Epilogue
St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries was generally quiet as the time approached six in the morning. Katherine Miller was serving as the current Welcome Witch, having a mere hour and change left in her shift before she could leave for home. She had a whole glorious week off! Now that the holidays were over, the pay was returning to normal and it was about time some of the people who were forced to work over the holiday to keep the hospital running took their vacation time.
She couldn't wait. She had been the one who had to alert the on duty staff that there was a teenaged boy that had suddenly appeared in the center of the reception area at close to two o'clock in the morning. That had been a hassle-and-a-half, it had. Katherine just did not want to deal with any more strange happenings, and hoped that she would barely have to deal with anyone coming in (especially people who thought they could visit the hospital at any old time they pleased) much less anything out of the ordinary.
Unfortunately, this was not to be. Suddenly appearing at the back, where those who entered from the street would appear, was Albus Dumbledore himself, flanked by quite a few teenagers about the age of the boy that had arrived suddenly in the middle of the night. Katherine sighed. At least there was only an hour left, no matter what happened at the hospital. At least the Welcome Witches never worked any more or less than the shifts that they were assigned beforehand. Thank Merlin.
The Welcome Witch rose as Albus strode up to the desk with the five teens trailing him. James Potter was on the far left, with Sirius Black just to his right. Remus Lupin was center and Sarah Kosh was to his right. Lily Evans rounded out the group on the far right hand side. Albus nodded kindly at the witch behind the desk. "We're here to identify the boy that arrived here sometime this morning."
Katherine blinked. "I'm sorry, but you can't do that. We are still trying to contact the parents of the boy we think he is…"
Albus waved his hand, gently cutting her off. "You won't reach them; they are recently deceased. That is, if you are trying to approach the correct parents." Dumbledore remarked this kindly, but all six of the others in the room reacted in some way. Lily and Sarah turned white and looked at each other horror-stricken. Remus paled a bit more than he already was, and Sirius and James looked at each other with a healthy amount of shock. Katherine simply swallowed the lump in her throat.
"Y-yes… indeed…" she stammered, ruffling her papers around, trying to buy the time to think of what she was supposed to do in such an instance. Was there something in the manual that told her what to do when an extremely famous and influential wizard came telling her that he was there to identify a wizard that had just been portkeyed into the Hospital and was suspected to be in a coma? Or was that too specific? "Right…" She was going to take a guess, and hope to Merlin that it was a good enough guess to keep her out of trouble. "How about I contact the Healer that is currently on duty over him?"
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "That would be splendid. Where shall we wait for him?"
Katherine shuffled more papers, this time actually looking for a specific one. "The name of the Healer in charge of the case of the boy you are referring to is Healer Cuthbert Hutton. His office is on the fourth floor, nearby the Janus Thickey Ward. Kindly wait just outside his office, and he will invite you in when he's ready to see you."
Dumbledore smiled at her and nodded. "Thank you, Mrs. Miller." And he walked off to the stairs with the teenagers scrambling behind him. Katherine sank back into her chair behind the desk. How did he still remember her after all these years? Worse, how did he know she was married?
After Dumbledore had talked to the Healer for a short bit, all of them walked quietly into the Janus Thickey Ward and walked all the way to the end, where it connected to a few small single rooms. Inside the one on the far left, the Healer let them all file in, and no one said a word. Sarah gasped, and Dumbledore simply nodded in confirmation. The Healer smiled sadly. "We've been unable to wake him, and we have tried several times. Now that we know his name, we'll try using that too, but I can't promise anything. All of my instincts and magic tell me that he is in a coma and will be unable to wake for some time."
Sarah sobbed into her hands, and Lily led her over to the chair that was positioned in the opposite corner of the room as the bed where Derek Fugue was laying. James, Sirius and Remus all took positions around the bed. Not so close as to block the view of the two adults or the two girls, but close enough that if Derek were awake, he would have noticed their presence above him. They were all solemn. Healer Hutton turned to Dumbledore. "I will leave you to your visitation. I ask simply that when you leave you leave quietly, and that you leave before real visitation hours start." And with a swish of his white robes, the Healer was gone.
There was a long moment of silence as all of the people left in the room looked forlornly at the body that remained unmoving on the bed. James was the one who broke the silence. "Pro-Professor," he hesitated, then pushed on. "Do you know what happened?"
Dumbledore put one hand on James's shoulder. "I know very little, Mr. Potter. Still less that I can tell you, but I can tell you this. Mr. Fugue would have made all of you proud tonight. Under the threat of death to take a path that would place him on the other side of this very grave war, he chose to fight. And he refused to believe that he would be cut down. Lord Voldemort," Sarah barely flinched at the name. None of the others flinched at all, not even Lily. Her eyes simply hardened. "Forced him and his parents to duel. Both at the same time. He killed both of them." Sarah sobbed again, Lily gasped and James and Sirius had a look of awe as they cast looks at each other again. Remus didn't have any outward reaction.
"I am not sure how he made it to a portkey that would take him to this hospital and therefore saved him when he ended up in such a condition. It obviously saved his life. But that is all I know that I can tell you." He squeezed James shoulder, and James turned to him. "James."
"Yes, Professor?"
"I know you already are holding one ward in your house," Dumbledore said, turning a kindly smile on Sirius, who simply smiled back at him. "But do you think your parents would be willing to help us out with Mr. Fugue as well if and when he gets better?"
James nodded solemnly, and Sirius looked delighted. "I'll talk to them, and I think they will say yes."
Dumbledore nodded. "Indeed. Now then, I will let you all visit with him for a bit, but then I must take you back. To the school in one case and your homes in other cases." At this Sarah stood up shaking and walked up to Dumbledore. He smiled kindly down at her, his eyes twinkling.
"Thank you for bringing us, Professor. Thank you for letting us know he-" she stopped, sniffling again, and Lily took her into her arms. The present Marauders looked on solemnly.
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "You needed to know, Miss Kosh." He then left the room silently.
James, Sirius and Remus turned back to the bed. "You kicked serious ass, Fugue," James said, and Sirius and Remus nodded. "Dumbledore is right. You succeeded, and you made us proud. Take your time recovering, and we'll always be around when you need us."
"You did everything right, Derek," Sirius added. James and Sirius then left the room.
Remus remained behind. "Derek, I was always your friend before. I remain your friend now. I will be around every once in a while, whether you are awake or asleep. I hope you remember that." He went over and hugged Sarah, who returned it gratefully and nodded and received a nod from/to Lily. He then left as well.
Lily walked to the bed and kissed Derek's cheek. "Thank you, Derek. What you did showed confidence in all the things that we had shown you in the past few months, but most of all, it showed confidence in me. I will always remember you." She then helped Sarah stand. "Do you need me to stay?" she whispered to her friend, but Sarah shook her head, and Lily left.
Sarah walked slowly and carefully over to the bed and leaned over Derek's head. She kissed him gently on both cheeks, and then, hovering over him for a second's pause, kissed him on the lips as well. "I knew what choice you would make, Derek. I knew it all along. I knew what was inside you, through all of the trials that you have been through, ever since I first broke your shell at the end of our third year. And I know many thing about us that I will only tell you when you are awake. Because, like I know those things, I know that you will awaken again."
She had a sharp intake of breath as a tear fell from her cheek to Derek's. She was about to wipe it away, when she froze. Derek moaned in his sleep. "Derek? Derek, wake up," she tried in a normal voice, but it was no use. Perhaps it was a fluke? She went ahead and wiped her tear from his cheek and backed up. When she was a step and a half away from the bed, she fled from the room, the tears no longer holding back.
Peter Pettigrew sat at the Leaky Cauldron that morning. His friends had promised to meet him there that morning, but they all were still sleeping. He had firecalled the Potters and the Lupins, and they had both told him that their children were all still asleep. Peter sighed. Some friends they were. But he knew he was lying to himself. They had been great friends to him, and though they had sometimes used him in ways he had not exactly appreciated, they let him be along, and included him wherever they could. Even defended him, when they were younger.
No, he just knew that a late night was probably to blame for their missed appointment in Diagon Alley that morning. He expected that when they woke up, they would hurry to catch up to him and apologize. Well, Remus would apologize, while James would mutter incoherently for a while and Sirius would pretend it was all on purpose. Peter sighed with a smile. Oh well, those were his friends, after all. They were the Marauders, and they would be friends for as long as they lived.
Peter was interrupted from his thoughts by someone tapping him on the shoulder. He turned to find someone of James's height in a black robe with the hood up beckoning for him to follow. Peter smiled, thinking it must be that they met outside and wanted to talk to him there, but when he got outside with the cloaked figure, they did not lead him to the other two Marauders. In fact, the person approaching him wasn't a Marauder at all. It was Narcissa Black… no, Narcissa Malfoy, she had just been married, Peter vaguely recalled.
"Your friends seem to be leaving you out lately," she said, her demeanor soft. Almost kind, even. Despite the fact that she was acting slightly out of character with what Peter remembered from his third year at Hogwarts and her seventh year, the words are what grabbed his attention.
"What do you mean?" he asked, the anger returning. This time his mind didn't try to explain away the fact that he still had not been met by his friends. "What do you mean they're leaving me out!"
Narcissa smiled, and Peter did notice and remember that she was very pretty. "How about I tell you all about what your friends have done to you, and introduce you to some friends who won't desert you like they did."
Albus Dumbledore sat in the Headmaster's Office of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. His fingers were steepled and his chin was resting on both of his thumbs. His long beard was tucked under the desk. Though all of the portraits were awake, none of them spoke. Mr. and Mrs. Potter had firecalled him just minutes before to tell him that what James suggested was a good idea. James, of course, had run off to a rendezvous with the rest of the little band that he hang around with, and was not with the two parents as Albus and the Potters talked.
The Potters had agreed to file for the adoption of guardianship of Derek Fugue, just in case he happened to need one in the next year or so. As he was seventeen, he did not really need a guardian, but there were certain instances that it would be better for him to have one, and he would need some place to stay over the summer holidays if he woke up in time to enjoy them. Thinking of this, Albus sighed noisily through the white hair that hid his mouth from view. It was very likely that Derek would be asleep for a very long time.
He had miraculously survived the ordeal he had been put through, but Albus had a feeling that part of the Killing Curse had struck him before the portkey took effect. Derek had been lucky to fall at the feet of a particular Death Eater. A Death Eater that happened to have a couple pence on him spelled as portkeys to various places. And the fact that he was Albus's spy in the organization and an accomplished Occulmens helped matters. However, that spy had lost his life because he was caught in the act of sending Derek away. It hadn't been immediately, nor did Dumbledore know exactly how it happened.
Albus had received a message from the operative just after five o'clock in the morning, and Albus had immediately roused the five teens that he knew cared a lot about the young man. After taking them to the Hospital at eight 'til six, he returned to his office to find a note from a regular Order member, Mad-Eye Moody, that the spy that had alerted him to Derek's appearance at St. Mungos had been found dead just outside Headquarters. Albus sighed. That was yet another thing that needed to be taken care of before the term resumed in January. They had to move the Headquarters again.
But Albus was now without an Order of the Phoenix member inside the circle of Death Eaters. The eyes and ears provided by a single person anywhere within the organization had been invaluable in stopping many attacks on the general public. Far more attacks would have happened in the past seven years than had, because of the Order's existence and tireless work. There had been many casualties to the cause, but with nearly ten times that in lives saved, Albus felt that the deaths had not been in vain.
He sighed once again, resigned to the fact that it would now be that much harder to predict Voldemort's actions when there was a knock on the office door. Albus raised his head from his hands and folded his hands in his lap on his beard. He then called, "Come in." The portraits immediately pretended to be sleeping silently.
The door opened, and into the office came Severus Snape, the sixth year. He walked up to Dumbledore's desk and said in a hoarse whisper, "I've made a mistake, Professor."
And as Dumbledore listened to Severus's story, his eyes began to twinkle. Severus would be the saving grace that the Order of the Phoenix needed.
Healer Sarah Kosh closed the door behind her quietly as she entered the room where Derek Fugue was laying. She walked over and sat down in the chair that was positioned next to the bed, as opposed to the one that still sat in the opposite corner of the room. She sighed. "I saw Harry today, Derek." Derek, as usual, did not respond. But as Sarah no longer expected him to respond, she continued talking. It was part of the therapy for Derek's coma that he was to be told things, keep a running commentary on the happenings of real life, which often helped those who did eventually wake. So through all the magic that was consistently tried on the patients, there was still this one small human comfort.
"You would have been proud of me, Derek. I paid my attention to Gilderoy and not to Harry as all of the Boy-Who-Lived nonsense. I knew that you never liked being treated differently than anyone else, and I figured it would be refreshing to have someone simply treat him as a kid for once…" she trailed off, and then rubbed her eyes. "He's nearing the age you were when you began the change, you know. This time next year he'll be at the same age. He's faced a lot, you know, just like you. I bet Professor Dumbledore has told you all about it in his visits…"
"I know, you say that I could do the same, that I should join the Order of the Phoenix, just like all the rest of them that were in this room. But did you know that they're almost all gone? Sirius went and became a murderer on Peter… not that you ever liked Peter much… and betrayed Lily and James to their death… Remus is all that's left. He's come to visit a lot too you know. I think he visits as much for my sake as yours."
She took a deep breath. "Alice and Frank. Do you remember them? I know I've told you all about them several times. Alice gave Neville another wrapper today, and the magic sensors went off for a moment. Her brain functioned. I think the new spell has a chance to start working… I've become so successful here, Derek, and no matter how many wizards I make better, such as Gilderoy's amazing progress, I can't touch what's going on with you…" And just as she had many times before, Sarah cried on Derek's shoulder, and he could not bring her comfort.