Disclaimer: I don't own anything, this is JK Rowling's world
Let Dead Men Lie – 02: The Best Laid Plans
Ginny Aparated into the staff break room at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries with a sharp CRACK, smoothing her lime green robes as she mentally prepared herself for what was probably going to be a long and tiring shift. She walked into the adjoining reception hall, and was astounded to see that it wasn't as busy as she'd expected - there were only a handful of wizards and witches gathered in the waiting room. Her eyes rested on a small raven haired boy seated next to a particularly harassed looking woman, dejectedly pouting as he fiddled with the tentacles sprouting on his shoulder.
"Ginny! Oh, thank Merlin you turned up!" A stout, middle aged woman suddenly appeared at her side.
"Merida, hi" Ginny greeted her friend. "Don't mean to be rude or anything, but why am I here? Polly sent me an owl, but you don't look busy at all, and nothing in the waiting area seems difficult to fix…"
Merida shook her head, "No, we don't need you here. This area's covered. You're needed in room 26 on the second floor. Difficult patient or something, I'm not privy to the information." She shook her head, a few wisps of blonde hair escaping her tightly wound bun. "All I know is that Healer Augustus said that she needed you, stat. So move yourself!" She tucked her hands into her waist and tried to look threatening.
Ginny gave a light chuckle at Merida's antics and marched herself towards the stair well. Taking the stairs two at a time, she walked down the corridor with her heart beating pleasantly quick at her throat. Pausing at the door, Ginny could hear quiet murmuring. Wondering what help she could be with contagious maladies, she turned the door knob. Unnervingly dark at first, the lights flashed in front of her eyes.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" A chorus of voices yelled enthusiastically.
"What?" Blinking the sun spots out of her vision, Ginny looked around. Most of her colleagues were gathered in the room, happily sporting brightly coloured party hats and waving streamers. A giant banner hung on the back wall, the enchanted "Happy 20th Birthday" script spitting out glitter at random intervals. Ginny frowned, still trying to figure out what exactly was going on.
"Happy birthday, Ginerva!" Polly Augustus approached her, her pink and yellow party hat perched precariously on her head. "Did we surprise you?"
"Polly, sorry, but what are you talking about? It's not my birthday"
Polly's Cheshire grin slipped. "What? Of course it is!" She grinned again, convinced that Ginny was having them on.
"No, it's not my birthday. My birthday was last month…" Ginny was starting to feel guilty for not being born today. Poor things, they'd obviously spent a lot of time organising this so she wouldn't suspect anything.
"Are you serious? Oh Merlin, I must have confused the eight with a nine when I looked at your personnel record!" Polly looked so deflated that even her party hat seemed to wilt.
Ginny could see Polly beating herself up, so she decided to step in. "Look, its fine. It can be my belated birthday party!" Ginny laughed. Polly still looked a bit put out, so Ginny punched her lightly in the shoulder. "Come on, Polly. I can smell the cake from here and it smells delicious. You can't tell me that it's going to waste!" She grabbed the party hat off Polly's head and slammed it onto her own.
The noise built up to a happy chatter once again, the guests resuming their party. Ginny helped herself to a butterbeer, happy to avoid eating the (sugar-ridden) cake for as long as possible. She settled down in a chair next to Polly and thanked her for the party.
"I'd love to take the credit for this, but it wasn't my idea, to tell you the truth. Darian, the new Healer, came to me and said that at his old job they used to celebrate all the Healer's birthdays milestone birthdays. A celebration for making it through the decades, if you will" Polly talked around the cake in her mouth. "Oh! Gin, you should really have some of this cake! I think Fredrik made it, and it's gorgeous."
"I'll have some in a bit, Polly," Ginny lied "I want to make sure everyone has some first." She cast her gaze across the room, caught Darian's eye and raised her bottle in salute, silently thanking him.
The party, after all the initial confusion, turned out to be a raging success. Butter beer was served for the Healers that were on a shift, and someone produced a bottle of Fire Whiskey for those who weren't. Assured that the others had everything covered, Ginny indulged in a tumbler or two of the warming liquid. She happily chatted with her co-workers and graciously received a few offered presents. The party was slowly coming to its end when the doors burst open again. Merida looked more flustered then she usually did. "Need someone on third floor, potion poisoning, room four. Group hex just came in, just don't have the man power right now" she spat out before disappearing in a flurry of lime green robes.
Most of the Healers left in the room appeared to be a bit too sloshed to be up to the task, Ginny noted as she hoisted herself to her feet. She assessed her mental state – tipsy, no doubt. The tumblers hadn't been small, but overall she was functioning at a reasonably sober level. A potion poisoning shouldn't be too hard to deal with, and at the very least she could put the patient into a steady state until more staff were made available. Excusing herself briefly, Ginny made her way up to the third floor.
The stairwell proved to be a bit more challenging than previously expected.
Finally opening the door to the third floor, Ginny became aware that an almost manic giggling was filling the hallway. "What on earth?" She mumbled to herself as she put on her most professional face. Following the laughter, Ginny soon realised that it was originating from room 4. Bugger. Patients with uncontrollable anything were always so bitter about it, always eager to blame anything except themselves. "Well, at least it's not caustic vomit again" she consoled herself as she entered the room.
"Hello! I'm Ginerva Weasly, and I'll be your Healer…" The words died in her throat when her brain recognised who she was looking at.
Platinum blonde hair and grey eyes stared back at her.
Unhinged, she scrambled for words, her brain stoutly refusing to help. "Um… Hi" She cursed those tumblers of Fire Whiskey.
Draco Malfoy undoubtedly would have replied with a snarky comment, but thankfully he was preoccupied with the irrepressible giggles emitting from his mouth. Ginny somehow managed to collect her wits about her and focus on what she was here to do. Professional Ginerva slid back into place.
"Uncontrollable giggling from potion poisoning, right? That shouldn't be too difficult." Ginny tugged a piece of parchment and a quill from her pocket, uncorking a tiny bottle of ink. She placed them on the bedside table. "Can you tell me what potion you were brewing when the symptoms started?"
Grey eyes glared at her as pale hands took the parchment. He carefully dipped the quill into the miniscule bottle of ink and scrawled something, passing her the parchment with a glower.
"Wideye Potion, billywig stings not dried properly" She read. "At least you know what caused it. Why couldn't you just make the antidote yourself? I mean," she checked herself. Professional, remember? "This will take maybe an hour to brew. I'll be back when it's done." Ginny nodded reassure him (or herself?) and hurried out of the room. She took a deep breath in, held it in her lungs.
She rested against the corridor wall, feeling the coolness seep into her overheated skin. "Oh Merlin" she whispered under her breath. "Why did he have to pick today?"
