Metamorphose Chapter 21

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor do I make any profits from posting this fanfiction.

Summary: Non-Epilogue compliant. After the war groups of disgruntled Wizards and Witches terrorise England's magical nation, sending them to the brink of civil war and a war against the Creatures. Harry is in Gringotts when one terrorist faction attack causing Harry and other survivors to go into hiding. There is an interested repercussion of the potion they use to hide themselves and now Harry finds himself stuck in a foreign country, with people he doesn't know and living in a style he has never even dreamed to imagine.

Warnings: Gender change. Fem!Harry…after a potions accident. Name changes for characters. Hurricane Sandy (use of artistic licence over the damage it wrought)

Pairings: LM/HP. DM/AG. RW/HG.

Authors note: Hello again! I know I told some of you this chapter would be out sooner than this however I have had some medical problems this last week…fainting is not fun especially when even the doctors can't find a cause for it! Anyway, it all impeded my ability to write. Heck, if I even wanted to go upstairs I was watched and had to crawl it just so I wouldn't hurt myself if I fainted randomly again.

Anyway, the next chapter.

(Chapter 21)

September 12th.

Henri gave a great sigh of relief as the lift opened into the hall of her apartment. She had had a long day again. It had started at six and she was only just getting home now at nine o'clock. At least work had picked up for a while but it was fashion lines for a local college's fashion students and Henri had been one of the models chosen to work.

"Welcome home Lady Black."

"Hi Zuza. Merlin it's good to be home." Henri breathed and handed over the light jacket she was wearing to the waiting maid. Zuza took it and took the small shoulder bag too. "Sorry to have kept you working so late."

"It is no problem Lady Black." Zuza said quietly. Henri noticed she was frowning too and looked a little anxious. Maybe it was because she had kept her at the apartment all day without knowing what time Henri would be home to dismiss her.

"Well I'm sorry anyway Zuza. You're dismissed I'll sort myself out don't worry."

"Thank you." Zuza said and turned to leave. She turned back less than a second later. "Um Lady Black?"

"Yes?"

"Um…Lord Mercury has not left his room all day. He refused all food but this evening when I offered it to him he didn't even respond so I left a tray but it has been untouched. I heard him shouting out earlier, he sounded hurt so I…pardon my presumption…I went to check on him but the door is locked. There's a horrible smell coming from the room too, I don't think he is very well at all."

"Oh." Henri frowned. No that didn't sound good. And to lock the door…well that was nothing when Henri had a wand but Lucas had never locked himself away before. He hadn't been well the night before but he had assured Henri it wasn't that bad and Henri had believed him. Now she was a little more worried. "Thanks for telling me Zuza. I'll check on him. Tell the others they are dismissed too would you please?"

"Yes Lady Black."

Henri walked up the stairs and made a quick detour to her room to collect her wand before going to Lucas' room. Zuza was right, the door was locked and there was a strange smell from behind the door. Henri wrinkled her nose, the smell was not pleasant at all and it smelt like…Henri felt her heart beat quicken. She pointed her wand to the door handle.

"Alohamora." She whispered and the lock clicked. She grasped the handle and twisted it pushing the door open.

The sight which met her had her leaping into action.

"Oh Merlin! Lucas!" She gasped and rushed forwards. Lucas was lead on his side on his bed, bare chested and covers pushed down to his waist. He was sweating profusely and the bed was drenched with it. Pooled by his mouth was a large smelling puddle of vomit. Further down the bed it was soaked with urine and from the smell there were also faeces.

Ignoring the smell for now Henri put her hand to Lucas' forehead. His body jerked beneath her hand as if reacting to the touch. He was roasting! He was tremendously hot!

"Oh my god, what do I do?!" She asked. She pulled her hand away but Lucas' whole body started to shake then and more vomit poured from his mouth.

Henri was terrified.

"ZUZA!" She screamed. She felt tears well up in her eyes. Nobody responded to her. Nobody came. She yelled again. "ZUZA! COSMO! JEFF! MARIA! SOMEBODY!"

Nobody came. She had dismissed them. Of course they wouldn't come.

"Oh Merlin…oh god…Lucas. Lucas!" She reached out and shook Lucas' shoulder. He didn't respond, he didn't even open his eyes. He just continued to shake and vomit dribbled out of his mouth. Tears burst over her eyelids and trailed down her cheeks. She felt the panic welling up inside of her.

"Oh god…" She needed help. Lots of help. Medical help! But Lucas was a wizard! He couldn't go to a muggle hospital in case it was a magical illness.

Lucas convulsed again.

Henri flustered by his bedside. What did she do?!

She needed to calm down first. She tried to calm her racing thoughts and think rationally.

First things first. Lucas could choke on the vomit if it wasn't cleared from his throat. Using the same spell she used when he had drowned Henri cast it to clear the vomit. It worked and Lucas' breathing, which she hadn't noticed before, suddenly seemed a lot clearer. Good. Next thing was to clear the stench so she could think about something other than how bad it smelt and how that meant Lucas was so poorly.

Three spells later Henri still had a convulsing Lucas.

Henri had never dealt with a sick person before. She needed help. Who could she call? Ron and Hermione were half way across the world. St Mungo's was in England. Dante was somewhere in Salem but Henri couldn't expend the time to find him! Lucas was ill! She needed wizarding help in the USA! Preferably in New York! The only person she knew in New York was Bibi though! Everybody else she had met lived in different places and the only people close enough was Dante and Aster in Salem but Henri didn't know where in Salem.

Salem.

The Fawley's lived in Salem. One of the sons, Bennett, worked at the school there. He would know a healer!

Henri started dashing around the room trying to find Lucas' contacts book or his phone or even his iPad. She couldn't find any of them and she couldn't risk using magic to summon them. Come on! Come on! Where were they!

Ahah! Henri spotted his mobile phone. She snatched it up and opened up the contacts.

Nobody under the name Fawley.

But Lucas had spoken to Bennett Fawley on the phone only a few days before…well, a couple of weeks before. The phone number must be on his phone! What day had he called? They had just arrived back in New York City after their stay in the Hamptons…the sixteenth of August.

Henri scrolled through the list of contacts and eventually came to a set of seven numbers who had all called Lucas, or who he had phoned, on the third of august. One was Wells, another was the apartment to inform the maids, the other numbers didn't have names attached. What time had Bennett called? It was in the evening, they were eating at a restaurant and…there, that number! Henri got the phone to call and held her breath desperately hoping Bennett would answer.

Ring ring ring.

Lucas retched again and an acidic smelling liquid poured out of his mouth. He continued convulsing ad gurgling. Henri cleaned the mess and sat on the bed smoothing a hand over Lucas' forehead.

Ring ring ring.

"It's okay Lucas. I'm getting help. It's okay."

Ring ring ring.

"Hello?"

"Hello?! Bennett?!" Henri blurted quickly.

"Yes, speaking. Who's this?" Henri could have jumped for joy and relief.

"Oh thank Merlin. I'm sorry to call you but it's an emergency. I'm Henrietta Black. Lucas and I bought your mother's house in the Hamptons!"

"Ah yes I remember. How can I help you Miss Black?" Lucas would have corrected the man for getting her title wrong but Lucas wasn't exactly conscious.

"It's Lucas. He's sick. Really, really sick! I need a healer but I don't know how to contact them and I'm not in a wizarding area! Please, you were the only person I could think of who might be able to help!" She begged.

"How sick?" Bennett asked. Henri sucked in a breath and reeled off Lucas' symptoms hoping Bennett would think it was enough of a concern to help her. He had to help her!

"Very high temperature. He's sweating loads. He's been sick all over the bed. He's shaking. He is unconscious. He's…he's really poorly Bennett. Please."

"He's unconscious you said?" Bennett asked then clarified some other points with her because she had rambled her list. "Okay then. Look I'll come over and see what I can do okay? I've got some basic healing skills. Give me the address?"

"120 East End Avenue." Henri rattled off, relief and more panic warring within her.

"Okay. You are lucky I'm in New York already." Bennett muttered. "I'll apparate over in a minute. Look, just try to cool him down a bit. If he has as high a temperature as you are indicating then our first port of call is to cool him down."

Henri hung up the call and tossed the phone carelessly onto the bedside cabinet. She used her wand to cast cooling charms on Lucas and a water charm to soak him down. He shivered immediately and started moaning and groaning. He was frowning and he began to twitch and fidget on the bed. He still did not wake up but he was obviously uncomfortable. He wretched again and more stomach acid poured out of his mouth onto the blankets. Henri spelled it away and fetched a flannel from the bathroom. She wet it and used it to wipe across Lucas' face.

Beep beep.

The doorbell went off. Henri laid the flannel against Lucas' forehead and dashed through the apartment to see who was at the door. Lucas immediately bucked the flannel away as she made her way around the bed but Henri didn't stop to go back and set it right. She all but flew down the staircase and slammed her hand on the intercom button.

"Hello?"

"This is Bennett Fawley."

"Come up!" Henri demanded and quickly blurted out their floor number. She waited anxiously for Bennett to arrive to their apartment. The lift seemed to take forever. Henri shifted from foot to foot in anxiety as she waited.

The doors eventually opened and out stepped Bennett who looked around the atrium and gave a long, low whistle as he took in the interior. Henri could have hexed him but he quickly turned to her with a serious look on his face.

"Where is he?"

"Up here." She lead him at a fast pace into the master bedroom. She wasn't sure whether it was a good sign or not that Bennett took one look at Lucas, gasped and rushed over to the bed.

"Good merciful Merlin!" He gasped and drew his wand muttering spell after spell. One spell painted numbers in the air. 41.3 hovered in the air, which had Bennett cursing a long list of expletives then frantically waving his wand again. Henri could only watch in complete hopelessness as Bennett steadily got into a worse and worse panic before finally turning to her with wide open, shocked and scared eyes. Henri felt her fears and anxiety shoot through the roof. Adrenaline shot through her system and her muscles grew tight.

"He needs a real healer, a qualified healer or I don't think he will make it!" Bennett said in a rush and Henri gasped in a breath and ran to the bed.

"What's the matter with him?!"

"I don't know!" Bennett admitted. "But his temperature is too high, much too high! We need to get him cool and we need to get him medicine. He needs a healer immediately!"

"I don't know any healers and I don't know where the hospital is." Henri admitted and started rubbing the cold flannel over Lucas' skin again.

"STOP! Is that cold?! You can't use a freezing cold flannel to cool him off! You'll send him into shock!"

"You said cool him down!" Henri shouted, her terror transforming into anger easily matching Bennetts.

"Yes but…! Never mind! Look, he can't go to the hospital. Muggle or wizarding. If he has an infection then they won't want him there. I'll bring a healer to him, if you can promise to pay?" Bennett offered.

"Pay? Of course I'll pay! Anything. I'll pay anything just get him well."

"Okay. Okay. We have a family doctor. I'll get him. I'm staying at a friend's house at the moment in the Valhalla, North of here. I can apparate there then use his floo to get to Salem and get my healer. Does this place have a fireplace connected to the floo?"

"No it doesn't. Our house in the Hamptons does though." Henri offered and Bennett nodded.

"I can't apparate that far in one go." Bennett muttered. "We need to think of something else."

"I can apparate that far." Henri argued and looked back at Lucas. She grabbed the man by the arm and gripped it tightly. "I'll take Lucas to the house in the Hamptons. You get your healer to meet us there."

"You can't be serious. Nobody can apparate over 100miles in one leap! And to do so with a passenger is stupidity!" Bennett scoffed. "Didn't you learn anything about apparition?!"

Henri gritted her teeth and tried to push back the majority of her temper that had spurred up at Bennett's insults.

"I can side-apparate Lucas to Salem and back again, no problem. Arguing with me about what I can and can't do when you know nothing of my magic is wasting time and putting Lucas' life in danger. Now I'm taking him to the Hamptons and you will get your healer! There is no floo password. Lucas and I will be in the master suite in the house. I trust you remember where it is?"

"I…yes." Bennett whispered, staring wide eyed at Henri.

"Good." Henri said and looked down at Lucas. She slid an arm beneath Lucas' back, his weight like lead squashing her arm. She prepared herself mentally to apparate. Destination, determination and deliberation! The master suite at their beautiful Hamptons home, steely determination and completely resolved to make the jump. Henri took a deep breath and summoned her magic. She spared one last look to Bennett who was still looking flabbergasted. "Bennett?"

"Yes?"

"Please hurry." She said and put all her focus into the apparition.

They disappeared with a pop and Henri closed her eyes to keep her determination as she and Lucas were squeezed through the tiny tube. One hundred miles disappeared in a flash and Henri fell to the floor landing half on and half off the still unconscious Lucas.

"Oofh!" She huffed and quickly heaved herself to her feet. Pointing her wand at the man she levitated him over to the bed, moving the covers out the way as quickly as she could before settling him on the bed. Lucas made no move to wake up, speak or do anything other than moan in his sleep and shake. Henri took a deep breath, tears welling up in her eyes. She ran to grab a flannel from the bathroom. She didn't care what Bennett said, if the most she could do to cool him down was to put a cold flannel on his body then that was what she would do. It was better than doing nothing.

The wait for Bennett and the healer was excruciating.

Lucas kept thrashing around on the bed and muttering. His eyes were rolling beneath his eyelids and his movements were erratic and shaky. When he wasn't thrashing against some unseen foe he was having violent body shakes. Henri could do nothing to help him except wipe her cool flannel over his face, neck and chest.

The roar of the fireplace some thirty minutes later, followed by the thunder of rushing feet, was a welcome relief. Henri stood up and rushed to the door.

"Bennett?!" She called.

"We're coming! How is he?" Bennett appeared from the stairs with an older man only just behind him. The man behind Bennett was probably about sixty years old with wrinkling skin and a thinning head of grey-white hair. He wore mint green robes and carried a large black bag with him.

"He's exactly the same." Henri said and beckoned them into the room. She went straight back over to Lucas and put her hand on his forehead. Still hot. "Lucas, help is here now. You'll be okay."

"Yes that's it Miss. You keep talking to him. Talking helps. Now, I'm very glad you decided to call me. Bennett was not exaggerating the situation I see. Very well then, very well. Let me see what I can do." The man in mint green robes blustered and set his bag down on the bench at the end of the bed. He pulled apart the top of the bag and reached a hand in. Out from the bag he pulled a wand. Then, pointing the wand at the bag, he summoned some parchment, a quill and a temperature suppressant potion. Then he made his way to the head of the bed. "How long has the gentleman been ill?"

"Well, he wasn't feeling very well yesterday so he went to bed at dinner time hoping to sleep it off. He wasn't up this morning before I went to work and when I got back from work at about nine o'clock our maid informed me that he hadn't left his room all day, had eaten nothing and hadn't responded to any of their calls."

"Right then I see. So he started suffering some initial symptoms yesterday. Very well. Do you know what those symptoms were?" The healer asked using a patient gentlemanly tone. Henri was momentarily reminded of Professor Flitwick but also of Albus as the man went about his work. He used the same calm, even and gentle tone as both of the professors. His slight aged look gave him similarities to Albus except he was lacking in a beard and the healer's eyes were brown, not that magnificent twinkling blue that the professor had.

"Um…" Henri tried to think back to Lucas' behaviour last night. "He was…pale and he looked clammy last night, like he had a temperature. I think he had a headache too because he kept frowning a lot. He rubbed his neck and throat a bit too and wouldn't touch his food."

"I see. So a loss in appetite, fever, probably a high enough fever to cause headaches and discomfort in his muscles and joints. Anything else at all?" The healer waved his wand over Lucas for a bit and pressed his own wrinkled palm to Lucas' forehead. Immediately afterwards he retracted his hand, shook it, then cast that same spell that Bennett had cast which had numbers write themselves into the air about Lucas.

"Not that I can remember. I'm sorry. He didn't tell me what was wrong, just insisted he was fine and that he was going to feel better after a sleep."

"Right. And today? What are his symptoms today?"

"Well when I found him he'd been sick. He'd been sick a lot. And…um…he'd…well he'd lost his…" Henri didn't know how to say it she just gestured to the lower part of the bed hoping the healer would understand.

The man nodded sagely and gently teased open Lucas' mouth so he could carefully pour little bits of the temperature suppressant into Lucas' mouth. The man used his other hand to massage Lucas' throat to get him to swallow. Lucas kept choking and spluttering which made Henri tense up and fight her instincts not to start firing off spells.

"I see, he became incontinent. No doubt due to this illness. Anything else?"

"He's had a high temperature and then he started shaking lots. He's been mumbling too and lashing out. He won't wake up. He hasn't even opened his eyes." Henri recounted, her voice crackling a little and more tears welling up in her eyes.

"I see, well shaking and trembling of limbs is due to his extraordinarily high temperature. The mumbling and thrashing around are no doubt a result of his temperature induced nightmares. He is trapped in his dreams because of the severity of his temperature. The good news is that the potion I just administered should bring his temperature down a little bit and therefore eliminate some of the resulting symptoms. We should then be able to see the symptoms which originate from his actual illness. In the meantime I shall do as many tests as I can however I am afraid I need consent of a family member to conduct the tests. What is your relation to him?" The healer asked.

"I'm…we are courting."

"I see, so no relation?" Why did the man even have to ask that?

"No."

"Are there any of his family around that we can contact for permission to carry out medical tests and more specific treatments?"

"Not really. His son is missing. We know he is in Salem but we do not know where and that is the only family he has left." Henri admitted and the healer got a grave look on his face.

"I see. Does anybody have power of attorney for the patient?" He asked meeting Henri's gaze head on and looking so deadly serious. Henri bit her lip.

"No."

"Oh dear." Henri's heart sank through the floor. "In that case then I am afraid I cannot do any more than administer the basic healing which doesn't require permission to carry out. We either need the permission of his son to carry out tests or we need the gentleman to consent. I don't need to tell you, however, that his situation is quite grave and will only get worse with time."

"Oh Merlin." Henri whimpered, her voice crackling and tears obscuring her vision. Lucas was ill. Very, very ill.

"Have you got any family or friends you can call on? Is there any way we can start a search for the patient's son?"

"I can…I can call my friends but they are in Australia and…I don't…I could look for Dante but I don't want to leave Lucas." Henri said and shut her eyes. She pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes and tried to shut out the panic. A hand ran up and down her back soothingly and Henri used the tactile sensation to keep her grounded. Using everything she had used to block out Voldemort when he was in her head she pushed aside her panic and the unhelpful emotions and steeled herself up.

She might not be able to fight the illness because she wasn't trained. But if there was one thing Henri was good at it was finding things. She was very good at finding things!

"I will go to Salem and have a look around. If Dante refuses to come can I get him to sign something to give me authority to make decisions or to just give a general permission to do what has to be done for Lucas?"

"He would need to give permission for every procedure individually however if you can get him to write out a letter giving you power of attorney in his stead then that would be possible."

"Right then. Could you…could you stay with Lucas please? While I'm gone?"

"Of course."

"Do whatever you can to help him! Do anything and everything. I'll be back as soon as I can." Henri turned to leave the room to collect her broomstick. She'd hunt Dante down the way she had last time. Only, the last time, she had been surrounded by her friends.

"Henrietta." Bennett called and Henri turned her head but continued walking. "If you give me a minute I'll contact my family and they can help you."

"Thanks."

"If you call your friends too well, my brother in law works in international portkeys. He might be able to pull some strings and arrange a international portkey for your friends and family."

"Really?!" Henri blurted and spun around on her heel. Bennett nodded. "Please! If he can that would be amazing!"

"Excellent. If I can just use your floo a moment? I'll call him first and see what he can do, then I'll contact the rest of my family. They can meet us in Salem and we will see if we can find Dante."

"Thank you so much Bennett! Get them to bring booms, it will help!" Henri ordered and dashed out of the room intent to find a pair of shoes, since she had removed hers at the apartment, and a jacket. Once that was done she raced down the stairs and found Bennett just pulling his head out of the fireplace. He turned and stood up immediately then paused upon seeing her there.

"Ah good. Okay, so there is an international portkey leaving from Sydney in 2 hours. I wasn't sure where your friends lived in Australia so Sydney seemed like a safe bet. I know that, like here, there are regular portkeys leading to Sydney, Perth, Melbourne and Adelaide so I thought if they could catch one of those then they would be able to get to Sydney on time for the international portkey. I have all the details written down for you here, my brother in law Xavier was kind enough to write them all down for us. Here."

"That's perfect! Thank you." Henri said and scanned the information on the page. It was perfect! If she could tell her friends, and if they could spare her the time, then it would all work out brilliantly!

"I also flooed my brothers and my mother. Mother will come here if that's okay. She will help watch over Lucas while we are out. My brothers have agreed to help search for Dante."

Henri nodded her accent to all of that then ran to the house phone to dial Hermione and Ron as quickly as she could. She was aware that Bennett was watching her, waiting for the moment when they would be leaving.

Ring ring ring ring ring ring…

"Hello?"

"Hermione?" Henri asked.

"Henri! Oh what a surprise! I wasn't expecting you to call today. I'm so glad you did though, my dress has arrived and I had my hair done today to find a style I liked for the wedding. You should see it now it…"

"Hermione!"

"…looks lovely. I'm having a partial up-do but with…"

"Hermione!"

"…some curls hanging down and…"

"HERMIONE!" Henri shouted and at last the line fell silent.

"Yes Henri? What's the matter?!"

"Lucas is sick. Very sick. I need your help."

September 13th.

The search in Salem Massachusetts did not go very well. Even with Henri, Bennett, Albin, Crispin, Dulcie, Dulcie's boyfriend, Albin's wife, and the brother in law Xavier, they could not find Dante at all. They had flown over all of the slums that had built up in wizarding Salem, then they had even gone as far as to disillusion themselves and run the same search over muggle Salem.

Nothing.

Their wands just kept pointing North-North West.

Two hours into their search Henri was desperate but they were joined by the whole Weasley troop. Even Hermione was on a broom. Ron was there, Bill, Fleur, George, Ginny, Percy, Arthur. George had even brought his girlfriend, the lovely Mia.

Introductions had been brief, a few toes had been stepped on and Albin Fawley kept giving Henri, Ron and Hermione strange looks. However, they all decided to head North-North-West and with the help of a map Hermione had managed to get a hold of at very short notice they found themselves heading towards Laurence then Methuen and then, finally, Salem in New Hampshire.

"Well mate, if he couldn't stay at one Salem it makes sense he would try the other one huh?" Ron had called out as they passed over the town.

"Yeah but there are loads of Salem's dotted all over the United States." Bennett educated, shouting his piece over the wind as they continued to soar over the town.

"We don't need to look at all of them, just follow the wands yeah?"

"Head due North now!" Hermione called.

Henri couldn't explain the relief she felt at seeing the wand change direction. They flew north a bit then the entire group spread out a little, all casting their own locator spells and following it. After a further half an hour it was Ginny whose wand started to spin.

"GUYS! HERE!" Henri yanked her wand and sped around to Ginny. Her wand was spinning in her palm as she hovered on her broom.

"Brilliant Gin. Alright, it's a ground hunt now! Come on." Henri shouted then angled her broom down vertically.

There were yells from above her for her to slow down or she would kill herself but she kept forcing her beloved Firebolt down and down. The land started getting closer and closer and closer. Just at the last minute Henri jumped her feet up onto the end of the broom, shoved the tail end down and yanked up on the handle. The broom immediately pulled up then came to a halt only a foot from the ground.

Henri swung off her broom and swung it up onto her shoulder. Like rain everybody arrived down on the floor at different times. Hermione was last, taking the flying carefully because she was still not a fan of flying.

"Point me Dante Mercury." Henri announced to the wand and it spun around once before pointing East.

Only five minutes later they came upon a house. A run down house with boarded up windows and broken down fences. Henri didn't care to take in the shadowed garden but thought she was probably grateful for the lack of daylight.

She knocked on the door and waited.

No answer.

So she hammered on the door and kept hammering until there were footsteps. The door swung open and revealed a house pack to the brim with people. There was a sea of people before Henri, spanning as far into the house as she could see and all of them looked tired, dirty and scared.

"Yes?"

"I'm looking for Dante Mercury. It's urgent." She announced and glared into the house. "Is he here?"

"Dante? Yes he's here. DANTE!" The person at the door called. The name 'Dante' was passed from person to person like a wave rippling over a beach until Henri heard the voice she was looking for.

"Black! What the hell are you doing?! I told you not to look for us!" Dante shouted irritably as he came forwards to stand at the door with a scowl on his face.

"Lucas is ill and the healer needs your permission to treat him."

"Why can't Father give his own permission? Why can't you, for that matter?" Dante sneered.

Henri gritted her teeth, stepped forward and grabbed him by the front of his night shirt. She was losing her temper.

"Because your father is so sick he is unconscious, you great prick! Now I don't care about your petty arguments with your father or how badly wounded your pride is. This is not about you. This is about him. I will not let him die just because you want to be an insufferable prick. Now, are you coming or not?!"

Dante's face crumpled and Henri could see the look in his eye soften. She frowned not truly understanding what she was seeing.

"Dante? What do they want?" Came a voice from back in the house and the sea of people parted to reveal Aster. Henri immediately saw the walls come up behind Dante's eyes. He took a sharp breath in through his nose and steeled himself up straight.

"It's just Black. Father is sick."

"So?" Aster demanded, her voice sharp and narrow. Henri saw Dante's eyes narrow slightly becoming pinched at the corners.

"So the healer needs my permission to treat him." Dante explained and Henri saw him hold his breath. Henri didn't dare breath either, the look of pain and dread on Dante's face meant what was about to happen was not going to be good.

"Why can't she do it? She's courting the man isn't she? It's all over the paper! What do they need you for? Lucas is pushing you out. He's already found a replacement for your mother, how long before he replaces you as a son? We are the ones who need you! Lulu and I, we are the ones who love you. They don't want you. You're useless to them."

And that was it. Henri's temper soured to inexplicable heights. Her wand was in her hand before she even thought about it and she had snapped off a silencing spell to the advancing woman whose face crumpled in rage.

"Shut up you stupid, foolish, selfish cow! I can't believe I just heard you say that?! How selfish and evil are you?!" Henri shouted and glared at Aster who glared defiantly back. "You have absolutely no right to say those things. They are not true now and they will never be true! We didn't push Dante or you out, you left! You up and left of your own accord and all this time I believed you had left because of pride. Now I know you only did it out of conniving spite, the likes of which I haven't seen since the war against Voldemort!"

"Black! That is enough, don't you dare insult my wife!" Dante spat defensively but Henri rounded on him and pointed her wand at his neck.

"I had thought that you had grown out of that stupid little brat that you were at Hogwarts. I thought I saw the change in you the moment you screamed and tried to help Crabbe out of the room of requirement, when you would have done anything to save your friend! Now I see you are back to being the type of man who would condemn others to death purely for spite."

Dante had paled considerably and his mouth fell open. Henri felt some vindictive pride surge through her at having done that but quickly focused her mind back to the task at hand.

"Are you that man Dante?" Dante shook his head and made a negative sound looking utterly distressed. Henri nodded. "Excellent. Now you have two choices because while I am alive I will not allow you to make the third choice. You can choose to come with me back to your father and give permission to the healer to treat him, or you can write me a note giving me permission to make the decision for you."

Dante went to look over his shoulder to Aster but Henri jabbed her wand a little harder at his throat and he kept his attention on her.

"You have to the count of three to choose Dante. One. Two."

"I'll come." Henri breathed a sigh of relief and pulled back her wand. Dante took in a great heaving breath. "But once it's done I want to come straight back here immediately, do you understand Black?!"

Henri paused and shut her eyes. She felt a huge amount of grief and anger at Dante's words. When she opened her eyes she noticed Aster's hand was on Dante's wrist and was squeezing to the point of pain. She looked up and met Aster's eyes feeling as if she was staring into the eyes of Bellatrix LeStrange for the amount of hatred and madness in them.

"Yes, Dante, I understand." Henri stepped back and held her hand out to Dante. "Come on then, I'll apparate us."

Dante stepped forward and reached out for Henri's hand. Crispin, Albin and Xavier all jumped forwards and yanked Henri around by the wrist.

"You can't be serious! To apparate back to the Hamptons from here it suicide! You'll kill the both of you."

"Apparation that far is not possible, even for the most skilled of wizards!"

"You can't apparate it!"

"You might not be able to do it, but I can!" Henri said impatiently. As she grabbed Dante's arm she turned to her friends. "I'll see you there soon."

The Weasley's nodded, Bennett looked resigned and the others just looked horrified. Henri held Dante's arm tightly and apparated.

Authors Note 2: So here we get to see a little of Henri's thought processes as she's trying to figure out what to do. We also get to see that there is something happening with Dante and Aster though we don't get the full reasons until later. I hope you enjoyed the update. Thanks again to all of you who took the time to review the last chapters.