merry bunch of followers that was doing this. He just didn't know how. He never thought the boy smart enough to pull off events like these, maybe that mudblood, Granger, but not Potter. No, Severus had told him the boy was a mediocre wizard at best, who occasionally pulled off bouts of great magic. But everything else, including what Voldemort had seen in Potter's mind, showed a lazy boy, who relied on his friends to see him through.

The guards from the camps mentioned the Order had come through a portal, but no one saw a sight of Potter. Voldemort had spent the last day looking up any information he could find on portals, but was coming up empty-handed, which did not help his current mindset. The closest thing to a portal he discovered was the Veil of Death, but it lead to nowhere and could not be controlled or directed.

Now this fool had lost him more prisoners, for that is what Hogwarts was now, a prison. He had been close to closing the school to the mudbloods and traitors, but decided to keep them there so they could be tortured instead. Some had tried to stay home, but he made his minions drag them to the school. He reveled in the reports of how the Death Eaters were breaking their spirits. When they graduated his plan was to put them in the camps, so they could watch their parents and siblings die. Now they were gone and he was furious.

Voldemort was gazing upon the Death Eater that had brought him the bad news of Hogwarts. "You mean to tell me, Amycus, that all of the mudbloods and traitors have escaped Hogwarts. Right. Under. Your. Nose." he demanded with a snarl on his snake-like face, his voice barely contained fury. He gripped the chair hard enough to cause the arms to creak. Nagini, sensing her master's fury, hissed and slithered around the cowering Death Eater.

Harry could feel his rage pulsate through the link and was frantically trying to get away from the scene. His head felt like it was splitting open and he didn't want to witness torture, even if it was a Death Eater's.

"Master, we don't know how. None were seen in the halls, they simply vanished from their beds. We know they were hiding in a magical room that we couldn't penetrate. One of your loyal left a note telling us so. We blasted the walls the entire night and day, but nothing we did could get us in the room. Snape even tried to demand that the castle open it to him, but he was denied. Then yesterday we finally were able to open the door and only to find a few of your loyal followers stunned on the floor. The rest were gone. We revived the fallen and they told us that the traitors escaped through a portal," the kneeling, quivering man stated. His head was bowed to the floor and he knew he was going to be tortured. "Master, I have other news. The… the house elves are also gone."

"Crucio!" the Dark Lord bellowed, casting one of his favorite curses. Harry felt his satisfaction from watching the man scream and writhe.

"Forgive me, Master," the man pleaded, when the curse ended.

"This cannot go unpunished. Give me your arm," the creature demand, and when the man crawled to him, he grabbed the arm and pressed his wand into the Dark Mark. He then thrust the arm away and kicked the sniffling man, making him fall back. They waited.

Now, Harry waited silently in the back of Tom's mind. If he could get information he could save more people. His body calmed and his scar hurt less.

Ten very long minutes went by and then the Death Eaters started Apparating to the room. They all bowed to their master and stood in front of the throne waiting for orders. They had on their black robes and masks, so Harry couldn't see who was there, except Bellatrix. She seemed to be the only one exempt from wearing a mask. You could tell how crazy she was by the way she bounced in place, her face lit with delight that she was in front of Voldemort. In some ways, she reminded Harry of Dobby, and that thought made him shudder.

"It seems there is some resistance to my rule," Voldemort hissed as he paced in front of his throne, and the Death Eaters either hissed with him or cringed back. "We must show them that resistance is futile. We will raze St. Mungo's tomorrow. I want you to gather as many as you can and meet me here in the morning and we will plan our attack." He turned and faced his Death Eaters, and watched their reaction. He saw the horror in some eyes, but it vanished as quickly as it came. He would have to watch those people.

His anger once more flew through his connection with Harry, and the boy pulled and pulled his mind trying to wake, all the while trying not to let Tom know he had heard.

Many cheered and praised their lord, while a few were upset that their master would be attacking neutral ground. St. Mungo's has always been a sanctuary to be left alone in time of war. They didn't discriminate on who they healed, so they were left in peace. Some of the upper class politicians were disheartened that the creature before them would break a long time tradition. After Voldemort returned, they had lost faith in his sanity; they were however bonded to him through the Mark. Oh, they still wanted to rule the world, but this being was not sane. This didn't show on their faces, no, they weren't stupid enough to let him see their thoughts in their eyes. So they cheered with the rest, but inside they were fuming.

Finally Harry was able to come around. He fell out of his bed, his scar screaming with pain. He disentangled himself from his linens, grabbed his glasses and quickly made his way to the door and started to run down the hall. Neville and Seamus, having woke with his thrashing, hurriedly followed.

"Harry," Neville called. "What happened?" he asked as he raced behind the frantic teen.

"Tom is going to raze St. Mungo's," Harry yelled back as he sped down the stairs to where the adults were roomed.

"What?!" the sandy-haired boy yelled, running faster, "but that's neutral ground." His parents were there, if this was going to happen, then he would do what he could to get them out.

"I don't think he bloody well cares," Harry called back. They got to the fourth floor and Harry started banging on doors shouting for people to get up, since he had no idea where anyone slept.

People in all manner of dress started pouring out of the rooms, wands raised as if there was an attack. "What's going on?" most of them called to the running teens.

"Get as many people up as you can and meet in the largest dining room," Harry yelled as he continued to bang on doors. "The Dark Lord is going to attack. We need to get to St. Mungo's." He made it to the end of the hall and ran down the stairs. He continued to wake people, though most of them were up due to the noise.

Those that wanted to help started to the other halls to do as Harry had ordered, while the others, for whatever reason, be they injured, too scared or just too weary to fight, either went back to their room or gathered in groups to discuss what was happening.

Finally after getting everyone up, they all met in the dining room. Harry gave a big sweep of his wand and banished the tables, not noting the looks of astonishment on many faces. He made his way to the other side and waited for everyone to gather. He conjured up a small stage so he could be seen.

"Right, I just had a vision, (that caused mumbling) You Know Who is going to attack St. Mungo's," he said succinctly, when people stopped joining them.

There was a huge uproar and many screamed denial and tried to out shout one another. McGonagall made her way to where Harry was and fired off some bangs with her wand. "If you will be quiet, perhaps we can hear the rest," she snapped when the room went still.

"Thanks, Professor," Harry nodded to the older woman. "As I was saying Tom, or for those of you that don't know, the Dark Lord, is going to attack the hospital. We need to get to them and get them out, and we need to do it tonight. He plans on attacking tomorrow, so we don't have a lot of time." He gazed around the room and saw fear, resolution, denial and disbelief. The teen snorted and glared at them all.

"How do you know this?" came a question from the back.

"Let's just say that when he is very angry, sometimes I get a peek at what he's doing," Harry answered vaguely.

"You're connected to He Who Must Not Be Named?" was a shocked question from many people and like the sheep they are, some started to move to the back of the room as if Harry was going to attack any minute. Those that knew Harry moved to the front and turned to them, glaring and protesting that the Boy Who Lived was a good man.

"Don't be stupid," Neville shouted as he stood beside McGonagall, facing the crowd, "Harry has saved our lives by bringing us here. My parents are there, and if Harry says they need to be rescued, then by Merlin, I'm going with him, with or without your help." He sneered at the cowering adults with great contempt.

"Yeah," Seamus said, he too elbowed his way to the front. "You were dumb enough not to believe him when he said You Know Who was back. Are you going to make the same mistake now?" he demanded, leaving out the part where he too made that error.

A lot of people started grumbling to themselves, or with others, for being reminded of their follies by a kid. They did however move forward.

Kyle shouted, "You have my wand." Others followed his example, raising their wands up to show they were ready to fight.

"Harry," Remus said as he made his way to the boy's side, "are you sure it is a true vision?" he asked quietly, not wanting to bring up Sirius, but also not wanting to be led into a trap.

"Do you really want to take that chance?" Harry snapped, not caring one wit about whether they believed him or not. He only cared that they got the healers and patients to a safe place.

"No, you are right, we cannot chance it," the werewolf conceded.

Harry turned back to the crowd and stated, "If you want to rescue the people at St. Mungo's then meet in the ballroom. The rest of you gather everyone else and prepare for the outcome. We're going to need all of you to vacate the third floor, except for the wounded, so it can be set up for the patients. Move to another floor, or there are many houses outside the castle, take your pick, but that area needs to be cleared." And having given his orders, he jumped off the platform and started to the doorway.

"Who the bloody hell are you to give us orders?" demanded a surly man, who was glaring at the boy with disdain. He stood in Harry's way, blocking the teen's attempt to leave the room.

"You know, you don't have to be here. You can leave at any time. Believe me or don't. I don't care. I'm going to see if I can help. Hide. Run. Do what you must, but get the fuck out of my way," Harry snarled in the man's face and then pushed him aside and made his way to the ballroom.

Those that believed in Harry moved to trail behind him, talking amongst themselves, making plans. The rest were wandering back to the third floor to do as the teen had bid. It would be difficult, seeing as to how it was the middle of the night, but with the help of others, they would get it done. Molly took the lead and started barking commands and pulling her complaining children with her. She'd make sure those orders were followed, she trusted Arthur to not let the teens go on the mission.

Soon enough there were over fifty wizards and witches gathered in the ballroom, taking chairs around the table that still sat in the middle, or standing behind those that were seated. Now Kingsley took charge. He stood and said, "Okay, we need to get the house elves in on this. Dobby."

Dobby popped in dressed in a blue children's nightshirt that had little snitches whizzing around it. "What can Dobby be doing for Mister Kingsley?" The poor elf rubbed his eyes to get the sleep out of them.

"Sorry I woke you, but I need you to wake the other elves. It seems we have a large rescue to do. Tom is attacking the hospital," he said to the elf.

Dobby's eyes got wide and he nodded his head and popped away. After two minutes passed many house elves appeared.

"Okay," the dark-skinned Auror said to everyone gathered, "If Harry is correct, or even if he isn't, we need to evacuate St. Mungo's. Does anyone have relatives there?"

Neville raised his hand, along with ten others.

"I need an adult, sorry, Mr. Longbottom. They won't listen to a kid or an elf." He looked to the tiny creatures. "You," he pointed to a middle-aged man. "You need to make your way outside the wards and get to the hospital. Warn them that there may be an attack. Tell them whatever you want, but get them to listen. Call Dobby when you've convinced them and the house elves will pop there and clear out supplies."

The man nodded and rushed out the door. And the rest waited, making plans and going over contingencies. Harry and Neville demanded that they go, but were shot down each time, even with some adult support, they were told no. When Kingsley finally mentioned they didn't have time to argue, the boys stopped.

It took thirty-five minutes for the man to call Dobby. When the little elf disappeared the other elves waited for Dobby's call and ten seconds later they all popped away. Harry hurried to the window and called the veil. When it opened on the other side, the rescuers went through the portal to play guard or help the staff.

Neville and Seamus waited with Harry, along with a few other teens. It seems the ruckus wasn't loud enough to wake everyone, and Harry just let them sleep. It wasn't like the damn adults would let them help anyway; he was going to have to change that.

Sick and wounded, ambulatory people started slowly making their way into the room, with nurses guiding them. They moved to the back of the room, not knowing where to go. Even Lockhart came through, babbling about how pretty the room was. He was taken to the back of the room, when he noted Harry and started asking the weary teen if he want his autograph. Then stretchers started to float through and the nurses moved forward to grab them and moved them out of the way.

Neville ran to his parents and stayed by their sides, happy to see they were okay. Augusta was with the people clearing the rooms.

It took hours to get them all there. It was now going on three in the morning.

Now healers came through and they were carrying trunks or what looked to be old-fashioned doctor's bags. The elves started popping in with equipment and supplies. The room was quite crowded, so Harry swept his wand around and expanded it (Tonks was holding the portal), getting thanks from many of the medical personnel. When the Order returned, and the veil closed Harry turned to Remus and asked, "Did we get everyone?" He looked over the patients that numbered over one hundred. It seemed like there should be more.

"No, there are some that cannot be moved, and some could not come through the veil," Remus said sadly, with a shaking of his head. "We must have left twenty or so behind, along with a few healers and nurses. The good news is they were on the same floor, where all critical patients reside. Those that couldn't make it passed the ward were set up there, so they will be easier to defend." He was dismayed that they couldn't bring them all here, and from the look on Harry's face he felt the same way.

"We're going to go back tomorrow to see if we can protect them, or at least drive the Death Eaters away. Bill is going to try and put a ward up, he's sure it will hold them back," Kingsley added, putting a hand on Bill's shoulders in encouragement.

"I'm going to get with some people tomorrow morning, well later today, and see what we can come up with. We might be able to put stronger wards on individual rooms." The oldest Weasley boy was deep in thought, going over ideas in his head.

"Right," Harry said and left them to it. He turned to the milling people and loudly said, "The third floor has been cleared for you. The house elves will take you there. If you need more room, feel free to tell the people on fourth floor to vacate," he added, not caring at all that he would be uprooting adults so early in the morning.

Many nurses and healers approached the elves and soon enough the room began to clear.

"We're going to need another dining room, we can only expand them so far," Kyle said, looking at the departing people.

"Most of the families will be moving to the village, they can fend for themselves," Harry said in almost a snap, remembering the way some had reacted to his connection with Tom. They can bloody well fuck off for all he cared. Stupid sheep. "Besides, most of the patients will eat in their rooms."

"It is late, we should get to bed and see what we can do to help in the morning," Remus stated, running a hand down his haggard face. He hated it when Harry got into a snit, not that he blamed the teen, but Harry had a bad habit of biting everyone's head off, and they just didn't need that right now.

"Right, come on guys, let's hit the hay," Harry said, turning to the other teens. The three boys left the room and made their way past the clusters of people, ignoring the calls for information. They finally got to their beds and all three of them fell to into slumber.

The next morning Harry was confronted by Hermione and the girls.

"Why didn't you wake us?" the curly-haired witch asked, waving her hand to the two teens that were behind her. Ginny and Luna nodded, just as upset. A crowd of teens stood behind them, all sporting angry looks at not being woken. Some of them had family at St. Mungo's and were very dismayed that they had slept through the rescue.

Ron was standing back, leaning tiredly against a wall. He had been woken with the noise, but his mum dragged him and the twins away to help clear the third floor. He had been up most of the night and was exhausted and didn't bloody well want to deal with Potter, but he wanted to hear Hermione tear into him.

"There wasn't time," Harry said, defending his actions and glaring at his best friend. "Besides, what could you have done? You know the adults wouldn't let us go there." Yeah, he was bitter about that. It had been a huge debate last night, but they all stood firm that the teens would stay in the castle. Neville stood by Harry's side, just as upset. At least Kyle and a few others voted to let them join, but they were outnumbered.

"Oh, I don't know, help clear the floor, help people find a house or help the patients when they came here. There were loads we could have done," she said in a condescending voice, folding her arms as if waiting for him to tell her she was wrong. Ginny and Luna agreed as they nodded their heads and stood by their friend's side, their arms folded in a similar manner.

Harry's shoulders slumped, she was right, they could've helped. "I'm sorry, guys, I was only thinking of the people we were trying to rescue. I just figured the adults wouldn't let us fight, so I let you girls sleep," Harry said, stepping forward and rubbing Hermione's arm, earning a glare from Ron. He gave a soft smile to the other girls, who thinly smiled back. "Forgive me?" he asked with puppy dog eyes.

Hermione's face softened and she hugged the boy. "Next time wake us," she demanded, standing back and smacking him on the chest.

"I will, if there is time, or I'll send someone else to do it," the dark-haired teen promised. And with that the group made their way to the dining room and enjoyed a hearty breakfast, which consisted of meat, eggs, toast, fruit and beans. There was milk, a variety of juice and tea to drink.

Everyone chatted about what had happened while they slept or what they were going to do today. Many of those that had families were going to be moving to the village. Neville, his gran and his parents, with a nurse, were also moving to one of the houses. Dean, his siblings and parents were also set to relocate to the village. The entire Weasley family found a large house, except Bill and Fleur, who found a smaller one. Seamus was staying in the castle with Harry.

The rest of the day was spent moving people about, helping set up the equipment and turning one of the larger sitting rooms on the first floor into a storage room for potions. The house elves were run ragged, showing the healers where the potions labs were and where they could store any extra supplies and equipment.

Members of the Order and a few others were at St. Mungo's waiting for the attack. Once again the teens were barred from helping.

With everyone putting in an effort, the clearing of families and setting up patients was complete, but they were all too tired to do any training, so Harry, Neville, Seamus, Dean and the twins started exploring the very top floor, while they waited for word on the hospital.

Since the third floor was now the infirmary, the fourth housed adults, fifth boy students, sixth girls, the seventh was empty and closed off, the boys went to see what was on the eighth. They decided to examine the towers another day, for unlike Hogwarts, the towers were separate structures, you could only gain entrance via doors on the ground floor or the roof. There were seven towers; one on each corner, one on each side and one on the back. A walkway connected them all, used for the guard to patrol the keep.

Hermione, Ginny and Luna were once again in the library, Ginny was there to keep Hermione's spirits up. Harry had no idea where Ron was and really didn't care. He hadn't seen Ashliegh either, and he hoped the ghost was helping Hermione and them with research.

The top floor was like a huge attic with trunks, boxes and piles of stuff just laying around. The boys looked at the enormous room and their eyes lit up with joy. They tore into the treasure looking for anything that could help the residents of the fortress. There were two trunks full of wands, which the former house elves must have put there, or there had been a shop that had been abandoned, they didn't know, but praised their luck, and set them aside. There was a ton of clothing that was outdated, but could be used. There were some jewels and treasures, but they disregarded them for now. They only went through about a sixth of the room, and decided to let the house elves do the rest. There wasn't much more that was useful, so they took what they found down to one of the sitting rooms. It took many trips, but they got it. They were just on their last load and Harry floated his burden to the wall.

"Do you think we should have the house elves pop to some of the homes and get clothes and stuff?" Neville asked as he levitated one of the trunks to the far side of the room. "Most of the ex-prisoners don't have anything. Though, I suppose the clothes we found could work, but maybe they might settle in better if they had their own stuff."

"I think the elves have their hands full with all the people moving about. That can wait," Harry bit out, still hurt over what happened in the dining room last night.

"Okay," Neville said slowly, inwardly cringing over Harry's tone.

"We should go and see if there's any news," Dean said, changing the subject. So the teens made their way to what was now being dubbed the portal room.

Tonks was sitting in a chair, rubbing her belly and holding the veil open. "Wotcher, boys. What mischief have you been up to?" she asked, looking over the group.

"We came to see if there was any news," Harry stated, ignoring the question.

"They haven't given me any. Would've helped if we had a time," she groused with a shake of her head. Her arm was tired and achy and no one had come to relieve her, so she was a tad surly.

"So sorry, next time I'll just sit in the Dark Lord's head, writhing with pain and see what other vile things he can come up with," Harry snapped.

"Back off, I wasn't blaming you," she snarled back as her hair turned red.

Just then thick black smoke billowed through the opening and Kyle came running through, dragging what looked to be a healer with him. Their clothes were charred and they were coughing horribly. Burn marks adorned their clothes, hands and faces. Soot covered their entire bodies, as if they had run through the fire.

"They're lost, nothing you can do," Kyle said, as he held the healer back from the entrance. He dragged him across the room and threw him in a chair. He must have put a sticking spell on him because the man couldn't rise.

"I have to save them," the healer wailed, squirming in the chair as he started to undo his robes, but not having much luck with his injured hands. His hands were burnt and red, like he had grabbed a hold of an open flame. His face didn't look much better. He desperately fumbled with his robes, but his hands were too injured to get the fastenings undone.

"The whole building is on fire. You can't go back," Kyle tried to reason with the hysterical and injured man. It was the reason he had brought him through first, the healer got caught in the flames and couldn't help the others with the damage to his hands. The poor man was trying to rescue one of the coma patients that had the misfortune of being near where the fire started. They tried to get the woman, but the fire spread fast and she was lost. It was a magical fire, not Fiendfyre, but something close to it, all he knew is they couldn't put it out.

Remus came through floating a patient behind him, a healer doing his best to keep the man from dying. When he got the stretcher to the wall, Remus ran back through the portal.

The thick black smoke started to fill the room, and Harry wished the windows were real. He cast a wind charm to try and dissipate it, but that wasn't helping much. All it did was make the smoke rise to the ceiling, but more was pouring in. More of the team came through also carrying or floating patients, healers were waving their wands in futile attempts to save lives. The Order waved their wands to clear the smoke. There were screams of dire pain coming through, and the boys cringed.

When the last of the team, Bill, tumbled through, coughing up a storm, flames licking his robes, he shouted, "Close it!" He tore off his robes, threw them on the floor and stomped on them. When the flames didn't die, he banished them to the nearest fire pit to let them burn out.

Tonks immediately removed her wand and went to her husband's side, to see if she could help. The teens sat and watched as healers and nurses waved their wands and administered potions. They felt helpless.

One healer sighed, stood, slowly shook his head and said, "Call it." The nurse called up a tempus and said the time. One by one the patients died, or were taken from the room to the third floor, where the healers continued to try and stabilize them.

"What happened?" Harry asked as he made his way to Kingsley, whose dark face was blackened further with soot.

"They came and moved through the hospital. We could hear their shouts of anger at not finding anyone. We moved who we could to the back of the floor. When they got to where we were, they tried to enter, but Bill's ward held. They blasted it with every spell they knew, we were too far away for them to curse us, and we thought they had given up when Bellatrix moved away, taking the rest with her. We should have known better, just by the vindictive look on her face. We waited to see if they would try again and then the smoke appeared. We tried everything to put that fire out, but it was a spell unknown to us. We started getting the patients ready to move. The flames came closer, and well, you saw the rest," the very tired Auror answered, running his hand over his bald head and down his face, smearing the soot.

"We did our best," Remus tried to console him by putting his hand on the taller man's shoulder.

"Yeah, but we left five people behind," Kingsley sighed.

"They couldn't get through the portal," Remus reasoned, squeezing his shoulder.

"I'll never forget the screams."

"Neither will I."

And the room fell silent.