Cursed: Part B
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For the next two days, the families of the cursed Gryffindors stayed in the Hogwarts guest apartments. Their presence, and curse itself, was still kept secret from the rest of the school, but the fact that their parents were there was a great comfort to Orion and most especially Steve.
At dawn on the third day since Lily had been taken ill, and their parents had arrived, Madam Pomfrey rose as usual to check the vital signs of her five patients. With James, Sirius and Remus there was no major change, but when she ran her wand over Peter, she nearly fainted from shock. She dropped her wand and rushed from the room.
Madam Pomfrey flew into her own room as if being chased by ravenous beasts, and dropped to her knees in front of her fireplace. The force of the emotion which had carried her there was so strong that she spelled up the inter-Hogwarts Floo network without using her wand. Within seconds her head had appeared in the Headmaster's study, and she could see Professor Dumbledore snoozing in his chair, just like the portraits on his walls, and looking twenty years younger than when he was awake. "Headmaster!" she said loudly. "HEADMASTER!"
Dumbledore jerked awake, and seeing the nurse's beaming face, he too broke out into a smile. "Well, what news?"
"It's Peter, Albus. His fever's broken. He'll live!"
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Lily shivered as the thunderstorm crashed all around her. Thunder echoed off the distant Scottish mountains, coming back to torment her again and again. It didn't occur to her to wonder why she was out, quite possibly in the Forbidden Forest, during a torrential downpour the like of which she had never seen in her life. She only new that she had to find something, to find someone, to find James! James, who was terrified of thunderstorms and couldn't possibly be left alone during this mother of all storms. Rain trickled down her back, already soaked through her clothes as Lily set off to find him.
As she progressed through the dark forest, Lily began to hear the noises of others around her. Not human others, but animal noises she didn't recognise, which filled her with dread. Without warning, a slithery, snake-like animal scudded across the path in front of her, and Lily jumped. However, the beast made no move to attack her, or even come any nearer to her, so she continued to walk. 'What kind of animals were out in a storm like this anyway?' Lily thought, shivering.
James was here somewhere, she just knew it, and she had to get to him. Even as the wind grew stronger, whipping tree branches at her, and wailing loudly, Lily knew she had to continue. That was what friends did.
But now the wind was almost to strong to walk into, and Lily thought about giving up, or even just pausing for a second. Suddenly, as if realising this, the wind dropped for a second, creating an eerie silence. Through the air that now seemed thick as treacle, Lily could hear, quite clearly, the distant sound of someone sobbing. Picking herself up from where she had been crouching on the ground, she walked on, into the stinging arrows of the rain.
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Peter's parents tried not to be too happy openly, considering that none of Peter's friends had yet recovered, but they found it almost impossible to quench their joy. When they heard the news, they embraced tightly for a long time, and upon breaking apart, Mr Pettigrew had tears running freely down his face, while his wife was beaming with joy. They spent all day in the hospital wing with their son, who they obviously doted upon.
As soon as Peter regained full consciousness, he demanded to know where his friends were. With obvious concern for the effect this news might have on him, his parents told him that they too had suffered the curse. The guilt Peter had been feeling ever since he had woken increased at this, because his tired mind twisted the dreams he had had whilst cursed until he felt that he was responsible for his friends' still being cursed. Despite his parents' attempts to cheer him up, he remained sunken in depression, unable to understand why he was getting well but the lives of his friends were still in danger.
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Still curled up in pain, Remus looked up to see Sirius standing above him, grinning his normal idiotic, beautiful grin. Faced with this vision above him, Remus hurriedly closed his eyes to try to counteract the wolf, and curled even tighter in on himself, digging his nails into his palms to try to keep some semblance of sanity and normalcy within. The wolf, his other self, growled inside him, demanding that he fulfil his urges, rip, shred, tear Sirius apart, and not only that, but revel in the new feelings as well. Remus whimpered, determined not to let go, and lay there for what seemed like hours, before feeling a gentle touch on his head.
"Remus, what's wrong?" asked the dream-Sirius, kneeling just above his head. "You can tell me; let me help, Remus, please!" While saying this, Sirius continued to stroke Remus' hair, clearly trying to comfort his friend, but to Remus the touch was torture, as it woke the wolf even more. Steeling himself, he opened his eyes and looked up at his beautiful friend. "Go, Sirius, just go! It's not safe!"
"Of course it is, I know you'd not hurt me," Sirius replied fondly, using his other hand to touch Remus' face. "Remie, tell me what's wrong?"
It was the use of the pet name that shattered Remus' self-control. The wolf inside him howled joyfully, and Remus jumped up, his teeth bared, and bore Sirius to the floor. His hands, curled into claws, rent and tore at his friends skin, and Remus disappeared completely as the wolf took over his body and bayed towards the moon and the Dog Star above.
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"Professor Dumbledore, sir, I've been meaning to ask you this for a few days now, but…" Angela Lupin's question was cut short as Dumbledore rose from his seat and crossed the room to her. Although she was still young, it seemed as if Angela Lupin had aged terribly during this past week; there were more grey hairs on her head than otherwise now, and her eyes were ringed with shadow. Sighing, Dumbledore sat down beside her and offered her a cup of tea.
"Angela," he said, speaking fondly to his former pupil. I know what you are going to ask me, and I must confess it is troubling me. However, I think your fears are groundless; Remus appears to be approaching the crux of things; all sings indicate that this will be over, for good or evil, within the next 24 hours. So either way, it will be a moot point."
If possible, Angela Lupin paled even more. "You say – the conclusion- is near? Which way will it go?"
"That depends on Remus. There is nothing we can do but watch and wait. However, I feel he will either be able to actively transform in a few days, or…it will bother him no more."
Remus' mother gulped, and took a long swallow from her cup of tea.
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Sirius rocketed down the corridor as if his life depended on it; nobody hurt his friends and got away with it. The passage led to a smallish, circular room, with no other exits. Standing in the middle of the room was a boy, much larger than even the tall Sirius, and menacing looking. His dark eyebrows almost met across his forehead, giving him a permanent scowl, and sharp eyes glittering like stones glared at Sirius, challenging him. On the floor behind this nasty looking person was Remus, lying where he had fallen, and obviously injured. His brown hair shone golden in the unnatural light of the room, and with his eyes closed, he looked several years younger, and much more innocent that Sirius had ever seen him.
"Well?" said the boy, the enemy.
"You leave Remus alone," Sirius said, with just the hint of a quiver in his voice.
"Are you going to make me?" the boy taunted.
With a growl, Sirius flung himself at Remus's captor with all his tired strength. He pummelled the other boy, hit out with his fists, feet, and even his head, but seemed to make no impression. The boy was like a rock; solid, impermeable and everlasting. Sirius groaned in frustration, but the momentary glances he had of Remus were enough to keep him fighting; his friend looked as though he was in severe pain.
With a sudden lapse in Sirius' concentration, the other boy was able to get in a clear punch, and the force of the blow sent Sirius flying. The bigger boy towered above him, as Remus struggled to his feet. "Sirius, stop," Remus said, almost choking on the words. Sirius, sprawled on the floor, shook his head in a decided negative. "No, Remus, I wont."
"Would you just stop? You're not doing any good," Remus reiterated. "You think you are, but your not. I chose to come here."
"What're you saying, Re?" Sirius asked, holding his breath.
"I'm asking you to go away. I don't want you, Sirius."
Sirius sucked in a breath, aware that suddenly it hurt to breathe. The boy above him grinned unmercifully, and aimed a sudden kick to his head. Without moving to avoid it, Sirius stared at Remus until he blacked out.
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Remus Lupin was up and out of bed before anyone had even realised he was out of danger. His legs nearly gave out under him, but he was determined to do what he wanted to do, and eventually made it to Sirius' bed, collapsing beside his still unconscious friend. "Oh Siri," he said brokenly, and buried his head in the pillow next to Sirius.
Madam Pomfrey entered the ward soon after with a bowl of hot water for washing Lily, and saw Remus, awake and kneeling next to Sirius' bed. With a little shriek, she dropped what she was carrying and rushed towards him. Scooping Remus into her arms as if he weighed no more than a baby, she put him back into bed, muttering the whole time. "And look at you! Out of bed with you as weak as a flobberworm! Honestly, you'll be making yourself ill again, Remus. And not a thought to tell anyone you're awake! You've been asleep for nearly three weeks, and-,"
"Three weeks?" Remus asked in amazement.
"Yes, all of you. Except Lily, she's only been here a week. Now shush and back to sleep with you."
"I…I…I…" Remus clearly wanted to ask more questions, but a yawn overtook him, and his eyelids fell shut once more.
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James found himself nearing the edge of the forest now. He came out of the trees to see the splendid vista of Hogwarts Castle up above him, with his quarry already at the main entrance. He set off faster now that there was nothing to distract him, churning up the lawn with his hooves. The double doors were open for him as he got there, and he raced into the darkened great hall. The other animal was leading him through deserted corridors on a route he was sure he knew. The turned into a long passageway, where a light was visible at the other end, and the creature in front sped up, hurtling along towards the light.
As James passed through the doorway, he became aware the he was in the hospital wing of Hogwarts. This was the room the feeling of evil had been coming from the whole time, and it was so strong in here that he could hardly breathe. Five beds stood in the room, all empty except for one. The animal, his quarry, moved towards this bed, and James followed, knowing that the chase was at an end. He looked at the creature that had caused him so much pain, and saw that it was a doe, a female deer. He didn't have time to wonder at this, because the he could now see the person in the bed, and what he saw made him forget everything else.
Lily lay in the bed, her once fiery, but now dulled, hair spread out around her. Her breath came in short shallow gasps and her face was a dull yellowish colour. A sense of dying pervaded the room, and James knew he was too late, and that the evil had conquered his once vibrant friend. As Lily's breaths became even shallower, he noticed that the doe in front of the bed began to fade, and her outline was becoming less and less visible. James, in his animal form, sank to his knees beside the bed, and began to weep. If Lily, his closest and dearest friend, was not going to live, he didn't want to either.
He bowed his head, and in that moment, gave up.
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"FOOD!" Sirius yelled, as loud as weakened voice would allow. "I want something to eat!" Several people in the room, including Peter and his parents, jumped in shock, and spun around to see who was making the noise. Peter gave a small squeak, jumped out of his bed, avoided his parents' arms, and catapulted himself at Sirius, hitting him in the chest with the force of a Bludger. "Oh, Siri, I'm so glad your alive!"
"Well I won't be for much longer if I don't get something to eat!" Sirius joked, making Peter smile for the first time in days.
"I'll get Madam Pomfrey," Peter said grinning.
He began to move, but was cut short by an annoyed shout. "Pettigrew! Get back to bed! Honestly, what have I told you children? If you want to get better, you have to stay in bed!" Madam Pomfrey had entered the room, but upon seeing Sirius awake, her bad mood faded instantly. "Mr. Black! I thought I heard you!" she beamed.
"I'm hungry, Madam Pomfrey," Sirius complained, looking angelic.
"Well, Sirius dear, I'm not sure you should eat. Neither Remus nor Peter have, and they've been awake for days."
"But I'm hungry," Sirius whined. "And I really feel like I need to eat!"
Madam Pomfrey cast a suspicious look at him, but bustled out of the room anyway, and soon returned with a bowl of soup.
"Soup!" Sirius said in amazement. "All I get is soup? And where is Remus, anyway?"
"Soup will help you to get better, Mr Black. And Remus is with his parents."
"Oh, right," Sirius said thoughtlessly. "It's the full moon." Madam Pomfrey stared in shock, but soon recovered herself.
"Eat that, and back to sleep with you," she said severely, but her mind was still dealing with the fact that Remus' friends knew his affliction and still wanted him as a friend.
The soup had its desired effect, and Sirius was soon snoozing comfortably in the bed, while his family stood around, embracing each other and crying. It wasn't until late afternoon, therefore, that anything of any interest happened to break the strained silence in the room, which still contained two very ill people.
A loud groan sounded from one of the beds in the corner, and the three families in the Hospital Wing looked around in amazement, sure that this could not be another person waking up, not in the same day. But it was quite obvious that James had awoken, as he stretched across the whole bed, and blinked his eyes open sleepily. "Where's Lils?" he said, not quite managing to keep the anxiety out of his voice. None of the parents present felt qualified to answer that question, and James sat staring in silence until Madam Pomfrey came in and closed the curtains around his bed.
"Where's Lils?" he repeated. The nurse looked at him sadly, unsure how to break the news.
"She's…still asleep," she said slowly, and went on to explain the curse.
"The others are awake?" James asked, not quite sure he understood. "But Lily ain't?"
"No, she's not, but she did contract the curse later than you boys. There's still a lot of hope, James."
"Her parents are here, aren't they? And Pete's, and Siri's. Remie's are as well, right?"
"Yes," Madam Pomfrey answered, dreading this line of question even more than the original.
"But mine aren't?" James asked with confused wrinkle of his nose. "They didn't turn up?"
"No, we merely had an owl asking for regular news of your condition."
"They must be busy, then," James said firmly, as if he was thoroughly convincing himself of this fact, whether or not it was true. Not for the first time Madam Pomfrey wondered at the casualty of the Potters, which she had witnessed many times in her few years at Hogwarts. Their youngest son had been in a critical condition, but neither mother nor father could make time in their busy schedules to come to visit him.
Having put the issue of his parents neatly away in the back of his mind, James faced the nurse with bright eyes. "Can I go see Lily now? And Sirius? Please?"
She took a careful look at him, but he seemed to be in a pretty good condition, considering what he had been through in the past few weeks. "Quickly then," she said gruffly. "And make sure you wrap up warm."
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Lily walked on for hours in the oppressive dark of the forest. The weather continued to worsen, with the path in front of her barely visible. The thunder echoed around created a noise many times louder than she had ever heard. Lightning snapped down nearer and nearer to her, prompting her to fear for her own safety, and that of James. During the lulls in the wind, his crying was still barely audible, on the very edge of her hearing, as she had to strain to catch it. As the storm worsened, her resolve to reach her friend increased.
It suddenly seemed to Lily that the trees were getting thinner, and the way more discernible. She sped up, and pushed through the last of the trees, only to be confronted with a vast lake, looking more like an inland sea. It stretched on either side as far as she could see, but on the other side, barely in sight, was James, huddled in a pile on the ground, still crying desperately.
Lily heaved a great sigh, and began to advance into the water. It was freezing, as the time of year and storm would suggest, and Lily's whole body quivered in icy pain. She had just steeled herself for another freezing step, when a boat caught her eyes. It was moored to a tiny pier just along from where she was standing, and was even equipped with oars. Hurriedly, she ran along to it, but an unexpectedly huge gust of wind blew, and at the very moment Lily's hand should have closed around the boat, it broke free and bobbed into the middle of the water.
Now sobbing herself, Lily collapsed to the ground in frustration. She beat uselessly at the mud with her fists, and took a last look at James. He had stopped crying, and was looking up at her, across the water, as if asking was she coming. Lily shook her head, deciding that she was not going to be able to get to James, whatever happened, and shook her head at him. She then lay down on the ground where she was, and pulled her cloak tight around her thin body. The storm shuddered with unthought fury, and everything went dark.
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Sirius woke up later that evening to find James awake and eating. He yelped with joy, and bounded out of the bed to hug his friend. "Is Lils awake?" he asked abruptly.
"Nope," James replied sadly. They shared a miserable look, and sat in silence.
The two boys continued to sit for some time. Eventually, Peter's parents left, and Peter himself came over to say he was going to spend the night with his parents, so he could visit Remus in the morning in secret. Finding themselves alone in the Hospital Wing, apart from the constant bustling of Madam Pomfrey, James and Sirius communicated silently, and moved to sit next to Lily's bed. They sat for several hours in silent vigil, getting slowly more depressed as the night went on. Surprisingly, they were alone all evening, for Lily's parents seemed to be taking a night off.
Madam Pomfrey told them to go to bed at 11 o'clock. "It's time for you boys to get some rest now, I'll wake you if anything happens," she said sternly. "You need to get some sleep, or you'll never recover."
"I don't want to get better," James replied stubbornly. "Not if Lily doesn't."
"Now, Mr. Potter, that is a silly attitude. Miss Evans will not be helped by your sacrificing your good health for her," the nurse insisted, trying to pull the two boys towards the beds.
"Ok, ok, we'll go," Sirius snapped, looking significantly at James. James suddenly gave up the fight, and allowed himself to be shepherded into bed. Madam Pomfrey lowered all the lights, and left the room softly.
Within seconds of her leaving, the two boys were out of bed and into their original positions by Lily's bed. They dragged their chairs closer together, so James could lean on Sirius' shoulder, and prepared themselves for another long wait. Lily just had to wake up. They could not go on living with one of their group missing. And Lily was such a vital part of them, they both realised. She provided a heady mixture of humour and mischief, as well as care and sympathy for them all. Not to mention, Sirius thought, with what was almost an internal grin, she was an integral part of their Slytherin fighting force. Many of the fights they had had would have been lost without Lily.
As Lily tossed and turned in the bed, deep within her own terrifying nightmare, the two boys began to feel the effects of their recent illness. Eyelids began to feel heavy and to close, they leaned even further towards each other, and Sirius' arm snaked out to hold James to him.
This was how Professor McGonagall found them when she arrived two hours later for her customary late night visit; fast asleep, and each obviously drawing great comfort from the other's presence. However, she knew that sleeping upright, on hard wooden chairs, could not be comfortable, and she quietly levitated them into the nearest bed. Their bodies reformed to the new surface, curling even tighter around each other, though they did not wake up. McGonagall yet again found herself almost moved to tears by the steadfast loyalty that the five third years held for each other, as she knew that if it had not been the full moon, Remus Lupin would have been keeping vigil as well. She settled herself into one of the now vacated chairs, and steeled herself to keep a close eye on Lily all night.
Minerva McGonagall stretched languorously in the early hours of the morning, trying to work out why her limbs were so stiff. She blinked her sleep filled eyes and suddenly realised that she was in the Hospital Wing, and she had been there all night. A quick glance towards Lily told her that the girl was now sleeping peacefully, and that the curse was broken. The atmosphere in the room, the very air itself, seemed lighter, as if realising that the evil presence of the curse had gone. She looked towards Sirius and James, and saw that they too were fast asleep, in the positions she had left them in during the night. She stood silently and went in search of Madam Pomfrey, to tell her that her one remaining patient was freed from the curse.
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There were joyous celebrations that day, as all the parents felt able to let out the joy they had been feeling. All five of the patients had recovered, a feat Professor Dumbledore told them was nothing short of amazing, and they all seemed to be in the best of mental health. "What can happen," he said, unable to restrain his grin, "is that when people do recover, they can have lost their memories, or be certain that something has occurred, which has not. However, you five all seem perfectly all right to me. May I be assured that you will be back to your normal rule-breaking selves within a matter of days?"
Professor Dunworthy groaned. The parents shared worried looks, while the five children shared unsuppressed grins. They wondered if the school had missed them in the weeks they had been away. "We'll have to pull some pranks soon," Lily whispered to James, grinning.
"Damn right," Sirius whispered back to them, from across the group.
"Everyone'll have grown complacent without us," Remus added.
Unfortunately, Dunworthy had heard the entire exchange. "No, there'll be no pranks, I'm afraid. Do you have any idea how much school work you have to catch up on?"
All the grown up's present laughed themselves hoarse at the horrified looks on the faces of the five young Gryffindors.
A/N: that's it, people, the end of a horribly long chapter. Remember, reviews are always more than appreciated, and thanks to all those who have reviewed, and to everyone that's stuck with me :D