A/N: Hello again, everyone. I just want to say a quick thanks to TrueHomiePiP for your reviews, it's nice you're so into the story and I hope you continue to enjoy it!

"You're serious?" Choked out Tobias.

Marcus could only nod as Dorcas threw herself into his arms, tears running down her cheeks, Tobias not far behind. The three siblings clutched each other in sheer relief right there in the drawing room of Potter Manor. Fleamont clutched his walking stick as he collapsed into a chair, his eyes bright with emotion. Cassian was one of his closest friends, it had taken a bigger toll on him than he'd known when he'd fallen into a coma.

"You need to get to St Mungo's now!" Cried James, trying to hold back his relieved tears lest they irritate his contact lenses.

"Right." Said Marcus, still shocked. "You're right, of course you're right." He reached into his pocket pulling out a small pouch containing floo powder. "Lord and Lady Potter, thank you for the lovely evening-"

"Forget the bloody formalities Marcus Meadowes!" Euphemia exclaimed, shooing them towards the fireplace. "Go! Now!" Marcus nodded.

"Monty, feel free to follow behind us." Said Tobias as Marcus disappeared with a shout of 'St Mungo's Hospital'. "Dad would be glad to see you." He only waited to see Monty nod before he too strode into the floo. The remaining crowd bustled into action. Alice clutched Lily's arm a beaming smile on her face.

"As much as I want to celebrate with them, we should give them this time together." Lily nodded, wiping at her tears before they could make her mascara run. "Maybe Daddy and I can pick you up on boxing day?" Alice glanced at her father, who gave her an affirming nod. "If Dorcas is alright with that." Lily nodded again.

"It's nearly midnight, Lily, we need to get you home." Mr Prewett said gently to the red head. He was right, Lily wanted nothing more than to hug Dorcas who had been so grieved since the world cup, but she could wait, she didn't want to intrude on their time. She dropped a curtsey to Mr and Mrs Potter in an attempt to observe the traditions Alice had so painstakingly taught her. Mrs Potter swatted her attempts aside, pulling her into a hug. The only people left were close friends after all.

"Thank you for coming dear." Euphemia muttered in Lily's ear. Lily hugged Frank quickly, quailing under the forboding stare of his mother, she'd probably just broken a bunch of rules hugging Frank but oh well. She tugged James and Sirius into a hug at the same time.

"Thanks for looking after me Potter." She whispered into James' ear, James didn't have time to whisper a reply so settled for a smile. Lily ruffled Sirius' perfect hair, winking at him teasingly. Sirius huffed but grinned and waved as she walked into the fireplace, disappearing with a flash of green flames. It wasn't long before everyone had left, leaving the house much emptier, the elves quietly went about tidying up as Monty remained in his chair still stunned from the night's events. At Euphemia's request Tizzy popped away and returned with Monty's potion for the night. Monty chugged it quickly.

"You should go see him sweetheart." Euphemia said, smoothing his hair affectionately. "Toby said you should, you don't need to stay long but I know you won't sleep if you don't." Monty stood up, his hands shaking. "James will go with you." Mrs Potter said, James nodded.

"I'll stay here." Sirius offered. "We'll hold down the fort." The two Potter men were the next though the floo and were soon in the entrance lobby of St Mungo's.

"You alright, dad?" James asked, his dad looked awfully pale, Monty nodded.

"I think I'm a little in shock." He confessed. "I've missed Cassian, and I'd almost resigned myself to never having another conversation with him while I still lived." James' stomach clenched at his words, what if it was Sirius in a coma? Or Remus or Peter? He clapped his dad's shoulder.

"You better think of a good ice breaker then, dad." Monty chuckled and seemingly fortified by his son's words, he squared his shoulders and they made their way up to Cassian's room, the family had forked out the money for him to have a private room. Monty knocked gingerly. A tear-streaked Dorothy swung the door open.

"We don't want to intrude-" Began Monty.

"Come in, come in!" Dorothy said through happy tears, they walked through. Cassian was propped up weakly on some pillows, he was weak but he had a smile on his unshaven face, familiar blue eyes twinkling at them again after months of closed eyelids.

"Monty, you old dog." He said hoarsely, in greeting. Monty gasped out a wet laugh as he strode towards the bed, wrapping his friend in a strong hug.

"This is so great." James said, hugging Dorothy firmly. Mrs Meadowes looked as if she'd just had the weight of the world lifted off her shoulders, the years she'd seemed to gain from her husband's condition lessening. James moved around the room hugging Marcus and Tobias and then a weeping Dorcas for an extra long time. He left the four Meadowes with their arms around each other for support before finally hugging Cassian.

"Good to see you James." Cassian said, smiling. "You've been looking after my Dorcas?" James smiled softly at him.

"I was hardly able to get through Alice, Lily and Marlene to do so." He said warmly, "she's got good people around her."

"I'm glad to hear." Cassian murmured, holding out an arm for Dorcas to slide under. He pressed a kiss to her head. "I like the new hair." He ran a hand over her dark, shoulder length locks. They laughed and they began to fill each other in on what else had happened since the world cup. A hushed conversation with Tobias enlightened James and Monty that Cassian had rather suddenly woke up whilst Dorothy had been sitting with him. Scans had shown that his vitals were good, although his muscles were weak from lack of use and his magical core was oddly low, but the healers were optimistic that with him being awake it would hopefully be able to recharge and stabilise. Cassian had been reunited with his wand in a hope to kickstart his core but despite the happy sparks the wand had released on being held by him he was forbidden from attempting any magic whatsoever until told otherwise. The Potters didn't stay long, they didn't want to intrude and Cassian wasn't up to much activity.

"You would've thought I'd had enough sleep over the last four months." The elder Meadowes had grumbled after he'd yawned for the ninth time and the healer had insisted he rested and so James and Monty took their leave, promising they would be back regularly to check up on him and give Dorothy some rest. It had passed midnight and after wishing them all a merry Christmas the Potters made their way down to the lobby again.

"Dad." James said suddenly, they had paused in the empty waiting room of the floor they were on. Monty looked at his son, shocked as he caught his eyes which were filled with unshed tears of emotion. Reflexively, he wrapped his son in a hug, it didn't matter that they were the same height James would always be his boy.

"You know I love you, right?" James' voice was muffled in his dad's shoulder, hugging him tight. He'd been affected more than he knew by what had happened to Dorcas' dad. James loved his parents more than anything, and they were already old when they had him, he worried himself more times than he could count with thoughts of his parents dying and leaving him.

"I don't say it enough, dad. But I love you." Monty clutched the back of his son's head, walking stick forgotten on the floor as they embraced.

"I love you too son." Monty said, his voice thick with emotion. "And I'm so proud of you, you're a good man." They hugged for a few moments longer, neither of them caring. Fleamont had never put much stock in being a 'man's man', he had always been seen as 'sensitive' by the his school mates but he didn't care, if they thought it was emasculating when he cried at his mother's funeral or the birth of his son they could get lost. James was similar, often disregarding the opinions of others in basically everything he did. Keeping an arm around each other's shoulders they travelled back to Potter Manor.

"Merry Christmas, dad." James whispered as they bade each other goodnight. James only just managing to take out his contact lenses before collapsing onto his bed and falling asleep in his clothes.

Tuesday 31 December 1976 Sirius sat back with a contented sigh. Him and James had spent hours every day in the cold, dark old dog house working on the motorbike.

"She's beautiful." Sirius breathed.

James could only nod, his face was streaked with grease where he had touched it accidentally. They made a dirty, sweaty pair but they had put her together again, all on their own and she was a black and silver beauty.

The seat was soft black leather with silver accents. Runes danced subtly over the metal of the bike, runes for protection, imperviousness and reinforcement. James had painstakingly carved them into the metal using a muggle soldering iron, something him and Sirius had found out about quite accidentally on one of their numerous excursions into the local muggle town.

Sirius and James had become friends with a few of the locals who were their age over the years. On their holidays they would meet up with a few of them for meals and coffee and their muggle friends affectionately thought of them as the rich-slightly snobby-pretty weird-but good for a laugh- friends that would occasionally hang out with them when on holidays from their old-fashioned and preppy boarding school. One of the boys- Gavin was doing a subject called Design and Technology and had been very confused when neither Sirius nor James had ever taken this subject or knew what a soldering iron was when he was complaining of his burns from a blasted object. Gavin had taken it upon himself to correct this and James and Sirius had found it a very useful tool for carving runes into the bike. James had practiced on scrap metal until he was sure he wouldn't mess up whilst Sirius modified the bike's controls adding a button that would send the bike into 'flight mode' this was powered by a hematite gem embedded into the control panel, surrounded by yet more runes.

This gem was rather special in that it could both convert surrounding natural magic from the rider's core or from the surroundings into usable magic and also be charged by the rider's wand if they didn't want to use natural magic. It also was a gorgeous, glistening black-grey which went beautifully with the bike's aesthetic. Upon activating flight mode the hematite would power the runic wards that covered the chassis- runic conversions of notice-me-not charms and muggle repellent wards. It was a pretty neat solution and James and Sirius were certain that if the rest of the wizarding world weren't so bigoted and afraid of muggles it would be a real money-maker. The potential for actually using and converting muggle objects and ideas into wizarding equivalents was a fantastical world of opportunity that messer's Prongs and Padfoot found very appealing. Although they reckoned the misuse of muggle artefacts office may have a slightly different view.

"We should give her a name." Said Sirius, he looked to his bespectacled friend. James had considered wearing his new contact lenses every day but after he had forgotten and fallen asleep with them in two nights in a row, he decided against it. Instead, concluding that utilising them for quidditch and special occasions and maybe a few normal days would be a better solution.

"I'm thinking Maria." Suggested Sirius.

James grimaced. "Elvendork." Sirius laughed at the reference. Back in third year after a few too many snubs about Sirius' family history the marauders had taken it upon themselves to trawl through almost all the books on wizarding genealogy in the library so they would have some ammunition for return fire. They had stumbled across an unfortunate wizard who had been called Elvendork, and in a completely separate family had seen an account of a first-born witch being also called Elvendork after they had laughed uproariously for a few minutes they had been asked to remove themselves from the library, despite their attempts to get the librarian to crack a smile at the reason for their mirth.

'Bloody hell.' Sirius had said, 'Pince has absolutely no sense of humour.'

'Well, I imagine being a librarian would do that to you.' Chimed in Peter. James had smirked at this.

'I'd rather name my firstborn Elvendork than be a librarian.' Another round of laughter ensued.

'At least, you can rest assured it's a unisex name.' Remus had added with a grin, predictably, they fell about howling with laughter once again. The joke had evolved to saying 'I would rather name my first born Elvendork than…' instead of just saying you would rather not and now it was the marauder equivalent of a veto.

"Ok." Sirius said, still grinning. "Gloria."

"Elvendork."

"Louise."

"Elvendork."

"Victoria."

"Elvendork."

"Mildred."

"Elvendork."

"Tina."

"Elvendork."

"Debby."

"Elven-"

"Are you boys all good here?" Asked Euphemia, sticking her head around the door. "Oh, wow." She said, looking admiringly at the motorbike. "Have you done it?"

"We think so." Sirius ran a hand along the bike once again.

"Well get out and ride it then." Euphemia announced suddenly ushering the boys to their feet. "Monty and I have had it sat in here since your birthday, Sirius. We want to see it out there getting used!"

"Really?" Asked Sirius with a grin.

"Yes!" Said James and Euphemia at the same time. Sirius caught the helmet James threw to him, excitement lancing through him. He was finally going to get to ride the motorbike! He had read every magazine he could get his hands on, all the books the Potters had scrambled together on the subject and grilled his muggle friends in the village about them. Especially Lucy, a leggy, gorgeous blonde who rode a motorbike herself and who Sirius was maybe a little bit in love with. Sirius had been fascinated by motorbikes since he was 12 and saw them being ridden about on his first outing to muggle London. He wheeled the bike out of the door and into the courtyard, straddling it reverently. He flipped the kill switch to on, turned the key- making sure he was in neutral- he disengaged the clutch and then pressed the start button. The bike roared to life and he grinned in delight at Euphemia and James. Ok let's see. He thought to himself, retracting the kickstand. He shifted the bike into gear and twisted the throttle.

"It's happening!" He cried gleefully, breath misting in the cold December air as the bike purred.

"Go on, mate!" The bike inched forward, a grin splitting Sirius' face. He twisted the throttle a little more.

"Yeah! That's-"

"Shit." Came Sirius' curse, he'd twisted too hard and the bike shot forward.

"Watch out for the-" Euphemia winced, cutting herself off. Too late. The bike had slammed into the covered up well in the courtyard, the back of the bike bucking up, sending Sirius over the handlebars to land with a crash on the old wooden cover.

"Sirius!" Squawked Mrs Potter, rushing towards him.

"You alright, mate?" Asked James, covering his mouth as he began to laugh. Sirius groaned in response.

Euphemia clucked as she neared him, reaching down to lift the bike up."Well at least you didn't-" She winced again as she was cut off by a loud crack as the rotten wood covering on which Sirius lay spread eagled over the well split in half, dumping the unfortunate teen into the near-freezing water below him with an un-manly, and distinctly canine yelp. Euphemia laughed as Sirius sputtered and shivered, she wiped tears from her eyes as she grabbed his hand and helped haul him out. James had collapsed onto his knees, the courtyard echoing with his unrestrained, and very loud laughter at Sirius' first attempt on a motorbike. It was a long time before James managed to collect himself.

The three of them wandered into the sitting room, Sirius shivering between Euphemia and James. Monty looked up from his book as they entered. Mrs Potter had dried him off with a flick of her wand but he was still cold.

"What happened to you?" James burst out laughing as Sirius grumbled out an explanation and soon Monty was grinning along with his wife and son.

"You're all twisted." Sirius said grumpily, gesturing imperiously at them. "The lot of you."

Monty glanced at his watch. "I've told Augusta we'll be at Longbottom Hall for 8.30." The two teens nodded. "And Sirius, I'm sorry but I'm going to have to steal James for a while." Sirius nodded and James perked up. Euphemia wrapped an arm around Sirius and squeezed him.

"Go get a shower, Sirius, and then we'll see if we can help Tizzy decorate some biscuits or something." Sirius shot her a grateful smile and wandered off to the stairs.

"Dad?" James asked as Monty shut his book and stood up.

"House business my boy." James straightened up slightly. Over the summer he'd been getting James more and more involved with the duties that came with being Lord Potter, seeing as James would be coming of age in March. Much to James' surprise he had kind of enjoyed it. So far he had sat in on a few Wizengamot sessions over summer and Monty had gone through the accounts with him and apparently it was Potter tradition for each heir to come up with a business proposal or investment plan and manage it in their 17th year. Fleamont had designed a business plan for the production and distribution for Sleakeazy's for his. Monty had said that for James had the year of 1977 to come up with an appropriate plan and carry it out.

James followed Monty into his study. It was a smallish room. A large double window looked out over the grounds on the wall opposite the doors, there was a cushion on the window sill and during his childhood James had often found himself curled up on the seat, drawing whilst Monty worked on something or other at his desk. The desk in question was a large, heavy wooden desk with a large leather chair behind it. Opposite the desk was a medium sized fireplace and the walls were shelved. A majority of the shelves were filled by ledgers and pertinent information on the estate but there were a few books, trinkets and framed photos dispersed throughout as well. Near the fireplace on a patterned rug sat two armchairs. Monty sat down in one, gesturing at James to sit in the other one.

"Now." He began, steepling his hands and regarding James. "I'm going to give you the names of some of the guests that will be there tonight and I want you to tell me the names of the important Lords, Ladies and Heirs in that house, who their allies are, who their enemies are and what known business arrangements they have." James gulped. And so it went on. Fleamont named many of the families while James dutifully recited everything he knew about them, Monty chipping in with any other useful facts and things James should be watching for. James had drawn himself a mental mind map, it spidered out in his head like a huge web, lines coming out from different family names with alliances, disownments and business deals and it was with a great sigh that he leant back once his dad had grinned and stopped talking.

"Good work, son. It's a pain but it is necessary." Monty smiled as he offered James a wine and a tumbler of whiskey as a well done, they cheersed and took a sip.

"Has Sirius been in contact with his uncle Alphard?" Asked Monty, James frowned slightly.

"Yeah, they've been writing back and forth for a few weeks now. I think Sirius is thinking of going out to visit him in France over easter."

"What do you know about Alphard?" Monty said, giving James a considering look.

James thought for a moment, taking a sip. "He seems a good man, he sounds like quite a funny guy in his letters." Monty inclined his head slightly. "He wasn't disowned by the Blacks but he's been estranged from them for a long time. He's not married. He's always liked Sirius and his little brother and I'm pretty sure he's not as fanatic as Orion and Walburga or Cygnus and Druella."

Monty nodded. "That's pretty accurate, actually." James frowned questioningly. "Would it surprise you if I told you we were close friends when I was younger and we've kept in touch to this day." James' eyebrows rose incredulously and Monty smirked but it quickly faded and he swirled his whiskey around.

"Alphard was told to leave and never come back when he was discovered lying with another man. He'd been a bachelor all through Hogwarts and there were many vicious rumours circulating about him, despite all that he was a good person and a good friend." James was surprised, homosexuality in the wizarding world seemed to be non-existent. James was certain that there were definitely gay people around but it wasn't discussed. If you leant that way, you were expected to raise a family anyway and carry out any other activities in secret, it was practically taboo in society.

"Alphard was never one for pretence and he was fed up of hiding how he felt, so he left that night, packed his bags and moved to France where they're a bit more liberal about that sort of thing." James took another sip, considering what he'd been told, did Sirius know? As if reading his mind, Monty spoke.

"Both Sirius and Regulus know. Arcturus, his brother, permitted him to have contact with the other members of the family, encouraged it even, as long as he didn't try to pass on his behaviour." Monty's lips twisted, "if it even works that way. And Arcturus couldn't bring himself to disown Alphard either." He looked back to James. "Alphard met someone in France and has been with his partner for many years now. He has a very profitable herbology business, he supplies many of the more tropical ingredients to our family if we have need of them." He fixed James with a look. "What do you think about that?"

James ran a hand through his hair. "About potions ingredients?" He asked, "or about Alphard's… preferences?" James flushed slightly, feeling a bit awkward, talking about such things with his father. Monty cocked an eyebrow, in a silent well, what do you think I mean gesture. James shrugged slightly. "I mean…. I don't think I know anyone in that position so I guess I'm… not really sure? If no one's getting hurt then it's probably none of my business, right? I don't really know if it could be wrong if Alphard's found someone who feels the same way? I can get why it might be a problem if you're the last of your line…" James trailed off, not really sure how to feel.

Monty smiled genuinely at him. "I reckon you're on the right track, it's nice to know I've raised a decent son." Monty took another sip. "Alphard didn't make things easy when he didn't find a girlfriend like the rest of us, but I believe he loves the man he's with so who am I to begrudge that? It's not my place to deny anyone love, like the love I share with your mother, even if that love isn't as conventional as my own." That sounded like it made sense to James who nodded as he sipped thoughtfully at his own drink. "Good work today Jamesie." Monty said, downing the rest of his whiskey and getting to his feet to ruffle his son's hair. "I'll let you go now because you smell like motorbike oil and I'm sure you'll want a shower before we have dinner." James had forgotten he was dressed in his dirty muggle clothes during all that serious talk. He smiled, finishing his own drink as he stood also, it wasn't long now until they would be leaving for the New Years Ball at the Longbottom's although Lily wasn't coming to this one, preferring to instead bring in the new year with her family. James had had to fight down his disappointment once he'd read that in her letter, he had after all, very much enjoyed dancing with her.

Longbottom Hall was bigger than the Potter House and there seemed to be more guests present than there had been at the Christmas Eve Ball James' family had held. Once again the Prewett, Meadowes, Dearborn and Bones families were there. This didn't come as a surprise to James, it had been a similar crowd at similar events all through his childhood growing up. James leaned against a wall on the periphery of the dance floor, a drink in hand. He didn't hate society events, he'd already gone around chatting to various people he knew. He'd chatted with Sirius who had given him an entertaining political commentary on all the guests. Sirius' political prowess was a source of great amusement to James. The Black family were still trying to disown him, they didn't even realise their son had the potential to charm the Black family back to the top in the political scene from where they currently rested as an ancient and wealthy dark family who's reputation had fallen as inbreeding and madness became prevalent through the family tree. Very few people trusted the Blacks in this day and age, they were known for being stubborn and old-fashioned and although according to Monty Arcturus- Sirius' grandfather- was actually a fairly honourable man who had vaguely good intentions, Sirius' parents and his cousins the Black sisters and their parents were pieces of work. Although Sirius insisted his middle cousin Andromeda was actually good, Sirius still corresponded with her and her muggle-born husband Ted. James and Sirius both found it ironic that Sirius could accurately politically dissect an entire room and if he wanted to, probably get something from each of them whilst making them believe it was their idea in the first place.

James had already danced a few dances, his last dance had been with Dorcas where she'd happily informed him that they were going to go to St Mungo's for midnight so they could welcome 1977 next to her dad. James hadn't been able to help his good mood as he chatted with her. Cassian was getting a bit better everyday but the healers were concerned about his magical core still. Dorcas herself looked great, she practically radiated happiness although her smile did fade slightly when she told James of how Cassian had been spending his days making sure his affairs were sorted should anything else befall him. He'd taken each of his children aside for deep talks that Dorcas angrily referred to as 'goodbye talks'.

"I think he's just shaken after what happened to him and wants to be prepared." Dorcas had confessed as she danced with James. "Despite the fact he's getting better now" she had ground out, fondly exasperated with her dad. She then proceeded to ask James if the Potters plus Sirius would want to come to St Mungo's and pop in with Cassian at midnight, which after a quick chat with all of them they happily agreed to. James had also found time to chat with Alice and her cousins Fabian and Gideon again as well as having a good catch up with Frank, who- along with Alice and Dorcas- thanked James for the sturdy wand holsters he had sent all the members of their little training group on Christmas. The Meadowes left at about 11.30 with the Potters agreeing that they'll floo over in 15 minutes or so.

Cassian grinned and sat up a bit more as the Potters and their surrogate son entered his ward. He'd been moved on to the ward after he'd woken up, it was a bit cheaper and it also provided him some company when Dorothy and the children weren't around. Although the ward had almost completely emptied as the healers made efforts to get their patients who were able to go home back for the festive season. Cassian had quickly gotten friendly with his ward neighbour, an older olive skinned man with startling two-tone eyes, one was a dark blue whilst the other was a bright tawny- almost golden, who's family had apparently already been and gone. The large group chatted, as it was New Years Eve there was quite a festive mood on the ward already and Sirius, James and Tobias were busy trying to convince Cassian to get in a wheelchair so they could wheel him to the large windows in the corridor where he could watch the fireworks over London. In the end it didn't take much convincing and the Potters and Meadowes all ambled out, Dorcas pushing her dad whilst Cassian's ward neighbour chuckled. They practically filled the corridor with all nine of them pressed against the window as the clock rolled around to 11.59. Fleamont procured a flask out of his robes and with a cheeky grin passed it to Dorothy and Cassian to take a swig. This made Cassian laugh heartily, so much so that he soon descended into coughs but he quickly recovered. James grinned as he looked over at Dorcas and Sirius, feeling content. Marcus counted down to midnight.

"Ten!"

A healer sniffed disdainfully as she walked past them. A small group of other wizards were down the hall, looking like they were there to watch the fireworks too.

"Eight!" Two other healers walked past quickly, their heads down.

"Six!" Euphemia wrapped one arm around James, her other around her husband. James grabbed Sirius pulling him into the line with them.

"Four!" There was a bang, James looked over London to see if he could see where the idiot that let a firework off too early was.

"Two!" Dorothy was resting her head on Cassian's shoulder from where she stood behind his wheelchair, she whispered something into his ear.

"Happy New Year!" The two married couples kissed each other, James planted a smacking kiss on to Sirius' cheek, making the Meadowes siblings laugh as hugs were exchanged. The group looked appreciatively at the light display over London. Fireworks of every colour burst over the sky line, the greens, reds and blues reflecting over their admiring expressions as they watched. The bangs of the fireworks sounded pretty close and James and Sirius laughed as they spotted a Filibuster Firework exploding somewhere over London in the shape of a bounding dog, it didn't last long and was short enough that any muggles who spotted it would be pretty certain it was a trick of their imagination. The main display lasted only a few minutes although they could still hear some bangs going off, and they returned to the ward to sneak Cassian back into bed.

The hallways seemed eerily quiet as they made their way back. Sirius was wondering if the shift had just changed or something. They had arrived at the corridor to the ward when they finally saw someone else. Two healers were wheeling out a patient in a wheelchair who's head was slumped forward onto their chest in sleep. Cassian squinted a little as they neared the trio, the two healers were glancing at each other as they got closer. Sirius had slowed down, the hairs on his arms were starting to stand on end. He sniffed warily at the air, James frowned at him, a teasing smirk on his lips.

"Hey Padfoot." He whispered. "Where's Sirius?" His smirk faded when Sirius didn't reply. James nudged him.

"James-" Sirius began, sounding nervous.

"That's Blackthorne." Cassian said, still frowning at the wheelchair. Mr Blackthorne was his ward neighbour. "We were just chatting earlier about how he's been confined to bed rest." The healers had slowed down at this point and begun whispering to each other. Following Padfoot's lead, James had also begun to tentatively sniff the air, he could smell the nervous sweat of the healers. Feeling paranoid, James covered his left arm, where his holster was wrapped around his forearm, with his right hand ready to draw his wand. The others seemed oblivious, the Meadowes progeny caught up chatting with Fleamont and Euphemia.

"Hello." Cassian called out to the healers, friendly as ever. "Is everything alright with Blackthorne? He hasn't had a turn has he?" The healers froze, stock still. James was feeling very nervous now. Cassian faltered, his wand was in his lap. He'd kept it on his person since they'd given it back, he wrapped a hand around it casually.

"Has he?" Mr Meadowes asked again. The healers remained silent, the Meadowes and their group were slowing now, as well, having caught on to the strange tension between the groups.

"Is everything ok?" Asked Euphemia, looking at them with a frown.

One of the healers finally spoke, James and Sirius could hear his shaky inhale from where they were. "Of course." One healer said, clearing their throat. "We're just moving Mr Blackthorne here to a different room, a late night change."

"Oh." Cassian frowned. "He didn't say anything to me. He's alright isn't he?"

"We don't really have much time for questions." The shorter of the two healers said curtly. The taller healer pursed his lips, James ran a sleeve under his nose as the reek of nerves washed over him again. "If you'll excuse us." The short one said, and they began to walk towards them again, intending to go past them. And maybe they would've got there if Mr Blackthorne hadn't chosen that moment to groan, his head lifted from his chest as he awoke, revealing a trickle of blood tracking its way down his chin from his mouth. Both groups froze in surprise. Blackthorne's dazed, different coloured eyes fell on them.

"Help me." He said hoarsely.

A/N: Mua ha ha, leaving this one on a wee bit of a cliffie. I just love the drama. Hope you're all doing well. As always please favourite/follow/review if you enjoy or if you have any feedback. I'm slowly losing my mind during this lockdown so I feel ya if you are too and I reckon it won't be long until I've read most of the stories on here, if anyone has any personal favourite stories feel free to let me know your recommendations in the reviews. Thanks for reading!