Chapter 7: Taking Care of Business
House limped into the room, his cane clacking loudly against he linoleum floor. It wasn't hard to figure out who their patient was, as there was only one occupied bed in the large ward. The rest of the space was starkly empty.
House headed immediately towards the bed to take a good look at their patient. Upon reaching his bedside, he raked his eyes over the teenage boy lying there. Pale skin, glasses on the bedside table, and messy black hair that hung in his closed eyes. He noticed a thin lightning bolt scar through his dark bangs.
He focused on Harry's looks for about fifteen second before his eyes became glued to the rash Sirius had mentioned on his arms.
"Dermatitis..." House trailed off. Looking around, he saw that everyone was staring around the room, blankly. Tonks had remained outside to guard, Lupin was inside, looking at him expectantly.
"We're going to need some stuff," House said simply, gesturing around at the blank room.
"Such as?" Lupin asked. "I can get all of it rather quickly." House arched an eyebrow.
"I'd ask how, but I'm not sure I want to know. I need sample bags, gloves..." There was too much, he shook his head.
"Listen, where are you planning on getting this stuff?" House asked.
"From your hospital. I was planning on going outside, Apparating there, and returning with whatever you needed. I could simply shrink anything too large to carry," he explained.
"Listen, just go to one of the exam rooms and nab everything in there," House said. Lupin nodded.
"I'll be back in a moment." He ducked out of the room, leaving the lot of them alone for the first time since their arrival in London. Cameron stepped close to him, leaning down and turning Harry's arm to better examine the rash. Her leg lightly brushed his, and he couldn't ignore the slight shiver it sent through him. Focus. He told himself.
"This is month's old... pale discharge indicates a severe allergic reaction."
"It'd have to be pretty damn severe to cause a coma and seizures," Thirteen commented, walking over to Harry's other side and peeling back his eyelids with her fingers. His eyes were stunningly green.
"If his throat swelled up and he affixiated due to an allergic reaction, it could have temporarily cut off air flow to his brain and caused him to slide into a coma," Foreman suggested.
"Doesn't explain the seizures," Kutner pointed out.
"Adolescent onset epilepsy does," Wilson suggested.
"Two simultaneous conditions?" Cameron asked dubiously, eyeing House. Why even say it? House thought. These people know me too well...
"House hates coincidences," Cameron and Wilson chorused.
"Differential diagnosis for dermatitis, seizures, and coma."
"Autoimmune?" Cameron proposed. House rolled his eyes in an exaggerated way.
"Oh, you are so predictable. The immunologist predicts autoimmune," he said.
"It fits for either Budd-Chiari or-" House held up a hand to cut off Cameron.
"Wait... I bet I know what you're going to say next," he said in a hushed voice, putting a joking finger to his lips. "Were you by any chance going to finish that sentence with the word Lupus?" he asked. Cameron looked jaded.
"It fits," she repeated.
"It's never lupus. Think of something else," House said, waving her off.
"Actually, House, we did have a case of Lupus last year," Kutner pointed out mildly.
"Lupus is just a lack of a better diagnosis. There are hundreds of different symptoms that could fit for Lupus, we've only got two."
"Autoimmune is still a strong possibility," Wilson said. "You mentioned Budd-Chiari. It fits, treatment's safe."
"It's not Budd-Chiari. The liver would be involved by now," House said, spinning his cane distractedly.
"We need to do blood work before we do anything else," Wilson affirmed. "Let's just wait for Lupin to get back-" Just as he said the shabby wizard's name, he burst through the door, holding a cardboard box. He dumped the contents on the floor, then waved his wand.
Suddenly, he felt like he was back at Princeton Plainsboro. Half the room was like an exam room, the other half was like the pathology labs.
"I grabbed some extras," Lupin shared with a smile. House smirked. He could get used to this.
The day seemed to fly by, and House thought it was mainly because of their so far tragic failure. The day consisted of them running Harry's blood draw, examining the stunningly normal results, and then running his antibodies for every autoimmune they could think of. They also ran a scratch test and it came up with absolutely nothing. Harry wasn't allergic to anything.
His friends sat around his bed. House privately thought that if Fred and George hadn't been there, the room would have sank into a sullen silence. Hermione seemed the most shaken, biting her lip and glancing at Harry even if she was in a conversation with someone else. She was also prone to frequently and annoyingly asking if they'd found anything yet.
"If we had, I'd tell you," House snapped eventually. Cameron gave him a disparaging look from across the lab table.
"She's just worried about her friend," she whispered.
"Don't care. Trying to save a life here," he muttered, checking Harry's blood for JRA. Negative. He cursed.
"We're not getting anywhere. It's not autoimmune," Foreman said from beside him, his eye glued to a telescope.
"Maybe it's an infection," Kutner offered. House bit his lip.
"Brain stem infection explains the seizures and coma, but not the rash. Not to mention he doesn't have a fever," House said, shooting down Kutner's idea.
"I know you're going to call me predictable for this, but it could be brain cancer," Wilson said, glancing at Harry with his classic pitying look. House tilted his head, considering the possibilities.
"He would have gotten worse by now..." he trailed off, not completely convincing himself.
"It seems like wizards and witches have stronger immune systems. Sirius said they almost never get Muggle ailments," Thirteen pointed out.
"We need to run an MRI," Cameron said. House nodded.
"Hey! Lupin!" Lupin's head snapped up from where he had been standing by the door.
"Yes?"
"Think you can snake us an MRI?" House asked, limping towards him.
"I have absolutely no idea what that is, I'm afraid," he said apologetically.
"No worries. Just drag me along to Princeton with you. We'll make it a team outing." Lupin arched an eyebrow.
"I don't want you to put you in any danger. You can just describe to me-"
"I could describe it to you, but one: it would make no sense to you, and two: this'll be much more fun," House explained. Lupin eyed him for a moment before nodding his head.
"Very well. We need to hurry, though. I don't want to leave Tonks as the sole guard for long," Lupin turned to stroll out the door, and House sent a wave to his friends. Cameron and Wilson looked concerned, Kutner looked put out that he didn't get to tag along. House followed after Lupin. They greeted Tonks on their way out and explained where they were headed before setting off.
He tailed Lupin down the stairs, through the reception area, and back out the window display onto the narrow London street.
"We need to be very careful. The Order doesn't know if the Death Eaters suspect anything, but if they do, we must operate with utmost caution. They cannot discover Harry's condition," Lupin said in a hushed voice, glancing over his shoulder.
"Got it," House said, nonplussed. He followed Lupin across the street and into a narrow alley between a small pub and a pet store.
"Behind the dumpster, if you would," Lupin said, guiding him with a light touch on his arm. He and House crouched behind the dumpster. House massaged his leg, the crouching motion doing no favors for his thigh muscle.
"Can we hurry this up? I'm a cripple, you know," House grouched. Lupin sighed.
"I'm just checking to make sure the coast is clear." He craned his head over the side of the dumpster. "Alright." He hooked his arm through House's, and House clenched his fists in preparation for side-along Apparition.
It was just as incredibly unpleasant as it had been the night before, squeezing him within an inch of his life and making him feel as though he was going to suffocate. When the spinning and squeezing stopped, he found himself in a completely empty exam room.
"I set a Disillusionment Charm on it, so no one will come in. Any time we need to Apparate in and out of Princeton Plainsboro, we'll use this room," Lupin explained, helping him up and handing him his cane. "Now, would you mind showing me to the MRI?" He asked.
"Alright... follow me," House said, opening the door and peering around. "Can you cast a spell so we're invisible or something?"
"There's been a fair amount of magic performed here in the past two days. I'd prefer to avoid doing more than absolutely necessary. We don't want to alert the Ministry to our activities," Lupin elucidated. House sighed.
"Great," he muttered. "Alright, if you see a forty something woman dressed like a trollop, let me know."
"May I ask why?" Lupin asked.
"She's secretly a harpy. You have those things in the wizarding world, right?" he asked, skirting into the clinic. He wasn't too worried about Cuddy finding him here. The clinic was the last place anyone expected to find him.
He and Lupin tried to walk as nonchalantly as possible through the clinic. Lupin had luckily taken of his robes for this, leaving him in dark gray pants and a green collared shirt. House tried to keep his head down. He didn't want anyone reporting his presence to Cuddy. After all, he was on 'vacation'...
Making their way out of the clinic, they found themselves in the slightly empty reception area. Good. He motioned towards the elevators. All he had to do was get out of sight of Cuddy's office.
"HOUSE!"
"Son of a bitch," House cursed. Lupin turned before him.
"I believe I've found the trollop you mentioned," he told him blandly. House turned and saw Cuddy stalking towards him.
"Why are you here?" she asked, blue eyes flashing with annoyance. "You ask for a vacation last minute and then you show up anyway?"
"I forgot some things. Just heading back to my office," House made up the excuse quickly.
"Then who's your friend?" she asked, eyes turning to Lupin, who smiled slightly. He glanced around the reception area and pulled his wand from his pocket, aiming it directly between Cuddy's eyes. Suddenly, her eyes went glassy.
"You thought you saw Dr. House, but then realized it was just someone who resembled him. You are now going to return to your office and stay there for..." He glanced at House. "half an hour." She nodded, her mouth hanging open slightly. Lupin pocketed his wand, and Cuddy promptly turned on her heel and marched back to her office. House gaped at him in awe.
"What happened to not wanting to perform too much magic in the hospital?" House asked as they stepped into the elevator.
"We do what we must," Lupin answered with a shrug. "I'd really like to avoid doing any more than absolutely necessary, but I did not want her to remember seeing me, just in case Death Eaters are on our trail." House nodded. The door to the second floor dinged open.
"To radiology!" he declared, heading down the second floor hallway. Now that the threat of Cuddy was gone, they didn't have much to worry about on their trek to the MRI.
They arrived their with little event. He peered his head through the door. Unfortunately, some neurologist whose name he couldn't remember and his patient were using the MRI.
"Lupin, I know you don't want to do any more magic, but you got to do something about these guys," House told him, easing the door shut. Lupin sighed.
"Fine." He stepped past House and pointed his wand in the door, muttering something under his breath. He motioned House forward, and the two men stepped into the cold, noisy, and dimly lit MRI lab.
The neurologist was comatose on the floor, snoring loudly. He heard similar sounds over the roar of the MRI machine coming from the patient.
"Hold on," House said, rushing forward and hitting the emergency stop. He slid the table out, revealing the patient inside. Some random old guy. House glanced around. He grabbed a nearby wheelchair and lifted the thin old man into it, ignoring the strong protest in his leg.
"Okay... you're obviously going to have to shrink this thing," House said, motioning towards the MRI. "Preferably to pocket size." Lupin nodded, whipping out his wand once again. He waved his wand lazily through the air, and suddenly the enormous MRI was gone, replaced by a small, dollhouse sized version. House smiled slightly to himself and picked it up, placing it in the palm of his hand.
"That is... impressive," he said, turning the miniature machine over in his hand.
"Just a simple shrinking spell," Lupin replied nonchalantly.
"Huh. Alright, we better get going before Cuddy snaps out of-" Suddenly he was interrupted by the door opening and a familiar gasp.
"What the hell?!"
House jerked his head up in alarm.
Chase was standing in the doorway.
A/N: This is really all just for fun, so I just winged it with the medical stuff on this one. I'm sure it's horribly inaccurate, but I'm juggling two other multi-chapter fics at the moment, and it would impair how fast I could update if I took the time out for research, I'm afraid.
