"Auror Gamp!" Healer Misslethorpe was pleased to see her. Even if she was here on business. They had got to know each other much better after the incident. They both needed time to recover. Here she was in his office on Spell Damage. And he was not out cold in his wardrobe to greet her. This was progress. "And Ariadne?" He was not expecting the second witch. Auror Gamp had sent an owl. Needed his help for an investigation. Happened time to time. Sandy was honored to help. He was Deputy Head Healer. The extra gold on the trim of his green robes marked it.

"Come in. Come in. Are you well?" One of the visitors chairs shuffled closer to the other. The hospital furniture could be clever like that. Anticipating need. Chairs nudging under shaky legs. Beds rolling patients over. "Take a seat. What can I help with?"

Andromeda had swiped Ariadne from the Prophet offices. She wanted to talk to Healer Misslethorpe about muse. Now Andromeda was going officially. Too good an opportunity to miss. On the way Andromeda drilled Ariadne with the dos and donts of the meeting. Keep your mouth shut until I give you the look. Be objective. Take notes.

"I am well. You?" Replied Andromeda. He looked well. "Ariadne's on work experience." Lied Andromeda. Stretching the truth. Took a seat. "I am investigating a potion known on the market as Muse. Do you know about it?"

"Well. Thank you." Said Sandy. Well as he could be when Andy was not asking him to make figures work when the hospital had gone over budget. He could work many miracles. But not that one. So she was never pleased.

"Muse?" He heard that name before. In the wards. Coming up from the potions floor. "Yes I know of it. Latest in highs for a wix. Makes you dream?"

"Or experience someone's memory." Suggested Auror Gamp.

"That could also be true."

"Have you dealt with many cases?" She had a sharp dark stare. Reminiscent of her father. When he had been sane and not an umbrella.

"Personally no. I am a spell damage specialist. They would be referred to potions and poisonings. But I can look them out." That was admin. "But if it is about memories. What do you want to know?"

Ariadne was meant to be working on start of season quidditch articles. It was the opening day of the 2012-13 quidditch season and the teams were confirming their line-ups ahead of Friday’s first game between the Kenmare Kestrels and the Caerphilly Catapults. If Aunt Andromeda hadn’t bodily summoned her from the Daily Prophet office in her red auror robes Ariadne would never have been able to claim this was her lunch break.

Her aunt had issued instructions quickly as they waited, and Ariadne got an insight into how Raine must feel as an auror trainee. Thrown into conversations and expected to digest information incredibly quickly. It wasn’t something Ariadne couldn’t do, but she didn’t tend to interview quidditch players with the intensity of aunt Andromeda.

Healer Misslethorpe seemed very convivial at their arrival, despite the note of question in his voice at using Ariadne’s name. She was impressed he remembered. She’d barely met him. Then again, he had been her grandfather’s healer, and the family had been splashed all over the media for two concurrent Februarys… he’d probably looked her up, especially given his other job, an owner of Witch-Weekly. Ariadne had gone to school with his daughter, Meredith Misslethorpe. Last she’d heard, Merry was head girl with Kelvin Watkins. Sounded about right.

“Ariadne’s on work experience.” She tried her very best to keep her face straight at this description of her presence. Work experience. Right. Yeah, because she’d totally not killed her curiosity of being an auror with her aunt and her mother as one too.

“I am investigating a potion known on the market at Muse. Do you know about it?” Straight in for the kill, classic auntie.

“… makes you dream?”
“Or experience someone’s memory.”
“That could also be true.”

Just how many chats had these two had when her aunt was recovering?

“Have you dealt with many cases?” She was scribbling notes, in the shorthand she’d been learning for the newspaper.
“Personally no.” The Deputy Head Healer replied, “I am a spell damage specialist. They would be referred to potions and poisonings…” He offered to look out the details, and Ariadne glanced back and forth between the two older parties in this conversation.

“But if it is about memories. What do you want to know?”

There was a pause and Ariadne glanced to her aunt, checking for the sign. The nod. The explosion of sparks or whatever it was she was meant to be waiting for.

“Can you really put memories into a potion?” Ariadne chanced, feeling it was a general enough question to sound plausible for the ‘work experience’.

It was a good question. Astute from the work experience witch. Sandy did not completely believe work experience. He had a suspicion she did some sports writing for the Daily Prophet.

"Memories can be extracted from your mind and reviewed." Explained Sandy. "They can be stored in bottles." He handed Ariadne an one from a drawer in his desk. It had a blank label tied on with twine. Waiting for a name. Description of the memory.

"Memories can be altered when outside of the mind. Yes, they can be added to liquid." It was not a branch of magic that many wix could do. Memories were precious. Fragile like cobwebs. "You might remember from Beadle the Bard the story of the Fountain. Amata washed the happy memories of her and her lover away as a payment. When she did so she forgot how much her heart ached. Because she no longer remember those times." It was a story but it illustrated well. Every wizarding child had heard the stories. Read the book. "We offer memory extraction to patients after traumatic events. Temporarily or more permanently." He exchanged the bottle for a leaflet. 

Andromeda was happy Ariadne's question had got an answer. That it was relevant. Her niece was sharp. Andie wished all the auror trainees were as sharp. Some of them had already failed tests. Given up. Andromeda studied the bottle in Ariadne's hand.

"The muse potion is inhaled." Said Andromeda. "Smoked more precisely." A potion that was then evaporated. Taken via the lungs. She had not known the detail when Ariadne asked on her visit.

"How quickly can you pull those records?"

The Deputy Head Healer agreed. That was what he understood. He had not seen someone take muse. But there were plenty of smoking holes that you could smoke something tasty in. Wizards had created tobacco that did not have the same terrible health consequences as muggle tobacco had. It smelled a lot sweeter too. Auror Gamp was business. She did not need the picture colored in like Ariadne.

"If it is so urgent then I can have someone on it right away." Said Healer Misslethorpe. He reached for an internal memorandum. From a big stack of blank ones on his desk. Wrote out a request. It folded itself up and fluttered away. It would take a short while. The witches in records were incredibly efficient. Especially when he or Andy did the request. Top priority.

"Perhaps you are best visiting the Potions and Plant Poisoning floor to speak to the healers there." Suggested Sandy. "Shall we?" Got up and gestured to the door.

When they were out. He explained to Auror Gamp. "I know who dealt with Rosier[1] while we dealt with the spell damage victims from his episode. There were five sent in. Four minor one major. Nasty hex..."

1.	Dangerous Drug Incites Chaos in Slandermouth 26th Sept

Healer Misslethorpe was kind enough to explain to Ariadne. He handed her an empty bottle, and Ariadne studied it in one hand, the other busy with shorthand, taking notes. She didn’t want to miss any detail about the actual magical element of Muse. Anything might be important later. Misslethorpe exchanged the bottle for a leaflet, considering self-obliviation?. Merlin, that was a bit of a serious topic. She flipped it open and there were illustrations. Yikes.

Ariadne slipped the leaflet into her pocket as she trailed the other two down the corridor on the Spell Damage floor. There were wards off the main corridor, behind doors with glass panels in. Green-robed healers moved from place to place with efficiency and care. She had always avoided coming in, and had never aspired to be a healer. Too much heartache and people’s lives on the line. Ariadne balked at the responsibility and commitment. These guys looked like they thrived on it. As they took the stairs, she continued to listen in on their conversation, making the odd note.

When they reached the floor marked for plant and potions, Ariadne’s eyes were darting left and right. It took a minute but Healer Misslethorpe found what, or rather who he was looking for.

"Healer Mordent" called Sandy. "A minute of your time." The healer was dressed in green robes just like he was. Only hers did not have the extra gold trim denoting rank. She had dark curly hair and dark eyes. She spoke with a Swedish accent and had trained abroad. Finishing her training here. Sandy knew her to be a good healer. Very knowledgeable in plants and potions. A firm favorite with the apothecary team.

"Auror Gamp and Ariadne." Introduced Sandy. "Did you deal with Kieran Rosier the other week?" It was a rhetorical question.

Elixa perched on one foot, leaning over the counter. The floor’s receptionist was pouring over the appointment schedules with her. Trying to fit in an out patient who would need a follow up appointment after a devil’s snare incident. She heard her name called, and looked up. Seeing the Deputy Head Healer, Sandy Misslethorpe, she touched the receptionist’s shoulder, passing the responsibility on to them in an unspoken manner. At Healer Misslethorpe’s side was Andromeda Gamp in her auror robes, and a black girl Elixa felt she might know but couldn’t quite place. Sandy introduced them both.

“Hi, yeah, we know each other.” Lix gestured to Andromeda. “Been working on the fake wolfsbane coming out of Knockturn.” She grinned. It was fun to work with Andie and Tara, and they had become friends. “Nice to meet you,” she added to Ariadne. “Yeah, I did treat Rosier… Kieran ja?” She put her hands on her hips, weight on both boots now. “He wasn’t very pleased to be brought there but he had been behaving so oddly at Ascendio Italiano you lot brought him here with his casualties.” She nodded to Andromeda as she said you lot. “They went upstairs, once it was established he’d been taking something.” She gave a little nod of her head as she related it all.

Lix knew of Kieran Rosier through Johann. Rosier was another translator in the Department of International Magical Cooperation, but in the Law Office. According to Johann he was a bit of a waste of space and needed to grow up. Coming from her cousin and school friend this was rich. She didn’t add that detail out loud, wasn’t appropriate despite the way it coloured the lines in.

Andie grinned at Elixa Mordent. She was happy to see her again. What good luck to meet her on this case too. Andromeda had read the case files. The interviews. The witness accounts. She knew the details. But there was always room for improvement. Healers wrote short notes. The facts. You could always squeeze more out of them in person.

"What was his account of his experience?" Asked Andromeda. "Did he mention to you where he got it from? If it was his first time?"

Andromeda asked questions about Rosier. As Lix’s patient she was limited to her responses, despite how much of a twerp the wizard was.

“There’s only so much I can say, but he tripped out on whatever he’d taken.” She’d heard enough about muse to be curious but not so much she’d want to indulge. She preferred making her own happy memories with Eva, and dating one of Andromeda’s bosses meant she had to try and stay squeaky clean. Otherwise the press would write up more than her choice of boots. “No, he didn’t mention where he got it from, sorry, but I imagine it’s not hard to get it if you wander down Diagon or know someone for gillyweed…” Muse seemed to be the choice of late. Her patient had been written up in the paper, mostly for the scene he’d caused. “We’ve had a few cases brought in lately having injured themselves, claiming hallucinations. Someone talked about memories that aren’t theirs lingering.” She didn’t know if this was helpful, but undoubtedly a potion that was causing people to hurt others was going to be restricted.

Healer Mordent spoke about the patient. Sandy listened in. He tried to look at the potion from different angles. It made people act out. So did alcohol and a huge list of other potions. But Ariadne's question hung with him the most. The bit about where the memories were coming from. As a legilimens he had dealt with memories lots. He could read their thoughts now if he wanted to. But he did not. Interrupting this notion his memo returned with the information for Andromeda. All the confirmed (and suspected) patients relating to muse. He looked the list up and down. Definitely an increase in the last few months. Kieran Rosier was on the list.

"Here." He offered it to Andromeda. Who looked it up and down with a serious expression.

Healer Mordent was much more conversational than Healer Misslethorpe. But she was a witch, he was a wizard and also one of the bosses around here. He was probably very busy. Ariadne made sure to take notes, her quill scratching out her shorthand. Aunt Andromeda was distracted by some paperwork from Healer Misslethorpe, and although she hadn’t given the signal, Ariadne took her chance.

“What about the hallucination?” She asked brightly, “Did he mention what it was of?” There was an awkward pause as if the older wixes were weighing up if she could ask this. Aunt Andromeda had literally just asked, Ariadne thought and raised an eyebrow questioning silently. “… If these are memories was this one a bad memory?” Virgil and Nick had said they were good memories, but good memories didn’t make you hex people in a swanky restaurant. “Also,” Ariadne persisted, “if people are seeing someone’s memories, doesn’t the person they belong to lose them? Why would you give up your happy memories?” She stuck her hand back in her pocket, “don’t people want to get rid of the bad memories?” She waggled the leaflet.

For a work experience witch Ariadne Gamp asked a lot of good questions. Healer Misslethorpe exchanged looks with Healer Mordent and Auror Gamp. Ariadne was waving the leaflet in her hand.

"You make a good point." Conceded Sandy. Perhaps she needed a pat on the head. Over excited. It happened with the work experience students they had at the hospital. "They could be mundane memories tampered with to make happier?" He suggested. But he looked at the list in Andromeda's hand. "A lot of memories though. If this is just the fraction that ended up here for complications. Modifying memories takes effort." Now he was curious. "Memories for sale?" He suggested again.