Kintsugi

It was Wednesday morning when Poppy took the tube out and only a couple hours later Remus and Sirius heard Alex faintly say, “What the hell happened.”

Sirius couldn’t help but laugh and Remus chuckled, “Of course that’s the first thing you say.”

Sirius mirrored his husband after he was finished laughing and grabbed Alex’s other hand. “Oh you beautiful, beautiful, beautiful boy.”

Alex, who was still confused, asked, “What happened?”

“What do you remember?” Madame Pomfrey asked as she entered the little room they had made with dividers.

“Waking up, eating breakfast, going to practise and then I saw Hermione in the stands at practise. That's all I’ve got.” Alex replied.

“Okay.” Poppy started, “How are you feeling?”

“Everything just kind of hurts.” Alex said, irritated. “Could someone please tell me what's going on!”

“He’ll be alright.” Remus smiled, weirdly happy to see his son get angry.

After Madame Pomfrey left, Remus filled him in.

“Woah! So I was intu- whatever? I had a tube down my throat!” Alex exclaimed interest in the healing part of things.

“Yeah and it was scary as fuck!” Sirius exclaimed, appreciating the banter after the week they had been having.

Remus elbowed Sirius. “What Moony! He’s a teenager! And besides, it's not like I didn’t hear my fairshare of curse words at this age.” He then stage whispered to Alex. “This one had quite the mouth on him. Still does.”

Remus wacked Sirius over the head. “He doesn’t need to know that.”

Alex smiled.

….
At lunchtime Alex had just finished eating some food before he was engulfed in the world's largest hug.

“ ‘Mione! Hi, how did you know I was here?” He asked, happy to see her.

“I’ve been coming everyday after school and on my breaks.” Hermione explained.

“What do you mean? It’s Sunday is it not?” Alex asked. When Remus filled him in he didn’t let him know how long he was out for.

“No darling. It’s Wednesday.” Hermione then asked, “Did you not know that?”

“No,” Alex huffed, still slightly irritated, “Seems like being knocked unconscious for 4 days straight didn’t seem to be high on my dads list of priorities when they were filling me in.”

“So how are you feeling?” Hermione asked as she settled into her seat.

“Sore, just sore. And tired. Its weird.” Alex replied truthfully.

“Have you eaten?”

“I’ve got two dads! I don’t need a mom on top of all of that!” Alex joked.

“Sorry, sorry!” Hermione threw her hands up in defeat. “I was just worried. Where are they, by the way. Your dads?”

“Great Hall.” Alex replied, “I forced them to go. I presume they haven’t spent much time anywhere but here.”

“Yeah, they’ve been here a lot. I think they left once and that's it.” Hermione thought about that weekend. “It’s good that you made them go. I know that they love you and all but they should take some time for themselves.”

“Yes, and you should too! Go, have lunch. Hang out with people.” Alex urged.

“No, I want to be here and don’t worry I have been taking time for myself.” Hermione replied sternly. “Do you feel up for a challenge?”

“I don’t know, it depends. What is it?” Alex asked intrigued.

“Can I get Harry, Ron and Draco? They wanted to see you and I think it would be a nice surprise to find you awake. They were here on Saturday but haven't been since.” Hermione offered.

“Of course. I would go to them but y’know.” Alex gestured to the room and Hermione nodded understandingly.

“Also, I kind of did something over the weekend. I’m sorry.” Hermione admitted, realising that this was the best time to come clean.

“ What did you do?” Alex joked, “You killed someone?”

“Your dad may have figured out that we are dating.” Hermione replied.

“Which one?” Alex asked, trying to gauge how embarrassed he should be.

“Professor Lupin.” Hermione explained.

“Oh thank god.” Alex sighed, “He’ll be subtle about it.” He saw Hermione’s expression and understood that she still felt bad so he continued, “We’re lucky it wasn’t Pop. He would just keep talking about it and cracking jokes. He would never shut up.” He held up a hand to mimic Sirius, “Blah, blah, blah transfiguration bla-”

“Is someone making fun of my husband?” Remus asked. Alex’s hand shot down by his side.

“No sir. No making fun of here.” Alex raised his hand again and jokingly saluted his dad. Remus chuckled and ruffled his hair. “You cheeky little lad!”

“Where Pop?” Alex asked since Sirius was not literally attached to his hip.

“I convinced him to go to a meeting today.” Remus explained, “We’ve been skipping out on meetings and I thought that he should go.”

Remus sat down and put his chin on his hand, “And you guys could answer my questions about this.” He gestured to Alex and Hermione.

Hermione blushed and started to make her way out, “Yeah, so- I’m gonna- uh- Bye!”

“Yeah you should go.” Alex replied. “Save yourself.”

“So…” Remus dragged out and then crossed his legs.

Alex rolled his eyes, “You are so gay.”

“I do have a husband. So yes that is an accurate description of me.” Remus replied. “Anyways, what’s the deal with you two, as the kids would say.”

Alex buried his head in his hands, “Oh god! This is more embarrassing than literally anything ever!”

“Oh come on! I’m just curious.” Remus said.

“Fine.” Alex rolled his eyes. “We started dating at the start of the year. I like her and she likes me. What else do you want to know?”

“How did you find out?” Remus asked, almost a little too invested in his son's love life.

“After a game of truth or dare.” Alex replied, purposely leaving out the potion that a friend most definitely took from someone.

“Aww-” Remus started before being cut off.

“What are we awing about over here?” Sirius asked as he came in the hospital wing and sat down.

“Nothing of your concern.” Remus filled in before winking at Alex.

“Oh! I’m hurt Moony!” Sirius said, grabbing at his chest.

“You’ll be fine.” Remus joked.

Just then Harry, Ron and Hermione wandered in the room and sat down.

“Shall we go then, Moony?” Sirius asked and signalled towards the doors of the hospital wing. Remus nodded and the two walked out of the hospital wing.

“Hi Alex.” Harry said.

“Hey,” Alex replied.

“Are you okay mate?” Ron asked, jumping into the conversation.

“Yeah, for the most part. My body hurts but other than that I’m okay.” Alex replied.

“Oh that's because Madame Pomfrey broke one of your ribs when she was doing chest compressions.” Hermione said. The room went quiet for a moment. Once Alex and Ron had put the dots together Harry was still confused, “Guys what? I don’t get it.”

“Harry I was dead.” Alex remarked, his tone cool.

“Oh okay.” Harry replied at first, after the words sunk in he screamed, “WAIT WHAT! YOU WERE DEAD!”

“Yes, he was.” Hermione rolled her eyes, “Great job sherlock.”

“Who’s sherlock?” Ron asked.

“Muggle person.” Alex filled in. Ron nodded.

“That’s quite cool. You were dead but you’re still alive.” Harry remarked, still trying to get the thought through his head.

Hermione hit him on the head. “No it is not! He could have died! Well I suppose that you were already dea-”

“How about we stop talking about my near death experience and start talking about how I’m gonna break out of this joint.” Alex said, cutting Hermione off.

“No! Why!” Hermione replied.

“Tons of reasons,” Alex started, “A. I’m bored, B. I'm cold and C. Did I already mention that I’m bored?”

“Well, I’ve got just the thing!” Harry rummaged through his bag and pulled out a cloak.

“Wow Harry, what an incredibly impressive idea!” Ron said sarcastically.

“Idiot! It’s an invisibility cloak!” Hermione exclaimed, hitting him over the head. “I’m still not sure about this though.”

“Oh! Do you not care for me!” Alex sighed dramatically. He then straightened up, “It will be fine. I’ll even go home where my dads will find me if that will give you peace of mind.”

“Okay, then.” Hermione replied reluctantly. The 4 waited until Madame Pomfrey was looking away before they threw the cloak on Alex and walked out the door together. He kept the cloak on whilst they wandered down the halls until they had reached Alex’s dads quarters. Alex turned the doorknob and opened the door. Everyone let out a sigh of relief when they were greeted with an empty house.

“So what should we do?” Ron asked, sitting down on the sofa.

“Go fight a troll.” Alex deadpanned. Ermione lightly hit him on the arm, “Jeez ‘mione chill. It was a joke.”

The group laughed. They hung around talking about what Alex had missed out on while he was in the hospital wing. After a moment the doorknob of Sirius and Remus’ bedroom turned and the door opened to reveal a freshly showered Sirius.

“Hi kids!” Sirius said before he began to walk into the kitchen. After 2 seconds he backpedalled back into the room, “Alex what are you doing here? How did you get out?”

Everyone collectively sunk into their seats. Alex was the only one feeling adventurous and replied, “I left.”

Sirius rolled his eyes at his son. Alex had his teenage idiocracy that's for sure. “Alright everyone who is not biologically related to me please leave.” Ron and Hermione began to leave, leaving Harry and Alex still in their seats.

Sirius laughed, “Okay, anyone who is not named Alexander Regulus Black-Lupin please make your way out of the quarters.” Harry stood up, “Wait, your middle name is Regulus?”

Alex jokingly hit him, “Just go.”

Once everyone had left Sirius sat down. “That was quite a stunt you pulled.”

“I was bored and a touch mad at you guys.” Alex explained, his voice trailing off at the end of his sentence.

“What was that? Didn’t quite catch that.” Sirius replied.

“I’m kind of mad at you guys!” Alex huffed. He sank further back into his seat and crossed his arms, “You guys never told me anything!”

“Would you mind elaborating? I understand you and everything you feel is valid but I think I need some help understanding you.” Sirius said, his voice still calm.

Alex took a moment to calm down. When he felt that he was thoroughly calmed down he explained further, “I feel like you guys left out so much when you filled me in on what happened. I was literally dead! Also if you would have mentioned the fact that one of my ribs broke that would have been nice.”

Sirius’ mouth became o shaped and he realised why his son was so annoyed. “Yeah, that makes sense. I would be annoyed too.”

Alex was confused, “Wait what?”

Sirius chuckled, “While I may be annoyed at how you decided to display your annoyance, I will always try to understand the feelings behind your actions.”

“I’m sorry Pop. I was kind of acting like a teenage idiot.” Alex apologised.

“Hey, you’re not as bad as I was at least.” Sirius joked, “But thank you for the apology. I think I’m not the only one you should- HOLY CRAP POPPY!”

Alex startled, asked, “What? What's wrong!”

“We need to go, like right now.” Sirius explained. “Just get in the fireplace. Allez!” (Go)

Alex did as his father said and ended up in the hospital wing. They were immediately greeted by a frantic Madame Pomfrey. “Oh thank goodness you’re okay! I was so worried.”

Alex felt awkward, “Sorry Aunt Poppy. I left myself. I forgot that you would be worried.”

Madame Pomfrey pulled Alex into a hug, “It’s okay sweet boy. No harm done.” She straightened herself up. “Alright if you could sit down, I just want to check to make sure you’re okay. And perhaps give you a potion for your pain. You broke a rib and while it has been healed it was only a while ago so it will still hurt for the next few days.”

Alex happily complied.

…
“Dads, I swear I’ll be fine! Go, get some proper rest!” Alex pleaded.

“But we don’t want to leave you!” Sirius replied. Remus, who had already given in, was trying to pull Sirius away yet was unsuccessful.

“Look,” Alex started, “I know for a fact that you guys have been here for literal days. Go home and rest properly. You know what Dad always says. You can’t help others if you aren't helping yourself as well.”

“You can’t fault his logic Pads.” Remus added.

Sirius sighed in defeat, “Fine. You two win. Night Alex. I love you.”

“Love you, Alex.”

“Love you guys too! Good night!” Alex called as his dads left. Once they had gone, he picked up a book and began reading. He didn’t know how long he was reading before he was interrupted by a voice, “Is that a Muggle author?”

Alex put down the book to see Draco. “Yeah, it is. Jane Austen. I love her. You could borrow it sometime if you would like?”

Draco smiled, “I would love that, thank you.”

They talked about school and other things mostly surrounding funny stories of Harry and Hermione before Draco asked, “Is there something on your mind? You seem off? Anything I can help with?”

Alex sighed before leaning towards Draco, “How well can you keep a secret?”

“I was born into a pureblood family.” Draco stated.

“Okay so well.” Alex laughed, “So. I think I’m bi.”

“Really!” Draco said, “That's cool. Why aren’t you sure? If you don’t mind me asking?”

“Well as a kid I never had crushes on anyone,” Alex began, “But then when I started at Hogwarts and I fell for Hermione I was like, oh well guess I’m a lesbian now. But now I’ve been wondering, maybe I do like boys. So I’m just confused.”

“Man, that sucks,” Draco commented, “It took me and Harry kissing like 5 times to convince me that I’m gay. But you know it's totally okay to be unlabeled.”

“Yeah I know.” Alex nodded.

“Hey crazy idea.” Draco started, “Would it help if we kissed? It helped me so if you wanted to see if you liked kissing boys I would be down.”

“That's actually a pretty good idea.” Alex said. Just after that Draco kissed Alex. It was short but sweet. Once they had pulled away Draco laughed, “Yeah definitely still gay. Good to know.”

“And I am definitely bi. That was- woah. Thanks. Guys are cool.” Alex commented.

“Yeah I know, I am an amazing kisser.” Draco flipped imaginary hair off his shoulder. Alex ruffled his real hair.

“Hey! My hair!” Draco exclaimed. “Leave it alone!” The two had a good laugh about the interaction. Eventually Draco yawned. “I think it’s time for me to go to bed.”

“Alright, Good night.” Alex said.

“Good night Alex. I’ll come by in the morning with Harry.” Draco waved as he exited the hospital wing.

Alex layed down and sighed. This had been a weird year. Little did Alexander know, this year was about to get even weirder.