Thicker than Water (Marauders Era)

22 November, 1979 - Dragon Pox

It was a dreary and frankly depressing day in mid November when Lavinia received some very unwelcome news while at work. This did nothing to improve the frankly dismal state of the world which seemed to be a constant drain on Lavinia, like the energy was sucked out of her just by existing in a reality that could be this cruel.

It wasn't just the usual deaths and disappearances anymore. No, by now, the Dark Lord was coming into the public eye. Propaganda had started spreading, deeds that had always been assumed to be the work of the Death Eaters were now being publicly and brazenly claimed by them. And the government response had been chaotic. Calls for the Minister of Magic to step down in favor of someone younger and more willing to launch a full scale assault on the Death Eaters were becoming common and widespread and the Ministry, as a result, was in a state of upheaval.

This wasn't helpful for anyone. Really, Lavinia might not have much noticed or cared except that the hit wizards in the ward complained about it constantly. Apparently it was hampering their ability to capture Death Eaters and do their jobs because the Minister was so preoccupied with his publicity ratings that he was slow to authorize their deployment. The aurors, who occasionally came into the ward as well, were similarly annoyed at what they saw as a lack of effective action.

Lavinia usually just let them talk without saying much. Politics wasn't exactly her thing and she had absolutely no wish to start any discussions, especially since there was a good chance that she would end up being accused as a sympathizer if she stated her honest opinions on much of anything. Thankfully, her patients didn't seem to mind. Actually, they seemed to just want to vent to someone and didn't much care if that someone answered any of their complaints.

This particular day was no different and Lavinia was ignoring the babbling of a hit wizard whose wound she was cleaning when someone popped their head in the entrance that led to the main ward. Lavinia looked up at the sound of the opening door, pausing before she applied a nasty smelling purple potion to the hit wizard's wound.

"Can I help you?" Lavinia asked curiously. She didn't recognize the person, a woman whose dark hair was in a neat ponytail high on her head.

"Yes," the woman replied, stepping into the ward. "Are you Trainee Selwyn?" she asked.

Lavinia blinked and did a slight double take at being addressed like that. Everyone in this ward just called her Lavinia, or occasionally, Miss Selwyn. But she regained her bearings quickly enough and nodded.

"Well, there's a couple who were just brought in to magical bugs who claim they know you. I guess they were hoping you could stop by?" the woman added, shrugging and sounding rather like she thought she was too important to just be sent as a messenger. Lavinia squinted slightly at the woman's robes. Just below the crossed wand and bone was the white bar that marked her as a trainee.

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes at the woman's pompous attitude, Lavinia glanced at her watch. "Is it urgent?" she asked, suppressing a wince at the selfishness of the question, "My shift ends in half an hour." She should probably be dropping everything. Why ask for her unless it was urgent? Not that she had any idea who would ask for her in magical bugs, but... but she wanted to finish her shift, she wanted to keep her hands moving as much as she could these days.

The woman shrugged again. "They're stable, if that's what you're asking."

It wasn't, but if urgency hadn't been specified... "I'll come by after my shift," she decided. "What's the ward?"

"Chauncy Oldridge," the woman replied. "Dragon Pox."

Lavinia nodded and thanked the woman before returning to her patient, who was frowning impatiently at her, but quickly stopped when she touched the healing salve to his skin and it started smoking slightly.