Chapter 5
Scorpius improved massively over the weekend with the potions, and by monday he was running around the garden shrieking, demanding Draco play in the sprinklers with him.
Their follow up appointment was on wednesday morning, and Draco spent the whole night before unable to sleep, worrying that news of his presence in Saint Mungo’s the week before had leaked, and he and his son would be mobbed by the press when they arrived.
Wednesday dawned bright and sunny, and Draco ignored the bags under his eyes as he got himself and Scorpius up and washed and dressed and fed. Scorpius insisted on wearing his yellow muggle-princess dress, and threatened to throw the mother of all tantrums when Draco tried to make him wear comfier pyjamas, in case they had to stay at the hospital all day. Sighing, and hoping none of the healers would say anything about his son’s dress, Draco packed a duffel bag with spare pyjamas and snacks for Scorpius, as well as some bits for himself, and he picked Scorpius up and settled him on his hip, envisioning the paediatric ward’s waiting room for his apparition.
The same wizard was at reception, and he greeted Draco very politely, and once again directed them to sit. With Scorpius in better spirits, Draco was forced to spend the wait reading Scorpius excerpts from a horrifically inane book that Maryam had bought him, called ‘captain underpants.’ In the corner of his eye, Draco could see the reception wizard laughing at him.
After an interminably long fifteen minutes, Nurse Daisy reappeared in the doorway and called Draco through, and Scorpius insisted on being carried again, sucking his thumb when Draco picked him up- a sure sign that he was nervous.
“Everything is okay, oui, mon chou? Daddy’s here and the doctors are going to make you all better.” Draco whispered in his ear as they walked down the corridor back to the same room they were in last week.
“Okay, Mr Malfoy. If you could pop Scorpius back on the bed and I’ll be back in two secs with Healer Potter. I love your dress, Scorpius. It’s a lovely colour.” Daisy said as they entered, and Draco bit his lip to stop from grinning when Scorpius smiled around his thumb, showing his crooked little milk teeth. Then Daisy left, and Scorpius went back to looking nervous.
“Its okay, Scorp. The nice doctor is going to help you feel better, okay?” Draco said, dragging his chair back to the bedside to be closer to his son. Scorpius glowered and stuck his arms out, indicating that he wanted Draco to sit on the bed with him. Entirely beholden to his son’s every wish, Draco signed and hopped on. Scorpius immediately climbed into Draco’s lap and pushed his chest, with tears in his eyes that threatened to spill until Draco reluctantly lay down. Scorpius crawled on top of him and lay down, and that's how Potter found them, a few moments later.
His eyebrows disappeared under his scruffy fringe as he took in the sight in front of him, but Draco admired the way the man said nothing but, “Good morning, Scorpius, Mr Malfoy. Welcome back.” before sitting at the desk in the corner.
“Right, Scorpius. Is it okay if I do a few tests, to make sure you’re feeling all better? Do you want Mal- daddy to stay with you, or can he come sit by me?” Potter said, and Draco blinked at how easily he corrected himself.
“Daddy stays.” Scorpius said before firmly putting his thumb back in his mouth. Draco sighed but sat up, holding Scorpius in his lap as Potter ran his wand all over the both of him. Streams of light came out the end and formed a sort-of net around Scorpius. They all kept changing colour, and Potter was making notes about all of them. Draco tried not to read into the number of them that turned dark colours rather than light ones.
“I like your dress, Scorpius. Is that from Beauty and the Beast?” Potter asked as he dispelled the cage of lights, and Draco was taken aback by his knowledge of the film before he remembered that Potter had been raised by muggles.
“Uh huh. And Zawa has ‘wowa, but my favwite is Cind’ella and wobin hood!” Scorpius babbled at Potter. Trying to get him to pronounce his ‘r’s properly was a battle Draco was still fighting.
“Oh wow! My favourite Disney film is The Sword in the Stone, and my favourite princess is Ariel.” Potter responded with equal enthusiasm, and Draco pressed a kiss to the top of Scorpius’ head to hide his smile.
“Right. I’m afraid I still don’t have too many more answers for you. I know that must be frustrating, trust me, I know. I’m doing my best. Right now, I can tell you that Scorpius will need to go on core stabilisers for the foreseeable future. These will hopefully prevent last week's symptoms from manifesting again, and give him a bit more magical strength, though I would recommend trying to avoid setting off his magic as much as possible. These potions have to be refrigerated, and we can give you two weeks’ worth now, but more will have to be brewed. I can set it up so every two weeks the potions get delivered to your house, if that works?” Potter was sitting at the desk, and Scorpius was sat next to Draco, ‘reading’ one of his picture books.
“Right. Are there any side-effects or long-term effects to these potions?” Draco asked, not really sure what else he could ask. He felt distinctly out of control, which wasn’t a feeling he enjoyed.
“No, they’re designed for children and children only and are perfectly safe. They’re technically strawberry flavoured but I have it on good authority that they taste quite grim. I would recommend maybe giving them to Scorpius alongside a glass of strong juice.” Potter responded, and Draco smirked.
“Okay. what is the plan then, surely he can’t be on these potions forever, and they don’t exactly fix whatever the problem is.” he said, running a hand through his son’s hair. Being able to touch Scorpius grounded him, reminded him that his son was still safe, next to him.
“No, and we wouldn’t want him to be. I’m afraid you won’t like what I have to say, but because we still haven’t identified the problem, Scorpius will need to undergo a period of observation. The blood we took last week didn’t show anything in preliminary tests, so I’ve sent it for some more rigorous investigation. At the moment, the plan is to have Scorpius come in once a week, perform a little bit of magic in a controlled environment, and then I will perform the tests I did today again. I know it seems weak and unscientific, but we need a better view of how Scorpius’ magical core is working, or not working. Three or four of these sessions would suffice for our observations, and then I’ll hopefully be able to get back to you with more information.” Potter looked genuinely apologetic at his lack of knowledge of Scorpius’ affliction, which somewhat softened the frustration Draco felt at the lack of knowledge.
“Okay, I guess there’s not much choice, really. When will the first session be?” Draco asked, and watched Potter’s face twitch, likely surprised at Draco’s calm. Not that Draco was calm. Under the tranquil surface, his emotions were storming in a way they hadn’t since he was a teenager. He had just gotten much better at keeping them under lock and key.
“Does Saturday work?”
“Saturday it is then.” Draco sighed, before preparing to take Scorpius home. If he was lucky, he could get Scorpius to school in time for lunch.