Part Eight: The Pasts that Haunt Us
"Wait!" Sirius stopped the doctor as he was reaching for the knife. Attivus looked at him questioningly. "I should go first. That way, if something happens to me, you can try again."
Attivus stepped back. "Mind those teeth," he cautioned, indicating the dragon's mouth.
Sirius took a deep breath and stepped up to the bed. "Ready, Harry?" he said, his voice shaking slightly. Harry nodded and closed his eyes. Glynnis didn't want to watch but couldn't turn away. She stuffed her fist against her mouth and bit down on her fingers to keep herself together. In all her years of nursing, she'd never felt so helpless.
Sirius reached for the blade and, inches from touching it, was suddenly aware of two things. His own hand blistering as if on fire and Harry's scream mingling with his own. Then there was nothing. He awoke on the floor with Glynnis on her knees beside him, immersing his hand in a bowl of water and ice.
"Don't move, Sirius. Just wait a moment. Please."
"Harry." he uttered through teeth clenched with pain. "What happened to Harry?"
Glynnis swallowed visibly and passed a hand over her eyes. "He's unconscious. Apparently the attempt was too much. Doctor Attlewart is seeing to him. No! Don't get up!" She put a restraining hand on Sirius shoulder as he started to sit. "You can't do anything right now. Please just stay still. Harry is in very good hands. I know it. Please." Her eyes pleaded with him to lie back down. He saw the unshed tears starting to spill onto her face and, before he could stop himself, reached up to wipe them away.
"Are you so concerned as this with all your patients?" he asked gently. Glynnis shook her head. "Then what is it? There's something going on here. Between you and Harry. Between you and . . . " Her finger against his lips stopped him.
"Some things are better left to another time," she whispered. "Just know that things will work out."
"How can you be certain?" Sirius prodded.
Glynnis shook her head again and smiled slightly. "You'll have to take my word for it." Sirius looked as if he would say more but she pulled the bowl away and helped him to a large, overstuffed chair. "Here, sit down. Your hand is badly burned. I'll get some ointment." And with that she left the room.
"Sirius." He heard the sound as if from a distance. "Sirius." The voice prodded again, more insistently. He turned to find Attivus staring at him with undisguised curiosity. "Who exactly is this woman?"
It was Sirius' turn to shake his head. "She's Hermione Granger's aunt. Hermione is a school friend of Harry's. She knows all about our world, or much of it anyway. I really don't know who she is." His voice trailed off as his eyes were drawn back to the doorway she'd left only a moment ago. "She's . . . I don't know . . . a puzzle," he mused aloud. Attivus said nothing but approached the chair where Sirius sat, knelt down and fixed him with a disturbed gaze. "Sirius. What do you want me to do?"
Sirius looked at him in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"Do you want me to try and remove the blade?"
Sirius thought frantically. He knew that his attempt to remove it had caused Harry great pain. He didn't want to do that to him again. But he also wanted to know they had done everything they could to help. He looked helplessly at his friend and shook his head despairingly. "I don't know, Attivus. So help me God I just don't know."
The anguish in Sirius' eyes was mirrored in Attivus' gaze. He knew what losing the Potters had done to his friend. He knew what losing their son would mean. He also knew that he had to exhaust every possible avenue before giving up. He squeezed Sirius' hands and stood. "Harry wanted us to try so I will try." He approached Harry's side and the dragon leered in anticipation. Sirius sat nervously on the edge of the chair with his uninjured hand clenched into a fist on his thigh. Attivus reached out. A loud crash stopped him dead. He jumped and turned, as did Sirius, to stare at Glynnis who was poised in the doorway, the silver tray she had obviously been carrying, and it's contents, still clattering at her feet. "My God, woman!" snapped Sirius, his nerves at the breaking point. "What is the matter?" Glynnis only stared into the room. Sirius let his temper loose. "Well? What do you have to say for yourself? You've frightened us half to . . . " A hand on his arm ended the tirade. He looked down at the doctor who was watching Glynnis with utter fascination. Sirius swallowed the remainder of his wrath and followed his friends gaze.
Glynnis stood as if frozen with a stupefying spell. Her eyes were open wide, their deep brown almost obliterated by the dilated pupils. Her mouth worked as if she were speaking but no sound issued forth. "What's the matter with her?" asked Sirius, although something in him wasn't quite sure he wanted to know.
"Unless I'm mistaken, and I don't believe I am," Attivus answered, "she's Seeing something."
"Seeing something? There's nothing here to see but us."
Attivus 'tsk'ed softly. "Not that kind of seeing," he said meaningfully.
Sirius looked again and realized that he had seen Glynnis' expression before, on his Divination professor at Hogwarts. Unlike Madame Trelawney, Professor Villeau was a true possessor of the Other Sight. The students had often watched him in the same pose, as if speaking to someone they couldn't see. When he'd come around and they would ask him about it, he'd only chuckle and say "Don't worry. That call wasn't for you." Then he would wink and return to the lesson.
"I'm going to try something." Attivus whispered comment yanked Sirius away from the past. "Vox amplificatus." The doctor had pulled a wand from out his pocket and had pointed it at Glynnis. Both men listened in fascination as the once silent words flowed quietly through the room.
"It's a trap. You mustn't touch it. A trap spell has been laid and if you touch it again he will die."
Attivus cleared his throat and approached Glynnis slowly. "Can it be removed?" he asked.
Glynnis voice was airy and ethereal. Sirius had to strain to hear her. "Not by the doctor. Not by the friend. Not by the seeker. Only one in the end." He looked at Attivus. "What does that mean?" he asked.
"I'll try and find out."
"But how?"
"You have to learn to ask the right questions," Attivus said cryptically. "Who will remove it?"
"The one who has the most to gain will be the one to end the pain." Glynnis was shaking. A thin sheen of sweat broke out on her forehead. Her cheeks were flushed and pink and her breathing was shallow.
"It's leaving her, Sirius."
"What do we do?"
"The right hand is left." With this said, Glynnis sighed and her eyes closed slowly. Only Sirius' quick reflexes kept her from hitting the floor as she fainted. He lifted her in his arms and sat down in the large chair with her on his lap. He looked helplessly up at his friend who was, once again, leaning over Harry looking at the knife.
"That was curious, I must say. Well, we learned something from it at any rate."
Sirius didn't look so certain. "What exactly would that be, Attivus? Other than the fact that there is more to Miss Babcock than meets the eye."
The doctor straightened and fingered his beard thoughtfully. "We know there is a trap spell on the blade. Neither you nor I can remove it, assuming we are the doctor and the friend indicated by her. I am going to stretch a bit and consider that Miss Babcock is the seeker mentioned."
"That could be Harry, Attivus. He's the seeker for his house Quidditch team." Sirius was squirming beneath Glynnis. His contortions caught the doctor's attention. "Sirius, what are you doing?" Sirius stopped and looked at his friend as if the answer were quite obvious. "I'm trying to reach my wand. Oh, never mind. Would you enervate her please? Maybe she can answer some of these questions." Attivus shook his head. "Best to leave her come out of it on her own. From her reaction, I doubt this happens very often, if it has ever happened at all. Most seers will grow accustomed to these things and learn to simply go with it. Miss Babcock here is showing all the signs of distress that would come with a first time visioning. No, Sirius, just let her be. We'll talk about it when she wakes. I'll warn you though, I doubt she'll recall a thing. So just sit back and relax. Now where was I?"
"The right hand has left," Sirius offered.
"Oh, yes. Hmmmm. Left as in gone? Does that mean the right person to do it is no longer here? Has anyone else been about?"
"Only Dudley and his crew and I doubt they would be the ones to undo this."
"Possibly. A mystery to be sure. Must think on it. For now, though, I'm off home. My library has some excellent books on this sort of thing. Won't take me but a minute to find them and hop back here." As he spoke, Attivus hunted his pockets and relocated his wand. He turned to Sirius. "I won't be long. There's naught you can do for Harry right this minute so don't worry. He's better off out for the moment. It will use up less energy. Just keep an eye on the young lady here. Let her talk about it if she wants but don't press her. And before I forget, hinthan amelioratis." Attivus pointed his wand at Sirius' injured hand and immediately the painful burns disappeared. Having done this, the doctor apparated and was gone. Sirius mood grew grim as he sat alone in the darkening room. After a while, he lifted Glynnis and settled her into the chair alone.
He walked over to the fireplace and leaned heavily against the mantel, his forehead on his crossed arms as he stared into the flames, Harry's scream of agony still echoing in his head. He closed his eyes and wondered, not for the first time, how much more he could take. He'd lived hour by hour through the Triwizard Tournament anxiously awaiting the trap to spring. Sirius spent each task day pacing back and forth across the cave's small floor until he heard that Harry had made it safely through another phase. When he'd found out that Harry had disappeared in the maze, he felt as if the Dementors had finally gotten their wish and taken his soul. The wait in Dumbledore's office seemed to take longer than his entire stay in Azkaban. When Harry had returned safely and related his story, Sirius was torn between relief that Harry was alive and relatively well and the knowledge that it was so easy for Voldemort to take him from the very place that Harry was supposed to have been safe. "Oh, James," he thought, "I feel like I'm failing you yet again."
The crushing grief that had haunted him through the last fourteen years crashed into him once more. Sirius could no longer fight it off with thoughts of revenge as he had in Azkaban. Harry was real to him now, no longer a fuzzy image in his head. He was real and in danger and Sirius felt helpless to do anything. He turned away from the bright flames and slid down the hearth wall. He sat down on the warm bricks and buried his face in his arms. The tears he'd denied himself for so long burned hot tracks across his face.
Sirius was only dimly aware when soft arms enfolded him and a gentle hand smoothed over his head. He knew only that, for the first time in fourteen years of solitude and exile, a human touch was comforting him. He leaned into the embrace, deep sobs wracking his thin frame.
Glynnis lost all track of time as she sat by the fire, holding Sirius in her arms. She'd awaken confused and disoriented in the arm chair by Harry's bed with no recollection of either sitting down or falling asleep. The sounds from the fireplace brought her to her feet and Sirius' emotional agony brought her to his side. His anguish touched her deeply in a place she'd thought long buried. She closed her eyes as she held him, stroking his hair, murmuring soft, comforting words. In her mind's eye she saw herself fifteen years before in a similar position only with her the one needing comfort. The memory unfolded and she allowed herself to remember . . .
"Derek stop squirming," she laughed as her as her small son struggled playfully against his coat. "You'll be sorry if you don't let me wrap you up warmly. You'll get a chill and then we'll all be up in the night while you sniffle and sneeze." Derek only smiled, his four gleaming teeth winking at her. "You are incorrigible," she chided as she finally got the last button done up and lifted him in her arms.
"Just like his father!" a strong voice proudly proclaimed behind her. Just then she and Derek were wrapped in a pair of strong arms and hugged fiercely. They both giggled. "Are you sure you want to take him with, Seamus?" she asked for the fourth time. "I could stay home."
"Of course I want to take him," Seamus replied in his lilting brogue, still thick ten years after leaving Ireland. "He and I have men things to do, don't we little man?" Derek giggled as his father's eyebrows wiggled vigorously up and down. "You go on to hospital and talk to that besom Bessie Smythe about the new position. Don't let her talk you into anything less, lass. Got that?"
"Yes, sir," she replied coyly and laughed gaily as he swatted her behind on the way out the door.
"We'll meet you at market!" he called after her. Glynnis turned and waved, walked the four blocks to the bus stop and rode to the hospital with a happy heart. Today she was interviewing for a head nursing position in the new pediatric wing. She'd not had much experience but her quick mind and even temper made her an excellent manager. She just had to convince the nursing department heads that she was capable. All through the interview she answered questions and asked some of her own and when she walked out of the room she knew she had the job. She could just feel it. She couldn't wait to share the news with her husband and son.
Since the place where she was to meet her family was only four blocks away, she walked, enjoying the afternoon bustle. It was a glorious day and she reveled in the high sun and crisp air.
As she turned onto Market Street, she spotted Seamus, his height making him stand above the others. He sensed her presence and turned. He held Derek in his arms. She smiled and waved gaily at her laughing son and picked up her speed. When she was halfway there, the sense of doom that she had come to dread over the years hit her full force and she stumbled. Her knees hit the sidewalk with a jarring crack. Skin shredded and blood flowed but she felt none of this. She only knew that something terrible was about to happen. She struggled to her feet and saw that Seamus was heading her way, a concerned frown on his face. Derek was waving at her madly, his tiny pearl-like teeth glinting in the sun. From out of nowhere two men appeared between her and her husband. They were fighting, yelling at each other. She couldn't hear what they were saying, the rushing in her ears drowning out all other sound. And then her world fell apart. A powerful explosion rocked the street and Glynnis was thrown, unconscious, to the ground
A crater so deep that the sewer cracked was all that was left of thirteen people including Seamus and Derek.
