Chapter Four: Quarter After Nine

Smethwyck tilted his head, his glasses reflecting the dim light that filtered through the blinds. He flicked his thumb restlessly against the edge of her personnel file. "I see that you finished at the Healer's Academy with excellent marks. You completed your apprenticeship at St. Joan's, in Paris...another excellent institution. You've worked for us in every department for more than two years but you haven't yet received a specialist certificate. Why is that, Susan?"

Susan gritted her teeth. He knew why she hadn't. "I was first hired to replace Twilliger while she took maternity leave. She came back before the six months required for a certificate were up, and there were no other positions in the Artifact Accidents department at the time. So I was transferred to Bugs, to replace the Healer who was supposed to be replacing Grover during his sabbatical, but that wasn't a full six months, either." She held back an exasperated sigh. "Something similar has happened with every departmental transfer, and under St. Mungo's policy, I haven't had any seniority. However, I've been in Creature-Induced Injuries for five months and twelve days. Pye won't be back from vacation for the next three weeks, and so I expect to complete a certificate next month. Also, at this time, C-I is short a Healer, so when he returns there won't be any reason for personnel to reassign me."

"Of course not. Personnel doesn't make the staffing decisions," Smethwyck replied with deceptive blandness. "I do. It seems that you will, perhaps, complete your certificate. However, the last few weeks before Pye returns as Healer-in-Charge will be busy for you. We've hired a new Trainee Healer, and I expect you to make sure he is trained in hospital procedures and so on before Pye returns."

"But--" Susan heard a distant ringing, as if an alarm clock was sounding in the next room. "Then you'll be fully staffed again. Where will I go?"

Smethwyck's thin smile was both patronizing and sarcastic. "I'm sure we'll be able to come up with something."

Bastard. Rat. Rat bastard. Rat rat rat. It was all she could do to keep from screaming. She'd been scraping by without a specialist certificate, making do on her entry-level salary because every Knut had a pre-determined place to go on paydays. The substantial increase in pay, at long last, would be meaningless if she didn't have a job.

Maybe she should just cut her losses and walk out now. She could be out the door by nine-fifteen. There was no guarantee that she'd be able to tell the licensing board that she'd spent six months in Creature-Induced Injuries. Smethwyck could keep her until she was within sight of her goal, until she'd racked up five months and twenty-nine days of service, and send her home. She could be searching for a job in the meantime. She had good marks and good references from her teachers, the Healers at St. Joan's, and from the staff here. So what if she wouldn't get anything from Smethwyck? She was a Hufflepuff, dammit. She was in for the long haul.

"In that case..." Susan stood up. There was nothing left to say.

Before she could make her exit, though, Smethwyck's secretary burst through the door with a red envelope in her hand. She held it out as if it were a smelly sock. "It's terrible. Terrible!"

Smethwyck rolled his eyes. Well, Susan thought he might have rolled his eyes, but she couldn't see past the mirror-like lenses. "If it's those pranksters from Diagon Alley, we pay our bills quarterly. If it's the Burgers again, we're very sorry but we're simply not equipped to deal with their son's Billywig addiction. They should try Quebec Magical General. And if it's the Reynolds, they can complain all they want but it won't hold up in court and I'm not giving them a red Sickle."

"No," whispered the secretary. She flipped the Howler around so that he could see the swooping M stamped onto the seal.

Smethwyck made a noise that Susan thought sounded exactly like the word gulp. "Oh. Well then. Who was scheduled for today?"

"No one." The secretary shook so hard that the chain on her glasses wobbled from side to side. "You haven't done the schedule for this week."

"Well, Pye's still out," Smethwyck replied shortly. "Who else?"

"Rockwell is out today, and Longbottom--"

"Is out today as well," Susan put in quickly.

"So that leaves you, sir."

"It's not something I enjoy." Smethwyck twirled his quill between his fingers irritably before throwing in down. "Susan, have I ever cleared you for Ministry duty?"

"Er, no--"

"I have now." He reached into his desk and pulled out a square card, stamping it and signing his name at the bottom. "If you hurry, you can be there at a quarter after."

* * *

Susan didn't manage to get out of the office before the Howler blew, so it was a relief to emerge from the visitor's lift and into the cool, quiet atmosphere of the Atrium level in the Ministry of Magic. She'd last been here to take her Apparating test, and had nearly been trampled by the crowd as witches and wizards streamed into the Ministry to start the workday. Today, there were only a few people crisscrossing the wide, polished wood floor, so she took a moment to admire the fountain and the portrait hanging over the largest of the gilt fireplaces.

It must have been painted just after the war ended, she realized. It had been more than two years, but the memory of the end and the days after was still fresh in her mind. She'd been coming down the steps outside Gringotts. There had been nothing special about that day, other than the trip to Gringotts withdraw the last of her funds to finance her upcoming trip to France. The sky was flat and gray. She had a few days before the final exam at the Healer's Academy, and then she'd be off for three months to do her apprenticeship. She was ready, and would be more than glad to be out of wizarding Britain. It wasn't safe anywhere in those days.

The screaming had started on the fourth step. I always thought that You-Know-Who would be taller, she'd thought to herself. That he'd starting blasting people away the moment he appeared. The crowd had parted, and she caught the flash of sunlight on glasses, and Voldemort had simply dissipated.

There had been shouting and ale and snogging in the streets, and a parade with confetti and parties for a week. Then, wizarding London had slept, for the first time in years, closing shop for a holiday. The portrait had likely been painted while she slept off too many rounds, and if the artist had been a feeling person at all, they'd have been too drunk to paint, in Susan's opinion.

Instead, the Muggle-style portrait was awe-inspiring. The colors were vivid, the likenesses true, and the subjects caught with a light in their eyes. It made Susan's eyes tear with pride as she viewed The Alliance: Albus Dumbledore, Arthur Weasley, and, in the center, Minister of Magic and destroyer of Voldemort (not to mention her hero) Percy Weasley.

"Er, miss?"

Susan turned toward the voice. A scruffy man at the security desk waved an arm, and she looked around. No one else was in the Atrium. "Yes?"

"Can I help you? We don't have a tour or anything, and I see that you're not wearing your visitor's badge." The guard gave her a dubious look. "I thought I saw you come down in the lift."

"Oh, I did," said Susan. "Last time I was here, I got a badge, but this time nothing happened. Maybe it's out of order?"

"Can't be," he replied, unappeased. "What's your business here?"

Mutely, Susan handed over the card that Smethwyck had given her.

"Oh. Oh. Well then, your wand--give it here." He dropped it onto the wand registrar dish, waving a long golden rod in her direction. "We'll call that good, and you'd better hurry. Here's your wand again," he said, as a slip was printed from the registrar, "and hurry. Quickly, now."

"Hurry? Hurry where?" All Smethwyck had said was to report to the Ministry. Susan had been so anxious to be out of his presence that she hadn't questioned the instructions at all.

The guard's mouth dropped open in surprise. "You don't know? Well, maybe not, I never seen you before. I don't even know. It's hush-hush, see. But you'd better get to the Minister's office as fast as you can."

Susan nodded and jogged off in the direction he pointed, skidding to a halt at the lifts. She jabbed the button for level one, which was marked "Ministerial Suite." An achingly slow ride later, she was let off into a well-appointed hallway with many doors along each side. Susan didn't bother reading the brass nameplates that hung on the walls; it was clear enough that the ornately carved double doors at the far end marked her destination.

Apprehensively, Susan turned the knob and slipped through. The outer offices of the Minster of Magic boasted tall, narrow windows which allowed stripes of sunlight to mark the path from the door to a desk at the far end. A slender redhead looked up from her reading and motioned her closer.

"Er, hello." Arthur, Bill, and Charlie Weasley were often pictured together as members of Percy's cabinet, but she hadn't been aware that Ginny worked here as well. Susan's dim memories of Ginny playing Quidditch and cutting a half-serious swath through her year-mates didn't quite go with the prim, pale violet suit and the elegant, understated accessories and makeup. Percy's influence? She looks the perfect secretary.

Ginny nodded and reached for the card Susan proffered. "Unfortunately, I don't think we have time to train you properly." Susan opened her mouth to reply that she was highly trained, thank you very much, but Ginny held up a hand and continued. "We'll just have you jump right in." Whipping out her wand, Ginny tapped Susan on the forehead, cheeks, and chin in rapid succession.

"Wha?" Susan rubbed at her stinging cheek.

"No time. Really." Ginny opened one of several doors leading from the outer office. "In here. We usually start around eight, and the report is due by nine-thirty, so we're running behind schedule."

The hallway was short and narrow. Ginny closed the door and edged around Susan to the next door, only a few steps further. This one she closed behind herself without letting Susan through, and when she did the lights went out.

Susan stepped backward, groping for the doorknob behind her. It was perfectly reasonable to want to see the hand in front of her face. The knob wouldn't turn and none of the Unlocking Charms Susan knew budged it one bit. She felt her way along the wall to the door Ginny had gone through, but had no more success.

"Ginny?" she called out, rattling the doorknob. With a sudden flash, one wall of the hallway opened, and Susan walked toward it. After stubbing her toe against the edge, she realized that it had only turned into a window.

The room on the other side was like no room Susan had ever seen. Woven mats were fitted exactly across the floor, and dark wood paneling alternated with what appeared to be parchment, or paper, as pale light glowed from without. A few exotic ornaments in shades of onyx, emerald, and scarlet adorned the walls.

And sitting cross-legged in the center of the room, eyes closed and back straight, was Harry Potter.

While she watched, Ginny moved from an unseen corner and into Susan's line of vision. Susan cleared her throat. "Excuse me--what am I to do?"

Ginny didn't appear to hear her. She walked circles around Harry, scattering powders and lighting candles in the sconces. Harry didn't move either, but the air around him pulsed and shimmered gently.

At last Ginny brushed off her hands and looked around the room, satisfied. Drawing her wand, she approached Harry and pointed it between his eyes. "Wake up."

Harry's eyes snapped open. They were two red, glowing coals. Susan couldn't prevent a half-scream, but neither Harry not Ginny paid her any attention. Instead, Harry's face twisted into a grimace. "Ginny. Not again. What do you want?"

"You know what I want," she wheedled. "I want you to come out. Come out and play with me, Tom."

Susan looked from one to the other in confusion. She was sure Ginny used to have a crush on Harry in school, and that he was on friendly terms with Ron and the rest of her family. But who the hell was Tom?

Harry threw his head back and laughed a cold, high laugh that sent a shiver down Susan's spine. The muscles in her legs and back tensed; she was ready to run off in a flash. She'd find a way out of here. None of this was right.

"Maybe I will. Maybe I won't. Maybe I want something from you, you little bitch. You're not the kind, sweet girl I used to know. You think naughty thoughts. You're not so nice."

"You either," Ginny said stoically. "Come here."

Harry uncrossed his legs and splayed them out, leaning back to rest on his elbows. "I'm tired. You come here."

"I don't know why you keep trying."

Harry surveyed her from head to toe. His disgusted sneer gradually turned into a lecherous grin. "You either. I bet you're still wondering why handsome, brave, daring, wonderful Harry Potter doesn't notice you. Oh, boo-hoo. Or have you moved on to some other worthy man? Perhaps you miss me more than you're willing to say. In case you were wondering, though, I imagine he doesn't like your spots. Come closer."

Ginny dropped out to her knees, lowering her head. "I imagine. Not my hair, either."

"No, not your hair," he said, sitting up. Harry was growing paler by the second, and the air around him seemed to twist and turn. "Not your face. Not your scrawny legs. Not your mind. I've never known anyone so dull as you. Harry, being a dull boy himself, needs someone more intelligent for balance. Someone like Minerva, or Bellatrix--" He broke off, confusion playing across his features. "I don't know where she is anymore."

"She's not here." Ginny sneaked a hand forward, holding it out as if she were testing the temperature near Harry. "I'm here. Come out and play, Tom."

Harry's attention snapped back to Ginny. "My rules. Come closer."

Ginny inched forward. "I'm closer."

"Closer. I can't see you from here."

She moved forward again, stopping just out of Harry's--Tom's?--reach.

"You're mine, aren't you, Ginny?"

"Yes, Lord Voldemort."

Susan let out the other half of her scream. It didn't make any sense. Why was she calling Harry Vol--You-Know-Who? She'd been in Dumbledore's Army with Harry. Was he possessed? He'd never said anything like this then, never used that high, frozen voice....

Quick as a cat, Harry was on his feet, laughing a laugh worse than Susan had ever heard in the Janus Thickey ward. Wispy bits of light floated from Ginny and toward him. Ginny's head drooped lower as she pushed herself to her feet. She didn't resist when Harry gently put his hands around her neck.

"Mine. Where is Harry?"

Ginny's eyes focused again and her submissive demeanor fell away. "Here. Crucio!" she shouted, knocking Harry back onto the mats. He was down only for a moment, then he ran toward her. She caught him again: "Crucio!"

This time, she held the spell, and the cold laughter turned into a scream of agony. Susan slapped her palm against the wall, yelling a protest as Harry writhed in pain. "Stop it! Stop it now!"

As if in answer, Ginny lowered her wand, then pulled another from her pocket and tossed it to Harry as he sprang to his feet and rushed forward. He pointed his wand at her, and then wrenched it back with both hands so that it pointed at his head, shouting a Banishing Charm.

At the same time, Ginny ducked. A jet of blue light hit Harry full in the face, then rocketed around the room, knocking some of the ornaments from the walls. Finally, an explosion of the sky-blue light burst forth from all around Harry. A dull roar made the floor tremble beneath Susan's feet.

A second later, Harry's wand fell to the floor and Ginny, bracing her feet underneath her, caught Harry as he fell into her arms. Susan was almost positive that she saw Ginny brush her lips against his forehead before she lowered him gently to the floor. Straightening her skirt, Ginny tapped her wand against the papered wall to reveal a portal back into the outer office. Once it was resealed, the door next to Susan opened itself.

Susan wanted to hesitate. She wanted to think things through. But her feet carried her forward and into the other room. No matter what sort of evil demon had possessed Harry Potter, she had to make sure he was still alive.

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