Padfoot and his Pup

8. | Don't Leave Me

No, no, no! This couldn't be happening. Harry struggled to free himself from Remus' hold. He couldn't be here. His father needed him; he had to be there for him. "Remus let me go!" He demanded, although it sounded more like a plea.

He watched as the healers took Sirius inside the Emergency Healing Room. There was a lot of talking going on around him but Harry had eyes only for the body that lay on the stretcher, immobile, silent and covered in blood. Tears blurred his vision but he couldn't care less. "No, Harry. We're not allowed to go in there. We need to wait out here. It'll all be fine." But, Remus' assurances fell on deaf ears.

"I need to go in there. Dad needs me." Harry pleaded, as he once again tried to wrench himself free. "Harry, he's going to be okay. While he's in there, he needs you stay out here and calm down." Remus said.

It was Harry's worst nightmare coming true. He often had nightmares about Sirius dying and he woke up screaming. His father was always there to comfort him, to assure him that it wasn't real. Except this time, it was different. His horror was completely real and there was no father to comfort him.

"Harry, you listen to me. Sirius is a fighter. He's going to make it. He's not going to let something as small as a failed Auror mission take him down." Remus desperately tried to soothe the boy who was trembling against him. He'd forced his own worries away for Harry's sake. He couldn't afford to break down; not when Harry's condition was like this.

It had all started off with an Auror mission. The department had received a tip regarding the location of a Death Eater meeting. Sirius had decided to go himself, instead of sending a few men. There would be important death eaters present and he wanted to make sure that no one got away. But, one of the Aurors had actually been a traitor. He'd tipped off the Dark wizards and the mission had gone haywire.

Instead of the expected twenty or so death eaters, the aurors had been ambushed by more than seventy of them. It had been a team of fifteen aurors against them all. The mission had been successful despite the betrayal but several aurors had sustained injuries. None as bad as Sirius' though. The head Auror had suffered five broken ribs, a blow to the head, stab wounds and dark spells.

Finally, Remus let go of his arm and Harry slid to the ground. He heard the werewolf talking to one of the healers. "How is he? Will he be alright?" The healer's next words absolutely shattered Harry.

"We're not quite sure, Mr. Lupin. The damage is rather severe."

It was as though a dam had burst inside him. The tears that he'd been holding back all this while, started flowing down his face. The healer had to be wrong. His dad was the strongest person he knew. He couldn't go like this, he just couldn't. He had to get better.

Remus tried to put his arms around the boy who was now openly sobbing; but Harry resisted. "I want Dad." He sobbed. The twelve year old was truly inconsolable. Nobody understood what he was going through. Some felt it was just grief because his godfather was hurt. But, for Harry, it was so much more.

Sirius was the one constant in Harry's life. Whenever there was a problem, it was Sirius who helped him find a way out. When he was hurt, Sirius was the one who held him tightly and chased his nightmares away. It was now that he realised just how much he was attached to the man. The mere thought of losing his father terrified him to the very core. A fresh wave of sobs wracked his body. His shoulders shook hard with the force of the tears that were flowing steadily down his cheeks. He wasn't willing to lose Sirius. Not now, not ever.

Harry couldn't remember the last time he had cried like this. He had turned twelve last week and insisted that he needed to contain his emotions. But now, he was too exhausted to care. He didn't care if people gave him odd looks as he knelt outside the EHR and wept.