A Push in the Right Direction – Chapter 8 – emersli1!

Reading Time:
7 Minutes

The documents arrived three weeks later in the mail.

Corvus was able to take slow walks around the park now, accompanied by someone in case his left leg gave out.  The knee was still giving him trouble, and his physio team had issued him a cane but some days it was still rough going.

Getting back to his room, Quinn saw the envelope waiting for him.  Opening it, he found exactly what he’d asked for … a birth certificate dated August 28th for Thaddeus Ambrose Quinn.  Corvus Quinn was listed as the father and Lily Evans as the mother.  Quinn figured he could apologize to James the next time he saw him, but he needed the tie to Petunia to give him a plausible reason to have left his child in her care.

“Good news, I hope?”  Quinn’s therapist walked in and sat down in front of him to begin his range of motion tests.

“Hm?  Oh, well, sort of.  I wrote off and ordered another copy of my son’s birth certificate.  All my things are currently in storage, and I didn’t want to have to paw through all that to find it.”  Quinn obediently raised, lowered, rotated, pushed and pulled as instructed.

The therapist nodded.  “I’ve heard that you’re having trouble getting in touch with the boy’s aunt.”  He moved on to the next appendage.

Corvus snorted lightly.  “You could say that.  Not a whisker have I seen of my boy since my accident.  Nor has she returned my calls.  I’m beginning to think my sister-in-law is trying to steal my son.”

“Well, what would you say to getting out of here at the end of next week?  Your range and strength are steadily increasing and most of your balance issues are resolving, even if not as fast as you’d like.  I don’t see any reason why you shouldn’t be ready to be discharged next Friday as long as no trouble crops up between now and then.”  The man looked at Quinn with a grin.

Quinn refrained at the last minute from cheering, turning the sound into a warbling little cough that made the therapist snicker.  “Oh, go ahead and cheer.  You’ve worked hard enough for it.”

Quinn laughed at that.  “I guess you’re well-accustomed to patients who just can’t appreciate your fine hospitality.”

“Oh, you have no idea…”

Smiling, Quinn nodded.  “I would very much like to go back to my life at the end of next week.”

The man smiled back at him.  “Then let’s make that happen.”

Two weeks later, on the third Friday in September, Corvus Quinn walked out of Park Grove Rehabilitation Hospital under his own power.

Quinn had wished everyone well, thanked them several times over for their patience and care, and couldn’t wait to get out of here.  He had a hotel room reserved for the night, and as soon as he could get his hands on Harry, he was out of here… off home to Andorra.

Leaving his taxi at the corner and walking the rest of the way, Quinn enjoyed the mild weather.  In Andorra the first snow would have already fallen, though they usually had a bit of a warm streak in early October before the winter set in in earnest.  Moving up the walk to Number 4, he readied himself for an unpleasant confrontation.

Standing on the porch after ringing the doorbell, Corvus waited impatiently.  Hearing no sounds of approaching footsteps, he rang again.

“You must go in.”

The words were whispered, barely audible, but he would know that voice anywhere.  “Lily.”

Turning around he looked for her, only to see the wispy outline of a very different Lady.  Dropping to one knee, he bowed before Lady Magic.  Suddenly he found himself on his feet again.

“You must go in.”

The door popped open.  Terrified of what he might find on the other side, Corvus walked into the house.

It was dark, but the Lady had a glow about her and Quinn followed that glow to a small door under the stairway.  What in Merlin’s name was going on?  Suddenly he heard a tiny whimper from behind the door.

Horrified, Corvus opened the door to find a very small child lying at the bottom of the closet.  Dropping quickly to his knees again he reached into the closet and gently gathered the little boy close.  He hadn’t wanted to use magic here, but even without it he knew the poor child would die if he didn’t cast some powerful spells.

“No Severus.”

A pained whine escaped his lips.  The boy was dying.  Lily’s boy was dying, and now his Lady was refusing to allow him to render aid.

“He has to die, to be able to live.  Just as you did Severus.  I will ease him through it, but you must call the muggle emergency services… not the magical ones.”

The Lady knelt beside him and put her hands on either side of Harry’s small head.  Quinn raced for the phone in the kitchen and called for help.  The long cord allowed him to move back to the hallway while speaking with the operator.  

“I came to pick up my son, and found him beaten, starved, and stuffed in a closet.  Please … send help.”  Harry’s breathing was becoming more and more labored and shallow as Corvus watched.

“Help is on the way, sir.  Is the door open?”

“Yes.  Yes, I left the door open.  He’s struggling to breathe.”

“Please stay calm, sir.   Help is coming, but it would be helpful if you could give me a little more information.  What is your son’s name?  And your name?”

“My name is Corvus Quinn.  My son is Thaddeus Quinn.  I was in a vehicular accident in June and I’ve been in hospital.  My sister-in-law has been caring for him.  I never could reach her, but I was discharged today and came to pick Thad up.  The house is empty, I think?  I don’t know.  I tried the door.  I don’t even know why, I just…”

 “It’s alright Mr. Quinn.  Help is about five minutes away.”

Between the Lady’s hands Harry’s face remained peaceful even as his body began convulsing.

“Oh my god, he’s convulsing. Please…”  Corvus almost couldn’t bear to watch, but someone needed to bear witness to this poor child’s last moments … just in case.

“Three minutes.”

The convulsions stopped.  The scar on his forehead split, expelling a strange dark mist.  The Lady grabbed it in her hands, wadding it into a ball.  As she turned it, patches of more of that mist came zooming into the room from all directions, merging with the ball.  Suddenly the Lady gave a vicious twist of her hands, and a wraith flew screaming through the wall, slamming into the ball.  With another sharp twist, the Lady squeezed the ball of mist down into a tiny rock.

“You wanted immortality.  You reached above your station.  You harmed many, and destroyed many more.  For this and other crimes you are judged and found wanting.”

A dark presence flooded the hallway, and a skeletal hand reached out and took the pebble from the Lady’s hand.  The dark swallowed the presence back up, and then it was just Corvus sitting beside the body of the dead Boy-Who-Lived.

Two people rushed past him, while a third carefully put their arm around his shoulders.  “Mr. Quinn?  Please come with me.  I assure you, your son is in good hands.  They’ll get him sorted.”

Looking up Corvus found himself facing a police constable.  “Sir?  Is there anyone in the house?”

“I, I don’t think so.  I didn’t check.  I could hear him… in the closet.  I could hear…”

“I understand sir.”  With a gesture to his partner to check the house, the constable pulled Quinn away from the hallway where the paramedics were working quickly to try to transport … his son.

Quinn followed the gurney with the small body out to the ambulance waiting in the street.

“We’ll follow them.  You’ll have them in sight every minute, I promise.”  The constable was guiding him towards a police car parked by the curb.

“Wait!”  A loud call from the porch halted them in their tracks.  Turning, they saw the other constable coming down the porch steps with a bundle in his arms.  He raced towards the ambulance as Corvus wondered what was happening.

“I found him in the upstairs nursery.  There’s no one else in the house, and I can’t wake him up.”  The constable handed the child off to one of the paramedics, who immediately moved the child into the ambulance and pulled the doors closed.

“I’ll stay here on scene and call it in.  You go ahead and get him to the hospital.”  Quinn sat in the police car as directed, and watched the ambulance all the way to the emergency room.