St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries
Saturday, 14 November 1998
The boys had more or less become regulars of the little tattoo parlor off Chapel Market in Islington.
In celebration of finally cracking the mystery of the Marauder’s Map, Theo, Ron, Harry, and Neville headed into London to get the steps tattooed. Eight total footprints, either four sets or eight individuals depending on how you look at it; two wolves, two grims, two stags, a terrier, and a rat.
As they left the shop, Harry pulled Neville out of Ron and Theo’s earshot, “I need to visit your parents,” he said, keeping his voice low, “do you want me to go alone? Or, I guess, are you alright with me going alone? Or do you want to come with?”
“Today?”
“The sooner the better,” Harry responded, “I need to run a couple of diagnostics to see where we’re at, some charms that normal healers wouldn’t have any reason to know.”
“Let’s go now then,” Neville decided after thinking it over for a minute, “I’d like to go with you, I haven’t been in a bit.”
“Did you tell Gran anything?”
“No,” Neville responded with a firm shake of his head, “if it’s alright with you, if you make any progress, I’m going to tell her that it was the Goblins. I talked to them this summer about their healing hall, but they said there was nothing they could do with the state they were in.”
“That’s fine by me,” Harry answered, slinging his arm around Neville’s shoulders as they walked, “if this works, maybe we can talk to the Goblins again, they might be able to do something if they have a little more of their own minds back.”
“Good point,” Neville said with a soft smile, leaning slightly into Harry’s side, “what are we telling them?”
Harry looked up to where Ron and Theo were walking ahead of them and thought it over for a minute, “what if we say we’re going to visit Gran?”
“Smart,” Neville said with a light laugh, “no one in their right mind wants to spend any more time with Augusta Longbottom than they absolutely have to.”
“Oi!” Harry called, getting Theo and Ron’s attention, “we’re going to visit Gran, we haven’t been in a while. Are you two alright getting back to school without us? Hermione and Ginny are in my quarters and you’re both woven into the floo wards, so you won’t have to walk from Hogsmeade.”
“Alright,” Ron said with a shrug, “we’ll see you when you get back?”
“Course,” Harry said with a grin.
“Tell Augusta I say hello,” Theo said before turning to Ron to discuss the nearest floo.
Harry and Neville waved goodbye and turned into an alley to apparate. They appeared moments later in the entry room of the hospital and moved quickly off the apparition point.
It was quiet as they made their way to the fourth floor.
Harry was so in his own head he’d forgotten who, exactly, worked in this ward.
“Harry!” Josephine Diggory’s cheery voice greeted the moment they stepped out of the stairwell, “and Neville! So good to see you boys, how are you?”
Harry hadn’t actually spoken her since the day after the Third Task.
They’d exchanged a couple of letters and Harry had caught a glimpse of her once over the summer when he’d visited Frank and Alice, but she’d been in a rush and hadn’t seen him.
“Mrs. Diggory,” he greeted, trying to smile but probably failing.
Her face softened as she approached and raised her arms, broadcasting her intentions.
Harry nodded slightly and he was immediately engulfed in a strong hug.
“Josephine, please,” she said, her voice cracking slightly. She squeezed him once more before stepping back, keeping her hands on his arms as she looked him over, “my, you’ve gotten tall,” she said with a bright smile, “look at you! You boys here to visit Frank and Alice?”
“We are,” Neville confirmed, seeing that Harry was entirely thrown off by the encounter, “are you here all day? We could stop by before we leave?”
Josephine took one last long look at Harry and nodded, “I’ll be here until 7, stop by whenever, I’m so happy to see you both.”
Harry was rather thankful that she was speaking of the two of them as a unit, it somehow made it easier. He pulled her into one more quick hug before putting on his best smile, stepping back and saying, “we’ll come by after, it was great to see you.”
“Great to see you too, Harry,” she said with a soft smile, reaching up to pat his cheek. He leaned into the touch slightly and then turned to follow Neville. Knowing that he had a job to do helped, but seeing Cedric’s mum’s kind face had well and truly thrown him.
“Alright?” Neville asked softly as they walked toward Frank and Alice’s room.
“Yeah,” Harry answered after a moment, “I’m alright, it’s good to see her, I’d just spaced on the fact that she worked here.”
“So, you just feel off-center,” Neville said with a nod, “makes sense, especially after seeing Cedric again on Samhain. Does it feel like this every time we see Amos or Matthew at the Ministry?”
“No,” Harry said, shaking his head, “Ced always said he didn’t look like a Diggory, and he was right, he looks so much like his mum that it’s hard not to see him in her but it’s easier to separate him from his dad and brother I guess.”
“Makes sense,” Neville said, shrugging before turning his attention back to the reason they’d come here, “so what exactly do you have to do today?”
“You ready to spend an afternoon with Death?”
“Sometimes I think back on the day we became friends and wonder if my life would be any more normal if I’d run the other way.”
“Probably,” Harry said with a light laugh, “but would it be anywhere near as fun?”
“Not even a little.”
“Hello, Professor Lockhart,” they both greeted as they passed the man’s bed. He looked up at them with an empty smile before turning back to autograph his stack of headshots.
“Ready?” Harry asked, approaching the door at the end of the hallway.
“Let’s go,” Neville replied.
“Hey Frank, hey Alice,” Harry greeted with a bright smile as they entered the room.
“Hi Dad,” Neville said, stepping forward and giving his dad a quick hug before moving to kiss his mum on the cheek, “hi Mum, Harry’s here to run a couple of diagnostics on you, one of his friends is coming too.”
At Neville’s nod, Harry closed his eyes and called out to Death. The longer they spent working and learning together, the more time they spent becoming friends, the easier it was for Harry to summon him.
“Harry,” Death greeted, clapping him on the shoulder as he appeared at Harry’s left side, “hi Neville, are these your parents?”
“Yeah,” Neville said, smiling up at the now familiar face of Death, “how should I introduce you?”
“Hadrian Peverell works,” Death said with a shrug.
“Mum, Dad, this is Hadrian he’s Harry’s friend.”
Frank didn’t respond but Alice gave a shallow nod and smiled over at Death and Harry, “James,” she murmured.
“Close enough,” Harry said with a shrug, smiling back at her before he turned to Death, “you want to work with Frank and I’ll work with Alice? The faster we move the less likely we are to be caught by any employees, and I really don’t want to explain what we’re doing or why I know how to do it.”
“Sounds good,” Death responded, stepping up to the foot of Frank’s bed and pulling out his wand.
Neville looked at Death’s wand in interest before glancing over to where Harry had started casting diagnostics using the Elder Wand.
Death caught Neville’s glance and explained before he could ask, “the Wand isn’t mine, I made it for Antioch. My own wand is rather similar though, it also has a Thestral hair core, but the wood is Olive, not Elder.”
“That’s an odd combination,” Neville said, thinking out loud as Death started to cast diagnostics on Frank, “Holly and Phoenix feather, like Harry’s original wand, makes sense. Holly symbolizes eternal life and that’s exactly what a Phoenix is. Then Elder and Thestral hair makes sense, the Elder tree sometimes symbolizes death and Thestrals are death in the same way a Phoenix is life. Ignotus’ wand that Harry uses is Holly and Thestral, a perfect balance of eternal life and eternal death, but Olive is even stranger with Thestral hair. Because Olive trees represent new beginnings and peace, they’re an enduring presence. Well, actually, I guess that does make sense now that I think about it.”
Harry let out a light laugh as he tapped his wand to a parchment to copy over the results of his first set of charms, “when did you become so interested in wand lore, Nev?”
“Around the time you battled a Dark Lord in a graveyard and found out that having brother wands actually meant something, Haz,” Neville deadpanned.
“In hindsight,” Harry mused, “maybe I should’ve studied up a bit.”
Neville just rolled his eyes and sat back in his chair to watch Death and Harry. It was odd watching the pair work, it gave Neville a brief glimpse into what people must think when they watched Harry and him interact. They had a shorthand that didn’t require anything even resembling full sentences and it appeared that they were actually communicating telepathically every so often. It really made Neville think more of the Weasley twins than Harry and himself given the fact that Death and Harry were nearly identical while Harry and he at least looked different.
Nearly an hour later, Harry flopped down in the chair next to Neville with a huff, “that all for today?” he asked, looking up at Death.
“That’s all, we’ll study these results and come up with treatment plans,” Death responded, storing his wand back in its holster, “also, remember when we told the Goblins they could call us if our … services … were required?”
“Yes?”
“They’re required.”
Harry wasn’t sure whether to be scared or excited, “when, where, what?”
“After Yule, Rome, and they don’t actually know.”
“Oh good,” Harry said, sarcasm clear in his tone, “that sounds totally and completely safe, sign me up.”
“We can’t actually die, dipshit,” Death said, smacking the back of Harry’s head, “we’ll just clear out anyone who can and it’ll be fine.”
“That makes me feel so much better,” Harry muttered, rubbing his head, “how do we prepare for something that we know nothing about.”
“We don’t,” Death said with a shrug, looking entirely unconcerned, “we just take all of our weapons, toss up a few protection charms and pray to, well, me that we make it out of there unscathed.”
“Have I mentioned lately that I hate you?”
“You have,” Death said with a bright grin, “have I mentioned lately that you’re my best friend?”
“I’m your only friend.”
“Do you really think the pantheon is that dry?”
“I’m your only human friend.”
“You’ve got me there,” Death said, shrugging, “see you boys later! Bye, Alice,” he said, tone bright, “bye, Frank!” and then he disappeared.
“Death is weird,” Neville said, arms crossed and observing the space Death had occupied moments earlier with a vaguely interested expression.
“You’re telling me,” Harry said with a huff as he reached into his pocket to pull out new pictures of Teddy to show Alice.
One Harry had made it through his stack of pictures, the boys bid their goodbyes and stepped back into the hallway.
“Ready for Mrs. Diggory?” Neville asked.
“As I’ll ever be.”
“If all else fails, just yap about Teddy.”
“That I can do.”
When they got to reception Josephine wasn’t there but the young nurse sitting at the desk pointed them toward her office.
Once they reached her door, Harry took a deep breath before knocking.
“Come in!” she called. When she saw Harry and Neville a bright smile spread across her face, “hello, you two! How are Frank and Alice?”
“They’re great,” Neville said, returning her smile.
“I’m not going to ask what you two are planning,” at their shocked faces she rolled her eyes, “I raised two sons, remember? I know what a teenage boy looks like when they’re plotting something. Anyways, I’m not going to ask what you’re planning, just promise to ask if you need any help.”
“We will,” Harry said.
“So how have you been?” she asked both of them, though she was mostly looking at Harry, “Amos mentioned that you and your friends all took up your Wizengamot seats and you’ve been making some waves and Matthew told me that you’re all back at Hogwarts for an 8th Year? How’s all that been?”
After they’d told her all about politics and school, she turned to Neville and said, “my brother mentioned my sweet niece hasn’t shut up about you in her letters, anything to say about that?”
It seemed both Harry and Neville had forgotten that Josephine Diggory was once Josephine Abbott. Harry looked at Neville, eyes alight with amusement and then paled slightly at the look Neville sent him in return.
“Hannah’s great,” Neville said, “we’ve been spending more time together, we live with Susan Bones in Founder’s Tower, so I’ve gotten to see her a lot more than I did in our first few years of school, I really like her but there’s not much to say. Harry’s the one with the interesting personal life.”
“Ooo,” Josephine squealed, turning her attention entirely to Harry who sent Neville a glare that promised retribution, “are you dating someone? Last I heard you were dating Ginny Weasley.”
“Oh, that didn’t last long,” Harry said with a light laugh, “the Weasleys are my family and Ginny and I realized pretty quickly we were much better being friends than dating.”
“You didn’t answer my first question,” she responded in a sing-song voice.
“Yes, I’m dating someone,” Harry said, cheeks going red.
“Who!” Josephine all but demanded, with a huge smile on her face, “I need details, Harry! Matthew’s been married for two years but hasn’t given me any grandchildren yet, I need some entertainment!”
“Theodore Nott,” Harry responded, not quite able to keep the besotted smile off his face, “and speaking of grandchildren,” he said, pulling the stack of pictures out of his pocket for the second time that day, “I adopted Remus Lupin and Nymphadora Tonks’ son Teddy after the war, do you want to see him?”
Josephine nearly yelled, “yes! Show me! Tell me everything!”
Neville sighed but he had to hand it to Harry, it was a rather expert way to get out of discussing your current boyfriend with your dead (ex?) boyfriend’s mum who’d also just offered to ignore the fact that they’d spent the afternoon doing dubiously legal magic with Death himself.
“You two will have to say hello next time you visit,” Josephine said as they got up to leave, coming around her desk to pull Harry into a tight hug, “it was lovely to see you, Harry. Write me more often, I want to know about your life.”
Harry hugged her back and soaked in her warmth and breathed in the familiar smell of cedar that had also followed Cedric and promised to write.
The pair made their way back down to the apparition point in silence, both deep in thought. As they walked, Neville threw his arm around Harry’s shoulders and Harry leaned into Neville’s side.
“Let’s apparate into my living room,” Neville said as they reached the ground floor, “we both need a minute before we deal with humans and Teddy’s with Theo, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny. He’ll be fine for a few more minutes.”
“Alright,” Harry agreed, “just a minute to breathe.”
They appeared in Neville’s sitting room where they called a house elf to bring some tea, neither of them having the energy to step into the kitchen.
“Hello, boys,” Godric greeted from his frame above Neville’s fireplace.
“Ric,” Neville responded, lifting his teacup in greeting.
“Godric,” Harry said with a nod.
“You two look exhausted, are you alright?”
“Long day,” they responded as one.
“Can you ask Sal who’s in my quarters right now?” Harry asked.
“Of course,” Godric responded with a nod before disappearing from his frame.
“Can’t you tap into the wards?” Neville asked.
“This is easier than trying to focus on anything right now, let alone a nine-layer ward scheme.”
“Valid,” Neville replied with a shrug as Godric reappeared.
“Just Theo and Teddy,” he told Harry.
“Thank you,” Harry responded, picking up his teacup and pulling himself off Neville’s couch, “I’m going home to take a nap with my boyfriend and my kid, need anything from me?”
“Can I come?” Neville asked, sounding almost as exhausted as Harry, “I don’t want to be alone right now.”
“C’mon,” Harry said, reaching out to pull Neville up behind him, “let’s go.”
Neville grabbed his tea as well and followed Harry across the hallway and into his quarters where Theo was reading peacefully on the couch while Teddy sat in his playpen in the middle of the room.
“Hi, love,” Theo greeted without looking up.
“Nev’s here too,” Harry responded, going over to kiss Theo hello.
“Hi, Nev,” Theo said.
“Hi Theo,” Neville responded, walking over to pick up Teddy, “I’m not kissing you hello.”
“Thank Merlin,” he said finally looking up from his book to analyze Harry and Neville who both sounded entirely spent, “what, exactly, happened at Augusta’s? You both look like you’ve seen battle.”
“We weren’t at Gran’s,” Neville said. Harry looked up at him in shock, but Neville just shook his head, “he won’t tell anyone, you know that. You trust him which means I trust him.”
“Alright,” Harry said, turning back to Theo, “we were at St. Mungo’s with Death running diagnostics on Neville’s parents to see what we could do to heal them.”
“And we also spent an hour talking to Josephine Diggory,” Neville finished, “now we’re both going to fall asleep on these couches while you continue to read.”
“Sounds good,” Theo said with a shrug, deciding he could ask Harry for more details later if he wanted.
Harry smiled and reached into the basket of blankets, tossing one to Neville before grabbing his favorite (a Mrs. Weasley original) for himself and crawling onto the couch next to Theo.
“I need to put this kid down or I’m going to drop him in my sleep,” Neville said, holding Teddy out in front of him.
Harry laughed and reached out his arms, “give him here.”
Theo rolled his eyes and went half limp, like he knew exactly what was about to happen. Neville watched on in amusement as Harry moved Theo around until he was sitting in the corner of the couch so Harry could settle between his legs. Once Harry was comfortable resting back against Theo’s chest, he tucked Teddy into the crook of his arm, between the back of the couch and his torso, and fell asleep almost immediately.
Theo just huffed and pulled out his wand so he could levitate his book to the side and keep a hand free to turn pages while he had his other arm wrapped around Harry and Teddy.
Neville smiled at the trio, never getting tired of the fact that Harry finally had a little family of his own, and settled onto the couch opposite them and fell asleep almost as quickly.
--
Death and Harry
Death sort of ended up looking like Mason the werewolf from Wizards of Waverly Place...