Just You Wait | James Sirius Potter (On Hiatus)

Chapter 23: Non-Stop

(A/N): I. am. the. meanest. author. ever. Seriously. I've been awful about updating this fic, and if I'm being honest, I've kind of lost the motivation to finish it. However, I will be posting all of the chapters I've written in reserve (up until Chapter 28) but after that, this fic will go on an indefinite hiatus, and I may mark this as discontinued in the future. I'm so thankful for all 3k(!) of you who read this and enjoyed it, and it's been so much fun writing with Maia and the rest! Maybe someday I'll come back to you guys and finish this up! But until then, I'll miss y'all, and I hope you enjoy the chapters! All my love ~ Kira

I slump back into the chair with a cry, my hand pressed over my mouth. My other is gripping the arm of the chair, white-knuckled, as my mind races.

How had I forgotten? The full moon was always something that I kept track of. I shouldn't have been so caught up in my birthday that I had forgotten. McGonagall places her hand on mine and I jump, shaking as she pries my tense fingers off of the arm of the chair. Just then, the fireplace glows green and the tall figure of my brother Teddy steps out of it, looking more serious than I'd seen him in years. I stare for a few moments and then realize I'm now standing. Teddy walks over and places his hands on my shoulders, bending down to be at eye level before lurching forwards and pulling me into a hug. He buries his face into my shoulder and clutches at my back with one hand, cradling my neck with the other. I don't notice he's crying until his shoulders begin to shake and my sleeve is soaked with tears. I wrap my arms around his waist lightly and stroked his back, trying to comfort him, but I don't truly register any of it.

Eventually, McGonagall pulls Teddy away, but allowed Teddy's arm to keep its iron grip around my waist. McGonagall pulls us towards the fireplace and throws some floo powder down, shouting out St. Mungo's before gently pushing us towards the green flames. Teddy lets out an audible sob, the only sound from him I'd heard today, before stepping into the fireplace, placing his face into the crook of my neck.

The dizzying effect of the floo has no effect on me for the first time as I step out into the hospital lobby. Every sound in the busy lobby is muffled from the roaring in my head and I step out, an arm wrapped around Teddy, as a blond witch in healer's robes spots us from across the room and approaches us.

"I'm assuming you're Maia?" she asks, her only acknowledgement of Teddy being a quick glance in his direction and a soothing hand on the shoulder. She seems to take the hint that Teddy wouldn't benefit from any verbal comfort. She seems familiar to me, but in my panic, I can't place her.

"Yes," I reply, nodding slightly.

She sends me a small smile and gestures me to follow her as she leads us into an elevator to the first floor. The elevator is silent, and she reaches out to me, placing a hand on my head and playing with my hair, a motherly gesture that begins to release the tension and numb feeling in my head.

Once we reach the Creature-Induced Injuries Ward, she opens the door on the right side of the hallway, number 147. In the center of the room is a stark white bed, with three pale blue chairs and a light gray folding desk to the side. It takes me a moment to register the body in the bed.

Looking more fragile than I have ever seen him in my life, my father's pale face comes into focus. He seems to be asleep, though even unconscious, his face is contorted slightly in pain. There are bandages all over his face and there is a barely visible stain of blood showing through the fabric. I step back towards the door, but Healer Scamander gently takes me by the shoulders and catches me as I nearly fall backwards. A flash of light blue hair streaks through my vision before I'm pulled into a bone-crushing hug, the light-blue signifying my mum's relief at seeing both Teddy and I back with her. Eventually, mum pulls away and pushes my hair behind my ears, simultaneously wiping away the tears I hadn't realized had begun to fall.

With that action, any self-control I might have had slips and I break. I collapse to the ground, sobbing uncontrollably, grabbing helplessly at mum and Teddy, trying to put myself back together. Eventually, mum and Teddy are pulled away as Healer Scamander carefully pulls me into her arms and leads me to a chair, still tossing and turning even after being seated. She firmly places me in the chair and holds me there. I reach out and she allows me to pull her into my arms, smoothing my hair and whispering comforting words soothingly as my sobs slowly slow and stop.

Finally, she steps back and my mother and brother are sitting in chairs to my left and right, each holding one of my arms. Healer Scamander picks up a cream-colored mug full of hot chocolate and places the steaming-hot drink in my hands.

"I put a calming draught into it," she explains before I drink, "Just enough to help you."

I nod and lift the cup to my lips, taking in sips of the chocolate and letting both the chocolate and the draught relieve some of the panic from my system. After a few minutes, I look up from my drink and take a deep breath for the first time since our arrival. Healer Scamander smiles slightly and takes the mug from my hands, placing it on the table. She then turns her attention to the three of us.

"As I'm sure you know, Mr. Lupin does have lycanthropy, and said condition makes each full moon very difficult, increasingly so as he ages. Judging by the samples that I took this morning, there seems to be a normal amount of wolfsbane potion in his system. He has been coming by the hospital every six months to pick up his Ministry-endorsed complimentary bottles of wolfsbane, and our records say that he came to pick up his last shipment about two months ago. Is there any reason why this transformation would have gone differently that you know about, Mrs. Lupin?"

"I-I have no idea," mum responds, "Remus is normally very good about taking it. Besides, Sirius was out with him during his transformation like always."

Healer Scamander places a hand on the foot of the bed, leaning slightly, her face scrunched in concentration.

"If I may, how often does Mr. Black become injured during his assistance with the transformation?"

"Not often," cuts in Teddy, "why do you ask?"

"Because if a creature, human or otherwise, that the lycanthrope is familiar with becomes injured by fault of the lycanthrope during the transformation, we have noticed that such behavior often results in self-punishment by the wolf. Many of us healers have admitted a lycanthrope into the hospital and found later that one of the lycanthrope's friends or family members visits the next day with anywhere from a papercut type scratch to a missing small appendage, such as a finger or a toe. The level of damage to the lycanthrope is often proportionate to said injury, only many times worse."

"Sirius did come back with a reasonably large scratch last night," says mum, "but we didn't think anything of it because Remus normally confines himself to the house we had built for his transformations until morning and that Sirius had a reasonable explanation for it all. He told us that the wolf had had a bit more energy than usual that night."

"That explains it," answered Healer Scamander sadly, "As you know, werewolf scratches do take longer to heal than normal injuries, so we will be keeping Mr. Lupin for a few months to monitor him and ensure that he recovers completely as quickly as possible. He did have a very close call, and I will be checking in on your family more often in the coming years, but I'm sure he'll be ready to come back just in time for Maia's start of school."

"Thank you, Healer Scamander," says mum.

"Anytime," she replies, "I'll leave you alone with him. Visiting hours end at 5:30."

As she leaves, she places a hand on Teddy and I's shoulders, squeezing slightly, the pressure somehow conveying how truly sorry she was that this had happened. As soon as the door closed behind her, a slight beep from the monitor caused all three of us remaining to turn and face the bed.

A slight shift, and the scarred hand mum has been clutching twitches.

"Remus. Remus can you hear me?" she says, her voice full of hope and disbelief.

A flutter of movement, and we look up to see a pair of brown eyes staring back at us. His lips move and we lean closer to hear him speak.

"Hello loves," he says.