Harry had seen the effect of the Cruciatus curse too many times and he tried to hope as Johnny was swept off by the healers. The fact that Johnny had reacted to him after he had dealt with Parkinson was a good sign, but Johnny had given no indications of consciousness since. He'd left his subordinate to deal with the subdued criminal and decided to handle the issue with Lysacek and Johnny himself.

The fact that both men had been under the influence of an Unforgivable curse made the whole situation that more complicated. With Imperio and Cruciatius involved, changing memories was a very bad idea, which meant that there was no easy way out of the issue. The news that Johnny was hurt had leaked almost immediately and Harry was well aware that meant he would be dealing with at least one member of Johnny's family sooner rather than later.

They had talked a lot the night they had spent in Johnny's hotel room and Harry knew more than he had ever expected to about his friend's family. He was very unsurprised when, after what seemed like an age of waiting around and checking in with his people, Patti Weir was shown into the same room where he was waiting.

"Mrs Weir," he said immediately, standing up and stepping towards here, "you must be exhausted, please come and sit down."

"I don't want to sit down," was the very direct response, "I want to see my son."

"He's still with the healers," Harry replied, taking the vague hostility in his stride; "they are stabilising his condition."

Prolonged exposure of more than a few seconds to the Cruciatus curse caused terrible nerve damage, Harry knew the healers would be working for a while yet. Patti Weir frowned at him, but did eventually take the seat he was offering.

"Mrs Weir," he said as he sat down beside her, "I'm very sorry this happened. I take full responsibility."

There was no way Parkinson should have made it inside their security cordon, and Harry felt incredibly guilty. When he found out how it had happened, heads were going to roll.

"Did you do your job?" Patti asked simply, looking him straight in the eye.

"Yes," he replied, without even thinking about hedging his response.

"Then you have nothing to be sorry for," was the surprising response. "They told me you have the man who hurt Johnny in custody."

"We do," Harry said with a nod.

"Then just make sure he gets what's coming to him."

Patti Weir, it seemed, was a remarkable woman.

"We will, Ma'am," Harry replied without so much as considering a different answer.

"Call me Patti," was her response and it seemed she was as averse to formality as her son was.

"Then please call me Harry, Patti."

It was a better start than he had expected. Of course, now came the difficult bit; he had to break what had actually happened to Johnny's mum. Due to the severity of the crime and its particular circumstances, legally Johnny and his immediate family were allowed to know the truth and if Johnny woke up, he was going to need all the support he could get.

"Patti," he said, trying to begin gently, "did you see anything unusual as you were shown in here?"

That earned him a very speculative look.

"This hospital is not like any I've ever been in before," Patti replied after a few moments, "at least not this part of it."

Harry nodded, hoping to encourage her. St Elizabeth's was both a Muggle and a Wizarding hospital, with the front half being for Muggle patients and the back for wizards and witches. The Americans seemed to like their magical and Muggle worlds not quite so far apart as in Britain.

"Is this to do with what happened to Johnny?"

"Yes," he replied simply, "this is a very specialised hospital whose staff are the only ones in the area who can treat Johnny."

Patti looked aghast.

"What did that monster do to my boy?"

"Patti," he said very gently, "what I'm going to tell you is going to seem very hard to believe, but please, just hear me out and then I'll show you something to prove it, okay?"

From the looks of things Patti was a pretty unshakable woman, because she nodded once.

"That monster isn't an ordinary man," Harry explained carefully, "he is a wizard."

Patti opened her mouth almost instantly to protest.

"So am I," Harry hurried on, "and everyone in this part of the hospital. We live alongside you in secret. The wizard who hurt Johnny used a curse on him that is so bad we call it an Unforgivable. Usually normal people aren't told about magic, but because of the severity of the crime I'm allowed to reveal the truth to you. When Johnny wakes up, he's going to need you."

By appealing to Patti's motherly instincts, he hoped she wouldn't yell at him or anything. Very slowly, so as not to startle her, he pulled his wand from the holster he had up his sleeve.

"I'm just going to show you a little magic," he said and pointed the wand at the sheet of paper on the desk.

With a flick of his wrist he silently cast Wingardium Leviosa and the paper lifted into the air, floating there gently.

"Oh my," Patti said and just stared for a while.

With another flick he cancelled the spell.

"Now," he said in a sympathetic tone, "you must have questions."

Never in his life did he expect what came next; it appeared Patti Weir was a woman who liked to know exactly what she was getting in to. Her questioning was like the third degree.

====

"How is he?"

Johnny floated back towards consciousness and heard voices. He had vague memories of drifting in and out before, but nothing that made any sense.

"He's responding well to the treatment," an unfamiliar person said; "the nerve damage will be fully repaired in a couple more days."

"And the rest?"

That sounded like Harry.

"We won't know until he wakes up," the unfamiliar person explained in a sympathetic tone, "if he wakes up. With Cruciatus it's so difficult to tell how much mental damage there is. If his mind has folded in on itself for protection, he may not come back at all. He has been unconscious for three days; that's not a good sign."

That didn't sound good, but then Johnny realised that he was in fact awake and so he had nothing to worry about. His thoughts seemed to be moving really slowly and at a level just under moron.

"He was held under for nearly fifteen minutes," Harry said quietly; "it could just be the strain on his body."

"It could be," the other person said, but in a tone that suggested it was unlikely.

It was that which made Johnny decide he'd had enough, and he needed to let them know he was conscious. That meant opening his eyes, so he tried. It felt something akin to trying to pull a quad after skating for three days straight with very little rest. He managed to flick his eyelids open for a moment, but they seemed to be made of lead or something. It was very frustrating. He made an annoyed little noise in the back of his throat as he tried again.

"Johnny?"

This time he managed to open his eyes for a little longer and got a flash of Harry looking down at him or at least his brain pattern matched the fuzzy image as Harry. He did his very best to say something and all that came out was a mumble, but it was better than nothing.

"Mr Weir," the unfamiliar person said, "please look at me if you can."

He made another noise of annoyance and did his best. This time he managed it for a second or so, but nothing was really in focus, or at least staying in focus.

"That's good," the woman talking to him said. "I'm Healer Gladstone, I've been looking after you. It's very good to see you waking up. I know you must be disorientated, so I want you to try and relax and let me help you."

That was easier said than done when your body seemed to not like you very much, but he did his best. He relaxed as well as he could as someone placed their hand beneath his head and carefully lifted it. When something was put to his lips and liquid was gently tipped into his mouth, he did his utmost not to just spit it out or cough it all everywhere. He half succeeded.

Almost immediately, however, he began to feel a little more with it and he managed to open his eyes properly. He blinked up at the woman helping him as she gently put his head back on the pillow.

"Is that a little better?" she asked with a smile.

"Yes," he managed to say, and he tried to add 'thank you', but it was more of a jumble than what he had meant.

Healer Gladstone seemed to get it though, because her smile widened.

"You're welcome," she said and pulled out a stick.

Johnny tried to flinch through the bed.

"Johnny," Harry's voice and a hand on his shoulder dragged his attention away, "it's okay, you're safe now. Healer Gladstone just needs to cast some diagnostic spells to make sure you're reacting well to the potion. It won't hurt."

It all made sense in a fantasy novel kind of way, but Johnny decided maybe he had gone a little mad.

"I'm sorry, Mr Weir," the woman said sincerely, "I had forgotten you have only seen a wand when it was used to hurt you. I promise this won't be uncomfortable at all and it will be over in a second. Is it alright if I proceed?"

The spike of fear had been so strong that Johnny could feel his heart racing even after the words of reassurance. The memory of the pain was still so close.

"Okay," he said eventually, the adrenaline in his system at least making his mouth more responsive.

The healer pointed her wand at him and said something he did not understand. He tensed; he couldn't help himself. However, a soft yellow light floated out of the end of her wand and slowly enveloped him, and he could barely feel it. There was a slight tingling in his skin, but it was kind of relaxing and he slowly found his muscles releasing.

"Thank you, Mr Weir," Healer Gladstone said with a smile as she flicked her wand and the light disappeared, "you seem to be responding very well."

"Johnny," he said automatically, "Mr Weir is my dad."

"Johnny," the woman acknowledged with a nod. "I just have to go and record these results and then I will be back. I shall leave you in Mr Potter's capable hands until then."

He watched her leave and then he looked at Harry; he needed some answers.

"What's going on?" he asked as loudly as he could manage.

"I'm a wizard," Harry said simply, "and so is Parkinson. It's why I was sent to catch him; I'm what we call an Auror, I track dark wizards."

Johnny had seen things, felt things, but he couldn't really make himself believe it.

"Magic is real," he said eventually, more to make himself think it than to ask the question.

"Very," Harry replied and sounded apologetic, "and you have been the victim of the worst kind. Parkinson is safely locked up now; he can't hurt anyone else."

His memory was unfortunately unfuzzy and Johnny shivered as Harry's words brought back what had happened. In desperation he tried to focus his mind on something else.

"With Adam," he said, as his thoughts grabbed at anything, "there was magic with Adam."

Harry nodded.

"Your memory was altered after the incident to forget about the magic," Harry told him and he began to feel righteous indignation; "everything else you remember though, happened."

"My memory?" he all but hissed.

"I'm sorry, Johnny," Harry said and did sound as if he really was, "it's the law. Muggles aren't allowed to know about magic. It's safer for you and us."

It sounded so sincere, but Johnny didn't like it at all. People doing things to other people's thoughts was just plain wrong. It also occurred to him that he still remembered about magic and, from what Harry had said, that was illegal.

"Are you going to make me forget all this now?" he asked, suddenly afraid.

The idea of anyone messing with his mind was a little horrifying.

"No," Harry assured him and patted his hand gently; "you've been through far too much for that. The situation is way beyond the situations those laws were designed for and no one will be messing with anyone's memory. The cover story given to the press is that you were kidnapped and tortured using electro nerve stimulation, but your family and those involved know the truth."

"Evan?" Johnny suddenly remembered who else had been there.

His brain really wasn't working very fast, even with the help of whatever the healer had poured down his throat.

"Is fine," was the immediate response. "He told us everything that happened. He was being controlled by Parkinson, but he was perfectly alright as soon as the spell was ended."

That was a relief at least; he and Evan were not exactly friends, but he wouldn't wish bad things on anyone.

"Controlled?"

"There is a spell," Harry explained and there was a haunted look in his eyes, "it's one of the three that our society calls Unforgivables. It allows a wizard to control the actions and thoughts of another. Parkinson used it on Evan to trap you. One of the other Unforgivables was the spell Parkinson used on you; it's only function is to cause pain."

Johnny shivered again.

"I heard something about nerve damage," he said trying to push away the memories.

"The spell overloads the nervous system," Harry told him, "and with prolonged exposure it causes nerve damage, but don't worry, that part is easily fixed. The healers will have you back to normal in no time."

He remembered the healer saying something about that as he woke up, but it was comforting to hear it reiterated.

"What can't they fix?" He voiced the part that was worrying him.

"The mind," was the simple answer. "We were worried you weren't going to wake up at all. Victims often don't, but you're clearly made of sterner stuff than most."

Harry sounded almost proud of him for that, Johnny just tried not to think about it.

"Probably just lucky," he said quietly.

"Johnny," Harry said and carefully took his hand, "I've been there. Not for as long as you, but I've felt it. Surviving has nothing to do with luck, it's all about will. If ... when you're ready to talk about it, I understand, okay?"

He looked closely at Harry's face then and he saw a reflection of pain deep in Harry's stunningly green eyes. Nodding slowly, he agreed, but he wasn't even ready to think about it yet.

"You mentioned my family," he said, doing his best to keep himself distracted.

"Your mum has barely left your side since you've been here," Harry said with a small smile; "she is a very formidable woman. She took the whole magic thing very calmly."

That made Johnny smile as well; Patti was not someone who was easily thrown by anything.

"Evan took her to find some breakfast while Healer Gladstone did your morning examination," Harry continued to explain.

Johnny's brain did a quick stall.

"Evan?" he asked, because he only knew one Evan and his mom did not like that Evan at all.

The way Harry smiled suggested Harry might have an inkling about why he was shocked.

"He asked to see you as soon as the healers gave him a clean bill of health," Harry said, still smiling, "and he and your mum spoke for some time. I think they appointed themselves your Muggle guardians among all of us wizards."

Evan and Patti allied together; Johnny wasn't sure if that was comforting or terrifying.

"Will they ..." He had been about to ask if Evan and his mom would be back soon, but he was interrupted by an enormous yawn. It took him completely by surprise and he couldn't even tone it down.

"Looks like you need to sleep," Harry suggested with a soft smile.

"But Patti," Johnny tried to object.

"Will be here when you wake up again," Harry said as Johnny began to realise his eyelids were drooping again. "Don't fight it, Johnny; your body knows best."

"Been asleep for three days," he pointed out, but his voice was soft and felt woolly around the edges.

"Go to sleep," Harry said, squeezing his hand gently, and Johnny didn't have to strength to argue.