Non-magic AU
Severitus
Severus had been married to Lily but she left him for James shortly after Harry was born. They keep in contact and she still sees Harry sometimes, but not often. She and James have two children; James Jr. and Liam.
Severus is a Chemistry Professor at the local University, Harry attends and after school club. This story takes place around Children-In-Need or Red Nose Day.
.oOo.
Severus frowned down at Harry as they walked home from school. He didn't seem quite well. His skin was pale and he was walking slower than normal. "Harry? Are you feeling alright?"
Harry looked up at him, frowning slightly. "N-no... my legs hurt..."
Severus stopped walking and crouched down, lifting Harry's trouser leg up slightly. He frowned deeply at the bruises covering it. He pushed the leg back down and pulled up the other one. "Were you fighting at school, Harry?"
"No dad..."
Severus stood. "Hmm... perhaps we'll go to the doctors. Come on," he scooped the six-year-old up and carried him the rest of the way home, placing him in the passenger seat of his car and driving down to the doctors. He carried Harry in and sat him on a chair. "Alright, I'm going to talk to one of the receptionists about getting someone to see you, alright?"
Harry nodded miserably and sat quietly as his dad spoke to the receptionist. A moment later the man returned.
"Good news, we can go up and see the nurse right now, come on." He scooped the boy up and carried him upstairs to the nurse's waiting room, waiting for a full half hour before they were called in.
The nurse examined Harry's legs for a moment before turning to Severus. "It looks like an allergic reaction to something. I'll give you a cream for it. It should clear up in a few days. Do you have any idea what might have caused it?"
Severus frowned for a moment before looking down at the black and white spotted trousers of Harry's newly acquired Dalmatian costume. He lifted up Harry's top but didn't find any more splotches of discoloured skin. "I'm not sure. If it was the paint it would be everywhere..." he pushed the shirt back down. "I don't know."
The nurse glanced up from the computer. "Does he have any medical allergies?"
"No."
"Alright." She tapped away at the computer for a moment before printing out the prescription sheet and signing it. "Apply this cream every morning and night for the next few weeks and we'll see how he goes."
Severus nodded and thanked her, scooping Harry up again and carrying him downstairs to the pharmacy.
Harry looked up at his dad. "My legs hurt."
"I know, Harry. It's alright. The nurse gave us this cream for it."
Harry nodded and buried his head into the man's shoulder. Thankfully the wait wasn't long and soon they were home. Severus sat Harry down on the couch and pulled the boy's trousers off. "Let's get this on now and we can put some more on before you go to bed."
Harry nodded but frowned at how his legs wouldn't straighten properly, even with his dad gently tugging his ankle to try and do just that. "Why are my legs spotty?" he looked down at all the large purple splodges over both legs.
"We don't know Harry."
By evening Harry felt horrible. His legs hurt more than ever, he felt tired and a little bit dizzy. He'd tried to go upstairs to use the bathroom at one point and had to crawl up the stairs on his knees because he couldn't straighten his legs out more than a deep crouch. Getting back downstairs was harder.
By the time it was time to go to bed he was crying softly and his feet were now touching his thighs. He couldn't move his legs at all and he could tell his dad was getting really worried. The man stood up suddenly. "Alright Harry. I'm going to call the doctors and see what we can do, alright?"
Harry nodded. He was so tired but he felt really bad. Soon his dad came back in. "Alright Harry, I'm going to take you to the out of hours clinic at the hospital so the doctor there can have a look at you, alright?"
Harry nodded and let himself be carried to the car. He tried to stay awake for the journey but found himself nodding off on his dad's lap when the man carried him into the waiting room.
.oOo.
Severus looked down at his son worriedly. Something just wasn't right...
It was their turn next when a woman came in with a little boy and the nurse cam over, "Sorry, it's suspected Meningitis, do you mind if he skips the queue?"
Severus sighed internally and nodded. Too many children die of Meningitis as it was... and Harry could wait... he hoped. It seemed like an eternity before he was called in. He sat down and the doctor took one look at Harry before storming out of the room.
He began screaming at the nurses for leaving him out there and to call the hospital and tell them to get ready. He swept back into the room and pulled out a huge needle. "Right, he's going into shock so we need to get this into him. We don't even have time for an ambulance I'm afraid." He quickly injected whatever it was into Harry and led Severus back outside to the car park.
Severus, by this point, was terrified. What the hell was wrong with Harry?
He secured Harry into his seat, reassuring the mostly-out-of-it boy that he'd be okay, and leapt into the driver's seat of the car, which he then had to back up onto a busy intersection. Thankfully he was able to and sped off towards the hospital.
.oOo.
Harry opened his eyes slightly as he felt a sharp pain in his arm. He looked around to see a doctor pulling a needle out of his arm and herding his dad out of the building. He looked around. "Where going?"
"We're taking you to the hospital, Harry."
"Hos'tal? In a nee-naw?"
"No, Harry. We have to get there now. We can't go in a nee-naw."
Harry hummed and closed his eyes, drifting back off to sleep.
.oOo.
Severus pulled up to the hospital and panicked again. "Where the hell is A&E?" he drove around the building before pulling over and almost throwing his door frantically asking the man on the path beside them where he was supposed to go. He followed the man's directions around the building to the ambulance bay. Before he'd even pulled up the clutch the doctors had flung open the door, pulled Harry out of the car and thrown him onto a gurney and vanishing into the building.
Severus sat still for a moment, his knuckles going white on the steering wheel, before he looked around. "Where do I park the car?" thankfully there were parking spaces not far from him and he hastily parked the car there, dashing into the hospital. It took him a moment to find the right room.
The only occupied bed in the room was the one with Harry on it, already four doctors crowded around the bed. He dashed over and held onto the unconscious boy's hand. He looked frantically at the doctors, who seemed to be calling for help. Within moments more doctors arrived and he was moved slightly away from the bed. seconds later more doctors came and he was moved to the foot on the bed, holding onto Harry's foot before he was pushed away completely. He looked around and counted no less than seventeen doctors all crowded around the bed.
His breathing picked up at, what seemed to be the lead doctor, began calling out for some drug or other.
The panic in her voice was unmistakable. By now Harry had an IV in each arm and leg and the junior doctors where squeezing the life out of the bags to get the precious saline into his little boy as fast as possible.
He looked at all of the little machines strapped to the boy, who looked so tiny in that bed with all those cables stuck everywhere.
Eventually he was banished from the room entirely and paced to corridor outside. He grabbed the lead doctor as she left the room.
"He's going to be alright, isn't he?"
The woman glanced to the side slightly. When she spoke her voice shook slightly. "We're doing everything we can." The unspoken 'we don't think he's going to make it' hung heavily in the air.
Severus took a deep breath and tried not to collapse and nodded, letting the woman do her job. He headed down the hall and found the receptionist. She smiled sadly and let him use the phone. He rang the only number he could.
After several long rings the gruff voice of his ex-wife answered. "Hello?"
"Lily. It's Severus."
"Severus? What are you doing calling this late?"
Severus whimpered and he knew Lily could hear. "Harry's sick. He's in the hospital and..." he gasped, trying to gather himself. "I need you here, Lily, please. I need you."
There was a brief moment of silence from the other end. "Alright. I'm going to call James and get him to come home and look after the kids. I'll be there as soon as I can, alright?"
His only answer was a strangled, "Hurry." Before he hung up and almost ran back to Harry's room. The number of doctors seemed to have decreased but their urgency had not faded in the slightest. If anything, it was worse.
Severus whimpered again and paced the corridor. Eventually he was let back into the room and sat next to Harry's head. He gently stroked his son's hair, black as his but with Lily's slight wave, leaving it slightly messy looking. His normally tan skin was deathly pale and his eyes didn't flutter as they usually did when the boy was sleeping. His breathing was so slow and shallow, barely there at all.
Severus felt the tears stinging at his eyes make their way down his cheeks and he sobbed quietly. Harry still had both drips in his arms but the ones in his legs had been removed. He looked down at the huge, purple patches down the child's legs. "What is that?" his voice came out as barely more than a strangled whisper.
The lead doctor stepped up beside him. "We think it is Henoch-Schölein Purpura. Commonly known as HSP. It is a rare condition in which the blood vesicles become inflamed. I've never heard of a cast this bad before, which is probably why it was overlooked. Has he had a throat infection recently?"
Severus nodded. He was about to speak when the machines went off and he was ushered out of the room again while the doctors worked on keeping his precious boy alive.
He paced the corridor again. It seemed and age before Lily showed up.
She stopped just in front of him. "How is he?"
"Fighting." His voice seemed to get more twisted and chocked each time he spoke. He sobbed and tried to crack a smile. "He's a fighter. He... he'll be fine... he has to be... he..." Lily wrapped her arms around him pulling them both down onto the chairs. He sobbed into her shoulder. "What took you so long?"
Lily snarled. "James. He was at Sirius' place but when I called he told me they'd been drinking and he couldn't come home and look after J.J. and Liam. Thankfully Remus took the phone of James and asked what the problem was and hopped right in the car as soon as I said Harry was here. Didn't even need me to ask him to look after the kids, he just came right over."
Severus nodded. "Lupin's a good friend." He shook his head. "I can't believe Potter, though. You're telling me he couldn't get a taxi or something? Our son might..." he chocked and couldn't get the words out. "Why couldn't he look after his own kids? I know he hates me and Harry but to not let you be here..."
Lily nodded. "Yeah..."
"I can't forgive him for this."
"I don't think I can either."
They sat in silence, both trying not to break down completely when suddenly the doctors came back out of the room again, pushing the bed Harry was soundly sleeping on.
Severus felt like he was about to pass out, the sheer relief of seeing his son not dead was overwhelming. He vaguely registered the doctors saying something about putting him in a private room before he and Lily were following them down the corridors. He glanced at a clock and realised almost the whole night was gone. He settled down in one of the chairs next to the bed and ran his hand through Harry's hair.
The lead doctor smiled at him. "He's out of the woods now. He'll be here for a couple of weeks recovering, but he'll be alright. We're keeping him in here for observation for a few days before we'll move him out onto the ward."
Severus nodded. And gripped Harry's hand, resting his head against his son's shoulder, seeing the steady rise and fall of his chest as the Doctor connected the Heart monitor to the sticky pads on his chest.
.oOo.
It was a long two weeks.
The first few days Harry slept a lot and when he was awake it wasn't for long. Eventually he was moved into the proper ward and spent the rest of his time there. He was annoyed he couldn't straighten out his legs out properly and was upset he couldn't go to school but the little things the nurses brought in for them seemed to distract him. He loved the little plaster shapes to paint and demanded Severus buy him some for home.
He spent a good half hour pouting when the boy three beds over had soup for dinner and ice-cream after. Severus tried to explain that he'd just had his tonsils removed and couldn't swallow proper food but it didn't stop Harry from pouting. Thankfully the boy knew not to whine and complain about not getting ice-cream, since his dad didn't like whining.
Eventually the bruises faded and Harry's leg muscles straightened out properly and he was allowed to go back home.
The memory would eventually fade from Harry's memory, though never it would never leave completely.
And Severus would never forget. Never forget the fear of almost losing his boy, the hours of waiting for any kind of news, the hours spent alone pacing that hallway, no one there for him, while the doctors fought for his little boy, his precious boy.
Not ever.
He would never forgive James Potter for not doing everything to let Lily come and see her son, even if he is the son of her Ex-Husband. He would never forgive him for the hours of painful loneliness and hopelessness he felt before Lily arrived.
Not ever.
He would never forget.
.oOo.
I wrote this story when I listened to Taylor Swift - Out of the Woods. It reminded me of when this happened to me, although instead of my dad being with me it was my mum, and when she called my dad, he called her parents to come and look after my brother and sister but they said they had just opened a bottle of wine and couldn't come down.
I'm sorry, but if you're told there is a chance your grandchild might DIE you get a bloody taxi and get over there as fast as possible. If you can afford to take a hugely expensive holiday every year and get a taxi to the airport, you can afford to get a taxi for the shorter distance it would take you to get to your daughters house, or you'd ask a neighbour, or something!
But then again, this is from the woman who once turned to me and said, and this is a direct quote, word for word, "My holidays are much more important than you children."
Who sais that?
Anyway, looking Henoch-Schölein Purpura up on the internet was kind of a shock. The NHS website makes it come off as a harmless rash. If you google it, it comes out with pictures of kids covered in thousands of these tiny little red dots, that look kind of painful. I had large bruise like spots that ranges from 2-5CM in diameter and the muscles in my legs seized and cramped, pulling my legs into a bent position and keeping them there.
It was a kind of scary experience, especially when the doctors pulled out a giant syringe with almost 6 inch long needles (though thankfully it for the person in the bed next to me). The blood-pressure tests were kind of funny, with that thing that squeezed my arm and made me feel my heartbeat in my hand.
I guess I just wanted to share this experience with you guys, also as an apology for leaving my stories for so long.
I will update! I swear it!