Chapter 18: Most of a Year

Amos Diggory wakes up.

There were soft noises, like muffled speaking. One voice in particular stood out to Amos Diggory. The voice of a boy, the sound of his son. The voice was getting louder, stronger, or perhaps it was becoming clearer? Amos yawned and opened his eyes.

At once his son flung himself on the bed across his father.

"Dad!"

Amos coughed; the boy nearly knocked the wind from him, despite him being in bed. He found breath enough to laugh. His son was saying his name over and over. "Dad, dad, dad...!" Amos went to pat the boy's head fondly and found his arms extremely tired. It was with great effort he managed to raise an arm at all.

"What's all this, then?" Amos asked, surprising himself with how hard it was to speak that morning. "You old man's all here, Cedric. Miss me so much while I was asleep?"

To his shock, this sent the boy into sobbing anew.

Amos tried to sit up and found his strength lacking. He settled in where he was and finally took in his surroundings. The sheets of the bed were not from his house, he was in a cot of sorts. St. Mungo's, then, he thought. It was midday from the light coming in from the window. He patted Cedric's back as he looked around the room. It was a modest square room with white walls. A typical single-patient room, then. Amos felt guilt now at his teasing. He must've been down a day or two and worried his family. It was poor form to have teased his son about something like that.

"Here, now, Ced! Don't carry on, so. That was thoughtless of me to say. I'm sorry."

He rubbed his son's back to comfort the boy and looked down. Had Cedric always been so tall?

"Merlin's beard! You're up!"

A voice startled Amos from his thoughts. Turning, he caught sight of Arthur Weasely coming in the open door at a jog. Amos cracked a smile. "Arthur! Good to see you, good to see you..." His colleague laughed weakly and came to the bedside directly.

"You've just missed the Missus," he said, "Mine took yours down for a cuppa."

"You know how women get," Amos teased, trying to pick up the melancholy mood of the room, "Always worrying themselves silly about nothing! How long was I out, Arthur? A day? Two? She probably convinced herself it was the worst for me. But us Diggory men are made of stout stuff! Eh!" He cleared his throat. Talking was difficult. "I say! Is there water?"

"Huh? Yes, water," Arthur agreed distantly. He conjured a cup and cast Aguamenti. Amos noted how he drew a kerchief and wiped his wet brow. It was after two cup of water that Amos realized how parched he was.

"It's like my throat was dusty," he mused, then laughed. "Like I'd been asleep for half a year!"

Arthur didn't laugh with him.

Amos swallowed thickly.

His son still sobbed quietly with relief on his father's lap.

"Arthur?"

"Amos," the other wizard began slowly, "It has been half a year."

Amos Diggory looked down at his son. Cedric was taller, and broader in shoulder and neck and back. His son had grown without his knowing, as if over night. Arthur Weasely was still talking but Amos stopped listening. "Cedric? Cedric, my boy... Look at your father, Ced! Look up."

Cedric Diggory did as his father asked. Amos almost cried. The young face of his son was changed only slightly. But to a father! He rose a hand and cupped his boy's face, the familiar, yet changed face of his son.

"Look at you," he laughed, though his eyes were wet, "You've grown."

"I'm a Hufflepuff!" Cedric said proudly. "Dad, I'm a Hufflepuff, too!"

"Is that so?" Amos asked. Then, "I missed your first week at Hogwarts?"

"I have tons of letters, dad," Cedric said quickly, scrambling for a brown burlap sack by the door bearing Hogwart's crest, "I started writing everything, from my first classes, so I wouldn't forget, so you wouldn't miss much of anything...!" He opened the drawstring sack. Inside were tens of little envelopes all addressed to 'My Dad'.

He started reading his father the letter he'd written the first week of school. He didn't notice Mr. Weasely smile and slip out of the room.

Arthur Weasely drew his kerchief across his forehead again outside the room marked '401, Recovery: Petrification.'

It had been nearly nine months to the day Amos Diggory's body had been found Petrified in the outskirts of Swindon. He and his partner David Cumberfink had been reported to Missing Wizards personnel a night after they hadn't returned from their mission. A search had been organized and nearly a week later they had been discovered.

The scene was horrifying. A Petrified Amos Diggory lay sprawled but whole against the grass yards from a twisted pile of bones and rotted flesh. Even the flies had stayed away from that horrible contorted shape. Some said it was lucky Diggory had been Petrified; he certainly wouldn't have survived the week otherwise.

Mediwitches had promptly Apparated Diggory Senior to St. Mungo's. Luckily, the Mandrake Revival Draught had become part of Hogwart's Seventh Year Potion Class curriculum, and the Mandrakes planted over the summer had matured enough to harvest for a cure. The potion itself took two weeks to prepare and nearly two months to brew to full potency to save an adult from Petrification. One of Cedric's letters to his father included a grand tale of how he had personally stopped a run away Mandrake from nearly escaping Greenhouse Two, and had thus contributed to his father's revival.

Arthur chuckled to himself. He had a son of his own entering Hogwarts this year, Percy. The twins would be coming along shortly after, and then his youngest son, Ron. He had no need to worry his family. No, he was quite happy right were he was in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Department.

A voice from down the hall pulled Arthur out of his thoughts.

"He's up, then?"

"Yes, Professor, he's up and awake now. Lucid, too, and listening to his son, Cedric. I'd give them a few moments alone to catch up."

The Potions Master looked down his nose at the other man then nodded curtly. There was no use barging in on father-son bonding to ask questions of what had happened over six months ago. Arthur had only told half the truth when Amos asked about the time. He wasn't sure if the man could take being told he had been Petrified for nine whole months.

Severus Snape cleared his throat. Arthur Weasely turned back to face him, realizing he'd been caught up in his own thoughts again.

"You were saying, Professor?"

Snape spared him a disapproving grimace and continued. "Yes. As I was saying, it will take anywhere up to a week for his faculties to fully return, despite any appearance to the contrary. It will be my professional recommendation to the staff that he remain on bedrest and watch with limited visitation for another seven days, and to remain on a watch for up to a month..."

His droning tone was overtaken by the hopeful cries of two witches from down the corridor. Molly Weasely and Mrs. Diggory joined the two wizards outside the door. Mrs. Diggory was nearly overcome with emotion.

"You being here must mean Amos is recovered! Oh, Mr. Snape! We've been waiting-"

"It really is a relief to see you for once, Severus!" Molly said with a chuckle. "Instead of you having to firecall us for Charlie's potion disasters!"

Snape didn't laugh.

Arthur chuckled uneasily and tried to bring the others up to speed.

"Now, dears, please settle down! I know you're both anxious to see Amos, but the Professor here has had more experience with recovering Petrification than any of us. He's said it's best to let old Amos come 'round in his own time. It'll probably be a week at least and then he can have visitors."

Mrs. Diggory didn't take the news well.

"He's awake, isn't he? My husband! My Amos! I haven't heard him speak for almost a year! You're mad if you think I'm going to wait a week to talk to my husband, Mr. Snape!"

"It's Professor, madame," Snape said tartly, "As a Potions Master, I assure you I have had more than enough experience with recovering these types of patients to know it will take your husband more than a day to recover..."

"Yes, yes, that's all very nice," Mrs. Diggory was saying, pushing her way past Molly and Arthur to get at the door, "Please update me later. Amos? Amos, I'm coming in..."

Molly Weasley grabbed her arm.

"Now, slow down there! You've missed everything the Professor said! He may sound stern but he knows what's best for your husband. Amos needs rest. We have to wait."

"My son is in there," Mrs. Diggory protested as Molly steered her away, "I can hear them! You can't expect me to believe he's not fit to talk!"

"That's nice, love," Mrs. Weasley said, "Now then! Let's get something to celebrate. A cocoa? A pint? I'm sure the medi-witches will let us sneak Amos something…"

Arthur watched his wife expertly maneuver the other woman down the hall back toward the cafeteria where they were bound to have another cup of tea, probably. He smiled fondly as the two women turned a corner. "I don't know what I'd do without her, Severus, I tell you."

"Indeed." Snape said dryly.

The two men looked down the hall in silence a moment. Soft sounds came from the door beside them, of Amos Diggory asking questions, and of young Cedric enthusiastically answering. Snape cast Tempus and folded his arms into his cloak.

"I take my leave," he announced, startling the other man. "There are potions that need my attention at Hogwarts."

"But! Professor Snape!"

The dour man paused.

"Didn't I say Amos needs minding?"

Snape sneered. "Aren't you an Auror, Weasley? Can't you figure out that you're needed here? Or did you have more pressing matters to see to? Perhaps eager to join your wife and Amos's for a cup of tea?"

The red-haired man paled under Snape's accusations and cleared his throat. "Of course! Of course, I'll, I'll just need to send an owl, to my superiors… They expected me back."

Snape stared at the man and then groaned.

"You want me to mind him."

"Just until I get back!"

"I have matters of some urgency to attend at the school, Weasley," Snape snapped, "Get a medi-witch to mind the room."

"There aren't any around! Please, Severus!" Arthur begged, "I won't be five minutes! If they think I've gone off on another Muggle Artifact Raid without the proper forms..."

Snape cut him off with a disgusted look.

"Five minutes, Weasley. To the second."

Arthur took off at top speed.

Snape waited until he could no longer hear the man's frantic running to enter the recovery room. Cedric and Amos were engrossed in each other. The young Hufflepuff was explaining how Quidditch was the most exciting thing to happen between Care of Magical Creatures and Defense Against the Dark Arts. Amos Diggory was nodding, half listening and half nodding off. Snape summoned the man's water cup and refilled it, and conjured another. In both he discreetly dropped a simple Sleeping Solution.

"Mr. Diggory."

Both men looked up at Snape's address. Amos laughed. "That's what he calls you in class, is it, Ced?" The young man nodded, a bit embarrassed and a bit proud. Snape barely refrained from rolling his eyes at the sentiment. "Drink some more water. You've just woken from a long Petrification."

He handed a cup to Amos and Cedric. The younger Hufflepuff looked surprised at his Professor's rare gesture. Snape rose an eyebrow at Cedric's expression. His voice was less sour than usual when he spoke. "You, too, Mr. Diggory. You've been reading aloud for quite some time."

The Diggorys drank up. Snape stepped back and arranged things in the room with his wand. By the time he had finished cleaning the curtains the others had fallen asleep.

Time was short. Snape hit the door with a charm to give a quick static shock to the first person to touch it; that would stall them and warn him. He focused on the bedridden Diggory patriarch.

"Legilimens."

End Chapter