Lockwood Part 4

Nathan’s head was pounding, his eyes only just opening of their own accord, everything felt like an effort. He had managed to make it through the entire year without being petrified by Slytherin’s monster, but of course, he would be the only one to get both food poisoning and hit with a jinx that made boils break out on his face, immediately following it.

Millie, his fiancé just laughed and took him to the hospital wing, he didn’t care that she was laughing at his expense, but the fact that she was laughing at all helped him see the funny side at least. She would be coming down in the morning to pick him up so that they could spend the day together.

Nathan did as he was told, he drank a few potions and ate his breakfast just watching the rest of the hospital wing go about its business.

‘Mr Lockwood?’ He said, suddenly spotting the older Healer enter the wing. ‘What are you doing here?’ The answer to the question suddenly dawned on Nathan and his heart dropped.

‘Nathan,’ George smiled. ‘How are you? Feeling better?’

Nathan swallowed unsure of what to say, there were very few reasons why George would be at Hogwarts since the disappearance of his daughter.

‘Erm, yeah, yeah, much better.’ Nathan nodded, suddenly feeling very nervous.

‘Good, I’ve heard you’ve been doing well on your internship.’

‘I think so, I mean, I’ve been trying to pick up on what I can.’ Nathan tried to behave normally, but he could see George wasn’t buying it.

‘Well, that’s good. I look forward to working with you.’ George nodded and headed off towards a bed that was sectioned off, but the glimpse of blonde hair was unmistakable. Angelina Lockwood had come home.

Nathan wondered where Lupin was, he’d been a mess over the last few months and Nathan had heard him on more than one occasion, crying in his office. It only lasted a few seconds at a time, but he felt for his teacher.

When he thought about it, Nathan hadn’t seen Lupin over the last day or two, he was presumably away on business as he had been on and off for the last year. It was an irritation to most of the students as it meant Gilderoy Lockhart took over some of his classes and only ever talked about himself, they didn’t learn anything useful.

Millie wandered into the hospital, smiling her bright smile as she hopped over to Nathan. He saw the glint of the ring he’d given her only a few weeks before and it warmed his heart.

‘Hey,’ Millie kissed his cheek and sat in the chair next to him. ‘You feeling-‘

‘Is Professor Lupin here?’ Nathan whispered, interrupting her.

‘Erm, no, I haven’t seen him.’ Millie frowned. ‘Why?’

Nathan didn’t risk being overheard, he barely made a noise, mouthing that Angelina was in the bed behind the curtain.

‘Are you sure?’ Millie’s eyes were wide, neither of them could quite believe it. Nathan nodded. ‘Does he know?’

‘He’d be here if he knew.’ Nathan whispered, looking over to the curtain that was entirely still.

‘We all thought she was dead.’

‘He didn’t.’ Nathan cut in. ‘Lupin has never given up hope that she was out there, he told me he thought she was just struggling to find her way home. I think he would have waited for years if he had to.’

‘Why didn’t he go after her?’

‘His condition. He wouldn’t adjust quick enough to the new cycle and what if she came home while he was away?’ Nathan reasoned. He watched Millie swallow and her eyes began watering.

‘What do we do?’ She asked.

‘We can’t do anything until he gets back to the castle and I can’t leave until Pomfrey lets me.’

‘Okay,’ Millie nodded. ‘He should be back for his tutoring session this afternoon, do you want me to keep an eye out until you get out of here?’

‘Please,’ Nathan nodded, he knew it was the right thing to do. Lupin shouldn’t be kept waiting. ‘I shouldn’t be much longer, but he should be told as soon as possible.’

Millie quickly kissed Nathan and left to keep an eye out for Lupin, she couldn’t believe that Angelina was back, Lupin had lost weight and had been incredibly miserable over the last year without her and it was heart breaking to see. Nathan had told Millie about his condition, it was an accident, but she didn’t really care, she always suspected Lupin wasn’t quite what he seemed, she just didn’t expect it to be lycanthropy.

Millie went straight to the Dark Arts classroom to check in case Lupin came back early, but there was no sign of that. The door was locked, same as it was for the last couple of days while Professor Lupin was away.

She spun around and headed for the entrance to the school, but again there was no one in sight. Millie was in two minds about whether to wait at the entrance or at the Dark Arts classroom, but the sight of Professor Wales decided that for her. He had been one of her friends at in school, it was widely known that he and Professor Lupin had had an argument over whether she was alive or not. Professor Wales believed her to be dead and unless significant evidence was presented to alter his thinking, he wouldn’t hear otherwise.

‘Professor?’ Millie raced down to Hagrid’s hut where Hagrid and Wales were talking.

‘Millie?’ The burly and young professor frowned. ‘Are you alright?’

‘Professor, I have news for you,’ Millie panted. ‘It’s Angelina Lockwood. She’s alive.’

It was at that moment he shut down, completely ignoring Millie and getting back to work in gathering up food for the Thestrals. Hagrid stayed silent, he didn’t want to add any more hurt to the situation.

‘Professor, I know she’s your friend-‘

‘Was… she was my friend.’ He said and looked at Millie with a hint of fury. ‘She died in Tibet and anyone who says otherwise is just kidding themselves.’

‘Professor, she is in the hospital wing, her father is here as well.’

‘George Lockwood went looking for her eight months ago!’ He snapped. ‘No one has heard anything from him since, he’s probably dead as well.’

‘David.’ Hagrid tried to reason. ‘Why would Millie say it if it wasn’t true?’

Professor Wales said nothing, instead he turned away and carried on.

‘Professor Lupin should be coming back to the castle soon,’ Millie tried a different approach. ‘He should know that she’s alive. I saw you first and thought it was only right that you know as well. I’m sorry if I upset you, but if she wakes up, I’m sure she’d like to see you as well as Professor Lupin.’

Professor Wales ignored Millie and she felt bad for him, he was already in a lot of pain and it can’t have been easy. Millie gave Hagrid a half smile in thanks for helping her try to convince him Angelina was alive. She left and headed back to the hospital wing to tell Nathan what had happened.

‘The poor guy,’ Nathan sighed. ‘It can’t be easy to think you’ve lost your best friend, he’s spent months trying to move on from it.’

‘Yeah, I suppose you’re right.’ Millie was feeling tired from all the running around, it was all overwhelming to think that the love of Lupin’s life was asleep in the bed just across from her and Nathan and Lupin never even knew.

‘Alright, Haywood.’ Pomfrey wandered over to Nathan’s bed and did her usual checks. ‘You look good to me, any problems, you come straight back.’

‘Madame Pomfrey,’ Millie suddenly piped up in the middle of her checks. ‘Why is Mr Lockwood here if Angie’s away?’

Pomfrey stopped everything and glared at Millie. It took her a moment to think of an excuse. ‘George Lockwood is an exceptional Healer as you well know, he often makes routine visits to Hogwarts.’ It was so formal and rehearsed and neither Nathan nor Millie believed her for a single second.

Pomfrey left Nathan’s bedside and walked quickly over to George Lockwood, whispering quickly to him, he turned to look at them both and sighed, nodding to Pomfrey.

‘We need to tell Lupin, now.’ Nathan hurried himself and Millie out of the hospital wing. ‘He should be about to start his tutoring session.’ He said and together they ran towards the Dark Arts classroom.

Remus was exhausted, his body failed him more and more every day that he went without Angelina. He was trying so hard to appear his cheery self and some days he even managed a genuine smile, other days he struggled to hide his pain from anyone. This was a day where his smile escaped him. No matter how comforting it had been to spend the evening with Lily and James, nothing quite felt right anymore.

‘Right,’ he said and cleared his throat, trying to look interested. ‘Duelling. What spells would you all like to practise today? Bear in mind, the year is at an end, so let’s keep it light.’

His students, ranging from fifth years to seventh, all shouted out a variety of spells and Remus did his best to write a few of them down. He barely noticed his female admirers anymore, but they all noticed his decline in mood and they all thought they could be the one to help him. Only one person could put his life right.

‘Okay, we’ll start simple and work our way up.’ It was days like this one, where he could throw himself into work, that always seemed to distract him enough that he could ignore how his life had fallen apart over the last two years. ‘Stunning is an essential part of duelling, since you’ve all mastered disarming, we’ll not practise that one today, but I will be available all week if you feel you need a boost. As always, my door is open.’ Remus curled his hand and brought forth a training dummy. ‘Right, form a line and we’ll get started.’

Remus demonstrated his stunner as an example and guided the students individually through performing it as well. He corrected their stance and tried to give them the confidence to perform and perform well. He hated that his own stunner was much weaker these days, he just couldn’t find the motivation within himself to want to perform much magic beyond the essentials.

‘Professor!’ Someone yelled from the door, the noise startled the entire room, luckily no one was sending off any spells or behind the door as it slammed open.

Remus turned to see Nathan and Millie panting at his door, his heart began calming down a little.

‘Nathan?’

‘Professor, you have to come to the hospital wing-‘

‘I’m in the middle of teaching, Nathan.’ Remus was annoyed at the interruption, Erin had become very accustomed to dealing with any injuries on her own, they agreed that Remus only visit on her request so as to avoid any perception of favouritism.

‘It’s Angelina. She’s back.’ Millie snapped, both of them still panting.

Nathan had never seen Lupin freeze before, never in all his seven years had he ever seen the usually calm and quietly cheerful professor stop entirely at the mention of a name. He could only imagine what was going through his head, the months of not hearing from Angelina, not knowing if she was dead or alive, but desperately trying to keep the faith anyway.

A few of the students were looking at each other, no idea of who Angelina Lockwood was or just what she meant to Lupin. He blinked and suddenly found his legs, sprinting out of the classroom at a pace no one knew he could move at.

Nathan grabbed Millie’s hand and went chasing after him all the way to the hospital wing, he’d never seen Lupin show such athleticism before. He’d stopped suddenly just inside the door and everything looked like it had gone into slow motion. Nathan could hear the sound of a few other students arriving behind him, curious about why their Dark Arts professor had sprinted away without a word.

Angelina was awake, only just, but awake enough to look at Lupin through her sunken and bloodshot blue eyes. Her whole body looked like it had been starved of everything, like she had barely been surviving over the last two years. George had managed to get her to sit up and energised enough to see Lupin, possibly even talk to him for a while. He helped her off the bed and onto her feet and at the very same moment Lupin strode forward and wrapped his arms around her fragile body.

Everyone could see him crying and holding her tight to him, afraid to let go, never wanting to. Angelina allowed him to lift her a little off the floor, she couldn’t hold her tears back either, both of them letting out everything that had kept them apart for so long.

‘Angelina.’ Remus cried, his body shook so violently.

‘Remus, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.’ Her voice was so broken, hardly above a whisper just next to his ear. He could feel her weakened fingers clinging onto him, but he was never letting go again.

‘No, no, no.’ Remus pulled back a little and kissed every part of her face, he didn’t care that she had been crying, didn’t care that she could hardly kiss him back, he could feel the want and that was enough. ‘You don’t need to be sorry, you never need to be sorry.’ Remus kissed her cracked lips, those lips he’d missed and craved and believed he’d never have the chance to kiss again, those lips that whispered his name and made him feel like a deserving man.

Angelina placed her shaking hands on his cheeks, Remus could see she was losing the battle with sleep again. ‘I love you, Remus.’ She said and he felt his heart stop. ‘I should have said it every day and I’m sorry I didn’t.’ Remus kissed her again, just trying to feel alive again, just trying to feel her again. ‘And I’m sorry I took so long to come home.’ She was full on crying now and Remus couldn’t allow her.

‘No,’ he whispered. ‘No, you came home and that’s all I ever asked.’ Remus suddenly realised his own tears were getting the better of him and his voice was cracking as well. ‘I’ll always wait for you, no matter how long it takes, I will always wait for you, Angelina... only ever you.’

Remus could see how hard she fought to come home, everything about her thin frame screamed pain, he couldn’t imagine what she had done to survive, just to get home to him, but she was here and he felt like he wasn’t dying anymore, and that was enough.

Remus wrapped his arms around her body again, stroking her frail hair and holding her delicate frame so that it fit with his almost perfectly. He could feel her growing weaker in his hands and suddenly he panicked. ‘No, no, please just stay awake a little longer, just one more moment.’ He pulled back to see her deep blue eyes penetrating his. She was back and she was safe.

Angelina’s head rocked into his shoulder as she fell asleep again, she needed to rest. Remus didn’t hesitate, he slipped his arms underneath her worryingly light body, picked her up and placed her carefully back into bed.

George pulled the sheets up so that she was kept warm. ‘You might want to address your audience.’ He said and Remus whipped his head around to see around a dozen of his students watching him. Millie was failing in holding her tears back and Nathan wasn’t much better. ‘I’m sorry we didn’t tell you sooner.’

‘I don’t care.’ Remus shook his head and looked down at Angelina’s sleeping figure. ‘She’s home, that’s what matters.’

George nodded. ‘She needed to be awake, she needed to see what had happened in her absence, if she hadn’t, she might not have understood just how important she is to those who love her the most.’ Remus looked up at the older Healer and frowned. ‘Loving a Lockwood is never an easy task, just ask my wife.’ He smiled kindly at Remus, who just nodded and took a breath, wiping away the tears that had run down his face.

Remus didn’t want to leave her bedside, he never wanted to be away from her ever again, she loved him, but if he didn’t thank Nathan and Millie for telling him and sent the students away, Poppy would, and they wouldn’t be grateful for it. Remus took another breath to compose himself and went over to the students.

‘Thank you for letting me know,’ he said, but already could feel the tears coming back. ‘She’ll be okay.’

To everyone’s surprise, Millie wrapped her arms around his waist and cried. ‘I’m glad you’re both okay again.’ She said and Remus decided to pity her, hugging her back.

‘Okay, everyone,’ Nathan announced. ‘Show’s over. Let’s leave them be.’ It was suddenly apparent that all of them understood what they had just seen and Remus was grateful for it.

Millie pulled away, wiping her tears from her face and Remus looked at her to make sure she was okay. ‘I’m sorry, Professor.’ She said and Remus half smiled, shaking his head. ‘Will you tell Professor Wales? He wouldn’t listen when I told him.’

Remus suddenly remembered the hard time David had had over the past two years without Angelina. ‘I will and I’m sure he’ll be glad to know you had his best interests at heart.’ Remus assured her. ‘You should both head off. Take a wander near the lake, you’ll not be here much longer to enjoy it.’ Remus suggested. ‘And congratulations on your engagement, I apologise for not saying it sooner.’

‘We understand.’ Nathan said, taking Millie by the hand and helping her calm down a little. They both wandered away without another word and Remus went straight back to Angelina, she looked so peaceful and so incredibly fragile.

‘Adrianna will be back with Darren later on,’ George came back with a bowl filled with some liquid, he was more exhausted than Remus ever remembered seeing him. ‘We’ll be taking her home to rest tomorrow morning.’

Remus understood that taking her to St Mungo’s after everything that happened with the minister might not have been the best option, he was still looking for her and they were now certain it was for less than friendly intentions. George was still shaking, when was the last time he got a good night’s sleep? He took the cloth and dipped it into the bowl, carefully running it over her arms and allowing her skin to absorb the potion, but he was struggling.

‘Let me.’ Remus said and George just looked at him. ‘You went all the way to Tibet for her, let me do this for both of you. I’ll wake you when I’m done.’

It seemed to take him a while to really figure out what Remus was offering, but soon sighed and handed him the cloth that was warm and comforting to touch.

‘I know you would have gone if you could.’ George said, climbing onto the bed next to Angelina’s, his eyes closed instantly and Remus just stared down at both Lockwoods.

He couldn’t bear the thought that Angelina had suffered in her time away, but then they both knew it wouldn’t exactly be without risk. Remus lifted her hand and for a moment he just took in how amazing it felt to feel her skin on his again. He couldn’t find the energy to stop any tears escaping his face, so he just went about dipping the cloth into the bowl and washing every part of her skin. She loved him, she went to untold lengths just to come home to him and tell him that.

Angelina’s body was covered in bruises, her skin was pale and paper thin, her ribs looked deformed and in need of desperate repair and Remus couldn’t stand looking at them and thinking on what could have possibly done it to her. Why couldn’t she have told him where she was? Let him know she was okay and she was coming home. Whatever the reason, Remus wondered if it really mattered or if he did in fact, want to know. Angelina was home and he was no longer dying.