"Adrian, i'm going to pick you up," Remus soothingly stated, although his voice shook. Remus reached out, carefully sliding his arms around Adrian with the gentlest touch.
"Sirius, do you know any numbing charms?"
"Yeah, one sec." Sirius grunted, casting a complex movement with an incantation Adrian didn't hear. "There, give it a few seconds."
Adrian groaned quietly in relief the moment his nerves stopped burning. He could feel the strong arms around him, barely more than firm pressure. They were moving, leaving the alley.
"Sirius Black?" Adrian asked, eyes rolling in his head from the combined pain and his magical exhaustion. His voice was flat, slurred and monotone.
"When did... when did you get here..."
Sirius paused as he deciphered the lisping sentence, taking it in stride and not drawing attention to how horrid Adrian's speech was.
"Right before that vampire was going to take a snack," Sirius grunted, scanning the surroundings with practiced ease, "So, good timing on my part."
"Oh," Adrian spoke, wincing as his head pounded from the sudden flash of sunlight, "Not a vampire, mermish."
Remus laughed slightly, it wasn't his normal laugh. Anxious and nearing hysterical, an attempt to dispel his nervous tension.
"That was a brutal hex there, kid." Sirius noted distantly, moving in stride to walk next to Remus and nearest Adrian's head.
"What spell was that? Not diffindo, that's way above you, unless old Dumbledore is driving slave labor."
"Oh," Adrian slurred, head starting to hang limply as his neck relaxed from supporting him, "Bella taught me."
Sirius froze, and Remus stiffened. Remus swallowed, his heart loud as Sirius scrambled to catch up a few strides, already hissing under his breath.
"Bella? Bella? As in Bellatrix? Moony, what the f-"
Remus glared, causing Sirius' jaw to click and a vessel to pump near his temple.
"Moony- you, this..." Sirius' shoulders slumped as he exhaled furiously, "Wait, you knew?"
"Sirius, can we talk about this later?" Remus muttered lowly under his breath, eyeing the curious people who were starting to watch them, either from Sirius' obvious indignation or Adrian's limp body.
"Oh no, I've been in too many dead ends to just let this go."
"He's injured." Remus harshly whispered back, gesturing with his head to Adrian's limp body. Adrian's face was twitching, spasming under his eye and twisting his features into some more garish.
"Wait-" Sirius floundered, nearly choking on saliva. "You mean Bellatrix did that?"
Remus shot Sirius a stern look, "Later, there are too many people."
Sirius swore, shaking his head before looking at Adrian with a sympathetic sigh, "Sorry kid, can we stun you? You'll wake up at St. Mungo's-"
"Please," Adrian gargled, his face twisting into a smile that was unsettling and somehow twisted all in one. Sirius felt his heart pound firmly, nearly leaping through his chest. Adrian looked bored, obviously in pain but somehow looking disinterested as if the entire situation was something lackluster.
Adrian lifted his hand, stiffly and with obvious effort; he stared at the unique darkened marks that snaked around his arm and hand like a whip of snowflakes.
"How bad is it?"
Sirius nearly tripped, and suddenly felt like vomiting on the cobblestone under his feet. "You haven't... you haven't seen it?"
Remus shuddered, the movement of his arms twitching traveled through his body and into Adrian's.
"It's...It's distinct." Remus struggled, looking as if he'd rather bite his tongue.
"Looks bloody awful, that's what it is." Sirius muttered darkly, "No worries, we'll get this sorted out. See you soon, pup, Stupify."
Adrian collapsed limply and heavily the moment the spell touched him. Remus had anticipated the sudden casting, and adjusted his weight accordingly.
Now it was just those two, cradling an unconscious child who looked like he had gone through some sort of squid attack
Sirius pulled the hood of his cloak up self consciously; the magical creatures and humanoids of Knockturn seemed fixated on watching the group.
"This place is giving me the creeps," Sirius confessed, jumping to avoid a puddle of questionable origin as they hurried on.
Remus glanced up and most likely saw something he didn't like. He hunkered lower, his body looming and curling over the unconscious body in his arms.
Something gave a shrieking laugh. Sirius snapped his head up, hair on his neck rising as he readied for a fight. Instead, he just spotted something perched on a roof, swinging its legs and grinning impishly at the two. It laughed again, sounding stunted and thrilled at the sight.
A woman on the street looked at them curiously, approaching them to pass by with a purple shawl over her hair. She smiled politely, not even glancing at Adrian.
Remus swallowed and didn't make eye contact. Sirius nearly tripped as the woman's eyes bled violet and her exposed chin puckered and popped out two insectoid barbs.
"Afternoon," She tittered, and Sirius coughed something illegible and hurried faster down the street.
They had almost a mile of confusing alleys and anti-apparition wards before they could breach the barriers and apparate Adrian to St. Mungos.
It was going to be a long trek.
Adrian woke up slowly with his body uncomfortably numb.
The room was too bright, too white, and smelled of something sterile instead of aged parchment and rosewood.
His eyes focused slowly. His arms cooperated in inching his body into an upright sitting position, although it took a moment for his limbs to cooperate.
There was a mirror directly across from him; the white light and the white robes he was dressed in made his pale skin seem even more fragile. He looked washed out, almost translucent.
The lights also made the unique scar patterning across his skin stand out starkly in shades of angry red and magenta.
Adrian lifted one hand, moving it to his cheek.
As if written by his father in his spidery penmanship, delicate lines decorated the hollow of his cheek and along the pronounced bone ridge of his cheekbone.
It looked like feathers were branded to his skin, pressed and seared there. The longer he looked, the less they resembled feathers.
Snowflakes, something organized yet chaotic. A burning touch of winter frost from where the electricity incinerated his flesh and cauterized the wound.
"Oh," Adrian breathed, touching the scarring where his entire body was numb. He pressed harder, digging his clipped fingernails into the marks until one blister ruptured and oozed over his flesh. He didn't feel it, he didn't feel pain.
It had worked, the spell had worked.
He didn't resemble his father anymore, yet, he still did. It was hard to see, difficult to recognize through the distracting colours.
Adrian grinned wide enough his face felt foreign. He breathed hurriedly, loud and excited.
It had worked.
He was happy
....
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