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The Hospital Wing


James was in the hospital wing with Madam Pomfrey, complaining again of upset stomach and asking for something stronger than the funny pink potion. It was early in the morning the day before the tourney, and he’d woken up sick yet again, and the potion she had given him hadn’t helped the nerves. “It’s just this awful feeling,” he was explaining, “And I can’t really get rid of it but I can’t sleep with it either. Isn’t there anything ---”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Potter,” Madam Pomfrey said, distracted, collecting things from her store, “I haven’t got the time to see you right now.”

“But there’s nobody else here,” James pointed out, waving his arm at the empty beds lining the walls of the hospital ward.

“Not yet,” Pomfrey said. “Please, Mr. Potter. I’ll help you after.”

James was turning to go when they brought Bilius Weasley in. James’s jaw dropped as he realized who the nearly unrecognizable new arrival was and he turned as they passed by. “What happened, mate?” he asked, wide-eyed, taking in the considerably messy state Bilius was in. His shirt half untucked, pants stained and ripped at the knee, his hair a curly mess, thick with matting and dried blood in the back, where a crude bandage made of what looked like a part of a torn offp art of McGonagall’s own robes. Bilius had a pallid, exhausted expression - red eyed, with heavy lids… “You look like you’ve been through it!”

Bilius didn’t respond - didn’t even seem to see James at all.

“Did you see an inferius then, mate?” James asked, starting to trot after him.

“Not now, Potter. Mr. Weasley will have to see you later.” McGonagall said. She was clutching Bilius’s forearm against her own, guiding him, and she helped him settle into a chair and, with a glance at James that told him not to interfere, she magicked the curtain closed around herself and Bilius, closing James out.

“What’s happened?” James asked Madam Pomfrey as she rushed by, carrying a pot of tea and a vial of something smoky and lavender.

“Run along to your dormitory,” Pomfrey replied, “This is not the place for you right now. I’ll send your potion along with a house elf later. Off you go.”

James hesitated, hanging about in the doorway, staring at the closed curtains. “But -”

“Go, Potter,” Pomfrey said more forcefully, and she ducked behind the curtain.

James stepped into the corridor, deciding he would find out what happened from Derek Bell, who was surely headed back to the dormitory or something. He walked briskly down the hallway, headed for Gryffindor tower. He was just reaching the stairwell when he was bolstered out of the way by Chriselda Blythe. She was crying, featured contorted as she clutched onto a floating form that was being moved up the stairwell, covered delicately in a white sheet. Guiding the form along was a bleary eyed Flitwick and another wizard that James didn’t know. In Chriselda’s hand, she clutched two wands - her own and another that looked vaguely familiar to James - and she shook as she held onto the edge of the sheet with a white-knuckled fist. James ducked quickly against the wall, out of the way of the procession as they moved past, and stared, wide-eyed. None of those involved noticed James there, too focused were they on their individual tasks at hand…

James ran quickly now to the Tower, giving the Fat Lady the password. The common room was eerily empty, a stark contrast to how he’d expected to find it. He’d expected Derek to be sitting up, waiting by the fire for Bilius to get out of the hospital wing.

He sprinted up the stairs and knocked on the sixth years’ dormitory door. “Derek?” he called through, but there was no answer. Hesitantly, knowing he wasn’t supposed to, James pushed open the door. “Derek?” The room was dark and empty and he looked about at the shadows that lined the walls, at stacks of books and robes flung over desk chairs and the messy relics of teenage boys.

It didn’t matter what time it was, or that his mates were still asleep. He flicked his wrist to light the lamps, “Oi, get up you lot. Wake up - I think something really bad has happened.” Sirius was groggily struggling to awaken, Peter curled defiantly into a ball beneath his covers and Remus groaned as James shook him all the harder. “Get up.”

“What the ruddy hell’s gotten into you?” Sirius demanded, rubbing his eyes with the palms of his hands.

“Something’s happened,” James answered.

“Loads of things happen,” Remus murmured.

“Something bad,” James repeated. “Bilius Weasley’s up in the hospital wing and Derek’s not back yet and Professor Blythe’s crying -- there’s strange wizards here, Resistance wizards.” James looked concerned between Sirius and Remus, who were both sitting upright now. “And I think something’s happened to Professor Kettleburn.”

Remus yawned, “Lose another limb, did he?”

“I think --” James bit his lip, then blurted, “I think he might be dead.”

“Dead?” Suddenly Peter was awake, too, sitting up as well. “Why’s he dead?”

Sirius snapped, “Well I’m sure he didn’t plan to be dead, stupid.”

“That’s not what I meant,” Peter snapped, “I meant, what killed him? Why do you think he’s dead?”

“Well Bilius and Alex said that’s who Professor Blythe’s engaged to, yeah? She was downstairs, I saw her, with a body that Flitwick was moving to the hospital wing. She was crying.”

Remus was wide awake now. “There’s a body?”

James nodded, “Yes. I’m telling you - they must’ve gone from the N.E.W.T.s to do something for the Resistance and somebody’s been murdered by Voldemort and by Blythe’s reaction, I’m guessing it’s Kettleburn!”

Sirius got up quickly and threw open his trunk and started getting dressed.

“I was going to ask Derek, but I can’t find him. He wasn’t in the common room or their dorm, so maybe he’s on his way to Madam Pomfrey’s as well, I don’t know, I didn’t see him, though,” James said. Then, a worried note to his voice came up, “I hope my Dad’s alright, if it was something for the Resistance, he was probably there, too.”

Remus was up and getting dressed now, too, tying his Gryffindor necktie loose ‘round his neck, “If something was the matter with your dad, Derek would’ve come here first before anywhere else. You know he would’ve.”

“Yeah, true, so my dad must be alright then,” James said, nodding. “Still, we ought to find Derek anyway and find out what’s happened just the same.”

They tried waking Peter, but he still wouldn’t budge, so they left him there and went down to the common room. People were starting to wake up now and filter out of their dormitories. A notice had gone up on the board they were gathered about and a commotion was going through them, exciting them all, and there were whoops of glee.

James and Sirius exchanged glances and shoved their way through the crowd to the front of the room -- it was about the exams schedule. Seventh Years were to take the N.E.W.T.s at a later date and the O.W.L.s were to participate in their sixth year. All other end-of-terms were cancelled altogether.

“Blimey,” said James.

Sirius nodded, “It must be serious if they’ve cancelled the exams. C’mon.” They found their way back to Remus, who was waiting by the portrait hole. Lily had found her way over to him and was looking anxious. “They’ve cancelled the exams,” Sirius informed them.

Lily looked at James and Sirius with worry, “Do you lot know what’s happened?”

James shook his head.

Remus’s voice was low, “We think it was something to do with the Resistance against Voldemort.”

Sirius looked about, “C’mon, let’s talk about this in the corridor while we look for Derek.” He didn’t want anyone else listening in on what he was assuming was their inside scoop or wanting to go with them to find the one person in the whole castle who they trusted would tell them everything there was to know.

They were climbing through the portrait hole when they heard a scurrying and shouts behind them and Peter ran up. “Wait for me! Wait for me! Wait for me!” he shouted, hurriedly climbing through to the corridor outside with them. He was breathless from having gotten up, dressed, and down the stairs so quickly and he grabbed onto James, nearly tipping over.

“We tried to wake you,” James said defensively before Peter could accuse them of leaving them behind.

Sirius led the way down the hall. “Where should we look for Derek, then?” he asked.

“Maybe the hospital wing? If Pomfrey’s helped Bilius a bit, we should be able to talk to him and he’ll know where Derek’s at if he’s not there,” James pointed out.

“Bilius is in the hospital wing?” Lily asked in concern, “Is he alright?”

“He looked pretty roughed up,” James admitted, “But he was walking in when I saw him.”

“What were you doing in the hospital wing?” she asked - the first of them to hone in on this detail.

Sirius turned, walking backwards as he led them along, “Actually, now that she’s said it, yeah - why were you in the hospital wing?”

Remus looked concerned.

James’s face turned red. He cleared his throat, “I was, uh…” he glanced at Lily, not wanting to admit he’d been nervous about the game. “You know, just out for my morning - er - work out, just… walking about the castle before I went back to the dorm to… you know, lift weights.”

Lily looked skeptical, but Sirius literally snorted so hard that he choked on the intake of breath he’d done. “You what?” he asked through his coughing. “When have you ever ---” But he didn’t get to finish the sentence as they were on the stairs and passed a cluster of Ravenclaw students, whispering to one another.

“What’ll happen with the tourney?” asked a hushed voice.

“Who knows?” whispered another, “I mean, they can’t really play without a captain…”

“They switched the seeker when Tinnamin was pulled, perhaps they’ll do the same now.”

The Ravenclaws didn’t pay any attention to the five Gryffindors they’d passed, but James’s eyes followed after them as they continued on down the staircase. He looked to Sirius. “You think Derek’s been pulled out of school?” he asked, confused by what they’d overheard.

A very concerned look had fallen over Remus’s brow. He glanced at Lily, who shared the same concerned expression. Peter asked, “Doesn’t a person’s parents have to be the ones who pull them?”

“Yeah,” Sirius said, “I doubt Derek’s parents --”

“Derek’s parents are dead,” Peter reminded him.

The twisting, sick feeling James had been battling all week roused in his stomach again, twice as harsh as it had been yet and an awful feeling of ominous foreboding fell upon him. Without waiting for the others, he ran down the hall toward Madam Pomfrey’s. He could hear Sirius running after him, calling his name, and the footfall of the others behind him, but he needed to find out what was going on and the only way to do that was to get to the hospital wing and talk to Bilius.

James burst through the doors of the hospital wing without knocking and looked around quickly. McGonagall and Dumbledore were there, with Miss. Blythe who was sitting on the side of one of the beds, her head hanging, clutching a cup of tea. The curtain was drawn around the furthest bed in the corner, and Bilius laid in the same bed James had seen McGonagall guide him to that morning, deeply asleep.

“I told you to go back to your dormitory, Potter,” Madam Pomfrey said, coming ‘round the corner into the ward and seeing James standing there.

But James looked to Dumbledore and McGonagall. “What happened? Was it something to do with the Resistance?”

“What do you know about the Resistance?” McGonagall asked, a shocked look on her face as she glanced between James and Dumbledore.

“I know that Derek and Bilius are both in it, and Alex Tinnamin was going to be, too, until he got pulled from school. I know that you lot all left the school yesterday when the N.E.W.T.s were postponed,” James said boldly. “Derek’s been telling me what’s going on because I asked him about my Dad. He promised to let me know if anything happened but I can’t find him and I thought maybe he was here and --”

Professor Blythe put down her cup abruptly and covered her eyes, sobbing into them with great silent tears that shook her shoulders heavily. McGonagall wrapped her arms around her and looked up at Dumbledore with a pleading expression. Sirius, Peter, Remus, and Lily burst through the door behind James at that moment.

“Is he here?” Sirius asked, looking around at the scene.

Pomfrey looked over them all in disapproval, about to shoo them back out again.

Dumbledore held up a palm to stop her, though, and he took a deep breath, “I do suppose we will need to address this sooner, rather than later, to stop the rumors from traversing the entire castle before we have made the announcement ourselves.”

McGonagall looked up at him.

“Go and get the remainder of your house and bring them down to the Great Hall,” Dumbledore told her and he said, “We’ll need to have Flitwick, Slughorn, and Viridi do the same with their houses as well…” He looked over the five in front of him, “And you will do best to go down to the Hall yourselves.”

James looked pleading, “But what’s --”

“I shall tell you all what has happened in the Great Hall,” Dumbledore said firmly.

Seeing that there would be no more discussion on the matter, they turned and started toward the door, though James gave a fleeting, apologetic look back at Professor Blythe, still sobbing, as Dumbledore took over the job of comforting her and McGonagall crossed the room to follow them out, a sternly composed expression on her face. James’s eyes crossed over the closed curtain and Bilius’s sleeping form, and followed the others into the corridor, terribly afraid of the news to come.