Getting the rest out may take a bit, I've just moved forward in purchasing my first home so I've got a thousand things to do and a move coming up. I'm going to be working on this when I get some free time and won't be on any sort of writing routine until after the move.
Struck
Part II
Clever Devil, Devil. How quickly they do sell their souls for the feast and the promise of gold. But Devil? That won't be me. - Devil Devil by MILCK
Chapter Eleven
Diagon Alley
July 1st, 1943.
"We've finally managed to acquire your background paperwork from the MCUSA, came in just this morning. About bloody time if you ask me, you've been holed up between the Ministry and St. Mungos for a year."
Taking a sip of her tea, Mia smiled over the table at Archibald Moody. Over the last year the Auror's she'd saved in Poland had been cycled by her guards as a 'foreigner of interest with ties to the Grindelwald conflict.' Archibald had become somewhat of a friend, Mia found it ironic that he was so much like his son would be, and other times entirely different. The Mad-Eye of her time had been comparably a harder, more world weary, version of Archibald.
"As you've yet to try hauling me off to Azkaban I suppose you found nothing incriminating in my records?"
At that, Archibald snorted, putting his tea mug back down and signaling the pot to refill it. It tilted over the mug and nothing poured out. "No, you were wholly unassuming to the point of being dull," he said, glaring at the waitress that passed by the patio once again, trying to signal to her that their teapot needed refilling too.
Mia was glad to hear it. She'd sent a letter to Nick Morello, the mobster that owed her a favor for saving his life so often in New York, just after her first visit from Queenie. In the letter she'd detailed everything she'd created for her backstory and asked that he make that as believable as he could, and to please be thorough. She'd never received a response; she'd only trusted him because he owed her a life debt.
And he only trusted her because he had her locked under an unbreakable vow.
Dropping her jaw in mock indignation, Mia stared at the other man. "Dull, you say? I'll have you know, my academic pursuits were the thing of legend when I was in school."
"What was legendary was how long you could hole yourself in a library, I've read."
Mia laughed authentically at that. "Too true, Mr. Moody."
The man sipped his tea and huffed. "With a clean background you'll be rid of all the Auror's that've been following you around since you got here. What will you do now? "
"Without shadows? I plan to work as I have been," Mia shrugged, plucking at a loose string on her healer's robes, "and research. St. Mungos has the best library of medical research in the world, or so they claim." Mia knew for a fact that the best medical research in the world was coming out of the States at present.
A new voice spoke from behind her, almost causing her to jump. She covered it to seem like she'd just tensed. "Trying to cure the world, Miss. Gardner?"
Moody huffed at her. "I saw you nearly jump, Gardner. Don't forget; constant vigilance. We're at war." He turned his attention to the newcomer, mouth slightly upturned in what Mia considered a pseudo-smile. "Good to see you Dumbledore, I was just finishing up clearing Gardner."
Albus Dumbledore transfigured a napkin off the small cafe table into a chair and settled himself beside them, an extra cup and saucer automatically flying in front of him from inside the cafe. Mia tossed him a reproachful look as he threw one leg over the other, completely comfortable though uninvited. "Your paperwork finally came in, I take it? Usually that doesn't take so long."
Ever since she'd grabbed his arm and come back to England with him Dumbledore had made himself a bit of a nuisance in her life. He'd come and go at any time he felt like it, even apparating directly into her flat. He was friendly and almost flirtatious at times.
Mia wasn't fooled. Every small comment, every friendly gesture, was Dumbledore's way of learning her so he could move her like a chess pawn across the world stage. It was likely that he'd offered to take her 'someplace safe' so he could cultivate her into joining whatever crusade he had going on at the moment, and that his near constant presence was meant to encourage her to trust him.
But she wasn't the naive twenty-two year old they thought she was. She was a sixty-four year old survivor of three wars. Four if one considers the current conflict.
It amused Mia to no end that she is, technically speaking, two years older than Dumbledore.
"Well, the state of affairs being what they are, who knows what kind of backlog the MCUSA are dealing with," was Mia's flippant response, "Grindelwald made an impression during his time there. Magicfolk are acting rebellious in the States. Many don't like living in fear of the No-Maj's and they're beginning to bulk against the Statue of Secrecy."
"It's like that in other countries on the continent as well this past decade, and getting worse." Moody added with a succinct nod.
"He's been openly spreading his message for twenty years, and doing so underground for longer. I'm not surprised, though it's becoming increasingly dangerous to be a dissenter." Dumbledore mused, eyes somewhere else while his fingers absentmindedly bushed the rim of his tea cup.
"What are you doing in Diagon Alley, anyways?" Moody asked, giving Dumbledore a once over, saving Mia from having to.
Dumbledore gave a brilliant smile, eyes twinkling just right in the mid morning light. It made him look as though he was utterly guileless. Mia had often wondered when she was younger if he'd developed a minor glamor to create that effect. Now older she suspected that was exactly what he'd done.
"I wanted to speak with Miss. Gardner, actually. It's a Hogwarts matter."
Suspicious, Mia narrowed her gaze on the man as Moody threw up his hands in mock surrender. "Got it, suppose I should shove off then. Be seeing you, Gardner. Dumbledore." And with no further ceremony, Moody apparated away.
"Hogwarts?" Mia asked as Dumbledore vacated his transfigured chair to take up Moody's abandoned spot directly in front of her.
"Yes," a letter appeared floating in front of her with the official Hogwarts seal, "the Headmaster would like to extend an employment offer."
She went to open it, looking up at him with narrowed eyes. "What kind of employment offer?"
He picked up one of Moody's untouched pastries and took a bite, gesturing for her to just open the letter. She did as bid and read through the first couple of introductory lines to get to the gist of it.
"Hogwarts Mediwitch? I doubt I'm qualified to run a whole hospital wing, Dumbledore."
Dumbledore smiled at her and leaned his elbows on the table, fingers lacing together in front of his chin. "I saw you heal seven Auror's from life threatening curses and wounds mid-battle with Grindelwald's forces. What's a few Quidditch and Potions mishaps in the face of that?"
"Well then that makes me overqualified for Hogwarts, right?" Mia laughed, setting the letter on the table with a minor sticking charm so the wind wouldn't perk up and carry it off.
"You've time to think about it, Miss. Gardner, the offer is for the 1944-1945 school year. Our current Mediwizard, Nurse Wainscott, has announced this will be his last year before retirement. Though I would highly encourage you to consider accepting before the new year or Headmaster Dippit would be forced to look elsewhere."
Mia bit her lower lip. "I'll think about it."
"Of course," Dumbledore acquiesced, leaning back into a more comfortable position in his chair once more, "I might add that Hogwarts has the largest and most extensive library in the world. As staff you'd have access to the archives that most people never get the privilege of."
"And that, Mr. Dumbledore, is bribery," Mia laughed with a slight shake of her head, "but I can't say that the Hogwarts library won't hold weight in my consideration."
Dumbledore gave her an amused glance that suddenly dropped off as he glanced down at Moody's abandoned plate. "Oh that old sod, he's left me with the bill."
Mia stretched her legs, old beat up trainers sliding against the slick wet earth as she leaned down to grasp her ankles. She'd taken to apparating herself to the Forest of Dean now that she didn't have shadows following her everywhere suspiciously. At least here, she had the privacy of the forest, only the sound of the woods to keep her company.
She pulled her arm across her chest to stretch, and did the same with the other. When she was younger, Mia preferred to read, research, and think about situations while sitting at a desk or laying in bed before nodding off.
These days, with her more active lifestyle she's found that sitting makes her restless. Her mind won't focus on one task, instead opting to dredge up old scars and remind her that they still sting. Especially at night, when life settles and the darkness (always always present, but ignorable) creeps in.
So she comes out to the forest, and she runs. She trains. She keeps her reflexes and her body sharp and fit, ready for anything. Ready for the day her whole life finally catches up to her.
Today, like most days since receiving the letter, Mia needed to think about whether or not she wanted to accept Headmaster Dippit's offer.
She stretched downward, laying her hands flat on the ground for her final stretch. Mia straightened, took a breath, and then bounded forward dodging downed trees and thick foliage as she went. Running up hills and over creeks. The Forest of Dean wouldn't change all that much in the next several decades, and she was quite familiar with the land.
Hogwarts. On one hand, returning to Hogwarts might be good. Like coming home to something familiar after being gone on vacation for so long. Walking the stone halls, fighting the moving staircase, even walking by the Black Lake and seeing a glimpse of a tentacle would bring back some of her best memories.
She'd be able to traipse the restricted section without breaking the rules, too, and that would be a serious boon to whatever research she wanted to do.
She'd started to really think about what she wanted to do with her life when she returned to England. After just surviving for so long she'd started to wonder if she'd forgotten to live her life in the mayhem.
After being stricken, her only priority had been to get away from England and put as much distance between her and possibly ruining the timeline as she could. Then Silas had coaxed her into opening up and sharing her life with him, and what a wonderful time that had been. Until it ended.
Dodging a fallen, decaying tree, Mia turned sharply to the west where she'd set up magical targets and some traps Dimitri had taught her, ones she could intentionally trigger and fight off. Some were magical and others were more inclined for hand to hand combat.
She'd buried herself in a war, after Silas died, trying so hard to forget Silas' easy smiles, kindness, and titillating conversations, she tried to bury his gentle soul, punctuated with his fierce and passionate love. It had been too much, losing him after having lost everyone she'd loved.
War had been a good distraction, even if she loathed it. Helping people always brought her a sense of purpose when she floundered. It was like a grounding agent that kept her from derailing.
Plagued by the deaths of those she couldn't save she'd resumed her research into ley lines, thinking that perhaps she could try and make it home. Shen Li had been a soothing balm after dealing with such a brutal war, and his teachings helped her to ground herself. Meditation, though she'd been unable to connect with ley lines again like she had at the temple, had helped her calm herself and her magic when she started to get overwhelmed.
It also helped her develop her skills with wandless elemental magic, which would be a boon for her if she ever was confronted by Grindelwald again. It might give her just enough edge to escape.
Grindelwald had thought the lightening she'd killed the Nazi's with was a bought of uncontrollable accidental magic, after all.
Mia triggered one of her traps, halting her run and throwing herself backward just in time for a target dummy to swing down with a fist that could have knocked her out. She blocked its next swing from the left and leveled a punch to its stuffed face. In a real fight, it was possible the opponent would get back up, simply dazed, but the training dummy just collapsed with the hit.
Breathing heavily, Mia started running once more.
Russia… that had been because she was tired of not being able to save the people she cared about. She needed to know the unsavory and less palatable (and oftentimes thoroughly illegal) healing methods that could save someone that conventional healing couldn't. And she'd managed to make a good friend in Dimitri Sokolov, too.
She'd wanted to help people, and that was the crux of her reasoning for entering the second World War. To save as many lives as she could and try not to make much of a mark on history while doing it. In the long run, she wasn't sure she made much of a difference.
Unlimited access to the Hogwarts library was the best card Dumbledore had to play and bloody hell did she want to accept the position for that alone.
Another trap triggered, this time firing a mild stinging hex that managed to just graze Mia's left arm before she fired a nasty confringo at the target and smiled a little when it didn't just burst into flames, but completely obliterated under the strength of the fire.
But how would she react, seeing the Great Hall and remembering? Remembering running to Harry and hugging him so tightly after being restored from petrification. Remembering the Weasley family gathered around Fred's body, each of them leaning against each other for strength as George cried out for his lost twin.
Molly's agonized cries reverberating off the stone walls.
Could she handle walking across the stone bridge onto the school grounds and remembering how giants and trolls had destroyed it as they fought the Hogwarts sentries? Could she deal with the reminder of herself, Harry, and Ron standing there in the aftermath as Harry broke the Elder Wand and tossed it away?
And could she walk by the astronomy tower and not think about Dumbledore's body lying dead in the courtyard?
Mia finally slowed down, reaching the last of her traps. She triggered it, her breathing coming in rapid, shallow breaths. She'd been at this for at least two hours and her body was damp with sweat and exertion as the last dummy fired a reducto at her feat. The ground exploded just as she apparated behind the dummy and it spun in time with her movements, launching a rapid succession of two deterioration hexes followed by an expolso she'd nearly not dodged in time.
The target readied for another spell and Mia extended her arm, a flash of blue lightning striking the dead center of its body. It fell to the ground, scorched and smoking. Chest heaving, Mia let herself slump to the ground and clutched her head, wand pressing up against her temple.
"What do you think?" She asked the fallen dummy. When no response came she stood and scoffed, tossing a glare at its still smoking frame. "Lots of good you are."
Hogwarts
August 28th, 1944.
It was odd, Mia mused, being inside the Hogwarts staff room. Professors and other Hogwarts staff were mingling and joking, excited voices raising questions about each other's holidays. It was like watching adults act like the students would on their first day back. Mia sat back in her chair, observing everyone she'd get to know over the next school year.
It was a bit awkward, seeing a young Professor Slughorn chatting up a much younger Professor Babbling and Professor Kettleburn.
When she saw Professor Binns for the first time she'd nearly bulked before she'd realized he'd been alive during this time and that was the reason she couldn't see through him.
So far she was managing the stress of being back at Hogwarts, her anxiety levels were low but that may have just been due to the calming drought she'd taken that morning. Not that she'd been tested quite yet, Dumbledore had come to fetch her and brought her into the staff room via floo. Headmaster Dippit had opened it for all staff who'd left during the summer to easily return.
In short, she hadn't been outside of the staff room yet.
A light but sharp voice spoke from Mia's right, pulling her from her thoughts. "Pardon, may I sit with you?"
Mia looked up to see a young, stern looking woman perhaps not a year or so out of Hogwarts herself. She was worrying her bottom lip between her teeth and shuffled from one foot to the other. Mia smiled and stood, offering her hand. "Of course, Mia Gardner. I'm the new mediwitch for the year."
The woman accepted it, tension leaving her shoulders. "Irma Pince, I'm taking over the library. Forgive me for saying so but I am relieved to see another person around my age. I was so worried I'd be surrounded by my old Professors and have no one to talk to."
"I'm glad, too. How long have you been out of school?" Mia laughed, mostly to herself at the irony, and sobered when she realized she was talking to Madam Pince. She had always gotten along with the librarian, purely because of how much they both cared about the Hogwarts library.
Mia wondered if they could be friends now that they looked as if they were close in age and working in the same building.
"I just graduated in June this year, but the elves had been taking care of the library for the last two years. They've been doing a great job, but I thought the library could use a more dedicated staffer. I approached the Headmaster and asked if he'd be willing to hire someone to handle the day to day. I was surprised he'd agreed."
"Well you should expect to see me often, then. Other than the hospital wing the library will be my most frequented area," Mia tried to control a yawn, but it was impossible and she covered her mouth in embarrassment, "sorry, I was so excited I didn't sleep well last night."
Rather, she was too anxious and couldn't sleep.
Pince giggled, the sound tinkled like a bell and it softened her features. Mia noted that when Irma Pince was relaxed she was actually quite pretty. "I understand completely, I've had four cups of tea already and it's not even nine in the morning."
They shared an understanding smile as the Headmaster called everyone's attention from the ornate podium at the front of the room.
"As the summer comes to a close and we prepare together for the coming academic year, I wish to take this opportunity to welcome you all back to Hogwarts. The start of the year is always a special time in the castle, with new students and faculty, new relationships, new scholarship and exciting conversations beginning anew after the summer months. We are fortunate to welcome two new full time faculty members this academic year, whose diverse areas of expertise will build upon the remarkable dedication to excellence that characterizes our Hogwarts community. Our very own Irma Pince, who has returned to us after graduation to dedicate herself to our phenomenal library and to organizing the mess it's become."
The headmaster joked a little, drawing a few chuckles from the crowd as he gestured for Irma to stand. The rest of the staff gave her a small round of applause and words of welcome. The young woman blushed scarlet and bowed slightly to the room before retaking her seat next to Mia.
"And a new addition, Healer Mia Gardner who has joined us from America after extensive travels over the continent and two years working in the emergency ward of St. Mungos. Healer Gardner has agreed to spend this year with us tending to our ailments in the hospital wing and, of course, making use of the library to further medical research."
Mia also stood and was met with the same encouragement from her coworkers, retaking her seat a few moments later.
"I very much look forward to the rich and rewarding semester ahead, and wish to take this opportunity to share with you some updates from our community. As we look ahead and seek to engage with the opportunities and challenges facing education today, we continue to engage the extraordinary talents and resources of our community to lead us in this important time. We look forward to the possibilities ahead as we seek to bring our mission to the frontiers and engage in deeper, more meaningful ways with today's pressing global issues. Grindelwald is not currently threatening Great Britain but that is always subject to change until he is defeated. We have no plans to close the castle and send students home at this time, though there is a meeting scheduled tomorrow morning for everyone to be apprised of our safety protocols."
"If there are any questions that need to be addressed before I leave you to your lesson plans, you're welcome to bring them to my attention now."
Mia largely tuned out the questions some of the staff asked, much of it was about each Professor's subjects respectively. The caretaker, Mr. Pringle had asked about the third floor and whether he was still meant to patrol it this week before the students arrived, which was met with an affectionate, if exasperated, affirmation from the Headmaster.
Everyone mingled when the meeting was adjourned, Pince had taken off to speak with her former head of house, the Defense Professor, Galatea Merrythought, and Mia wandered over towards the window that overlooked the grounds.
"Stunning, isn't it? I never wanted to retire from Hogwarts for many reasons but this view is probably one of the things I will miss the most. I regret not having spent enough time simply admiring it."
Mia pulled away from the window to see the gentle, elderly wizard that had approached her. "It's beautiful, I don't think any poetry could aptly describe it but W. H. Davies comes to mind; 'What is this life if full of care, we have no time to stand and stare.'"
A toothy smile on his wrinkled face, the man held out a hand. "I am Nurse Wainscott, if you have time I'd like to take you to the hospital wing and show you how I did things. Knowing what you're working with should help when you officially take over my position."
She accepted his handshake with a gracious smile. "I would appreciate that, Nurse Wainscott, thank you."
As they walked, Mia kept her thoughts completely focused on her conversation with her predecessor, managing to ignore that feeling in the back of her head that if she just looked to the left she'd see the corner where Lavender Brown had sat slumped over herself with a chunk bitten out of her where Greyback had killed her.
She also managed to ignore the memory of that west wall caving in as a Death Eater and Kingsley Shaklebolt went spell for spell. One trying to get past him to kill a trio of fourth years while the other fought with everything he had to protect them.
Seeing the two neat rows of gurneys in the hospital wing for the first time reminded her of when Sirius had broken Ron's leg trying to get to Pettigrew. At this point, Hermione was having a harder time breathing and concentrating on what her predecessor was saying.
"It's admirable, you know, being so young and having become a full fledged healer. I never was quite so accomplished." Nurse Wainscott was saying, oblivious to the dark turn Mia's thoughts had been taking. Mia was able to shake herself out of it as Wainscott led her back through the office.
"The office, of course, is self-explanatory. Through that door to the left are your rooms, I vacated at the end of June so they're ready for you to move in. The door to the right I suggest you ward heavily, it's the store room. Come."
He shuffled through the large door and cast a spell to light the wall sconces. "At the end of the year I go through and remove everything that wouldn't last the summer holiday. You'll have to get with Slughorn and provide him a list if you want him to brew for you. He's not exactly the proactive sort," Mia smiled at the man's jibe while silently agreeing, "as you can see everything is arranged by ailment first, then by alphabet. It's a simple system. I would advise you to familiarize yourself with it over the next few days before the little buggers arrive and demand attention right away as they so often do."
Mia had to stifle a laugh, while she followed the elderly Nurse back out into the office area. It was true what they said, people close to retirement had no reason to hold back how they really felt. He gestured for her to take a seat at the desk while he took one of the seats on the other side of it.
"As far as duties go; other than keeping the hospital sanitized, orderly, and stocked. You'll naturally be caring for any student or faculty ailments, you'll find the records in the bottom left drawer of the desk. It's an alphabetical system, though the first section before 'A' is composed of all the students and faculty with pre-existing conditions that require treatment throughout the year. You'll want to go over all of those before the start of term and familiarize yourself with them. You're their primary physician during the year."
Mia nodded, summoning a quill and parchment to jot down a few observations she'd made and gestured for the man to continue.
"Certain issues may need to be taken up with the Headmaster, such as if you suspect one of the students has been harmed by another. You'll have to use your integrity and judgment as a Healer for that, I'm afraid. There's no real guideline there. As far as being a Hogwarts staffer; you have the ability to give or take house points but not detentions. When there is an inter-house conflict that results in more than just scrapes and bruises or a few petty jinxes you'll need to send for the Heads of House. The house elves will be of use for those errands, just call Whimsy, she's especially dedicated to the hospital wing. You've read Hogwarts: A History?"
At Mia's nod, he continued. "Good, then you understand how Hogwarts is set up. Also, there's a student interested in becoming a healer I've been taking under my wing. If you feel you have time, I'm sure she'd like to continue with you. Any questions?"
Mia laughed and smiled. "Always."
Hogwarts
September 1st, 1944.
Mia sat at the Hogwarts staff table, peering out over the throng of students returning for a new year of education. The dull roar of friends seeing each other once again after a long break was something of a heartbreaking memory for Mia as she remembered the last time she had been in the Great Hall.
She tried to force down the memories of that night a lifetime ago. Her eyes shifted to the moonlight charmed ceiling to calm herself, seeing flashes of spellfire she knew were just echoes of memories long past. She took a deep, shaky breath and let it out before allowing herself to look down, just in time for the last of the students to hurry into the room before the first years would be brought in for the sorting.
A voice to the left of her called her out of her revere.
"Have you heard of our sorting ceremony here at Hogwarts, Healer Gardner?"
Professor Horace Slughorn, although much younger in this time than he had been in hers, was a portly fellow with perpetually red cheeks. She found him both an annoying and a somewhat endearing reminder of her sixth year, remembering how he'd complimented her prowess. It had been a novelty, finally being praised for her hard work in Potions after five years of being berated for being an insufferable know-it-all.
"I have heard of it, yes, but I am unsure how the children are sorted."
Slughorn smiled and patted her hand affectionately. "Why, that hat of Godric Gryffindor himself sorts the students."
Mia did her best to look baffled, but was ultimately saved from having to feign interest in the conversation as the large doors swung open and Albus Dumbledore entered the room. Behind him strode an orderly two-line succession of eleven-year old's down the center of the room. Their wide eyed glances oscillated between the enchanted ceiling, the other students, and Albus Dumbledore, but no one spoke and none of them fell out of line.
She didn't think she had ever seen a line of children so well behaved.
'Must be nervous.' She thought to herself as she watched the line break out of form as they came to a halt at the front of the room.
After the students had been sorted and welcomed to their respective houses Headmaster Dippit called the attention of the entire room while he stood to give a welcoming speech that she tuned out. She'd already heard the more intricate version in the staff room after all. She stood when her name was mentioned and gave a slight bow and a smile to the children as they politely applauded her, Irma Pince doing the same thing moments later.
Headmaster Dippit reminded the students not to run off into the Forbidden Forest, and a few other rules that had to be reiterated for the mischievous students. After his warnings he'd allowed the feast to commence and Mia wanted nothing more for it to be over because all the while she kept trying her best not to remember Fenrir Greyback mauling a small, no more than first year, student not twenty feet to the right of where she was sitting.
Back in her office after dinner Mia continued to work on a brew she'd been developing in her free time when she wasn't working in the emergency ward. It was a muggle burn salve that would, ideally, treat the area of the burn and help to repel bacteria from causing more harm to the wound.
The purpose of developing this the muggle way was to combat burns caused to the body by Dark spells. She knew from her experiences with such curses in Russia that dark burns could take months to heal because typical magical remedies caused detrimental counter reactions between the magics and canceled the healing effect.
Time flew by as Mia ran the arithmancy numbers three times to be sure she was doing this correctly. Her head was so low it was mere centimeters from being on the table as she scrawled across the parchment with her quill. It had been some time since she'd felt she had the ability to be intellectual and pursue endeavors such as this.
Mia finally glanced up and cast a Tempus charm, seeing that it was only nine in the evening and the following day was a Sunday. The students would be receiving their timetables but no classes until Monday morning. As a student, she had always hated when September 1st landed on a Saturday and left a day of leisure before classes began, but it had allowed her to get some additional light reading in at the library.
After clearing her desk, Mia decided it was about time to curl up in bed and read a few chapters of one of the books she had pulled from the restricted section that morning. She was just about to enter her room when the wards she had on the door to the Hospital wing went off in her office.
The Hermione Granger in Mia was worried about whatever student might have gotten hurt and how bad it might be, but Mia swallowed that side of herself down and allowed annoyance to flit across her features. The bloody students had been back for not even four hours yet! She wondered if this was how Madam Pomfrey had felt whenever one of the boys was hurt just hours after stumbling off the train.
She did not envy Pomfrey having gone through the Marauders, Fred and George, and the Golden Trio.
Throwing back the door of her office Mia was assaulted with sounds of muffled agony, a sound she'd heard all too well for the past several years. With a wave of her wand the entire room lit with the light of a thousand candles and she walked confidently into the rest of the room.
Mia frowned deeply as she drew close enough to hear the conversation.
"Both of you, to the beds right this instant. Honestly, have you no shame? This boy is in his first year! He's barely been off the train for four hours!" A young lady stated in a huff, thoroughly chastising two boys who hung their heads as they sat on the beds.
Another boy was levitating, the girl's doing Mia assumed, and he looked to be unconscious.
"He's a Slytherin, what were we supposed to do MacDougal?"
The Ravenclaw girl opened her mouth to further berate the boys but Mia decided she'd had enough.
"If I may, children?" Mia raised her eyebrows in a way that dared them to challenge her and they all fell completely silent as they noticed the new Healer was among them. "I know very little of the house rivalries in Hogwarts, as you have no doubt discerned in the past few moments I am not from Britain. Any petty squabbling about who is in what house will be lost on me."
She motioned for the older girl to place the small first year on the gurney across from the older boys as she continued speaking. "Might I suggest, gentlemen, that in the future you put whatever house prejudice you seem to have developed behind you and bring a more humane approach to the forefront and do. Not. Attack. People." She practically hissed, radiating pure fury and feeling utterly gleeful as they shrunk back in shame. "Especially not an eleven year old child."
She did her very best to channel Severus Snape with every punctuated word. They visibly paled and Mia gave them a threateningly sweet smile before she turned around, flicking her wand to run a diagnostic charm over the unconscious child.
"Would you mind giving me an objective recount of what happened, Miss MacDougal?"
"Not at all Healer Gardner," the girl said, shoulders back as she threw a scalding look at the two Gryfindor boys, "I was heading to the library to do a bit of reading before my rounds and just before I turned the corner that would lead me to the library I heard a commotion. When I withdrew my wand and walked around the corner I saw these two, Potter and Prewett, with their wands out and yanking this poor first year back and forth the width of the hallway. When I tried to petrify Prewett I must have slipped because his hand moved a bit too far to the right and the boy smacked against the wall."
Mia nodded, looking through the body scans that her wand had conjured in front of her as she checked his skull with her fingers for any troublesome bumps. When the spell came back saying he was clear she ran a scan over his body with her wand followed by her fingers checking for broken bones.
"He seems to be alright, but I'll wait for him to wake before I make any judgement calls. Why are Mr. Potter and Mr. Prewett limping, Miss MacDougal?" Mia asked as she headed over to the other boys.
She had the decency to look sheepish and spoke in a small voice. "I may have sent a couple hexes."
Mia tossed her a mildly chastising look. "Before or after the child had been slammed against a stone wall?"
The girl looked down and scuffed her shoe against the stone floor, mumbling something unintelligible.
"What was that, Miss. MacDougal?"
"After."
Mia, mischief twinkling in her eyes, dismissed the young lady and just as she managed to make it to the door she called out. "Ten points to Ravenclaw for stepping in to protect a student in need."
The smile on the girls' face was enough for Mia to care little about the outcry of 'unfair' from the Gryffindor boys. She made her way over to the said boys and began examining their legs.
"Boys, you are both fine. It seems to me she sent you both a light stinging hex, it should wear off overnight." They both smiled ruefully at each other and hopped off the beds. "I will be reporting this incident to the Headmaster." They both groaned as they exited the hospital wing.
Mia turned her attention to the first-year. "They're gone, you can stop pretending you're unconscious."
His right eye popped open, roving around a moment to ensure his attackers were well and truly gone, then opened both. He lifted his head and scanned the room before pulling himself into a sitting position. "How did you know I wasn't unconscious?" He asked, bewilderment flitting across his face.
She gave him a smile that she tended to reserve for children, a genuine one, and lowered her head to whisper conspiratorially. "I'm a healer."
The boy cracked a smile and Mia raised her head again. "Alright, Mr.?"
"Rosier, ma'am. Evan Rosier."
Mia forced down the immediate thought that this little first year was going to be a Death Eater, and he'd father future Death Eaters, and chose to see the child in front of her.
"Well, Mr. Rosier, I can safely say that you are going to be just fine. You don't have a concussion or any other ailments other than a couple bruises. I'm going to give you some bruise paste, you'll have to administer it yourself tonight before you go to bed, your bruising should be cleared up by morning." She watched as the boy nodded his head. "Rest assured the Headmaster will be made aware that two students attacked a first-year outside of the library this evening. Whimsy?"
The little creature appeared with a crack just seconds later.
"Whimsy be here to serve!" the elf exclaimed, her eyes seemed larger than any elf she'd ever seen before for a second Mia just looked at her before shaking herself out of it..
"Good evening, Whimsy, would you please inform a Slytherin prefect that there is a first-year in the hospital wing that needs escorting back to the common room?" Mia asked, justifying the use of an elf by remembering she's not supposed to know how to get to the Slytherin common room.
"Whimsy be proud to, Healer Gardner!" and with a crack she was gone to find a Slytherin prefect.
"I'll be in my office for a moment, Mr. Rosier," she said, heading back towards her office, "please let me know before you go so I can mark your official discharge time in my records."
Before she knew it, Mia was hunched over her desk scribbling furiously as she re-worked her equations to discern why her slave wasn't working. Internally she was cursing quills and inkwells as the ink smeared when her hand wrote so quickly that part of it brushed a figure that was still wet and spoiled the whole equation. She mourned the skill she'd lost with a quill when she'd switched to muggle pens and pencils.
She growled out loud and crunched the parchment, tossing it fitfully into the trash across the room. The balled-up paper hit the wall and bounced to find its place among other bunched up scraps of used parchment that littered the floor around the basket.
"I need to buy regular pens, this is beyond ridiculous."
She was pulling another sheet of parchment from her desk when she heard a deep chuckle from the door of her office and, startled, looked up meeting the most mesmerizing pair of dark eyes a mere few meters away from her.
Mia raised her eyebrow in challenge to cover her momentary lapse of vocal ability as she continued to gaze over the young man's high cheekbones, straight nose, plump lips and beautiful wavy dark locks. Not even Dimitri had been this pretty.
A split second later Mia noticed his student robes and Head Boy's badge and Mia chastised herself, clearing her throat to mask her discomfort.
"Here to retrieve Mr. Rosier?" Mia said, tossing the offending quill into its ink well with a scornful look. "Thank you for arriving promptly. I apologize for the late hour, I'm afraid neither of us know the way to the Slytherin common room."
Mia moved around her desk with a small container of bruise paste in hand.
"It was really no trouble at all, Healer Gardner, I assure you."
His honeyed voice sent a chill up her spine as she moved closer to the door, nearly brushing his shoulder because he stood in the center of it, and her eyes locked on his and there was a moment he didn't seem like he would move. He lingered a few seconds too long, until he finally stepped aside to let her pass. Their robes brushed ever so slightly as she passed him and her natural self-preservation instinct, borne from years of hyper vigilance and warfare, told her she should not allow this young man to be behind her.
Carefully, after exiting the threshold, Mia stepped to the side to allow him to fall into step with her as she walked over to where Mr. Rosier was gathering the books he'd borrowed before his attack.
Mia stopped in front of the first year and offered him a small smile, handing him the bruise paste. "This will take care of that bruising overnight. If it doesn't help, or if in the morning you're experiencing any pains, or a rash, find a prefect to bring you back immediately. Now do try to stay out of trouble, will you?"
The boy nodded, dark eyes sharp as he glanced over the Head Boy. "Yes, Ma'am."
She turned to the Head Boy. "Thanks again for coming so quickly, Mr?"
The young man flashed a smile revealing teeth that were not perfectly straight but seemed to be well cared for and bright. The smile seemed charming on the surface but Mia could feel the threat that lurked behind it, she could see the sharpening of his eyes as they glanced into hers. He looked like a coiled snake offering pleasantries while contemplating how slowly he'd like to murder you, just as soon as he found the opportunity.
"Tom Riddle," her blood ran cold as she watched his dark eyes glint in the flickering candlelight, making it seem as if he knew something that she did not, he bowed ever so slightly, "and it's a pleasure to be of service."
How could she have forgotten?
Note: I know some of you are probably going to be like "how could she just FoRgEt ToM?" And yeah I thought about that too when I was writing it but I ultimately justified it because she's been hella busy the last few decades. I reckon I would forget about Tom if I'd been stressed about WWII and Grindelwald, and my ongoing mental crisis because I've become a murderer (among all the losses she's suffered) then choose to let myself get whisked away to relative 'safety' and be shadowed by Aurors and traumatized so badly that I'm working myself to death just to be able to sleep at night. Besides, I'm not all that sure Harry showed Hermione every one of the memories he'd seen. She knows about Tom Riddle, of course, but thinking about him as a teenaged school boy when she's almost 50 years removed from the Second War? I think her brain would remember Voldemort as the big-bad-no-nose-having psycho for sure, but that's a ways away from where he was as a teen.
Anyways, ahem, this is mostly setup and transition. We've been following only Hermione for so long, I'm anxious to get into other characters' heads and show you the world I've built. The real fun begins in the next chapter.