Author's Notes: I made up the Raknok and its characteristics – I don't think the name has been used elsewhere but if it has, I apologize. Again, all characters belong to JK Rowling, except Cassius Malfoy, and no money is being made.

Chapter 6

The Emergency

A few days before Harry and the rest of the children were due to go back to Hogwarts, Snape's head appeared suddenly in the fire at Grimmauld Place. Harry and Sirius were the only ones in the kitchen at the time.

"What is it, Snape" Sirius said with a sneer.

"Tell Lupin he needs to get home right away, something has happened to Cassius." Snape answered back with his own sneer.

"What happened?" Sirius answered with real concern. Cassius had become a regular dinner guest at Grimmauld Place the past couple weeks, eating there several times each week. Sirius had been working very hard to be friendly towards Cassius. Cassius seemed to notice the effort and was warily warming up to Sirius. "The Black charm still works!" Sirius had told Harry with a grin. Harry was glad, he knew how much it meant to Lupin that his best friend and his husband get along. They were more alike then either one of them would have admitted. Often, at dinner, Cassius, Sirius and Lupin would tell funny stories of the Marauders when they were younger. Cassius had admired the Marauders from afar at Hogwarts, but he also knew stories about Sirius away from Hogwarts. There was an especially funny one about Sirius' teddy bear which he had been forced to leave at home when he left for Hogwarts his first year. Sirius had apparently cried the whole day and then managed to sneak his teddy bear into his trunk at the last minute. Sirius would laugh at the stories too, and his laugh had seemed to get less rusty every dinner. Harry was happy whenever Cassius was at dinner because the gloom at Grimmauld Place seemed to dissipate, just a little. Now, if something had happened… Harry hoped it wasn't as grim as Snape seemed to make it.

"Just tell him to hurry. Moody's on his way too." Snape's head disappeared.

"Slimy bastard." Sirius yelled at the place where Snape's head had been. He got up and raced out of the kitchen, yelling "Remus!" He returned quickly, dragging Lupin by the hand.

"He didn't say what happened?" Lupin asked, looking worried.

"No, but he's at home, he's not at St. Mungo's. Moody will be there when you get there." Sirius grabbed some floo powder and threw it in the fire. "Go on. Harry and I will follow."

Lupin nodded and stepped into the fire, yelling "Windy Corner." He started spinning and disappeared.

"Ok, Harry, let's leave a note and then go." Sirius grabbed a parchment and scribbled a note to Mrs. Weasley.

"Are you sure…" Harry started to question Sirius' intentions to leave Grimmauld Place.

"I'm going, don't try to stop me." Sirius growled.

"Let me get Ron and Hermione." Harry said, maybe they could help too. He couldn't imagine what had happened to Cassius.

"Ok, but I'm going now." Sirius threw some floo-powder in the fire, changed into Snuffles, and disappeared.

Harry ran to get Ron and Hermione, who were playing chess upstairs. He quickly explained the situation to them as they returned to the kitchen.

When they stepped into the sunny kitchen at Windy Corner, they saw Moody stirring something in a cauldron on the long wooden kitchen table. There were books and parchment strewn around the table, it looked like they had been hastily shoved aside to make room for the cauldron.

"What happened?" Harry said breathlessly. Floo Powder always made him feel dizzy.

"Cass got himself bite by a raknok" Mad-Eye replied gruffly, still stirring the contents of the cauldron. A tabby cat meowed plaintively from the window sill.

"A raknok?" Harry and Ron said together, they had never heard of one.

"A raknok, it's a type of winged serpent. They inject venom into their victims. Their bites are usually fatal…" Hermione stopped. "Oh…" She blushed. Hermione was very smart but sometimes she got carried away, Harry thought, not for the first time. Just then Lupin rushed into the room, he looked very worried.

"How much longer for the potion?"  Lupin's voice was shaky.

"Almost ready." Mad-Eye looked at him, "How is he?"

"He's delirious. He doesn't know who I am, he's never forgotten who I am before…and he seems to be talking to his mother." Lupin ran his hands through his hair. "He never even knew his mother."

"Start filling the tub with water, another few minutes and the potion will be done." Moody ordered.

"All right." Lupin turned mechanically and left the room.

"What's the cure?" Ron asked hesitantly. "A bath? That doesn't sound too bad."

"This potion get applied to the bite and the venom trails, in a few minutes it reacts with the venom and ignites it. Before that can happen, the bite victim is put in a bathtub full of water, so the water will put the flames out as soon as they reach the surface of the skin. When they first figured out the cure, a couple wizards were burned to death before they thought to immerse them in water." Moody sounded matter of fact but Harry could see a muscle twitching in his jaw.

"So it burns the venom out? That sounds…" Ron said, his face turning pale. Harry felt like he would be sick.

"Cassius is strong, he should make it if the venom hasn't spread too much."

Sirius came into the kitchen. "The tub is full and Cassius is ready." He looked tense and anxious.

"Is he still conscious?" Moody alone seemed to be calm.

"Yes, well, somewhat."

"He'll pass out from the pain soon enough." Moody said gruffly.

"You're not giving him a pain potion before we start?" Sirius asked, astonished.

"No, it will interfere with the effectiveness of the cure. Cass will have to deal with it." Moody took the cauldron and started out of the room. He turned at the doorway. "Better you three stay here."

Sirius followed him out, looking shaken. Harry looked at Hermione and Ron, then they all three tiptoed out of the kitchen, they got to the landing and they could see into the bathroom. From where Harry stood, he could see Lupin was holding Cassius and could see the side of Cassius' torso and his right arm. There were two red puncture marks on the upper arm and radiating out from them were squiggly red lines, it looked like the skin had cracked open under pressure. The lines spread up and down the arm, across the shoulder and down his ribs. Harry could see a tattoo across Cassius' shoulder and upper arm, it looked like magical writing, but he couldn't read it. He hoped it would bring Cassius luck. The red lines pulsed and glowed. It seemed to Harry like the venom had spread quite a bit, he wondered what would be too much.

"Better put a silencing spell on him before we go any further." Moody pulled out his wand and did the incantation. Moody and Sirius started to coated him with the potion. "Remus, do you want to leave?"

"No." Lupin's voice sounded hoarse and unsteady but determined, his arms tightened around Cassius. Harry looked over at Ron and Hermione and as if they could read each other's minds, they turned and returned to the kitchen.