Hello guys! I can't believe it, but here comes next chapter!
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"It's only a shame she's forgotten that she's your wife when she was spreading her legs for Snape, when you were in Azkaban." And with that, she left the room.
And Caroline's heart stopped. She carefully looked at her husband, who stood in front of her, frozen in place.
"Rabastan," she started, ready to deny it all. But he didn't let her finish.
"With Snape?" His voice was depleted of every emotion, cold as ice.
Caroline's mind was pacing. She had to deny it all, regardless of how guilty she felt. Rabastan would never forgive her.
"Rabastan, it's not true. We were friends, but we never…," suddenly, even with all her abilities, lying seemed difficult. "We were friends, Rabastan. Just friends."
But he knew. And there was no going back from it. She tried to reach him with her magic, but he knew her better than most.
"STAY OUT OF MY MIND!" he was shouting now.
"Rabastan, it's not true," Caroline tried again.
"With Snape," he didn't pay any attention to what she was saying and a look of disgust appeared on his face.
Caroline tried to approach him, but he didn't let her. Instead, he raised his left hand, where his wedding ring was and Caroline closed her eyes as she understood.
"It was burning when I was in Azkaban. I did not want to believe it. I thought I was losing my mind, because I was missing you so badly. I was not. You were with him." She felt the betrayal and it was killing her from the inside.
Damned goblet made rings. Neither of them was able to take them off. They could find each other almost anywhere thanks to them, unless the place was secured with many protection spells that would overpower the power of the goblin magic. And they would burn should either of them break the wows of their marriage.
Caroline was defeated. She couldn't lie her way out of this one.
She tried to approach him again, but just as she made two steps towards him, he made two steps back.
"Is that where you were?" His voice was so cold Caroline barely recognised him.
"Of course," he answered for himself. "All those years, I thought you fled from a Death Eater. What a surprise it is to find out you fled to another one."
Caroline didn't like where this one was heading. Nor did she like the tone Rabastan was using. But the most, she hated to feel the hurt Rabastan felt, but did not show.
"Rabastan, listen to me," she started as she tried to hold her own emotions in check. "You were sent to serve a life sentence in Azkaban. I thought I would never see you again and with the Longbottoms affair and everything around it I was close to killing myself. That or getting killed by someone else. Severus helped me get through the darkest moments. But it was never about anything else. We haven't encountered with each other in such a way in more than eight years and-"
"Do you realise how you sound? How are you trying to justify yourself?" This time, he let his emotions into his voice and Caroline felt tears gathering in her eyes as she heard the hurt and betrayal.
"We were supposed to go through hell together, Caroline. For good and bad. In sickness and in health. But you gave up on us long before the Dark Lord fell. Long before the Longbottoms. Were you fucking him then already? I was trying to find you for almost a year."
His voice broke by the last sentence and Caroline let the tears fall freely. There was no way of stopping them nevertheless. "No," she whispered. "It only happened several months after your imprisonment." She didn't voice the fact that Severus was taking care of her as she was pregnant with Rabastan's son.
Rabastan closed his eyes and she knew he was trying to pull himself together.
Caroline didn't dare to say anything. Not out of the fear that he would hurt her, but out of the fear that she would make it even worse.
"After the attack on Diagon Alley…," he started suddenly, and Caroline felt shivers coming down her spine with the memory, "when I found out it was Mulciber who tortured you, I almost killed him. I would have if Antonin hadn't stopped me. Then I tried to look for you wherever I could, but I knew Rufus would hide you well and wouldn't let me get anywhere near you. And after the Dark Lord fell I thought… I thought you'd finally get out of hiding… But you hadn't. And then Bella found out the Longbottoms had some info on the Dark Lord." He looked her in the eyes and she could see the pain in them as he continued. "They were aurors, and they were working with your brother, so I thought they could know something about you and I agreed to join Bella and Rudolphus. I never wanted it to get so out of hand, Caroline. I am not a good person, but when I noticed Bella was pushing it over the edge, I tried to stop her. But you have seen her. Something changed inside of her and she's not rational. I didn't want the Longbottoms to suffer like that, Caroline. I'd prefer a clean death."
She was crying fully now. She never asked him about the Longbottoms and he never spoke about it.
"Of all the people that have crossed my mind, I have never imagined you would find comfort with Severus Snape. Do you know that he is the Dark Lord's right hand?"
"Rabastan," Caroline tried her last chance with a shaking voice, "I love you. And I have never loved anyone else."
"People who love each other don't sleep with other people," he said, coldness finding its way back to his voice. "I haven't laid a finger on another woman since the day we got engaged."
With that, he waved his wand and put on trousers that flew to him. Caroline forgot that they were standing there both completely naked, and she took a bed cover to put around herself.
He sent her one more look before he departed their bedroom. "I need some time to process this. Do what you want. I will contact you once the Dark Lord summons us."
Caroline went back to the bed, and cried. She hasn't cried in several years now, but the events of the past day had gotten to her. She found her wand and checked the time. It was around 3 am. There was no way she would get back to sleep, so she slowly put on some clothes and left the room. She couldn't spend any minute longer inside.
How could it all go to hell within such a short time? Few hours ago, she was the happiest she has been in years. She couldn't even remember when was the last time she felt so comfortable as when she was falling asleep on Rabastan's chest that night. When he told her he loved her. At that moment, she could actually see a hope for them. For their family.
But of course, that couldn't last. With a sigh, she asked Wixie to pack her for three days and left for St. Mungos. She always had the habit of running from problems to work. Now it was no different.
She ignored the surprised looks of her coworkers serving the night shift as she closed herself in her office. She experiancelly took some of the potion vials she had there and swallowed three of them. She needed something to calm herself down, before she even tried to clear her mind.
She was in the middle of the process of calming herself down and clearing her mind when someone knocked on the door. She took an exasperated breath and called the person to come in.
One of the young healers, Dominic his name was, came inside, looking quite nervous.
"What is it?" she asked directly, not having any patience left for the day.
"I wouldn't bother you, madam, but since Trainee Healer Gibson has seen you entering your office, I was sent to get you, since we could really use your expertise in the Admission ward."
She felt the nervousness from him, but ignored it. She didn't feel like she would be of a big help in the state she herself was in. "I am not serving the night shift today. And to be honest I'm not feeling particularly well right now. Surely there must be a senior healer with experience in the field of mind magic who could provide assistance?"
"The responsible senior healer tonight is Director Spleen himself, madam," he said, and that suddenly got all of Caroline's attention. "He is the one who sent me to get you."
"What happened?" she asked, while she stood up and started to gather all she could possibly need for the patient in the admission ward. Director Spleen wouldn't call for her unless he needed her. She felt Dominic got even more nervous.
"There was… an accident in the Department of Mysteries yesterday in the afternoon, madam." Oh no. Why did Caroline think there is no way she would like where the young healer was leading with this. "There were several of Howgarts's students. One of them got hit with some kind of powerful confundus charm. We were able to reverse it, but the student had some kind of encounter with brains that had left him in a state we cannot seem to reverse. Since his mental state kept deteriorating in the past hours, Madam Pomfrey had him transferred here."
Caroline just stared at him. "With brains?" It was hard to believe it.
Dominic shrugged at that. "We do not know many details, as the ministry workers have a strict policy concerning the Department of mysteries and wouldn't tell us much. But director Spleen said you could help him, madam."
Caroline just nodded at him and followed him to the ground floor, where the admission ward was.
Chaos was the right word to describe what was happening down there.
But as soon as Caroline entered the ward, she was noticed by the director. "Caroline! It's pure luck you're here tonight. Come here!"
She obeyed but as she got closer to the bed the young patient was lying in, someone stood in her way.
"This woman won't touch my son! I will not allow it, director! Find someone else!" There was a chubby woman, one Caroline had already met while healing her daughter after she was possessed. Molly Weasly.
Spleen came to help. "Mrs. Weasly, healer Lestrange is the best there is. I asked her to come and assist with your son's condition."
That didn't seem to calm her down a slight bit, as she looked at Caroline with eyes full of hate. "And it was Lestrange who put my son in such a state in the first place! Her husband was there, fighting the kids!"
Caroline froze. Was she supposed to treat one of the kids Rabastan encountered? "Mrs. Weasly, I can assure you-"
"You can assure me however you want, you won't be touching my son!"
Caroline's heart sank. Here it was again. The hate. The distrust.
"Molly," a man appeared by She-Weasley's side, a man she recognised as Arthur Weasly, "Healer Lestrange treated our Ginny, don't you remember? We've approached her on Dumbledore's recommendation. She helped her a lot." That seemed to stop the woman's outburst and made her consider her options.
"Mrs. Weasley, as a director of this hospital, I will gladly vouch for Healer Lestrange. I believe she is the best to handle the care of young Ronald."
Molly Weasley seemed to consider what he was saying, until she finally gave in. "Okay. But we will be present the whole time."
Before Caroline could intervene with the last statement, the director agreed with Molly's conditions. Caroline sent him a look. She had a policy of working in private. It wasn't a pleasant sight to see someone's loved one's mind being invaded. But by the look Spleen gave her, she guessed she didn't have a choice.
She nodded to herself and put herself together. She was a professional, of course she could handle this.
"What can you tell me?" she asked Spleen as she approached the bed on which a young redhead boy was laying.
"From the info we gathered, he was firstly hit with some kind of a strong confundus charm. While under the spell, he used the accio spell to get one of the brains that were stored in the department of mysteries. The people from the ministry refused to tell us anything about the brains, but it seems they have interfered with young Ronald's mental status, because he started to speak in an utterly illogical manner, and could not answer any questions they have asked him. Madam Pomfrey put him into spell-induced sleep, because it was quickly becoming worse and worse." Caroline nodded at that. Madam Pomfrey has done the best she could. In spell-induced sleep, all the processes that were happening within the depths of one's mind were temporarily stopped, and therefore further damage was prevented.
Caroline turned back to the boy's parents to ask whether he's taking any potions regularly, and when she had all the info she needed, she placed herself just above the boy's head.
She raised her eyes just for a moment, signalling to director Spleen, who was standing on the other side of the bed, that she was ready. He nodded in understanding and waved his wand above the head of the red head boy, who opened his eyes a few seconds later.
It was only a split second that she could see the confused look in his eyes before she dipped deep into his eyes and entered his mind.
She pushed inside as she tried to navigate the mess that his mind presented. She saw a mixture of memories, one replacing another in such a speed she could hardly navigate it. She looked for something that would be connected to his previous encounter with the brains at the department of mysteries. But his thoughts have been such a mess that it took her much longer than usual to orientate herself. When she finally had seen enough to get the hang of the situation, she understood also what was happening with his mind. She carefully withdrew, and almost lost her balance, as she again started to perceive her true surroundings.
She sent a look to director Spleen, who was still standing on the other side of the bed, and with several complicated movements of his wand, he put Ronald back to spell-induced sleep.
The moment he did it, she could hear the voice of Molly Weasley behind her. "Well? What's with him? Will he be alright?"
Before she could answer, Spleen added his bit as well, with a bit of worry in his voice. "You were examining him for almost 20 minutes, Caroline."
That long? That explained why she felt so drained.
She turned first to him and then to the Weasleys. "The confundus charm itself was undoubtedly very strong, but it was not responsible for his current status. However, although I cannot surely say what exactly is the pathophysiology with which the brains have influenced his mind, they have clearly disrupted the natural connections between his memories, thoughts and emotions."
"What does that mean? Will he be okay?" asked Mrs. Weasly, while sending fearful looks towards her son.
"Our thoughts and our thinking, memories and emotions are extremely complex structures that no one really understands. What happened for your son is that the connections between them were disturbed. Let me give you an example: Firstly, imagine having a memory, connected with a positive emotion. When the bond between them gets damaged, suddenly, it's confusing for the person to understand his emotions, because he's not sure what to feel at all. And in the same way, loose emotions are "flying" around, not attached to memories," Caroline tried to explain. "When this process continues, the thinking itself gets affected. Imagine starting a sentence and forgetting what you originally wanted to say and ending the sentence with an ending of an entirely different thought, not even realising something is wrong." She hoped the Weasleys would get it. She didn't know whether she could explain it any other way.
"But is it treatable?" asked Mr. Weasly, standing by the side of his wife.
"It is. We will provide him with several potions - Mind-stabilising for start, in combination with Emotion-controlling elixir, as well as Dreamless Drought, since it will be necessary for him not to dream during night sleep, as the dreams could lead to further confusion after waking up. Most importantly, he will need mind-rehabilitation, in the duration of several weeks. If he follows up on our advice,I believe he will be perfectly fine."
"Mind-rehabilitation?" Molly Weasley asked sceptically.
"Your son is now facing a situation unbeknown to him. He will need some help navigating his own thoughts and memories. It will be more like a guidance for him to renew the broken connections," Carolie answered patiently.
"And you are to be the one guiding him?" She-Weasley asked again with a cold expression.
Caroline occluded in order not to let the notion hurt. In the last few years, the hatred towards her and the distrust has finally calmed down a bit. But now, when her husband was out of the prison, participating in battles for the Dark Lord, it seemed to come back to the old ways.
But director Spleen had her back again. "Mrs. Weasley, healer Lestrange is considered an ace of her field, not only in the wizard Britain, but in the Wizarding Europe. She's been a vice-president of the Wizarding mental health Association for almost four years now. As a head of the mind-healing department, she is the best for the job."
There was a dead silence in the room. "Okay."
Caroline looked at Molly Weasley and felt relieved. Despite the exhaustion that she felt, she felt like she owed Weasley's family her help. It felt like she could at least try to redeem her husband's actions. And by that means, her own.