A/N: This is my first fan fiction. I hope you all like it. It's just a story I wrote to satisfy some "what ifs" I was left with after Order of the Phoenix. To me, Sirius has always been one of the most tragic characters in the books. His was a life that held so much potential yet he never really got to show us what he was made of. I think he and Harry both deserved so much more. To right the injustice of it, I created this story!
The main character is an original of mine. I tried not to make her too Mary-Sue-ish, but at the same time, I of course want to make her special for Sirius! This is meant to be a SiriusOC romance story, but all our favorites will make an appearance, and some action/mystery will be thrown in as well. The story starts at about the same time as Harry and Co. are causing trouble at the Department of Mysteries, at the end of Order of the Phoenix. Instead of opening a port back to Hogwart's though, Dumbledore opens a port to St. Mungo's. From there, events branch off from canon into my own AU world. I hope you like!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters or the world in which they live. I intend no infringement upon J.K. Rowling's rights at all. I only ask that she let me borrow her creations for a little while. I promise to put everything back the way I found it!
Chapter 1
Cyril Lynch and his wife, Mona, were having a glass of tea in the tearoom of St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. They had rushed their young daughter in that night because she had accidentally used her Crazy Carmine's Consumables At Home Food and Drink Wizard to concoct what wound up being a potent version of a Shrinking Potion. The picture card of Carmine that came with the set usually spouted off instructions for brewing at home versions of pumpkin juice or butterbeer. However, when Mr. Lynch had accidentally dripped some of his firewhiskey on the card, Carmine had become drunk and confused and gave the little girl the wrong instructions.
The authorities had soon confirmed, after a strange conversation with Carmine, that the child had not been kidnapped, as her parents had feared when they couldn't find her, but had instead been shrunk to the size of a shirt button. Worse still was the fact that the child had in fact been partially sown onto her father's shirt cuff before her mother had realized what she was doing. With the shirt in tow, they had rushed to St. Mungo's.
The little girl, Lani, had first been shuffled to every floor in the hospital as they tried to remove her from the shirt cuff. Finally, an assistant from Madame Malkin's Robes for All Occasions was sent in to perform a very handy charm on the shirt, sure to remove the button without further damaging the girl. The charm worked, but interestingly also wound up loosening the buttons on every shirt in the room.
After the little girl was removed from the shirt, she was brought to the Iris Blickenstaff ward on the third floor. The Healer in charge of this ward, where all the most serious potion and plant poisonings were handled, brewed up an antidote that kept the girl from shrinking further. It was administered first by dropping Lani into a cup with a small amount of the antidote and letting her swim around awhile. She was growing back to normal size slowly, and was finally big enough to take small sips of the antidote. Her parent's had stepped out for some tea on the fifth floor while the Healers continued their work, somewhat placated that there daughter would soon recover.
Cyril and Mona were just finishing up their tea, when the healer in charge of their daughter, Gemma Peacecraft, came into the tearoom and sat down with them. They could see where traces of the antidote's ingredients were smeared on the front of her lime-green robes. There were also a few smudges on the green healer's hat she wore.
"Mr. and Mrs. Lynch, I just wanted to let you both know that Lani is doing very well now. We'd like to keep her here overnight to monitor her regrowth."
"Why?" Mona asked, startled. "Is there a problem with her re-growing?"
Gemma smiled gently. "No, no, Mrs. Lynch. I assure you everything is going smoothly. It's just that as she continues to grow back to her normal size, it will become increasingly more painful. That is an unfortunate side effect of the Enlargement Potion. It feels not unlike having taken some Skele-gro, and we all know that regrowning bones is a nasty business." The three of them nodded in agreement. "We of course, also want to monitor that she does not grow too large. Just last summer some healers here had a terrible time trying to get a young man back to his normal size. He kept going between 9 inches and 15 feet. It terrible! The poor child never did reach normal size again. He stayed nearly 9 feet tall. Most think he's part giant now."
Mrs. Lynch gasped, "You don't think that will happen to my Lani?"
"Of course not! Lani is responding beautifully to treatment. I've no doubt she'll be back to normal in no time." Gemma gave them one of her most dazzling smiles. The Lynch's were immediately calmed and all fears were gone.
Gemma was in fact, one St. Mungo's most popular Healers; she had a reputation for being one of the cleverest, most competent Healers they had. While she was not a dazzling beauty by conventional standards, she seemed to radiate kindness, gentleness, warmth and compassion. Her manner was soothing to patients and family alike. She also had a confidence and infectious hope for good results. And, she was of course, a magnificent Healer. She had always been a good student during her time at Hogwarts, and with years of practice under her belt, there was nearly nothing she couldn't heal. She had chosen to work on the third floor merely because making potions and antidotes had always been her best subject and most fun for her. However, whenever the other floors were getting too busy, or if there was a particularly rough case, Gemma would always pitch in to do her best to help where she could. Of course, there were some things that nothing could heal, but Gemma was determined to always try her best and give her all.
Years of being teased for her appearance had made her struggle harder than the other Healers when trying to return her patients to normal because Gemma knew how painful it could be to not be able to turn back to "normal." While presently her appearance just made everyone give her a second look, or to stare a bit longer than is polite, in school the teasing had been merciless.
While she wasn't what anyone would call gorgeous, she was pleasantly good looking. There was nothing extraordinary in her facial features. She wasn't ugly by far, just average looking. Due to certain events, however, her eyes had turned an alarming shade of purple, and her hair had been turned stark white. The contrast was of course made even more startling because her skin was a rich tan color, making the purple and white even more pronounced. She also had a huge scar that ran the length of the left side of her neck, down to her collar bone and onto her chest, and so she tried to always wear turtlenecks or scarves to hide it. As part of her healer garb, she always wore a green hat with the St. Mungo's emblem, a wand crossed with a bone, to hide the majority of her hair.
Gemma had long since come to terms with looking somewhat odd, and so nowadays she just focused on what she felt she was meant to do: healing. And in her mind, it was not just her job to heal the bodies of her patients, but also their minds and hearts if they needed it. She knew from experience that even a healed body could not fully recover if the heart was not in it as well.
It was because of this mostly that Gemma was popular. She loved to talk with patients and families, and was known as a great story-teller, having been at St. Mungo's for some time and seeing all kinds of things. She was a bit fanciful sometimes, and could appear somewhat bubbled headed upon first meeting, but it was more her good nature that made her seem so: she was actually quite clever and could be cross when need be.
Gemma chatted lightly with the Lynch's in her signature manner, easing them out of their worry. She entertained them with a story about an older man she had seen earlier that day who had an argument with his wife that he apparently lost. He had come in with his hand permanently washing dishes. His wife's charm to get him to help out had backfired somehow and they just could not stop him from washing everything in sight.
Gemma was about to take her leave of the Lynch's to go check on Lani's progress, when another Healer rushed in, his lime-green robes madly ruffled.
"Gemma! We need you right away! You will not believe what has happened!"
Gemma shot to her feet, and let herself be lead away by the Healer. "What's wrong, Milo?" she asked, panic in her voice. Did something happen to make Lani too big or small after she had just promised her parents nothing like that would happen? She had brewed the antidote herself, she was sure it would work.
Milo led her down one flight of stairs and stopped at the doorway to the fourth floor and motioned to her to go in. "I've got to get the rest. Gemma, go straight to the Derry Dorian ward, see if you can help at all." The Healer dropped his eyes. "It's Death Eaters. They are back….He is back," and he ran away, presumably to search for more Healers.
Gemma stood motionless in her spot, trying to compose herself. Millions of thoughts seemed to be flying through her head, making it difficult for her to concentrate on normal things, like walking, or breathing. Could it be possible? She had been reading The Prophet, she had heard rumors. But the Ministry had ensured everyone that the rumors were only just that, rumor. Would they have let You-Know-Who come back without warning anyone? It just wasn't possible. Maybe his Death Eaters had decided to cause trouble again without him? Or maybe it was all just a mistake. Some crazy people pretending they were Death Eaters. Yes, Gemma told herself. That was all. It was just a misunderstanding, or a joke gone horribly wrong.
Sure that she had figured it out and that her world had not been changed in the slightest, she hurried down the many hallways of the Spell Damage floor to the Derry Dorian ward. Whatever had happened though was bad if they had taken the injured to the Dorian ward. The ward was reserved for wounds obtained from the darkest of magic. But no matter, it couldn't possibly be what she was thinking, what Milo had said. She would just go and take a peek to see if she could help, but they wouldn't need her.
The halls were unusually empty. Gemma wondered where all the other Healers were. While it was night and there were less Healers on duty than normal, Milo had made it seem like the halls would be running full of people. If it were Death Eaters, surely everyone in the place would be screaming by now. Yes, she was becoming even more sure that Milo had been exaggerating. Or, perhaps, whatever happened had not reached the others yet…or somehow they wanted it all kept secret.
Gemma had turned a corner to get to the ward, dreading the time when she would finally reach the doors, when from seemingly no where behind her, a teenage girl with a mane of long, red hair staggered past her. She was clutching something in her hand, and was limping, barely able to walk. She was trying her hardest to move forward as fast as she could.
Gemma reached out and gently laid her hand on the girl's arm. "You are hurt! Stop here for a moment and let me look at it please." Gemma glanced down at the girl's injured leg, trying to see what the damage might be. The girl just shrugged off Gemma's hand and continued on.
"I'm a healer. I can help if you'll let me look." But the girl didn't seem to be listening; she had a look of cold determination on her face. Gemma followed helplessly behind her, afraid to be too rough with her so as to not hurt her more.
The girl looked like she had been through a lot. Her ankle was a deep, deep purple where Gemma could see it, and there were minor cuts all over her skin and blood all over her clothes. Gemma couldn't image what the girl had been doing to get injured like that. She had seen witches and wizards who dueled look like this, but the red headed girl did look to be a bit too young for that. Was this possibly a huge, illegal, underground wizarding dueling contest that had gone wrong?
Gemma looked the girl up and down, making a mental note of all the injuries she could have and which ones to check for once they both stopped. Gemma wondered if the girl might be looking for a bed in the spell damage ward, maybe not wanting anyone to know she was there so she wouldn't get in trouble. Gemma looked up briefly from her analysis of the young girl as they neared the purple double doors of the ward as hadn't been paying attention to where she was walking and was about to run into a wall.
Gemma stopped in her tracks a moment because when her eyes darted from the door to the ward and the wall she nearly ran into, she though she caught a glimpse of the very same girl as was walking beside her. This second girl burst from inside the ward, fumbling with something around her neck. When Gemma looked again though, the double was gone.
"Did you…" Gemma started to ask, incredulously.
"I didn't see anything," the red-headed girl said too quickly. Gemma stopped for a moment, convinced that she had seen something, just not sure what.
Suddenly, behind her, came a mad rush of Healers as nearly every Healer in the hospital hurried toward the ward. Gemma took one last glance at the girl next to her before joining the other Healers. She had a sinking feeling that none of this could be good and that once she walked into the Dorian ward, nothing would be the same again. The red-head also rushed into the ward, her eyes growing wide, taking in the scene.
Gemma eyes darted around the ward, taking a healer's quick glance to assess damage. The ward was empty save for the middle, where it seemed a small crowd had formed. They were the most motley crew she had seen in awhile. Five of them looked about as bad as you could imagine. Scrapes, cuts, torn clothes, and strange, other marks covered them all. It looked as if they had been in a huge duel and had all lost horribly. Her suggestion of a secret dueling league seemed to be the right idea for there could be no other explanation for attacks like that. Gemma also noticed five teenages in the room as well, looking just as poorly as if they too had been allowed to fight in these duels. Her eyes widened slightly as she recognized Neville Longbottom in the group, though she did not know any of the others. On the floor, around them all was a man in robes. The entire group, though some looked to weary or hurt to be standing for long, were all staring at him with concern in their faces.
Several of the healers rushed forward and tried to usher each to a bed in the ward, although none seemed to be willing to move from the center of the room, where one of the teenagers was kneeling next to the man on the floor, staring intently at him. The boy seemed to be crying as he held the man's hand.
Gemma heard the red headed girl cry out, "No! It didn't work!" Tears started to roll down her cheeks as she clutched her clenched fist to her chest. "It didn't work, and I just made things ten times worse."
Gemma walked over and put her arm around her. "What dear? What didn't work? Do you know what happened here?"
The girl raised her eyes to Gemma. "I just tried to save him…I didn't think…I didn't know…I…I…What have I done?" The girl couldn't finish. Gemma led her to one of the beds. While helping her into the bed, Gemma glanced down and saw what looked like an hourglass clutched in the girl's hand. Gemma raised her eyebrows for a moment, recognizing what it might have been, but saying nothing. In the bed next to them was one of the teenager from the center of the room, a boy with the very same red hair as the girl. He had strange, circular marks all over his arms and face.
He looked over to the girl as Gemma started to wipe at some wounds on the girl's face. "It's gonna be ok now, Ginny. Don't worry. The healers here will take care of him. They'll take care of everything" The boy however did not sound like he meant a word of it. Ginny continued to cry. A Healer, working on the boy's wounds, cut Gemma off from asking the boy what had happened.
"So Ginny is it?" Gemma asked. The young girl remained quiet and stared blankly forward as if in shock, tears just streaming down her face silently. "Ginny," Gemma asked as she began to look at the girl's ankle, "do you know what happened here?"
Ginny looked up, her eyes shining. She was about to say something, made a motion to move her clenched hand forward, when one of the other Healers yelled, "Gemma, get over here now! I can't believe this."
Gemma ran over quickly to where there were still a few healers circled around the man and the boy in the center of the floor. The boy was still crying, and the man was trying to comfort him, although his words were barely whispers and very hard to make out. Gemma knelt down herself to get a better look, as several healers were trying to move the boy away and a few others were hastily looking over the man. Gemma began a cursory examination of the man too, beginning with his leg which appeared to have been smashed somehow. When she looked into the man's face, her eyes met half-moon spectacles and nothing could have prepared her for the shock.
"Professor Dumbledore! You've got to be kidding!"
Dumbledore smiled weakly, his clear blue eyes meeting her. "I assure you my dear, I never kid in matters of this sort." He wheezed a bit while he talked, as if he were trying to get more air into his lungs to speak. "I had hoped to see you again, although these are not the circumstances I had imagined. I guess I figured that if you did not come to see me at school, I would storm your place of business and force a reunion."
Gemma let out a small laugh. "Oh, Professor. You always were trying to impress me, horribly I might add. I don't think you ever did manage it once, bless your soul." Gemma smiled warmly at him. Dumbledore chuckled painfully, which brought Gemma out of her shock of seeing him. "What in the world happened here? Everyone here looks as if….as if…" she shut her eyes as she found she almost could not say it. She brought her voice very low. "It reminds me of when he was…" she opened her eyes again to look at Dumbledore pleadingly. No, she said to him with her eyes. Please do not let it be so. His steady gaze however seemed to confirm it for her.
Gemma set her face. "Help me get him into a bed this instant. We will not be treating the Headmaster on the floor." The Healers around her helped her carry him to a bed. Gemma noticed that the group that had come with him, while still in the beds they were placed and being treated for their injuries, kept their heads turned in their direction. The teenage boy that had been with Dumbledore on the floor was seated on the bed next to them, staring intently. Healers rushed about them all, trying to stop bleeding, mend wounds, undoing the damage of various curses, hexes, and jinxes.
Gemma straightened out her robe, wishing against wish that she had been even the slightest bit cleaner when mixing Lani's potions. She took quick stock of the Healers around her, noted that she seemed to be senior to them all, and put on her best game face. "Here's how this is going to work," she looked directly into Dumbledore's face. "I do not want to know what happened right now. I don't care if you were attacked by a vampire, Muggle, or if you got too frisky with Rosmerta's wine and decided to have a contest to show us all who really is the boss. Right now none of that matters." Dumbledore started to chuckle. "This is not the time for any of that mess. I only want to know what was used against you. What curses were placed on you?"
Dumbledore looked around and caught the faces of those in the beds. They all seemed to want to almost smile at the way Gemma was bossing him as if she were the headmaster and he the student. Had the situation not been so grave they would have probably laughed at her reproachful tone.
Dumbledore tried his best to recount what had happened, his lungs seeming to strain with the effort. The others in the room had tried to help fill in where they could, but Gemma merely snapped that she didn't remember asking anyone but Dumbledore to speak. She was more scared for Dumbledore than she cared to admit, and so her usually good nature was replaced with a harsher, businesslike manner.
Dumbledore's voice was getting weaker and weaker, the wheezing came with nearly each breath now, his skin was growing paler and paler, and was beginning to turn a shade of light blue. Gemma's own face became more and more furrowed as she tried everything she could think of with no result.
She held several small conferences with the other Healers in the building. They all spoke in hushed voices, their faces growing grimmer and grimmer with each word. None of the spells used against him would have caused such a prolonged effect. All the hexes and curses and jinxes he said were used against him would have had usual effects that the Healers could counter. Whatever had been used against him wasn't acting like known casted magic. Nothing they did to counter the effects seemed to be working. Worse still was the fact that whatever had done this seemed to still be working as he was growing steadily worse. Gemma had decided to instead treat each of his symptoms separately, trying to keep him alive long enough to find out what was really doing the damage. In the meantime, she was hoping to find hints as to what might be the cause. They only seemed to be sustaining him now, and even with their efforts, he was beginning to grow weaker.
Gemma racked her brain, trying to think of what kind of curse would be causing these symptoms. Her mind worked furiously as she watched Dumbledore grow dimmer and dimmer. She sat down on the bed next to him and took his hand, rubbing it gently. He had his eyes only half open now, and he didn't try nearly as often to speak.
"You know, I always knew you would be a great healer," Dumbledore mumbled to her, trying to open his eyes a bit more, and seeming to gasp for each breath it took to speak.
"Righto. Bang up job I'm doing at the moment," Gemma reached out to remove his hair from his face. "Your letter to me last week, you said you needed to talk to me about something. Something you needed help with?" Gemma asked. She wanted to keep talking to him, because despite herself, he made her feel comfortable. While he was lying there dying, she was still needing him to be there to encourage her.
Dumbledore coughed a bit. He was turning bluer around the fingers and face. He had grown cold; his breathing had become quite labored. "That's not so important right now," he smiled at her.
"I knew it. You, you cheeky old man, were planning on tricking me into a dinner for two under innocent pretenses. Don't try to deny it. I don't let people off the hook, even when they are dying," Gemma goaded him. She was trying to make light of his condition, when in reality it frightened her to think that she might not be able to save him.
One of the men that came in with him, laughed as he walked over. "How's he doing?"
Gemma looked at the man, and then at Dumbledore. Another healer had come forward to check on the boy next to Dumbledore. Gemma looked at the dark haired boy. He seemed to be absolutely heartbroken and almost guilty. Whatever had happened, he clearly thought was his own fault. She transferred her gaze to Dumbledore. His eyes had closed again. "Gwyn," Gemma turned her head to the Healer that had just moved over to the boy, "could you watch after him a bit?" She motioned her head to Dumbledore. Gwyn nodded and silently moved over to Dumbledore, her wand out.
"Come with me a moment, sir?" Gemma asked, and she and the man walked out of the ward. The boy next to Dumbledore watched them as they went out. Gemma met his gaze with her purple eyes, and tried to give the boy her most comforting smile. It did not have its usual effect, but the boy did not look nearly as heartbroken.
"I'm Remus Lupin," the man said as they stepped through the doors of the ward. He offered a hand as he looked strangely into Gemma's purple eyes.
Gemma tried to ignore his gaze, as it was making her feel slightly uncomfortable. "Gemma Peacecraft." She shook his hand briefly, quickly noting how tired and peaked the man looked. Most of his injuries had been healed it seemed.
"So, how's he doing? Truthfully."
Gemma sighed. "Truthfully, I have no idea what is doing this. While I have a fair amount of knowledge about the Dark Arts, I have no idea what curse this could be. I've run about every obscure curse, hex, or jinx I know through my mind, and I just can't find anything that will fit these symptoms. I've looked in every manual I could find here, and there is nothing! He's been here for hours and we are no closer to saving him. I don't know," Gemma ran a hand down her tired face. "All those years at Hogwarts, he seemed invincible. And he's here and he needs my help…and I can't even help him." Gemma brought her head down, tears starting to form in her eyes. The man named Remus put a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"Please don't talk like that. I understand your frustrations. I myself know a good deal about the Dark Arts, and even I have no idea what could have done this. Certainly, if this is some kind of terrible new magic, then we have no idea what it could be. There is no reason for you to feel guilty." He squeezed her shoulder. "All you can do is move forward, and treat it the way you have been. Your plan of treating him symptom by symptom is at least what is keeping him alive."
Gemma half smiled, somewhat reassured. "I couldn't think of anything else to do. I'm just desperate to save him and that's all I know to do, but is that what I should be doing? What if there something else, something I'm missing? There's bound to be something that will work." Remus met her eyes again. At this moment she did not feel like being looked on as a freak. Trying to look away to avoid his eyes, her eyes fell to something large and dark in the corner. It was a huge dog, and it seemed to be listening to their conversation.
"There are no dogs allowed in here." She motioned to the dog. She felt somewhat lame and stupid saying it, but the dog had startled her as it was staring at her intently. It was unusually large, and Gemma couldn't imagine how it had come in.
Remus too looked surprised. He glanced down at the dog, gave an almost admonishing look, and then looked quickly around. He made a move toward the dog, pushing the doors to the ward back open and practically kicking the mutt in. "Surely, you'll allow us this? It was Dumbledore's pet."
Gemma raised an eyebrow. "I don't remember Dumbledore having any pets but Fawkes." Remus smiled at her, and started to open his mouth. Gemma smiled weakly, again rubbing her hand across her face. "Please, spare me. I don't want to know." She smirked. "What a day, what a day." She tugged slightly at the orange scarf around her neck, and pushed a few loose strands of her white hair back into her hat.
Remus smirked back at her. "Yes, it does look like you've had quite as an exciting day as we have," he gestured to her robes. Gemma looked down and was suddenly aware of how dirty she must look. She blushed slightly. "I was making an antidote earlier, and I guess I was a little too excited about it. And look at yourself, as if you should in good conscious make fun of my robes! Yours look positively dreadful!" Remus let out a genuine laughed as he looked down at his own tattered robes.
"It really was a silly case, the one I made the antidote for. Everyone was so worked up about it at first, but really it was just a minor antidote that did the trick. Sometimes, when things like that seem like they will be fiascoes…." Gemma trailed off. Remus could have sworn he had seen a light turn on in her eyes. "That's it!" She ran off immediately. "Thank you very much, Remus. It was wonderful to talk with you!"
Remus was a slight bit confused. He didn't see how an antidote to a poison would work on a curse or hex, but nonetheless he smiled weakly after her. He would not begrudge her a small bit of hope; he knew he could use some himself. "You are most welcome, Ms. Peacecraft."
Gemma burst back into the Derry Dorian ward with a mad quickness in her step, holding a very small vial. She was on a mission. Most of the people brought in with Dumbledore had been tended to, and were crowded around him, talking softly. Ginny was still sitting in her bed, crying. Gemma made a note to go back and talk to her afterwards, but now she needed to move quickly.
"Everyone, if you would, step back please," Gemma asked as she approached Dumbledore. He had been turning even bluer as time passed, and had slipped into near unconsciousness.
Remus stepped away from Dumbledore, allowed Gemma to get close to the bed, and then stepped back close behind her. The dog, Gemma noticed, also stepped in closer. "Gemma, what have you got there?" Remus asked. The boy next to Dumbledore started at her hands.
Gemma smiled. "It's so stupid. I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier. Here, help me get him to sit and wake up." Gemma started propping up pillows behind Dumbledore in an attempt to get him to sit up. Remus and the dark haired boy helped her.
"Gemma, I don't know how we are going to wake him, and I don't see what an antidote or potion will do. He was cursed. We need to find the countercurse. Antidotes are for poisons."
"Imagine that! I suppose for our next lesson together you can teach me the difference between night and day, I might have missed that subtle distinction as well," she snarked back. "I'm so sorry, Professor, but you are going to have to wake up," Gemma said with her most gentle voice and started to shake him softly. The other woman in the room brought in with Dumbledore, who had bright pink hair, moved forward to stop Gemma, but Remus held her back. Remus motioned for her to leave them be. The woman looked hurt, but obeyed.
Dumbledore's eyes flickered. "You need to drink this. Open up." His eyes closed again. "Albus, Albus please look at me." Dumbledore remained motionless. Gemma's voice grew pleading, "Albus. Please, you must drink this." She put the vial to his lips. His eyes flickered again, met hers briefly, and he swallowed a small amount of the potion. "That's it. Please, just a bit more." He did not open his eyes again, but drank a bit more of the potion this time. "Excellent!" Gemma said satisfied and took a few steps back.
Suddenly, every muscle in Dumbledore's body seemed to shake as he was racked with coughs. They were loud coughs that seemed to take up all his breath and he began to make gasping noises as if he were suffocating. The whole group looked at Gemma with near murder in their eyes. It seemed that she had made things even worse, and might even have finished the job. The dark-haired boy rushed to pat Dumbledore's back, as if he could somehow clear him from coughing. The woman too had rushed forward and took his hand, and another man, with a somewhat mangled face, tried to hold Dumbledore down, as his coughing was nearly shaking him out of his bed.
Gemma merely stood back with a satisfied grin. Within a minute, Dumbledore's flesh started to pink up again, his eyes opened, and while he was still coughing, his coughs weren't nearly as forceful. His blue eyes seemed to clear more, his fingers pinked up too, and his breathing was no longer labored.
Gemma calmly walked back up to him, a glass of water in her hand. She smiled at him. Dumbledore smiled back, the smile between the two seemed to indicate a close friendship. "I knew I was saved the moment I saw you were my healer," he croaked out, his throat clearly sore from the deep coughing.
Gemma blushed a bit, then embraced him. "I wish you would have let me in on your little confidence. I was under the impression I was going to be the Healer in schoolbooks credited with killing the most beloved Headmaster Hogwarts has ever had!" Dumbledore returned her hug fiercely for a moment, the released her.
He smiled mischievously at her as he took a sip of his water. His voice was very hoarse from all the coughing, "I'm sure you would have only been vilified for a few hundred years."
Gemma laughed, more relived than anything. The pink-haired walked up next to her, looking incredulously from her to Dumbledore. "You mind letting the rest of us in on it?" She sounded almost perturbed, though she moved to fluff up Dumbledore's pillows, as if trying to make him more comfortable.
"It was actually quite simple. I can't believe I didn't think of it earlier!" Gemma looked at all the faces staring at her expectantly, and was suddenly feeling very self-conscious. While she was sure they were looking at her merely for the answer, she couldn't help but feel that there were also using it as an excuse to stare at her unusual appearance. She unconsciously brought her hand up to her scarf, to ensure it was covering her scar, and messed a bit with her hat to ensure her hair was covered.
"He had been poisoned by a Smothering Poison! Expertly crafted as well. It was brewed specially to slowly suffocate its victim." Gemma's eyes grew dark. Yes, whoever had brewed this poison had meant for it to be a very gruesome death indeed.
One of the teenagers that came in with Dumbledore, a girl with bushy brown hair spoke up, "You mean, he was suffocating the whole time?"
"Yes, that's why his breathing was so labored and he was turning blue. You see, the potion acts as…" Gemma stopped as she looked at Remus. No, they probably did not want to hear the details of how Dumbledore was being slowly suffocated. "I am fairly confident that there will be no permanent injuries," Gemma said, adding with a smirk, "Although I think he might now owe me very big."
Dumbledore laughed hoarsely.
"But he never drank anything," the dark-haired boy, who had barely moved from Dumbledore's side, said.
"Yes, that's the most ingenious part!" Gemma said excitedly. "Well, not ingenious, as in I'm not actually complimenting the person who did this," Gemma added, blushing a bit.
"You see, a long time ago, Dark witches and wizards would poison the tips of their wands. When they cast out spells, the poison would be carried with it. So, even if their hexes or curses were cured, the poison would enter the bloodstream of their victim, and would kill them without them even knowing they were poisoned." The boy's eyes grew wide, but darkened slightly.
Dumbledore laughed and took her hand. "Absolutely splendid! I would have expected no one but you to catch that." He and Gemma exchanged an affectionate look as she blushed.
"But how did you know that?" The boy asked. He was still looking suspiciously at her, as if she was not telling the whole truth.
Gemma smiled warmly at him. "I assure you it was no stroke of brilliance. I was just reading the one of Gilderoy Lockhart's fiction novels, not his non-fiction mind you," as she said this, the red-haired boy who knew Ginny muttered under his breath. Gemma merely smiled and continued, "And you see, the main character in it, Roy, is a dark wizard who has seen the error of his ways. He himself, after renouncing his dark ways, healed an entire town which had been plagued by a rash of poisonings by finding that the source was actually his evil brother, who had been jinxing the town with his poisoned wand and you see…" Gemma trailed off as they all stared silently at her.
Then they all exploded into laughter. Gemma herself could not help but laugh as well. It really was quite ridiculous, but fortunate just the same. And the look on the dark-haired boy's face was enough to take away most of Gemma's embarrassment. Gemma had wanted to take that sad look off the boy's face since she had first seen him kneeling by Dumbledore's side. Truthfully, Lockhart had forced her to take a signed copy of the book just the other day when she looked in on him, and she would have felt bad to refuse it.
The boy had looked heartbroken, and interestingly guilty, and Gemma was as glad to save Dumbledore as she was to have helped the boy. Gemma could understand what he was going through. Dumbledore was much more than a teacher to her as well, and she felt his heartbreak when she thought she couldn't save Dumbledore.
The atmosphere in the ward lightened considerably. Everyone was talking and moving around. The teenagers each took their turns talking to Dumbledore, all needing to see for themselves that he was ok.
Gemma waved and smiled warmly as Neville caught her eye. She mouthed that she would be back to talk to him later. She pointed to the door to indicate that she would be leaving. Walking tiredly out of the ward, she saw Ginny still sitting on her bed. Had she not heard?
"Ginny? All right dear? See it all worked out. He's fine now," Gemma said soothingly.
Ginny looked up at Gemma, and Gemma now saw triumphant joy, not sadness in her eyes. "I know. It worked! I fixed everything!" She jumped off her bed, and walked over to where the mini-celebration was going on, a spring in her step. Gemma shook her head, convinced that that girl was crazy, as she had no idea what she was talking about. But Gemma did have the sneaking suspicion that she understood more than she would have liked.
She had seen Ginny with a certain necklace in her hand. And while Gemma could not be certain that it was, in fact, what she thought it was, she was nearly certain, and Ginny's actions and words made her quite positive. It had been a time-turner, though she had no idea how Ginny had gotten a hold on one. Ginny had gone back in time to change the events of the day. Gemma figured she had gone back to save Dumbledore, and while worried that time had been meddled with, admonitions running through her mind for the reckless who sought to change the past, she could not help but be grateful that time had changed. She was not eager at all to be part of a world where there was no Albus Dumbledore. Especially if You-Know-Who was truly back. Gemma could think of no other that would want to hurt Dumbledore so.
Glancing one last time back to the cheerful motley group, though, Gemma began to doubt Ginny's intentions. Ginny was not nearly as interested in Dumbledore as she was with the dark-haired boy and the dog that was with them all. Ginny had dropped down to all of her fours and gave the dog a massive hug. Gemma walked, puzzled from the ward. Surely, the girl had not gone back in time, risked the life of Albus Dumbledore, to save a boy's dog?