What on the earth could Sirius have been trying to tell her? That Voldemort had put some of his soul into the snake. What on the earth.
Lily all of a sudden felt the flail of Sirius' arm bringing her back into reality.
"Help him!" She screamed, helplessly. She couldn't do anything for him, not so soon after a magical transfusion.
Healers bustled around, casting diagnostic charms again, clearly making him more agitated. He was foaming at the mouth now, fitting.
"He needs a transfusion, not more magic in the air. Bloody help him!" She screamed again.
Eliza came running back into the room.
"Stop! Everyone stop! You, sit down there. Everyone else out the room! We need less magic in this room."
Several healers bustled out confused, apart from a very young girl Lily recognised as a pureblood witch from France, Livia, who was one of those who had volunteered to come over to the UK to fight in the war. A news article had been run on her and her compatriots a few months ago.
"Livia, Livia, do you consent to a magical transfusion. We need to know, now." Eliza said sternly, gaining consent as she was legally obliged to do.
"Of course Eliza," Livia responded.
Eliza performed the spell and almost instantly Livia went sheet white. She passed out as Sirius calmed.
The monitors around Sirius' returned to normal and Livia came around. She still looked sheet white.
"He… he's fighting him in his head Eliza…" She stuttered. "I… I don't think it's Sirius' imagination, I think it's real. I don't think he's dead. Oh… I'm exhausted after that."
Eliza helped her friend stumble into a bed in the nearby cubicle.
Eliza turned to Lily.
"Fuck… we can't go on like this Lily… He is going to kill all of us with magical exhaustion. He needs to be put into a magical coma."
"He just need a little help from us right now Eliza…"
"A little help, he's put 2 people in hospital having taken all of their magic… they might die of magical exhaustion"
"Sirius said they'd supported Voldemort, he took their magic because they'd killed Aurors or something."
"That still aint right Lily, they need to have a trial and go to jail not end up a squib or dead."
"I think he really needed the magic… maybe his brain can't process that he won or something?" Lily threw out. "Battle-fatigue the muggles call it…"
"Half the people in this bloody building were probably working for him though Lily, and either way, he's taken 2 magical transfusions to stabilise his core, and he'll need more."
"I feel like its pulling the plug on him though, he's done so much."
"What did he tell you?"
"That… I don't know, it was confusing. He was in my head first, then we went to his. He was trying to tell me that Voldemort wasn't dead."
"That much we can definitely assume…" Eliza stated wryly, "He was mad. If there was a way not to die, he would have found it."
"He said… He said he knew he wasn't dead, because of his blood brother Reg…" Lily said, head in her hands, trying to recall every word.
"I thought Regulus Black is a wanted death eater?"
"Was... Was a wanted death eater. Sirius said he had died… I just don't know why Sirius didn't tell us this. He'd got so paranoid recently…"
"He is Mad-eye's best student Lily," Eliza commented.
"He said Regulus told him, and that's how he knew Voldemort wasn't dead… it's something to do with the snake, but that's not all of it. Theres a necklace that's important, and I think maybe some of Voldemort is trapped in Sirius? It seems absurd, but… I don't know what else could have been behind that door. It was so dark Eliza…"
"What do you mean?"
"When I was in his brain, we were in a room in his childhood house. He threw me out when something started to come out the door."
"You know Sirius has complex trauma though, right? The scars on his body are unmistakable."
"What do you think then? He's fighting some inner demon from his childhood?"
"It's possible?"
"And Yes, he showed up to my house summer of third year after running away. So I know his background. I gather I know more than James actually. He still went back there though, once he was healed. Wanted to protect his brother…"
"And then Regulus betrayed him? Wanker…" Eliza said.
"I'm inclined to agree… but I do think Sirius and him made it up before the end. What are you thinking then, this is wizard battle-fatigue? A wizarding form of PTSD?"
"PTSD?"
"Post-traumatic stress disorder, is its full muggle name. It's a psychological condition that occurs in response to complex trauma, the person who suffers from it can have flashbacks, disassociate from reality…. It would make sense it took a more complex form in someone who had magic?"
"Strange theory, but possible. Muggle mind-healing really is much more advanced."
"It just seems wrong though, putting him into a Magical Coma? Its like we're leaving him to fight those battles with no help."
"He'll die otherwise Lils, and he'll take us with him."
Lily winced at this, and looked up at Eliza with tears in her eyes. But the beep beep beep slowly speeding up on Sirius' monitor made Eliza spring into action.
Quickly she cast her wand in a series of complex patterns around Sirius, her body was clearly straining as tried to cast. Sanitatem Somnum she stated, first loud and then becoming quieter. Sirius started to foam at the mouth again. The other healers seemed frozen to the ground in shock.
"Help me!" She cried out.
Someone had flashed a warning spell in the ward, and soon all available healers merged on Sirius muttering Sanitatem Somnum over and over again, all casting the complex spells over him. A few passed out with the strain, but the huge numbers eventually won out and Sirius fell quiet, the machine returning to its beep, beep.
Eliza was swaying on her feet. Lily walked two steps forward and sat her down on a nearby chair. Eliza was ready to pass out.
"Head between your knees Eliza, come on, breathe. It's done."
"I just… I just hope I've done the right thing."
"No, you're right, I wasn't being fair. He'll never heal the physical wounds of the fall expending that much magic, let him heal Physically, then we worry about what's inside his head. Maybe I can figure out what he was saying?"
"I don't know Lils, I think it might just be memories. Trauma. What was it you said? PTSD?" She looked up from her hands.
"The thing is Eliza, are you clinging to that because the other possibility is too horrible? It needs investigation. I don't know… I'm still so new to this world, so everything still seems ridiculous to me. But is it really that impossible to use magic to stop you from dying? Is that really impossible?"
"No… I mean there's the maker of one on a Chocolate Frog Card…The Philosophers Stone, for example. Unicorn blood? But nothing permanent," Eliza was shaking her head.
Lily sat back down again.
"In that case, it needs investigating. You've done no research into this field of magic, and you can think of two methods which provide a temporary solution to extending life. Who knows what possibilities there are?"
"Fuck. This isn't over is it Lils?"
"I don't know. We've got a temporary reprieve for sure, but I still think there is work to be done. Maybe we are just being paranoid? But I think we need to investigate."
"You first off, need to go and see your husband."
"And you need sleep."
"I'll write my handover notes and call for excessive-use-of-magic cover, I definatley need a few hours kip. I've been pulling 15 hour days recently with all the ICU cases we've been getting. But we all needed to pull together for the cause, you know?"
"I know that only too well, get some rest." Lily said, standing up again.
Eliza stood up and hugged her friend.
The solid oak door took a huge amount of effort on Lily's part to handle. She wasn't entirely sure how she made it up the stairs, but when she sat down on the familiar chair next to her husband, she struggled to look her husband's parents in the eyes.
"Is he ok?" Doreus asked.
"I don't know." Was all Lily said, before finally, the tears she had been struggling to shed for days washed out of her eyes like a waterfall.
