Love was a mug of tea pressed into a quivering hand. Scorpius hung back and watched the exchange with a heavy heart.

"Go home."

"No—how could you suggest that?" Ginny wrapped both hands around the mug, but it was still shaking so hard that bits of scalding tea were splashing over the rim and landing (presumably painfully) on her hands and wrists. She hardly seemed to notice it.

"Because you're dead on your feet and you haven't slept for longer than an hour at a time in..." Harry trailed off, his brow furrowing. "So long that I have to count to figure it out."

"I'm fine," Ginny argued. Though she was swaying as she stood, she'd become at least three shades paler than she ought to have been, and the shadows beneath her eyes made them look almost sunken. Scorpius wanted to push past them and into Albus's room, but he was reluctant to interrupt the conversation. James and Lily must've agreed, because they were hanging back with him, too.

"You're not fine. He's sleeping. Go home and take a break. Hell—go to Neville's or Luna's or your mum's and sleep. Just get in a proper bed and have a proper rest."

Scorpius had only been that tired once in his life, but he remembered the way the smallest things had sent rage coursing through him. Albus's mum's eyes flashed in a similar way.

"I don't need you telling me what to do, Harry, okay?"

Harry's eyebrows rose. Scorpius glanced uncertainly at James. He didn't look worried, so Scorpius assumed this wasn't going to lead to a fight.

"Gin," Harry said softly, after a moment's pause. "How can you take care of Albus if you're too tired to stand?"

The hardness in her eyes softened. Scorpius began edging forward bit by bit, his eyes locked on the end of Albus's bed. If he turned sideways he could probably squeeze between Harry and the doorframe without drawing too much attention to himself...

"You've hardly slept, too."

"I took a nap during lunch."

"You skipped lunch?"

"Is that really the biggest concern right now?"

Scorpius tip-toed behind the arguing couple. He'd just barely reached the doorway when Harry glanced behind himself, his eyes landing on Scorpius.

"Oh, sorry, Scorpius," he said. He stepped closer to Ginny, freeing up enough space in the doorway for them to pass by. "You three go in. Try not to wake him, though; Victoire says he's had a bad afternoon."

Scorpius's heart plummeted. He quickened his pace through the doorway, his mind now entirely focused on Albus. His eyes sought him out immediately. He was indeed asleep, and deeply so; his blankets were twisted around him, his dark hair was sticking to his forehead with sweat, and his arms were loosely wrapped around his pillow like he'd fallen asleep gripping it. His skin was far too pale. He had narrow, translucent tubes running into the skin of the crook of his elbow. Scorpius followed them with his eyes. They led to a strange looking contraption, surely Muggle, that seemed to be holding clear pouches of different colored liquids. Scorpius had seen a photo of them before. He'd read about them before, in one of the books in the library at Hogwarts, but he couldn't remember what they were called.

"What the hell is that?" Lily hissed to James.

"I dunno...but I'm not sure I trust it..."

Scorpius racked his brains. "IB? ID? Something I...something. It puts stuff into your veins. The Muggles use it."

"What are they putting into his veins?"

"I dunno..." Scorpius approached and grabbed the outermost bag. It was full of something amber. "I think this might be dittany. And this..." he cocked his head to the right, staring hard at the sage liquid. "Willow maybe? For pain? And this one...oh, this third one and the fourth are Muggle ones!" He paused. He glanced back at Lily and James. "It's probably nutrients in one and fluids in the other! Muggles have this liquid that will keep you alive. It's like...liquid food."

"What the hell?" Lily repeated, eyeing the machine warily. "That doesn't sound right. Food is meant to be eaten, not drank, and certainly not put directly into a vein...the muggles are out of control..."

"I think it's brilliant!" Scorpius exclaimed. He was close to geeking out; he was bent over in front of the bags now, closely examining the small stickers on the Muggle ones. TPN...Electrolytes? Sodium chloride? "I wonder whose idea it was?! Hermione's, I bet! He hasn't been able to eat so this was the best thing! Your aunt is great! I love your aunt! I love your aunt and I love her books!"

"Aw," James said, grinning. "You're really into this Healing stuff, aren't you? That's really cool, mate. You should do it. After Hogwarts, I mean. You'd be a great Healer."

Scorpius flushed, flattered and taken aback. He straightened and glanced back at James.

"Well, I dunno...I just find it interesting..."

"James is right. You've got a great bedside manner," Lily agreed. "You always make me feel really safe."

James looked at Lily, wicked smile in place. "Careful, Lulu. He's spoken for."

Lily scoffed and punched James's shoulder. James tilted forward from the impact, but his smile didn't falter.

"Not like that, you—"

"Scorpius?"

Albus's soft voice commanded more attention than a scream from anybody else would have. They all immediately fell silent and turned to look at his bed. Scorpius tripped in his haste to get to Albus. He perched lightly on the edge of the bed, mindful not to jostle him, and beamed. Albus quirked up the right side of his mouth feebly. His trapped hand moved beneath the twisted blankets a moment later, and after a few seconds of struggling, Scorpius realized he was trying to free his hand so he could take Scorpius's. Scorpius quickly pried the blankets up, reached underneath them, and laced his fingers with Albus's. Albus gave another half-hearted smile.

"What time is it?" he asked. He reached up to run his fingers through his sweaty hair, felt the tug of the IV, and froze. His eyes locked on the tubes. Then, to Scorpius's horror, he reached over and forcibly yanked at the IV running into his arm.

"No!" Scorpius said quickly, his hand slapping over Albus's.

"Ow," Albus complained weakly. He seemed stunned that the cord was going into him. "That hurt! What the hell is that?! Why is it in me?!" He wrestled with Scorpius's blocking hands, managed to grab the cord again, and gave another experimental tug. "Ow!"

"Stop doing that—it's going into your vein, Albus! It's a muggle thing, it's okay, it's going to help you," Scorpius reassured. He thought Albus would fight him on it a bit longer, but at Scorpius's reassurances, he immediately relaxed back against the pillows.

"Okay, cool," he said. He didn't even ask what sort of Muggle thing it was or what was dripping into his veins. He turned his attention to the people around his bed—both present and missing. "Hi, James. Hi, Lily. Where's Mum? Is Dad back?"

"Hey, Albus," James greeted. He perched on the edge of his brother's bed. "How are you feeling? Mum and Dad will be back, they're around here somewhere."

"Albus, I brought this for you," Lily said, and without any further explanation, she walked over and emptied what looked like four dozen pairs of boys' underpants onto Albus's bed. A stunned silence settled over the ward.

"Er...pants. Thanks?" Albus said, puzzled. He made no move to touch any of them. They were not Albus's pants, Scorpius knew that much. "Er...why?"

Lily sat down atop the pile of underpants, looking very much like a queen atop a throne. She crossed her legs primly.

"You're looking at every pair of underpants Halloran Carrow's friends own. And..." she summoned her schoolbag over to them. Nobody even bothered scolding her for using magic. She opened the bag and dumped out nearly a hundred socks. "I took one-half of all their socks. Just one from each pair."

James was in stitches. He stretched out across the foot of Albus's bed, head and legs dangling off opposite ends, laughing hysterically. Albus gave a hearty laugh, but that laugh turned into a grimace quickly; he flinched and his hands went to his stomach. Scorpius guessed laughing had caused pain. Seeing Albus in pain stopped the chuckles Scorpius had been giving immediately.

"Lily—how?!" James choked.

In response, Lily flung James's invisibility cloak at his face.

"I borrowed this. You should really change your trunk combination. Thanks."

"Ordinarily I'd say it only counts as borrowing if you ask first, and it's stealing if you don't, but I'm just so proud of what you've managed to pull off that we'll let it slid this time."

"Oh, great!" Lily hopped down and shoved all the undergarments back into her bag. She paused and lifted something that appeared to Scorpius to be three pieces of emerald string. "I never knew Avery was so saucy."

"Give me that," James requested around his ongoing laughter. Lily went to do so, but James held out a hand. "Wait. Scourgify and sanitize first."

"Already did the lot," Lily reassured him.

James grabbed the strange pants and set them on his head like a crown. "I'm going to wear this during our first Quidditch match against Slytherin. Let's see how well Avery manages to hit the bludger then."

Their background conversation faded as Scorpius realized Albus was not bouncing back from whatever surge of pain had overtaken him. Scorpius carefully pulled his legs up onto the bed and turned to face Albus. Albus was squeezing his eyes shut tightly now, his breaths coming in quick, pained bursts.

"Where's my mum?" he asked Scorpius, and before Scorpius could reply, he doubled over. There was a horrible retching sound before he vomited all over the blankets—and James.

Scorpius heard Lily let out a cry of disgust, but he was too busy rubbing Albus's back to pay attention. He had little to no interest in James and Lily until James made a troubling comment.

"Is this blood? Lily—is this...?"

Scorpius felt his heart sink. He immediately snapped his head towards the mess of sick on the bed. He stared at it the darkness blooming over the fabric until his own stomach was clenching—but not from nausea.

"We need a Healer," he said quickly. He glanced back at Albus, but he didn't seem to be bleeding from anywhere else. He looked pale, though. Albus tightened his grip on Scorpius's hand.

"HEALER!" Lily shrieked immediately. She jumped from the bed and stormed out into the hall, yelling louder this time. Scorpius frowned at Albus.

"What hurts?" he asked him.

Albus looked reluctant to respond. Scorpius squeezed his hand firmly.

"Albus."

"Everything," Albus finally admitted, his voice quivering. His green eyes were glassy. "Everything hurts."

Lily returned in record time—with three Healers, no less. Scorpius quickly made to move off the bed, but Albus refused to let go of his hand; Scorpius ended up kneeling next to the headboard, his arm stretched at a painful and awkward angle to try and keep out of the way while also not leaving Albus.

The Healers poked, prodded, and cast innumerable spells onto Albus. Scorpius was too frightened to take in much of what they were doing. He just knew that Albus's hand was weak in his and he kept letting out involuntary whimpers.

"Take the willow off, we'll have to find something else for the pain."

"What, though? Nothing seems to be working. I'm concerned about how slow his progress is. With the amount of dittany this morning, and this new IV thing, he should be feeling much better."

"Do you have to talk about that here?! In front of him?!" James suddenly exploded, furious and shaken, morphing once again into what the Potters labeled Brother Bear. "He can hear you! Don't talk about him like he's not there! He's right there!"

Scorpius was gripping Albus's hand tightly now.

The Healers lowered their voices, but their efforts were pointless; they could still make out every word.

"...with the bloke who just died an hour ago, I'm concerned, because his progress quickly plateaued too..."

"Bloke? What bloke?" Lily blurted nosily. "Somebody else got hit with this curse?!"

The Healers exchanged a look and quickly stopped speaking.

"We're going to try to find something for the pain, Mr. Potter," one of them said. Without another word—and without anything being done to help Albus—they left the room, whispering quickly amongst themselves.

"WE WANT NEW HEALERS!" James yelled after them, infuriated. He glanced once at his suffering brother and then stood. "I'm going to Floo Vic! This is mad! I don't like these new Healers!"

He stormed from the room, fingers picking at his cuticles, lips pressed into a tight line. Lily hovered uncertainly near the door until Albus asked for his mum again, and then she muttered something about finding her and ran off.

Albus looked at Scorpius with a terrified expression, like he thought he would leave, too. Scorpius immediately stood and climbed back up onto the bed. The Healers had done a shoddy job of cleaning him, so Scorpius cast a few clumsy Scourgifys. They weren't perfect, but they helped. Albus shifted down so he was lying on his side, his legs drawn into himself, his forehead pressed into his knees. Scorpius slowly slid down to lie beside him.

"How can I help?" he asked softly, sadly. He knew all too well that sometimes there were no ways to help suffering people, but whatever Albus needed, that's what he'd do.

"Don't leave me."

"I won't. Of course I won't."

They lay like that for a few minutes. Scorpius didn't even try to force conversation; he could tell Albus was too wracked with pain to even focus on a topic. Instead, he turned over onto his side and fit his body around Albus's, gripping him closely, his knees tucking behind Albus's, his face hiding in Albus's hair.

"When my mum was really ill," he began quietly, his words brushing against Albus's scalp. "She liked me to read to her. I used to read to her all day long. I don't have a book now, but luckily for you, I've got most books memorized."

Albus didn't reply, but a second later, he shifted back, bringing himself closer to Scorpius. He seemed shivery, so Scorpius fumbled with his wand and summoned a spare blanket from the open cupboard along the far wall. He clumsily spread it out over them. He bent his knees just a bit more, bringing Albus closer to him. Snugly. That was a perfect word. To Scorpius, it felt perfectly snugly.

He didn't know why he chose it, but he found himself reciting nearly word-for-word the retelling of the Chamber of Secrets incident of 1993 in the most recent revision of Hogwarts: A History. Albus had surely heard the story hundreds of times, having the parents that he did, but if it bothered him, he didn't say. Scorpius closed his eyes and drew up a mental image of the pages in his copy of Hogwarts: A History. He saw a massive serpent in his mind's eye. He saw a girl who looked like Lily. A boy just like Albus. A sword, a book, a phoenix. A tear.

After a while, Albus's breathing went from jagged to even. His heartbeat grew steady and slow. Scorpius hesitantly lifted up and peered down at Albus. He had drifted off to sleep. Scorpius settled back down, not daring to venture far. He didn't mean to fall asleep, but there was something undeniably soothing about Albus's body against his, the steady rhythm of his slumbering heart, the comforting pressure of each inhale. He slipped off before he could think better of it, his mind dissolving into a series of twisting dreams that all featured Fawkes the Phoenix.

He woke gradually to the sound of many different voices.

"I can't believe I let you talk me into having a nap, Harry."

"I can't believe I let you talk me into having lunch, Ginny."

"Marriage: the great compromise. But Mum, Dad, come on, let's be realistic—even you two have to sleep and eat sometimes. And it looks like Albus managed all right. They look pretty peaceful to me."

Ginny grumbled something. Somebody snapped their fingers. Scorpius heard rapid footsteps right afterwards.

"Dad," Lily sounded out of breath. "I don't have time for this."

"Sorry? You don't have time for what?"

"This chatting. I'm busy."

"Doing what?"

"...Running. I'm going to do muggle distance running."

"She's trying to find the bloke that died from the curse Albus got hit with," James said.

"What?!" Ginny and Harry said.

"Oh, seriously? I thought you both already knew."

"No! Where did you hear that, James?" Harry asked urgently.

"The Healers..." James said, confused.

"I'm going to Hermione's office. I'll be back soon. Tell Albus, okay, Gin?"

"I will. Hurry back."

"Lily, you're staying here in this room."

"Ugh!"

More footsteps. Victoire!

"How's he doing?"

"Still sleeping, thankfully. Any solutions?"

"A couple of ideas that will hopefully be a solution. We're going to try phoenix tears instead of dittany once our next shipment comes in. We've rushed it, but all we can do is wait; we have no more left in storage here. In the meantime, I've got an idea that you might not like at first, but hear me out. I just spent two hours screaming at the other Healers and only just managed to convince them to let me talk to you and Harry about it."

"What a reassuring way to begin, Vic."

"Sorry. I want to put him on muggle opioids for the pain."

"Muggle opal-what?"

Lily muttered something about her dragon beneath her breath, but Scorpius missed most of it.

"Opioid. They work on the brain and sort of...intercept pain signals, which in turn keeps Muggles from feeling pain in the first place. Think of it like...a giant hand that catches the pain before it can register."

"His brain? Like they tell him what to feel or think? No. No, Victoire, I don't want—"

"Not like mind-control or— possession. Not like that at all. It won't edit his thoughts or anything; it simply reduces and hopefully eliminates pain.Only pain. We'd put it in the IV. It'd go into his body, and within a very short period of time, he should be relatively pain-free. It could cause a number of side-effects, especially considering he's never had Muggle drugs before and it's fairly potent, but I don't know what else to try at this point. Every type of pain potion stopped working. The willow caused a stomach bleed—it was a horrid idea in the first place, but nobody listens to me. The pain spells only worked for a few minutes. It comes down to this: take a risk or wait it out."

A silence settled over the room. Scorpius dared to shift just a bit closer to Albus; the blanket had slipped halfway off his body and the chilly hospital air was giving him goosebumps. Pulled further into the heat Albus always seemed to give off, he felt he could've drifted back off to sleep...

"And by wait it out you mean..."

"He'll have to suffer through the pain until the phoenix tears come in. It could take up to two weeks."

"Well, that's clearly not an option. He can't be in pain like this— I won't have it. What's the worst this Muggle drug could do?"

"That's the problem with Muggle medicines...the side effects vary so much from person to person. It could cause a host of issues—hives, blurry