Saving the Blacks

Chapter 19

Carina

After a lecture on not hiding how my core is doing, I am told that I will be staying in the medical wing until my magic replenishes. I honestly feel stupid for letting it get to this point. I know how dangerous it is to hold onto my magic. After lord Black leaves, I lay there and try to picture what Rabastan's reaction will be to the memory. I don't know if I want to deal with all the questions, but I know our bond needs this. If we could get through this, then it might be easier to talk about the rest of it.

The next day Rabastan shows up and I instantly know he watched the memory. He gently sets down the memory and the device before sitting on the chair. The silence stretching on.

"How are you feeling today?" He asks.

"Better, thankfully my magic replenishes quicker than most. I might be able to be released tonight or if not, then in the morning." We lapse back into silence, and I sigh. "We need to talk about this."

"Honestly, I don't know what to say. I have so many questions, but I don't know if I want the answer to them." He admits.

"I can understand that."

"You seem to love kids." He smiles.

"I really do, I thankfully have never met a child who doesn't like me." I say chuckling.

"Is there a chance?" He asks and doesn't have to finish the question.

"Honestly, I don't know. It took weeks for me to heal, and we had no way to test."

"Carina it might not be a bad idea to have a healer check you out. While I know you don't want everyone to know, you yourself need to know. What if there is more going on due to what you delt with than we know?" He says and I know he is right.

"I have been thinking about it, but I don't know how we would do it without it bringing up more questions."

"Then we talk to lord Black and see what we can do. You might want to save everyone else, but I want to make sure you are ok." He says and I nod. Fuck, I knew the questions this was about to raise but I try to think if he was in my position. I wouldn't give up until I knew he was ok.

We have an elf go ask him to come in before lapsing back into silence until he arrives.

"We were talking, and I worry that with what she went through it could have caused lasting effects, not just with her core. I want to know if there is a way to have a healer run a complete exam." Rabastan tells him.

"Lucretia is a licensed healer. I hadn't thought of the effects on your body and agree that it will be good to have you checked out." He says and leaves to go call her. Rabastan reaches over and grabs my hand.

"No matter what the results say, I am going to be right here." He says and I give him a small smile.

"Ok, so now you know all this about me what about you? I need to know about your life too if we want the bond to build."

"Rodolphus and I are 2 years apart and we are a year different in Hogwarts. We have always been extremely close, and our bond only grew when our mother passed when I started Hogwarts." He says and I smile. I hadn't known when his mother passed, and it feels good that I get to learn new things about him. He tells me little things him and his brother have done, and I relax until Lucretia walks in. She shoos him out of the room and begins running different tests. When a large parchment appears, I tense. I knew she would see everything and there are still things I had yet to tell anyone. Things I myself chose to keep locked away.

"While I cannot tell people of your results, I highly suggest you allow me to tell lord Black." She says after taking a moment to compose herself.

"It shows everything, doesn't it?" I ask not meeting her eyes.

"Yes, while we all knew you didn't tell us everything, some of this is extremely concerning."

"What of my ability to have kids?" I ask fighting back my emotions.

"You have scarring that could make a pregnancy a risk. I would suggest that if you ever plan to have a child you take potions that should help with the scarring. I don't know right now if it will fix all the damage, but I can check again to see how progress is going. There are other things that need to be addressed also. It looks like when you de-aged your body wasn't healthy enough to go through with it and it has caused a few issues. You also show signs of long-term malnutrition. It might be best to put you to sleep for a few days while I fix the worst of the damage. Most of this will be painful to fix but it really should be done." She explains.

"If that is what you suggest then we will do it. I haven't actually seen a true healer since before I started Hogwarts. I will let you tell lord Black while I talk to Rabastan." I say and she nods walking out of the room. Rabastan walks in and takes his seat.

"She wants to put me to sleep for a few days to fix some of the worst of the damage. She also said that I have scarring that she is going to try to fix, but as it stands right now a pregnancy would be a risk."

"I'm right here. I promise I'm not going anywhere." He says and I feel a tear run down my cheek.

"Rabastan, I know what some of that paper says. What people didn't see was I was held prisoner for a month. Some of the things they did before Harry got me out, I know left damage." His eyes go wide at my admission.

"Carina please tell me they didn't." He whispers. All I can do is look down. I still couldn't bring myself to say what happened out loud.

"I can't say it. I try to ignore that month ever happened." I whisper. He reaches over and wipes my tear.

"Never again."

Arcturus

Lucretia walks into the office and I see the tears pooling in her eyes. I knew it would be bad but now I am even more concerned.

"She has allowed me to share her results with you. She will need to be put to sleep for a few days to fix some of this damage and will likely be on potions for months." She says as she hands over the parchment. I read over it and try to control my anger. She clearly went through so much more than she mentioned. While it doesn't tell us exactly what she went through, the damage speaks for itself. Many would not have survived half of this.

"Go ahead and start the treatment." I tell her as I set the parchment down.

"While I would highly suggest her go to St. Mongo's, I understand why she can't. I will say she asked about pregnancy. I warned her that while we will attempt to fix the damage, there is a chance that it will always be a risk for her to carry a child. I did not want to bring up any horrible memories, but it looks like she has already lost one child."

"Keep me updated on her progress. I saw Rabastan come over with the device she used to show memories and I wonder if he knows what happened." It was interesting that he has the device then asks about her seeing a healer.

"I will need to go home and collect some things before I can start." She says and I dismiss her. I walk to the medical wing and look through the window to see Rabastan holding her hand as they speak. I am thankful Rabastan is willing to stand with her as all this comes out. Most his age would not be willing to deal with so much. I knock on the door and step in.

"Lucretia will be back shortly to begin the treatment." I say and she nods.

"Do you know how long I will be out?" She asks.

"She mentioned a few days, but I believe that will be up to how your body reacts to treatment." I tell her and she just nods. Lucretia returns after a few minutes and has us step out of the room.

"How are you taking all this?" I ask Rabastan as we walk to the sitting room.

"It is a lot, but I told her I would be here for her." He admits.