Chapter 7:
Celebration
Matthew's strength grew quite a lot over the next few days. He was still tired and a little weak, but his parents were glad for the first time that their son was unable to sit still for more than two and a half minutes. Matthew began to beg to be allowed to go outside, but Hermione and Harry didn't give him permission to fly until the fourth day.
"All right, all right, hold your hippogriffs!" Hermione smiled as Matthew gave his puppy-dog look of pleading. "Daddy will take you on a flight for a lap or two, but only a lap or two! We don't want you to get so tired that you won't be able to go to Jeremiah's party tomorrow."
Matthew nodded. "Thanks, mommy! I love you!"
He hugged her legs tightly and twisted around before going over to Harry who was standing in the doorway, Quidditch Training clothes on his tall, lean body. He leaned down and grabbed Matthew in his arms.
"You ready for a flight, little man?"
Matthew nodded and breathed deeply into Harry's Quidditch robes. "Why you wearing your Quidditch robes?"
Harry shrugged. "I just felt like dressing up for today's flight. You can wear your robes that Uncle Ron got you, if you want."
Matthew nodded and Harry took him upstairs to change into the little Puddlemere United robes that matched his retired father's. When they came back downstairs, Hermione couldn't help but smile at how cute Matthew was, but she sighed at Harry.
"Dear," she whispered so Matthew couldn't hear as he examined a bug crawling on the earthen floor. "Don't get his hopes up too high. And please don't keep him out too long, and make sure that if he starts feeling bad you come down immediately, and…"
"Shhh," Harry said, putting his finger to Hermione's lips. "I promise he'll be okay. Don't worry." He picked Matthew up quickly. "Come on, son, let's go get in some flying!" He put Matthew so that he sat on his shoulders and carried him out to the Quidditch pitch. Matthew was very excited to be on a broomstick again, and Harry's heart was full to bursting at the squeals of joy that Matthew gave as they looped, dove, and breezed around the goalposts. They stayed out in the fresh air for almost an hour before Matthew started to lean back onto Harry's stomach.
"You tired, little man?" Matthew tried to shake his head, but a huge yawn erupted from his mouth. Harry smiled sadly. "That's what I thought. We better get you back inside so you can rest up."
"Daddy!" Matthew moaned. "I'm tired of always having to rest up! I wanna run and play all the time!" Harry sighed and ruffled Matthew's black hair.
"I know you do, Matthew. I know. And I promise you that when you get completely well again, I'll take you flying as often as possible. We'll go camping in the woods over there, we'll build model planes, and I'll even build you a tree house. But you've got to get better, Matthew, because, well, I…" He wanted to tell his son that he couldn't live without him, but his words failed him. "You just really need to get better."
Matthew nodded. "Okay, Daddy."
Harry smiled and touched down on the ground. He picked Matthew up gently and took him back to the house where Matthew took off his Quidditch robes and promptly fell asleep.
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The next morning dawned bright and beautiful for the Potter family. Hermione woke up early and stretched to wake up fully. Careful not to wake her husband, she quietly made her way downstairs to the kitchen to make a pot of coffee. As she reached the bottom stair, she heard a noise of movement in the kitchen and froze in her steps, her heart beating a heavy staccato on her breastbone. She walked stealthily towards the kitchen and turned the corner to find her son sitting at the table, tape and paper all around him. She sighed, laughing at her paranoia, and walked towards Matthew.
"Baby, what are you doing?" Matthew looked up, surprised.
"Wrapping Jeremiah's gift."
"What?" Hermione walked towards him and flicked her wand, clearing up the abundant tape and conjuring up a cup of steaming coffee.
"I drew Jeremiah a picture." He extracted a piece of paper from the pile on the table and handed it to Hermione for inspection. It was a rough childish drawing of a tall stick boy with black hair standing by a little black haired stick boy. They were smiling broadly and the sun was shining over their heads. Hermione smiled and handed it back to Matthew.
"It's lovely, dear."
"Tell me how to write `Jeremiah, I hope you get remission.'"
Hermione said the letters slowly and Matthew scrawled them out in his childish letters. When he finished, Hermione smiled and helped him wrap it carefully in the bright red wrapping paper. As they finished their wrapping, Hermione looked up and saw Harry in the doorway in his boxers and sleep shirt, hair askew from his sleep.
"Good morning, sweet," she said. He looked at her and blinked a bit, not very coherent in the early morning. Hermione walked across the kitchen and kissed him firmly on the lips while flicking into existence another cup of coffee. When she pulled away, Harry looked at her in admiration and took the steaming cup between his firm hands.
"What're you two doing up this early?"
Matthew hopped down from his seat and walked over to his daddy. "Mommy was wrapping Jeremiah's present for me. When are we leaving to go to the party?"
Harry placed the coffee on the counter. "We'll leave as soon as we're all ready. `Mione, you go ahead and get ready, I'll watch the kiddo."
Hermione smiled and kissed her husband again. She was in very good spirits today, and she didn't know why. She just knew in her heart that good things were going to occur as the day went on. She left Harry and Matthew to eat breakfast in the kitchen and went upstairs to hers and Harry's bedroom to get ready. When she emerged much later, her hair up and dressed in comfortable clothing, she went downstairs again to find both Matthew and Harry dressed and ready, playing with Harry's model Quidditch pitch. When Hermione came in the room, Harry smiled and picked up Matthew. "Matthew, it's time to go. Mommy's got your present," He added before Matthew could ask. "Are you sure you're feeling okay?"
"Mmhmm. Do we get to eat cake?"
Harry smiled. "Probably. Let's go."
They loaded into the car once more and headed off towards the hospital. When they arrived in the cancer wing, Matthew was delighted to find an assortment of balloons and streamers settled in different places in the Thursday Meeting Room. As he stood transfixed by all the colors and fun stuff to play around with, he felt someone come up behind him.
"Hey, Matt."
"JEREMIAH!" Matthew turned around and hugged Jeremiah's legs. "Happy birthday!"
Jeremiah laughed, showing his straight white teeth. "Thanks! I'm glad you're here!" When those words were out of his mouth, Harry walked up behind them. "Hello, Mr. Potter."
"Hi, Jeremiah. Happy birthday, and please, call me Harry."
"Thanks, Harry." Harry smiled.
"Matthew, Mommy needs you. She's by the nurse's station."
"'K." He toddled off to his mother, leaving Harry and Jeremiah to watch him go. Harry turned to Jeremiah and smiled.
"I just want to thank you so much for caring about Matthew. You're practically all he can talk about. He wants to be `just like Jeremiah' when he's older."
Jeremiah grinned and brushed his now-grown-back hair from his face. "I'm glad I can be there for him. He's just like me, and I can really relate to how he feels. I just hate that he's having to go through this so young."
"Yeah, it's a shame. But hopefully we'll make it out of here okay."
Jeremiah's eyes glazed over and he stuck his hands in his pockets. "Yeah, I'm praying that he gets out. Truthfully, I think he has a better chance of making it than anyone else."
"Really?" The hope that Harry so desperately needed rose. "Why?"
Jeremiah shook his head and smiled. "I just do."
Their conversation ceased as Hermione and Matthew came towards them. Hermione smiled and shook Jeremiah's hand. "Nice to see you again, Jeremiah."
"You, too." The smallest cancer child and an older lady came down the hall. Jeremiah knelt down to the girl's eye level. "Why, it's Missy Lyn and her grandmother! How are you, Missy Lyn?"
The little girl shrank behind her grandmother, peeping at Jeremiah in fear. Matthew was startled that she looked a lot sicker than she was when he had first met her. The long pigtails had been cut off and her hair now barely reached below her ears. Her grandmother sighed. "Missy Lyn, please talk when spoken to."
The girl shook her head and Jeremiah shrugged before standing up. "We'll get her to talk someday. Anyways, let's go on in and sit down." He led the little party into the room where a large table had been set up. Jeremiah sat down and motioned for Matthew to sit beside him. "Would you sit by me, Matt?"
Matthew looked up at Hermione. "Can I, Mommy?"
Hermione smiled. "Sure." With Jeremiah's help he got into the incredibly tall seat and was startled when the girl named Missy Lyn sat in the chair on his other side. Matthew and the girl sat quietly, listening to everyone else talk as more people came in the small doorway. Keith and his family came in and exchanged greetings, and Matthew noticed that Keith didn't look like he felt too good. Dr. Regina and Dr. Powers came in next, both still in their doctor clothes. The last person to enter was Jerrod. He came in alone, looking as weak as he had the last time Matthew had seen him. Matthew lowered his eyes, remembering that Jerrod was dying and not wanting to stare at him. He sat quietly to Jeremiah's right and Jeremiah cleared his throat.
"Well, we're all here. Let's eat some cake!" Matthew's eyes lit up and he stood up in his chair in excitement. He was so small that his head just barely came up to Jeremiah's seated head. Dr. Regina grabbed a knife that was placed carefully on the table and began to cut pieces of cake for everyone. When everyone had been fed, Dr. Powers sighed and looked at Jeremiah.
"Would you like to open your presents?"
Jeremiah gave a devilish grin and opened his presents. He opened a CD or two, a polo shirt, a video game, and some miscellaneous things, but he opened Matthew's last. When he saw Matthew's drawing, he looked at it for a moment before his eyes clouded over. He looked to his left and hugged Matthew. "Thanks, Matt. That's really something special." A moment of silence ensued before Jeremiah stood to speak.
"I have an announcement to make." All rustling and fidgeting stopped. "As you all know, I've been in treatment for three years, fighting this thing. I've seen heroes and friends die, yet I was still here, sick. I always thought it was funny, because I never really thought I'd get through it. See, I'm just kinda convinced that you know whether or not you're going to survive this or not, and I really didn't think I was going to make it. Neither did my friends, neither did the doctor, neither did Aunt Regina…"
"You're his aunt?" Matthew piped up. Dr. Regina nodded. "I've raised him for the past 6 years."
"Oh. Sorry, Jeremiah."
"No problem, Matt. Anyways, when I saw all those people giving in to this disease, I swore that I would fight for all I was worth. And I am so, so blessed to be able to stand before you today and say, that despite a few check-ups every six months, I am free of this hospital as a patient." He took a deep breath before smiling broadly. "I'm in remission, I survived." There was a small moment of silence before the room erupted in cheers and applause. Matthew clapped harder than anyone else. Harry couldn't stop smiling. Matthew was just like Jeremiah, and Jeremiah had gotten through it!
Dr. Regina went to Jeremiah and hugged him tightly and kissed him on the cheek. As Matthew watched the joy on the faces of all in the room, he felt confident that he too would be in remission, that he too would survive. It was the greatest feeling ever.
A/N: So I know this chapter wasn't that long, but the next chapter will make up for this short one. Please r&r!
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