To Goyle's horror, Grace and Jeanette approach him. "No muggle. No muggle!" Grace holds back as Jeanette steps up. "No muggle." Goyle growls.
"Ravenclaw" Jeanette growls right back. "Now what's wrong with you Slytherin?"
Goyle pours out his tale of his sour stomach.
Jeanette grips him by the nose and tips his head back. "Open up." Goyle reluctantly opens his mouth, and Jeanette pours in a slug of straight apple cider vinegar. Goyle's his eyes clamp shut at the sour taste as Jeanette holds his jaw closed until he swallows. "Give it an hour, you'll be fine. Next time, watch what you eat." Goyle bolts.
Professor McGonagall arrives in the infirmary after nearly colliding with the fleeing Goyle and she is surprised to see Neville Longbottom. Looking closer she sees that he is soaking wet. She is puzzled until she sees that parts of his robe are also burnt. Jeanette stands nearby looking a bit sheepish.
"He set his robe on fire trying to repair his robe." Jeanette explains. "I put it out."
Minerva nods. She's been thinking about Jeanette since the rescue. In her youth she spent much of her time among muggles in the ancient shire of Caithness at the northern tip of Scotland and her father was a muggle. But to go to university and work among muggles as an adult is both fascinating and frightening to her. "Besides being a muggle doctor, you are…?"
"I'm a Watcher."
"Oh yes… Who do you watch?"
Jeanette looks to Grace and with a glance invites her to join her and her former professor. "I watch the best Old One. You know her as Grace, but she was born Helen Jereau. Born in 1372 in the Duchy of Lorraine. She had her first death at age thirty nearly six hundred years ago." The professor looks at Grace in fascination. "She was stoned to death by the people of her village because they believed she was a witch. People she had known all her life..." Minerva gasps a bit. Grace looks very self-conscious. "She has been a healer nearly all her life. She is the only Old One to not carry a sword and not hide on holy ground. But I recently learned, she does know how to use one." Grace blushes, embarrassed.
Minerva takes Grace by the hands and looks deeply into her eyes. The pureblood wizard Neville Longbottom looks at his doctor in shock. "You have lived the nightmare we fear." Minerva softly states.
Jeanette nods in agreement with the assessment.
The professor looks at Jeanette. "Not all of the students will have the same reaction. Some will see what we do…an Old One with whom we share something… Others will see it as confirmation of muggle cruelty. The interpretation depends on the beliefs and prejudices of the observer."
Grace breaks her silence. "Just as I saw myself as lucky not to catch the pox but the people of my village saw it as evidence that I was a witch. I now know that it was neither. I had been exposed to cow pox which gave me natural resistance. 'Understanding is a three-edged sword; your side, their side, and the truth.' J. Michael Straczinski."
"Who?" Jeanette asks.
"An American I heard about."
"Oh" Jeanette says with a shrug.
"The truth is usually more complex than the fictions people create for themselves." Grace concludes.
"Always" Adam responds from Alexa's bedside. The professor moves on to check on Alexa.
"I saw you last night." Alexa says half in statement and half in question.
"You did. She played a key role. I think she figured out the only way to get rid of me, was to save you." Adam says with a twinkle.
"Yes. That's why I did it." Minerva says with a subtle wink to Alexa. "How are you feeling dear?"
"Much better."
"Can we get you something to eat or drink?"
"Well… My mouth tastes of blood and I feel like I need a long shower."
"I could take you to the second floor's girls' bathroom…" Adam offers.
Poppy cautions "You will need to be careful not to let her submerge beyond her mid-section because the pressure of the water on her chest will make breathing more difficult."
Alexa looks to Adam with eyes full of hope. "Can we? Please?" Alexa coughs up a bit more, but the rate has reduced significantly.
"Let's give it a little bit longer. I'll find us a couple of towels and other supplies."
Alexa starts to get up, but a draft on her posterior reminds her that her robe opens at the back and is quite light. She sits back down. "Oh my."
Adam grins. "You'll be turning the boys heads all the way there unless we find you a less revealing robe…" He catches himself. "I mean, you'll still be turning heads, but leaving some mystery…" He thinks about that. Alexa just watches him squirm. None of the women are about to let him off the hook just yet. "You aren't dressed for the walk…"
Poppy finally says "I've got a robe and some towels. I'll get them" and heads for her room motioning for Alexa to follow.
Minerva instructs Adam "When you are stuck in a hole, the first thing to do is to stop digging." Jeanette snickers.
Soon Alexa is returning looking like a vision of a lady from the early twentieth century wrapped in a thick bathrobe and wearing slippers. Adam smiles. Alexa is carrying a small bag containing a comb, and some other essentials.
Poppy renews her warning "No deeper than here" pointing to Alexa's stomach.
Miranda adds "And remember, the bathroom can be visited by girl students. I know they rarely do anymore because of Myrtle, but…control your selves." Alexa blushes.
As they walk slowly out with Adam providing Alexa with some support, Alexa adds "What was that about myrtle? I always liked creeping myrtle."
It takes Adam a moment to figure out she is thinking of the plant. "This isn't creeping myrtle the plant, she meant Moaning Myrtle the ghost."
Alexa is shocked. "There… There is a ghost?"
"Yes. But don't worry about it. She flies around and complains about stuff, but only the witches, wizards, and people like me can see or hear her. You won't even know she's there."
"Are you sure?"
"Good morning Sir Nicholas." Adam says and Alexa looks around.
"What?" She asks.
"Sir Nicholas… He is the Ghost of Gryffindor Tower."
"There is a ghost here?"
"Right over there." Adam nods toward the side of the hall. "Hogwarts has a number of ghosts. Each House has one and there are others. They aren't dangerous."
Adam looks at the wall and listens to something Alexa cannot hear. He laughs. "Well, you are very welcome." He listens again and turns toward Alexa smiling. "I will. Thank you."
Alexa looks at Adam and says "What?"
"He said to tell you that you are beautiful."
"Oh… Is he still here?"
"No. He went through the wall. But I think he'll be watching out for you."
Alexa looks a bit worried. "Not sure how I feel about that…"
They reach a landing and Alexa watches in fear as the stairways move. "What is going on? Is this safe?"
"I don't know why they do this. Maybe they didn't want to build all of the stairways needed to make all of the connections… It is sort of like catching a bus." The stairway contacts the landing and several students run off of it passing them laughing. Adam urges Alexa onto the stairs. "This is us." Alexa is unsteady as the stair moves on. Adam guides her down the stair slowly. "Don't rush. It pivots from the end we're going to."
"I just want to be on something that doesn't move."
"It is sort of like an escalator and you like those." Adam says, but Alexa looks at him skeptically. "You get used to them. Maybe that's the point. It isn't something you would see in a nonmagical place."
They reach the landing on the first floor and move slowly by the open doors to the Great Hall. Alexa gasps in wonder and gravitates toward the opening. "Do you want to sit for a while?" Adam asks. Alexa nods and they move toward the Hall. As they reach the entrance, Alexa's eyes look upwards to see the illumination is provided by a thousand candles hovering above four long tables at which a few students linger. At the far end of the hall there is a raised table. Above the candles, she sees the ceiling appears to be the sky and realizes with shock that the clouds are moving. The students begin to sense other student's attention being drawn to the entrance and see the couple standing framed by the archway and very quickly they are all looking.
Adam leads Alexa to the table to their furthest right and seats her near the end. Alexa gazes about taking in the space. The students at the table on the far side of the hall steal glances at her with hostility before looking away, trying not to be caught by the man attentively sitting next to her. But to him, they are of no consequence as long as all they do is look and mutter amongst themselves.
A young girl with long reddish hair tied with a purple bow approaches from the far end of the table at which they sit. She carries a plate and a bowl. Upon reaching Alexa she announces "Hello. My name is Lavender… Lavender Brown. I brought you some buttery rowies with bramble jelly and some porridge. I am so happy that you are here." Lavender puts the food on the table in front of Alexa. "You probably don't remember, but last night when the Ravenclaws sang to you some of us Gryffindors did too. Silly me, I'd better get you a spoon and something to drink. You are from America, aren't you? I'm from not so far away, as you might have guessed from my hair and that I go to school here. Your friend saved my schoolmate from a horrible death. He is a hero. I'll go and get the things and be right back, quick as a bunny." And she takes off.
Alexa looks at the food and then at Adam. "Did she even breathe?"
Adam is desperately trying not to laugh, but finally gets out "I don't think so."
He reaches for a rowie and Alexa playfully slaps his hand. "She brought those for me."
"Careful. She is terribly boy crazy." Adam says with a wink.
"She's a child," Alexa playfully scolds.
Adam gets serious. "There was a man…like me…who lived in this country who stayed with his mortal wife all of her life and he remained loyal to her for four centuries. His mentor…advised him to leave her. He would not. I always have…but then neither have I told a woman what I was… I never had the nerve for such commitment…until now." Alexa looks at Adam intently. But out of the corner of her eye, she sees Lavender returning.
Lavender delivers the spoon and a large glass of orange juice and sits down opposite Alexa. "I think it is so romantic that he saved you. Lots of the students, and even some of the professors are afraid of Old Ones, but I'm not…at least not of this one. Some say it is because I'm a hopeless romantic, some say it is because I'm just nay… nie?"
"Naïve?" Adam offers.
"That was the word. I'm not sure what it means. They made it sound like a bad thing…"
"It just means…" Alexa begins to explain, but Lavender is not to be distracted.
"I'm still too young, but the older girls have boyfriends. But I'm watching the boys in my year to see which ones would be good boyfriends later. I hear you want one good at snogging. I'm not sure what that is yet. The older girls just laugh when I ask." Alexa begins to eat the porridge. "I've seen some of the girls putting their mouth on their hands and pretending to kiss it while girls with boyfriends give them advice." Adam makes a subtle move toward the rowies but gets his knuckles smacked with the spoon. "I try to listen, but they whisper." Alexa tries one of the rowies and likes it. As Lavender rambles on, Adam watches as Alexa experiences a rowie.
Professor McGonagall stands in the Gryffindor Common Room pondering. Alexa will be released from the infirmary by the end of the day and will need a place to sleep. Minerva is sure the couple will want to sleep together in the Common Room where Adam has been bedding down. But she isn't so old that she have any illusions about what will happen if she were to allow that to occur, and the chance that a student could visit them during the night is not something she will risk. As she ponders, she envisions First Year Lavender Brown getting a lesson in more than snogging and can't suppress a chuckle. No, that will not do at all. She thinks back to that first night when Adam penetrated the girl's dormitory, which the stairs failed to prevent. Her theory is that his intension was to protect the girls. She is not sure, but she doubts if he would try to sneak up the stairs to be with Alexa that the stairs would allow it. The third alternative would be to share her own room with Alexa. After deliberation, she decides to put Alexa in with the first-year girls, Hermione Granger, Lavender Brown, Parvati Patil, Morag MacDougal, and Sally-Anne Perks.