Title: Adrift
Summary: It was supposed to be the perfect holiday, but a tragic accident plunges Harry and Hermione adrift in to a new, uncertain life.
Rating: PG-13 for language and adult themes
Authors Notes: Hi everyone! I do apologise for the extended delay in updating- I'm currently going through the last chapters and adding and amending things- I've had some great ideas over the last week and I'm trying to fit them in!
As always, please review and play nice!
Soundtrack: 'Down Here' by Lori Carson
EIGHTEEN
James surprised Lily a week into the holidays when he turned up one afternoon after being dropped off by the local muggle boys, who he had gone to primary school with.
'Well that's different,' Lily said to him from her perch on the front porch as he waved goodbye to the modern sports car making it's way back down the drive.
'So now I'm not allowed to hang out with friends?'
'James, you haven't seen those boys since you were ten.'
'You were with me when I ran into them the other day,' James snapped.
'Funny, I don't remember that.'
'Funny, I don't remember your face being like that.'
'Oh, how mature.'
'They're just happy to have someone new around,' he said. 'They think the fact that we go to boarding school sucks. And they don't care about what happened to mum- because it was a muggle event, they know all about it and are just glad it wasn't them.'
'James, they're like two years older than you!'
'Lily, just shut up, alright?' James snarled at her. 'Just keep your nose out of my business, alright? And don't tell dad, cause he'll just carry on. I'm fine, the guys have got my back and I'm having fun. So just butt out.'
He stalked into the house. Lily rolled her eyes and went back to her magazine. She had been with James the week before when he had found these boys again, and she did remember it. She had watched him leave moments after Harry did every morning and return just before Harry came home. She was certain that Harry didn't know what James had been doing, or whom he had been doing it with. But she was also certain that Harry didn't really know anything anymore and probably even didn't realise that all three of them were home. As worried as she was for her brother, she was even more worried for her father.
At just twelve, she felt responsible for all of them.
Albus was sitting in the living room, playing solitaire with exploding snap cards. James sat down next to him on the lounge and Albus wrinkled his nose.
'You stink,' he said, turning his head away. 'Have you been smoking or something?'
'You're all so NOSY!' James yelled, before getting up again and stomping out of the room and up the stairs and slamming his bedroom door.
Lily didn't move from her place on the porch and Albus smiled as he turned over an ace, just as the deck of cards exploded.
Just a normal day in the Potter house.
Harry was home early that day and had bought dinner home with him. He was just serving up when James came into the kitchen.
'I'm going out,' he said, putting on a pair of sunglasses.
'Where, and who with?' Harry asked, taken aback.
'Just out, with some friends,' he replied.
'Be back by midnight,' Harry called wearily after his retreating back. He didn't have the energy to fight with James tonight. It'd been a long day and he just wanted to get dinner over and done with so that he could go hide in his study with a bottle of Firewhisky.
With James out of the house, dinner was quite enjoyable. It was nice for it not to be ruined by argument and bad tempers and Harry actually found himself laughing as Albus and Lily told more stories from Hogwarts. He thought back to his own summer holidays and was glad his children had someone to share their stories with.
After doing the dishes, he finally made it up to his study and poured himself a large Firewhisky. He drank it in one go and proceeded to pull some work out of his briefcase and start going over it slowly.
At some point Lily and Albus both called out they were going to bed, and Harry replied with a quick 'goodnight'. It was almost midnight when he did check the clock and he laughed to himself.
'No wonder Lily and Albus went to bed,' he said out loud.
He poured another drink and began to work again and had barely started when there was a knock on the door. He rolled his eyes as he stood up. Obviously James had forgotten his key.
He went downstairs, using his wand to flick lights on as he went. Reaching the front door, he noticed from the windows in the living room that there were flashing blue and red lights outside. This confused Harry immensely.
Opening the door, it was a shock to see two police officers standing there, with grave looks on their face.
'Mr Potter?' one of them asked.
'Yes?' Harry asked, confused.
'I'm Constable Tobiter, this is Constable Darlton. May we come in?'
'Of course,' Harry was still confused and thanking himself for putting his wand away before opening the door. He led the two constables into the living room and spied Lily on the stairs, with a horrified look on her face.
'Mr Potter, are you the father of James Potter?'
'Yes,' Harry answered. His stomach was churning, he somehow knew that it wasn't anything good when two muggle police officer knock on your door late at night and ask about your son.
'Your son was involved in an accident,' one of them said (Harry didn't know which one was which).
'An accident?'
'A sports car carrying five adolescent males over turned on one of the back roads,' the other officer explained. 'We believe that they may have been drinking.'
Harry was speechless.
'Two of the occupants died on scene,' the officer continued. Harry started to feel faint. 'Your son, James, was taken by helicopter to London in a serious condition.'
At this, Lily burst into the room, followed by Albus.
'How serious?' Harry managed to ask.
'We're not sure,' one of the officers replied. 'But we've come to escort you to the hospital. And your other children, and your wife.'
'My wife is dead,' Harry managed to gasp. 'Lil, Al, go get dressed.'
The officers waited in the living room as they all went upstairs and dressed. Harry paid no attention to what he was putting on, just pulled things on. When they all met downstairs, Lily and Albus looked much the same.
One of the officers took the police car, whilst the other one drove Harry's car. He sat in the passenger seat, feeling numb. In his mind he was thinking how grateful he was that one of them was driving, to him it would've been quite funny if they'd had to book him for drink driving.
'Do you need to call anyone, Mr Potter?' the officer asked as they sped along. Harry was very grateful for having spent the extra money on buying a good quality car that could keep the speeds they were going. They were following the patrol car and the flashing of the red and blue lights was almost making him feel sick.
Or maybe it was the fear about James.
'I…' Harry started (a good minute after the question had been asked), but trailed off. Who could he call? The only person he really knew in the muggle world was Dudley.
'Call Aunt Hermione,' Lily said from the backseat. 'She's at Nannie Grangers.'
Harry was about to say that they didn't have a 'Nannie Granger' but then realised what Lily was telling him to do. The officer handed over a mobile telephone and Harry dialled the number from memory, praying he had it right.
'Hello?' a sleepy voice answered.
'Mrs Granger, it's Harry. Harry Potter.'
'Harry?' Mrs Granger was confused. 'It's so late.'
'I'm sorry,' he said. 'But I need you to get a message to Hermione. I can't at the moment and you're the only way I could think off.'
'Of course, dear,' she said with a yawn, picking up a piece of paper and a pen.
'There's been an accident,' Harry said simply. 'James is in hospital in London. I'm on my way now with police escort. Albus and Lily are with me.'
'Oh, Harry!' Mrs Granger exclaimed. 'Is James alright?'
'We don't know,' Harry said, swallowing the lump in his throat.
'I'll get on to her now,' she said. 'Would you like her to meet you there?'
'Yes, please. Thank you.'
He closed the phone and gave it back to the officer as the lights of London came into view.
~*~
By dawn, Harry was pacing the halls of the ICU whilst Albus and Lily slept on the hard plastic chairs.
James was in a coma. He'd been the back, middle passenger and hadn't been wearing a seatbelt. Harry thought he would scream if he heard the words 'lucky to be alive' again.
Harry knew what had saved James was his magical blood and it was frustrating to Harry that he couldn't get him transferred to St Mungos, where he would be healed so much quicker. He had snuck away for an hour in the early hours of the morning and gone to see Kingsley, who was powerless to help him. They would have to wait this out in the muggle hospital.
Harry stopped his pacing and sat down in one of the uncomfortable chairs and put his head into his hands and closed his eyes. For the last hour what had kept him pacing was the headache that had come on from the bottle of whisky he'd drunk before the frantic trip into London. And then the shock of the seriousness of the situation had sobered him up immediately.
James had almost died.
'Oh, Harry!'
At the sound of his name, he jumped out of the chair and turned around. Hermione was running towards him, Rose and Hugo just behind.
'We came as fast as we could,' she said, hugging him tightly. 'How is he?'
'He's in a coma,' Harry said dully. 'He's fractured his skull, broken both his legs, his left arm and there's a suspected spinal injury too.'
'What can I do?' she asked. Rose and Hugo had gone to sit with Lily and Albus, who had woken up at the sound of Hermione's voice.
'I don't know,' Harry said hoarsely.
She led him over to the hard chairs and they sat down. She kept hold of his hands and after a few moments, he began to speak.
'There were five of them in the car,' he said slowly. 'It has five seats, but realistically should only seat two or three. They'd been drinking.'
'Who was he with?'
'Some muggle boys,' Harry looked at her. 'I didn't even know he was still friends with these boys. They're all older than him as well. Hermione, he's not even fifteen yet. And he was hanging around with sixteen and seventeen year old boys. And drinking!'
Hermione just raised her eyebrows at him. It was very hypocritical of Harry to be angry with James for drinking, considering his own habits. But she didn't say anything. Now was not the time.
'Two of the boys died,' Harry continued. 'The other two in the backseat with James. The police and trauma doctors are saying it's a miracle. To be unrestrained, in the middle, in a vehicle roll over and survive? The first doctor I spoke to said that in his career he's never heard of it. He's never even seen a patient who'd been in this sort of crash.'
'What about the other two?'
'They're in another hospital. They sent James here because it's the top trauma hospital in England. I just want to get him to St Mungos.'
Hermione patted his hand. The silence resumed and Lily and Albus woke. The four teenagers went off in search of sustenance and not long after they'd left a doctor emerged from James's room.
'Mr Potter?' he said, walking towards Harry and Hermione. 'Are you Mrs Potter?'
'No,' Hermione said quickly. 'I'm Harry's sister-in-law.'
'Well, I need to speak to Mr Potter alone.'
'She can stay,' Harry said. 'Since my wife died, she's been the closest thing to a mother that my children have had.'
Hermione couldn't help but give a sad smile.
'Let's got to my office,' the doctor said, not wanting to argue. Many years on the ICU had taught him not to argue.
His office was only a short way up the corridor and they all sat down and he looked at them gravely over the desk.
'Mr Potter, we've been running tests on your son since he arrived last night. Our final conclusion is that he has managed to avoid a serious spinal injury, however we will need to monitor for signs as we go,' he paused and took a breath. 'It's his head that I'm most worried about. The skull fracture is pretty bad, but there is a lot of swelling and fluid build up.'
'What can you do?' Hermione asked for Harry, who was just staring at the doctor vacantly.
'We need to send him into surgery. Once in there we can relieve the pressure on his brain and we can also set his fractures better.'
'What are the risks?'
'The same risks that come with any neurological surgery. There's a risk of permanent brain damage and in the worst case scenario, he could die on the table.'
'And if he doesn't have the surgery?' Harry finally spoke.
'The risks are even greater.'