“Let’s go,” he said.
From his manner, I quickly gathered that he was in a bit of a hurry to safely get to the house by moonrise.
As we walked down the grounds, in an effort to distract himself, he asked, “Um, that old lady in Professor Dumbledore’s office doesn’t like you very much, does she? What did you do to make her so mad?”
I started to laugh and told him about the banana incident. Of course, he wanted to know how I’d managed to land myself in Professor Dumbledore’s office so many times, so I related to him my favorite scrapes.
“My husband, Jon, didn’t even know me personally, but, as he says, ‘Everyone heard about Poppy Pope, auburn-haired hooligan!”
Remus laughed, then said as we neared the Whomping Willow, “You’re married? How did you meet?”
I smiled as I froze the menacing tree. “Well, it was a romance somewhat out of novels. I was straight out of Sospitasano, the Healer Academy, and had just started working at St. Mungo’s. Jon got there the day after I did, he had a fever that required a lot of forehead mopping. As the lowest of the low, that was my job, and, well, we fell in love.”
Remus smiled, although he looked distinctly ill. He wiped the sweat from his face with a trembling hand and asked, “How about kids? Do you have kids?”
I was silent for a moment as we walked down the tunnel, then said finally, with a catch in my voice that I’d been trying to avoid, “No, not anymore.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry!” Remus exclaimed immediately, although his voice quivered more than mine“his whole body was shaking violently as he stepped into the house. “I didn’t mean to bring up a sad subject.”
“No, it’s all right,” I told him, and he started backing away with a pained look on his face.
“I’ll see you later, okay?” he gasped, and ran into a different corner of the house. I quickly sealed the tunnel against him and started back up the tunnel. A long, painful howl behind me quickened my step and I reached the Whomping Willow in less than half the time it had taken us previously.
I took a deep breath as I walked back up to the school. The worst part of being a Healer, I reflected, was seeing suffering that I couldn’t alleviate“my little Freesia, Remus“I’d had top marks in everything (had to, if I wanted to be an all-around Healer as opposed to a specialist), but when faced with obstacles like that, there was nothing I felt I could do. As always happened when I thought of three-year-old Freesia, my daughter, my heart tightened and tears came to my eyes. It was hard, even though it had been a little more than a year.
When I’d first arrived at Hogwarts I’d absolutely thrown myself into my work, so I could forget. Seeing Remus’ suffering reminded me, but I thought now of all the students that I could help, all those I already had helped (some more than others, and I’d only worked a year). I was still the school nurse“everyone depended on me to take care of things. And that was perfectly fine with me“if there was one thing I’d never regret, it was taking the job as Madam Pomfrey, Hogwarts school nurse. Although there were heartaches, the job was so interesting, so challenging at times, that I could never get bored. And that, for me, was saying something.
I didn’t sleep as well as usual that night. I was plagued by horrible visions of wolves running wild in the school, and I saw Freesia’s face over and over. The last time I saw her, her face morphed into Remus’ sweaty, pain-ridden one. I opened my eyes and looked out the window. It was almost dawn.
I got up and splashed some cold water on my face. I’d had worse nights“I’d realized by now it was all part of being a Healer.
Yawning, I checked on the couple of overnight patients I had (all were sleeping quite peacefully). Then I grabbed a cloak against the early-morning chill and headed out toward the Whomping Willow.
Even though Dumbledore had assured me that I would be in no danger once the moon went down, I was a little worried at what I might find at the old house. I unsealed the tunnel and walked cautiously into the house.
“Remus?” I called.
“I’m here,” a weak voice replied. I followed it upstairs (the banister was partially ripped off) and found the little boy shivering in a bed with a great chunk taken out of the headboard.
I wasted no time in wrapping him in my cloak. “How are you feeling?”
“Terrible,” he croaked, and I noticed several abrasions in his skin that could only have been caused by teeth and claws. “I wanted to get outside, but I couldn’t. Pretty soon there won’t be any furniture left.”
“From the looks of it, there won’t be any of you left either. Come on up to the hospital wing,” I said. “I’ll get you some Pepper-Up Potion and you can stay there the rest of the day, or until you feel better.” I added conversationally, “A couple of boys from your dormitory came to visit me the other day. I got them sorted, never fear.”
“Who, James and Sirius? What did they do, exactly?” Remus asked, interested.
I smiled. “I’m not quite sure,” I admitted. “Since I was such a, hmm, rulebreaker as a student, I’ve decided that it wouldn’t be fair for me to pry too much into my patients’ lives. You’ll have to ask them yourself“I never ask too many questions.”
“I’ll have to do that,” he said. “Or . . . maybe not. They don’t know I’ve seen you“they think my mother’s ill.”
“Hmm,” I said thoughtfully. “That does present a problem.”
Remus stopped at the end of the tunnel and said, “Listen, I’m sorry about what I said last night.”
“Don’t worry about it,” I replied. “We have to hurry, now, the sun’s up and we don’t want to be seen.”
We soon got back to the hospital wing and I brewed up some Pepper-up potion and put a curtain around his bed so no one would notice him.
Professor Dumbledore came to visit in the middle of the day when the hospital wing was miraculously empty (except for Remus).
“I wanted to thank you, Poppy, for being so willing to do this.”
“Shh! Professor!” I admonished quietly, gesturing at Remus’ bed, where he was sleeping.
“Sorry,” he whispered. “Anyway, not everyone would consent to taking care of a young werewolf. Many people believe that half-breeds should be shunned.”
“Oh, he’s not a half-breed to me, Professor!” I said, shocked. “He’s just a little boy like any other. It doesn’t matter who someone is, I’ll take care of him.”
Professor Dumbledore smiled. “Trust you not to bother about political implications. It’s a treasure to have you with us, Poppy.”
I blushed. “Try telling Ursula that,” I smiled.
“I’ll leave you with your patient now,” Professor Dumbledore said, and left.
As soon as I was sure Remus was still sleeping, I went into my office and called Jon up to have some time together. Being more politically minded than I was, he wanted to talk about what it meant to have a werewolf at Hogwarts.
“Didn’t we discuss this when I first told you the news?” I yawned. “I just need a little rest.”
My wonderful husband smiled and wrapped his arms around me. “For just a few minutes, Poppy. You’re the school nurse, you know.”
Yes, I knew. And I was proud of that fact.
A/N: Yes, this was my first real attempt at fanfiction, how did you know? If Brunette ever reads this, since it was her challenge, I'm sorry it wasn't a very tragic life. I'm not a very tragic person. Hmm . . . I guess this isn't a very popular topic. Well, if you do happen to read it--and get all the way through it--drop a review on your way out!