Hey all! Can you believe that I'm actually updating La Malfoi Inconnue! I know I can't but I was so happy that I managed to find a storyline cos I admit, I suffered a bit of writer's block when I first wrote this. But hey, I have a few chapters to go up and so I will see how I go from there.
So, I apologise for the extreme lateness of this installment, as I'm sure that a lot of you wrote this off as one of those "unfinished" stories.
Well, I'll show those! Muhahaha! Anyway, hope it keeps going. At least it will for a while anyway.
Comments:
Macey Muse Ah yes, I think HBP certainly brought forth the argument that Fleur was stuck-up. Hopefully I can make it believeable but I think that the twins will eventually mature, although Fred has matured probably a bit quicker than George, in my story anyway, woops! Gave a bit away there... ;-)
filthylittlemudblood Haha, that's awesome! I like hearing that, I can't deny it. I'm glad it sounds alright, I really hope it continues to flow well. I think I might have had a couple of continuity problems but hopefully I've sorted them out okay or explained them away. It had started writing bits and it was easier to keep them that way and explain my way out than to rewrite the whole thing cos it was too hard to come up with an alternative.
KellyRiddle88Vous lisez cette histoire aussi! Awesome! God, can't think of any French atm, will have to settle for English. Hope you enjoy this one.. ;-)
Well folks, onto the next installment...
23rd September, 2001
7:34pm
The next couple of days flew for Hermione surprisingly, given that she had had a lot on her mind. One minute she was almost kissing Fred Weasley, the next minute she was onto her latest batch of cough potion in the St Mungo's laboratories. There had been a decrease in emergencies over the last couple of days and so Hermione had taken up position in the labs again, building on her experience at making potions for the patients.
Cough potion was not significantly difficult however it did require a fair bit of patience to make. It was one of those evenings that she had to stay back, since she could not leave the process half way through. So it was with some shock that she received a knock on the lab door at such an hour.
The person standing at the door did not hesitate in coming in.
"I'm sorry to interrupt your brewing Hermione," the agitated witch now standing in front of her said, "but it seems that there is some sort of emergency going on at one of the upstairs wings. I wouldn't have come down to tell you except that we have been short staffed all day and so we needed your assistance."
Hermione sighed but responded with a quick, "I'll be right up there."
Putting all her things away and carrying the medicinal potions to a safe place in the lab, Hermione hurried up after the witch to the ward upstairs.
It turned out that it was the psychiatric ward that required her help. There was a problem with one of the patients who managed to lock a warden up in the cupboard in the patient's room; how, it was not known given that he should have been unarmed and restrained with bindings around his arms and legs. He was one of the more secure wizards in the ward, considering his past as a formidable and highly powerful Auror. Yes, the man in question was Frank Longbottom.
"Oh dear," Hermione muttered. "I'm sure he would be humiliated if he was aware of what he had just done."
"We can't worry about that now," the witch said beside her. "We just need to put him back into his room."
Putting an ex-Auror back into his room proved to be far more difficult than first perceived. Frank Longbottom may not have remembered anything about what landed him in St Mungo's but there was no doubt that he did not lose his courage nor his ability to fight. It took all who were on duty to restrain him and even then, they did not feel like they had handled it easily.
At last, one of the nurses managed to land a Stunning Spell on his chest and caused Frank to keel over.
"Wow," said a quite relieved and youngish medi-wizard called Hugo. He reminded Hermione of a young Sirius Black; dark hair cropped fairly close to his scalp, blue eyes and a medium-sized build. "That Longbottom must have been a brilliant Auror in his time."
"Forgive my rudeness here," she interjected. "But how old were you during the last war?"
"I was 10. Not quite started at Hogwarts but still thought that I knew everything." He laughed.
"Really? So how was it that you knew about his past?"
"My father was a medi-wizard before me. He had to treat quite a few of the Death Eaters before they were sent to Azkaban. Let's just say that Frank was very capable with disarming spells and other curses."
Hermione's knowledge of the first war was minimal but she knew enough about it to help out with the latest war. "But I thought that they tried not to use many curses against people?"
"They never used them unless they had to. However, when your opponent has just landed a beautifully timed Derespiration curse at you, all you can manage to do is point your wand at him/her and perform a silent counter-attack. The best one for situations like that was always the Dignedépée curse. The curse only required a whip-like flick of the wrist and a strong will for it to have done damage to the attacker and the result was usually lacerations to wherever it was aimed at. Never deadly but worthy of putting your attacker out of action."
"I never knew that. My God, all of this happened before I even realised that there was another world out there. How funny is that?"
"It's strange to think about. I often heard stories of what sort of things the Death Eaters did but I was pretty much kept in the dark. My parents wanted me to feel that I was safe, even though they dealt with the horrors of it every day."
Hermione shook her head. "I can't believe he's been like this for 20 years. I wonder how he actually feels, if he does at all?"
"I couldn't tell you," Hugo responded. "Once your mind has put something out of its thoughts completely, it's very difficult to bring it back and everything that they once knew is gone."
"That's so sad." Hermione could feel tears well into her eyes and had to make a hasty attempt to hide them.
"I know. But we can only be thankful that because of him and those like him, we were able to fend off the strong attacks. Without them, we may not have been able to defend ourselves this time around."
A moment passed between where the only noise was the gentle hum of the wards around them. The mood was only broken when Hermione looked at her watch. 9:20pm. My God, that took a lot longer than expected.
"Hugo," she said. "It's nearly nine-thirty. I think we can probably leave now. The wards have been taken care of and I think that the night watchmen and women are here."
"Shit, you're right," he responded after looking at his own watch. "I told Victoria that I wouldn't be home late. I bet she'll think I'm having an affair. That's the third time in two weeks I've had to stay back late."
Hermione laughed. "I'm sure she doesn't. Surely she must know that sometimes you'll be bound to work back in this profession."
He smiled. "Yeah I know, but I still feel bad. Poor girl will have to hear of the same type of excuse again. She must be getting sick of it."
"Did you want me to have a chat to her?" Hermione offered.
"No! Fuck no, don't do that. That'll just confirm it in her eyes that I am. I'll just have to bite the end of the wand and face up to her."
"Alright then. Well, I'll see you later."
"Yeah, you too."
Hugo left just ahead of Hermione and out of the building. She saw him disapparate from an empty alleyway near to the hospital so that she was left standing in silence. Not wanting to spend a minute longer from her warm flat, she walked into the same alleyway and disapparated.
Comments:
"Dignedépée" curse – worthy of a sword, literal meaning in French. Executed properly and it works just as effectively as a sword and leaves your opponent in a very bad way.
And hopefully I will update the next installment ina couple ofdays.
See y'all!
