Growing up Pureblooded

Aries Awakens

Aries woke up in the middle of the night to find himself lying in one of the beds of the Hogwarts infirmary. Sirius was propped up in a chair by the side of the bed, snoring loudly. He looked awful, as though he had hardly slept in days. Aries felt a twinge of guilt that he had made his dad worry so. He blinked his eyes several times to clear his vision and tried to sit up in bed, only to be hit by a sudden burst of pain.

"Ouch," he moaned, and collapsed on his pillow, deciding not to try that again. Sirius stirred at the sound. His eyes opened slightly, but as soon as he saw Aries he became fully alert. "Har-ries!" he exclaimed, barely catching himself before he blurted out Aries's birth name. The tongue-lashing he had got from Clytemnestra after the previous incident had made the wizard resolve to be much more cautious, even at two o'clock in the morning. "You're awake. How do you feel?"

"Horrible," Harry croaked. "Like a herd of hippogriffs spent the night in my skull." He managed a half-smirk. "But I'll bet I don't feel half as bad as you look." Sirius shook his head. "You cheeky prat. Can't you be awake for an entire minute without mouthing off?" "Not really," Aries replied, and then broke into a coughing fit. "I think I get it from my dad." "You may be right about that," Sirius admitted.

"How long have I been asleep?" Aries asked. Judging from how exhausted Sirius looked, he would have guessed that it had to have been three or four days. Quirrell's curse must have been quite nasty. "Just over three weeks," Sirius said. Aries's eyes went wide. "Three weeks?" His dad nodded. "We were worried you mightn't wake up at all. You were totally unresponsive for the longest time. Nothing Madam Pomfrey tried seemed to work." "How did she eventually make her breakthrough?" Aries asked. He had always been interested in how Healers managed to find cures for unknown curses.

Sirius shifted nervously. "She didn't, son. Actually, Aunt Cassiopeia and Uncle Marius figured it out." "Uncle Marius?" Aries looked confused. "But he can't do magic." "You're wrong, Aries," Sirius said quietly. "He did the only magic that could cure you." Aries gave Sirius a hard stare. He could tell his dad was hiding something from him. "What happened, Dad?" Sirius took a deep breath. "Uncle Marius found a Dark spell that could transfer a curse from one person to another. He had Aunt Cassiopeia transfer your curse to him."

Aries sat up straight, ignoring the pain. "Uncle Marius took my curse?" That was terrible news. Aries couldn't bear the thought of his great-uncle suffering. "Where is he? I have to get to my trunk. I can fix it." Sirius shook his head sadly and placed his hand on Harry, stopping him from getting out of bed. "No, Aries, you can't." "You don't understand," Aries protested, fighting against his dad's arm. "I can! I..." Sirius pulled Aries into a tight embrace, and the boy stopped struggling and fell silent. "No magic can bring back the dead, son." "NO!" Aries cried out. "He can't be dead. Where is he? I've got to see him." "He's gone, Aries," Sirius whispered. Aries pressed his face into his dad's robes and cried.

Early the next morning Draco burst through the doors of the infirmary to find his uncle and cousin sitting up and talking soberly. "Aries!" Draco exclaimed. "Thank God you're all right. I've been worried sick." "Good morning, Draco," Aries said quietly. "I suppose you've been told about Uncle Marius," Draco said. Aries nodded curtly. "I'm sorry. I know you really cared about him." "Not nearly so much as he cared about me," Aries replied, his face a stony mask. He paused. "Dad, could you give me and Draco a moment to talk?" "No problem, Aries," Sirius said, and rose to his feet. "I'll just go find Professor McGonagall and gather your things from your dormitory."

After Sirius left, Aries turned to his cousin. "Why didn't you use it, Draco?" he demanded in a harsh whisper. "There was no need for Uncle Marius to die." "It was locked in your trunk, Aries," his cousin replied defensively. "I did my best to get it out, but there was no way to do it. I thought about telling Sirius, but you didn't want any of the adults to know." "You could have told him after you found out what Uncle Marius had done," Aries pointed out. Draco shook his head. "McGonagall and Pomfrey were around when we found Uncle Marius. They sent me back to my dormitory, and he died later that night." "I would rather the teachers found out what we did than have Uncle Marius die," Aries said quietly. "I know, Aries," Draco said kindly, "but I wouldn't."

Aries turned on his cousin furiously. "What did you just say?" "Do you realize what would happen if people found out what we did?" Draco demanded. "You could go to Azkaban. Azkaban, Aries! I would rather let the world burn, myself with it, than see you get into that sort of trouble. What would you do if our positions were reversed?" Aries thought about it long and hard, but eventually he sighed. "I don't know, Draco," he said quietly. "But I do see your point. I shouldn't want for you to get into trouble either." His eyes gleamed with furious determination. "But I promise you this, Draco. We're never going to be in this position again."