A bit thank you to Hedgi, Meagan Snow, and Idizzle for reviewing. This will be the last chapter. So, enjoy!
The second time it rang, Hugo was the one who picked up the phone. James tried to reach for it, but his cousin quickly dodged the other boy's hand. "Hello. No, this is his cousin. What? That's great news! I'll be sure to alert them right away . . . true . . . well, I'll find a way. Thank you so much. You too, bye." He hung up.
The happy look that Hugo gave his cousin at that very moment was enough to spread joy and peace in the Middle East and cause all of the world leaders to join together holding hands and singing kumbaya. He jumped up into James's arms who immediately returned the hug; no words needed to be exchanged, the news was clear: they had been found and all was well. When Hugo finally let go he saw that his cousin had tears in his eyes. Normally, at this point he would crack a wise comment, but there really was no point now, for the tears were mutual.
"We need to get our parents."
"Malfoy's too."
"Yeah . . . whatever."
The question was, of course, how? The Ministry would never let in a couple of minors enter a courtroom, regardless of their status. It was then Hugo had an epiphany. "The Scamanders live nearby, don't they?"
". . . Yes." James failed to see where he was going with this.
"Come on," he said, motioning for the older boy to follow. "You get our coats, I'll get Darwin."
"Hugo, what are you-" but the little boy had sprinted upstairs to get "Darwin". Darwin was the name of Hugo's little, red wagon that he insisted on dragging everywhere with him outside of the house. The wagon alway contained at least books that Hugo was in the middle of reading so that he would have something to do if he got bored in whatever location they were visiting. Hermione didn't want him carrying too many things at once because she was worried that it would strain his arm muscles. Rose constantly teased him about the wagon, claiming that he slept with it.
Still, James knew better than to argue, and he quickly got on his shoes and jumper. When Hugo met him at the door, the two left a brief note and ran down the street to their friends' house.
"Rolf is still probably on his trip to the Netherlands," Hugo explained, struggling to catch his breath as he ran. "But with any luck, Luna will be home." Hugo rolled his eyes. It was quite apparent that Hugo (and to a lesser extent, his sister) found the former Lovegood annoying in her beliefs. Hugo in particular always had a difficult time keeping a straight face when she spoke of Moon Frogs and Dabberblimps.
When they reached the house, Hugo banged on the door with his tiny fists in what looked like a hysterical fit. "Come on! Open up!"
The door opened and a small figure dressed in pajamas yawned. "Do you mind?" he said. "Some of us are trying to sleep!"
"It's four in the afternoon," James pointed out.
The little boy gave him an odd look as if to say, What's your point? Then the boy turned to Hugo. "What do you want?"
"Lorcan, is your mum home?"
"I'm Lysander."
"Whatever. Look, this is really important. We need to talk to your mum right now."
Lysander sighed. "Come in, then. But stay yourself first." He handed them a bottle. "Grandad had this tested to guarantee extermination of ninety-nine point nine percent of wrackspurt infections." He gave Hugo a sly smile. "Knowing you, you'll need it."
As soon as they arrived at the resort's hospital, the children were immediately laid on rolling beds and examined by a ferocious group of doctors. "The boy has a broken ankle and mild to moderate hypothermia, but otherwise seems to be stable condition. The girl has moderate hypothermia and frostbite. She and the boy are both dehydrated." He squinted at Rose. "She also appears to have inexplicable second-degree burns on her body," Dr. Hanbury observed. He looked at Rose very seriously. "How did you get these burns?"
Rose replied in a shaky voice, "W-we had a couple of matches and tried to start a fire, but . . . but it didn't go so well." She held her breath and glanced nervously at the doctor, wondering if he would believe her story. When he nodded she breathed a sigh of relief.
"I'm worried about the boy," reported another doctor. "He shows signs of severe hypothermia and stupor. He's not responding to anything but intense stimuli."
"Will he be okay?" asked Rose. The doctors ignored her, which Rose did not appreciate. "Hey! Hey, I'm talking to you people!" They turned, surprised. "He's going to be okay, right?"
There was a pause. "You need some rest, young lady. Willard, take her to the other room."
"When can I see my sister?" asked Albus.
Hanbury's response was gentle and slow. "She is sleeping right now, but soon, boy. Don't worry. She's been asking about you constantly."
"And my parents?"
Another pause. "Your cousin, Mr. Hugo, is going to contact them. You seem perplexed boy, why?"
"Nothing. Just tired, is all."
"I understand. Why don't you get some rest?"
He nodded. But as Albus was being wheeled away on the roller bed, a thousand thoughts raced through his mind. Why weren't his parents waiting at the telephone. Had they given up hope already? Had they just taken them for dead and moved on with their daily lives? Had there even been a funeral? One without a body, he supposed. How would they have felt afterwards. Maybe they were relieved. Glad that the matter was finally closed. Maybe they were already using his bedroom for storage.
Would they even want him back? The thought seemed ridiculous, but after everything he had been through, it wouldn't surprise Albus in the least. He wanted to see Lily, even if he couldn't talk to her. He just wanted to make sure that she was okay. Why couldn't he see her? Had his sister died and they didn't want to break the news to him? A feeling of sudden panic rushed down his spine. Oh Merlin, was she okay?
Suddenly, he sat up and despite the doctors' warnings, attempted to make a break for it. Stumbling on his weak ankle and beginning to feel rather dizzy, Albus managed to make it to the door but struggled to turn the handle with his clumsy fingers. Eventually, his legs gave out and the doctors rushed to return him to his cot.
Rose grinned. "You must be exhausted," she said.
"Why do you say that?" he asked, stifling a yawn.
His cousin pointed to a sign. "The door you tried to open led to the cleaning supplies."
To say the courtroom was surprised to see a ghostly rabbit enter the room is an understatement. When they witnessed the rabbit hop towards Potter and open its mouth to speak, things quickly descended into chaos.
"What is the meaning of this?"
"This is a courtroom not a . . . a rabbit house!"
Among the numerous grumpy old men waving their fists in the air, Harry leaned in and was able to hear the words of Luna Lovegood's patronus. "All is well. The children are safe and in a muggle hospital."
The few others who managed to make out the apparition's speech quickly began mumbling amongst themselves excitedly.
"Well," said Ron, standing up from the witness stand and grinning. "I guess there's no need for trial. I say meeting adjourned." He was met with cheers from the reporters and jury. Hermione, Ginny, and Harry seemed to agree and quickly followed the redhead out the door.
They were not the only ones who heard.
"Grab my arm, darling," whispered Malfoy.
"No, you idiot!" Astoria hissed, slapping him on the wrist. "We can't. Imagine what would happen if the two of us just appear out of nowhere in the middle of muggle Switzerland? We're on thin ice with the Ministry as it is, we cannot have another scandal, do you understand me?"
"Well, what do you want me to do? Just stand here for a few days and wait for my son to return? Are you mad?"
"Of course not," she replied. "I want to see him as much as you do. I have a plan. Oi, Potter! Wait up!"
The first place they went was Godric's Hollow to pick up Hugo and James, congratulating the two of them on thinking to send a patronus. And several uncomfortable hours on an airplane later, James, Hugo, Harry, Ginny, Ron, Hermione, Draco, and Astoria burst into the hospital demanding to see their children. None of the parents wanted to wait another second and were less than thrilled when they were told to hold on for a few minutes. Grudgingly, they did so.
Finally, a nurse entered the waiting room. Her nametag read: Sophie Gillard. "You actually are their parents, correct? We already said that we don't want anymore reporters."
"We are."
Sophie nodded. "Very well. But I'll need to see some ID."
Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Hermione handed their muggle identification over. Hermione shot her husband a haughty glance. Years ago, she had insisted that they get their muggle IDs, even though Ron saw no purpose for them.
The nurse turned to Malfoys with a confused expression. "No ID, then?"
Hermione pulled out her wand from her boot and muttered a spell.
"Excellent," the nurse said, "go right in."
Malfoy gave Hermione a curt nod. Even now, his pride did not allow him to do anything more.
"Excuse me," Hermione said to a doctor, "I am here to see my son. Where is Rose Weasley?"
The man instructed him to go down the hallway and go two doors to the left. The others followed her example. Ginny was furious to hear that her children were in separate rooms and Harry feared that she would explode in anger. Luckily for him, though, she managed to retain herself. They debated each going to a separate room, but decided instead to see Lily first because she was awake.
James grinned at the sight of his sister. "Lily!"
"James! Mum! Dad!"
After being nearly tackled to death by her parents, James ran up to hug Lily, stopping only short of doing so, instead settling for a more "mature" and "masculine" handshake. He recoiled shortly after. "What happened to your hand?"
"What?" she glanced at the swollen appendage. "Oh, don't worry. It's better than it was before." Needless to say, this did little to calm her family, who quickly exchanged nervous glances. "Honest. Where's Al?"
"He's in the other room."
"Not anymore!" said Dr. Hanbury, wheeling in a familiar face into Lily's room.
Upon seeing the others, Albus sat up and began to cry. "Oh, Lily! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" He reached out to hug her.
"You're sorry? Why?"
"What's going on in here?" said Rose, peeking inside the room.
"What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be having an operation?"
She shrugged. "Eh. I'm done." She held out her bandaged hand proudly. "They grafted skin on. Wanna see?"
"I'll pass."
"Rose," Harry said, "I think you're parents are looking for you."
"Not anymore. We said hello. Then, I directed Dad and Hugo to the snack machine, so they should be busy for a few hours."
"What about your Mum?"
"ROSE WEASLEY GET OVER HERE THIS INSTANT! YOU ARE IN NO SHAPE TO BE WALKING!"
Ginny smirked.
"I'll see you guys later," Rose mumbled. "I'm going to go warm me some karma points with Mum."
Draco did not trust these muggle doctors. How did he know they were competent? Who knew what little training they needed to go through to get their jobs. Seeing his son hooked up to a bunch of tubes and machines did not make him feel any better about the situation.
"It was a muggle search party that found him," his wife pointed out.
"After four days."
"He's alive, though. That's certainly something."
"Barely," he added darkly, looking at his son's unconscious body. "We need to take him to St. Mungo's. I don't trust these people, Astoria," he hissed.
"Potter won't let us. Besides, we'll be under a lot of suspicion from the muggle police if he suddenly disappears."
"I don't give a damn about the muggle pol-"
Dr. Hanbury entered the room. "Are you Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy?" he asked, already knowing the answer. They nodded. He sighed, "You two are very lucky. I don't know how he did it, but like the others, your son has made an amazingly quick recovery. Still, he was in the worst condition of the group. Scorpius just recently went under an operation to remove one of his toes and part of a second one. Still, he is expected to make a full recovery. The only permanent damage will be on his foot. Again," he shook his head, as if unbelieving, "I hope the two of you realize just how lucky you are."
"Don't worry," said Malfoy, glancing adoringly at his son, "we do."
Several weeks later, Scorpius was released from the hospital and sent home before returning to school to start the term a bit late. The reunion with Calista was a bit awkward. But event hough few words were exchanged, the feeling was mutual. His sister was glad to have him back, likewise he was glad to be back.
The winter incident made the news, granting Potter, Weasley, and Malfoy even more celebrity status. although the story died down soon enough, the group never grew tired of telling the tale to newcomers about their four days in H-E-double broomsticks.
The End.
That was fun. I think I'll write more fics about the next generation. Any ideas? Thoughts on this story? Please share.