ICLYLM: Chapter 27
Phoebe had long ago lost consciousness of her body. Her head seemed to swim in a reality all it's own as she fought to stay conscious. Somehow she found herself outside on the ground. An anxious face swam into view. Jeffrey. He was asking her something. She tried very, very hard to hear him, to understand.
"Apparate?" He seemed to say. He was holding out a wand toward her. He wanted her to apparate. No, he wanted to know if she could. Could she? If she could take the wand she supposed so. Her mind struggled to connect with her arm, her hand. She looked down and saw that she was, indeed, reaching out. She saw her fingers close around the wand. Alright, then. Merlin help her, she was going to give it a go.
As she raised her wand she heard Jeffrey yelling at her, but he sounded as if he were underwater, and the world dissolved around her.
She appeared off kilter and at least a foot or two off the ground. She knew this because the ground immediately rushed up toward her face. After the impact she mustered the energy to turn her head so she could breathe and noted that she was in a wood. Well, then, she'd probably hit her target, the apparition point in the Forbidden Forest. She began to feel terribly ill and hoped she'd lose consciousness before the sensations from her body re-established communication with her brain. It wouldn't be too much longer now, she realized. She'd lose consciousness first, then it would be over. True, she'd be dead, but so would the demon spawn within her. Small price to pay, really, she thought philosophically as the darkness gathered around her field of vision.
"Phoebe, no! Wait!" Jeffrey had yelled but he was too late. She'd disappeared. Damn. He hadn't wanted her to do that. He'd needed her to bond herself to him while he apparated!
"Jeffrey!" Lupin gasped, "GO!"
"She apparated," the healer replied tightly, "Lord knows where or how well in her condition."
"It doesn't matter where as long as she's gone. Now GO!" Lupin yelled impatiently. Jeffrey heeded the urgency in his voice, raised the wand he'd taken earlier and disapparated. Dumbledore closed his eyes in concentration for a brief moment, opened them and disapparated as well.
Lupin, however, was worried about Black... he'd gone past the point of his endurance and he wasn't in condition to apparate.
"Sirius," he said, "I'm going to try to get you to one of the outbuildings!"
"No!" Black croaked, "Get out of here Mooney, NOW!"
"Padfoot, I'm not going and just leaving you for the DeathEaters!" Lupin spat tensely.
"You're not... Dammit just get out of here!" Black said as he rolled over and turned back into Snuffles. The other black dog bared it's teeth at Lupin stepping toward Snuffles protectively. With one last look at Snuffles Remus raised his wand and was gone.
"Lumos!" was the first thing Jeffrey said as he apparated. He moved with his lit wand pointing it through the trees, searching. Phoebe was in a heap on the ground a short distance away. He was already moving to her when Dumbledore appeared, promptly lit his wand and knelt next to Jeffrey and Phoebe. As he did, Lupin appeared.
The healer had both hands on the patient, scanning intently. The swirl of poison in her system made his own head spin as he read it. He focused and moved deeper, searching. He didn't like what he found. Phoebe was bleeding badly as her body struggled to rid itself of the fetus. He pushed some healing energy in to try and hold her dropping vital signs steady as he withdrew.
"Remus," He said, looking up, "There's no time to move her, but I need help."
"Whatever you need me to do." Lupin responded quickly.
"I need my father's help. Get to the clinic as quickly-"
Lupin interrupted, "I'm on my way."
As Lupin sprinted off Dumbledore turned to Jeffrey, " I can pulse some energy, would that help in the meantime?"
In answer, the healer moved Phoebe's head and shoulders into Dumbledore's lap. "Relax, and just concentrate of sending a constant low stream of energy... nothing fancy, alright?"
"Of course," Dumbledore said resting his hands on Phoebe's shoulders and closing his eyes in concentration. Jeffrey moved his wand over Phoebe's abdomen, whispered, something that sounded like"Forgive me," and began his task.
Lupin and James Barnes found Jeffrey and Albus concentrating intently when they arrived in the clearing a short time later. Lupin put a firm hand on James' arm and gripped him firmly for a moment to prevent him from giving in the paternal urge to rush to his son in relief. James was glad Lupin had, he could see Jeffrey was frowning intensely as his sweat dripped down from his brow to join the blood soaking Phoebe's robes.
Soon Jeffrey felt a warm energy join him in the healing bond and he knew his father had come. The fetus, it turned out, had aborted itself, probably only a short time ago. But now Jeffrey was working to mend the bleeding tissues. The blood soaking Phoebe's robes stopped spreading as the men stanched the worst of the bleeding. Now that the bleeding was under control, James began to clear some of the toxins. All the while Dumbledore concentrated on sending a flow of energy into the unconscious woman. Just as he began to tire, he felt a set of hands on his own shoulders as new energy flowed into him from Lupin. He sent it on to Phoebe.
After a time, none of them knew how long, both healers finally sat back, lifting their hands from Phoebe. Jeffrey looked dazed but his focus sharpened as the looked over at his father.
"Dad," he said hoarsely.
The older healer half dragged his son over to him in a desperate, relieved embrace. Lupin and Dumbledore held their silence for a moment, just a moment. Emotions would have to take second place to safety; they were still not within the boundaries of Hogwarts.
"We need to move as soon as possible," Dumbledore said tensely, "this is an apparition point used by Death Eaters. It's the first place they'll look. We've got to get within the Hogwarts grounds."
He frowned then, and looked at Lupin, "Where's Sirius?"
"He couldn't apparate... all those transformations took too much out of him," Lupin said anxiously, "he transformed back into Snuffles and the other dogs warned me off. They were clearly going to protect him. I just hope..." Lupin trailed off, guilt twisting his face.
Jeffrey moved to the distraught wizard, "Remus, those are three of the damn smartest dogs I've ever seen, it was like something out of a book. I thought they were all animagi. Siri- Your friend will be just fine." Jeffrey stopped himself just in time. He almost used the name 'sirius'. Unless he missed his guess the animagus had been the fugitive Black... but the man had saved him and was clearly trusted by both Lupin and Dumbledore. His healer's intuition told him it would be better to pretend he hadn't noticed just who the animagus was.
His father and Dumbledore had conjured a stretcher and levitated Phoebe onto it. They were moving as swiftly as they could along the path to the school. Jeffrey put a firm hand on Lupin's back, giving him a push in that direction as he followed. Lupin complied, but he kept looking back over his shoulder.
Jeffrey, meanwhile kept looking ahead at his patient. He desperately wanted to be able to tell that woman "I told you so" when she awakened, but first she had to wake up. He noticed Lupin look back again and thought of Severus. The Death Eaters still thought him loyal... and he'd been away when they'd escaped... he had to be alright. Had to be.
