Right, I've written this five different ways so if you hate it, don't tell me. I think this is the best version.

Six, part two, Grey

“What do you mean, I can’t see him?” Victoire demanded. “I’m family; I’m going to be his wife!”

She turned her left hand over, showing Healer Patil her engagement ring.

Padma smiled kindly “Miss Weasley, no-one is allowed to see Mr Lupin until we can determine what is causing his current condition. The quarantine is to ensure that if the cause is contagious, it does not spread.”

“Well, how in the name of Merlin are you going in there?”

“We are taking precautions, but I cannot allow you to do the same.” She had pre-empted Victoire’s next demand. “Now, I need to get back to Mr Lupin”. She walked away from the group, casting a bubble head charm and then unlocking the door of the ward. Victoire turn to Harry, her hands in her hair, tears threatening to spill down her cheeks.

“Oh, come here.” Ginny pulled her into a tight hug. “Teddy’s a fighter, he comes from a family of fighters, he’s going to come through this, he’ll be ok. To Harry, the words sounded rather empty as he recalled the family of fighters Teddy came from and how young they had all been when they died. Even the most recent, Andromeda, had only been in her late sixties when she had passed away a year earlier, which was hardly old for a muggle, let alone a witch. A surge of bitterness rose up in Harry’s throat. He saw Sirius laughing as he fell through the veil, Ted showing him where the portkey was, Tonks with blond hair at the wedding, Remus toasting the birth of his son, Andromeda green from dragon pox and now Teddy, limp and grey…

“Harry, he’s going to be fine. Stop thinking like that.”

Harry looked up at his wife. “When did you become a Legilimens?”

She laughed mirthlessly. “I don’t need to read your mind; I can just look at your face.”

*****

“John! John, quick! Remus is hurt!”

He was aware of his Mummy shouting, but he couldn’t be hurt because nothing was hurting. He must be dreaming, yes that’s what must be happening. He'd had a brilliant day and now he was dreaming. That must be right. Brain Young had shown Remus where he wanted to build a den in the woods and they had spent the day finding lots of big branches to build it from. They were going back tomorrow to finish it. It had been dark but Brain had a torch so they had been able to find their way home. They had thought that they could here something following them but they had got all the way to the end of the lane before they had heard the growling. Brain had run away and then…

“John, would you hurry up, I think he’s dying!” His Mummy was screaming now and Remus knew it was real, he could feel his legs and his belly hurting. He could feel something warm and wet all over him, like he’d split gravy or custard. Whatever it was, there was lots of it. Feet were running now and he could hear his Daddy swearing, that was funny, Daddy had always said swearing was rude. Big hands lifted him up and now he felt like he was flying. They were in the fireplace, it was warm and tickly. Then there were bright lights and screams and then comfortable blackness…

Remus woke up and everything was hurting. His legs and his belly felt stiff and sore. He opened his eyes and saw that he wasn’t at home.

“Mummy?” His voice sounded funny. He swallowed and realised that his mouth was very dry. “Daddy?”

“I’m here darling. I’m here.” He felt his Mummy squeeze his hand.

“Where am I? Am I poorly?”

“You’re in the hospital darling, you’ve been poorly but you’re going to get better.” Her voice sounded all wrong, like she was fibbing.

“Oh. Well, can Granddad Lupin come and read me stories? That will help me get better, I think.”

“When we get home darling, when we get home.”

*****

“Mum!” Victoire ran down the corridor, blonde hair flying out behind her. Fleur and Bill walked towards them and, after embracing their sobbing daughter, listened to a full recount of everything that had happened to Teddy.

“’Ee should never ‘ave moved into Lupin Cottage alone.” Fleur’s pronouncement was made in a throatier voice than usual and Harry was not surprised to see that she was fighting back the tears.

“He wanted to feel close to his parents, and I think we can all understand why.” Although Teddy had lived with Harry and Ginny briefly when he was nineteen, he had moved home when Andromeda had suffered a nasty accident with a back firing charm. She had been permanently weakened and had been unable to fight off the dragon pox. Harry knew that Teddy blamed himself. He had rented out her house and moved into Lupin Cottage as soon as the Richards family had moved to France, refusing several offers from Ginny, Hermione and Kingsley of alternative accommodation.

Padma Patil was walking up the corridor towards them, her face inscrutable.

Harry’s heart began to pound in his throat. He was sure that she was coming to tell them that Teddy had died.

“We still don’t know what is wrong with Mr Lupin.”

Relief flooded through Harry and he almost didn’t hear Bill’s question.

“…have you ruled out?”

“Almost everything. We’ve contacted Healers all over the world, just in case it’s something exotic that we don’t recognise. It’s a highly unusual case; he has a number of seemingly unconnected symptoms. There is a team from the ministry at Mr Lupin’s home as we speak, trying to detect any possible trace of toxins or poisons. All we can do now is wait. If Mr Lupin is anything like his father then I’m sure that he will fight whatever this is.”

Harry thanked her and Padma walked away, catching up with a Healer who was carrying what looked like letters.

“I say we take shifts, we may not be able to sit with him, but someone should be here.” Bill’s suggestion was a good one and Harry volunteered to stay with Victoire. They sat together outside the ward; she slipped her hand into his and leaned her head on his arm just as she had when she was a tired little girl who wanted a bedtime story. Harry just hoped that this time there would be a happy ending.