The Marauders: Year Five #Wattys2017

Dragon Smoke

Dragon Smoke

It was late in the night when Sirius woke up to the sound of violent coughing in the hall. It was Charlus Potter. He could hear Dora's whispered voice, "Are you alright? Should we take you to St. Mungo's?"

"Go back to bed, Dora dear," Charlus said, his voice scratchy from the coughing, "I'm just going to make myself a spot of tea... downstairs... I'll be alright, don't look at me like that... I'm alright, I just need a bit of time to catch my breath. Go back to sleep, love..."

"But darling --"

"I'm alright." Charlus's voice was as firm as he could make it.

Dora's footsteps reluctantly went off back to the bedroom and the stairs creaked as Charlus went down the steps. Sirius rolled out of bed and crept to the door. When he heard the Potters' bedroom door close, he stuck his head out into the hallway.

Downstairs, Charlus was coughing still - even harder than before.

Sirius frowned.

Charlus heated the water and poured it into a cup, dropping the leaves into the cup and swishing them about, watching them dye the water... he opened the cupboard and removed the potion the healers had given him - the potion he hadn't told Dora about... He unscrewed the cap and poured some of the lime green liquid into the cup and stirred it carefully, then tapped the spoon dry on the edge of the cup.

There was a creak at the front door and he looked up.

The Death Eaters hadn't been out front since the incident at Number 12 Grimmauld Place; hearing noises outside had become unusual again, and Charlus moved quietly through the house toward the front door, where he'd heard the sound and he squinted through the dark out the window, but saw nothing. Carefully, he opened the front door, wand drawn, choking back the urge to cough as his lungs filled with dragon smoke once again...

"Snuffles!" he said in surprise, seeing the black dog on the stoop. "Oh Snuffles!" Charlus bent down in excitement and held his arms out for the dog, who quickly wagged his tail and walked forward to accept the hug. Charlus squeezed the mangy mutt to his chest and rubbed his fingers about in the fur. "I'm so very glad to see you. Excellent timing, I've just been making tea. Come in and we'll get you some biscuits."

Snuffles ran down the hall, his tail wagging happily as Charlus followed after, beaming with joy, even as more coughs erupted from his chest, thick black tendrils of smoke escaping him. He banged his chest with his fist and paused at the kitchen table to catch his breath and closed his eyes. Snuffles stared up at him in concern.

"Side effect of the Dragon Pox," Charlus told the dog, smiling sadly. "Every now and then my lungs just fill up with dragon smoke... The healers at Mungo's dunno how to fix it." He lifted the cup of tea and took a sip. "Haven't told anyone - this is between you and I, Snuffles..." Charlus turned to the cupboard and took out a box of butter cookies. "Also between you and I," he added with a wink, and he unwrapped the box and handed one of the biscuits to Snuffles.

Sinking into a chair, Charlus sighed heavily and leaned his elbows against the table, taking up his own cookie and stirring it in his tea moment before biting into it. The tea was absolutely awful thanks to the flavor of the potion - an elixir that would douse the dragon fire in his lungs for another six to ten hours, so that, hopefully, he could keep from hacking up the black smoke long enough that Dora and James would remain blissfully unaware of it. He hated keeping it from them, but he knew how worried Dora would be, and James already had enough on his mind - only fifteen and already talking about politics and worrying about things like Lord Voldemort! When Charlus was fifteen... well, that was in the days of Grindelwald and he, too, had worried the way James did... but he shouldn't have had to. And neither should James have had to. And giving him more to worry about... it seemed unfair...