Survival (Making It)
Day One
Remus stirred, his eyes fluttering open. He was looking up at the white ceiling of...the Hospital Wing?
He frowned. He remembered everything clearly: Dora, Teddy, the war, the Final Battle...the green spell, shooting straight at his face…
He looked down. There was a bandage across his throat, wrapping his torso. He touched it gingerly. If he could have leapt back, he would.
It was agony, making him groan. He tried not to scream, for fear of waking up other patients.
It seemed that Madam Pomfrey heard him, because she came bustling over.
"Lie back, Mr Lupin," she instructed, waving her wand. Remus obeyed.
A series of glittering lights appeared in the air in front of the Hogwarts Healer, and she examined them with a frown.
"Unstable condition," she muttered. She hurried back to her office and came back a few seconds later with a gigantic glob of chocolate, about the size of Remus's face. Madam Pomfrey began using a small hammer to cut the chocolate.
"Eat," she ordered, like Remus wouldn't have done so if she hadn't told him to.
He picked up the plate from his bedside table and nearly dropped it because of its weight. Madam Pomfrey handed him a fork.
The chocolate was heavenly in his mouth, and Remus inhaled all of it. When he was done, Madam Pomfrey (who had been waiting) picked the plate back up.
Remus swallowed the last bites of the chocolate, then said, "Where's Dora?"
But his voice came out in a croak.
"Don't try to speak, Mr Lupin," the Healer advised. "On that note, don't try to do anything else either."
She went back to her office with the plate.
Great. Now Remus was on bedrest.
Not cool. Not cool at all.
Day Two
Remus was awoken by the sound of Madam Pomfrey's shoes clattering across the floor. He opened his eyes blearily and rubbed the rheum out.
"Eat up." She put the plate of egg and bread on his lap (which was covered by his blanket). Placing a glass of cold milk on Remus's bedside table, she said, "Call me if you need anything." and disappeared.
Remus lifted the fork and picked at the food, though he wasn't focusing on his stomach. He wondered how Dora and Teddy were doing…
Were they safe? Remus hoped they were. He couldn't bear the thought that they might be dead…
He ate like a robot - slowly and mechanically. He wanted to see Dora and Teddy again, just to assure himself that they were, indeed, alive…
"You can see them in a couple days," Madam Pomfrey said when she came over to pick up his plate and glass, as if she knew what Remus was thinking. "You're getting more stable."
Remus didn't care whether he was stable or not - he could have been bitten by Fenrir Greyback all over again and still, he would go visit Dora and Teddy!
He sighed, and prayed to the heavens that Dora and Teddy were safe and sound.
Day Three
Stupid. He was so stupid.
Remus hadn't realised that there were other people in the Hospital Wing with him, but there were. Some part of him, the part of him that wanted him to stand up for himself, said, The closest person is three beds away from you! It's not your fault that you hadn't noticed - you've just survived a war, for Merlin's sake!
Madam Pomfrey had, with new Headmistress Professor McGonagall's permission, enlarged the Hospital Wing so that she could distance the patients. Why? Remus had no idea.
Dora and Teddy were not in the Hospital Wing. Remus knew that. He'd memorised every patient in the Hospital Wing by now.
Day Four
Life in the Hospital Wing had, after a few days, become incredibly, mind-numbingly boring.
Madam Pomfrey had taken a few books out of the Hogwarts Library for him, but he'd already finished reading them. Now, Remus could understand why Lily was so grumpy all the time when she was stuck on bedrest.
Day Five
"You can see your family now, Mr Lupin."
Remus's eyes widened. "What?"
"You can see your family now, Mr Lupin." Madam Pomfrey repeated.
"Are they - are they -"
"They're waiting outside," the usually stern Healer smiled gently.
As Remus made to get out of bed, she shrieked, "No! Don't!"
He turned to her, surprised. "Um...why no?"
Madam Pomfrey calmed down. "Sorry, dear," she said, clutching her heart. "They'll come in. You're still on bedrest."
Remus groaned. "Fine," he said, reminding himself of a grumpy little child who'd been denied sweets.
Madam Pomfrey called Dora and Teddy in. They rushed to Remus's bedside (okay - Dora did) and immediately started patting him down. Remus struggled in Dora's hold, but finally relaxed.
"You have no idea how worried we've -" Dora gestured at herself and Teddy - "have been! You scared us, Rem!"
Seeing his wife and child alive and apparently unhurt, Remus smiled as he apologized for scaring Dora and Teddy.
He'd made it. He was alive, with a wife and child.
Life could only get better, couldn't it?
Written for Auction :)
WC: 848
