Questions and Answers

Chapter 35: Stays In Motion

James tumbled out of the fireplace at the Burrow, pulling up short when a small, plump figure waved a scrap of parchment under his nose. 'What. Is. This?'

'Grandmum...' he said weakly.

'You've been gone for over an hour, James Sirius!' Molly shouted. 'What have you been doing? I was worried sick about you!'

'I wanted to see Dad!' James yelled.

Molly stiffened visibly. 'All you had to do was ask,' she said, managing to throttle her voice down to something slightly less than earthshaking. She pointed to the stairs. 'Go upstairs,' she ordered. 'I'll deal with you later.'

'Fine,' James growled sullenly, dodging around Molly and stomping up the stairs to the attic. He yanked the door open, and threw himself on the old bed. 'Go away,' he replied to the tentative knock on the door.

The door opened in blithe disregard to his wishes. 'What did you do?' Al asked curiously.

'Nothing,' James huffed, turning over on his stomach. 'Leave me alone, all right?' He felt the bed sink under the weight of Al's body. 'I said leave me alone...'

'Where're Mum and Dad? And why did Grandmum and Granddad come fetch us over here?'

James opened his mouth, but remembered his promise to Ginny to not worry Al or Lily. 'Dad got hurt last night,' he said. 'But he's okay. Mum went to go wait until they let him come home.' James rubbed his face in the pillow. He figured telling Al a half-truth was better than outright lying to him.

'Oh.' James didn't see the doubtful expression flit over Al's face. 'How long will they be gone?'

James sighed. 'I don't know. A day or two, I suppose.' He rolled over on his back and flung an arm over his eyes. 'Could you really leave me alone now?' he asked edgily. 'Didn't sleep much last night and I could use a kip.'

'All right,' Al sighed. He slid off the bed, making the springs screech in protest.

'Don't say anything to Lily,' James said suddenly.

Al snorted, rather like Ginny. 'What do I look like? An eejit?'

'What time of day is it?' James retorted with a smirk.

'I won't say anything,' Al promised. He left the attic, leaving James alone with the images of Harry lying in the hospital bed, face ashen and drawn, while a blue potion dripped into his arm. James curled on his side, his arms wrapped around his knees, desperately wishing for the old, mangy, stuffed black dog he'd had as a small child. It was in a drawer in his room at home, and James hadn't thought about it in ages, but at this moment, he could feel the nubby fur on one of the ears where he had worried off all the plush fur, rubbing it between his thumb and first two fingers. His thumb unconsciously began to rub slowly across the tips of his middle and index fingers, in a rhythm he found oddly comforting, as his heavy eyelids shut.

The next thing he knew, someone was gently shaking him awake. James pried open his eyelids to find Arthur standing over him. 'We're going to the hospital to see your dad in a bit,' he said.

James nodded groggily and struggled to sit up. 'Okay,' he mumbled. He trudged down the stairs after Arthur, and stood next to Lily, unable to meet Molly's eyes. He'd never yelled at her before. It had felt decidedly wrong to speak to her in that way. He mutely took a handful of powder from the flowerpot Molly held out to him, his eyes fixed on his shoes.

Before he could throw the powder into the flames, Molly's hand lightly landed on his elbow. 'James, honey...' James looked down at his grandmother. 'It's all right.' He nodded and Molly released him. He threw the powder in the flames and said firmly, 'St. Mungo's.'

Ginny pushed the sandwich away with a grimace of distaste. It was dry and tasteless. 'The food hasn't improved at all,' she said wryly. 'You are so taking me out for a nice dinner when you get out of here.' She paused, sweeping the sandwich off the table and into the rubbish bin. 'In Paris.' Ginny waited expectantly for Harry to mutter something about the expense of going to Paris for an evening, like he normally would, but the only answer she received was the soft beeping of his pulse on the monitor panel.

The door opened, and Ginny turned to see Arthur come into the room. 'Your mum has the children in the waiting area.'

Ginny stood up, and ran her hands over her hair, smoothing it down, in a futile attempt to not look so fretful. 'Did James tell them anything?' she asked anxiously.

Arthur looked at her askance. 'What do you mean did James tell them anything?'

'He was here earlier...' Ginny replied, trailing off.

'He did say something to me this morning about wanting to come see Harry,' Arthur said.

'So he did sneak out, the little bugger.' She shook her head.

'Well, that explains it,' Arthur mused. 'I was wondering why he wasn't talking to Molly. She must have caught him sneaking back home.'

'Brilliant,' Ginny muttered, rubbing her temples. 'One more thing to the list...' She strode into the corridor and pushed open the doors that led to the sitting area, making a conscious effort to smooth her features into something more pleasant. James slouched in a chair, his expression inscrutable. Ginny made a mental note to speak to James later. Al sat huddled in the chair next to him, frowning at her. Lily perched between James and Al, fiddling with the hem of her shirt.

'Mum!' Lily slid off the hard chair and nearly ran across the waiting area. Her arms wound around Ginny's waist.

'Hiya, sweetie,' Ginny murmured, stroking Lily's hair. 'Are you being good for Grandmum?'

'Of course,' Lily sniffed disdainfully.

'That's good.' Ginny led Lily back to her brothers. 'I'll take you back one at a time,' Ginny told them. 'But I need to explain a few things to you.' She took Lily's hand in her cold one, and squeezed it reassuringly. 'He's...' Ginny hesitated. 'He's sleeping. And they have a tube in his arm. You'll be able to hear his heartbeat because of a charm. But he's going to be just fine,' she said firmly.

Al threw a confused glance at James. Why didn't he tell me this? I'm not some ickle firstie who can't handle the truth...

'Who wants to go first?' Ginny asked with forced cheerfulness. James looked away pointedly, and Al shook his head. 'Lily?'

Lily chewed her lip, then nodded a little uncertainly, clutching Ginny's hand, and they disappeared behind the swinging doors.

'Why did you lie to me?' Al hissed.

James shifted in his chair, slouching even further. 'I didn't lie,' he insisted.

'You didn't tell me it was this bad!' Al said, louder.

James stared at his interlaced fingers. 'I promised Mum...'

'How bad it is?' Al persisted. 'The truth...'

James licked his lips, suddenly gone dry. 'I'm not sure,' he admitted. 'But it looks pretty scary. A lot scarier than what Mum says,' he added.

Al wound a finger through the laces of his trainers. He recalled what his parents had told him nearly two years ago. 'But Dad's been through a lot worse,' he argued. 'This ought to be nothing.'

James closed his eyes against Al's determination. 'Yeah. I hope you're right.'

Harry stared where Snape had been. 'What do you mean it's in my memories?' he shouted. 'What's in my memories?' Harry threw the blanket aside and swung his feet to the floor. 'This is ridiculous,' he muttered, heading for the door.

'Nice arse,' said a sardonic voice.

Harry clutched the back of the hospital gown he wore, closing the gap over his bare bottom. 'Sirius?' He looked over his shoulder at the lean man lounging on the windowsill.

'He's right, you know,' Sirius commented. 'All your answers are in your memory. You just need to find it.'

'What is that supposed to mean?' Harry ground out. 'First Snape, then you...'

'Look, Harry, you're a smart kid. You always have been. You've got the best instincts.'

'I've got a lot of things on my mind right now,' Harry retorted. 'If you could narrow things down a bit more?'

'Nope. Sorry. Doesn't work that way.' Sirius tossed his long hair out of his eyes. 'You have to figure it out yourself.'

'Fat lot of good this... Dream, hallucination - whatever the bloody hell it is - does me,' Harry huffed. 'Wanker,' he muttered.

'Does more than you think,' Sirius snorted. 'Just you wait.' He pushed himself off the windowsill. 'And don't think because you're grown you can call your godfather names like that. Even if I am dead.'

XxXxXxX

Lily stood next to Harry's bed, her hand hovering over his. 'You can touch him, Lils,' Ginny said encouragingly.

Lily's head tilted to the side as she examined Harry. She sidled to the other side, and traced the tube in his arm with a questing forefinger. The potion that slid through the clear tube was bright orange. 'What's that for?'

'The orange one helps heal the gash in his shoulder from the spell that hit him,' Ginny explained. 'There's a blue one that helps keep his heartbeat regulated.' When Lily's face clouded with confusion. 'It keeps it at a normal rate. See?' Ginny pointed to the panel where a gold light flashed in time with the sound of Harry's pulse. 'In a few days, he can stop taking it. They have to give it to him every couple of hours, or his heartbeat skips a beat, or slows down...' Ginny clamped her lips shut. Lily's eyes were growing round in alarm. 'He's going to be fine,' Ginny said.

'When is he going to wake up?' Lily asked worriedly.

'Soon, sweetie,' Ginny said with more confidence than she felt.

XxXxXxX

Teddy rubbed his face against something soft that didn't feel like his pillowcase. He unglued his eyelids and blinked until he could see properly. Victoire was sprawled across the bed, her unbound hair draped over his pillow and hers. Teddy carefully pulled his arm from under Victoire's head, so as not to wake her, and sat up, rubbing his eyes. He slid from the bed, and shuffled into the kitchen, opening the refrigerator and taking out a carton of orange juice. He twisted off the cap and chugged several swallows straight from the carton. Teddy lowered the carton with an explosive gasp, and replaced it in the refrigerator. He climbed through the window and fell into the chair on the balcony, propping his feet on the edge of railing.

Teddy stared up into the late afternoon sky, watching the low grey clouds scuttle across the horizon. He sniffed experimentally, tasting rain in the back of his throat. He found he didn't mind the prospect of a dreary, rainy London evening. It suited his mood.

Another scent drifted toward him from the flat. It was Victoire. She smelled like herbs from the stillroom at the hospital, with the undertone of disinfectant and cleanser. Underneath that was the heady scent of Victoire herself. Teddy's eyes closed and he slowly inhaled, drinking in the aromas surrounding him. He heard the soft rustle of clothing against a moving body, and turned his head toward the window. Victoire was moving through the kitchen toward him.

'Been awake long?' she asked, climbing through the window.

'A bit,' Teddy allowed.

Victoire settled into the other chair and Summoned a hairbrush. She began to work the snarls from her hair. 'How are you?' she asked, working the snarls from her hair.

'Scared,' Teddy admitted, keeping his eyes fixed on the cloudy sky. He drew in a deep breath. 'I ran out on Ginny,' he added. 'The one time I can do something for her, I run out like a terrified little boy.'

Victoire concentrated on a particularly stubborn knot. 'How did it happen?'

Teddy reached over and plucked the brush from her hand, and scooted his chair closer to hers. He spread Victoire's long hair over her back, and began to gently tease the knot from her hair. 'I don't really know. Well, I do, but I'm not sure how I'm the only one who saw it,' he said slowly. 'We were cleaning up after a Muggle-baiting, and he was standing off to one side, waiting for the preliminary investigation to finish up, and I heard something. Like when we've played with the little ones and they hide in the flutterby bush?' Victoire nodded. 'I turned around and all of a sudden, I could see everything. Even through all the fog, I could see.' Teddy's hand slowed in its motions as it drew the hairbrush through Victoire's hair. 'I saw this wand in the shrubbery and it was aiming at Harry's back. So, I tried to knock him out of the way, and I didn't get to him in time.' Teddy's fingers tightened around the handle of the brush.

'Teddy, you probably saved his life,' Victoire said quietly. 'That hex is rather nasty if it makes a direct hit over the heart. It's pretty bad if it hits a major organ. As it is, the curse didn't hit anything important. Because of you,' she pointed out. 'He's got a deep gash in his shoulder from the spell, and they've been giving him potions to fix that, as well as Blood-Replenishing potions. He'd lost an awful lot of blood by the time they got him to St. Mungo's. Dark magic injuries are a lot harder to heal, so it'll take a while for the shoulder to mend. It will probably leave a scar, and he might have lingering issues with it.'

'Issues?' Teddy asked. He felt his breathing slow to something less panicked as he brushed Victoire's hair, finding the motions soothing.

'Nothing major,' Victoire said quickly. 'Like residual pain, some limited range of motion. Minor things, really.'

'That doesn't sound minor,' Teddy retorted.

'He's not going to be an invalid,' Victoire assured him. 'And those things will go away in time. He'll have to take potions for the damage to his nerves, muscles, and skin for several weeks.'

'What else?' Teddy persisted.

'They have to give him a potion to keep his pulse regulated for now. The curse makes the heartbeat irregular or too slow. But the potions should fix that by the end of the week.'

'Is that all?'

Victoire shook her head. 'Not quite. I told you he was unconscious, but he should have come round by now. That's what's worrying right now. They're giving him something to try and get him to come out of it.' She glanced down at her watch. 'Although, that was hours ago, and Uncle Harry may have woken up by now.'

Teddy gasped. 'You missed your class today!'

'It's fine,' she assured him. 'The Healer who teaches the spell damage class was working on Uncle Harry, so she cancelled it.' Victoire looked over her shoulder at Teddy. He was intent on watching the shimmering strands of hair as he brushed it. 'How long have you been able to see like that?' she asked, after a long pause.

'A while,' Teddy said reluctantly. 'A couple of months.'

'All the time?'

Teddy shook his head. 'No. Just when I'm under a lot of stress.'

'Is it just hearing and sight?' Victoire had an idea of what was going on with Teddy; she just wanted to make sure she was right.

'Smell, too. Like I could smell the stuff they use to clean the floors in the waiting area. Nearly made me sick.' He set the brush down on the windowsill and turned Victoire's chair around. 'I think I might end up like Dad...'

'There's only one way to become a werewolf, love, and that's by being bitten by one during the full moon,' Victoire chided. 'Third year Defense class.'

'Werewolves don't have children,' Teddy said stubbornly. 'We don't know.' He remembered reading his father's journal during the period where he'd left his mother. Remus' customary neat copperplate hand had degenerated into an angular scrawl, as he confessed his fears of what could happen to his unborn child.

Victoire fixed Teddy with a stern look. 'Do you have violent tendencies at the full moon?' she asked.

'No.'

'Do you feel the need to eat nearly raw beef for meals?'

'No. I've seen your dad do that and it's kind of gross...' Teddy's face scrunched in distaste.

'Yeah, try growing up with it,' Victoire snorted. 'Look, I'm not saying that you won't have tendencies, like enhanced senses, but you're not a werewolf.' When Teddy's doubtful expression didn't clear, she sighed. 'I can take you to the hospital with me tomorrow, and I can test you, but I suspect you were probably tested as a baby.'

'Why would you think something like that?'

'I was,' Victoire said bluntly. 'Mum and Dad were worried about it when I was born, since he was mauled by Fenrir Greyback less than two months before they were married.' She got up and climbed through the window into the kitchen and returned in a moment with two bottles of butterbeer and handed one to Teddy. She pried the cork from her own bottle and took a sip. 'This might be something you've always had, and you just didn't notice, because you've never been under this amount of stress before.'

'I suppose...' Teddy copied Victoire's actions and took a long swallow of his butterbeer. She might have been right. He had always been able to see in the dark better than the others, and hear sounds that others didn't notice. It was one of the ways he had managed to sneak around Hogwarts after curfew. The one time he had been caught, was after he and Victoire had been on top of the Astronomy Tower, right after they had started dating. He supposed he'd been a bit distracted that night. 'It got a bit overwhelming last night.'

'I can imagine.' Victoire nudged Teddy. 'So, are you going back later?'

Teddy picked at the bottle's label with a fingernail. 'Yeah...' The label began to peel off. 'Yeah, I am.'

XxXxXxX

Al followed Ginny down the corridor, tucking his hands under his folded arms. It was chilly in the hospital, and Al wasn't willing to risk violating the Decree for Underage Magic just to cast a Warming charm over his hands. He walked through the door Ginny held open for him, frowning at his mother. 'You look like hell,' he said.

'Thanks,' Ginny told him.

Al stood next to the wall, shoving his hands into his pockets. It was worse than what James had described. James hadn't mentioned the smell. Al knew from the few times he'd been in the hospital wing at school that medicinal potions didn't taste very good, and they had a scent to match. Three bottles hung from a rack, dispensing evil-looking purple potions into Harry's arm. The odor from them made his nostrils twitch. He swallowed heavily, trying not to gag. Ginny noticed Al's pinched face. 'You get used to the smell,' she said lightly. Al gave her an incredulous look. 'I got hit in the head with a Bludger my third year with the Harpies. Spent three days here,' Ginny explained. 'When I woke up, I thought the smell was going to make me ill. After a while, I didn't notice it anymore.'

Al rubbed his hand under his nose. 'Don't see how...' He took a few steps toward the bed. 'Is Dad going to be all right?'

'Of course he is,' Ginny replied.

Al's eyes narrowed. He had heard the tension under the calm assurance under his mother's voice. 'Truthfully?'

'Would your mother lie to you?' Ginny retorted.

'Yes,' Al said promptly. 'If you thought it was for my own good,' he muttered.

Ginny dropped into a chair next to the bed, and rolled her shoulders, in a futile attempt to loosen them. 'All right,' she said. 'Physically, he's fine. Well, he's getting better. But he's still unconscious.'

Al threw a glance toward Ginny. 'When will he wake up?'

'Soon...'

XxXxXxX

Harry shook his head irritably. He kept hearing voices, buzzing in the back of his head. His left hand rubbed the intermittent burning sensation just under the crook of his elbow on his right arm. The movement jostled his sore left shoulder, making him wince as the pain seared across his back.

'I was thrilled when you named your first son after me.' Harry's eyes cracked open, to find his father lounging on the foot of his bed. 'And I could understand Albus,' James continued. 'But really, did you haveto name him after Snape, too?'

Harry didn't reply right away. His head tilted to the side, as he examined his father. Harry began to laugh, but it quickly turned into a hiss of pain as his shoulder jiggled with the laughter. He contented himself with a smile, as he realized he was nearly twice his father's age. Harry ran a hand through his hair with a rueful grimace. The silver strands around his face were growing more and more pronounced and James' hair was still a mass of thick, black hair. He noticed James was doing the same. 'So that's what I would have looked like when I became a grouchy old man,' James said.

'I'm not grouchy!' Harry exclaimed. 'And I'm not old. I'm only thirty-eight.'

'Thirty-nine in two weeks,' James shot back. 'I was there, remember? Or are you getting too damn old to remember that kind of thing?' he chortled.

'I'm so thrilled I can give you a laugh at my own expense.' Harry scowled at his father.

'Aaahhhh. Now that's what I missed.' James smiled genially at his son. 'Attitude from one's offspring... I don't think I missed much.'

'So you wanted to know why we named Al after Snape?' Harry said abruptly, changing the subject.

'Why you named Al after Snape. I don't recall Ginny having much of a say in the matter.'

Harry looked down at the edge of the sheet over his lap. 'So I could be a better man. Than either of you,' he sighed.

XxXxXxX

'James?' James looked up at his mother. 'Do you want to...?' Ginny gestured toward the swinging doors. James shook his head, staring down at his trainers.

Ginny sat down in the chair next to James with a sigh. 'We've been lucky,' she said. 'Your father's been doing this for more than twenty years, and this is the first time he's ever been seriously injured.' James blinked rapidly several times, bending and stretching his fingers until they popped loudly.

Ginny hand stroked over James' messy hair. 'He's going to be fine.'

James jerked his head away from Ginny's soothing hand. 'I'm not Lily,' he growled. 'You don't have to convince me everything's all right.' He heaved himself to his feet and joined Al and Lily at the fireplace to Floo back to the Burrow with Molly and Arthur. He snatched a handful of Floo Powder from the urn next to the hearth and threw it into the fire, disappearing in a swirl of emerald flames.

'Mum?' Lily tugged in Ginny's sleeve. 'Are you coming home later?' she asked plaintively.

Ginny hesitated, but after looking at her children's strained faces, she nodded. 'I'll be home before you go to bed.' She waited until they, too disappeared, before she turned to her parents. 'Will it be all right if they stay with you for a few days?'

'Of course it is,' Molly said. 'I'll fetch some clothes over for you as well.'

'Thanks, Mum.' Ginny rubbed her eyes. 'I'll there about eight or nine...'

'I'll leave some dinner for you.' Molly hugged Ginny, then she, too left the hospital.

'Will James be all right, do you think?' Ginny asked Arthur, staring into the flames dancing on the hearth.

Arthur enveloped Ginny into a gentle embrace. 'It's rather difficult when you realize your parents are mortal after all,' he said. 'Just give him some time, eh?' He kissed Ginny on the forehead. 'Maybe he and I can go in the village for some ice cream and chat a bit.'

'Thanks, Dad.' Ginny stepped back and allowed Arthur to follow Molly and the children to the Burrow.

She watched as the flames died down, then turned, straightening her shoulders as she headed back down the corridor to Harry's room.

XxXxXxX

Teddy glanced questioningly at the burly Auror, standing as some sort of sentinel outside Harry's hospital room. The Auror inclined his head toward the door in tacit permission for Teddy to go into the room. Teddy nodded once in thanks, and slipped through the door. Ginny sat curled up in the windowsill, her head resting against the glass. 'Ginny... I...' He perched next to her on the windowsill. 'I'm sorry about earlier...'

Ginny sniffed and rubbed her nose with the back of her hand.

Tentatively, Teddy put an arm around Ginny's shoulders. His eyebrows flew up in surprise when Ginny began to cry. It lasted less than a minute, and she quickly sat up, palming the tears from her cheeks. 'Sorry,' she mumbled. She slumped forward, her elbows resting on her knees. 'I've been trying to convince the children that everything's okay,' she said. 'And I'm not sure who I'm trying to convince - me or them.'

Teddy nodded. 'I'm scared, too...'