Chapter Twenty-six: Snape's Cure
Summary: Twenty-sixth chapter. Twenty-three to go. That about sums it up.
A/N: I swore never to do one of these. But 'credit where credit is due'. So, the credit for the banishing charm goes to Audiaa2, which was used in her story, Veracity.
Sirius' prediction of Arabella's reaction when Harry returned home was accurate, but understated. The first few minutes were nothing but tears, hugs, and kisses. Somewhere in there Harry was sure he caught a few words of a lecture about worrying her, worrying Sirius, and leaving the protection of the house. But it somehow got garbled in the rest.
But despite the relieved welcome he reached, Harry found he was by no means 'off the hook' for running away. The first part of the punishment was the banishment of his broom. The spell sent the broom off to a part of the house other than Harry's bedroom, and even if he went searching for it, he wouldn't be able to find it until his godparents were good and ready to return it to him.
The second part was being grounded. He wasn't allowed to so much as step foot outside.
The third part was the dreaded lecture. In its entirety. No part excluded in the interest of time. Harry had to endure a half-hour of none-stop reiteration from Arabella about how dangerous what he had done was, the dangers of his going off alone, and how very worried she and Sirius had been.
Aside from the lecture, Harry did realize with a great deal of regret that his act, although seeming the perfect solution at the time, had caused his godparents a great deal of concern. To try and make some sort of amends, Harry resolved not to interfere any further in Sirius' decision. 'It was, after all', he told himself sternly, 'Sirius' choice to make'. He certainly had no right to try and impose his views on something that was going to so intimately affect the rest of Sirius' life.
But a few days later Harry was finding his resolve firmly tested as he followed Sirius and Arabella up the steps of Hogwarts. Sirius had put the trip off an extra day. But past that he had stated there was no point in delaying the matter any longer.
Harry stood mutely next to Sirius' bed as Snape put the finishing touches on the potion in the infirmary. Arabella stood in equal silence on the other side of the bed, holding tightly onto Sirius' hand. But she quickly moved to the head of the bed as Snape approached the bed and handed Sirius the cup.
"There should be no discomfort at all, Black." Snape informed him, sounding a bit disappointed in the declaration. "We should know in a few days if the cure was successful or not."
Sirius stared at the cup. He certainly knew the risks well enough. He had argued them over in his head for the past three days. If the cure worked, the recovery would not be a quick one. It would likely be weeks before his magic ability was restored. If the cure failed, there was no second attempt. His magic would be gone forever.
Looking up, Sirius caught Harry's worried stare. He managed to give his godson a reassuring wink. "It's not so bad." He said. "Just looks that way." He indicated the cup.
A gentle pressure on his shoulder caused him to turn to the other side of the bed. Looking up he stared into Arabella's worried eyes. Sirius took her hand from his shoulder and lightly pressed it to his lips.
"Don't worry, 'Bella. It'll be all right." He promised. "Nothing's stopped me yet, had it?"
Arabella forced a smile to her lips as she squeezed his hand. "No." She whispered hoarsely. "And nothing likely ever will."
Sirius turned back to his godson. Harry's expression had grown more glum in the past few seconds, regardless of how hard he was trying to hide his feelings for Sirius' sake.
Sirius switched the cup over to his other hand. He reached out and wrapped his hand gently under his godson's chin with a soft smile. "It's going to be fine, Harry. You'll see."
Harry managed to give his godfather a brief nod as Sirius withdrew his hand. He quickly wiped back a tear as Sirius turned back to Arabella.
Giving her a brief smile, Sirius tilted the cup to his lips and drained the potion without hesitation. He gave a disgusted grimace as he handed the cup back to Snape.
"I said there wouldn't be any discomfort." Snape stated, barely containing a small smile. "I never said anything about the taste. You'll need rest the remainder of the day." Snape added, all professional drapings back in place in the blink of an eye. "The potion is bound to make you a bit tired. And as such I don't recommend visitors."
Arabella gave Sirius a small smile as she squeezes his hand again. "It's all right." She said quietly. "You get some rest." She added, leaning down to give him a light kiss. "And we'll be back later. Maybe you'll feel up to some dinner."
Sirius gave her a warm smile and waved to Harry as they exited the room. Only when he saw Snape's black robes disappear out the door behind them did the smile fade. He lay staring at the door for a long time afterwards, silently contemplating his future.
The next several days carried with them as much tension as the preceding ones had. For three days Sirius was absolutely prohibited from doing any magic at all. Just to be safe, Dumbledore had confiscated his wand for the three days.
On the morning of the fourth day the small group stood next to Sirius' bed as Dumbledore handed him back his wand.
"The proof of the antidote's effectiveness should be easy enough to discern." Snape stated as he place a glass on the tray-table at the end of the bed. "You can either move the glass or you can't. If you can, the antidote was successful. If you can't...well...."
Again Sirius saw the smallest curl at the ends of Snape's mouth.
"If I can't then that's it." Sirius finished for him. "There's nothing that will return my magic to me."
"That would be correct." Snape added, the curls turning up a little further.
Sirius sighed to himself as he fingered his wand for a moment. There was no point in putting it off. If he failed, they had to start revising their plans immediately, less his part in them. A gentle hand wrapped itself about his shoulder. Turning, Sirius stared up at Arabella, who gave him a warm smile. Sirius smiled back at her, then turned his attention to Harry, who also favored him with a smile.
Taking a breath, Sirius concentrated as hard as he could on the glass. On simply moving it toward him.
He pointed his wand at it and spoke the summoning charm.
The glass slid suddenly to the edge of the edge of the tray-table and fell off, this time saved by landing on the foot of Sirius' bed.
Sirius sat with his mouth hanging open as Harry leapt up into his arms with a cry of joy. He was immediately joined by Arabella, who hugged Sirius as tightly as she could about his neck, crying for joy as tears ran down her face.
Sirius turned to Snape under the deluge.
"That was positive?" He asked, not quite believing his accomplishment. "The antidote worked?"
"As that you couldn't so much as levitate dust before this, I would say the results could be viewed as...encouraging." Snape replied, the curls at the corners of his mouth now notably absent. "However, don't expect to get up in the morning and apparate to the breakfast table. It'll take time for your magic to return. Cures of this type have been known to take weeks...even months before full magic ability was returned to the person. However, you will need to 'exercise' your magic as you recover. But don't try to press yourself past what your capable of. Stressing yourself will only slow your recovery down."
Sirius watched with a slight smile as Snape turned and billowed his way out of the infirmary. He couldn't help wondering what was going on in his old nemesis' mind as he stood waiting to see if his potion would work. But he wasn't given a lot of time to ponder the question as he was snapped back to the two people lavishing congratulations on him at his bedside. Dumbledore for his part stood back and allowed Harry and Arabella as much time as they wanted to celebrate the outcome, which lasted for several minutes. But finally Sirius turned to the Headmaster, who greeted his stare with a pleased smile.
"Well, Sirius, so everything turned out well in the end." He chuckled. "I had very little doubt of it myself."
"And why was that, Sir?" Sirius questioned.
"Because some people are simply born to be wizards or witches, Sirius. And come what may, that is what they will be. And you, Mr. Black, I could never see as a muggle."
Sirius smiled again as Arabella and Harry hugged him once more.
"Now," Dumbledore continued on, "Severus indicated that a few days observation would be necessary. So Harry, Arabella, consider yourself once more guests of the castle. You may stay in the same upstairs rooms you had before. In the meantime we'll be adding some wards to the house which I'll be discussing with you and Arabella, Sirius. They should work well in adding some protection to the house."
Sirius laid back on the bed with a small sigh. "All I want is to go home as soon as I can." He replied in a drained voice. "I just want to be home with my family."
"Give it a few days, Sirius." Dumbledore replied. "In the meantime I think the three of you have earned some relaxation. So enjoy it."
For his part, Sirius took Dumbledore's suggestion fully to heart. For the next several days he did little more than sleep and spend time with Harry and Arabella. After three days in the infirmary, Snape agreed to allow him to join them in the rooms upstairs. But even the comfortable living quarters still weren't home, which was where Sirius wanted more than anything else to be. But Dumbledore had explained that, even with the new wards and charms in place, the house still wasn't safe for them without Sirius having some portion of his magical ability back. Dumbledore explained that for the wards and charms to be completely effective, they required checking on a daily bases. Something he insisted would be good practice for Sirius as he recovered. Appreciating the prospect of having something useful to do again, Sirius allowed himself to be turned over to Snape and Lupin for the next three days for training to make sure he would be able to check the wards and charms properly and fix any that were damaged. Finally, after three days, Sirius was allowed to return home.
Sirius, Arabella, and Harry returned to the Black estate by portkey while Lupin apparated there. The morning was spent going over the house with Sirius to make sure he could properly check all the entrances. That evening was the scene of a small party to celebrate Sirius' apparent cure and subsequent return home.
Later in the evening, after Harry had nearly fallen asleep on the sofa in the middle of one of Lupin's stories of the Marauders' early days at Hogwarts, Arabella insisted he head off to bed. After a lot of apologies, he slowly made his way up the stairs to his room after saying goodnight to Lupin, apologizing again all the way through his goodbyes. Near midnight Lupin finally said his goodnights as well and apparated back to the castle gates.
Arabella breathed a sigh of relief as she settled back down on the sofa, right into Sirius' open arms. Cuddling up in his embrace, she smiled with a contented sigh.
"Well, someone sounds happy." Sirius commented, grinning down at her.
"Am." Arabella replied, rolling over in his arms so that she know stared up at him. "I am as happy as I ever need to be again. We have a beautiful home to live in, we have everything we need, we're all safe, and we're all together. Why shouldn't I be happy?"
Sirius smiled at her, then hugged her tightly against his chest. "Why not indeed, 'Bella?"
Sirius stayed sitting on the sofa long into the early morning hours, happily watching the woman in his arms slowly drift off to sleep. The contented smile on her lips never completely fading even as she slept.
Settling back as he watched the glowing embers in the fireplace slowly dieing out, Sirius couldn't help but smile himself. Life, indeed, was almost perfect.