A/N: Has been combined with extension. Extension has been deleted. (If it's not, it should've been)
Wrongful Imprisonment:
That's The Way The World Is Now
Chapter 5: Hospital Drama
Fiona screamed.
Umbridge, Tonks, Remus and Harry turned to look at her. James was staring at the cracks in the ceiling and seemed oblivious to what was going on. Fiona paled slightly then seemed to righten herself. She stood up straight, pulling on the hem of her starched white robe. "It's alright," she whispered, two fingers on the unconscious man's wrist. "He's alive." She went to a bench on the side of the room with some potions vials. She picked one up, it was half-full of a sticky, lilac liquid. "He's just been poisoned."
"Who is this man?" Umbridge asked, her voice full of sugary politeness again. She advanced into the room. Tonks, after a few moments hesitation, followed her. She stood behind Umbridge. She caught Remus's eye and winked. Remus smiled back.
"He's Amyller. He was meant to take over my shift." Fiona explained. She lifted the vial up to a candle, and groaned. "I thought so. Alylac. Poisinous when drunk on its own."
"How did he get in!" Umbridge demanded to know. She tugged on the sleeves of her frilly pale pink cardigan. Tonks walked into the room and perched on the arm of Kingsley's chair. James's cold hazel eyes followed her. He seemed distrusting of her.
"He went through the employee entrance. There's a narrow stairwell. He must have been pretty quiet, but then again, Amyller's a pretty quiet man." Fiona replied. She hooked her arms under the sturdy brown-haired man lying on the floor. "Help me help him into one of the beds, will you?" she asked the room in general.
It seemed like no-one else was going to offer, since Umbridge was still seething at Fiona's words and Kingsley was too comfortable in his chair and Tonks looked very tired (she had been on guard duty last night) and probably wouldn't have been able to lift the man's bulk, so Remus walked foward and lifted Amyller's legs. They moved him on the bed next to James's.
Fiona walked back to the bench. "The antidote's in here somewhere, we're just running out of it. This is our last vial," she said as she picked up another vial. This one was full of a clear liquid, a little bit like clouded water. She went to Amyller's bed and trickled the vial's contents into his slightly open mouth. "He should awaken within twelve hours." She smiled, mainly for Umbridge's benefit as she was still glaring at her. In an undertone she added,"I better be paid overtime for this."
Umbridge spoke again, this time her voice was dull and bland and had a slight speech-making tone in it. "Is Mr. Potter alright? The Ministry and I are concerned," she asked, her face nor voice showing any concern what so ever.
Remus sat on the end of the hospital bed oppisite James's. His legs were very tired from standing up for the last half hour. Harry sat next to him.
"We think he'll be discharged in four days," Fiona said professionly. She walked over to James and patted him on the shoulder the way one might reassure a young child.
"The Ministry wants to take him to be our charge." Umbridge stated. She pulled out a piece of parchment of the pocket of her cardigan. "I have a document signed here from the Minister--"
Fiona interrupted. "Are you currently in the habit of talking of yourself in third peson? Fiona thinks that you might need to spend some time here yourself. Yes, Fiona does indeed think that."
Umbridge gave her a scathing look. "You're just jealous of your cousin. I'm--," she puffed out her chest, "Minister for Magic. And you...you are a healer."
"At least I save people's lives, not destroy them."
Umbridge turned a deaf ear to Fiona. Everyone in the room were watching the two of them as if they were at a theatre play. Even James had stopped his watching the wall/ceiling habit and was watching them with mild interest.
Umbridge started again. "The Ministry wants to take Mr.Potter to be our charge. I have a document here..." She handed the rolled up parchment to Fiona. Fiona did nottake it out of her hands, however. "That will not be neccesary," she said.
"Mr. Potter is in an unstable condition, and needs a carer." Umbridge walked even closer to Fiona, they were barely three feet apart.
"He already has one." Fiona explained calmly, with the air of one telling a small child that they could not fly without a broom.
There was a moment of silence. The only sound was James tapping his bare feet on the floor. Harry was sitting next to him. He smiled at the father he hadn't seen in fourteen years. James attempted a smile back. His eyes brightened so much Remus swore they were a different shade of grey altogether. Kingsley fiddled with the gold earring he had in his ear.
"Who is it?" Umbridge asked, drawing herself to her full height. "Where is he?"
Remus thought he knew who it was. And if all he had heard about Dolores Umbridge was true, she was not going to like it. Her wide mouth twitched in anticipation. Fiona laid her other hand on James's other shoulder. She waited a second and replied. "A Mr. Dumbledore was given the responsibility of taking care of Mr. Potter until the time the hospital sees fit."
Umbridge seemed to divulge this information. For a few moments she looked like she had eaten a particulary disgusting bit of food, but she swallowed, her expression not dissamiliar to someone swallowing said food item. "I guess I should be going then. It seems that my presence here at St. Mungo's is no longer wanted, nor required." She walked to the door.
James looked at Umbridge. He stared so hard that Remus thought he was trying to bore a hole in her skull.
Umbridge turned around when she reached the door, facing Remus,James, Harry, Tonks, Fiona and Kingsley."This will not be the last you see of me," she declared.
"I'm sure it won't be," Fiona replied idly.
"Remember, St. Mungos is now Ministry propety, and we have a say on whatever goes on in here. Don't forget," she walked through to the hallway.
Tonks was the first to speak in Umbridge's presence. "Such a nice and lovable person, isn't she?" she asked them, her voice dripping in sarcasm.
Remus nodded absent-mindedly and turned to look at the clock on the wall. "Is that the time?" he asked aloud. "We must get going, we have to bring Harry back to his aunt and uncle."
Tonks nodded. She jumped of the arm of the wooden chair, and said, "I'm ready to go."
"He lives WHERE?" James exclaimed, sliding lengthways on his bed. Fiona walked sideways and put her hand on his shoulder again to steady him.
"He lives with Lily's sister, Petunia, during summer holidays." Remus picked some fluff of his robes.
"Lily," James whispered. He squeezed Harry's hand. "Be careful, Harry."
Harry grinned lopsidedly, "I'll try...dad." Harry smiled again, and this time James was fully able to return it.
"C'mon, Harry," Tonks said. "Your dad'll be fine here with Amyller and Fiona. Let's go. You'll see him again in four days when he's discharged from the hospital. You'll be able to see your dad somewhere else than a hospital bed!"
They left throught the open door.
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First of August, Summer 1995.
Tonks was writing a fake letter to the Dursley's, inviting them to a non existent best kept lawn competition. She was hunched over the small, shabby typewriter she was using, pushing the last final key. S. She pulled it out of the typewriter, folded up the letter and put it in a envelope. Grabbing a ballpoint pen lying on the kitchen table, she put down the fake return address on the back of the envelope.
Dora Thomas
Society of Gardens
Garden Lane,
London.
She finished it with a flourish. She stuck a stamp in the right hand corner of the envelope. She really didn't want it to be sent back, especially when the 'Society of Gardens' did not exist.
At least not in the middle of London.
"Are you finished?" someone asked tiredlybehind her.
Tonks picked up the envelope. "I've been up all night typing it. These things could be a little more user-friendly." She pointed to the rusty typewriter.
"Are you going to mail it today, Tonks?"The speaker sat down next toher. She turned to face him. It was her secondcousin, Sirius.
"Yeah..." Tonks pulled her waist length dark red hair from underneath her and stood up from her chair. She stretched her legs out. "What time is it?" she asked, "It's still dark out." She pointed out the small window above the kitchen.
Sirius rolled his eyes. Leaning back on the hind legs of his chair, he said, "Tonks, this is a basement."
"Why does it have a window?" Tonks asked in suprise. She walked up to the window and wiped at it with the sleeve of her robe. The grime did not go away. "It's a fake window!" she exclaimed, finally catching on. "Why does the kitchen have one?" she asked curiously.
Sirius shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, ask my father," he said with a slight bitter tone to his voice. Tonks thought it was time to change the subject out of these dangerous waters.
"You know, you can break your back doing that," Tonks told Sirius conversationally, as she pointed to his chair.
Sirius swung the front legs of the chair back on the floor with a loud bang.
"Yes, Professor," he said sarcastically.
The kitchen door opened. Tonks sighed and stood up, snatching her letter up as well as a cup of coffee. "Good Morning," Hermione said as she walked into the room, her bushy brown hair was wet, she had obviously just had a shower, unless she had the unusual habit in bobbing apples when she woke up in the morning. Shesat down in the chair Tonks had occupied moments before. The chair squeaked.
"To answer your former question, it's six-thirty on the morning of the first of August.." Sirius informed her. "What's news at the Ministry?" he asked her as Hermione stood up after a few seconds andwent to make herself breakfast.
"Umbridge's made a new 'Educational Degree', and it says that if the Headmaster of Headmistress of any wizarding school in the United Kingdom cannot produce a teacher, the Ministry will appoint one." Tonks drummed her fingers on the table. "And Dumbledore's been having a lot of trouble finding a Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor. Would you want a job that's cursed?"
"Not particularly." Sirius swung on his chair again. Tonks rolled her eyes, but did not chatise him. "I thought that Hogwarts was the only wizard school in the U.K, anyway."
"It is. That's what makes the whole thing even more ridiculous." Tonks sighed again and reclaimed her seat.
"Has Umbridge decided who she wants to teach the position?" Sirius asked curiously.
Tonks sighed for a third time and said, "Yes. She wants me to do it."
"Why you?" Sirius asked her.
"She seems to think I am on her side," Tonks said unhappily. She then smiled. "Just wait till she finds out the truth."
"Are you going to take it?" Sirius asked.
"Might as well. Since the Ministry is still refusing to believe Voldemort is back, we Aurors are just doing a dungload of paperwork. Filing events which happened a hundred years ago." She yet again decided it was time to change the subject. She didn't want to get into a conversation about Voldemort.
"James comes here tomorrow," she told Sirius. By the look on Sirius's face, this wasn't a good topic to change the subject to.
"I just can't believe I was four cell blocks away from him for twelve years, and I never knew." Sirius sighed. "I knew alot of people...heard what they screamed at night...I never heard James...James...wasn't someone to let people know he was suffering. He preffered to wear a happy face and pretend everything was alright...everything was alright...he thought everything would be better in the end...when he was upset...or confused...I guess...he used to hide behind himself...become obnoxious to the point of being harmfully rude."
Hermione sat down on a chair in the corner of the table and started to eat her buttered bread.
"You've had a long time to think about this stuff, haven't you?"
"Too long. Let's go wake Moony up." It was Sirius who changed the subject this time. He stood up and walked up the stairs.
"I'll mail this today then!" Tonks hollered up to Sirius. She smiled at Hermione who was now getting herself a cup of coffee.
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Second of August, Summer, 1995.
"So they're gone, then?" Tonks asked under the stuffy invisibility cloak.
"Well, their car's gone, that's a good sign." Remus was under the same invisibility cloak as Tonks and they were moving at a snail's pace towards Number Four, Privet Drive.
"It's nearly nine, we better be going...they'll be home soon...why'd we leave it so late?" Tonks asked. She changed her hair back to her usual pink and spiky.
"It took Dumbledore and I two hours to convince Moody not to send a full guard." Remus was wearing another of his shabby, patched robes.
As they neared the front door, Tonks asked, "Why don't you just fix it?" She groaned as she stepped on, andsquashed, one of the flowers in the Dursley's front garden.
"Fix what?" Remus asked, mystified.
"Your robes!" Tonks exclaimed.
"It's a long story...and we don't have time." Remus yawned tiredly.He look right, then left, then right again.He cuppedhishand to his ear.When he was certain no-one was listening, he whispered"Alohamora." He pointed the wand to the front door of the Dursley's respectable abode. The lock clicked open. Remus twisted the door knob. The door swung open. The room was brightly lit, the source of light coming from the ceiling. Someone had turned the lightswitch on.
Harry was sitting on the bottom of the stairs. Remus looked at him in suprise. Harry answered his unspoken question. "Sirius sent me an owl to tell me to excpect some visitors," he explained. He stood up and ran a hand through his hair.
"Did you forget to brush it?" Tonks asked.
Harry raised an eyebrow. "There wouldn't be a point."
"Portkey time!" Tonks exclaimed, pulling said item out of her pocket. "We're going places!" She held the broken tennis ball to Harry and Remus. "Hold on. This will take us to the hall. And yes," she said as she saw the look that Remus's brown eyes gave her, "It's authorised. By the Minister for Magic herself."
"Three...two...one..."
Harry had a finger on the Portkey. The lit up front hall of Four Privet Drive swam and disappeared before him, and the fourth floor of St. Mungo appeared.
Tonks knocked on the door of the Ana Moon ward, not wanting to display rudeness, as Umbridge had done.
There was no answer.
She knocked again, louder and harder. Eventually she threw open the door. She was looking into a dark room. James was gone.
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