I squinted my eyes against the early morning sun streaming into the room. Harry still slept soundly in the crib beside me. I had found out from Abby that he had been getting very mild sleeping draughts as his scar was still stinging and preventing him from sleeping properly.
For once it was just the two of us alone in the room. Just the two of us… my heart ached for James. No more tears came just then. I had cried myself to sleep the previous night and felt completely drained and empty. Physically though I felt a lot better than the previous day. I slowly eased myself out of bed into a standing position. Everything spun slightly and I steadied myself against the bed. Painful, but not too bad. I could move at least. I decided to take advantage of this quiet time to have a shower.
After my shower I was pleased to see that breakfast had been brought in.
An older nurse I didn't know was fussing over Harry. "Hi, I'm Julie. How are you this morning?"
"Better thanks, I sure needed that shower." She gestured to the table and chairs set up by my bed.
"Here, sit down here and help yourself. I'm just going to change young Harry here."
"Oh, I can do that!" I protested.
"I'm already doing it," she said while briskly carrying Harry over to the change table. "You dig in, you need to get your strength back."
"Oh alright then," I conceded as I sat down. I was actually starving.
As I finished breakfast, the door burst open again and a wild dishevelled looking man was standing in front of me.
"Padfoot!" I cried joyfully and tried to stand as fast as I could. He crossed the room in three strides and wrapped me up in a massive bear hug.
"Oh really, it's not visiting hours yet!" protested the nurse. We ignored her and continued to hold onto each other as if for dear life. "Humph, fine then." She released Harry and he toddled over towards us. Sirius broke away from me and gathered up Harry with glee.
"Harry!" he cried as he held him up over his head.
"Paddy!" exclaimed Harry with a wide grin.
"I can't believe they put you straight in Azkaban!" I raged. "For god's sake even known death eaters get a trial!"
"Yeah I know right! Goes to show how little they think of me I guess. Dumbledore is sure off my Christmas card list – he's only the head of the Wizangamot after-all."
"What happened Padfoot, did you have a trial?"
"Nah," drawled Sirius. "They just asked for my version of events, then asked me again under Veritaserum and checked my wand. Had to tell them about us being animagi." He aimed a half-hearted kick at my bedside table.
"What do you mean you had to tell them?"
"Well obviously they wanted to know how Pet– Wormtail escaped, so I had to explain that he's an unregistered animagus. They kept drilling me with questions and 'cuz I was under Veritaserum it all came out. Tried to fight it but it all just blurted out. Horrible feeling." He shuddered.
"So they know the full story then, even about Remus's…?"
"Time of the month? Yeah, the whole thing."
"Damn."
"Bastards still fined me for being unregistered though! You'd think they'd let me off given they just chucked me in Azkaban without a shred of proof."
"I can't believe that!" I exclaimed. "Bastards." I cleared my throat. "So… no one really told me what happened. You found Pettigrew then?"
"Oh I tracked the little rat down. Faked his own death the snivelling coward. Blew up the whole street including 12 muggles, then cut off his own finger and disappeared straight down the sewers as Wormtail. At least the ministry know they're looking for a literal rat now." He suddenly hugged me again, sandwiching Harry between us. "Christ Lils, I'm so glad you're still here."
"So, tell me what happened? From the beginning."
Sirius and I were now seated in my hospital room talking quietly. I held Harry on my lap - he was intently studying a soft toy that a well-wisher had sent.
"I thought something was up with Peter that night Lils. I'd just been to his place and he wasn't there, so I went to Godric's Hollow next, and well… obviously something terrible had happened. All the wards were down and it looked like there had been an explosion. No dark mark above the house though, so I took hope from that. Hagrid had got there just before I did. He was upstairs when I arrived. The front door was gone. I walked in and straight away… straight away I saw James." Sirius broke down at this point.
"It should have been me! I'm so sorry Lily! I'm so sorry, I'll never forgive…"
"Hey, stop it," I cut in. "None of this was your fault. We all agreed to the switch. James…" I choked up for a second, unable to get the words out. "It's how he would have wanted it Si, he died facing up to Voldemort, protecting his family."
We sat there in silence for a minute composing ourselves, remembering. Sirius took a deep breath and continued. "Well, I couldn't do anything for James. I forced myself to walk up the stairs, dreading what I'd find. The door to Harry's room was in pieces. When I walked in I thought my worst nightmare had come true. You both looked dead. Harry wasn't moving in his crib. You…you were against the wall. There was blood all around you. Hagrid obviously thought you were dead. He was crouched down in the corner crying. I did a diagnostic charm to check – auror training, you know. And you were both alive! I couldn't believe it! I shouted at Hagrid and we rushed you both here as fast as I could. I stuck around long enough to know you were going to make it." His eyes narrowed then and his voice took on a cold tone, "And then I went to hunt out the rat."