Chapter 02 – Appearances

A moment later Remus found himself not in Nepal or South Korea, but, much to his relief, indeed in a small and empty side alley across from the hospital. With a quick glance to make sure that indeed nobody was there to watch him, Remus pulled out his wand and transformed his robes into muggle jeans and a t-shirt, then set off towards the main entrance of the hospital. He went through the glass doors and took a good look around in the waiting area. Little Whinging was a rather small suburb, so the hospital here was not really big either. A young nurse was sitting behind a counter across from the entrance doors and to Remus' right about six or seven people were sitting in uncomfortable looking plastic chairs, waiting for their treatment.

Remus' eyes immediately fell onto the two people at the far off end of the room who did their best to appear as if they were not there at all. The man had an extremely red face, as if he had been arguing with somebody for a length of time, while the woman's sour lines around her nose and mouth were extremely pronounced as she was filling out a form on a wooden clipboard. Remus went over towards them.

"Good morning Mrs. Dursley, Mr. Dursley."

The Dursleys looked up and Remus could read how they were trying to remember who he was and why he knew their names. The fact that Remus was not wearing any robes seemed to make it difficult for them, and for a moment Remus wondered how Harry had ever managed to live together with them for such a long time. Eventually, Petunia seemed to remember their encounter at King's Cross.

"You!" She shrieked, alerting the nurse and the other occupants in the room. Realizing that any more attention was not what she wanted, she lowered her voice again. "What are you doing here? Can't you just leave us alone?"

Remus shook his head and pulled over a chair to sit across from the Dursleys. He didn't particularly care whether they were comfortable in his presence or not, he simply wanted to find out what was going on here.

"No, unfortunately I cannot leave you alone, not if we get to know that Harry is here in this hospital. So would you care to tell me what happened to him?"

"What happened?", Vernon Dursley roared. It was incredible, but this man could actually roar without being too loud about it. Remus shook his head and decided to let him finish.

"You think I want to be here? The boy has been a nuisance ever since he arrived, always stirring up trouble, always going against us. We didn't do anything, only so that you know, that's all his own doing. He should be thankful that we brought him to the hospital at all, but I can already see your lot placing the blame on us!"

Remus raised his eyebrows in complete and utter confusion.

"What on earth are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about that I'm not going to take the responsibility for this one, no matter what your lot might think!"

"Mr. Dursley, would you please care to explain what has actually happened to bring Harry here, because I'm still at a loss as to what happened."

Vernon Dursley stared hard at Remus, an expression of extreme anger on his face.

"That idiot boy tried to commit suicide!"

Remus' heart stopped for a beat or two and he didn't even realize that he was balling his hands into fists hard enough so that his fingernails drew blood.

"What did you say?", he asked, his voice tight with barely contained shock and anger.

"Either that, or his cooking leaves much to be desired. If I had known that he had all those…those ingredients in his trunk, I'd have locked it up again! No, if I'd known that, I'd never have let him into my house again in the first place! What if he had given this…this stuff to my son, or my wife? He could have killed us all with those freakish brews!"

Remus had a hard time fighting for his composure.

"What did Harry do?"

"I told you, didn't I? He brewed up something and drank it. Was barely breathing when we found him, so we brought him to the hospital. I didn't want to, but what should we have done? We'd only have gotten into trouble with the police or with…your lot, otherwise. Didn't call the ambulance, though, would only have drawn the attention of our neighbours. Lucky for the boy that he didn't also vomit into the car, I got the upholstery done new only two months ago!"

But Remus didn't really listen anymore. It just could not be true, could it? Why had nobody realized? Harry had written the letters in which he told the Order members that he was doing all right, hadn't he? Why had nobody realized that something was amiss? Would he have been able to prevent this, had he only cared enough about anything but his own depression to take the time and read the letters? He tried to still his erratic breathing and heartbeat before he spoke again. And he hoped that this ignorant muggle would not give him more reason to lose his composure.

"You are trying to tell me that Harry – your nephew, if I have to remind you – was sad or depressed enough to try and take his life, and that you did not realize what was going on?"
Vernon stuttered indignantly and Petunia's mouth drew into an even tighter line, but before they could say anything else, he waved their protests off.

"Doesn't matter now. Where is Harry now?"

This time it was Petunia who answered. "They carted him off through that door when we arrived here and told us we could not leave until we had filled out those forms. That's all we know."

She didn't seem particularly interested in knowing more, but this time Remus refrained from throttling her. He had better things to do right now, like informing Headquarters, for example. He desperately needed a fireplace, and that meant he had to leave the hospital as soon as possible. If Harry had indeed tried to poison himself, then muggle doctors might not realize what he had done. One could poison themselves with the ingredients in a fifth year's potion kit, it all depended on how thoroughly one was with it. And Remus' hope at the moment was that Harry had never been particularly talented with potions. But better be safe than sorry before the muggle doctors overlooked something they were not even searching for. Remus jumped to his feet and pointed his finger at Petunia and Vernon.

"You fill out those forms and then you stay here until I come back, is that understood? I would not try to leave nevertheless if I were you, we know where you live. And we will find you, no matter where you go to. When I come back, you in your role as Harry's guardians will allow me and whoever I bring along to see Harry even though we're not related. After that you may go home. Did I make myself clear?"

Petunia nodded mutely, seemingly intimidated by the sudden feral seriousness in Remus' voice, and though Vernon didn't move or acknowledge Remus in any way, he didn't think Harry's uncle would make problems.

Without another word at the Dursleys, Remus stormed out of the hospital, across the street and back into the small side alley. Now that he knew the hospital, apparating was far easier to achieve his goal and with a crack Remus disappeared and a moment later with another crack appeared again in Arabella Figg's back garden, safely sheltered from view by the huge rhododendrons. Without bothering to knock, he flung the back door open and stormed into the living room, making Arabella jump from the sofa in surprise.

"Remus! What in Merlin's name are you doing here? Is it about Harry?"

But instead of answering, Remus impatiently waved at her and knelt down in front of the fireplace where a small fire was already burning, waiting to be used. Obviously, Arabella had waited for news. Only logical, once Remus thought about it. After all Arabella was the one set to guard over Harry during the holidays. Remus threw a pinch of floo call powder in the flames and called up No. 12, Grimmauld Place. It took a moment until Remus found himself face to face with a once again grinning Kingsley Shacklebolt.

"Remus, you were fast. So what's the news?"

Only then did Remus realize how breathless he actually felt, just as if he had run a race. He forced his breathing down for a moment and answered.

"Kingsley, call up Severus. I don't know where he is, but try Hogwarts and if he's not there, find Albus and ask him. Tell him to dress up as a muggle and come to Little Whinging Hospital immediately."

Kingsley's handsome face darkened as the possible meaning of this sunk in.

"What happened?"
"From what it looks like, Harry tried to poison himself and I'm not sure if the muggle doctors will find out what he did. Tell Severus that he most probably only had his standard potions kit with him, but that's no guarantee. He needs to find out what Harry took and what the antidote for that is."

Kingsley nodded once, then scrambled up from the floor again.

"All right, I'll call him immediately. Anything else?"
"I'll send Arabella to collect whatever is left of what Harry brewed up and bring it to the hospital. I'll wait for him in the reception area there."

"Good. I'll find him and tell him immediately."
The connection broke and Remus sank back on his heels, only now becoming aware of Arabella's presence in the room.

"Sorry to come banging in here like that, I just don't know how serious it is for Harry." He got to his feet again. "You heard it all?"

Arabella nodded.

"Yes, and I'll go over to the Dursley's immediately and see what I can find there. Are they home?"

Remus shook his head.

"No, I told them to wait until I come back and they have cleared with the hospital that I'm allowed to visit Harry. They won't be back for the next thirty minutes, I'd guess."

Again, Arabella nodded and went to fetch her purse.

"I'll bring whatever I find to the hospital."
"Thank you. Just tell the nurse to call me out."

They looked at each other for a moment, then both moved towards their respective doors they would use and while Arabella went over towards Privet Drive, Remus apparated back to the hospital. When he came back into the reception area, the Dursleys were indeed still sitting in their chairs, minus the forms Petunia had filled out earlier. They looked up when Remus came towards them but didn't say anything.

"Have you spoken to Harry's doctor?"

Petunia drew her mouth into an even tighter line, but didn't answer. After a couple of moments, Vernon decided that ignoring Remus might not be the best of choices. Grumpily, he mumbled a response.

"Haven't seen any doctor yet."

Remus nodded and tiredly leaned his back against one of the walls. He didn't know whether to take it as a good sign or not that those muggle doctors took quite so long in checking Harry through. It could mean that they were exceptionally thorough, but it could also mean that they simply couldn't find out what was wrong with Harry. Remus didn't know much about muggle medicine, but so far he had always guessed that in case of poisoning they pumped out the stomach contents and administered an antidote of some sorts, that shouldn't take too long, should it?

With quite a start Remus realized that he had started to drum his fingers impatiently against the back-lean of a chair that was standing next to him and that the nurse behind the counter was already throwing him impatient looks. Remus forced himself to smile apologetically at her, then crossed his hands over his chest and bit his lip.

The minutes passed, five, ten, twenty minutes. Remus was getting more and more impatient.

Why in Merlin's name was it Severus taking so long to come? If he had been at Hogwarts, he should be here by now, the journey could not possibly take that long. As if on cue, the double glass doors swung open a moment later and the nurse's attention was quickly diverted from Remus' impatient behaviour to the sour looking man who came walking into the waiting area in long strides.

Despite the serious situation, Remus had to stifle a laugh at the fearful gazes the Potions master drew onto himself, and at the same time was thankful that Kingsley seemed to have brought the message of wearing muggle clothing across. Though Severus didn't seem too comfortable wearing black muggle trousers and shirt, at least he didn't also stand out through his clothing. He had tied his hair back at the nape of his neck, something Remus knew he usually only did when he was working on extremely complicated potions where any errand hair might ruin the works of weeks or months. This definitely was an appearance the Hogwarts students were not supposed to ever see, but Remus got the sinking feeling that if Severus had been disturbed during something he deemed important or complicated, then his mood would not be the very best.

Without another word, Snape came to a halt in front of Remus, completely ignoring Harry's gaping muggle relatives as he threw his most deadly glare at his former classmate.

"What, pray, might be important enough to have Shacklebolt call me out here in the middle of some vital and extremely complicated work? It's not as if I was just idly sitting around in the castle for the entire summer holidays, you know?"

Remus sighed and did a mental eye roll. Trust Kingsley to leave the uncomfortable explanations to him.

"He didn't tell you why you're here?"
"He just stammered something about Potter and his fifth year potions kit and an antidote. I'm a Potions- and not a Quizmaster, so I didn't spend my time guessing what he wants. Would you care to enlighten me?"

Remus sighed and tried to think of a good way to break the news of the past hours to the sour Potions master.

"The short version is that I was sent to have a look at Harry after it became obvious that he had left the house at Privet Drive. He was tracked here in the hospital, and when I arrived Harry's uncle told me that Harry obviously tried to poison himself. I'm pretty sure he only had his standard potions equipment at home, but as I don't know what he brewed up and if the muggles find out about it during their check up, I thought it best to call you to have a look at him."

If those words had any effect on Snape then he didn't let it show. A slight sneer showed on his face however when he spoke again.

"A poison. And that though I considered him always too incompetent to brew any kind of potion."

"Severus, this isn't helping us."

"All right Lupin, then I'd suggest we have a look at Potter."

Remus gestured Petunia and Vernon Dursley to come along with them and together the four went over towards the young nurse at the counter. She looked up expectantly. "Yes?"
"We would like to see Harry Potter, please."

"Are you relatives of his?"

Remus shook his head and looked at Petunia. Harry's aunt took a moment before she understood it as her clue to speak.

"We are his…guardians", she said lowly as if she was afraid anybody else might overhear her admitting it, "and we allow them to visit the boy."

The nurse nodded and rummaged around in her desk for a moment until she found another form and extracted two copies.

"Please read those carefully, fill in the names of the two gentlemen and sign them, I'll go and talk to Mr. Potter's doctor", the nurse said to Petunia as she handed over the two sheets of paper. Without looking at them another time Petunia and Vernon scribbled their signatures at the line on the bottom and pushed them over to Remus.

"Can we go now?"

Remus nodded. "I think so, yes. We know where you live after all, in case we need something else from you."

Vernon grunted disapprovingly and he and Petunia quickly vanished out of the doors.

Remus signed his name on top of one of the forms and had to suppress a laugh as he saw Snape struggling with his pen. He took it out of the sour Potions masters hand, pressed out the tip and handed it back.

"Why can't they use quill and ink like normal people?"

Remus only shook his head and bit back a comment about muggle-phobias.

"Just let us get this done and over with, I want to know what's wrong with Harry."

"Much unlike his relatives, I have to say."

"What did you expect Severus? Teary moments in the hospital waiting room? Whatever you had imagined Harry's home life to look like, that's not it."

"Actually I didn't imagine anything about Potter's home life. I'm not particularly interested in those details of…"

Whatever Snape had wanted to say was interrupted by the return of the nurse. A tall elderly man was accompanying her and the two stopped in front of Remus and Snape.

"You are here for Harry Potter?"

"Yes, can we see him?"

The nurse picked up the forms the Dursleys had signed and the doctor gestured Snape and Remus to follow him, talking while he went.

"Mr. Dursley told us that Mr. Potter had mixed up and drank something poisonous. We pumped out his stomach, but couldn't find out until now just what exactly he has taken."

"What were his symptoms?"
The doctor looked a bit surprised at Snape, but after a moment answered.

"His pulse-rate was – and still is – extremely low, he was barely breathing when he was brought here and during our first examination the breathing set out completely once. We have him stabilized now, though he's still unconscious. We scanned his blood and urine for the usual toxins but came up negative, now we're still waiting for the results of the detailed blood-screening."

They reached a door and the doctor came to a halt.

"This is his room. Don't worry about the machines, we still have him on a couple of monitors to control his heart-rate and breathing, just so we know immediately in case something changes. If you have any more questions, call a nurse or me. I'll be back as soon as we get the results of the blood-screening."

"Thank you."

Remus smiled gratefully at the man and turned into Harry's room. As the doctor had said there were a couple of monitors standing around Harry's bed, and one of the devices was beeping softly in time with Harry's heartbeats. The doctor had been right, Harry's heart was beating extremely slow.

Harry was looking pale as a ghost in the bed, there were drips connected to the veins in his arms and a small tube was obviously supporting his air supply through his nose.

Remus immediately stepped beside the bed and took Harry's hand into his own while Snape took the time to cast a privacy spell over the room. Then he cleaned up the bedside table and unpacked some small items from the pockets of his trousers. Only when he took the shrinking charm off of them did Remus realize that those were the items Snape would need to define the degree of Harry's poisoning. There were also ingredients to create antidotes and Remus allowed himself to relax a bit more. Snape might not be particularly pleased to help Harry, but he had come to his help and would do whatever was necessary. And there was hardly anybody beside Snape whom Remus would entrust with Harry's wellbeing now. With anything that concerned potions and poisons, Harry was in the best of hands now.

The first thing Snape did was step beside the bed and pulled up Harry's eye-lids. He frowned a bit.

"What's wrong?"

"His pupils are extremely dilated, I didn't expect that."

"And what could that mean?"

Snape sneered.

"As soon as I find out, you will of course be the first to know."

Remus bit back a remark at that, and even though he had not expected it, Snape continued talking after a short moment.

"There are quite a number of poisons a fifth year could brew up with his potions supplies, and most of them are in one of their school books. Normally, we trust that students don't brew them up just like that during their spare time, and anyway, we can't confiscate their books or supplies over the holidays. But dilated pupils and cold, clammy skin don't really fit to any of the potions that are in the book I let my students use. It would help to have a sample of what he has taken."

Remus let go of Harry's hand and turned towards the door.

"I'll have a look at the waiting room, maybe Arabella is here already."

Snape nodded without looking up and so Remus left the room and went back into the waiting area. Indeed Arabella was just coming through the doors, looking around in search of him. He went over towards her.

"Arabella?"
"Ah Remus, there you are. Sorry that I took so long, I nearly collided with those blasted relatives of Harry on my way out, and I didn't think it would be wise for them to find me searching around in their house. It seems that Harry knocked over his cauldron after he drank the potion, or maybe that blasted uncle of his did it, I don't know. It took me some time to get the remains of the potion out of the bottom of the cauldron. It's not much, but it was all that was left without stripping the carpet out of the room. I hope it is enough."

She pulled out a small vial from her robes and handed it over to Remus.

"Thank you, Arabella. I'd best get it back to Severus quickly."

"Do that, good luck. Let me know if Harry is doing any better."

"I will. Good bye, Arabella."
"Good bye, Remus."

Hiding the vial in the pocket of his jeans – it would not be helpful if the nurses saw it and got suspicious as to what he was giving Harry – Remus hurried back along the corridor.

With a slight smile he realized that Snape had been pretty thorough in casting the Privacy Charm. If he had not been all that focussed on getting back to Harry's room he'd most probably have overlooked it and walked on. That should indeed save them from curious nurses or doctors while Snape was examining Harry.

Remus entered the room again and closed the door firmly behind himself. Snape didn't even turn or look up, obviously very well aware of the strength of his Privacy Charm.
"Figg found something?"

"Yes." Remus placed the vial on the bedside table next to Snape's equipment, then he sat back down onto the chair next to Harry's bed and picked up the teenager's cold and clammy hand again.

Snape reached for the vial, uncorked it and smelled its contents. Remus thought to detect a surprised frown on his face, but it was gone so quickly that he could not be sure it had truly been there. And even if it had been there, Remus knew better than to ask Snape something while he was working. So for the next couple of minutes he watched as his former classmate did his best to analyze the contents of the small vial Arabella had brought from Privet Drive. Not once did Snape say something or betray what he was thinking in any other way, save that one frown as he had initially smelled the potion. After maybe ten minutes he began leafing through the ingredients he had brought, lightened a small fire and started to brew a potion.

Remus had never been that much of a potion brewer himself, he had seen the subject more as a nuisance than anything else in school, but he watched attentively and tried to find out what Snape was doing there. He recognized that Snape was handling a bezoar, but what other ingredients he put into the potion he could not find out. His limited potions knowledge was enough to supply him with the information that bezoars were a most effective ingredient for antidotes of most sorts. He trusted Snape enough not to question what the other man was doing. Whatever Harry had brewed up, it simply could not be too complicated for Snape to counter, Remus trusted that his former classmate would find the antidote soon.

So when Snape was finished with brewing the potion Remus wordlessly helped him raising Harry into a sitting position and watched as the Potions master gave Harry the antidote to drink. Only when Harry was lying on the mattress again and Snape was packing up his ingredients did Remus break the silence.

"What was it, Severus?"

Not turning away from where he was cleaning up his ingredients, Snape shrugged.

"Trust Potter to brew up something like that." Before Remus could ask what he meant, Snape turned and began shrinking his packs.

"What he brewed up was definitely poisonous and I doubt that his body would have handled it well without an antidote, but it was not any potion I know. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he had attempted something completely else and botched it. Thoroughly, as I would expect considering his complete inability at potions brewing. If Albus insists on it, I'll have a closer look at the matter once I'm back at Hogwarts, but right now I've got other things to do."

"Harry will be all right?"

"That's what an antidote is supposed to do, Lupin. It makes sure somebody doesn't die from a poison. That I don't know the potion doesn't mean I can't do anything against its effects. But to soothe your troubled mind, Potter will most probably wake up in a couple of hours, and I don't think that he'll have to stay here for longer than another day or two."

Remus raised his hands in a calming gesture.

"I'm only worried about Harry, Severus. I didn't doubt your abilities."

Snape gruffly grunted something and packed the shrunk ingredients into his pocket and turned towards the door.

"I'll take my leave now. If anything should occur, you know where to find me. Though I would appreciate it not to be called unless it's absolutely necessary."

"Thank you, Severus."

Without another word, Snape nodded again and then left the room, leaving nothing to indicate that any kind of potion-brewing had taken place here only minutes ago. With a sigh, Remus took down the privacy spell and sat down next to Harry's bed. As he took the teenager's hand into his own again he noticed with quite some relief that Harry's skin was not as clammy and cold anymore as it had been earlier, and the heartbeats which were still monitored by the muggle machines were also coming faster and more regular.

But he already knew that he'd not be truly relaxed until Harry had woken up again. And then he would give the teenager a piece of his mind about what he had tried to do. But that could take some more time, so he settled for the wait.