DISCLAIMER: J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter. I don't.

Nightingale

Chapter One

Hedwig landed on the window ledge of her friends tiny bedroom with the mean people he lived with. Why he continued to go back to them after how bad they always treated him, she would never understand. She figured it must have been a weird human thing.

As she looked around the dimly lit room as the sun set outside, her large amber eyes adjusted to the growing darkness and noticed her friend was lying in bed, not moving, and thought him to be asleep. Which made sense to her as she knew he hadn't been sleeping well since someone he knew had left him recently, which made him sad and caused him to have long, restless nights where he barely slept. And when he did, he tossed and turned while crying out someone's name.

He had told her to go out for a while, as he didn't want her around since he heard the very large one coming up the stairs. She didn't know why he sent her away, but knew he had his reasons.

Hedwig was just about to turn back around and go hunting for the night when she noticed something. The room was a mess. Which while normal, this mess was not the usual mess of dirty clothes lying around. Things had been knocked over. She then noticed that her friend wasn't sleeping. He was unconscious and hurt. He had various cuts and bruises all over his body.

Hopping over to get a closer look at him, she saw the small pool of blood that he was lying in.

He was hurt really bad. Even worse than the time after that crazy little creature had come and caused all sorts of problems for her friend. Much worse. Her friend needed help, and it would be up to her to get it. But who to go to?

There was the loud and obnoxious one. Her friend spent a lot of time there after spending time with these people before going back to Hogwarts. But she didn't like him all that much because he never shared his bacon with her.

There was the man with the furry face. He did seem nice and all. But her friend didn't seem happy with him lately. Like he had done something mean to him.

There was the very large man that came and took her away from the owl store and brought her to her friend. Unfortunately, checking her owl senses that allowed her to find anyone that her friend wanted to send a letter to told her that he was too far away.

That left only one person. The girl with the bushy hair. Her friend really liked her, though she doubted if he even realized it himself. It would take less than an hour for her to fly there and get her. But how to tell her that her friend was hurt. She didn't have a letter to take and tell her.

Seeing the small pool of blood, Hedwig got an idea. She lowered her head and brushed her snowy white feathers through the thick, red liquid before flying out the window to get help.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Hermione was in her room, unpacking her trunk now that she was home from another year at Hogwarts. She and her parents, Dan and Emma Granger, had gone out to dinner after they picked her up at King's Cross, where they asked about this adventure she had been involved in.

Hermione had never lied to her parents before starting Hogwarts. But then again, how could she explain to them about the things that go on in the wizarding world without them freaking out and pulling her out of Hogwarts and away from her friends. Away from Harry.

"It was after we finished our exams," said Hermione, ready to give them the story she had come up with. "A group of us were given the opportunity to take a tour of the Ministry. Unfortunately, we happened to be there at the same time that a small group of dark witches and wizards tried to brake into a very restricted section to steal some powerful artifact. From what I overheard a couple Auror's talking about…"

"Auror's?" asked Emma.

"Magical police," said Hermione and her mother nodded her understanding. "Anyways, I overheard them talking after it all ended that it turned out that one of them was a kind of mentally unstable. So when they couldn't get what they came for, she went crazy and started firing spells at everyone. We all tried to hide, but a few times, we had to defend ourselves."

"You didn't have to… Kill anyone, did you?" asked Dan.

"No, of course not," said Hermione. "I don't think I could even if I wanted to. We just used stunning spells to knock them out and ran to find another place to hide. Unfortunately, there is also a spell to wake someone up after they've been stunned, so they just kept coming until the Auror's finally stopped them."

Not the truth, but not entirely a lie either. She didn't bother mentioning that she had been hit by a diluted curse which could have killed her at full strength. There was no need for them to worry about her.

"Well, we're just glad you're safe," said Emma. "It must have been frightening."

"It was a little scary," Hermione admitted. "But thankfully, Harry was there also."

Her parents shared a knowing look at the mention of Harry. The same boy that had been the main feature of most of her letters home since they became friends. Over the years, the tone of her letters home suggested her feelings for the young man went from one of friendship to something more.

Emma was definitely going to have to sit down with her and talk to her to find out if anything had happened between them.

Which is why when Hermione looked up after putting her school books away inside her closet, where they were kept out of sight in case anyone showed up that didn't know about the magical world wouldn't find them, she saw her mother standing there.

"Unpacking already?" her mother asked.

"Of course," said Hermione. "No point in putting it off."

"No, I guess not," said Emma. "Probably going to start on your summer homework as soon as you're done, right?"

"Nope," said Hermione. "No homework this summer, what with our O.W.L.'s and all. Since we don't know what classes we passed or not, we don't know what courses we'll be taking next year."

"A whole summer with no school work?" her mother asked with a smile. "Whatever shall you do?"

"Ha, ha," Hermione said dryly, though with a smile of her own. She knew her mom was just kidding with her. Unlike Ron did when he made fun of her about her desire for knowledge. "I still plan on studying this summer. Which reminds me, do you think we could go to Diagon Alley this weekend and get me some new books?"

"We'll see," said Emma.

The two were silent for a moment before her mother broached the topic she had come to talk to her daughter about.

"Hermione," she said as she sat down on the edge of the bed. "You and Harry are friends, right?"

"Of course," said Hermione.

"Close friends?"

"He's my best friend," said Hermione.

"How close?" asked her mother.

Hermione's eyes comically shot wide open.

"Mother," she said. "We're just friends."

"So were your father and I before we began dating," said Emma. "For quite a few years. Over that time, while we did date other people, we were also developing feelings for each other. I know that whenever I would go out with someone, I would always find myself comparing them to your father and how they never measured up and made me feel the way that does. So when the time came that we decided to give it a go, things progressed much more quickly than it would have if it had been someone else. We knew each other so well already. Our hopes and dreams. Our fears and failures… What I'm trying to say is that when we did start going out, it wasn't long before we took the next step and became intimate."

"I really do not want to hear about that," said Hermione.

"Hermione, please," said Emma. "We raised you better than that. You know as well as I do that it's only natural for a couple to be intimate when they love each other."

"Yes, but that doesn't mean I want to hear about the two of you shagging," said Hermione.

Emma chuckled and said, "Fair enough. But I just want you to know that if you need to talk about anything, I'll always be here to listen."

"There's nothing to talk about," said Hermione. "Harry and I are… Hedwig?"

Hermione was looking at the snowy white owl perched outside her window. She opened the window and checked Hedwig's feet, looking for a letter and not finding one.

"That's odd," she said. "Hedwig's never lost a letter before."

"Hermione, what's that on that owl's feathers?" asked Emma.

Hermione looked at her mother before looking back at Hedwig and noticing the red stain on her normally clean, white feathers.

"Hedwig, you're hurt?" exclaimed Hermione, too which Hedwig hooted and shook her head.

"It's not yours?" asked Hermione. "Then who… Oh no. Harry?"

Hedwig nodded.

"Death Eaters?"

"Death what?" asked Emma.

Hedwig shook her head.

"His uncle?" asked Hermione.

"Hermione, what's a Death Eater?" Emma asked, not liking the sound of the name.

Hedwig nodded.

"I'll explain later mum," said Hermione. "Right now, Harry needs my help. I think his uncle tried to kill him."

Hermione ran out of the room, with Emma quickly following behind her. It took Hermione a few minutes to explain to her father about what she suspected of Harry's home life, along with the blood on Hedwig's feathers. Dan then proceeded to look up in the phone book to see if he could find out where the Dursley's lived.

"Surrey isn't that far away," said Dan as he grabbed his car keys. "It should take about an hour to get there."

"I just hope Harry's still alive when we do," Hermione said quietly as the three of them got into the car and drove off to save her best friend.

OoOoOoOoOoO

As Harry slowly regained consciousness, he could tell two things. One was that he didn't have his glasses on since his vision was blurry. The other was that he was in some serious pain.

Despite the pain, Harry couldn't help but chuckle, which caused him to wince in even more pain as he thought back to what happened and decided in hindsight that maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to insult his uncle while he had been smacking him around as it only served to make him even more mad than he already was thanks to the threats the Order had made to him.

It the quiet of the night, Harry heard the sound of someone apparating outside, following by hushed whispers, and then someone apparating again. Harry figured it must have been members of the Order changing shifts, and wished he could find the strength to say something to get their attention so he could get some help.

Just then, there was the sound of a car coming to a screeching halt just outside.

OoOoOoOoOoO

Hermione was already jumping out of the car before it had come to a full stop, running up the path towards the front door, when she was suddenly talked to the ground by an invisible force.

"Hold it right there," a female voice called out as she pulled off an invisibility cloak. "Department of Magical Law Enforcement."

"Tonks?" asked Hermione as she looked up from where she landed on the grass.

"Hermione?" asked a surprised Tonks. "What the bloody hell are you doing here?"

"It's Harry," Hermione said as she got up. "I think he's been hurt. Hedwig came to my house and she had blood on her feathers."

"Damn it," growled Tonks. "I told Dumbledore not to allow Dung to be allowed on Potter Watch. We all did. Especially after what happened last summer."

Tonks took a few deep breaths to calm herself down, knowing it wouldn't do any good to lose her temper now.

"Alright," Tonks said. "Let me go in and see what it going on."

"But Harry…" Hermione started to say.

"I know you're worried," said Tonks, interrupting the bushy haired witch. "But you know what his family can be like just as much as I do. If that fat bastard had done something to Harry and he tries anything with me, I don't want you getting caught in the middle. Understand."

"Yes," said Hermione.

"Good," said Tonks. "I'll let you know when it's safe to come in."

Tonks then pulled out her wand as she walked up to the front door and kicked it open.

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS GOING ON?" shouted Vernon Dursley as he lugged his very wide rear end off the couch only to see one of the 'freaks' from the train station standing there, pointing her stick at him.

"Where's Harry?" asked Tonks.

"None of your business," growled Vernon. "And you get out of my house before I call the police."

"I'm only going to ask you one more time," said Tonks. "Where is Harry?"

"He's upstairs," Dudley said with a smile. "Dad put him in his place for having you freaks say things to him."

That was all Tonks needed to hear. She then stunned all three of the Dursley's before running up the stairs, where she found Harry's room was locked with various padlocks.

After a simple unlocking spell on all of them, she opened the door and gasped.

"Harry?" she cried out, running over and kneeling next to his bed.

"I see pink," Harry said weakly. "So… You must be Tonks."

"Yeah, its me," said Tonks as she tried to fight back the tears and the rage boiling inside her. "I'm here to help you Harry. Just hold on, I'm going to get you help."

"Take your time," Harry said as Tonks got up and ran to the door.

"Hermione, get up here," Tonks shouted.

The sound of footsteps could be heard rushing up the stairs and Hermione almost screamed when she saw how bad Harry had been hurt. She was quickly at his side, holding his hand as both her parents come up stairs, shocked at the sight before them.

"Oh Harry," Hermione said, tears filling her eyes.

"Hey 'Mione," Harry said, still sounding weak.

"How could they do this to you?" she asked.

"I'm glad you're here," Harry said, starting to sound even weaker. "I'm glad I… I got to see you one last time before…"

"No," Hermione said, starting to panic. "No Harry, you can't leave me. You're strong. We'll get you help and you'll be up and around in no time."

Tonks had grabbed an old shirt from the ground and tapped it with her wand as she said, "Portus," and then handed it to Hermione just as it activated and whisked the two teens away.

"Where did they go?" Emma asked in surprise at seeing the two of them vanish.

"St. Mungo's," said Tonks. "It's a wizarding hospital. I Portkeyed them there so the healers could save Harry… I hope. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to send a word to my boss and get some more Auror's here to deal with that lot downstairs before I give in and curse them to a billion and one pieces."

OoOoOoOoOoO

Hermione was disoriented for a moment as she and Harry appeared in the Emergency Arrival Area of St. Mungo's. Once she realized where they were, she called out for help.

"What happened?" asked a healer that came running out of an adjoining room.

"He was attacked," Hermione said as the healer kneeled down to look at Harry. "It was his relatives."

"His family did this?" asked the healer.

"Yes," said Hermione. "His uncle for sure. I don't know if his aunt or cousin did anything to him. They're muggles and don't like magic."

"Why the hell is a wizard living with… Bloody hell," he looked up at Hermione with a surprised look on his face. "This is Harry Potter."

"I know who he is," snapped Hermione. "Just help him already."

The healer called for assistance as he levitated Harry into one of the nearby rooms.

"You'll have to wait out here," one of them told her before they closed the door.

It was nearly fifteen minutes before Tonks apparated herself and Hermione's parents to St. Mungo's. The moment Hermione saw her mother enter the room, she ran into her arms, where Emma tried to calm her down as she cried. It was another five minutes before Hermione was able to talk.

"Have they said anything?" asked Tonks.

"No," said Hermione. "Not a word since they took him in… What happened to the Dursley's?"

"Holding cell in the DMLE," said Tonks. "After few other Auror's showed up, we questioned them and found out that his uncle was the one that did it because he didn't like the fact that we told him to be nicer to Harry. While that happened, the little pork chop sat stuffing his face while his aunt cleaned the kitchen."

"How could they do this to him?" asked Dan, unable to fathom how someone could beat a child like that.

"Petunia hates magic because a dark wizard killed her parents in order to get at her sister, Harry's mum, after the Potter's went into hiding during a war that was going on at the time," said Tonks. "When Vernon found out about magic, he used it and any witch or wizard as a scapegoat for when things didn't go the way he wanted them to in his life. As for their butterball of a son… He grew up seeing his parents hate magic, so he did as well."

After that, the four of them waited in silence for any news and constantly checking the clock.

It was almost an hour after Hermione had arrived with Harry that the first healer came out of the room, his green robes covered in blood.

"I'm sorry," he said sadly. "Mr. Potter's injuries were quite severe. One of his lungs had been punctured by a broken rib and he had lost a lot of blood before you brought him here."

"No," Hermione said quietly as she felt her entire world crumble to dust around her.

Harry Potter was dead.

OoOoOoOoOoO

A/N: And I'll end the chapter there…. But fear not. We all know Harry will be fine. So make sure you check back for the next chapter to see how Harry is saved and brought back to life.

Also, for those wondering about the title, it's a reference to Florence Nightingale Syndrome, where a doctor, nurse, or caregiver would form a deep connection to those under their care, sometimes even falling in love with them. Which should also give you an idea where this story is going.