Chapter Five: New Years Eve
Hermione spent the week after Christmas with the Lupins. Tonks claimed that she needed a babysitter, but Hermione assumed that they just wanted to keep her from being too upset during the holidays. Hermione actually found that it did help to be busy.
When she wasn't losing to Lil at wizard chess, she was helping the exceedingly bright, young, Charlie brew his very first batch of silly serum.
When New Years Even came along, Remus and Tonks decided they wanted a break so they left Hermione and Sirius to watch the kids.
Everything was going great. She had no difficulty monitoring the twins and seeing to the rest of them; she was a witch. At around five p.m., she was holding the sleeping twins in her arms, and was finally able to relax slightly, when Sirius came running down the stairs.
"Professor!" He screamed as he nearly tripped on the rug to get to her. She was now thankful that she remembered to put a light silencing charm around the twins like Tonks had advised her to do. She laid them down in the muggle playpen she got the family when Harry was born.
"Shh. What is it, Sirius?" He was still breathing heavily.
"It's Charlie. He's sick!' He looked briefly upstairs. "You have to hurry!"
She quickly followed Sirius up the stairs and when she got there, she found Harry crying in a corner and Charlie violently shaking on top of broken chess pieces.
"What happened?" She stood in shock, remembering the last thing to do in a situation like this is panic.
"We don't know!" He was crying rivers, "Do something!"
She pulled out her wand and cast a few harmless diagnoses charms. Nothing happened, meaning that nothing was detected by the charms. She shook her head strangely.
"You weren't using magic, were you Sirius?" She wasn't accusing, just questioning.
"No!" He was on the verge of hyperventilating. "What's wrong with my brother!"
"Sirius. You have to calm down. Go and owl your parents!" He ran silently from the room. "Harry, honey, I need you to go keep an eye on Lil and the twins." He nodded.
"I wish that Uncle Severus was here." He muttered as he walked out of the room and solemnly went down the stairs. Hermione stood and looked at the convulsing boy, not knowing what she could and should do. She quickly went to the upstairs drawing room and grabbed a handful of floo powder.
She stuck her head into the green flames and could see Severus sitting at the couch in front of the fireplace. He had an envelope with her handwriting in his lap and her letter in his hands.
"Thank Merlin, you are here!"
"Hermione?"
"No time for questions, Severus hurry!" She looked at the letter once more and left the floo. Seconds later, Severus popped through the fireplace.
"Hermione, what's wrong?"
"It's Charlie. He's convulsing." He immediately rushed down the hallway to Charlie's room. Lying in the middle was a motionless young boy, his blonde hair dripping in sweat. Hermione saw from the corner. "I shouldn't have left him." She began to cry. Severus reached down and felt for a pulse.
"He still has a pulse, but it is weak. I need to take him to St. Mungo's." He lifted him carefully and apparated away. Hermione went down the stairs to find Sirius on the couch crying with his brothers and sister, while the twins continued to sleep. He heard Hermione crying from the stairwell and looked over to her, sadness present in his features.
"He's not going to die, is he?" Hermione's heart broke at the sound of the sweet little girl's voice. Lil was standing directly in front of her, looking up. A tear escaped her eyes as she reach down and pulled her into a hug and shook her head fiercely.
"No, sweetie. I won't let him." She whispered in her little ear.
They were sitting on the couch hours later when they heard the distinct pop and thud of Tonks and Remus in the kitchen. Hermione could hear them shuffling to get to the living room.
"Hermione! What's wrong?" Hermione could only shake her head.
"Go to St. Mungo's." She whispered quietly as she continued to hang onto the crying kids. Remus and Tonks looked fearfully at Hermione and apparated immediately.
They arrived in the lobby and immediately saw Severus' billowing black robes, pacing across the room. They ran to him and physically had to stop him.
"Severus?" Remus looked at him with tears in his eyes. Severus went pale.
"Is he… a-alive?" Tonks was terrified, but had to ask. Severus swallowed deeply and opened his mouth to speak.
AN: And I can't believe I left you with a cliffie... Is Charlie alive, or is Charlie dead? Any guesses. That two cliffies, and I hope to review soon. Enjoy