Adventures in Healing
11:29 A.M.
All Harry Potter characters are the property of J. K. Rowling and her publishers. There is no profit being made from this story. It is being done solely for my enjoyment and the improvement of my typing skills. Thank you to Ms. Rowling for allowing me to use her creations.
11:29 A.M.
The universe changed at 11:29 A.M.
At 11:28 a.m. Hettie McAllaster was still a part of the human race. At 11: 30 A.M. she wasn't. She was dead. She was dead because Luna Celeste Lovegood, Apprentice Healer, said so.
The class of apprentice healers had entered Hettie's room as Luna, the healer in charge of her case, explained the details of the treatment she was receiving. That was the easy part because Hettie was in very good condition for a witch nearly one hundred and sixty years old.
Luna saw the other students look suddenly surprised at something behind her. She turned and saw that Hettie must have take a turn for the worse and was in bad shape. Her wrinkled visage had gone grey and her lips were turning blue. She rushed to her patient's bedside and drew her wand as she prepared to perform the resuscitation protocol.
A gentle hand touched her wrist, "Are you sure you want to do that?" asked Master Healer Marcus Galen, her teacher.
"Yes, she's not breathing."
"To what purpose would you revive her? How long will you keep reviving her? You know that the spells provide diminishing returns for each casting. Are you going to keep on 'til you must cast for each beat of her heart," he asked gently?
"No … sir … but …"
"Death is ultimately a fact of life, Healer Lovegood." Galen turned to face the class. "For homework, one roll of parchment discussing the Healer's evaluation of resuscitation efforts in view of the patients life expectancy and quality of life, due by Friday."
Galen's gray eyes captured Luna's suddenly misty silvery grey ones, "It is your decision, will you resuscitate or call it?"
Luna hesitated for a moment before answering, "No, there is no reason not to let her go." Luna reached for Hettie's chart. She read aloud as she inscribed, "Time of death, 11:29 A. M." Luna then touched Hettie's cheek one last time and gently covered the aged features with the sheet.
The class filed silently out of the room. At the door Galen stopped Luna, "Meet me at two thirty and I will help you fill out the death certificate. Go with the class and I will send for someone to take charge of Hettie's body."
During the rest of the rounds Luna was distracted; thoughts of what she had done conflicted with the notes she was attempting to take. "This is a case of injury caused by defective ear muffs when dealing with Mandrakes. The muffs were at least successful preventing death at eleven twenty nine A.M."… "Dealing with Wolfsbane without gloves resulted in a mild case of Aconite poisoning fortunately there was little probability of death at eleven twenty nine A.M."… "Time of death eleven twenty nine was prevented by the application to Galliplot's law to the elixir that allowed…" "Time of Death…Time of Death…Time…" With shaking hands she struggled to take notes determined not to give up.
At last the round was finished. Galen dismissed the students for lunch reminding them of classes and assigning some to office time and others to clinical work before evening rounds. He held Luna back as the other student's dispersed. "Is this your first patient death?"
"No, Healer Galen, only the first to die absent major trauma." she said sadly.
"I see, you lost your mother when you were quite young, did you not?"
"Yes, Healer Galen. That is why I wanted to be a Healer, to help others not have to go through that, like I had to."
"Now it seems 'Death' has beaten you again?" he asked quietly.
Luna seemed to shrink in on herself, unable to speak she merely nodded. Galen took hold of her shoulder in a gesture of consolation. "I know this will not resolve itself in a few days. Take comfort in that you did all that you could for your patient, even going beyond the call of your profession. I know you visited her each evening after rounds trying to ease her loneliness."
"That is what I don't understand, she was so sweet, so full of stories, why was she abandoned by her family?" Luna whispered.
"Of all of life's questions, Healer Lovegood, 'why' is the one that goes most often without satisfactory resolution. Take an extended lunch break and go for a walk, meet with me around two thirty and we'll fill out the paperwork together." Luna turned and headed for the staff rooms, as she walked away Galen continued, "If you need to talk, Healer Lovegood, my door is always open to you."
The walls of St. Mungo's seemed to be closing in on Luna as she fled the staff room clutching her lunch. She desperately wanted to talk to her fiancé, Ron Weasley, but he was out of the hospital today training with the Aurors of the DMLE. The idea was to have Healers with the strike teams. Hettie's room was empty with her body being removed to the morgue. The white emptiness seemed to accuse her of not doing more for her patient. No one heard her plaintive "Sorry, Mum, I've failed again," or noticed her near frantic haste to flee the quiet witness of that indicting empty bed.
Luna Lovegood, like most of the staff had a place to go, not far from the hospital where she could be alone and free from the pressure of being a Healer. Her place was a small park four blocks from the hospital. There were a few trees growing around a small lake that reminded her of the Black Lake at Hogwarts. There were a few benches arranged around the area. It was a refuge for a few birds and squirrels. At lunch times there were usually a few people gathered in the park, but it wasn't difficult for Luna to find an empty bench. She nibbled disinterestedly at her meal, not really hungry.
Weary with a tiredness that had nothing to do with her physical body she leaned back on the bench studying the patterns of red sunlight and black leafy shadows on the inside of her eyelids. Her mind relaxed partly keeping track of her heart rate, breathing, and the sensation of warm air currents stirring the tree branches over her.
The boards beneath her moved as someone sat down on the opposite side of the bench Luna opened her eyes to find a young working man was sitting there looking at her. He placed his hard hat between them and opened his lunch box. He appeared to be in his late thirties with longish brown hair, indented over his ears by the leather band in his helmet. His bright brown eyes smiled at her over a rather small nose covered in freckles. "Hello, pretty lady, do you mind if I sit here while I eat my lunch?"
Luna shook her head "no" but added, "I'm sorry but I doubt I will be good company today, I had a rather bad morning."
"That's okay. Oh, first things first, my name's Redford, and is it Good Afternoon or just G'day? Nope 'G'day' is Australian and this is England…I get confused sometimes. It's the accent you know. That said I doubt your morning was worse than mine. You see that corner building? I found a poor little old lady dead there this morning. Been after her to move out for a fortnight now, got her notice months ago and just ignored it. Must have died in the night poor dear, still if she hadn't died I'd have had to call the law. We're demolishing the buildings and she couldn't stay. Any ideas on why someone would hang on like that? I don't understand it."
"Fear," Luna responded, "elderly people like being in familiar surroundings, it makes them feel safe."
"Hmm," clearly Redford wasn't entirely convinced. "Maybe, but she's seen no one for years. I checked, she had her groceries and medicine delivered and stayed in there with just an old wireless for company. Her husband died you see, nigh on thirty years ago, it's like she buried him in the churchyard and herself in that apartment. Years ago, when she had friends, they all invited her to stay with them and she refused. Just hung on in that dismal, rundown old apartment. Good thing it was in the basement, else the floor would have fallen in by now."
Luna wasn't entirely comfortable with Redford, something just beyond her reach was trying to tell her something. Still, his words sparked the beginnings of an idea in her mind. "Probably she held on because it was all she had left of her husband…her family…when you told her she had to leave she…just…gave up." Unaccountably, Luna began to feel a slight irritation with the construction worker, but she couldn't keep the realization that Hettie might have been feeling the same things as this nameless old woman, even though Luna had tried to ease her loneliness. "Why couldn't you just rebuild the apartment around her, so she could stay?" she accused.
Redford laughed, "Ah, well now, demolishing and rebuilding, that is something I know about. Twenty years ago we might have been able to do that, but with the brittleness of the current structure, creaky old hinges, the age of the wiring, plumbing, sub floors, not to mention that sagging façade, and all the neglect the buildings have suffered, the whole block is just too damaged. Sure, there are some materials that are salvageable, but the cost to shore up everything we'd have to just to save what little can be saved would cost more than the materials are worth. A modern refrigerator would fall through the floor, the current it would draw through those old wires would start a fire, if you repair one leak you'd only start one somewhere else in those old pipes. Sometimes the old has to be torn down to make way for the new. I imagine in a hundred years what I build here now will be torn down to make way for something else. Meanwhile families will come, shops will come, and the whole area will come to life again."
"Still, I think you ought to build things to last," Luna snarked, "turning little old ladies out of their homes just isn't fair."
"Well, there are some old buildings like that, you want to live in a pyramid in Egypt? The building has lasted but I think the amenities are sparse and the desert isn't as hospitable as London here. Another thing, that woman over there chose to be alone, through the years she was offered friendship, she was offered new experiences, she was offered second chances, she refused them all to be lonely. Don't feel overly sorry for her, she was only miserable, if she even was miserable, it was because she chose to be. Her life didn't have to end this way, it kind of ended the way she chose for it to end."
Luna did not feel like arguing, her grief at failing Hettie was threatening tears again. Ordinarily the buzzing of a wasp would not have bothered her in the slightest, she was used to sharing the world with all manner of unusual creatures. Now, with her emotions stretched to such a pitch, she flinched from what sounded like some kind of accusation, with a small scream she ducked down and away from the red-brown flying insect. For his part Redford reacted angrily at the intrusive bug. His brows came together in a scowl and he transfixed the wasp with an angry glare. Instantly the wasp froze in its flight, dropped to the ground, writhed for a moment, and was still. Luna's mouth dropped in amazement as her eyebrows disappeared into her hairline. Realizing what he had done Redford looked sheepishly at Luna and said, "Oops."
"What are you?" Luna whispered.
Redford sat back with a sigh. The hard hat and his 'lunch' turned into vapor and blew away in the slight breeze. "I think you know," he said, "I believe you have known since the moment I sat down with you, pretty lady."
"Mr. Death?" she queried.
Death smiled back at her, "Right in one, Healer Lovegood. I must say you have the most unique imagination, as a force of nature I have no body and I take the form your mind gives to me. Most see me as a skeletal figure in a hooded robe with a scythe, others as some kind of overworked civil servant minding the machinery of death, obsessed with appointments and ledgers. But this…I'm flattered."
"What do you want?"
"Only what we are doing, just to have a chat. Perhaps, come to an understanding?"
Luna's face scrunched a little, "I don't like you, Mr. Death, you took my Mum, you took my new friend, Hettie, and that old lady from across the street."
"Her name was Mildred, Healer Lovegood. You are not precisely correct if you think I 'took' these people from your life. I am the natural result of excessive blunt force trauma, direct exposure to fire or any energy for that matter, be it lightning, magic, or chemicals. You humans are so fragile, I can come from extreme weather conditions too hot or cold doesn't matter. Your life processes can be infected by microorganisms and even the passage of time can so alter the chemical machinery of your bodies that they can no longer hold on to life. At those times and circumstances I make my presence known, and in so doing create space for new life, innovation, and growth. That is all I do.
"But that wasp…" Luna accused.
"Special condition, since I am a projection of your mind, it was your anger and fear that killed the wasp. You could also have swatted it yourself or destroyed it with your wand if you had wished. I was just a convenient modality," he said quietly.
"What kind of understanding are you looking for, Mr. Death?" Luna's voice was strained and she was unable to look her companion in the eye.
"That even though you must always lose to me, for in the end Death comes for everyone, we need not be mortal enemies. All I ask is that you don't take it so personally when you do lose. You can certainly argue with me, you will even win many of those confrontations, but ultimately I must win, but that doesn't need to reflect badly on you," his voice was kindly. "Oh, and one more thing, take my hand." he extended a rough, calloused hand.
Luna extended her hand very reluctantly, her arm trembling as she held it toward him. Gently he took her small hand in his. Instantly the world around her went grey. Her vision faded to black at the edges. Relentlessly her vision shrank to a grey dot and then everything vanished into blackness.
Mr. Death's voice surrounded her as she drifted. She felt like she was sinking ever deeper into some black foreverness outside of the universe. "You see, there is no tearing asunder, no cataclysmic wrenching apart. Only peace and here I must take my leave. I am only concerned with matter. I know nothing of spirit, that is why you instantly understood Mildred when she was a complete mystery to me. You humans are so ephemeral I must pay really close attention or I miss your spirits entirely. I find matter to be so amazing, no sooner it locks into some configuration that that configuration begins to change. It begins to fall apart slowly becoming something else. A slow, ever changing dance of atoms spread across so vast a distance I can scarcely comprehend it. It happens so slowly I guess you never see it, that fact saddens me. Still what awaits you beyond this point in your existence is outside of my knowledge, but know that I wish you well in your journey. Now, nap time is over, I believe you have an appointment at two thirty?"
Slowly the blackness began to turn red at the edges. Soon all that was left of the darkness was the patterns of shadow on the inside of Luna's eyelids. Her eyes fluttered open and she was alone on the park bench. Standing up she felt rather stiff and her brain didn't seem to be working after her impromptu nap. From across the street she heard the noises from the construction crews cordoning off the sidewalks and building protective covers over the walkways to protect pedestrians from the demolition work that she knew would be commencing shortly. As she walked back toward St. Mungo's she recalled her odd dream, Mr. Death indeed…
Her meeting with Master Healer Galen was an education of a different sort. Luna received a beginning course in filling out medical records and death certificates. Earlier in her career as a Healer-in-Training others had taken care of the paperwork, now as an Apprentice Healer she would have to be responsible for her own. She also received instruction on using the Ministry to track down next of kin notifications. It was just after four thirty when she and Galen had finished all the paperwork. She had made it through without displaying any undue emotion, but now after finishing the medical records she took off in search of Ron.
Luna found Ron working in his office. She shut and locked the door behind her. Ron had not noticed as he was working on his case notes. "Ron, how was your day?" she asked in a strained, quiet whisper.
Smiling Ron Weasley looked up at his fiancée, "Lot of bloody boring meetings with the Aurors in the morning then spent the rest of the day learning to move from cover to cover to support police operations, triage victims, law enforcement, and then whatever is left of the bad guys." He noticed her stricken face, "Sweetheart, what's wrong?" It took less than two seconds to stand, cross the small office, and enfold Luna in a warm hug.
She did not answer for a minute or two. Then she stepped back and placed her hand on the center of his chest. "Minute," she said her breath starting to hitch. Luna opened Ron's lime green healer's robe pushing it back off his shoulders. Understanding Ron took off the robe laying it on the back of his office chair. She then began on the buttons of his shirt, bewildered he helped her remove that and his tee shirt as well.
Ron then blushed scarlet as she dropped her robe to the floor, swiftly removed her blouse. "Luna," he began. She placed her finger over his lips to shush him and removed her bra as well. Grabbing him she guided him to his small couch, pushed him down, sat on his lap, and wrapped him in a needy hug, pressing as much of her bare skin against his bare chest as she could. At last the dam burst and she wept freely for the loss of her patient.
Her fiancé had, of course heard of the loss of Hettie McAllister, but no one had told him how deeply it had affected Luna Lovegood. Ron gently rubbed her back and neck, ran his fingers through her long blond hair, kissing whatever he could in his efforts to soothe her.
After a time her sobbing decreased and he was able to talk to her. "I'm sorry Ronald, my skin just needed your skin after my terrible morning." As she began to calm down he gave her back her bra and helped her put it on. She then launched into the story of her day, the walk to the park, and her meeting with Mr. Death. If Ron had any doubts about her story he kept them to himself. They went through the conversation a couple of times, trying to understand exactly what Death had meant. The hardest thing for Luna was trying to decide if the conversation was real or only a dream. The unreality of the situation was upsetting her.
Picking up her robe and blouse from the floor he handed them to her and suggested, "Well, let's go to the park and see what we can find."
Skipping supper at the hospital they walked to the park. It only took a few minutes to find the bench. "I still don't know if he was really here or if it was just a dream, Ronald." Luna stated uncertainly.
Ron bent over searching on the ground before the bench. After a few minutes he stood and said, "Well, if it was just a dream, can you explain this?" He held out a dead wasp he had picked up from the ground.
"Then you believe me?" she asked the corners of her mouth twitched up for the first time since she had come into his office.
"Of course, you had no reason to lie, and just because it is…unusual…doesn't mean it is untrue."
"I love you, Ron." she smiled as she hugged her fiancé once again.
"I love you, too, Sweetheart." Ron said as he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close. "We need to get back for evening rounds."
After rounds the couple returned to Ron's office. They cuddled on his couch for a few minutes of quiet snogging before he said, "Luna have I told you how much I love you today?"
"Oh yes you have Ronald, several times, in fact. The best time though was when I took off my bra and you had the decency to blush, even though I don't have anything you haven't seen before. That just said how special I am to you." She rewarded him with an tender kiss.
He was still trying to come up with ways to cheer her up from her lingering sense of upset. Looking at his schedule he suggested, "Hermione Potter is waddling in for a pre-natal check up. She was tied up at the Ministry and I got her an after hours appointment. You can come and snicker behind her back at the way she walks now. That is if you want to."
Luna stood up and pulled him up too. "Ronald Weasley, what are you trying to do? Start a war with the DMLE? You know how protective they are of the Potters and Hermione especially now that she's pregnant! Now I have to go just to make sure you don't get hexed into oblivion. Let's go."
Ron smirked behind Luna's back, engaging her in 'full protection of my fiancé' mode totally blew away any lingering sadness as she focused on the task at hand not that that stopped her from fussing at his insensitivity.
As they approached the door to the receiving area at the front of the hospital, the doors in front of them opened. The brown eyed orderly, with the longish brown hair and a freckles over a small nose, winked at Luna as he passed them. Instantly she froze in recognition and whirled around to look. Ron turned too, but all either of them saw was the long empty hallway behind them.
For a few long moments she stared when the announcement began. "Code Blue, Code Blue in the spell damage ward. Healers Frasier, Nelson, and Greene please report to the spell damage ward." With a sigh Luna turned around and began to walk to the receiving area dragging Ron in her wake.
"And if I ever catch you laughing at Hermione because she's pregnant I'll slap you cross-eyed then I'll tell your mother and sister so they can finish the job…" The door to receiving closed behind them cutting off whatever else she was saying.
Death smiled to himself, with Healers like this young couple the first century of the new Millennium was going to be a blast.