SARLANDA
A Patronus pouncing on you while you're in the middle of enjoying a well-deserved tea break isn't nearly as pleasant as one might think it would be. Especially not when that Patronus is a rather large lion.
"Sarlanda, Launa Lupin has been cursed and will be arriving at St. Mungo's shortly by house-elf," it said in Jennifer's voice, and then dissipated into silvery smoke. I abandoned my cup and sprinted down the stairs to the reception area, hoping that that's where the elf would appear.
The area wasn't very crowded, and the elf was easy to spot. It was Kreature, gripping Launa's wrist tightly, and she was twitching and jerking, her eyes snapped shut.
"A delivery to Miss Malfoy from my Mistress," he said, releasing Launa and then disappearing with a crack.
"You've got to be bloody joking. I need some assistance over here!" I yelled, pulling out my wand, thinking, 'Wingardium Leviosa!' She started to levitate, and two of my fellow Healers joined me in escorting her up to the curses wing.
"What's wrong with her?" one of them, Hal, asked.
"Cursed. Don't know by what, but this looks like powerful Dark Magic," I muttered, steering her into the ward. "Hal, get me a Calming Draught now, and Toolley—"
"She's getting worse!" Toolley yelled, and so she had. As Hal rushed off to find the potion, Launa had begun writhing about so strongly that she nearly tumbled out of the bed. She eyes shot open and she let out a piercing scream that rattled my entire body.
"Toolley, I need you to get on figuring out what this is, now," I instructed through gritted teeth, waving my wand over Launa and muttering incantations. When Toolley didn't move, I yelled, "Now, Toolley!"
She scuttered out of the room and down the hall. I focused all my energy in keeping Launa calm. I could already feel a headache building in the front of my head. Slowly, she quieted, and her twitching subsided a little. Hal ran back into the room, a lavender potion in his hand.
"Give that to her quick while I've got her a little under control," I said calmly, keeping up the incantations. Hal did as I instructed, pouring the potion down her throat and wiped stray droplets off her chin. "That's enough. Save the rest for in about six hours." I stopped waving my wand and nearly passed out. I steadied myself on a chair as I kept an eye on Launa's face. It was like she was having a very vivid and terrifying dream, but she wasn't screaming or looking like she was going to convulse and flop out of the bed.
"Hal, make sure that she'll stay in the bed. I don't care how you do it, just make it safe."
"Alright. What about you?" he asked, the worried expression deepening the wrinkles on his face.
I pressed a hand to my temple. My head was still swimming a little. "I'm going to go help Toolley with research. We need to figure out how to reverse this as soon as possible."
"You should take a minute," Hal advised.
"I'm fine. There's work to be done," I said irritably, before walking out of the ward to find Toolley.
She was in the curse ward's small library, surrounded by a chaos of open books and stacks of notes on aged parchment.
"Anything?" I asked. She jumped a little, but shoved her thick glasses up her nose.
"I think I've narrowed it down to these books," she said, showing me the cover. "They're all on ancient curses, talismans, you know. How exactly did she get cursed?"
"I'll ask my resource," I said, waving my wand and making a Patronus. "Go ask Jennifer to come tell me what happened," I told my wolf, and it nodded, turned, and disappeared into the wall.
Toolley gave me a curious look before going back to the book. "I mean, it's plausible she touched something. Some of the symptoms for this, for example—" She held up the book and pointed to a large necklace, "—sound quite like what was happening to her."
"We'll find out in a minute," I said. "Keep looking."
With a crack, Kreature and Jennifer appeared in the hallway. Jen looked rather pale, but not totally distraught.
"Thanks Kreature, I'll call you when I need you," she told him, and he bowed stiffly before disappearing. "Is Launa okay?" she asked a bit frantically.
"She's in the ward and stable," I said. "I need you to tell me what happened so we can figure out a cure."
"Well, according to Hyden, she had this package, and it got ripped, and she just brushed this silver and opal necklace and then she was screaming and levitated and writhing all over the place." Jennifer shuddered. "Harry reckons he's seen the necklace in Borgin and Burk's before."
"You're sure it was a necklace?" I asked, one hand reaching for the library's doorknob.
"Silver and opals," she nodded.
I pushed back into the room and said, "Toolley, find that page with the necklace on it." She flipped to it and handed me the book. I showed Jennifer the picture. "Like this?" I asked hurriedly.
"Yeah, that's it," she replied, frowning. "That's what cursed Launa?"
"Yes. Thank you Jennifer."
"No problem."
"Can I ask another favor?"
"Of course."
"I need you to tell Remus what's happened," I said briskly, marking the page. "I'm going to be working on this, and no one else here knows him... I'm sure Dumbledore would send someone anyways."
Jennifer nodded solemnly. "Right. I'll get on that," she replied, and she walked down the corridor.
"Sarlanda, I need you to give me a report."
Donatello, the head of the Curse Ward, and I were in Launa's room. He had just finished checking her over himself. Hopefully, he would be able to confirm Toolley and I' suspicions.
"Convulsions, screaming, nightmare-like dream state," I said. "Toolley and I believe she's been cursed by this." I held up the book for him to see. As he read it, I said, "Over half the symptoms are accurate, and my eye witness confirmed that this is what she touched."
"Did she merely brush it or actually grab it?" Don asked, nodding as he finished the page.
"Brush it."
"Good, good. Had she put it on, she would have died almost instantly," he said in almost a bored voice. "You and Miss Polk are correct. Unfortunately, this is rather difficult to cure and will take months, if we can do it correctly." He coughed. "Several complex incantations as well as a potion will be required, and the potion alone will take two months to brew. I'll need to start gathering ingredients right away."
"Sir, if I may," I started, glancing down the potion making instructions. "I know you have a lot on your hands. We've been getting new patients almost daily—"
"I'm aware, Miss Malfoy. Your point?"
"I would like to be in charge of healing Miss Lupin, if you don't mind," I said matter-of-factly, my eyebrows high.
"Miss Malfoy, I'm grateful for your concern, but this will take most complex magic—"
"Magic that I am certainly capable of performing," I cut him off. "May I also remind you that—"
"That you've merely been a Healer for six months?" Donatello was giving me a stern look over his glasses. "your acceptance was under extreme circumstances, Miss Malfoy, and your training kept short. I peaceful times, you would be only half-way through an apprenticeship. Not to mention, had you failed to have been admitted, your father—"
"I no longer associate myself with Lucius Malfoy," I said curtly. "I was accepted into the Healer program, and the curse ward, no less, based on my talent, my work ethic, and my straight O's on all of my N.E.W.T. level examinations. If I recall correctly, you requested me specifically." I held his stare with fierceness. This was the only logical choice he could make.
He smiled ruefully. "Miss Malfoy, you've quite the attitude."
"I'm simply stating the facts," I said, raising my eyebrows.
He snorted. "And confidence. I will supervise you closely, so start collecting ingredients for this potion. And make it snappy, we don't know how much time we have."
I gave him a wry smile. "Thank you, sir," I said, taking the book back from him and practically running out of the ward.
Later that evening, I stopped back by Launa's ward to see how she was doing. She was still alone, which was good, in a twisted way. I checked her pulse - still elevated, but nothing too serious.
I started to tidy up around her room when I heard a knock on the door. "Come in," I said, getting my hand ready to spring to my wand if it were to be an... unfavorable visitor. In walked Remus followed by Colin. Colin looked only at the floor, a bit nervous as well. Remus looked even more disheveled than usual, which I had personally thought wasn't possible. His eyes went straight to his sleeping daughter.
"Launa," he said weakly, going to his knees next to her bed and gently brushing her dusty blonde hair back from her face. I pushed a chair up behind him.
"Remus, sit," I said firmly, and he stood a little and did so, not taking his eyes off his daughter for a moment.
"How... how is she?" he finally asked hoarsely, masking his tears.
"Better. Much more stable. Her pulse is still a little high and I can see her eyes moving, so I think she's dreaming vividly, but she's stopped really twitching a lot," I said in a calm voice.
"Will you be able to cure her?" he asked, glancing up at me.
"Yes," I replied. "We've found the cure, it'll just take time. The potion takes two months and a week to brew, and then there'll be several incantations to help her out. If everything goes according to plan, she'll be back just a little after Christmas."
Remus was squeezing Launa's hand in his. "Sarlanda, you're sure?"
"Quite sure." I set a hand on his shoulder for a moment. "She merely brushed the object, so she's in a much better start than she could be in." I conveniently forgot to mention the part where she very, very easily could have died. "I'm attending to her personally."
He sighed shakily. "...Thank you. For everything," he replied, and turned his attention back to Launa. I took my hand off his shoulder and motioned to Colin for him to follow me into the hallway. We exited and I shut the door softly.
"He needs privacy," I explained.
"Yeah," Colin agreed, still looking at the tiled floor. "Are you... are you sure you're going to be able to cure her?"
"Oh yes. The potion is going to be a little tricky, but I don't think the spells will be much of a problem, especially if some of the other Healers help me."
"You're brilliant, you know," Colin said. He blushed furiously when he realized that he had spoken out loud.
We stood there awkwardly for a moment before I said, "Look, I've got some more rounds to make."
"Right, sorry. Have a good night."
"You, too. And thanks for bringing Remus around. Just shut the door after he's done."
"I will," he replied, and I left, to go check on the rest of the patients before I finally left for the evening.
I rather enjoy writing Sarlanda. I hope you enjoy reading her.
The end of the semester approches. I will attempt to update, but I make no promises, as I have about a million projects to finish between now and December 11th.
Don't forget to vote in the poll on my profile, which will be closing soon! I appreciate the input.
Until next time.