A/N: Hi everyone, Happy Easter to everyone who celebrates. I know this update is super late. What can I say, practicum starting kicked my butt. I had to re-learn grade 5 & 6 unit conversions and area formulas so that I could teach it to my kiddos, let alone all of the lesson planning and grading.
This chapter is finished though, and while there is not at lot of action in it, it does cover some important information.
I've been having difficulty with getting notifications from FFN for the past month, so if some of you have had the same problems, I suggest re-reading the last chapter in case you missed the update.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Recap: Marcus Flint, an old classmate of Katie and Oliver's, is getting released from Azkaban, where he spent the last 25 years doing time for stalking Katie, uttering threats, and attempting to assault her. Cecilia is moving in with Louis and Baxter. Victoire thinks she may have found the right books to start looking into to find the elusive French spell. Selene helped James practice on Sunday, and he in turn helped her practice for a healing exam.
Meticulous Moves
Monday, May 20th 2024
8:57 AM
Victoire had been writing so furiously –her grip on her quill turning her knuckles white– that she was starting to get a cramp in it. Once she completed the point-form sentence she was writing, she set her quill down and shook her hand to try to get the blood flowing back to it quicker. The engagement ring on her finger slid a little as her hand moved.
"Victoire, did the labs for our patient in room eight come up yet?" Healer Cassidy Hopewell asked her friend as she walked up to where the former stood at the healing station on the D. A. R. ward floor.
"They're due in about ten minutes," Victoire replied as she tossed the report she'd been writing into the 'done' pile on the desk and then moved on to the next piece of paper on her clipboard.
Cassidy craned her neck to glance at her colleague's paperwork, "Is this for a patient, or one of your research projects?"
The other healer had been too preoccupied flipping through the report in front of her and looking for each spot that needed her signature, that she couldn't immediately answer her friend's question. She stopped writing and flipped back to the front page to scan the first paragraph.
"It's one of the intern's progress reports. It was already written up, it just needed to be signed," Victoire replied as she pinched the bridge of her nose.
She needed to slow down and pay more attention to what she was doing. She shouldn't just be 'rubber stamping' all of the paperwork in front of her.
An eyebrow raised up on Cassidy's forehead, "Isn't that supposed to be Healer Seward's job?"
"Yes, but it's the monthly meeting for the hospitals' heads of department today, so he's disappeared," Victoire explained as she tried to re-read the form in front of her, but much slower this time.
She had just finished reading the last page of the progress report when Healer Wesley Hall strode up to them, a bright smile on his face.
"Lab reports hot off the presses," The male healer announced as he fanned out several documents, "Who wants Lawson?"
"That's mine," Cassiday said as she held her hand out for it.
"Adamík, that's mine," Wesley said placing the lab in question on the edge of the desk he was leaning against, "Johansen?"
There was a brief pause of quiet.
"That's Fabius's," Victoire commented as she took the progress report off her clipboard and set it in the pile to be filed.
Cassidy glanced around the D. A. R. ward blankly, "I haven't seen him yet today . . . was he supposed to be on the schedule?"
"He was, but then he told Healer Seward that a non-profit medical charity he volunteers for need his help and he scampered off to go schmooze with the donors," The blonde healer explained as her blue eyes began to scan the next sheet on her clipboard.
Wesley pursed his lips, "Doesn't that make you the ranking healer on the floor right now?"
Victoire shrugged, "I would have been anyway even if Fabius was here. Though we're technically supposed to split the duties, he still makes me do all of the paperwork so my names on all of it."
"Doesn't surprise me," Wesley responded with a roll of his eyes before placing the lab report on top of his first one, "I'll take it today. What about Takenaka in room eight?"
"That's-" Victoire started only for Cassidy to cut her off.
"I'll take it."
Victoire glared at Cassidy.
Her colleague didn't seem concerned, "It's our patient, and I'll take care of it. Be honest, how full is your schedule today?"
"I only have one appointment at ten," She retorted.
"And how much paperwork are you going to have after that appointment?"
Victoire frowned and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Aren't you still researching that one spell that eviscerates the male reproductive system too?" Wesley asked, also jumping on the 'Victoire's got too much work to do' bandwagon.
Cassidy put her hands on her hips, "Not to mention that as the ranking healer, you need to be available for emergencies. Go back to your office and see your appointment and do your research. We've got everyone who's been admitted right now."
The blonde healer nodded, trying her best to graciously accept defeat, and headed back to her office. She closed the door snuggly behind her and started on her mountain of paperwork. In between patient charts and intern progress reports, she took the time to stare longingly at the aged journals sitting on a shelf on the right side of her office. As much a she wanted to get lost in Florimond Lestrange's journals from almost three-hundred years ago, she knew that there was actual hospital related paperwork and reading that she needed to finish first.
When it was a quarter to ten, she started to tidy up the papers on her desk and lock away the confidential paperwork before her patient arrived. As she put the newly signed intern progress reports in the bottom drawer of her desk, a paper aeroplane flew under her closed office door and landed in front of her. She unfolded it and groaned in frustration. Healer Seward had sent her a note saying that he'd gotten a request from some bureaucrat from the Ministry who wanted to stop by the D. A. R. ward and talk to one their full-time healers about their work. Since he was in meetings for most of the day and had given Fabius the day off, she was the only full-time healer at the ward, so he had volunteered her time.
She angrily scribbled a quick note back saying that she had an appointment with a patient that morning, and that she was scheduled to be on the floor doing rounds that afternoon, and then sent it off. Victoire was under no illusion that Healer Seward would apologize for trying to overtax her and call it off, but she still sent him the missive nonetheless.
Healer Seward must have been awaiting her response, because she got a second missive from him right away. He must not have been very good at reading the passive aggressiveness in her script (which was a skill that even oblivious Xavier Wood had been able to pick back at Hogwarts) because the head healer for the D. A. R. ward told her that he'd scheduled the person from the Ministry to meet her during her lunchbreak, after her appointment with her patient and before she was scheduled to be on the floor.
If the Sneids hadn't been due any minute, she probably would have stomped up to whatever floor Seward and the rest of the healers were meeting on and showed him her passive-aggressiveness in person. Thankfully for Healer Seward, the Sneids were prompt and punctual and she was welcoming them into her office before she had time to do something potentially career-ending but one-hundred percent satisfying.
Even though Victoire was excited to get to the healing portion of their meeting –she new exactly which happy memory she was going to use today, thank you Sandra– there was a lot of paperwork and ethical consent contracts she needed to go through with the husband and wife first.
10:30 AM
Baxter let out a pained groan as he stubbed his toe for the fourth time in the past few hours. Even though they had done the smart thing and used levitation charms to bring up all of the boxes –he and Cecilia doing most of the direction charms which required a type of finesse that Louis still couldn't quite manage– moving Cecilia into their flat had still somehow ended up painful for him.
"Maybe you should just go to work today before you end up really harming yourself," Louis suggested from the kitchen where he was emptying a box of brand-new dishware Cecilia had bought for the flat.
Apparently now that she was moving in, opposed to when she just spent all of her time there, it was imperative that they had more than just ceramic mugs and a mismatched set of glassware to drink out of. The two boys stopped complaining about the 'new things' Cecilia had bought for the apartment when they realized that what she had provided was the option for them to go more time without needing to wash or clean things because now there were spares.
"If I left now, Cee-Cee would think I don't actually want her to move in with us or something equally upsetting," Baxter explained with a sigh as he pulled out his wand so that he could send the box he had just stubbed his toe on into Louis's room where Cecilia was unpacking her things.
Louis nodded his head, "Good point."
Baxter followed the box he was directing right into Louis's room which, he guessed, was now Louis and Cecilia's room.
"What's in this evil box?" Baxter enquired of Cecilia once he was in the room with her.
Cecilia, who had been in the ensuite bathroom putting her toiletries away, poked her head out to see what he was referring to, "Do I even want to know why you're referring to my box of shoes as evil?"
"I stubbed my toe on it."
She let out a loud, obnoxious, and obviously fake gasp, "How awful. You should get to St. Mungo's right away, unless–unless you don't think you'll make it? I only know basic magical first aid, but I'll do what I can to try to keep you alive and-"
"Cee-Cee, I think you've forgotten that you and Louis agreed to give me veto power on this arrangement at any point," Baxter replied.
He mostly just said the words so that she'd stop teasing him.
Cecilia scoffed, "You know you love me. Besides, you'd never make me go back to my parents and tell them that I've failed when I haven't even completely finished moving in."
"No," Baxter agreed with a shake of his head, "I wouldn't do that to you. Especially since if you went back home this early in the game, your mother would never let you out of her sight again."
To say that Katie had been anxious about Cecilia officially moving out of the house that day would be an understatement. Cecilia had originally hoped that by moving on a Monday her parents (mostly her mother) would be busy at work. Unfortunately, Katie had decided that she could take the morning off from work while Cecilia was moving the boxes out of the house, and then head back to the stadium for the afternoon.
Thankfully, Baxter and Louis had both taken the day off of work to help her move, which made the whole thing go by that much quicker. It only took them about an hour to move her things from the Woods' house to their flat. She had made sure that she had everything packed up before that morning so that the process would go by smoothly. The boys however, had been so scared of Katie that they told Cecilia they'd do the majority of the moving from one place to another, while they literally left Cecilia to her mother's clutches. Katie had her daughter wrapped in a hug for almost the entire hour that it took Baxter and Louis to move her boxes, and she spent almost all of that time telling her middle child that she was going to miss her, that she wanted her to stay safe, and that if she wanted to move back home, she could at any time.
Cecilia allowed her mother her smothering time. Not only had she chosen that day to move out, but it was also the day that Marcus Flint was officially getting released from Azkaban. It was a difficult day for her and Oliver, and their children were going to do their best to be supportive and patient with them. Hearing the stories about what their parents went through with their former classmate was nothing compared to how it would have felt as they actually lived through it. If being supportive meant letting her mother squeeze her and rub her back until she was ready to let her go, then Cecilia was going to be patient and live in the moment.
"They got a note from the Ministry early this morning," Cecilia said quietly as she sat down on what seemed to be the only spot on the bed that wasn't filled with something new, she was looking to find a home for, "It was the official notice saying that Flint had been released."
Baxter sat down on top of the box that was filled with shoes, he figured if it was full enough to hurt when he stubbed his toe on it, it was strong enough to handle his weight.
"Have you and Xavier heard anymore from Dom or Colton about getting restraining orders?" He asked in a similar quiet tone.
Cecilia sighed, "They're still trying to make a strong enough case for it. They said it might be difficult, and it is. Unfortunately, in a lot of these situations there usually isn't enough case for a restraining order until the abuser actually does something threatening towards the victim."
"I don't like the sound of that," He replied.
"Nobody does."
Baxter stood up and held his hand out to her, "C'mon, lets go heat up that brand-new kettle that you really didn't need to purchase for us, and have a cup of tea."
She rolled her eyes, but used his hand to help her stand, "Your old kettle had so much calcium buildup in it that there was barely any room for the water. We needed a new one."
"Whatever makes you happy," He replied with a shrug as they left the bedroom and walked to the open concept kitchen-living room space.
They expected to see Louis in one of those rooms, but they were empty.
Cecilia frowned and called her boyfriend's name.
He responded a moment later, with a muffled-yell from the other side of the flat's door. She walked over to the thick door and opened it up.
"What in Hades are you doing on the other side of the door?"
His always handsome face was screwed up in concentration and he was holding his wand in one hand, while his other hand was clutched tightly in a fist.
"Just testing something."
Baxter narrowed his eyes at Louis's clutched fist and noticed that a corner edge of paper was peeking out through his fingers.
"You're testing the security wards, aren't you?" Cecilia asked her boyfriend with a raised eyebrow.
Louis gave her a non-committal nod of his head and stepped back into the flat, closing the door behind him. Cecilia wandered back to the kitchen and started to heat up the brand-new kettle.
Both men shot a look over their shoulders at their newest roommate and, as they deemed her busy at the moment, started to talk in low tones.
"I thought you were going to wait for me to try to help you?" Baxter whispered to Louis.
The blonde Weasley put his wand away and then unfolded his other hand so that he could give Baxter the piece of paper that was in his hand, "I thought attempting it while you were keeping Cecilia busy was a good idea."
"But we don't know what kind of spell this is," Baxter argued as he took the paper and glanced at the French writing on it.
"I didn't even get to the specific part yet-"
"What are you two whispering about over there?" Cecilia enquired, just now realizing that the pair of them were whispering to themselves.
The men went silent, which was the most suspicious thing they could have done in that moment.
"What'd you do?" Her words were sharp and wary.
Somehow, she knew that whatever they were talking about was something serious, and not just a silly secret between the cousins.
Baxter and Louis shared a look. It only took one glance for Baxter to realize that Louis's resolve in this situation was paper thin and that there was no use trying to keep it a secret any longer.
The redhead handed the piece or paper back to his cousin, who promptly crossed the living room and handed it to his girlfriend.
Cecilia glanced down at the paper, "This is a bunch of French words . . . written in Baxter's handwriting?"
Louis nodded and then glanced at Baxter as if to say 'your turn'. Baxter went on to explain that while he was in France the day before with Victoire and co. he found a spell in a book and had asked Victoire whether it was something they were looking for because it had one of the key words connected to it: blood. His eldest cousin had read the translation and explained that it was a security spell, so not what they were looking for. That led Baxter to enquire what a security spell had to do with blood, which is when Victoire explained that it was a spell that used blood magic to enhance the effectiveness of the security spell. He pushed the book aside, but when everyone was busy eating lunch, he found the passage again and wrote it down on a separate piece of paper.
Later that night when they got home, Baxter handed the copy he'd made to Louis and asked him what he thought of it. Days previously, Louis had been lamenting the fact that he (and Teddy, who had stop by their flat earlier in the week) had placed all of the security spells that they thought would be appropriate onto the flat, but that he still felt as though he should do more to secure his girlfriend's safety.
Cecilia, who had sat quietly throughout the whole explanation, looked as though her eyes were going to pop out of her head, "Are you telling me that you to want to try blood magic?"
"In an attempt to keep you safe," Louis reiterated, the first time he'd spoken since Baxter started his story.
His girlfriend looked at her incredulously, "You work for the Department of Magical Law Enforcement . . . blood magic is illegal."
"Blood magic is illegal because most of the spells where it is used can be used to harm people. But not all blood magic is bad. This one just requires a few drops of blood of the person who's casting the spell, and the person the spell is intended to protect," Baxter reasoned.
His argument reminded her of a debate she and he had engaged in back at Hogwarts. Professor Cooke had thought that it would be fun to have students debate different sides of a controversial topic from wizarding history. Cecilia and Baxter had chosen to work together for the assignment –there was no way Louis would have been able to debate Cecilia without telling her at each step that she did a good job– and the topic they had debated was when blood magic was outlawed in the eighteen-hundreds. He'd taken the for position, while she'd taken the against, and then halfway through they switched positions. They were both surprisingly well-versed in the topic.
"You think that is how the spell works," Cecilia corrected him with a frown, "You don't read French."
Baxter rolled his eyes at her worry, "Louis does."
"And Louis has a blind spot when it comes to me. He'd think carrying around the elder wand would be a good idea if it meant keeping me safe," She argued.
"No, I wouldn-"
"Yes, you would," Both Baxter and Cecilia told him at the same time.
The part-veela pouted but didn't press the issue further.
"It was just something we were considering, not something we were determined to implement," Baxter told Cecilia calmly.
She scoffed, "Uh huh." She handed the paper back to Louis, "Translate it, literally please."
"I thought you didn't want us to do this?" Her boyfriend asked her with a raised eyebrow.
"I'm not saying that I want you to. I just want to know what this is all about. I know one of you was going to crack soon anyway and you would have ended up telling me. You two are shite at making decisions without me," Cecilia explained.
Louis and Baxter shared a look and then a shrug. The latter started making tea while the former sat down next to his girlfriend and began to translate the information that had been written above the spell.
11:35 AM
Victoire had originally only booked about an hour for her appointment with the Sneids in her schedule, but with Mr. and Mrs. Sneid's understandable apprehension over the procedure she spent a bit more time calming them and triple-checking that they wanted to go through with it. By the time she was able to finally test the spell out on Mr. Sneid's scars, the couple began to apologize for their hesitancy at the beginning. She waved off their concerns and told her that she completely understood their hesitation.
They were amazed as they watched the dark magic disappear from the scars Mr. Sneid had received from the werewolf who attacked him, and Victoire did her best to hold in her proud smile. All of the research, time, and effort she and Healer McDavid had put into creating the spell always felt worth it when she was able to see the real faces of the people they were helping.
She went through all of the post-procedure paperwork with Mr. and Mrs. Sneid, and told them that they could just send it back to the hospital via owl when they completed it. Barring any physical changes or discomfort Victoire was hoping to wait until after the next full-moon, which was in three days, to see Mr. Sneid again. She was working a Saturday shift that weekend, so she asked him to pick a time that he could come and penciled them in for an appointment for that afternoon so that she could visually check in on how removing the dark magic from his scars was affecting his post-moon healing.
"Were you able to get your wolfsbain potion for this month?" Victoire asked Mr. Sneid before they had the chance to leave.
Mrs. Sneid gave her a watery smile, "We hadn't heard back about our eligibility to be on the Ministry's subsidized program yet. However, we received a dosage of potion from an apothecary in Lyndhurst that has a program where they offer free dosages of wolfsbain potion to a few deserving people."
Mr. Sneid cleared his throat and added, "We were very surprised at first to hear about it, because we never put my name on any list like that, we didn't even know those kinds of programs existed."
Victoire pretended to look only slightly disinterested, "Interesting."
Mr. and Mrs. Sneid shared a small smile and then thanked Victoire for all of her help. She gave them a noncommittal nod in reply.
As a professional, she wasn't supposed to get too involved with her patients and their lives, but she couldn't just not help someone who needed wolfsbain potion. Earlier in the week she had complained to Healer McDavid, when they were going over their research so far with stage two of their spell, that she wanted to be able to help the people who had been kicked off the of Ministry subsidization program but she didn't know how.
Bar purchasing everyone their potion dosage every month –which, while financially possible at the beginning thanks to her Tri-Wizard Tournament winnings that she hadn't yet touched, wasn't actually feasible or technically ethical– Healer McDavid had told her about a small apothecary that had a program where they pick a handful of 'deserving' recipients each month to receive a dosage of wolfsbain potion. She wrote letter on behalf of the Sneid's nominating Mr. Sneid. When she found out that he would be selected, she asked the apothecary not to mention her name specifically, and then anonymously donated to the apothecary so that they could fund ten more potions than normal that month.
Victoire walked Mr. and Mrs. Sneid out of her office and to the bank of lifts. Once they were safely ensconced in the elevator, she walked to the healing station and started checking on the copies of charts of the patients they still had on the floor.
"Shouldn't you be taking your lunchbreak right now?" Wesley asked her as he came strolling by the healing station to drop off a chart and grab another.
She set down the chart she was looking at, "Yes, but Healer Seward sent me a note letting me know that some bureaucrat from the Ministry is going to come by because he wants to talk to a fulltime D. A. R. healer about the ward. And since Healer Seward is still in his meeting . . ."
"And since Wesley and I aren't fulltime healers," Cassidy replied coming up to the pair and obviously overhearing the conversation. Her tone was slightly mocking a bitter at the mention of her and Wesley not technically being fulltime healers.
"If you'd like to pretend to be a fulltime healer and talk to the plank from the Ministry then go for it," Victoire told Cassidy with an easy wave of her hand.
Cassidy rolled her eyes, "Nah, the moment the moment this bloke sees you Healer Weasley, Wesley and I will be as good as chopped liver."
"Ugh."
Over by the banks of lifts there was a light ding sound, that signalled that the lift doors were opening. All three healers glanced at it and watched as two men walked off of it.
Victoire automatically started walking towards the man who was coming towards her fastest.
"Auror McKenney!" She called to him and she met him halfway between the bank of lifts and the healing station, "Is everything alright?"
Auror McKenney smiled brightly at her and waved off her concern, "Everything is fine Healer Weasley. I'm here on business. I messaged Healer Seward this morning about wanting to speak to one of the fulltime healers on the ward."
Victoire smiled to herself and shook her head a little, "He told me about that . . . but I believe the terms he had used were Ministry bureaucrat. I would have been dreading this less if I'd known it was going to be you."
Auror McKenney's companion had caught up to him by this time, but he didn't immediately introduce himself.
"Ah, so it's your time we get to waste, is it?" Auror McKenney asked her with a bright smile.
"Healer Seward's still in his meeting, and my colleague Healer Fabius is not here today, so you're stuck with me," Victoire explained.
"Excellent, this will be interesting," Auror McKenney told her, his eyes sparkling as he glanced at his companion, "Orrel, this is Healer Victoire Weasley she's a Dark Arts Reversal healer here."
Auror McKenny then glanced at Victoire, "This is Orrell Combs, he's an author."
Victoire's eyes went wide as she glanced at Orrell and belatedly held her hand out to shake the hand she only just noticed he was offering her.
"Hello Healer Weasley, I've been working with the Auror Department for the last little while researching for my next book. Now that I've learned a lot more about them, I was hoping to speak to a D. A. R. ward healer to get a better idea of what things look like from your perspectives after dark magic has been used on a person," Orrell explained to Victoire in a charming tone.
She nodded her head and could only say one word, "Fascinating."
"I take it your rather familiar with the Auror Department Healer Weasley?" Orrell asked her conversationally. He was very polite but had obviously picked up on the Weasley part of her name.
"Indeed I am."
She could practically see the moment the idea to ask her the next question popped into his head, "Any chance that you're familiar with Auror Lupin?"
Cassidy who –along with Wesley– had just not-so-subtly shifted closer to where Victoire was talking with the two men, let out a snicker that was audible enough for Victorie to hear.
The blonde healer tried her best to ignore the smirks her colleagues were giving her from the corner of her peripheral vision, and replied to Orrell, "I'm engaged to him."
The author's eyes lit up with this knowledge, "You're Auror Lupin's fiancée? How fortunate! He told me that you were a healer but he did not say in which ward."
"Yes, Teddy's told me how he's enjoyed talking with you and helping you with your research," Victoire replied.
Although 'enjoyed' wasn't a word Teddy had ever used when referring to his meeting with Orrell, he hadn't said that he hated them either.
"Would you like to have this meeting in my office?" Victoire asked starting to walk in the direction of the offices.
As they passed Cassidy and Wesley, the former asked Victoire if she wanted anything from the canteen as she was going to take her lunchbreak. Victoire didn't have the chance to answer before Auror McKenney interrupted.
"We're not taking up your lunch time, are we Victoire?" He asked concernedly.
She tried to wave-off his concern, "I'll grab something later between rounds. It's not a big deal."
Apparently Auror McKenney did think her missing a meal was a big deal. If he wasn't the consummate professional, Victoire would have thought that Teddy must have complained about her bad habit of skipping meals when she was busy at work. Orrell told Victoire that if she didn't mind, he would be fine with talking to her in the canteen while she ate her lunch, and she was honestly too exhausted at the thought of what the rest of her day was going to entail to argue with him.
Auror McKenney felt confident that under Victoire's instruction, Orrell would be in good hands, so he left right via the lift while Victoire, Cassidy, and Orrell took the stairs to the canteen. Victoire introduced her colleague to Orrell as they went, and he got the opportunity to ask them a bit about healing school and how they chose their specialty.
In the canteen, Cassidy went straight to the food while Victoire took Orrell to a table where Donnie, Spencer, and Ally were already sitting. She introduced Orrell to all of them and gestured for him to sit down at one of the free chairs at the table. Before she could leave and go find some food for herself, Cassidy was back with twice the amount of food that she usually consumed.
"Ham and cheese or turkey and tomato?" Cassidy asked Victoire as she offered her a sandwich from either hand.
She smiled and thanked her friend for grabbing her some food, and then sat down and told Orrell to have at it with the questions.
As she ate, he asked her general questions about what types of injuries and spell damage she was most likely to come across on the D. A. R. ward. She got through the whole sandwich and half of the veggie and dip combo by the time Orrell started to ask her the more specific questions she knew were coming.
"What are the rules about healers healing friends and family?"
"It's not exactly encouraged," Victoire explained.
Cassidy nodded in agreement, "If, heaven forbid, Teddy ever needs our services, everyone else on the ward will get a crack at him before Victoire will technically be given the chance to. Although, in an emergency there's never the option to choose your own healer, so Victoire will probably end up saving his life at some point in the future."
Orrell nodded and wrote down some of his thoughts in a little notebook he had brought with him.
"Auror Lupin told me that the closest to death he got while on a mission was catching meningitis . . . I didn't quite understand how that could be so severe though," Orrell told Victoire.
She sighed a little at the memory of that hectic time, "He caught a strain of meningitis that there wasn't a vaccination for. Most people's chance of death or severe debilitating symptoms is low with proper treatment, unfortunately for Teddy, he's allergic to a specific ingredient in the medication and couldn't receive the proper treatment."
"So, he wasn't given any treatment at all?"
"Well, I needed to find a treatment for him because his fever was so high and his condition was deteriorating, so I ended up contacting Ally here –who was in potioneering school at the time– and she and her professor created an experimental potion that helped treat his symptoms until his body was able to fight the rest of the virus," Victoire explained while also trying to keep secret all of the confident aspects of that mission.
Orrell looked at her with confusion, "You were treating him while he was on his mission?"
"Victoire often accidentally stumbles into auror missions," Spencer explained from where he sat across the table from the part-veela.
She kicked her friend in the shin, sent him a glare, and then explained to Orrell that because of extenuating circumstances she had ended up on the same mission as Teddy for a while working as a medi-witch.
"Fascinating," Orrell mused as he spent several minutes writing down notes and his thoughts.
The amount of writing he did compared to the number of words she said worried her. He seemed to be adding a lot of his thoughts to her story.
"What's the most serious injury you've had to treat?" Orrell posed the question to both Victoire and Cassidy.
They each explained what they thought their most difficult case was, and halfway through Victoire's explanation the author's eyes lit up and he note taking became more furious.
Victoire excused herself to get some tea, and she heard Orrell politely begin to ask Spencer and Donnie some questions about their specialties. She was just finishing up ordering her beverage when she heard Ally come up behind her.
"Decaf, really? You still have like seven hours to go on your shift," Ally reminded her cousin.
"I'm trying to cut back on caffeine," Victoire explained as she pulled some money out to pay for the drink the clerk was handing to her.
Ally eyed her warily, "Hoping it will help your mood swings?"
Her cousin glared at her, "What mood swings?"
"You're not serious, are you?"
Victoire sighed, "Are the rest of our family gossiping about my mood swings behind my back?"
"Probs," Was Ally's reply.
The healer let out another sigh and she and Ally started walking slowly back to their table.
Healer Sarah MacGregor intercepted the women before they arrived.
"Hey, did you guys want an update on Mullin?"
Ally let out a heavy sigh while Victoire took a sip of her tea and nodded her head.
Sarah gave them a quick recap on how Chris had done over the weekend, and she was happy to report that he was awake and lucid for a few hours this morning before he fell back asleep. She was confident that he'd be conscious enough within the next few days for her to run the lengthier tests she needed to do to fully assess his more complex cognitive abilities.
"Side note, I met his daughter this morning. She's adorable."
Victoire swallowed another gulp of tea, "Yeah, the poor kid. She's super cute but they gave her an awful name."
"Casey doesn't seem like a bad name," Sarah remarked.
Ally snorted and then told Sarah how Chris and Giavanna had decided to spell their daughter's name.
Sarah's eyes widen, "Oh boy. Well, that is good to know for when I have him do the cognitive test where he's supposed to write out the names of his family members."
"Glad we could help," Ally replied with a smile.
The two cousins went back to their table while Sarah went to grab some food. Donnie and Spencer had already left the table, needing to go back to their wards, and Ally had commented that she also needed to get back to the potion's lab. Victoire told Cassidy that she was going to head back to the ward early and talk more with Orrell, and that she'd relieve Wesley so he could start his lunch break.
Back on the D. A. R. ward Victoire tagged-out Wesley, told him exactly where he could find Sarah, in case he wanted to join her for lunch, and then told Orrell to fire away with any more questions he had.
The author's eyes sparkled with excitement and he rapidly flipped through his notebook to a list of questions he'd curated over lunch.
2:37 PM
Knock, knock, knock.
Dom's head snapped up and she looked at her open office door, her ponytail bouncing with the movement.
"If whatever you have to say can't be said in less than fifteen seconds, I don't want to hear it. I've got to finish this brief," The redheaded Jr. associate threatened her boss with a deadly glare.
Colton, who did have a healthy fear of his favourite associate, made the wise decision to refrain from stepping into her office and giving her a wide berth.
"I was just going to tell you that my father's asked me to join him in on a meeting starting right now that he only told me about like five minutes ago, ensuring that I have had no time to learn the potential client's name let alone to prep for-"
Dom twirled her index finger in the air, "Wrap this up or end it there."
"I'll be in a meeting with my father. If you finish up with that in relatively good time, please come join us and save me from him," Colton told her. He rapped his knuckles on her doorframe once more as he left.
The conference room he was meeting his father and this new client in –who apparently was so important that he was allowed to schedule meetings without a moment's notice– was just down the hallway from Dom's office.
By the time Colton got to the room his father was in it along with another man who seemed to be close in age to Creighton Knott, and a third man who was about twenty years older than the first two men.
"Good afternoon," Colton greeted everyone with a nod as he sat down at the conference table in one of the empty chairs beside his father and across from their new clients who were unfamiliar to him.
Creighton glanced at the door behind Colton as if he was expecting Dom to saunter in after him, which he probably was, and seemed surprised when he realized that his son had come to the meeting alone.
"I'm glad you were able to find the time Colton, I know this is last minute, but this came up rather quickly and the sooner we can give them some direction the better," Creighton told his son.
Colton nodded non-committal and then looked at the other men. The elder man was dressed well in a classy pair of dress robes that weren't too different from what Creighton was wearing. The man who seemed to be around a similar age as Colton's father was also dressed like you'd expect to see of someone from their social circle, only his face and skin looked shallow and haggard. His dark eyes were sunken, and both his face and his body posture seemed devoid of emotion.
"Are you going to introduce me to our potential new clients?" Colton asked his father.
Creighton cleared his throat and gestured to the elder man first, "This is Ezra Randall and his nephew. They've come to us because they have reason to believe that they are soon going to be the targets of some injurious legal action and they reached out to me to see if they could come in and discuss it with us and maybe get a plan in place so that we can come in with a good defense in the case of this occurring."
Colton nodded his head and pulled out a notepad and a pen from his suit jacket so he could take notes.
"What's the nature of this complaint?"
The younger man the same age as his father stayed quiet while his uncle, Ezra Randall, began to speak, "My nephew has been wrongfully accused in the past by people who claimed that he wronged them without providing anywhere near substantial enough proof. Now we're concerned that all of it is going to be dragged up again and instigated further, when all my nephew and our family would like is quiet and privacy."
Colton frowned a little at the fact that the language Mr. Randall used was both evasive and opinion-centred, but wrote down what he was told nonetheless.
"Are we concerned about the defamation aspect here?"
Mr. Randall and Creighton both nodded.
"I'll need the story from the start of course Mr. Randall and Mr.–I'm sorry but I don't think I caught your name," Colton addressed the man who was still sitting silently and staring somewhat vacantly at the conference table between them.
The man was so slow in responding that Creighton did it for him.
"Colton, this is Marcus. We actually attended Hogwarts together."
That at least explained to Colton how the pair had gotten such a last-minute meeting with his father.
"Good to meet you, do you mind if I call you Mr. Marcus Randall so that we can distinguish between you and your uncle?" Colton asked him.
His father's old classmate spoke up then for the first time. The man's voice was rough, and hoarse, as if he wasn't used to using it, "My last name's not Randall. It's Flint."
Colton's whole body froze mid note. His insides felt cold, but then they rapidly started heating up. He gave his father a look, and then turned back to the other two men.
"I'm sorry but I'm afraid we'll be unable to help you," He folded his notebook and put both it and his pen away.
Creighton spoke to his son through clenched teeth, "What are you talking about Colton? There's no reason why-"
"There's a professional conflict of interest here," Colton continued as he stood up from his chair.
Creighton gave his son as much of a glare that he thought he could get away with in their professional environment, "Colton I think you're confused-"
"I know that we have so much going on and through the office that you don't always get the chance to overlook everything, but I'm certain that going any farther with this will end up competing with legal challenges we already have in the works," He explained to his father as he took a few steps away from the table.
"Colton-"
Knock, knock, knock.
The door of the conference room opened directly after the third knock and Dominique Weasley stepped into the room, her red head a bowed a little as she glanced at a legal pad in her hand.
"Mr. Knott you asked me to come find you when-"
Her words trailed off as she looked up from the paper and spotted the four men in the room. She felt the tension before she saw it in their expressions and, even though her first instinct was to look at Colton, she found herself quickly shifting her gaze to the two men who sat across from the lawyers. The eldest man looked familiar in the way that all of their old, male, white, pureblooded clientele started to blur together in her mind after a while, but she was sure she hadn't met him before.
The other man looked to be about the same age as her mother, and unfortunately, he was more familiar. She could pinpoint exactly when she first saw the face of the man who, along with the older man, was staring at her inquisitively. The week before, Kingsley had gotten his hands on copies of a recent photo of Marcus Flint and had distributed them to the Woods, who had wanted to prepare their children (especially Brogan) in case he ever tried to contact them. Xavier and Cecilia had taken their photos and shared them with the members of the Weasley family that they often spent time with, thinking that the more people who were prepared, the better.
"Dominique, I believe we need to go over the Romansky brief," Colton said loudly before she could say anything.
He was next to her and had put his hand on her back so that he could direct her out of the room and into the hallway before she had the chance to collect her thoughts.
They were back in her office with the door closed behind them before she could even really get angry.
"Wha–how–who–tha– Am I losing it, or was Marcus Flint, who just got released from Azkaban this morning, sitting at the conference table with your father?" Dom asked when she was finally put her thoughts into some semblance of order.
Colton eyed her warily as he replied, "That was indeed Marcus Flint –and his uncle– in our conference room. His uncle brought him in because, according to him, he's been wrongfully accused of something in the past and he's worried that more defamation is going to start up."
The part-veela, who hadn't really been able to produce an impressive amount of veela fire since she was a little girl, felt her hands getting hot and noticed that her boss was giving her a lot of room in case she conjured up some anger induced flames.
"Are you fuc-"
"I am not kidding you, and yes I am serious," Colton interrupted her quickly, "Once I discovered that it was Marcus Flint, I told my him and my father that we wouldn't be able to represent him. I was leaving anyway, when you walked in."
Dom frowned deeply but was doing her best to control the heated anger inside of her in case it slipped out as actual fire, "I hope you also told him that he's a sorry excuse for a human and that he's a-"
"My personal feelings about this aside, Mr. Flint has done his time and is now a free man by our rule of law. He is well within his rights to be concerned about how he may now be harassed for being released from Azkaban," Colton told her in a tone of voice that had no emotion in it.
"But-"
"And if," Her boss continued, "We weren't already working on Xavier and Cecilia's restraining orders, my father would have been well within his rights as one of the founding partners of this practice to take on Flint as a client."
The young redhead frowned and leaned back against the hard edge of her desk, "I know that lawyers don't have the luxury of always representing innocent clients. But when it comes to someone who's done, and tried to do what Flint did . . ."
Colton slowly walked over to her and perched on the open side of her desk, "I know Dom. When I think about someone treating Stasia right now the way he treated Katie when she was pregnant . . ."
Dom reached for him and gave his shoulder a comforting squeeze. She didn't have the chance to withdraw her hand when the door of her office opened –sans a warning knock– and Creighton Knott walked in.
"What in the world were you thinking Colton? What the Hell was that?" Creighton yelled at his son the moment he was in the office.
Colton pushed himself off of Dom's desk and straightened his suit jacket, "I was informing you that taking Mr. Flint on as a client would create a professional conflict of interest. I was helping you."
"Helping me?" Creighton repeated scathingly. His gaze flickered to Dom and then back to his son, his eyes had hardened further, "I realize that you've discovered some interesting personal opinions based on the people you've started to spend time with, but you can't let their feelings affect how you conduct legal business."
Colton crossed his arms over his chest, "Dad, this has nothing to do with my feelings. The truth of the matter is that Dominique and I have been looking into getting restraining orders for Xavier and Cecilia Wood, against Marcus Flint, for the past week. We agreed to work with them first."
Creighton's face was still red, but instead of anger, it seemed more like vexation, "Why would you agree to do that? You know there's barely any legal grounds for that."
"There was enough difference of case law that it was worth looking into, they asked for my help and I gave it them. What I would like to know is how you could think I would ever agree to help Flint? I still would have been within my rights to push this case off onto someone else in the office and I would have happily handed it over to the Cunninghams," Colton announced.
Creighton scoffed, "Colton I'm not sure you're aware of all of the particulars."
"Oh, I've heard the whole story," Colton argued.
"Mr. Flint never pled guilty-"
"But he was still convicted."
"I'm not here to argue about this," Creighton commented, "I'm here to tell remind you that I'm still in charge, and you're not to talk to me like that, especially in front of clients."
Colton gritted his teeth, "I just thought you'd like to know about the conflict of interest before it went too far and had to be brought to the attention of Ministry regulators."
"Oh, always best to avoid the censure of the Ministry regulators," Dom commented carelessly from her desk. She had picked up the brief she was working on earlier and was scanning it again.
Creighton glared openly at the Jr. associate lawyer, but chose to ignore her for the moment and continue to berate his son, "I'm seriously starting to doubt whether I should keep my plan of shifting more of my responsibilities over to you in the coming years. You're not doing a good job of showing me that you can make good decisions."
"So, trying to get on retainer with a professional quidditch player wasn't a good decision?" Colton replied scathingly.
That obviously wasn't his main intention with helping Xavier and Cecilia, but his father definitely wasn't going to like hearing his actual thoughts.
Dom set down her brief, "Trying to widen your cliental base outside of the very explicit specifications you've had for decades is where you're going wrong."
"You're on thin ice," Creighton told her as he pointed his finger in her direction.
"I'll go put on my snowshoes then," Dom retorted in a nonchalant tone. She picked up a different brief and tossed it to Colton, "Your copy of the Romansky brief. They're in first thing tomorrow, so let's get started."
Colton caught it and then looked at his father expectantly.
"We'll continue this later," Creighton warned his son as he stormed out of the office, slamming Dom's office door behind him as he went.
Colton's tense posture softened and he sat down in one of the low armchairs in front of the desk. He let out a loud sigh and then looked up at his colleague, "You should be more careful. It's much harder for my dad to fire me than it would be for him to fire you."
Dom snorted and sat down at her desk chair, "Firing the only female lawyer in his office? The same female lawyer who he constantly refers to as your secretary and he asks to get coffee or to make copies and notes for him? I dare him to do that."
Colton rubbed his forehead where he was starting to get a headache, "Let's just table this for now and get to work on the Romansky brief."
"Aye, aye, Captain," Dom replied with a smirk.
He rolled his eyes but her sass did make him smile slightly.
4:58 PM
Xavier groaned a little as he shrugged on a t-shirt. There was a slight twinge in his shoulder, but he was fairly certain that it was from a minor over-extension of it while he was practicing earlier, and not because of any serious damage.
As he was in the Puddlemere United locker room, one of his teammates had noticed his reaction.
"Uh oh, does someone need to go see Steven and Claudia?" Mark queried as he slipped into his own street clothes.
"I'm fine," Xavier replied with an eyeroll, "Just some muscle soreness."
Mark didn't seem as though he believed him, but he let it go and started to button his shirt.
Xavier glanced around himself to see how closely his other teammates were paying attention to him. He could hear Clark and Knopp's voices from the shower room, O'Neill was still on the pitch as he needed the extra practice if he was going to continue filling in for Chris Mullin, and Okonkwo was on the other side of the room dressing quickly because he wanted to leave A. S. A. P. and get some food. James was the closest person to Xavier, but he was busy splitting his attention on getting dressed and studying some new plays that the coaching staff had given the team earlier that morning.
"Hey Mark," Xavier started moving a little closer to his teammate and utilizing a whisper that he hoped wouldn't travel.
"Yeah?"
"Ally told me about what happened at Brogan's party."
Mark looked up at his teammate with confusion, "Huh?"
"With Tabitha."
"Oh."
If Xavier thought that announcing that he knew about Mark and Tabitha's agreement to go out on a date was going to make his teammate start to spill his guts, he had severely miscalculated.
"About Thursday-"
"I get it Xavier, Ally's obviously been talking to Tab," Mark replied quietly, glancing in the direction of the shower room to make sure that Clark hadn't all of a sudden finished and entered the locker room.
Xavier cleared his throat a little awkwardly, "We, Ally and I, thought maybe you'd want to go on a double date with us? It might help smooth some of the nerves and make things seem more casual."
Mark considered the offer for a moment. He was sure that he and Tabitha would get along okay on their date, but having Ally and Xavier there as a bit of a buffer and helping to contribute to the conversation could help gloss over any awkward silences there may be.
"I appreciate the offer; I'll check in with Tab and we'll get back to you."
Xavier smiled and went back to getting ready to leave for the night.
Other members of the starting team started to tickle into the locker room and then trickle out as they went home. James, who was still fully engrossed in the new plays, had finished getting dressed and said good evening to his teammates.
Clark yelled something about him being a swot behind his back because he was still studying, but James knew that anything Clark said in that teasing tone was pretty much a term of endearment where the beater was concerned.
The minute James was outside of the locker room he came face-to-face with one of the assistant coaches, who told him that he was wanted by the team's publicists. He frowned to himself trying to think of why they would want him, they had had Table Talk that morning like normal and there didn't seem anything outrageous concerning him. It only took him a few minutes to get onto the lift and take it to the floor at the far end of the stadium complex that held the business side of the professional team.
When he got off the lift, he saw that Teagan Childs was standing there waiting for him.
"What'd I do?" James asked with a raised eyebrow as he followed Puddlemere's newest publicist to her office.
Teagan smirked at him, "You're boring."
He frowned at her, but took the seat she gestured to once they were in the office, "Insulting me is an interesting start, but seriously, why do you want to see me?"
"Because you're boring," Teagan repeated with a roll of her eyes as she sat down on the opposite side of the desk, "Since I'm the new girl I've slowly been going through the files of all of the players and familiarizing myself with anything that is important for me to know in dealing with you guys going forward. Did you know that there's a whole separate file on all of the stuff that's been published about Xavier Wood and Victoire Weasley dating?"
James chuckled, "That doesn't surprise me."
"When I got to your file it was oddly empty. I was focusing on the self-reported aspect that all players fill in when they first join either of the teams, you know the one where you're supposed to write down potential embarrassing moments or people of concern or interest? And when you first joined the team the only thing you wrote under 'potentially embarrassing acquaintances' was, and I'm reading word-for-word here, 'my whole family'," Teagan told him as she read from a file folder that had his name written on the corner.
The chaser shrugged, "It's true."
"I feel like your cousin Baxter would take issue with that."
"He's more devious than most people realize," James retorted unconcernedly. He met Teagan's gaze, "Did you really call me in here because I haven't done anything that you may need to cover-up in the future?"
Teagan set the sparsely filled file down and corrected him, "You haven't admitted to doing anything that may need a cover-up. But that's not the point. You're also supposed to have written down the names of any past partners who may pop their red heads back up once you become even more famous, and try to make trouble."
James groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose, "I would have got away with it if you hadn't gotten hired here."
"But then the entire team would have been completely blindsided in a year when some redheaded French witch starts to claim to the public that you're the father of her three-year-old."
"What?"
"Calm down, I'm exaggerating to make my point," Teagan told him with an eyeroll at the shocked expression on his face, "But, that's my point being made. We need to add Mélanie to this list."
He frowned but understood why it was necessary, "But do I need to be here to rehash it? You know her name already."
"We need to decide what you want written on record about the break-up," She explained to him as she pulled out a quill and twirled it around her fingers.
"This is why I didn't write it down the first time. I'm not sure what to write," James told her truthfully.
Teagan drummed her fingers on the desk, "We can write that she was your girlfriend and that you broke-up . . . but I'm not sure what you want written about the break-up. It's good to know that she may hold a grudge against you and that there were cheating allegations, but . . ."
"I don't want Selene's name mentioned," He stated hastily.
"You'll get no argument from me on that," She replied as she slowly wrote down Mélanie's name.
James ran a hand through his hair, "Go ahead and write down the cheating allegations, I don't care about that. Just write that they were general in scope."
"Got it," Teagan said with a nod.
As she wrote down the drama that occurred during the end of their seventh-year, James conversationally asked her, "How was your family thing on the weekend?"
"Fine," Teagan replied before looking up at him and frowning slightly, "How'd you know about that?"
"Selene mentioned it in passing."
Teagan's head tilted a little to the side, "When did you see Selene?"
"She was helping me practice my backwards passing yesterday," James told her slowly.
"Oh," She replied with a nod, "I thought you did that weeks ago."
James swallowed thickly and tried to sound casual, "We did . . . I needed a little more help though, so she offered to practice together again."
He needed so much help that they had been practicing together every Sunday since he was bumped up to the starting team. It was now apparent though, from this conversation with Teagan, that Selene hadn't told her friends about their Sunday meet-ups.
"You must really need the help then, I was under the impression that she was going to spend all day studying for a test," Teagan mused before belatedly looking up at him with a shrewd expression.
"Yeah, she mentioned that yesterday. We only practiced for a few hours and then she said she was going to study," James explained as he carefully worded his reply.
He left out the part about him helping her study. Selene apparently hadn't mentioned it to her friends, so he felt weird about being the one to bring it up.
"I also see that you've left out the myriad of embarrassing pranks you engaged in at Hogwarts," Teagan added still looking at his relatively blank file.
"I don't consider any of those secrets."
"Fair enough," She replied with another nod, "At this point going forward though, you're also going to need to tell one of us –the publicity team– about any new relationships so we can get ahead of it."
James pulled at his hair embarrassedly, "Is that really necessary? I'm only temporarily on the starting team after al-"
"You're a professional quidditch player and your father is Harry Potter, I'm surprised actually to see that the publicity team hasn't been going over your public profile with a fine-tooth comb since you were recruited," Teagan replied in a tone of voice and manner that was the most serious and businesslike that he'd ever heard her utilize.
"So, if I get a girlfriend-"
"If you go on a date with any person of any gender or gender expression you need to tell us. Heck, if you spend any amount of time alone with any female who is not related to you by blood, you should tell us lest it comes out as something else in the press."
James swallowed thickly, but tried to turn his tone teasing in an attempt to cover up the turmoil he was feeling, "Does that include this interlude?"
Teagan rolled her eyes at him again, "You're a plank and you're dismissed."
He nodded his head, wished her a good evening, and then hightailed it out of the room.
A/N: So many people. So much going on. If you have any questions, or something has confused you, please let me know.
Next Chapter: Louis does some more investigating, and there's a SPARKS meeting.
Next Update: I have one week left of practicum and then I have a week before I start work again. I'm hoping to get some writing done so that I can update in 2-3 weeks.
Thanks to everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and reviewed this story.
BIG thank yous to:
Katie2001, Janeth16, Leksi with a V, Nobothersgiventoday, Guest (1), Manydifferentfandoms, readerrr99, TheProphetBVB, Coralsea, Sliced, Shruthi, princessmidnight16, and Viki.
I hope everyone enjoyed this chap,
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I hope everyone is doing well,
Until next time,
DFTBA!