Chapter 32
Meredith rolled her shoulders and tried to ignore the throbbing behind her eyes. She needed to stay awake. She hadn't had much time to study since she'd arrived home for Christmas break a week ago. On Monday she'd helped her dad decorate the house, Tuesday they'd gone Christmas shopping, Wednesday she'd helped Auntie Andromeda wrap presents and bake cookies. Thursday Tonks had come over and they'd spent the day catching up. That morning she'd gotten into a huge snowball fight with the kids next door. Night time after her Dad had gone to bed was the only time she had to study. She rubbed her temples as she tried to focus on the blurry words in front of her. She shivered a bit and pulled the afghan tighter around her shoulders.
"Stay awake," she willed herself. "Just a little longer." It was getting harder to see. She pulled the candle she had set on the kitchen table beside her closer. She ran a hand over her eyes and dipped her quill in the ink bottle. She pressed the quill to the parchment scribbling out the instructions for draught of peace. After a few minutes she raised the quill to read what she wrote. She groaned in frustration and crossed out a mistake.
"Stir three times counterclockwise. What's wrong with me?"
"Meredith?" She jumped a little as her father came into the kitchen. She spared him a quick glance and turned back to her notes.
"What are you doing up?" he asked her.
"Studying," she said flipping a page.
"It's four in the morning," he said incredulously.
"Is it," she said weakly. She hadn't glanced at a clock.
"Meredith," her dad said seizing her hand. "Your hands are freezing." He laid his hand against her forehead.
"And you're burning up," he said. He seized her candle and blew it out.
"Hey!" Meredith protested. "I need that."
"No you don't," he said seizing her book and closing it with a snap. "You're exhausted and sick. You need to sleep."
"I'm fine," she said fiercely grabbing another book. "I've got to study."
"No more studying," her dad said pulling her book away. "You're going to bed." Meredith jumped up in anger.
"I said I'm…" she said nothing else as the room swayed and then went dark. Remus grabbed her before she could hit the floor. Sweeping her into his arms he quickly apparated to her room. He laid her down on her bed and examined her. He didn't think this was really anything more than exhaustion really, but if she was still feverish in the morning he was going to send an owl to Madam Pomfrey. He took his wand and did a quick switching spell to swap her sweater and jeans for her nightgown. Her pulled her blanket up to her chin and summoned another blanket from the bathroom closet.
"Daddy?" Meredith murmured in her sleep.
"I'm right here love," he said sitting down beside her bed and taking her hand.
"You stir the draught of peace counterclockwise," she murmured. "I made a mistake."
"It's okay," he said pushing her hair away from her forehead.
"I knew it yesterday," she whispered.
"Just go to sleep love," he said kissing her forehead.
"Need to get an O on my OWL. Have to get into NEWT Potions," she said softly her eyes closing.
"You will love," Remus said. "But you need to sleep now."
"I knew it…want you to be proud," she said drifting into sleep. Remus stroked her hand watching her sleep.
"I am proud, love," he said softly. "So proud."
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She was on her knees digging in the dirt. She set a pretty red rose in the dirt and patted the soil around it. All of a sudden a black rose popped out of the ground to stand beside the red rose. Strange. It didn't seem to belong there but it looked right. Suddenly the sky turned dark and a bolt of lightning split the sky. She got to her feet and turned to hurry into the house. There, blocking her path was a big black dog. It was growling and snapping it's jaws. Saliva was dripping from it's mouth. She wanted to run but she was frozen to her spot. She screamed as the dog leaped at her…
Meredith's eyes flew open. She'd not had that nightmare in years. She glanced around and saw she was in her bed. What was going on?
"Good morning love," her father entered her room carrying a tray. He set the tray down and Meredith saw a cup of tea, a plate of sausages, and a stack of banana pancakes.
"Breakfast, eat," he said. Meredith picked up her fork and carefully took a sausage.
"How long was I asleep?" she asked.
"Almost two days," he said. Meredith's eyes flew to his face.
"You let me sleep for two days," she said incredulously.
"Yep," he said matter of factly.
"Why would you let me sleep that long?"
"Because you were working yourself into exhaustion and were running a fever," he said unabashed.
"I have to study," she said pushing her tray away and trying to get up.
"Absolutely out of the question," her dad said pushing her back down.
"Dad!"
"Yes that's right," Remus said lightly. "I'm dad. I'm the parent and you're the child and as such you still have to do what I tell you. When you're an old married woman with five children then you can do whatever you want but right now that is not the case. So you are going to stay in this bed, you are going to eat some breakfast, and we are going to have a nice quiet Christmas if I have to tie you to the bedposts to do it." Meredith wanted to get angry. She wanted to fight and yell. She did neither of these things. Instead she started to cry.
"Now that's just not fair," Remus protested.
"I'm sorry," she said sucking in a deep breath and trying to calm down but she couldn't stop crying. Remus sat down in front of her and pulled her into a tight hug.
"It's okay, Mere," he said softly. "It's okay. Just breathe." She gripped his sweater tightly and tried to breathe.
"I have to get an O in potions," she whispered. "And at least an E in everything else."
"And you will," Remus said rubbing her back. "You're very bright, and very talented. You're going to do great on your OWLS. But you need to take a break or you're going to burn yourself out and that's not going to help you."
"I know," Meredith sighed, "I know you're right."
"Of course I'm right," Remus said. "I'm Dad." Meredith laughed.
"That's better," Remus said. He took her tray and set it back in front of her. She ate her breakfast in silence.
"St. Mungoes only takes the best," she murmured sipping her tea.
"You have all the makings of a great healer," Remus said taking her hand. "You're a very intelligent witch and you're a hard worker, but there's more to healing than just books smarts."
"Like what?" she said.
"Compassion," he said. "A patient comes to you because something is wrong, they look to you to make them better, but more than that they look for someone to care."
"That sounds pretty smart," Meredith said.
"I didn't actually say it," Remus said blushing a bit.
"Then who did?"
"Your mother," Remus said quietly. Meredith's heart skipped a beat as it always did when her dad talked about her mother.
"She was one of the best healers St. Mungoes ever saw," Remus said. "They said that she was born with a healing touch. She was known for sitting with her sick patients hours after her shift ended. Even when I knew her in school I knew she was meant to be a healer. Whenever I would have a particularly bad transformation she would come to the hospital wing and sit with me. I didn't want her to, I didn't want her to see me like that but, she was stubborn. Like you." Meredith grinned.
"Dad?" Meredith said softly playing with a thread on her quilt.
"Yes, love," he said.
"Do you think my mother would be proud of me?" Remus smiled.
"I know she would love," he said. "I know it." Meredith smiled a little.
"Dad?"
"Yes," he said.
"Will you tell me more about her?" Remus felt a small pain in his heart. It was always hard to speak of Angela. She'd been gone ten years now and not a day went by that he didn't miss her. However, it was impossible to deny Meredith anything when she looked at him with those big brown eyes.
"Hmm," he thought, "I could never resist it when Sirius gave me that look either."
"Very well," he said. He shifted so that he was sitting beside her and she cuddled against his shoulder the way she used to when she was a little girl.
"Your mother was extremely kind and incredibly generous. She was pretty, just like you." Meredith giggled.
"She was smart, and not just in our lessons. She had the way of knowing what people wanted to hear and they needed to hear. She was good at reading people. It was impossible to lie to her. She figured out my secret in a manner of months. Unlike most people she didn't turn away from me when she found out. She would always try to make me feel better after my transformations. She hated seeing anyone in pain. I think that's why she became a healer. Once she brought me a cup of tea with some herbs in it that were supposed to speed up the healing process. It tasted horrible and I refused to drink it. She threatened to sing to me if I didn't drink it. She had a terrible singing voice." Meredith giggled.
"I was almost always behind in my classes because of my transformations so she would always help me with my homework. Herbology and Potions were her favorite subjects." At Meredith's look he chuckled.
"The Potions teacher when I was in school was very different from Snape. Professor Slughorn. He was never unkind but he like to play favorites, especially to those who had famous relatives. He liked your mother quite a bit for she was very talented at Potions. Her and Lily Potter, or Evans as she was then. Slughorn had several favorites he liked to invite them to little parties in his office. Your mother didn't really care for Slughorn much, didn't like how he singled out people. Slughorn didn't really pay much attention to me. I was never very gifted in potions." Meredith wrapped her hand around his and he smiled down at her.
"You have her hands," he said lifting her hand and studying it. He didn't know why he'd never really noticed this before. How many times had he found himself staring at Angela's hands when they held a quill, or chopped up potion ingredients. Strong hands with long narrow fingers.
"Dad?" Meredith said sleepily.
"Yeah?"
"Why did she give me up?" Remus stomach jumped. He knew she would ask someday. Was now the time to tell her?
"She was so young when she had you," he said slowly. At least that part was true. "She was just two years older than you are now." He shuddered at the thought. Meredith smiled a little.
"Don't worry Dad," she said her eyes falling closed. "I'm not gonna be having babies anytime soon."
"Thank Merlin for that," he said. Glancing down he saw that she had fallen asleep. He sighed with relief at being spared from telling her the truth just a little longer. He pushed a lock of hair out of her eyes and marveled how much she looked like the woman he had loved.
"I miss you Angela," he whispered.