Necessary Monsters

Chapter 5

Summary:
"Isn't it considered ungentlemanly to keep a lady in suspense? Especially after she's nearly been killed?"
"How many times do you plan on using that?"
"As many as I can before the novelty wears off."

Felix is lucky he's already garnered a reputation for himself at the Romanian Reserve. He's sure he would never pass this interview otherwise. He can't remember half the things he's learned about international dragon research regulations, and completely fumbles the telling of his team's recent successful capture. But the Reserve Liaison cannot stop shaking Felix's hand, awed to meet the young man who "caught a Common Welsh Green at seventeen, quite remarkable!" He assures Felix the paperwork will be finalised and forwarded to Romania that very day, and by tomorrow, Felix will officially be the Reserve's Junior Resident Dragonologist for the Peruvian Vipertooth.

"You'll be such an exciting addition! So many brilliant young people there just at present. Makes me wish I weren't retired to an office, but, the missus does like her quiet life."

Felix manages a polite smile, and the Liaison pumps his hand a final time.

The job he's dreamed of since childhood is his. And it's a beautiful early summer morning that greets Felix as he steps onto the sidewalk outside the Ministry for Magic guest entrance. By rights, it should be the best day of his life. If the sound of Juniper's eldritch scream wasn't replaying in the back of his head every few minutes.

Felix sets off down the deserted street in a random direction. Freshly washed and laundered, and no work required of him for the rest of the day, he knows he should be apparating back to St Mungo's to check on Juniper's condition. But a strange reluctance tugs his feet around a corner and onto a walk bustling with muggles. He doesn't know what to expect upon his return; Juniper once again laid out like a corpse on white sheets, or wide-eyed and wailing, unable to escape whatever horrors that curse had inflicted upon her.

Shuddering at the memory, Felix's eyes squeeze shut briefly and he bumps into a couple turning a corner in his direction. The woman holds up a hand in quick apology, her other hand caught fast by the man beside her. Eyeing Felix, the man pulls his companion closer so they take up less room on the walk. The woman giggles, melting against him, and Felix is forgotten as they traipse away, wrapped entirely in each other.

It's exactly the sort of casual romantic display Felix dreams of, and his heart aches with a desperate longing. His evenings of the last year have been filled with similar fantasies: meeting Juniper somewhere in passing, chatting her up charmingly, letting her see how much older he is now, how much more confident, and impressive. One particularly alluring daydream he indulges in often involves rescuing Juniper from some dangerous enemy, comforting her from the subsequent fear, until his embrace wipes away all memory of the horror she's experienced.

Felix stops abruptly, and the man behind him almost runs him down. He swears at Felix loudly, then rights himself and speeds away.

Felix takes almost no notice. What on earth is he doing here, strolling past muggle shops, while Juniper is in pain, alone with only abrasive healers, and murderous aurors, and, well, Snape, to provide any sort of comfort? Fiery indignation at his own cowardice burns a hole through his chest. This is hardly his fantasy; he's never imagined her tortured or half-dead in hospital. But it's still an opportunity. Perhaps the opportunity. To show her the precise depth of his feelings in a way she cannot misunderstand.

Felix pats his inner pocket. He still has the letter he spent an entire night composing. And a whole day before he has to be in Romania.

The hospital is a good deal less crowded when Felix returns that afternoon. He bypasses the help-witch, nose firmly in the air, exits the stairs at the fourth floor and wanders down the main corridor, trying to remember the sequence of hallways leading to Juniper's hidden room. As he walks, he becomes aware of voices in the distance. Vaguely familiar voices, though he can't place how he knows them. The sounds grow clearer the farther Felix walks, and just before he turns onto the final dead-end hallway, he recognises one.