Chapter Twenty-two. A New Sanctuary
Summary: Twenty-second chapter. Twenty-seven to go. That about sums it up.
Arabella looked about the living room quickly, trying to think of what to do. Finally she turned back to Harry.
"Harry, go and bring me that box." She pointed at a small brown chest that looked like a jewelry box sitting on the mantle above the fireplace.
Harry quickly hurried over to the box and brought it back to Arabella. He watched as she opened it up and began shifting through what looked like an assortment of small colored glass stones. Finally she seemed to find what she was looking for in a blue one. Pulling it out she set the box aside and wrapped her hand about the stone. Pulling Sirius tighter to her she turned to Harry.
"You need to hold onto me, Harry." She instructed. "And make absolutely sure you don't let go until I tell you to."
Harry wrapped his arms tightly about his godmother's waist. He heard her speak a few words he didn't recognize, then suddenly felt the familiar, disorienting pull of a portkey.
A few seconds later Harry heard Arabella telling him could let go. Harry opened his eyes to find himself in a place he was all too familiar with.
The infirmary at Hogwarts.
Arabella turned back to him. "Go and find Madam Pomfrey, Harry." She said, still holding Sirius in her lap. "Then go and find Professor Dumbledore. He'll need to help explain things to Madam Pomfrey."
Just then the door behind them opened.
"No need for any of that, Arabella." Dumbledore's usual, cheerful voice greeted them. "Poppy's already been appraise of the situation."
Arabella turned quickly, seeing the Headmaster and the nurse entering the room. Before she could even begin to explain anything, Madam Pomfrey already had Sirius in a bed and was checking him for injuries.
"He doesn't seem any the worse for wear." She stated. "A few hex marks. A few burns. Oh, nasty cut on his arm though." She added, starting to pull up the sleeve of Sirius' robe. "That'll need to be checked before we dress it."
"How are you and Harry?" Dumbledore asked, trying not to sound too worried over the situation.
"And don't you two think to go anywhere." Madam Pomfrey called over her shoulder. "I'll be wanting to see you next. You can never be too careful about...oh." She stopped suddenly in the middle of her sentence.
Arabella looked up quickly. "Madam Pomfrey?"
Dumbledore had already joined her at Sirius' bedside. Arabella quickly crowded in next to him as Harry looked around her.
Madam Pomfrey had rolled the sleeve up to the cut on Sirius' arm. The cut was very superficial. No more than three inches long and not very deep. But the color of the skin around the wound was bright red, which was already spreading up and down the arm.
"I'll need Snape up here immediately." Madam Pomfrey stated to Dumbledore. "This is his specialty. He'll be able to pin point the cause much faster than I could."
"Snape?" Arabella and Harry asked at the same time.
"What has Severus got to do with this?" Arabella continued.
"Whatever did this had poison in it." Madam Pomfrey explained. "It could take me days to pinpoint the right one. A potions master will know which one just by looking at the effects."
Several long minutes later Snape came through the infirmary doors, his robes billowing out around him.
"The Headmaster said you wished to see me." He stated in with the air of someone who had confronted some great difficultly to answer the call.
"Indeed." Madam Pomfrey replied, trying her best to ignore the potion master's tone. "A most unusual case."
If Snape was at all surprised by the identity of the man in the bed before him, he hid it well, Harry thought. For several minutes he merely looked over the body before him with clinical interest.
"Show me the wound." He said finally.
Madam Pomfrey slowly pulled back the bandaging over the cut on Sirius' arm. Snape only glanced briefly at the wound before making his pronouncement.
"The cut is indeed poisoned." He stated. "From the looks of it, it is some derivative of the Kassikar potion."
"Kassikar?" Arabella questioned.
Snape turned to her, regarding her as though he were seeing her for the first time. "A nasty little potion." Snape explained. "It was outlawed in the wizarding community due to the fact that it has but one use among our kind."
"And that would be?"
"It slowly and systematically destroys a wizard's ability to do magic. Essentially, eventually, rendering him little more than a muggle."
Arabella looked horrified at the pronouncement. "But...but there is a cure."
"Not that I am aware." Snape replied in a dry tone.
Arabella turned quickly to Dumbledore. "But there has to be something we can do for him." She pleaded.
Dumbledore gave her a reassuring smile. "Just because Severus has never heard of a cure doesn't mean that one doesn't exist." He stated. "And we will certainly work to find one. In the meantime, while Sirius is under Madam Pomfrey's care, please, you and Harry may consider yourselves guests of the castle."
Harry and Arabella spent the next three days at Hogwarts. Dumbledore had seen that they were given a very cozy studio on the north side of the castle, just one floor down from the infirmary so that they could visit Sirius as often as they wanted, or as often as Madam Pomfrey would allow.
Sirius took the news of the effects of the poison far better than anyone predicted he would. He had woken the morning of the second day, demanding to be released because he felt fine. But Madam Pomfrey had insisted he stay until Snape and Dumbledore had come to speak to him. Sirius spent the rest of the morning constantly questioning why he had to wait for the two. But Madam Pomfrey simply repeated the instructions for each time he asked, finally threatening a body bind if he tried one more time to get out of the bed.
When Snape and Dumbledore arrived close to noon, Sirius lay in the bed and listened silently to Snape's explanation of the full effects of the poison and what Sirius was to expect. When Snape finished, Sirius turned an unreadable face to Dumbledore.
"Is all that true?" He asked plainly.
"I'm afraid it is. But there is a simply way to prove it for yourself, Sirius." Dumbledore replied, holding Sirius' wand out to him.
Sirius took the wand and carefully ran his fingers over it as he looked about the room. He finally settled on the cup sitting on the tray-table at the foot of his bed. He pointed the wand at it and spoke a summoning charm.
The cup slowly slid to the edge of the tray-table and began a shaky trip between the tray-table and the foot of the bed. But half-way there it suddenly stopped, then fell to the floor.
To Sirius it was the sound of his world shattering.
He turned a desperate stare to Dumbledore, but quickly masked it as he shifted it in turn to Snape.
"There is a cure?" He asked, keeping as much emotion out of his voice as he could manage.
Sirius was sure he saw the corners of Snape's lips curl up.
"No." The potions master replied. "Not such that I am aware of."
"But that is not to say there isn't one, Sirius." Dumbledore put in quickly when Snape didn't continue. "And we will be working on the matter. Be assured."
Sirius gaze rested on Snape. A little less expressionless than before. "Of course." He stated, a quiet fury in his voice.
A visit from Harry and Arabella seemed to cheer Sirius up some. They hadn't been allowed in the infirmary until Snape and Dumbledore had a chance to explain things to Sirius, for fear they may inadvertently say something about the effects of the poison, and no one was sure exactly how Sirius was going to react to the news. But Harry and Arabella were both extremely positive in their assumptions that Snape would find a cure, and it seemed to help brighten Sirius' mood a bit.
The rest of the day Sirius sat in his bed, working a series of basic, elementary spells. He found he could still light a candle across the room, and subsequently put it out. He could summon objects as long as they remained on a solid surface, causing them to slide across it towards him. He could even levitate object still, if they weren't too heavy. All of which he showed to Arabella and Harry when they came to visit him that night for dinner. Arabella happily encouraged Sirius, despite the fact that she saw his diminished ability more in line with what Dumbledore and Snape had said to expect as the poison progressed. But being able to do any magic at all seemed to improve Sirius' mood immensely.
Arabella saw Sirius' practicing what magic he had left as a harmless way to take his mind off things. But the following evening Dumbledore brought her to his office to explain that things were quite the opposite.
"While it's true that Sirius can still do magic despite the poison, Arabella," Dumbledore explained to her, "He's not helping himself by pressing the matter. Severus had spoken to Sirius several times on the matter. Explaining to him that the more he uses his magic, the faster the poison will work to destroy it."
"But then why is he still carrying on with it? If he knows it's dangerous...."
"Sirius knows what the poison will do to him...eventually. He understands that. But he sees his ability to do spells still, no matter how basic, as some sort of sign that he's able to fight the poison, not that the poison is progressing against him. He doesn't see it for what it truly is. And I'm afraid when he does it will hit him very hard."
"So what can we do for him?"
"Above all else he needs to stop trying to use his magic. Severus says the more he uses it, the faster it fades."
"Then tell him." Arabella stated. The answer seemed blatantly obvious to her.
"But we have, Arabella." Dumbledore replied. "As I said, Severus has spoken to him already about the danger involved. Even I have spoken to him about it. He simply isn't listening. I'm afraid that continuing to do magic is what's he's hiding behind."
"Hiding?"
"For all his reassurances and outward appearances, Arabella, Sirius is not accepting his situation as well as he seems. He, in fact, refuses to accept it. The fact he wouldn't listen to Severus or myself shows that most clearly. He's hiding behind what magic he can do because it reinforces his belief that he can beat the poison. That he can fight it on his own. But eventually he will have to face the truth if the day comes that he can no longer do any magic at all."
"So what is it that Harry and I can do?"
"I'm hoping that if Sirius were in a less...'imposing' place than the castle, he might feel a bit more at ease. Here I think he feels he needs to keep proving himself, if only to himself. Everything around him right now only serves to reminded him of how dangerous the times are. He doesn't want to be left behind. He doesn't want to be useless. And so he's fighting as hard as he can to prove that he's not."
"But surely we can't take him back to my house. The wards and the protection spells were badly damaged in the attack. And if Sirius....if he can't do magic...and they attack again...." Her voice grew softer until it faded altogether.
"I'm not suggesting going back to your house, Arabella." Dumbledore replied with a slight smile. "However, I think an excellent choice of a new home for you might be Sirius' house."
"The Black estate?" Arabella asked. "But isn't Orion...."
"Orion has stated he would be more than willing to...'clear out', I believe were his words, if it was necessary."
"Anything not to have to see his brother?"
"Actually, Orion indicated he was willing to leave the house if I felt that strongly that it would help Sirius by being there. And he felt that, under the circumstances, his presence might prove to be a bit of a...distraction...for Sirius."
"And how does Sirius feel about the matter?"
"Well, we'll find out when we asked him."
Sirius was less than receptive to Dumbledore's idea. He sat in Dumbledore's office with Arabella next to him as Dumbledore went over all the reasons with him as to why this was the best solution to their predicament. In the end, Sirius didn't see it that way.
"Why there?" He demanded. "If we're trying to be inconspicuous, you couldn't have picked a worse location. The house is hardly inconspicuous."
"Perhaps." Dumbledore agreed. "However, it's also not far from the castle."
"Moving us into the castle wouldn't be far from the castle either." Sirius countered.
"The castle was certainly a possibility. But by far my second choice."
"Why?"
"There are several reasons, Sirius. But mostly because the house is the last place the Deatheaters would think to look for any of you. Their last indication was that your brother, Orion, was living in the house, and he gives every impression to anyone who asks that you are...less than welcome there."
"That's another point." Sirius spoke up. "What about my loving brother? I'm sure he'll roll out the red carpet for me to come back and take up residence in my family's house again."
"Then I think you should talk to your brother more often, Sirius. Did you ever think that Orion might very well be setting the stage so that you would always have a safe place to come to? When you first escaped the ministry came to the house shortly thereafter. But Orion so vehemently denounced you that they never bothered going back. And Orion has already stated he would be willing to move out of the house if we needed a place for you and Arabella and Harry to stay that would be safe."
"And which continent is he moving to now that he knows where I am?"
"Actually, Orion is staying close by. He felt he should stay close by in case you might need any help. Orion is an excellent Auror in his own right, after all."
"I don't suppose it would help to ask 'where'?"
Dumbledore smiled. "You know your brother, Sirius. He's an Auror down to his bones. He felt it was better you not know where, just that you know he was close by if you needed help. Currently though, he's still at the house, helping place the protection spells. That was one of his specialties in school, as I recall. From a whole house," he added with a small smile, "to a single person."
Sirius huffed and turned to the window. So, he was going home after all. He hadn't seen Orion since his first days of freedom after his escape. But the reception had been less than warm. The tension between them had been so impossible to bare that Sirius had left in the middle of the night, slipping out a window without a word to his brother.
But a sudden thought struck Sirius as he stared out the window. Dumbledore had said the ministry came to the house shortly after his escape. Surely it would have been one of the first places they would have looked. Had he been in the house then? He couldn't have been. They would have been able to detect him. But they wouldn't have waited a whole day before seeking out his family as people he might try to contact.
Sirius shook off the thoughts. He already had enough to think about.
Dumbledore watched Sirius for a moment. Finally he turned back to Arabella.
"We'll need at least a day to finish placing the protection spells on the house. Then we'll use a portkey to send you all directly to the house."
"And how long will we be staying there?" Sirius asked, distracting himself from his other thoughts.
"Until Snape has found the antidote to the poison. After that, you may stay as long as you like."