Gray Scale

Disclaimer: The characters here and the world they inhabit are the creation and property of JK Rowling and her assigns.

Within an hour, Lyall proved that he could pass muster. Andromeda nodded her head and went to her bedroom. A few minutes later, dressed in fresh healer robes, she patted a sleeping Teddy on his behind and nodded to Lyall. He stared at the baby as she moved through the house. There was the firm thud of the front door closing, a clanking sound as the gate shut, and after that the crack of Apparition.

Then there was silence. The Gray Man looked around himself and swallowed hard. There was really nothing to do until the baby woke up again, so his best option at the moment was to sleep himself. He knew where the loo was from Andromeda's quick tour of the house, but he'd forgotten to bring pajamas or a change of clothes for the morning. He realized they hadn't made any arrangements for that, either. Would he be able to go to work in the morning? Should he? How could he not, given the number of magical creatures at large in England after the battle of Hogwarts?

The baby woke up twice in the night. Both times, the Gray Man simply did what he'd been told. Change the baby, feed the baby, rock the baby to sleep and then check the baby again before putting him in the cot. On the second go around, the baby wouldn't sleep. The Gray Man sat on the daybed and cradled Teddy close to his chest. The baby whimpered for just a minute before yawning and somehow burrowing deeper into Lyall's chest. A moment later small snores were heard.

It was probably a couple of hours later that Andromeda's harrumph woke them up. "I'm required to tell new mothers that what you're doing is extremely unsafe." Her voice moderated. "Between you and me, though, sometimes it's the only way to get them to sleep and catch a few winks of your own. Just make sure your position is such that he can't slip and get caught between you and a pillow or something."

Lyall smiled down at their grandson before handing him up to her. "I will keep that in mind for next time. As far as I know, everything went as you directed. Do you need me today? If not, I should get home to have breakfast and shower and change. I'm sure there are plenty of creatures that need my department's attention."

She nodded. "From what I'm hearing, they definitely need you to get to work, so you're free to go. On the other hand, I made a rather large breakfast, if you're interested?"

Lyall felt a hunger pang as he realized he smelled bacon.

It was obscene, how quickly a moment's urge became a way of life. The Gray Man made an offer, and an hour later he'd been put in charge of a tiny wizard. Ten hours after that, he was promising, over bacon and porridge, to come back that evening so that Andromeda could go back to work. She had already had the foresight to arrange working nights while there were so many patients at the hospital. The only shift was that after a little planning ahead, Lyall insisted on being the one to take care of the morning meal. Andromeda watched him carefully the first time and then gratefully nodded her acquiescence. If he noticed, once in a while, that she sat on a window seat that looked out over the back garden carefully wiping her eyes every few seconds, she never mentioned finding him doing something similar, except sitting in the lounge.

After a week of following this first day's pattern, they stood side by side at the combined funeral of Nymphadora and Remus, both dry eyed and both looking a bit gray and shabby. The Gray Man watched Andromeda receive condolences and well wishes and thought to himself that she was a bit gray around the edges now, just as he had once been before going fully gray. The vibrancy he'd seen on their first meeting had been washed out by too much grief. It was a great shame; she was quite lovely in her regal way, and now she looked beaten down.

Three weeks later, Lyall came down to fix breakfast and found Andromeda ahead of him, pulling a finished pan of scones out of the oven. He saw that her face was all red from the heat, until he realized that her eyes were full of tears. He rushed forward to help her.

"My dear, what is it?" he asked. He drew her to a chair and sat her down.

She got back up and shook her head. "I have another pan that needs to be moved to the other rack." Lyall pushed her back into her chair and took the pot holders. "One of my patients, a sweet young boy, isn't going to recover."

Lyall moved the scones as directed and looked at her with the question on his face. She shrugged. "It's not spell damage; it's a poison."

"You can't find the antidote?"

"It's some sort of acromantula sting, but the standard antivenin didn't work. If anything, he's worse. If we can't figure this out, it's a matter of days."

Lyall thought for a moment. "Did he describe the creature that stung him?"

"He said it was an acromantula, but different somehow."

"A bit longer and thinner than the usual sort?"

"Yes."

Lyall nodded. When he got to the office, he looked through the inbox of active files and found a particular folder. He waved the folder at the manager, who nodded, and then he headed to Hogwarts. Heading toward the Forbidden Forest, he skirted around a meadow and entered through a berry patch.

"Zzzzz... you aren't supposed to beee heere... zzz."

"Ralph, I told you that if you stung anyone again, I'd have to come find you again."

"It was just a little one, and I so rarely get any fun any more," whined the creature.

Lyall sighed and pulled out his wand. "Petrificus Totalus!"

After clearing up a group of Boggarts he found near the Caretaker's cottage garden, he returned to Andromeda's house. She was already cooking again, or rather from the looks of it had been cooking since he left. A roast chicken was sitting on the table, along with dressing and vegetables. From the smell of it, there was roast pork in the oven. A stew of some sort was bubbling on the back of the cook top, while several counter surfaces contained pies and cakes. The baby was wrapped against her chest.

"Are you cooking for the hospital?" he asked.

She looked around. "No. I just couldn't sleep, and this gave me something to do. I didn't want to be wakened by the news that little Roger had... had..." she bit her lip.

He carefully placed a vial on the table. "Try this in your antivenin."

She picked it up. "We've tried acromantula antivenin. Didn't I tell you?"

He nodded toward it. "That's from an apimagnus."

She pondered it. "A bee?"

"More like a wasp."

She thought for a moment and then nodded. "That actually does sound more like what he described. Are they really near Hogwarts?"

He shrugged and sighed. "Just the one, and it's quite long in the tooth. I think it's just staying alive because it knows it troubles me so much."

He woke early the next morning to the smell of bacon. Wondering what new tragedy had struck and fearing she would break down altogether, he went down in his pajamas to see her singing along with the wireless. The gray had moderated to subtle browns; compared to a month earlier, she was radiant.

"Lyall! You'll never imagine... Well, of course you imagined it, that's why you helped us!"

"It was the right venom?"

"Precisely. Just the odor of the potion seemed to perk him up, and after he took it-well, we expect him to go home with his parents in a couple of days."

Lyall felt his face cracking. It was the first smile in months. "I'm delighted."

She came over to him and hugged him tight. "It was all your doing. Thank you so much."

He'd always thought that Nymphadora's artless charm had come from her father. Now, for the first time, he realized that he's daughter-in-law's charm seemed so boundless because it came from both parents. He knew that the grief wasn't gone. In a matter of hours or perhaps moments it would be as crushing as ever, but for the moment Lyall would eat all the breakfast that Andromeda put on his plate, and he would feast upon the joy on her face just as glutinously.