Lacerta Black -- James Potter --

21

trigger warnings: hospitals, vomiting

The waiting room of St Mungos was full of people, even in the earliest hours of the morning. She was surrounded by what was left of her family, including Andromeda, her daughter, and husband, who'd been contacted as soon as Euphemia heard the news. Fleamont was almost certain that they could find a cure if they weren't born with the curse.

Lacerta sat next to James, Nymphadora was across from them. The four-year-old observed how he stroked her older cousin's knuckles and the secret glances they took at one another.

"Are you two married?" she asked. 

Andromeda turned from her conversation with Regulus and Ted to apologize. "I'm sorry, Lacerta. She's quite nosy and likes to speak her mind."

"Sounds like Sirius," she said lightly, her voice felt strange to her. Had it always sounded like that? Everything felt so new, like she had to absorb it all in before she died. She looked back at James. Had he always been so breathtakingly handsome? 

Her eyes traced the shape of his nose, his forehead, his ears, his lips, his chin. Everything she could see, she tried to take pictures of with her mind. He turned to her with a faint blush, but her stare didn't falter. "Do I have something on my face?" he whispered, rubbing at the skin of his cheek.

Lacerta shook her head, finally turning to look at her older brother, who hadn't spoken a word since they left Grimmauld Place. He was pretending to be asleep. The rise and fall of his chest were too sporadic for him to be resting. She leaned her head on his shoulder to let him know that she was there for him without letting everyone else know that he was awake.

Regulus seemed to be the most composed of the three. "I'm as healthy as ever," he would tell everyone. "How do we know that he wasn't bluffing?"

He was in denial while Sirius was already trying to grieve. 

"Mister and Misses Black?" a mediwitch entered the room with a clipboard. Everyone stood up. "Er - which ones are Mister and Misses Black? And then their guardian can come along as well."

"That would be those two," Andromeda pointed out. "I'm their guardian, Andromeda."

"Right then, follow me!" the hospital had placed them on the second floor, where they specialized in incurable and/or highly contagious diseases. She had them sit on their own separate beds until a Healer could come in.

They didn't have to wait long before a stout witch with wispy blonde hair strutted in. "I'm Healer Makey. I'll be assigned to your case. I've been told that you think you might have a blood malediction, is that right?"

"Yes," Andromeda answered for them. "It runs in the family, but they were given an unknown potion that made it resurface in them."

"Let's see what your vitals say," she waved her wand, emitting a soft red glow. "It seems you already are getting fevers, your iron levels are getting low, and your blood is far too thin. It's only going to get worse from here, children. I can prescribe you a few potions to take daily to help, but it will only delay the inevitable. You can't cure--"

"But they weren't born with it!" Andromeda interrupted. "Surely you can try and find a potion or anything that could reverse it." 

Healer Makey looked at her for a long, hard second. "I- Mrs. Tonks, this is a difficult thing for any guardian to go through and I don't want to give you false hope. I can have a specialist look into it, but in the meantime, they need to take a blood replenisher to keep their blood flowing, something to keep their temperature down, something for when they eventually get migraines, and make sure they're eating plenty of iron-rich foods."

"I'm going to throw up," Lacerta put a hand to her mouth as she felt terribly overwhelmed. 

"That's another symptom you got to look out for," Healer Makey put a bin in front of her as she began to retch. "Afraid it's just another potion you'll have to take, but that one is only as needed. I say with the curse only just setting in, you've got about ten years at most, but you'd be lucky to make it past that."

"You're being awfully insensitive," Andromeda wiped at the tears falling down her face.

"Ma'am," Makey said kindly, "I've got thirty other people that I've got to give the exact same speech too. I'll look into a potion to reverse the effects of the first, but I'm not going to get these children's hopes up. I want them to be prepared for the worst possible outcome."

"I'm sorry," Andromeda pulled herself together. "I'm just--"

"Don't apologize," she smiled at the three. "Go spend time with that lovely family you have out there, and I want to see you sometime during the summer. I'll keep in contact with Pomfrey about how you two are doing."

"Thank you," they mumbled as they walked out the door to the waiting room. Andromeda rushed to Ted, hugging them as she tried not to cry on his shoulder.

James and Sirius rushed up to them, but she stopped them from hugging her, looking to them with a solemn expression. "I think we need to talk to one of the best potioneers we know."

"You can't mean," James grimaced.

Regulus also looked disgusted, "He hates us."

"No," she sighed. "He hates you three."

"Not fucking Snivellus Snape," Sirius hissed.