Faith in Other Hands.
by alloy
Beta'd by Scarlettb
He won't eat. Lavender is panicking, repeatedly taking Lucius's temperature with the muggle thermometer that Seamus sent her.
"It's normal." She says. "It can't be! He's sick. He won't eat."
She puts it to his ear again, waiting for the cursed thing to beep.
I lie on our bed, and place Lucius on my lap, his back against my raised knees. I hold his little head, and try to force the teat of the bottle into his mouth. He squirms, turns his head away from me. When I finally get the teat into his mouth, he refuses to suck and I milk the teat with my fingers trying to get the formula down his throat. The triumph I feel is quickly muted as I take the bottle away and study the measurement tags. He has drunk so little.
"We have to take him to St. Mungo's!" She says to me. "NOW!"
"St. Mungo's is half a world away." I say rationally, trying to suppress my rising panic.
"You brought us, there's nothing here. He could die, Draco!"
He could have died had we stayed; I would have had to maintain a constant vigilance, a constant fear for my wife, my children. Here, we can breathe.
There must be muggle hospitals. There's no magic in his ailment, that much I can tell. It's the only course of action I can think of.
It's two o'clock in the morning.
"Mr. Malfoy. Your son is very sick."
He's a young man, my age. There is fatigue in his eyes, but it has not effected his thoroughness. "I going to test for everything," he had said. "I'm sorry for the expense. But I need data to work with."
I sent Lavender from the room when they took the blood. It is not good for her be distressed in her condition. We have more than one child to consider. She heard the screaming anyway. I had to hold him down, as they bled him. Exercising the iron self control my father beat into me.
"I'm referring you to a specialist. He's the only man in the province."
He places a hand on my shoulder. I force myself not to flinch at his touch. He means only kindness.
"I might be wrong." He says. "But Dr. Pillay is the best person to confirm or refute my diagnosis. I'd rather not toy with your son's life. I've spoken to him, he's going to meet you at Northgate Pediatric Centre."
"We could transfer him by ambulance, but it would be quicker if you drove him yourself."
"I'm not happy with the initial test results." Dr. Pillay is a thin Asian man of quiet demeanor.
"I think there's been some contamination. Sometimes the lab technicians take short cuts with smaller children. I need to take more blood." He pauses, taking in the look on my face. "Perhaps you and your wife should wait outside."
The screaming seems to last forever, but the clock turns barely a quarter of the dial.
Dr. Pillay emerges from the procedure room cradling Lucius. I notice immediately something has been stuck onto his arm with a clear film. It's made of white muggle plastic and, sticking into his arm A NEEDLE!
"What is that?" I ask trying to remain calm.
"It's a shunt." He says. "You son is very badly dehydrated, and is probably going to be on a drip for a few days. We'll put the drip through the shunt, and any medication he needs at well."
I don't understand a word of it. I merely nod taking assurance from his calm confidence. Lavender hides her confusion less well. "Does it hurt?"
"It's tender right now, but by morning it will just be uncomfortable, as long as it doesn't get dislodged."
Dr. Pillay leads us into a room with "ICU" emblazoned on the door. He places Lucius in a cot, and begins attaching strings to his arms, legs, and chest.
"Until I get the blood work, he's going to be on a heart monitor." He indicates a muggle device, which is beeping like the infernal thermometer. He taps the device, indicating some numbers, which keep on changing. "He's a bit upset now, try and feed him now, and maybe he'll calm down."
I allow him to lead me into the corridor. "Dr. Richmond diagnosed adrenal gland failure, based on your son's blood salt levels, which are very unusual. We also discovered a kidney infection, which could have caused those abnormal blood salt levels."
I force myself to think to make sense of what he's told me. "The kidney infection could be the cause of everything?"
"Yes, but we can't know that for certain until we've cleared up the infection. Luckily the treatment remains the same irrespective of the cause."
He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small electronic muggle device. "I need some family history."
I know so little of Lavender's parents. I avenged them, I scattered my father's atoms to the winds, even as he finished saying the killing curse on her mother, a day I have told Lavender nothing about.
The Brown's loyal house-elf crucified above the front door, two dead Death Eaters felled by her protective magic. Lavender's mother, her body twisted by Cruciatus, vomit soiling the dress of the muggle born orphan child she was trying to protect.
Dumbledore was forced to Obliviate her late born siblings, to protect them from the horrors they were forced to watch and me from their knowledge of my existence.
"We're cousins," I say. "From a very closed community." The doctor nods.
"The chances of such disorders increase under those circumstances." He tells me frankly.
That's why I have no siblings, at least none that were allowed to live.
"Draco."
Her voice shakes, she's near panic.
"Draco, I'm bleeding."
Dr. Pillay takes immediate action; he gets her onto a bed and performs a preliminary examination.
"Dr. DeFreites is on call tonight. I going to send you for an ultrasound, he should be able to get here by then."
Lavender stares at him blankly, and turns toward me.
I smile reassuringly. "He knows what's best, love."
"Peter DeFreites is a fine obstetrician." The nurse advises me; I just wish I knew what she meant.
At eight o'clock in the morning my admiration for these muggle doctors has grown tremendously. They have managed to save the babies. Babies, the device they call an ultrasound tells them that there are two children in Lavender's womb. Lucius is stable, Dr. Pillay has taken the heart monitor off, and he has eaten well.
I have yet to sleep. I sink into a comfortable chair, and allow my eyelids to droop.
My phone rings.
"Hello, Draco?"
It's her, they were due to arrive this morning.
"I'm sorry Hermione, I forgot completely." I cannot hide the fatigue in my voice.
"Draco what's wrong?"
"We're at the hospital..."
She cuts me off. "Don't explain, where's the hospital?"
"It's a muggle hospital, Northgate."
"Northgate, got it, what ward?"
I glance up at the sign. "Pediatric."
"We'll see you soon." She hangs up abruptly.
I'm feeding Lucius when they arrive. Ronald smirks at my domestication, until Hermione reminds him that his son's nappy needs changing and he stalks off with Arthur under one arm and a nappy bag over the other.
"He's eating alright." She says, glancing at Lucius, the sight of the drip and shunt not perturbing her in the least.
"He wasn't last night, nor the day before. The doctors think it's a genetic disorder." I shrug. "Too much inbreeding."
"How's Lavender taking it?"
I didn't realize how much I needed someone to talk to. "We almost lost the babies." I blurt out.
"Oh, Draco, no, what happened?"
"The doctor says its stress, she... she started bleeding last night. She's in a ward upstairs. I'd be there but I can't leave Lucius."
"I'll watch Lucius." I hadn't noticed Ronald returning.
"Thank you, Ronald." He nods at me and glances around the hospital cot.
"Where is everything? Nappies and such?"
"The nurses have been changing him."
He looks at me, covers his son's ears and directs a glare at Hermione. "Lucky bludger."
"Ronald!"
"I said 'Bludger.'"
"Never mind." She says. "I'm going with Draco to see Lavender."
He nods. "Alright." And I turn to lead Hermione from the ward.
"Oh Draco." We turn back toward him. "No dancing."
Hermione's "Tut tut" hides a wry smile, and I allow myself a little chuckle.
I hold my hands up in mock submission. "Lavender would kill me."
"He does that you know." She says. "To make you feel better. Just as things seem darkest, Ron will crack a joke."
"It worked. I do feel a little better. You know what is funny, though?"
"What?"
"Ronald Weasley, one of the most powerful wizards of our age, Order of Merlin first class, changing his son's nappies."
She smiles, "Covering Arty's ears and saying Bludger."
"Yes." I chuckle.
She puts a light hand on my arm, stopping us in the middle of the corridor. "Would you do me a favour?"
"Certainly."
"Don't call him 'Ronald.' It annoys him immensely."
"You call him 'Ronald.'"
"I'm his wife, I can call him lots of things, but you're not. You're not his mother, either."
"Oh." I say with sudden understanding. A small smirk tugs at my lips. She notices.
"What are you thinking Draco?"
"Second year. The howler." The whole school had heard Molly Weasley berate her youngest son.
"So you understand, then?" We continue walking.
"Yes. I didn't mean to offend."
"Oh you haven't offended him, he can hardly take offense to being called by his given name, especially after some of the things you've called us."
"I just thought 'Ron' was a little intimate. Given our history."
She pauses again. "You saved our lives Draco."
That much is true, but it can't be a pleasant memory, for her especially.
"I'm sorry." I say.
She shifts uncomfortably. "I forgave you on the day, Draco."
We stop again at the door to Lavender's Ward. "You earned your Order of Merlin Draco, just like the rest of us." She enters, and I allow them privacy for a moment. Resting myself against the wall, I allow my eyes to close.
"Draco."
"Draco."
"DRACO!"
I awake with a start; I'd literally been asleep on my feet. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, you were asleep, you must be exhausted."
"Lavender?"
"She's asleep, they gave her some medication which made her drowsy."
"I wish we were at St. Mungo's."
"The muggle doctors here are amongst the best in the world." She pats her stomach. "I made sure before we left."
"I just feel so helpless. I don't understand any of this. I can't ask questions without looking like an idiot. You, at least, were born into this world."
"The muggle doctors aren't fools Draco, in many cases they know more than St. Mungo's healers."
"I know." I say. "It's just difficult for me. I need to have faith, Faith in other hands."
To be continued.
Notes:
1. Thanks to Scarlett for Beta'ering my stuff.
2. Thanks to Scarlett again for the "Don't call him Ronald" bit. She pointed out that Draco calling him Ronald would annoy Ron no end, whereas I felt he would call him that because it was his given name, and the proper thing to do. So I've drafted a resolution. He just won't call him Ronald to his face.
3. The next chapter is called "The Chamber Of Secrets." 10 points to the first person who figures out where it is.