Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything else that J.K. Rowling created.
Warning: This story is AU due to the fact that I've ignored book five, The Order of The Phoenix because the end of book four was a much better place to start this fan fiction.
Take Backs
Chapter 11: Checkups By Poppy
By Rhiane Raine
The first thought that popped into Sirius Black's head when he woke up the next day should have been "I still can't believe James is alive!" or "Merlin, did we really take Harry away from the Dursleys?" but seeing as is it was Sirius Black in question, those sorts of thoughts were not the first to cross his mind that morning. In place of disbelief of his best friends resurrection was a whole nest full of likely pranks that could be used to wake up the newly reunited father and son duo.
Over in the kitchenette Sirius recognized the sounds of bacon sizzling in a skillet. Snickering silently, Sirius crept over to the door of Moony's bedroom where James and Harry were most likely to be, sound asleep. He skillfully opened the door, making no creaks. The idea of pouring a bucket of ice water on them died abruptly in his head as he looked at the two of them lying there together.
A soft noise behind him caused him to jump.
"Moony, shhh!" Sirius hissed.
Remus smiled. "Why? Those two need to wake up anyway," he said, attempting to peer over Sirius's shoulder to see what had caused Sirius to stand in the open doorway and stare for so long.
Sirius moved so Remus could have a clear view of what it was. Harry was lying half on his own chest, half sprawled over James'. James, who was asleep on his back, had one hand weaved in his son's unruly hair while the other was dangling off the edge of the mattress.
"Ahhh," Remus cooed.
"Moony-mate, that coo borders on girly."
Remus shrugged his shoulders then grinned and said "Yeah but you can't tell me that THAT isn't really sweet!" while waving a hand in the general direction of James and Harry.
"Yes, it is, but it doesn't mean I'm going to go all girly over it."
A faint smile overtook Sirius's face as he made to step into the room. Remus hastily reached an arm out to grab him by the shoulder.
"I changed my mind. I don't think you should wake them up yet. Harry, well, you know how he is. He'd be real embarrassed if he knew we'd seen him like this."
"Yeah, I guess you're right."
Almost immediately after Sirius agreed not to wake them up, Remus nodded and walked into the room.
"Moony!" Sirius whispered angrily.
"What?"
"What are you doing? I thought we agreed not to wake them up!"
"We did, Padfoot, but I need to get some clothes from my dresser drawers so that I can change."
"Oh," Sirius said, now properly embarrassed.
Neither of the two that were still sleeping stirred as Remus grabbed a fresh change of clothes to wear for the day. When he was finished gathering what he needed, Sirius carefully closed the door behind him.
The next hour or so passed very slowly for Sirius. He had already exhausted all means of entertainment the previous week at Moony's cottage.
A feeling of relief washed over him when he heard the door to the bedroom open. Expecting to see both James and Harry or maybe just James, Sirius was a little surprised to see only Harry smiling sheepishly at him for sleeping in later than he and Remus.
"Morning, Harry! Breakfast?" Sirius asked.
"Sure, " Harry replied, rubbing a hand over his face to further awaken himself.
It seemed that Remus had been right about Harry's embarrassment. Throughout breakfast he generally avoid looking either himself or Remus in the eyes, almost as if he knew that the two of them had looked in on him while he was sleeping.
"So how are you feeling this morning?" Remus asked, concern was apparent in his voice.
Green eyes were tentatively raised to look up at them from his plate of bacon and eggs. Sirius glanced over at Remus to see that he too looked as if he was unsure if Harry was going to tell them the truth. His Godson must have known that they wanted the truth as he sighed and put down his eating utensil.
"Well, I still feel a tad lightheaded and my stomach seems to feel kind of funny but other than that I'm just fine," Harry yawned at the end of his statement, making the last bit less believable.
Remus leaned forward nervously as he looked at Harry and said, "We've got Madame Pomphrey coming by in a little while so I suppose that works out just fine."
"Huh?" Sirius snapped his head over to look at his friend. When did you do that?"
"This morning, before you woke up."
Across the table Harry swallowed in a gulping manner. "I'll be fine. I don't need Madame Pomphrey to see me. I know what she'll tell me; 'Get plenty of rest and food, Potter!'. I can tell myself that without her having to come here."
"No," Remus said firmly. "She will take a look at you just to make sure. James will lose control if you get worse."
"Wait," Sirius held up a hand to stall Remus. "Won't that alert Dumbledore?"
"Eventually, yes. I fire called Poppy directly at the hospital wing and told her one of my houseguests needed to be looked at. She doesn't know who it is, although she must be suspicious. Even if the fire was being watched not much could be inferred from the conversation."
A sigh of relief escaped Sirius at that. "So we can safely assume Dumbledore won't figure it out till later in the day?"
"He knows already," Harry said, startling the adults who had momentarily forgot he was there.
"What do you mean?" Sirius asked, alarm setting in quickly. Dumbledore couldn't possibly know! Would he come and try to take Harry back to the Dursley's before they could tell him that Harry's rightful guardian had come back to life and granted him permission to live elsewhere? No, the Headmaster was much too serene for such bold actions. Still yet, a gnawing feeling remained in the pit of his stomach at the thought of Harry ever going back to the Dursleys.
"I mean Dumbledore knows everything, he only makes it look like he doesn't so that it doesn't uproot the people around him too much. My bet is that he already knows, well knows that I'm here at least, but is giving us time to think we've gotten away with it." Harry said. "In my second year he made it look like he didn't really know that I was figuring things out. He even made it a point to ask me if I had anything to tell him."
Remus cast Sirius a concerned glance.
"So it he already knows, why doesn't he try and bust us?" Sirius asked Harry.
Harry shrugged his shoulders in part answer. "I doubt he knows about James but he'll want to give us time to get our story straight so that we can decided what we want to do before we're confronted."
Muttering to himself about mind games, Sirius caught yet another odd look from Remus, this time at Harry's use of the word "James" instead of "Dad".
After thinking on what Harry had just said, Sirius looked Harry in the eyes and asked, "Does this mean he knows what going on all the time? Does he know that we know he knows?"
A rather painful smack was delivered to the back of his head, courtesy of Remus.
"Mornin' guys," James grunted sleepily as he slumped into the remaining chair at Remus's squarish table.
"Awake there, Jamsie?"
"It's too early for that, Siri."
"It's never too early for that."
"Whatever," James mumbled.
"Anyway," continued Remus while rolling his eyes. " After Madame Pomphrey gets here and checks over Harry, we'll owl Albus."
"Sound like a plan," Sirius said distractedly while watching both James and Harry with a grin. James would glance up at his son every few minutes in between bites. Harry would not acknowledge his fathers attentions outwardly but would flush slightly in the places that were not sunburned each time.
The group of them had retired from the kitchen to the sitting room to play exploding snap (at James's challenge) shortly before noon. The game had just reached an all time breaking point, the stakes being the highest they had ever been between James and Sirius, when Harry stood up and excused himself to "clean up".
"Why?" Sirius asked, dumfounded at why a teenager would care so much about appearance in front of three other men.
"I need to make myself look more healthy before Madame Pomphrey gets here."
A disapproving was directed at him from Remus, one that Sirius rolled his eyes at. "I don't think you should try and cheat yourself out of medical treatment. It's not like Poppy doesn't already know how delicate you are anyway…"
"Am not," Harry muttered. "I just don't want her thinking I'm ill or anything. If she so much as hears me cough she'll force me to stay in the hospital wing for an entire week."
Sirius had to agree with his Godson on that. The school mediwitch tended to seem a little rough but she cared far too much than necessary.
Shortly after Harry left, the floo network activated. Remus jumped up to speak permission for "visitor Poppy Pomphrey"
to be allowed entrance.
"Afternoon, Madame Pomphrey," James grinned, using that lopsided grin that had the power to make even McGonagall melt into putty. "I must say you look even more beautiful than the last time I saw you."
Poppy, who had her back turned away from James, paused in her motions to brush away all the soot from her clothes. When she had turned around properly, James winked at her, putting all he possessed into his charm.
"J-J-James
Potter!"
After the day he'd had with Harry yesterday, Remus must have been able to predict what was going to happen for he had been at the perfect spot to help support Pomphrey when her knees went weak from shock.
"Easy does it," he said to her as he helped guide her to a chair.
"H-how…?"
"Well," Sirius decided to speak up. "We're not really sure, but we can assure you that it is in fact him."
Nearly ten minutes later, after Poppy grilling James over every visit he'd ever made to the hospital wing, she seemed satisfied with his identity. There was no teary eyed reunion, but it was evident that Pomphrey was very happy to have James back and alive.
"Does Harry know yet?" she asked, opening her medical bag and making way towards where James was sitting on the sofa, wand poised for healing.
"Yes, he knows. He's the reason I asked you here." Remus said.
"I should have known," Poppy sighed, settling rather quickly back into her professional character. She unembarrassedly backed away from James and looked about.
"He's… uh, hold on, I'll go get him," Sirius said hurriedly.
"Go get who?" Harry asked from the doorway.
"Sir down right here, Potter," Madame Pomphrey fussed interrupting Sirius's unnecessary answer.
Though he already had enough color in his face from the sunburn, the rest of his face and neck had seemed far too pale in contrast to it this morning at breakfast. Now he seemed to be red and pink everywhere visible. Sirius winced to think of how much it had probably hurt to do that. It was the oldest trick in the book, taking a semi-rough washcloth and rubbing it over your face till the skin was flushed. It was a favorite ploy of the Marauders that worked well for giving off a feverish look.
Rather than wait for Harry to comply, the mediwitch clinically pushed him to a sitting position and was already passing a wand over him, tsking every now and then.
Finally, she stood up straight and announced, "You would appear to only be sunburned but don't think an extra layer of clothing will hide the five pounds that you've already lost since you've been gone from Hogwarts. You're not only undernourished but also have heat stroke and you're body is suffering from exhaustion. I would have to guess that it might be caused by sleep deprivation.
"To solve the state of dehydration that your body has entered you will need to drink plenty of fluids, specifically water. This should help the dizzy spells and such. Too be safe you really ought to be kept in bed but there's no way I can enforce that, only strongly recommend it."
Sirius couldn't help snickering as Poppy began shoving a variety of potions down Harry's throat faster that old Snivelus could brew them, mumbling about how on Earth a teenage boy could do this much harm to himself in such a short period of time.
Then she pulled out some sort of green balm that she rubbed on Harry's face and mostly healed the angry sunburn that stretched across Harry's face, bringing it down to only a small patch on his nose and a little bit on his cheeks. The pink tinge that was left actually gave his Godson a sort of cute blushed appearance, something that was always present on Lily's face. With the temporary Lily-ish element added the resemblance was evident even more than before.
With a disapproving glance at Sirius for his snickering- what had he done wrong? – Poppy stated in a professional voice, "Get plenty of rest, which means sleeping when you are supposed to, drink your fluids, and for Merlin's sake eat plenty of hearty meals, Potter. You had better have gained five pounds by the next time I see you- which had not better be before schools starts back up- and I do not mean gain back the five you've already lost. I mean you'd better be five over the weight that I wrote down in your file a few weeks ago! Ten pounds up from what you weigh now will not be easy if you neglect your body Potter, and I shall know if you do."
Now Sirius really did feel bad for Harry, who was leaning back into his chair as far away from Madame Pomphrey's finger that was being waved, pointed and jabbed every now and then to emphasize her point as she worked her way into a tangent on Harry and his health.
Softening her tone only slightly, Pomphrey said, "Should you feel any lingering discomfort you will let me know?"
He must have seen his way out for Harry nodded his head vigorously to help bring the conversation to a close.
"Good. I shall leave a few potions behind, should you need them. This is a blood-replenishing potion; this one is a simple skin supplement that can help restore your skin back to normalcy. Here is a mild pain reliever and this you of course know."
The last phial was larger than the other bottles put together and was by far the largest amount of dreamless sleep potion that he had seen other than a cauldron full.
"I trust you three will help Mr. Potter to take it easy for a while? I daresay you should not surprise the poor boy with anymore shocking news for a while," Poppy said while spreading out a terse look throughout the three of them.
For his part, Sirius gulped.
"Alright then." She turned to Harry and said, "They may think they are in great health but the truth is they aren't much better off than you are. You'll make sure that Remus rests before the full moon?"
"Yes."
"And you'll b e sure to see that you're Father and Godfather eat some square meals? Being dead for fourteen years and nearly dead for twelve didn't do anything for their nourishment…"
"I guess living in a hole in the ground six feet under or living off rats in a cave didn't exactly help their nutritional value," Harry mumbled, just barely audible for them all to hear.
The silence that followed was deafening. It was like walking out of the Great Hall during dinner and into the deserted hallways. None of them knew what to say. James and Poppy were both kind of off in the dark about why Sirius had had to live in a cave and eat rats but he and Remus knew the full story. One thing was for sure; he and Harry were going to have a much-needed talk sometime soon.
Madame Pomphrey picked up her handbag, lighter now than when she had arrived.
"Potter," she said in a firm voice that was slightly less stern than the one she generally used. "I had better not see you till September 1st! I mean it young man… I may refuse to heal you if I have to make another house call."
It was obvious to everyone that she would never refuse to heal Harry; her smile gave it away.
'Damn that kid has everyone wrapped around his finger and doesn't even know it… not like he'd use it even if he DID know' Sirius thought to himself.
Pride was practically emanating off of James as he too realized how much "charm potential" his son had going for him.
Five minutes late Poppy had bid them all goodbye, leaving the Marauders plus Harry to sit and relax for on a moment before hearing the floo network activate again. The visitor did not have to pause for clearance this time. Instead, the tall white haired guest stepped right out from the hearth and began brushing the spots off of his purple robes.
"Well, hello there Harry. Are you having a good summer?"
