Disclaimer - don't own Harry Potter (obviously) or else I would not be writing FAN fiction
Father and son
Harry lay in bed at the Dursley house. It was 4 am. He had been awake all night from the fever that was currently causing him to shiver in bed on the warm summer's night.
He had been back in privet drive for 3 weeks. They had spent the time so far avoiding Harry as much as possible and not being horrible thanks to the threat that the order had made at Kings Cross.
Harry had written to the order every three days stating that he was ok. Harry had several nightmares a night of Sirius' death but he beginning to find ways to cope - mostly by keeping himself busy with housework and re-reading his old spell books.
Over the last couple of days, Harry had been feeling extremely unwell. It had begun with cold like symptoms, but was now more like an extreme case of the flu. He had spent the last 24 hours in bed shivering feeling extremely weak and sick.
As Harry laid there thinking that he would write to the order about his illness in the morning. They might be able to send him a potion to cure him. He began shivering more violently in bed and pulled the blankets tighter around him. He fell into an uneasy sleep.
All night he endured flashbacks in his dreams to encounters with Voldemort, as clear as if he were reliving them, but they were all blurred into one, as though everything from the incident with Quirrell to the encounter in the ministry had been one long event.
Eventually Harry was roused by someone poking him awake "Boy! Get up! You need to write to those freaks today or they'll come after us!"
Harry looked up at his uncle and then at his aunt, who was hovering in the doorway. He made to sit up, but the pounding in his head increased and the world seemed to lurch violently around him.
Petunia entered the room. And put her hand dubiously on Harry's forehead "He's ill"
"I can see that. He can write to those PEOPLE and then we can leave him in bed."
Harry felt himself passing out. He heard his aunt shriek as he lost consciousness. He awoke what must have been less than a minute later on his bedroom floor, he ached where he had fallen from his bed. Petunia was standing over him. "Vernons called an ambulance. Stay where you are. When the paramedics get here don't you dare try any of that freakish nonsense."
Harry closed his eyes. When the paramedic arrived they helped him down the stairs and into the ambulance. Petunia and Vernon refused to come to the hospital, but before the ambulance could drive away a woman appeared out of seemingly nowhere announcing "I'll go. Don't worry Mrs Dursley, I'll contact you when I know what's wrong with Harry."
Harry looked around from his spot on the bed and saw McGonagall, carrying what looked like an invisibility cloak onto the ambulance. He felt relief surge through him. The order would be able to help him.
The paramedic "Call me Joe" sat crouched down next to Harry. "How are you feeling now? Still dizzy?"
"Yeah." Harry said
Joe took his temperature. "You have a fever. Have you been sick at all, had a cough, any aches and pains?"
"I ache all over. And Ive been sick a few times. No cough." Harry answered.
"Ok, I'm going to get some fluid into your system, so I'll need to put a needle in your hand, you'll just feel a scratch ok?"
Harry nodded "Is that entirely necessary?" Mc Gonagall asked worriedly.
"Im afraid so - uh"
"Minerva"
"Right. Minerva. If Harry's been sick he'll probably be quite dehydrated. This might also help to bring the fever down as well."
Joe inserted a needle into Harry's hand and secured it with a plaster. Minerva flinched as it went in.
"Are you alright Harry?" She asked
Harry nodded and watched Joe connect the tube in his hand to a bag of fluid.
Harry started to fall asleep. "I'd rather that you'd stay awake until we get you to the hospital." Joe said.
Minerva moved closer and looked down at Harry "Why didn't you tell anyone?"
"I was going to this morning"
The professor's lips thinned but she remained silent.
Once at the hospital he was placed in a bed in the casualty department. Minerva sat next to his bed while the doctors examined Harry. They listened to his heart and attached a monitor for it, they looked in his throat and ears and took several blood samples.
By the time they were finished Harry was even more exhausted.
"Whats the matter with him?" Minerva asked
"We aren't sure yet. I think it may be a blood infection of some variety, but the symptoms don't all seem to add up. We'll know more when we've analysed the blood sample."
So the doctors left Harry and Minerva alone in the cubicle.
"Do those machines hurt?" Minerva asked gently eyeing the wires and blood pressure monitor.
"Not really, my hand hurts with the needle though." Harry said.
Minerva stood up and started pacing. "You aren't safe here. We need to get you to the order. Besides you may have a magical illness that these people wont be able to treat."
Harry began to feel shivery again and curled up into a ball on the bed. Minerva began rummaging in one of her pockets and found a little ball which disappeared when she squeezed it.
"It's ok potter. I've sent a signal. Dumbledore will be here soon and we can get out of here." Harry looked at his teacher. She was looking at Harry with great concern and held his hand gently. Harry had never been close to his head of house, but her presence was a lot more comforting that he would have previously imagined. He tightened his hold on her hand and fell asleep.
Harry awoke again when someone began pulling the pieces of equipment off of him. Professor Dumbledore, Remus Lupin and a couple of the doctors were signing some forms while a nurse disconnected him. "What's -" Harry began
"You are being signed out to a private hospital that Minerva arranged for you." The nurse said
Harry looked over at Remus as he approached. "Good to see you Harry."
"Hi" Harry smiled faintly. Remus pulled off his shabby coat and put it on Harry before helping him into a wheelchair.
Albus smiled in greeting and the four mages left the hospital.
"Harry, we have a portkey prepared, touch it when I say."
Albus held out a clipboard and the four of them touched it on the headmasters nod.
When Harry arrived at Grimmauld place, in one of the master bedrooms, he was immediately descended upon by Madame Pomfrey.
The bed had been prepared for him in advanced. Four fluffy pillows and a red duvet, which was folded back on one corner awaited him. Harry stood out of the chair and wobbled slightly. Remus held him up so he could get into bed. The professors left the room.
Madame Pomfrey smoothed out the duvet over Harry and began examining him.
"Whats wrong with me?" Harry asked her as she towered above him looking very grim.
"You have an infection. Have you had a cold lately?"
Harry nodded "Well that could have triggered it, that and the stress that you've been under."
"What sort of infection?"
"You're blood, or rather more specifically your magic. It is being attacked by the infection"
"Am I going to be alright?"
"We have some potions that can slow the infection and reduce the fever. Meanwhile I'll need to look into a more complete cure. I'll come back in the morning."
Harry drank the potions that Pomfrey gave him, one of which must have been laced with a sedative because he fell asleep almost instantly.
Abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz - gap to sort out spacing
"Is that the only option?" Harry distantly heard a voice say, he was so sleepy he kept his eyes closed and just listened instead. It was Dumbledore's voice
"Without a transfer of non-infected magic from a family member Harry will not survive."
"Perhaps he has a relative we don't know about. Its possible...all pure blood families have interrelations don't they?" Molly's voice
Harry cracked his eyes open, but quickly shut them as the bright light caused pain to stab through his head. He was going to die? He only thought it was a bad case of flu..
"Harry does have relatives in the pureblood population, but they are all to distant to be compatible"
"Can't we do a scan of the community to check...I mean there may be a relative that is just compatible." Arthur said
"Only one way to find out" Albus said and incanted a spell.
Harry opened his eyes again. Remus was next to him on a chair looking very worried and Molly, Albus, Arthur and Pomfrey were in the room.
"Isn't there another cure?" Harry asked in a quiet voice
"We aren't going to rest till we find one Harry" Albus said. "This parchment that I just conjured is a directory of all known wizarding families in Britain. If anyone is a close enough match their name will light up on here."
Pomfrey took a drop of Harry's blood and dripped it onto the parchment. It glowed a brilliant red and then returned to it's former state.
Dumbledore scanned the list, and suddenly his eyebrows rose.
"Lupin" He read. There was a pause. Then -
Remus stood up fast as though the chair was about to kill him "No..." He muttered to himself "It cant be, she would have told me.. He looks nothing like me..."
Remus fled from the room. Albus and the Weasleys stared after him in shock. Harry threw himself from the bed and dashed from the room. He panted for air as he sprinted down the stairs. "Professor - Stop!"
Remus was just about to open the front door, pulling his cloak on.
He turned at Harry's voice. No longer able to support his own weight Harry sprawled to the floor, onto his hands and knees.
Remus hesitated for a second before helping Harry into a sitting position on the floor. "Why didn't you tell me we were related? You knew about the Dursleys all this time and didn't take me in when you could have. How are we related anyway - are you my uncle, cousin...what?"
Remus looked carefully at Harry, the silence grew.
"You're ill, I'm taking you back upstairs."
"Professor!" Harry snapped "Tell me! I'm sick of being lied to!"
Remus swept Harry into his arms and carried him back to the bedroom. Ignoring the looks that he was getting from the others in the room, Remus turned and marched out towards the door.
Pomfrey tucked Harry back into bed, and molly smoothed his blankets, tears in her eyes.
Albus approached cautiously "Harry, please just rest I will go now and speak with Remus."
Harry watched the headmaster vanish. Molly bought a bowl of soup and placed it on Harry's lap. Harry took the spoon and slowly ate the soup in silence, feeling completely betrayed.