Chapter 11
Harry and Madam Pomfrey stepped out of the fireplace at St. Mungos. Ron's body was hovering in the air between them. His head had started to drip, as the acidious potion slowly continued to eat away at the icy coffin.
Harry was starting to get a little nervous about Ron's condition as they walked the long white hall. He couldn't help thinking that he wasn't going to make it. Blood was now mingiling with the droplets of steaming water. The mere fact that death was a possibility was disturbing.
The white walls of St. Mungos irritated Harry's eyes. The white reflected the torches hanging on the walls. The flickering torch light left and eerie residue on the inside of his eyes as Harry and Madam Pomfrey walked along the hall. Their shadows flickered and moved as they walked down the hall, giving the feeling of being followed.
The medi-witch at the front desk was looking at a vanity magazine when they walked up. She blew a bubble with her bubble gum and slowly turned the page. Harry made a coughing sound and she put down the magazine, revealing a young face with short hair and a nose piercing. Harry had never seen this witch in particular, but he knew that they had a tendency to be short tempered and impatient.
As her bored expression passed over the body hovering between them, she visibly paled. Her eyes grew wide, and she began to stutter.
"Third fl...Floor, potion dd...damage." She managed to mumble out.
Madam Pomfrey nodded curtly, and continued to walk down the white corridor. They walked a little and came to a halt in front of the lift. She pressed the button and the lift rattled to a halt in front of them. They both stepped inside and Ron's body silently followed them inside.
The lift clattered to a halt and the three stepped out into an empty corridor. If anything it seemed more ominous than the last. More flickering candle light and dancing shadows.
They rushed down the corridor and came to a halt before the circular desk. A dark haired Asian man looked from the parchment he was writing on. He looked surprised to see anyone in his ward, it must not be everyday that someone spills a potion on themselves...well at least not acidious potion.
"How may I help you?" the man asked, questions flickering in his dark eyes.
"My friend here," Harry gestured to Ron. "Got some Acidious potion on his head and hand. I think it has spread since then. It was about thirty minutes ago, my potions professor placed a freezum charm on him, but that is fading as we speak." Harry was surprised as how level his voice was.
"I see." The Asian man said, placing the tips of his fingers tips together.
His calmness was unnerving. The fact that he could stare at Ron's frozen face and not even flinch was odd. This man must have seen a lot, who knows what kind of patients came in here. As far as Harry was concerned, the only thing that he had seen worse than Ron was Cedric's cold lifeless body. The thought of Ced's face gave Harry the shivers. Even though it had been two years since then, he still didn't like to dwell on it. Besides, Ron was not dead yet.
"Lets take him to room 54, and I will look at him. I am healer Lee. You are?" Healer Lee snapped him out of his reverie with his choppy English.
"I'm Harry, Harry Potter. And this is Madam Pomfrey, she is the nurse at Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry." Harry said quickly.
They didn't waste more time with talking, instead they walked down the hall and entered the room Lee guided them too. It was a medium sized room, with one bed and only one window.
"Good thing it isn't too small." Harry thought
When all the Weasleys showed up this room was going to feel very small. They should be here anytime now. Hermione couldn't have had too much trouble explaining the situation to the Weasley clan.
Lee followed them into the room and took control of Ron's body. After hovering Ron onto the bed he began the slow process of melting the Frezum charm off of his upper torso. It seemed to take forever, it had to be done slowly otherwise Lee would melt what was left of Ron's skin with the ice.
After he was done, what was exposed was not a pretty sight. Harry was having trouble looking at his best friend for more than a minute at a time. The Acidious potion had really gone to work with his skin. At some places bones were poking threw. Thankfully the Freezum charm had stopped it before it had hit any major organs.
All the hair on the back of Ron's head was gone, and so was some of the skin. Some of his upper vertebrae were showing through that mass of burned tissue...and that was the least damaged part of him. His hand was almost completely incinerated. Not much skin remained on his hand, only a little on the upper side of his palm. The look of horror was still etched on to his face, which made the whole thing look even worse. It reminded his of something he had seen on one of Dudley's DVD's "The Mummy". All in all Ron did not look good.
Harry was having a tough time remembering that Ron wasn't dead yet. He was still going to make it. Looking at his best friend in this condition wasn't easy. It scared Harry, more than Voldemort, more than the fact that he was going to have to face him soon. He decided that he should start to think of a fond memory of him, just to cheer him up.
- - - "Hey Harry, what is the effect of 'Red dye # 3' in potion making?" Ron asked chewing on his quill.
"I don't know Ron, I always thought that it was a muggle food ingredient. Other than that, I'm clueless." Harry replied ripping into a chocolate frog.
"Harry, dear, your always clueless." Hermione said walking into the common room.
"I love you too Hermione." Harry said rolling his eyes.
Harry glanced around the common room, he was never going to get this done, his mind was just not in it right now. Lots of first years were sitting around doing their measly homework assignments. They must have a really tough life, Harry thought sarcastically.
A particular first year caught his eye, a lone black haired kid sitting in the corner all by himself. He seemed fairly absorbed in his work, but Harry could see his stunning blue eyes dash towards the other groups frequently. Harry quickly took pity on him, and decided that a break from his homework would not kill him.
He walked over to him and sat down, as he did so he realized who this kid was. It was James, James Black, the new first year that had caught his attention at the opening feast. Harry had totally forgot to talk to him, he was extremely curious about his last name. Harry wondered how he could have possibly been related to his godfather, but he was going to find out.
"Hey kid, whatcha doin? Why aren't you sitting with your friends?" Harry asked
"I don't have any friends." James quickly replied
"Well then, what are you doing? Homework?" Harry said trying to start a conversation
"No I already did my homework, this is a extra project. I'm actually trying to create my own spell. It seems to be coming along nicely. It's a counter curse for the killing curse. Its almost done."
"Wow, that's really cool." Harry said doubting a first year could create a spell that no grown wizard could make.
"Well now you do, I'm Harry Potter." Harry said and stuck out his hand.
"I know who you are, and I'm surprised you haven't talked to me sooner. My uncle sent me this letter before he died. He told me that you would ask about my last name." James said scratching something out with his quill. Then shaking Harry's hand.
"Well then, your uncle must have known me pretty well. Who was he?" Harry asked already knowing the answer.
"He was Sirius Black." James answered in a whisper.
"Hmm, he was my Godfather," Harry said playing along as if he didn't know these answers. "Did you like your uncle? He was a great man, he saved my life the day he died, I will always remember that." Harry said thinking about the day in the department of mysteries.
"He saved your life? How?" James asked, finally looking interested in the conversation.
The next hour was spent telling James all the times they had together. All the times Sirius had saved Harry's skin, intentionally or not. Harry enjoyed telling him all this, it brought back the memories of all the good times they had together.
"Wow, he really was cool. I wish I could have met him." James said with a sigh.
"Did he leave anything else?" Harry asked hoping to find something from his late Godfather.
"I don't think so, but here is the letter he sent me." James said handing a letter to Harry.
Harry opened it with shaking hands, wanting to see some of the last words of Sirius. As he picked up the piece of parchment tears sprang to his eyes. He quickly blinked them back. Dear James, January 1, 1995
I don't know how much longer I will be around, the times are getting rough. I cannot be sure if I will be alive to see you go to school. When you do, Harry Potter will be in his last year there. When he meets you, he will most defiantly ask about your last name. Tell him you are related to me, that will be enough for him. Remember you will always be my favorite nephew.
Love Uncle Sirius
Ps. Oh, make sure to show him this letter, tell him to think of it as a 'map'
Harry couldn't believe that this had been sent mere months before he died. How could he have known? Harry read through it again and the second time through the ps made sense. There was only one map that Sirius would think of.
Harry quickly pulled out his wand and pointed it at the paper.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Harry said the same way he had said it a thousand times.
The letter erased itself and little lines of ink started to spread out from his wand tip. It had formed a new letter.
Dear Harry,
If you are reading this that means that I am dead. I am sorry I could not have been there for more of you childhood, and the rest of your life. You are a strong man and will be a great wizard one day. You will find the power within yourself to fight Voldemort and you will kill him, I know you will. I have a few requests, one of them is to take care of James for me, he is my only Nephew, and I love him very much. My second is that you will talk to Dumbledore, I have a hunch and I think he can help you out very much. My third request is that you need to get a girlfriend. Your father would kill me if you didn't have a girlfriend by the end of your years at Hogwarts. I don't think you will have too much trouble, there is a certain Gryffindor girl that would gladly take you I think. I won't mention any names though. Always remember that I love you and I am always watching you, wherever I am.
Love always
Sirius.
Harry couldn't believe what he was reading. He thought that he would never have his last word with Sirius, and yet here he was reading his last word to him.
"Ron." He crocked out his dry mouth.
Ron walked over and took one look at Harry's face and took the letter from him. Ron's eyes skimmed it over from top to bottom three times before he looked up.
"Well," He cleared his throat. "He was a great man, and I think that we should honor his last wishes. What do you think Harry?" Ron said a little tenderly.
"Yeah. Well James you are officially part of the group." Harry said.
James looked up eagerly.
"Really? I can hang out with you guys?" James asked
"Yup." Ron said. "Well me an you have to have a talk first, you need to know the rules of the group." Ron said with a wicked grin.
James gulped. "Ok..."
Ron dragged him off to the table that he and Harry had been sitting at before. Meanwhile Harry started to analyze Sirius' second request. Now that he thought of it, Dumbledore seemed to have a hunch too. Interesting. The third request was already done, no thanks to him.
Harry got up and walked back to the table to finish his homework, it was done in no time.
- - -
That had happened a couple of weeks ago. James had fit right in with the three of them. Hermione was currently helping him with his extra project. She had taken a look at it and said that it might work. If she said it might work then it might work. James had taken to Hermione the best, he was friends with all of them now, but he stuck with her the most. Every once and while they would get into a complicated conversation about the contents of a spell or charm and go on forever. It would always lose Harry and Ron. He was a very smart kid; Harry personally didn't think he belonged in first year.
In the next hour, lots of things happened, and it turned out that the room was too small. Once everyone showed up, it was packed. The Healers said that they were going to be able to fix him, but it would take some time. He was going to be in the hospital wing at Hogwarts for two months. They decided that it would be better to move him so that he could continue his studies.
Harry was actually relived to go, he was tired mentally and physically. They arrived back at Hogwarts by three o'clock, and totally crashed into the Head boy and girl common room. Harry made a mental note before he fell asleep to talk to Dumbledore in the morning. He was going to ask him about what he had found, and if there was anything they could do about Sirius. The weeks after he read that letter he had been thinking of ways to get him back. Harry was going to try even if it was impossible, he was going to try.
Harry and Madam Pomfrey stepped out of the fireplace at St. Mungos. Ron's body was hovering in the air between them. His head had started to drip, as the acidious potion slowly continued to eat away at the icy coffin.
Harry was starting to get a little nervous about Ron's condition as they walked the long white hall. He couldn't help thinking that he wasn't going to make it. Blood was now mingiling with the droplets of steaming water. The mere fact that death was a possibility was disturbing.
The white walls of St. Mungos irritated Harry's eyes. The white reflected the torches hanging on the walls. The flickering torch light left and eerie residue on the inside of his eyes as Harry and Madam Pomfrey walked along the hall. Their shadows flickered and moved as they walked down the hall, giving the feeling of being followed.
The medi-witch at the front desk was looking at a vanity magazine when they walked up. She blew a bubble with her bubble gum and slowly turned the page. Harry made a coughing sound and she put down the magazine, revealing a young face with short hair and a nose piercing. Harry had never seen this witch in particular, but he knew that they had a tendency to be short tempered and impatient.
As her bored expression passed over the body hovering between them, she visibly paled. Her eyes grew wide, and she began to stutter.
"Third fl...Floor, potion dd...damage." She managed to mumble out.
Madam Pomfrey nodded curtly, and continued to walk down the white corridor. They walked a little and came to a halt in front of the lift. She pressed the button and the lift rattled to a halt in front of them. They both stepped inside and Ron's body silently followed them inside.
The lift clattered to a halt and the three stepped out into an empty corridor. If anything it seemed more ominous than the last. More flickering candle light and dancing shadows.
They rushed down the corridor and came to a halt before the circular desk. A dark haired Asian man looked from the parchment he was writing on. He looked surprised to see anyone in his ward, it must not be everyday that someone spills a potion on themselves...well at least not acidious potion.
"How may I help you?" the man asked, questions flickering in his dark eyes.
"My friend here," Harry gestured to Ron. "Got some Acidious potion on his head and hand. I think it has spread since then. It was about thirty minutes ago, my potions professor placed a freezum charm on him, but that is fading as we speak." Harry was surprised as how level his voice was.
"I see." The Asian man said, placing the tips of his fingers tips together.
His calmness was unnerving. The fact that he could stare at Ron's frozen face and not even flinch was odd. This man must have seen a lot, who knows what kind of patients came in here. As far as Harry was concerned, the only thing that he had seen worse than Ron was Cedric's cold lifeless body. The thought of Ced's face gave Harry the shivers. Even though it had been two years since then, he still didn't like to dwell on it. Besides, Ron was not dead yet.
"Lets take him to room 54, and I will look at him. I am healer Lee. You are?" Healer Lee snapped him out of his reverie with his choppy English.
"I'm Harry, Harry Potter. And this is Madam Pomfrey, she is the nurse at Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry." Harry said quickly.
They didn't waste more time with talking, instead they walked down the hall and entered the room Lee guided them too. It was a medium sized room, with one bed and only one window.
"Good thing it isn't too small." Harry thought
When all the Weasleys showed up this room was going to feel very small. They should be here anytime now. Hermione couldn't have had too much trouble explaining the situation to the Weasley clan.
Lee followed them into the room and took control of Ron's body. After hovering Ron onto the bed he began the slow process of melting the Frezum charm off of his upper torso. It seemed to take forever, it had to be done slowly otherwise Lee would melt what was left of Ron's skin with the ice.
After he was done, what was exposed was not a pretty sight. Harry was having trouble looking at his best friend for more than a minute at a time. The Acidious potion had really gone to work with his skin. At some places bones were poking threw. Thankfully the Freezum charm had stopped it before it had hit any major organs.
All the hair on the back of Ron's head was gone, and so was some of the skin. Some of his upper vertebrae were showing through that mass of burned tissue...and that was the least damaged part of him. His hand was almost completely incinerated. Not much skin remained on his hand, only a little on the upper side of his palm. The look of horror was still etched on to his face, which made the whole thing look even worse. It reminded his of something he had seen on one of Dudley's DVD's "The Mummy". All in all Ron did not look good.
Harry was having a tough time remembering that Ron wasn't dead yet. He was still going to make it. Looking at his best friend in this condition wasn't easy. It scared Harry, more than Voldemort, more than the fact that he was going to have to face him soon. He decided that he should start to think of a fond memory of him, just to cheer him up.
- - - "Hey Harry, what is the effect of 'Red dye # 3' in potion making?" Ron asked chewing on his quill.
"I don't know Ron, I always thought that it was a muggle food ingredient. Other than that, I'm clueless." Harry replied ripping into a chocolate frog.
"Harry, dear, your always clueless." Hermione said walking into the common room.
"I love you too Hermione." Harry said rolling his eyes.
Harry glanced around the common room, he was never going to get this done, his mind was just not in it right now. Lots of first years were sitting around doing their measly homework assignments. They must have a really tough life, Harry thought sarcastically.
A particular first year caught his eye, a lone black haired kid sitting in the corner all by himself. He seemed fairly absorbed in his work, but Harry could see his stunning blue eyes dash towards the other groups frequently. Harry quickly took pity on him, and decided that a break from his homework would not kill him.
He walked over to him and sat down, as he did so he realized who this kid was. It was James, James Black, the new first year that had caught his attention at the opening feast. Harry had totally forgot to talk to him, he was extremely curious about his last name. Harry wondered how he could have possibly been related to his godfather, but he was going to find out.
"Hey kid, whatcha doin? Why aren't you sitting with your friends?" Harry asked
"I don't have any friends." James quickly replied
"Well then, what are you doing? Homework?" Harry said trying to start a conversation
"No I already did my homework, this is a extra project. I'm actually trying to create my own spell. It seems to be coming along nicely. It's a counter curse for the killing curse. Its almost done."
"Wow, that's really cool." Harry said doubting a first year could create a spell that no grown wizard could make.
"Well now you do, I'm Harry Potter." Harry said and stuck out his hand.
"I know who you are, and I'm surprised you haven't talked to me sooner. My uncle sent me this letter before he died. He told me that you would ask about my last name." James said scratching something out with his quill. Then shaking Harry's hand.
"Well then, your uncle must have known me pretty well. Who was he?" Harry asked already knowing the answer.
"He was Sirius Black." James answered in a whisper.
"Hmm, he was my Godfather," Harry said playing along as if he didn't know these answers. "Did you like your uncle? He was a great man, he saved my life the day he died, I will always remember that." Harry said thinking about the day in the department of mysteries.
"He saved your life? How?" James asked, finally looking interested in the conversation.
The next hour was spent telling James all the times they had together. All the times Sirius had saved Harry's skin, intentionally or not. Harry enjoyed telling him all this, it brought back the memories of all the good times they had together.
"Wow, he really was cool. I wish I could have met him." James said with a sigh.
"Did he leave anything else?" Harry asked hoping to find something from his late Godfather.
"I don't think so, but here is the letter he sent me." James said handing a letter to Harry.
Harry opened it with shaking hands, wanting to see some of the last words of Sirius. As he picked up the piece of parchment tears sprang to his eyes. He quickly blinked them back. Dear James, January 1, 1995
I don't know how much longer I will be around, the times are getting rough. I cannot be sure if I will be alive to see you go to school. When you do, Harry Potter will be in his last year there. When he meets you, he will most defiantly ask about your last name. Tell him you are related to me, that will be enough for him. Remember you will always be my favorite nephew.
Love Uncle Sirius
Ps. Oh, make sure to show him this letter, tell him to think of it as a 'map'
Harry couldn't believe that this had been sent mere months before he died. How could he have known? Harry read through it again and the second time through the ps made sense. There was only one map that Sirius would think of.
Harry quickly pulled out his wand and pointed it at the paper.
"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." Harry said the same way he had said it a thousand times.
The letter erased itself and little lines of ink started to spread out from his wand tip. It had formed a new letter.
Dear Harry,
If you are reading this that means that I am dead. I am sorry I could not have been there for more of you childhood, and the rest of your life. You are a strong man and will be a great wizard one day. You will find the power within yourself to fight Voldemort and you will kill him, I know you will. I have a few requests, one of them is to take care of James for me, he is my only Nephew, and I love him very much. My second is that you will talk to Dumbledore, I have a hunch and I think he can help you out very much. My third request is that you need to get a girlfriend. Your father would kill me if you didn't have a girlfriend by the end of your years at Hogwarts. I don't think you will have too much trouble, there is a certain Gryffindor girl that would gladly take you I think. I won't mention any names though. Always remember that I love you and I am always watching you, wherever I am.
Love always
Sirius.
Harry couldn't believe what he was reading. He thought that he would never have his last word with Sirius, and yet here he was reading his last word to him.
"Ron." He crocked out his dry mouth.
Ron walked over and took one look at Harry's face and took the letter from him. Ron's eyes skimmed it over from top to bottom three times before he looked up.
"Well," He cleared his throat. "He was a great man, and I think that we should honor his last wishes. What do you think Harry?" Ron said a little tenderly.
"Yeah. Well James you are officially part of the group." Harry said.
James looked up eagerly.
"Really? I can hang out with you guys?" James asked
"Yup." Ron said. "Well me an you have to have a talk first, you need to know the rules of the group." Ron said with a wicked grin.
James gulped. "Ok..."
Ron dragged him off to the table that he and Harry had been sitting at before. Meanwhile Harry started to analyze Sirius' second request. Now that he thought of it, Dumbledore seemed to have a hunch too. Interesting. The third request was already done, no thanks to him.
Harry got up and walked back to the table to finish his homework, it was done in no time.
- - -
That had happened a couple of weeks ago. James had fit right in with the three of them. Hermione was currently helping him with his extra project. She had taken a look at it and said that it might work. If she said it might work then it might work. James had taken to Hermione the best, he was friends with all of them now, but he stuck with her the most. Every once and while they would get into a complicated conversation about the contents of a spell or charm and go on forever. It would always lose Harry and Ron. He was a very smart kid; Harry personally didn't think he belonged in first year.
In the next hour, lots of things happened, and it turned out that the room was too small. Once everyone showed up, it was packed. The Healers said that they were going to be able to fix him, but it would take some time. He was going to be in the hospital wing at Hogwarts for two months. They decided that it would be better to move him so that he could continue his studies.
Harry was actually relived to go, he was tired mentally and physically. They arrived back at Hogwarts by three o'clock, and totally crashed into the Head boy and girl common room. Harry made a mental note before he fell asleep to talk to Dumbledore in the morning. He was going to ask him about what he had found, and if there was anything they could do about Sirius. The weeks after he read that letter he had been thinking of ways to get him back. Harry was going to try even if it was impossible, he was going to try.