Thicker than Water (Marauders Era)

1 September, 1978 - Day One

The first day of September dawned as bright and sunny as one could hope for a fall morning in England. Lavinia watched the sunrise while sitting on the porch and cradling a cup of tea as she tried not to be nervous. It didn't work very well and as the time to leave came closer, she found herself becoming a bundle of nervous energy.

At about 7 am, Sirius came out of the house with two bowls of porridge and sat down next to her, wordlessly handing her a bowl. She wasn't hungry and she was sure he knew that, but she also knew that he was far better at taking care of her than she ever had been at taking care of herself. So she took the bowl and ate slowly, staring out into the morning until she was done.

He stood with her and they went back inside, the whole time never saying a word. She supposed they didn't need to. She knew he understood that she was afraid and besides, she didn't really want to talk about why she was nervous because part of her felt like if she said it aloud, it would make it that much more real. At the moment, she felt a bit disconnected from it all, like this wasn't real. Like it was happening to someone else. She'd rather keep it that way.

When the time came for her to leave, Remus and Sirius both gave her quick hugs. "You'll do great," Sirius murmured as he held her for perhaps a little longer than was necessary.

Lavinia felt a strange little bubble of something in her chest at those words and realized with a bit of a jolt that she simply wasn't used to people thinking she was going to do well when she tried new things. She couldn't decide if she liked it or not because though she appreciated the sentiment, part of her now just felt like there was even more pressure. She didn't want to disappoint him, after all.

She walked a little ways down the front walk before taking a deep breath and disapparating to the location she'd been given in a letter she'd received in mid August that had confirmed her position. She reappeared in an alley a block or so away from the staff entrance to St. Mungo's which was simply a solid brick wall that, if tapped in the correct location would consent to momentarily stop being a wall.

Lavinia thought this was a rather odd way of entering a building, but she'd had enough experience with doors pretending to walls and vice versa at Hogwarts that she didn't really question it. Realistically, it was probably safer anyway since muggles couldn't get in even if they happened to stumble on the spot.

On the other side of the rather obliging sometimes-door, was a rather cozy looking room with a little plaque on the wall that read Employee Lounge. There were armchairs and few tables and three people in lime green healer robes were sitting and eating breakfast. Lavinia thought vaguely that those must be healers from the night shift who had just gotten off on their break. She couldn't deny she wasn't looking forward to that particular aspect of this job but with any luck, it would be awhile before she had to deal with night shifts.

Also in the room was about a dozen young men and women who wore muggle clothes like Lavinia. All of them looked rather nervous and a bit lost and Lavinia realized they were probably also new to the healer program. She sidled over to this group, peering around for any indication of where she might be supposed to go.

"Hello," a singsong voice suddenly sounded from next to Lavinia, who startled slightly and looked over to see a girl about her own age with short, bouncy brown curls and a broad, smiling face. "I'm Miriam," the girl said, beaming and sticking her hand out. "Miriam Strout."

Lavinia took the girl's hand a bit hesitantly. "I'm Lavinia," she replied, trying to keep her voice as even and professional as possible to hide her frank shock at this young woman's blithe confidence. "Lavinia Selwyn. It's nice to meet you," she added.

"Like the Selwyns?" asked Strout and Lavinia did her best not to wince. "You know, I've always wondered what you people are like. I never met you at school. I think I might have seen you, though. I was in the year above you, you know. Hufflepuff," she added, a bit unnecessarily, in Lavinia's opinion. "But I took a year abroad after I graduated so I'm just starting healer training now. This is all very exciting isn't it?" she finished, her smile somehow wider than ever as she looked around the room in awe.