Chapter 31- Things Unsaid
"…see if the memories make an impact?"
"I will record any chances in blood pressure, heart rate, magical levels, and any obvious changes such as making a noise of recognition or pain." Ruby answered.
"Exactly, ready to start Penny?" Eliza Weasley asked, looking over at Penny.
"Yes, Ruby go and fetch Mrs Longbottom first please." Ruby stood up and walked out of the office and across to the ward. This day could change the Longbottom's lives for ever, or it could have no impact whatsoever.
Penny, Ruby and Ruby's mother were the only people who were going to have direct access to the Longbottom's, they had a hidden office and the Head Healer on the ward had been told they were simply performing cognitive tests, not trying to heal her patients.
"Mrs Longbottom, come with me please." Ruby held out her hand and the thin woman took it immediately and obediently followed Ruby out of the ward and across to the office, like a child being led to bed.
They entered the room and Ruby directed the patient to a seat and then took baseline measurements and recorded them.
"Okay, here's the potion, we'll start with ten millimetres." Penny said, she gave the potion to Mrs Longbottom who swallowed it immediately and then stared at the window.
Eliza stood up and approached the woman.
"We'll start with word recognition before we use the memories. Ready Rubes?" Ruby nodded, with her wand ready.
"Magic."
No response.
"Car."
No response.
"Hogwarts…Auror…Frank…Computer…Limes…Neville…"
No response, Ruby made her notes and her mother stood back and then bought her Pensieve out of her bag.
"Where did you borrow a Pensieve from Eliza? You must have some trusting rich friends." Penny said, looking at the Pensieve in amazement.
"Professor Dumbledore left it to me in his will, I haven't used it for years. Right, the first memory is of Frank and Alice being sorted, Minerva gave it to me, write that down, Ruby." Ruby complied and then watched her mother draw a line from the Pensieve to Mrs Longbottom with her wand, after a few minutes her mother put her wand down and nodded to Ruby to monitor the patient again.
"Magic."
No response.
"Car."
No response.
"Hogwarts."
No response.
"Auror."
No response.
"Frank." Ruby detected a slight increase in pulse and put her finger up to indicate to her mother that a change had been detected.
"Longbottom." Again Ruby held up her finger.
"Gryffindor."
"No response.
"Lily." Ruby raised her finger, it appeared to be names that made an impact.
"Johnathan."
No response.
"Maisie."
No response.
"Neville." Ruby raised her finger.
"Excellent, Ruby could you take Mrs Longbottom back to the ward and tell Healer Porter to keep her on fifteen minute observations and to let her have a nap. Then come back and we'll talk before we start with Mr Longbottom."
When Ruby returned to the office after following her mother's instructions she could tell that her mother was excited.
"…control names had no effect."
"Were they Johnathan and Maisie?" Ruby asked, sitting down by the bed.
"Yes, and she had equal responses to Frank, Neville and Lily, it's definitely progress."
"Did she know your mom?" Penny asked.
"Yes, they were best friends at school, Remus told me that Mrs Longbottom is my godmother."
"Let's move onto Frank, I need to get back to Paeds soon, Amber's probably suicidal by now." Ruby laughed and then the room in search of their other patient.
The experiment on Mr Longbottom yielded similar results but he responded it places, rather than people. After twenty minutes the research group disbanded and Ruby walked with her mother to the waiting room.
"Is it hard keeping this from Alice?" Eliza asked.
"Yeah, but only because she's so nosey. Do you find it hard keeping it from Dad?"
"Not anymore, I did when I worked on the Dementor project because I had to go to Azkaban a few times and when I came back I struggled but I couldn't tell him why. He went to Minerva who went ballistic at me and then came on the other trips with me."
"She didn't know about the project?"
"She did, but she thought I was delegating, I'm surprised she bought it actually, she knows how I hate giving research tasks to other Unspeakables. Anyway, are you looking forward to Saturday?"
"I suppose, it will be nice to go back to Hogwarts, I'm a bit nervous about the Malfoy's coming though, are you sure it's okay?"
"Positive, Harry said he'll sit by them, Draco and him have an understanding apparently."
"An understanding?"
"I didn't understand it either but he was adamant and he wouldn't explain. Harry can be just as stubborn as me when he wants to be. How's your new intern?" Ruby explained the knife incident to her mother who was suitable outraged and then they parted ways and Ruby returned to her office.
Walker was sat at his desk filling in some paperwork, Ruby walked straight past him and knocked on Kyle's door, he called her in and she shut the door behind her and waited until the had turned the glass wall black before sitting down.
"How did it go?" He asked, leaning forwards on his desk.
"We got some response, from both of them. Mrs Longbottom responded to names, increased heart rate. Mr Longbottom responded to locations with a twitching on his hand. Mom and Penny were pleased."
"Fascinating, well I've kept a few patients for you. Leave Walker here and drop the paperwork in before you go home."
Walker was not happy to be left behind but Ruby was very relieved. She treated and discharged two patients and transferred a third up to Bites and Stings, when she sat down at her desk she realised how much she loved her job.
"Do you think I'll be allowed to treat another patient today, or shall I just go home?" Walker asked, yawning.
"No idea, ask Kyle."
"He hates me, stupid fool." Walker muttered, Ruby stood up and left the office before she started an argument.
She walked up to the spinal ward and tried to find Healer Spanswick, luckily he was in his office, she knocked on the door and he invited her in.
"Miss Weasley, what can I do for you?"
"I was wondering if I could ask you some questions about my mom's surgery. My Dad's going to ask me and I'd rather know the answers."
"Of course, sit down." The Healer talked her through the technical aspects of the surgery and Ruby was somewhat comforted, not completely though.
"How long will the operation take?"
"About seven hours, depending on the damage I find. You could sit in if you like, it might make your parents feel more comfortable."
"Yes, that would help, thank you. Have you set a date yet?"
"No, I'll have my secretary look into it and I'll let your mother know next week."
"Thank you, sir." Ruby left the office and walked slowly back to the emergency healing department, when she arrived Walker was just leaving.
"Night Weasley."
"Night."
She filled in some paperwork and made some notes on the Longbottom project and was just about to pack up her things when Kyle walked out of his office.
"Get on home, Ruby. I'll see you on Friday night, enjoy your days off."
"Thanks sir… Actually Sir, could I ask you something?"
"Of course." Kyle stopped by the door and turned back to her.
"My mom is having a back operation at some point, I'll know when next week, but could I have some time off then?"
"I'll be able to get you some days off, the rest can be put in as project days. We'll sort it out next week." Ruby nodded and then wished her boss goodnight.
When she arrived back at her flat twenty minutes later it was to an almost hysterical Alice.
"Alice! What's the matter?" Ruby cried, rushing over to her friend who was weeping on the sofa.
"It's Hamish!"
"What about him?" Ruby asked, hoping that they hadn't split up.
"He's… He's going away!" Alice wailed, throwing herself on Ruby.
"What do you mean, away?"
"On a mission, with the Auror's!" Ruby stared at Alice for a moment, thinking hard. Hamish was Teddy's Junior, if Hamish was going then so was Teddy. But with Vic pregnant why on Earth would Teddy accept a mission?
"For how long?"
"He said it could be months! Months, Ruby!" Ruby shook her head slightly and then stood up.
"Alice, drink this. I'll be back soon, don't tell anyone yet." Ruby pushed a mild calming potion, that with Alice's tolerance levels will probably knock her out, Ruby's mother would barely blink at the dose, into Alice's hand.
"Where are you going?"
"To see Teddy, I'll find out…"
"Oh Teddy, this is horrible!" Alice threw herself on the sofa and it took Ruby a few minutes to coax the potion down her friend's throat.
She then grabbed her wand, threw down her bag and apparated to Grimmald Place.
She arrived balanced on the top step and knocked on the door loudly. It was opened by a pale face Vic, well apart from the splash of green paint on her face.
"He's in the bedroom." Vic said quietly, stepping aside to let her cousin pass. Ruby nodded and kissed Vic on the cheek as she passed.
She walked up the stairs quickly, trying to figure out what she was going to say. The bedroom door was open and she was nearly there when Teddy stuck his head out.
"Who…oh Fuck." He muttered, retreating back into the room. Ruby followed him.
"Before you say anything hear me out, okay?" Ruby nodded and leaned on the chest of drawers. Teddy sat down on the bed and finished rolling up a pair of socks before he looked at her.
"I have to do this, Rubes. I know the timing isn't great but we decided not to tell anyone about the baby so I couldn't tell Uncle Harry that I couldn't go on the mission! Yes, I could have made something up but this is important work and I need to do it. It probably won't take long, if I'm gone for more than a couple of months then Vic is going to tell Harry and he might pull me out but…Rubes this mission is so important! Please, please don't be mad at me." Ruby had never seen Teddy talk like this, there was a desperation in his voice that she had never heard. Vic entered the room and passed Teddy a clean set of robes.
"Have you told Mom?"
"No, I'm going in a bit… will you come with me?"
"Teddy, have you spoke to her lately?"
"At the Burrow on Sunday, why?"
"Has she told you she's having an operation?"
"No, on what? When?"
"Her back, next month."
"Is it serious?" Teddy asked, looking stressed.
"Yeah, she's going to need time off work and… Where are you going?" Ruby asked as Teddy strode out of the room quickly.
"Vic, I'll be back in a…"
"Where are… Where's he going?"
"Wales, I think. I'll apparate you, come on." Vic gripped Ruby's arm firmly, Ruby noticed as she began to twist that she was still wearing her Healing robes.
They arrived at the cottage and could already hear Teddy shouting inside. They rushed to the door and reached the kitchen. Ruby's parents appeared to have been in the middle of dinner. Her fathers' eyes widened in understanding when they saw Ruby.
"…didn't you tell me?" Teddy finished, almost shouting.
"About…"
"Eliza." Her father warned, indicating to his wife that Ruby was present.
"Oh Ruby, why did you…" Her mother started.
"Teddy's going on a mission." Ruby said, quickly, deflecting any negative emotions away from her.
"Hey!" Teddy said, turning around to her.
"Face it Teddy, you're mad that Auntie Eliza didn't tell you about having an operation but you've known about this mission for weeks!" Vic said, looking upset.
"That's work!"
"Woooah, everyone calm down. I'm going to make a pot of tea, Ruby give me a hand, and the rest of you go into the living room." Ruby walked over to her father and the others left the room.
"Care to explain?"
"I got home and Alice was in hysterics because she's dating Hamish and she said he was going on a mission, I figured Teddy must be too so I went over and he said he was and I asked if he'd told mom and he said no and then… It just tumbled out, sorry."
By the time they finished making the tea and entered the living room there were tears.
"…promise, I'll be fine!"
"You can't promise me that, Teddy." Ruby's mother said quietly.
There was a knock on the door and Ruby went to answer it, it was Uncle Harry.
"Your mother's giving me grief, where is she?"
"Living room." Ruby replied, stepping aside and then following him in.
"Eliza, I wouldn't send him if it wasn't important."
"It's really important, Auntie Eliza!" Teddy said, almost pleading with her to understand.
"How dangerous is it, Uncle Harry?" Vic asked, quietly.
"No more so than any other mission."
"So pretty dangerous then?" Eliza countered.
"How risky is your surgery?" Teddy asked.
"Not…" Her mother's voice faded and she turned to Ruby.
"It's a major operation but it is essential and Healer Spanswick said I can stay with Mom during the operation and Kyle is going to give me time off."
"Really? That's great, well done Poppet." Her father said, almost sagging in relief.
"Yeah and if anything happens to me Ruby can patch me up!" Said Teddy, pointing at Ruby.
"She can't fix everything, Teddy!" Said Vic, standing up and storming out of the cottage. Teddy waited for a moment and then followed her.
Harry sighed and then sat down.
"I couldn't tell you, it wasn't that I didn't want to."
"You didn't want to!"
"Alright, I didn't. But I also couldn't! Like you tell us what you get up to at work!"
"That's different!" Her mother hissed.
"How convenient, Eliza Potter-slash-Weasley, the great fucking Unspeakable!" Harry stood up and then stormed out.
"Why is he mad at you, Mom?" Ruby asked, wondering how things had suddenly got so complicated.
"Because he knows I'm right. Fred, I'm not hungry I'm just going to go up to bed for an hour."
"Not a chance, don't make me force feed you, last time it resulted in a food fight and we had to take Annabel to Poppy because she had a sprout up her nose!" Ruby snorted, remembering the incident well.
Ruby hugged her parents and then left the cottage and returned to her flat. Alice was still spark out on the sofa so Ruby levitated her into bed and the curled up in front of the fire in her pyjamas and tried not to worry about her family.
A/N Sorry for the delay but it's been Christmas! I did give you a Christmas present in the form of The First Christmas though, I really missed being inside Eliza's head so it was actually quite fun to write. I have another new story, it's called Hidden Truth and is set outside the Words's universe, give it a shot? Please review! Especially for The First Christmas because it currently has 2 reviews and that's depressing!
Next chapter; Ruby's on nights, The Quidditch Final takes place
The Deal will be updated soon, I've written myself into a plot hole and i'm struggling to climb out of it!
girlwholived- Haley Potter- Thanks, my book is currently called 192 days but it might change!
xXMizz Alec VolturiXx- Thanks
Reading Dorkk- Thanks, they'll be more from Lucius soon!
Scorubes4life- There is hope for the Longbottoms.
LUG-14- Thanks.