35 – Past Acquaintances
It was a particularly cold night in December when I apparated to Grimmauld Place 12 for the next meeting of the Order. I pulled my scarf tighter around my neck as I walked up to the door, entering the muggle way instead of apparating because I love the cool winter air. There's nothing that clears your mind better than the chill of the night. The inside of the house wasn't much warmer until I stepped into the dining area where flames were crackling in an old fireplace.
"Katrina, dear, you must be freezing." Mrs. Weasley, the only one already there, told me kindly and handed me a cup of freshly brewed coffee, setting the milk jug down on the table as well. "It's going to be a long meeting today."
"Thank you." I told her gratefully, I really was exhausted and a bit of caffeine could only help.
She sat down next to me and patted my back softly. "You look drained, sweetheart. Is everything alright?"
I shook my head with a smile at her worrisome self. "I've just had a lot of work on my hands."
"I thought you loved your work." She said with a frown.
"I do." I said puzzled.
"Then why do you sound so miserable? Is there a problem with Oliver?" She asked eagerly. I looked up at her in surprise. "So that's it. But you're still together, aren't you?" She asked with a horrified expression on her face.
"We are fine." I told her quickly, with a sigh I continued. "But there's this woman on his team that has an eye on him and he just doesn't see it and she's a sodding maneater, like a mantis. It just worries me." I told the trustworthy woman.
"But he loves you so there's no need to worry." She told me softly.
"I know." I said, burying my hands in my hair. "I wish I wasn't going crazy because of some other woman, but the truth is that I am. However, if I tell him, he won't understand how I feel because he's oblivious to the attention he gets form other women."
"It must be hard to be the girlfriend of a professional quidditch player." She said sympathetically.
"Harder than I would have thought." I uttered with a crease forming in between my brows just as a soft plop made both of our heads snap up in agitation.
Mrs. Weasley dashed towards her two oldest sons and hugged them gleefully while I got up slowly and stood at some distance to the happy family reunion. The red haired men smiled down on their mother and curiously looked over her shoulder at me.
Charlie walked around his mother, asking. "Katrina?" I just nodded and he grinned from ear to ear, lifting me up with his arms wrapped around my thighs and twirled me around making me laugh. "You look wonderful. How have you been?" He asked cheerfully.
"Woah. You look good, too, but could you please let me down?" I exclaimed with a chuckle.
He obliged carefully and eagerly asked. "This was the last place I would have thought to see you again. What are you doing here?"
I laughed lightly and said. "Same here. I…" But I was interrupted by a cough to my side.
Bill hugged me cautiously and said, chuckling. "We've met before but I didn't realize how much my family adores you. It's nice to see you again."
I nodded, happily. "How rude of me, I didn't mean to ignore you. It's good to see you again without any sort of injury, but you on the other hand..." I said, turning on Charlie. "… seem to have gotten into a lot of trouble." I traced the long scar of a burn mark on his arm, frowning. "Were you healed by a trainee?"
Flustered, he answered me. "Well, I don't like hospitals so I might have delayed visiting the healer on our campus."
I raised an eyebrow at him and chirped. "Well, next time you can let me heal your burns. God knows I've seen enough of those at the hospital." Bill chuckled in agreement.
Charlie just looked at me, puzzled. "Hospital?"
I would have loved to catch up with my old quidditch captain but in that moment Professor Dumbledore called everyone to order and I sat in between Mrs. Weasley and Charlie, who constantly grinned at me when our glances met.
The aurors reported on what they had found out about former Death Eaters and their activities. I shivered at the mention of Alecto and Amycus Carrow, thinking of their cousin and the mad look in her eyes on the picture in the paper that announced her imprisonment. Mrs. Weasley took my hand soothingly and Charlie looked up at me with worried brown eyes, but I just shook my head.
Charlie was just talking about the matter of international relationships and I found that with his position in Romania he was ideal for building up a wide social network against dark magic. Just as Bill was about to open his mouth, a crash made me jump up from my seat, wand at the ready. Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody came stumbling out of the fireplace, his clothes catching fire. Professor Lupin was the first to act and put out the flames with a wave of his wand.
I rushed over to the man I had healed multiple times before. He had made similar entrances like this one landing right in my bedroom at impossible times. "Mad-Eye, what happened?" I asked him calmly, steadying him and healing the fresh burns on his arms.
"That damn coward of Mundungus Fletcher happened! He panicked during our observation session and I had to escape via floo powder. I hate floo powder!" He raged and I saw that the fabric of his pants was soaked with blood. His good leg must be injured.
"Sit down!" I ordered and he obliged, surprised by the authority ringing in my voice. I sliced the fabric of his pants to get a better look at the wound. "Did you not notice the dagger protruding from your leg?" I asked evenly, but the older man could see the frustration in my eyes.
"Might have felt a-little something." He uttered, barely audible.
I threw my hands up in frustration. "How can you be so careless? Ever since you were captured by that Death Eater that impersonated you at Hogwarts, you've been stiff. Can't you take it easy for once?" I ranted at him. This was our usual banter but I could feel the stares of the rest of the members present boring into my back. No one generally talked back to Mad-Eye Moody, the great auror.
"Are you saying that I'm incapable of doing my job?" He yelled back at me but winced when I pulled out the dagger sharply.
"I'm saying that you're a stubborn old man." I told him a bit more softly, investigating the tip of the blade. "You're lucky that this one wasn't poisoned like the one I was attacked with." I told him with a short glare in his direction. I summoned my self-brewed pain reliever potion and told him playfully. "Drink up, you lucky old bastard."
"I hate healers." He said with a grin on his face, drinking the potion without pulling a face, a rare trait.
Soft laughter erupted in the room at the scene before them, but they were silenced with one dark glance from Moody. "Thanks, Katrina. I'm sorry for being careless." He whispered guiltily as I healed the clean, deep cut in the skin of his leg, a look of concentration clouding my face for several moments.
Professor Snape spoke up when we all took our seats again. "Are there any ingredients you need, Miss Rigby?"
I thought about it for a moment. I couldn't buy my ingredients myself because no one was supposed to know I brewed my own potions for the Order secretly in my bedroom, so Professor Snape supplied me with whatever I needed and would brew up some extra potion for me whenever he had the time to do so. "I'm low on powdered dragon skin and salamander blood, which I'll need for some strengthening solution and blood-replenishing potion."
"I can get you powdered dragon skin." Charlie volunteered suddenly. "I mean, I'm right at the source." He explained with a sheepish grin.
I nodded gratefully and Bill explained that he had been successfully transferred to the main headquarters of Gringotts Bank in London so that he could keep an eye out for the Order there. "The goblins haven't taken sides in this conflict yet, but they are cunning and calculating. If they are offered something they desperately desire, they might be swayed into the Dark Lord's favor." He told us gravely.
Other matters were discussed but none actually concerned my involvement. Sometimes I asked myself why I attended as many meetings as possible but I was curious to know what was going on and I liked seeing all the members, especially seeing Charlie again was a happy surprise.
After the meeting, I stayed behind with Charlie and Bill to catch up while Mrs. Weasley served us some late dinner. It must have been close to midnight as we enjoyed her cooking. After we thanked her she went to bed, leaving us to ourselves.
Charlie turned on me and asked accusingly. "So I'm guessing that you turned down the English national team just like I did?"
"I was never requested." I pointed out to him. "I'm a healer now. Didn't Bill tell you that I was there when his wound was healed from that, wait a second, I think it was a Chinese fireball?"
Bill nodded and complimented me. "You were brilliant. Thanks again."
I chuckled. "No problem, you were my first Weasley." He threw me a pointed glance and I lightly punched his arm. "At the hospital, of course, the first Weasley I ever healed." I clarified with a slight blush on my face. This is what I loved about the Weasley family. No matter how long you knew them, if it was just a moment or several years, their company was always comfortable and friendly.
"Yeah, Bill, why didn't you tell me?" Charlie asked, acting like he was offended.
"Maybe Katrina gave me too much pain reliever and I forgot." Bill said cheekily, which earned him another light punch.
"I did not. Do not undermine my proficiency as a healer, Mister Weasley, or you'll regret it when you need my help." I joked.
"Wait, so you're already a full healer? How does that work?" Charlie asked interested, leaning towards me from across the table where he was now sitting. Bill sat next to me and leaned back since he already knew the story.
"I quit quidditch after you left and was accepted into a scholarship that trained me alongside school as long as my grades were high enough. So my first year out of school was my last year of training as a healer and now I'm training healers-to-be that are my age and have just begun their training." I explained with a slight grimace at the thought of my ever obnoxious students.
"They must be a pain in the arse with how jealous they are of you." Charlie said with a compassionate chuckle.
I laughed at his straightforwardness and admitted. "They were, but the staff helped me gain their respect and now they look at me with these huge puppy dog eyes like everything I say is some kind of miracle. It's quite annoying." Bill and Charlie laughed at that and I turned to the man next to me.
"Do you miss Egypt? It's great to have a Weasley living in London and you're welcome to come over anytime, but I can't imagine coming back to London after working at such an exotic place." I explained my peculiar, sudden question.
He smiled a wide grin and I had to admit that he had a pretty face with those warm blue eyes and his ponytail of long, fiery hair. "I do miss the sunny weather but other than that it's nice to be among people that speak the same language."
Charlie grinned and the dimples on his freckled cheeks deepened. "I can drink to that." He cheered and took a swig of his butterbeer, which made me notice the watch on his arm.
I stood up and started wrapping my scarf around my neck hastily that I had strung across the back of my chair during the meeting. "Charles, what time do we have?"
"Almost two in the morning." He said, blinking in surprise at my abruptness.
"Damn, my shift starts at two. You guys should come around for dinner some time and we can continue our conversation. It was great to see you two again." I rushed around the table, kissing each of their cheeks in my cheerful mood and disapparated to the hospital and couldn't wipe the wide smile from my face all day.
Author's Note: So here comes another thank you to all the people that read my story and especially to those that have reviewed several chapters now. Your opinions are of great interest to me and my heart sings a gleeful tune with each lovely comment of yours. :) I'm not going to bother you with my sentiment any longer and hope you enjoy how Rina's life unfolds next! Happy reading!