Chapter 13: The Lion's Life Lost.
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all associated characters belong to JK Rowling. All characters unique to this series (Lily J. Potter, James Weasley etc.) belong to me.
Lily and her friends were in the middle of dinner, after a particularly difficult History of Magic session in early February, when out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a familiar snowy-white owl flew in through one of the windows and landed in front of Sirius.
"I wonder what Mercury's doing here?" she thought aloud.
"Indeed," said Virgil. "Mother never writes to Sirius — only you, me, or sometimes Uncle Ron or Aunt Hermione."
"Well, we're about to find out," observed Maxwell, as he saw Remus step down from the podium and walk towards them.
"What's wrong Moony?" asked Lily.
"Sirius will tell you. Could you, Virgil and Maxwell come with me?"
"We're not in trouble are we?" asked Maxwell.
"No, all I can tell you is there's a problem at home. Will you come please?"
"Sure, we're nearly finished anyway." said Lily and rose to her feet. The others followed. "Is it okay if we come too?" asked Lena.
Remus nodded and she and James fell in step behind the group. At the door, Charlie and the other three Weasleys present joined them.
The walk to Sirius' office on the third floor was a short and silent one, everyone was caught up in their own dire imaging's of what was wrong.
When they entered Sirius' office at his welcoming 'come in', they found the office already pretty full — Sirius was there of course, as well as Hermione, Ron, Barty, and Sirius' girlfriend of ten years, Wendy Rivers.
"What's wrong Padfoot?" Lily asked as Sirius indicated that they should sit down — Lily, James, Anne, Marcus and Lena sat, while Virgil moved to stand behind his sister, the twins leaned against the wall, Charlie stood with his back against the door, and Remus propped himself up against the desk.
"Now everyone's here I can tell you," replied Sirius. "It's not good news so I wanted everyone to hear it together." He picked up the letter, which had been lying on his desk and unfolded it.
Sirius,
Cal just contacted me through the fire, Harry was badly injured during the Gargoyles game this afternoon. Neville and I are on our way over to St Mungo's now but I want my family with me. I have a gut feeling this is The One, so could you bring the kids down, and Hermione, Remus and my brothers if possible?
See you soon
Ginny.
Sirius put down the letter with a sigh, then looked up, Lily had nearly collapsed and was being held up by her two best friends as she sobbed silently into James' sweater. Sirius mentally added James and Lena to the list of people who would definitely be going and then considered the others — Ginny had asked for Lily, Marcus and Virgil so they would go of course, and he knew Hermione wouldn't want the twins to go, and he agreed, with their marks they couldn't afford it, which left Anne and Barty. "Anne, Barty, do you want to go?" As he expected neither did. "Lily, Virgil, Marcus, Sparky and James — go back to the Tower and pack a small bag each, we'll leave in thirty minutes."
All present knew a dismissal when they heard one, so the students quickly filed out of the room. "Ron, Hermione, could you go with them and make sure they're okay, before you pack for yourselves?" Hermione nodded and the couple slipped out before the door had even swung closed behind the kids.
"Do you want me to stay behind Sirius?" asked Charlie.
"Could you? With Hermione and I away, someone needs to keep an eye on Gryffindor."
"Of course I'll stay, you need me too. Julia could cover Potions for you too if you want?"
"Thanks, Charlie."
Charlie waved it away as if it were nothing and left.
"I'll be coming with you of course, Padfoot."
Sirius nodded. "I wouldn't have it any other way Moony," he confirmed and then turning to his fire and threw a pinch of powder into the flames. "Professor Hawke!"
The fire turned green for a moment and the History of Magic professor's head appeared, hovering over the flames. "What can I do for you Professor?"
"Harry is seriously ill at St Mungo's. Remus, Hermione and I are going down to be with Ginny, James, Lena and the kids are coming with us."
"So you want me to run things until you get back?"
"Yes, possibly even until Minerva does, I won't be coming back until Harry's better."
"Very well."
"Charlie's going to keep an eye on the Gryffindors, and he's said Julia could cover Potions. Orion, Nick or both could handle DADA, but what about Transfiguration?"
"Pietro Greengrass," replied Hawke promptly. "He's a pre-registration Animagus and has a job at the Transfiguration Research Board lined up when he graduates. He is also Head Boy."
"Sounds good to me," agreed Sirius. "If you do need help, you can contact me through the fire on my Monsermus, the name is 'Captain Padfoot'."
"Got it, I hope Mr Potter recovers."
"So do I Merrill, so do I."
Professor Hawke's head disappeared from the flames and the room was silent for a moment until Wendy spoke up. "All we can do is hope, and trust in the doctors to do everything they can." she reminded the two men softly. "And be there and be strong for each other."
"I know, my love." Sirius told her, and sat back in his chair so that she could sit down on his lap.
Remus looked away to give the two of them a little privacy, though he certainly didn't resent his best friend for having Wendy there, he did wish that his own occasional girlfriend, Lauren Crawford, was there with him instead of on a freelance assignment at a dig in Siberia.
----
Madame Bones' Portkey dropped them into the Emergency Ward reception area of St Mungo's twenty minutes later. With Sirius, Remus and Hermione in the lead they headed for the booking desk. "Can I help you?" asked the fat, middle-witch behind it.
"I hope so," said Sirius. "My name is Professor Black, we're here to see Harry Potter."
"Are you family?"
"Yes."
"Could you wait a moment, and I'll check for you?" asked the woman. Sirius nodded. "Mr Potter has been moved upstairs to room 1-34 of Helios Wing."
"I know where that is," Ron said. "Follow me."
Sirius nodded and the group fell in behind him.
Lily couldn't read her uncle as well as she could her parents or brother, but she had a feeling that something might be bothering him. Fortunately, someone else was certain about it. "Ron, what's wrong?"
"I'm worried that's all Hermione."
"Any particular reason why? Other than the obvious?"
Ron nodded. "The reason I know where Harry's room is, is that I had to visit Helios Ward two months ago to get a report about Henri Lavreau, the Chaser that was injured the riot after the Falcons-Quafflepunchers friendly." he paused. "Lavreau died three days ago of his injuries."
"Oh."
"Yes. Helios is the critical care wing, according to Neville about half the patients don't survive and most that do don't fully recover."
"Harry's a fighter Ron, he'll survive."
"I hope so, love. I really do."
Helios Ward was in a separate building about ten minutes walk away. The security guard at the door recognised Ron immediately. "Hi Mr Weasley, are you visiting one of the patients?"
"Yeah... Taylor wasn't it?"
"Yes sir, Zeb Taylor." confirmed the wiry Jamaican. "Strictly speaking I shouldn't let you in unless you're on official business, sir. Visiting hours are 9 to 5." Sirius smiled to himself and removed a small bag of coins from pocket in his robe and slipped it to him. But of course I do have to check around the building." he admitted and walked off, leaving the door unguarded.
"What?" asked Sirius, as both his girlfriend and Hermione scowled at him. "It worked didn't it?"
"Can we go in please?" asked Lena. "It's freezing out here."
Sirius nodded and led them inside. Once they were in, Ron pointed out the stair to the first floor. "I'll go and find the consultant, Dr Hymenia and see what's happening with Harry and persuade him to let us stay."
"How will you do that?" asked Hermione suspiciously.
"By promising him two free tickets to the next United game, he's a fan."
Hermione scowled but said nothing. Ron returned a few minutes later with a stocky, white-haired gentleman in red-and-white mediwizard's robes. "Sirius, Hermione, everyone this is Doctor Julius Hymenia, he's the consultant here."
Dr Hymenia led them so his office and sat down behind his desk. "I will not lie to you, Mr Potter is lucky to be alive. His injuries are some of the worst I have seen the war. He has a broken clavicle, three broken ribs, a cracked skull and a compound fracture of the right arm, plus assorted torn muscles and other tissues. He has also not regained consciousness since the fall." he told them. "If you want to go in and see him, I'll bend the rules to allow it, but could you please keep things quiet." Sirius nodded. "Mrs Potter and her mother are with him now." he told them then he rose and escorted them to Harry's room and opened the door, motioning for them to precede him.
----
Ginny and Molly were, as the doctor had mentioned, sitting with Harry. Ginny looked up as they came in, and her face lit up. "Sirius, Ron, Hermione, you made it!" she jumped up and threw her arms around her brother and sister-in-law. When she released them, she saw her children standing behind them and quickly took her son and daughter into her arms. "He'll be all right kids, he'll be alright." she assured them.
Sirius, watching them, wondered if she said it for their benefit or her own. Molly rose to her feet and said that she would go and get some cups of tea for everyone and left the room, Wendy and Remus followed her.
Sirius sat down in Molly's chair, Ginny with Lily still gripped in a tight embrace sat back down on her own armchair and Lena perched on one of the arms, Ron and Hermione settled down onto the narrow daybed by the window and the three boys settled themselves down on the floor between the two beds — Virgil nearest Harry's bed, James near his parents and Marcus half way between the two with his back resting against Ginny's chair.
When one of the nurses arrived at two am to check on Harry, she found most of the family asleep — although she reckoned that of the adults, only Molly, Hermione and Wendy were more than half-asleep. "You are one lucky man Mr Potter," she muttered to herself. "To have all these people who love you."
She wasn't sure but she thought she saw a slight twitching of the muscles around his lips as she said that.
I know I am.
"I must be imaging things," she decided and left the room quickly.
You weren't.
----
Morning sunlight filtering through the windows woke Ginny from her slumber. She glanced over at Harry's bed and a pair of brilliant green eyes met hers. "Harry! You're better!" she screamed and threw herself from her chair into his arms, he winced but raised his uninjured arm around her. "Awake yes, better... barely." he told her. "I haven't hurt this bad since I woke up after the Power Pulse. I can't move my right arm, I can't see ten feet in front of me and I hurt all over."
The others began to stir, Lily and Lena first, then Ron and Hermione — Lily and Hermione leapt to their feet and joined Harry and Ginny on his bed. They only separated from the four-way hug when Dr Hymenia arrived with Neville and one of the nurses in tow. "Glad to see you're up and about Mr Potter. My name is Doctor Hymenia, I'm the consultant here. How are you feeling?"
"Like crap, if you must know Doctor," admitted Harry. "But I'll recover. My vision's all blurred, I can barely focus, I can't move my arm or knee and I hurt all over."
"We'll get a psiographer to take a detailed look at you, and get you Clear-Thoughts Potion for your disorientation." Dr Hymenia assured him. "You'll probably need work on your arm strength yourself, we can't do much about the muscle damage."
"Whatever you can do will be great Doctor." Harry told him. "Any chance of borrowing a pair of glasses? My eye's aren't working right."
Neville nodded and handed Harry a very familiar pair of round spectacles. "I had Dobby find them for you in case you needed them."
Harry thanked his friend and slipped them on. His vision cleared, it wasn't perfect but he could manage. "Thanks Neville."
After getting the all-clear from Mandy Coy, one of the resident psiographers, he signed himself out, Ginny helping him he managed to change into some robes, and then Neville brought them back to the Sanctuary via Portkey.
----
"Where's Harry?" asked Ron, when he returned from work early, a week later.
"In the gymnasium Ron Wheezy." Dobby told him. "Ginny Potter, Professor Black and Rand Kunlei are with him sir."
"Get Remus, Hermione, Neville, and the kids, will you Dobby?" asked Ron. "I want them to hear this too. We'll be next door."
Dobby nodded and disappeared.
Ron set his jaw grimly and strode down the corridor towards the gym.
When he arrived in the small room, he could see that Harry — wearing only a vest and a pair of Muggle jogging trousers — was crouched over a weights bench, and with the help of Rand Kunlei, a martial artist with the Order of the Phoenix, was exercising his injured arm with a large dumbbell. Ginny and Sirius, both dressed in regular robes, were sitting on another bench a few feet away. Ginny was the first to notice her brother's entrance and came over to him. "What are you doing back so early? Is something wrong?"
Ron shook his head. "I just got the last report back on Harry's accident, I wanted to bring you the findings straight away."
"Good," said Harry sitting up. "I want to hear this. Shall we go to the sitting room?" He reached under the bench and picked up an wooden Muggle walking stick, his most recent fall had aggravated an old knee injury and he was having trouble walking. With Ginny supporting his good side he moved quickly to the family room two doors down and took a seat on one of the larger sofas, Ginny joined him, snuggling into his chest. Ron crossed to his favourite of the armchairs and dropped a folder stuffed with parchment on the table in front of him, while Sirius claimed the one of the other, smaller sofas. When the others arrived they arranging themselves in their usual positions: Wendy and Remus with Sirius, Lily on the other side of her father with Lena and Virgil perched on opposing sofa arms, Hermione on the chair opposite Ron with James on the floor beside her, Maxwell on one of the poufs near the fire, and Neville and his wife in the loveseat near the window. "You don't mind if Megan stays do you Ron, Harry?"
Harry shook his head.
"I don't mind either, I know she can keep things quiet until we decide to release this. I hope that goes for you too, Wendy?" Ron said. The raven-haired woman nodded and Ron continued. "The Magical Investigation Bureau had already done the preliminaries by the time I got to the office after you'd been discharged. They didn't manage to turn up anything. I'm working on the assumption that whoever was responsible was using a glamour or a disguise of some sort... and pulled some strings so Lieutenant's Gara and Ronin could go over there and check the place out. They might find something, Seamus is with them and he'll let me know if anything new turns up."
"So what have you found out?" asked Harry.
"Bill and a couple of my safety testers gave the two Bludgers and what was left of your Firebolt a thorough examination. Apparently the Bludgers were cursed using house-elf magic, we sent the traces off to the Office of House-Elf Relocation for matching... It came back positive for a bound elf called Difty, we're still waiting on ownership. Your Firebolt exploded because someone swapped the wax in your kit for a Britality Potion, so that when you speeded up for the catch, the broom couldn't take the strain. One of the Reserve Chasers, Angus Warrington has already been linked to that. The MIB are questioning him to see how much he knows."
"So the investigation is still ongoing...?" asked Ginny.
Ron nodded. "Very much so. We'll get whoever did this, don't worry Harry."
"I'm sure you will Ron, I believe in you." Harry assured him.
----
Two days later, Warrington was tried for the attack on Harry and the court sentenced him to ten years in Azkaban — his conspirator could not be found, but Ron and Joan assured them that the Order at least would continue to investigate until he was found.
The morning before Hermione, Remus, Ron and the kids returned to Hogwarts, Lily and James received a sombre message from Gordon Conroy, the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain.
Dear James and Lily,
I hope that your dad is getting better, but I'm sorry to say that we didn't do too well in the match against Hufflepuff, we were losing 20-150 when Anne managed to get the Snitch, so we're still in the lead but just barely. We'll need you for the Final or we'll be in real danger of losing and I don't want that so come back if you possibly can.
See you soon,
Gordon Conroy
Gryffindor Quidditch Captain
"That was Gordon," Lily told the others sitting at the table. "Apparently Connor and Frank weren't good enough replacements for us. Anne caught the Snitch and we still only won by twenty points."
"Gryffindor haven't had a result that bad in a while," commented Ron. "I'm glad we're going back to Hogwarts tomorrow."
"He'll be glad too," confirmed James, and returned his attention to his breakfast.
A/N: Please read and review.