80 The Long Term Ward

Amelia opened the stairwell door and they went up to the next floor. She knew what the floor was for. She looked at Harry's hands and saw that he only had two vials. They left the stairwell and walked over to the door. Amelia put a hand on his shoulder, assumed that he could only heal two of the people inside, and knocked on the door anyway. After a few moments, there was a click and the door opened slightly.

“Yes?” A woman's soft voice asked in a whisper as she peeked out at them.

“I am Madam Bones, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.” Amelia whispered back.

The healer gasped and opened the door a little wider. “What can I do for you?” She asked as she stepped out and closed the door behind her.

“We require entry.” Amelia said.

“I'm sorry. This is the long term care ward. Visitors aren't usually permitted unless they are a family member.” The healer said. “Some of the patients can get excited if there are people they don't know around.”

“I'm here to see Neville's parents.” Harry said and the healer looked at him and the two red potions in his hands.

“I can give those to Alice and Frank for you.”

“No, I have to do it.” Harry said. “I promised Neville that I would visit them while I was here to visit my godfather.”

“Your godfather?” The healer asked.

“Sirius Black on the floor below.” Amelia said.

“B-Black?” The healer asked, surprised. “They tried to put him in here!”

“That was Bertha's fault.” Amelia said with a smile. “She thought he needed your expertise.”

The healer blushed a little at that. “Well... even so, I... I'm not sure I should...”

“I'll make a nice donation to the hospital.” Amelia said and the healer smiled.

“Any generosity to improve the lives of the patients is greatly appreciated, Madam Bones.”

“We shouldn't be long.” Amelia said and the healer used a big key to open the door and the three of them slipped inside. The door automatically locked when it closed and the healer quickly cast calming spells on the closest patients.

“I really should put them to sleep; but, they'll be up all night if I do that.” The healer whispered and led them down the ward to a curtained off area. “Let me see if they are up and...”

“That's not necessary.” Amelia whispered and pat the woman's arm. “I'll wave when we're done and you can lead us out.”

The healer nodded and held the curtain for them. Harry and Amelia slipped inside the enclosed area and the smell hit them first. Either someone had just gone to the bathroom or they hadn't had any kind of bath in a very, very long time. Harry looked at Amelia with a sad face and saw her wrinkled nose, so he cast Immobulus on the two people in the beds.

They weren't awake, so Harry didn't need to cast the sleep spell on them. It only took a moment to check and see if Frank and Alice had soiled themselves. Frank was the culprit and Amelia vanished the mess away. With them so close, they saw that the man and woman also didn't have a bath in a while. There was a wash basin there and it was full, which meant they had just interrupted it.

“Spell time?” Amelia asked in a hushed whisper.

Harry nodded and he put down the two potion bottles before he went to Alice and Amelia went to Frank. The two of them quickly undressed the two patients and cast the daily maintenance spells that they usually only cast on themselves. Surprisingly, Harry didn't react to seeing Alice naked. He felt too sorry for her and her sweaty and smelly body didn't appeal to him in the least. They put new underwear and hospital gowns on them and then Harry relaxed.

The two people appeared almost normal. They were almost in the same state as Sirius had been that morning and Harry had already healed that much. He knew they were mentally damaged as well and he wasn't as sure he could heal that part... until Amelia touched his shoulder.

“Let me help this time.” Amelia whispered.

Harry turned to look at her, his eyes unsure, so she took him into a hug and held him.

“You don't have to shoulder such a burden all on your own. I know you don't really understand what they went through. I'll help you with my magic and maybe we can fix what the Death Eaters did to them.”

“It was the Death Eaters?” Harry asked with a scowl.

“Yes.” Amelia said and looked into his bright green eyes. “They were tortured with the Cruciatus Curse after you-know-who disappeared ten years ago.”

Harry's eyes grew hard with determination and he gave her a nod.

“That's my boy.” Amelia whispered and eased her hold enough for him to turn around. She tightened her embrace again when he took out the philosopher's stone.

“It's just like apparating.” Harry whispered and Amelia understood. She concentrated on sharing with him to help as much as she could, which was a lot, and Harry shivered as the stone glowed brightly. He took control of all that magic and touched the stone to Alice's forehead. The both of them included her in the sharing magic and they both felt Alice's magic was perfectly fine. It was just held back by the damaged mind, so they did their best to concentrate on that.

Harry had used the healing energy before to fix Sirius' body and his damaged magic, so this time he fixed the body and Amelia helped concentrate on the damaged brain. She knew the majority of the healing needed to go there, so the ripples that spread out and fixed the body, quickly returned to Alice's head and folded inside to her brain.

They both fervently wished for Alice to be fully healed. Harry especially, because he knew that if Neville had a chance to get his mother back, he would do anything for it. Anything.

When the ripples of healing finally stopped and the stone's glow faded, Harry cancelled the Immobulus spell and they waited for several minutes. All they could hear was Alice's even breathing, so Amelia pointed to the potion. Harry nodded and handed one to her and she popped it open to slowly pour a bit of it into Alice's mouth.

“Drink up, Alice.” Amelia whispered.

Thankfully, Alice complied and swallowed it instead of spitting it out. Amelia fed her the rest of it and nodded to Harry. He knew that enough time had passed for the both of them to rest between doing it again, so they went to Frank's bed and Amelia hugged Harry tightly. They repeated the same thing with him and fervently wished for him to be healed. Amelia gave him the potion after urging him to drink as well.

Harry tucked the wrapped stone into his pocket and Amelia put her arms around him and held him as the two of them waited... and waited... and waited some more. Both Frank and Alice were breathing normally and hadn't woken up.

“It might take a while.” Amelia cautioned and gave Harry a squeeze. “They probably haven't had a good night's sleep in years.”

Harry nodded and picked up the two empty vials. “Let's go back down to see Sirius.”

Amelia reached out through the curtain and gave the healer a wave. Silence seemed to descend across the ward and the healer came over to them.

“Oh! You didn't have to tend to them.” The healer said as she immediately saw that Alice and Frank had been scrubbed clean. “I was just about to do it.”

“We didn't want them to wake up and not be clean.” Amelia said. “They slept the entire time, though.”

“Aww, I'm sorry.” The healer said and looked down at Harry. “You went through all the trouble to come and see them and they didn't see you.”

“That's okay.” Harry said with a smile. “Neville will be showing up later with his grandmother.”

“What makes you think that?” The healer asked, curious. The Longbottoms usually only visited on special occasions.

“I wished for him to have his parents back.” Harry said. “Amelia helped, too.”

The healer smiled and couldn't help patting the handsome boy's head. “That was very nice of you.”

“We should go.” Amelia said and the healer nodded. She led them across the ward and unlocked the door. They left and went down the stairs to the third floor and Room 303.

“It's not possible.” Healer Ela said as they entered the room. “How can you be fine?!?”

“I've already told you. It was my brilliant godson.” Sirius said as he sat on the bed, quite happy as Healer Ela performed several spells on him. “I'm pretty sure I was just a test subject, though.”

“More like proof, I think.” Amelia said with a smile.

“Ah, there he is!” Sirius said and pat the bed beside him. “Come here and tell me where you went.”

Harry walked over and sat on the bed. “I went upstairs to see the Longbottoms.”

“Frank and Alice are here?” Sirius asked, concern in his voice. “Wait, you said upstairs? They're in the long term care ward?”

Harry nodded.

“They've been there for nearly as long as you've been in prison.” Amelia said.

Sirius scowled angrily. “It was the Death Eaters, wasn't it?”

“With the Cruciatus Curse.”

Sirius' face lost the anger and went right to sadness. “Oh, no.”

“It's all right.” Harry said and took Sirius' hand. “We wished for Neville to get his parents back, just like I wished for you to get better.”

Sirius looked at Amelia, who nodded, so he smiled and squeezed Harry's hand. “Then I look forward to seeing them back up and about soon.”

“What about you?” Amelia asked.

“I wanted to get changed and leave right away.” Sirius said and gave Healer Ela a stern look. “Someone said that they won't let me go.”

Amelia chuckled when she caught the undertone of those words. “I suppose you should stick around for at least another day, just to make sure you're all right.”

“That's what she said.” Sirius said and nodded at the flummoxed healer that was rubbing her chin and muttering to herself. “I told her that I won't allow anyone else to examine me, either.”

Amelia looked at Harry and saw his happy face, so she knew he completely missed the personal interaction between his godfather and the healer. “You need to rest, especially if you're planning on leaving soon.” She said. “Do you even know where you're going?”

“No, and I don't know what the state of my savings are, especially if the Ministry confiscated my vault while I was in prison.” Sirius said.

“They can do that?” Harry asked, surprised.

“It's the Ministry. They can do whatever they like.” Sirius said. “I was a hardened criminal, according to them.”

“But... you were innocent.” Harry said and looked at Amelia.

“I was only an Auror ten years ago and I wasn't involved in Sirius' case until just recently.” Amelia said. “I can't speak of the state of your affairs, only that I was the one that overrode the Minister's piddly settlement for your wrongful incarceration.”

“What settlement?” Sirius asked.

Amelia sighed. “They just put a bunch of papers in front of you to sign in the prison and didn't explain at all, did they?”

“I... don't remember.” Sirius said with a frown. “How long ago was that?”

“It's not surprising that you can't remember.” Healer Ela said. “I doubt you remember anything from that first week before they got you set up here and we started treating you.”

“Regardless, you need to stay here until you do get someone to look into your banking situation.” Amelia said. “I'd suggest getting someone from the bank to...”

“Griphook takes care of my account and he even got back the money that's been taken from my vault without my permission.” Harry said.

“What?!?” Sirius stared at Harry. “Say that again!”

Harry explained to his godfather about the banking situation and the mess it was, while Amelia nodded in agreement, letting Sirius know that she knew, too.

“I'm going to strangle the old bastard.” Sirius said.

“You are going to strangle the most powerful wizard of our time?” Amelia asked and Sirius glared at her. “You better not try, since Harry worked so hard to get you back and out of prison.”

“Harry?” Sirius asked.

“He was the one to tell Bertha about Pettegrew.” Amelia said. “Otherwise...”

“Dumbledore would have covered it all up.” Sirius said and nodded. “All right. I'll stay here for now and keep Healer Ela company.” He said and saw the woman react with surprise. “I'll need to send some letters to the bank and Ollivander's.”

“That's a good choice.” Amelia said. She had seen Healer Ela's reaction, too. She checked her timepiece and smiled. “Harry, we need to go get Susan.”

“Okay.” Harry said and put the empty vials into his trunk, along with the cloth wrapped stone, and picked the trunk up. “See you next week.”

“It might not be here.” Sirius said. “Depending on how things go...”

“Tell Griphook that he can give you living expenses from my vault if you need them.” Harry said and gave his godfather a hug. He liked that he no longer felt like a bag of bones. “He'll send a message to me for confirmation.”

Sirius chuckled. “Smart lad. Smart.”

“See you later.” Harry said and waved at the healer, then he and Amelia left. They had some fun and exciting training to get to.