Miasma

Miasma

By Dimgwrthien

Tuesday

Remus felt them land once more in the white room. He opened his eyes, glancing around at the reception desk and the witch behind it, who was reading a magazine and tapping her fingers on the desk. She glanced up as Severus brought Remus past, still holding him up by the waist.

"Do you know the floor?" she asked, eyes traveling over Remus cautiously. She looked rather bored, but wary of his appearance. Remus could only imagine what he must have looked like.

"Yes," Severus answered sourly, pausing. "I'm meeting Danielle Truman." She nodded and pointed at the stairs. Severus grabbed the side of Remus' thin waist with more force than needed, surely cracking a rib. Wincing, Remus followed, trying to keep his feet straight. He stumbled on the steps, breathing deeply. The transformation on top of being poisoned was starting to make him feel faintly ill, and his eyes were closing against his will. Usually, he managed to sleep for a few hours before having to get up and do something.

Severus seemed to notice him sliding onto him, leaning more and more of his weight on the shorter man, and he doubled his grip, gently pulling Remus up.

"One more floor," he muttered, glancing at the signs. "I always thought there was something wrong with the design of this place. The more serious cases always end up on the top floors, and most die before they reach it."

Against his will, Remus let himself smile a bit. They reached the last step and found Danielle bending over a new patient. The person seemed to be a man with a green-tinged rash around his head. Danielle was rubbing a blue cream onto her hands and massaging it into his face, sighing.

"Really, John, handling these plants is not a good idea, no matter what your sister tells you." Without turning, she added, "Hello, Remus, Severus."

"Glad to see you can identify your patients," Severus told her sourly, dragging Remus into the nearest bed and pushing him on.

"I'll be done in a moment," Danielle snapped, pulling her hands away from John an pausing. "I think you should wait an hour or so before putting anything else on," she told him quietly. "Might react with this." She walked over to the water spout and washed the cream off her hands, wiping them dry on a towel.

"Are you feeling any better?" she asked Remus, peering into his eyes again. "Good. Eyes are no longer pin-point." She grabbed his shoulders, stopping his slight swaying. “You’ve lost weight, haven’t you?”

“I’ve been told so,” Remus snapped sourly, annoyed at the sudden reaction to his dietary needs. He regretted this soon after, however, when he felt bile rise into his throat.

"What happened? Poisoning?" asked John in a muffled voice. He had covered his face with a wet towel and rubbing.

"Nothing you care about!" snapped Danielle. "And don't take that off!" John took the towel off his face and made a face behind her back before continuing to wipe off the cream. “Are you alright?” she asked Remus gently, turning back to him, obviously noticing his attempts to not vomit.

Severus was watching them from near the wall, distain clear in his eyes.

"I just went through a transformation," Remus sighed. "How do you think I feel?"

"Other than that, any nausea? Weakness that usually doesn't come from the full moon?" Severus was watching John know, who was staring with Remus, an odd expression on his face.

"Only a bit," Remus answered, breaking eye contact with her, rubbing his tired eyes. They felt dry and burning and he would have given anything to sleep right there. "I haven't gotten to sleep, though, so that may explain most of it. I usually get some time to sleep before anything else.” He gave Severus a sour look.

When she glanced at Severus he said to her, "You said bring him first thing in the morning."

She nodded and retorted, "Just make sure he sleeps for a while afterwards."

"Tell him that. He can take care of himself."

Danielle gave him a stern look for talking back and turned to Remus. "Just get some rest and make sure you eat once you're home. Alright?" She grabbed his left arm, glancing at the bloody wound. Remus saw that it was still raw, but the bleeding was almost finished. She made a disapproving noise and glanced through the potions on the table once more, taking a pale yellow cream and smearing a bit down his arm.

"How did the potion work?" she asked the two men. Severus answered.

"Except for the overdose of wolfsbane, it is almost perfect. Just a higher dosage of the potion and he could last the night unharmed."

"I'm glad to hear it," she said, wrapping a linen around his arm and looking Remus in the face. "It won't heal completely, as you know, but this should treat the scarring. It's dittany, like I can tell you put on before, but this has several more ingredients to make it work a bit faster." Severus picked up the jar she had scooped it out of and glanced at the label, reading it quickly before placing it down.

"Where do you get this?" he asked.

"It's made here, special," Danielle answered. "We have a large stock and it's not used often on this floor. Feel free to take that one." She pointed at an unopened jar, which Severus picked up, still frowning at it. "Rather recent. It turns out dittany works well with other components."

Danielle turned back to Remus and told him, "If you need any help at all caring for Harry, just ask, alright? I can help you." When he gave her a curious look, she said, "I heard from John over there. He had been reading the Prophet. Today I have off, really, Joanna's supposed to be here any minute. I just needed to take the morning for her." There was the sound of feet marching up the stairs. "See?" Danielle turned in time to see a short, blonde woman with a disgruntled look on her face.

"I went to see my brother," she spat out, walking over to Danielle and dumping a bag on the chair. "He said he had gotten a bite off a dragon, and I got worried, when it turned out that it was only a niffler!" She looked at Remus then to John. "Patients?"

"He's leaving soon," Danielle told her, pointing to Remus, "and John doesn't seem to want anything, so I think he better run off soon."

"I'm in pain," John moaned, looking sad.

"Should have thought about that before," Danielle told him, putting an arm around Remus' shoulders and helping him to his feet. His stomach was churning horribly and he was glad to be leaving. "So, will you be needing any help, Remus?"

Glancing at Severus and then to Danielle, he answered, "Sure. I'm not sure I'm in any condition to watch him today."

Severus raised an eyebrow at them. "I suppose I'll not be needed, then?"

"Could you ask Professor Dumbledore to Floo Harry along?" Remus asked. Severus nodded curtly and vanished down the stairs. Danielle grabbed a red leather bag and slung it over her shoulder, helping Remus down the stairs. Her grip was softer than Severus', but she did not offer much support. He leaned on the railing along the stairs, mainly, and was relieved to reach the bottom, where motioned him towards the fireplace.

"Go ahead. I'll get the address from you and be right there."

"Eighteen Miasma Lane," Remus said as loudly as he could manage into the fire, dumping the handful of powder. He felt himself spin and wanted to vomit violently, but when he landed, he fell into a chair, leaning on it for more support and coughing, ash in his mouth.

A moment later, Danielle came out of the fire, glancing around and seeing Remus before taking his arm again. "I'm sorry," she said, brow furrowed in concern. "I wasn't sure if you could make the landing. Sorry. Do you want to go to sleep?"

"I think so," Remus said, feeling rather embarrassed at having Danielle there right after the full moon. He managed to get out of her grasp and made his way down the hall, using the wall to keep upright. His muscles were screaming in agony and he wanted to sleep for hours and not get up.

"I'll explain everything to Harry," she said.

He nodded and opened his door, then deposited himself in the bed, not bothering to change out of his clothes. He managed to slide his shoes off and pull the covers to his head, though he tried to do so with as little movement as possible.

It had been a long time since he spoke to Danielle, he noticed. Last time he saw her was at the memorial service for Peter, which had been years ago. He remembered her as the stubborn Hufflepuff who obsessed over classes and Gobstones in equal amounts. She did not seem to have changed much, either way.

*

Harry dropped out of the fireplace, Dumbledore coming in behind him. The old wizard looked around for a moment to find the woman cooking, glancing at a book next to her as she added ingredients.

"Ms. Truman?" he asked. She glanced up and clapped a hand to her chest, letting out a breath.

"You scared me," she said. "Yes sir. I promised Remus I would look after Harry for him for some of the day."

Dumbledore nodded. "I'm glad he managed to fid someone. I doubt he would have liked Severus' company." Danielle smiled. "I'll be leaving Harry, then. Have a good day."

"You, too." Danielle waited until Dumbledore had left again, and smiled at Harry.

"Hello. I'll take it you're Harry Potter." He nodded, standing still in one spot. "I'm Danielle. Remus is in his room, but I think he would prefer to sleep off the transformation for a while."

"How is he?" Harry asked, sitting down far from Danielle and looking rather shyly at her. He still had no clue as to who she was or how Remus knew her, but Remus had said that the Fidelius Charm would do all the protecting they would need.

"I think he's doing alright," she answered, furrowing her brow at a page in the book and waving her wand to make a fine stream of cheese come from the tip. She gave the pan a critical look. "It's done," she told Harry. "Do you like cottage pie?"

"I've never tried it," Harry answered. The Dursleys usually only made it when company came over or on special nights, though Harry was never allowed to eat it.

"Well, I hope it's good," Danielle muttered, picking up the pan and placing it on the table. "Do you want to bring Remus a plate?"

"Sure," Harry answered, waiting until she cut it, then taking the plate down into the hall. He could smell potatoes and meat from the dish. Knocking on the door, Harry waited for an answer, but none came. He walked in, glancing at the bed where Remus was.

Placing the plate down on a small table beside Remus' bed, he turned to shake him awake, but paused. The older man's face was paler than Harry had ever seen it and, even asleep, he looked tired. Shadows lined his face, mainly under his eyes. Scars lined his throat, still looking raw. Harry saw that there was a trace of blood on his arm under wrappings, and felt his lungs freeze.

"Remus?" he asked quietly, almost not wanting to wake him. "Remus?" He gently shook him, but got no answer. Stalking back to the door, Harry glanced at him once more before leaving.

"I think he's tired," Harry told Danielle as he sat down. He took his usual seat at the table and saw that Danielle was sitting where Remus usually sat. She had set out a plate for him, and Harry tried the pie, making a satisfied sound as he swallowed. "It's good," he told her.

She smiled. "Good. I'm glad you like it. I supposed Remus would be tired, after all of that. He had a dreadful night, by the sounds of it."

"What happened?" Harry asked. Danielle glanced up at him, frowning.

"Well, you know that they were testing the potion, right? Severus, that man who was wearing black, overdosed it with wolfsbane. Have you ever heard of wolfsbane? It's a poison."

"Is he going to die?" Harry asked quickly. His thoughts rushed to Remus as he had just seen him, and there was a drop in his stomach as the horrible truth settled in.

"No, no, no," Danielle answered, though she looked grave. "He'll be fine. He's just a bit... under the weather. You'll have Remus back as he was before in a few days."

"He's the best thing I could have asked for next to a family," Harry mumbled to his plate, relief sweeping over him as he privately rejoiced that Remus would be alive and well.

"I can understand that," Danielle said, picking out a bit of carrot and eating it. "He's very nice. I knew him at school. Not well, but we knew each other."

"Really?" Harry asked, looking happy. He remembered the conversation he and Remus had had the day before. "What do you think of werewolves?"

Danielle furrowed her brow and pursed her lips, thinking. She swept a lock of dark blonde hair out of her plump face. "Well, I can't say I have anything against them or for them.... Like everyone else in the Wizarding World, grew up thinking them to be monsters.... However, after meeting Remus, I have to say, maybe they're not as bad as I thought. However, not all of them areas nice as him...."

Harry cast his eyes down at the table. "He was telling me that everyone hated werewolves and that's why most people didn't like him," Harry told her. Danielle shrugged.

"We should always try to look at people as people, not as groups, but most of us can't do that." She smiled at him, revealing a set of somewhat sharpened teeth. "You're very good doing that, Harry, which is a skill we all ought to learn."

Harry felt himself blush a little and remained silent, not knowing what to say.

"So, when did you meet Remus?" he asked after a while, finishing off his slice of pie. Danielle gave him another slice as soon as he set his fork down and he started again.

"Well, I was in his year and dated his best friend, so we came to know each other fast. First year was the first time we met, though. He and Peter were playing Gobstones and that's my one weakness." She gave him a wink and grinned. "Have you ever played Gobstones?"

"No," he answered, feeling rather foolish.

"It's like Muggle Marbles, but the marbles can shoot ink at you. Pain to get out of clothes, I'll say that much."

Harry smiled slightly. "That sounds weird."

"Most Wizarding games are," she answered. She reached down onto the floor and pulled up a red handbag, which she dug through for a moment before pulling out a smaller, brown bag and opening it. She spilled the objects inside on the table, where they rolled for a moment before connecting together into a larger circle. "Gobstones," she explained, picking one up and handing it to Harry.

"They look like normal marbles," he said, squinting at them. With a closer look, he saw that, although the patterns on them were the same, inside the largest one was a circle of black ink. He placed it down again. "What other Wizarding games are there?"

"Wizard's chess," Danielle started. "Quidditch, tons of games on brooms, really, Exploding Snap, dueling, though I don't suggest that.... There are tons, though those are the best known. Then, there are the prank items. I don't know much about those. You'll have to ask Remus. He ought to know just about everything there is about those."

She stood up and picked up their empty plates, bringing them over to the sink and starting to wash them by hand. "So, what do you think of the Wizarding World so far?" she asked him.

"It's amazing," Harry breathed, remaining at the table. Danielle finished washing the two plates and let them dry while wiping her hands. "I mean, everything's so different...."

"It is," she agreed. "I knew I was a witch when I was little, but my parents seemed to enjoy the Muggle life, so I almost forgot I was a witch when I turned eleven." She laughed and turned towards the hall. "I'm going to check up on Remus. I think his arm should have healed by now." She left, leaving Harry all alone.

Now that Danielle was there, Harry felt as if he had a family again. Remus was most definitely a father-figure to him, and Danielle seemed to know nearly as much as Remus did about his parents. Smiling to himself, Harry leaned back in his chair and waited until Danielle returned, a bloodied stretch of cloth in her hands. She held it in the air and waved her wand at it, causing it to disappear before sitting next to Harry.

"How is he?" Harry asked.

"Fine," she answered, sighing. "His arm's going to scar, I know that, though I think it's gone down enough to not be too noticeable. He'll just be sleeping off the rest for a while, I think. Says he's fine." Danielle inspected her hands for a moment and said, "I never had a clue he was a werewolf. I never spent too much time with him, so that may be why, and I never learned much about werewolves except for..." She trailed off, staring even more intently at her short nails. "Well, I never knew that transformations did that. And I suppose that was one of the better ones."

Harry remained silent. He had been thinking about what Remus had said about views on werewolves and about how it was less fair than he imagined. Having to think about Remus going through that every month and being hated for it was too much to bear, so he pulled a napkin closer to him, taking out his wand, and waving it while muttering randomized spells, forcing the paper to rip apart and repair itself, levitate into the air and hover around.

"You can do magic already?" Danielle asked, frowning and watching the napkin's progress. Harry glanced into her blue eyes.

"Yeah. I got to learn some spells early." He knew that he sounded too prideful for his own good, but he felt that being able to do magic was something that few people could do. Dudley would never share the same talent.

"That's interesting," Danielle said, smiling slightly.