Four days later...
I had arrived last night, late, after Al's father was asleep. Al said it would be better that way. I wasn't sure exactly what he had told his father, but here I was.
Jenna hadn't been happy to see me go, mostly because she liked having a built in babysitter, but my sister understood. I had been there long enough and it was time for me to move on. I would miss my nieces.
My room was nice. Al said it had been his when he lived here, but the room gave no indication of this other than his name carved into the windowsill. It was a pale green color, with one window. Bigger than my room at my sister's house, there was room for more than just a bed. I had a desk in the corner, and a bookshelf was along the opposite wall. I couldn't say I was familiar with any of the titles.
I didn't sleep very well as it was the first night in a new place. The bed was comfortable enough, it would just take a few days getting used to. I planned on getting up early and making breakfast for Mr. Potter. I thought it might be a good way to get off on the right foot. Al had said his father wasn't in the greatest of moods lately, so I figured anything to get on his good side.
When I woke up in the morning I could see the sun rising over the back field. It was actually a really pretty sight. I had grown up in the city, and felt just a little bit jealous that Al had grown up somewhere to beautiful.
I got dressed and went downstairs, hoping there would be something in the house suitable for breakfast. As I came down the stairs, I could see that there was already someone sitting at the kitchen table.
He sat, perched over a cup of tea, and did not turn to look at me as I entered the room.
"So you're the one who Albus sent to babysit me," he said. His voice was not at all how I imagined it. It was rough, tired, and a few other things I didn't have words for.
"Yeah," I said, awkwardly, wringing my hands. I pulled out a chair across from him at the table. It was time to get to know him. "Norah," I said, stretching out my hand to shake his. "It's a pleasure, Mr. Potter."
He picked up his hand, which I saw was trembling something fierce, before placing it back around his mug without shaking my hand. He coughed gruffly and looked away. "I've never heard of you before, Norah."
"I was at Al's wedding," I told him, "and Mrs. Potter's funeral."
I could see something shift within him and he became even more closed off to me. Making a mental note not to bring her up again, I stood up. "Have you eaten breakfast yet?" I asked him.
"I don't eat breakfast," he said, also standing up. It was then I could truly appreciate how gaunt he was. I remembered at Al's wedding how lively he had looked. Now he was skinny and yellow looking. There was no zest in him at all. His eyes were sunken in behind his glasses. I wondered if this was part of his illness, or just the fact that he wasn't eating well. His hair was dull looking, peppered with grays, and thinning. He was not that old of a man, but looked very ragged.
"Do you want some toast?" I asked. "How about eggs?"
"What part of I don't eat breakfast didn't you understand?" he asked, making his way out of the kitchen.
I chewed on my lip and wondered why he was this cranky. There were definitely a few options for why, but I wondered exactly which one. I tried to get in the mindset of a Healer, as that was my default.
"When was the last time you had any pain potions?" I asked him. I didn't know that much about bone cancer, but I knew it was painful.
"I haven't," he said. "Don't like feeling like a mindless moron." And with that he turned and went inside a room that was under the stairs. I guessed it was an office, and I didn't follow him after he shut the door.
I took a deep sigh, wondering what exactly Al had gotten me into. My stomach growled, and I decided to seek some breakfast. Maybe if he smelled a hot breakfast cooking, he would be more amicable to eating one. I opened the cabinets and was extremely disappointed; there was hardly any food in here, and surely nothing to make for breakfast.
So now I needed to go shopping and brew a pain potion that had minimal side effects. I needed to dig out one of my old textbooks for that, realizing just how out of touch I had become in my four months away from Healing.
Around mid-morning, I heard the Floo rattling downstairs. Al's voice was calling out, so I decided it was safe to answer.
"Hi, Al," I said, leaning over the fireplace. I held my long brown hair back with one hand and leaned on the other.
"Hey Norah," he said, smiling. "How's everything going?"
I wondered if I should just tell him everything was going great. I had absolutely no idea what to say to him, and I hoped that was evident on my face.
"Ah," he said, quietly. "Not great?"
I just shrugged, wondering if Mr. Potter could hear me. "Ya' know..."
"Can you go get my father?" he asked.
"Of course," I told him. I got up and walked to the door that he had disappeared behind earlier. I didn't hear any noise, so I figured it was safe to knock. "Mr. Potter," I said. "Al is in the Floo and wants to talk to you."
After a long minute, where I wondered if he had heard me or not, or if he was still alive in there or not, the door opened and he slipped out. I gave him privacy by going upstairs. My stuff still sat in two boxes and a bag in my room, and inside one of them was the textbook I needed.
I only made a little mess by going through the box. Of course my textbook was on the absolute bottom. It was dusty; the last time I had even looked at it had been years ago. I had a potion in mind for him, which I knew would take the edge of his pains without making him mindless. Though I was really tempted to give him something that would make him out of it, just so he would be nice to me.
It had only been a few hours and I knew the circumstances were stacked for it, but I was frustrated. He obviously did not want me here, and I didn't want to struggle with someone for months. I sincerely hoped that this potion would make him feel better.
Since it was an amazingly simple potion, I had most of the potion ingredients with me. The rest were ones I knew were in the cabinets downstairs. It would only take a few hours to put together and I would have it for him tomorrow morning.
When I returned downstairs, he was no longer in the living room, so I assumed he was back in his little office. After familiarizing myself with the kitchen, I started the pain potion. The first batch wouldn't be a large one, so that I could make sure it was working for him before I went all out.
A few hours later, it was nearly ready. I found some empty potion bottles in the pantry and cleaned them out for the potion. I was convinced that almost everything in the house was dirty to some degree. The house wasn't messy, it just wasn't clean, and the cabinets were no exception.
As dinner grew closer, I began to get a little worried. I had no idea what to do for food. Would he even eat it if I made something? There were a few things in the cabinet that I could scrape together a meal with, but I was just so unsure.
The Floo rattled again, and I turned around. The kitchen, living room, and dining room were all open to each other. Al came through the Floo, carrying a bag. The smell of food wafted into my nose and I smiled. I had never been so happy to see someone in my life.
"You're a savior," I told him, quietly.
"I didn't know if you had time to get some food so I thought I'd just simplify everything for you. What're you doing?" he asked, peering over me to see.
"Pain potion," I said, quietly.
"Does he know?" he asked, even quieter. We both knew he would not be open to the idea, but I was so glad Al was here. Maybe he could help with this.
I just shook my head. He took four of the five bottles and put them in the pantry behind a few cans of vegetables. Al then went to the icebox, took out a bottle of Butterbeer and put it in a glass. The potion had a slight orange tint to it, but the frothy golden color of the Butterbeer masked it. I prayed that would work. It couldn't hurt to try.
He got out plates and silverware and set up for dinner. It made me feel a little useless, as it should have been my job, but it would have taken way longer for me to find it all and charm them clean. When dinner was set up, he went to get his father.
"Dad," I heard him say from the kitchen. "I've brought dinner and it's on the table."
They came out together, and I was glad to see Mr. Potter was a little more civil with Al around. He sat down at the table. "How was work?" he asked, looking at the food Al had put on his plate.
"Good, actually," Al said, shoveling in bites of rice and chicken from the Indian takeaway he'd brought. We were both waiting for his father to take a sip of the Butterbeer, and exchanged worried glances. The food was spicy, he should have been drinking. "Lil's said she'll come visit you tomorrow if you'd like to see her."
Al's little sister had gone into Quidditch, just like his mum.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity of worried glances and heart thumping wildly in my chest, he picked up his glass and took a sip.
He didn't swallow; instead he got up and walked to the sink, spitting it down the sink. I sighed, and looked to Al for help.
"I may not be out in the field, but that doesn't mean I've forgotten all of my Auror instincts," he said angrily, wiping his mouth with his sleeve. "What did you just try and give me?" The look on his face would have made even the most callous of people shiver.
"It's just a pain potion, Dad," Al said.
"It's different from the others, it will keep you with it, I promise," I told him.
He shook his head. "No!" he said, and he left the room.
Al sighed, and slumped back down into his chair. "He's acting like a toddler," he said. I could see that even he was frustrated. "I don't know what to do, Norah."
I knew he was exasperated and I was supposed to be able to fix it. Truthfully, I had no idea what to do. "I'm so sorry, Al," I told him.
"I'm sorry I dragged you into this. You're trying, I'm sure you're frustrated too. Just... keep trying a little longer? I don't want to give up on him yet. I can't." He just hung his head and finished dinner. With a few waves of his wand, it was all cleaned up. "You know how to contact me if you need me."
"Have a nice night," I told him.
He just laughed once, low and sarcastic, before Flooing out. I had absolutely no idea what to do from here, so I decided to do a little bit of cleaning. I would go food shopping tomorrow and wanted somewhere clean to put the food.
After they were about as clean as they were going to get, I decided to go to bed. It was early, but today I was determined to get up earlier than him and have breakfast waiting. He must have been starving by now, unless he had a stash of food in his office. He hadn't had a real meal that I had seen while I'd been here. I knew I was hungry.
I figured toast and sausage was better than nothing, so began to cook it up. He did not even acknowledge me, just walked past me to put on his kettle. This was beyond cranky, he was being so rude, and I just wanted to call him out on it. I knew it wouldn't win me any points with him, though, so I didn't.
"I'm going to the store to get some food, is there anything you would like?" I asked him.
He shook his head.
Al was right; he was acting like a toddler. I was not going to last very long here, I was getting so frustrated. I grabbed some money and was glad to get to go into the village for food because it meant time away from that miserable man and his miserable house.
I had a good time in the supermarket. Al had given me plenty of money for food. I had no idea what Mr. Potter like to eat, so I just grabbed a variety of stuff. That man was going to eat if I had to force him. I didn't know if he was trying to starve himself to death, but that was not going to happen while I was in charge of him.
I dreaded returning, though. I went in the house; my arms weighed down by groceries, and began to put them away.
"Hello?" I recognized Mr. Potter's voice and went to see where it was coming from. The voice sounded slightly panicked.
"Mr. Potter?" I asked. I found him on the stairs, in an awkward position. He had fallen and he couldn't get up. "Oh, dear," I gasped. I hoped that I would be able to get him up by myself. "How long have you been there?"
"About ten minutes after you left," he said. He went from being afraid to being angry. However, I realized I could use this as a bargaining point. I wasn't playing clean, but I had to take advantage of the situation in front of me. For the very first time, he absolutely needed something from me.
"If I get you up, will you take some pain potion?" I asked him, putting my hand on my hip.
"No," he said.
"Then I'm not getting you up," I said.
"You have to," he told me. "Albus wouldn't want you leaving me here."
"Oh, I don't think he'd mind too much," I told him. "Let me know when you change your mind."
I walked back down the stairs and into the kitchen to put food away. I was being a bitch, for sure, but it was all for the best, really. I hoped that Al would be okay with this, and I felt fairly sure he would be.
It only took five minutes before I heard my name again. "Norah!"
"Yes?" I asked, standing at the base of the stairs.
"I'll take the pain potion," he said, defeated. I was relieved it hadn't taken long, so I helped him up. He had twisted his ankle for sure, but I helped him downstairs, into a comfy chair in the living room. He swallowed the cup of pain potion I gave him. "Thank you," he told me.
I was surprised that he was being polite. The medicine didn't work that quickly.
I had to hope that we were turning a corner here.
Author's Note: Wow, what a great response to the prologue! Thank you all so much! It means a ton to me. Here's the first real chapter. Please let me know what you think! Thank you to my fantastic beta, potter-reading-coastie!