After half an hour of the tense argument between himself and Poppy Pomfrey, Sirius had convinced the mediwitch to help him.
They hurriedly left via apparating once they were off the grounds.
As she had promised, Sarah was waiting in Harry's ward in the ICU, watching over the little boy protectively. She looked up when they apparated in and stepped back to allow Poppy to examine him.
Poppy cast a few diagnostic spells with a frown then sighed.
"He's in bad shape. His lung has collapsed and the muggles..." She shuddered. "Barbaric surgeries on a child!" She spat in disgust. "It's a miracle he's alive."
Sirius winced, staring at Harry sadly.
"I can heal him, but it will take a while. We'll have to take him away from this place." She said, still absolutely repulsed by her findings.
"We'll fake his death. A few memory modifying charms and a few data changing jinxes and we're free." Sarah chimed in. "I was thinking of taking him to Ysbyty Hud." She explained.
Sirius nodded, as did Poppy.
"I'll go complete those spells now." She said, checking her watch. "Shit, it's almost five in the morning!" She exclaimed and jogged out.
Sirius sighed. "Does she know it's Wednesday?" He muttered to himself, shaking his head in apparent amusement.
Sarah sighed as she muttered spell after spell after spell. What was she doing? Why was she helping that boy?
She hated Harry Potter. She hated him with all of her cold heart.
With a sigh, she finished her spells.
Instead of walking back to the ward, she sat in the waiting room, doing just that, waiting. Just as she sat down, Lucius Malfoy appeared in front of her and bowed.
"You called for me, Mistress?" He said formally.
"Let us retire to your abode, Lucius. I believe you have a son of Harry's age... Draco, correct? I'd just love to meet him." She said calmly, smirking when Lucius blanched. But he dutifully offered her his arm and apparated them to Malfoy Manor.
"Mistress Eira..." The pitiful wizard began. Sarah glared. She hadn't gone by that name for a while. It felt good to be back in power, to have her slaves trembling at her feet.
"It's Madam Rhewllyd to you, scum." She snarled, grinning to herself internally when he began to tremble. She was back. Sarah Dolyak was no more, there was just Eira Rhewllyd, the eternal mistress of the ice, back to reclaim her throne and destroy those not loyal to her.
Her appearance shimmered and warped, her hair changing to black and wild, eyes icy blue, skin pale as paper. She was now wearing a skin tight robe of shimmering light blue.
"Until war demands it so, I will pose as your niece, daughter of Bellatrix Lestrange. My name is Aella Lestrange. I'll be starting Hogwarts as soon as you can arrange it. Clear?" She growled, appearing now as a fourteen-year-old, smirking at Malfoy, who nodded and bowed.
"It will be done." He said. "I wish you good luck, Madam Rhewllyd." He apparated off, to tell Narcissa.
The next day, Poppy had transferred Harry to the Hogwarts hospital wing and was not bustling around, gathering potions and muttering spells and forcing an impossibly long list of potions onto Snape to brew or make his students brew. Currently, his fourth years were brewing the blood replenishment potion while the potions master worked on a nutrition potion that would cater to the rest of the list of healing potions the young boy needed. Just what Snape wanted to spend his time doing: helping the Potter brat.
In reality, he didn't mind.
"Charlie Weasley! Ten points from Gryffindor for your inability to follow simple instructions." He barked as a cauldron exploded because the idiotic ginger had put one too many drops of vampire blood.
These idiots were going to be the death of him.
He looked up as Professor Dumbledore walked in, leading a new student in a Slytherin uniform inside.
The girl surprised him completely. She had dark hair pulled into a messy ponytail, the frizzy black cascade begging to be free of its restraints. Her eyes were icy, a silvery blue, and her skin was paler than the parchment in front of him.
She looked like a young version of Bellatrix.
"Professor Snape, it seems we have a transfer student from Ysgol Myrridn, a wizarding school in Wales. This is Aella Lestrange; she will be joining you from now on." Dumbledore said, and then hurriedly left.
Aella looked around quietly.
"Miss Lestrange, why don't you sit next to Mr. Weasley over there? Maybe you will be able to assist him in the proper way to make a Blood Replenishment Potion." He said, watching her sashay over Charlie Weasley and sit beside him calmly.
Snape watched her carefully as she showed Charlie how to fix his potion, helping him execute each step calmly and patiently. He frowned deeply and went back to his own potion.
Hermione Granger was struggling. Her best friend had just died, and now her parents had as well. She didn't know what had happened. They had told her Harry was dead, and then there was this big blast... Now they were dead...
She sobbed quietly in the corner of the playground where she and Harry used to play. Of course, nobody expected that Hermione had been the one to kill her parents, albeit by accident. The cause of death had been put down to heart failure.
Really, it was accidental magic.
She continued to cry, wishing Harry would come back, or Miss Dolyak, who had left the school. Or even Sirius Tonks, so she'd have somebody to talk to.
Sirius was back in the school, though, after being shooed out of the hospital wing by Poppy Pomfrey. He looked around the playground with a sigh. He bit his lip when he saw Hermione and walked over.
"Hermione, do you want to come to my office to talk?" He asked gently, offering his hand to the crying girl.
She looked up hopefully and took his hand, letting herself be led inside to Sirius' office.
Once they were there, Sirius made his hot chocolate, discretely adding some calming draught that Poppy had given him for himself – 'I won't need this, I'm always calm!' – to the mix.
He placed the warm mug down in front of Hermione and sat opposite her.
"So, tell me what happened."
Detective Todd Wyclif frowned at the profile in front of him.
It had been four days since he'd been assigned to the Dursley vs. State case and he had a grand total of 0 leads. He was frustrated now. He knew those bastards were guilty, he just had to prove it. He just needed evidence...
At precisely 15:31, a man walked into the office, dressed very casually. He strode right over to him, unbothered by security after a mere word with them.
"You are Detective Wyclif, correct? Currently working the Dursley vs. State case?" The man asked, smirking very slightly.
"Yes. Why, do you have a lead?" Todd asked, suppressing a grin at the idea.
"Why else would I be here?" He rolled his eyes, putting a tape down on the table. "My name is Sirius Tonks, the current psychologist at Little Whinging Primary. As such, all of my meetings are on tape, in case one of my students is going through something that may need to be brought up with the police." Sirius, as the man had introduced himself, was now smirking slightly more. "I couldn't come any earlier as I was taking care of Harry while he was in the hospital, and sorting out hospital billings and funeral costs. These are the tapes of my conversations with Harry and then with the Dursleys on Monday evening." He said calmly.
The man then walked out, leaving Todd grinning.
He had them now!
Review Responses:
Radio Free Death: As always, thanks for the review. In the first paragraph of errors that you pointed out, you said it was quite an over-the-top punishment. I agree as it was a large punishment for a small action, but it was written like that deliberately. As for Harry merely whimpering when being burnt, after four years of being treated similarly, he would be rather used to it and may even have less sensitive nerves and pain receptors to allow him to deal with the abuse.
Sirius Black, as many may know, was not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed. In the books, he only figured it out after 12 years, so it would be reasonable that he wasn't always aware enough in the first few years to notice small details such as the dementors not affecting him when he was in Padfoot form. Also, he may have been too weak to even shift to Padfoot in the years before this story began.
Again, thank you for the review.
KSarah Khan: Thanks for yet another review from you! The Dursleys will get at least six years each, probably much more, according to the British laws on what they have done. Currently, I am unsure on how to sentence Dudley, as he is underage and therefore cannot go to prison. However, Vernon will probably get a life sentence. As for Petunia, I am also unsure at current, as it is hard to determine her sentence due to her not assisting Vernon and Dudley in the actual acts of abuse. Dumbledore may or may not be held liable for anything, depending on how the next few chapters play out!
