Sacred Heart Research Center for Incurable Diseases
Disclaimer: I own not a thing. Therefore, I make no money, and have to get a job. Ewwwww.
CHAPTER 1: My New Life
"Why didn't I Apparate?" A very nauseous Harry Potter thought as the Knight Bus swerved onto two wheels yet again. "And why doesn't this damn bus have bags to throw up in?"
The bus slammed to a stop as another old woman crossed the street. The sudden jarring motion caused the wizard sitting next to Harry to splash his coffee down the side of Harry's scrubs, staining the soft blue material with the dark brown liquid. The man didn't even seem to notice as he futilely sipped at his now empty mug. Harry grimaced.
"Scourgify!" The stain faded lightly, but there was still traces of it. Several cleaning charms later and it was still there.
"Great. I'm going to have coffee stains on my first day." Harry thought dejectedly.
Harry leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. After his departure this morning he really needed to clear his head.
That morning...
The thud of his suitcase hitting the floor alerted his parents to his presence. Harry stood at the bottom of the staircase, all his bags around him. He pulled out his wand and began to levitate his bags, trying to ignore the sound of his mother walking towards him.
"Are you leaving already, Harry?" Lily Potter asked.
Harry turned around and gave his mom a small smile. "Yes, Mum. I have to get all my stuff to the apartment before work."
"Aren't you going to stay for your brother's party?"
Harry suppressed a flicker of irritation. Due to life's little games, his brother Hunter graduated from his Auror academy around the same time he got his Healing license. And of course, his celebration party was the day Harry left for his first day of work.
"I can't, Mum. Today's my first day."
"Oh, well, if you're sure you can't skip then. I'll make sure to save you some ca-" Lily was interrupted when James called from the living room. She quickly trotted in his direction before remembering her son. She dashed back over to hug him and wish him good luck before scurrying off at the sound of James's call. Harry stood still and sighed. That was likely the only goodbye he was going to get.
His parents weren't really neglectful, per say, but more of preoccupied with his brother. It was to be expected; with a Dark Lord after Hunter they wanted to be with him as much as possible and give him whatever he wanted. If Harry wanted something, he just had to go ask and give valid reasons. When he wanted to talk, he would talk with them.
But the problem was that Hunter took priority. If both Harry and Hunter achieved something, Hunter would be the one they praise and fawn over. Like todays party. Becoming an Auror was a great accomplishment, but it should have paled beside getting accepted into one of the top hospitals in the world with a Mastery in Healing and a degree in Muggle medicine. At the very least, it deserved a little praise from his parents!
Harry sighed and walked towards the door, his bags hovering behind him. His hand has barely brushed the doorknob before he was tackled by an eight year old bundle of joy and energy. His bags thumped to the floor as he lost his concentration.
"You didn't think we'd let you leave without saying goodbye, did you?" His 14 year old sister Rose asked.
"So you set your attack dog on me?" Harry groaned out as his 8 year old sister Melanie, Mel for short, bounced on his chest.
Mel giggled and Rose smirked. "How else was I to stop you?"
"Oh, I don't know, calling my name?" Harry mock-glared at her. "Now get this lump off of me, she's heavy."
"Never call a girl fat, Harry." Mel giggled out. Harry lifted her off of him and sat up, glaring for real at Rose now.
"Stop teaching her girly things before she even gets to Hogwarts!"
Rose laughed and offered him a hand. "It's my job as a big sister, just like you taught me how to beat up guys. I still find it amusing my Healer brother taught me how to fight instead of my Auror brother. Ironic, isn't it?"
Harry accepted the hand and pulled himself to his feet. "Well he wasn't going to do it. And someone has to make sure those horny gits at Hogwarts don't touch my little sister."
It was a valid concern. At 14, his sister looked like a miniature version of Lily, with long red hair, a pretty face, and a thin frame. Harry had been treated to many a long rant about the idiotic boys of Hogwarts from Rose. He wasn't looking forward to the rants from Mel once she started there.
Harry looked at both his sisters. Rose had a forced smile on her face, while Mel was already slightly crying. Harry dropped down onto one knee and opened his arms. Mel immediately rushing into his embrace.
"I'm going to miss you!" She bawled into his chest.
Harry grinned and ruffled the top of her head. "Mel, I'm not dying. I'll visit you often and we can play, ok?"
Her sobs were slowly abating, yet Harry knew she'd probably be depressed for most of the day. It was Rose who worried him. He looked over at her and saw her forced smile was faltering. He gently separated himself from his youngest sister and moved over to her. She jumped on him and hugged him just as tightly.
"If you need a place to cool down after you fight with Mum and Dad, my place is available." She put her head on his shoulder and nodded, not letting him see a couple tears escaping her eyes.
"If any horny Hogwarts gits give you trouble, let me know and I'll castrate them, ok?" She laughed, her throat choked up, and nodded again.
Harry pulled away and kissed the top of her head. He did the same with Mel, who cried harder. Then he stood up, smiled at his sisters, and walked out the door.
Current time
Of course, he had to walk back in a minute later to grab the bags he forgot. Harry grinned as he remembered hugging Mel again. He loved his sisters more than anything else in the world.
His thoughts were interrupted when the bus slammed to a stop yet again. He finally fell off of his chair and tumbled head over heel on the bus floor. Eventually his body stopped with his face pressed against some sticky substance on the floor.
"Sacred Heart Hospital," the conductor, a bored looking middle aged man, called out.
Harry peeled his face off the floor and grabbed his bag. He quickly got off the death-trap/bus, only pausing to glare at the driver. The grass crunched under his feet as the bus zoomed off behind him. The sight ahead of him made him smile. A trio of tall graceful buildings were assembled in a circle around a grassy courtyard. Each building was three stories high and had bridges connecting each level to one another. In the very front, a sign proudly proclaimed: Sacred Heart Research Center for Incurable Diseases. Overall it was an impressive site, the place where elite Healers go.
The doors swung open smoothly on oiled hinges, revealing a large lobby and a bored looking nurse sitting at a desk. Harry walked up to her.
"Excuse me, I'm supposed to see a Healer Whitehall. I'm the new Healer," Harry informed her proudly.
She didn't bother to look up from her newspaper. "Down the left hallway, second door, up the stairs, talk to the nurse on duty."
"Err, thank you," Harry said awkwardly. She didn't give any sign she cared.
Harry followed the directions she gave until he reached a second bored nurse, who then proceeded to give him more directions. Eventually, he reached a tall man in a white coat he presumed was Whitehall.
"Are you Healer Whitehall?" Harry asked. The man turned around and looked him over.
"That I am, son. Healer Whitehall, Chief Healer of Sacred Heart and your new boss. That is, if I'm correct in assuming you must be Mr. Potter?"
Harry gave a grin and stuck out his hand. "Pleased to meet you, Sir."
Healer Whitehall was an intimidating man. He was taller than Harry, with grey-streaked brown hair, frown lines, and shoulders stooped with weariness. Nevertheless, he smiled back and gave a firm handshake.
"Come with me, son. I'll get the only decent nurse to give you the orientation tour." Whitehall turned and started walking towards a pretty nurse. Harry followed, wondering about the 'only decent nurse' comment.
"Nurse Collins! Got a newbie for ya!" Whitehall chuckled out. Harry gulped when the nurse turned around to face them, a beautiful smile on her face. Long blonde hair hung down past her shoulders. Blue eyes shone out above a cute nose and kissable lips, all helping create a pretty face. She smiled at Harry, causing him to nervously smile back, before turning her attention to Whitehall.
"I'll show him the ropes, Sir, keep him from getting killed," she said sweetly.
"Good. Now, I have to go check on Reynold, he wants to try this new potion on his patient and I'm fairly certain it'll make his brain explode. Literally." With that, Whitehall left Harry alone with the nurse. She immediately smiled that gorgeous smile at him again.
"My name is Nurse Collins, but you can call me Beth."
"So, I'm sure you've heard of what this hospital does, but now you get the official tour." Beth said while Harry trotted next to her. "We have three kinds of patients: Patients with a complicated case no one else can figure out, the rich patients that want to be treated at 'the best hospital in the world', and the incurable ones that are too dangerous for any other hospital."
"Now, the complicated ones basically just have a riddle we need to solve. A new spell that went wrong, a potion having rare side effects, that sort of thing. Something regular Healers can't figure out, it requires a new cure or an unorthodox method."
"The rich ones are just prats. Did you know we had this rich pureblood come in with a sprained ankle? It was a pathetic waste of time and resources. That's the sort of thing we get from those types of patients."
She faltered a little bit for the next explanation. "The next ones are hard to explain. The 'incurable' ones are like the regular complicated case patients, but far more complex and dangerous."
"How so?" Harry asked.
"Each case is different. There's really no way to explain the incurables as a whole, other than saying there's a reason we call them incurable," Beth said gravely.
They both stood looking at each other for a second. Then Beth smiled again and continued walking. "There are three buildings here, each for a different type of patient. You got the fancy advanced training, which means you can work in any of the three. Usually a Healer has one specialty. So what we're going to do is give you a week in each building to see where you fit best."
"So after the three weeks I'm assigned a building?" Harry asked.
"Sort of. Since you can work in all three, you're going to have one main building where you spend most of your time. But you can go work in one of the others if they're short a Healer or need another opinion on something."
"Cool deal," Harry said simply.
"Come on bigshot, I'll take you to meet the Heads."
They walked down to the first floor and out into the courtyard. It really was a nice place. Neatly cut grass, clean benches, and nice shady trees, the perfect place to relax. Harry followed Beth down a stone walkway into one of the three buildings labeled: The Omega Center.
"The Omega Center?" Harry asked as Beth opened the door. A rush of cool air hit them.
"Gamma, Alpha, and Omega Centers. Gamma is the regular complicated cases, Alpha is incurables, and Omega is the rich prats. Omega also has the break room, which is where the Heads probably are. It's lunch break."
"The Heads?" Harry questioned.
"You sure do ask a lot of questions, don't ya?" Beth said teasingly.
Harry shrugged. "First day, gotta ask some."
Beth laughed before answering. "Whitehall is the overall boss of the place, but each building has one person in charge that reports to Whitehall. Ryker has Omega, Mulligan has Gamma, and Rosier has Alpha."
"Rosier!" Harry exclaimed. "He's a Death Eater!"
Beth grabbed Harry's arm and dragged him to a door on the side of the hallway. She opened it and shoved him inside. It was a supply closet. She squeezed in after him and stared at him seriously.
"You need to know this now before you get yourself killed," She said simply. "Most of the Healers hear are dirty. This hospital gets massive funding and most of it never reaches the patients."
"What?"
"Most of the Healers either support pureblood supremacy or just like the money." Beth said sadly.
Harry looked confused. "Why doesn't Whitehall do anything?"
"Whitehall doesn't have power anymore. The Heads control everything now, and one of them is a marked Death Eater."
Harry looked desperate. He knew the war was affecting things, but to hear that the best hospital in the world was dirty... it was overwhelming.
"It's okay, Harry." Beth said sympathetically. She pulled him into a hug. "You're a Healer. Just focus on healing your patients, that's what matters."
Harry hugged her back. "So what now?" He mumbled.
"Now you meet the Heads."
The first Head, Ryker, was an elderly man. His hair was pure white and he used a cane. He was squinting at Harry with tired eyes. Mulligan, Head of Gamma, was massive. His arms bulged with muscles, he had broad shoulders, and he towered over Harry. The Death Eater, Rosier, was the exact opposite. He was thin and sickly looking, with lank brown hair and a cruel gleam in his eyes. He smiled maliciously.
"Well, our new Healer. Mr. Potter." He said snidely.
"That's Dr. Potter." Harry corrected.
Ryker sneered at him. "Healers did not have coffee stains on their scrubs in my day."
Harry opened his mouth, probably to say something sarcastic, but before he could, Mulligan stuck his hand out.
"Healer Mulligan, Head of Gamma," He grunted, still waiting for a handshake. Harry shook his hand, nearly having bones break from the strength of his grip.
"You'll be starting with me first, Potter." Ryker said.
"I look forward to it," Harry said calmly.
Beth smiled nervously and stepped forward. "I'll finish up the rest of his orientation then."
Rosier smiled back at her with what he probably thought was a charming smile. Mulligan just grunted and took another bite of his sandwich. Beth grabbed Harry's arm and pulled him out of the room and away from the Heads.
Several hours later
Harry's Apartment
Harry lay on his bed, exhausted from the day. After the tense meeting with the Heads, she showed him around Gamma and Omega. They weren't allowed into Alpha, it was deemed too dangerous. But she introduced him to a couple patients from Gamma, met with several nurses and Healers, and told him the daily procedures.
Tomorrow he started at Omega. Harry stared at the ceiling.
"Well, you got into the hospital you wanted." Harry thought. "Now you gotta live with what it's really like."
Oh joy.
AN 1: Whoooo! This was really fun, I enjoy this story. I want to be a doctor myself, so I'm going to have fun with this. I'm not going to abandon my other stories though, don't worry.
AN 2: Bonus points to anyone who can tell me where I got the names Sacred Heart, Ryker, Whitehall, and Mulligan from. :)
AN 3: Please review this story! I really want some feedback on my writing ability and story telling. You can PM me if you want.