Aunt Rose

32.

It was just after Lily and James' wedding that Dumbledore announced there was a traitor in the order. He ceased order meetings and only conducted necessary missions to keep the traitor out of them.

Rose made many house calls as a healer, many to people who were too afraid to use the hospital, even though it was perfectly fine to use the hospitals. The ministry was working with the order and it even gave aurors like Alice and Frank authorization to use the unforgivable curses.

After the talk about marriage at Lily's wedding, Rose half expected Marlene to propose every time she bent down to get something. To be fair, it wasn't up to solely Marlene. So Rose began to look for rings too.

But all of that was put on hold when Rose received a panicked stag Patronus, saying he needed Rose at Potter Manor. That it was an emergency.

She told Marlene to wait at the flat in case it was dangerous. Rose ran down the stairs and apparated to Potter Manor, running inside to see what was going on.

James was kneeling beside his fallen father, who looked sickly.

Rose thought he looked sick at the wedding but he seemed to be his usual self. But now she could see those were glamour charms doing the trick.

His skin had a greenish hue to it and scab-like sores littered his body. She knew those symptoms from anywhere. Fleamont had dragon pox.

"Oh, Merlin. How long has he been like this? How long has he been acting tired and strange?" Rose questioned immediately, opening the older man's eyes. He was just unconscious, probably from a knock to the head.

"For a couple of weeks, maybe even a couple of months. I thought it was just because of the order! But he was getting worse, I begged him to take a break. Mom too," James revealed, he looked at Rose desperately.

"I'm not going to lie to you, James. This is bad. He has dragon pox. And it's curable when it's spotted and treated early. I assume that he knew he was sick but tried to hide it. Go find your mom, right now," Rose ordered. James's face fell as he scrambled up and ran off.

Rose rubbed her knuckles on Fleamonts sternum, trying to get him awake.

He moved and frowned because of the pain. "Mr. Potter? It's Rose Evans. Can you hear me?" She questioned.

The man opened his eyes and looked at Rose and then around her, realizing he was on the floor. "What happened?" Fleamont asked, trying to sit up.

"You feel and hit your head. Fleamont, I need you to tell me how long you've been feeling sick like this, how long you've had dragon pox,"  Rose asked him sternly. Fleamont was a deer caught in headlights. He sighed and laid his head back.

"A couple of months, maybe. I don't know. I just... didn't want to admit I'm getting old. Only old folks get dragon pox! I thought it would go away on its own," the man explained. But he had fear in his eyes as he asked the next question. "I really messed up, did I?"

"It would have been nice to know sooner... much sooner. But we're going to get you to a hospital—" Rose began to say but he refused.

"No. No hospital. I don't want to die there. Keep me here," Fleamont demanded.

"You're not going to die—"