In Moonlight's Shadow

Chapter 31: Kidnapped

Mum and Dad seemed to get more antsy as the next full moon drew closer. Dad became quiet and spent a lot of time just sitting and staring off into space. Mum did that as well, except for the quiet part. She yelled at me for the simplest things, such as forgetting to put my dishes in the sink. It reminded me of how she had been earlier in the year. It was kind of strange that both of my parents were acting nervous again when they had been excited about moving just a few days ago.

I assumed it had something to do with Lubar and how he kept showing up every full moon. I still had no idea what he had done after the previous one. Neither of my parents mentioned him after I went home and I was reluctant to ask them. I did however think Ellie might have known.

"Hey, Ellie," I sat down at the counter as she was doing the dishes.

"Hi Amy," Ellie looked up, "How is you?"

"All right," I sighed, "What about you?"

"Ellie is good."

"I've got a question for you," I said.

Ellie put down the dish she was holding and looked at me. "What is it?"

"Remember that git, Lubar?" I asked.

"Of course," Ellie said darkly, "Ellie is not liking him."

"Neither do I. Did he come here the morning after the last full moon?"

"He did," Ellie told me.

Just as I thought. "What happened?" What did he do?"

"He is asking Master for a fine. And Master is giving it to him. Then Master yelled at him and made him leave," Ellie replied.

Another fine. Well, that wasn't too bad. "Did he say anything important?"

"He is telling Master that Master should reconsider his choices and that next month will be different."

I swallowed hard. He was threatening Dad. He had a lot of power, too. He could do anything. The thought of it made me sick. What was he going to do?

"Thanks, Ellie," I said quietly. I got up from the stool and went up to my room.

A few hours later, Dad knocked on my door and told me it was time to go to Richard and Cinda's. I nodded and grabbed my bag. The two of us Apparated to the bush near their house and walked silently up their driveway.

Cinda was standing in the doorway when we got there. She and Mum were still fighting. I had never seen them fight for this long before. I was beginning to wonder if they'd ever make up.

"Cinda," Dad said quietly.

"Walter," Cinda replied, "Julie did not want to come?"

"She's at home with Matt. She's been taking care of him all morning and he didn't want her to leave," Dad answered.

"Hmph," Cinda muttered.

"I'll be back in a few days, Amy," Dad said, "Have fun."

"Like always," I rolled my eyes, "Bye."

Dad nodded to Cinda and then turned around and walked down the driveway. Cinda watched him go and I ran up to my bedroom. I dropped my bag and grabbed the phone. I hadn't seen Kenzie in two months and she picked up on the first ring.

The only good thing about this full moon was that it was on a Saturday, so Kenzie was home. She came over to my grandparents house ten minutes after I called her.

"England?!" she shouted as soon as I opened the door.

"Yes, England," I groaned and she walked inside.

"Cheerio, then!" Kenzie replied in a fake British accent.

"That was awful," I laughed.

"Better get used to it. That's what you'll be hearing from now on. Hell, maybe you'll get a British accent, too!"

"I doubt that," I replied flatly, "So, can you sleep over?"

"No," Kenzie sighed, "I'm going to my grandparents' house tomorrow at seven in the morning."

I raised my eyebrow. "Your family? Seven in the morning?"

"I know, right? Totally not going to happen, but my parents seem to think it'll work if we try hard. Anyway, so they don't want me to sleep over here."

"Well, stay as late as you can," I said.

"I will," Kenzie said, "Oh, before I forget, my mum wanted me to ask if your family can come over to our house for dinner before you move. Do you think the 15th will work?"

"It should," I said, "I'll call you if it doesn't. What time?"

"Five," Kenzie answered.

Kenzie stayed until her mum called at ten o'clock, demanding that she come home and get some sleep. I watched her go until I couldn't see her anymore. I slowly returned to the house and went back up to my room. My grandparents were sitting in the living room, but I didn't want to sit with them. Now that Kenzie was gone, I started worrying about what Lubar was going to do again.

I stayed up half the night worrying about it. I figured if Dad was worried about it, there was definitely something to worry about. Dad spent nearly two years in charge of that department and he knew what Lubar would be capable of doing. Something was going to happen. But what? Lubar did not elaborate in his threat, which kind of made it worse. I had no idea what to expect.

The worst part was, was that I wasn't even home. Something could be happening right at that very moment and I'd have no idea. It was bad enough to not be home during regular full moons, but ones where Lubar had threatened my family? It was driving me mad.

I must have fallen asleep at some point, because the next thing I knew I jerked awake. I sat up in bed, my heart hammering. There had been a loud crack downstairs. It sounded like one of those Muggle wands they use to kill each other. Or someone Apparating.

I crept out of bed and strained my ears. Why would someone be Apparating into Richard and Cinda's house? Were they some kind of wizard burglar who robbed Muggles? Or could it be Lubar? Did he somehow find out where Richard and Cinda lived? I shakily grabbed my wand and quietly opened the door.

"Lumos," I muttered and stepped out into the corridor. I could vaguely make out footsteps downstairs. This was insane. Who was down there?

I was the only magical person in the house. If this person was someone who wanted to harm us, it would be up to me to save my grandparents. But I didn't know enough spells. We would all be killed.

Richard and Cinda were still sleeping. They had always been deep sleepers. Richard was still snoring. I ran as quietly as I could to their room and pushed open the door.

"Richard!" I prodded him with my wand, "Cinda! Wake up!"

Richard groaned and rolled over. He squinted at my wand light. "Amy? What's going on?"

"Someone Apparated into the house! I heard it! And now they're walking around downstairs! We've got to get out of here. I don't know enough spells to hold them off!"

"Wait, wait," Richard held up his hand, "What?"

"A witch or wizard has Apparated into the house," I said slowly, "They're downstairs. We need to get out!"

"Amy," Richard sighed, "I'm sure there's a more likely explanation for this. Why on earth would a witch or wizard Apparate into our house?"

"How should I know?" I asked, "But I'm serious! That's what the noise was!"

"You were probably dreaming."

"No, I wasn't!" I seethed, "Listen!"

Richard and I were quiet for a minute and I heard the footsteps coming closer. The person was coming up the stairs. My heart was pounding out of my chest and my breathing came quick.

"What's that, then?" I asked.

"Er," Richard began.

I jumped as the door creaked open and a shadowy figure appeared in the doorway. I pointed my wand at them and shouted the first spell that came to mind. "Petrificus Totalus!"

The figure jumped aside and my spell hit the half open door. It caught fire and the shadowy stranger put it out with a jet of water from his own wand.

"Amy?" they asked.

I recognized that voice. It was Mum. What was she doing here? What was going on?

"Julie?" Richard asked and turned on the light.

Cinda rolled over and pulled up her eye mask. She startled and sat up, staring curiously from Mum to me to Richard.

"Julie?" Cinda asked.

"Mum?" I asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Julie, why did you Apparate into our house in the dead of night? Amy thought you were someone who was going to kill us!" Richard exclaimed.

I looked at Mum closely. Her hair face was white and tear stained and her eyes had purple bags under them. She looked more scared and upset than I'd seen her in ages. In fact, I hadn't seen her looking like that since the days following the night Matt got bitten. This was bad.

"Mum, what's going on?" I asked, trying not to cry myself.

"Go get your stuff, Amy. I'm taking you home," Mum whispered.

I stared at her curiously. Why would she let me go home now? The full moon was out.

"What's going on, Julie?" Richard asked, "You never let her stay home during full moons and now you're taking her home while the full moon's out?"

"Amy, get your stuff," Mum repeated.

I didn't bother asking her again what was going on. She seemed too shaken up to answer anyway. I left her standing in the doorway with Richard and Cinda staring at her and went back to my room.

I haphazardly threw all my stuff into my bag and ran back to my grandparents' bedroom. I was really worried now. This was so unlike Mum. She had never, ever come over to Richard and Cinda's in the middle of the night on a full moon.

Tears were rolling down Mum's face when I returned. Richard and Cinda were still trying to get her to explain what was going on, but it wasn't working.

"Jule, you've got to tell us what's going on," Richard said quietly, "Come sit down."

"N-no," Mum replied, "We've g-got to go h-home."

"Mum," I said as I walked through the door, "Can you please tell me what's wrong?"

"When we g-get home," Mum said, "We have to get b-back. Your d-dad might n-need to contact me."

I looked at her curiously again. What did she mean? Wasn't Dad at home? I hated this. I hated not knowing what was going on. I missed something big again. And this time it was something bad. I was afraid this would happen. Something was wrong. I squeezed my eyes and tears started coming out. It was no use. I had to cry.

"Call us soon, Julie," Richard sighed, realizing that he wasn't going to get Mum to elaborate any further.

Mum nodded and motioned for me to Apparate with her. I muttered goodbyes to my grandparents and with a loud crack, the world disappeared.

The house was ominously quiet when we appeared in the kitchen. I wasn't sure what to expect. I couldn't remember if Dad soundproofed just the safe room or the entire house. I dropped my bag on the floor and waited for Mum to explain.

She glanced at me and then sat down at the counter, burying her head in her arms. I looked around, wondering where Dad was, and then sat down next to her. We sat there for a few minutes; her crying into her arms and me with my tears silently running down my face and onto the counter.

"Mum," I said after a while, "Can you tell me what's going on? Where's Dad?"

Mum picked up her head, but didn't look at me. Instead she stared directly in front of her, towards the deck doors.

"Earlier tonight," she whispered, "Before the moon rose, Lubar flooed here. He wanted to know if Dad had built a shed for Matt to transform in. Remember that law?"

I nodded. How could I forget it?

"Well, they passed another one," Mum's voice cracked, "Werewolf Control Unit employees can now force werewolves to transform in the Ministry approved safe houses." A new wave of tears came over her and she paused for a few moments.

Force them? I had a feeling I knew where this was going and I didn't like it one bit. I felt nauseated and I really hoped I was wrong.

"Lubar shoved the new law in Dad's face and then grabbed Matt, who was sleeping on the couch. Dad grabbed his wand, but it was too late. Lubar had already Disapparated, with Matt," Mum said quietly. "Dad didn't know where the safe houses were or which one Lubar would take Matt to, and by the time he found it, the moon had already risen."

Mum collapsed into her arms once again and I stared at the window until my vision became blurry. It was what I thought. Matt was at one of those 'safe houses' right now. I rubbed my eyes and put my arm around Mum.

"Where's Dad now?" I asked quietly.

"At the s-safe house," Mum whispered, "He's staying th-there until m-morning."

I had no idea how long we sat there crying in each other's arms. Mum didn't have to tell me what this meant. I knew enough about werewolves to know what could possibly happen. Matt was surely going to be the smallest werewolf in the safe house. He'd be the runt. The larger wolves would gang up on him. I didn't want to think about what they would possibly do. There was a reason Dad didn't want Matt transforming with a bunch of adults. Even though he hurt himself every full moon in our basement, he was safer there than in with a bunch of wolves twice his size.

Neither of us slept at all that night. Eventually, we got up from the stools in the kitchen and wandered into the living room. Mum sat down on the couch and stared into space for the rest of the night. She hardly moved at all. I paced around the room over and over again, trying not to think about what was happening to my brother.

I felt worse than ever that I yelled at him the previous month when Olivia's parents wouldn't let her come stay at my house. That really wasn't his fault. It was Olivia's parents' fault. I never even really apologized to him. Why had I been so stubborn? Now, I might not even get to apologize... No. I shook my head to get the thought out. I didn't want to think that way. Matt would be fine. He always survived the full moons. No mater how hard they were, he always recovered.

But he'd never transformed with other werewolves before. It didn't matter, I told myself. He was resilient. He'd recover. The healers would fix whatever happened. But what if they couldn't? No, don't think that way. They would be able to fix it. They always could. But I didn't even know how bad the full moons usually were. I'd never seen him right after one before.

Then there were my parents. I glanced over at Mum, who was still crying silently. If they were worried, there was something to worry about. That had always been my motto. My parents were smart. They knew when something was worrisome. If Matt was going to be fine, Mum wouldn't be falling apart on the couch.

Ellie came into the room at some point and was sitting on a chair across from Mum. She looked scared, too. I looked from her to Mum and then walked over to the window. It was starting to get light out. Dad would hopefully be back with Matt soon.

I gave up pacing and sat down next to Mum. She was no longer crying and was just staring straight ahead. I guess she just ran out of tears.

I heard a loud crack come from the corridor and I jumped. Mum immediately stood up.

"Stay here," she whispered.

I nodded, unable to argue. Mum left the room and I crept over to the door. I couldn't see anything, but I could hear Mum talking to someone. It was Dad. He was back.

"What happened?" Mum asked.

"Just what we expected," Dad said darkly, "This is the worst I've ever seen him."

"Matt, honey," Mum cried, "What did they do to you?"

"I don't think we'll ever find out," Dad replied.

"He's got to go to the hospital," Mum said in between sobs.

"I know," Dad sighed, "I thought I'd just pop in here before I took him there. Get Amy and meet us there."

"Amy's already here. I got her last night," Mum said, "I-I didn't know what was going to happen. I wanted her here."

"Ok, good," Dad said, "Meet us at Eastworth."

I heard a loud crack and then more crying. I hurried back to the couch so Mum wouldn't know I was listening in. She walked in a few minutes later.

"We're going to the hospital," she said quietly, "Come on."

I got up from the couch and Mum wrapped me in her arms. We Disapparated with a crack and reappeared moments later in a small room in the hospital.

Mum immediately let go of me and hurried out of the room. I followed her and we emerged into the waiting room. It was practically deserted, save for a sleeping man and a woman with a kid who had what appeared to be a fluffy tail affixed to his arse.

Dad wasn't anywhere in sight. He must have already taken Matt to the Creature-Induced Injury ward. I followed Mum to the lifts. She completely bypassed the witch sitting at the information desk. We'd been to this hospital so many times that we never bothered to stop by the desk anymore.

Mum anxiously hit the lift button and we waited for one to arrive.

"Come on," Mum muttered, "Hurry up...."

The lift finally arrived and we hurried in. Mum didn't say a word as it slowly made its way up to the third floor. She looked, if it was possible, even more worried than before.

Mum practically pulled the doors open herself once the lift stopped. I ran after her and we went down the hall to the nurse's station.

My favorite nurse was working that morning. Most of the nurses who worked at the hospital were kind of nervous around Matt, but this one always treated him just like any other kid. Plus, whenever I was there, she'd sneak me ice cream every few hours.

"Julie," she greeted us.

"Brenda," Mum sighed, "I'm glad you're working today."

"They took him to room 306," Brenda said with a sympathetic look.

"Thanks," Mum replied quietly, "Can Amy stay here?"

"Of course."

Mum nodded and then ran down the hall towards room 306. I sighed and leaned on the counter.

"How are you, Amy?" Brenda asked, "Come sit down."

I walked around the counter and flopped down on one of the spinning chairs. "Not that great."

"I hear you're moving."

"Yeah, in a month," I groaned.

"I can't blame your parents one bit," Brenda commented, "This isn't the best place to be raising a kid like your brother right now."

That was for sure. Even I was beginning to understand that. Not that it made me more eager to move, though.

I sat there, spinning in my chair, thinking about all the other times I'd sat in that very nurse's station. I'd lost count of how many times I'd been to this hospital. Every once in a while, Matt would have a really bad transformation and he'd have to spend a few days at the hospital. A few of those happened when I wasn't at school and my parents would pick me up from Richard and Cinda's and then I'd have to sit around the hospital.

Then there were the times my parents would hear about some cure and we'd all go to the hospital to check it out. I had no idea why my parents actually took me with them, since all I'd do was hang around the nurse's station the whole time.

This time was no different. I spent the whole day sitting there, thinking and worrying. I went with Brenda to get lunch, but I didn't eat much. I couldn't think about anything besides my brother. My parents still hadn't told me anything nor had I actually seen them come out of room 306. I had noticed various healers and nurses running in and out all day, but none of them talked loud enough for me to catch anything.

Brenda was getting ready to leave by the time my parents actually paid a visit to the nurse's station. Well, Dad came by. I assumed Mum was still in Matt's room.

"Dad!" I jumped up and ran over to him, "How is he?"

Dad rubbed his head and then leaned on the counter. He looked exhausted and scared. That was not a good sign. "Not good, Amy. He's not responding to any of the treatment."

My stomach lurched and tears pricked in my eyes. Not responding to the treatment? "What does that mean?" I whispered.

"It means the healers can't wake him up. As far as they can tell, he's in what Muggles call a coma. An unconscious state that a person can't be woken from by magical or medical means."

I rubbed the tears from my eyes and stared down at the counter. "And wh-what's g-going to happen n-now?"

"We don't know yet, Amy," Dad replied, "We're still figuring that out. Come on, you can see him now."

"I'll be praying for him," Brenda said as she gathered her things, "Owl me if you need anything, day or night."

"Thanks, Brenda," Dad said.

I said goodbye to Brenda and followed Dad to room 306. My tears were flowing freely now and I didn't care. I hadn't felt this bad since Matt was first bitten.

Dad pushed open the door and we stepped inside. Mum was sitting on a chair next to the bed and was holding Matt's hand. Her face was blotchy and she looked exhausted.

Nothing could have prepared me for what my brother looked like. I had never seen him this bad. Ever. All the other times he'd had to be in the hospital, by the time I saw him he looked almost normal and was awake. This time was different. Very different.

He looked so small in the huge hospital bed. He was mostly covered up by blankets, but the parts that were sticking out made me want to turn away. The arm that Mum was holding was wrapped in a bloodied bandage. His head was wrapped in a similar cloth and the parts of his hair were sticking out of it were smeared with globs of blood. His face was so scratched and bitten that it looked like, well, that he'd been attacked by a pack of wolves.

I took a sharp intake of breath and slowly walked over to him. The only movement I could see was his small chest slowly moving up and down. Despite the fact that he was covered in so many injuries, he looked almost peaceful. Like he wasn't in any pain.

"Matt?" I said very quietly as I crouched by the bed. My voice caught in my throat and I couldn't say anything else.

This was just horrible. Amongst all my fear and sadness about my brother, there was anger for Lubar. The more I watched Matt, the more anger I felt bubbling up inside of me. How could Lubar have passed that ridiculous law? Did he even care? He didn't. That was the problem.

"Amy," Mum said quietly.

"Mum," I replied, my voice cracking.

I pulled up a chair from the wall and dragged over next to the one Mum was sitting on. I sat down and neither of us said anything else. We didn't have to. We were both thinking the same thing. But I didn't want to think it. I didn't want to think about what could happen.

Chapter 32: St. Mungo's

"Julie," Dad walked up behind us.

Mum turned around and looked at Dad.

"I have an idea. It's probably crazy, but I'm willing to try anything at this point."

"Me, too," Mum agreed, "What is it?"

"I think we should take him to St. Mungo's," Dad said.

"What?"

"The healers have told us there's nothing they can do now but wait for him to wake up. I want to have Healer Sterling look at him."

"You're right; that is kind of crazy. But if you think it might help...."

"We've both been impressed by Healer Sterling," Dad pointed out, "He just might have an idea. Plus, in a month, Healer Sterling will officially be his healer anyway."

"Let's do it, then," Mum said.

"Glad you agree. I'll go contact Sterling and see if he can come here first, before we try moving Matt. The hospitals have some sort of floo connection to other hospitals, so I think it's just a simple matter of finding the correct fireplace. I'll go talk to one of the healers. I'm also going to see if I can contact Jack."

Mum nodded and turned back around. So there was a glimmer of hope. I wished more than anything that Sterling would be able to figure out how to wake Matt up.

Dad returned a little while later. Mum and I hadn't said a thing while he was gone. Mum immediately got up when he walked through the door.

"Well?" she asked anxiously.

"Sterling is going to come as soon as he can. He said he's got to tie up a few things, but he'll try to be quick about it. Said he should be here within the hour."

"Oh, good," Mum sighed, "And what about Jack? Were you able to contact him?"

"Yes. I was able to floo my head over there and talk to him."

"And what did he say?"

"Said that next time he sees Lubar, he'll kill him," Dad said darkly, "And to be honest, I wouldn't put it past him."

"I doubt that," Mum replied, "Jack wouldn't do that."

"You're probably right," Dad sighed, "But if Jack ever sees Lubar again, I'm sure he'll hex him into next week. And I'll be right there helping."

I will too, I thought. I didn't care if I didn't know enough dueling spells. I didn't care that I was a horrible dueler. I'd resort to Muggle dueling if I had to.

"Anyway," Dad continued, "Jack said he'd be in the next flight. I told him to wait, though. There's no point in him coming here if we're just going to wind up going to London."

"All right," Mum said, "I guess now we wait for Sterling."

"Yes," Dad sighed, "That's all we can do."

All three of us jumped when we heard the door open a half hour later. I looked up and saw the familiar figure of Healer Sterling walk through the doorway. He quietly shut the door behind himself and walked over to the bed.

"Walter, Julie," he nodded to my parents. "Amy."

Dad stood up and shook his hand. "Thank you so much for coming."

"Not a problem," Sterling said, "I only hope that I can help. Now, why don't you tell me exactly what went on during the full moon." He pulled a quill out of his pocket and poised it over the clipboard he was holding.

Dad inhaled deeply and began to tell Sterling about everything that had happened. I tried to tune it out because Dad gave more details than I really wanted. Nobody had told me what Matt looked like when Dad retrieved him from the 'safe house'.

"He was as pale as a ghost when I was finally able to get into that stupid building," Dad continued, "Laying in a pile of his own blood. I've never seen that many bites and scratches on him before. He was completely unconscious, of course. One of his arms and one of his legs were broken, along with multiple ribs. They've been healed as well as they can be for now. The healers here said they can't fully heal until he's out of the coma."

"Yes, that's true," Sterling replied, "His body needs to be fully functioning before the bones can completely heal."

"Can you help?" Mum asked anxiously.

"I'll need to examine him," Sterling replied and pulled out his wand.

I watched as Sterling waved his wand over my brother, muttering various incantations. He sighed and shook his head every once and a while, writing stuff down on his clipboard. I took that as a bad sign.

Finally, Sterling put away his wand and turned to my parents with a grim face. Mum took one look at him and burst out crying again. Dad put his arm around her and rubbed her shoulder.

"Well," Sterling began, "After talking with the healers here and examining him, I've come to the same conclusion." Sterling sighed and paused. "Before he can continue healing, he needs to wake up from that coma."

Mum buried her head in Dad's shoulder. Dad rubbed his eyes and shook his head. I just sat there, staring at Sterling without really looking at him.

"And there aren't any ways to wake him up?" Dad asked.

"There are, actually," Sterling replied, "With Muggle medicine. But I wouldn't suggest them. His injuries are completely magical creature induced, which might interact horribly with Muggle treatments."

Dad nodded. "Then we won't try that."

"However," Sterling continued, "There is a potion. It's currently being tested at St. Mungo's. So far, it has had some success in waking people from comas. It's only been tried a couple times, since it's not common for witches and wizards to fall into comas. But, it has worked on the few times it's been tried."

"We'll try it," Mum said immediately.

"I must warn you, though," Sterling looked at Mum sympathetically, "That it's not guaranteed to work. It has never been tested on werewolves before, so I am not entirely sure how it will work."

Dad turned to Mum, "Maybe we should just wait for him to wake up naturally."

"You could," Sterling said, "But, since he is a werewolf, we're working on a tight schedule. He has to be out of the coma and preferably mostly healed by the time the next full moon arrives. Otherwise...well, I've got to prepare you for the worst."

The worst. He had to prepare us for the worst. I burst out crying again. I couldn't take it anymore. Sterling had said what everyone else was thinking. That Matt might- I couldn't think about it. I pushed the thought from my mind and got up. I couldn't stay in that room anymore. Not when they were going to talk about the worst case scenario.

I stood up and ran for the door, not looking back. I could feel Mum, Dad, and Sterling's eyes on me as I left, but I didn't care.

"Amy-" Dad said, but I didn't hear the rest of what he was saying because I slammed the door behind myself.

I ran all the way down the corridor, ignoring the shouts of 'walk, this is a hospital!' from the nurse on duty at the nurse's station. I skidded to a halt in front of the lift and mashed my hand onto the down arrow. I had to get out of there. Away from the depressing room that my brother was laying half-dead in.

There, I thought it. Half-dead. In a coma. Completely unresponsive to outside stimuli. Whatever you wanted to call it. It was all the same. And the only hope he had was a potion that had only been tested a few times and never tested on werewolves. It seemed hopeless.

I rushed into the lift as a healer left it. He looked at me curiously but didn't say a word. I hit the button for the bottom floor and leaned against the wall as the lift slowly led me down.

Once it stopped moving, I pushed my way out of the doors and started running again. I ran the familiar path to the cafeteria and didn't stop until I got there. I wasn't hungry or anything, but the cafeteria was the first place I could think of to get away. I found a secluded table in a corner and sat down in it. I buried my head in my arms and cried.

I sat there crying for who knows how long. When I finally picked up my head, I felt incredibly tired. I wasn't sure how long it had been since I last slept. It must have been almost 48 hours, but I wasn't sure.

I put my head back down on the table and tried to block out all thoughts of my brother from my mind. I didn't think I'd be able to do it, but within ten minutes I was sound asleep, right there in the hospital cafeteria.

******

"Amy," someone was prodding my shoulder, "Amy, wake up."

I groggily raised my head from the table and looked at the blurry figure of Dad. I rubbed my eyes and sat up straight.

"Amy," Dad said again, "Have you been here the whole time?"

"Yeah," I nodded, "How long have I been away?"

"About an hour."

Dad put his arm around my shoulder and hugged me close to him. "Amy, are you all right?"

I squeezed my eyes shut. "How can I be all right? Dad, what's going to happen?"

Dad sighed, "I don't know, Amy, I really don't know."

"Is-" my voice caught in my throat, "Is he going to, to die?"

Dad squeezed me tighter. "I don't know. I'm not going to lie to you and say it's a guarantee that he'll get better. Because I don't know. No one knows. But we're going to do everything we can to help him get better. That is a guarantee."

I sniffed and nodded, but didn't think I would be able to say anything. Why did everything bad happen to my family?

"Your mother and I have decided to try the potion Healer Sterling was talking about. And he thinks he'd be better able to keep an eye on Matt if we transferred him to St. Mungo's, so that's what we're going to do in a few minutes."

I nodded again. I didn't care how long we had to stay in London as long as Matt got better. I just hoped that the potion would work.

"You ready to go back to the room?" Dad asked, "Do you want something to eat first?"

I shook my head. I didn't think I'd be able to eat anything. "Let's just go back," I whispered.

Dad nodded and stood up. I got up after him and he put his arm around my shoulder as we walked back to the elevator and then up to Matt's room.

When we returned to the room, Mum was still sitting next to Matt's bed holding his limp hand. Healer Sterling was talking quietly with another healer and both of them looked up once we walked in.

"We're ready to transfer him whenever you are, Walter," the other healer announced.

"I'm ready," Dad replied.

The healers nodded and took out their wands. Mum got up from her chair and stood next to Dad. Sterling conjured a stretcher and set it down alongside the bed where Mum had been. Then he levitated Matt, blankets and all, onto the stretcher.

Sterling pulled a very old, rusted metal coffee mug out of his pocket and held it out. So we were taking a portkey, I thought. Sterling held out the portkey with one hand and held onto the stretcher with the other. Mum, Dad, and I all crowded around them and put a finger onto the mug.

"Three...two...one," Sterling muttered and the portkey began to glow.

I held my breath and felt the familiar jerk behind my navel as we began to travel. It was not as instantaneous as the other times I'd traveled by portkey. In fact, it seemed to take even longer for this than it did to travel by floo from New York to Massachusetts. That made sense since this was an even longer distance. In fact, that was the longest trip I'd ever taken by magic.

We landed in what appeared to be a storage room in St. Mungo's. I fell onto my arse and gazed around as I stood up. It was a relatively organized storage room, with potions bottles lining all the shelves. Mum, Dad, and Sterling had all landed much more gracefully than I had. Sterling opened the door and levitated Matt out into the corridor. Mum, Dad, and I followed.

The storage room was on the same floor as the Dai Lewellyn ward. We only had to walk a short distance before Sterling led us into his ward. There was only one other patient in the room and he was sleeping. His leg was propped up and covered in bandages.

Sterling led Matt over to the bed farthest away from the door and with a flick of his wand, Matt was onto the bed. Sterling vanished the stretcher and then turned to my parents.

"Would you like to start the potion now or wait a few hours?" he asked.

My parents exchanged a glance. "I think we'd better start it now," Dad replied.

"All right," Sterling said, "I'll go get it."

"I'd better go contact Jack," Dad said to Mum once Sterling had left.

Mum nodded, "I suppose I ought to call my parents. I'll wait until you're done, though."

Dad glanced at Matt once more and then left the room. Mum pulled out her wand and conjured a few chairs. She dragged one of them over to Matt's bed and continued doing what she'd done in Australia.

I took the other chair and sat down in it, not really sure of what else to do. So much had happened over the past two days. Or was it just one day? I wasn't even sure. I didn't even know what time or what day it was in London. I didn't really care, either.

So many things that had mattered so much to me just a few days ago seemed insignificant now. Moving, for one. Changing schools, the fact that Olivia's parents wouldn't let her visit, Mum and Cinda's fight, Dad's cousin getting the house, and a million other things. Stupid things. In only a few hours, those things had dropped down to not even mattering. I only cared about one thing and that was my brother getting better.

I hadn't felt this way since he was first bitten. Sitting there at St. Mungo's, looking at his limp, lifeless form, was bringing back so many memories. Memories of two and a half years ago, when we sat in Eastworth doing the exact same thing. I felt so helpless then, just like I did now. There wasn't anything any of us could do.

Sterling brought the potion and administered it to Matt, using his wand to make him swallow it. He also had a nutrient potion, since Matt obviously couldn't eat anything.

Dad returned a little while later. He sat down on the third chair Mum had conjured and looked at Matt.

"Jack's coming," he said quietly, "Said he'd be on the next plane."

Mum nodded, "That's good. I'll go see if I can find a phone and call Richard and Cinda."

I watched Mum leave and leaned my head back against the wall. I couldn't remember the last time I'd actually slept for longer than an hour. I hadn't been tired before, but after portkeying to London, I just felt exhausted. The fatigue just hit me all of a sudden. I didn't want to sleep, though. Something could happen when I slept. I tried to force my eyes to stay open, but it was no use. The last thing I saw was the tears slipping out of Dad's eyes.

******

I groggily opened my eyes and lifted my head up. I rubbed my neck and grimaced at the crick in it. I should not have fallen asleep on a chair, leaning my head against a wall.

I looked around the room. Neither Mum or Dad were there, but Healer Sterling was waving his wand around Matt and making notes on his clipboard.

He looked up when he noticed that I was awake. "You're welcome to sleep in any of the empty beds," he told me.

"Thanks," I muttered, "But I don't really want to sleep anymore."

"Understandable," Sterling replied, "But you can't neglect your own needs because of your brother. He wouldn't want you to do that." He made one more note on his clipboard and then left the ward.

Sterling probably had a point, but I couldn't bring myself to climb into one of the other beds and sleep. Especially when neither of my parents were in the room. I couldn't leave Matt alone in there. If I was asleep, it would be like he was alone.

Mum and Dad came back a minute later and Mum resumed her post next to Matt's bed.

"Good, you're awake," Dad said to me, "Let's go get something to eat."

"I'm not hungry," I muttered.

"Amy, you need to eat something," Dad replied, "I know this is hard. It's hard on all of us, but you can't not eat anything."

I sighed and got up. Dad put his arm around me and we walked silently from the room. We walked down the nearly deserted corridor until we got to the lift. I followed Dad into it and then to the tea room once we reached the top floor.

The tea room was relatively crowded with people, so I figured it must have been some sort of meal time. The line was long and most of the tables occupied. There were healers hastily shoving food into their mouths and nurses talking amongst each other as they ate. A few people dressed in navy blue robes were pushing carts of food out of the room, presumably for the patients.

Dad joined the queue and I stood behind him. I still wasn't that hungry, but I grabbed a sandwich and a bag of crisps anyway. Dad paid for our food and we sat down at one of the few empty tables.

I nibbled at my sandwich while Dad ate his hamburger. "Did Mum call Richard and Cinda?" I asked.

"Yes," Dad replied.

"Are they coming here?"

"No," Dad sighed, "They said they might visit us once we're back in Australia."

"Oh," I muttered. Part of me actually thought they would have flown to London. Of course, since Cinda was still angry with Mum, I shouldn't have been surprised.

"Cinda does not understand the situation," Dad explained, "She never has and I don't think she ever will."

"Do you think she and Mum will ever make up?"

"I do," Dad answered, "Although I'm not sure their relationship will ever be the same."

I continued to slowly eat my sandwich until I'd managed to eat the whole thing. Dad seemed satisfied and we went back to Matt's room. Dad brought Mum back a sandwich and handed it to her. She gazed up at Dad and began to unwrap it.

I sat back down in my chair and watched my brother. He looked exactly the same as he had when I first saw him in his room at Eastworth. Whatever that potion was, it wasn't working yet. How long would it take?

As I sat there, I began to wonder how long we'd stay at the hospital. Didn't most hospitals have visiting hours? Eastworth did. What would we do when visiting hours were over? I honestly didn't think my parents would be willing to let Matt stay at St. Mungo's alone. It had been incredibly hard for Mum and Dad to abide by Eastworth's visiting hours rules when Matt had been bitten.

The rest of the day went by surprisingly fast for just sitting in the ward and not doing anything. I fell asleep for a few hours and then got dinner with Dad. I was watching the sunset when the door to the ward opened again. Healer Sterling stepped inside and walked over to Matt's bed.

"Is he doing any better?" Mum asked immediately.

"His condition has not changed," Sterling replied.

Mum put her head in her hands and Dad let out a loud sigh.

"Wait," Sterling said, "It's not a bad thing. He is stable. It is a very good sign that he has not taken a turn for the worse. The potion has not had an adverse effect, which means we can continue to administer it. I explained that we had virtually no idea what this potion would do to your son. It is excellent that it has had no negative side effects so far."

"But it hasn't helped yet," Dad muttered.

"The potion has never worked this fast on anyone before. I would have been shocked if it worked this fast on Matt. We need to give it at least a week before we can say for sure whether it's not working. If he wakes up before then, well, it doesn't really matter if it was due to the potion or not."

"All right," Dad replied, "That makes sense."

Sterling set down his clipboard on the bedside table and placed his hands on the foot of Matt's bed.

"Technically," he began, "Visiting hours were over an hour ago."

Mum looked at Dad and shook her head slightly. I took that to mean that Mum did not want to leave Matt alone.

"But," Sterling held up a finger, "Yours is a different situation. The last thing Matt will remember when he wakes up is being taken from his home by Lubar, shoved into a shed with a bunch of strangers, and transforming into a werewolf. I think it would be a bad idea for him to wake up without anyone familiar around. I do not want him waking up without anyone he recognizes in the room."

"I completely agree," Mum whispered.

"I thought you would," Sterling said, "Therefore, I've gotten permission for one of you to be in the ward at all times. Whoever stays is welcome to sleep in one of the empty beds."

"Thank you," Mum said quietly, "I wouldn't have been able to leave him."

"I'm going to go home and get some sleep. I think he will be fine overnight, but if anything happens, the night nurses know how to contact me," Sterling said.

"Are you going to be here tomorrow?" Dad asked, "Tomorrow's Sunday, right?"

"Yes, that'll be Sunday," Sterling answered, "But I'm on call this whole weekend, so I'll be here."

"We'll see you tomorrow, then," Dad replied. He and Sterling shook hands and Sterling left the room. Dad turned to Mum, "Do you want me to stay tonight? You could go get a room at an inn and get some sleep."

Mum shook her head, "No. I want to stay with him. You've got to pick up Jack from the airport soon anyway."

"Are you sure?" Dad put his hand on Mum's shoulder.

Mum nodded, "Yes. I don't want to leave him. I want to be here when he wakes up."

Dad sighed, "All right. Just try and get some sleep, ok?"

"I will," Mum whispered.

Dad squeezed Mum in a hug and then went over to Matt. He reached down and gently rubbed his head and gave him a kiss on his forehead.

"Amy?" Dad asked, "Ready to go?"

I looked at Dad and then at my brother. I didn't want to leave. What if he woke up during the night? What if something bad happened during the night? But I knew I'd have to go with Dad. Sterling didn't say anything about me staying in the ward.

"One second," I whispered and stood up. I slowly walked to Matt's bed and bent down to him. I gave him a gentle hug and a quick kiss on the cheek. "I hope you're better soon," I whispered, "I love you." I hastily wiped one of my own tears from his face and stood back up.

Chapter 33: Traumatized

I had no idea what inn Dad was planning on having us stay in. The Three Broomsticks was in Scotland, which was kind of far from London. Of course, with Apparition, we'd get there fast.

Before we went to whatever inn we were staying at, we Apparated to an alley near the airport. By some stroke of luck that had never possessed my family before, Uncle Jack's plane was actually on time.

Uncle Jack walked towards us with a sad expression on his face. Completely gone was the Jack who was always cheerful and looked on the bright side of life. I couldn't remember the last time I'd seen him looking so grim. Even when Matt was bitten, Uncle Jack wasn't this sad.

"Hi, Jack," Dad said quietly.

"Hey, Walt, Amy," Jack replied. "Sorry I couldn't have gotten here sooner."

"Don't worry about it. Those planes can only go so fast."

"I know. You don't know how hard it was for me not to pull out my wand and speed things up," Jack muttered.

"I'll catch you up as soon as we get a room. Julie's staying at the hospital."

"Where are we staying?" Uncle Jack asked.

"Place called the Leaky Cauldron. Sterling recommended it."

A few minutes later we were standing in a nearly empty pub. I followed Dad and Uncle Jack to the bar and waited for Dad to get the room.

A blonde haired woman turned around and faced us. "Can I help you?" she asked.

"Yes, we need a room, please," Dad answered.

"Ok. How long do you need it for?"

Dad glanced at Uncle Jack and then back to the woman. "Er, we're actually not sure. At least a week, I'd guess."

"That's fine. Just let me know if you'll need it longer," she replied. She reached under the bar and placed two keys onto the counter top. "You're in room 7. My name's Hannah Longbottom if you need anything."

"Thanks," Dad said and picked up the keys.

We climbed the stairs to our room and went inside. I threw myself down onto the bed and lay there not moving a muscle. All of a sudden, I was incredibly tired.

Dad and Uncle Jack stayed up talking quietly about what had happened. Dad explained everything in great detail, just like he had to Sterling.

"I swear I'll kill him," Uncle Jack muttered, "Lubar'll be dead if I ever see him again."

"Jack," Dad sighed, "That's not the way to solve this. You'll be thrown in jail."

"I know," Uncle Jack said, "But if I ever see that son of a bitch again, I'll hex him from here to Mars and back again. Then I'll hex him to Mars again and leave him there."

"Can't say I disagree with you there," Dad replied, "I wanted to kill him when I saw him the morning after the full moon. The only thing that kept me from doing it was knowing that I had to get Matt to the hospital as soon as possible."

"Good thing I wasn't there. I would've cursed him while you took Matt to the hospital."

"I just still can't believe I let that happen," Dad sighed, "If I hadn't have left him alone in the living room, I could've stopped Lubar."

"It's not your fault. You shouldn't have to worry about leaving your son alone in your own living room. No one could have predicted that."

"He threatened us. Numerous times. I should have known he'd finagle the law to get Matt into one of those bloody transformation buildings."

"No, you couldn't have," Uncle Jack assured him, "No one would have guessed that."

"But I should have! Lubar's been trying to change the laws to benefit himself for as long as I've known him. He's been actually doing it ever since he got my job. He's had a grudge against me ever since I got promoted and he didn't even though Matt was a werewolf. I knew he'd do something to get me. I just wish he'd done it directly to me instead of Matt."

"That's why he did it," Uncle Jack said quietly, "He knew it would hurt you more to do something to Matt.

"I know," Dad sighed.

"You'll be far away from him soon. You'll be here, miles away from Lubar. He won't be able to do anything here. He's got no control over the laws here."

"We should have moved sooner."

"You've got to stop doing that. You could spend a day thinking about everything you should've done and it'll get you nowhere. It's too late. All you can do is move on from here. Why don't we just get some sleep?"

"You're right," Dad sighed.

"We can talk more in the morning," Uncle Jack said.

A few minutes later I felt Dad climb into bed next to me. I curled up under the blankets and let the tears roll down my cheeks. I vaguely wondered if I'd ever stop crying. I'd been doing it practically all day and when we were still at Eastworth.

I drifted off to sleep a little later, while I was still crying. Despite all my sadness and fear, I was exhausted and fell asleep quickly.

I was running through the bush. I could feel the damp grass on my feet and winced at the occasional rock that dug into them. The pain wasn't enough to stop me, though, or even to slow me down. I kept running, my heart pounding in my chest and my breathing heavy.

There was screaming in the distance. It was a horrible scream. One that chilled you to the bone and made you want to cry out in anguish. Among the harsh shrieking was growling and snarling. It was awful to listen to.

Despite the danger that I knew was ahead, I kept running. I pushed on, running past trees and shrubs. I wasn't paying an ounce of attention to anything besides the screaming. I had to get to it. I had to help the person who was screaming. Nothing could stop me.

I rubbed my eyes to keep the tears at bay and kept running. How long would I have to run before I would get there? It seemed like I was getting nowhere. I picked up my pace, despite the stitch that was growing in my side.

I ran for what seemed like another ten minutes and I still hadn't gotten any closer to the screaming. Why? Why couldn't I get there? I bit my lip and pressed on. My side was killing me but I knew it was nothing compared to what was going on where the screaming and howling were taking place.

I knew who was screaming. I knew what was growling. I had to get there. I had to save him. I had to save my brother.

There was a louder shriek and then silence. I stopped suddenly and listened, but all I could hear was my heart pounding in my chest.

I sat up in bed breathing hard and covered in sweat. Just a dream, I thought, it was just a dream. I rubbed my eyes and found them wet with tears. It had seemed so real. I couldn't remember ever having such a vivid dream.

I got up and walked to the bathroom. I drank an entire cup of water and stood in front of the sink, waiting for my breathing to return to normal. That dream had been awful. I couldn't even consider it a dream. It was a nightmare. One I hoped never to have again.

I looked at the clock on my way back to bed. Just after three in the morning. I sighed and climbed back into bed next to Dad. He was sound asleep. I was wide awake now. What I wanted to do was go back to St. Mungo's, just to see if Matt was ok. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried not to think about what had happened at the end of my dream. No way could that have been real. First, it wasn't the full moon, second, Mum would have came to see us if something awful had happened. I kept telling myself that over and over and eventually fell into a restless sleep.

******

Dad woke me up early the next morning and I was still exhausted. As soon as I woke up, though, I remembered that dream. I was immediately filled with a sense of dread and dragged myself out of bed. I tried to push the dream out of my head, but it was no use.

Uncle Jack, Dad, and I had a subdued brekkie at the pub and then we Apparated to St. Mungo's. The waiting room was deserted and the welcome witch had her nose in a magazine. We ignored her and headed directly to the lift.

We walked silently down the corridor, the only noise being our footsteps. Dad slowly pushed open the door and we all walked inside. Mum was slumped over Matt's bed, apparently asleep. The other patient in the room was asleep, his leg still propped up.

Matt looked exactly the same as he had the day before. I breathed a sigh of relief. I knew he hadn't actually died overnight, but the dream had still freaked me out. I had to see for myself that he was ok.

Dad walked over to Mum and gently nudged her awake. Mum raised her head and yawned.

"Jule," Dad said quietly.

"Oh, hi Walt," Mum replied.

"Did you get any sleep last night?"

"A bit," Mum said.

"You look exhausted," Dad sighed.

"How was your night?" Mum asked.

"As good as could have been expected," Dad answered, "Picked up Jack, got some sleep."

Mum looked up and her eyes rested on Uncle Jack. "Hi, Jack. How are you?"

"Surviving," Uncle Jack sighed.

Dad conjured a few more chairs and we all sat down. Dad dragged his chair over to Matt's bed and put his arm around Mum.

"How is he?" Dad whispered.

"Same as yesterday. Uneventful night, which is good."

Dad sighed, "Yes, I suppose that is good. Is Sterling here yet?"

"Not yet," Mum replied.

"You should get some sleep," Dad rubbed Mum's shoulder.

Mum shook her head, "No. I slept for a few hours. I'm fine now."

"All right," Dad said, "Want anything to eat?"

"I suppose I should get some brekkie," Mum said.

"Good. I'll go with you."

"Stay here," Mum replied, "You've already eaten, right?"

"Yes, but I'm going with you."

Mum looked reluctantly at Matt and then back to Dad. "We can't leave him."

"Jack's here," Dad assured her, "It'll be fine."

Mum slowly stood up and Dad followed her. The two of them left the room and I was left with Uncle Jack and Matt. Neither Uncle Jack or I said anything, which was kind of strange. Uncle Jack and I never sit in silence. The two of us always had something to talk about. Uncle Jack was never one to let a room dwell in silence for very long. But now, even he seemed at a loss for words.

My parents returned a little while later and Healer Sterling arrived a few minutes after that. He talked to Mum and Dad for a while, but I didn't pay much attention. It was just more information about the potion and what it was supposed to do. Then he went over Matt's vitals, which apparently hadn't changed in the slightest. He next administered another dose of the potion and told my parents to go to his study if they needed anything.

The rest of the day was relatively uneventful. I spent most of it sitting in Matt's room and the rest in the tea room with Dad whenever he insisted I eat something. Matt's condition remained the same, but Healer Sterling was actually more hopeful that he would recover.

In fact, the next week passed just like that day had. I spent the days at St. Mungo's and the nights at the Leaky Cauldron. I was beginning to get to know the hospital staff. There was one witch in particular who worked in the tea room who started giving me free biscuits whenever I wandered in there. The nurses were very nice, too. They even let me help them bottle potions on occasion, which was a nice distraction from my brother.

Despite the fact that Matt hadn't shown the slightest improvement, Healer Sterling remained confident that he would come out of the coma. Mum and Dad, on the other hand, seemed to become more worried with each passing day. I had heard them whispering about it and the reason was because the full moon drew closer with each passing day. It was absolutely crucial that Matt be awake and mostly recovered before the next full moon. I was afraid of that as well, but couldn't help believing that Healer Sterling was right.

Uncle Jack spent the week with us and had no intention of returning to New York until after Matt woke up. Apparently he was able to take a very long holiday from his job, which everyone was grateful for. With him there, it was much easier to ensure that someone was with Matt at all times.

"What does this one do?" I asked the nurse. She and I were in the closet near the Dai Lewellyn Ward, bottling potions.

"That's dreamless sleep," she replied.

"Dreamless sleep," I mused. I wish I had some of that stuff. I was still having nightmares nearly every night, most of them some variation of the one I had the first night we spent at the Leaky Cauldron. "Do you think I could brew that?"

Melinda, the nurse, poured the potion into a smaller bottle and set it on the shelf. "Someday," she replied, "It is a bit difficult to brew, but with practice you could."

"I hope so," I said as I poured a greenish liquid into a round flask.

We continued pouring potions into various bottles in silence. Melinda never talked much when she let me help her, but I didn't mind. It was calming to work with potions and not talk to anyone.

I picked up a flask of pain potion and began to pour it into a smaller bottle. As I was pouring it, the silence was broken by a loud scream. I dropped it in shock and jumped up. The screaming sounded exactly like the screaming from my dreams. I recognized that screaming. It was my brother.

Melinda set down her flask and opened the door. I flew out in front of her and started running down the corridor. The screaming sounded awful, but it meant that Matt was awake!

"Amy, wait!" Melinda shouted.

I didn't wait, though. I didn't even pause or turn around to look at Melinda. My brother was awake and I had to see him. I had to know if he was ok.

Healer Sterling burst out of his study brandishing his wand. He threw the door to the ward open and it slammed behind him. I wrenched it open again and ran in over to Matt's bed with Melinda following me.

Matt was still laying down, but his eyes were wide open. Tears were pouring out of them and he was screaming and crying louder than I'd ever heard before. His entire body was shaking and convulsing. Mum had her arms around him, but it didn't seem to be helping. I couldn't understand anything he was screaming out.

Sterling gestured for Mum to stop holding Matt and stood next to the bed. He waved his wand over Matt's head, muttering some spells. It didn't stop Matt's screaming or convulsing at all, though. Sterling paused and then continued to try various spells.

I almost had to look away. It was awful to see my brother like that. Why didn't Sterling do something? Why wouldn't the spells work? He was awake, but it almost seemed like things were worse now.

"Anti-convulsion potion, calming draught, and pain potion. Extra-strength of all of them," Sterling muttered to Melinda. She nodded and immediately left the room.

"Matt, honey," Mum soothed, "It's ok. Mummy's here." She put her arms around his shaking body again. He continued sobbing and screaming at the top of his lungs.

"He needs the potions to calm down," Sterling explained.

"What's wrong with him?" Mum asked, her voice cracking.

"He's having a seizure," Sterling told her, "He's completely unaware of anything that's happening. But, he's awake, which is good."

Mum burst out crying. "Oh, honey!"

Melinda rushed back into the room with a tray laden with three flasks. Sterling grabbed them and poured them down Matt's throat. He performed one more spell and then stood back.

"How long until they take effect?" Dad asked.

"Not long. Five minutes, if that," Sterling replied.

The next five minutes seemed to be an eternity. Despite my hating to see my brother like that, I didn't look away. I swallowed the lump in my throat and rubbed the wetness from my eyes. The potions would work, I assured myself. He'd be better in a few minutes.

Eventually, the potions finally started to take effect and my brother stopped seizing. His shaking slowed and he stopped flailing around. He was still sobbing, though, and looking around confusedly at everyone.

Sterling leaned over him and began waving his wand around. Matt shrieked and tried to move away. Sterling moved away and lowered his wand.

"M-m-mum," Matt sobbed.

Mum wiped her eyes and wrapped her arms around Matt. "Honey, it's ok. It's all over now."

"M-m-mum," he repeated and grabbed her arm.

"Shush," Mum soothed, "Mummy's here."

"Perhaps I'll come back in a few minutes," Sterling said quietly, "He seems better now. The exam can wait."

Dad nodded, "Good idea."

Sterling put his wand away and quietly left the room. Dad pulled his chair over to Matt's bed and gently rubbed Matt's shoulder. Mum sat down on his bed and carefully lifted Matt onto her lap. She rocked him slowly as he cried into her shoulder.

I stood near the foot of the bed with Uncle Jack, not sure what to do. I was unbelievably happy that my brother had emerged from the coma, but he wasn't himself. He looked scared out of his mind when Sterling went to examine him. I didn't think I'd ever seen him this hysterical either. What had happened during that transformation? I didn't even want to think about it. We probably wouldn't even ever find out. Dad told me once that Matt doesn't really remember anything after he transforms.

Mum gently rocked Matt for about ten minutes. He slowly calmed down and stopped sobbing so loudly. Mum got up and laid him back down. He was still crying, but looked a little less afraid.

Sterling returned to the room, conjured a chair, and sat down next to the bed. Matt whimpered and tried to scoot over to the side of the bed that Mum was sitting by. He winced and stopped.

Mum put her arm back around him. "It's ok, honey. Healer Sterling has to do some tests. You remember him, right?"

Matt slowly nodded, but didn't say anything.

"I'm just going to get your vitals," Sterling said softly. He slowly waved his wand over Matt while scratching away on his clipboard. "All right, now I'll be able to continue healing your bones."

Sterling spent the next half hour performing various healing spells and giving Matt some more potions. Matt looked scared out of his mind during this, but tolerated it. Sterling then gave him a strong dose of dreamless sleep and Matt drifted off shortly thereafter.

"Well, what's the prognosis now?" Dad asked after Matt fell asleep.

"Very good," Sterling replied as he picked up the empty flasks, "His injuries are extensive, but I believe he'll make a full recovery. It's the psychological implications that I'm worried about."

Dad nodded, "I've been worrying about the same thing."

"He seems incredibly scared, which is perfectly understandable. I've given him dreamless sleep, but I have a feeling if he didn't have it he'd have nightmares about this."

"I'm positive he would. He had nightmares for months following the night he was bitten."

"I'd like to continue with the dreamless sleep for a few days, just to ensure he gets adequate rest so his injuries will heal. But after that, it might be a good idea to see what happens if he doesn't have it. He can't take that potion forever. If the nightmares are intense and frequent, and he continues to show such an intense fear, I'd suggest he see a psychologist."

Dad sighed and rubbed his face. "That would probably be a good idea. Hell, we probably should have done that after he was bitten. Perhaps the nightmares wouldn't have lasted so long. We just didn't think of it and nobody down there suggested it."

"Perhaps," Sterling replied, "But that's over now. I can recommend a good psychologist, who works here and could do the consultation right here."

"That sounds good. We'll figure that out after his injuries begin to heal. How long do you think it'll be until they're gone?"

"It's hard to say how the coma affected the healing process. I imagine it will take a bit longer than usual. I am a bit worried about his ankle, which has suffered severe ligament damage, but with time, that should heal. He'll most likely be well enough to be discharged in a week or so. Granted, he might not be fully healed by then, but he should be well enough to go home. I'd like to see him for a few follow up visits, though. When do you plan on moving?"

"First of July," Dad answered.

"Hmm, that's after the next full moon. Depending on how well he heals before then, the next full moon could be worse than usual. He might need to come in right after that."

Dad nodded, "Let's figure that out when it comes."

"That will be fine. I'll be back to check on him later," Sterling grabbed the tray of empty flasks and his clipboard, and left the room.

Dad went back over to Matt's bed and sat down in the chair Sterling had vacated. He rested one of his hands on Matt's shoulder and let out a loud sigh. Mum looked up at him and they shared one of those meaningful gazes.

I grabbed an empty chair and sat down near the end of Matt's bed. I kind of wished Sterling hadn't given him a sleeping potion. I hadn't even gotten to really see him or talk to him or anything. Nobody had paid much attention to me as I stood in the background while Sterling administered his treatments.

I had been right. Matt was different now. Even Sterling thought he'd been traumatized. Now he was probably going to have to see a psychologist. How long would it take for him to get over this? Would he ever totally recover? Was he always going to be so scared?

Uncle Jack sat down next to me and sent me a sympathetic look. He turned and looked at Matt forlornly. None of us said anything. No one had to. I was sure we were all thinking the same thing. It was kind of strange. Matt had woken up and seemed to be recovering as well as could be expected, yet none of us seemed overly excited. We all knew now that the physical injuries would heal with time and magic. But magic couldn't heal emotional trauma. The only thing that would help with that was time (and perhaps therapy), and none of us knew how much time it would take.

Chapter 34: Wizarding Psychology

Matt slept most of the next few days, even though he had been in that coma for an entire week. Sterling said it was good for him to sleep because it helped with the healing process. He continued to receive the dreamless sleep potion and was able to sleep peacefully because of it.

Gradually, he began to sleep less and by his fourth day out of the coma, he was sitting up in bed and talking to us. However, he still remained extremely afraid of anyone who wasn't me, Mum, Dad, Uncle Jack, or Healer Sterling. He was even kind of timid around the nurses. Sterling thought this was because there was always a different nurse every time one was needed.

"I think we'll try tonight without the dreamless sleep," Sterling said as he examined Matt's arm.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Mum asked anxiously.

"We need to. He can't be on that potion forever," Sterling replied.

Mum sighed, "All right, if you really think so."

"It has to be done. On the plus side, I think this bandage can come off," Sterling gestured to Matt's arm.

Mum smiled, "That's great!"

Sterling carefully lifted Matt's arm up and pulled out his wand. He muttered a spell and the bandages fell off. Sterling looked Matt's arm over and performed a few more spells.

"How does it feel?" he asked.

"Weird," Matt replied as he moved his arm around.

"It will feel a bit weaker than the other one for a few days. Close your hand and make a fist for me."

Matt did as he was told and held his fist up to Sterling.

"Does that hurt?" Sterling asked. Matt shook his head. "Good," Sterling smiled.

"How are the rest of his injuries healing?" Dad asked.

"As well as can be expected. His broken ribs are healed, as well as his arm. I should be able to remove the head bandages tomorrow. However, his ankle isn't healing nearly as fast as I'd like. I am going to increase the dosage of the healing potion, but that's about all I can do."

"Thanks," Dad replied.

"Mum?" Matt whispered.

"What is it, honey?"

"I'm hungry."

Mum smiled, "That's a good sign."

"Could we take him to the tea room?" Dad asked Sterling, "Just a change of scenery."

"That would be fine, but he can't walk on that ankle yet."

"I'll carry him," Dad replied and bent over Matt's bed, "Want to go eat with us?"

Matt nodded and held out his arms. Dad carefully lifted him up and rested him on his hip.

I followed my family out of the room. I was so happy that Matt was finally starting to get better. Maybe we'd even be able to leave the hospital soon. I was starting to get sick of spending all my time there.

The tea room was mostly deserted when we arrived. I think that was what Dad had been hoping for. On our way there, Matt buried his head in Dad's shoulder so he couldn't see anyone.

My parents seemed more cheery during that meal than they had in over a week. Matt sat on Dad's lap the whole time and ate half a sandwich and a biscuit. That was more than I'd seen him eat since before the last full moon. I couldn't help but smile when I saw him munching away on his biscuit on Dad's lap.

The trip to the tea room seemed to tire Matt out. He fell asleep in Dad's arms on the way back to his room. Sterling was standing in the room when we got back. Dad lay Matt down on the bed and turned to Sterling.

"No potion?" Dad asked.

"No potion," Sterling replied, "But I've gotten permission from the administration to let all four of you spend the night here. The ward is empty, besides Matt, so it'll be fine. I think it would be best to have all of you here, in case he has a nightmare."

"Good idea," Dad replied.

"It's late, so I've got to get home," Sterling said, "I'll see you in the morning."

"All right. See you then," Dad said.

Once Sterling left, we all took our usual seats around Matt's bed. I had a feeling that none of us were going to be getting any sleep that night. I was tired, but there was no chance of sleep when I was expecting my brother to have the worst nightmare in the world at any moment. I had a feeling that the nightmare I had a week ago would be nothing compared to the one Matt would have that night.

Sterling had said there was only a possibility of Matt having a horrible nightmare, but the rest of us knew otherwise. I would be willing to bet my entire savings that Matt would have a nightmare that night. He had nightmares for six months straight after he was bitten. Even after those ended, he had nightmares before every full moon. Well, he still has those occasionally.

All four of us sat around Matt's bed, watching for the first nightmare. I wondered if Matt would get any dreamless sleep potion after his first nightmare. I doubted he'd only have one tonight unless he got potion after it.

Before long, I felt my eyes start to droop. The room was warm and I was leaning against the wall. I was so tired.

I wasn't sure how long I was asleep, but it felt like my eyes snapped open at the sound of screaming only a few seconds after I closed them. I sat up suddenly and looked around the room. Mum was sitting on Matt's bed and he was curled up in her lap, sobbing uncontrollably into her chest. She was rocking him and rubbing her hand on his back. Dad and Uncle Jack were both sitting on the edge of the bed, looking grim.

"Shush," Mum soothed, "It's ok. It was just a dream."

"M-M-Mummy-y-y," Matt cried.

"Mummy's here," Mum replied, "It's all over. Just a dream."

"I d-d-don't w-w-want to g-go th-th-there again," he wailed.

"You won't, honey. Never again," Mum assured him.

It took Matt twenty minutes to calm down from his nightmare. My stomach felt queasy as I watched him shake in Mum's lap. Why did he always have to suffer so much? For the past few months all I'd thought about was how much my own life sucked. I had thought that my life was affected by this whole thing more than his was.

I never realized how much Matt's life was controlled by the fact that he was a werewolf. Yes, he got sick and turned into a wolf once a month, but I thought that was it. The past few months had taught me otherwise. Especially now as I saw him suffering from nightmares I knew how much more his life was affected by his condition than mine was.

I was beginning to feel very guilty about how much I had complained about the move. I hadn't realized how important it really was to move. If we didn't move, Matt could have to go through this once a month. No one could ever forcefully take me and lock me up in a room full of strangers. But they could do it to Matt and it was now perfectly legal in Australia to do so. It really was unfair. He was just a kid, but the government didn't see him that way. They saw him as a monster. They judged him based on how he was one night out of twenty-eight.

Despite my impending guilt, part of me still wanted to remain in Australia. And that just made me more guilty. How could I still sort of not want to move after seeing how staying in Australia would affect Matt? I had no idea, but the whole thing was confusing me.

"Are you ready to go back to sleep?" Mum asked after Matt had been quiet for a few minutes.

"No," Matt whispered, "I d-don't want to."

"How come, honey? I'll be here. So will Dad and Amy and Uncle Jack. We're all staying here with you."

"I d-don't w-want to g-go back," Matt began crying again.

Mum looked up over Matt and gave Dad a significant glance. She looked back down at Matt and started rubbing his back again. "It's ok. You won't."

A few minutes later the door to the ward opened slowly. I looked up and saw the night nurse peek her head in.

"Everything ok in here?" she asked.

Dad got up and went over to the door. "Actually, could we give him some dreamless sleep? We've established that he is getting nightmares from the ordeal."

"Sure. No problem," the nurse replied and closed the door.

She returned a few minutes later with a goblet and handed it to Dad. Dad brought it over to the bed and sat down.

"Matt, could you drink this?" Dad asked, "It'll make you not have any dreams."

Matt nodded and took the goblet. He took a few sips and then yawned. A few seconds later he was slumped over on Mum's shoulder. That stuff certainly didn't take long to work. Mum held Matt in her lap for a few more minutes and then lay him down on the bed, covering him up with the blankets.

"Amy," Dad nudged my shoulder, "Why don't you get some sleep? He's had the potion, he'll sleep through the night."

I nodded and stood up sleepily. I climbed into the bed next to Matt's and was asleep within five minutes, almost like I'd taken a sleeping potion of my own.

******

Everyone else was awake when I got up the next morning. Dad had made a trip to the Leaky Cauldron and brought me back a change of clothes. I took them gratefully and changed in the bathroom.

When I returned, Healer Sterling was just stepping into the ward. He pulled out a quill and sat down on a chair next to Matt's bed. Matt was awake and eating his breakfast that someone must have brought when I was gone.

"How did last night go?" he asked, looking from Matt to Mum.

Mum exchanged glances with Dad and sighed. "Not so well," Mum said, "He had a nightmare within an hour of falling asleep."

Sterling nodded and jotted something down on his clipboard. "And was it a bad one?"

"Yes," Mum said, "He didn't calm down for a half hour afterwards and wouldn't go to sleep again without the potion."

"I was afraid this would happen," Sterling said quietly.

"We kind of figured it would happen," Mum said, "I would have been surprised if he didn't have nightmares."

"Well, we have a few options," Sterling began, "He can continue taking the dreamless sleep for a few weeks, and hope he gets over the trauma from the transformation by then. Or, we could try the therapy I mentioned a few days ago which might help him get over it faster."

"We've already decided that we want to try the therapy," Mum told him.

"I think that's a wise choice. I'll set you up an appointment for later today. Now, let's see if we can take off those head bandages...."

It was kind of weird that Matt was going to see a psychologist. Psychology is not really that well known in the wizarding world. I knew that Muggles go to therapists all the time, but I had never heard of wizards seeing them. In fact, I'd never even heard of a wizard psychologist. Maybe wizard psychology was more well-known in England. It wouldn't really surprise me. I hated to admit it, but so far, everything was actually better in England than in Australia.

Sterling was able to take the bandages off Matt's head that morning. Matt said he felt dizzy afterwards, but Sterling said it was normal and told him just to lie down for the rest of the morning.

I spent the morning wandering around the hospital and helping the nurses bottle potions. Now that Matt was well on his way to getting better, I didn't feel the need to remain in his room at all times. It was kind of boring to do that anyway. Plus, Matt liked it when I told him about everything else that was going on in the hospital. He particularly liked hearing about the people in the waiting room who were plagued with various spell damages. If laughter really is the best medicine, Sterling should have Matt spend an hour looking around the Spell Damage floor. There's nothing as funny as seeing a bloke with a broomstick affixed to his back. Unless it was the witch with antlers that someone had hung Christmas ornaments on.

Uncle Jack went out and got us a Muggle pizza for lunch. We were all getting sick of hospital food and Matt had expressed a strange desire for pizza. As soon as he'd announced he wanted it, Uncle Jack volunteered to go get it. He and my parents probably would have gotten Matt whatever he wanted, whether it was pizza or a five layer chocolate cake.

It was kind of fun eating pizza in the ward. Matt remained the only patient there, so it was sort of like our own private room in the hospital. The pizza was really good. I had about four slices.

Healer Sterling entered the room just as we were finishing up. "Good lunch?" he asked.

Matt nodded. "Yup. I had three pieces."

"Glad to hear it," Sterling smiled and then turned to my parents. "I've got the appointment set up for a half hour from now. The psychologist will come here, so you won't have to go anywhere."

"Thanks," Dad replied, "We'll be waiting."

"I'll be back after the appointment is over to see how it went," Sterling said and left the room.

Dad tossed the pizza box into the trash and sat down on Matt's bed. He pulled Matt onto his lap and looked at him. "You're going to meet a new healer today."

Matt stared at Dad and shook his head. "I don't want another healer."

"I know, but this healer is different. He is going to help you not have anymore nightmares. That would be good, right?"

Matt nodded slowly, but he looked scared.

"He's a friend of Healer Sterling. He's just here to help you not have anymore nightmares, ok? He'll be very nice."

"I don't want to," Matt whispered.

"I know, but you have to. And Mum, Uncle Jack, Amy, and I will be here the whole time."

"Ok," Matt replied quietly.

None of us said much as we waited for the psychologist to come into the room. I had no idea what to expect. The only thing I'd really heard about psychologists was that they were always asking 'And how do you feel about that?'. If this one was one of those psychologists, I didn't think he'd actually manage to help my brother. I had a feeling that Matt wouldn't even talk to him.

The door opened a little while later and I looked up. A man dressed in green healer robes walked in carrying a clipboard. He was kind of short and chubby with hardly any hair and a bushy grey beard. He was wearing rectangular wire rimmed glasses and had a quill behind his ear. Dad stood up and met him halfway across the room.

"I'm Healer Norlam," the man held his hand out to Dad.

"Walter Eckerton," Dad shook his hand.

"Nice to meet you," Norlam smiled and walked over to where we were all sitting. He conjured a chair and sat down in it.

Matt, who had already been sitting on Mum's lap, buried his head in her shoulder.

Norlam pulled his quill out from behind his ear and poised it over his clipboard. "Well, are you all Matt's family?" he asked.

"Yes," Dad replied and gestured to Mum, "That's my wife, Julie. And my brother, Jack, and my daughter, Amy."

Norlam wrote something on his clipboard and looked up again. "I thought I'd start out by asking you how much you know about wizarding psychology."

"Not much," Dad replied, "It's not very common in Australia. In fact, you're the first psychologist I have ever met."

Norlam nodded. "I see. Do you know anything about Muggle psychology?"

"Yes," Dad said, "Just haven't had much experience with it."

"Wizarding psychology is not that much different from the Muggle version. After all, we are all human and share the same emotions. Whereas wizards suffer from different physical illnesses than Muggles do, we share the same mental disorders.

"The treatment of those disorders are mostly the same as well. Research has not provided us with a magical solution to mental disorders, so we rely mostly on Muggle type therapy. Perhaps that is why psychology has not really taken off in the wizarding world. However, if medications are needed for said disorders, we administer potions."

"Interesting," Dad said, "Any ideas why there are not any magical solutions?"

"Well, there are plenty of theories about it, but none of them have been proven over the others. I personally think it is due to the fact that emotional problems cannot be solved quickly. In the Muggle world, months and sometimes years of therapy are needed to resolve the issue. Magic has always been a quick fix for things. If you break your arm, for example, you take a potion and for the most part it's instantly healed. I don't think emotional problems can be healed by quick spells and potions because they are not physical problems."

Dad nodded. "That is an interesting theory."

"Now, perhaps you could give me a bit of history. Healer Sterling told me Matt was bitten at the age of five?"

"That's correct," Dad said.

"And what happened in the months following?"

I zoned out while Dad was explaining the aftermath of Matt getting bitten. I had lived that first hand and heard it explained multiple times. I was kind of intrigued by Norlam's theory of wizarding psychology. Matt wasn't going to instantly recover from this experience. He'd have to get over it the hard way. The Muggle way.

Norlam scratched away on his clipboard for a little while even after Dad stopped talking. "And how has he been during this experience? What sort of behavior changes have you noticed? Or any other symptoms?"

Dad glanced at Mum before responding. "I think it's been worse. Kind of different, though. The nightmares have been about the same. Well, he wakes up screaming and won't settle down for a half hour and needs dreamless sleep. I'm sure the actual nightmares are a bit different, but I'm really not positive.

"What I am most concerned about is the fact that he seems fearful of everyone except the people he knows. I think it's more with men, especially ones who somewhat resemble Ralph Lubar."

Norlam scratched away on his clipboard. "Ok," he looked up and placed his clipboard on the bedside table, "I'd like to talk to him, but I'll understand if he's too afraid."

Mum nodded and shifted Matt so his head lifted off her shoulder. "Matt, honey," she whispered, "Will you meet the new healer? He's here to help you."

Matt shook his head and mumbled something incoherently. Mum ruffled his hair and rubbed his back. "It's ok, honey. Mummy's here. Everyone's here. No one's going to hurt you."

He slowly lifted his head up again and took a quick peek at Healer Norlam. Norlam smiled at him, but made no move to get any closer. "Hi, Matt," he said. "How are you?"

Matt said nothing and turned back around to face Mum. Norlam turned back to Dad.

"Well, what do you think?" Dad asked.

Norlam picked up his chart again. "I think it's safe to say that he's been traumatized by this."

Dad sighed. "That's what we thought."

"He will recover," Norlam assured him, "I believe he was most likely similarly traumatized after he was bitten, and he recovered from that without any intervention. With intervention, he should recover from this even faster.

"Normally I would wait a couple weeks to make a diagnosis of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, to see if the symptoms go away on their own. But, seeing as the dreams are severely interrupting his sleep, I am almost positive he does have PTSD."

"And how will you help him recover from it? How long will it take?" Dad asked.

"This is a very unique case," Norlam began.

When was Matt not a unique case? I thought. I didn't think anything that ever happened to him could possibly be considered normal.

"PTSD is characterized by a person being terrified of reliving an event that has happened to them. It's manifested in dreams and flashbacks. The flashbacks can be triggered by sights, smells, or sounds. However, I think Matt's PTSD involves two events. They are linked, obviously, but they are separate nonetheless.

"First, the fact that Lubar took him and in essence kidnapped him. It may not be recognized as that by the Australian Ministry, but that is exactly what it was."

"I'll say," Uncle Jack muttered, "At least somebody besides us realizes that."

"Anyway," Norlam continued, "I believe that event caused his fear of strangers and the nightmares as well. Second, the transformation itself was a traumatic event. He may not remember it, but the memories are there in his subconscious and he may be reliving them in his nightmares."

"Makes sense," Mum said.

"What do you think we can do about it?" Dad asked.

"That's where it gets difficult. Therapy for PTSD usually consists of relaxation techniques and gradual exposure to the feared situation. I think that will work fine for his fear of strangers.

"However, I believe he is going to have an increased fear of transformations after this. Sterling and I talked a little about it and he told me that if that's the case, the transformations could get worse. I am not entirely sure how to help him get over his fear of transformations. Relaxations techniques will be pointless while he's transforming and they could be pointless during the day before, too, depending on how sick he is. I have never worked with a werewolf who has a fear of transformations before. I am going to have to research a bit and talk with Sterling before I can decide how to proceed."

Dad nodded. "You're probably right. He was afraid of the transformations after he got bitten, but eventually got used to them."

"That would eventually happen now, too, but I imagine it would take quite a long time."

"What's the plan, then? Therapy?" Dad asked.

"Yes. I need to research a bit and talk with Sterling about the fear of transformations, but we can get started with the therapy, relaxation techniques, and desensitization right away. Has Sterling decided when he will be discharged?"

"Not yet," Dad answered, "Within a few days, I'd imagine.

"And I presume you'll be going back to Australia?"

"Yes. We're not moving up here until July first."

"Perhaps I could work it out with the hospital and the Ministry to connect your house to the floo network. That way I could floo to your house and start the therapy before you move."

Dad sighed, "That would be ideal, but I am not well-liked at the Australian Ministry right now. It might be tough to work that out."

"Well," Norlam said, "I'll try. I think it would be in Matt's best interest to start therapy as soon as possible."

"I agree. I'm just warning you about the Ministry. This mess with the Ministry is what got us into this situation in the first place."

"I understand," Norlam replied and stuck his quill behind his ear again, "I'll try to have this all worked out before you leave." He stood up and shook Dad's hand.

"Thanks," Dad replied.

"Nice to meet you all," Norlam smiled and turned and left the room.

"I think that went well," Dad said once Norlam had shut the door behind himself.

Mum sighed. "I guess. I just don't see how he's going to be able to help Matt when Matt's afraid of him."

I kind of agreed with Mum. Norlam seemed like a very nice psychologist, but Matt was scared of him. How could the bloke help my with Matt's fear of strangers when he was a stranger himself?

"He'll be able to help once he gains Matt's trust," Dad explained.

"I just don't know...."

"Jule, what's the worse that can happen? The way I see it, the therapy can only help. If it doesn't work, we'll just work through it ourselves. But if it does work, Matt could recover from this a lot sooner than he otherwise would. Research backs this up, Julie; chances are it'll work."

"All right," Mum sighed as she rubbed Matt's back, "We'll give it a try."

Chapter 35: Back Home

The next few days droned on much like the past few had. Matt continued to get better, although he was still having problems with his ankle. Besides that, he was almost completely physically better.

He was still having nightmares, so the nurses kept giving him dreamless sleep. He flat out refused to go to sleep without it. Norlam had worked out a therapy schedule that would start the following Monday.

Healer Sterling decided that Matt would be ready to be discharged on Saturday, which was two weeks after the full moon. It was hard to believe it had been that long since I had been home. It was even harder to believe that we only had three more weeks in Australia.

"Ready to go home, Matt?" Sterling said as he entered the room Saturday morning.

Matt nodded. "Yup. It's boring here."

Sterling laughed. "That's good to hear." He pulled out his wand and began to perform various spells on Matt.

"Everything look good?" Dad asked once Sterling put his wand away.

"For the most part. His ankle isn't completely healed, so he'll have to use crutches for a couple weeks, but otherwise he's fine. I expect his ankle will be better by the next full moon, but he could possibly reinjure it that night."

Dad nodded. "All right."

"There are a few potions he'll have to take for a couple days to help with the healing. Plus the dreamless sleep, which he'll take until Norlam decides he's ready to stop.

"I'd like to see him as soon as you move here. Sooner if something happens during the next full moon."

"That's fine," Dad replied, "We'll let you know how he's doing."

"Thanks," Sterling said, "We've set up a portkey for you. The last thing Matt needs is to have to travel twenty hours on a Muggle airplane."

"Thank you," Mum looked at him gratefully.

"It's in my study. There are some forms you'll need to fill out at the nurse's station, and then you can take the portkey from my study. Jack, I've set you up a portkey back to New York as well."

"Thanks," Uncle Jack said.

"I'll meet you at the nurse's station," Sterling picked up the chart that was sitting on the bedside table and left the room.

"Ready to go, Matt?" Dad went over to the bed and lifted Matt up. He nodded and put his arms around Dad's neck.

Uncle Jack grabbed the crutches and Mum grabbed Matt's overnight bag. I collected the various books I had acquired over the past two weeks and followed them out of the room. I was so relieved to finally be going home. I was sick of the hospital. Matt was mostly better, which I was very happy about. But ever since he had started to get better, I had been thinking more about the move. We only had three weeks left in Australia. And then we'd be in England permanently. The weird part was, it sort of felt like we already lived there.

Dad signed the discharge papers at the nurse's station and we said goodbye to the nurses that were working that day. We knew pretty much all of them by then and they were happy that Matt was finally better to go home. I'd found that the nurses were much friendlier towards him in England than in Australia.

We went to Sterling's study after Dad finished signing the papers. There was an old broken Muggle telephone and a cracked plastic mixing bowl sitting on his desk, which I assumed were the portkeys.

"I'll see you in a few weeks," Sterling shook Dad's hand, "I wish you luck with the move."

"Thanks," Dad replied.

"Thank you for everything," Mum said.

"You're welcome," Sterling smiled, "The telephone goes to Australia and the mixing bowl will go to New York."

Dad nodded and turned to Uncle Jack. "Well, Jack, I really appreciate you spending all this time here with us."

"I wanted to, Walt," Uncle Jack replied, "I'll try to visit once you've moved here."

"Ok, we'll see you then. Goodbye," Dad said.

"Bye, Walt," Uncle Jack clapped him on the shoulder and then turned to Matt, "Bye, kid. I'm glad you're feeling better. See you in a few weeks, ok?"

Matt nodded and held out his arms. Uncle Jack gave him a hug and ruffled his hair. Then he turned to me.

"See you in a couple weeks, Amy," he gave me a hug.

"Bye, Uncle Jack," I smiled.

"See you soon, Julie," he said to Mum.

"Thanks, Jack," Mum smiled gratefully at him, "We'll see you soon."

Uncle Jack handed her Matt's crutches and then picked the mixing bowl up off the table. Sterling tapped it with his wand and Uncle Jack disappeared.

Dad picked the telephone up and held it out. Mum and I each placed a hand on it. Sterling tapped it with his wand and I felt the familiar jerk behind my navel as England disappeared in front of me.

We landed in the kitchen a little while later. Mum and Dad both landed on their feet, but I landed on my arse as usual. I shakily stood up and gazed around the kitchen. It looked exactly the same. I smiled as I realized how happy I was to be home.

"Well, here we are. Home again," Dad said.

I dropped my bag on the floor and tried to figure out what time it was in Australia. It had been just after ten o'clock when we left England and it was dark in Australia. So, what time would that make it here? The time conversion thing was even more confusing when you traveled by portkey than Muggle airplanes.

I sat down at the table and saw the clock out of the corner of my eye. The clock, I thought. Why hadn't I just looked at it first? Probably because I was incredibly tired. It was after nine o'clock at night.

"Dad, I'm tired," Matt mumbled. He had still been sleeping more than normal. Plus, he woke up a few times every night when the dreamless sleep wore off.

"We all are," Dad replied, "But it's night here, so that's a good thing. Let's go upstairs and go to bed."

Mum and I followed them upstairs. We met Ellie halfway up the stairs and she was thrilled that we were back and that Matt was doing better.

Dad gently tucked Matt into his bed and gave him the dreamless sleep while Mum and I stood next to his bed. We all said good night to him and started to leave the room.

"Mummy?" Matt whispered.

"What is it, honey?" Mum asked, turning around.

"Can I sleep in your bed?" he asked quietly.

Mum and Dad glanced at each other. "What's wrong, honey?" Mum asked.

"I'm scared," he mumbled almost incoherently.

"Oh, Matt, no one is going to do anything to you here. There's nothing to be afraid of."

"Wh-what about L-lubar?" Matt croaked, "H-he m-might floo h-here."

"I'm getting us disconnected from the floo network," Dad muttered, "Tomorrow, first thing. And I'll put up some anti-apparition wards on the entire property."

"He won't come here again," Mum assured him, "You're safe here."

"I st-still w-want to s-sleep in your b-bed," Matt cried.

"Ok, that's fine," Mum said. She picked him up and he rested his head on her shoulder.

I followed my parents and Matt out of the room and watched them go into their bedroom. It looked like Matt fell asleep in Mum's arms a few moments later. The dreamless sleep must have kicked in.

I walked slowly back to my room and shut the door behind me. I dropped my bag on the floor and didn't bother emptying it. I gazed around my room and sighed. It felt good to be back, but I really didn't want to get used to it. In a few short weeks we'd be in England for good.

Before I went to bed, I scribbled out a quick letter to Olivia. I hadn't written to her in over two weeks. Our letters were becoming more and more infrequent, which kind of bothered me. She also talked more about the other girls in our year. I kind of thought she was becoming friends with them. I knew it was selfish of me to not want her to befriend them, but for the past three years it had always been the two of us against those other girls. But I couldn't really expect Olivia not to make new friends, could I?

I crawled into bed once I was done. Despite the fact that I was accustomed to England time, I was tired. I hadn't really had a good night's sleep the entire time we were there. The first few nights I was plagued with nightmares. Then when they stopped, I couldn't sleep because Mum or Dad (whoever was staying at the Leaky Cauldron that night) would toss and turn the whole night.

******

I woke up early the next morning. Earlier than I usually do. I squinted at the clock and saw that it was five in the morning. However, I was wide awake and starving so I got dressed and left the room. I paused by Matt's room on my way down the corridor, but he wasn't in there. He must've spent the entire night in my parents' room. It didn't surprise me in the least. He slept in there for a few months following the night he was bitten.

My parents' bedroom door was closed, so I guessed I was the only one up. It reminded me of school holidays when I'd get up early and hurry downstairs to get a bowl of Fruit Loops. It all seemed so trivial now. Just a few months ago, I hardly had a care in the world. My worries consisted of whether I'd pass the next Transfiguration test and what Olivia and I would spend Friday night doing. I suppose it was possible that once I adjusted to Hogwarts, life might return to a semblance of that, but I kind of doubted it. When I went to school in Australia, I paid zero attention to the outside world. The matters of the government didn't concern me in the slightest. I couldn't imagine going back to that. Now, I wanted to know what was going on. The past few months had taught me to find out the news for myself, not wait for my parents to tell me what was going on weeks after it actually happened.

Walking through the quiet house at that hour, I could almost pretend the past few months hadn't happened. Almost. The lack of furniture in a lot of the rooms and the empty places on the walls where the portraits had been told me otherwise. The past few months had happened. How many more times would I walk through the house at this hour?

The quiet was replaced by hushed whispers. I stepped as quietly as I could down the stairs and paused to hear where they were coming from. Kitchen, I thought. I tiptoed down the corridor and peeked into the kitchen. Mum and Dad were both sitting at the counter hunched over steaming mugs of coffee. I pulled my head back and leaned against the wall, listening in on what they were saying.

"I just can't stand it," Dad muttered, "He got away with it. There's nothing we can do. Absolutely nothing!"

"It's awful," Mum agreed and took a sip of her mug.

"I can't sit here and do nothing," Dad continued, "It's all I can do from stopping myself from going down to the Ministry and dueling him, Muggle style."

"That won't accomplish anything," Mum replied.

"I know. But when we were in England all I could concentrate on was getting Matt better. Now we're back in Australia and he is mostly better. I could be at the Ministry in two seconds. Hell, I'm going to the Ministry today to have them disconnect us from the Floo network!"

"Walt, it's Sunday. You'll have to wait until tomorrow," Mum sighed, "And you can't duel Lubar. He'll press charges and we'll be stuck here while you go on trial!"

"That's what's driving me mad! He kidnapped our son, harmed him, and we can't do a thing about it! There's something seriously wrong with that."

"I hate it as much as you do, Walt, but we have to put it behind us. Matt's better now. We just have to move on."

"But he's not entirely better. Who knows how long he'll be traumatized from this? That's what really gets me. Matt is the one who suffered from this. I know Lubar couldn't care less about Matt. He did this to get me. To get me back for getting promoted before he did. Why couldn't he just duel me like a normal wizard? Or pull a few office pranks? Why did he have to get to me through my son?" Dad sighed and put his head in his hands.

"Because he knew it would hurt you more to see Matt hurt than to actually be hurt yourself," Mum replied, "I've told you that."

"I know," Dad groaned, "But he hasn't stopped. He just keeps going. There's nothing he won't do."

"He's not going to stop," Mum said quietly, "But we only have one more full moon here. Then we'll be gone. He can't get to us in England."

"But it's this one last full moon that worries me," Dad said darkly, "He does something worse each month. First it was that place of transformation law. Then it was just the threats and the fines. But last month, last month he went too far. I can't even think of anything worse he could do, save for kidnapping him again. I don't doubt that he'll try that again, too. The law hasn't changed."

"We'll just won't let him," Mum replied.

Dad let out another loud sigh. "Which is why this is just driving me mad. I could have stopped him last month. It was my fault. I shouldn't have left him alone."

"He wasn't alone. We were both in the house. No one should have to feel that they're not safe in their own house. We could not have expected that, Walter. You have to come to terms with that."

"That may be," Dad muttered, "But this month, I'm not leaving his side until the moon rises."

"Me, too," Mum agreed.

I wish I could do that, I thought. But I knew I'd be going to Richard and Cinda's again. The only good thing about that was that I'd get to see Kenzie, and this was the last time I'd get to see her for quite a while. Kenzie! I suddenly remembered that I'd told her we'd go to her house for that barbecue. When was that supposed to be? I racked my brain and remembered that it was this coming Saturday. I still hadn't even told my parents about it. It had completely escaped me.

Dad slammed his hands on the counter and shook his head. "I just hate that I can't protect him anymore!"

Mum put her arm around Dad and leaned her head on his shoulder. "I know. I hate it too. We just have to do all we can to protect him the other twenty-seven days of the month."

"But it's that one other day that he really needs protecting," Dad muttered.

"And we're doing all we can to make sure that one day is as good as it can be," Mum pointed out, "That's why we're moving, Walt."

"We should've moved sooner."

"No one could have predicted this. We have to remember that."

"A father should be able to stand up for and protect his children, Julie," Dad said quietly. "I can't do that anymore. I haven't been able to for the past two and a half years."

"But you do protect him, Walter. For the past two years you have been stopping the legislation that would ruin his life. That's protecting him."

"Until I got fired."

"You were fired because you were protecting him," Mum pointed out, "There's only so much we can do. He has an illness. Parents can't protect their children from chronic diseases."

"If I had been protecting him that night, he never would have been bitten," Dad whispered.

"We did all we could save for putting a charm on the tent to keep him from leaving it in the middle of the night."

"Maybe we should have done that. Or we shouldn't have gone camping that night. I knew it was going to be a full moon. I knew the dangers. But we still went. If I could just go back in time and change one thing, that would be it."

"You and me both," Mum sighed, "But we can't."

I watched them sit there leaning their heads on each other's shoulders. Every once in a while they would have this same conversation, but it had never before included Dad wanting to curse someone. I could understand it, though. I bet if I saw Lubar ever again I'd have a hard time keeping myself from hexing him.

When it became clear that neither of them were going to say anything else, I casually walked into the room pretending I hadn't heard a word they just said.

"Morning," I yawned as I opened one of the cabinets. I pulled out a box of Fruit Loops and then rummaged around for a bowl.

"Hi, Amy," Dad said wearily.

"Morning," Mum replied, "Did you sleep better?"

"Much," I said. I poured a bowl of cereal and sat down next to Mum. I ate half the bowl and neither of my parents had anything else. I decided it was a good a time as any to bring up the barbecue at Kenzie's house.

"Hey, Mum, Dad?" I asked in between bites.

"What is it, Amy?" Mum sighed.

"When I was at Richard and Cinda's, Kenzie said her mum invited us to their house for a barbecue this Saturday. I told her we could go and I'd let her know if we couldn't. But that was, you know, before the full moon, so...." I let my voice trail off. I wasn't really sure if Mum and Dad would want to go to Kenzie's house. I knew I wanted to, but doubted I had any say in the matter.

Mum looked at Dad before replying. "Just us? Or is this a party type thing?"

"Just us," I answered.

"I suppose we could go," Mum said slowly, "That's an entire week before the full moon."

"His ankle won't be healed by then, at least Sterling doesn't think so," Dad reminded her. "And what about the fact that he's afraid of everyone?"

"The Dawes aren't strangers. He knows them. But we'll see what he thinks about it to be sure. As far as his ankle goes, Muggles sprain their ankles all the time. They won't think a thing of it. It'll be nice to do something fun for a change," Mum replied. "We'll just have to Apparate and tell them we parked our car at my parents' house and then walk to theirs."

I hadn't really thought of that. It would seem kind of suspicious if we appeared at Kenzie's doorstep without a car parked in the street.

"That'll work," Dad said, "We can tell them your parents had other plans, as they're surely to invite them if we mention parking our car at their house."

Mum nodded. "Good point. Did Kenzie mention that we should bring anything?"

"Nope," I said.

"Well, I'll bring a desert or something," Mum decided.

I smiled as I ate the rest of my Fruit Loops. It would be nice to see Kenzie when it wasn't the full moon. When I didn't have to spend the night at Richard and Cinda's. Plus, I thought it would be good for my family to get out of the house. We hadn't really done anything like that since Richard and Cinda's 'going away' party. We hadn't done anything fun like that in who knows how long.

Mum and Dad continued drinking their coffee as I finished up my cereal. Judging by the lack of used dishes in the sink, neither of them had had any actual brekkie. Just coffee. Both of them looked extremely exhausted as well.

I got up from the table and went to dump my own dirty dishes in the sink. A loud scream broke the silence and I dropped my bowl in surprise. I jumped as my heart started beating a mile a minute.

Mum and Dad jumped up from their seats and completely ignored my dropped dish. I quickly picked it up (luckily it was plastic and had not broken), tossed in the sink, and followed my parents out of the room.

The screaming got louder as we raced up the stairs and into my parents' room. Dad grabbed the doorknob and threw the door open. Mum and I followed him in.

Matt was sitting in the middle of their bed with tears running down his face. He was shaking uncontrollably and looked scared out of his mind. Mum practically flew over to the bed and put her arms around my brother, pulling him into her lap.

"It was just a dream," she soothed, "Mummy's here."

Dad sat down next to them and put his arm around the both of them. I sat down on the edge of the bed, not sure whether to stay or leave. Matt began to calm down after twenty minutes of my parents soothing him and eventually stopped crying all together. I had a feeling that this was going to become an everyday thing. I was beginning to doubt that Healer Norlam would be able to do anything about Matt's nightmares. They seemed so horrible.

"Are you hungry?" Mum asked after Matt had been quiet for a few minutes.

He nodded. Dad picked him up off of Mum's lap and carried him out of the room. Mum and I followed and the four of us went down to the kitchen. Ellie was there had started cooking eggs and toast. Dad set Matt down on one of the kitchen chairs and sat down next to him. Mum began helping Ellie with the cooking. I sat down and stared at the flowery tablecloth covering the table. Nobody said anything as we waited for the food to be ready.

Chapter 36: Therapy Session

I spent most of the morning half-reading a book in the living room and half-watching Matt try out his crutches. He had taken a nap right after brekkie and woke up wanting to figure out how to use the crutches. It was kind of amusing to watch as Matt was pretty clumsy when he walked on two feet, and with crutches it was like he was walking on three feet. He must have fallen over at least ten times before Mum made him stop. She was afraid he'd hurt something else.

I sort of wanted to try out the crutches, too. I wasn't going to admit it to Mum, but they looked kind of fun. I'd never used them before, as wizards normally didn't need them. I broke my leg once when I was a little older than Matt. I'd fallen out of a tree. But the healers at Eastworth had it fixed within a few minutes and I was walking on it again two days later.

Dad disappeared into his study shortly after he finished eating his eggs. He muttered something about sending an owl to Norlam telling him to take a portkey to the bush behind the house instead of trying to floo. Dad was still planning on having our house disconnected from the floo network.

Dad also said something about having to reschedule the final estate sale. It was supposed to have been the previous day, but he'd canceled it at the last minute due to Matt's lengthy hospital stay. I wasn't really sure when he was planning on having it since we were supposed to move in only a few short weeks, but I certainly wasn't going to worry about it.

I didn't really think it would take all morning to send an owl and rearrange an estate sale, but Dad didn't reemerge from his study for hours. I saw Mum sigh and shake her head as she paused by the closed door on her way upstairs. Whatever he was doing in there, Mum seemed to realize that he wanted to be alone.

After lunch Matt fell asleep again and I got bored with reading. I put down my book and walked up the stairs to my potions room. I hadn't brewed anything in ages, which was kind of odd. I wasn't sure why I hadn't. Mum had long since given up on monitoring my homework since she had much more important things to worry about. I guess potion brewing had been pretty low on my priority list given the state of things in my family.

I brewed all afternoon and it was incredibly relaxing. I slowly forgot about the move and Matt's injuries and Dad's stress and everything else that was going on. The only thing I was thinking about was the potion I was brewing. I didn't even have to think about Matt barging in on me since he could hardly maneuver himself with his crutches across the living room let alone manage to climb up two flights of stairs with them.

I didn't even realize how much time had passed until my stomach started rumbling. I bottled up the potion and cleaned up. I was stowing my silver cauldron back in the cabinet when I heard a faint knock on the door.

"Come in," I said.

Dad walked inside looking worn out. I looked at him and suddenly noticed how old he looked. I hadn't really noticed my parents aging over the years, but for some reason Dad just looked much older than usual at that moment. His face was etched with lines and his eyes were sunken into the purple bags that surrounded them. Maybe he just hadn't slept well in a few days. I had gotten a good night's sleep the previous night, but Dad might not have since Matt was in his room.

"Hey, Dad," I said as I closed the cabinet.

"Hi, Amy," Dad replied, "Dinner's ready."

"Oh, good. I'm starved."

"Well, Ellie's outdone herself," Dad smiled wearily, "I think she missed cooking for us the past couple weeks."

"I've definitely missed her cooking," I replied.

Dad and I walked downstairs together, where we found Mum, Matt, and Ellie already sitting down at the table. There were platters of food covering the entire table. It looked like way more food than my family would actually eat, but it certainly looked good.

"Were you able to reschedule the sale, Walter?" Mum asked after we'd all served ourselves heaping piles of food.

Dad nodded. "It's not until after we actually move, though."

"Isn't your cousin moving in right away?" Mum asked.

"I don't think so. I don't think he really cares about actually living here anyway. He'll be happy when we're out of the country. He'll technically own the house, but who knows what he'll do with it."

Mum muttered something under her breath that sounded an awfully lot like something she'd yell at me for saying if I said it. "When is the sale?" she asked.

"July twentieth," Dad replied, "I know it's close to the July full moon, but it's the earliest day I could get. I didn't want to let it wait too long. I figure I'll just come down here and you can stay with Matt in England. I should be able to finagle a portkey down here."

"I guess that will work," Mum sighed, "I don't suppose we have a choice."

"Not unless we want to let my dolt of a cousin get the furniture as well as the house," Dad muttered.

"Then it's settled," Mum said, "And what about Norlam? Is he going to be able to portkey down here?"

"Yes. He said that would be fine. And I'm going to the Ministry first thing tomorrow morning to get us disconnected from the Floo Network."

Mum shook her head and put down her fork. "I've been thinking about that. Do you really think it's wise?"

"To have us taken off the Network?" Dad stared at her, "We agreed to do it. It's a safety precaution. No one will be able to come undetected into the house anymore."

"No, not that," Mum said quickly, "Of course I think that's a good idea. What I'm not so sure about is you going to the Ministry to have it done."

I set my cup down and paid close attention to what they were talking about.

"I'm not going to do anything stupid, Julie," Dad muttered.

"I know you won't go there meaning to do anything stupid," Mum said quietly, "But I worry about what might happen if you accidentally happen upon him."

"I am in complete control of my own actions, Julie," Dad replied, his voice getting harsher.

"We'll talk about it later," Mum gave him a significant look and then slightly tilted her head towards Matt and I. I'd have to be sure to find out where they went to talk after dinner and eavesdrop.

Dad nodded and went back to eating his dinner. The rest of the meal was spent in silence until Matt started complaining about the taste of the potions Mum handed to him after he'd finished eating.

I lingered at the table nursing my juice as Ellie and Mum began clearing the table. Dad slowly followed Matt back to the living room. Judging by the sound of it, Matt only fell over once on his way there, which was a new record. Mum visibly winced when she heard the thump, but she just shook her head and continued helping Ellie with the dishes.

Dad returned a short while later and gestured for Mum to follow him. I peered around the door as they went and saw the two of them disappear into Dad's study, shutting the door behind them. I hurried out of the room and up the stairs. I rummaged through the stuff that was on my desk until I found the Extendable Ears I had bought in Hogsmeade. I knew those things would come in handy again.

I ran down the stairs as fast as I could without making too much noise. I knelt in front of the door to Dad's study and stuffed an end of the Extendable Ear into my own ear. Nothing. There wasn't a sound coming from the study. Merlin, I thought, what if they put some sort of charm on the door? It wouldn't really surprise me.

"You know what I think about this." I heard Mum say. Yes, they hadn't charmed the door!

"And you know my opinion on the subject as well," Dad replied.

"Well, we're in a bit of a bind, then."

"I suppose so. But how exactly do you think we're going to get disconnected from the Floo Network if I don't go to the Ministry?" Dad asked, "You think you'd be able to control yourself if you went and somehow stumbled upon Lubar?"

"No," Mum said, "I don't think I would. I don't think you would, either."

"Then how are we going to accomplish this?"

"I don't know," Mum said, "I just don't think it's a good idea for you to go down there."

"I know you don't. But we haven't got a choice! It's either I go down to the Ministry or we stay on the Network and risk Lubar showing up on the full moon! And do you really think I'll be able to control myself if that happens? I swear I'll kill him if he ever shows up here again."

"Can't we just send an owl and request it or something?" Mum asked.

"I want to be sure it's done and done correctly. I don't want Lubar getting word of this and drafting some sort of nonsense legislation that requires werewolves to be on the Floo Network. I wouldn't put it past him to do just that if I send an owl about this.

"All I want to do is go directly to the Department of Magical Transportation and ask them personally to take us off the Network. I'm perfectly within my rights to do that. I haven't been banned from Ministry premises. Anyone can have themselves taken off the Network. But if we send an owl, someone could show it to Lubar and he could have that legislation passed within a day."

Mum sighed. "I suppose you're right. I just don't feel comfortable with you doing this. If you so much as say the wrong thing to Lubar while you're there, you could find yourself arrested."

"I know," Dad said darkly, "And that's why I'm not going anywhere near my old department."

"All right, all right. I trust you. It's Lubar I don't trust."

"I know, Julie, I know," Dad sighed.

"Do you really think this will work? Will he not be able to get Matt if we're off the Network?"

"It'll help," Dad said, "He won't be able to take us by surprise again. He'll have to Apparate outside our property and then walk to the door. I'll set some charms throughout the yard and we'll know if he enters the property. In which case, we'll be prepared for him. All we'll have to do is hold him off until the moon rises and then it'll be too late for him to do anything."

"There are so many things that could go wrong with that plan," Mum replied, "We could both wind up in prison for attacking a Ministry official."

"I know," Dad said, "But it's the only thing we can do. Just one more full moon here and then we'll be in England. We just have to get through one more."

I listened for another minute, but neither of them said anything. I hurried away when I heard footsteps coming from inside. I was innocently reading in the living room when my parents entered a few minutes later.

I stayed up half the night worrying about what my parents were planning on doing. I knew Dad wasn't planning on meeting up with Lubar at the Ministry the next day, but what if they somehow stumbled upon each other? Dad didn't sound like he was joking around when he said he'd kill Lubar. Dad normally wasn't a violent person; he usually preferred to solve problems with words rather than wands. Uncle Jack had always been the one with a temper. But this was different. I knew there was nothing Dad wouldn't do to protect Matt, and me as well.

Then there was the full moon itself. My parents had come up with a plan to knowingly break the law. Nothing had changed since the last full moon. Matt was still legally required to transform at the Ministry Approved Center, even though it practically killed him the last time. To get out of the requirement, Dad would have to create a safe house that Lubar approved of. I had a feeling that Dad could create the world's safest building and it still wouldn't be up to Lubar's standards. But Mum had brought up a good point; what if they did get arrested? How did Dad suppose he'd hold Lubar off without hexing or jinxing him?

I woke up groggy and still tired the next morning. I squinted at the clock near my bed and saw that it was just past nine. I rolled out of bed and headed downstairs.

The rest of my family was already up. Mum and Dad were eating omelets and not speaking. They both looked exhausted. Matt was eating a bowl of Fruit Loops and leaning his head on his hand at the same time. He looked even more tired than my parents.

I poured myself a bowl of Fruit Loops and sat down next to Matt. No one said anything as I began eating.

"I'm off to the Ministry," Dad announced a little while later.

"Be careful," Mum warned him as he stood up.

"I will," he said and gave her a quick kiss, "I'll be back shortly."

"Bye, Dad," I said.

"Bye, Amy," Dad gave me a hug and then gave one to Matt. "Bye, Matt. I'll be back soon, ok?"

He nodded. "Bye."

I wandered into the living room once I finished eating. Mum had carried Matt in there as soon as Dad left. She was pacing in front of the fireplace and Matt was nodding off on the couch.

I watched Mum pace for the entire time Dad was gone. The only time she stopped was when Matt woke up and complained that his ankle hurt. She brought him a potion and then went back to pacing.

Mum jumped as the she heard the front door open. She quickly sat down on the couch next to Matt and grabbed the nearest book, opening it up to a random page.

"We're disconnected," Dad announced as he stepped into the room.

"Oh, good," Mum smiled, "And did you meet up with," she paused and glanced at Matt, who was sleeping, "Lubar at all?"

"Nope," Dad replied and then lowered his voice, "Although I did pass the Minister in the corridor."

Mum sighed. "Did you keep your head?"

"Yes," Dad said, "There were certainly a few things I wanted to say, and a few hexes I would've liked to share, but I said nothing. He looked at me strangely, but I hurried away as quickly as I could. He has no idea why I was there."

"Good," Mum replied, "Now onto the next thing. Norlam's coming at one, right?"

"Yeah," Dad confirmed, "He'll be taking a portkey."

Mum sighed. "I really hope this goes well."

"Me, too," Dad agreed, "Me, too."

******

I could sense Mum and Dad's nervousness as we ate lunch a little while later. They kept looking at each other and then at Matt. He didn't seem to notice and was considerably more awake than he had been at brekkie.

"Matt," Mum said quietly as she cleared the dishes, "Do you remember Healer Norlam? From St. Mungo's?"

Matt stared at Mum and slowly nodded his head. I couldn't quite make out what he was thinking, but it looked to be a combination of fear and confusion.

"Well," Mum continued, "He's going to come visit us today. To see how you're doing and see if he can help with your nightmares."

Matt shook his head fiercely and then winced. "No. I don't want him to come."

"I know you don't, honey, but he's going to help."

We all migrated back to the living room once Mum finished cleaning up. Matt looked scared as he sat on the couch. Mum and Dad sat down next to him and he crawled over to Mum and leaned his head on her chest. I wasn't really sure if I was supposed to be there during the therapy session, but I sat down on a chair and pulled out a book.

The door charm sounded a little while later and I got up with Dad to answer it. Mum stayed with Matt since he was still leaning against her.

Dad opened the door and Norlam greeted him and shook his hand. Dad gestured for him to step into the house and shut the door behind him.

"Matt's in the living room," Dad said and pointed down the corridor.

"Actually, I thought I'd talk to you first," Norlam said.

"Oh, all right. Amy-"

"She can stay," Norlam smiled, "That's fine. I imagine she'll just listen in around the corner anyway."

I blushed and grinned sheepishly. Maybe this bloke did know a thing or two about the way children's minds worked.

Dad smirked. "Well, ok. What did you want to talk about?"

"I can't start therapy until Matt feels comfortable around me. It just won't work if he doesn't trust me. So, today's goal is to start to gain his trust."

"Any ideas as to how to do that?" Dad asked.

It seemed to me like an endless loop. Matt was afraid of strangers and Norlam was a stranger. In order to overcome that fear, he had to learn to trust Norlam.

"It's going to be tough," Norlam said, "And I doubt it'll happen with just one session. But we're going to try. I thought I could just sit in the living room with you. All of you," he turned to me and then back to Dad, "We'll just talk casually and maybe play a game or two of Exploding Snap. Hopefully Matt will see how at ease the three of you are and start to trust me."

Dad nodded. "That sounds like it should work."

"Well, let's get started," Norlam smiled.

Dad led the way back to the living room. Norlam gestured for me to go in first, then Dad, and then himself. I sat down on the couch and Dad leaned over Mum's shoulder and whispered something in her ear. She nodded and Dad stood next to the door. Norlam stepped in and smiled at Mum.

"Hello, Healer Norlam," Mum greeted him.

"Hi, Julie," Norlam said, "Please, call me Jeff."

"Jeff, then," Mum replied.

Matt watched the two of them talk and inched closer to Mum. He climbed onto her lap and turned away from Norlam.

Norlam took a seat on the floor, which I thought was kind of odd since there was another couch and a few chairs that were empty. But I figured he had a reason for it.

"Anyone care to play Exploding Snap?" Norlam asked as he pulled a package of cards out of his robes.

I looked at Dad and he gave a slight nod of his head. "Sure," I shrugged and got up from the chair. I sat down across from Norlam and he began to shuffle the cards. Dad got up as well and sat down next to me.

"So," Norlam began as he dealt the cards, "Amy, you're going into your fourth year in school?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I was supposed to be in it already, but well, you know the story." I thought it was odd that Norlam was talking to me when this whole therapy thing was for Matt, but I knew nothing about psychology so I didn't question anything. I wanted Matt to get over this, so I decided to just go along with it.

"Indeed I do," Norlam said quietly, "But life is never predictable. Hogwarts is a great school. I attended there myself, a very long time ago. What subjects do you enjoy?"

"Potions and Astronomy," I answered.

"Interesting combination," Norlam said, seeming to stare off into space, "Interesting indeed...."

I had no idea where he was going with this. I looked at him curiously and he gave a slight shake of his head and returned his attention to the game.

"How about Quidditch?" Norlam asked, "Do you like Quidditch?"

"Not really," I shrugged. I've never liked flying, whether it's on a broomstick or a Muggle airplane. Quidditch wasn't really something I enjoyed watching either. Dad took us to the World Cup once, when it was held in Australia, and that was fun. I had only been about ten at the time.

"I'm a big Quidditch fan. Played Beater for Hufflepuff House when I was at Hogwarts. Do you know about the houses?"

"Yes. Professor Kendrick told us about them. How do they decide which house you're in?"

Norlam smiled. "That, Amy, is one of the biggest secrets of Hogwarts. Although it's never been discussed, nobody tells how the Sorting is done. My own brother wouldn't tell me. I asked him about five times a day the whole summer before I went to Hogwarts, but he never said a word about it. My parents never mentioned it to me either. Didn't find out until I entered the Great Hall my first day."

"So you're not going to tell me?" I asked. I had been wondering about the Sorting thing ever since I found out we'd be moving to England. In Australia, you were just randomly assigned a house.

"I feel I'd be betraying generations of Hogwarts students if I told you, Amy," Norlam sighed, "But I daresay you'll find out soon."

"So, can I ask you questions?" I asked.

"Of course," Norlam replied, "After all, I'm asking about you."

I nodded. I paused before asking anything. What sort of questions would help Matt figure out that Norlam was trustworthy? I was beginning to wish I knew a little bit about psychology.

"Well, are you married?" I asked.

"I've been married for forty-eight years," Norlam smiled, "To the most wonderful lady in the world. We have two children and seven grandchildren. I love them more than anything in the world."

That was good. Maybe if Matt heard that Norlam had kids and grandkids, he'd trust him.

"And do any of them go to Hogwarts?"

"Actually, yes. Three of them. One has already graduated and the other three are too young. All have been in Hufflepuff."

"What were your favorite subjects there?"

"Transfiguration and Herbology," Norlam answered, "Care of Magical Creatures was fun as well, but after seeing my teacher loose a few fingers one lesson, I was more apt to watch the creatures from afar than actually study them."

Dad chortled and shook his head. "I think if my Care of Magical Creatures professor had lost fingers during class, I would have been even more excited about the subject. Nothing scared me as a child. I think it would have been better if I had a healthy fear of dragons, though. I obtained quite the nasty burn in training."

"And that's why you went into the study of magical creatures and I went into psychology," Norlam replied.

"Er, is the professor who lost his fingers still there?"

"Oh, no. He retired a while ago. Although the professor they have now has no fear of any creature in the world. I wouldn't even put it past him to keep a dragon as a pet."

My eyes bugged out. A dragon as a pet? Was that bloke mad? Well, as long as he didn't make me care for dragons, I didn't suppose it would matter.

"Don't worry. There is no one in the world more capable of handling magical creatures more than that professor," Norlam assured me.

"Do you know any of the other professors?"

"Most of them," Norlam said, "Only one of them taught me, though. The Potions Master."

"Can you tell me about them?"

"I'd prefer not to, so as not to influence your opinion of them."

I sighed and went back to the cards. We kept talking casually as we played Exploding Snap. Norlam was either horrible at the game or purposely losing to Dad and I was some sort of psychological technique. By the time the hour long appointment had ended, Norlam's face was coated in soot.

He collected the cards, cleaned his face, said goodbye to Mum, and motioned for Dad to follow him into the corridor. I followed them since neither of them told me not to.

"I'd like to have bi-weekly appointments, if that will work for you," Norlam said once we were away from the living room.

Dad nodded. "That would be fine."

"How about Mondays and Fridays at this same time?" Norlam suggested.

"That should work."

"I'll be here on Friday, then," Norlam replied, "Goodbye."

"Bye," Dad shook his hand.

"Bye, Amy," Norlam waved to me as he opened the door, "You were quite helpful today."

"Bye," I replied. How had I been helpful? All I'd done was play Exploding Snap and talk about my life. I didn't think I'd ever understand psychology.