Nifflers! That hadn't gone quite the way Sissel had hoped. He had taken the Bleeding Hex that was fired at Cillian but the shock was enough to render the young Seer unconscious. At least he was okay but rest would help.

Sissel, however, had suffered the worse from that scrape. Bleeding from your nose and ears wasn't pleasant. He would stop and take the time to deal with the injuries himself but since St. Mungo's was so close better leave it to the professionals. They still had a few hours.

Apparation was, regrettably, not the smartest thing to do under a Bleeding Hex. The jump had made him woozy, a dangerous sign. Blood was now gushing from his nose at a near torrent. He used his tie to stifle it up. He hurried along the sidewalk to the condemned department store, ignoring looks from passerby. After a break he passed through the entrance.

Few were in the reception hall, which suited Sissel just fine. He got a shocked look from the Welcome Witch at the Inquires desk. Sissel waved friendly with the hand not cramming his tie into his nostrils.

"No worries! I just need to go to Spell Damage." If there was a reply Sissel didn't register it. Perhaps the blood in his ears was congealing. He bounded up the stairs to the fourth floor, ready to explain the situation to the first healer he ran across. Well, some of the situation.

Vivienne was looking down at her hands. Perfectly trimmed, smooth nails and cuticles. Pale peach nail varnish-- the bottle stood not far, uncapped on the fourth floor front desk where the Healer sat at. It was a slow day.

The witch usually in charge of receiving new spell damage patients had gone downstairs because she heard a relative of hers was being treated for the dragon pox. An unlikely diagnosis but there's no point in telling that to a family member: lose all sense, they do, when people their loved ones aren't feeling well. The wall clock ticked slowly. If she didn't know any better, Viv would have thought it was getting slower by the second.

Two young wizards with broken wands and backfired spells. That was all that had come in today; at least on her shift. She tapped her foot in rhythm with the clock, still staring down at her nails with unnatural interest. The long-term patients had already been checked on: the Healers had done their rounds twice, an irregular but fortunate opportunity in lieu of the lull in incoming injuries. Some had gone to help out at the other, busier floors.

The sound of hurried footsteps broke Vivienne's rhythm and she stood up gracefully, careful not to knock over her chair. A new patient, finally! Her hands were getting restless. She made a surprised sound at the figure who came bounding up the stairs onto the landing, though. His trainers were white, with orange stripes. The rest of him was a bit of a mess. Merlin, he was using a tie to plug the bleeding!

Viv quickly made her away around her desk towards the wizard, speaking before he could say anything: "That doesn't look very good. What happened? You'd better follow me." He needed to sit down in a Healing room, drink something before the poor man passed out. Just look at all that damn blood, Viv thought to herself fussily.

Sissel tried to smile but that didn't look right either, his teeth turning pink as blood started to leak from his gums. This dark haired beauty was the best he could wish for. Professional and eager. He had the sense she was hoping for someone like him to come barging in. Sissel was all too familiar with the boredom of a slow day at the office.

He followed her a healing room, glad to get off his feet before he toppled over. He replied to the best of his ability, words rolling across a tongue tasting iron and salt. "Bleedin' Hex," he said, his tie turning from blue to increasingly crimson. "Had to stop a guy for questioning but he put up a fight."

Sissel imagined he would be spending a good fifteen minutes Scourgifying this suit. He had made it just in time, the hex taking another nasty turn. Thank the stars for healers! He would have to make this up to her somehow. The blood loss was becoming critical and that could make the mind wander. Even now Sissel thought he smelled peaches, which seemed improbable through a nose flowing with hemoglobin.

"Had to stop a guy for questioning but he put up a fight."

Vivienne was barely listening. Her hands started working as soon as she heard Bleeding Hex. He wasn't throwing up, which was good. There was no point using a blood flow charm on this hex, it stopped the blood from flooding out but then all of it would eventually build up-- there was that one fellow who tried doing it to himself, his nose literally exploded. Painful mess and of course he never looked the same afterwards (even with the new nose). If a patient wasn't vomiting blood, he could drink something.

Efficiently, Viv turned to the table of bottles and vials in the Healing room. He needed something to replenish his system. There was no shortage of this in the hospital and she quickly reached for a chunky glass bottle of deep purple liquid, along with an empty vial. Measuring the liquid out into the vial, she spoke: "Try to keep your focus, if you get distracted you'll just faint." Her voice was firm and clear. It had to be, his head was probably fuzzier than a broken radio.

Turning back to the wizard, Vivienne reached her arm around to support the back of his head, gently leaning it a bit back, "Now just drink this. It tastes like gravy." Truth. One of the more pleasant potions. She titled the vial into his mouth, frowning disconcertedly at his bloody gums as the liquid poured down his throat. Then, even more gently than before, Viv leaned his head slightly further back and put the vial down beside him on the treatment bed that the patient was sitting on.

"I'm going to take that tie away, alright? Needs replacing." It was soaked through and through. Not very absorbant. She placed it by the vial and picked up a neatly folded bunch of gauze that she prepared while he had been speaking. "Try to breathe through your mouth for a moment." Vivienne waited a moment before placing the gauze to his nostrils, pinching them a little and then releasing slowly to make sure the material would stick. Perfect.

Letting go of the wizard's head, she took a step back to examine her handiwork. "I'm afraid there's no quick fix to this" she told him and then sighed heavily, shoulders relaxing. " You'll have to wait out the bleeding but I've given you something to keep your blood level in check. If it doesn't stop soon, maybe I'll give you something to slow the flow but it won't taste good." Vivienne paused as she stared the man in the face and recalled his last words. Questioning some guy. A fight. Always some bloody fight, isn't it?

"Now. You should be feeling a little better. I have to get your details down later so would you care to explain this... problem of yours?"

Sissel kept his eyes sharp, darting the room to pickup details. That peach scent got stronger whenever she came nearer. He also kept his mind active with little calculations. Okay, I'm bleeding out of 3 kinds of orifices, 5 if we include each individual spot, the worst Bleeding Hex can last over an hour so 3/5ths of an hour is...36 minutes, give or take, for the nasty stuff to last.

Despite the free flowing volume of blood pouring out of his head, Sissel was strangely relaxed. Lying here was therapeutic but then that was the major point of a hospital. The healer came back with a liquid.


Mmm! She was right. Sissel mumbled something about possum soup, the kind his cousin used to make. As she helped him lie back he felt a peace with the world. Her fingers on the back of his neck were warm.


Sissel complied, feeling relief in his neck as the tie was removed. "I think I can manage that." He kept his mouth open, breathy steadily yet softly, trying not to swallow blood. Just think it's a Blood Pop. She expertly applied the gauze. Quite a strong grip.


Sissel understood that. Given his 36 minute estimate, of which it had taken, say, 6 minutes to get here and receive treatment, he still had an half hour to wait out. He checked the first two watches on his armband. Plenty of time. "Nothing could taste nastier than a tankard of moose urine," he joked.


Already starting to perk up, Sissel reached into his pocket for his Ministry of Magic ID. He flashed it to her. "Sissel Jowd, Department of Magical Transportation. Guy with an illegal broom, didn't want to come quietly." The simplest cover stories were always the best.

"Sissel Jowd, Department of Magical Transportation. Guy with an illegal broom, didn't want to come quietly."

Vivienne watched her patient speak, eyeing his bloody gums with concern while wondering if the other fellow got out of the fight alright. All this over a broom. She briefly recalled her step-mother's dusty flying carpet back in Nice and felt a small prick of guilt against her conscience. The ID seemed authentic enough, not that she had ever had much opportunity to deal with that part of the Ministry.

It didn't matter anyway, as long as there was something to write on the forms later. Viv's concerned expression dissolved into a calm smile as she nodded in response, "Alright then, Mister Jowd. Must have been one hell of a broom." Her smile widened and she looked at him appraisingly, noticing his better spirits. That was good. The potion she was going to give him might not have tasted as bad as moose urine but it wasn't very good for the heart, according to recent studies.

"Some water to wash down that blood, I think?" Vivienne found a tall glass in the cupboard by the potions table. Wand in hand, she tapped the rim: "Aguamenti," and water poured out. With all the rush and excitement from dealing with the hex fading away, she could sense the silence on the fourth floor again. She remembered the clock outside and then the double faces on Mister Jowd's watchband.

Viv turned and handed him the glass, meeting his eyes with another of her calming smiles. He was a few years older than her, she thought, but he had nice eyes. Friendly eyes.  "Sip slowly."

"To him it was," Sissel said, lightly touching the bandages around his head. "Tried passing it off as one of those new green Leaf models but it was made from a species of endangered wand wood." This was a good one, he'd have to remember it for later use. At least his first few years at the ministry under the Muggle Worthy Excuse Committee had helped him turn spin in a moment. Sometimes all people wanted was an excuse.


"Yes, please!" Sissel said, ready to get the iron taste out of his mouth. He accepted the conjured glass of water, starting with a giant swig.


He paused, cheeks bulged out comically as he determined what to do with the water. He strained it through his teeth, taking a minute to let it slowly trickle down his throat. After a gasp of air he proceeded to swallow the water as instructed.

Sissel smiled, the pink at least wiped away from his teeth. "Now who do I thank for saving my skin?"

Vivienne suppressed a laugh as she watched Sissel Jowd slowly swallow the water in his mouth. When he was done, he flashed a smile with much healthier looking pearly whites.  His gums didn't appear to be bleeding much now.

"Now who do I thank for saving my skin?" The wizard asked as Viv leaned back on her hands against the potions table. Her eyebrows rose fractionally and she smiled, pleased. It was good to get an affable patient. Some folk just waltzed in and out without knowing who treated them. Not that you could blame the ones in great pain.

"Vivienne Thorpe. It's a pleasure to meet you, circumstances aside." Viv took a good look at Mister Jowd, although this time not to assess his medical condition. The colourful sneakers were a little strange for a grown man. He had a boyish face and a charming smile. Relatively easy on the eyes if you could overlook the gauze stuffed up his bloody nose.

Footsteps outside the Healing room alerted her that the witch in charge of the front desk had returned, which was fortunate because Vivienne didn't want to leave her patient alone until he had completely stopped bleeding. "I have to admit, we don't get many injuries from your department. Must have been an exciting day for you," she commented conversationally.

Vivienne...now that was a name! It suited her well. Though her features were smooth and calm there was mirth behind those eyes, that laugh, and that smile. And Thorpe...hmm, that was harder. A slight accent was a hint, now that he could hear out of his ears better. What was that, central European? Small cottage built villages entered his mind.

And it was more of a pleasure to meet her! She had an attractive face. There was a cute little knick on her forehead.


"You have no idea," Sissel replied. A shame, really, that he couldn't tell he exactly what was going on. It wasn't as if she wouldn't believe him. In the magical world there was little that could be considered myth. But time travel got particularly nasty and the less outsiders knew, the better.

He sighed, leaning forward a bit more. That blood restorative was really doing its job. "Well, I guess there's nothing for me to do but sit here and wait."

There is nothing quite like watching the life drain back into a patient. Vivienne watched, satisfied, as Sissel Jowd's face started to regain what she assumed was his usual vibrancy. It improved his general appearance greatly and she could relax now, not as worried that the hex would start up again.

"Well, I guess there's nothing for me to do but sit here and wait." The patient said, leaning forward slightly. Viv nodded her head, schooling her expression a little bit:

"Oui. You can try walking later on but you should certainly stay still for the meantime." As she spoke, she pushed herself off from the table and decided to start neatening up the room. She worked in quick and graceful movements; putting the vial away, storing excess gauze and placing the blood-soaked tie in a clear plastic envelope that she had manage to procure from one of the drawers.

Vivienne handed the final item to the man: "Here are are Mister Jowd. I'd try a good bleaching spell on it if I were you," she smiled at him sardonically, "But I'm pretty sure it's a lost cause." Some things just never lose that crimson tinge. Merlin knows how many Healers' robes have been lost to that forsaken shade.

Ahh! French! That's what he was looking for. That pleased him. Sissel raised himself to sitting position. Vivienne came back with his tie.


"Well, that won't be making a Wizengamot appearance," he said, eyeing the stained tie through the bag. "Still, would be funny to wear if I was ever suspected of killing someone."

Glancing to the side where various healer's tools were kept on a tray, Sissel noticed a mirror. He picked it up, staring back at himself, the features obscured by gauze. "Remind me not to get plastic surgery if this is what I'll look like for the first week."

"Remind me not to get plastic surgery if this is what I'll look like for the first week."

Vivienne laughed, throwing her head back gently. She brought herself to lean against the healing bed, looking at Sissel's reflection and the bloody gauze, "Believe me, you're not in any need of plastic surgery." Her smile widened into a cheeky grin and she took the mirror from him, giving herself a momentary glance before putting it down. Never did like the patients examining their reflections... people so very rarely looked good in hospitals.

Turning back to him she reached out to adjust the gauze, this time less firmly. He was barely bleeding now and the blood was going to start drying eventually. Dried blood. Most certainly not a good day for mirrors: "You're awfully witty for someone who's just been hexed," Viv commented as she peeled off some of the gauze and then pressed a drier area against Sissel's nostrils again, "Good sign of resilience. You'll be up and running soon."

Lowering her hands, she stared at the gauze before raising her gaze up to meet her patient's eyes. Her own eyes were calm, humorous: "Just in time to confiscate more hazardous brooms, I'm sure."

"It pays to have a positive perspective," Sissel mused. He scratched at his chin, the one spot on his face free of bandages. He removed his hand before it got in the way of her peeling. He could feel the odd clump of dried blood coming off with the gauze. Vivienne looked at him.


"Naw, after that I'll be heading back to the office and doing the boring stuff like reports," Sissel grinned. He swung one leg off to the side, back and forth to test. Good, he didn't feel to dizzy.

He pointed to his face. "Once this is done, I'd invite you upstairs for a cup of tea, but I'm sure the tearoom has exorbitant prices and you'd rather separate your professional and social interactions."

"Once this is done, I'd invite you upstairs for a cup of tea, but I'm sure the tearoom has exorbitant prices and you'd rather separate your professional and social interactions."

Vivienne looked up from Sissel's swinging leg, her eyebrows raised and her lips pulled up into an entertained smile. Now that was new. The patients down on the third floor very rarely asked her out-- not that she'd have complied, they were generally quite contagious. Bleeding hexes were most fortunately not a catching condition.

Mirroring his grin, Viv replied: "Well you technically won't count as a professional interaction when the bleeding stops." He really did have a charming sort of look to him. Easy-going and funny. The sombre types were always so dull, always looking for something... serious.

"Besides," the grey-eyed witch continued with her usual daring, "You look like you could use a drink." Vivienne made a note in the back of her head to send her patient home with something for the hellish headache he was surely going to have in a few hours.

"Better hurry up and stop bleeding then," Sissel said to his face. He always liked fun when he got the chance.


"A fine young healer like you advocating the medical effects of alcohol?" Sissel said, feigning surprise. "Where do I sign to change doctors?" He checked the multiple watches along his wrist again. He had plenty of time but he should cut it short to check in on Cillian before he would wake up.

"So, do you have a shift break coming up?"