Disclaimer: I own only Madhavi Palekar, Neil McConnell, Rajish the story line, and a building. The rest of the characters and back story belong to the wonderful JK Rowling!

"No, no, don't tell me you'll try to get hold of him. I want you to tell me where my bloody fucking husband is I-" Harry walked into the Auror Office and caught sight of his wife frantically arguing with his secretary. If he hadn't immediately been overcome with worry, he might have found the sight comical.

"Ginny, what's wrong?" Harry asked, hurrying to her side. Anything that could upset her this much was not good. She whipped around, her eyes were bloodshot and her hands were shaking. She tried to step toward him but her knees gave way. Harry caught her just before she fell to the floor. She was deathly pale. "Ginny, Gin, what's going on?"

"I-i-it's Al, he-he, there's been an accident and my clock, my clock it says, it says mortal danger," she sobbed. Harry felt his legs collapse under him and the two were on the ground. He seemed to have lost all feeling in his limbs.

"Mr. Potter, what is it?" Neil McConnell, his secretary asked hurriedly, shooting up from his desk.

"M-my son," Harry answered blankly. They hadn't seen Albus in over a year. He had been in India on a research trip with the Ministry. Neil led the two into Harry's office and left flooed Hermione. "What happened? He-he's not . . . dead is he?" Harry asked Ginny shakily once he was seated.

"No, h-he's not dead. They're not quite sure what happened or what's going to happen to him. He was, he was just-" Ginny's voice broke and her head dropped into her hands.

"We need to go there," Harry stated, his voice trembling terribly. "I can't stand not being there, not if-"

"I c-c-can't lose him Harry." They fell silent, neither trusting themselves to speak. Hermione came in a second later, followed by Ron with whom she had been having . . . lunch. She was hurriedly wiping off her mouth with a polka-dotted handkerchief. It bore tell-tale signs of smeared lipstick.

"Harry, what's going on? Neil said it had something to do with Albus."

"There was an accident," Harry replied, burying his head in his hands.

"Oh Merlin. Is he going to be alright?" Ron breathed.

"They d-d-d-don't know," Ginny sobbed.

"We need to get there Hermione. Can you-"

"I'll go arrange a portkey. What hospital?" Harry looked at Ginny whose shoulders were shaking uncontrollably.

"Santhanam in Mumbai," Ginny mumbled. Ron rested a hand on her shoulder and she turned into him, grabbing his shirt in her fists. Hermione rushed off to arrange the portkey.

"Listen mate, Hermione and I will go too," Ron said to Harry whose head was still in his hands. The auror grunted in reply.

A half hour later they were walking quickly down the hospital's front corridor. Harry got to the desk first, followed closely by Ginny. "I-I'm looking for Albus Potter, he was-"

"Yes, we've been expecting you Mr. Potter," the receptionist cut in, giving him a sympathetic look. "Your son is in room 218, on the second floor."

"How is he?" Ginny asked hurriedly, her face white.

"I'm not sure Mrs. Potter. The healers upstairs will answer all of your questions," the woman answered. They rushed up to the second floor and tore down the hall. They came to a halt in front of Albus' room just as a healer was stepping out. The man looked up.

"How is he?" Ginny asked quickly.

"He'll live," the healer answered simply. "No doubt it was a very close call. It was in a book, someone had cursed the book that he was examining. It's strange because he's had proper training; he was trained to check for those curses. His supervisor came in and told me what he could but it wasn't very much. Mr. Potter is by no means stable and we don't know what long-term effects this will have on him but he won't die." Ginny could have kissed him. Harry fell against the wall, waves of relief flowing over him.

"Oh thank Merlin." Ginny let out a strangled laugh. "May we see him?" the healer nodded simply.

"I'll be back in an hour to do some more tests. He's in there with his girlfriend right now." Ginny had already pushed through the doors. She didn't even see the figure standing at the window. All she saw was Albus, her baby, on the bed. He was ghost white, making his jet black hair stand out even more. His arms were resting by his sides and the white sheets were arranged neatly around him. Every few seconds he would let out a shuddering breath. Ginny rushed to his side, grasping his hand in hers as if she believed he would somehow fade away.

"Oh my darling," she murmured, kissing him gently on the forehead. By this time, Harry, Ron and Hermione had entered as well. Upon seeing Albus, Harry rushed to his other side. Ron and Hermione stood back.

"This is all my fault," Harry whispered, sending Albus a furtive glance. Ginny, Hermione, and Ron groaned loudly. Ginny dropped Albus' hand and stood up, placing her hands on her hips.

"Oh really Harry? How do you figure that? Should you have known intuitively what your adult son was doing on an entirely different continent? Should you then have been able to get here in time to knock the book from his hands?" Ginny asked, her eyes flashing. Harry pinched the bride of his nose.

"No I-"

"Oh this should be good," Ron laughed derisively.

"Yes, I didn't think he'd be able to blame himself last time when Lily fell off her broom and broke her arm but he somehow found a way," Hermione put in causing Harry to close his eyes in irritation.

"Don't you see?" the three of them shook their heads and Harry pushed forward. "Don't you think it's odd that Albus didn't check the book? The healer was right; he has been trained properly. I should know because I was the one who trained him for this very purpose. In fact, the people who are collecting these texts are trained to check for curses before they bring the books to the researchers. All of these precautions were put in place so that this very thing wouldn't happen."

"Accidents happen," Hermione stated reasonably; she knew where this was going and she didn't like it one bit.

"No, Hermione, accidents like this don't happen. I have this hunch-"

"Oh for heaven's sake! If its not you blaming yourself for something it's your bloody hunch!" Ginny was clearly exasperated.

"Would you just hear me out? This is all too odd. How could this curse have gotten past at least two highly trained Ministry curse experts? You know how good Albus is with curse breaking and detection. You know he doesn't let these things get past him. No I think-"

"Excuse me," the figure by the window stepped out, causing everyone else (barring Albus of course) to jump.

"Who are you?" Harry asked quickly, his eyes narrowing.

"Oh, sorry, I'm Madhavi Palekar. The healer told you I was in here didn't he?" She was tall and leggy with copper skin and large, almond shaped eyes. Her long, black hair was tied back in a braid and she was wearing a scandalously short white dress.

"He said Albus' girlfriend was in here," Harry replied.

"Well, that would be me. I'm sorry that Ali didn't tell you; I've wanted him to but for some reason, I don't know why, he didn't feel you'd approve. He's never said it in so many words but after he moved in-"

"He moved in with you?" Ginny asked shrilly. Madhavi nodded.

"Anyway, I just wanted to say, Mr. Potter, that you're right. Ali doesn't normally let these things get by. He's been a bit preoccupied lately though. Today especially, his mind was just somewhere else. I told him before he left that he needed to be careful but apparently, he wasn't listening."

"That's not like Albus," Hermione said. Madhavi nodded.

"I know; I'm just saying that it isn't necessarily some master plan or anything. When Ali wakes, we'll know exactly what happened." They fell silent, all eyes turning to Albus.

It was a full week before Albus woke. Madhavi had gone back to work and Ron and Hermione had returned to England, promising to take care of everything there. Harry had finally convinced Ginny to get a few hours of sleep back at their hotel. He had fallen asleep in a chair near Albus, his feet resting on the bed and his head resting on a pillow he had propped against the wall. "D-dad?" Albus asked tentatively, pushing himself up against the head board. Harry's head shot up.

"Albus? You're awake!"

"Of course I'm awake. Why are you here? Where is here for that matter?" He looked around at the white walls in bewilderment.

"Don't work yourself up. You're still quite weak. Now, there was an accident Albus. You got cursed when you opened a book you were researching."

"What? That can't be. I always check Dad, you know that." To Harry's discomfort, Albus was becoming quite worked up despite Harry's warning.

"Albus," Harry cautioned. "Don't make me stun you. You nearly died and I won't have you undoing all the work the healers have done. Now, tell me all you can about what happened." Albus shot a wary look at Harry's wand and settled back against his pillows. He ran his hand over his face slowly, screwing up his face as he tried to remember.

"Well, we had just gotten in a collection of 10th century Sanskrit texts on healing potions. I think there were about twenty. It was one of the most exciting discoveries we've made the whole time I've been here. I mean they were in mint condition and full of these potions that have been all but lost and-"

"Albus, if you don't mind, what happened?" Harry asked.

"Oh, sorry, well I checked the first one, all over Dad, seriously. I checked for everything I could think of. It was one on the different uses of Mentha Arvensis. I opened it and well, then there was a kind of whoosh. That's the last thing I remember. No one else was hurt right?" Harry shook his head. "Honestly Dad, I don't know how a curse like that got past me. I mean if it was powerful enough to nearly kill me, it should have some sort of trace shouldn't it?"

Harry heaved a great sigh. "Well, Al, what if it wasn't the book that cursed you."

"What do you mean Dad?"

"What if it was someone? Has anyone been acting differently toward you lately?"

"It wouldn't be anyone at work Dad. You know all of them. They're working for the Ministry and with the background checks they do they can't have . . . Besides, they've had months and months to do something. Why would they wait so long? It can't be them Dad. I've got more faith in them than I do in my curse-breaking abilities."

"Where were you when you were looking at this book?"

"I was in the research room."

"Was there anyone else there?"

"Not in the room. Everyone else had gone to dinner; I just wanted to get a look at it."

"Did anyone have access to the room before you used it?" Harry asked. Albus shrugged.

"It's not really locked is it? I mean everyone has access to it all the time."

"Was there anyone there who wasn't part of the research team?"

"Well, I mean, there's Rajish and Madhavi, our translators but I know they wouldn't have done anything to hurt me." Harry noticed Albus' pale cheeks had gone a bit flushed.

"I'm not sure of anything at the moment," Harry murmured.

"Dad, what are you talking about? I've told you it just can't be any of them. I trust them completely."

"I know you do Al," Harry pinched the bridge of his nose. "But I don't." Harry had a sinking suspicion that someone was out to wreck the peace that had been his for over twenty years and he wasn't going to stand for it.

A/N: Okay, I tweaked my original idea but I'm kind of excited about this fic. I hope you all enjoyed it and I'd love to hear from you. There will be more to come!