004. The patient lay quietly
Word Count: 1,046
Three weeks after that James noticed that Lucius was absent from their second shared class of the day and he, for some reason, started to worry about the man. Remus noticed this almost immediately and sent him a note the way the Marauders had become accustomed to sending when they were in the middle of class - they had spelled their notebooks so that they could write notes to each other without the teachers noticing. For the most part, it just looked like they were writing notes from various lectures.
I told you to learn as much as you could about that bite on your neck. You're just lucky that it went away as soon as it did.
James frowned and glanced up at the teacher, but then remembered that Binns likely wouldn't notice if the school was demolished around him. It never hurt to double check, though, he thought as he wrote a response to Remus.
This has nothing whatsoever to do with that stupid bite. Besides, when I asked Lucius about it he said he didn't even remember making it. What inspired you to write about that anyway?
Remus sighed loud enough for Binns to send him a warning look before he continued lecturing.
Your scent just spiked in a way very similar to the way a werewolf's would when they are worried about the health of their mate. I blame the bite for that, unless you would care to confess about some hidden desires for Lucy, other than what's in his pants.
James grinned, but he sent no note back to the werewolf. Let Remus conspire with Sirius about their own problems and let James deal with his problems on his own.
Once the class had ended, James had a hunch that he followed up to the Hospital Wing. Only one person was present as a patient in the Hospital Wing, and though they were almost completely covered by the blanket, James' hunch led him to believe that person was Lucius Malfoy.
As he approached the bed, the patient lay quietly, looking almost lifeless until James was at the side of the bed and looking at the sleeping face of Lucius Malfoy.
A commotion in Madame Pomfrey's private office distracted James and he looked up when the door opened quite firmly.
"I want to know why I was not informed sooner as to my son's condition, and if I am not getting answers from you then I will speak to the Headmaster. Where is he?" a man who looked like a carbon copy of Lucius, only 20 years older, asked almost furiously.
"He is in Prague," Madame Pomfrey stated. When she noticed James next to Lucius in bed, her eyes widened. "James, don't you have class?"
"It ended a few minutes ago, ma'am," he said before glancing at the older Lucius. If he was truly Malfoy's father, he was Abraxas Malfoy, but James wasn't sure and he wouldn't refer to the man as Abraxas unless he knew for sure that it was him.
"How did you know that Lucius was in the Infirmary? No one other than Professor Slughorn knows that and he would not have disclosed such information to a student," Poppy said quietly.
"I noticed that he wasn't in the Potions class or the History of Magic class that we have together and I was worried. I just decided to check here on a whim," he said. Hopefully this would not be one of the things he did that ended up leaving him cleaning the medical supplies by hand, as had a number of other impulsive actions of his.
The Malfoy-looking man glanced at James, and perhaps he noticed the mark of the bite - though James did not see how that was possible, as it was nearly gone - because he smiled slightly. "I am pleased to see that my son has someone who is worried enough about him to notice his absence in class, even if that someone is a Gryffindor," he said quietly. He looked back at Madame Pomfrey. "I will return to speak to the Headmaster about your refusal to alert me as to the fact that my son was in the Hospital Wing when he returns from Prague."
"I look forward to seeing you," Madame Pomfrey said in a forcedly civil tone.
James heard a noise from the bed and he looked down to see Lucius' eyes blinking rapidly, like he had something caught in one of his eyes. His father leaned over Lucius and then he quickly looked up at Madame Pomfrey. "Get me a Dreamless Sleep and a Numbing potion, now." He glanced at James, who was staring worriedly down at Lucius when the Slytherin groaned. "As much as I enjoy meeting my son's acquaintances, I must ask that you come to visit him another time."
James nodded dumbly, biting back the questions of what was going on and headed outside to the Quidditch pitch where the Gryffindors had practice in a half hour.
Remus was out there, relaxing in the sun, as he watched Sirius continue running laps around the pitch. James took a seat next to Remus, who grinned. "Do you think Siri will ever learn not to ask Madame Hooch is she feels like favoring Gryffindor in our next game or if she remains stubbornly on the rag during each game?" he asked James with a grin.
James easily returned the grin and laid next to him. The full moon had come and gone and Remus was finally able to make use of the sun while it was still relatively warm outside. What had just happened in the Hospital Wing could be put off to the side until he found the right time to go back to speak to Lucius about what had put him in the hospital bed in the first place.
