'He doesn't look too good.'

'That's the understatement of the year.'

'Did I look that bad in the Ministry Headquarters?'

'Almost. But seriously, did they say he'll be all right?'

'Maybe. 'Course, they dunno what they're on about, do they? We need to get him to St Mungo's.'

'How are you planning on doing that?'

'No idea, but I'm sure the Weasley twins will have a few.'

'Try calling him again.'

'Sirius! Sirius! Wake up, Sirius, please, wake up!'

'Sirius, if you can hear us, just...I dunno, move your hand or something!'

Sirius groaned. His body felt like it had been crushed by a steamroller, and his head was spinning. He opened his eyes a crack, and waited for the two people in front of him to come into focus. When he spoke, his voice was hoarse and came out as a croak.

'Moony', he breathed. He may as well have just revaled the location of the Holy Grail, if the look on Remus' face was anything to go by. Both Remus and Tonks leapt out of their seats, and stared at him in delight; Tonks knelt down at his head, while Remus perched himself on the edge of the bed in which Sirius lay.

'You're awake!' He cried happily, 'thank God, we thought we'd lost you!'

Sirius' head would not stop swimming, not even for a second. He closed his eyes, and licked his dry lips. 'Where am I?' He whispered, opening one eye again, and surveying the bare, clinical room.

'You're in a Muggle hospital', Tonks told him quietly, 'Remus was only discharged yesterday...he got attacked too! Of course, the Muggles brought you here, 'cos they couldn't take you to St Mungo's. Nobody here had a single clue what was wrong with you, so we got Eva Cleansweep to come and examine you. But we can tell you all that later.'

'No', Sirius replied immediately, forcing himself to try and make sense of Tonks' words, 'tell me now. What happened? How long have I been here?' He tried to sit up, but Tonks and Remus gently pushed him down again.

'I heard you calling me from the end of the alley. I looked, and saw a Death Eater blocking your way. I started to run towards you, but another one grabbed me from behind-they had followed us using Invisibility cloaks. I managed to shake him off, and got to you just before that Death Eater did Avada Kedavra on you. He disapparated before I could see his face. The other one was some creep I've never seen before-I covered him with his own Invisibility cloak and left him there.'

Tonks tut-tutted. 'You're too modest for your own good', she teased Remus. Turning to Sirius, she took up the story; 'Remus was in a bad way-he broke his ankle and his wrist in his fight with the first Death Eater. He saved your life, Sirius. As soon as the two Death Eaters were out of the picture, he went looking for help. He didn't want to disapparate and leave you, so he asked a passing Muggle for help. She called a...what's it called? A nambulant, I think. Anyways, some Muggle doctors came and took the two of you away. That was three days ago.'

'Three days?' Sirius gasped. He was feeling a good bit better now-his head had almost stopped reeling.

'Yup', Tonks replied.

'As Tonks was saying, Eva Cleansweep came and gave you a check-up. She says the reason the Cruciatus Curse affected you so badly was because your system was already weakened. We didn't tell her it was weak because you'd lost all your magic. She did say some stuff about how your magic levels were dangerously low, due to shock, she thought. Y'know, Muggles are affected much worse by magic than wizards are, 'cos we have that extra power inside.' Remus explained sadly.

'So...' Sirius' thought process was very slow. 'Voldemort...he must know I've lost my magic, if the curse hurt me so badly that I ended up in hospital.'

Tonks and Remus exchanged a worried glance. 'Yeah', Tonks replied huskily, not looking at Sirius.

'Great', Sirius muttered, 'that's bloody brilliant. Does Harry know about this?'

'He had to be informed that you'd had an accident', Remus told him, 'he kept asking questions about you...we couldn't really lie.'

'I'm gonna go get some coffee', Tonks announced, 'anyone want anything?'

'No thanks Tonks, we're fine. And don't tell anyone Sirius is conscious, otherwise there'll be so many of these mad doctor people and nurses in here we won't get a word in edgeways.' Remus said, rolling his eyes.

'Ay ay, Cap'n', Tonks grinned, and exited the room.

'I'm pathetic, amn't I?' Sirius said resignedly, feeling ashamed and angry.

'No you're not', Remus' response was immediate, 'you're a better man than most, Sirius-you gave up your magic for your godson.'

'Wish I hadn't now', Sirius retorted irritably, 'as things stand, I'll just be a horrible embarrassment to Harry-a wizard who can't do magic? At least squibs can learn, but I'll actually never be able to cast a spell again, Remus!'

'Harry will never be embarrassed by you', Remus argued gently, 'speaking of whom, I understand he wants to see you, when you're ready for visitors.'

'You're a visitor', Sirius pointd out, 'so I must be ready now. Ooh, I bet Snape's getting a great laugh out of this.'

'I'll send Dumbledore an owl later. He can get Tonks or Moody to bring Harry over here. What is this contraption?' Remus was studying Sirius' heart monitor with great interest, 'I bet Arthur'd love to see this place! He's coming to visit tonight or tomorrow morning-he's been busy sorting out his new staff.'

'Who did he choose?' Sirius struggled into a sitting position, ignoring Remus' protests.

'Old Mad-Eye's his right hand man, of course', Remus began, 'Kingsley-if he comes round-will be Head of the Auror department. Amelia Bones is still in Law Enforcement. You'll never guess who's head of Sports and Games!'

'Who?' Sirius asked eagerly.

'Only Patrick Wood-y'know, his son plays for Puddlemere United, used be Gryffindor team captain-Oliver.'

'I remember Patrick!' Sirius cried, 'stocky, muscly sort of bloke. Two years ahead of us at Hogwarts.'

'That's him. Then there's Julie Cleansweep, she's in charge of Magical Transportation. Oh, and Arthur told Percy he could be his secretary if he wanted.'

'What did Percy say?' Sirius asked interestedly.

Remus sighed heavily and rubbed his eyes. 'He cleared out his desk and stormed out of the Ministry.'

'What?' Sirius was shocked. 'But...Fudge has been proved wrong! How can he still side with him?'

'Apparently, he doesn't care that Fudge was wrong-it's the fact that Dumbledore was going against the law and the wishes of the Minister, and Percy's whole family supported that. He's taken it as a personal insult.'

'Stupid git', Sirius growled, 'I hope he doesn't go and do anything he'll regret.'

'Like what?' Remus looked alarmed.

Sirius shrugged. 'I dunno. He'd probably become a Death Eater, just to annoy Arthur. I wouldn't put anything past that idiot.'

'Don't even think such a thing!' Remus sounded shocked.

'Whatever', Sirius sighed. Then he remembered something. 'I forgot', he blurted out, 'I saw who that Death Eater was...'

Remus knew what his friend was going to say. He could tell by the dark flash in Sirius' eye. 'Peter', he breathed, clenching his fists, 'we might've known.'

'That man was born to be the bane of my life', Sirius muttered, spitting contemptuously onto the floor, ignoring Remus' disapproving glance.

'Hmmm.' Remus said at last, looking more worried than ever. 'Never mind that for now, we need to get you out of this place-you need a healer.'

'Any ideas?' Sirius asked, feeling restless already, 'I mean, I can hardly just walk out of here. Now if I could still disapparate, it would be a different matter...'

At that moment, Tonks re-entered, balancing four cups of coffee in her arms. 'I spoke to Dumbledore', she told them, 'I found an empty room with a fireplace, on the ground floor. Paid him a visit. He said he'll allow Harry to come here at about four o'clock, if that's okay with you? If it's not, he said to send an express owl.'

'That's great', Sirius replied enthusiastically, 'can't wait to see him. Oh Remus, I nearly forgot to ask-did I know Eva Cleansweep at some point? The name rings a bell.'

Remus and Tonks looked at each other, then burst out laughing.

'What?' Sirius asked, slightly annoyed.

'We were wondering when you'd recognise the name', Tonks remarked, wiping her eyes. 'Remus told me aaallll about you and Eva.'

A painful memory was coming back to Sirius...

'Noooo!' He groaned, burying his face in his hands, 'of all the nurses you could've got to examine me, why did you pick her?'

Remus chuckled. 'Guess what Sirius? She's coming back this evening!'

Sirius closed his eyes, a pained expression on his face. Eva Cleansweep...

He remembered being sixteen years old. Eva was a pretty, dark-haired girl- his Potions partner, now he thought about it. Sirius had wanted to ask her out for at least two years, but never quite had the courage. Then one day, when James, Remus, Sirius and Peter were sitting in the stands at the quidditch pitch talking, James had spotted Eva walking around the grounds with Lily Evans. So the two boys had come up with a 'clever' plan...

They summoned their broomsticks from the castle, and kicked off from the ground. The plan was to do some dramatic stunts over the lake, in full view of the girls, then nosedive, when they were directly overhead. They pulled it off...apart from the nosedive part. James pulled up just in time, leapt off his broom and bowed cheekily to Lily, while Sirius had ploughed straight into the ground, breaking his nose and arm. Eva and Lily had had to link him and half-carry half-drag the dazed sixth year to the hospital wing. Every time Sirius worked up the courage to speak to Eva after that, she would turn away and start giggling with her friends. Sirius had never enjoyed being the butt of a joke, and this joke was particularly painful...

'Please Ray, tell her she can't come', he begged.

'Sirius, that was about twenty years ago!' Remus said soothingly. 'I'm sure she's forgotten about that.'

'Though she did say something about how you must have done some DIY surgery, 'cos your nose is perfectly straight again.' Tonks added with a snigger.

'I remember Madam Pomfrey refused to straighten it for me, as a punishment for showing off', Sirius moaned, 'so I fixed it myself after I'd finished school.'

'Well, you and Eva and Remus can have a nice chat about old times', Tonks said, rolling her eyes, 'I'm gonna go visit Kingsley when she comes. She thinks I'm some stupid little kid, just because I'm so clum-oops!'

'Argh!' Remus shouted, leaping to his feet as Tonks spilled a mug of coffee on his trousers.

'Sorry Remus', she grinned apologetically, 'that's why I got four mugs of coffee-I knew I'd spill at least one!'

Unfortunately, Remus' yell had been heard out in the corridor. Sirius looked up, and saw a young nurse peering in through the window in the door. When she caught sight of her patient sitting upright and talking, her jaw dropped, and burst into the private room immediately.

'You're awake!' She cried, looking as pleased as if she had revived him herself. She immediately began to take reading from all the various monitors to which Sirius was attached.

'Yeah...er, d'you think you could take all these...wires out of me? I'd like to leave as soon as possible.' Sirius asked politely.

The nurse looked at him as though he was mad. 'You've been in a coma for three days', she said in hushed tones, 'we need to keep you under observation for at least 48 hours.'

'Two days?' Sirius yelped, looking for support from Remus and Tonks, 'I can't stay for two days.'

'It's true', Remus added helpfully, 'he has important business to attend to. I might even go as far as to say urgent.'

'It doesn't make any difference', the nurse shrugged, 'hospital policy.'

'Look', Sirius said impatiently, 'I don't care about your bloody hospital policy. I can get up and dance the Highland Fling if you want proof that I'm fine. I don't want to stay another night in this dump.'

The nurse looked like a rabbit caught in the headlights. Her eyes widened, and Sirius was terrified she was going to burst out crying. 'I'll go get the doctor', she whispered, 'he'll want to know that you're awake.'

And with that, she scurried out of the room as fast as she could. Sirius, Tonks and Remus all sighed simultaneously. It was going to be a long day.