Chapter One
"Healer Evans, he's crashing," shouted one of the nurses. Lily took one deep breath before getting to work on their nearly dead patient. A panicking healer is worse than no healer at all.
"Fill him up on heart revival potion," ordered Lily, flicking though the patient's chart frantically.
"He's already had the maximum dosage."
"And he's still crashing?" asked Lily incredulously. Her eyes went wide as she looked at the heart monitor. "He's flat-lining. Alright people stand back."
She quickly grabbed her wand out of it's holder on her belt and pressed it sharply at his chest directly above his heart. She could feel the power travelling through her wand as it zapped her patient. His body jerked violently for a second before going back to its frigid state.
"No response, Healer," commented Hannah, a blonde nurse, apathetically.
"Don't you think I know that?" she shouted, as she jabbed her wand harder into his chest. A higher surge of power shot into his body again, which jerked but it didn't jerk into life as she would have hoped.
"He's gone Lily," said Prue, a nurse and Lily's best friend at the hospital.
Lily sighed dejectedly. "Time of death: 11:23pm."
Prue turned off the heart monitor. Lily hated it when the room went silent. A silent room in a hospital could only mean one thing; death.
"Are his family here yet?" asked Lily, taking the chart and placed it under her arm.
"No his wife is dead and his daughter had to bring her children so she couldn't apparate and she doesn't like to floo so she's travelling here muggle style," explained Prue, pulling the white sheet over the Mr Hopkins dead body. "They'll be here in an hour."
"I'll go over his notes then," said Lily. "There has to be a reason why he died like that without responding to any of the potions."
Prue nodded and continued to clean up Mr Hopkins as Lily left the room.
She walked down the corridor and onto the third floor, peeking her head in several rooms checking on her patients. It was late at night and most of them were sleeping peacefully. Apart from the little girl who managed to knock a cauldron over, covering herself in a Swelling Solution. Her body had swelled up abnormally in patches. She had been admitted an hour ago and although the Deflating Potion (the antidote) had been given there and then Lily had advised her parents that she should stay overnight as a precaution. The solution had splashed onto her skin mostly but some of it had been swallowed which meant that her organs in her digestive system had been affected which could lead to further problems.
"Hey," smiled Lily gently. "Why are you not asleep?"
"I can't sleep," said the little girl quietly. She was cute with a head of blonde curls with a sweet pink bow and matching pyjamas.
Lily stepped into the room properly and sat down on the bottom of her bed. The girl, Amy, was in a ward containing five other children; all of them were sleeping apart from her.
"Why? Is it hurting anywhere?" asked Lily, going into Healer mode, checking Amy's temperature and looking through her chart. Fortunately all the swelling on her skin had now gone but there was no way of knowing about the internal organs unless Amy was feeling discomfort.
"No but its dark," whispered Amy.
Lily's eyes widened in understanding. She was afraid of dark, bless her heart.
"There's nothing scary about the dark," said Lily softly. "Nothing can hurt you."
"Everybody says there's an evil man though."
"Do you really think I'd let an evil man come and get you?"
Amy screwed up her face in thought for a moment before shaking her head. Lily smiled.
Lily got out her wand and waved it around for a second, muttering quietly under her breath. A ball of light grew at the end of her wand. She flicked it and it floated towards the bed hovering about a metre over the girls head. It was small but it cast enough light for the little girl to smile.
"Thank you," she said sweetly, laying her head down on the pillow.
"No problem, sunshine, just get some rest. Sweet dreams." Lily stepped out and closed the door quietly. She knew it wasn't the parent's fault but people should look after their children more carefully. Not that she'd know, this was going to be closest she'd ever get to looking after children. She was too busy for a boyfriend let alone get married and have a baby with someone.
As she had only been a fully qualified Healer for two years so far she wasn't high up enough to have her own office. Healers only got them when they become the head of a ward or department. Until then she had to work in different areas all over the hospital. In a few years when she was promoted or she was transferred to a different hospital she wanted to specialise in Spell Damage or Potion and Plant Poisoning. As much as she loved children she wanted to work with adults. I have no personal life, thought Lily; this is the only interaction with people I get.
She entered the staffroom which was nearly empty at this time of night. Only a few tired looking Healers were sat around on some of the many cluttered desks. Lily smiled and aid hello as she went over to the kitchen counter to get a cup pf steaming coffee.
Jessica Stanleys, a fellow Healer was stood there smiling.
"Is your shift nearly over?" she asked, looking as perfect as ever. Lily could look glamorous when she wanted but after several slaving hours at work any glamour she may have had seemed to dissipate. Jessica though, with her silky dark brown hair and perfect makeup, looked as though she'd just walked off the catwalk. Lily couldn't help but be jealous.
"No, unfortunately. I've been working for 12 hours since lunch; still plenty to do."
"I'm just about to go," she smiled smugly. "My boyfriend's taking me out for a romantic moonlit stroll."
"Sounds nice."
"Oh it is," grinned Jessica. "But you're so lucky. You don't have to spend hours waxing your legs or plucking your eyebrows because all you have is your job. You have no one to please but you. I suppose it makes life easier."
Lily smiled uncomfortably. She did wax her legs and she did pluck her eyebrows. There was no need to rub it in that all she had, and would ever have, was her job.
"I better go, I've got some charts to look through, files to file, notes to make and all that," exclaimed Lilt, brightly and falsely. She grabbed her coffee and sat down at the nearest empty desk. She quickly put her wavy red tresses into a high messy bun and put on her black rectangular glasses. The sophisticated look apparently.
Mr Hopkins chart looked normal. In fact his temperature had been returning to normal and so was his blood pressure. The green rash and sickness he been admitted with had gone. He was only staying over night because she was waiting for the blood tests. She should have gotten them ten minutes ago. Where were they?
"Healer Evans!"
Lily turned around in alarm towards the doorway. It was only one of the lab technicians with her test results. Strange, thought Lily, speak of the devil. The technician, Lily didn't know his name, handed her the piece of parchment and left with a smile. He was cute but the tests were more important.
She scanned the piece of parchment and with every word her eyes widened more. His magical residue levels in his blood were far too low to be normal. They weren't just low; they were practically non existent. Something was literally sucking the magic out of him. It clicked suddenly. The sickness. The green rash. He had an incredibly rare magical bug. A deadly magical bug. She quickly scribbled down the rest of his file report before running out of the room towards her boss, Harold Barkley.
Barkley was her boss. He wasn't the head of any ward or department but he was the head of all newly qualified Healers like her. He was a jerk and Lily always found him slightly pervy. He was completely sexist as well. He was the type of guy to think if women wanted to work in a hospital they should be nurses. She didn't think he was even a good Healer to be honest.
Lily knocked on his office door politely and opened it as she heard a muttered, "come in."
Barkley looked up in surprise to see a dishevelled Lily in his doorway.
"Well what does my favourite person want me for today?" asked Barkley, his light brown scruffy eyebrows raised. He was in his fifties Lily guessed with his neatly trimmed brown hair streaked with white. She presumed in his younger years he would have been handsome but now his hair was receding and his eyes surrounded by wrinkles with a slightly protruding belly. Even if he still had his youthful good looks it wouldn't matter because any beauty would be masked by his personality.
"Mr Hopkins, the man who died suddenly, he had Munningtons Disease," explained Lily. "When his family comes there'll have to go through extensive tests and if needed; treatments. I just thought I'd inform you. I'll tell the patient's family but could you have an intern run the necessary tests please."
"Of course," said Barkley smoothly. "Just make sure you do the report and have it on my desk within the next twenty four hours."
"Already done it, sir." She threw it down softly on his desk.
"At least you're good at something," he muttered.
"Excuse me?" exclaimed Lily, incredibly offended. "Are you like this because I'm a witch and not a wizard? Because I'll have you know I am the best Healer you have and you know it."
"Is that why Mr Hopkins died under your watch then?" asked Barkley spitefully.
Lily winced as though he'd just slapped her across the face.
"It's a rare disease," cried Lily. "I doubt even you would have noticed it in time. The symptoms are misleading and in theory he was recovering. If the blood tests had got to me quicker then maybe we could have done something about it but it would have been too late probably. It was extremely advanced Munningtons. It wasn't my fault."
"Just go talk to his family and then get a nurse to page one of the interns," ordered Barkley, completely unaffected by her little rant. Lily suspected he hadn't even been listening to her.
Lily sighed and nodded walking out of the room and walked down several flights of stairs towards the reception. She went over to the blonde receptionist who was currently looking extremely bored, filing her nails.
"Has anyone under the name of Hopkins arrived yet?" asked Lily.
The blonde looked up from her nails as she rubbed them on her bright pink robes. She flicked through her register and nodded. "A Mrs Virginia Hopkins with three delightful little angels," she answered with a sarcastic lilt.
"Thanks, could you make an announcement please?"
She sighed indifferently and dragged the microphone towards her and pressed the on button. "Can Mrs Virginia Hopkins please come to the main desk, Mrs Virginia Hopkins please come to the main desk." After pressing the on button she leaned back lethargically, lounging in her chair and went back to her nails.
A tearful woman in her thirties, carrying a baby with one arm and holding the hand of a toddler with the other. A ten year old followed behind her sadly. She was old enough to understand her grandfather was dead.
"Are you Healer Evans?" she half asked half sobbed.
Lily nodded. "Would you like to follow me Mrs Hopkins? There's a few things that I need to explain to you."
She led the family into an empty room which as used for this type of thing. Mrs Hopkins had followed her silently half in a trance as she sat down on a couch, almost clinging onto her children desperately.
"I am so sorry for your loss," said Lily softly. "We did everything we could to save him but we were too late." Silent tears dripped down Mrs Hopkins face. "I know you're going through a lot now but there is something serious I need to talk to you about. Your father died of a disease called Munningtons. It's very rare and it's deadly but it takes a while for it to take noticeable affect. Basically it drains you of your magical residue. Your father's was very advanced, there was no way we could have saved him to be honest but we can save you and your children."
Her head snapped up suddenly. "What do you mean save me and my family? Do you think we could have it?"
"It's a possibility; yes," replied Lily sensitively. "The disease is hereditary so any of your blood relations could have it."
"Only me and my children are related to him by blood."
"Well then the four of you need to have tests done immediately," said Lily firmly. "There's a possibility you didn't get the gene but we can't risk it. One of the interns will take you to a room where you'll all be tested. If we find the disease you'll have to stay here whilst being treated."
The woman nodded gravely as Lily told a nurse to page an intern. Carla LaFolle took over from Lily and lead the family to the test rooms. Lily quite happily walked towards the on call room so she could sleep until she was needed when she was paged; it was an emergency.
"Oh great," muttered Lily before sprinting through the hospital corridors and down flights of stairs.
