.~*~*~*~*~*~

Exhaustion.

Bill took a long drink from the large glass of water that had been put beside him several hours ago. "Right, nearly there. I… I don't know what's going to happen when it's completely off, or how his body will react." He said quietly, looking specifically at Simpyon who nodded. "As soon as I draw back this time you can do whatever you need to." Bill added and Remus felt the tightening in his stomach loosen as he heard that. Draco had had four separate seizures since Bill had begun removing the dampner almost three hours ago; Simpyon had not intervened for any of the seizures, having agreed with Bill early on that there was no need unless the seizure lasted longer than five minutes. Being in Draco's mind meant that Bill would be able to see any damage being caused and, realistically, he knew that if he were to stop halfway through removing a strand of the magic it could cause more damage to Draco in the long run. Remus watched as Bill lowered the glass back onto the table and raised his wand again, leaning into Draco before placing the wand onto the rune he had drawn on the boy's forehead using some potion Severus had got him. Bill murmured under his breath and Remus saw the man's eyes begin to flicker, taking on a strange milky appearance as he delved into Draco's mind, the room went silent as they all watched Bill's wand begin to shake before it glowed blue for a second as it engulfed another strand of the dampner. This continued for another fifteen minutes and as he waited Remus felt his eyes drawn to Sirius, the man was stood in the corner of the room, his arms wrapped around himself and his face pale. Remus swallowed as he watched his husband, he knew he should go and comfort him and yet he wasn't sure he would be welcome; they had argued terribly the night before, said things that should never have been said, harsher words than they had ever exchanged before, Remus had been so scared about Draco and so furious with Sirius for letting things with Lucius reach the point that they had that he had just lost it. For the most part Sirius had stood there silently and taken the tongue lashing and the brutal criticism and then at some point something had snapped and he had screamed, giving back as good as he got. Remus swallowed again, hating himself for some of the cruel words he had said, Sirius hadn't deserved that, no matter what.

The air in the room stilled suddenly, filled with crackling of strong magic in the air and Remus focused solely on Bill and Draco now, Bill's wand was shaking in his hand, a continuous stream of blue going down it. Beads of osweat were gathering on Bill's forehead and he was panting now, though his eyes remained blank. Remus heard himself whimper as a slow trickle of blood began to fall from Draco's nose; Simpyon stepped forward, his wand raised, but then he stopped. "It's not much, I'm sure he'll be fine." the healer murmured, although he looked very concerned.

Bill's wand was giving out a low screech now and Simpyon suddenly said "Shit."

Remus frowned, wondering what the man had seen as Draco appeared to be the same as he had a moment ago. Then the healer knelt down beside Bill and Remus saw that he too had a nosebleed. The stream of blue was fading from Bill's wand now but the connection between the two men remained even when the traces of magic were clearly gone from Bill's wand. Draco's hands suddenly shot up jerkily before falling down onto the bed; Simpyon cursed again "Seizure." He murmured just as Draco's legs began to jerk too.

Remus felt his mouth fill with saliva and he swallowed, pushing away the nausea that was rising within him, "But the dampner's gone now? The magic's stopped coming from Draco." He heard himself say.

"I… I think so but… I don't know what's happening." Simpyon admitted quietly, still kneeling beside Bill whose nosebleed appeared to be getting worse, "I don't want to break their connection in case…" then suddenly Bill's wand flew from his hand and he fell backwards into his chair, his eyes wide and back to their normal colour now. Draco's seizure stopped just as abruptly and he slumped back onto the pillows, his eyes shut, within seconds Simpyon was sat on the bed beside him, his wand in his hand as he murmured various diagnostic checks.

"Is he okay?" Remus asked quietly, dreading the answer.

"Check Weasley." Was Simpyon's only response and Remus watched as Severus shook Bill's shoulder, trying to speak to him and then casting several charms when he got no response.

"Magical exhaustion." Simpyon said after a moment, "Weasley the same?" He asked and Severus nodded, "Let them rest, leave the charms on we can see if there are any changes."

"Is he okay?" Remus repeated, unable to tear his eyes away from his son.

Simpyon rose, his eyes meeting Remus' "Everything appears to be stable within his mind; but I can't make any promises until he's awake and speaking to us, if there is damage that's when we'll be able to tell." Remus squeezed his eyes shut, trying to keep himself calm. "Get Weasley into a bed." Simpyon told Severus, "I have to run back to the hospital but floo me the moment they wake or if anything changes."

"I will." Severus nodded, his face pale, he turned and cast a featherlight charm on Bill and then floated the man out of the chair and through the doorway. Simpyon followed him, leaving the rest of them in silence.

"How about I go and make some tea?" Lily suggested gently after a moment of two, squeezing Remus' arm as she walked past him.

.~*~*~*~*~*~.

James peered around the bedroom door, smiling as he saw that Bill's eyes were open, surely that was a good sign? "How are you feeling?" He asked loudly, making his presence known.

Bill blinked, "I... Okay. How's Malfoy?"

James swallowed, "He's not awake yet." He admitted quietly and saw Bill wince slightly. "That last bit of the removal, it was pretty intense... You were both bleeding and..." James trailed off. "Thought we'd have to answer to your mother for a moment there!" He tried to joke.

Bill closed his eyes for a second, "I got stuck." He muttered and James felt his brows pull together, showing his confusion. "Draco's got a natural talent for legimency and occlumency, probably doesn't even realise he's doing it." Bill said, his voice sounding a little hoarse.

"And that's what was blocked?" James prompted when the man was silent for a few moments.

"Yeah." Bill nodded slowly, the slight creasing of his eyes the only sign that the movement pained him. "When I... When I removed the last of it I created a connection between us, we saw each other's thoughts and memories..." James swallowed, suddenly aware of what that might mean. "It was an accident." Bill added quickly "but... I saw a lot."

James sighed, sitting down on the edge of the bed and looking at Bill carefully, "We didn't mean to deceive you." He said carefully, still not entirely sure what the man knew.

"No, no I understand. I..." Bill looked away, his eyebrows creased together, "Why would he do that?" He whispered hoarsely, "Why would Dumbledore..." The man's voice broke and he turned away, trying to collect himself.

"That's something we're still trying to understand." James said, "I wish I knew." Bill moved suddenly, sitting up and swinging his legs over the side of the bed, past James who stood up before he'd thought about it. "You should be resting." James said, "Where are you going?" He added stupidly as Bill walked out of the door and down the corridor to Draco's room. Harry and Neville had come in to see the Draco when they returned but Neville had been unable to cope with seeing him so unwell and so the two young men were now with Lily in the drawing room, watching some muggle film in an attempt to distract them. Sirius, Remus, Lucius and Severus on the other hand had remained with Draco since the dampner had been removed, refusing to leave his side for longer than a few minutes when necessary. They were still sat there now when James entered with Bill, "You're awake!" Sirius said unnecessarily, he looked glad and James could tell that he was hoping that meant Draco would wake soon.

Bill nodded sharply, his eyes on Draco, "How is he?"

"Heart rate keeps spiking… I'm not sure if I should call Simpyon or not." Severus murmured, he looked exhausted and James realised that it had been hours now since anyone had eaten anything, he would make some sandwiches once Bill was safely back in bed he decided.

Bill's face broke into a small smile at Severus' words and he propped himself on the bed beside Draco, "Means he's trying to wake up. It's always the first sign, then he might do some accidental magic; I smashed your mirror by the way. Shouldn't be long I wouldn't think."

"This has happened before?"

"Uh yeah… With curse breaking it does, It's not overly common though, especially not with dampner removals so it didn't occur to me that it would but… Well it was pretty strong magic to put us both into exhaustion."

Severus scowled, "Pretty strong wizard." He muttered and Bill nodded.

"Bill saw Draco's memories." James told the other quietly and watched as they all winced quietly, looking at the redhead who was frowning down at Draco.

"I… You should focus on Draco." Bill murmured. "You can talk to me later." He added, making it clear that he still wanted answers.

James smiled, "We will." He nodded. "Right, I'm going to make some food and you're all going to eat it. No arguments." As James walked down the corridor towards the stairs he heard a loud thump followed by a crash.

"See." He heard Bill say calmly, "Accidental magic."

.~*~*~*~*~*~.

Neville raced into the room, past the adults who were stood around talking quietly and Lucius felt himself smile as he watched the boy sit himself down beside Draco and stroke his hair. Draco's eyes flickered open and he frowned, "Who are you?" He asked and Lucius resisted the urge to snort as Neville's face paled, after all they had assured the boy that there didn't seem to be any permanent damage to Draco's mind.

"Still have the same rubbish sense of humour then?" Harry asked from the doorway, rolling his eyes as Draco smirked and Neville slapped at his hand, calling his boyfriend a dick.

Lucius curled his hand around his mug and turned back to Simpyon who was speaking with Sirius, "I'll need to see him fairly regularly for the next few months just to keep an eye." The healer was explaining, "I should really see Weasley too actually. As far as Draco's concerned… Everything seems to be working okay but the damage to that section of his mind and his magic is still there. Perhaps it will heal itself, perhaps not."

"What does that mean for Draco?" Sirius asked quietly.

"There is a clinic at the hospital that deals with injuries to magic such as this. Many of the patients have issues with accidental magic that they cannot control, others have seizures… It's difficult to predict exactly how someone's body and magic will react."

"More seizures?" Sirius looked sick at the thought, his hand moving to stroke his stomach almost unconsciously.

Simpyon nodded, "If it does happen then we will know what's causing it and hopefully we will be able to get it under control, the same with any other issues that arise." He promised, "Keep me updated on any changes, I'll send over some appointments."

"When can he return to Hogwarts?" Lucius asked.

"Give him at least a week and I'd like to see him before he does. I'll send all my notes to Madame Pomfrey. Well the basics anyway. I'm sure you don't want people asking questions."

"Thanks." Lucius murmured and the man nodded at him before moving away to say goodbye to Draco.

Sirius let out a long sigh, his eyes flickering closed and Lucius took a moment to look at the man, he looked unwell, pale and sweaty with massive bags under his eyes. "You should rest." He found himself saying, "Today can't have done you or the baby any good." Sirius' eyes opened suddenly, looking at Lucius in surprise and he realised that this was the first time he had spoken to Sirius, the first time he had acknowledged the situation they were in since he had found out, since he had done all that shouting.

"I…" Sirius hesitated, his eyes looking a little watery as he cleared this throat, "Luc I…"

"Oh come here you daft mutt." Lucius said, holding his arms out as tears began to spill from Sirius' eyes, "Everything's going to be okay. All of our children are going to be okay."

.~*~*~*~*~*~*~.