A Change of Plans

Chapter Twelve

It is very difficult and uncomfortable to use the Floo on normal circumstances, with fire places zooming all around you and green flame obscuring your vision. That's under normal circumstances. When you're heart is not already racing due to fear and panic. When there's only one of you.

The two girls had to stay close so as not to bounce off the walls and fall out at the wrong place. It was difficult, as Patsy's body felt too weak to support her own weight, much less stand straight and hang tight to Annie. Annie, also, was limp, due to shock and tears. Neither of their hands seemed strong enough to hang on; they felt as though they would be ripped apart any second.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, they were thrown out through the Potter's fireplace. Patsy recognized it instantly, dark though it was, from the time when she and Annie had first come, following Sirius to discover his true identity.

Her first impulse was to stay low, and check to be sure that there weren't any Death Eaters waiting for them. If there were, though, she didn't see how they were going to fight them, weak as they were. Perhaps they'd be able to drag themselves back into the fire, and yell out some random destination, but she didn't think so somehow.

Blessedly, there were no Death Eaters in the kitchen. In fact, based on the silence, there were no Death Eaters anywhere. It seemed that the house was asleep. Well, that wouldn't do them much good. Patsy wasn't in any condition to run around waking everybody up. Annie was, but then, she was still in shock.

So Patsy used what little arm strength she had left to grab onto the mantle above the fireplace and pull herself up. The two girls had been tangled together from the Floo, and once Patsy was standing, Annie fell to the floor, her face in her hands.

Patsy understood, but she also felt a whining impatience deep in her gut. Now was not the time to grieve. Now was the time to get reinforcements and go save Sirius. And there was not much time as it was. Every second was another opportunity for Sirius to stumble, or to not dodge that fatal flash of green light in time.

So Patsy pulled Annie up, or at least tried to; it was difficult with what little strength she had. Annie finally looked up. Her face was tear-streaked, and her eyes empty, as if the real Annie was miles away, still in Maine, with her mother's corpse. Patsy shivered. It was impossible to think of Eugene Howard being nothing but a corpse; an empty shell, doomed to rot in a wooden box. Tears came to her eyes as she remembered that her parents were now the same way. Lifeless.

But she couldn't dwell on that now; lives were at stake. She tried to shake Annie, to get her out of it, but her arms were no longer doing as she wanted. They lacked the strength to even move; it was a miracle the one arm was still holding her upright. She could not believe herself to be this weak. She wondered if she had been hit with a spell when the door blew, or whether this was still an after affect from being slammed against the wall. Either way, she had no strength. She couldn't even yell. But she could talk. And she had no time to be sympathetic.

"Annie," she whispered sharply. "Annie, get up. Now. Sirius needs help. He's fighting three Death Eaters, Annie, three. And they're trying to kill him. He needs help. He needs James and Lily. Annie, I can hardly move, Annie. You've got to run upstairs and get them. I can't do it. It's gotta be you."

And Annie did. She shook herself, gave Patsy a nod, got up and disappeared through the door, leaving Patsy helpless by the fireplace, still hanging by one hand from the mantelpiece.

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By the time James had reemerged from the fire, all the lights in the house were on. Lily was fixing tea and arguing with Patsy, who had been placed in a chair, looked half dead, and was blatantly refusing to go to St. Mungo's until they found out what had happened in the house, despite the fact she could now barely talk. Annie seemed fine physically, but her eyes were shadowed, and she said nothing as she made the french toast. Harry was setting the table, and staring at his father's plate as if just staring could make the man appear again. Remus and Peter had been called over as well, and were pacing in front of the fireplace, waiting.

"James!" they both cried, relieved, as he was spit out of the fire. Lily and Harry both rushed over to him, while Annie showed no sign she had heard anything out of the ordinary, and flipped a piece of french toast over using Lily's plastic spatula. Patsy tried to turn, but her neck muscles refused to cooperate, and so she was forced to listen without seeing.

But she didn't need to see to realize that James had come alone.

Alone.

Meaning, without Sirius.

Meaning that things were about to get very complicated.

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"I can't believe it."

Annie had said these four words so many times in the past week, and they were true. All of them. She couldn't believe it. She didn't think she ever would.

Patsy was looking at her with almost a pitying expression. Annie hated that expression. She couldn't believe how Patsy could be so calm about the whole thing. She'd lost her parents too! But she was calm. Annie remembered her mother telling her, months ago, after her father had died, that people dealt with grief differently. That had been Eugene's excuse for going out with all of those boyfriends. Because she grieved differently.

Back then, Annie had been like, "You grieve by sticking your tongue in another guy's mouth?", but now she understood. Too late, she understood. Eugene had been able to move on. And it seemed Patsy had been able to as well, despite the fact that she was still here, in St. Mungo's, stuck in a hospital bed unable to move.

True, she was getting better. The Healers estimated that she'd be able to go back home in about a week. It was ironic, seeing how they hadn't wanted her to come in the first place, being part muggle and all. Fortunately, James, who, after all, was a famous auror, stepped in. Even so, it had taken about half an hour for Annie to get in to see her friend this afternoon. Thirty frustrating minutes of fighting with the receptionist and the Healers. But now she was here, and Patsy was sitting up of her own accord, and able to talk.

"Annie," Patsy said. "Annie, you've got to accept it. Okay? It's hard, but it's been a week. A week, Annie."

"I know!" Annie was frustrated enough without having Patsy stating the obvious.

Fortunately for her, Patsy decided to change the subject. Sort of.

"Have they figured out what's happened to Sirius yet?"

Annie shook her head.

"Not yet. Even...well, you know..." She lowered her voice. The Healers had bad habits of intruding at inopportune moments, and there were certain things that they both knew the Order didn't want public. Like, for example, the fact that there was an Order in the first place. "Snape hasn't heard anything."

Patsy closed her eyes in dismay. It was obvious that she hadn't really believed that there had been any news, but there had always been that hope...

"And..." Patsy hesitated, but then went on, "and, erm, has there been any news of your mo--"

"No." Annie cut her, off, not wanting to talk about it. "There hasn't."

"Oh."

Her friend's voice was small. Annie now felt somewhat bad about her harsh tone, but she really just wanted to forget it all had happened. Although that was made somewhat impossible by the fact that they were in London, in a wizard's hospital.

"So..." Patsy started, trying yet again to get a conversation going. "So, do you think you could get me a laptop from...from my house?'

"Why?"

"Well," Patsy looked surprised. "We need to get going if we're going to rescue Sirius, don't we?"

Annie gaped at her. She realized that St. Mungo's had her in the wrong wing; she desperately needed to be transferred to the psychiatric wing.

"We are going to rescue Sirius, aren't we?" Patsy asked, in response to Annie's silence.

"No, we bloody hell aren't!"

It looked as though it was Patsy's turn to gape, but she didn't. Instead her face turned more serious.

"He saved our lives, Annie."

"He should've been saving hers!" To her surprise, she found herself blinking back tears.

"He promised her he'd take care of you."

"I didn't need taking care of!" Annie cried. "She did!"

"You're mother would've rather have it be you who was saved than her."

"I would've gotten away! I was fine!"

"If you call a sprained ankle fine, Annie. You would have gotten killed."

"WELL SHE DID GET KILLED!" Annie found herself shouting. "She got killed because he decided to be all heroic and grab us--"

"And you struggled!" Patsy retorted. "You struggled against him and refused to go! If you had just done as he told you, he probably would have had time to go back and save her!"

"What?" Annie rasped. "Are you saying that it's my fault my mother is dead?"

"Well, you said it was Sirius's."

"That's because it was!"

"It was as much his fault as it was ours." Patsy stated flatly.

"It was not my fault!" Annie screamed.

"I hope you know you're acting like fifth book Harry, trying to blame Snape."

"How dare you!" Annie cried. "How dare you! All you're thinking about is some dumb book. This is real life, Patricia Dore. It's not some book! You have no idea, you have--"

"NO IDEA!" Patsy yelled, cutting Annie off. "NO IDEA?! I'll have you know that MY parents are just as dead as yours, Miss It's-Not-My-Fault. They're DEAD! I SAW THEM DIE AND YOU'RE TELLING ME I HAVE NO IDEA!?! Let me tell YOU something, Miss Annie-Elizabeth. I have PLENTY idea. PLENTY. You NEVER accuse me of having no idea, and you NEVER accuse Sirius for you're mother's death. NEVER.."

Annie stared as Patsy swayed sideways on the hospital bed, nearly falling out of it. She had used up too much strength shouting. Annie found herself forgetting her anger and immediately rushing over to the bedside to steady her.

"I think that's enough visiting for today, girls," said James's voice from behind them.

The both turned their heads. James was standing in the doorway, with Lily, Remus, and Dumbledore behind him. Patsy bowed her head, looking quite ashamed of herself.

"Sorry," she muttered.

"Not at all," James said. "But we do need to ask you a few questions, Patsy. And Annie needs to be getting back to the house."

He was talking about his house, of course. Neither girl had been back to Maine since the attack.

"Okay," Annie said, and then muttered out of the corner of her mouth to Patsy, "I'll bring the laptop."

Patsy nodded, and Annie recognized that gleam in her friend's eyes.

Patsy had a plan.