After

Poppy and Septimia sat worrying in St. Mungo’s hospital. They had managed to get Minerva there without much fuss, but the flurry of motion that had overtaken them when they came through the doors of the emergency ward had been overwhelming. Poppy tried to assist medically but the healer who was really in charge of the ward very firmly told her to wait outside. 

So now she was pacing like a caged animal in front of the chairs where Septimia sat shaking her head. “I do wish you’d sit down, Poppy,” Septimia said, more as a command than a request.

Poppy threw her hands up and complied. “I’m not very good at sitting still,” She admitted in a slightly annoyed tone.

“You’re not sitting still,” Septimia answered sarcastically, side-eyeing Poppy as she fidgeted in the chair.

“I told you, I’m not good at sitting still,” Poppy replied snarkily. She wasn’t being very loud but her tone made Septimia feel as if she were being shouted at. 

“Alright,” She snapped back. She shook her head, realising how ridiculous they were being, and said, “We’re both acting stupid, you do realise that?” 

“I realise that you’re acting stupid,” Poppy said with a sneer, though she knew she was just being mean at that point. “Ugh, you’re right, I’m sorry.” 

“So am I,” Septimia replied calmly. After a silent moment, she asked, “Should we be contacting other people? Are we allowed to make decisions for her? Does she have a next of kin? Is it us?”

“Yes. I am but you’re not. No, and No,” Poppy replied before elucidating, “We’re not next of kin because we’re not technically kin. Dumbledore was her last emergency proctor. I’m only allowed to make some decisions because I’m a listed medical advisor. I think we should probably get word to Filius and Pomona, don’t you?” 

Septimia looked vaguely overwhelmed by how quickly Poppy said it all so she just said, “Sure, yes, we should tell them.” 

She didn’t make a move to do so, so, with a sigh, Poppy cast a speaking patronus charm, though she couldn’t get it to take shape anymore, and sent it to Filius, followed closely by one to Pomona.

“Oh, do you think there might have been a better way to tell them?” Septimia said after a moment, she was debating on sending patronuses or going herself when Poppy took care of it.

Poppy turned on her, exasperated. “You couldn’t have said that ten seconds ago?” 

“Don’t jump down my throat,” Septimia defended, her tone cold but her volume low. Poppy backed off and Septimia softened up again, “I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking of it until you sent them.” 

“No, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have snapped,” Poppy replied taking a deep breath. “We shouldn’t be falling to pieces like this, we’ve got to keep a level head.” 

“You’re right,” Septimia agreed as the doors swung open and Pomona Sprout came half-crashing through. “That was fast,” Septimia muttered as she waved her over.

Pomona crossed the room, dodging between people and almost crashing into a healer who was coming out of another room. She made it up to them, breathing heavily, as Filius Flitwick appeared through those same swinging doors. 

“What’s happened?” Pomona asked as Filius tried to cross the ward, though several busy healers bumped into him, having not noticed he was there. 

He managed to join them as Poppy said, “They’re doing whatever they can, she’s been working almost nonstop for the last few days and she’s paying the price.” She was a little cold, but mostly out of trying to hold back her overwhelming emotions. 

Filius conjured up two more chairs and sat down, shaking his head. “We should have waited for her, we should have known she hadn’t left,” He said, his high-pitched voice unusually somber.

“We weren’t in the right frame of mind to go about saving her too,” Pomona defended, though she felt just as guilty. She didn’t hold that cold exterior for long. “Oh damn me anyway. What is wrong with me? I knew she wasn’t gone, where would she have gone? You could barely get her to leave that damn school when everything was going well,” she exclaimed, finally sitting down heavily in the second chair. “She’d better get through this, I have a lot of apologising to do,” She added downheartedly.

Filius tried to lighten the mood with a little dark humor, “Oh please, Pomona, you know she’ll outlive all of us… if we let her.” The reception of that joke was not as good as he had hoped it might be. Three cold stares met him and he said, “Alright, I’m sorry. I apologise, it was too soon.”

“It’s a good thing I’m confident in her ability to make it out of this because I would hate to see you as Hogwarts headteacher,” Septimia said, only half in jest.

“Oh no, not me,” Filius said adamantly, “I’m retiring the first chance I get.” 

“No no no,” Pomona said, “That leaves me next in line, you can’t go anywhere. The school wouldn’t last two days with me in charge.” 

“Albus managed it, you’ll be fine,” Filius joked again, hoping that Albus’s death almost a year ago was a little less offensive than Minerva’s seemingly imminent death.

Apparently, it was not, Poppy couldn’t hold back anymore and burst into tears. Pomona sighed and softened up a little from her usual brusque nature, “Oh, there now Pip, no need for that just yet.” She patted her shoulder a little awkwardly. “There might never be a need at all. Come along, stiff upper lip and all that.” 

Septimia, who had sat through one of Poppy’s crying outbursts today already was also losing her composure. Tears were springing up in her eyes and she was not doing a very good job of holding them back. 

Thankfully Molly Weasley burst through the door and distracted them all. She had no trouble crossing the ward, people seemed to almost fall out of her way. “I came as soon as I heard, what’s the news?”

“How did you hear?” Poppy asked, snapping out of her tearful state in her confusion. 

“Arthur got the news from Wilhelmina Grubbly-Plank,” Molly answered, more anxious to get to her second point.

“How does Wilhelmina know?” Septimia questioned, ever more confused.

“I may or may not have sent word to Kingsley, he was looking for her too, you know,” Filius admitted. 

“Telephone, telegraph, tell an order member,” Poppy scoffed, “It’s a wonder we kept any secrets between us.”

“I’d appreciate it if you’d stop keeping her condition a secret from me,” Molly said impatiently.

“I’d tell you if I knew, Molly, I would,” Poppy replied, shaking her head.

“Oh. Oh dear, I hope she’s alright,” Molly shook her head and sighed. She decided they needed a little distraction, so she said, “I found out what Hermione and Harry were wanting to ask her, by the by.”

“Did you?” Poppy asked “I was wondering.”

“Hermione wants to know if they can come back and finish their NEWTs,” Molly answered with a bit of a grin, adding, “Of course.” 

All four professors laughed a little at that, “I would expect nothing less from Miss Granger,” Filius remarked with a bit of pride. “Mr. Potter wanting to return is a bit of a surprise to me though.”

“Oh that’s the best part, Harry only wants to know if she’s going to make him,” Molly said with a smile as the others got a chuckle from that too. “But I think even Ron is going to come around to going back for their last year.” 

“I hope so,” Pomona said fondly, “They’re all so terribly bright. We give a lot of credit to Miss Granger,  and no less than she deserves, but those boys aren’t dim. A bit lazy with their academics maybe, but I’ll be charitable and chalk that up to other distractions,” She joked, trying a little of Filius’s dark humour. 

Molly nodded along and tried to keep smiling, “Oh yes, they can both be quite clever when they want to be.” She turned back to Poppy, who was slipping out of the conversation, and said, “Ron mentioned something about maybe becoming a healer if he can manage it.”

Poppy perked up a bit at that, “He’d be a good one,” She said with confidence. “He cares so much for people, he’s a bit fussy, and he can yell very loudly, so that’s as good a foundation as any.” 

Molly managed to laugh politely, though these little distractions were not doing quite enough to cover the problem. 

After a few moments of silence in which none of them could think of a single thing to say to each other, the door to the room behind them opened and two healers stepped out with exasperated, but hopeful, expressions. The head Healer on the ward, Ruby Blankenship, sent the other on his way and turned to the little cluster of worried ‘family members’ and said, “She’s stable, Poppy. She’s asleep and she should be for quite some time, but the outlook is very positive.” 

There was a collective sigh of relief before Septimia tapped her sister on the arm and said, “See, what did I say? I told you she’d be fine and I’m always right.” 

Poppy just rolled her eyes and said to the on-duty healer, “Thank you, Ruby.”

“Of course, and if you want the specifics you can come to my office and I’ll have the charts for you,” She replied, turning away from them with a sympathetic smile to the rest of the gathered group.

“Oh that is such good news,” Molly said with a relieved sigh.

“Molly, I didn’t ask but I meant to, what are you doing here?” Pomona asked, though Poppy knew and the other two had surmised.

“Well, you know how it is,” Molly began a little awkwardly, “You just come to care for people over time.” She smiled a little and added, “An aunt of mine once told me that there are a lot of ways to build a family, I didn’t know what she meant at first and I chose the most obvious route. But I’ve learned that time and war and trouble can make a family out of strangers.” She gave Poppy a smile and said, “It’s even easier if you were already friends.”