Chapter Six: A Rare Case

"He's a… he is a-alive." He heard both Tonks and Remus sigh. "But only just." Remus looked curiously at Severus and a tear fell from his cloudy blue eye.

"What do you mean?" He was barely audible.

"The Mediwitches have been forced to put him in a magically induced homeostasis coma. They had to prevent his situation from worsening."

"Severus, what is his situation? When can we see him? Where is he?" She looked around frantically.

"He has pre-lycanthropy syndrome. It's never been recorded, but they have assumed that it's possible to pass on the werewolf trait onto children. They don't know why only Charlie has it, and not Harry or Sirius. Right now, they aren't sure that they don't have it."

"Pre-lycanthropy syndrome? I gave him this." Remus spoke with a silent rage. "I am killing my own son." Tonks grabbed his arm and pulled him around to face her.

"He is not going to die, and it's not your fault." She whispered barely inches from his face.

"Severus, what can they do for him?" At this question, Severus nearly choked on his reply. He swallowed deeply.

"Only a cure for lycanthropy can cure him." Between the people in the background at the hospital and his whispering, it was a surprise that anyone heard him.

"There is no cure for lycanthropy." Tonks said sadly, and then turned around to hug her husband and cry into his shoulder. "My baby," she miserably whined into his arm, "I want to see my baby." Severus looked at the two sorrowfully. Why did this have to happen to two people that have already been through so much in their life?

He quietly led them through the corridors of the hospital to where Charlie's bed was. He was surrounded in a thin purple force field from the charm. Neither Remus and Tonks, nor anyone else could enter the field at the risk of disrupting the charm.

They watched from the edges as he would slowly breathe in and out, wondering when his last breath would be.

"Nymphadora, darling," he was still the only one allowed to call her that, "We need to get back to the kids." She nodded her head lightly and she, Remus and Severus apparated back. The first thing Nymphadora did was run and hug all of her babies. Remus watched in sadness and Hermione looked at the whole scene in horror. Even Severus was visibly upset.

Remus quietly pulled Severus into the other room when he saw his wife sit down and cry with her children.

"I know there had to be a reason why they put him in a coma. Is there a chance?" Severus looked Remus in the eye.

"I don't want to give you false hope, but I am willing to try anything to create a Lycanthropy cure. I suggested the coma. They only last so long, and time is ticking. I have to start immediately. I am going to need a test subject, but I will do anything." He was feeling so miserable right now. What if he couldn't cure lycanthropy? What if he failed? What if he had just given Remus false hope?

"Severus," he paused, trying to regain his composure, "hope is all I have. Please save my little boy. Save my Charlie. If I lose him, I will lose everything." His tears freely fell from his eyes again and Severus was looking directly at the floor.

This was it. He had no choice but to save the boy. Remus and his family were the only real family he had ever had. Charlie had so much to live for and he couldn't let that go to waste. He mustered all the courage he could to look into the gentle werewolf's eyes.

"I will save him." Remus smiled and gave him a hug only a true brother could give. The thank you was wordless. Remus let go and went to go and sit with his wife and children. Severus stood, rooted to the spot. A short while later, Hermione joined him. He acknowledged her with a nod and stood next to him.

"What is going to happen to him?" She whispered sadness in her voice.

"I need your help." She looked up to him questioningly. He looked her in the eyes. "I need your help to create a cure for lycanthropy. Charlie will die without it. We don't have long. Please, will you help?" She was shocked to hear it and she didn't want to believe, either. She knew that Potions Masters have been trying to find the cure for ages.

"Is this possible?" She was feeling sick to her stomach. "They have been trying for years. Can we cure lycanthropy?" She was crying and he reached his hand out to brush away a tear.

"It has to be." He now cried too. She took a step closer to him and wrapped her arms around him. He snaked his arms around her back and rubbed small circles between her shoulder blades.

"I will help you." She whispered into his ear and pulled away. She walked up to the guest room and retrieved her belongings. She was back in no less than three minutes. "We have to start as soon as possible."

"Let's inform Remus and the family that we are leaving." She nodded and they walked into the room. Remus looked up at them and bowed his head silently.

"Thank you." He swallowed harshly and squeezed his crying wife again. "For everything."

They both grabbed some floo powder and floo-ed to Hogwarts to begin their work immediately.

AN: Thanks for all of the reviews. This is my first story EVER and they make me feel really special. They could all be flames and I would still feel important. Can a romance evolve from a partnership? Do you think that in discovering (or not) the cure, they might just discover something else? P.S. I couldn't kill Charlie.