The Beginning of the Fall
As James and Regulus stumble out of the fireplace, they are immediately met with the harsh smell of antiseptic and the sound of Madame Pomfrey bustling around, tending to Sirius and murmuring with Effie and Monty. Madame Pomfrey directed James to help Regulus to the bed on the right of Sirius.
“I’ll be with you in a moment, dears,” Pompfrey said; James, seemingly unable to help himself, let out a small giggle which Regulus gave him a look for. “What?” James asks, “, Oh, just wondering what you could be laughing at when you’re standing in the infirmary with me and Sirius” James’ face paled. “I’m so sorry-” Regulus cut him off with another look that said, ‘I’m messing with you.’
Madame Pomfrey decided to make her entrance at that moment, so James didn’t get a chance to respond.
“Now, what seems to be the issue, my dear?” Pomfrey asks, turning to Regulus.
“I hurt my right shoulder slamming into a wall after getting mine and Sirius’ wands from behind the painting in my father’s office,” Regulus replied, finding no reason to lie or evade the truth with Pomfrey.
“Well, that sure is part of the problem,” Pomfrey stated. James snorted at that, then a look of horror flashed across his face as he realized what he had done. Reg just directed a small smile in his direction and turned back to Pomfrey as she began talking again,
“It appears your shoulder blade is fractured, and your collarbone is broken as well. I’ll have you better in a day or two, but the most painful part will be putting that shoulder back into place, especially with a broken collarbone. Mr. Potter, if you could hold him from behind so he doesn’t flinch away.” James looked to Regulus for permission, to which he slightly nodded. Moving his legs to the side of the bed, James took the spot directly behind him, holding him around the middle with both arms as Madame Pomfrey gently grasped his arm.
“Ready?” Pomfrey asked; James’ grip grew slightly tighter as Reg grasped the arms around his waist with his left arm and nodded.
“Ok, 3..2-” Pomfrey swiftly relocated his shoulder before she hit 1. Regulus uttered a surprised scream, not expecting the pain to be so great, his ears ringing and vision whiting out. James began whispering soothing words as Regulus’ hearing started to come back.
“-ou go, that’s right deep breaths Reg, there you go, it’s over. You’re amazing; I’m so proud of you.” Regulus couldn’t quite place the feeling in his gut, but he knew he never wanted it to end. Madame Pomfrey began to put Regulus’ shoulder in a sling; she then handed him a pearly white drink from the infamous skeletal bottle that any quidditch player would recognize.
“Drink this; I’ll give you another cup before you go home.” Thanking her, Regulus slammed the potion back so he wouldn’t suffer through the taste for long. James still hadn’t let go, but neither mentioned it, content to stay where they were. Until Sirius groaned from his bed to the left of them, suddenly everyone was in motion, Pomfrey was asking questions, Effie and Monty moved to the other side of Sirius’s bed, and Regulus and James rushed to the chairs on the side closest to them.
“How do you feel, my dear?” Pomfrey broke the silence,
“Like I’ve been hit by the Hogwarts Express and then taken a bludger to the head,” Sirius said, reaching up to his head.
“Do you remember anything?” Effie asked gently.
“Not really, I…. I remember my mother yelling and glass breaking, then Reg calling me, but it’s faint. That’s about it. What happened?” Sirius responded, looking to Reg in question.
“Mother got a letter from Mulciber Sr. about you and a certain someone, and you both exploded; I ran to get our wands from Father study, and when I came back, you were on the floor and bleeding, she. She crucioed you before I could get my wand up; you were under the curse for about thirty seconds before I was able to do anything; I stupefied her and took you to the Library; Kreacher grabbed our trunks since neither of us unpacked; he also grabbed all of the other important things from our rooms before meeting us in the Library. I then took us to the Potter manor by floo; I remember waking up on the couch in the sitting room, James hovering next to me and Effie waving her wand over you on another couch. Monty returned, and we went through the floo again and are now at Hogwarts.” Regulus responded, only looking away when he mentioned James and Efffie’s hovering. The look on the adults’ faces was murderous. Then the doors opened at the end of the hall, and in swept Professor McGonagall, her robes waving behind her as she rushed across the hall.
“Good evening, Effie, Monty, how are they, Poppy?” not seeming to have realized the boys were awake and coherent,
“I’m doing just fine, Minnie!” Sirius responded from his bed; Regulus just rolled his eyes at the name of the professor the Marauders adopted.
“Ignore him; we’re alright, professor, just a few minor injuries, though I don’t know if Sirius is experiencing anything more than he used to after the cruciatus curse?” Reg said, looking at Sirius, whose smile hadn’t dropped. He shook his head.
“No, nothing unusual, just sore muscles and maybe a little shaky, but that usually passes in a couple hours,” he responded nonchalantly. Now Minerva was not one for showing much emotion around others, let alone her students. Still, she figured this was an exception she could make. Turning to Pomfrey, she said
“I need you to make sure they are ok, and I don’t care if I have to personally hire someone from St. Mungos to help you, but I want both of them to be thoroughly checked over for any signs of dark magic levels and any other injury we can use in front of the Minister, as I’m assuming the Potters, as well as I, are more than likely to take the Blacks to court over this for a trial.” Minerva glanced at the Potters as she said it, getting two nods in return. Regulus and Sirius were very red; it was probably not a healthy shade, especially on their fair white skin. James was stunned from his place beside Regulus. Then a cough broke the silence; Sirius turned to his left and scrambled out of bed, shocked at the sudden movement; nobody else moved.
“MOONY!” Sirius shouted in surprise,
“Hey, Padfoot, why are you here? Why is everyone here?” Remus asked,
“Oh, you know, the usual Black family drama; now we are apparently living with Prongs,” Sirius replied,
“Now, scooch,” he said, waiting for Remus to move over so he could lay in bed with him, immediately cuddling up to his side and promptly passing the fuck out. Remus looked up sheepishly after noticing the adults in the room.
“Er. Hi?” he said, looking like he was in trouble. James broke the silence by saying.
“I totally forgot with everything going on that you’d be here, sorry mate,” he walked over to Remus’ bedside after squeezing Reg’s good shoulder.
“That’s alright, mate; I get it. There’s a lot to process when someone shows up randomly in the middle of the night, let alone two someones.” Remus responded, ever the polite and understanding person. Pomfrey moved towards Remus and began evaluating his injuries,
“If you need him to move, let me know. I’ll move him to his bed again,” Pomfrey said, gesturing to Sirius, who was basically on top of Remus.
“That’s alright, Poppy; he can stay as long as he likes; he’s warm,” Remus replied, looking at Sirius fondly as he brought his hand up and began playing with Sirius’s hair. Monty handed Effie a handful of galleons after observing the sight; Effie just smiled and patted Remus on the head and said
“We’ll leave you two to sleep now,” and he shut the curtain around his bed. Looking towards Regulus, she gestured for him to get back into his bed; James also moved from beside Remus’s bed to help Regulus get into the bed. Turning to leave Regulus to rest, Reg caught his wrist and shyly asked.
“Stay?” James nodded and slid into the hospital bed with Regulus and slowly maneuvered him into his side so he could sleep on James’ shoulder. Watching the scene, Effie smirked at Minerva, who handed over 2 galleons and smiled as she went back to conversing with Poppy.
“We’ll leave this evening after dinner,” Effie said, getting a nod from Minerva and Poppy. With all four boys asleep, the adults moved to Poppy’s office in the back of the infirmary.
“So tell me, how bad is it actually?” Effie asked Pomfrey.
“Well, Regulus’s collarbone is broken in two places, as well as a major fracture to his shoulder blade,” Pomfrey responded, looking over his chart and grimacing.
“And Sirius?” Minerva asks
“He worries me the most as of now. His blood has abnormally high Dark Magic, the usual amount resting at about 0.2% while sitting at about 0.8%. Fortunately, the dangerous levels aren’t until the percentage reaches about 1.0 to 1.5% though the treatment will not be fun. For either boy.” Pomfrey said, pulling out her treatment book to search for what she needed to explain the treatments for Monty and Minerva, who weren’t aware of all that goes on in the medical world.
“What does the treatment for Sirius entail? Since I’m assuming Regulus just needs rest and some Skele Gro.” Monty asks.
“Well, for dark magic to be treated, he’ll need some light drought, which we can have Horace brew for us. Regulus will also need some, but a more diluted dose as his levels are sitting only around 0.6%.” Pomfrey explains, Monty and Minerva nodding.
“I’ll owl Horace now, then,” Minerva says, rising from her seat next to Poppy.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Regulus woke up feeling warm and content, which is unusual for him. His very comfortable pillow moves, meaning someone is in his bed. Wait. Someone in his bed! Regulus jolted upwards, glancing down and seeing James waking up, glasses skewed on his face. Taking a deep breath, Regulus lies back down on James’s chest, saying
“Shh, I didn’t mean to wake you. Go back to sleep,” as he takes James’s glasses and sets them on the table beside the Hospital bed. Luckily James just settles back in, wrapping his arms around Reg’s waist and snuggling into his neck. Regulus breathes the breath he forgot he was holding, turning his head and hearing snickering from the bed beside him.
“You’re so whipped,” Sirius says from his spot on Remus’s chest.
“You’re one to talk,” Regulus snarked, raising an eyebrow at his brother’s makeshift pillow.
“Well, at least I can admit that I like mine; what about you?” Sirius teased
Regulus didn’t respond, his face a sharp tomato red as he tried to keep his breathing steady to not wake James again. Madame Pomfrey walked in then, Effie and Monty trailing behind her.
“How are you feeling, Mr. Black?” Pomfrey asked, nodding to Sirius,
“I’m doing much better now that I’ve slept some,” Sirius responded with a small smile,
“I want to treat your dark magic levels while you are here; it should only take a couple doses of Light drought to treat,” Pomfrey said endlessly, calling for a bottle she had Slughorn bring up from storage while he brewed some fresh vials.
“Yours, too,” she stated, nodding at Regulus.
Sirius and Regulus just nodded, knowing there was no getting out of it anyways; James, roused by the voices, began slapping his hand around for his glasses and tightened his remaining arm around Regulus’s lithe frame. Reg just snorted and reached back to hand James his glasses.
James then promptly went red as he realized who he was currently clinging to like an octopus,
“I am so sorry.” He mumbled, attempting to make his escape but getting caught in the blankets and greeting the floor with his face. The loud thump he made woke Remus entirely, who was previously slowly rising from slumber. Remus tightened his arms around Sirius and pressed a kiss to the back of his neck.
“Good morning,” He said, voice groggy with sleep. Sirius shivered at the feeling of his breath on his neck.
“Good morning, lover,” Sirius said once he regained his composure.
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Hours later, they all sat around the professor’s table in the great hall for dinner, which for the four boys was very awkward.
“How are they healing, Poppy?” Dumbledore asked, reaching for more turkey from the platter on the table.
“Getting better; Sirius needs more Light drought before they head back, while Regulus needs another dose of Skele gro, and he’ll be right as rain,” Pomfrey said, nodding to each boy.
The boys, sitting on the other end of the table with Effie and Monty, were conversing amongst themselves quietly.
“So, Remus, are you coming to the Potters with us?” Regulus asked, tightening his hand on his fork each time James’ thigh brushed his under the table.
“I was planning to go after the moon anyways,” Remus replied nonchalantly.
“Wait. Does Reg know?” Sirius asked, bewildered.
“Yes, I figured it out my first year and talked to him when he caught me working on my Werewolf essay for DADA. You’re not very subtle with your nicknames, y’know,” Regulus replied before grabbing his drink. Sirius turned to look at Remus with a ‘and why didn’t you tell us?’ look, to which Remus shrugged and said,
“Well, there wasn’t really a reason to tell you about it considering you weren’t on speaking terms then. Plus, he figured out that you were becoming Animagus before you even completed the spell.” James turned bright, interested eyes towards Regulus and said,
“Really! How’d you figure it out?”
“There were two options, 1) someone made you be quiet, or 2) you were up to something, and honestly, there’s no way someone could manage to actually shut you lot up for more than an hour, let alone a month. Otherwise, I’d have done it already.” Regulus replied with a smirk as the two boys let out indignant squawks about how they could be quiet, to which Regulus and Remus gave them a look as they continued to make enough noise to both prove Reg’s point and garner the attention of the rest of the table.
“What are you lads talking about?” Dumbledore questioned with a raised brow.
“Oh, we can’t get these two to shut up long enough to read a chapter of our books,” Remus replied with a small gesture toward the two in question. Amused, Dumbledore just nodded and returned the adults to their previous conversation.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------About 2 hours later, Effie, Monty, and the boys all grabbed their things. She returned to Pomfrey’s office to receive the last of Sirius and Regulus’ doses.
“Alright, just make sure you drink 1 cup before bed for the next week and then have Effie measure your levels, and you’ll be fine,” Pomfrey said, handing Sirius a glowing bottle of Light Drought.
“And for you, just take this last dose, and you’ll be good as new, though I recommend letting that shoulder rest for another week or so before you play quidditch or something strenuous,” Pomfrey said after turning to Regulus with his last dose of Skele Gro, which he again slammed back like a shot to avoid the taste.
“Thank you, Poppy; we’ll owl you if we have any concerns or questions,” Effie said, reaching for a hug, to which Pomfrey returned.
“We should get going now; grab your things, boys. Effie and I will go first, then you boys can come through after.” Monty said, walking to the floo with Effie.
“Potter Manor.” And they were gone in a rush of green flame.
“Want to go in pairs?” Remus asked, grabbing Sirius’s hand when he nodded.
“See you on the flip side,” Sirius said with a wink, and they were gone as well,
“Might I have this Floo trip?” James asked, sweeping his hand out towards Regulus with a bow,
“Why yes, you may,” Regulus giggled, taking Jame’s hand and tugging him into the fireplace, and just like when they arrived, the infirmary vanished behind the green flame.