"Will?" Kamen sat up in bed, still very much asleep and sounding very confused.
"I need your help mate," William wheezed.
Kamen groggily reached for his wand to light up the room, hoping he didn't set fire to anything in the process, "Damn Will... what happened to you?"
William coughed as blood dripped from the corner of his mouth, "I'll explain later."
"We've got to get you to St. Mungo's mate, I can't fix this."
"No," William's legs started to shake and he dropped down onto the corner of Kamen's bed, "can't go there... was doing something for the Order... might be spies..." his words were labored and his breathing shaky.
"Ok mate, you just sit there, I'll be right back," Kamen grabbed a shirt on his way out and pulled it over his head as he left the flat. "Guess it's a good thing they're not too worried about security once you get into this complex," he mumbled to himself as he deftly picked the lock to the Black residence, "now to just wake the git without waking everyone else up..."
He slunk through the shadows towards the master bedroom, damn, both of them are in there... He paused in the doorway, trying to figure out the best way to proceed. "Here's hoping he doesn't sleep with his wand under his pillow," he clamped one hand over Sirius' mouth and shook the older man awake. The next thing he knew he had been thrown back and then was being dragged from the room by his ear.
"What are you playing at?" Sirius hissed as he let go of Kamen, giving him one final shake, "of all the stupid, irresponsible...
"I hate to interrupt, but I need your help."
"And it couldn't' wait until morning?" Sirius kept his voice low so as not to waken Elizabeth and Willow, "so help me, if you came over her looking for something to drink..."
“I wouldn’t have come to get you if it could have waited.”
Sirius sighed, “fine, let me get a shirt on first.”
“Just hurry up,” Kamen hissed, he was starting to get very worried about the state William would be in by the time they got back, he wished he could have just taken him to St. Mungo’s, they could still possibly take him to the Hogwarts’ infirmary if it became absolutely necessary.
“What kind of healing supplies do you have?” he asked as Sirius reappeared, tugging a shirt on over his head.
Sirius froze, on arm still only halfway in its sleeve, “nothing much.”
“Well, bring what you’ve got, we’re going to need it.”
“What happened exactly? Is William hurt?” Sirius asked as he retrieved a first aid kit and anything else he could find that might be useful.
Kamen shrugged, “I don’t know what happened, but we shouldn’t let his mum see him until we’ve patched him up a bit first.”
Sirius wasn’t quite sure what to expect as he and Kamen walked the short distance back to the boys’ apartment. But whatever he had been imagining paled in comparison to what he saw. He wasn’t quite sure what he said, he was trying to figure out what to do.
William laughed shallowly, “Mum hates that kind of language, I should rat you out.” The forced laughter turned into a coughing fit, which brought up more blood.
Sirius shook his head as he collected himself, “sorry, I’ve seen worse, but seeing it on my…” he cut himself off.
“On your what?” William asked as he swayed unsteadily.
Sirius hesitated, not sure if he should answer that while William looked so out of it, “I was going to say my step-son, but then I realized that you probably didn’t want to be reminded that you are linked to me in anyway.” He helped William scoot back on the bed so that he was propped up against the pillows.
William would have normally snorted in disgust at Sirius’ comment, but he was in far too much pain at the moment.
“Where were you when this happened?” Sirius asked as he and Kamen eased William out of his clothing as gently as they could. They were forced to cut large portions of it off.
“Someplace I wasn’t supposed to be,” William winced as his shirt came off.
“That’s not very helpful,” Sirius told him as he dumped out the pillowcase he had thrown all of the first aid supplies in. “Here, this will help with the pain,” he tried to hand William an orange vial, but William’s hand was shaking so badly that he couldn’t hold onto it by himself. So Sirius helped him guide it to his lips so that he could at least get some temporary relief.
“We were at the Ministry,” William replied after he had downed the pain reliever.
“What happened?”
“Ambush, no one was supposed to be there… someone must have tipped them off…”
“Kamen, hold his right shoulder and arm for me… as tightly as you can.” Sirius opened a bottle of something that was acid green and smoking. He held down William’s left arm himself as he raised the bottle to the gash on William’s shoulder. “This is going to sting a little.” He made sure that Kamen had a good hold on William before tipping the vial over. The liquid splashed into the wound, hissing and fizzing as it sent up more smoke.
Sirius tossed the empty bottle aside so that he could have both hands free, and he needed them. He was barely able to hold William down, even with Kamen’s help, with the way that his step-son was trying to lunge at him, even with all of his injuries.
“Fuck it all Sirius! You bloody…” William growled as he fell back against the pillows, “that did not sting ‘a little’… that’s excruciating.”
“Think about what it would have felt like if we hadn’t given you the pain reliever first.”
“Bastard.”
Once he was certain that William was going to remain down and not try to tear his throat out Sirius checked the status of the gash. It was already beginning to heal, the skin growing back together rapidly. “Alright, now you’ve probably gone and punctured something thrashing around like that,” he carefully prodded William’s torso, “at least four ribs broken…”
“Will Skelegrow fix that?” Kamen asked as he rooted through the remaining bottles and jars.
“Not very effectively. There’s a purple one in there, something ‘quick fix’…”
“Needy Ned’s quick fix bone-healing wonder mix?” Kamen grimaced.
“I know, horrible name, its right up there with ‘fever reliever’, but it works.” Sirius took the bottle from Kamen and poured a bit in a cup, which William was now able to drink on his own since his hands had stopped shaking so badly. “Help him sit up,” Sirius directed Kamen as he pulled out a couple of rolls of bandages, “this will help keep everything in place,” he said as he wrapped them around William’s middle and the magic bandages automatically tightened themselves.
“He looks like he might actually survive the night now,” Kamen said as he looked his best friend up and down.
Sirius smiled slightly, “I think he’ll survive.”
“How bad do I look?” William asked as he tried to peer around Sirius to see in the mirror.
“You don’t want to know mate,” Kamen said as he set about cleaning up a bit.
“It can’t be that bad…”
“Don’t let your mother see you for a couple of days. She’d throw a fit if she saw you now,” Sirius advised as he packed up.
Kamen saw the emotional battle raging in William’s eyes and took the opportunity to slip from the room. He personally thought that William’s grudge against Sirius was ridiculous, not that he’d tell either of them that.
“Thanks…” William muttered as he examined the bandages wrapped around his chest.
“It’s nothing, I wouldn’t even think of leaving you solely in Kamen’s care with the state you were in,” Sirius said perhaps a bit too lightly.
William grinned, but didn’t laugh. Laughing hurt far too much at the moment. “Then I owe you an even deeper depth of gratitude. Merlin only knows what Kamen would have tried to do to me. I think his only solution for pain is a large, numbing glass of firewhiskey.”
Sirius snorted, “and that’s just about the last thing you need at the moment. Are you going to be alright if I leave? I don’t want your mother waking up and finding me missing.”
“Nah… go ahead…I think I’m put back together enough to get some sleep.”
“Right then…”
“Sirius?”
“You need something else kid?”
William moved about, as much as he could, looking very restless. “It’s just… I’ve been thinking… a lot actually… and well… you know, you’re really not that bad I guess. I mean, hell, Da wouldn’t have wanted Mum trying to raise Willow on her own. And even though I sincerely doubt that he would have liked to think about Mum marrying someone else, he wouldn’t have wanted her to be lonely. I’m not going to start calling you Dad or anything, because you’re not my father and you’re never going to take his place. But I’m glad you’re there for Mum and Willow.”
“You mean that, or is it just the pain meds talking?”
William flashed a lopsided grin, “It would be tempting to blame it on the meds, but I’ve been thinking it for awhile now. I’ve got no excuse. Unless I want to pin it on a case of insanity. Which is very tempting, by the way…” “I appreciate that kid, it really means a lot to me.”
“Go back to bed old man. Since we’re not telling Mum about what happened to me, if she finds out you’re gone I’m telling her that you’re seeing another woman.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Eric, I do not particularly care why you are here, but I want you to leave.”
Eric sank heavily into a chair, "my leg is bothering me more and more these days, I'm not sure how much more use I can get out of it. I hope you don't mind if I sit here and rest it awhile."
Severus gave his consent by not ordering Eric from the room a second time. As long as the old man left him alone he didn't care if he bloody well decided to jump from the Astronomy Tower. He set about putting his classroom to rights. Pointedly ignoring Eric who was sitting in a chair by his desk, contentedly smoking his pipe. He didn't use magic to clean. He did it manually. Manual labor was better for thinking than magic was. It gave him plenty of time to think about what an utter fool he was. "I have become just like my father..." he muttered bitterly.
The very thought of his father was enough to put a bitter taste in his mouth. Even post mortem the man still haunted him. Tiberius had never joined Voldemort's forces. He had been worse than that, far wore. He had performed the same acts that the Death Eaters did, but he did them of his own accord. The Scarlet Tassel often sent home bills from St. Mungo's after Tiberius had visited. Only a few of the most seasoned women, women who were so desperate that they would accept Tiberius and his fee that was five times what any other patron paid.
From an early age Severus had suspected that he had at least one illegitimate brother or sister. If Tiberius had allowed them to live of course. Tiberius always made sure to destroy anything and anyone that got in the way of his quest for power.
Severus realized, somewhere deep in his mind, that he did not possess the inherent cruelty that his father did. But he often confused that with other similarities that he shared with the man who had raised him. Such as a quick temper, and a tendency to look no deeper than the surface.
"I don't think you are that much like Tiberius."
"I did not ask your opinion on the matter," Severus growled as he carefully collected Dierna's now worthless robes. He thought it a fine penance as some of the liquid on them dripped onto his hands, burning slightly before he rinsed it off. He deserved pain for all the pain that he caused.
