Resolutions

By Neurotica

Forty-Eight

Sirius Black sat in a comfy armchair close to the door of a specially made hospital ward, looking over his friends and family as they recovered from their various injuries. Emmeline was lying in the bed closest to him, sleeping. She'd been the only one without serious injuries from the battle besides himself, and the pair had been trading off in their vigil over the patients. It had been less than two days since the defeat of Lord Voldemort and the true end of the war, but looking over the still figures of his comrades, Sirius didn't feel the joy he'd always figured he would.

Most of the injuries weren't too serious; just severe exhaustion—physically, magically, mentally—and the patients would need bed rest until they recovered completely. There were, of course, various cases of broken bones, internal bleeding, and things Sirius didn't even want to hear about. All he really knew was that the most severe injuries were not in this room—those two people had gotten private rooms down the hall, and visiting them was not allowed at the moment; Healers were in the rooms constantly, working on fixing the patients, and while they did their best to seem optimistic on the rare occasions they left the rooms, Sirius knew the outlook was grim.

Sirius hadn't left the hospital since he'd arrived, and he wouldn't leave until the last of his friends and family members was released by Healers, no matter how long that took. Molly had come to visit for hours at a time, bringing Mira, Alex, and John with her to see their parents, but at the moment, she was at the cottage caring for the babies with help from Andromeda and Fleur.

Too much had happened, and Sirius had yet to wrap his mind around it completely. Not that he'd really tried; he'd decided when he'd woken up in his own hospital bed that any discussions on what would happen now that the war was over could wait until everyone could enjoy it. He'd briefly dealt with Auror business when Proudfoot had dropped by the day before to check on everyone and speak to Sirius about the prisoners captured in Voldemort's hideout. Sirius asked him to wait until he returned to the Ministry before discussing it, or at least another few days. Proudfoot agreed and spent an hour talking to Sirius about Quidditch.

But Sirius couldn't even find it in himself to enjoy the conversation, the subject being one of his favorites to talk about.

The Weasleys were all grouped together at the far end of the ward, Hermione beside Ron. Then came Remus. There were two extra beds besides the two that Sirius and Emmeline slept in. The occupants of those beds wouldn't be able to lie in them for some time, if ever.

Stop it. They'll be all right, he told himself over and over, as he'd had to do more times than he liked to admit. But he couldn't get the thought out of his head. Death was the last thing he wanted to deal with. What would he do without them? He'd been through so much with the both of them, and losing them now just wasn't an option.

Well, it is an option, but you don't want to admit that, do you? You don't want to admit that any one of the people in this ward could die. You're nothing without your family. They are what made you what you are now.

Roughly, Sirius swiped at his eyes and shut the voice up.

Every six hours or so, Ted Tonks would pop in his head to check on Sirius. Ted was assigned to the other two patients outside the room, but made it a point to stop in to make certain Sirius and Emmeline were as comfortable as they could be. Sirius didn't think these little visits were doing anything for his mood, but he realized that Ted's company helped him remain calm should something bad happen.

Like yesterday.

Emmeline had just returned from getting herself and Sirius some tea. The two sat in chairs against the wall, sipping their drinks in silence, listening to the faint sounds of the sleeping patients' breathing. As Sirius was finishing off his tea, an alarm went off on the other side of the ward. Immediately, Emmeline had jumped up and ran to the bed where the alarm was sounding—Ron's bed—and tried to find the cause for the noise. Within seconds, the room was full of Healers. They pushed Emmeline back and Sirius joined her in the center of the room. Together, they watched the Healers decipher what was wrong with Ron, and tried to stabilize him. Later, they were told that Ron had had a seizure. He'd been having very minor ones since his arrival to St. Mungo's, but this one had nearly killed him. No one seemed to know why the young wizard was suffering from the seizures.

And Remus... When Sirius had left Harry to his duel with Voldemort to find his best friend, he was certain Remus had died. Somehow though, Remus had still been breathing, and after waking up after sudden unconsciousness brought on by whatever had gone on with Harry and Voldemort, Sirius was able to carefully transport him to the hospital without causing further injuries to Remus' badly battered body. He'd been worse off than Sirius had originally thought. Whatever Remus had gone through before Harry had shown up had caught up with him when he'd hit that bloody tree. Emmeline said Snape had given Remus a bezoar to keep whatever potion or poison had been forced down Remus' throat during his capture from doing its job, but Ted believed the bezoar hadn't been completely effective. Emmeline was quick to remind Sirius that this wasn't Snape's fault; that even a potions master who didn't know what poison a person ingested couldn't guarantee a bezoar was going to work. Still, Sirius found it a little easier on himself to blame Snape... Whatever had happened to Remus, he wasn't doing well at the moment, and if he got any worse, he'd be moved next door, with the critically injured patients.

Sirius did everything he could not to think of them. He counted cracks in the ceiling, tried to work on crossword puzzles without actually reading any articles in the Daily Prophet, anything that would keep him from thinking about Harry or Naomi. He wasn't certain what exactly had happened to his wife, but from what he'd heard from Emmeline, it was amazing she had survived. Regardless, Sirius wasn't allowed to see her at the moment, and it was killing him.

Harry, on the other hand, was a complete mystery to the Healers. Upon his first examination of the boy, Ted had told Sirius that there was nothing visibly wrong with him. He had a few minor injuries, including a nasty cut on his forehead, but for the most part, he seemed fairly healthy, all things considered. Nevertheless, Harry was in a very deep sleep that he couldn't be woken from, and it scared Sirius beyond anything else in this entire situation. It wasn't like when Sirius was brought to the hospital when he'd been hit with the Torchier curse—it was obvious to Healers that there had been something not right with him; they only had to figure out what. But with Harry, they were absolutely clueless.

"Sirius?" came a sleepy voice to his left. The Head Auror looked over to find Emmeline had woken. "Any changes?"

He shook his head as his chair made his way towards her bed. "Nothing that I'm aware of," he replied. "How'd you sleep?"

"Horribly," she said flatly. "I don't think I even slept, and if I did, I still feel like I haven't slept in a month."

He smiled slightly. "I know the feeling."

Emmeline looked over to her husband's bed. "He looks a little better," she said hopefully. "Seems to be getting some of his color back."

Sirius nodded. "Yeah," he said. "You realize he's probably just sleeping, right?" he added with a grin. "There's no other way he can get any rest with me around, so he's pretending to be out cold."

She chuckled. "If I had my way, I'd do the same thing," she joked.

He stuck his tongue out at her.

After a few minutes, Emmeline sighed. "Why don't you go home for a bit, have a shower and something to eat... see your daughter?"

"I suppose I could," Sirius replied slowly, looking uncertain. "Are you going to be all right?"

Emmeline smirked. "I think I can handle a few hours in a hospital room by myself," she said. "Go."

Sirius mock-saluted and did as told. "Want me to bring anything back for you?"

"I wouldn't be against a sandwich."

"Consider it done." Sirius winked and left the room, slowing down as he passed Naomi's hospital room. The door was open, and he could see Healers crowded around her bed. I wish they'd just let me see her for a minute... He sighed. Harry's room was just across the hall, and there were wards to keep anyone other than Healers outside it. Not fair... he grumbled, continuing on his way.

A temporary Floo connection had been setup on that level to allow people to travel to and from the hospital without having to deal with the press that had congregated on the main level. For extra security, a spell had been placed on the fireplace—one had to tap their wand against the brick and say their name to be allowed to Floo in or out.

"Sirius Black," he said clearly but dully, tapping his wand against the fireplace. After a moment, fire erupted in the grate. Sirius tossed in some Floo powder, entered with his chair— the inside had been enlarged to ensure it could fit easily— and said the address of the cottage before beginning to spin.

The spinning finally stopped and he rolled out onto the carpet, marveling at the spell Molly had used that automatically cleaned soot from the carpet to keep it from staining. He entered the kitchen where he found Andromeda at the table, reading.

"Hey, Andy," he said, coming to a stop beside her in his normal spot. "How's it going?"

She smiled and closed the book. "Not horribly. Molly and Fleur are upstairs giving the kids a bath."

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Fleur is helping give the kids a bath?" he asked incredulously. "You mean she's not afraid of getting her precious hair wet?"

Andromeda gave him a look. "She's actually very capable," she said, sounding surprised herself. "The boys seem to like her a lot."

Sirius burst out laughing, earning a light smack from his cousin. "Oh, come on! That was funny..."

Andromeda's lips were twitching, but she didn't comment any further. "How're things at the hospital?"

The wizard sighed. "Same as ever," he said. "Really, this whole 'spending days at a time at the hospital' thing is getting old."

"Well, I'm certain that once this is over, trips to St. Mungo's will be minimal," Andromeda responded. She looked at Sirius critically. "Then again, you're rather accident prone, so I can't guarantee you won't end up there every month."

"Thanks for that," Sirius said flatly. Andromeda winked. "Ted's been a big help, though, as always. It's nice having family members in important positions."

Andromeda laughed. "You just like being able to bombard someone with questions who won't throw you out of the hospital."

"True." Sirius grinned a little. He looked over and spotted the Daily Prophet folded over so that the headline was visible.

"It's the first one that came out after the battle," Andromeda said quietly as Sirius reached over for it. "There aren't many details, since the Prophet can't get any comments from anyone who was actually there, but it's a bit amusing watching them try making things up. Apparently, you turned on your Aurors and cursed fifteen of them."

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Yes, I can see how that could be amusing..."

"Well, for those of us who've been keeping track of the Prophet's attempts to discredit you, it is amusing."

"What number is this?"

"Seventy-eight."

"Hmm," Sirius said thoughtfully. "I'd thought it be higher than that."

"Sirius! You're here," Molly said, entering the kitchen. Sirius turned and smiled. "Are you hungry? Can I get you anything?"

Sirius opened his mouth to tell Molly he was perfectly fine, but she'd already started making a plate for him.

"How about a butterbeer?" Molly said after she put the plate in front of him.

Sirius looked at Andromeda for help on telling Molly to sit down and relax, but his oh-so-helpful cousin was too busy not laughing. "Molly, honestly, I'm all right... Sit down for a change—or better yet, go see your children... You've hardly been at the hospital since they were brought in."

Molly avoided looking at him. "Well, there's a lot to do here. Someone's got to watch the children."

"Fleur and I can handle it, Molly," Andromeda said gently.

The Weasley matriarch sighed and thought for a moment before finally nodding. "All right," she conceded. "I'll go to the hospital. But you're certain you'll be all right with the babies, Andromeda?"

The other smiled. "I'm positive. Go before I have Sirius stun you and take you there himself."

Sirius took out his wand and waved it a little with a grin. "It'd be a dream come true."

Molly gave him a look that told him if he stunned her he would pay dearly the moment she woke. "I'll be back in a few hours then, I suppose. Let me know if you need—"

"GO!" the Black cousins yelled.

Finally, Molly grabbed her cloak, and a few minutes later, Sirius heard her leave through the fireplace. "Why doesn't she want to see her children? If Nymphadora was in the hospital, I'd be there in a heartbeat..." Andromeda said.

Sirius shrugged. "One thing I've learned about Molly Weasley over the last twelve years is that she likes to keep busy when bad things happen. When Arthur died and she came to stay with us at Number Twelve... Andy, I'd never seen that place as clean as it was once she got a hold of it."

Andromeda sighed. "Well, you should eat and go see your own child. She's missed you."

The Auror smiled. "I've missed her..." He stared at his meal, starting to wonder what would happen if he lost Naomi and had to take care of Mira himself. He was certain he would manage, especially with the help of his friends, but it was one thing he didn't want to experience. He didn't want to sit his daughter down in a few years and explain why her mother wasn't around.

"Sirius," Andromeda said quietly. "Whatever you're thinking, you need to stop."

Sirius looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "How would you know what I'm thinking?"

"I know that look," the witch said frankly. "You're thinking about something horrible happening and how you'll deal with it. Stop it. You being depressed and miserable isn't going to help anything."

Sirius smiled a little. "You're as bad as Remus, you know that?"

"I've known you your entire life. I've learned a few things about you in that time." Andromeda reached over for the Daily Prophet in front of Sirius and put it aside. "Don't think about any of this rubbish until you're ready."

"Okay," Sirius said, his hands raised in surrender. "You win... No depression or wallowing in misery..." He sighed, staring at his plate of food. "I'm not all that hungry. I think I'll go see Mira."

Andromeda smiled and winked. "Excellent idea."

Sirius made his way upstairs and down the hall to the open door of the nursery. Fleur was busy tucking in one of the twins. "Are they asleep?" he asked quietly.

The French witch turned and smiled. "Ze boys are," she replied at the same volume. "Mira, I believe, was waiting for her father."

Nodding, Sirius wheeled to his daughter's cot as Fleur left the room. "Hey, beautiful," he said when Mira turned her head and looked at him with her big silver-grey eyes. "Have you been good?"

Mira stuck out her arms to be picked up, a large smile blossoming over her face. Sirius chuckled and lowered the bars so he could reach her better. The little girl crawled out of the cot and onto his legs. "Da," she said quietly.

Sirius raised an eyebrow and looked down at her. "What did you say?" he asked stupidly.

"Dadadadadadadada," Mira babbled happily.

Her first word... If you could consider that a word... It was Harry's first word, Sirius thought. "Of course you would start talking when your Mum isn't around," he told his daughter, grinning widely. "But I'm glad I was around when you decided to talk."

Mira buried her head against her father's chest. Sirius decided to sit by the window and just relax for a bit with his little girl. So long as he had her in his arms, all his troubles didn't seem so important.

Emmeline and Molly fluffed pillows and pulled blankets up for the patients while they rested. Molly was busy moving Ron's hair out of his eyes when Emmeline heard something on the other side of the room. She stopped in her tracks and listened hard, trying to hear over the constant beeping of magical monitoring instruments. She heard it again and quickly made her way over there. She'd thought she'd heard rustling of sheets, but none of these people had moved in days. Could someone finally be awake?

She answered her own question as she pulled aside the curtain around Remus' bed. She smiled broadly. Her husband was moving slightly, trying to get comfortable. His face was contorted in pain, but he otherwise seemed okay. "Hey, you," Emmeline said quietly, putting her hand on his shoulder. He immediately relaxed. "Molly?" she called quietly.

"Yes?" the other witch replied a few moments later, approaching the bed.

"I think he's waking up... Could you get a Healer?"

Molly smiled. "Of course, dear."

Emmeline sat down at her husband's bedside and gently massaged his knuckles wither her fingers. His eyes began to move, but he seemed unable to open them.

"Em?" he said in a gravelly voice, his lips hardly moving.

The witch's smile widened. "I'm here, love."

"Where'm I?"

"St. Mungo's," she replied. "You've been here for two days."

"Oh." He finally managed to open his eyes a little. "Why?"

She hesitated and felt immense relief that she didn't have to explain anything right away—Molly had returned with one of the Healers. After a thorough examination, the Healer stood back. "Well, he seems to be recovering very well, better than what we'd expected when he first arrived. I'm going to give him a few pain killing potions, but I think he'll be just fine."

"Excellent news," Emmeline said, looking at her husband. He raised the corner of his lip in an attempt to smile.

Molly pulled the Healer aside to ask him a few questions about her children, leaving the Lupins alone again.

"Harry okay?" Remus murmured.

Emmeline bit her lip. She would have rather answered his other question—at least she could. Again, she was cut off as a mediwitch entered with different potions for Remus to take. Luckily for Emmeline, just moments after the witch fluffed his pillow and left, Remus was drifting off again.

The next morning, Sirius returned to St. Mungo's after his first good nights' sleep in days. He passed the room with Harry, knowing there would be no chance of him getting in there—though it wasn't for lack of trying—and started back into the main ward. Just as he'd gotten the door open, Ted called for him.

"We need to talk," the Healer said gravely.

Sirius groaned loudly. "You know, Ted, those words coming out of a Healer's mouth when a dozen of my friends and family are on the verge of death... It's not what I want to be hearing right now, Ted."

"I know, but I've been trying to find you for hours—it's about Naomi, and you need to hear this now before someone else blurts it out."

Raising an eyebrow, Sirius followed Ted into Naomi's hospital room. It was the first time he'd seen his wife since the battle. She didn't look well—she had numerous bruises, obvious broken bones... Sirius was reminded of when Hagrid had found her at Hogwarts after Voldemort had discovered she was a spy.

Ted sighed. "Trust me, she looks better than she did," he said grimly. Sirius looked at him in shock. "I'm not going to lie to you, she was hit with something like six curses at the same time, all of them known to eventually cause death."

"So you're saying my wife should be dead six times over?" Sirius said dryly, still staring at Naomi.

"Yes," Ted said. "But she's not. We were able to counter four of the curses, and she seems to be recovering from them. The last two, however, don't seem to want to be countered."

"There's a surprise," Sirius muttered. "What are the remaining curses?"

Ted hesitated. "Well, one is a curse that causes the brain to slowly shut down—we think we've got that one mostly under control. Naomi is reacting much better to our tests. The other..." The Healer sighed heavily. "Do you remember when Naomi was pregnant with Mira, and I told the two of you about curses that cause spontaneous abortions?"

"Yes..." Sirius said slowly, his eyebrows rose as high as they could be.

"I believe something of that nature was cast on Naomi." Ted must have expected a very different reaction from Sirius.

The Head Auror's brow furrowed. "Ted, Naomi's not pregnant..."

"Oh boy," the Healer muttered, his eyes widening.

Sirius' heart dropped to his feet. "What?"

Ted sat down in a chair across from the other wizard. "After our initial examinations, we discovered that Naomi is indeed pregnant—closing in on two months, I would think."

Sirius' mind was completely blank. Only a few hours ago, he'd thought this entire situation couldn't have been any worse. He should have known better—rarely was he ever right. "And?" he asked in a strangled voice.

"And what?" Ted asked, slightly confused.

"What about the baby?"

"Oh, right," Ted replied. "Well, I also think the curse was on a delay—whoever cast it on her couldn't have known she was pregnant; if you didn't even know, I would be willing to bet she didn't either. They could have cast it on the off chance she could get pregnant in the next six months or so. Obviously these Death Eaters hadn't discussed what curses to use on her, and each did the worse thing they could think of. Whatever the case, the curse hasn't taken yet. Your baby is still alive and growing as we speak. However," Ted said a bit louder to interrupt Sirius, "if we do not find the counter-curse soon, the curse will surely sense the baby and activate. If that happens, there's a very high chance both Naomi and the baby could die…"

It was hours before Remus woke again. Emmeline broke the time apart by grabbing a small lunch in the cafeteria and stopping to visit injured Order members and Aurors in various other rooms around the new ward. She met up with Tonks in the room shared by Elphias Doge and Sturgis Podmore. The three immediately began to ask about the others who'd been in the battle, and she happily told them that Remus was doing much better than expected. Tonks was one of the few who'd escaped the battle with minor injuries—she'd twisted her ankle after the battle when she'd slipped on a wand that had been dropped, and that was about the worst of it. Elphias had been hit with a rather powerful stunner, but had woken fairly quickly, and Sturgis had deep cuts caused by cutting hexes that Healers worried could have infected his internal organs.

"Any word on Harry?" Tonks asked once the main subjects had been exhausted.

Emmeline shook her head. "None," she replied sadly. "All we know is that we're not allowed to see him."

Sturgis snorted. "Bet Sirius is loving that," he muttered sarcastically, wincing as he touched his side.

"He's not too happy, to say the least," Emmeline confirmed. "And what's worse, he's not allowed to see Naomi, either."

"Why not?" Elphias asked.

"Well, after Harry, she was the most seriously injured... Granted, we're not certain how Harry was injured; I think that's what's worrying Healers," Emmeline said.

Tonks nodded. "Dad's really worried about him," she said. "He's afraid they keep looking over something, and if they don't find it soon, Harry might..."

"We're trying not to think that right now," Emmeline said quickly. "And we're definitely not thinking that aloud around Sirius." She gave Tonks a pointed look.

"Believe me," the Auror said with a snort, "I've learned when to keep my mouth shut around Sirius, if you know what I mean."

Emmeline glanced at her watch and sighed. "Well, I should be getting back; Remus may be waking soon—I don't know how long those painkilling potions are supposed to last..." She said her goodbyes to her fellow Order members, promised to visit again soon, and left the room, taking the familiar route back to her family and friends.

When she entered, she was met with an odd sight. Well, it wasn't really all that odd, but it was rather surprising. There was someone in the room that Emmeline didn't recognize, and the other woman was standing at the foot of her husband's bed. Feeling a little defensive of Remus, she closed the door a little harder than she would have normally done. The woman started and turned.

"Can I help you?" Emmeline asked politely, approaching her, her hand remaining close to her wand pocket.

The woman smiled shakily. "Oh, hello," she said quietly. "I wasn't aware anyone else was here..."

"Can I help you with something?" Emmeline asked again.

"Well, I'm... I guess a friend of Remus'. I'd heard he was here, so I wanted to see how he was."

"Might I ask who you are?" Emmeline said, her eyes narrowed. As far as she could recall, she'd never seen this woman before in her life.

"Celeste Moxley," the witch replied, sensing Emmeline was growing slightly paranoid. "Remus helped out my friends and I during a rather... difficult time."

Emmeline thought. The name sounded vaguely familiar to her, but she couldn't remember where from. Finally, she realized who the woman was. Her eyes widened. "You're one of the female werewolves from the Underground," she said quietly.

The woman smiled slightly and nodded. "I am... well, was," she said. "Remus took care of that."

"I'm Emmeline." She stuck out a hand to shake the other woman's.

"Ah, yes, Remus spoke very highly of you," Celeste said.

"And of you," Emmeline replied. "He was quite worried about you after that full moon—he never heard whether you'd made it or not."

Celeste nodded. "I was one of the few who did," she said sadly. "Though if it hadn't been for your husband, I don't know that any of us would have survived."

"He'll be very pleased to know you're all right."

Celeste smiled. "And how is he now? I've been reading the papers everyday, but they don't exactly say much..."

"The Healers say he'll be fine," Emmeline told her. "He was awake briefly earlier, but after a few painkilling potions... well, you can see the results."

The other woman chuckled. "That's very good news. Well, I should be going," she said. "Please tell Remus I dropped by, and I'll come see him in his office once he returns to work."

"I will," Emmeline said with a smile. "Take care of yourself, and please, feel free to come back if you can; I'm certain he'll want to see you."

"Thank you," Celeste replied, returning the smile. "I do hope your family and friends recover quickly. From what Remus says, they're all very dear to him."

Emmeline snorted in a rather unladylike way. "That is what we call a major understatement." She smiled at her husband. "But yes, they are all very important to him. To both of us."

"It was wonderful meeting you, Emmeline, I do hope we'll get the chance to speak more in the future."

"As do I, Celeste."

Celeste smiled at Emmeline, glanced back at Remus, and left the room. Emmeline turned to watch her leave and found Sirius had just entered the room, looking at the other woman with a confused, raised eyebrow. He let the door shut and wheeled over to Emmeline. "Who was that?" he asked.

Emmeline explained.

Sirius looked thoughtful. "She's a lot more attractive than Remus let on." Emmeline smacked him. "Ow! It's not like he was ogling her... He just mentioned she was pretty, and only after I kept on asking."

"You're married," Emmeline reminded him sharply. She'd expected him to retort, and when he didn't, she looked over at him. He looked miserable. "What's wrong?"

He shook his head and attempted a smile. "Nothing," he said quietly. "How's Remus?"

Emmeline raised an eyebrow, but told Sirius how his best friend was. Sirius didn't seem nearly as excited as he normally would have. She didn't want to ask again; Sirius looked as though he was ready to burst into tears any second. Instead, she squeezed his shoulder, and went to sit beside her husband. She'd inquire into what happened with Sirius later.

A few days later, Remus was finally able to remain awake for more than twenty minutes at a time. Visitors to the room were limited—only family was currently allowed due to the number of still sleeping patients. Luckily for Remus, though, he considered the entire Order of the Phoenix his family.

Upon waking, he'd once again asked his wife about Harry. And once again, she'd avoided the question. When he kept asking, she'd told him the Healers had asked her not to tell him anything that may upset his condition. Remus raised an eyebrow at the comment, not to mention the fact that his wife seemed relieved by the Healers' request. He'd informed her that he was not a child, and he could handle whatever had happened. She changed the subject to anything else.

Currently, Emmeline was asleep across from him, and Remus was staring at the ceiling, thinking. He'd been awake for two days now, and he had yet to see Sirius. It seemed, though, that Emmeline was willing to talk about him, but she didn't know much. Whatever was wrong with his friend, he wasn't talking about it. Well, the moment Remus saw Sirius, he would get the information out of his best friend. Maybe Sirius would tell Remus what was wrong with Harry once they finished that discussion.

Just as Remus was once again giving up on seeing Sirius that evening, the door opened, and Remus nearly laughed as his friend wheeled himself into the room. "Oh, so you are alive, I see," Remus said lightly, his voice still slightly hoarse.

Sirius seemed shocked that anyone was even in the room. After he jumped a few feet from his chair, he looked around and smiled a little. "Yeah, I'm alive... I heard rumors you hadn't bitten the dust, either," he joked.

The other wizard shrugged. "What can I say, even Voldemort can't get rid of me." Sirius chuckled and rolled over to the bed. "You know, Padfoot, there aren't many people who can joke about this type of thing..."

"Eh, we're an odd pair, always have been. Why question it?" Sirius said with a grin that didn't quite reach his eyes. "How're you feeling?"

"Not bad, I suppose. I'm sorer than I've ever been in my life, but after what happened, the Healers say that's pretty much to be expected."

Sirius nodded. "Well, I'm glad to see you awake," he said quietly. "It's good news after days of very bad news..."

Remus raised an eyebrow. "What's up?"

Sirius sighed and looked away, gathering his thoughts. When he looked back at Remus, his face showed none of the emotion it had a few seconds ago. "It's nothing, Moony, don't worry about it."

"But I am worried about it," Remus replied. "I'm not Emmeline; I don't have to be a Legilimens to know when you're lying to me. Don't be a martyr. If something's wrong, tell me. Is it about Harry?"

Sirius shook his head. "There's been no news on Harry, which, according to Ted, is good news."

"Then who?"

The Auror hesitated. He glanced over at Emmeline.

"If you don't want her to know, I won't tell her," Remus promised quietly. "It'll stay between us, if that's how you want it."

"It's not that I don't want Emmeline to know. I just don't want her worrying about this on top of everything else that's going on. She's hardly taken a break from this place, worrying about you and everyone else..."

"Sirius, you're babbling," Remus said flatly.

"Sorry," Sirius replied. He sighed heavily. "All right, I'll tell you..." Remus waited patiently for Sirius to start talking; he seemed to be having a lot of trouble with it.

"It's Naomi," he said finally. "I didn't even know what was wrong with her until Ted pulled me aside the other day. Emmeline told him that Naomi was cornered by a group of Death Eaters who were pissed that she'd betrayed Voldemort. Go figure... Anyway, they each decided to cast curses on her that, by all accounts, should have killed her respectively. But for whatever reason, whether the curses were cast wrong or something, Naomi survived. Healers were able to counter most of the curses, thankfully, but they're very worried about one. Ted doesn't know why it was cast on her, whether someone was just being cruel or not, but it was an abortion curse on a time release."

Remus' eyebrows rose. "But Naomi's not..." he began, trailing off as Sirius only looked at him miserably. "Naomi's pregnant?" Remus said in a loud whisper.

"Apparently," Sirius replied dryly. "I had no idea. I don't think she did, either, or she may have had second thoughts about going to Voldemort's castle..." He sighed again. "Worse thing about it is that the curse hasn't detected the baby yet. Once it does—Ted thinks if they don't find a counter soon — both Naomi and the baby will die."

Remus couldn't even speak. Perhaps it had something to do with his jaw being set on wide open. He tried to think of something that could comfort his best friend, but unfortunately, came up with nothing. The two friends just sat in silence for long minutes, both thinking about Naomi and the child she was carrying. Remus knew Sirius wanted a second child after Mira, and here was his chance. Remus had the suspicion that if this baby was lost, Sirius wouldn't ever be quite the same. Not to mention there was the added threat of losing his wife.

This is not Sirius' week... Remus thought miserably, watching his best friend stare at his feet. He wondered if he should even inquire about Harry right now, seeing Sirius' current mood. He decided to take the chance and hoped it didn't backfire on him.

"Padfoot?" he said quietly. The other wizard looked at him questioningly. "Have you heard anything about Harry?"

Sirius snorted humorlessly. "Are you kidding? They've got security outside his door day and night. Ted's not even allowed in there to examine him because everyone knows he'll come running to us with information. The Healers who are in there have been sworn to secrecy—Tonks thinks they used Unbreakable Vows to keep them from talking to the press..."

"You don't know what's happened to him?" Remus asked. "Emmeline said he beat Voldemort. Do you know how?"

"Only bits of information Emmeline has heard from Dumbledore on his very brief visits here. And when I say brief, I mean he pops his head in here for two seconds and leaves. Actually, he can't even find Voldemort's body. No, it's not like the first time he disappeared," Sirius added at Remus' look. "Dumbledore thinks something happened with Voldemort's and Harry's connection that destroyed him altogether. He seemed shocked that Harry survived at all."

"Why?" Remus asked.

Sirius shook his head. "No idea. Like I said, Dumbledore hasn't stuck around long enough for me to interrogate him. To tell you the truth, though, I'm not certain I even want to know what Harry went through. I heard him screaming when I was checking to make sure you were all right, and it was the scariest thing I ever heard in my life."

"Understandable," Remus said quietly, trying not to imagine Harry's screams. "Maybe we should change the subject, eh?"

Sirius gave a small smile. "Yeah, I'm getting depressed... Want an update on Quidditch scores?"

Remus chuckled. "Let's have them, then..."