“HAWEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!” Severus screamed at the top his lungs, bucking wildly in Sirius’ arms and trying to launch himself into the floo.

“Yes, Severus, we’re going!” The animagus growled, climbing into the hearth before the dust from the last group’s hasty departure could even settle.

“I’ll go with you!” Hermione added, climbing in next to them. “You’ll need a hand to throw the floo powder.”

“Quickly!” Sirius hissed.

“Go! We’ll be right behind you.” Tonks assured them.

“ST. MUNGO’S!”

BOOM!

Sirius was jumping out of the hearth and into the fray before Severus’ head could even stop spinning.

“I need Healer Ampharius here STAT!”
“That was Harry Potter!” 
“We’ve got another case right here!”
“Might as well call a priest.”
“I need a magical medical history done on this patient at once!” 
“We’re moving him! Let’s go people!”
“Curse ward!”
“You can’t move him! He’s convulsing!”
“I need some Atropine, Pralidoxime, and some Diazepam here NOW!”
“Are you the next of kin? I need you to sign some forms.”

All of a sudden, Severus’ world began moving in slow motion. The room was swarming with people! It must’ve been the emergency ward for there were at least five floating stretchers in the immediate vicinity. Healers were fluttering about like butterflies, flying from patient to patient, waving wands and muttering words in Latin. There were sparks flying around. Random family members huddled in corners, most of them with tears in their eyes, as they watched their loved one being subjected to several spells at once. Pieces of parchment drifted down from the ceiling like notes from Heaven only to be yanked by the nearest healer and crammed into a folder for further scrutiny at a later time. There were potions being jammed down people’s throats, needles being thrust into patients’ arms. Orders were being thrown around like fireballs from the mouths of dragon healers. On occasion, a pack of healers with a stretcher between them would charge through the ward, dodging other healer packs in an effort to get to their destination faster.

Then there was Ginny. She was standing by the stretcher on the right side of the room, farthest from the floo. The entire room seemed to be moving around her while she stood still, frozen in place by what was happening right in front of her eyes. She had a hand tucked under one arm while her other hand covered her mouth. On her face, she wore mask of pure anxiety. Remus stood behind her, a hand on her shoulder for support and his eyes fixed solely on the figure shaking violently on the stretcher.

Harry.

Like all the other patients, he had a team of healers swarming around his stretcher. One of them was trying to hold him down, another was using a lighted wand tip to check his pupils, and another was waving his wand over him in a circular pattern, his eyes closed in concentration. Yet another healer was focusing solely on his right leg, a frown fixed upon her face, an additional healer was standing nearby, looking over a folder with an even bigger frown, and one more was standing by Ginny with a clipboard and quill, trying to get her attention.

All of a sudden, an additional healer quickly burst into the scene. Severus watched as he jumped over chairs and tables in an effort to get to Harry’s stretcher. The commotion he caused along the way made the healer with the folder look up and reach towards the runner.

“Throw them over!” Sev heard her scream, her voice low and deep in his slow-mo world. “He’s convulsing!” And just like that, three cylindrical objects went flying through the air—one blue, one red, and one green. From what Sev could tell, they each had a hole on one end and a button on the other. Halfway through the room, the strange cylinders picked up speed until they fell into the hands of the folder-healer. The witch then threw the folder aside and shoved two of the colored cylinders into each of the hands of two other healers, keeping the third. The infant watched as each of the three healers picked a body part and, in perfect conjunction, stabbed Harry with the hole-end of their cylinder, pressing the button at the same time.

Then everything in Sev’s world hit fast forward.

Harry jerked up violently just as Sirius reached his godson’s side. His eyes opened wide and he had a frantic look about his face.

“Mr. Potter. Mr. Potter, can you hear me?”
“Are you feeling any pain?”
“Do you know what’s going on?”
“You’re in St. Mungo’s. It’s alright.”

All of a sudden, Harry’s eyes found Severus’ and in that instant, a slew of images flashed into the infant’s mind.

The outside of the Den.

The entrance to the basement.

Harry’s potion’s lab.

Harry’s research station.

A cauldron full of fluorescent blue potion simmering atop the desk.

Five empty medium-sized vials sitting next to simmering cauldron.

Harry screaming, “All five!”

And just as quickly as they appeared, they were gone. Harry had lost consciousness yet again.

“Let’s move him! NOW!” Like the sound of a pack leader howling to her group, the healer in charge bellowed into everyone’s ear a millisecond before the pack of healers around Harry’s stretcher began running towards the end of the ward, floating their patient between them. Ginny, Remus, Sirius with Severus, Hermione, and the recently-arrived Ron and Tonks with Teddy promptly took after them.

“Are you his girlfriend?!” The head healer yelled behind her.

Ginny, at the head of their group, replied, “Yes!”

“How much do you know about his medical history?”

“Everything!”

“Do you know what could’ve caused his collapse and his seizure?”

“He has a curse inside him!”

“Master Healer, that’s a free room!” One of the male healers exclaimed to his superior, pointing to one of the open doors up ahead.

“Get him in there!” The sound of boots skidding against tile floor filled the air as some of the group had a hard time making such a sharp turn after running so quickly. Fortunately, Harry’s stretcher, as well as the two people carrying babies, was able to make it into the room without incident.

“Family to the far side of the room if you want to stay, but keep out of the healers’ way!” The master healer snapped at them as they entered, pointing to the far side of the large room where a family three times the size of the Weasley clan could’ve watched the proceedings without incident.

“Jeez! She’s got magnificent bedside manners!” Sirius grumbled under his breath, positioning himself next to Ginny, who was standing as close as she dared to Harry’s stretcher. The rest of the gang gathered behind them soon enough.

“Who’s the curse specialist on duty?!”
“Healer Ampharius, Master Healer.”
“Get him here, STAT!”
“Yes, Master Healer!”
“And if you can’t find that incompetent bastard, find someone else!”
“Yes, Master Healer!”
“Where’s the girlfriend?!”

“I’m right here!” Ginny replied, raising her hand and taking a tentative step forward.

“You said he has a curse inside him.” The master healer impatiently waved at her to elaborate.

“Yes, um…He said you all call it the Curse of the Damned.”

All of a sudden, as if someone had just flipped a switch, all activity in the room ground to a halt, and all the healers stopped what they were doing to gape at her in shock.   

Even the unflappable Master Healer looked flabbergasted. “The Curse of the Damned?!” She echoed in disbelief.

“What?!”

“How is that possible?!” One of the male healers exclaimed.

“It makes sense, though. That explains the collapse and the seizure.” One of the female healers argued.

“But it doesn’t make sense in that he should be dead right now!” The Master Healer retorted, glaring at her. “Did you even listen to my lecture on the Curse of the Damned?! First, it attacks the nervous system, paralyzing the victim—that explains the collapse and the seizure. You got that right. But what you fail to note that this takes place within an hour after being hit with the curse. And we all know that whoever hit these people with this curse did it during the Battle of Hogwarts, which was five months ago!” Upon finishing her dressing down, she turned a skeptical glare onto Ginny. “How is he still alive?!” She snapped.

“Well, maybe he invented a counter-curse.” Remus piped up. “And applied it to himself.”

“Sir, a counter-curse exists. However, if he had applied it to himself, he’d be a vegetable right now.” The Master Healer retorted with a scowl.

“I beg your pardon?”

“Remus, the Curse of the Damned is a double-layered curse.” Ginny elaborated, peering at the werewolf behind her. “It’s the first of its kind.”

“If Mr. Potter had applied the counter-curse to himself, it would’ve triggered a fail-safe within the curse.”

“A fail-safe?” Hermione frowned. “In a curse?!”

“Whoever invented this thing was diabolical!”

Sirius and Tonks exchanged a look. “Bellatrix.” They intoned simultaneously.

“We call it the Curse of the Damned for a reason! Damned if you keep it in because it’ll kill you—slowly. Damned if you remove it because it will completely disable you for life! You will be a vegetable, a ghost of your former self, a body without a person, a vessel without a soul—as good as dead! Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Curse of the Damned—there!” Having dropped that bombshell, the Master Healer spun around and started shouting orders to her team.

“Wait a minute!” Hermione cried, taking a step closer to the bed, “So this curse has no cure?!”

“One hundred and eighty-three people were shot with the Curse of the Damned last May at the Battle of Hogwarts.” The Master Healer replied, running her wand over Harry’s still frame. “Of those one hundred and eighty-three, seventy-nine died slow and painful deaths as the curse first paralyzed them completely and then ate their organs from the inside out—they drowned in their own body fluids. Of the one hundred and four remaining, fifty-two had the counter-curse applied to them before we realized what the counter-curse was actually doing—ordering the curse to attack their brains. So, no…” the Master Healer paused in her work to peer at Hermione over the rim of her glasses, “…this curse has no cure. If it did, there wouldn’t be fifty-two…excuse me, now fifty-three…other curse victims in stasis, taking up room in my hospital!”

“Then how is Harry still alive then?!” Ron spoke up, making everyone pause in their work once again.

The sudden reminder of the miracle of the situation shocked the Master Healer into glaring skeptically at Ginny once again. “That’s a good question!” She barked.  

“After he was shot with it, Harry put a lot of his magical energy into trapping the curse in his right leg.”

“THAT’S why he kept on limping on and off randomly!” Tonks exclaimed, her eyes widening in surprise.

“Yes,” the teenager nodded, “At first, it was easy to control the curse. He just numbed the nerves in his leg and used the same methods you healers use when you keep the rest of those fifty-two people in stasis.”

“But it still doesn’t help it!” The Master Healer argued. “It delays the inevitable—that’s all! One of our stasis patients died this morning because the curse had eaten through his liver. And this is a stasis patient, mind you!”

“That’s the thing!” Ginny retorted. “Harry knew it was only a matter of time before the curse started doing a number on his leg, and only a matter of time after that the curse was going to break out of his leg altogether and kill him.”

“Potter knew he was on a clock.”

“So he poured every waking moment that he could spare into finding out how to beat the curse, and then a few weeks in, he had a breakthrough—you need an antidote in addition to a counter-curse.”

“An antidote?” The Master Healer frowned.

“A potion antidote?!” Another healer exclaimed.

“Yes!” Ginny hissed, “That’s how you beat the second layer of the curse! Harry figured out that you have to administer an antidote before you apply the counter-curse. That, in turn, blocks the curse from crippling the organs of the body, or the body part, that it’s in.”

“How did he figure all this out?” One of the male healers asked.

“He has a bunch of prosthetic legs in his lab that he works with.” Ginny explained. “They were supposed to be for himself, in case he had to have the leg amputated, but he turned about half of them into his lab rats anyway.”

“That makes sense.” The Master Healer murmured to herself, “But that’s a really old method for countering a curse.”

“What is?” Sirius spoke up.

“The Antidote Method.” The Master Healer replied, “The Antidote Method for countering a curse hasn’t been used for over eight hundred years!” She elaborated, “Since the Twelfth Century! It was last used…by…Merlin, actually!”

“That is probably why our counter-curse division didn’t think about using the method.” One of the male healers added.

The Master Healer then turned her scowl towards him. “Well they should have!” She snapped, before glaring at Ginny once again, “Did the genius manage to construct the antidote before he succumbed to the curse? Because he’s no use to us now in stasis!”

“He did.” Ginny nodded confidently. “But…I’m not sure if it’s ready to—”

“UH-HUH!!!” Severus screamed at the top of his lungs, calling the room’s attention to him. “Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh! Amp-doe! Immy, AMP-DOE!” He then pointed towards the door, “DEM!!!”

“It’s at the Den?” Ginny grabbed Sirius’ shoulders, turning anxious eyes onto the infant in his arms. Severus nodded. “The antidote is at the Den?” Another forceful nod. “And it’s ready?!”

“Dum! Dum! Dum!” Sev nodded frantically.

“Do you know how much he needs?”

Severus held up five fingers to her face, “Fye bye-ew!”

“Are you sure?” Ginny asked, her eyes wide with excitement.

“Haweh towb!” Severus pointed to his head, then back at Harry, then back at his head, “Haweh towb me wow go!” He explained, pointing to his temple frantically.

“Alright, sweetheart, you’re absolutely sure?!” Ginny asked once more, wanting to make sure Severus knew what he was doing. The infant nodded.

Ginny turned back towards the healers, “How much time does he have?” She asked nervously.

“Well, he’s in stasis right now.” The Master Healer replied, “but the curse has built up in his system over the past five months. It’s like a very hungry animal, and our methods are only going to—”

“HOW…LONG?!” Ginny snapped, her eyes flashing. Her patience for this snarky healer had just about run out.

The Master Healer snapped her mouth shut, “A few hours.” She replied dully.

“We’ll have it here within the hour.” Turning back to Sirius, she fixed him with a determined look. “Sirius, I need you to take Severus back to the Den. Harry’s potions lab is in the basement. Severus knows what to do from there.”

The animagus nodded immediately. “Right! Come on, cub!” Turning on his heel, Sirius began power-walking out the door.

“The Curse of the Damned, the Curse of the Damned,” Severus could hear Sirius muttering under his breath, “Goddamn it! Why didn’t Harry tell me?!”

That makes two of us. Sev drawled internally. The infant hooked his arm around the back of the animagus’ neck and clenched the front of his shirt tightly. Severus was pretty sure he wouldn’t fall off, not with the way Sirius was holding him right now. Yet at these high speeds, one could never be too careful.

“Haweh mo tew mo wa.” The infant replied. “Mo wa! Mo tew Moomy. Mo tew Ma-Ma Mowy. Mo tew Dum-dow. MO WA! Owie tew Immy.”

“What I don’t understand is why.” Sirius answered, confusion marring his features.

Oh, please! You’re not special. Severus felt like rolling his eyes.

“Did they tell you?”

Sev huffed. “MO…WA!” Really! How difficult was it to understand the phrase ‘no one’?

“See? They didn’t tell you either.”

Hey! What was that supposed to mean?! Severus was special! Wasn’t he?

If you’re so special, why didn’t they tell you then? Why did they keep the secret from you too? The cynical voice at the back taunted.

They must’ve had a really good reason why! His little voice replied.

“Alright, here we go. Ready?” Sirius warned just before he stepped into the floo.

Grabbing onto the front of Sirius’ robes with both hands, Severus buried his face within the folds. “THE DEN!”

BOOM!

Merlin, he hated that feeling! The floo sucked—plain and simple!

“Alright, cub, let’s move! We’re on a clock. Where do I go?” Severus groaned and pointed behind him to where he knew the entrance to the basement was located. “Right! Okay…” Sirius hightailed it over and threw the door open violently. The torches lighting the stairwell flared to life automatically. “Whoa! I’ve always hated spiral staircases…” As quickly as he safely could, Sirius made his way down the stairs and into the basement hallway. This part of the house he remembered from his boyhood days (although they always took the outside stairs into the basement). Sirius knew the double doors led to the library, which meant the door on the left led to… “Alright, we’re in the lab! What now?”

As Severus caught his breath against his chest, Sirius took a second to really inspect Harry’s lab. The place looked like a storm had just swept through it! He whistled lowly, “Whoa, pup…I knew you got an E in your Potions OWLS but…Geez!” Once Sirius caught sight of the blackboards and whiteboards full of equations, chemical compounds, and chicken scratch, his eyes widened in surprise, “This is hardcore.” He murmured under his breath.  

Then it occurred to him. This wasn’t just hardcore. This wasn’t just an obsession. For Harry, this was—quite literally—life and death. This room was another battlefield, this curse yet another adversary. Yet there was something about this particular situation that separated it from the rest. Perhaps it was the fact that the battle was no longer without, but within; the enemy no longer living flesh, but rather pure energy. Perhaps it was because the weapons of choice weren’t purely magical in nature, but relied on a bit of science…

Sirius peered at some of the pieces of parchment on one of the work tables.

Or perhaps…it was because his reason for fighting had changed.

Pushing aside the papers full of equations and chicken scratch he couldn’t understand, Sirius picked up the one paper he understood quite well. It was a child’s painting. It was one of Severus’ finger paintings, to be specific. Sirius remembered Severus handing it to Harry the day after they had all returned from Auror’s training that first week. The smile on his godson’s face had been priceless. When the animagus held the painting at arm’s length, he could just make out a few dark, wrinkled splotches he knew weren’t there before.

Dried teardrop stains.

His godson had cried over this painting.

Biting his lip, Sirius peered around the room and spied a cauldron simmering atop the work desk by the corner. Seeing as it was the only cauldron in use in the whole lab, the animagus figured it was safe to assume that it was the potion they came here to retrieve. Careful not to trip over any of the papers on the floor, Sirius made his way over and inspected the area for any indication as to how much of the potion they needed.

“Whenever you’re ready, Severus.” He murmured under his breath. The child in his arms moaned. Sirius grimaced. He hoped the infant wouldn’t sick up all over his clothes. He didn’t fancy smelling like vomit when they returned to the hospital later on.

Sirius took a second to scan Harry’s work table and his eyes caught onto a picture frame sitting a safe distance away from the cauldron. Placing Severus’ painting on the empty stool, Sirius made a mental note to remember to bring it with them before reaching over and picking up the frame. As expected, it was a picture of Ginny and Severus. It must’ve been summer, and they were sitting in what looked to be a garden. Ginny had her back against an old stone wall and was holding the infant Severus in her arms. On her head she wore a big, straw hat while Severus sported a baby boonie cap. The teen’s eyes were shining with laughter as she grinned at the camera and tried to keep the baby still for the picture. Severus’ eyes glowed as well, but in them Sirius saw a hint of mischief, which was confirmed a second later as the infant made a grab for the camera lens. Sirius couldn’t help but smile.

So that’s what made the difference between Harry’s fight for survival now and Harry’s fight for survival five months ago. His motivations had changed.

“He did it for you.” Sirius murmured loud enough for the infant to hear him. The animagus felt the little body in his arms gulp before a set of eyes peered up at him curiously. “He did it for you and Ginny.” Peering downward, Sirius met the infant’s gaze. “You two were his reason for fighting…this time around. And I think he saw that as a…worthier reason than all the other reasons he’s ever fought before.” Sirius showed him the picture he found atop Harry’s desk, “You two gave him a reason to live.”

Severus peered at the magical picture for a short while and sniffed. “Haweh…” He murmured, sounding on the verge of tears.

Alright. That was enough dawdling around. The last thing Padfoot needed to deal with was a crying baby when they should be collecting Harry’s potion. There was plenty of time to cry later, while they waited to see if Harry lived, died, or became a vegetable for life. “Come on, cub! We’re going to bring this with us.” Sirius set the picture down with Severus’ drawing before turning the infant to face the simmering cauldron. “Is this the potion we need?”

Severus blinked at the abrupt change of atmosphere but was able to pull himself together quickly. After a sniff and a swipe at his eyes, the infant found his focus. Simmering cauldron? Check! Florescent blue potion? Check! “Uh-huh!” He exclaimed.

“Great! How much of it do we need?”

Oooh! Severus knew that answer!

Five empty medium-sized vials sitting next to simmering cauldron.
Harry screaming, “All five!”

Wriggling frantically in Sirius’ arms, Severus scanned the area around the cauldron for any medium-sized vials. “Dap!” He exclaimed, pointing to the five partially-obscured glass bottles behind the cauldron.

“Excellent!” Taking out his wand, Sirius lined up all the bottles with a single flick and with another filled each of them to the brink with the bright blue potion, finally capping them with some corks he saw nearby. “We only need five?”

Severus nodded.

“Alright. Here we go!” Spying a leather bag under a pile of books and parchment on the table next to him, Sirius grabbed its strap and, with a single pull, threw almost all the contents of the table onto the floor. The animagus cringed as he heard glass shatter. “Sorry, pup. I’ll buy you replacements later.” Flicking his wand at the five glass bottles, Sirius floated them into the bag before promptly stuffing Sev’s painting and the picture frame in there as well. “Okay. Is that all we need?” He double-checked with the infant.

“Uh-huh!” Sev replied impatiently, pointing towards the door. “Go! Go! Go!”

And go they did. After casting a quick spell to protect all the bottles in the bag, Sirius slung the pack over his shoulder and hightailed it out of the room, up the stairs, and into to floo in record time. They were back at St. Mungo’s before Severus could even blink, which was fortunate for him because it didn’t even give his head time to start spinning!

“Padfoot!” Sirius turned at the sound of his name to find Remus waving him over from the far side of the emergency ward, closest to the hallway that lead to Harry’s room.

“Go to Moony, Sev. I have to run this in there.” Sirius murmured to the infant in his arms. Severus nodded.

“Room twenty-one.” Remus relieved Sirius of Severus and nodded in the general direction of Harry’s room. “Do you have it all?”

“Got it!” Sirius raised the bag in Remus’ face before taking off down the hall like the hounds of hell were at his heels.

Moony, on the other hand, followed at a slightly slower pace, power-walking instead. “Don’t worry, Sev.” He murmured to the baby in his arms. Severus leaned his head against the werewolf’s chest, listening to his calming heartbeat and sucking on his thumb nervously. “Everything’s going to be alright. I have this gut feeling, cub. He’ll be okay.”

I hope you’re right. The little voice in his head replied.

They walked into the room just in time to see Sirius hand the last potions vial to the Master Healer. “You’re sure this stuff’s going to work?” The snarky healer raised a dubious eyebrow at Ginny, “I mean, absolutely sure?!”

“I am absolutely sure.” Ginny nodded.

“Because this is no small decision here.” The healer continued, regardless, “There’s no second chance at this. This is a one-shot thing. If this thing doesn’t work, your lover is going to be rendered brain-dead, which, in my book, is practically de—”

“DO IT!!!” Ginny snapped, her nose flaring and her eyes flashing. She was sick of this healer’s cynical attitude and degrading comments.

The Master Healer’s jaw tightened. Turning away from Ginny, she uncorked the vial and handed the cork to an assistant healer. “Uncork the rest of those.” She instructed her team members, who were holding the other four vials. Having said that, the Master Healer turned back to her patient, “Down the hatch, Mr. Potter!” Squeezing his cheeks so that his mouth popped open, the healer poured the potion in and squeezed his nose to get his esophagus to open up.

Ginny glared at the healer’s audacious insensitivity. “Isn’t there a gentler way to do it?”

“No.” The Master Healer handed the empty vial back to her assistant and waved for the next one. “Take him out of stasis.”

“Yes, Master Healer.”

As soon as the healer released his nose after the second vial of potion, Harry started coughing uncontrollably.

“Can’t you spell the potion into his blood stream or something?!” Sirius objected.

The Master Healer gaped at him, “Spell the po—Where, in Merlin’s name, did you hear that load of rubbish?! The body has its own filtering system. Not everything ends up in the blood stream!” Hearing a break in her patient’s coughing fit, the Master Healer squeezed Harry’s mouth open and dumped the third vial of potion in, pressing his nose shut. She smiled triumphantly as she watched both Ginny and Hermione scoff and turn away, upset. “The way an antidote works is that different parts of it help different parts of the body. Only the parts of the antidote that need to be circulated throughout end up in the bloodstream. Some organs need specific parts of the antidote to help them protect themselves from the curse.” Hearing yet another break in her patient’s coughing fit, the Master Healer dumped the fourth vial in. “In a person of magic, there are receptors in their body that sense a magical antidote and delegate the different parts of it to different organs. These receptors line the person’s mouth, throat, etc all the way down to their stomach.” After another break in Harry’s coughing fit, the Master Healer shoved the last vial of potion down his throat.  “So no, you can’t just ‘spell’ the potion into the blood stream!” With that note of finality, she turned back to her staff.

“Stand by for counter-curse.” Turning back to the group before her, she fixed them with her most serious look, “Last chance to back out.”

Ginny bit her lip and peered at each seven people around her. Remus met her eyes and nodded. Sirius did the same. Tonks looked anxious and nodded. Teddy merely looked curious. Ron and Hermione both bit their lips and nodded. Severus whined, peering at Harry with tears in his eyes. “Haweh…” he moaned sadly around his thumb. Taking her baby into her arms, Ginny hugged him for all he was worth as she turned back to the healer and nodded.

“Do it.”

The Master Healer nodded and within seconds, all seven healers were gathered around him in a circle. They each had their wands out and were waving it over Harry’s still body in a circular pattern. All of a sudden, a soft blue light engulfed Harry’s body, following the curves of his figure, from the nooks and the crannies to the wide open spaces. A particularly bright spot of light then started moving around him, circling his still form and making the bright blue light appear even brighter.

“Master Healer?” One of the male healers questioned, his voice conveying partial alarm. This, in turn, alarmed the eight observers in the room.

“Just keep on it.”

“But this has never happened before!”

“There are many aspects of this situation that have never happened before!” The Master Healer snapped, “Keep on it!”

And they did. The healers continued their wand waving for the better part of an hour, occasionally switching the direction of their waving wands, but always moving their wands in sync with one another. Finally, after a long while, the blue light around Harry’s form dissipated and the healers all dropped their wands to their sides, looking exhausted.

“That’s it?” Ron squeaked, frowning at the team of healers. “That’s all?”

“What happens now?” Ginny added, her voice calmer than her brother’s.

“Now we wait.” The Master Healer replied, making a note in the folder she had been studying earlier. “It’ll please you to note, however, that this whole blue aura business has never happened before with any of the other Curse victims.”

“Which means what, exactly?” Remus asked.

“Which means…” The Master Healer opted to finish scribbling whatever she had been writing in the folder before continuing her reply, “…that the genius here…might’ve…just saved fifty-two other people from a fate worse than death.”

“Really?!” Hermione exclaimed excitedly.

“At the expense of his own life!” The Master Healer snapped, her eyes flashing. She then turned to check on her patient once more, “Or…almost at the expense of his own life.”

“He wasn’t doing it for them.” Ginny murmured in return, shaking her head. Her eyes never left her boyfriend’s now-peaceful face. “I know that now.”

“Well, whomever he was doing it for, I hope they appreciate his stupidity!” The healer scoffed, “He is physically, mentally, and magically exhausted from holding the curse in for so long. It’s a miracle he’s even lasted this long! It’s been five whole months. Whomever he was doing this for; they must’ve been one hell of a motivation!”

“They were.” Ginny answered assuredly, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips as she watched her boyfriend’s chest rise and fall with each breath. Against her chest, Severus sucked his thumb nervously, but not as strongly as before. He peered up at Ginny with curiosity. When the teenager looked down to meet his gaze, the light shining in her eyes eased his rapidly-beating heart. The infant closed his eyes as Ginny ran her fingers through his smooth hair and laid a kiss upon his forehead. “Very much so.”

“Yes, well…” The Master Healer glanced once more at the folder in her hands, the frown she had been sporting earlier marring her face once again. “He’s not in the clear yet.” Turning to her team of healers, she congratulated them on doing a good job before snapping for them to leave the room immediately. She then closed the door behind them. “There’s something I wish to discuss with you.”

All six adults in the room looked up at her with a frown. “Yes?” Sirius replied, a note of disquiet in his voice.

The Master Healer motioned for them to step closer to Harry’s bed while she herself approached his other side. She then pointed at Ginny. “When I asked you earlier, you told me you knew everything about his medical history.”

“I do.” The teen nodded. “He has told me everything.”

“Every single thing?” The healer raised an eyebrow.

Ginny swallowed. She did know every single thing in Harry’s medical history. Harry himself told her everything about his life outside of Hogwarts—every single thing. “Master Healer, I beg you—if you’re going to sprout out questions, please don’t ask about…” Ginny inhaled sharply, not wanting to say anything out loud, “…not while he’s still—”

“I was merely going to ask how he got these wounds!” The healer interrupted, flicking her wand and unbuttoning Harry’s shirt. The scratch marks scattered all over his torso drew gasps and squeaks of surprise from everyone in the room, save for Ginny, Sev, and the Master Healer. “These scratch marks were inflicted by a werewolf.”

“What?!” Sirius exclaimed. Both Tonks and Hermione gasped and instinctively turned their gazes to Remus. The werewolf met their eyes and shook his head frantically, shrugging his shoulders in confusion.

“Yes, they were.” Ginny nodded. “Fenrir Greyback.”

“Greyback?!” Ron exclaimed.

“He was a snatcher during the war.” Ginny explained. “At one point, he chased Harry into a cave. It was just the two of them at the time. Greyback wanted to snatch him. Harry wanted to live.” The teenager shrugged. “Harry makes miracles when he wants to live.”

“That still doesn’t explain—”

“He choked Greyback…to death.” Ginny elaborated, feeling a bit uncomfortable revealing this bit of information.

“He choked him to death?!” The Master Healer’s eyes widened. “A werewolf?!”

“It was a fight to the death. It was either him or Greyback—”

“Yes, yes, I know all that! But…a werewolf?!” The healer looked very confused.

“He wasn’t transformed at the time.”

“Even though, they’re still very powerful—”

“Not as powerful as during the full moon.” Remus interjected. The healer frowned at him. “I mean…Greyback’s pretty powerful in his own right, but…he wouldn’t be as powerful as…during the full moon.”

“I told you.” Ginny added, “Harry makes miracles when he wants to live.”

The Master Healer sighed. “Right. Whatever.” Snapping the folder shut, she picked up her wand and pocketed it. “There’s more in here that I want to discuss, but I’ll leave you all to it for now.” She began making her way to the door. “As I said, he’s not in the clear yet. It appears that the curse has left him, but we we’re not entirely sure, so we’re going to observe him for a bit. I’ve no idea when he will wake. However, he’s not in a coma, so when he does awake, I implore you to come get me.” She opened the door but turned back to them, “Oh, and Miss…?”

“Weasley.”

“Miss Weasley…” The Master Healer gave her a tight smile, “…I’ll leave it to you to inform him that his magical medical history will be forwarded to Poppy Pomfrey, as she is the attending healer at Hogwarts, am I correct?”

Ginny gaped at her, “You can’t—”

“Standard procedure, I’m afraid.” The healer replied, unrepentant. “I’ll leave it to you to inform him of that.” And with that, she shut the door behind her.

Ginny growled in irritation. “Oh, I hate that woman!”

“Did you see how she was treating Harry!” Ron exclaimed, equally as annoyed as his sister, “Shoving potions down his throat, and he was choking on them!”

“I intend to lodge a complaint against her.” Hermione added.

“I’ll second you on that.” Sirius said.

“I’ll third.” Remus threw in as well.

“Humph! I’ll fourth!” Tonks replied.

“Ah!” Bffffffft!

Everyone in the room cracked a much-needed smile before grabbing chairs and settling in for the long haul by Harry’s side.