A/N: HOWDY Y'ALL! I've always wanted to say that :) Anyway... Here it is. Chapter 25! YAY! I know it took so long and I'm sorry. I was busy and then.. it happened.. I got WRITER'S BLOCK! It sucked... any who it's done now and I hope whoever is still reading this enjoys it! And please review! They make me very happy :) Please! :)
It has been a few weeks since Harry and Severus' anniversary and things couldn't be more hectic. It was the 2nd to last week of school which meant one thing... final exams. The two men as well as the rest of the school were busy with preparations. They had to finished grading and make sure their students were ready for the tests. They also had to help the upper years with OWLs and NEWTs. They barely had time to eat let alone spend quality time with each other or their daughters, especially Athena. They only saw the twins in class and at meals but at least they interacted with them. The only time they saw their 9 week old baby daughter was when they dropped her off at the Burrow in the morning and picked her up after dinner and put her to bed.
All of them couldn't wait for exams to be over so they could finally take a breather. They couldn't wait to just finally have some free time again and to be able to do nothing if they felt like it. Inly a few more days and they'd be free. Their time was so stretched they couldn't afford any of them getting sick.
Harry and Severus were snuggled on the couch with Athena. For the first time in days they had some free time and decided to spend some quality fathers-daughter time together. They had picked up Athena early from Molly's around lunch time and brought her home for a quiet lunch with the twins. Afterwards the girls went back to their common rooms to start on some home work as they had a free period, leaving the other three only to spend some quality time together. It was a welcomed break in their hectic schedules.
Everything was perfect until something obstructed the serene atmosphere. A cough. A harsh cough. It came from Athena, who was laying/squirming on Harry's chest. The two men immediately sat up and started examining Athena. While they were checking her over they discovered that she had a high fever and her breathing was labored and slightly irregular.
"Oh Severus! We need to get her to Poppy, now!" Harry said as he got off the couch, being careful of Athena, who was securely nestled in his arms.
Severus didn't reply as he rushed towards the fireplace with a concerned expression on his face. He took a handful of floo powder and through it into the fireplace. When the fire roared to life with the signature green flames he rushed to Harry's side and hurried him towards the floo. They entered the floo together and as uncalmly as you can imagine Severus yelled:
"Poppy's office!"
And with a flash they were gone, reappearing in the fire place in Poppy's office seconds later.
She was sitting at her desk when she heard the floo go off. She looked up and saw the two men, faces marred with worry and concern, holding a squirming Athena who was pale and having difficulties breathing.
"Poppy, you have to help us. Somethings wrong with Athena." Harry cried as he handed the baby over to Poppy.
She rushed out of her office into the hospital wing. She gently paced Athena on the nearest bed and pulled her wand out. She swished it over the poor girl, muttering diagnostic spells. After every spell she cast, her eyes widened.
"What's wrong with her Poppy?" Harry asked.
He didn't get an answer. She hastily her wand back into her robes and rushed towards the potions cabinet. She grabbed an arm full of children's potions and rushed back to Athena's bedside. She uncorked them all with a spell and started feeding them to Athena, massaging her throat to make sure she swallowed all of them.
"Poppy! What's wrong with our baby girl?" Severus asked, hysterically.
Poppy didn't look up until Athena had taken all the potions she had gathered. When she looked up, her face was filled with emotions: concern, worry, fright, sadness, helplessness...
"I don't know." Was all she said.
"You don't know? You DON'T know?!" Harry shouted angrily. "What the hell do you mean you don't know? You have to know, you're a mediwitch!"
"I mean I don't know. In all my years as a mediwitch I have never seen an illness like this before. She is magically drained, has a high fever, fatigue, a harsh cough, fluid in her lungs and trouble breathing." She said extremely worried. "I must confer with some colleagues from St. Mungo's. Maybe they can help identify what's causing this."
"Is she stable?" Severus asked.
"For now. She'll need another dose in a couple hours." Poppy replied before she retreated back into her office.
Harry and Severus took a seat by Athena's bedside. She looked so pale and fragile.
"Severus, I'm scared." Harry said quietly, not taking his eyes off Athena.
"Me too, Harry. Me too." Severus replied.
******************HPSSHPSSHPSSHPSSHPSSHPSSHPSS********************
Athena's condition only got worse. Her fever was constantly changing, going up and down, and when it was on the brink of breaking it would spike even high then it was before. Poppy was no closer to discovering what was wrong with her then she was the day Athena was admitted to the hospital wing. The many consults with 's healers hadn't helped.
Severus and Harry were beside themselves, they didn't know what to do to help their sick daughter. They felt so hopeless. On the third day of Athena's sickness Harry lost it.
"I can't do this anymore!" He said as he vacated his seat beside his husband. "We can't just sit around whole our daughter just gets sicker and sicker."
"What do you want me to do Harry?" Severus asked.
"I don't know... try finding a cure maybe. That'd be great if you'd help rather than sit on your ass all day!"
"Sit on my ass? Is that what you think I'm doing? I 'sit on my ass' , as you so eloquently put it, at our daughter's sick bed during the day, and at night I reassure our twin daughters that their sister is going to be okay and I slave away for hours trying to find out what's wrong with her and you have the audacity to say I sit on my ass all day!" Severus shouted, annoyed and hurt at his husbands accusations.
For several minutes afterwards Harry was silent. After a while Severus was fed up with the lack of response that he was getting from his husband and reached out and lifted his head and made eye contact. Tears were streaming down Harry's cheeks. The sight melted away Severus' anger and broke his heart at seeing his husband in such a state. He took Harry into his arms and hugged him tight to his chest.
"I-I'm so-sorry Sevv-erus." Harry sobbed.
"I know baby, I'm sorry too." Severus replied kissing the top of Harry's head. "I know you're just worried, so am I. And I promise you that I will stop at nothing until I figure out what's wrong with our baby girl."
The answer to Athena's condition came days later. Severus was in his private lab looking through all of his potions, and dark arts books, trying to find an answer.
He closed another book with a frustrated sigh. He ran his finger through his hair as he looked over his notes for what seemed like the zillionth time that night.
"Okay, so magical drainage, high fever, fatigue, a harsh cough, fluid in lungs and trouble breathing." Severus rattled off Athena's symptoms. "And the illness that coensides with those are... the wizard flu, the muggle flu, and pneumonia. What potion, or curse causes all three... uhhh."
Severus was frustrated, he could find the answer no matter how many books he referenced.
"There are none. Some would of had to invent it." He thought aloud.
Suddenly everything clicked into place.
"Oh My God!" He said as he dug around on his cluttered desk looking for a notebook.
After a few moments he found it, he blew the dust off of it and began flipping through the pages. After a few minutes,
"Uh huh!"
He found it. And right next to it is the recipe for the antidote. He pushed the notebook to the side and gets out a cauldron. He goes to the ingredients cubbard and collects the items he needs.
"This should only take about an hour and a half then Athena will be fine." Severus told himself as he chopped ingredients.
**************************HPSSHPSSHPSSHPSS**************************
Mean while in the hospital wing:
Harry was sitting at a sleeping Athena's bedside as Poppy gave her another dose of potions.
"I hope Severus finds something." He said not taking his eyes off his baby girl. "I hate seeing her like this."
"Me too Harry." Poppy said, banishing the empty vials to the cubbard.
After that neither of them spoke, they looked at Athena and said a silent prayer that Severus found something to help the poor, sick baby.
A few minutes later the doors opened and in rushed Severus.
"I found it!" He exclaimed. "I found out what's causing this and I prepared the antidote."
He rushed over to Athena's bed where a shocked Harry and Poppy stood. He uncorked the freshly made potion and poured it into sleeping Athena's mouth and massaged her throat, making sure she swallowed. He stroked her cheek with his thumb and kissed the top of her head. He pulled away and looked at Harry and Poppy.
"She just need 2 more doses and she'll be fine." He told them.
"Oh Severus!" Harry exclaimed as he rushed towards his husband.
Severus gathered him in his arms and held him tightly to his chest.
"Severus," Harry said looking up at his husband tears of joy and relief streaming down his face. "Where? How?" He asked.
"Well, Love I was in my lab going through book after book on potions and dark curses and what not. I found absolutely nothing. So I decided to reevaluate the situation. I stood there thinking of all of Athena's symptoms and thought 'What could cause something like this?'. Nothing. No know potion or curse causes the symptoms of the wizard flu, the muggle flu, and pneumonia, so obviously someone had to have invented themselves and not publicized it. It..." He trailed off, head hung down in shame.
"It what, baby?" Harry asked softly, lifting Severus chin so he could look into his beautiful onyx eyes.
"It made me think of all the potions and spells and curses that I created for the Dark Lord. So I looked through my notebooks and I found the spell. I created it. I made our baby girl sick." He sounded so miserable. "It's all my fault."
"Severus, look at me." Harry said. "Now I want you to listen and listen good, got it?"
Severus looked up and nodded.
"Okay, first It is NOT you fault, do you understand me." Harry said
"But I created the curse that some sicko used to harm our daughter." He interrupted.
"Yes you did create it, BUT you did it because Voldemort asked you to, and if you hadn't you wouldn't be here today. Okay. You didn't make those assholes uses it on Athena. They did if of their own free will. Now, second, you also made an antidote for it. You saved our daughter's life. Without you, she would have probably died. You saved her." Harry told him.
Severus nodded.
"Now we're going to talk with Albus and ask him to contact the Aurors and have them track down the vile human beings who hurt Athena. Okay?" Harry said.
"Alright." Severus replied.
He and Harry left Athena's beside, making Poppy promise to contact them if she woke up. The two men walked up to the gargoyle that guarded Albus' office.
"Sour Patch Kids." Severus said.
The gargoyle moved and the entrance opened and the two men walked in and traveled up to the passage to Albus' office door. They knocked and waited for the 'Come in!' before they opened the door and entered. When the door opened Albus looked up at the two men.
"Boys, how's Athena?" He asked.
Harry and Severus could hide their relief and excitement.
"She's good." Severus replied.
"Severus found the cure! Isn't that great!" Harry said. "My husband the potion's genius!"
He was so proud that Severus discovered what was wrong with their precious baby girl.
"Dear Merlin!" Albus jumped up with excitement and embraced the two men. "That's wonderful news! So Athena is going to be fine?"
"Right as rain in a couple days. She needs to rest and have a couple more doses of the antidote." Severus told him.
"Wonderful! Simply wonderful!" He was as excited as a kid on christmas. "So what was wrong with her?" He asked.
"It was a spell that...I..created for the Dark Lord." Severus admitted, quietly and ashamed.
Harry put his arm around Severus and pulled him close in support and comfort. Albus was shocked but of course he didn't blame Severus.
"Severus, my boy. You know this isn't your fault right?" He asked.
"Yes." Severus replied, only slightly not believing it.
"Albus," Harry spoke, changing the subject. "We came here to ask you to contact the Aurors and have them investigate this and have them investigate and track down the scum that did this to Athena."
"Of course Harry." He replied as he got up from his chair behind his desk.
He walked over to the fire place and through a handful of floo powder into it. It roared with green flames as Albus spoke into it.
"Kingsley." He said, waiting for the man to reply.
"Yes Albus?" Kingsley asked.
"We have a situation, and we need you to investigate. Little Athena was hit with a horribly dark curse."
Severus winced at that causing Harry to tighten his embrace and whisper comforting words in his ear.
"We of course suspect Death Eaters." Albus continued.
"Alright, we'll get right on it. Make it top priority. What was the curse?" He replied.
Albus sighed before continuing.
"That's the problem." He said. "The curse isn't a normal, publicized cursed. It was created many years ago, during the first war, for Voldemort himself."
"Well, who created it? And who else knew about it? I mean this is Voldemort we're talking about he didn't just give it to every death eater." He asked, wanting all the information he could get before dispatching aurors to track down death eater scum.
"I did." came to the soft reply from Severus.
"Severus?" Kingsley asked.
"The Dark Lord just informed the inner circle about the curse. He didn't want everyone to know about it, he called it our secret weapon." Severus added, ignoring him.
"Okay, that narrows down the search pool. Only two members of the inner circle are free... hold on a second let me look." Kingsley said, his face disappearing from view in the floo.
A few minutes later he reappeared.
"Okay, the remaining members of the inner circle who aren't in Azkaban are Bullstrode and Parkinson." He told them.
The Harry, Severus, and Albus shared a looked.
"That makes sense. Thier daughters had an altercation with Aphrodite and Lily a couple months ago and they were suspended. Of course they'd want revenge." Severus said.
"But to do it to a defenseless little baby..." Harry said.
"That's despicable. It harm a poor infant.." Kingsley trailed off. "I'll go inform the aurors to hunt down the Bulstrodes and Parkinsons."
Harry, Severus, and Albus nodded to the man as he stepped out of view for a few minutes.
"But how could they have gotten to Athena with the spell. Even if they were tought how to perform the spell, it takes a high level of magic, no one under a 7th year could perform the spell, especially 1st years." Severus commented as they waited for Kingsley to return.
The three men thought about what Severus had said and tried to think of when Athena could have been hit with the spell. All of a sudden a lightbulb popped up over Harry's head.
"Diagon Alley!" He exclaimed. "When we went for potion ingredients two days ago. Athena and I waited in Florish and Blots and I turned around for 3 seconds to get a book off the top shelf. They must have hit her then."
"That makes sense." Severus concluded. "She did look a little pale when we got back. It fits, the spell takes about two days to progress."
Kingsley had returned to the floo soon after Severus had spoken.
"I have informed the aurors, we're on the look out and we won't stop until we have them in custody. I must go join the search, I'll call you if we find anything." He said.
"Alright, Thank you Kingsley." Albus said.
"Yes thank you very much Kingsley." Harry said, Severus nodding his agreement next to him.
"You're very welcome Harry, Severus. Albus." He nodded in goodbye and left the floo.
"Alright Severus we should get back to the hospital wing." Harry said,
"Yes, it's almost time for Athena's next dose." Severus said.
"May I accompany you to the hospital wing? I would like to check up on little Athena." Albus asked.
"Of course, Albus." Severus replied.
The three men walked from Albus' office and up to the hospital wing. They had smiles on their faces, Athena was going to be okay and was getting better and the culprits who did that to her were going to be aphrended.
A/N: WOO! Holy crap that took forever to write! I hope you liked it. Tell me in a review if you did, or even if you didn't tell me what you want and what I can fix.. until next time... which I promise won't be as long..
- A 3
PS: The 100th reviewer of this story gets a chapter dedicated to them! So review!