At last, the ship on which James Potter was traveling docked in London, where an escort would meet him to transport the Griffin he had procured, and himself, to his father’s house, where his brother, Albus, lay in wait. The ride was longer than James could stand, for every meter seemed like a lifetime to him, even after nine days of seeking what only the worthy could find.
When the convoy arrived at the Potter family home, after what had seemed like ages to James, the group quickly began to corral the Griffin, which had recently decided to become uncooperative. James thought that perhaps the creature would respond to him, since it had relented to him, not this gaggle of strangers.
“Easy there. We just need to take you inside.” As he stroked the creature’s eagle-like beak, James felt the power and vitality of it, and that life force made him feel confident that this endeavor would succeed and that his brother would live.
Once the now acquiescent Griffin was ensconced in the back yard, James practically ran into the house in search of Luna Scamander. Instead, he met Albus’s wife, Anne, near the door. She looked pale, thin, and teary-eyed. The previous few weeks had been harder on her than anyone, especially when one considered how much she loved his brother.
“James, is he going to be all right? Is this going to work, because I”“ She did not finish her sentence, because her composure shattered as she crumpled to the floor.
James wanted to comfort her, but he wasn’t entirely sure what to say. Instead, he muddled through. “I, um, well, it’s the best chance we have, Anne. It’s all up to Luna and the Healers to make sure he’s going to live.”
From her knees, Anne gave him a watery smile. “Thank you. You’ve done so much where I’ve been able to do so little. I don’t know how I could ever repay you.”
He knelt in front of her and kissed her forehead. “Nonsense. He’s my brother, and he would do everything under the sun to save my life. How could I do any less?” James patted her on the shoulder and left to find Luna. She needed to extract stomach bile from the Griffin as soon as possible to start brewing the potion that would hopefully cure Albus.
Outside of Albus’s room, Luna stood, waiting for James with her usual whimsical smile, the source of which he still could not understand. He sighed and said, “It’s done.”
“Very good,” Luna answered. “You can see him now, if you like. The Healer’s wanted to keep everyone out, but Harry was quite insistent. Finally, they realized that seeing visitors wasn’t going to make him any worse than he already is.”
“Thank you, Luna. For everything.” James hugged his father’s longtime friend, who was one of Britain’s foremost authorities on magical creatures of all sorts. Only she would believe that a Griffin could still exist and that it was guarding the vast booty of Godric Gryffindor, even when everyone else would think both of them mad. He smiled wryly to himself. Look who’s laughing now.
As he cracked open the door, James saw his brother’s face, which glowed a brilliant shade of gold. The sickness had really taken its toll. One of its side effects was skin translucency that allowed the metallic properties of the alchemized bone to shimmer though the dermis. It was beautiful and terrible all at once.
James sat by Albus’s bed for nearly an hour before his brother emerged from his fitful slumber. “Al?”
Groaning, Albus rolled over to see who was visiting. He was ecstatic to see James. “You came back. Did you find it?”
“Aye, that I did, little brother. Hopefully, by this time next month, you’ll be chasing that kid of yours around again.”
Albus tried to smile, but the fruit of his labor was less than stellar. “I hope so. She’s only three, and it would kill me all over again if she had to grow up and not even remember me.”
“Don’t talk like that, Al. You’re going to be fine, you’ll see.” As his brother drifted back to sleep, James whispered, more to himself than anything, “You’ll see.”
He had no idea how long he had slept there, but James had fallen asleep at his brother’s side. When he regained consciousness, he watched as two Healers administered an oral potion to Albus. As a Healer himself, James understood the underlying principles of both the potion and the ingredients with which it was made. The theory was, as outlined by ancient texts about the disease, that the Griffin’s biology was strongly linked to gold as an element, which would lend itself to a cure.
Once the Healers left, James knew that now it was time to wait. It would be maddening, hoping that the alchemization of the bone would reverse, for then, the only thing left to do would be to treat for the heavy metal poisoning. It did, however, give him ample time to contemplate the incredible, nine-day journey that had brought him to that point.