Author's Note: I had to do a lot of research for this chapter. I knew NOTHING about allergic reactions, lactose intolerance, Cows' Milk Allergy, or treatment of allergic reactions. Thank the Lord for my friends at the Gaian Parents Guild! I love them all!
Dedications: I'll stop one day.
My Muse: She put me ahead of schedule.
GPG Members--IllianaGalean, lunashock, Nopenname, Graceangel, the dancing kitten, and Rain Yupa (for his bit on the fetus development). You were all very helpful! My chapter would have been highly inaccurate without your help.
Chapter 5: Allergies on Day Two
(9:03 a.m. 1457 Maple Oak Lane. Godric's Hollow.)
When Lily woke up the next morning, she found herself alone on the couch. The blanket she had covered them with last night had somehow found its way to the floor and the warmth that it and James had provided was gone. She struggled into a sitting position, rubbed her eyes, and looked around the room. It was so clean, just as she had always kept it back when both she and James had lived here full time. The house probably stayed so clean because he was the only one living in it. Lily remembered his dorm room back at Hogwarts; it had always been so messy. Clothes had been pitched everywhere, trunks open, leaking schoolbooks and supplies, not to mention the odor. He had not been assigned the cleanest of roommates, nor was he very tidy himself. She was very glad this had changed about him over the years.
'James and Harry must be upstairs,' she thought, yawning. 'Maybe I'll sleep for a bit longer.'
Scooping the blanket from off the floor, she draped herself in it and laid down on the throw pillow. She closed her eyes and pictured in her mind the adorable sight from the previous evening.
'They're so cute together. I hope I have many more photo opportunities like that one.'
She had nearly drifted off to sleep when she heard the pounding of footsteps on the staircase and the shuffle of feet against the floor as someone--presumably James--ran into the living room. Lily kept her eyes shut as the noise grew closer, but could ignore it no longer once she was roughly shaken on the shoulders.
"Lily!" he hissed, "Wake up!" She groaned and sat up. And she would have told him off for disturbing her, too, if his expression hadn't been so serious.
"What is it?" she asked, pitching the blanket aside and scrambling hurriedly to her feet. "Where's Harry?"
"Come here!" he said, frightened, grabbing her arm. "Something's wrong!"
They rushed out of the living room, up the stairs, and into she and James's room, where Harry was laying on his back in his bassinet. Lily gasped when she saw him; his arms, legs, and face were covered in a red rash and his breathing was wheezy. She picked him up and cradled him, turning around to glare at James.
"What did you do?!"
"I just…he was fine…I gave him his bottle," he stammered, confused and nervous.
"Y-you what?"
"I just gave him some milk!"
"Cows' milk?" she asked, sounding fearful. James was very confused.
"Yes," he said tentatively, "isn't he old enough for it now?"
"You IDIOT!"
"I was trying to help!"
"HE'S ALLERGIC TO COWS' MILK!" Harry began to cry at his mother's yells, worsening his breathing. Lily muttered soothing words to him and rubbed in circles on his stomach to calm him down.
"Then why were there bottles in the fridge yesterday?!"
"Because I pump milk! It makes it easier," she said in a softer tone, feigning serenity, trying to stop Harry from crying.
"Oh," he sounded embarrassed and remorseful. "I'm so sorry, Lily. I didn't know. He'll be all right, won't he?"
"I--I don't know," she said worriedly, glancing down at her son, "How much did you give him?"
"The…the whole bottle."
"No. You didn't…." She sat down on the bed and cuddled Harry close, lowering her head so that her hair draped in front of her face. She kissed his forehead.
James lowered his head shamefully. "I was just trying to help…."
"You can't give him dairy products," she explained in a grim tone. "He's got Cows' Milk Allergy . It's why I had you give him chopped up pasta and cereal last night," she said, "I had ice cream the day before and my milk would have made him sick. I didn't pump it last night."
James nodded. "How can we make him better?"
"We can't," said Lily sadly, lifting her head and looking him in the eyes, "he's going to get very bad. We'll need to take him to the hospital."
"He…he's going to what?" James's heart began to beat very quickly. "How do you know?!"
"The last time he was given cows' milk, he got sick. The doctor told me that a second encounter with it before he has a chance to outgrow his intolerance--if he does, I outgrew mine--would trigger Anaphylaxis."
"Ana-what?" Lily was about to answer him when Harry began to cough violently. James shuddered.
"We have to go!" Lily gathered Harry more securely in her arms, stood up and hurried out of the room. He heard the stomps of her footsteps all the way down the staircase and the opening and closing of the front door. She was obviously on her way to Mungos. James sank down on the bed and supported his forehead with his palms. His eyes began to water.
'I've really screwed up this time,' he thought glumly, 'Lily will probably leave as soon as Harry's better. I've lost them again.'
'Maybe not,' said a voice, 'She'll need you now. Her son is sick. Go to the hospital.'
'What if he dies? I can't bear to watch it.'
'Cows' Milk Allergy isn't fatal,' the voice pointed out. 'Now go. She'll probably get there very soon.'
James walked over to the big, curtained window in the front of the room and looked out at the driveway. His car was gone. Lily had taken it to drive into London to where the Wizard hospital, St. Mungos, was located.
'I can't Apparate,' he thought, annoyed, 'because Muggles' shops are all around Mungos.' Someone would be bound to see and he would be in loads of trouble. 'There's always the underground.'
- - -
Twenty minutes, a brief jog, a hop over the turnstile, and a dodge of security later, he was sitting in a rickety underground train rushing toward the center of London.
'The one time I forget my money,' he thought to himself, feeling stupid and shaking his head in dismay of himself.
He kept glancing worriedly over his shoulder in case the security guards were on the look-out for a young, black-haired man with glasses.
He twiddled his thumbs idly as he thought of what Lily must be going through right now; the doctors had probably hooked Harry up to every contraption under the sun, as well as drugged him up with several types of medication and possibly issued a vaccination or two. Just the thought made him quiver; he had always hated hospitals.
But on the brighter side, Harry might have reached medical care before his reactions worsened in severity. He might enter the lobby of St. Mungos to see Lily and Harry waiting for him, with perhaps even a smile or a wave. Lily would tell him that she was sorry for yelling at him and that Harry was okay. They would go home and pretend that none of it had happened….
He lurched forward slightly as the train came to a sudden halt. With a beep, the intercom came on and a smooth, feminine voice said, "London Towne Square. Stop 2. All passengers please exit to the right of the platform. Have a nice day."
The shuffling of feet ensued and James rose from his chair. He brushed past people without bothering to excuse himself as he hurried to exit both the train and the platform.
'Surely where I'm going is more important.'
He rode the escalator to the top of the platform and ran out into the street, turning left. The crowd was thick with holiday shoppers and he rustled many bags and purses as he rushed past.
"Watch where you're going!" yelled one grumpy old man as James trampled upon his foot.
He didn't look back. Two shops ahead lay Purge and Dowse Ltd., the large, old-fashioned red-brick building that held the Wizard hospital. It was a very shabby, miserable place that had once been a Ventriloquist's haven. He hopped over the wooden railing and landed with a clop of his shoes on the pavement. Looking a horribly dressed, withered dummy in the eyes, he mumbled, "I'm here to see my son."
It blinked. "Name?" rasped the unattractive dummy. James was surprised; he had been expecting a more high-pitched tone of voice, judging by its appearance.
"Harry Potter. He'll be with his mother, Lily Po--Evans."
The ugly dummy nodded its head and gestured for him to come through the panel of glass. He glanced over his shoulder at the bustling crowd; no one was paying him any mind. He stepped forward through the cold, water-like glass and emerged no more than a second later in a teeming lobby of wizards.
'There're more people than the last time I was here,' he observed, glancing around at the benches of wounded people. 'Must be more attacks the Ministry's hiding.'
The Healers were perusing the rows of injured patients with clipboards, taking notes on their symptoms. Through the crowd, he could see a fiery red head making its way toward him. Out of the line nearest him emerged Lily. He was nearly knocked off of his feet as she collided with him, wrapping her arms securely around his midriff.
"Is everything okay?" he asked, concerned, as he rubbed her back.
She looked up at him with teary eyes. "Where were you?" she whispered shrilly.
"Well, you took my car," said James, sounding facetiously annoyed, "I had to take the train." Lily let go of him and they began to move further in, excusing themselves as they parted the crowd. "And then I forgot my money," he added conversationally, "and I had to jump the turnstile. I nearly got caught by security."
Lily gave him an all too familiar look. "If you hadn't done that for such a good cause, I would turn you in."
James grinned sheepishly. "You know you wouldn't. But on a more serious note, how is Harry? Please tell me he'll be alright."
Lily let her teasing smile fade and with it, a great burden was dropped upon James; it couldn't be good news. "He's in shock," she said, white faced with fear. "He lost consciousness."
"He…what?" James suddenly became immune to all of the sounds coming from the people in the lobby around him except for Lily. None of them mattered. Only what she had to tell him did. He had made a mistake and now his son was suffering. It had to be fixed.
"He's unconscious," Lily repeated. "And the Healer said his throat was swelling and his blood pressure has dropped some."
"Is it getting any better?" They had turned down a hallway and were passing a long row of doors with numbers in the early 600s. Three sconces illuminated the plain white walls and equally bland tiles. At the end of the hall was a cushioned bench.
"I don't know," she answered, "They wouldn't let me stay in the room with him. Part of me is glad for that, because I don't want to see him suffer, but I do want to know what's going on." She drooped down to the bench, James following suit. Lily covered her face with her hands and after about a half a minute, her shoulders began to shake and her upper body slouched down toward her knees. James put his arms around her and pulled her close. She sniffled into his shirt, burying her face within its soft fabric.
"I'm sorry," he whispered as she continued to cry. He paused for a moment to give her time to quiet down. "I really thought I was helping by feeding him. I wanted to let you sleep."
No answer. Lily just continued to cry. He patted her consolingly on her back.
"Please don't hate me, Lily. You have every right to be mad at me, but if you said that you hated me I don't think I could bear it. Do keep any such thoughts to yourself." She began to calm down slightly. James only heard the sound of her shaky breaths and sniffling as she tried to clear up her nose. He kissed the top of her head. "He'll be okay, love, I know he will. Just get some sleep. I'll wake you up when I hear word from the Healers, okay?"
Her response was a soft moan and the snuggling of her head in the crook of his arm. It may not have been much, but it comforted him. He was not hated.
- - -
(10:16 a.m. St. Mungos Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. London.)
During the course of Lily's nap, James had drifted off to sleep himself for fifteen minutes or so, using the back wall for support. He was aiming for a bit of a longer nap, but a brightly clad Healer shook him awake and ruined all of those chances.
"Mr. Potter?" she asked uncertainly. She was a middle-aged blonde witch with a kind, intelligent face and warm, yet now concerned, eyes. James felt like he could trust her.
"Yes."
"Is the patient in ward 615 a relation of yours?"
Lily hadn't told him what ward Harry was in. He had no idea if that was him or not. "If you mean Harry Potter, then yes, he is my son."
The witch nodded and consulted the square, brown clipboard in her right hand. "Well, it seems that Harry has had a problem with this before"--James nodded, going by Lily's story--"and his second encounter has triggered Anaphylaxis."
'Oh great,' thought James sardonically. 'It's that big word I know nothing about again.'
"What is Anaphylaxis?" he questioned, sounding politely curious.
The nurse gave him a strange look. A look that James decided meant 'You should know! He's your son. Weren't you there last time?' But she explained nonetheless. "It's a severe allergic reaction. It can affect several areas of the body at once, and in rare cases it can be fatal within minutes." James's face must have been chalk white with fear because she added, with a small chuckle, "But this was not the case with your son. He has recovered from unconsciousness and both you and your wife may go in to see him." She gestured to ward 615, which had been left ajar, seemingly by the blonde Healer herself.
James nodded, a wide grin on his face. He was happy (for his own personal reasons) that the woman had called Lily his wife, but he was even happier to hear that Harry was awake and well. His heart beat faster in his chest with excitement. He could jump up and down. He could sing. He could run down the hall screaming jovially. All of which he decided against, as he had already had enough negative public encounters that day to go on with.
"Lily!" he hissed excitedly, gently shaking her shoulders. "Lily! Wake up! Guess what!"
She moaned in an annoyed manner, as she always did when she was woken up. "What?" she mumbled groggily, wiping her eyes and yawning. She made little waking up noises as closed her eyes and started to lay her head back on his chest.
"Harry's awake!"
"He is?" Lily sat up at once and stared at him with an expression of mingled surprise and joy. "Are we allowed in to see him?"
"Yes," said James, shifting a bit to give her the subtle hint that he wanted to go as soon as possible. She obviously got it because she was on her feet in a snap, touching his arm for comfort and they walked two doors down to ward 615.
The heavy ward door creaked as James pushed it forward. They both gasped at the sight of their son, and Lily grabbed James's wrist tightly out of instinct. James had been right when he said he would be hooked up to every contraption under the sun; he had an IV in his foot, oxygen tubes up his nose, and a Healer was leaning on the bed taking his blood pressure.
Once she finished, she walked over to James and Lily. "His blood pressure is rising back to normal and in about a half hour we can remove the tubes." She glanced over at Harry, who was not being very active. He looked tired and sick; his rash still showed on his legs, and they assumed it was still on his arms, as he was wearing a long-sleeved one-piece, and they weren't visible. "If you're going to visit with him, please don't pick him up or encourage talking. That is, if he can."
Lily nodded; it seemed to be all she could do as she watched her baby lay on the hospital bed. James put an arm around her and said thank you to the doctor. A moment later, she had exited the room and shut the ward door. Tentatively, they made their way over to his bed and took a space on either side of him. Lily smoothed his silky black hair away from his forehead and kissed it.
"My poor baby. I hope it doesn't hurt to have those tubes in you," she said sadly. Harry's lower lip quivered and he stretched his arms out toward her. "No, sweetie. Mommy can't hold you." His eyes filled with tears and he let out a cracked whine; his throat was probably dry. "I-I'm sorry, Harry." Tears of her own slipped out of her eyes and tumbled from her cheeks to the bed below. She bent her head low, leaning her forehead in her hand, and her hair fell in a curtain in front of her face. James gave her a quick pat her on the back and then looked down at Harry.
The boy grabbed his finger as he usually did, but in a rather half-hearted and tired way. "Ames," he said weakly.
"Shh," whispered James. "Don't talk. You need to go to sleep. Nap time, Harry."
Harry made a whimpering noise not unlike the ones emitting from Lily at the moment. But when James gave him a stern look, he cuddled into his pillow and closed his tired eyes. James looked back at Lily, who, despite the fact that her hair was still draped across her face, was wiping her eyes and seemed to be calming down.
"Lil," he whispered. She looked at him. "Get some sleep. We all need sleep."
His response was a nod and a slight shake of the bed as Lily adjusted herself. He followed his family's example and laid down as well.
- - -
(11:12 a.m. Ward 615. St. Mungos Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. London.)
"Sir," said a distant voice. "Sir!" James mumbled a string of incoherent words as he sat up. His glasses were askew and had left an imprint on his cheek. He straightened them. The Healer who had taken Harry's blood pressure was standing at the edge of the bed, glaring down at him.
"This is against hospital policy!" she said, not bothering to keep her voice down, and James noticed Harry shift slightly.
"Be quiet!" he snapped, surprising the woman. "Can't you that they're trying to sleep?" He indicated Harry and Lily. The Healer glared at James, hands on her hips, but she lowered her voice.
"I came in thirty minutes ago to remove his tubes," she said as she extended her hand towards Harry. James glanced at him and noticed that they were missing; he seemed happier even in his sleep. "He's going to be fine, but we're keeping him over night to run some tests and be sure he doesn't have a relapse of some sort."
"Alright," he said. A question popped into his mind as the woman was beginning to head towards the door. "Wait!" he hissed, "I need to ask you something!"
"What?"
"Can you tell me about Anaphylaxis?"
"You mean you don't know what it is by now?" she inquired with a raised eyebrow. "Harry's records stated that he had early stages of Anaphylaxis during his last encounter with Cows' Milk."
"I wasn't there," he said regretfully. "Lily and I weren't together then."
She glanced from Harry to James, comparing them, and he thought she was going to ask him if he was his biological son. But apparently their similar looks were enough for her. She nodded. "Come with me, Mr. Potter," she said, "I have an information pamphlet on Anaphylaxis in my office."
- - -
(11:23 a.m. The fabric chair. Ward 615. St. Mungos Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. London.)
James stared down at the thin information packet the Healer had supplied him with. The cover depicted a smiling child of around seven or eight years old holding a small stick with a gray end.
'That has to be the Epi-Pen she was talking about,' he recalled.
A smaller picture in the upper right hand corner showed an array of food items such as shellfish, peanuts, milk, eggs, and fish. The title that stretched across the top of the page read "Anaphylaxis" in big, green, block letters. He flipped open the first page and read the long column of information:
The greatest danger in food allergy comes from anaphylaxis, a violent allergic reaction involving a number of parts of the body simultaneously. Like less serious allergic reactions, anaphylaxis usually occurs after a person is exposed to an allergen to which he or she was sensitized by previous exposure (that is, it does not usually occur the first time a person eats a particular food). Although any food can trigger anaphylaxis (also known as anaphylactic shock), peanuts, tree nuts, shellfish, milk, eggs, and fish are the most common culprits. As little as one-fifth to one-five-thousandth of a teaspoon of the offending food has caused death.
Anaphylaxis can produce severe symptoms in as little as 5 to 15 minutes, although life-threatening reactions may progress over hours. Signs of such a reaction include: difficulty breathing, feeling of impending doom, swelling of the mouth and throat, a drop in blood pressure, and loss of consciousness. The sooner that anaphylaxis is treated, the greater the person's chance of surviving. The person should be taken to a hospital emergency room, even if symptoms seem to subside on their own.
There is no specific test to predict the likelihood of anaphylaxis, although allergy testing may help determine what a person may be allergic to and provide some guidance as to the severity of the allergy. Experts advise people who are susceptible to anaphylaxis to carry medication, such as injectable epinephrine, with them at all times, and to check the medicine's expiration date regularly. Doctors can instruct patients with allergies on how to self-administer epinephrine. Such prompt treatment can be crucial to survival.
Injectable epinephrine is a synthetic version of a naturally occurring hormone also known as adrenaline. For treatment of an anaphylactic reaction, it is injected directly into a thigh muscle or vein. It works directly on the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, causing rapid constriction of blood vessels, reversing throat swelling, relaxing lung muscles to improve breathing, and stimulating the heartbeat.
Epinephrine designed for emergency home use comes in two forms: a traditional needle and syringe kit known as Ana-Kit, or an automatic injector system known as Epi-Pen. Epi-Pen's automatic injector design, originally developed for use by military personnel to deliver antidotes for nerve gas, is described by some as "a fat pen." The patient removes the safety cap and pushes the automatic injector tip against the outer thigh until the unit activates. The patient holds the "pen" in place for several seconds, then throws it away.
While Epi-Pen delivers one pre-measured dosage, the Ana-Kit provides two doses. Which system a patient uses is a decision to be made by the doctor and patient, taking into account the doctor's assessment of the patient's individual needs.
'Traditional needle and syringe kit?' thought James with wide eyes. 'Harry is not getting that one. The Epi-Pen will be fine. Lily can carry it with her in case of emergency. I wonder why she never told me about the allergies in her family before.'
Speaking of Lily, as if on cue she stirred in bed and sat up, looking around the room for James. When she spotted him, she got out of bed as carefully and quietly as she could, so not to disturb Harry. He was still sleeping soundly. And the more time he spent at the hospital sleeping the better. When he started crying, it was very hard to stop him.
Lily tiptoed across the room and sat down on the small table next to James's chair. She eyed the packet curiously and craned her neck to read the print on the page.
"What's that you've got?"
"A packet about Anaphylaxis. I didn't know much about it so I asked the Healer for some information," he responded.
Lily smiled. "Good. I'm glad you're taking some interest."
"Of course," he said, "I don't want this to happen again." There was a minute or two of silence during which Lily sneezed and James cleared his throat of the lingering phlegm he had accumulated during his nap. Then he worked up the courage and asked Lily,
"So why didn't you tell me about the allergies in your family?"
Lily shrugged. "I didn't know they would be passed down. He only got sick for the first time four months ago. And I had gotten over my allergies as a child. But I do still get sick sometimes when I eat peanuts."
"You were allergic to peanuts?"
"Yes. So?"
"It's not a problem or anything," he assured her with a small grin, "I was just curious, is all."
Another minute's pause. "So, they said that he'll be fine. They're just going to keep him overnight to run some tests and keep him from having a relapse," he said in parrot of the Healer.
Lily nodded, but she had a strange expression. It seemed like she wanted to say something, although she didn't quite know how to word it. "I…er…I'm sorry I yelled at you this morning," she said, staring more at the stain on the wall above James's head than at him. "I was just scared. I didn't…I…thought he might…you know…I--well, I'm sorry. You understand, right?"
At James's wide grin, Lily cocked her head and glared at him. "Are you laughing at me?"
This time he did laugh. "No, Lily. I'm just…happy. I thought you hated me, or something. I thought you'd go back home."
"Hate you?" she echoed, wrinkling her nose in confusion. James stared at all the spackled freckles on it. "I could never hate you, James. And why would I go back home?"
"Because I made Harry sick."
"But you didn't do it on purpose," she pointed out. Then she sighed. "I should have told you about the allergy. And that I pump milk. It was my fault too."
"So…we're okay now?"
"Yeah," she grinned, "I think we are."
James's soft brown eyes locked with her brilliant green ones for a moment, and he leaned forward to give her the first kiss he had given her in nearly a year. His hand gently caressed her freckled cheek as he remembered the tingling sensation of her soft lips. He felt her hand slide past his shoulder and behind his neck where she brushed his skin softly with the tips of her nails. They broke apart for a second or two to breathe and all at once it came back; the feel of his hand on her cheek, the alluring scent of his cologne, the smell of his hair, and the feel of his lips against hers. When she pulled all the way back, she felt James tenderly rub his thumb across her cheek and saw him stare at her with concerned eyes. Her own filled with tears. She was failing the battle to hold them back and felt one escape from the brim of her eye.
"Lily?"
She stood up briefly to switch seats from the tabletop to his lap and cuddled her head into the crook of his neck. The smell of him had always seemed strongest there and it comforted her. She drew in a shaky breath and mumbled three wonderful, beautiful words that James had been longing to hear.
"I love you."
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