Chapter 18: A Trial Run of Adulthood

If anyone knew of their little adventure, they kept quiet. And the marauders, for their part, were keeping more quiet than usual as well. The meeting with Voldemort himself had shaken James and Lily, though it resolved them even more to joining the Order. The argument between Sirius and Remus had fizzled away, though Sirius was still short with Remus at time leading to the graduation ceremony. Calamity for her part was feeling a swell of emotions from moment to moment- a whiff of pumpkin juice sent her marveling at the wonders of Hogwarts, then Peeves flew overhead and dropped the juice on her and she wasn't so nostalgic.

No matter what her feelings the day came when they wrapped themselves in black robes with rounded sleeves and headed to the lake. Calamity wasn't exactly sure why they were heading to the lakes, rather than the carriages as they usually did, but she followed their lead silently. Sitting on the lake were boats. Margaret made a sound of a muffled sob and Lily's eyes glistened as they saw the boats, lamps propped at the edge ready to lead them ahead into the world. Calamity glanced at Sirius, who smirked at her confusion.

"First year we came in on these rickety things," Sirius explained. "They're sturdier than they look."

"Course, if you're in a boat with Sirius Black and mention that mudblood isn't a nice word to say, its a bit less dry," James teased.

"You pushed him in," Calamity asked. She put a foot on the boat and it swayed.

"I was young and brainwashed," Sirius said with a shrug, steadying the boat as she climbed on. "Prongs got me back, though. He sucker punched me right in the nose. We had detention before we were even sorted. Ah, memories."

Sirius joined her, then Margaret, and Remus.

"Bit full now that we're older," James observed. He motioned for Lily and Peter to follow him to the next boat. Calamity watched them go, Lily gracefully sneaking her hand into James' palm as they walked.

"Are you two planning to move to London right away," asked Margaret as the boat slowly pulled away from the Hogwarts shore and across the lake. Calamity tried to look as calm as Sirius and Margaret did, but she did stumble for just a second, surprised by the movement.

"Dunno where else we'd go," Sirius said. "You ought to come visit."

"She's going to France," Calamity said. Margaret beamed.

"Extra studying in an exchange program," she explained.

They fell silent as the sun began to dip below the sky. The lamps lit and lights twinkled across the water, dancing in congratulations. Calamity looked across the boats: couples huddled together in possible last embraces, friends shaking hands and teasing one another. The boat with Avery, Snape, and his crew had a mixture of expressions from determination to boredom. Calamity saw Snape's eyes flicker briefly over to the boat with Lily and James. Snape's expression soured and he cross his arms behind his back. Calamity let her eyes move back to her own boat, they spotted the slight glisten of tears on Margaret's face, Remus' comforting arm around her shoulder, though his own expression seemed stern and concerned, and finally her eyes met Sirius'. He was watching her with a slight smirk. She gave him a questioning look and the smirk widened to a smile.

"You're not going to push me in, are you," she asked.

"You? Never."

"That's not what you would have said two years ago," she reminded him. His let out his bark like laugh, eyes dancing with amusement.

"Past Sirius was a git. Always had been."

"What about present Sirius," asked Remus teasingly.

"He seems alright," Sirius replied thoughtfully.

"And future Sirius?"

"Hates the other two," Sirius said. He caught Calamity's eye again. "But I reckon there's hope for him."

The first Order meeting fell on the night before Calamity's first day at St. Mungo's. When she awoke to hurriedly dress, grab a hard-boiled egg, and rush out, Sirius was still nowhere to be seen. Calamity apparated into the empty alleyway next to the hospital, feeling the first pang of worry. What could be keeping him? Had the meeting turned into a mission? Would he be home tonight? Calamity knew this wouldn't be the last time she would feel this gnawing feeling as she checked in with the Lobby witch.

"Welcome back, dear,you'll be on the fifth floor for your orientation," the Lobby Witch said cheerfully. Her expression turned stern in the next moment as she addressed someone behind Calamity. "Once again, Mr. Gavins, I must insist you sit down with the injury you have. I will call you when they are ready for you."

Mr. Gavin's, apparently, had run into some trouble with an engorgio charm because his feet were the width of a ripe melon and the length of a cheetah's tail. Calamity jumped over his toes carefully as she hurried upstairs, cracking the shell of her egg as she went. On the third floor landing she stopped to peel away the shell and make the shells evaporate away. She peered at the egg itself. There seemed to be a thin sheet of parchment wrapped around it, hugging the white where the shell had once been. Carefully, Calamity pulled the strip of parchment away to read the familiar writing on it.

Dumbledore mentioned we might start late because of some business that he had to deal with and I realized I might not be awake (or home) for your first day. Good luck! You're the best healer in training I've seen, and as one of your reoccurring patients, I know you'll do great! Take a deep breathe! Love, Sirius.

Calamity took the note and tucked it into her pocket, hurrying up the stairs again, unable to restrain her smile.

When she arrived on the 5th floor she found that her orientation only had three other medi-wizards in training, all sitting awkwardly far away from the others. One boy around Calamity's age with a pale complexion and freckled face looked around nervously as if he'd never seen a hospital before. He pushed his blonde hair from his face and caught Calamity's eyes. blushed furiously, and turned away as if she'd done something scandalous. The other was an older Asian man, perhaps in his thirties, and appeared to be waiting patiently for the orientation to seemed the exact opposite of the blonde boy, where the blonde looked as if he might faint at any moment, Calamity had a feeling that the older man was ready to meet patients. The final person in the room was a woman with brown skin and luxurious thick black hair pulled into a long braid down her back. Her hazel eyes made their way from her watch to Calamity. Spotting Calamity and recognizing her for another medi-wizard or healer-in training, her face dropped into a disinterested frown. She had obviously hoped the orientation was starting. Calamity sat down next to her.

"Waiting long," Calamity asked kindly.

"Feels longer because of nervous Nessie over there," said the woman nodding towards the blonde. "Prisha Sodhi," she added holding out her hand. "That put together older fellow is Nori Akaike. The Nervous Nelly is Antonio something, I didn't catch his last name since he practically whispered it."

"Clara Erza-Mahoney," Calamity said shaking Prisha's outstretched hand.

"Here from America?"

"Just graduated from Hogwarts."

"Really? You don't sound like it. Are you hoping for a specific floor assignment? I'm hoping to start out in the emergency response fieldwork assignment."

"That sounds exciting, but I haven't considered it. I use to volunteer here." Calamity felt a lump in her throat suddenly thinking about the last time she had been here. Prisha didn't seem to notice.

"It is, you're the first person to be called when the Aurors arrive. My mum worked that before she had my oldest brother and she said it was the best way to get hands on experience."

Their conversation was cut short as the door burst open and Christopher stood beaming before them, his smile lighting up his whole face as it always had.

"About time," hissed Prisha, but she faced forward attentively.

"Good morning," Christopher said beaming at them each in turn. "I'm Christopher Lister, resident Healer for Spell Damage on the fourth floor. Very excited to see some familiar faces and some new ones. You'll notice our class is fairly small. That's partially because the application pool is smaller this year, but also because St. Mungo's has focused in on only the best and the brightest with the heightened security procedures. So, if you are sitting in orientation, I have no doubt you will be successful throughout this first year." Christopher paused as Antonio wrote down every word as quickly as he could. Prisha gave him a sideways look and made a sound of exasperation that only Calamity could hear.

"We'll go through a tour in a moment, but first a reminder of your schedule this first year: you'll be working on each floor for an average of one to three months, depending on the hospital's needs. You'll also be spending at least one month working with the emergency response medi-wizards to get the field training you need for high stress situations. Of course, I don't need to remind you that there is a war going on, so when you are in the field it is vital you keep a calm composure and listen to the Aurors on site. Our job is to help those who are injured, not become another liability for the ministry and medi-wizards on site." He paused again, this time looking at Antonio as if he weren't completely positive that the blonde boy could handle not becoming a nervous wreck when faced with his first patient. "You'll also need to complete all paperwork and reports related to any healing or assistant healing you do. That starts with filling out your most up to date emergency contact information for the hospital before you leave. Right," Christopher clapped his hands. "Let's get started."

Calamity quickly fell into her old routines and time flew by from the moment she pushed open the door to St. Mungo's to the moment she arrived home, dropping face first into the pillow. Sirius seemed to be falling into a similar routine. Though he didn't have a day to day job, he spent much of his time at the Order doing whatever it was they needed. Two months after graduation they were both laying, half awake, in bed when Sirius muttered something into his pillow.

"Hmm," Calamity asked, opening an eye to look at him. She was especially tired today because she had had to calm a nearly hysterical father as he tried to explain over and over again that he had no idea how his son could have found an enchanted mirror, despite the fact that the son (who was no highly reflective and hard to look at) insisted he had found it on his way home.

"I said," Sirius repeated, turning his head to look at Calamity. "It's a good thing we live together or we'd never see one another." He held her hand and brought it to his face sweetly kissing her knuckles. Calamity smiled closing her eye again.

"Being an adult is difficult," she agreed. She felt slimy saliva move across her knuckle and she tried to pull it away as Sirius laughed. "Don't lick, Sirius," she whined.

"Tell me about St. Mungo's," he said.

"Same as always- sick people. I'm glad you haven't shown up."

"Well, I wouldn't be on the artifact floor anyway, would I?"

"With you, who knows."

"True," Sirius fell silent and Calamity opened an eye again suspiciously.

"Sirius?"

"It's just... do you know James told me he wanted to ask Lily to marry him."

"Really?" She opened both eyes now. "That's exciting!"

"It is, but, it just has me thinking."

"Always dangerous," Calamity agreed. He tried to push her without moving his torso and missed.

"Well, would you ever want to get married?"

"I suppose so, are you asking?"

Sirius let out a bark laugh, "Not like this. Just wondering."

"Would you?"

"Yes, but not now. Once you're more set up at St. Mungo's. It's too crazy right now. I don't know how they'll manage it."

Calamity kissed his cheek gently. Energy suddenly restored, Sirius flipped over, pulling her into a tight hug before she could move away. There was a sound from the other room. They paused to hear someone callign their names.

"Ignore it," Sirius suggested. They heard the call again.

"Padfoot! I know you're there, come on! Calamity, you too! Get dressed and come here!"

Sirius made a sound of announce at James' voice, but released Calamity and allowed her to stand.

"Boy do you have rotten timing, Prongs," Sirius snarled as he sat down on the floor next to the fireplace where only the head of James Potter floated.

"Hey, Calamity! It's been ages! How are you?"

"I'm fine, how are you, James?"

"Delightful! I wanted to invite you and Padfoot to dinner at our place, care to join tomorrow night?"
"Sounds good, I have tomorrow off."

"This is what was so important," Sirius snapped, throwing ash into the fire, though it went right through James' floating head. "You could have sent an owl."

"Well, there is something else," James said hesitantly. He glanced behind him as if hearing something,or perhaps checking to see if anyone was around. "Have either of you read the international news tonight?"

"We've barely had time to say hello," Sirius said with a pout.

"What's new in the news," Calamity asked kindly.

"There's been a jail break, Dumbledore thinks it might be connected to You-Know-Who and his deatheaters. They broke out some sympathizers, real bad blokes from the sound of it."

"From where," asked Sirius, but Calamity was getting a sinking feeling in her gut.

"From America," James said, eyeing Calamity cautiously. "I think you might need to tell Dumbledore a bit about your dad, Calamity."

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