Harry spent that night in the hospital. He ended up wanting his Prongs toy, because it was dark and scary and the beeping machines freaked him out. There was always something going on, too, since people getting sick and injured didn't stop just because work hours were over. The hospital smelled like rubbing alcohol, too, which wasn't very pleasant.
When Harry woke up the next morning, Sirius was collapsed in a chair beside the hospital bed, fast asleep and snoring loudly, still in his clothes from the day before. Harry said his name, and he awoke with a start.
"G'morning," he mumbled, smiling sleepily.
"Have you been here all night?" Harry asked him.
"Yeah," said Sirius. "I insisted on it, and finally the staff agreed, but only because I'm your guardian."
"That was nice of you," said Harry, who was relieved; he didn't know what he would do if he had to stay in the hospital overnight without Sirius by his side. "Staying overnight kind of freaked me out."
"I only Apparated home once, to get a change of clothes," Sirius added, gesturing to his enchanted pockets. "Now I just need to find a hot nurse and convince her I've got two broken arms and can't wash myself. Or maybe two, so the other one can feed me ice cream."
"Sirius!" Harry said reprovingly. "You already have a girlfriend!"
"Ah, so I do," said Sirius, stroking his four-day-old stubble thoughtfully. "But will they let me bring a nurse's uniform home?"
Harry glared at him, then said, "You weren't really flirting with any of the nurses, were you?"
"No," said Sirius, and this time he did look, well, serious. "Barbara is the first woman I've ever thought about having a future with. There's no way I'm going to mess it up."
"Hmm…who are you and what have you done with the Padfoot I know?" said a voice from the doorway, and Sirius jumped up, grinning.
"Moony!" he said, striding to the doorway. "How nice of you to visit us."
"Not a problem at all," Remus replied, smiling and walking into the room. He was holding a colorful bouquet of flowers. "How's the patient?"
"Um, fine," said Harry. "Thanks for the flowers."
"I didn't know you were so good at that spell," Sirius added. "I thought you could only do roses."
"You thought right," said Remus. "I hand-picked these from my flower garden at Crescent Cottage."
"Wow!" Harry smiled. "That really makes them special."
After the flowers had been put in a vase, Remus sat on the edge of Harry's bed and they talked.
"Like I said, that was a very mature thing you said about Barbara, Sirius," said Remus. "I might have been wrong about you two."
"Well, there's nothing more meaningful than the approval of a friend," Sirius replied.
"I'm hungry," said Harry.
"Well, breakfast is over, so here's the lunch menu," said Sirius, handing it to Harry. "Just press the little button by the bed—that calls for the nurse. Barbara says to order off the Kosher menu, though. She says it has higher-quality food."
Harry ordered Kosher macaroni and cheese, three servings of it so Remus and Sirius could have some, too. When they were done eating, the nurse told Harry that his "tests" would begin at noon.
"Tests?" Harry asked nervously.
"You know, getting your blood drawn, the CAT scan, the X-rays, your eye exam…"
"I see," said Harry, trying to sound relaxed. "Will it be Dr. Grant performing all those tests?"
"No," said the nurse. "It will be a variety of people."
"Thanks," said Harry, and she left. Then he turned to his godfather. "Sirius…?"
"Don't worry," Sirius said, grasping Harry's hand. "It'll be over soon. Remus and I will be there the whole time, okay?"
"Well…okay," said Harry, still not entirely sure about this.
…
The nurse was as good—or as bad—as her word. Around noon, a different nurse came in and told Harry it was time to do the blood test. Harry nodded and Sirius helped him out of bed. Luckily, he didn't have to wear one of those hospital gowns that made you feel more naked than you actually were; he was just wearing pajamas, and he changed into new clothes in the bathroom before he went to the blood-testing lab with Remus, Sirius and his nurse.
When they got to the blood-testing room, which also smelled unpleasantly of rubbing alcohol, it was like the shots all over again, only worse. The test tubes were already on a counter next to the blood-testing chair where Harry was supposed to sit.
"Make a fist, please," said the nurse, and Harry did, as she strapped on some gloves and then tied a piece of rubber around the top of his arm (it was uncomfortably tight).
"Why are you doing that?" he asked.
"It makes the vein pop out more," she explained casually, getting her supplies. "So…how was your summer, Harry?"
"Um…fine," said Harry, wondering why she was asking him about his summer vacation when she was about to stick a needle the size of a javelin into his arm. Harry grabbed Sirius's hand again and squeezed it as if he was drowning, his teeth clenched; then he felt the pinch in his arm, and tried not to cry out again.
Soon enough, though, it was over; in fact, it hurt a lot less than Dr. Grant's shots. The nurse carefully pulled the needle out and placed a cotton ball and a piece of medical tape over the puncture wound. Harry tried not to look at the test tubes that were full of his own dark red blood.
"There you go," said the nurse brightly. "Now, that wasn't so bad, was it?"
"No," said Harry truthfully, letting go of Sirius's hand. The nurse beamed.
"I think it's really great what you two are doing, you know," she told Sirius and Remus. "Come to think of it…my brother and his boyfriend are looking to adopt too. What adoption agency did you two use?"
Remus immediately turned as red as the test tubes and started stammering incoherently, but Sirius swooped his arm around his friend's shoulders and said, "Oh yes, we do make a lovely couple, don't we?"
"Sirius!" cried Remus.
"Most people say he's the 'woman' in the relationship," Sirius continued, "and I must say, I agree. What do you think?"
Harry was grinning. Remus looked mortified.
"Excuse me, ma'am, but you are mistaken," he said. "Harry is Sirius's godson, the son of an old family friend. And he has a girlfriend."
"But don't worry; you're not the first person to make that mistake, and you probably won't be the last," Sirius told the nurse comfortingly, as she had now turned as red as Remus and was delivering a very flustered apology.
"But then…who wouldn't want to adopt me?" Harry said jokingly, trying to make her feel better about it.
After the blood tests, Harry got some food from the hospital cafeteria, because the nurse said he needed food right away in order to make new blood (or something like that). Then they did an X-ray—that was all right. It was the first time Harry had ever seen his bones, so it was kind of cool. But then they did a "bone scan", which turned out to mean yet another needle poked into Harry, the human pincushion.
"Another needle?" Harry asked incredulously.
"This is radioactive material injected into your veins via IV, or intravenous," the nurse explained. "It will attach itself to any crack or chip in your bones that the X-ray might have missed."
None of Harry's bones were broken, cracked or chipped. They gave him an eye exam, and then told him he would be having the last of the tests—an MRI and a CAT scan—the next day.
"Then he can be discharged from the hospital?" said Sirius.
"Absolutely," said the nurse. "Harry will be back home this time tomorrow."
…
The MRI and the CAT scan weren't so bad. They didn't hurt; Harry was just glad that after they were over, the tests would be too. When everything was finally through (around three in the afternoon), Harry checked out of the hospital, Sirius not far behind him.
"Want to go out for dinner?" Sirius offered. "I think you deserve a treat after all that."
"Sure!" Harry said brightly. "Can we have pizza?"
"Anything you want," Sirius replied.