First of all sorry for the late chapter, I've been pretty busy recently. Secondly, I know that the Weasley kids' ages are off, so I'm basically just going to keep them the same age until Harry and Ron are born.
Oriyons-Thank you so much for your review, your English is fine by the way! Remus is back at the end of this chapter. I'm happy you're enjoying this and I hope you like this chapter!
For lack of a better word, Fabian Prewett was in hell.
He wondered if there had ever been such a terrible week in the history of the world and he doubted he was being dramatic when he figured that there hadn't been. He had been working 100 hour weeks, coming home only to crash out on his bed and wake up a few hours later for work. The Auror Department was swamped with cases the Death Eaters had caused: the followers of Voldemort had killed 40 muggles in the past month and tortured dozens more, causing mass panic in both muggle and wizarding society.
The entire Ministry was a mess, people disappearing more often than anyone cared to admit and a lot of people had just stopped coming to work. Wizards were taking their families and fleeing England to other parts of Europe and even to the United States, and Fabian couldn't blame remembered how badly Messalina had wanted to pack up the Prewett-Weasley clan not too long ago and take them all to Egypt with her, safe and sound. It would've been a good idea had they all been cowards. Being a Gryffindor meant something to the clan and none of them would abandon ship and leave unsuspecting muggles and others to fend for themselves. They weren't Slytherins after all.
He and Gideon had sold their London bachelor pad, going back to live with their parents after only a few months. Despite the Lucien estate being monstrous, it was a hive of activity since it had become the headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix. A lot of Order members had taken to just passing out in the many bedrooms the mansion held, exhausted from their various missions.
Fabian couldn't get a moment to himself between the now crowded house and his frantic work hours. He had only been able to write Messalina because he had been waiting in line to use the bathroom at work. It had been a short and rushed note and he wasn't sure that she would even be able to understand a word he had written it was so unclear.
He had woken up on Monday morning with a pounding headache in addition to the ever present feeling like something bad was going to happen. As the week dragged on he had only gotten a few hours of sleep and by Friday he had fallen asleep at his desk three times and four owls had pooped on his head. He needed a break and couldn't wait until the day Messalina would arrive home since he was the one who was going to pick her up from the train station. Only then did he think that he would be able to calm down.
And then late Saturday night when he and Gideon stumbled into their new home, yawning and already prepared for a few light hours of sleep, they found out about Messalina. Apparently Lennox Lucien had been owling them all afternoon but none of the letters reached them and so he had left for the hospital a few hours before, or so the house elves told them.
Fabian blinked a few times, trying to process this new, impossible information. Messalina was fine, she was at Hogwarts afterall and Dumbledore had promised her protection. She wasn't in St. Mungo's, no she was probably sitting in the Gryffindor Common Room with Evans and McKinnon.
"Fabe, let's go! What are you waiting for?" Gideon was practically dragging him across the sitting room back to the fireplace, fist overflowing with Floo Powder.
"This isn't possible, Lina's fine Gideon." Gideon merely looked at him like he was insane and nearly shoved Fabian into the fireplace.
"She's not. St. Mungo's."
Seven somber Gryffindors were crashed in front of the fireplace, angry and not speaking to one another. Every once in a while someone would try to come up with a half-baked excuse for attacking Graham and his friends or an unsure promise that Messalina would be perfectly alright and that she would be back before they knew it.
Lily Evans was sitting beside James Potter, her eyes slightly bloodshot and her hair a mess. Rubbing her eye, she turned to him and spoke in a low tone. "Are you sure that you owl'd them?"
"One hundred percent. I sent four owls, no reply." James replied, not removing his eyes from the brightly lit fire.
"Did you owl Remus?" She asked, making sure to keep her voice low.
"No, he doesn't need this on his plate right now."
"But shouldn't he-" Lily started, clearly growing upset but James quickly quieted her.
"I'll owl him when we know more, but I'm not about to owl him before we know her condition. He doesn't need to get worked up if the healers were wrong and she's alright."
"And if they're right?" Lily whispered, fear plain in her quivering voice.
"Then I don't know what we do. I don't know what any of us do." James muttered, running a hand through his hair. He looked around the small group and realized how pitiful they all looked. Alice had fallen asleep in Frank Longbottom's chest, Marlene was flipping through a Witch Weekly magazine but not looking at any of the pages, Sirius and Peter were playing a game of wizard's chest in which they simply moved pawns from one spot to another not paying attention to any of the rules. The group was missing something as cliche as it sounded and with everyone's favorite ex-couple missing, James had to admit they were falling apart.
"I don't think that we're going to get anything tonight." Marlene stated sullenly and everyone murmured their agreement but no one made a move to go upstairs and go to bed. They were the last ones up, the rest of the Common Room had emptied hours ago seeing as it was past two in the morning. "They've probably got more important things to do than write back to us in the middle of the night."
"It's probably too dark for the owls anyways." Peter added and Sirius threw a knight at him, hitting him squarely in the center of the forehead. The knight fell into Peter's lap and a few tears welled up in the chubby boy's eyes. They were gone in the blink of an eye but it was too late, the rest of the group had seen them.
"Wormtail, you're such an idiot." Sirius hissed, getting to his feet and without looking back, he stormed up the steps to the boys' dorms.
"Owls are nocturnal, Pettigrew." Marlene added, her voice condescending and Lily felt for the poor boy.
"It's alright Peter, my brain's not working right now either," Lily added quickly, nudging Marlene with her foot. "It's been a long day."
"I think I'm just gonna go to bed." Peter muttered, getting up and heading to the dorms without a second look at the rest of the group.
"If you hear anything-" Marlene began and James nodded at her.
"Of course." He assured her and Marlene helped to wake Alice up.
"C'mon Alice, time to get off of Frank. Let's get you up to bed." Alice was hardly coherent, allowing McKinnon to guide her up the stairs carefully.
Frank nodded at James and Lily before heading up himself, and the pair didn't notice that they were the only ones left. After a few minutes, the bespectacled boy turned to the redhead, his voice raw. "Will she be okay?"
"Lina's very strong. She's a fighter." James noticed how uncertain Lily sounded as she avoided his question but he didn't say anything about it. "Merlin, why won't they owl us?"
"When they can. We're probably the last thing on their minds right now." James told her and Lily nodded, swallowing hard.
"Yeah, you're right."
"Boys! There you two are, it took the two of you long enough," Gwen Prewett scrambled up from her seat in the waiting room outside of the second floor of St. Mungo's. They hadn't been able to see Messalina yet and the entire Lucien-Prewett clan was taking up the majority of the room. Lennox was holding a copy of The Daily Prophet in his hands but he hadn't flipped the page in over two hours, Samuel had been staring at the receptionist for the floor for the past four hours and Gwen could feel his hands shaking as he clutched her right hand in his. "No, we haven't gotten to see her yet, we don't know what's going on."
Both of the twins had tears in their eyes, Gideon sitting down and promptly beginning to shake his leg up and down frantically. Fabian chose to remain standing, however, and took a look around the room before starting to bite one of his thumb nails.
Gwen sighed and fought the urge to begin to cry. Her child was sick and nothing they could do would help her. Messalina had all the money in the world but it wouldn't help her, she had as much love as she could ever need, she was the strongest person Gwen had ever met and she was a very talented young witch but none of that mattered. The Prewetts could do nothing for the girl, apart from hoping that she made it through the ordeal alive.
"Samuel and Gwen Prewett?" A healer appeared, exiting the closed off ward. He looked around the room, a few pieces of parchment in his hand. Samuel and Gwen were on their feet immediately, tightly holding each other's hand as they looked back at their sons. This could be the last moment of their lives when they thought Messalina was alive and they intended remembering it.
"Yes," Gwen asked eagerly, crossing her fingers in a way that she hoped was inconspicuous. "How is she?"
"Messalina required a great deal of emergency care and we did lose her-" Gwen collapsed against her husband, sobbing and the twins just stared at each other, anguish taking over their faces. The healer looked confused for a moment before he quickly continued, shaking his head and his hands frantically. "Oh Merlin, not like that! Messalina's recovering right now, we think that she'll be okay."
"You stupid idiot!" Fabian screamed, launching himself at the young healer. Gideon moved at the last second, latching onto his brother's legs mid-leap. The pair fell to the floor, Fabian screaming obscenities at the frightened healer. "How could you do that to us?! We thought she was dead!"
"Sir, you're going to have to be quiet!" The receptionist called, glancing around the waiting room. "You're in a hospital, there are people recovering here!"
"Fabe, it's okay! She's fine, calm down," Samuel scolded as Gwen profusely thanked the confused healer who offered her a quick apology before glancing longingly at the doors to the ward. "Fabian!"
"Can we see her?" Gideon asked his mother, looking up at his parents as he stood up. He offered Fabian his hand but his twin declined, getting up and grumbling under his breath.
"The nerve of that little-" Gideon 'nudged' his brother in the ribs, effectively silencing him.
"Yes you can, just be careful not to get her overly worked up. Miss Lucien is resting Room 3, but another healer will be by with a sleeping potion in an hour or so," The healer told them and when no one said anything he nodded at them hastily and quickly slipped behind the doors to the ward.
Lennox remained behind as Messalina's immediate family moved swiftly through the entrance to the ward, the four of them pausing only to open the door to Messalina's room.
"Lina?"
The room was dark, a small light on beside the figure lying still in the bed. Messalina rolled over slowly as the Prewetts filed into the room. Like usual the room was warm and comfortable, with plenty of chairs and space, and as the Prewetts began to stand around the bed they saw a small fireplace lit in the corner of the room, lighting and warming the hospital room. The room was far nicer than the ones the Ministry had paid for when Fabian, Gideon and Gwen had been attacked not long before and the room made the one Gwen had given birth in look like a cardboard box on the side of the street. It was the nicest room they had been in and for what felt like the hundredth time they realized just how far Lennox Lucien's reach was. The average room in St. Mungo's was expensive enough let alone one with a fireplace, a small table with various types of drinks on it and a large chandelier hanging above Messalina's bed.
"Hey guys," Messalina's voice was raw and quiet though she seemed to be putting a lot of energy into speaking. "I missed you."
"Oh, Lina!" Samuel Prewett seemed to forget that anyone else was in the room and he quickly threw his arms around the lithe shape and hugged her tightly against him. "You worried the shit out of us!"
"Sorry, it's not like I wanted to progress this far," She offered them all a small, weak smile that made the twins want to cry. When Samuel finally seemed to get control of himself and stepped away from the bed, the rest of them finally got a good look at the sixteen year old.
Her skin was paler than usual, making her light pink scars more prominent. They could see the thick scars on her face and arms that she usually used a glamour charm to cover up from when an unknown Slytherin had hit her with sectumsempra during a Quidditch game in her fifth year. Fabian felt his stomach flip at the sight. He didn't want to remember how terrified he had been before and the fact that they had never found who did it made him want to be sick.
"How are you feeling?" Gideon asked softly, picking up one of her hands.
"Like I got hit by fifty bludgers," She muttered and Gideon squeezed her hand sympathetically, giving her a small smile. "But I'll be alright. The healer said it could've been a lot worse so I'm not going to complain."
"But you'll be okay, right?" Fabian spoke for the first time, hating how his voice sounded nervous and afraid.
"Yeah, Healer Abernathy said that he thought I'd be okay in the long run. I'll have to take a lot of potions and rest a lot though," She added, sounding completely and utterly exhausted. Gwen glanced at her husband who gave her a tiny nod. "I'm alive though so that's all that matters."
There was a soft knock on the door and a receptionist entered, a large stack of letters in one hand. "Fabian and Gideon Prewett?"
"Um yeah?" Gideon's face was clearly confused and the receptionist smiled brightly at him as she handed him the stack, blushing slightly.
"Someone really needed to get ahold of you two," She informed them before leaving a silent and confused room behind.
"Well?" Messalina asked impatiently a moment after the door closed. Fabian snatched one of the letters from his brother and tore into it immediately, quickly scanning its contents.
"It's from your friends," Fabian said, dropping the letter into Messalina's lap.
"What?"
"See for yourself," Gideon continued for his brother, dropping the stack on the bed beside his sister.
Fabian & Gideon,
It's us again.
We were wondering if you had had a chance to reply yet to our letter(S) or if you hadn't had the chance to look at them yet. Please respond as to how Messalina is doing, we are very worried.
Please.
Gryffindor House
"Definitely James," She murmured to herself before smirking. What a well composed letter.
"Miss Lucien?" A healer stuck her head through the door and frowned at the sight of all the people crowding the bed. "I'm afraid you'll all have to leave, Miss Lucien needs her rest."
"Can't they stay a little longer?" Messalina inquired, looking at her family.
"They can come back later, you've had a very trying day and it's time for you to get some rest."
"I don't want to rest!"
"Lina, we'll be back later, okay?" Gideon told her softly, kissing her on the forehead lightly.
"We'll bring you some real food," Fabian whispered as he leaned in to kiss her cheek. He gestured to the small table beside her bed with a plate of some kind of food on it. "Just look at that rubbish!"
"Thanks," She giggled, making his heart soar. "It's pretty bad."
"We'll bring the kids by later okay? We didn't want to tell them until we knew if you'd be okay or not," Gwen filled her in and Messalina nodded.
"Good idea."
"Glad to see you doing well, Messalina. We were all very worried," Samuel told her, patting her lightly on the head. "Get some rest."
"I'm not going to be able to sleep, you know," Messalina told the healer after watching her family leave the room. "I'm not tired."
"Then its a good thing that I have a sleeping drought, huh?" Messalina groaned as the woman pulled out a small vial of the awkwardly thick potion. "Open your mouth and get it over with will you? You won't even taste it anyways, your tastebuds aren't working."
"I don't like the consistency, the taste I couldn't care less about," She grumbled but took the vial from the healer, muttering under her breath. She lifted the vial to her lips and grimaced as the thick potion slid through her mouth and coated her throat. Coughing at the feeling, she handed the healer the vial back and sank into the plush pillows and warm blankets as her eyes fluttered closed, the stack of letters forgotten completely on the bedside table.
The Prewetts and Lennox Lucien floo'd back to the Order of the Phoenix headquarters, immediately being greeted by numerous coded letters and reports from members. The group of anxious sixth years at Hogwarts awaiting their word were pushed to the back of their minds as relief about Messalina's state took over the older wizards.
When she woke up hours later, she didn't remember the visit from the Prewetts but the healers said that it was normal to have difficulty remembering things after what she had been through. For this, she was eternally grateful for it seemed like the only good thing she had going for her.
Messalina's mouth felt like someone had stuffed a thousand feathers into it and she was fairly certain that she had an axe splitting her skull into two pieces. Muscles aching, all she could really do was nap and try to relax as much as possible. She had tried to read the stack of letters beside her on the table but she couldn't focus on what it was saying and the words weren't really making sense to her. The healers checked in on her often, which she was grateful for but aside from their brief visits she was alone in the dim room, any and all lights making her headache a hundred times worse which she hadn't even thought possible.
She was woken up from an uneasy dream by a soft knocking on the door and she rubbed her eyes before replying. The door opened slowly and Messalina saw a pleasant surprise. The Weasleys were all there, Arthur and Molly along with their brood of children shuffled in slowly, Charlie and Bill walking over to the bed quickly as their parents wrangled Percy and the twin boys into the room. The group clustered around the bed and Molly smiled sweetly down at the girl she had come to love as a sister.
"Hey Lina, how are you feeling? Any better?" Arthur asked, sitting down in a chair beside the bed. "I came by this afternoon but they said you were resting."
This afternoon? Messalina frowned and looked at the small clock above the fireplace. It was six thirty at night but what day was it?
"It's Sunday," Molly offered after watching the girl's face. "You came in here last night around eight."
Messalina nodded, propping herself up on the pillows before looking at the children. Bill and Charlie were on her right side standing side by side and as she turned to look at the others, Charlie reached out and grabbed her hand tightly.
"I'm glad that yer okay," He stage whispered at her and she had to hide a laugh. "I was real worried."
"Don't worry kiddos, I'll be alright," The twins were play wrestling each other on the ground and Percy had sat down on a chair by himself, nose stuck self-importantly in the air. "But enough about me, that's boring. How've you all been?"
Messalina was content to lie on the bed and listen as Arthur told her about a particularly fascinating night raid a few nights before in which they had found a wizard selling charmed mirrors to unsuspecting muggles and Molly informed her of the various going-ons of the town of Ottery St. Catchpole. Arthur had recently been able to sit inside of a car and he thought it was the most interesting thing on earth apart from maybe television, something he had yet to experience.
As Messalina sat in her suite in St. Mungo's, Remus wrapped up his visit home with his mother and father before heading back to school. It was just past supper when he floo'd to Dumbledore's office but the man himself wasn't there so the werewolf left the office as the portraits on the wall ordered him to leave.
He felt better about his mother now than he had before he had gone to visit her. She wasn't as sick as his father had made her sound and while Hope Lupin was sick, she was still herself. Remus would be home that next Saturday afternoon for the Christmas break and he was planning on spending the majority of the break at home, which he hadn't done since third year.
Walking through the castle he felt much better about how things were. While his mother wasn't extremely ill, he did feel like he needed to be overly nice to her and do everything she wanted right away. It was freeing to be out of her presence as much as he hated to even think it but it was true. Hope always had had a talent of having her son do as she wished and now that she was sick, Remus felt like every second at home he was someone else, someone he wasn't.
However, he was back at school for one more week and then he would be home again to care for his mother. It would be nice to see his friends for another week and then no school for two weeks. He was walking faster than he had thought and before Remus knew it he was at the Fat Lady portrait.
"Godric's broom," He told the Fat Lady who swung open and promptly began discussing colors with another painting beside her. The Common Room seemed emptier than usual and the first thing he noticed was the group of sixth years camped in front of the fire. Alice, Frank, James, Lily, Peter, Sirius, and Marlene were all sitting around, none of them speaking as they stared into the fire. They hadn't seen Remus come in and as he approached them, Marlene began to speak.
"Do you think she's dead?" Remus stopped completely at that and stepped behind a tall chair to hear the rest. Who could they be talking about? His mother perhaps? "There's no other reason that they wouldn't owl us back."
"She's tough, it'd take a lot to kill her," James spoke up but he didn't sound as confident as usual. "She's probably fine."
"She did lose a lot of blood..." Alice began but she trailed off, shaking her head firmly at whatever she was thinking.
"Did you ever owl Remus?" Lily asked, just soft enough for the werewolf to hear her.
"No, I wanted to wait until her heard something and he should be back at any-Remus!" James had turned his head and seen the tall boy behind the chair, making Remus emerge sheepishly.
"What's going on?" He asked cautiously, surveying the scene. "Who's hurt?"
"Listen mate-" Sirius began but he was swiftly interrupted.
"Who?"
"Messalina." It was Lily who spoke up after a moment of silence and Remus just stared at her.
"What?"
"Her scrofungulus got a lot worse after Hogsmeade and she got really sick and she's been at St. Mungo's since last night," Frank told him, carefully gauging the reaction. "We haven't heard anything yet."
"That's not possible, Lina was perfectly fine the last time that I saw her!" Remus objected after a moment but the rest of them just shook their heads sadly at him.
"Last we saw, she wasn't," Sirius stated firmly, watching Remus as one might watch a rabid dog. Remus sank into the nearest seat and buried his head in his hands immediately. It couldn't be real. There was no way. Lina was fine last he saw her and that was that.