January 8, 2004
Disclaimer: I, TiniTinuviel, am in no way associated with Ms. J.K Rowling, Scholastic Books, or Warner Bros. Harry Potter and all of its characters, etc. belong, in turn, to all of the aforementioned parties and their subsidiaries. I claim nothing save for the particular plot of this piece of fan fiction and selected characters.
Authors Note: Hey all! Not bad getting two chapters out almost within a week, huh? Ah, the wonders a vacation can do for a fic-writer! In any case, I did update chapter six with a real chapter instead of that authors note, so if you haven't read that yet, then SURPRISE! You get TWO chapters! Hurray! But without any further ado, I give you Chapter 7 of the one and only, "Tell it to My Face."
~*~
The afternoon was not what Remus had expected it to be. Well, on second thought, he told himself, it's exactly what I thought it would be, only worse.
2:30 p.m. brought Ron and Hermione into his classroom where they sat fidgeting and glaring at him for the entire hour. More than once, Hermione raised her hand to ask clever questions about Harry disguised under fake confusion of the text. And more than once, Remus was forced to think of something just as clever that reflected accuracy on both the topic of her lost friend and whatever hapless creatures she had chosen as her front. When her hand rose for the sixth time he finally acted on his Snape-like instinct and told to her lower her hand before it was even any substantial distance from her desk. The look of shock on her face was quickly replaced by a pained expression which Remus noted as being the handy-work of one Ron Weasley, apparently finally gaining his turn to kick her under the table and whisper "I told you so," while their professor was not looking.
At five minutes to the bell, he stood to announce the homework assignment while the class packed their books, parchments and quills in their bags and added with as much crispness as he could, "Ms. Granger, Mr. Weasley, a word after the bell, please," eliciting the most obvious response possible from the Slytherin infused group.
Amongst the usual giggles and taunts, a murmur of "About time that broad's annoyance gets what it deserves," could be heard.
"Mr. Malfoy," Remus caught with the greatest of ease, "detention tonight with Mr. Filch tonight seems splendid, wouldn't you agree? He's certainly been looking for somebody to help scrape the fleetboot poison off of the giant squid for some time. By the looks of your desk, it appears you would be perfect for the job." For by this time, Remus had approached the Slytherin's desk and it was indeed covered in thick scratches, mostly in a blotchy, sporadic nature, but Remus could easily see the form of a werewolf taking shape in the mess and knew what it would become within the next week or so. A public sign of his curse for all to see, and to begin the mockery.
"I'm sorry professor but I haven't a clue what you are talking about," the cool blonde issued with as much ease as any debonair member of the English high society. The flick of his eye to Millicent Bolstrode made Remus silently cast a protective shield over the mess and her quiet, attempted fix of the situation dissipated as if she had never said a word.
"Well I'm afraid that's a shame. Perhaps two hours using a toothpick to reach into all of her tiny little crevices will jog your memory," he said, "and if not, at least you'll be easing the squid of a great discomfort. The poison is flesh-eating as I'm sure you are aware. You will be doing her quite the favor," and before another word was exchanged, he announced "Class dismissed!" with a quick, "7:30, Mr. Malfoy, in Filch's office!" before the entire classroom spewed its contents into the hallway beyond the door. The entire contents, that is, with the exception of two very apprehensive and knowledge thirsty teenagers.
With no one else to turn to, Remus motioned for them both to sit down as he strolled back to his desk, just to turn around and come back, sitting atop a desk only two rows before them.
"This is about Harry, isn't it?" Hermione asked.
"Yes, Hermione, and next time you're worried, please just wait until after class. You're much too clever for me to compete with when I haven't had any sleep," he said lightly, so she would know he was being serious, but not angry. "Professor McGonagall is bringing your sister here; we wanted to talk to you all at once without the rest of the house. I'm sure you understand." They both nodded.
"So, how is he, Professor? Honestly?" Ron asked, bracing for the sting that was sure to come.
"I'd rather wait for your sister," Remus said in a low voice that did not comfort either of them at all. "How's Quidditch going?" he said, changing topics. "I missed the last game because, you know, I was 'sick'."
Ron nodded. "Well, I suppose. We're probably not going to win the cup this year though. I'm still rubbish and with all new chasers… Harry and the Snitch is all we really have going for us," he finished with a tinge of saddened apprehension.
Remus merely hummed in response. "And how about you, Hermione? How's your school work?"
"Good," she replied, "Loads of work, but I enjoy it for the most part."
"For the most part?"
"Well, despite popular belief, I'm getting quite bored with doing school work all the time. I really wish I had more time for myself to read outside by the lake or something."
He nodded in understanding, after all, wasn't that the first thing he had done when exams were over?
"I just wish Harry were here," she said, "I miss him sitting across from me in the Great Hall, and standing next to me in Potions. I didn't think anything of it when Professor Dumbledore said he was sick, but when you came and said it was something worse… I didn't know what to think…" It was full of sadness and fear; it shook them all very badly, hearing what they were feeling but too afraid to say. A sudden, reverberating clang made them all jump and spin in their seats, only to calm upon seeing Ginny Weasley and Professor McGonagall swing the door open and shut in one fluid swoop.
"Good afternoon, Professor," Remus said politely.
"Good afternoon to you too," she replied. "I believe we're a few minutes early but I didn't think you'd mind."
"Not at all. Please, have a seat," he said moving to sit on a regular chair, McGonagall beside him, while Ginny took her place next to Ron.
"How do you do, Ginny?" he asked.
"I'm fine," she replied, almost steadily, but was the first to officially get down to business. "How's he doing?"
Remus and McGonagall looked at each other for a brief moment before she turned to them and started with, "I'm sure you three know that Mr. Potter is not really ill, am I correct?" Their nods were her response. "He is not doing very well at all at the moment." And together with brief interjections from Remus, she told them everything that was known to Albus and The Order, from what they knew of his disappearance right up until Remus and Sirius' first departure from St. Mungo's that very morning. Everything except his stroke.
"But Professor," Hermione said, "you just said that he was awake and getting better when before you said he's not doing well at all. I hope this doesn't sound too rude, but what aren't you telling us?"
Both elders sighed at her observance. Their agreement to tell the truth always had been shaky on this part of the tale but here Remus took over, telling them all very slowly what Sirius had told him. It had given him such a shock and he was only receiving this half of the story at the time. When he was done with what he knew, he looked into all three of their faces. Hermione looked tired, rubbing her eyes as if she'd been awake for two days like their Professor. Ron seemed to be in a light state of shock, his hands folded on his desk, staring straight into them, dumb to the world. Ginny just sat quietly, hugging her knees to her chest, every now and then brushing her cheek across them, whether from tears or perhaps a nervous twitch, neither professor was sure. He knew something like this was going to happen.
"We know this is a lot for you to take in at once-" Remus began.
"-but we and the Headmaster thought it would be best if you learned the truth right away," McGonagall finished. "Do you have any questions for us before we let you go?"
"When is he coming back?" a small voice asked.
"We're not sure yet, Ms. Weasley. As soon as some of the tests have come back, which some of them may have already, we'll know more," McGonagall said gently.
"Is Sirius still with him?" Ron asked.
"He should be, yes," Remus replied. "I'm supposed to be meeting with him in about twenty minutes at the hospital. We have a lot to discuss, concerning many matters. We may have to see if one of your brothers wouldn't mind staying with Harry for a time. I would like to see Sirius go home and rest if he can. Do you think they'd mind?"
"No, Fred and George will do it in an instant, Bill and Charlie would be close behind if they didn't have so much work right now," Ron answered.
Remus nodded. "If there's nothing more that we can tell you, then perhaps our meeting is over. If you do have any questions that you think of later, you are more than welcome to come and ask us, however for Harry's sake, please speak with us privately. No hallways, not on the grounds, agreed?"
"Yeah."
"Sure."
"Of course."
"Very well," McGonagall said, standing. "Now why don't you three head back to the common room? You look very tired."
"Professors, wait," Hermione said. "Professor Lupin, will you come and tell us what Sirius says when you get back? If there's more, I'd like to know."
Remus stole a glance at Professor McGonagall again and they seemed to come to a silent agreement. "I'll do what I can. Now go on, go outside or get some rest. Just please remember that to the rest of the school he's with his aunt and uncle and he's very ill. Please don't let anything slip," he begged them and they nodded at him, making sure they all made eye contact.
At that they all stood, McGonagall leading the way to the door and Remus following the group. "Have a nice afternoon," he said to them as naturally as possible, and he closed the door on all of them with a resounding clang.
~*~
With a feeling of a great weight upon her, Hermione turned to the others in the hallway, noticing that they looked much the same.
"Do you think there's anything we can do?" she asked.
"I don't think so," Ginny said.
"Not this time," Ron added. "It looks like he really is on his own, now." He laughed a bit bitterly. "He always wanted to leave us behind. Never wanted us to get hurt. And now that he's alone it looks like he needs us more than ever," and he let out a great breath.
"Let's get back to the common room," Hermione said. "Play some chess or something?" and Ginny nodded, leading the way back to Gryffindor Tower.
~*~
4:30 p.m. brought Remus Lupin in from the dark and the cold, only to be greeted by two hushed, anxious, and short words.
"She knows," Sirius said.
"What do mean 'she knows'?" Remus asked as he moved to sit in a chair beside Harry, tossing his scarf onto an empty seat. "Who knows what? Do they know what's wrong with Harry? Exactly?" he asked quickly. Sirius shook his head no, frantically pacing back and forth. With confusion, Remus noted that he kept glancing at the blinds to the hallway that were shut. Little did he know that Sirius had shut them long ago so as to not attract unwanted attention which he already seemed to be getting.
"Eleanor knows who I am! There's no chance of my getting out of here anymore! There will be Ministry members flying in from all angles to make sure that I don't escape again! I'm totally screwed!" he whispered hysterically. The last hour of waiting by himself had led to many, many thoughts on his short conversation with the lead nurse and none of them ended in a pleasant fashion, many ended in pain. He continued his restless pacing, back and forth, and back and forth, always glancing at the window to the hallway to make sure that it was closed all the way.
Remus, while watching his best friend erratically stride across the room had his mind going a mile a minute; this was far from what he expected to be greeted with as his welcome back to the hospital. "Maybe not," he said, looking to the floor. "If she really knew who you were than the Ministry probably would have already come to get you. Or at least Kingsley would have sent you a message of some kind telling you how to escape."
"But what if she's just waiting it out until I'm asleep or something? Catch me when I'm not paying attention?"
"I doubt it," he started, "but I can't say it isn't a possibility." Sirius let out an exasperated sigh that clearly stated that was not the response he was looking for. "When did you talk to her about this?"
"About an hour ago."
"Plenty of time to show that she doesn't know who you really are."
"Plenty of time to plan an arrest, you mean!"
"Sirius! Stop! Look, maybe you were like, long lost playmates from childhood or something and all she has is a family photo with you in it. Maybe she went to Hogwarts with us… maybe you dated her sister or something, I don't know! But just because she vaguely recognizes you does not mean that she knows who you "are" and that she's going to turn you in!"
"Earth to Remus, look at who you are talking to here! I'm practically Britain's Most Wanted Man and not for their nudey annual calendar! If she honestly hasn't recognized me from The Prophet or the television then she's had to have been living in a hole for the past twenty years! A very DEEP hole," he said, gesturing wildly.
"Well then my money is on the hole theory because anybody that doesn't know the real you would have already called you in. Was she afraid of you when she approached you about this?"
"Not at first… She played innocent first, and then seemed as if she knew something but was trying to get me to admit to it myself. But right after that she figured it out for sure."
"How do you know?"
"Well when someone goes from nice and amiable to a statue and can't spit out more than bits of a sentence at a time, generally that's when I figure they know," he spat harshly.
"Hey, calm down," Remus snapped back. "Did she say anything about it? Did she say your name or anything?"
"Are you listening? She didn't HAVE to, she KNOWS! I'm totally screwed!"
"Are YOU listening?" Remus countered. "If she was really as afraid of you as you describe her to be then the Ministry would have been here long ago and you would have left with them. My advice to you is to calm down. I know that isn't what you want to hear," he said louder, knowing that Sirius would cut him off at any second, "but I think it is the best course of action. If you appear not-guilty to them, then they will at least doubt themselves if they really do suspect you, and if they do, maybe staying calm and being polite will lighten them up enough to at least give the "non-murderer" side of you a sympathetic thought. Hey," he added as an afterthought, pointing to himself, "they're tolerant to werewolves; maybe they're tolerant to not-really-ex-cons too. Just cool the boiler down, okay? I'll talk to Albus about this, everything will work out fine."
"I hope so," Sirius said, stopping his pacing and heaving a sigh. He shook his head. "I never should have come here. You should have apparated with him. You know him better-"
"But he loves you more, no questions about it," Remus said truthfully, "now sit down, you're freaking me out." Sirius couldn't help but crack a smile, which Remus guiltily gave back. "Now, what's been happening? I want to know everything so I can spread the word along to Ron and Ginny and Hermione."
"I thought you were going to tell them like an hour ago."
"We did, but Hermione asked if I would tell them whatever you tell me here. I'm planning on meeting with them this evening after dinner."
"Sounds good," Sirius said. "Nothing has happened to be quite honest, though. He's been asleep the whole time," he finished, just as there was a knock on the hospital room door. He looked hesitantly at Remus before calling out, "Come in."
It was Dr. Jules. "Good afternoon, Sirius," he said lightly, with no trace of fear or recognition whatsoever. "Oh, Mr. Lupin, I wasn't aware that you had arrived. Welcome back. I just came by to let you know that some of Harry's test results have come in." While Sirius and Remus sat in chairs at the table, Dr. Jules alternated between leaning on Harry's foot board and standing before them throughout his talk. "You will be happy to now that when he wakes up, and it will be when, he has every chance of making a full recovery. We've ran some more tests on his blood and only found the one magical signature, nothing more will happen to him that we are aware of. His other injuries seem to be healing well, though they do need more time."
"What about the one on his neck?" Sirius asked, "You said you were worried about that one once."
"It's doing well. For a short time we were concerned since the laceration was slicing the edge of his vertebrae, but no damage was done to the spinal cord. He'll be fine. Basically, we're just waiting for him to wake up."
"Do you have anything to add to how he was captured?" Remus asked.
"I'm afraid not. That will just be something we'll all have to hear about when he comes to. Although we can say that there was minimal potion use in the last four days; nothing stronger than sedation, apparently it was used that day, though. Perhaps it aided in his capture, perhaps not. Beyond that, broken bones are healing, his brain is working on repairing itself which we are watching very closely, and his overall health looks good. However…" he paused.
"That doesn't sound good, Doc," Sirius said, "just let us know and get it over with." Both he and Remus were leaned over their knees now, each clasping their own hands, shifting their fingers. They looked like twins.
"However, we have just
discovered that there is a possibility
of finding out whose magic is in Harry's blood."
"Why do you say, 'However,' then? That's
great," Remus said.
"That's not all, Mr. Lupin. I'm afraid that the chances of finding out are very slim and the chance only lasts within the week."
"Then what are you waiting for? Do whatever it takes! Figure it out!" Sirius cried.
"It's not that simple," Dr. Jules explained, knowing that they would get prematurely excited by the news. "The chance only exists this week and we need Harry to be awake to help us." Remus sighed, dropping his chin to chest. "You see, the maker of this specific curse was learned in Muggle science, specifically human anatomy, as well as the Dark Arts. He was knowledgeable enough to know that the human blood cells have an average life span of six weeks. Yes," he said, seeing something of wonder on both the men's faces, "your blood can and does die. But it also replenishes itself. Even right now, your body is making new blood cells and sifting out the old and dead blood cells within your kidneys. These cells are then flushed out of the system; they are of no use to us."
"I'm sorry," Sirius cut in, "but why are you telling us this?"
"The magic in young Mr. Potter's blood isn't just floating around in the plasma; it is in his actual blood cells. I am telling you this because, unfortunately for us, the creator of this curse designed it specifically so that the magic would target cells that had only a week left in its life cycle, yet the curse also seemed to be designed with a failsafe of sorts. It can also be attached to cells that have up to two weeks of life left, and not all of these cells are lost when the curse is triggered, that's how we found the magic in the first place. This final-week-of-life is the reason why the curse must be triggered within the week, do you see?"
"But by the same coin, couldn't the spell be set off after the first week was over with?" Remus asked.
"You're very observant, Mr. Lupin, and yes, it can. However, most of the cells will have died by that time and the effect would not be very strong, hardly noticeable, in fact. But I'd like to remind you, it can only be set off once, even if there are remnants left so you need not worry about Harry now."
"So how does Harry being awake help us?" Sirius asked.
"Because if Harry wakes up within the week and tells us everything that he knows," he said, looking straight at him, "we may be able to pinpoint and track down who did this to him. It is an extremely long shot and may lead us nowhere at all, but it is still possible to find the culprit and put him in Azkaban." Sirius couldn't stop the shiver from running down his spine. "Isn't that something that you would like to see done, Mr. Black?"
Sirius froze in his seat, eyes wide, pointing to the floor. He could hear the pounding in his ears, feel his heart within his windpipe, and his mouth went desert dry. But through the shock a voice kept telling him, screaming at him, 'Say something! Say something!!' Jerkily, he shook his head, forcing his heart back to its proper place with a tremendous gulp. "Yes," he fought out, "yes, I would like to see that."
"Very well, then," Dr. Jules stated cheerily, "we do have a potion to give him that will quicken his brain healing which hopefully will bring him back to us sooner than usual so that we may begin the process of tracking his attempted-murderer down. If you gentlemen have no further questions, I will leave you so that I may see to other patients. However, if you happen to know of anybody specifically that would want to do something like this to Mr. Potter," and again, he looked at Sirius, "we would like you to make a list of them so that if we can question him before time runs out we'll know where to start."
"Of course," Remus said, clearing his throat, "we'll get started on that right away. Thank you, Dr. Jules," and he stood to shake the man's hand before seeing him to the door.
"Have a nice day, gentlemen," he said, just before Remus closed the door on him.
"Oh my God…" Sirius moaned. "They do know! What am I going to do?" he said, voice beginning to rise to a panic.
"I don't know," Remus said, sliding down the door to the ground, his eyes closed in thought. "No, wait, I do know!" he said defiantly, standing up again and beginning to pace. "I'll go back to Hogwarts and Floo Kingsley to make sure he knows what's going to happen, see if there's any chance that he can derail this before it goes anywhere. Then I'll go and talk to Albus to try and find a way to get you out of here and back to the school where they won't be able to touch you. I just hope that I can get all this done in time… I'm sorry I didn't believe you," he said soberly.
"It's alright," Sirius said, lost in shock, "just… just try to hurry, okay?" He was already starting to despair.
"Don't do this, Sirius," Remus scolded him, "don't give up already. Just act natural and don't leave this room. I'll be back soon, don't worry." And in a flash, he was gone.
"I can't do this," Sirius said desperately to himself. "I can't let them get me when you're not even awake to see me go. Please don't let them take me when you won't even know."
~*~
Closing note: That's it for now! Hope you enjoyed it! But I do have a question: I am running this whole, "how was he captured" thing into the ground? Do you care? Just curious!
Thanks for dropping in for a read!
~Tini :D