The Marauders: Year Six Part 2 #Wattys2017

Poisoned

Walburga Black had been poisoned. It was confirmed and she was laying in the hospital bed in St. Mungo's under a spell to keep her asleep until the effects had been taken care of. The Wartcap powder she'd inhaled had come from a small trinket box in the library shelves that had burst open and the dust of the powder had been stirred up and she'd inhaled it into her lungs. The effects of Wartcap powder, Horace Slughorn explained to Regulus once they'd heard the diagnosis, was that it hardened the skin upon contact. So Regulus stood beside his mother, staring at her, imagining the inside of her chest to have been turned to something resembling a hard a desert sand crust or stone. It made him queasy to imagine how much it must've hurt her to inhale that Wartcap powder, how much it must have scared her to feel her wind stop within her chest as her lungs hardened.

"There's a cure, of course," the healer said gently, seeing the worried expression on Regulus's face. "But it takes a few days to brew the potion and our fear is that the panic she might have if we let her awaken could kill her. So we've set her under a sedation spell. Of course she'll always have a bit of trouble with her lungs following this, it's not a full antidote to such a powerful magical ingredient."

Regulus had looked up, nervous, "Has she... has she been speaking? In her sleep, I mean?"

"Not that I know of," the mediwitch replied. She looked at Regulus with a questioning expression. "Why?"

Regulus shook his head.

"The poor boy is just concerned, of course," Professor Slughorn spoke up, clapping Regulus heartily on the chest. Then, in a whisper, "Lost his father not even two years ago, you see."

The mediwitch gave Regulus an empathetic look. "I'm sorry, dearie. Do you want some time alone with her, then?"

"Please," Regulus replied stiffly.

He watched as the mediwitch and Slughorn left the room and he waited to be sure they were very, most definitely gone.

Then, he withdrew his wand.

"I'm sorry mother," he whispered, "But it's for the very best." He touched his wand to her throat. "Prohibere vox." 

When Regulus emerged from his mother's private room, it was to find Bellatrix and Rudolphus on either side of the door. Rudolphus grabbed hold of Regulus's arm, stopping him from continuing on to the waiting room, where Horace Slughorn had promised to sit until Regulus was ready to return to Hogwarts. Regulus looked up at Rudolphus, then up at Bellatrix, and back again, the question of what they wanted in his eyes, challenging them.

"The Dark Lord wishes to speak to ya," Rudolphus said, his voice drawling. "C'mon then." And he dragged Regulus the opposite way down the hall.

"I've named her Patti." 

James stared at something he could not quite believe he was seeing. Sirius Black, sitting on the couch in the living room of the Shrieking Shack, the lamp-pig on his lap, fit with a black harness that he'd magicked up and a black bow spello-taped to it's head.

"Patti Pig?" Lily repeated the words, staring just as incredulously.

"Yes, that's it," Sirius nodded, "Patti Pig. She's grand."

"Sure went from calling it stupid to thinking it's grand fast, didn't you?"

"Hush," Sirius said, "That was before I got to truly know Patti. See here, Moony is right, she's very intelligent." He put her down on the floor and the pig snorted and snuffed at the ground, looking around for something to eat and settling on the dust fibers that covered the wood surface. "Patti Pig," Sirius commanded, "Sit."