Continued from this thread.


Fauna walked down the second floor of the hospital with a nervous energy, skirting Healers, assistants, and patients as she did the funny little half-walk half-run typical in hospital settings. Everyone had some place to be. Everyone was in a rush. Everyone, except for those forced to pace in the waiting rooms, had too little time to get where they needed to go. She spotted Devlin in one of the chairs off to the side and hesitated, almost colliding with an assistant rolling a food cart. Fauna mumbled an apology and kept walking, trying not to think about Devlin with his head in his hands. She clutched the note more tightly, a reminder of her simple mission.

Down the stairs she went to the reception area, pushing open the door and scanning the desks until she saw the Owl Service sign. She made a beeline for it, plucking an envelope from the top of the pile and ignoring the hoots and screeches of the owls mingled in with the other noises in the area: squeaky wheels, fast orders, hysterical voices, elephants trumpeting – elephants trumpeting? Fauna looked up in confusion for a moment, then shrugged it off as a charm gone wrong. She hastily wrote down the Headmistress’ name and location, adding Knox’s name in the left-hand corner as an afterthought.

Fauna placed the note in the letter, sealed it with the St. Mungo’s stamp, and handed it to the harried woman behind the counter who was trying to calm a family. They couldn’t remember a particular address and needed it now.

She stepped off to the side and watched the clerk, waiting until she tied the letter to an owl’s foot before turning around. A young child hanging onto his mother’s hand pointed at her and whispered something. Fauna self-consciously put a hand to her hair, trying to smooth out the wild tangles and knots. Face pale and eyes shifty, she glanced down and saw a bloodstain on the front of her jacket, though she didn’t know how it had gotten there. Just that it wasn’t hers.

With a sigh, Fauna began walking briskly through the reception area, pausing when she thought she heard her name.

“I am afraid we know even less than you know, Auror Raynor” the harried receptionist told the law enforcement official as she simultaneously attempted to snatch at a toddler’s heels as he flapped about her head on conjured wings, giggling madly. His parents were far too busy bickering over who was responsible for the wings to be of any assistance. “He is being treated now.”

The petite Tamis Raynor compressed her lips, leaning against the circular desk counter with a heavy sigh. Or, rather, did her best to lean against it as it hit her just shy of shoulder-level. It took an incredible show of will that she did run a hand across her face in frustration. From somewhere within the room an elephant trumphed and she looked up in time to see what appeared to be a human transfiguration gone wrong as the poor chap was rushed onto one of the floors above. Raynor shook her head.

The fourteenth of October was not the worst day of the month so far but it was running a competitive second. Since her rude awakening around three thirty that morning the day had no slowed down. Runespoor explosions, kidnapped reports, missing former convicts, and now werewolf attacks.

Werewolf attacks were a fickle debate on Level Two. The Aurors, thank Merlin, were not zoned to respond to the attacks, that was left up to Regulation and Control’s Werewolf Capture Unit. But due to the often criminal side effects of an attack, they were often left with dealing with the aftermath. And since the actual attack was not within their jurisdiction it meant obtaining details were that much harder. Starting the beginning of a long night at the office, word of the attack had come in a very concise form: Wizengamot member Knox Greyfriar and ICW’s Vladislaus Dragulia attacked by werewolf. It also mentioned Hogwarts Students on-scene but had not revealed any names.

And it appeared the receptionist was going to be as equally useless. “Thank you,” she replied politely, turning away from the counter.

Nothing was stopping the Head Auror from charging back to the treatment room and obtaining details for herself. Normally, she would not have dealt with the desk jockey at all and done simply that and woe be to anyone that tried to stop her – no one usually did. But werewolf cases were always unpleasant and appealed to Raynor’s great disdain for the creatures. Especially with two high profile members of the Ministry involved, answers had to be obtained, but she was reluctant to retrieve them immediately.

Turning around, a fast moving, lanky, dark haired teenager caught her eye. It was not the fact that she was sickly pale or that she had a rather obvious bloodstain on the front of her shirt (though, that sparked a peak of alarm a moment later), it was the fact that she knew that lanky, dark haired teenager.

“Fauna,” she called after her, already on the move.

Of all the Hogwarts Students to get caught in this mess it would have had to be that one.

Placing a hand on the girl’s upper arm, it took a great effort not to wheel Blake around to inspect her for wounds. A moment after the initial panic, she realized the blood was not hers and if she had been infected she probably would not be wandering the lobby. That did not prevent the brief concern that flickered through the shorter woman’s gray eyes as she peered at the younger girl’s face.

So, instead of asking the instinctive ‘is the blood yours’ that was halfway off her lips, she asked, “Are you all right?”

Fauna was on the move too, but Raynor was faster. Just as she was turning around she felt a hand on her arm and looked down at Auror Raynor.

The sight of the familiar face along with the bit of contact sent a rush of emotions through her. For a second, it was like seeing her mother or sister. Family. After struggling to keep her terror and feelings at bay the whole night, Fauna’s initial urge was to hug Tamis and cry like a baby.

Luckily, Fauna resisted that urge.

She nodded, catching the worried look in her eyes. Fauna swallowed the lump in her throat. “I’m okay. Blood’s not mine,” she said quickly, moving off to the side so she wasn’t in the middle of the hectic lobby traffic.

“A werewolf attacked us,” she murmured, unsure if Raynor knew that yet. “On our way back from Hogsmeade. Knox got… hurt.” Bitten. She couldn’t say it yet. “His friend Vlad did too, but not as badly. Sasha and Bea got away, but I don’t know where they are now. I was just sending a letter to the Headmistress, and then going back to his room, but…” she trailed off, thinking that Tamis might want more details, or she’d want to see Knox immediately. Fauna was alright with either, though she didn’t want to be away from Greyfriar for too long, because the paranoid, morbid part of her mind already imagined Knox keeling over suddenly or something going wrong with his treatment.

However, Tamis’ presence comforted her slightly. She felt calmer looking into those tired, but steady gray eyes.

There were certain endearing facts about Fauna Blake that would be hard put to alter. Such as the way her facial muscles seemed to contract with the whim of her emotions. If she was ever convinced to become an Auror, she would not be a prime candidate for undercover missions. The raw tirade that washed over the Hufflepuff’s visage was hard to interpret but the overwhelming relief was shocking enough that Raynor almost jerked back from the girl. Relief was not an emotion people usual associated with the appearance of Tamis Raynor and it most certainly had not been the one etched across Fauna’s face when they first met. The realization of the change was almost as unnerving as the reaction itself.

Fatigue almost forgotten, the Auror shifted with the student, moving off to the side. Though, even through the chaotic hysteria of the Hospital reception the petite woman seemed to be given a subconscious radius.  Even though she was shorter that the young woman, Tamis instinctively shifted in front of her to create a barrier between Fauna and the rest of the populace, a hand fitted on the hip above her wand.

It was painful to watch the seventeen year old struggle to control her emotions, obviously fighting them back as she managed to whisper out a report. Tamis could not have hated herself more than in that moment. She had stressed confidence to the Hufflepuff but had forgotten to mention that it was okay to be strong and afraid at the same time. Fauna Blake was not an Auror or a soldier, she was seventeen years old, not even old enough to find her niche in the world and already she had seen too much. Finding Akiva bruised and broken. Now the werewolf attack. And here she was, acting beyond her age, stifling her emotion. Tamis felt like a hypocrite disliking that. She abhorred herself even more for allowing it. She needed to hear what the girl had to say.

It was far from being the best report she had ever received. It left a lot of questions but she did not press for more details. Even after being reassured that the blood was not hers Tamis had to physically stop herself from checking the girl for wounds. So Fauna had been one of the students, when she saw her, Tamis had clung to the hope that it was a coincidence. Two others; ‘Sasha’ and ‘Bea’, both female perhaps? No surnames. But she did not know where they were. Greyfriar… well, they would find out if it was the worst case scenario in a moment.

Touching a hand to her wand, Tamis’ lynx patronus leaped through the wall of the hospital with orders from someone at HQ to make sure the two other students were in proper care and if not, to make it that way. Several people jumped back, startled. If they were not giving the pair a wide birth before, they were now.

The girl trailed off and Raynor was thinking neither of Greyfriar at the moment nor her need for a more in-depth recollection. She was instead rebelling against the inexplicable urge to want to hug the girl. She actually shifted a hand reaching out to Fauna – and she brought herself up short. It was a ridiculous and entirely uncalled for sentiment, she rationalized. Tamis Raynor did not hug. She could not. It would mean admitting that she cared for this girl in more than an obligatory, professional fashion. So many of her rules about personal contact had been broken in recent months that it was almost criminal. She could not afford to break another one. At least, that is what she told herself.

Instead, the extended hand patted Fauna sympathetically on the shoulder.

That would have to do.

She peered seriously up at the Hufflepuff. “You did a good job, Fauna. I am proud of you.” She was still wondering why in the bloody hell the girl had been in Hogsmeade, at night, on a full moon, but that lecture seemed inappropriate at the moment. “Are you sure you are all right?”

Watching the lynx patronus dash out of the hospital was another reassuring sign. Sasha and Bea would be okay. They had to be. Even the werewolf, whoever it was, had to survive this… she hoped.

After meeting with Tamis for about a month and a half now, Fauna still had difficulty reading her facial expressions. They were complete opposites in that sense, she knew, but it was a bit frustrating. The woman looked very alert, which was not surprising, and fortunately for Fauna, her lips didn’t thin and her brows didn’t spike up in annoyance. She just listened, and then reached out for her when Fauna finished talking.

Fauna didn’t know what shocked her the most – The kindly pat on her shoulder, or the statement that Tamis was proud of her. Her eyes widened and everything else, all the noise and bustle, faded into the background. It wasn’t that Tamis never complimented her. She did, actually. This time, Fauna just didn’t think she deserved the praise.

The Auror asked again if she was all right, but Fauna was stuck on her earlier words.

“You mean… you’re not mad?” She bit her lip, aware that she was definitely blurring the lines and treating Tamis more like a mother figure than a mentor, but she couldn’t help it.

“I wasn’t supposed to be out there,” she shook her head fiercely, breath coming faster as her emotions came to the surface. “I should have stayed in, but…” Another shake of her head. “After everything you’ve done to try to… to protect me, I went out anyway,” her voice got higher and thick, her eyes filled with tears. Fauna looked down, ashamed. She’d never cried in front of her before.

Her voice was quiet and a few feet of empty space surrounded the pair, but it showed how upset she was that she even alluded to the lessons with Tamis in public. It was one of those things that Tamis and Archer trusted her with. At the moment, Fauna didn't think about it.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, keeping her eyes on the floor.

When those big eyes began to water and the girl’s voice hitched, Raynor jolted her hand back from the girl as if the motion would somehow recant the emotional display. With no small measure of disdain, gray eyes lifted in forlorn to the receptionist who had finally snatched onto the ankle of the now wailing toddler flapping haplessly in her grasp as she joined the yelling with his parents. An orderly was strolling down a corridor – but caught her gaze and, as if reading her thoughts, found purpose to his step and changed direction. There was no one to save her.

Hysterics had never been a forte of Tamis Raynor. Internally or externally, made no difference.  This was not an inherent part of her job description. There was no handbook or regulation for dealing with these situations and the young Hufflepuff was not taking any mercy on the misfortune Auror.  Those large, expressive eyes continued to shimmer with an alarming capacity of liquid, promoted by their abnormal surface area. Fauna had her bottom lip captured between her teeth, but the excess reddened and seemed to swell, the bright red color making the paling pasty color of her skin more pronounced. Oh. Merlin.

After a bout of headshaking that rattled Raynor’s brain just watching, the teenager turned her gaze downward. It tore at the strings of the heart the Auror pretended so desperately not to have. It brought on that familiar, spiking pain that leaded the throat. This was why she minimized her contact with victims; they were by far the hardest part of the job.

Remain calm. That always seemed to be the best course of action.

That was of course until Blake apologized. It struck a nerve the way any attempted apology did with the petite woman. They were senseless and unnecessary.

She shook her head. “I do not accept apologies. You are not a doll, Blake.” There was a small presence of agitation in her tone now, but it was not Fauna that was the source of it. “If I expected you to live on a pedestal I would have never bothered.”

It was a rational that she extended to the Aurors as well. They were bound to make mistakes and many of them bent the rules. They were not sorry when they committed the action and only felt remorse as they had been caught. Every person had a reason for their actions, had a justification. Those that did not match the justification of the status quo were persecuted – whether it be detention, a lecture, or imprisonment. Tamis Raynor had gone through her fair share of those first two.

Sighing, the Auror ran a hand through her hair. “I would be a hypocrite to be mad at you for breaking a school rule. You had your reasons. The important thing is that you were able to come out relatively unscathed.”

Which was exactly the point behind the lessons. It was not about avoiding trouble, rather about how to protect oneself when they got into trouble.

Though Fauna was too focused on herself to pay much attention to Raynor’s reaction, she did notice the hand fall back from her shoulder and sensed a sort of distancing. As her head tilted down and she struggled to avoid a full blown sob session, heat rose to her face and put some color back in her cheeks, and the tears in her eyes threatened to drop to the floor.

After her apology, Tamis spoke up in that typical no-nonsense fashion that caused Fauna lift her head up again. It was the slightly annoyed tone that did it. Her mouth trembled before the words could sink in. She was not a doll, that was true, and Tamis did not want her apology because she didn’t expect perfection. Confusion flitted across her face but her tears stalled for the moment.

“But…” The word hung there as she left the protest unfinished. That wasn’t the point. She’d screwed up and she’d expected, if not sympathy, then disappointment. Tamis did care, Fauna reminded herself. She showed up every weekend, and she’d even called her Fauna and touched her shoulder earlier that night. It was hard for Fauna to understand, but she couldn’t expect hugs from her, and she couldn’t expect her to be angry, either. She operated differently… but it didn’t mean she cared any less.

She let out a frustrated breath at the same time Tamis sighed and went on to explain that the important thing was that she was unharmed. Fauna took a few deep, calming breaths and just looked at her. If Tamis had reacted emotionally, Fauna would be bawling right now, no question about it. Tamis had reacted, well, like she always did. With stoicism. That familiar response was more comforting than Tamis probably knew.

“Okay,” Fauna sighed, rubbing at her face, embarrassment sneaking its way back into her voice.

“Okay,” she repeated, pulling herself together. “I still shouldn’t have done it. I may have gotten away without a scratch, but… Knox and Vlad didn’t,” Fauna glanced down, worry and guilt etched on her face.

“Um… did you want to see them? Or… should I tell you more about what happened, first?” Fauna wondered, pressing her lips together and straightening her shoulders in an attempt to be mature and act like an adult. Not just for Tamis’ sake, but because her former Headmaster was waiting for her, and because she was scared that if she let the tears fall, she wouldn’t be able to stop.

Perhaps she had been too direct. The realization overcame her a little late as the young woman’s lip trembled with raw emotion. Instinctively, the Auror wanted to reach out. Her heart was screaming at her to pull the seventeen year old in and hug her. She had just gone through a traumatic experience, the second traumatic experience in two months time and she was not conditioned for it the way a dark wizard hunter was. She wanted to. Merlin did she want to. But she could not. However much Raynor would try and deny it, she was afraid.

Making that connection and crossing that boundary totally and utterly terrified her. It would mean admitting that she cared and offering some level of attachment to the Hufflepuff. Earlier that month, her partner had called her a coward. She had been trying to work on it but she had not been a Gryffindor for a reason.

Fauna tried to even her breathing and Tamis’ heart gave another large twist but she forced her expression to remain neutral. Saying anything now would just revert the poor girl back to hysterics and that would simply be cruel. So, she remained traditionally silent as Blake regained control of her emotions and composed herself.

“All actions have consequences, Fauna,” Tamis said incredibly gently. “Learning from them is the best that we can do. Greyfriar may have been hurt whether you were there or not, a point to consider.”

She had learned that one the hard way.

The Auror hesitated at the question. She would like to keep Fauna out in the waiting room, maybe even made sure the girl consumed a meal, calmed her down, and let her talk about what had happened on her own time. But she did not have that luxury of time. There was still the Runespoor Explosion to contend with from earlier that day and sensitive information to recover while this attack was still fresh. But she was not going to continue to torment her either. She had gathered enough for a preliminary briefing.

“Yes, I think it is best if I do. I need their accounts.” The teenager physically readjusted herself and seemed to gather her will. “But I will also need an official witness statement from you,” she added quickly, giving the girl a task as to not lose that resolve.  “And I am sure Greyfriar would like peace of mind in knowing you survived your trip to the lobby.”

Tamis tilted her head back down the direction of the hospital interior, motioning for Fauna to take the lead. While she would not hug her, and now that the Hufflepuff was calmer, she did place a hand on the girl’s back, both to steer her in front of her and offer some measure of encouragement.

That would have to do.

Fauna gave Tamis a skeptical look when she said that all she could do was learn from her actions. She didn’t want to learn. She wanted to turn back time and fix it! But Tamis’ gentle tone surprised her enough to make her hesitate before responding, and by the time she’d reigned in her emotions, the moment for commenting on it had passed.

Though she felt jittery and on edge, like she could hop up on a broom (Merlin forbid) and zoom around the hospital without a second thought, her mind was slow and sluggish. She couldn’t quite process what she was supposed to do until Tamis gestured forward and put a hand on her back. She’d have to give an official witness statement, Fauna repeated in her head. That made sense, but would it happen tonight or maybe tomorrow? She just wanted this whole thing to be over.

Fauna led the way, weaving around Healers, stretchers, and one wailing child with a large, translucent wing attached to his shoulder. The hand on her back reassured her that Tamis was there, and she glanced at her when she reached the door of the hospital room.


(Continued in this thread!)