hogwash | (no subject)

Who: Katie & Open, especially to Weasleys and Harry
What: Waiting
Where: St. Mungo's
When: Early evening, the day of Hermione's poisoning
Rating: TBD
Status: In progress

There was nothing left for Katie to do but wait. She'd owled the people she thought the most important, and now she sat in the waiting room at St. Mungo's, leaning forward. Her long, narrow hands were folded into a steeple, forefingers pressed together, elbows resting on her knees. After a few moments, she got up from her chair to pace to the window, folding her arms. The sun was beginning to set, long ashen shadows stretching out from the base of the trees, sunlight breaking out underneath the covering of clouds. It was still raining, a spattering that intensified and siphoned off by turns, and the droplets were like darts of amber in the fading light. Katie rubbed her hands through her wild hair and thought, for one idle and peculiar moment, that she ought to have owled George too.

It was strange to wait here, lost in a fog of concern for a woman she only knew from her school days, a woman that was little more than an acquaintance now, and yet Katie's guts still twisted with anxiety. She knew that for Ginny's sake she had to stay, a guardian in her stead, and so she waited.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Mandy straightened as Smethwyk walked over and gave her instructions. "Yessir!" She said and hastened to alert Miss Granger's parents. Once a little ways off, she slowed and doubled back to listen to what had actually happened.

'Poisoned?' She thought. 'Deliberately no less.' Mandy wondered if this news would be released so that people would know to take care. 'It might be personal, or an isolated case. Would it be worth it to stir up paranoia again over one potential mishap?' She wondered as she went to the hospital Owlery

Working quickly, Mandy grabbed a quill and ink and did her best to make her handwriting neat. It wasn't rare that she had to write letters like this, but to a muggle family...

Mr. and Mrs. Granger,
I regret to inform you that your daughter, Hermione Granger, is currently a patient at St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injury. You are more than welcome to visit your daughter at your earliest convenience. As you are Muggles, accommodations for travel will be made. Please use this owl to get back in touch with us to set up visitation.

Mandy Brocklehurst, Junior Healer, St. Mungo's
After writing the address, Mandy sealed the missive with some wax and the hospital seal. She chose a small, speedy, owl and tied the note to its leg.

"Now you are to go quickly and wait for a reply. It's imperative that you don't come back without an answer. When you do get one, you find either Smethwyk or myself. ONLY us." She told the bird sternly before letting it out the window.

Once the bird was no longer a speck on the horizon, she went back to the group in the waiting room. "I've sent an owl to Miss Granger's parents, sir. The owl has been told not to come back without a reply and to find either you or myself."

Ginny was thankful to see another friendly face--especially on staff--in Mandy. She remembered their encounter in Diagon Alley and how Ginny had made a stupid joke about seeing her at Mungo's, but for herself. Stomach sinking, she wished she had never said it anyway.

Sitting and listening to the healer-in-charge, Smethwyk, she nodded at his question if she was a friend. Ginny knew full well that the press would be all over this story and the longer they delayed it, the better it would be. What kind of unrest would it spark in the Wizarding community if they knew one of their golden heroes had been stricken by a poisoning in Diagon Alley? Shuddering at the thought, Ginny thought it sounded much like they were in the midst of the Second War again.

The description of what the procedure entailed for Hermione made Ginny queasy. Instinctively, she squeezed Ron's hand a bit harder--maybe he needed a bit of extra support hearing all this business, she thought. Once he finished and started on Mandy, Ginny tried to relax into the rather stiff waiting room chair. She felt uncomfortable being there, as if she didn't quite belong--she wondered if Katie felt much the same. Though she was Hermione's best mate, there was something wrong about the way Ginny's heart ached for her. She had to get out of there."I reckon we ought to give Hermione her rest and just poke our heads in. I imagine you'll be staying the night if you can, Ron? Do you want me to go to your flat and fetch you anything?"

His stare was glazed over now and he hardly gave a reaction when the healer walked in and began to explain the situation. He had already drawn it in his head... They were still out there, of course. Dark wizards. Twisted... FUCKERS who cared nothing more than the blood that ran through someone's veins, how foolish had he been, thinking they were safe. He was lulled into a false sense of security now that Voldemort was gone, but there were so many people... SO many people who were still considered as dark wizards. And he still thought that they were safe.

Only a few things reached him... Poisoned... It wasn't an accident...

Well of COURSE it wasn't an accident you bloody GIT, you think that they happen to use poisonous ingredients in the kitchens?

He felt the faint squeeze of Ginny's hand, as if his brain was completely detached from his body and he slowly started to look down, watching her fingers move in his own and he finally found the energy to part his lips, his voice flat and dry,

"No. ... I don't need anything, I'm just... I'm going to stay here." He swallowed hard... he couldn't even think at the moment. What would he had to have? What was at his flat? ... It didn't matter, he didn't care enough. He stood, feeling his heart twist so sharply in worry that he wasnt sure if he would have had to sit down again... he kept on his feet, trying to figure out what was wrong with him...

He felt guilty. Horribly, horribly guilty. Where the HELL was he when she needed him?

He glanced at Mandy with empty eyes... the Healer said that he could visit her, right? he stood in the doorway, nervously... staring at her in the bed and he had to grab onto the doorways frame to keep himself steady. She looked so... what? Frail? Lying there... and he forced himself to step into the room, grabbing a chair and dragging it over to her bedside, sitting... and he stared softly at her face, his eyes starting to burn.

"Hey Hermione."

He said her name gently before taking a deep breath and he glanced at her hand, gently placing his fingers against the back of it. He wasn't even sure if she could hear him...

"I came as soon as I found out you were here." He forced a broken laugh. "I was actually on time for once and you weren't even awake to see it. ...It was your fault this time..."

Ginny watched Ron, worry creasing her brow, as he seemed to be in a completely different world than the rest of them. It was natural, of course, that he would be focusing on what had happened with Hermione but even he was acting strange by those standards. His voice was almost startling in its monotone and light rasp. Ginny knew better than to press him for any more information and simply nodded along. "Just send me an owl if you decide otherwise, Ron. Let me at least walk with you..."

As he started off in a distracted saunter, Ginny followed him to the room, halting at the door jamb. Her stomach sank and twisted, nausea washing over her and she swore that the burn of bile rose at the back of her throat. The image of her lying there prone made her heart tighten painfully.

Ginny couldn't be there anymore. The smell of the poultices and potions was enough, the sight of Ron looking at Hermione that way pushed her over the edge. Her heart ached that she couldn't be for her in the capacity Ron was, that she wasn't at Hermione's beck and call that way, reminded her painfully of the way she felt. You selfish git, Ginny thought angrily--how dare she think about herself?

As she heard Ron begin to speak, Ginny bowed out gracefully but not before daring another glance at the bushy hair against the starkly white pillow. Walking uncertainly back to the waiting room, she avoided the gazes of Mandy, Harry, and Katie. "Think I'll be heading back now." And, without further hesitation, Ginny stalked off toward the exit--to the Muggle road on which St. Mungo's stood.