Disclaimer: I do not own these characters, brilliantly created by J.K.
Rowling. Most situations are based on those created by J.K. Rowling.
Chapter Four: Mind Reading
Ron, Hermione, Harry and Ginny stood talking to Lavender Brown. Parvati seemed to have forgotten her promise to return and was still across the room with Seamus and Dean. The friends learned that Lavender was working as a Unicorn Breeder, keeping the animals safe and sound until they were released into the wild. "We're here a lot actually," she said. "A lot of the animals we take care of are brought to the Forbidden Forest." Hermione nodded, interested. "How is your work going?"
"Great," said Hermione. "We have an office in London, right near the Ministry of Magic, which works out well."
"And Ginny did her apprenticeship with you, is that right?" Lavender asked.
"Yes," said Ginny. "Once I finished at Hogwarts, I started taking classes at St. Mungo's, and they allowed me to work with Hermione, even though she had just finished her own apprenticeship."
"That's nice," said Lavender. "I'd love to hear more about it."
"Right now?" Ginny asked.
"Sure," said Lavender. "We've got all night."
"Okay," said Ginny, "Well, like I said, it all started when I finished here at Hogwarts.."
* * *
Ginny Weasley was excited. Today she was going to attend her first class in St. Mungo's Mind Reader Training Program. She was also going to spend the rest of the day after class shadowing Hermione, who was currently working in St. Mungo's until she could set up a practice of her own. Ginny had just passed the apparition test, and with license in hand she apparated to work with five minutes to spare before her class started. When she arrived outside the classroom, she was surprised to see Hermione standing outside.
"What are you doing here?" she asked.
"I wanted to wish you luck," said Hermione, "and to tell you that I will be in the Pensieve Room when your class is over. Meet me there and we'll have lunch and then get to work for the rest of the day."
"Sure thing," said Ginny. "I'm looking forward to it."
"Me too," said Hermione. "And I have big news. I can't wait to tell you during lunch."
"Great," said Ginny.
"You'd better get in there," said Hermione. "Don't want to be late on your first day!"
Ginny smiled and headed into the classroom, turning and waving at Hermione before taking a seat in the center of the room. Hermione watched the classroom for a moment, seeing her old teacher, the woman she had spent her own apprenticeship with, and then headed down the hallway for the Pensieve Room.
* * *
"I will see you all tomorrow," said Francine Donovon, the teacher of Ginny's class, "and until then, enjoy your day of shadowing." With a smile she turned to her desk and began to pack her bags. Ginny did the same, and then left the classroom and headed down the hall to find Hermione.
Hermione was carefully stirring her wand around in a pensieve, peering into it. Ginny knocked lightly on the door, and Hermione gestured for her to enter. "You ready?" Ginny asked when she came in.
"Just about," said Hermione, and she bent her face towards the pensieve again. "I'm just trying to see a pattern here. Someone wants an explanation about why he was teased so much as a child. It's hard though, since memories can vary from person to person."
"What do you mean?" asked Ginny.
"Well, people can skew things in their own minds," said Hermione. "So I can't quite be sure that what I'm seeing is the real thing. That's why it's best to get your patients in a state of deep relaxation, or even asleep, because then the thoughts come out closer to how they truly happened. Some people are reluctant to sleep though."
"Afraid you'll steal all their thoughts?"
Hermione laughed. "I suppose so," she said, and sighed. "Well, I'll get back to this later. We should head out. We have a patient coming in at two o'clock and I want you to watch the process."
"Sure," said Ginny. "You want to head down to the lunchroom then?"
"Okay," said Hermione, "though they're never very promising." They headed out the door.
"Ron's not meeting us?" Ginny asked.
"Not today," said Hermione. "Though we usually have lunch together. But today he's got an important training session." Ron was also at St. Mungo's, in the second year of his Healer Training.
As they got in the elevator, Ginny spoke again, "So, how's married life?"
Hermione smiled, "Wonderful." She and Ron had been married for just under three weeks, and though the honeymoon period was far from over, they had other commitments they needed to attend to.
"You sure make it look good," said Ginny, seeing the smile on Hermione's face. "But, seriously, no complaints at all?"
"Well," said Hermione. "You're brother is kind of messy, but you knew that already. Plus I can just use magic to clean up the apartment."
Ginny laughed. "Really makes it easier, huh?" This time Hermione laughed, and the doors to the elevator opened and they stepped out, immediately bumping into a familiar face.
"Ron!" Hermione exclaimed. "I thought you were working all day."
Ron smiled, "I managed to get some time," he said, and he took her hand. "How's your day been?"
"Good," said Hermione.
"Good to hear," said Ron, and he kissed her. When he showed no signs of stopping, Ginny cleared her throat and Ron abruptly pulled away from his wife. "Oh. sorry Gin," he said. "Didn't see you there."
"Come on, you dolt," she said to her brother, and the three of them walked into the lunchroom and enjoyed a quiet meal together before heading back to their various jobs.
* * *
"Hello Mr. Freed," said Hermione as she greeted the patient.
"Hello, Mrs. Weasley," he said. "I'm all ready!"
"Good," said Hermione, and she gestured for Mr. Freed to come into the office. "Now, don't be nervous, but I am going to have an extra person here today."
"Extra person?"
"Yes," said Hermione, and she presented Ginny. "This is Miss. Virginia Weasley, a good friend and my sister-in-law, and she's my apprentice for the year. She's the one I've told you about. We're going to go into practice together."
"Oh, yes," said Mr. Freed. "It's nice to meet you, Miss. Weasley."
"You too, Mr. Freed," Ginny replied.
"Now, the procedure remains the same," said Hermione. "Except I'm going to explain to Miss. Weasley how things work so you'll be hearing me talk more than I normally do. Also, Miss. Weasley will be doing most of the procedure, under my supervision, of course."
"All right," said Mr. Freed, and he made his way to the couch.
"The sleeping draught this time?" Hermione asked, and Mr. Freed nodded. Hermione turned to Ginny. "Mr. Freed is one of our more daring patients. He allows me to administer a sleeping draught so he is in a sound sleep while we examine his thoughts. You can't administer the draught without written permission from the patient." Ginny nodded, interested. Hermione turned to a small cabinet and pulled out a bottle and poured the liquid contents into a glass and handed it to Mr. Freed.
"Bottoms up!" he said, before dipping his head back and finishing the drink in one gulp. Almost instantly he was on his back on the couch, asleep.
"Now, Ginny," said Hermione. "Mr. Freed has been wondering what has been causing his depression, and was hoping I could help. What I want you to do it extract some of the thoughts he is having, and place them in the pensieve. I'll help you analyze them afterwards."
Ginny nodded, and pulled out her wand. Placing it to Mr. Freed's head, she muttered, "Extracto pensievio," the spell she had learned in class that morning, essential to any Mind Reader. She was still surprised when the long silver strand pulled out of Mr. Freed's temple. She placed it into the pensieve, and saw the face of a woman show herself and then disappear into silver. She repeated the process five more times.
"Six thoughts is usually good," said Hermione. "Let's look at them now, and if we need more we'll get them." Ginny nodded again, already fascinated with her new job.
Ginny looked into the pensieve and stirred. Hermione looked on over her shoulder. "What do you see?"
"I see a lot of confusion," said Ginny. "His thoughts jump around so much it's hard to decipher what's going on." Hermione walked over and looked inside.
"I think that's the problem," said Hermione. "Mr. Freed thoughts are conflicting with each other, causing him to be confused and depressed. What he needs is a thorough mind cleansing."
"Really?" said Ginny. Of all the things that had intrigued her about a career in Mind Reading, mind cleansing was the biggest.
"Looks like it," said Hermione, and she returned to the cabinet. "Okay, Gin, what I need you to do is extract another six thoughts from Mr. Freed's head. We can only do cleansing in 12 strand increments. He'll have to come back next week."
"Won't the thoughts go back to being jumbled up?" Ginny asked.
"Not usually," said Hermione. "The mind cleansing potion prevents it. It also allows holes for the later thoughts to fit into evenly. Basically, it's time released."
"Okay," said Ginny, and she turned back to Mr. Freed and extracted new thoughts from his head. Hermione prepared the potion at her table, and then walked to the pensieve and poured the solution in. Ginny watched as the silver liquid swirled and the strands separated and coiled around each other. They stayed that way, and then uncoiled and mixed again. The process repeated.
"Okay," said Hermione. "Now all you have to do is return the thoughts to Mr. Freed."
"Sure thing," said Ginny, and she began the process while Hermione cleaned up the glass and sleeping draught, along with the mind cleansing potion. "Do we wake him up?"
"Yes," said Hermione. "This is where Muggle devices come in handy." She pulled an alarm clock off a shelf and caused it to go off, jolting Mr. Freed out of sleep.
"Everything go okay?" he asked.
"Just great," said Hermione, and she told him what had happened during his session. "So I'll want to see you next week at this time."
"Of course," said Mr. Freed, and he stood up. "Thank you, Mrs. Weasley, Miss. Weasley. I feel better already."
"Good to hear," said Hermione, and she and Ginny said good-bye to Mr. Freed, and he left.
"That was great!" said Ginny when the door shut behind him. "It's so interesting! I can't wait for the next patient." Hermione smiled. Her reaction had been very similar to Ginny's the year before when she had worked with her first patient.
As the afternoon wore on, they got more and more excited, and though it was only Ginny's first day on the job, they both knew that soon enough her apprenticeship would be over and they would be able to start their own practice.
* * *
"Wow, it sounds fascinating," said Lavender. "Maybe I should come in some time. Bet I could use a mind cleansing."
"If you'd like," said Hermione. "We could check it out. Free of charge."
"Wow, thanks!" said Lavender. "That would be great."
"Just call for an appointment," said Hermione, and she conjured up the address of the fireplace in the lobby of their office. "We'd love to see you there."
"I can't wait," said Lavender. "So, tell me more. Anything else interesting happen since we graduated?"
"Tons," said Ginny.
"I'm all ears," said Lavender.
"You really want to hear all about us?" Hermione asked. "What about you?"
"Okay, here's me in a nutshell: I work," said Lavender. "I spend so much time with the unicorns; I hardly know what it's like being with people. So, please, tell me something that does not include unicorns!"
The friends smiled. "Well," Harry ventured. "There was the first Christmas after Ginny graduated."
Ginny laughed, remembering, "When Hermione and Ron had Christmas at their house!"
Hermione groaned, "Don't remind me!"
"Aw, come on Hermione, it wasn't that bad!" said Ron.
Lavender's interest was peaked. "Now you have to tell me!"
"Okay," said Hermione. "It was our first Christmas as a married couple...."
Chapter Four: Mind Reading
Ron, Hermione, Harry and Ginny stood talking to Lavender Brown. Parvati seemed to have forgotten her promise to return and was still across the room with Seamus and Dean. The friends learned that Lavender was working as a Unicorn Breeder, keeping the animals safe and sound until they were released into the wild. "We're here a lot actually," she said. "A lot of the animals we take care of are brought to the Forbidden Forest." Hermione nodded, interested. "How is your work going?"
"Great," said Hermione. "We have an office in London, right near the Ministry of Magic, which works out well."
"And Ginny did her apprenticeship with you, is that right?" Lavender asked.
"Yes," said Ginny. "Once I finished at Hogwarts, I started taking classes at St. Mungo's, and they allowed me to work with Hermione, even though she had just finished her own apprenticeship."
"That's nice," said Lavender. "I'd love to hear more about it."
"Right now?" Ginny asked.
"Sure," said Lavender. "We've got all night."
"Okay," said Ginny, "Well, like I said, it all started when I finished here at Hogwarts.."
* * *
Ginny Weasley was excited. Today she was going to attend her first class in St. Mungo's Mind Reader Training Program. She was also going to spend the rest of the day after class shadowing Hermione, who was currently working in St. Mungo's until she could set up a practice of her own. Ginny had just passed the apparition test, and with license in hand she apparated to work with five minutes to spare before her class started. When she arrived outside the classroom, she was surprised to see Hermione standing outside.
"What are you doing here?" she asked.
"I wanted to wish you luck," said Hermione, "and to tell you that I will be in the Pensieve Room when your class is over. Meet me there and we'll have lunch and then get to work for the rest of the day."
"Sure thing," said Ginny. "I'm looking forward to it."
"Me too," said Hermione. "And I have big news. I can't wait to tell you during lunch."
"Great," said Ginny.
"You'd better get in there," said Hermione. "Don't want to be late on your first day!"
Ginny smiled and headed into the classroom, turning and waving at Hermione before taking a seat in the center of the room. Hermione watched the classroom for a moment, seeing her old teacher, the woman she had spent her own apprenticeship with, and then headed down the hallway for the Pensieve Room.
* * *
"I will see you all tomorrow," said Francine Donovon, the teacher of Ginny's class, "and until then, enjoy your day of shadowing." With a smile she turned to her desk and began to pack her bags. Ginny did the same, and then left the classroom and headed down the hall to find Hermione.
Hermione was carefully stirring her wand around in a pensieve, peering into it. Ginny knocked lightly on the door, and Hermione gestured for her to enter. "You ready?" Ginny asked when she came in.
"Just about," said Hermione, and she bent her face towards the pensieve again. "I'm just trying to see a pattern here. Someone wants an explanation about why he was teased so much as a child. It's hard though, since memories can vary from person to person."
"What do you mean?" asked Ginny.
"Well, people can skew things in their own minds," said Hermione. "So I can't quite be sure that what I'm seeing is the real thing. That's why it's best to get your patients in a state of deep relaxation, or even asleep, because then the thoughts come out closer to how they truly happened. Some people are reluctant to sleep though."
"Afraid you'll steal all their thoughts?"
Hermione laughed. "I suppose so," she said, and sighed. "Well, I'll get back to this later. We should head out. We have a patient coming in at two o'clock and I want you to watch the process."
"Sure," said Ginny. "You want to head down to the lunchroom then?"
"Okay," said Hermione, "though they're never very promising." They headed out the door.
"Ron's not meeting us?" Ginny asked.
"Not today," said Hermione. "Though we usually have lunch together. But today he's got an important training session." Ron was also at St. Mungo's, in the second year of his Healer Training.
As they got in the elevator, Ginny spoke again, "So, how's married life?"
Hermione smiled, "Wonderful." She and Ron had been married for just under three weeks, and though the honeymoon period was far from over, they had other commitments they needed to attend to.
"You sure make it look good," said Ginny, seeing the smile on Hermione's face. "But, seriously, no complaints at all?"
"Well," said Hermione. "You're brother is kind of messy, but you knew that already. Plus I can just use magic to clean up the apartment."
Ginny laughed. "Really makes it easier, huh?" This time Hermione laughed, and the doors to the elevator opened and they stepped out, immediately bumping into a familiar face.
"Ron!" Hermione exclaimed. "I thought you were working all day."
Ron smiled, "I managed to get some time," he said, and he took her hand. "How's your day been?"
"Good," said Hermione.
"Good to hear," said Ron, and he kissed her. When he showed no signs of stopping, Ginny cleared her throat and Ron abruptly pulled away from his wife. "Oh. sorry Gin," he said. "Didn't see you there."
"Come on, you dolt," she said to her brother, and the three of them walked into the lunchroom and enjoyed a quiet meal together before heading back to their various jobs.
* * *
"Hello Mr. Freed," said Hermione as she greeted the patient.
"Hello, Mrs. Weasley," he said. "I'm all ready!"
"Good," said Hermione, and she gestured for Mr. Freed to come into the office. "Now, don't be nervous, but I am going to have an extra person here today."
"Extra person?"
"Yes," said Hermione, and she presented Ginny. "This is Miss. Virginia Weasley, a good friend and my sister-in-law, and she's my apprentice for the year. She's the one I've told you about. We're going to go into practice together."
"Oh, yes," said Mr. Freed. "It's nice to meet you, Miss. Weasley."
"You too, Mr. Freed," Ginny replied.
"Now, the procedure remains the same," said Hermione. "Except I'm going to explain to Miss. Weasley how things work so you'll be hearing me talk more than I normally do. Also, Miss. Weasley will be doing most of the procedure, under my supervision, of course."
"All right," said Mr. Freed, and he made his way to the couch.
"The sleeping draught this time?" Hermione asked, and Mr. Freed nodded. Hermione turned to Ginny. "Mr. Freed is one of our more daring patients. He allows me to administer a sleeping draught so he is in a sound sleep while we examine his thoughts. You can't administer the draught without written permission from the patient." Ginny nodded, interested. Hermione turned to a small cabinet and pulled out a bottle and poured the liquid contents into a glass and handed it to Mr. Freed.
"Bottoms up!" he said, before dipping his head back and finishing the drink in one gulp. Almost instantly he was on his back on the couch, asleep.
"Now, Ginny," said Hermione. "Mr. Freed has been wondering what has been causing his depression, and was hoping I could help. What I want you to do it extract some of the thoughts he is having, and place them in the pensieve. I'll help you analyze them afterwards."
Ginny nodded, and pulled out her wand. Placing it to Mr. Freed's head, she muttered, "Extracto pensievio," the spell she had learned in class that morning, essential to any Mind Reader. She was still surprised when the long silver strand pulled out of Mr. Freed's temple. She placed it into the pensieve, and saw the face of a woman show herself and then disappear into silver. She repeated the process five more times.
"Six thoughts is usually good," said Hermione. "Let's look at them now, and if we need more we'll get them." Ginny nodded again, already fascinated with her new job.
Ginny looked into the pensieve and stirred. Hermione looked on over her shoulder. "What do you see?"
"I see a lot of confusion," said Ginny. "His thoughts jump around so much it's hard to decipher what's going on." Hermione walked over and looked inside.
"I think that's the problem," said Hermione. "Mr. Freed thoughts are conflicting with each other, causing him to be confused and depressed. What he needs is a thorough mind cleansing."
"Really?" said Ginny. Of all the things that had intrigued her about a career in Mind Reading, mind cleansing was the biggest.
"Looks like it," said Hermione, and she returned to the cabinet. "Okay, Gin, what I need you to do is extract another six thoughts from Mr. Freed's head. We can only do cleansing in 12 strand increments. He'll have to come back next week."
"Won't the thoughts go back to being jumbled up?" Ginny asked.
"Not usually," said Hermione. "The mind cleansing potion prevents it. It also allows holes for the later thoughts to fit into evenly. Basically, it's time released."
"Okay," said Ginny, and she turned back to Mr. Freed and extracted new thoughts from his head. Hermione prepared the potion at her table, and then walked to the pensieve and poured the solution in. Ginny watched as the silver liquid swirled and the strands separated and coiled around each other. They stayed that way, and then uncoiled and mixed again. The process repeated.
"Okay," said Hermione. "Now all you have to do is return the thoughts to Mr. Freed."
"Sure thing," said Ginny, and she began the process while Hermione cleaned up the glass and sleeping draught, along with the mind cleansing potion. "Do we wake him up?"
"Yes," said Hermione. "This is where Muggle devices come in handy." She pulled an alarm clock off a shelf and caused it to go off, jolting Mr. Freed out of sleep.
"Everything go okay?" he asked.
"Just great," said Hermione, and she told him what had happened during his session. "So I'll want to see you next week at this time."
"Of course," said Mr. Freed, and he stood up. "Thank you, Mrs. Weasley, Miss. Weasley. I feel better already."
"Good to hear," said Hermione, and she and Ginny said good-bye to Mr. Freed, and he left.
"That was great!" said Ginny when the door shut behind him. "It's so interesting! I can't wait for the next patient." Hermione smiled. Her reaction had been very similar to Ginny's the year before when she had worked with her first patient.
As the afternoon wore on, they got more and more excited, and though it was only Ginny's first day on the job, they both knew that soon enough her apprenticeship would be over and they would be able to start their own practice.
* * *
"Wow, it sounds fascinating," said Lavender. "Maybe I should come in some time. Bet I could use a mind cleansing."
"If you'd like," said Hermione. "We could check it out. Free of charge."
"Wow, thanks!" said Lavender. "That would be great."
"Just call for an appointment," said Hermione, and she conjured up the address of the fireplace in the lobby of their office. "We'd love to see you there."
"I can't wait," said Lavender. "So, tell me more. Anything else interesting happen since we graduated?"
"Tons," said Ginny.
"I'm all ears," said Lavender.
"You really want to hear all about us?" Hermione asked. "What about you?"
"Okay, here's me in a nutshell: I work," said Lavender. "I spend so much time with the unicorns; I hardly know what it's like being with people. So, please, tell me something that does not include unicorns!"
The friends smiled. "Well," Harry ventured. "There was the first Christmas after Ginny graduated."
Ginny laughed, remembering, "When Hermione and Ron had Christmas at their house!"
Hermione groaned, "Don't remind me!"
"Aw, come on Hermione, it wasn't that bad!" said Ron.
Lavender's interest was peaked. "Now you have to tell me!"
"Okay," said Hermione. "It was our first Christmas as a married couple...."