St Mungo's Morgue
St Mungo's Morgue
I found Barnaby in the kitchen making a quick breakfast of bacon and egg sandwiches with some help from Alexi. He seemed subdued, but not broken like I'd assumed he'd be after the callous way I'd treated him. Alexi seemed fine with me, saying a cheerful good morning, I was starting to wonder if as all the awkwardness with him had just been in my head.
I didn't know how to start talking about things with Barnaby, but I gave it my best shot after he'd eaten, when I knew he'd be somewhat happier.
I took his hand after Alexi had left the room and led him out through the kitchen doors into our sunny garden.
"Barnaby, I'm so sorry" I stopped there. Everything I'd planned to say flew out the window when he pulled me in close and held me.
"You don't have to apologise Samhain. If anything, I should be the one doing that" he began. "I don't know what I was thinking, but if I hurt you, or broke your trust, or made you feel unloved, I am so very sorry. I don't know why I felt that way with Alexi, but I promise you, I only want you. You're so much more than enough for me and I love you with every piece of my soul."
That was unexpected, I was sure I'd wounded Barnaby deeply by the way I'd reacted to his thoughts, nevermind the way I invaded his mind.
I told him that, hesitantly, apologising again for what I'd done and how I'd handled it, and I assured him that it didn't make a difference to me or change how much I loved him and planned to marry him still, if he still wanted me.
"Of course I still want to marry you, silly Samhain. You're all I'll ever want" he confirmed this, reaching out with both hands to my face and pulling me in for some mind altering kissing.
When we pulled back from each other we were both breathing heavily, but smiling. I felt ready to ask him the big question, knowing that we'd worked through our feelings and would be okay.
"So how exactly do you feel about Alexi?" I waited patiently for him to open up, and he did.
"I feel, strange" he admitted at first. "Strange in that, I honestly didn't know I could be attracted to a bloke, or that I could feel attraction to anyone besides you Samhain. I want us always to be honest with each other, even if that honesty is hard for us to accept. I was terrified thinking you'd hate me but I still needed you to know the truth. And I guess the truth is that I might be bisexual. But I didn't start feeling that way about Alexi until I'd seen your reaction to him. I could tell you found him attractive as well, and that made me kind of open up and examine my own feelings" he continued. "Beyond the physical attraction, I do like him, and I guess I feel a bit protective of him because of the way we found him, all he's been through and now having him here. But that part, it's only as a friend, or maybe as a brother, which makes the attraction part really weird" he finished, looking confused.
I was confused too but I told him I felt a similar way about Alexi. Finally admitting to myself and to Barnaby that I was attracted to Alexi, and that I also liked him, but more than anything felt a desire to protect and help him. "I like him as a friend, a very good looking friend I guess, but I'll only ever love you Barnaby" I told him honestly.
We held each other for a while longer but left the conversation there. We had plenty of time to figure out how we'd proceed with our feelings from that point, but being able to share them together, and reaffirming our love for one another had made everything a lot more simple.
After our chat in the garden we went to collect Alexi and tell him of the plan to visit the hospital. Barnaby gave him some of his own clothes to wear and discarded the shredded ones he'd had on when we met him in the forest. He looked like a completely different person to the one we'd met the previous day. Well fed, rested, clean and very stylish. I'd helped pick out a pair of purposefully ripped jeans, a faded black Metallica t-shirt and a bomber jacket for him. We'd also given him a pair of Barnaby's boots but had to use Engorgio on them to make them fit his curiously large feet.
The three of us Apparated to St Mungo's together, our first stop was to round up Chiara for Alexi to meet. They were both very shy with each other until Alexi asked how long she'd been 'like him'. Chiara was visibly thrown off but recovered well, unfortunately we hadn't had time to warn her that we'd be bringing a fugitive Werewolf in.
Once she understood, she stuck to him like glue. Taking him for a tea and a talk while Barnaby and I went back downstairs to get Penny.
Getting Penny was no easy task. We were told by the Healer in charge that no one could enter the Alchemy room and Penny couldn't be disturbed. I didn't see another way around it so I sent my Patronus messenger in behind the healers back.
Moments later, Penny emerged smiling. "My, what a large cat that was! Hey you two, come with me downstairs while I grab my lunch." If the healer thought it was suspicious that Penny had announced we were all going to the morgue, to get her lunch, at 10am, he didn't let on.
I noticed Penny was wearing the same lime green robes as the other healers, not the pale green ones Chiara wore, and I casually mentioned it.
"Oh, yes, I've been promoted!" She beamed. "Head of Alchemy, it's a proper honor for anyone but especially my age, it's practically unheard of. Andre bought me a cat to celebrate" she babbled brightly as we got off the lift in the basement.
"And here we are, our whole stock of cadavers, although if you don't see one you like just a wait around a bit!" she positively howled at her own Healer joke. I noticed Penny had definitely changed a bit since working at St Mungo's.
I asked her specifically if any had died from curses and she pointed to just one. So the rest would be viable for our experiment, but I had a thought in the back of my mind for that other one, if we got desperate.
We had just started pulling drawers open when Chiara and Alexi joined us. "Hey Penny, I need a favour. We're alone in here yeah?" Chiara checked quickly before proceeding. "Alexi is a new wolf, brand new and unregistered. Is there any way you could brew him some Wolfsbane?"
That was a big ask. Wolfsbane potion was not just extremely difficult and expensive to brew, but it was also technically illegal, unless it was approved by the Ministry. "I'm taking the Ministry's Wolfsbane now, it's not as good as Professor Snape's but it's legal and easy to access" she explained. "But Alexi has no way of getting any, he's only transformed once so far. If it's possible you can help him I will owe you huge" Chiara finished with pleading eyes.
"You're lucky we're mates" Penny replied with a very UnPenny looking grin. "I've been the one brewing this month's batch for the Ministry. I'll just say one got contaminated and sneak it out."
Alexi's eyes grew very big, and Chiara squealed her thanks, hugging Penny tightly. I was happy for Alexi but I really couldn't believe Penny of all people would risk her job to do that.
On the other hand, I thought to myself, Barnaby and I were playing hooky from work after absconding with the Werewolf we'd been assigned to capture. And the five of us had snuck down into the morgue to put a cursed ring on a corpse without anyone's permission.
I shared my thoughts with the group and wondered out loud what Rowan would think if she could see what we were up to. We all laughed and agreed she'd be proud, since every time we had 'bent' the rules it was for a good cause, to help someone.
I filled Chiara and Alexi in on the gist of our plan. Just so it wouldn't be too shocking for them, since they had joined us in the morgue, I didn't feel it was necessary to hide things. I chose the corpse of a middle aged witch who Penny said had died of Dragon Pox the previous day.
Barnaby pulled the ring out of his pocket. He opened the box carefully as I said "Okay, here goes nothing" before using Wingardium Leviosa to leviate the ring, steadily onto the swollen finger of the old witch's corpse.