Author's Note: In honor of completing 50,000 words for the Camp NaNoWriMo this month (Officially 52, 501) I am giving you an extra chapter on this story. I will still update on Saturday morning with your usual weekly chapter. Enjoy. There is drama ahead. MNF
Chapter 24:
Attack
Friday, 16 June 2000
"What do you mean he was attacked?" Junie nearly screamed as she backed up to let James into her office at Hogwarts through the Floo. The students had already boarded the train to head back to London, and Junie was cleaning up her office and taking what personal things she needed for the summer back to Grimmauld Place. James had interrupted her cleaning. Sirius was supposed to be headed to Hogwarts to join her to finalize seating plans and other sundry items needed for their wedding in nine days.
"He was headed over to Remus' office when someone hit him with a nasty curse," James answered after he'd come through her Floo. "Thankfully, as soon as he fell, there were people there to call the Emergency Healer Corp inside the Ministry, and then he was rushed to St. Mungo's. He's in the Spell Trauma ward."
"I need to get to him," Junie said, tears springing to her eyes. "James, I just don't understand." He wrapped his arms around his friend to steady her. It was unusual to see Junie this upset.
"I know, Junie. We will figure it out. Frank Longbottom is there for protection, and they're bringing another Auror in as well. Remus and Marley weren't leaving either. Lily has collected George, and she's sending Harry, Ginny, and Fred to collect all the Hogwarts kids from Kings Cross when it's time. My job is to get you to hospital. He's asking for you."
James reached for the Floo powder, but Junie put her hand on his arm. "What did the spell do? How bad is it?" James swallowed hard and tightened his grip on her. Junie felt whatever blood was left in her face drain away at his hesitation.
"The spell stopped his heart for a minute, and there is tissue damage to his left arm."
"Dear God," she whispered before she began to slump against him.
"Damn it," he said softly and backed them up so he could have her sit on her sofa. Spying the open box of chocolates on her desk, probably a gift from a student, he grabbed two. "Here, eat these."
"I don't feel like chocolate, James."
"I'm not Flooing with you when you're dizzy and possibly going into shock. This will at least bring your blood sugars up until I get you to hospital. If you faint there, the medi-witches can deal with you." James had a way of speaking when there was a crisis that was nearly emotionless but firm. Junie did as he asked, thinking back to the day when Harry had been rendered unconscious in his second year when a Bludger beaned him in the head and caused him to fly into the post of the opposite team's goal. James was a good person to have in an emergency.
Her chocolates gone, James helped Junie stand, and they Flooed together to the A and E department at St. Mungo's. James bypassed the desk and went straight through the door to the Spell Trauma Ward. He was surprised to see a young woman with bright pink hair standing guard with Frank at Sirius' door. The girl went to stop James and Junie, but Frank shook his head.
"You should recognize James Potter from work; he's the man who approves your timesheets," Frank stated. "The woman is the Chief's fiancée."
"Okay," the junior Auror stated. James hoped she was more competent should she need to take down someone attempting to injure or kill the Chief Warlock or his fiancée. James escorted Junie into the room.
Sirius was sitting up, talking with Remus while Marley was fussing over her friend and plumping his pillow. It was a very Marley thing to be doing, and it made Junie half-smile. When Sirius' eyes met Junie's, he smiled warmly at her and sighed in relief. Marley slipped from the right side of the bed to join her husband on the left. Junie went to sit in the chair, but Sirius patted the bed and shifted his legs over so she could sit with him. First, she attempted to sit facing him, but that wasn't what he wanted either.
"James, mate, can you please make it so she can sit next to me?" Sirius asked, and James took out his wand and enlarged the bed slightly, and lowered the magical buffer so she could get on the bed. Junie carefully slid next to Sirius, and instinctively, he wrapped his good arm around her shoulders so he could pull her tightly to him. He wouldn't say it aloud, but he was worried about what happened to him and why. This was the worst injury he'd ever sustained.
Junie looked at his left arm, bound in bandages soaked in Murtlap Essence and a green statis charm covering it all, and was alarmed. The injury seemed to extend from his bicep muscle down to his thumb's fleshy part, where it attached to the wrist. His fingertips were a vile blue-green, and Junie saw some blackened flesh at the edge of the Murtlap wrap on his hand. She bit the inside of her mouth so that she wouldn't cry again, although the looks James and Remus were giving her did not help. Marley smiled and nodded at her as if to say; You can handle this. Junie silently thanked her dear friend with a slight nod and resolved she would not be a pitiful mess when Sirius needed her most.
"Did you notice that's my cousin's kid out there?" Sirius asked James, and he shook his head. "Yup, the pink-headed Auror is Andi's daughter. I didn't realize she was old enough to be an Auror; it's been a while since there was a family dinner."
"Perhaps we need to rectify that when we're home from our wedding trip," Junie suggested, and Sirius nodded.
"Do you gents think you could get me some tea?" Sirius asked, and James immediately understood he wanted to be alone with Junie.
"Sure," James answered. "Junie, tea?" She nodded in agreement. "I'm bringing you back something to eat too."
"Why? What's wrong?" Sirius asked, suddenly unconcerned for himself.
"Nearly passed out on me when I went to get her," James explained. "I'll bring something to pump up her blood sugars. I remember Lily was obsessed with looking good in her wedding dress too."
"That's all it was, right?" Sirius asked her.
"I didn't go down for lunch," Junie explained. "I just wanted to get my office cleaned out and get ready for our meeting. I promise. The house-elves were planned to bring us samples of the dishes being served at the reception. I assumed sampling all twenty-two items for the buffet would suffice for my meal." The three friends filed out of Sirius' room, and when the door shut behind them, Sirius gently pulled on his fiancé's shoulder to turn her so he could kiss her.
"I feel better already."
"What happened, really?" Sirius sighed, tired of telling the story, but he supposed of everyone she had the most right to know.
"I was going to drop something off for Marlene with Remus, and as I was crossing the Atrium to head to his office, someone yelled at me," he began.
"What did they yell?"
"Magic is for the pure!" Sirius said softly, and Junie gasped.
"Oh no," she whispered.
"I didn't hear what he said if he said a spell at all, but it hit me in the arm, just above my elbow. I felt horrible pain, and then I was down. I awoke with Remus, James, and the emergency medical folks leaning over me and pouring potions down my throat and putting spells and bandages on my arm. Before I could say anything, I was on a stretcher and was brought here. It took about twenty minutes before anyone even told me what had happened to me. I knew it was bad because Remus looked as ashen as he does on mornings after the full moon."
"So, what was the spell?"
"The healers don't know. They know it stopped my heart for fifty-seven seconds, but it appears fine now. I saw my arm before they covered it with all this," he said gingerly lifting the arm, "and it's bad. The flesh is burned away, and I think I saw the bones in a few places."
"Oh, God," Junie whimpered.
"Hey, I'm going to be fine," he said, pulling her closer still and kissing her temple. "It takes a lot more than curse damage to stop me. I used to run with a werewolf, remember."
"I know, but there are only nine days until our wedding and –"
"Nothing is going to stop me from marrying you. I love you. I want you to be my wife and I your husband." She nodded, even though her eyes were watery.
"So, why did this happen?"
"I don't know. Frank said Kingsley is leading the investigation, and Remus told me there was some sort of banner or something left behind, but I've not spoken with him yet."
"How did James and Remus get to you so quickly?"
"They were headed to the canteen for a tea break. They saw me from across the way and were trying to hail me when I went down."
"Thank goodness they were there."
"The Atrium was full of people," Sirius said. "I really don't think I was in any danger."
"I don't know," Junie said thoughtfully. "First, The Source is poisoned by Dark Magic and then this," she said, nodding toward his arm. "It's all rather suspicious."
"I doubt the two are related," Sirius said. "The person doing the Dark Magic was a young man whose family chose to send him to Durmstrang rather than Hogwarts, and he was showing off at home for a younger sibling. Not completely innocuous, but hardly enough to worry about. We kept it out of the papers."
"Isn't that odd, a family sending their child to Durmstrang instead of Hogwarts, don't you think? Don't they tend to teach the Dark Arts there?"
"My parents toyed with sending my brother and me," Sirius said, "but in the end, my grandparents won out. They believed that if the school was good enough for my great-great-grandfather to be the Headmaster, then it was good enough for us. But you're right, Durmstrang does emphasize the Dark Arts, and you wouldn't find a Muggle Studies class there, let alone a professor as beautiful as the one Hogwarts has." Sirius leaned down and kissed her again.
"You're biased, Chief Warlock Black."
"Not in the slightest, Professor Meadows. Speaking of Meadows, what do you plan to do with your name when we marry?"
"Well, I'm really not tied to Juniper Meadows; it sounds like a caravan park or old folks' home," she said. "I thought I would just become Juniper Elizabeth Black. Professor Black, I like the sound of it."
"So do I," Sirius said softly. "Perhaps there will be a second Headmaster Black one day?"
"I wouldn't hold your breath on that. James is going to lure me back to his office if he has his way. Personally, I think he's going to be Minister of Magic when Amelia is done with her term. He's perfect for it, and when that happens, I'll be at his side. I'm awaiting his begging when he's made the Head of the DMLE after Amelia's election."
"You have the succession of Ministers figured out for what, the next twenty-some years?"
"Please, it's as plain as the nose on my face how this will go. Scrimgeour is ready to retire, and he only has a year left, so Kingsley or Frank will take over the Aurors, putting the other in line for the Deputy Head of the DMLE when James takes over as head. When Amelia is done being Minister, James moves into her position, whoever was his deputy moves into Head, and the Head Auror moves into the Deputy position. If you look back, it's how things historically have worked. When we get people like Fudge or Bagnold as Minister coming from less structured and not based in law, we end up with disasters. I was never so happy to see someone leave office as I was when Fudge decided to retire early."
"How did I not know you were so good at political machinations?" Sirius asked, impressed with what Junie knew about the past political issues of the Ministry.
"You never asked me about my views on such things," she said with a coy smile. "While I do not aspire to political office, I do find politics fascinating. So many people try to make it difficult, and the reality is if more folks were straightforward in what they wanted to accomplish and why, loads would get done. All anyone needs to ask is whether what they're doing is good for the majority of those being served. The education legislation you just passed is what's best for all magical children and our society's future. The law saying that only witches and wizards were allowed to be considered full members of society was bad for so many, and thankfully it didn't pass. It also ended the career of that silly little witch with the pink bows in her hair."
"Tell me how you really feel about her," Sirius laughed. "When I next need to bring something before the body of the Wizengamot, I'll have you handle it."
"Sorry, I'm too busy teaching about how planes fly and what the significance of the department store was for the growth of industry in the twentieth century."
"How do planes stay up in the air? I see them flying overhead, and you're sure there aren't any spells on them." Junie laughed at Sirius' questions.
"They fly because of the lift of the air over and under the wings and –" he looked confused, "I'll show you my diagrams when we're home."
Before their conversation could continue, a healer and two medi-witches came in to see Sirius. The Healer clucked her tongue at Junie sitting on the bed with her patient, and Junie sheepishly slid off the bed and into the chair.
"Chief Warlock Black, I'm Healer Royal Shacklebolt, and yes, you know my brother. I'm the eldest of three; he's the youngest. Only one in our family who wasn't sorted into Ravenclaw in several generations. You and your friends made quite the impression on him, even though you lot were younger." She held her hand out, and Sirius shook with his left hand. Healer Shacklebolt then shook Junie's hand. "Congratulations on your election and engagement."
"Thank you," Sirius said, "will I make my wedding next week?"
"Yes, you will make your wedding next week," the healer answered, "but your arm will still be scarred, perhaps permanently." One of the medi-witches had removed the charm from Sirius' arm, and the other began unwrapping Murtlap bandages. Junie had to turn away, and Sirius gasped. He'd been treated for nearly two hours, and his flesh was still missing in places. The cursed flesh was black, but thankfully new flesh did appear to be growing, and it was a healthy pink.
"Do you know what curse I was hit with yet?"
"We think we do," the Healer said. "There is an old curse, a Withering Curse that we haven't seen here since the days of Grindelwald. Kingsley has someone looking to see what the Aurors have written about it in their notes. Thankfully the quick work of the healers on sight kept the curse from spreading any further up your arm."
"What caused my heart to stop?" Sirius asked.
"That's a question we're still trying to answer. I have had you on a Monitoring Charm, and your heartbeat is strong, steady, and even. We believe it had everything to do with where you were hit with the curse, rather than the curse itself.
"Now, we are going to keep you here for the remainder of the day so that we can change the dressings on your arm every two hours, and we can continue to give you healing potions. When I send you home, you are not to do anything strenuous for a week."
"Healer, we are to leave on a month-long wedding tour on the twenty-sixth," Sirius said. "Do I need to postpone the trip?"
"Let's see how things progress between now and next Friday," she answered. "If you're free of the Murtlap wraps, then I would say it's fine. If you still have open wounds, I will need you to postpone. Will that work for you?"
"It will," Sirius explained. "There wouldn't be a cancellation issue with any of the places we're supposed to visit." Junie looked at him puzzled and wondered where they were to be going on their trip.
The medical team plied Sirius with potions, and he'd nodded off. Marlene had stayed with the couple, and with the patient soundly asleep, the friends went to the canteen to see what was around for teatime. Junie knew Marley had been helping Sirius with their wedding trip plans, and she needed some information about where they were going. There was another potential wrench in Sirius' plans that no one knew about but Junie.
"You look like you're ready to cry," Marley said to her friend. "Would you like a Cheering Charm?"
"I don't think so, but I do need to talk to you about the wedding trip," Junie said, looking at the packaged sandwiches and feeling her stomach roll at the thought of eating any of them. She also knew if she didn't put something in her stomach, she'd run the risk of passing out. She took a scone and put it on her tray.
"I promised Sirius I wouldn't tell you anything."
"Please, I need to know what he has planned. Something is going on that could change everything," Junie pleaded. She selected a bowl of berries and a small bar of chocolate before paying for everything.
"You sure you don't want more? You just picked at the salad James brought you for lunch," Marley said. "You're going to look beautiful in your wedding gown, and I can tweak it with magic if we need to."
"It's not my gown I'm worried about," Junie snipped. "Please, just tell me what he has planned."
"Junie, no. You're going to love it."
"I'm worried we might not be able to go." Junie finally said flatly, which made Marley gasp.
"I think Sirius will be in decent shape, and nothing will stand in his way of taking this trip with you. He can always pop home if he needs to have his arm checked."
"It isn't his arm that has me worried," Junie said. "Please, Marley, I'm begging you." Marlene looked at her friend and saw the concern on her face.
"What's going on, Junie? This isn't about his injury, is it?"
"No, it's not. Marley, I'm pregnant. Madame Pomfrey confirmed it this morning."