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Brigid, Celtic Goddess of Healing

-

"Oh god," he breathed, noticing his son, despite the blood covering him. "Scorpius."

-

There weren't many deaths suffered by the Order of the Phoenix. Both Charlie and Tonks had perished painlessly, having both received the Avada Kedavra early on in the night. Remus had been beaten pretty badly; he had pretty much decided that Greyback had won the battle between them. It was only Severus' curse that had saved him. Prior to that, Greyback had fed on a few of the DA members. Lavender Brown, Colin Creevey, Zacharias Smith and Dean Thomas (though Dean had survived the onslaught and was struggling for life in the medical wing) had all been attacked by the werewolf. The first three had also died. Fred had lost a leg, Julius was blind in his left eye, Ginny had several broken ribs and the state of her spine was in question and Ernie Macmillan would forever have a twitch from the constant Cruciatus Curses he had suffered under the 'playful' wands of the Carrows.

The death of Charlie and the condition of Ginny had the Weasleys in a state of shock. Ginny had been sent to the medical wing and was under Poppy's care, but she had been put into an induced coma so not to feel the intense pain. It was like she had been in a car crash where the seat belt was on too tightly and effectively crashed the front of her body. At first, Molly had cried herself ill when she had heard about Charlie's death. Remus, too, was more than a little upset over Tonks, despite his own injuries. Severus had him in bed, tending for his wounds as if he had lost several limbs. His home-made salve had never been used so much before. Even when the first week had passed and all Remus had left were some nasty cuts, Severus had been by his side constantly. He barely allowed the werewolf out of bed so that he could attend the funerals.

Tonks' funeral was the first one. She was buried in her family cemetery by her own parents, who sobbed the whole time. However, they were as proud as they ever could have been. Their daughter had given her life so that others could live in happiness.

The Weasleys tried to delay Charlie's funeral, hoping that Ginny would have been strong enough to see it. They wanted Ginny to be able to farewell her brother properly, like her siblings were. However, after the first five days, they realised she was still far too unstable to take her out of the coma and decided Charlie's body needed to be put to ground.

By the sixth day, things had settled. The Death Eaters found on the scene were sent to Azkaban. Bellatrix had killed herself before that had happened, having finding a way to strangle herself on the chains she was bound in.

Lucius and Severus were the only Death Eaters who escaped the life-long sentence to Azkaban. Albus vouched for Severus' integrity and Harry told the Wizengamot that Lucius and Narcissa had changed sides before Voldemort's downfall. He proved it with his own memories taken from a Pensieve. Besides, when the Great Harry Potter, the defeater of the Dark Lord Voldemort, said some guy was good, the public had no other choice than to believe him.

That trial was the only time Harry had willingly left the medical wing for he had a lecture ready for when Scorpius woke up. Despite the scare Harry and Draco had gone through, their son had made it. He might have been bloodied, broken and beaten, but he was alive.

Unfortunately, he was grounded until he was twenty, and both teens had it in mind to keep the grounding in place for when Scorpius was born that second time around.

Unlike Ginny, the boy's unconscious state wasn't magically induced. He had taken far too many kicks to the head as people moved in their battles after he had initially tripped and knocked himself out. The Invisibility Cloak hid him from the fighters who didn't see him as they ran. After a thorough investigation, Poppy concluded Scorpius had been tripped by a spell (which wasn't actually aimed at him), hit his head pretty hard in the fall since the hex broke both his legs and proceeded to receive kick after kick to every inch of his body. His skull was cracked, his ribs snapped so horribly that one of his lungs had been punctured, both his wrists were broken, along with half a dozen fingers, and it had taken her the week alone just to heal the several fractures and breaks in his legs. She had told his parents that he would need a cane for the rest of his life, just because of the damage to his right knee. His patella was shattered beyond magical reconstruction.

Nonetheless, he was alive, and that was what mattered to his parents and his grandparents. Narcissa and Lucius were given a room to stay in since they were the only ones who managed to get Draco and Harry away from Scorpius' side. Granted, the first time it had happened, Lucius had to levitate the two of them out of the medical wing and into the room Albus had given the future parents.

Poppy had been kept very busy that first week. She had to deal with parents, Aurors and Order members before they decided who was stable enough to send to a proper hospital. Although Ginny was issued stable, Molly had insisted she stay at Hogwarts. It was also collectively agreed upon that Dean was to stay there, also. His state continued to get worse and worse as the hours went by. It worried them, since the days were counting down before the full moon. No one knew what would happen. Remus offered very little on the matter (solely because his lover refused to let him out of his sight), but he did say that he was certain Dean wouldn't become a full werewolf. He was sure the boy would be saved that horrific fate and believed he would have mood swings at the most and maybe a craving for red meat. They let him attend the funerals of those Greyback stole from them.

Fred's leg took some work. It was a magical wound, which made it exceedingly difficult to treat. He, too, would forever live with a limp and a gory scar above the knee where the limb had been literally chopped off. It had taken the better half of the week to regrow the bone and the nerves (which had to be sealed off from the rest of the world in a sanitised bubble to prevent infection; the twins had loved looking gruesome process so much that Poppy had to change the spell to make it opaque, just to keep them quiet). The skin and the muscle were much easier to fabricate. The pain of it all caused Fred to be on constant pain medication.

Their sister had been put into a body lock spell, along with the coma. She risked losing the ability to walk and damaging her internal organs more than they already were if she was able to move. Poppy wanted to move Ginny into a hospital so they could properly operate on her spine, but Molly and Arthur wanted their daughter to be in better health before the transfer. They were in denial when they thought she'd be able to attend Charlie's funeral. It was far too dangerous for her.

Crispin had cried for his best friend when he discovered the other boy's eyeless body. One of the Death Eaters had cut the boy's eyes from his head and only the right one had been saved. Despite the differences it would have caused, Crispin had gone as far as to offer his own eye up as a replacement. Of course, Julius hadn't accepted this. In fact, Julius seemed fine with it, especially when George presented him with a make-shift eye patch. He promised the Slytherin a special, one-of-a-kind patch when he and Fred could think of a great prank to go along with it, or something that worked like Moody's glass eye. Crispin, however, kept breaking down and it was only after George approached him that the reason came out. As it turned out, the fourteen-year-old had been crushing on his partner in crime for years and was over relieved that he would be fine. His plight warmed George's heart. Even though he knew for sure that nothing could ever happen between him and Julius, he was willing to give his eye for him.

Harry and Draco had taken to sleeping in the chairs by Scorpius' bed. Although a proper hospital would have been better for the teen, he couldn't have been taken there. It was far too risky. So, they stayed there, watching over him. Fred and Dean were gone from the hospital wing before he had woken, scaring the two of them.

Draco couldn't help but jump when he felt his father's hand clamp onto his shoulder on the eighth night. They were so tense, hoping for a sign of life, that the slightest of movements had their hearts pounding in hope.

"You should get some rest for the night," Lucius suggested, his eyes on Harry. Draco instantly summoned a blanket for himself, but Lucius removed it from his hands. "I meant in your own bed, son. You need proper sleep. You've been here for the past three nights."

"We'll be fine..."

"Although I'm glad your future husband and you have a few things in common, I am utterly disgusted in your shared bathing habits. It has been days since either of you have showered and I highly doubt being so foul is the best thing for your son."

Harry had to admit that a bath sounded like an amazing idea. Now that Hogwarts had been officially closed for the rest of the year, no one would be in the prefect's bathroom, which would do wonders for his stressed body. "He has a good point, love," Harry admitted, his hand reaching out for Draco's. "We could do with a bath. We'll have one together, alright?"

"But Scorp...we can't just leave him...it's because we left him that this happened," Draco argued, his eyes welling up with tears as he looked at his unconscious son. "I should have stayed by his side to make sure he would stay..."

"There's nothing we can do about that now." Harry's thumb stroked the back of Draco's hand. "And sitting here isn't going to make him get better any sooner. If we fall ill because we're here, then he'll feel extremely guilty and that's not going to help him one bit."

"Besides, your mother and I will stay here, right by his side, Draco," Lucius added, watching as Narcissa entered the room. She stopped by Ginny's bed, placing fresh flowers in the vase by her bed as Molly slept in the chair beside her. Despite their differences, the mothers had gotten closer as they both accepted Harry as their son in one way or the other. Narcissa had done the best she could, actually, to get to know the woman who had been motherly to her son-in-law. She made her way over to her grandson's bed and provided his bedside table with a few freshly picked flowers.

"Unfortunately, I doubt they'll cover that smell," she muttered as she sat down in her usual chair. "What is it...? Has Poppy tried a different salve or something? It reeks..."

Draco rolled his eyes as he stood. "Okay, we get the idea," he snapped, tightening his hold on Harry's hand. It confused Narcissa, which made Harry smile a little.

Before allowing Draco to drag him away, Harry brushed back Scorpius' hair and pressed a kiss on the newly healed skin of his forehead.

As they exited the medical wing, they ran into Hermione and Ron, who were walking hand in hand just as they were. Harry couldn't have been any happier for the two of them. It was just too bad that they had gotten together properly after Charlie's death. He had known the older man had been waiting for that moment for years.

It was hard for Ron to accept that his brother was no longer there. Having to say goodbye to him was one of the hardest things he ever experienced and never wanted to do it ever again.

"How are things?" Hermione asked softly, breaking away from Ron to hug Harry lovingly.

"He still isn't responding," Harry breathed. He felt Draco slip his arm around his waist, needing to feel the warmth of Harry's body. They had gotten so much closer in the past week, needing to know that they were there for each other. "And Ginny's not any better, either."

Ron bowed his head with a heavy sigh before he started to choke on his sobs. "This isn't how it was meant to happen," he gasped, trying to find enough oxygen to fill his lungs without giving in to the burning sensation behind his eyes. The tears had been winning every battle so far. "We weren't supposed to lose anyone, Harry. Scorpius should have been fine and Ginny should have been fine and Fred should have been...and Cha..." He couldn't even say his brother's name. "He should still be here. Fucking Percy...fucking rat bastard..."

Hermione quickly embraced Ron, holding him close to her as he lost the fight with his tears. The fact that Percy hadn't been there for the funeral killed Ron inside. Arthur had been so upset with his son that he tracked him down and punched him good for what he had done. Percy was no longer considered family in the eyes of the Weasleys.

"How could he not be there? He should have died, or at least have had his spine snapped like Ginny..."

"That's a horrible thing to say, Ron," Hermione chided. "Come on; we should go put your mother to bed." Her hands ran up and down his back as she tried to comfort him. She looked up at Harry and Draco. "You two heading out for some sleep?"

Draco nodded his head. "Sleep and a bath."

"Not in that order," Harry added softly, his arm around Draco's shoulders so he could hold his lover close to him.

"Will you be there for breakfast?" Hermione asked, watching as Ron stepped out of her embrace and walked into the medical wing. He headed straight for his mother.

"I think we'll have breakfast with Scorpius..."

"You're not eating properly...he won't be happy. He's likely to lecture you about that when he wakes up."

"He better be bloody terrified of the lecture I'm going to give him when he finally wakes up," Draco nearly snarled. "We told him specifically not to leave the Room of Requirement, but the bloody Gryffindor-wannabe had to play the hero, didn't he? Why the hell did I procreate with the king of the hero genes?"

Harry ignored the insult and kissed Draco on his forehead. It was obvious why they had children together. He couldn't possibly imagine being any more in love than what he was in. Draco was perfect for him.

"Anyway," Harry sighed heavily, his arm tightening possessively around Draco, "we should hurry up. I think I'm about to fall asleep on my feet."

Hermione gave him a weak smile before she nodded her head. "Yeah...I should hurry up as well." She gave the both of them a kiss on the cheek and followed in Ron's footsteps, heading towards Molly, who was now awake.

"Come on, you," Harry whispered to Draco as he steered his lover down the hallway. "We're in desperate need of a long, relaxing bath, don't you think?"

Draco reached around Harry and let his hand slip into the brunette's back pocket of his jeans. "Yeah, I think we are, too." Harry dipped his head and kissed Draco's cheek swiftly. "I love you so much," Draco breathed. "I cannot wait to marry you and to have our Scorpius and our Lily together."

Harry tightened his arm around Draco's shoulders and directed him towards the prefect's bathroom. When he thought about how long it had taken for the blood to be completely washed from Scorpius' hair, he shuddered. Poppy had let the two of them wash it out once his head wounds had finally closed over completely.

"I'm scared," Draco whispered. "What happens when he wakes up? He did what he was meant to do. You defeated the Dark Lord...what if he's not unconscious and has already disappeared...?"

Harry shushed Draco. He didn't want his lover thinking those things. "He's hurt, Draco. He's still here with us. We're not ready to let him go just yet.

-

Severus curled up in bed with Remus, spooning him gently so not to harm his raw body.

"When are you going to stop treating me like glass?" Remus asked weakly when Severus cushioned his head on his bicep. Despite his anger towards his lover, he sighed happily when Severus started to lather his shoulder and upper back with loving kisses.

"I'm not going to let you go, until we're ready to get married," Severus claimed and Remus could feel him grinning against his skin.

"Why are you allowed to go places pre-wedded bliss and I'm not? Where did you go this morning while I was stuck here in bed...?" He broke off when the warmth of Severus' body disappeared. When it returned, a gold ring dangled in front of his face.

"Is this a better proposal?"

There was a sarcastic look on Remus' face as he turned around to face his lover. "You do realise that when I do marry you, you have to stop treating me like this. I figured you wouldn't want to marry me because of that."

"I'd choose marrying you over having that complete control of your life, believe it or not," Severus told Remus tenderly. "Would you like to be married to me?"

"I'd love to marry you, Severus," Remus responded, cuddling into Severus' chest. The potions master slipped the ring onto Remus' finger swiftly. "You are overly good at being sneaky, Sev." Severus' arms wrapped tighter around Remus' body, hugging him as closely as he could. "I love you."

"The moment Draco and Potter can be there for it, we'll get properly wed.

A quick kiss was pressed to Severus' lips. "How about Scorpius? Did you see how he was?"

"He hasn't been getting any better. Thomas isn't doing well, either."

Remus thoroughly hated learning that about Dean. He wanted to know that the boy was getting stronger and stronger by the minute, rather than the negative truth.

"A wedding would be a nice change," Remus commented fondly, his fingers winding through Severus' hair. He paused, bringing his hand down to his face so he could see the plain gold band wrapped around his finger. "It really is beautiful. I'm surprised your taste is this good..."

Severus pinched the other man's rear, silencing him in a way that was playful enough to take the sting away. "Focus on the wedding..."

"Yes, Professor Snape."

He received another pinch for that.

-

The soothing water had never felt so good before. Harry and Draco had bathed in the prefect's bathroom before since the battle, but as the days wore on and Scorpius seemed to get further and further away from them, relaxation was a must. Harry had stepped into the pool first and had allowed Draco to curl up on his lap with his back against Harry's chest.

"This has to be a first," Harry muttered into Draco's neck as he massaged the blonde's biceps. "You're this damn close to me, naked, and I'm not aroused in the slightest. I don't like our son being in a coma...it takes away my sex drive. I'm a seventeen-year-old...I'm supposed to be horny at all times."

Draco leant back, resting his head on Harry's shoulder. "All I can focus on is Scorpius...I'm not about to accept any offer you make anyway. Our boy is so far away from us, Harry. How are we supposed to cope with that?"

"I honestly don't know."

"I don't like this at all, love. I feel like my whole world's about to end. If Scorp doesn't wake up, I don't know what I'll do."

Harry's arms tightened around Draco. "I know exactly how you feel, Draco, but there's nothing we can really do about it. When Scorpius is ready to wake up, he will. Right now, he needs to heal and that's what he's doing."

"I just want him to snap out of it already."

"Me too." Harry kissed Draco's temple, trailing his hands up the other boy's chest to hold him closer to him.

-

He rarely ever got angry, so when Albus threw down his wand in frustration, the portraits knew something was wrong. Rather than disposing of the body, like he had told everyone he had done, he had kept Nagini's dead body, intent on finding out what had really happened during the transfiguration. What Nagini had spoken had been the truth. She had once been an average snake who was used as an experiment to make Albus stronger. He had used her to discover and push his boundaries, regardless to the pain she felt. Since he wasn't capable of understanding the language of the snakes, he couldn't understand her discomfort and didn't let it get to him. Even as he turned her human the first time, there were still parts of her which he couldn't properly transfigure. Certain parts of the brain and internal organs were wrong. They were still the way they originally were.

And now, she had been human enough to reproduce with one. True to his words, she had gutted herself to keep her baby from him. However, it was he who had taken her life. He had grabbed the knife from her and had slit her throat before he had cleaned himself off to make it look like a suicide to anyone who walked in on them. The portraits surrounding him were bound to say nothing of this. They weren't allowed to divulge information on current headmasters, whether if they were breaking the law or not.

It vexed him to think Voldemort was powerful enough to create reproductive organs within her. The child she had been carrying was mammal. It wasn't growing within an egg. It was living off her own body. The umbilical cord was intact within her. Her blade had destroyed most of the child. The embryo was barely a month old, so there wasn't much for her to destroy. Similarly, there wouldn't have been much for Albus to examine anyway. The child was so small that no one would have noticed a bump. She wouldn't have even started to feel the symptoms.

Albus ran a frustrated hand over his face. He wanted nothing more than to examine just what it was that Nagini would have given birth to. He wanted to see what Voldemort was capable of. He wanted to see what Voldemort's child would have been.

Although Albus had been the first to transfigure her like that, Voldemort was the one who surpassed him. He had figured out how to make her insides as human as possible.

And yet, it was Harry who had defeated him. Sure, it had nothing to do with his magical prowess, but he had still killed the greatest Dark Lord ever known.

There was nothing Albus could do. His brain bounced back and forth between what made sense and what didn't.

-

Despite their every attempt to get a good night's sleep, Draco and Harry couldn't manage it. Cuddled up together, feeling the warmth of each other, they fluttered in and out of their dreams, often jolting awake when the image of Scorpius' beaten body flickered into their minds.

So when Lucius shook Draco awake, the two of them sat up faster than the blonde man had expected, sending him backwards.

"He's awake," Lucius told them softly, trying to calm his son down. "Narcissa's with him now...Scorpius woke up and he wants to see the two of you."

It took a while for the words to sink in for Draco. By the time he swung his legs out of the bed, Harry was already standing and throwing on the closest sweater.

"That little shit is grounded for his entire life," Draco swore. He didn't even bother with a jumper and followed Harry out of the room.