Author's Note: Enjoy!
Hogwarts: Assignment #9, Beauty Therapy Task 9, Write about someone who feels like they can't breathe.
Disclaimer: The following characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and this story derives from her original works, storylines, and world. Please do not sue me, I can barely pay tuition.
Warnings: Serious injury; hospitalization
Close Call
Remus felt as if he was hovering outside of his body as he walked into St. Mungo's, framed by two Aurors. They showed their identification and waved away the Healer at the reception. They brought Remus straight through, though he didn't quite hear what they said.
He hadn't heard much since McGonagall had summoned her to his office and he'd seen the two Aurors there. He hadn't heard much, the things he saw didn't quite register, the air he breathed didn't reach his lungs, and his entire body felt both too tense and too weak to move. A horrible taste reigned in his mouth, however, and he felt as if a sword might be hanging over his head too.
They brought him up to the fourth floor and then into a waiting room where Teddy was sitting on the floor under a Healer's supervision, playing with blocks. When he heard them come in, the little blue-haired boy turned his head.
"Dadda!" Teddy said.
"Teddy, sweetheart," Remus said dropping to his knees just in time to catch his son in a hug. He buried his face in the little boy's shoulder and held on tight. His heart started beating again, but Remus still didn't feel like he could breathe.
He pulled away to sort out how Teddy looked.
"He's only been here about an hour," Healer said. "It was bad timing—with the Minstry's daycare closing…"
"Thank you," Remus said. He'd just said two words, but he felt as if the little air in his chest had gotten knocked right out.
He kissed Teddy's hair and ran his hands up and down the little boy's arms to try and calm himself down. "Were you… were you playing with those blocks? Was it fun?"
"Mr Lupin?" one of the Aurors said. "They're ready for you, but you can't bring the boy."
"I'll watch him a moment longer, I have time," the Healer said.
"Thank you," Remus said. He turned back to Teddy. "Can you go back and play for a little bit?"
"Is Mama going to come play with me?" Teddy asked him. Remus felt like he was too short on air to answer. He kissed Teddy's hair instead.
"I'll be right back, okay?" Remus said.
"Okay," Teddy said.
He got up again, his legs feeling about as solid as spaghetti under him as he stepped out to meet the Healer waiting for him. To Remus' shock, it was Amelia Johnson—she'd been in seventh year the first time Remus had taught at Hogwarts. He had written her a letter of recommendation to get her into St. Mungo's training program.
"Hello, Mr Lupin," she said. "I don't know if you remember me…"
"Amelia," he said. "No, Amy, you prefered Amy—I'm sorry."
"No, not at all," Amy smiled. "I'm your wife's Healer, today—right this way, I can update you while we walk… She was brought in a few hours ago with severe crush injuries after taking several curses to the chest and falling off her broomstick during a high-speed chase… she fractured her pelvis and wrist, and hit her head rather hard. We had to control some internal bleeding in her abdomen when she arrived as well."
"Okay," Remus said. He gulped. "Okay and what, umm, what was she hit with?"
"We don't know," Amy said. "We can't tell what curse it was, it's not something we've seen before, but it… it had some necrotic properties to it before we managed to contain it."
"Oh God," Remus said. "Oh God, and she's..?"
"She's stabilized," Amy said. "We'll be waiting a little longer to tend to some of her injuries, to make sure that there's no infection or any other compromise to her heart and lungs. She's been in and out of consciousness, but it's been a difficult few hours and it will be a difficult night."
"Okay," Remus said. "Okay. Does that mean that she… that she won't…"
He could have been sick.
"It means that it will be a difficult night, Mr Lupin," Amy said. "We've done everything that we can and from here on out, we don't know."
Remus knew what he had to do now. Take a deep breath to calm himself down. Take a deep breath to clear the voices in his mind telling him to expect the worst. But he just couldn't do it. All the air he could have been breathing was gone.
"Sir, would you like to see her?" Amy asked.
"Of course, please," Remus said. "I—I would."
"Okay," Amy said. "Okay, this is her room…"
Remus stood in the door frame for a few seconds. He'd never actually seen a private room at St. Mungo's before; he'd been told they were kept for the extremely severe cases. Against the white hospital sheets, Dora's telltale magenta hair stood out even more than it usually did.
"Dora?" he asked.
She didn't turn to him, but he did see her hand twitch and heard something muffled.
Immediately he was by her side. He wanted so badly to reach out and touch her but he had idea which part of her was safe—which part of her wouldn't be hurt more by even the slightest caress of his fingertips. She looked… she looked in bad shape. Her chest was heavily bandaged, her hips and legs were stabilized by metal structures, one of her wrists was encased in plaster, and there was a nasty cut on her face that was dangerously close to her eye. It was still uncovered—it baffled Remus that that was the least of the problems the Healers had had…
"Can I stay with her?" he asked. "I mean, I have to send her mother an owl, and ask my son's godfather to take him for the night, but after…"
Amy hesitated for a moment but nodded. Remus wondered for a split second if he might get his old student in trouble before realizing that he didn't care.
A few hours later, she brought him a blanket—which was sweet of her, even if he had no intention of sleeping. Whenever a Healer came in to check on her, take some measurements, and leave a note on her chart, Remus straightened up to watch. But all he could do was watch her chest rise and fall, thankful for what it meant and distinctly aware that his own chest tighter than he imagined possible.
Amy came in again in a new set of Healer's robes, her ponytail on a different side of her head, water recently splashed over her face.
"Amy?" Remus asked.
She gave him a smile, but even she wouldn't tell him anything.
This was his worst nightmare. It had nearly happened at the Battle of Hogwarts; it had nearly happened a thousand times before. He and Dora had met in dangerous, volatile circumstances. Her career had never been a secret. But this…
He'd been pacing the room and stopped, turning to look at her sleeping form.
"Come on, Dora," he said, sitting at the foot of her bed. "I can't do this without you. Don't make me do this without you…"
She didn't stir and he went back to pacing. He knew his eyes were dry, he knew his muscles were tired and weary, he knew his body ached for food or water—but he didn't feel any of it. The only thing that mattered was the circles he was pacing around the room, because at least that was something, whereas sitting there and watching her… watching her what? Was she dying?
He was back in his visitor's chair, watching over her, when her eyes fluttered open at around 6:37 a.m.
"St. Mungo's?" she muttered before her eyes even focused.
"Yes," Remus said. His heart beat anew. "Yes, Dora, you're in St. Mungo's… You were hurt, but the Healers are working hard. They've got you. I've got you."
Dora smiled when she saw him.
"Remus?" she said, though her voice was slow and slurred. "Remus I'm okay I told them to tell you that I was okay…"
He let go of the breath he'd been holding.
Finally he could breathe again.
Stacked with: MC4A; Hogwarts; Shipping Wars
Individual Challenge(s): Black Ribbon; Black Ribbon Redux; Gryffindor MC; Hufflepuff MC; Seeds; Times Go On; Old Shoes; Doctor, Doctor, Give me the News; Themes & Things A (Love); Themes & Things B (Survival); Theme & Things C (Blanket); True Colours; Rian-Russo Inversion; In a Flash; Yellow Ribbon; Yellow Ribbon Redux
Word Count: 1353
Shipping Wars
Ship (Team): Remus Lupin/Nymphadora Tonks (Technicolour Moon)
List (Prompt): Fall Micro 2 (Flight)