Chapter 4

My bones and my body screamed

I woke with a headache, my bones and my body

Screamed: Son where the hell is your head?

I reached for some water to quench the fire

That's burning up in my bed.

Traveler, Hippo Campus

When James came to, he was lying in a hospital bed. He blinked his eyes open, before shutting them against the harsh lights. The door to his left opened and closed. Almost instantly, whispering began.

"What did the Healer say?" Sirius asked.

"That James should be waking any time soon, and that they'll explain everything as soon as he does." That was Euphemia. James smiled at the sound of her voice.

"And what about Monty?" Sirius asked. Instantly, the smile was wiped from James's face and he tensed.

"He'll be alright; just a bit battered and bruised," Euphemia explained.

James opened his eyes and let out a croaky "thank Merlin." At once, Euphemia and Sirius were at James's bedside, peering down at him with concerned eyes.

"How're you feeling pet?" Euphemia asked, brushing the hair back from his forehead.

"Not great, to be honest," James admitted, pushing himself up into a sitting position. He was no longer wearing his jeans and flannel, but was now wearing a green hospital gown. He pushed back the cover and braced himself as he looked down at his right leg. He was relieved to see that the swelling had gone down a bit, but his cuts were still swollen. His leg was starting to bruise around the edges of the three cuts, which were no longer heavily bleeding, but were still red, raw and deep.

He winced at the sight, before throwing the blanket back over them. "Has a Healer said anything?"

"I'll go grab one," Sirius said, dashing out the door.

"Is dad okay?" James asked, although he had already heard the answer.

"He'll be fine. It's you we're worried about. He wanted to be here, but they just want to make sure he's okay."

"What happened to him?"

"A Death Eater shot a fully body-bind jinx at him," Euphemia explained, "and since we're getting on in years, they just want to make sure that he didn't break or crack anything when he hit the ground. But he'll be okay."

James smiled, and was about to say something when the door opened again, bringing Sirius and a Healer following behind him. Sirius leaned against the wall by James's bed, watching everything quietly. The Healer glanced at the chart behind James's head, before stopping at his bedside. "Hello James, I'm Healer Boyle," she smiled, speaking with a Scottish accent. "Is it okay if I take a look at your leg?" James nodded, and carefully peeled back the blanket. Healer Boyle winced almost imperceptibly, but James, who had been watching carefully for her reaction, noticed. Euphemia dragged the chair in the corner up to James's beside and sat on it.

"James," she began, before stopping. "James, I'm going to be completely honest and straightforward with you." James nodded, keeping his mouth tightly shut. "Your leg is never going to heal completely," she stated.

Immediately, Euphemia shot up from her and Sirius pushed himself off the wall. "What?" Sirius demanded.

"James's leg will never completely heal, I'm afraid," Healer Boyle repeated.

"What? What do you mean?" Euphemia asked, horrified, even though this had already been asked. Throughout this whole commotion, James remained silent. Euphemia seemed to notice and stopped talking. "James?" she asked tentatively.

"How much will it heal, if it won't heal completely?" he asked, not meeting anyone's eyes.

"There will always be an ache in your leg and sometimes the cuts might inflame really badly or hurt a lot more than usual. We don't know the full extent, because this is a really rare spell. It's especially designed with dark magic. The spell cuts you with the idea of knife slashes in mind, but it infects the cuts with dark magic, so the cuts will never heal fully."

"That's why my jeans weren't cut," James realised.

"Basically, yes."

James sat there and took in the full extent of the Healer's words; his leg would never be back to normal. "Will I be able to walk?" he blurted out.

"For the most part, yes," Healer Boyle said.

"For the most part?" Euphemia asked, worry creasing her brows.

"Some days it will be harder for him to walk, others will be practically normal, aside from the ache. Some days... some days it may be downright difficult. Especially in the first few months, James will have to use a cane to walk, and he should take it easy. He'll probably be over that by the time he goes back to school, but as I said, some days will be tougher than others, and he may need to use a cane during the school year on occasion."

James nodded, jaw tight. "Anything else in terms of pain fluctuation?" Euphemia asked.

"As I said, the cut is infected with dark magic. On days where you're reminded most of the attack; the pain in your leg is more likely to increase on those days. There is one more thing. Like I said, you're going to have to take it easy. There haven't been many cases of a curse or jinx like this, so we don't know the full extent of the problems this can cause for you." The Healer paused, looking almost sorry for James. "You won't be able to play sport. At least not for the coming school year."

"No quidditch?" James asked, barely daring to believe it.

"No quidditch," the Healer confirmed, looking very sorry indeed. There was a lull in the conversation. "I'm going to pop out bring some canes for sizing. I'll be back in about twenty minutes."

Then the Healer left, the door swinging shut behind her. "Where's Remus?" James asked, running a hand through his hair.

"He's with Monty," Sirius explained. "They may be done by now, I'll go see." With that, Sirius disappeared again, leaving Euphemia and James alone.

"What do you think mom?" James asked, lying back in bed and tilting his head up to look at her.

"I think you're very brave. And that we're going to do our best to make sure you're as good as you can possibly be, even with your leg," Euphemia said confidently. "And I'm very proud of you."

James smiled softly, but didn't have a chance to say anything, because Sirius had returned with his dad and Remus. "Hey dad, how are you?" James asked, both eager to know, and eager to deflect away from himself.

"I'm fine James. How's the leg?"

James shrugged. "Pretty sore. How 'bout you Remus?"

"I'm tired, but I'm okay," Remus, who did indeed look tired, replied.

James had to stay in St. Mungo's for the next week for observation.

Another, perhaps more surprising, visitor was Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster at Hogwarts. James had been dozing lightly when his hospital room door had opened and closed, letting in a Healer with Albus Dumbledore in tow. The Healer busied himself, checking to make sure James was okay, waking James in the process. When he left, James blinked up at his headmaster, not really sure why he was there.

"Hello sir," James said politely.

"Hello James," the headmaster replied kindly, taking the seat next to James's bed, where Euphemia, Sirius, Remus or Fleamont had lived on a revolving rota. Distantly, James wondered where they were. "I've come to see how you were doing."

James shrugged awkwardly. Most of his one-on-one conversations with the silver-haired wizard were about James's misbehaviour or pranks. "I'm alright sir. How are you?"

"I'm good, thank you." There was a pause. "Your teachers have been informed of your situation, meaning you will have a bit of leeway when it comes to punctuation. I trust you not to abuse this."

"I won't professor," James promised. Dumbledore fixed him with a stare that seemed to look into James's mind. After a few seconds, the headmaster nodded.

"I'm also here to talk to you about your quidditch captaincy." James nodded, chest tightening. "I understand, from what the Healer told me, that you're not to play any sport- at least for the coming year." James nodded again, still not saying anything. "After careful consideration, I have decided to back my decision to appoint you Quidditch Captain."

James, who had been staring down at his lap, snapped his head up to meet Dumbledore's eyes. "What?" he croaked.

"You can still be captain James, if you'd like. You can still run practice, and mentor from the sidelines."

James thought hard for a minute, before shaking his head. "No."

"No?" Dumbledore asked, sounding like he was faking surprise.

"No," James repeated. "But thank you sir. It's a very kind offer, but I'm afraid it wouldn't be fair to the team. They deserve a captain who can actually play with them, and who can lead the team on the pitch."

"That is very admirable of you," Dumbledore commented, as if he had already guessed that James was going to say that. "And who do you think should be captain in your stead?"

"Marlene McKinnon," James answered instantly. "She deserved it every bit as much as I did. She'd make a brilliant captain."

"I couldn't agree more," Dumbledore said, eyes twinkling.

"And sir?" James asked hesitantly. "I assume you aren't, but just in case." He paused. "Can you not tell her that I was chosen first? I don't want her to think she was second choice or whatever. And I also don't really want to explain why I turned it down."

"I think that would be best," Dumbledore replied.

"Thanks Professor," James said.

"I'm very proud of you James," was all Dumbledore said, before getting up and exiting the room. James took a deep breath and released it slowly. The door opened again, with Remus and Sirius entering the room, laughing at something Sirius had said.

"Hey, how're you doing?" Remus asked, seeing that James was awake.

"Grand," James shrugged.

"Was that Dumbledore we saw a minute ago?" Sirius asked, planting himself on the end of James's hospital bed.

"Yeah, he was just coming to make sure I'm okay and to talk to me about my quidditch captaincy."

"Oh?" Remus asked, lowering himself into the chair at James's bedside.

"Yeah, he said that I could still be Captain and direct the team from the sideline," James replied, hand reaching up to thread through his hair.

"That was nice of him," Remus said, keeping his voice neutral and watching James carefully.

"You turned him down, didn't you?" Sirius asked, also watching James.

James squirmed in his bed. "I did," he said with a sad smile.

"Why?" Remus asked, though he had some ideas.

"Just didn't want the team asking questions about why I can't play," James said with fake nonchalance.

"Is that all?" Sirius asked, levelling James with his best 'Euphemia stare', though it was clear that he was trying to hide his amusement.

In one swift movement, James left leg reached out and kicked Sirius off the bed. He landed with a thud on the floor, but he was laughing too hard for James to be even remotely concerned about him. Remus burst out laughing, struggling to breathe as he took in the sight in front of him. "I'm not an idiot, I can tell what's happening," James said indignantly, arms crossed.

There was about a minute where no one said anything, James because he was waiting on a reply, and Remus and Sirius because they were laughing too hard. "It's just-" Remus stopped, gasping for breath, tears streaming down his face.

Sirius stood up, staggering back towards James's bed, laughing too hard to walk straight. "It's just that we always get questioned by you, and it's kind of funny to turn the tables."

"Shut up," James grumbled. "If you must know, I didn't think it would be fair to the team to have a Captain who can't even play with them, so I suggested he give the captaincy to Marlene."

"How very noble of you," Sirius said in a snobby voice, which resulted in James shoving him off the bed again. Sirius's laughter was muffled with the floor.