Still third person POV

Remus and Sirius were by her side in a heartbeat.

"Try to close up the wounds, or stop them bleeding at the very least," Remus said, trying to find Ivory's pulse. "Merlin, she's cold as ice... I hope we're not too late..."

Sirius nodded, then started to mutter healing spells, his wand hand trembling. They stopped the bleeding for a few seconds, but then the wounds reopened, and the blood ran freely again. Sighing from a mix of exasperation and fear, he tried again. And again. And again. Nothing was working.

"She's got a pulse," Remus said, sounding relieved. "It's weak, but it's there."

"Not for long, if we can't heal her..." muttered Sirius, trying yet another healing spell. Again, it only worked for a few seconds. "We need to get her to a proper healer, this isn't working."

Remus started trying to heal Ivory as well now, hoping that the combined strength of their spells would be enough to close her wounds.

No such luck.

"Do you think we'll be able to apparate with her?" he asked, sounding desperate. "She has to get to St Mungo's — she's going to die, Sirius!"

"We'll have to try," Sirius said, his grey eyes meeting Remus' green ones. "Take her to St Mungo's, Moony. I'll stay here and help fight."

"Stay safe."

Sirius gave a tight smile. "I'll try."

With that, Remus apparated to St Mungo's with Ivory.

As soon as they got there, there were audible gasps from people around them. Remus ignored these, instead looking towards the witch sitting behind the reception desk, desperation on his face.

"Fourth floor," she said immediately, looking shocked at the sight of the half-dead girl in the scarred man's arms.

Remus nodded, and climbed the stairs as quickly as he could. He didn't care that his hands were now covered with blood; he didn't care that people were watching with horrified expressions as he hurried past them, with Ivory's limp body in his arms. He just wanted Ivory to be ok.

When he reached the fourth floor, everything happened so fast. Healers asked him questions that he didn't know the answers to, and before he knew what was happening, Ivory was taken to a ward that was labelled Critical Condition. Then, he was led into an office by a kindly-looking Healer with long, brown hair, and black glasses framing her brown eyes. She was wearing lime-green robes, which had the emblem of St Mungo's — a wand and bone, crossed — embroidered on the chest. She gently pushed Remus into a seat, then used a cleaning charm to get the blood off him.

"I want to stay with her," Remus said, his voice shaking.

"I'm afraid you can't, sir," the Healer replied, putting her wand away and opening a drawer in her desk. "Not until the Healers have got her in a more stable condition." She took out a clipboard and a pen, then shut the drawer and sat down. "Are you her legal guardian?"

Remus hesitated. "Not exactly..."

"Do you know who her legal guardian or guardians are?"

"I'd rather they weren't contacted," Remus said.

The Healer quickly wrote something on her clipboard. "Why not?"

"Because they're the ones who put her in that condition," he explained sadly, "and if they were told she's here, they wouldn't hesitate to come and get her back — or kill her."

The Healer adjusted her glasses, then said, "We'll have to do some checks on that. What's your name?"

Remus sighed quietly, remembering the article that Rita Skeeter had written once she'd heard about his condition. He was sure that he wouldn't be able to see Ivory once the Healers realised what he was... but then again, he'd stayed there for one or two nights after every full moon for about a year after he was first bitten, and they'd been kind enough to him then... maybe they would let him see Ivory regardless.

"Remus Lupin," he eventually answered.

"Ah, yes, I thought I recognised you," the Healer said, nodding. "And what's the girl's name?"

"Ivory."

"Her full name, sir."

Remus thought for a moment, then said, "You won't make her leave if I tell you, will you?"

"Of course not," the Healer said, sounding more than a little puzzled. "I would never let a child die, especially not just because of their name — not to mention that it would be a breach of the Code of Conduct."

There was silence for a few seconds, then Remus said, "Her name's Ivory Riddle. Her legal guardians are her parents. I presume you know who they are?"

The Healer nodded, and Remus frowned a little at how calm she looked.

"You're still definitely going to keep her here, aren't you?" he asked anxiously. "She's not like her parents, she wouldn't hurt—"

The Healer cut him off, a reassuring look on her face. "I know. My son's in Gryffindor, in the year above Ivory. He was always telling me about her in his letters."

She stood up, an action that was quickly mirrored by Remus. "Well, I think that's everything for now. You can wait down on the ground floor until it's alright to see her, if you want."

Remus nodded. Then, as he was leaving the room, he was struck by a horrible thought.

"She will be ok, won't she?" The question tumbled from his mouth.

"I'm afraid we can't be sure at the moment," the Healer said gently. "She lost a lot of blood, and she was already in severe haemorrhagic shock when you brought her here." On seeing Remus' look, she quickly added, "But we're doing all we can. It's still possible for her to pull through."

Remus walked down to the ground floor in a kind of trance. He was furious with himself for not doing anything sooner. If he'd told Dumbledore about the letter Bellatrix had sent Ivory, this wouldn't have happened, he was sure of it. But he'd said nothing, and now Ivory might die.

The words seemed to echo in his head, drowning out the noises of the busy hospital reception.

Ivory might die, and it was all his fault.

***
A/N: Writing this chapter made me remember just how much I hate writing in a third person POV. I have no idea why I find it so much harder than first person, but I do, which is why this chapter is a) shorter than I'd have liked, and b) kinda terrible. 😂 I'll almost certainly be back to Ivory's POV in the next chapter, so hopefully it's going to be a bit quicker and easier for me to write it from now on.

Aaaaaanyways, I'mma go freak out about Remus being all protective over Ivory now. Byeeeee!

~Charlie 🖤