The mangled body that was miraculously still breathing was the cause of the healer's interrupted sleep. She was summoned at first light, before then, really, to her ward. Being head of the ward, she always was the victim of the most critical of calls, and this one seemed to be no different. The entire hospital was in a frenzy. Was there an attack at another Muggle village? Perhaps there were more shops closed down in Wizarding Cardiff because of the Death Eaters setting fires - people always came for burns, even if they weren't involved.

A red headed family she had once been very close with was talking to the staff just outside of her ward's doors. They were shut so they couldn't enter, but she watched them as she hurriedly passed, seeing their distress. An attack, then, involving the Weasley family. It made the girl's heart clench in fear. Which one of her childhood friends had been hurt... or killed? The war wasn't even a toddler in age and yet it had caused more damage than she remembered the first war to have.

Before the healer could inquire to a nearby staff member which of her sons was injured - the Weasley matriarch was screaming herself hoarse in the demand that her son be by her side - the healer was grabbed and guided through the doors, down the hall.

"Very critical," Maria was saying in a rush, handing her a file. "Got him just three minutes ago, when we called. We're doing the best we can, but it's not looking good. We got a few more with him, but they weren't werewolf victims... They all died."

Juliana's worst fears were confirmed when the curtain was ripped open and the bleeding mass was presented to her. She only briefly glanced at the file to confirm that the disfigured figure was in fact Bill Weasley, before she jumped into her duty.

The two of them had graduated together, both in Gryffindor House, and both excellent in Charms. They weren't what one would consider good friends, since they fought with every tooth and nail about everything, but they dated for an entire seven years... In the entirety of that time, they only were civil to each other for a collective whole of two days. One of them would always be in tears by the end of the hour - usually her - and there would be no reconciliation until the next afternoon at lunch.

Her thoughts of their history flew out the window as he moaned in pain, despite the healer's holding him still and giving him pain potions, and blood was pooling onto the ground, dripping from the hospital bed. Juliana sprang to life as she thrust the file away from her and held his chin up as she emptied a vial of Blood Replenishing Potion down his throat. "Keep him still," Juliana ordered. "He's stable, but faltering."

"He's losing a lot of blood," Laura Debois, a novice healer, remarked. "We're running out of Blood Replenishing Potion. Susan's brewing more as we speak-"

"Good," Juliana interrupting. "Keep giving him a dose every five minutes." She shook her head, stepping away from Bill's head. Odds weren't the greatest. If he did survive, he would have to put up one hell of a fight. Laura's hands were deep into the neck wounds, pressing a cloth against them so they'd clot and hopefully stop bleeding. So close to an artery. "Do we know what happened?" Juliana asked as she began to wave her wand over the more minor wounds that he may have gotten when he fell or if he was dragged. There were very few.

"Werewolf attack," Maria stated the obvious, reading the chart Juliana had tossed aside earlier. "Fenrir Greyback got into Hogwarts while Mr. Weasley was patrolling the halls for the Order. It says..." she paused, squinting at the hurriedly scribbled words. "He was bitten, scratched, and thrown around by Greyback before Greyback was stunned, Healer Winter."

Greyback. She began to work more diligently, swearing to herself as she saw that his artery wasn't spared in the attack like she had originally thought, but instead, was torn through and bleeding the most. "Heal that, now," Juliana snapped. "Maria-" She didn't glance at the woman as she began to pull out the Muggle healing device to stitch up his wounds. The werewolf ward was the only ward that had adopted the method, as werewolf wounds couldn't be healed by magic, only through natural processes. Juliana thread the needle and began on the wounds on his chest, signalling for Laura to get to the same step. "Maria, get the family taken to the waiting room. Tell them we're stabilizing him."

"Juliana-"

"Now," Juliana snapped. She gazed down at the man under her, feeling hopeless. There wasn't much she could do for his wounds other than sew them together and give him Skele-Gro for his broken ribs and arm. That would come at a later time when he wasn't ruining her shoes. "Mr. Weasley?" Juliana inquired, finishing the stitches on his chest and watching as Laura worked carefully at his neck. His eyes flickered towards her, wincing in pain and a small groan escaping his lips. "We need you to rest. If you can move as little as possible and drink this Dreamless Sleep Draught?" She saw his neck bob as he swallowed and Laura moved away as she finished and began to dig through the drawers to find salves for the wounds, to help them heal. He opened his lips only a little bit, but it was enough for Juliana to pour the liquid down his throat.

Once asleep, things slowed down and his bleeding became less of a hemorrhage and more of a decent trickle, Juliana waved the others away, telling Maria - when the young woman returned - to tell the Weasley family that he was fine and resting. They could visit him later in the day. So, while he rested, she did her job as the Head of the ward, to keep her most critical patient comfortable. It always happened every once in a while, a patient so badly injured they required her to stay by their bedside in case a condition changed suddenly. Though, they had never died, there had been a few close calls.

She dabbed the deep gashes on his face gently. They were sewn, to keep the scarring to a minimum, but scarring would be inevitable. Once she washed the blood from his body, making sure he didn't receive any sudden painful jabs to prevent him from waking, she smoothed a salve along the stitches of his face and gently watched as his face contorted into peace. The numbing spell in the essence of the salve was one she often used for wounds such as these. Her fingers clutched the sterile rag as she dabbed at his earline, keeping the blood from running inside, and she couldn't help the smile that tugged her lips as she saw the fang earring. Somethings never changed. He'd always be the rebel.

The clock had dinged noon when his posture shifted and his eyes slowly opened. He winced at the harsh light coming from the windows and she stood, drawing them partially closed. "You're awake," Juliana began gently. "Do you know where you are?"

"St. Mungo's," he said after a moment of looking around. He spotted the emblem on her robes, at least. "What ..." He tried to sit up, but she pushed him back down. "What happened?"

"You were brought here early this morning from an attack in Hogwarts," she recited from what she, herself, had learned. "Do you remember being mauled by Fenrir Greyback?" Bill nodded, wincing at the memory, or the pain of his wounds, she wasn't sure. "You've lost a lot of blood... There were a few touch and go moments, but you've stopped bleeding consecutively..." She swallowed hard as his eyes scrutinized her. "I'm Healer -"

"Am I a werewolf?" he asked, not unkindly, as she knew he was friends with a few werewolves, at least. He seemed generally curious and a bit resigned to his fate. "He bit me-"

"This is the werewolf ward," Juliana nodded, but continued before he could speak. "This does not mean that you are a werewolf. We take in cases of attacks as well. You were bitten..." She sat once more beside his head and pulled the rag out of the bucket of warm water, to clean the blood that was trickling from his head wound. He watched her out of the corner of his eyes. "The side-effects are uncertain. It was not a full moon and Greyback was not fully transformed, so you could be fine, but you will not be a full werewolf, at the worst possible effect."

"That means?" he pressed quietly, his voice a little hoarse.

"You have to find out what your side-effects are at the full moon."

"That's in four days," Bill said stiffly. "Bloody hell..." He closed his eyes as Juliana drew the rag away from his skin. "Do I have to register with the Ministry?"

"Depends on your side-effects, as I've said," Juliana repeated. "Your family has been in the waiting room since you arrived. Would you like me to fetch some of them?"

"No," He said immediately, surprising her. No? Did he have a falling out with them? They didn't act like it. "I'd like five minutes to be stress free before Mum hovers over me, checking to make sure I'm alright."

"I understand," Juliana nodded, but she didn't. She hadn't had a mother since she was very young and even then she wasn't the type to hover. She was rather independent, making Juliana become independent herself.

"How long have you been a healer?" her critical patient asked as Juliana rose to freshen the water from the pipes in the corner. Juliana dropped the rag into the clean water, rubbing it to make it as clean as she could, before she contemplated the question. How many years had she been a healer? She counted slowly, trying to remember big events among them.

"Six years," She said at last, refilling the bucket and bringing it back over to him. She placed a heating charm on it and began to wipe his temple once more.

"Married?" he inquired curiously. She wondered if he was still under the effects of the dreamless-sleep potion - a little delirious, and a bit bold because he thinks it's a dream.

"I don't see how this is relevant to your condition," Juliana admitted, biting her lip as she focused her concentration on his stitches. They were perfectly done, of course, but she still needed to distract herself.

"Perhaps I'll be the best patient you've ever had if you tell me you're a single, and ready to mingle, type of woman," he smirked. He immediately stopped, his face rippling in pain, and a groan escaping his lips as he turned a bit away from her gentle hand. "Merlin's beard... There's no pain potion?"

"I was just about to ask that, but you insisted upon inquiring about my life," Juliana stated simply. She stood, placing the rag back into her bucket, and digging around on the silver tray on his beside table. She found the pain potion and uncorked it, pressing it to his lips. He drank.

"So, single?" She placed the cork onto the empty bottle and placed it with forced ease onto the silver tray.

"Yes," she admitted.

"Single as in not dating, or single as in dating, but not serious?"

"Not dating," she said shortly. She took a deep breath to keep from digging her fingers into his stitches, and she really didn't want to be fired. It was a good job - excellent pay - and it opened up a lot of opportunities to the other Wards. She just had an unhealthy obsession with werewolves that was damaging to her reputation - she couldn't get a job anywhere else. She was treated just as a werewolf was in the outside world - but only if they knew where she worked, which was more often than not the case.

"Why not?" Bill asked curiously.

She swallowed. "Your mother is worried sick. I'll go fetch her. Five minutes is up."

He raised an eyebrow at her abrupt change in conversation, but she ignored it, sweeping from the curtained cubicle. She silently slipped down the napping ward, though some patients were awake, reading the Prophet from the morning still. The Weasley family was waiting on the top floor, all looking worried and sick, and by the glances from the glaring food staff, they hadn't bought anything to eat. When they saw Juliana, they seemed a little frightened, especially when she made her way towards them.

"Hello, I'm the healer in charge of Bill Weasley-" Juliana began.

Molly Weasley looked close to a faint. Her eyes were red from a heavy day of crying and her hands were gripping a handkerchief tightly, as if it were a life line. Juliana's eyes flitted to her husband, Arthur, as he wrapped an arm around Molly for support. But Juliana never got to finish her sentence, for Molly spoke up quickly. "Is he okay? They wouldn't tell us anything-"

Juliana spoke quickly, to assure the woman, "He's fine." Her tone was light, and when she glanced down, she knew why they were so frightened. The front of her healing apron was covered in dry blood from Bill. She hadn't had the mind to change into a clean uniform, as she couldn't leave Bill's side for more than a few minutes - and that was to get fresh water. "He's lost a lot of blood," she explained, "and there were a few close calls, but we have him stable... He's perfectly all right."

Molly looked relieved, a flood of color coming to her cheeks as she smiled brightly, glancing at Arthur. "Did you hear that? He's fine!"

Juliana cleared her throat, gaining there attention once more. "I can take you to him. He's asking for you."

Molly seemed pleased with this - as what mother wouldn't be? - and took Arthur's hand, stepping forward. "Of course."

Juliana turned abruptly. "Your children," she said, leading them into the hall, "can visit later. Only two at a time. Protocol, of course. Critical patients can't be too stressed." She glanced over her shoulder just enough to see them nod in understanding. The elevator ride was short, so Juliana kept talking to the two adults. "He will need to remain under our care for a few more days - a week, at most. We need to ensure that he will not relapse, and his wounds heal enough to be manageable. We also need to see the extent of his infection - whether or not he has the werewolf gene, and if so, what specifically he has."

"You look very familiar," Arthur said suddenly. "Did you attend Hogwarts?"

"Gryffindor, class of '89," Juliana said stiffly. "I was in Bill's class, yes."

"Oh!" Molly gasped suddenly. "Juliana Winter!" she remembered. "We haven't heard from you in ages! How are you?"

"Alright, ma'am," Juliana answered awkwardly.

"It's most upsetting, when Bill told us how you two had broken up - we were hoping to have you around for the going away party for Bill, you see..."

There was an awkward silence as Juliana tried to figure out how to respond. It had been years since she had a normal conversation with someone other than her coworkers, and even then it was about stray news from the Prophet. The elevator dinged, saving her a response, and Juliana led them down the hall to the ward for werewolf cases. "Please refrain from going too near the patients beds. Not all are victims, but rather werewolves themselves," Juliana felt the need to warn. "Stay close."

While she loved her job, it was a dangerous one. The werewolves were rarely kind, often refusing their potions or any other methods of help from the "human meat bags" that worked in the hospital. If a healer was to attend to a fully infected werewolf, there had to be another healer close by. The werewolves were ruthless, infinitely stronger than a regular witch or wizard, and armed with their instinct.

She pulled the curtain back to Bill's enclosure and Molly and Arthur slipped through, Juliana shortly following. As the two parents gushed over their son, Juliana took the cloth from the bucket and began her work on cleaning the trickle of blood that had escaped following her leave. It was slowing as his wounds scabbed, so she wouldn't need to stay by his side for much longer. She just didn't want him to get an infection.

He moved so suddenly, Bill, that he jerked painfully and some stitches tore. A groan left his lips. "Bloody hell-" Juliana was already at her feet, shooing the parents back as she grabbed the salve and more thread to stitch him back together. "Don't I at least get a pain potion?" he demanded.

"You moved, sir," she said simply. "Besides, we're a little short handed on pain potions. You nearly ended our supply. The novice healers are brewing more as we speak." She began to stitch once more, using her chin to move a strand of hair from her eyes, one that must have escaped her tight bun when she was fussing over him in the morning, but she had only now just noticed as she leaned over him. It fell into her eyes again and she just let it be as she quickly darted the needle into his skin.

He winced, sucking in a breath, and she almost apologized, but his hand suddenly shot forward and she flinched, her eyes briefly closing, as if he was going to push her away, but he just took the strand of hair from her eyes and tucked it behind her ear. "Better?" he inquired.

She froze, staring at her hands working on his wound, forgetting the Weasley parents standing worriedly at the foot of the bed. "Your medicine will begin to wear off in a few more hours, I suspect," she said evenly. Her cheeks felt hot though, and she kept her eyes down, finishing the stitches and cut the thread clean. She then put a bit of salve on her fingers and began to rub it into the wet wound. He tensed, obviously in pain.

"Oh, Bill, you're so lucky to be alive," Molly murmured, going to his side and kissing his forehead as Juliana moved away, washing her hands in the basin. "Greyback could have killed you." And he almost had. Juliana cut the water off, drying her hands as the two Weasley parents began to talk to him, comfortingly.

"So, we don't know if I'm a werewolf, right, Healer...?" Bill struggled, looking for her last name on her name tag, but it wasn't there. She didn't require one, they almost always knew who she was - or she introduced herself. He, apparently, didn't have time for neither.

"Winter," Juliana supplied stiffly. "Juliana Winter." She paused a second before answering his question. "No, we won't know. Depending on how long his saliva had to transfer into your bloodstream before you began to bleed out, and due to the amount of blood loss, it's safe to say that your chances of full infection are so slim it won't be considered. However, your chances at some effects during the moon in likely."

Bill seemed to not hear this as he had widened his eyes since she had stated her name. "Jules-"

"How much will he scar?" Arthur asked. "Will it be very bad scarring, like we see now, or-"

"Fortunately," Juliana started, sitting down in her previous seat and clutching the rag as she cleaned off Bill Weasley's stomach, where the stitches had split earlier, "the salve will prevent the scarring from being bad - horribly jagged and even painful. Unfortunately, there will be... very noticeable scars. We cannot heal werewolf wounds, yet. The chemical properties of the werewolves is very different from other wounds and magic seems to be repelled by it. This is the best we have."

"You're doing all you can," Bill muttered quietly.

Juliana nodded once, clearing her throat. "St. Mungo's prides itself on being the most advanced medical care."

"How much..." Arthur hesitated, his cheeks turning pink slightly. "How much will a few days cost here?"

"Because it's the werewolf ward, the prices are a lot less than the regular wards," Juliana said kindly. She knew they were very uncomfortable with the topic of money, but she still avoided their eyes, keeping herself distracted with her work. "Most werewolf victims are shown pity and often viewed as brave by the Ministry. The price is uncertain - as he could have a sudden relapse and his body reject the treatment given to him, but that is very unlikely. I would say the most expensive, with the worst case scenario, for a week, would be a thousand galleons. The best would be downwards of two hundred galleons."

They seemed to relax slightly with this news. "Don't worry about it," Bill said under his breath. "I've got it-"

"Juliana!" a voice shouted from outside the curtain cubicle. "Juliana!"

The Head of the Ward's face turned white and she rose quickly, numbly giving the rag to Molly and instructing her to keep the blood from running too much, before she drew open the curtain. Healers were rushing past her, a victim on a stretcher, looking limp. Maria grabbed Juliana's arm as she passed, breathless. "Patient crashing," Maria spoke. "Quickly-"

Juliana instantly went into her profession. "Debrief on the way-" She turned to the Weasleys, her eyes wild as she grabbed her clipboard in a rush. "I know it hurts, Mr. Weasley, but you need to keep those wounds clean. Try to keep as much salve on as possible when cleaning, Mrs. Weasley-" And she was gone, off to care for another patient before they crashed.