Within the next few days Celosia was allowed to leave St. Mungo's and return to the Evans home, Severus and Harry watching her like a hawk. News spread around the wizarding world that Harry Potter had killed Fenrir Greyback, starting up a new mini tornado of fame for the wizard. It also seemed that whatever remaining Death Eaters that were still roaming free had begun to give up and accept that their Dark Lord was gone, having turned themselves into the Ministry exchanging information for their lives.
Even though Celosia was practically chained to her bed for another week, she was happily browsing through bridal magazines that Fleur gladly delivered to her. The two women constantly planned through the wedding preparations, Severus taking no part. He refused to say a word about the wedding until Celosia was able to walk on her own without keeling over and dying.
Soon enough, Severus and Harry walked down into the kitchen, talking over how Harry's lessons were progressing when they stopped in their tracks. Celosia stood by the oven, flipping over pancakes. "Morning!" She grinned, the two men remaining to stare. "What? Is there something on my face?"
"Yes, ointment that is healing up the scar on your cheek from when you got attacked." Severus sneered.
"It's been two weeks, I'm perfectly fine!" Celosia rolled her eyes. "The Medi-witch said at least one week, two at the most. I feel great and I'm not using magic so I don't slow down my body's healing time."
Severus opened his mouth, about to say something again before Harry held a hand up and stopped him. "Don't bother. She knows she'll win." With that the Potions Master merely stared at the boy before following him towards the dining table.
Celosia walked over with breakfast in her hands, setting the plates down in front of them. "Dig in!" She smiled, undoing the tie of the apron around her waist and throwing it behind the chair she sat herself at. Harry and Severus stared at the food before immediately diving into their breakfast. Harry always loved anything Celosia touched and didn't need to word his satisfaction. Severus chewed slowly, savouring every bite and critiquing it in his mind. It didn't taste any different than from what she usually made, which was a sign that she wasn't that fatigued from her wounds.
"Speaking of being injured and fragile, everything is healed up already." Celosia began, pulling her knees to her chest and sipping at a cup of coffee. "Every wound is closed, I just have gnarly scars to get rid of."
"Nothing a potion can't fix." Harry said. "Right, professor?"
"You will be brewing it." Severus sneered, making Harry's head shoot up.
"Fine, then."
"You better not mess up. Your aunt wouldn't like that."
"I won't mess up, it's a third year potion."
"You messed up your fifth year potions greatly."
"Sorry, I had Umbridge to deal with."
"So did the rest of the student body but that didn't affect their brewing."
"Boys, behave." Celosia warned sternly and the two men glared at each other across the table before returning to their food. "I think I almost found my wedding dress."
"We will have no such talk at the breakfast table." Severus cut in.
"Why not?!" Celosia exclaimed. "I'm already healed up, Fleur and I have been looking through magazines for weeks! You haven't even joined in."
"I will help prepare my wedding when my fiancée is finally healed up properly."
"I am!"
"You are when I say you are."
A growl escaped Celosia's lips and Harry's head shot up, Severus dropping his fork onto his plate as he turned to look at her.
"Did you just growl?" Harry asked and a hand went up to Celosia's mouth.
"Merlin, I did." She muttered.
"The werewolf venom is still in your system." Severus observed, pushing his plate away and rising from his seat.
"Where are you going?" Harry asked, now turning to him.
"Fire-call Bill Weasley, boy." Severus commanded, heading up the stairs.
"I'm not a boy anymore." Harry muttered.
"You still act like one!" Severus exclaimed from his spot at the top of the stairs.
"You do too!" Harry yelled back at him and Celosia shook her head, watching as Harry stood and walked away to the living room. She pressed her coffee mug to her lips, tilting her head back and allowing the hot liquid to fill her mouth as she tried to suppress a smile. How she was surviving with Harry and Severus under the same roof was beyond her.
Several hours later Bill Weasley sat in the Evans living room, munching on tea biscuits as Harry brought on another round of refreshments. Celosia sat curled up on the love seat sipping at a glass of water as Severus paced back and forth, flipping through a book.
"The Medi-witches as St. Mungo's are very good at their job." Bill assured, nodding in thanks as Harry filled up his tea cup. "They extracted the venom out of me completely."
"All you got was a scratch." Celosia frowned. "I got bitten and beaten."
"Yet you're back to walking about not even a month after the attack." Bill pointed out. "That's impressive for anyone."
"The problem at hand is the fact that the venom does indeed still exist." Severus interrupted, stopping his pacing. "What were you feeling like when you were attacked?"
"Like I was ill with the flu, honestly." Bill replied, taking a sip of his tea cup. "It was kind of like a fever that wouldn't go away, but that was when the possibility of transformation was still alive. Once they confirmed there was no venom in my system, I returned back to normal after a few days."
"I'm not experiencing any flu-like symptoms at all." Celosia mumbled, rubbing her hands up and down her arms. "I'm just cold all the time, is all."
"That's still technically a flu-like symptom." Harry spoke up.
Severus continued to stare at the book in his hands, pursing his lips every so often. Celosia watched him carefully, unsure of what was going on through his head.
"How did you prepare yourself for the fact that you could be transformed?" She asked softly.
"I talked to Remus." Bill answered, faltering at the end of his sentence. Harry stared at the ground. "He basically went through his life story trying to walk me through what I should expect."
"Yeah, well I know exactly how he was getting through it in our school years." Celosia muttered, slowing taking a sip from her glass. "If I experience whatever Remus had to go through, I know how to prepare for it."
"You don't have four unregistered Animagi to watch your back." Severus explained, looking up from his book. "Nor do you have a shack to hide in- this house will be ripped to shreds."
"I'll figure something out." Celosia stared up at her fiancée. "James and Sirius were able to figure something out when they were thirteen, I definitely will be able to as well."
Severus sneered at the mention of James' and Sirius' names, but the glare that Celosia suddenly sent him kept him quiet. Harry watched on mutely, knowing that Severus had a strong hatred towards the Marauders.
"You'd know better than I did about Remus." Bill agreed, completely oblivious to the tension in the room. "If anything, you'll take it better than I would have had to."
"Which will not occur because we will stop the transformation from occurring in the first place." Severus said, keeping his finger on a specific page in the book he was holding.
"And what exactly are you proposing?" Harry asked.
"Celosia took several doses of wolfsbane immediately after being admitted into St. Mungo's." The Potions Master explained, standing behind Harry's seat. "That alone drastically began to eliminate the amount of venom in her system."
"Yes but if I drink it now with the venom growing inside me, it could hurt." Celosia explained. "Harry might not have known that wolfsbane will burn inside a werewolf when ingested but I sure as hell did."
At this Harry blinked, thinking back to all the times Lupin would have had to taken his potion.
"The point is, the potion will diminish the amount of venom and therefore prevent any transformation from occurring at all."
"That's not what happened for Professor Lupin." Harry said.
"Shut up, boy, I'm not finished." Severus snapped. "We won't use ordinary wolfsbane- we will make our own."
Severus turned the book he was holding over, revealing the procedure to the wolfsbane potion but with many scribbled in notes lining the margins. He held The Half Blood Prince's textbook to clearly show all the alterations he implemented.
"I burned that book in the Room of Requirement!" Harry exclaimed.
"Please, Potter, do you seriously think I would have left one of my most prized possessions carelessly in the hands of a sixteen year old boy? I of course had a copy hidden out in the Evans home."
"Since when?" Celosia's eyebrows rose.
"Since your final year when I was forced to live here for a number of days." Severus sneered, obviously displeased by the memory. "I'm not sure this alteration will do the trick but I can change it up further to accommodate our needs."
"And this is why you're the greatest Potions Master Hogwarts ever had." Bill commented.
"I thank you, Mr. Weasley."
"Although I never would have admitted that at all in any other situation."
"I wouldn't think so." Severus agreed, mildly surprising Bill.
"Baby, are you sure that's going to work?" Celosia asked, rubbing her temple with her thumb gently. "Maybe it'll just irritate the venom further."
"Are you not willing to at least try and heal you?" Severus sneered and the woman sighed, patting the seat beside her. He hesitated before walking over, settling himself down.
"I'll go through any lengths." She muttered, throwing her legs over his lap. "But if I do end up being transformed, I won't be upset about it."
"He sure will be." Harry said.
"Didn't the Dursleys ever teach you to hold your tongue?" Severus asked with a glare.
"You two aren't the only people in the room, you know." Harry sneered.
"Behave!" Celosia exclaimed, Bill chuckling.
"You guys are just like Ron and Hermione, except having Harry and Severus having a go at each other is quite the entertainment." The Weasley laughed, rising from his seat. "If you need anything else, I'm here for you, Cel. Fleur's also making progress on your wedding decorations."
"Tell her to hold off seeing as we have bigger problems on our hands." Severus demanded.
"Don't worry, we'll put into account your wishes to." Bill insisted.
"The wedding is the least important on my plate of worries right now as compared to my future wife being turned into a werewolf because of a stupid bite."
Celosia hit her fiancée's arm, frowning. "Let Fleur help!"
"I'll be a fire-call away." Bill said to Harry before disappearing through the fireplace.