We are Family
-Teddy and Albus-
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Superhero
-March 2020
"How is he doing?" Teddy asked, thrumming his fingers across the table, idly stirring his coffee that had long since gone cold. A sandwich lay before him, chicken and mayo, barely nibbled before being set aside. Recent events had diminished his appetite a great deal, a trait shared by the entire Potter household as of late.
"There's been no change," replied Victoire, sipping at her second cup of coffee, the caffeine serving to put a little colour into her pale cheeks. Just by glancing at her, he could see that she was exhausted – he doubted if she had slept more than a few hours in the past week, let alone get the rest her body needed to function properly.
The cafeteria of St. Mungo's was deserted. It was quite late in the night, or should he call it the morning considering that the clock had just chimed one a scant five minutes ago. The only people other than Victoire and him were the night staff of the hospital, and the rare few healers that were on call. There was no doubt that his girlfriend had chosen a particularly gruelling career path but then again, considering he had just concluded his auror training the same could be said of him.
It was of course, one of the things he loved about her – she had a heart of steel with a core of gold.
"You should get some rest, Vic," he sighed, reaching out to stoke his fingers across her wrist, smiling wanly as she wrapped her hand around his.
"Tired of visiting already?" she teased, getting to her feet at the same time as he, and returning his faint smile as he tugged her forward into his arms.
"You need your sleep more than you need to see me," he answered, pressing his lips to her forehead, "You've been working yourself to death the past few days."
"I'm a healer," she murmured into his chest, "It's my job to save people."
"I know," he nodded as she gave him one last squeeze and slipped off, probably heading for the special quarters on the fifth floor that had been built for healers to catch a few minutes of shut-eye when they were working the night shift, or in Vic's case, tirelessly giving their all for a patient in a critical condition.
Rather than leaving the hospital, Teddy turned towards the stairs and began the long climb to the ward two floors above them. It didn't take him long to reach the floor – despite nearly stumbling twice coming up the stairs – and find the room, opening the door a crack to enter without waking the sleeping patient in the adjoining room.
Dragon Pox was terribly contagious and for that reason, he and the rest of the family had not been allowed to enter the actual ward and their visits were contained to the viewing room. He gazed through the thick glass, biting his lip at the thin boy – who had once boasted quite a muscled physique from years on the quidditch team – lying on the starched linen sheets of the bed. His skin was tinged green and covered had in some places turned scaly, oozing a faint pus where the crackly skin had broken due to him tossing and turning as he slept.
"Jamie," he whispered, pressing his hand against the glass as if to reach through and touch the afflicted boy, wishing with all his heart that he could be the one stricken and not James Potter.
This was not his brother. James was always the picture of energy and life . . . this was a ghost of his shadow, barely a fragment of what he had been.
"He's getting better," said a soft voice and Teddy whirled, eyes widening as they latched onto the source. The boy in the corner could have easily passed for James' twin, had it not been for the emerald eyes in place of hazel, or for the fact that his hair was black rather than brunet. Physically, the differences were slight but mentally, Al was much more cunning intellectual, and his years as a Slytherin had moulded him into a much more aristocratic version of his father and brother.
Right now, all he could think of was how Albus was here rather than at Hogwarts.
"It's Easter," shrugged Albus as if reading his mind, and Teddy flushed, wondering how Al was always able to read him like an open book in a way that nobody, not James, not Harry, not even Victoire could.
"How long have you been here?" Teddy asked, coming to sit beside the boy, both of them staring at their brother in the next room.
"Not long," Albus answered in a low voice, "I couldn't sleep so I took the floo – I left a note for mum and dad."
"Mum is going to have a heart attack when she sees your bed empty and dad is going to call out the entire Auror squad before they even get to your note," Teddy rolled his eyes, smiling at the faint look of amusement that crossed Albus' tired face. There was perhaps nobody that was being affected by James' illness worse than their youngest brother. He and James may fight like, well they fought as only a Slytherin and a Gryffindor could, but everyone knew that beneath it all the brothers would die for each other in a heartbeat.
"That's why I wrote that I would be at your place," smirked Albus, "Nothing bad ever happens when the boys are with Teddy, according to mum."
Teddy stared, gobsmacked at how nefarious Albus truly could be. It was true that Harry and Ginny trusted him implicitly, a fact that both James and Albus had used to their advantage in the past . . . but this was going above and beyond that.
Still, Al's intentions were noble – he was just coming to visit his brother after all. Teddy nodded once as he slung an arm around the younger boy's shoulder, frowning when Albus extricated a small cardboard box from his coat pocket and offered him a fag.
"This is a hospital," he exclaimed, feeling a tad bit scandalised at the fact that Albus would smoke in here.
Albus shrugged before taking one and stuffing the box back into his pocket, lighting the Malboro with the tip of his wand and inhaling deeply. As the smoke gusted out through his flared nostrils, it seemed to be sucked into a vacuum, disappearing into thin air before their eyes.
"I am a wizard," mocked Albus in an almost perfect imitation of his voice, "Air-cleansing charm."
"I'm only going to let it slide because you're worried about James and obviously not thinking clearly," replied Teddy, wagging his finger and instantly feeling guilty as Albus' face fell.
"Are you sure he'll get better?" Al asked, taking another deep pull of the cigarette as if to punctuate his question.
"He's James Sirius Potter, he survived Alison Longbottom – he'll survive Dragonpox," reassured Teddy with another attempt at humour, feeling a faint spark of satisfaction as Albus tried and failed to mask a smile.
Teddy leaned back against the chair, sighing as his tiredness began to catch up to him. In silence, the pair sat and watched their sleeping brother until finally, Albus drifted off into the world of dreams, his head lolling sideways against Teddy's shoulder.
(The next morning, Harry arrives with Ginny in tow and froze at the sight. He remembered once, when Ron had asked him if he was going to name his youngest child after Remus, he had replied no. To this day, most of the family still asked him why, and only Ginny and Hermione knew the truth.
He already had a son named after Remus Lupin)
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Prompt: Stumble
Also Written for the Fifty Characters, Fifty Prompts Competition: Albus Potter, Medicine