Regained Moments

Chapter 17

"Give me my kid." James was in the Hospital Wing almost the same moment Harry arrived in the glass cage. His gaze was cold and his hand was out as though expecting her to hand over something like a key, not that Harry's glass cage had a key. 

"Mr Potter, I know this is a bad situation, but I still need to test it before I release them to you." Mme Pomfrey shook her head at him. 

"I already have tested it, they're fine around my magic and it's better than caging them!" James was getting frustrated, even more so than he already was, with the constant repetition he was forced in to. 

"Mr Potter," Mme Pomfrey's voice was very firm as she raised her eyebrows at James. "I am not suggesting that they are absorbing you magic, but there are more things to check about the way your magic interacts with them." 

"Such as?" James was tired, he had used a lot of magic back at St Mungo's, and all he wanted was to be with Harry and know they were safe. 

"Just because they are safe with your magic doesn't mean they are safe with everyone else. I need to be sure they will be safe out of the cage with you and not that it would be safer for you to enter to be with them when you can." Mme Pomfrey shook her head sadly. It was definitely not a situation that nobody in the castle was used to. 

"The healer at St Mungo's said that Hogwarts itself would manage the magic around them." James argued, he was acting rather like everyone else was an enemy to him. 

"With the number of people in Hogwarts that would only be possible if Harry was never in the halls when people were passing through, or in a full classroom. Only in rooms with 1 or 2 people. That's why I need to check how your magic interacts with theirs." Mme Pomfrey continued to speak calmly, she understood why James was so angry, but feeding it or reacting to it was not going to help anything. 

"Fine, I just have to pour my magic into the cage, right?" James marched over, looking at Harry in concern as the child still seemed to be sleeping peacefully. 

Hopefully they would be out of the cage when they woke up. 

"Yes, don't start until I tell you to." Mme Pomfrey turned her back on James to get the measurement tool. 

"I'm sorry, Baby," James whispered, leaning his head on the glass, wishing he could just hold Harry. "I'll get you out of there soon." 

"You can start now." 

It was unclear is Mme Pomfrey had heard him, but regardless it was a private moment between Harry and James and none of her business. If she had heard it she didn't make it known. 

James did the same as he had in St Mungo's, it was less magic pushed in this time than last time, but it was still enough to see the interaction. James could still feel the flow of his own magic, but this time both he and Mme Pomfrey kept track of it for longer. 

As James' magic reached Harry it formed a barrier around the child. 

Cautiously, Mme Pomfrey added some of her own magic to the cage, but James' magic prevented it from reaching Harry. Her magic was, unfortunately in this case, once that was easily absorbed for all kinds of students, and in cases like Harry that was only more likely. If her magic wasn't absorbed that meant that nobody's would be. 

"Like I said, they can be on their own or with very few people, otherwise keep them close to you at all times." Mme Pomfrey put the measurement tool away, hoping that she wouldn't see them both for a while. 

For how big of a deal it had become, the cage was surprisingly easy to open. Mme Pomfrey ran her hand along the glass of the cage, and it opened, Harry's nose twitching in the sudden breeze as the air rushed in. 

"Harry!" James rushed in, pulling Harry into his arms. 

Harry was still asleep, whatever the healer gave them still working. The only positive James could think of in this situation was that Harry had never woken up in the cage. They never needed to know about the cage situation in any detail. Of course he would tell them about their situation with magic so they can be careful, but a traumatised, abused child doesn't need to know they were caged like an animal. 

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"I'm sorry Harry," James put the child down, though they tried to keep a hold on his robes. "Just for tonight I need you to stay with Professor McGonagall. I will be back by the morning, but don't wait up, okay?" 

It was the first time since the incident of Harry absorbing the Sprite that the two were apart, James insisting on keeping Harry in his arms the whole time. It had taken 2 days for James to calm down, but the two Potters were never far apart. Now though, a week later, James was leaving Harry alone. 

"Why?" Harry looked up at James, his green eyes big and full of tears. "Did- did I do something wrong?" 

"No, Baby, you haven't done anything wrong. This is a private thing that I have to do every now and then. Please be good for Professor McGonagall, alright? Go to bed when she tells you and try to get some sleep. I'll be back tomorrow." James took Harry's hands off his robes, kissing the top of their head. 

"Don't get into too much trouble." Professor McGonagall looked down her nose at James. 

Officially she wasn't supposed to know what James and the rest of the Marauders were doing, but then again, how hard was it to guess that her students who didn't seem to be capable of shutting up, even when they knew it was inappropriate, suddenly went silent? How was she not supposed to know that the "purely hypothetical" questions were preparations for their own plans? 

She could only help by pretending not to know and helping to keep Harry out of the dangerous situation. 

"Moi? Trouble? You wound me professor?" James grinned, waving as he left. 

James had to take a deep breath to steady himself when the door closed. It was almost uncomfortable to walk around without the weight of Harry in his arms. 

"You coming?" Peter looked annoyed as he and Sirius waited for James to come. 

"Jeez, Wormtail, what do you think he's doing? Dropping a bowl? It's his kid who's going through stuff." Sirius rolled his eyes at Peter, a half smile at James. "You alright, Prongs?" 

"Yeah, just..." James looked back over his shoulder at the door, it was quiet, but perhaps he wished he could hear Harry calling for him. 

"Come on, you won't have time to think about them, but we need to get going." 

"I know." James pulled the invisibility cloak out of his back pocket and they covered themselves in it.