"Let's go," Michael said, putting on his coat. When Jim was ready, Michael apparated them to Robert's farm, into the kitchen. The farm had been closed indefinitely months ago. It was cold inside. But Michael immediately felt like they were not alone. He drew his wand. He wasn't sure why he felt eerie, but his gut didn't usually steer him wrong about things like that.
He motioned to Jim silently and crept noiselessly through the house, pointing out any creaky spots on the floor for them to avoid.
Then he saw a light from under Robert's library door. There was no way he'd left a light on for months. He crept to the door and motioned to Hiss. The rope slithered down from Michael's pack and, just slightly, under the door.
The rope seemed to snap back immediately, almost alarmed and pointed to the door. Michael threw open the door and saw Robert lying on the sofa in the library, not moving. On the coffee table were all sorts of empty, partly empty, or full potions glasses.
Michael rushed to Robert and checked him for a pulse.
"He's alive," Michael sighed, relieved. He hadn't seen Robert cause such a spread of potions and glasses in decades and decades. And when he'd seen it before, he had been desperate to find a potion to help a friend who had been poisoned. This, this on the coffee table, was the sign of a desperate man who wanted, more than anything to find a cure for himself.
"He's tried most of these," Michael sighed. "Fool. He could have killed himself with this much junk in his system. As it is, he seems to just be sleeping it off. He was damned lucky."
He looked at Jim. "Can we get a wee bit of heat in here? And then perhaps a pot of coffee from the kitchen please? He's going to need French Roast. Regular coffee isn't going to have enough guts to deal with this. Then we'll try to get him awake."