"Auntie, Auntie know what we get to do today?" Came the excited squeal of a little boy.
Smiling gently at the orphan, a buxom young lady with wavy golden hair patted him on the head.
"What do you get to do today Richard?" She asked him, trying to seem as serious about the situation as he was.
She had been working at this orphanage for several years now as a nurse. She reveled in helping people, and with her talents she was able to heal, fix or save many more people than any other nurse.
You see, this particular woman was able to use magic, and not just moving objects, but healing and making potions. She had met several other magic users over the years and took their accumulated knowledge of healing, whether through spells or potions, and combined it to become the best.
She spent hours on hours working in order to complete her self training after each individual had given her one on one training.
However, she had to keep her skills a secret. The world wasn't ready to know about magic. This was a lesson she had to learn the hard way. Her sister was the price for that knowledge. Having been healed by a witch, she was later burned as one herself while she was away learning.
Richard looked up at her and with all the pomp and circumstance of announcing the King's arrival told her, "We get to go to the library today. Mary told us if we were good we could even borrow a book and make it a re... recurr... something we do all the time."
"Recurring sweetie." She told hm and almost giggled as his head moved up and down so fast she feared it might just come apart from his neck. "Let's go gather the other children and get ready for our trip then."
The orphanage was relatively poor, but the kids were typically well behaved so trips into places such as the library were not usually an issue. In fact, they had figured out that such trips usually allowed the children a sense of normalcy and gave them an avenue to release some tension.
As she traversed the building collecting kids, she noticed who had finished their work, who was still working on it and who had shirked it off. This last group received a disdainful snort from her. Everyone at the orphanage, whether child or staff, knew that to her, there was no excuse for not doing your work in a timely manner to the best of your abilities. She saw it as a waste if someone wasn't willing to put in the hard work and effort to succeed. And no one wanted her to look at them with disappointment in her eyes. Everyone want to impress her, even the kids who had led the hardest lives.
There weren't too many kids going on the trip today, but the ones that were, were excited enough to even cover for the ones that chose not too. It was like watching a new litter of kittens play around with each. Climbing all over each other and bouncing in anticipation like everything was new.
The library was only a few blocks away, which was good considering they had to walk there, all the while corralling the kids and keeping them moving in the right direction.
Just as they were about to reach the library she movement out of the corner of her eye grabbed her attention. "Mary, keep the children moving and get in the library with them, I'll be there shortly. I'm just going to check on this."
This happened to be several carriages being led into town by weary horses and drivers that looked on the brink of death. And that wasn't taking into account the damage and blood the carriages were covered in.
"Stop," She stepped in front of the lead carriage. It wasn't really dangerous considering they were barely ambling along anyway.
"What happened? How many are hurt? How bad are they hurt?" She fired off questions faster than arrows leaving a bow. Finally seeing into the eyes of the first driver up close, she noticed how blank they were and was genuinely shocked when he was able to answer. He couldn't be more than 14, he shouldn't have eyes like that.
"Bandits attacked us, all of us that lived are hurt, although most of us are old or children. And pretty badly."
"Where are the parents, the working age, people?" She asked.
"Taken for playthings or killed outright." The rasp of his voice warned her that more answers wouldn't be forthcoming.
By this time the librarian and her assistants had come out to see what the commotion was. They were joined by several shop owners and townspeople. They all knew her and respected her, so when she started barking orders, none thought twice about following them.
"Alright, let's get everyone out of the carriages. Those able help those that aren't. Put blankets and canvas on the ground to lay down the ones that need it. I need someone to try and find some bandages and get me some clean water. I'm going to grab my bag from the orphanage." She called all this out with the calm self assurance achieved from years of training and work just as she took off running towards her office.
By time she returned most of the people had been laid out, and only a few were acting ornery and trying to be uncooperative. These ones she looked at and calmly stated, "You can either do as you're told, or leave and risk it on your own because I'm not here to listen to your whining." This had the desired effect as they started calming down and doing as instructed.
As she treated the newcomers, she came across the types of injuries she expected, stabs, cuts bruises and broken bones. However she also came across signs of something else. There were burns that looked liked the fire that caused them was too hot to be normal, skin shredded in a way no blade could and twitching as an after effect of some kind of trauma. She knew this was caused by magic. She knew this, and it drove her into such a rage that she had trouble controlling herself. She mumbled under her breath and cursed whoever would turn a gift that did so much good to such evil purposes.
She made sure to be subtle in the ways she administered her potions and applied her magic so that there was no suspicion of there being anything other than good luck and good care in taking care of the people. But even with her magic, she still wasn't able to save everyone. Three elders, a matron and a child all passed from their wounds and there was nothing she could do. This pained her as if they were her own family moving on.
Once she saw to the last of the victims, she sat back and took a moment to look in her bag. Where once had been potions and bandages, now sat empty bottle and strips of torn cloth. She realized just how exhausted she was when she stumbled trying to stand.
The librarian caught her by the elbow, "Come on, let's get you back to the orphanage so you can rest."
"Not yet, I need to figure this out first." She replied. "Where is your village? How many bandits were there and how did they fight?" She was able to ask one of the more coherent people she had treated.
After getting the information she was looking for she turned to the librarian, "Would you help me to the library so I can help Mary with the kids?"
"Mary and the kids have headed back already." This was when she noticed the sky darkening and dusk settling in.
"Okay then, back to the orphanage and a week long nap it is then," she chuckled.
She didn't sleep for a week, not even close. It was just a few hours later when she woke from a nightmare she hadn't had in months. Her sister's ashes being buried. Why would she remember this now? Oh yeah, magic being used to wound and torture, the exact reason people keep trying to burn magic users.
With the information she was able to glean from the people as she worked on healing them she created a plan. She would let Mary and the kids know later. She was going to hunt down this magic user and remove him herself for perverting her gift. She wouldn't leave yet, she couldn't with her greenhouse and the potions she had going. She had to remove any non-normal plants and finish her potions before disposing of the equipment she uses to make them. She also decided she should rest and replenish her healing pack.
It took her three months, but she was finally ready. She had told Mary and the rest of the staff the night before and the kids just this morning that she was leaving. There was plenty of crying and people trying to convince her to stay.
"There's evil in the world, it's causing pain and sickness and someone needs to lance the wound it caused so we can heal. I'm not much of a fighter alone, but I'm sure someone is already doing that. The Gryffindors are not the type to allow this kind of atrocity to occur on their lands unanswered. What I can do is help heal the injured, provide support for the ones doing the right thing. You know I can't sit back and do nothing, it isn't my nature." She told the staff. The kids wouldn't understand that so she simplified it for them, "There's people who need my help, so I will go help them. You'll all always be in my heart and with the love you've shown me I know I can do this." She told them with tears barely contained in her eyes. The finally fell when with a tug of her skirts she heard a small voice.
"Auntie Helga, I love you." Richard told her.