A/N: Look, people. Don't ever start with these things. It's an addiction, I tell you! Really!
Anyway....., oh, good! Everybody reviewed. So, the checks arrived o.k. then? Good. (Just kidding.)
O.K., I didn't get slapped by anyone too badly in that chapter. The problem, folks, arose out of the fact that things weren't too clearly explained concerning the baker/bakery issue. So, here you are for those that require a more in-depth explanation. The Deatheaters memory-charmed the baker not to remember anything, then took over the bakery for the day, made sure Harry got the cookies, then left.
O.K., hand in the back. You there. Yes?
*Ms. P.A.R., how did the Deatheaters know Harry would be in that day, or that he would come to that specific bakery, for that matter?*
Lucky guess! Next question!
Just a quick note here, I did intend to post two chapters here. But I ran out of time. Sorry. If I say something in your reviews about posting two this time, that's what happened.
Anyway, thankyouthankyouthankyou, as always. I can't describe the feeling when I click on my reviews and I actually have reviews. It really makes my day. You people are wonderful. Thank you.
Mirand (from last time): Ohhhhh, thank you! I can tell you are a lovely and in-sightful person.
The Unicorn Whisperer: WELL YOU SHOULD BE!!! Honestly! Being suspicious of poor, innocent, harmless Remes. BAD!!! Bad Unicorn Whisper! Go to your room! Go on! And no supper!
(Folks, learn from The Unicorn Whisperer's mistakes. Don't make me do this to you.)
Mystic Vaporeon: Foreshadowing? I've been foreshadowing? Ohhhh, good for me!
As for long reviews, this is a bad thing because........?
I like long reviews. Gives me something to read and respond to. And I love answering these things.
I hope you do get to read the 'week-end-reader', Family Life. Let me know if you like it. Feel free to write a few pages. Do a book report on it. Give me three feet of parchment!
Demeter: I love your description of Snape and Lupin, by the way. Snape sneering and Lupin placating. It's a very good description of what they seem to spend the majority of their time together doing.
VMR: Thank you. I appreciate it.
Leandra: *P.A.R. pulls out her wallet and starts peeling off bills.* O.K., how much to keep quiet about that?
Actually, a little known fact! Sirius' wand was a homing-wand. It just found it's way back to him during the story.
Hey! It could happen!
Juliana Black: Down, girl! Down! Down!
Child! Way too much caffeine!
Silverfox: Don't like Fudge either. But, nope, it's not him. Sorry.
Kiara Black: Ahhhhhh, you're reading Family Life. P.A.R. loves you. Thank you. (By the way, saw the other review. If that was about me, thank you again.)
Aziraphale:No, the poison wasn't 'wizards only'. If you recall from the beginning, the baker gave Harry a separate bag of cookies (the sugar cookies), which he never told the Dursley's about. So they never ate any of them. And yes, Fever is completed, but unlike Family Life, which was posted all at once (and you thought the site's web crash was due to server problems), I'm posting this one by chapters.
Wolf Of Solitude: Ahhhh, come on! One cliffhanger! Throw me a bone here! I don't do it that often!
About whether or not Voldemort is behind everything, you'll have to keep reading to find out.
Yes, the baker was an innocent muggle. He was not a Deatheater.
By the way, Remus is one of my favorite characters too. You just gotta love a man who you couldn't fluster if you smacked him with a brick. (If there is anyone out there like that, or you know anyone out there like that, P.A.R. is un-married, she's cute, she's 5'8'' tall, she has hazel eyes, brown hair, and weighs....oh. Sorry.)
Lady Saturn: I'm honored! You're first review! Wow! What can I say?
Unfortunately, I can't give out my e-mail address for a very long and boring reason. Very sorry. But in the last chapter reviews, do tell. I'd love to hear. And I appreciate you're not wanting to ruin the story for anyone else. Thank you.
HayleyHedwig11: Glad you like the plot so far. And yes, Fever is a completed story. There is actually an end to this thing. I do know where I'm going with it because I've already gotten there.
She-who-must-not-be-named: (HeeHee, I love that name.) O.K., to try and save you some time (checking that often has gotta eat up your day), I post on Wednesdays and Sundays and my stories show up on Fanfiction.net on Thursdays and Mondays. I'm fairly consistent.
Oh, Harry and Sirius are fairly dominant the next few chapters. Hang in there. Glad you like the interaction between Harry and his godfather. I think Sirius is very attached emotionally to his godson and would indeed have some sort of breakdown if something were to happen to Harry, especially because of something he did, either intentionally or unintentionally. As for Harry, for the first time in his life he has someone absolutely devoted to him. 24/7 there for him. Absolute, unconditional love. Kid's gotta eat that up!
Lotesse: Yeah. I think I remember seeing that in he rules for writing Harry Potter Fanfictions. Page five, wasn't it?
I'm so glad no one flamed me on Snape yet. But we're not done yet, are we? There's still time people! Go ahead! Flame me! I've had an editor for three years. You're amateurs.... amateurs, I say.... next to this guy. Do you're worst!
Oh....sorry.
Anyway, as the chapter (5) stated, despite their past, Snape considers Remus a friend. Just not in front of anyone. And I feel, given his personality, Snape is fairly loyal to his friends and does actually care about them. But that's just me.
Yeah, yeah! O.K.. You'll get more soon.
Hermione Gulliver: Yah! She's back. I think I did run off one of my reviewers. Not intentionally. But she hasn't been back. And she is missed by P.A.R., by the way.
But anyway......I'm glad you like Snape showing a slightly more human side. I think there really is a person under all that black material, and I always felt that if one person could get to him, it was Remus. (No! Not that way! You people are sick! Do I look like Reggibar?) (Good stories, by the way.)
I love reading other fanfictions and I do so whenever I get some time. I'll certainly head to your author's page if I can.
Again, all you lovely people, thank you!
On with the story.
Chapter Six: Another Medical Opinion
Snape apparated to a small waiting room where a half a dozen white-coated people were bustling about. The room was the emergency waiting room of St. Andrews, a small, but well-equipped hospital just a short trip from Hogsmeade that catered to both muggle and magical patients. This clearly explained the lack of any immediate interest that was given to Snape when he apparated directly into the middle of the waiting room. A young nurse quickly came up to meet him. It didn't take her long to noticed the blood covering Lupin's hand.
"What's happened?" She asked in a well-trained, calm voice.
"He's been shot." Snape explained. "By muggles. He needs a doctor."
But the nurse had already disappeared through a pair of doors. When she reappeared a few seconds later she had an entourage in tow, pulling a gurney between them. They quickly transferred Lupin to the bed and were already pulling his robes back from the wound as one of the men turned to Snape.
"I'm Doctor Phillips." The man introduced himself. "You're a family member?"
Snape quickly ran through his repertoire of various ways he described himself in relation to other people, depending on the person. But for Lupin, he kept coming back to the same defining word.
"No. I'm a friend."
"How long ago did it happen?"
"Not long." Snape threw a nervous look past the doctor to see what they were doing to Lupin. "Maybe five...ten minutes."
The man turned back to the others and snapped off several instructions which sent the others into flurry of activity about the gurney, one of them calling back several numbers to him.
"How is he?" Snape asked, barely concealing the concern in his tone.
"He's alive." The doctor replied without turning back to Snape. "But we're honestly not that used to this type of injury. Thankfully we can call over to the muggle wing and get someone over here who's a bit more experienced in these matters." The doctor handed off a chart to one of the group of people with Lupin. "Operating room three. And call Dr. Jacobs down here. Tell him we have a shooting victim."
Snape grabbed the doctor's arm as he started to follow the others out of the room. "Operating room?"
"We need to take the bullet out." The doctor explained to Snape. "If it's left in your friend could die. But try not to worry. Dr. Jacobs does this type of thing all the time. I doubt he'll find much that would surprise him."
"Don't be so sure." Snape replied.
The doctor paused, turning back to Snape.
"What do you mean?"
"That man....," Snape began, trying to think of how to make it sound the least damning for Lupin, "...was bitten by a werewolf."
The doctor's expression shifted very slightly.
"When?"
"As a child."
The doctor seemed to be suddenly staring at something in the air that Snape couldn't see.
"Let's see," he stated almost to himself, "Last full moon was....," the doctor counted off several days on his unseen calendar, "....six days ago. Given recovery time...." He thought for a moment, then shook his head. "No. Shouldn't be a problem." He stated, turning back to Snape. "All in all, I'd say your friend's condition is what's keeping him alive right now. Werewolves are blasted hard to kill in either form. I'd wager it doesn't work in your friend's favor very often."
Snape couldn't think of any reply. The doctor seemed completely unimpressed with Lupin's 'condition'. He shrugged inwardly to himself, considering that those in the medical field must see lycanthropy differently than the average lay-person.
"Does your friend have a name?" The doctor asked.
"Lupin." Snape answered, watching them wheel the gurney through a pair of doors. "Remes Lupin."
The doctor lightly slapped his arm. "Well, Remes Lupin is lucky to have a friend like you." He replied, heading after the others. "We'll bring him through after we've stabilized and sedated him. You can see him for a few seconds then."
Snape watched as the doctor disappeared after the others through the double doors.
Snape was still standing in the corridor when an orderly came through the double doors, wheeling a figure on a gurney in front of him. Snape stopped him as he recognized Lupin's mess of brown-gray hair. The orderly obligingly stopped the gurney for a few moments.
Snape leaned over the rail, squeezing Lupin's hand lightly.
"Remes?" he called quietly, not wanting to wake him if he was already under sedation.
But Lupin slowly opened his eyes and focused them on Snape.
"Severus?" He asked groggily. "What are you still doing here?"
Snape looked perplexed at the question. "What am I....? Someone should be here, Remes."
Lupin shook his head slightly. "Go back to the castle, Severus. Do what you can to help Harry. That's what important now."
Snape was about to strongly disagree with him on what he felt was 'important now', but Lupin stopped him.
"You think the old wolf has never been shot before?" He asked.
The question got a shocked look from Snape.
"Remind me sometime and I'll show you the scars. I'll be fine, and there's really nothing you can do." Lupin assured him. "Harry's the one in danger of dieing. Go back to the castle and do what you can there. That is where you are needed, Severus."
Snape paused. The man's self-sacrificing nature could be extremely irritating at times, but not half so much as his ability to corner any opponent in a debate with pure, unquestionable logic. Defeated and unable to reply, Snape simply nodded as he pulled back.
"I'll be back as soon as the operation is done." He stated solemnly.
But Lupin reached out and grabbed Snape's hand. "Severus," he stated, trying to hold onto a clear thought past the drugs that were ever increasingly fogging his brain, "stay away from the Dursley's. Swear you will."
The orderly had started to wheel the gurney towards the waiting elevators, but Lupin refused to let go of Snape's hand until he had what he wanted.
"Swear it, Severus." He stated in a surprisingly lucid voice.
All Snape could manage to do was nod as he stared down at Lupin. But Lupin must have seen, because Snape felt the grip on his hand loosen suddenly as the orderly hurried for the elevator.
Snape stood for a few moments staring at the elevator after the doors had closed behind the gurney. Slowly a malicious grin formed its way across his face as he stood staring at the stainless steel doors.
"I'll stay away from them, Lupin." He promised again. "But I won't speak for Black when he learns what the muggles did to you."
