"James dear? What's wrong?" Pomfrey looked at him concerned. "Why are you crying?"
"Poppy, it hurts. Please call Severus. Please." James begged her. He can't take it. Why is the pain increasing as time passed? Why can't he bear it?
"What? What hurts?" Pomfrey looked alarmed.
"Severus. I want Severus." James rasped out. Pomfrey didn't know what to do and just sent a patronus to call Severus immediately to the hospital wing. She checked James and didn't find anything wrong. May be, it's young love? She thought and nodded to herself. She saw how close James and Severus were with each other and wondered if there is something going on between them. Ah, probably she should leave them alone and let them sort their problems. She smiled to herself and left to her room locking it.
"What's wrong?" Severus was the first one to burst in followed by an equally panicked Sirius.
"It hurts. It hurts so much. Please, do something." James holding his chest and looked into his eyes. His eyes held so much pain that even Severus felt it.
"We found out what is given and we are already working on the antidote. Don't worry. It is just going to be a couple of days for it to be ready." Severus said hugging James lightly.
"I can't bear this any more. Please, do something Severus. Please, I beg you. It hurts so much. I can't take the pain at all." James sobbed onto his shoulder. "Please, Severus."
"Ok. Okay." Sirius tried to think about how to solve this problem. He can't think of anyway to do something about it.
"Why don't we give him another pain reliever now? Then, we will tell Pomfrey that James is fine and he can be discharged. We can put into a magical coma for the next two days so that he won't feel any pain till the antidote is made. It's weekend anyways." Sirius said and Severus looked at him as if he is God.
"You are a genius." Severus said before giving the potion to James and even using some pain numbing spells for the time being.
"Uh- Thanks, I guess." Sirius said awkwardly before going to talk to Pomfrey who looked at James almost cuddling into Severus' chest in pain, but she thought they were cuddling post-fight. She thought they were so cute and said it was fine for James to go as long as he is not in pain.
"I'm not." James said burying his face in Severus' chest and Pomfrey chuckled thinking he is shy and was embarrassed.
"Fine, then. Take good care of yourself. Don't slip down again like that. You should be careful while walking on the stairs." Pomfrey said and James nodded his head. "You can leave."
Severus lifted James in his arms and Pomfrey almost cooed at the sight of them. Sirius looked at her weirdly. She is looking at James and Severus so weird. What is she thinking about them? Sirius shook his head and followed Severus out as he didn't have time to think about such foolish matters. James is more important.
"What are you going to tell Lupin and others?" Severus asked Sirius when he entered. "He won't want them to know about it. Also, if they should know anything about it, James should be the one telling them."
"I'll think of some excuse, but what about L and R?" Sirius asked and James moaned in pain looking at Sirius.
"What about them?" James asked suspiciously. "You talked to them? What are you saying? What's going on?"
"Jamie, calm down. It's a bit lengthy story, ok?" Sirius sighed. "I met them long ago on the first Hogsmeade weekend and even warned them not to hurt my brother. They promised to treat you well and said how much they love you. I went with Severus to talk to the man who agreed to help in brewing the antidote and met them. They know that something is wrong with you and wants to meet you now. to you about what's going on.
"You know them." James breathed out. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Prongs, I promised to not reveal their identities to you. I know you will give me those puppy dog eyes that I taught you and get your answers if you knew that I met them. So, I had to hide it from you." Sirius said and James groaned clutching his abdomen.
"Why is my stomach hurting? I broke my rib, right?" James asked Severus. He frowned looking at James.
"There is something clearly wrong with James. Something terribly wrong." Severus said looking at Sirius.
"What should we do?" Sirius asked him.
"I don't know." Severus sighed and looked back at James who was crying again in pain. Sirius was sitting beside him and trying to comfort him. But, it doesn't look like it's working on James as he started crying even more after some time.
"Go to him and tell him what's happening. I don't fucking care if the other two knows about poison. Just tell him that there's something wrong and James' condition is terrible." Sirius said to him.
"Yes, I'll go now." Severus nodded before rushing to the ROR. Severus flooed to the manor and saw the man still sitting in the room, but Lucius and Rodolphus weren't in the room anymore.
"What's wrong? You look-" "There's no time. James is not at all in good condition. His stomach is hurting. He is crying non-stop. He took a pain reliever just ten minutes back and yet it isn't working on him. The pain passed to his stomach now." Severus said and the man narrowed his eyes in thought.
"The stupid girl must've made some mistake during the making of potion. We can't help James if we don't know how the girl made the potion. I need to look into her memories myself and see what's going on." He said and Severus looked anxious.
"But, how?" Severus asked him.
"Polyjuice." He answered and Severus looked shocked. "We don't have another option. Also, I need to check on James myself."
"Is it going to be fine?" Severus asked a bit nervous as it won't end well if Dumbledore caught a whiff of this.
"Trust me." He said before calling an elf to get the polyjuice from the potions lab. "Now your hair?"
"What about your clothes?" Severus asked.
"I can transfigure them or something. Don't you worry. It won't be a much of problem at all." He said to him.
"Ok. Be careful." Severus said when he saw the man transformed into himself. He waved his hand over himself to change his clothes to look like Severus' school robes. He even changed his wand to look like Severus'. "Hurry up and go."
"Yes boss." He said sarcastically and left leaving Severus dumbfounded. Wait! Did he just order that man and instead of getting angry, he joked with him?
"Don't leave the place at any cost." The man warned before leaving. The fake Severus forgot to ask where James was staying currently. He took his wand out and 'point me James!' He said quietly and followed to the head boy and girl dorms. He said the password when he used to be a head boy and found that even Gryffindors have the same one. Idiots! He thought to himself and went to James' dorm. The wards stopped him, but he isn't a kid to be stopped by those wards and with a wave of his wand, he manipulated the wards to let him in.
"Severus, what happened? What did he say?" Sirius asked looking up from James who was still crying in pain.
"I'm not Severus, Heir Black." He said going to sit on other side of James.
"You- Here- What?" Sirius stuttered.
"Hush, do me a favor and go find where is Evans, will you? I need to be quick." He said and Sirius nodded his head leaving the room completely trusting him with his sick friend.
"You are?" James trailed off as he struggled to sit up.
"Don't." The man pushed his shoulder lightly so that James can lay back on the bed. "I'm Marvolo Slytherin. You must've heard about me."
"Sirius mentioned-" James panted slightly. "I'm sorry-" He moaned in pain. "I can't-"
"It's completely fine. Don't try to talk. I understand your situation. Severus was so worried when he came to me last night for help." Marvolo said with a small smile. "I thought he has a secret boyfriend. But, it turned to be you and you are already taken by someone else."
"You know?" James looked at him with surprised and wet eyes.
"Mmhmm." Marvolo nodded. "I know them very well. In fact, they were with me before Severus came back again. They went to finish their work and to make sure they are free tonight when they come and meet you."
"Please-Help-" James gasped out. "I don't- Meet them- Like this." He said and Marvolo furrowed his brows.
"Are you sure?" Marvolo asked him. "They are quite worried about you and would be disappointed that they can't be with you when you are in pain. They will blame themselves when they know what happened to you for not being able to protect you properly."
"Exactly- I don't want them to blame themselves." James said in a single breath.
"What do you want me to do?" Marvolo asked him.
"Take me away before Sirius comes. I don't want to be here and everyone. Sirius is refusing to leave my side for even a single second. Severus didn't even sleep the whole night. I gave up on dying for them , but I can't see them suffering because of me. Please, help me and do something about it. I'll do anything when I get back to my proper health." James begged him.
"I don't want anything in return James." Marvolo sighed. "I can call you James right?"
"Yes." James nodded.
"As I said, I don't want anything in return." Marvolo stroked his hair lightly which was covered in sweat. In fact, his robes were drenched in sweat too. "Severus asked to save you and I'm going to do anything for him. But, you are right. Severus didn't sleep the whole night and even Heir Black looked so worried. Those two didn't look like they will let you go out of their sight if they know what happened to you."
"Please, help me." James begged him again.
"I will, but I need to think about what to do and how to do it." Marvolo said to him.
"Anything. I don't mind it at all." James said to him. James groaned and clutched his stomach even tightly in pain. "It hurts so much. Can you help me reduce the pain too?"
"I need to do some tests." Marvolo said taking his wand out and running some diagnostic tests on James. "All seems well." Marvolo muttered before doing some tests that is considered dark by the ministry.
"That fucking bitch!" He swore loudly just as Sirius entered.
"What's wrong?" Sirius asked him. "I found Evans in the library. What do you want me to do?"
"Do you know how to do Legilimency?" Marvolo asked him and Sirius shook his head. "Know how to perform compulsions?"
"Yeah." Sirius nodded and Marvolo looked pleased.
"Go to her and compel her to give you her whole memories of how she made the poison." Marvolo ordered him. "It's not safe for James to be here. Write a note on behalf of James that he is leaving as he has some urgent work. He is of age, so McGonagall won't even contact his parents about it. Tell her that James might be gone for a long time as the work is very very important. Also, write to his parents about the same important work and mention my name to them, but not to McGonagall. She might slip it in front of Dumbledore and it's not safe."
"Understood." Sirius nodded his head once again.
"Also, tell his parents to not worry and wait for my letter. I can confirm that I really was the one who is the reason for James to be away from the school." Marvolo said to him. "This is needed to be kept a secret as Dumbledore will try to harm James if he knows about James' and mine closeness."
"Ok. I'll do everything as you said." Sirius said to him.
"I didn't mean to trouble you about getting the memories, but James is not in good condition and it's not right to delay anything anymore." Marvolo said to him.
"I don't mind helping James at all. Don't worry. How are you going to take him away?" Sirius asked him.
"I'm going to change the wards around this room so that I can floo to my manor and you can floo when you get memories. Severus will most probably come here to help you. Or else, he can do the legilimency on her ." Marvolo offered.
"But, you watching her memories is better than Severus watching them and showing them to you, don't you think?" Sirius asked and Marvolo nodded his head before lifting James easily in his arms surprising Sirius that he did that.
"Wait here for a few moments. Severus will be here soon." Marvolo said before leaving through the fire place.