Put Your Curse In Reverse [Part 2]

Chapter 5 - Kaleidoscope

Harry heard McGonagall, but he couldn't get himself to move. He stood blankly in place. His eldest son took his hand a moment later and pulled— his blood-slicked hand gripping tightly to Harry's sweaty palm—but Harry resisted.

"No," he said. He felt liable to vomit. "No, I have to—I'm going with my son,"

"Harry," McGonagall said, "Let Poppy—"

"No! No, I need to be there, I'm going there. I don't want him—alone," brief memories of all his nights alone in the Hospital Wing. Harry's hands were quivering; James tightened his grip as if to steady Harry, and that only made him feel worse. He was the dad—he should've been comforting James. But he couldn't function beyond his panic. "Send James and Lily to Molly and Arthur's...do whatever you want with Carrow, I don't care, I just need to be with my son."

McGonagall parted her lips as if to argue, but she never got the chance. Lily raced over to Harry's side and took his other hand.

"I'm going, too! I want to see Albus!"

"No, Lily, you need to go to—"

"He's my brother!" Lily exploded, outraged. "I'm going too!"

"You are not!" Harry boomed, both louder and harsher than he'd meant to. Lily burst into frightened, furious tears. Harry had seen her cry more this month than he had the entirety of her last year, but he didn't have time for this. He didn't have time to argue with his stubborn daughter—he just needed to find Al, needed to make sure that he was okay (alive), needed to make sure that he wasn't alone.

Lily snatched her hand from his and turned around so her back was to Harry. He ran a quivering hand through his hair and took a steadying breath.

"Lulu," he said gently. "You're going to Gran and Grandad's house. AND THEN—" he had to raise his voice to near screaming-volumes to drown out her angry cry. "You'll get to visit Al once he's stable. Okay?"

Sad, broken sniffling. Both Lily and Harry turned towards it. Scorpius's head was bowed as he cried softly. He was so upset he was physically shivering as if he'd been immersed in ice water. McGonagall was fixated on him, desperately patting his back, whispering things Harry couldn't make out from where he was standing, but it didn't seem to be doing much good. Lily shot one last hateful look Harry's way and then crossed over to Scorpius. She wrapped him up in her arms in a way so reminiscent of her mother that it made Harry heartsick. Scorpius was still shaking.

"Please, send them all to Molly," Harry begged McGonagall. He began edging backwards, the frantic anxiety pulsating through him making it impossible to remain still. "First thing. She can get Scorpius to Draco."

He shook from James's grip and turned, bolting down the corridors, indifferent to anything but getting to the Hospital Wing as quickly as possible. He collided painfully with Neville right as he sped into the corridor right outside of the Hospital Wing doors.

"Harry!" Neville cried frantically, but Harry pushed him to the side and kept moving, on and on, through the doors, his eyes scanning the beds—

There. His son. Feeble, pale, purple streaks spanning across his torso, his arms, his legs. Madam Pomfrey's hands were trembling just slightly as she poured some silver concoction over Albus's skin. Harry knew from that small sight that her efforts were not going well at all.

And Albus—hemorrhaging internally, blood dripping from his nose and his ears, face ashen—was asking for his mother. Over and over, his voice younger and more frightened than Harry had heard in years. It pulled out the most instinctive pain Harry had ever felt. His stomach bottomed out. His eyes burned. He could've doubled over from the intensity of it. All he knew was that this was his child. His suffering (dying?) child. And he couldn't do anything to ease his pain. Nothing had ever hurt worse, and he'd felt every pain out there.