Champions

Fixing harry

William "Bill" Weasley was not a person who one could consider normal, at least if you were to ask his mother. Not only did he wear an earring – almost unheard of for men in Wizarding society – but he had a distinct love of danger. His career as a curse-breaker was legendary among the goblins because he took big risks and came out ahead.

But even his love of danger could not make him turn down a direct request from Director Ragnok himself!

It would have been his first inclination were it any other goblin that made this request. He had been ordered to Paris on an immediate basis — pulling him out of an important dig in Egypt — and Ragnok had come in person to deliver that order. The problem was, all he had to go on was that he was to assist a Friend of the Goblin Nation. He had no idea what the job entailed.

Being a Friend of the Goblin Nation was no small thing for a Wizard, so he was quite curious who he would be dealing with, and more than a little apprehensive. Worse, Ragnok had then produced a Wizard-made Portkey and told him to go immediately. He didn't say it, but his message was clear: no delay would be tolerated.

Whoever this person was, they were held in very high esteem indeed.

He arrived in the waiting room of the Parisian hospital without fanfare, and before he could even approach the desk, he was whisked away by a rather cute Healer. She said nothing – not even her name – and led him to an elevator that took them to the second floor. He wanted to flirt, but sensed that it would not be well received at the moment.

She led him down a hall and into a room near the end, and Bill stopped dead in his tracks when he found himself facing a very attractive Veela. He would have put her age at about twenty in a human, but for her he guessed it might be more like fifty. She was incredibly beautiful, as were all Veela, and he couldn't stop himself from peeking at her left hand.

Damn, he thought. Married.

"You are Beel Weasley?" she asked.

"Yes, ma'am," he nodded, thankfully unaffected by her allure. "Director Ragnok sent me. What can I do for you?"

The woman didn't bat an eye at the reference to the Goblin leader. "You can take an Oath, Monsieur Weasley," she said seriously, "zat nothing you see or do 'ere will leave zis room wizout our consent. Zis ees very serious, and I give you my word zat eet ees nuzzing illegal or immoral."

She's nothing if not direct, he mused to himself.

It was definitely a risky proposition. If he took the oath and found something untoward in the job, he would have no recourse. Then again, he did love danger, and the request came from Ragnok himself, so it was damned if you do, damned if you don't. He elected to do.

He drew his wand and held it in the air. "I, William Arthur Weasley, do hereby solemnly swear on my magic that I will keep the secrets entrusted to me by the people in this room on this day, barring their permission to speak. So mote it be."

He felt the magic take hold, and fought down a sense of foreboding.

"Thank you," she nodded, her voice softening slightly. "We 'ave requested your assistance to deal wiz a matter of Dark magic. My son-in-law ees affected by something, but we do not know what eet ees. We need to find out, and take whatever actions are necessary."

Bill nodded his understanding; it seemed a reasonable request. "Well, I can't say what I can do until I see him," he said honestly. "What's your name?"

"You may call me Arienne."

Not recognizing the name, he just nodded again. "And what are we looking at?" he asked.

"A curse scar," said the Healer next to him. "And I'm Healer Naomi Parks, Mr. Weasley, I know your brother Charlie if you need a reference. In any event, we believe that the scar is somehow connected to a Dark wizard, resulting in an occasional merging of consciousness. We don't understand it beyond that. All I can tell you is that the patient had a vision this afternoon, seeing from the eyes of the wizard in question, and was subjected to intense pain when the wizard cast the Cruciatus Curse."