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Just a chappie with a little of Lily's day at St. Mungo's

Chapter 28 "The Hospital"

"Morning!" Lily greeted her fellow Healer, Adrienna, cheerfully as she entered the little St. Mungo's break room.

Adrienna was just finishing her coffee, and looked up. She was an older woman with wild brown hair and big blue eyes. She had taken Lily under her wing, watching after her and giving her tips on Healing and Lily thought of her as a second mother. She patted Lily on the shoulder and replied,"Morning dear. Sorry I can't stop to chat, but you know, places to be and work to do. But I'll see you later, yeah?" she smiled at Lily before leaving the room.

Lily went over to the coat rack and threw her coat over it. She looked at herself in the little mirror that hung on the wall and straightened her hair and her uniform. Her face looked a bit pinched and weary this morning, but a lot less so then usual. Lily had been doing well lately since she moved into Severus' apartment; she felt close to him even though he was still so far away, and even her parents mentioned that she looked better when she last visited them. She had a bit of a relapse last night however, when she woke up in a frantic sweat after a nightmare. She couldn't remember much when she woke up, but she knew it involved James coming after her and Severus being Kissed by the dementors. There was no sleep to be had for her after that, so she was hoping for a slow day today so she could go home and take a nap.

"Healer Evans to the waiting room!" the magic intercom suddenly boomed and Lily jumped. Was it really going to be one of those crazy days? She took a deep breath to compose herself before leaving the little break room; she would just have to muddle through.

"Healer Evans to the waiting room!" the intercom screeched again, and Lily muttered, "I'm coming!" as she shut the break room door behind her and hurried down the pristine white corridor.

Usually Healers stuck to one floor, specializing in one type of healing. But Lily had been an apprentice Healer not that long ago and was still deciding on what she was going to specialize in, so she went wherever she was needed. And that meant running up from floor to floor, responding to emergency calls. Sometimes she wished that she could decide on a path, because it would be so much less stressful then running around the hospital, but there were so many types of healing to choose from it was proving difficult.

"Lily," Edith, the receptionist, greeted Lily with a roll of her eyes. "Can you please take care of these young men? I'm not sure where to send them."

Lily looked to where Edith's finger was pointing, and crinkled her nose in disgust. The three young men in question were vomiting uncontrollably, holding onto each other for support, and the other patients were giving them a wide berth.

"Please come with me," Lily said, careful not to get too close lest she get covered in vomit, and led them through the doors to the hospital. She brought them to the nearest examining room, and conjured three bins that the young men could use while she tried to figure out what exactly was wrong with them.

Lily waved her wand, chanting a useful spell that the Healers used to help stem bleeding and other bodily functions, hoping it would work on this. She observed the men interestedly, waiting to see the results. The spell didn't stop the vomiting completely; now the men went through spurts where the vomit stopped flowing for a few minutes before starting up again. At least it was something to start with so she could talk to them.

"What are your names?" Lily asked gently.

"I'm Tom," the blonde man said, "And this is Aaron and Morgan," Tom gestured to the heavyset man and the tall, be-speckled man next to him.

"Is this an illness?" Lily questioned, avoiding a puddle of vomit as she stepped forward to place her hand on Tom's forehead to check if he had a fever as Morgan started vomiting again.

"No, we're not sick, we were-" Tom ducked his head into his bucket, and Aaron finished his sentence.

"We were kind of experimenting with spells, and something happened. One of the spells backfired, and we all started vomiting."

Lily frowned."Why were you experimenting with spells?"

Aaron shrugged, although he looked ashamed. "Well, I don't know. We were just messing around, you know?"

"No, I don't know, I'm not that stupid." was what Lily wanted to say, but she didn't. Instead she rubbed her temples and asked, "Alright, do you even know what spell it was?"

Aaron shook his head, and then bent over his bucket.

"Okay, I'm going to try some different counter curses to try and end this spell." Before Lily started, she vanished the contents from the buckets so they wouldn't overflow, and whatever mess was on the floor so she could concentrate without worrying that she was going to step in vomit. She began reciting counter curses she learned from a case she had been working on the fourth floor, Spell Damage.

After trying everything she knew and nothing taking effect, Lily started getting frustrated. Should she direct them to a more experienced Healer? There was one more thing she wanted to try..it was so obvious, but it might work. If it didn't, then another Healer would have to give it a try.

"Finite Incantatem." Lily waved her wand over all three men. The vomiting ceased immediately, and the men's faces were pale and strained.

"Did you try Finite Incantatem?" Lily asked them, sweeping her wand over floor again so the buckets and all remnants of vomit vanished, leaving the room spotless.

"No," Morgan said hoarsely.

"Well, next time, and I hope there will not be a next time because you three learned your lesson, you should try that first." Lily said curtly. She had just wasted forty five minutes when the answer was so simple. She was not happy. "Please go up to the front, I'm sure they'll have paperwork for you to fill out now that you are able to. Have a good day."

She pulled the door open and was about to leave when Tom placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Thank you," he said gratefully. "I know we were bloody idiots, and I can tell you we will not be playing around with spells anytime soon."

Lily gave them a grudging smile. As long as they learned their lesson, then that time had not been wasted after all. "I hope you're telling the truth."

"Sure." Tom said easily. "Hey, you know, how about I take you out for dinner tonight to properly thank you-"

Lily gaped at him for a minute before regaining the use of her voice.

"No!" Lily said quickly, and shrugged Tom's hand from her shoulder. "I am engaged to Severus Snape, and I will not go prancing around with some idiot who can't even think to use a simple Finite Incantatem to fix himself."

"Wow, calm down." Tom put his hands up in a gesture of surrender while his friends sniggered behind their hands. "And you didn't think of that either!"

But Lily didn't hear him, because she had already slammed the door behind her. She was shaking; how dare he ask her to dinner! When he was covered in vomit, and standing there like an idiot!

"Healer Evans, fourth floor!"

Lily huffed as she strode quickly down the hall heading for the fourth floor.

Lily eyed the man, trying very hard not to laugh at his situation. It was rather funny, though, and a few giggles escaped her before she could put on her serious 'Healer face'.

"I can't get out! And I'm claustrophobic!" the man wailed. He had somehow gotten his head magically stuck in a sweater and couldn't get it off.

"Alright, let me see." Lily tried a Engorging charm on the sweater, a slicing charm to cut through the material, and even a disappearing spell, but none of them worked. Lily pondered the flailing patient, tapping her finger on the side of her face in concentration for a moment before she thought of an idea. She slipped her wand hand under the sweater so that the tip of her wand touched the man's face, and performed a shrinking charm. With that, she was able to pull the sweater off as the man's head shrunk. Lily let the sweater fall to the floor as the man cried out in relief. Lily shuddered as she glanced at the man's shrunken face, which looked severely creepy on his normal sized body.

Lily quickly tapped the top of his head again and said, "Engorgio." so his head returned to its normal size.

"Oh, thank you!" the man cried, falling to his knees and raising his hands to the sky as if in prayer, breathing in the lint-free air. "Oh, the light! It's beautiful!"

"Evans! Third floor!" the intercom cried out, and Lily sighed. Would there be a break for her today?

"How can I help you?" Lily said to the man and woman who were wringing their hands outside a closed exam room.

"It's our daughter. I gave her a potion this morning to help relieve her cold, nd it must have been tainted, because she..she's a.." the woman broke down, unable to continue. The man just shook his head in horror as he hugged his wife and pointed towards the room.

Lily pushed open the door, hesitating for a moment before she did so. She almost slipped on a clear slime that coated the floor, and when she looked up to examine the patient, she almost screamed. Now she knew why the parents were so upset. Their daughter's face was not that of a little girl anymore, but that of a slug. The thick antennae dripped slime onto the floor as they waved through the air, and Lily leaped out of the way before they could touch her. She examined the girl as well as she could while still keeping her distance; slugs had always given her the creeps. The girl's body, although human, seemed to be covered in a thick-slime like coating, like that of a slug. Lily shuddered before turning to the girl's parents.

"Do you have the potion you gave her?" Lily asked.

"Yes, I brought it," the woman rummaged through her purse and pulled out a half empty vial.

"The potions department will have to analyze this and break it down to determine what exactly changed your daughter. She can stay overnight in one of the rooms, and we can get her fixed up tomorrow," Lily said as the girl oozed her way across the floor.

"You can't do anything now?" the woman cried in exasperation, watching her daughter slide around on the floor.

"No, we have to brew an antidote to that potion first," Lily replied. "If you go two doors down on the right, there'll be another Healer that can get your daughter settled, and we can start working on the potion."

A few tears dripped silently down the woman's face and she put a hand over her mouth to stifle her sobs. Lily conjured a hankerchief for her to use and patted her hand to comfort her. "Don't worry, she'll be fine."

The woman nodded, and her husband took the daughter's hand, gripping it tightly so she couldn't slip away and led her out of the room.

Lily rubbed her eyes wearily; this day just seemed to be going on forever.

"Healer Evans! Second floor!" the intercom called, and Lily rushed to see what was the matter this time.

Finally, the never-ending day did end, after getting called to different floors nonstop for eight hours, and here she was back at Severus' apartment. She suddenly had the urge to see Severus and tell him about her day; she thought he would like the story about the vomiting men. But he wasn't here. She sighed, and let herself fall onto the bed, her weary body thanking her as it sunk into the deep blankets; how good it felt to lay down and get off her feet! She rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling, at the spiderweb cracks running across it.

Lily desperately wanted to just go to sleep, but there was something else she had to do first. She glanced into the corner of the room, where a pile of dusty rags sat. She shrugged out of her white uniform, laying it over a chair for tomorrow and pulled on a pair of sweatpants and an old t-shirt that she was sure was Sev's before scooping up a rag and heading downstairs.

Every night after Lily got back from work, she would go downstairs and dust and clean the shop. She wanted to maintain it until Severus came home so it wouldn't be a mess and he wouldn't have to anything for it to be and running again. She had dusted and reorganized two whole racks of herbs yesterday. She was cleaning using good old muggle ways, no magic allowed, and it helped her to focus, acting like a therapy. Being in the dark, quiet shop and focusing on re-organizing the ingredients relaxed her, and she tried to do it every night, even when she was tired.

Lily was cleaning in no specific pattern, so when the insect shelf seemed to beckon to her, she went over to it and began removing the jars full of dried camel crickets, termite eggs, cockroach wings and other repulsive items. She ran the rag along the shelf, removing the dust that had settled there, and thought about Severus. His dark hair, his soft lips, his gentle touch. She knew she was healing from James' torture, and especially now since more then half of Sev's sentence was up, and he would be coming home soon to help her even more. She still longed for Severus with all her heart, but she knew he would be okay now; she couldn't explain how she knew, but she knew he would come back to her alive.

A loud knock suddenly jolted her out of her thoughts, and she spun around quickly, wand in hand.

"Lumos," Lily muttered, and the halo of light that burst from the tip of her wand illuminated the figure in front of the shop. It was a black-robed man pounding on the shop window, someone Lily didn't recognize, and she tensed warily.

"Please, are you open? I just need some ram's horn-" the man's voice was muffled through the thick glass of the shop window, but still clear enough for Lily to tell what he was saying.

"I'm sorry, we're closed." Lily said loudly, staying in her current position and hoping the would-be consumer could hear her.

She had thought about re-opening the shop, but it just didn't feel right without Severus. It was his shop and right now it was dark and closed because he wasn't here, but when he came back, it would be bright and busy again. It just felt wrong for it to be open when he wasn't here.

"Please, I need it for my wife, she's pregnant, and she needs a swelling reducer for her ankles-" the man pleaded, and banged on the window again.

Lily shook her head furiously. There was no way she was letting the man in when she was alone. Who knows what he might try and do to her? He was probably lying just so he could get in.

"Jeffrey!" A very pregnant witch suddenly appeared, Apparating next to her husband. "I told you this shop was closed! Why don't you ever listen to me?"

"Dear, you should be resting."

"Well, I knew you wouldn't get the ingredients we need." the witch snapped moodily.

"Please, Daphne, don't start." Jeffrey sighed wearily.

Lily watched the couple's banter as her wand remained poised in front of her. Should she let them in? It did seem like the genuine truth, although one could never be completely sure.

"And you're harassing this young woman," Daphne gestured to Lily through the glass. "I told you they were closed."

Lily made her decision, lowering her wand and stepping closer to the door.

"Ma'am, if you really need the ingredients, I could let you in," Lily called tentatively through the glass.

"Would you, dear?" Daphne looked relieved as she rubbed her swollen stomach. "That would be so helpful."

Lily shot an unlocking charm at the door and pulled it open. Daphne and her husband entered looking grateful.

"Just pick out what you need and I'll ring you up." Lily said, shoving her wand into the baggy pocket of her sweatpants, where it could still be easily reached if she needed it.

She listened as they argued about how much ram's horn they needed, and how many dried toad tongues and smiled. They reminded her of her parents; arguing but underneath loving each other every second.

Jeffrey dumped the items that they needed unceremoniously on the counter, looking extremely worn out as his wife continued talking about how long it would take to brew the potion. Lily bagged the items as she rang them up, and the register called out, "Seven galleons and five sickles please," in a squeaky voice. Jeffrey handed over the coins and grabbed the bag.

"Come on," he grabbed his wife's hand gently.

"Thank you, dear," Daphne patted Lily's hand gratefully. "I appreciate you helping me. I'm so far along, and anything that relieves the swelling is helpful."

Lily nodded, and looked toward the insect shelf. She really wanted to just finish and go to bed; she hoped Daphne wouldn't start up a lengthy conversation.

"Oh, the baby just kicked!" Daphne laughed. "I think he likes you! Would you like to feel him?" Daphne tugged Lily's hand toward her protruding belly, but Lily suddenly ripped it out of her grasp. "No!"

"Are you okay, honey?" Daphne said, examining her closely. "It's just the baby,"

"Please go," Lily said, her heart beating rapidly. She didn't want to feel the baby, she didn't want to think about babies.

Daphne began to open her mouth, and Lily just shook her head and pointed to the door. The couple hurriedly left, looking confused, and Lily waved her wand to lock the door behind them. Why did that small action trigger such a reaction? Maybe because it reminded her how her own child had died? She brushed her hand over her stomach lightly and bit her lip hard. "No, Lily, keep it together. Don't think about it." Lily mumbled to herself. It was an innocent child. It didn't deserve to die, it didn't need to know James was its father. She and Severus could have raised it as their own-

"Stop!" Lily cried, grasping her hair, and her voice rang out through the silent shop. Lily pressed her palms against her eyes to stop the tears. No, she would not break down. Not now when she was doing so well. She grabbed up the dust rag and resumed her duties of cleaning and getting ready for Severus to come home.

I know I'm really focusing on just Lily and Severus, but I promise, other characters will come in soon! Yay! More Kingsley soon too.