James remembered spending long hours in hospital back when Fleamont and Euphemia had fallen deathly ill from Dragon Pox. He remembered pacing back and forth, walking up and down the corridors, pulling at his hair, and just finding himself unable to sit still. He found himself reliving those same actions as he waited for word on Renata's condition after they had brought her into a hospital. Thankfully, Adelmo was aware of several wizarding hospitals outside of San Giovanni's, which had been compromised earlier and it wouldn't have been a good idea to travel back there seeking help.
They ended up at a place called "Careggi" or something along the lines that James remembered, where Renata was immediately tended to, but at the same time, they took Adelmo in as well. However, he refused to be seen until he explained the situation and requested that no Healer from the academy be permitted to be near any of them. Almost instantly, the hospital went on lockdown to quarantine all of the Healers that were associated with the academy until there was an investigation launched.
But that was the last thing really on James' mind at the time, and Sirius didn't look interested in anything else besides the welfare of Renata and Adelmo. They remained close though, not willing to take any chances with the two being taken away from them, they stood guard outside of the rooms that were to remain open. And they could only watch as Healers were coming in and out, being informed of the situation.
James could see the look of surprise and shock on their faces, some of them would approach him or Sirius, asking if they needed anything, but James brushed them off and told them to focus all of their attention on the two, especially Renata since she was barely holding on when they arrived.
To keep his own mind occupied, Sirius contacted Dumbledore through the Floo Network in order to discuss what was going on, leaving James alone in the corridor to wait. Every so often, he would steal a glance inside the room where Renata was, to see several Healers standing off to the side and talking amongst themselves. He wasn't a Healer, but it left him utterly frustrated that it looked like they weren't doing anything.
He didn't want to say anything, but at the same time, he wanted someone to tell him something. After everything they had been through earlier, James needed something to hold on to. He had put himself through the hell of believing that he had lost Renata in the worst way possible, only to be given a sliver of hope that she would be alright. Never did a comatose state sound so good in his head than when Adelmo said it was a possibility that her body was attempting to protect itself by putting her in an unconscious state.
That gave him hope that everything was going to be fine eventually, however, seeing the concerned looks on all of the Healers' faces, not speaking the same language as them, and not knowing what the hell was going on was driving him close to another breakdown. Finally, Sirius returned, running his hands through his hair in a stressful manner before taking to sit next to James.
"I spoke with Dumbledore," he started, " he's already moving on getting things done. He thinks the International Confederation is going to push for Renata and Adelmo to be transferred from here to St Mungo's in the Janus Thickey Ward-"
"What does that mean?!" James nearly shrieked, automatically thinking of Frank and Alice, as they were permanent residents of the ward. Did that mean it was going to be the same for Renata and Adelmo?
"Relax, James, I know what you're thinking and it doesn't mean the same thing," Sirius told him, "the Janus Thickey Ward is one of the best in mental health healing, and we don't know what we're looking at here. It's just to take extra precaution with what they need. Besides, that means we can go home, I doubt you want to stay here, you need to get back to Harry as well. Dumbledore sent out Moody to look over the Burrow. We don't know if Alcina or Nencio said anything and alerted others, so it's best just to take extra safety measures."
James was going to end up passing out if the stress kept adding up, he took to burying his face in his hands, wishing that everything would just turn around rapidly for the better.
Suddenly, one of the Healers came out, alerting Sirius, who nudged James to look up. She was an older woman, a head full of white hair, the corners of her eyes wrinkled, but a kind smile on her face as she approached them.
"Mr Potter and Mr Black?"
They were both up on their feet right away, leaving her to jump at their sudden movement before she cleared her throat, looking somewhat embarrassed.
"Please, please tell me you have some good news," James said, " or you're going to have to sedate me. I'm about to pull out all of my hair here-"
"Relax, Mr Potter," she said with a small smile returning, " I understand that you are worried for your loved ones, but I do come with good news. Adelmo wasn't in as bad condition, mostly just some bruising, a little dehydrated, and exhausted, which is understandable considering the story I was told. As for Renata, she's in stable condition and-"
"Is she awake?!"
James felt his heart jump in his chest, ready to run into the room and greet her but he watched as the Healer frowned slightly at his question.
"Er, not quite, I'm afraid," she began, " I'm sorry, but it's been decided as of right now, to keep Renata in her comatose state and Adelmo will be placed under as well-"
"Whoa, wait a second!" Sirius pushed forward to come face to face with the Healer. "What do you mean he's going to be placed under?! You just said that he was fine. You said that he was tired, had some bruising and was a little dehydrated, why the hell does that warrant him being placed in an induced coma?"
"I understand that you two are very upset, believe me, I can't imagine what you two are feeling right now. However, Adelmo had a bit of reaction earlier while he was resting and it increased his heart rate to a drastic level as he entered a panicked state. Unfortunately, from what you two have informed us of the practices that were placed on them, it's not going to be the easiest road to full recovery."
She guided them both over to sit down so that she could explain what was taking place, a grandmotherly tone and demeanour as she sat in between the two men.
"You see, if their memories have been suppressed, we don't know the effects that will occur once they start coming back to them. We don't know if they'll all come back at once and that might set them into a worse state. From what we were told, with how others have reacted in the case of "going mad" the suppressed memories may cause them to lash out depending on what they think about. No one would feel comfortable with them going home right away."
Biting the inside of his cheek, James wasn't sure if he wanted to hear anything else the woman had to tell them. After all, he thought once Renata and Adelmo were transferred over to St Mungo's that it would just be an easy transition to them going home. He didn't think it was going to result in them being in hospital even longer.
"How long?" he brought himself to ask, even if he wasn't sure if he wanted to know the answer.
"I have no way of knowing that, Mr Potter, I apologise," she said, " I'm assuming that they are going to put through therapy sessions a little bit each day to help them adjust and cope to these memories. Sounds like they were put through quite the traumatic experiences along with the others, how long did you say they were under these conditions?"
Rubbing the side of his face, James wasn't exactly positive of how long Alcina had reigned her torturous ways over the two, but he knew it started very early on in their lives.
"I think a safe number would just be to round it to twenty," he answered. "Twenty years. I don't know if sometimes were worse than others or when it exactly started, but either way, they were under the control of their parents for a long time. So there's going to be a lot for them to recover. You don't think...you don't think they'll go mad from it all, will they?"
"No," she shook her head, " under the proper care, they should be able to get through this. Not to mention, they have your support and I think that will help plenty. It won't be an easy journey, it will require a lot of patience, but I believe they'll get through it and you two will be able to get through it with them."
"Can we go in to see them?" Sirius asked. "Even if they aren't awake, can we go in and at least sit in their company?"
"Of course."
There was nothing James could really do to prepare himself to sit in Renata's company, knowing that she was in a comatose state. He had to keep reminding himself as he walked in the room that she was going to be alright and being in the coma was actually going to benefit her in the long run. But at the same time, as he walked in, he found himself holding his breath as he approached her bedside. The way she remained so perfectly, resting on her back, it didn't really look like she was sleeping because he knew she liked sleeping on her sides for comfort.
Her body looked stiffed and she looked uncomfortable, even if her eyes were closed and her face was at rest. Eventually, he had to bring himself to exhale, as he approached the bed, pulling up a chair to sit down. Reaching over, his hand was shaky but he was able to grab one of hers to hold onto tightly. It was odd to sit there, especially with a Healer in the room, making sure that everything remained stable.
"Can she hear me?" James questioned as he looked over his shoulder. "Can she hear me if I talk to her?"
The man just looked at him and James had to assume that he didn't speak English as he just gave a simple shrug of his shoulder paired with an apologetic look. However, as James turned back to talk to Renata, the Healer left the room to offer them some privacy. He proceeded to grab her other hand as well, feeling how cold they both were and making a mental note that he had to tell the Healers to bring her more blankets.
"Ren," he whispered to her as he scooted his chair closer to her, " I don't know if you can hear me, but I hope you can. I just want you to know that I'm right here and that everything is going to be alright. The Healers said that's going to take a while for everything to go back to normal, whatever normal is at this point. But I want you to know that I'm going to be here for you every step of the way."
For a few seconds, he waited, wondering if he would see any sign of her acting like she could hear him. But her body didn't even flinch in the slightest, she hardly moved beside the steady rise and fall of her chest.
"Right," he said with a slight nod before tilting his head back to prevent himself from crying, " and just so you know, we're going to be moving you back to St Mungo's, you and Adelmo. You'll get the best care there and I'll be there every day, and when they say it's okay, I'll bring Harry to come and visit. And before you know it, you'll be able to come home."
He pressed her hands to his mouth for a moment, feeling the coldness against his skin and lips.
"Everything is going to be alright, Ren," he muttered against her hands, " life is going to get so much better once you're awake and moving about. It's going to be tough but then it's going to be amazing. You know, in all of that madness, your mother...if you still want to call her that, she told me what your childhood dream was, you wanted to be a chef. You wanted to open up your own little restaurant and I love that idea. If you want to, I know you could do it, I'll be more than willing to help."
Swallowing the lump that had developed in his throat as he spoke, James had to stop talking for a moment in order to gather himself. After taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly, he continued, gripping Renata's hands just a little tighter.
"I'll make sure all the eggs in your restaurant have had a proper bath every day," he said before letting out a small chuckle to cover up a sobbing sound. "I promise."
Once more, he waited for a reaction, just something as simple as a lip twitch or maybe one of her fingers moving to signal that she heard him, but James was only disappointed once more as she remained perfectly still.
"It's alright, Ren, I'll be patient, and I'll be here when you wake up."
Meanwhile, as James remained by her bedside, Renata had been in her own little world, following Harry down a dirt path that they had found earlier in the day. So far, in the afterlife, it was only the two of them and Renata didn't need to do things like sleep or eat, she would just spend all her time with Harry going on all sorts of adventures. They travelled to distant lands, such as Romania, to observe the dragons up close at a designated sanctuary. She remembered Molly's second oldest son, Charlie, he had an obsession with dragons and claimed that one day he would work at the sanctuary.
Of course, it was words like that which caused Molly to become pale in the face as she didn't want to think about her son being around such dangerous creatures.
But in the afterlife, Renata was safe and with Harry in her company, he was safe as well as they decided to sneak up on a resting dragon to take photos. She could remember James strutting around the garden, pretending to be one that she and Harry were trying to outrun and it only made her laugh when she saw the dragon before her wearing square frames on his face as it slept.
She moved closer along with Harry, both of them crawling along the ground with caution to approach the dragon and within just a couple of minutes, they were close enough. Renata went to grab her camera and tell Harry to aim his own for a photo when suddenly, the dragon turned to face them.
"Ren?"
With a startled look on her face, Renata jumped back as she certainly wasn't expecting the dragon to start talking, let alone address her by her name. She fell back into the grass while Harry giggled and clapped his hands, obviously entertained by the dragon.
"I don't know if you can hear me," the Romanian Longhorn continued, " but I hope you can."
If it wasn't strange enough to come upon a dragon with glasses, this was fully capable of speech, paired with an English accent. And to add the final icing on the cake, his voice sounded so familiar that she was able to recognise James' voice after several seconds.
"James?"
"I just want you to know that I'm right here and that everything is going to be alright," he said, "The Healers said that's going to take a while for everything to go back to normal, whatever normal is at this point."
"Healers?" Renata repeated with a slight shake of her head. "What Healers? What are you talking about? James, is that you? Why are you a dragon? What are you talking about-"
The dragon shifted down to her eye level, his massive head nearly coming to rest in her hands. She could feel the warmth of the steamy breaths that the dragon let out as her fingers warmed up instantly.
"But I want you to know that I'm going to be here for you every step of the way," he said, " right-"
"James, I don't understand, what are you talking about? Can you tell me what's going on? What Healers? If Harry is showing up like this, why are you showing up in dragon form? Have I done something wrong? What am I supposed to do? How can I help?! James?! James, answer me, please! I don't know what to do!"
She pushed herself up, feeling suddenly frantic that he only seemed to be talking but not listening to what she had to say. However, for a moment, Renata was distracted as Harry reached out and grabbed her hand. She could still hear James' voice but it was becoming fainter as Harry pulled on her hand and led her in another direction away from the dragon.
"Harry! Wait! Just wait a second-"
For a toddler, Harry was incredibly strong in the afterlife as he pulled her along no matter how hard she pulled back. And as they grew farther away from the dragon, James' voice disappeared and the dragon vanished from the fields, leaving it to be just the two of them alone. There was another tug on her hand bringing her to look down at Harry.
"Let's go play, Mummy!"