I hope everyone is doing well given the circumstances!
13 May 1983
The front door swung open and Minerva came face-to-face with Elphinstone who was leaning heavily on the doorframe.
She folded her arms. "What did I tell you?"
"Fix the roof," answered Elphinstone sheepishly.
Minerva tutted. "Yes, with magic, not a ladder and muggle tools," she admonished him. "Where does it hurt?"
Elphinstone faltered, clearly debating whether or not it was worth the trouble. "Leg," he finally admitted.
Minerva rolled her eyes. "Come on," she said, wrapping an arm around him and heaving him up, "Let's get you fixed."
Elphinstone winced as they hobbled into the living room. As Minerva sat him down on the sofa, she could just about see through the window the fallen ladder and spilt box of tools lying on the lawn outside.
"You should have used magic like I told you to," she said, picking up her wand from the table and prodding Elphinstone's leg with it.
He grimaced. "I thought it would be interesting to see how muggles do things. Besides, I can't levitate so I would have had to use a ladder anyway." As the tip of Minerva's wand came in contact with his knee, he suddenly inhaled sharply. "Sweet Merlin-" he bit his lip and didn't finish the rest of his sentence.
"I hope you haven't been listening to Arthur Weasley," said Minerva, ignoring Elphinstone's language. She thought back to a few days ago when they had bumped into Molly and Arthur Weasley at the Leaky Cauldron. While she and Molly had been discussing Bill, who was currently at Hogwarts, and Charlie, who was meant to start at Hogwarts next year, Elphinstone and Arthur had been engaging in a riveting conversation about construction work and plugs.
Elphinstone winced again when the tip of Minerva's wand came into contact with his knee. "So what if I have?" he managed to say in a strained voice.
"Because he is more than 20 years younger than you and can do things like that," sighed Minerva.
"Well," grumbled Elphinstone, "Now you've made me feel really old."
"That's because you are old, Elphinstone," she said, getting up. "Right, I think your knee cap is broken. Do you want to go to St Mungo's?"
Elphinstone shook his head. "I hate hospitals. You do it. I trust you."
"All right," said Minerva, picking up her wand again, "But I'm warning you now, healing spells are not my forte."
Elphinstone tried his best to scoot to one side so that Minerva had space to sit down. When they were both settled, he leaned forward and passed her, her wand. "I distinctly remember you passing the healing spells exam with flying colours though," he answered as Minerva prepared herself to cast the spell. "You were my best employee."
"Maybe I cheated," said Minerva, frowning at Elphinstone's knee as she tried to remember the spell.
He smiled. "You never!"
Minerva shrugged. "I could have. You never know." She then looked up at him briefly, cracked a small smile too, before looked back down at his knee. "Now, are you ready?"
Elphinstone nodded and appeared to brace himself. Reviewing the spell one more time in her mind, Minerva then pointed her wand in the direction of his knee and a gold jet of light shot out of the tip of the wand and engulfed the joint in a warm yellow light. There was an awful crack as the bone merged again, and Elphinstone screwed his eyes shut.
Minerva tried her best not to laugh as he attempted to put on a brave face. "Well done," she said, feeling the knee to see if it had worked. Satisfied, she then patted it before standing up. "I'll go clear up the mess you've left outside."
Elphinstone took hold of her hand and pulled her back down on the sofa. "It's okay," he said, "It's my mess. I'll tidy up later."
Minerva smiled. "Fine. How does the leg feel?"
"As good as new." He touched her lightly on the nose and then kissed her.
Minerva rolled her eyes but smiled nevertheless. She then got up and rolled back her sleeve to check the time. "All right, I'm off."
"Already?"
Minerva fetched her cloak and some of her marking she had left on the table. "Yes. Quidditch game, last one this year."
Elphinstone folded his arms. "On a Saturday though?"
Minerva shrugged. "Can't be helped," she said. "I should be back early afternoon. There's some soup on the stove for lunch."
Elphinstone got up and gingerly brushed his left kneecap with his fingers. "I'll wait for you," he said, straightening up.
Minerva smiled. "All right. See you soon."
