Closed for Refurbishment [ marked ]

[Megara Candlebright]

2 February

She knew she'd never be able to get all the biggest wizarding spots in London in one night, but the Muggle entrance of the wizarding hospital would have to be on her list. She made quick work of it; after the Ministry and the rush that gave her, the sign in front of Purge and Dowse was much simpler--though perhaps more suspicious. Good thing there weren't many Muggles around. Or an unexpected magical accident that could've interrupted her.

[ As with the last thread, this one is open to reactions: Megara won't be back. ]

[Kellen McCrea]

In the months that Kellen had been training at St. Mungo's, he'd only used the main entrance a handful of times. The staff room had a Floo connection that was meant to be used only by employees, and there was another main connection for patients and visitors, and barring that there was always Apparation. Needless to say, he didn't use it on February Second to begin his double shift. Six a.m. starts weren't always the happiest thing in the world, but usually magical traumas came in later so he had a little time to clear his head.

Of course, he didn't even want to be at St. Mungo's; he wanted to be at Hogwarts. The dragonpox epidemic was a serious matter. He had begged his superiors to let him be there, to learn, to work, to observe, to do anything. He was training in every element of magical healing, but he always knew his specialty was going to be in magical diseases. Of course, he wanted the epidemic to be over as soon as possible, and he didn't want it to be going on at all. But as long as it was going on, couldn't he be there learning from it?

His superiors had said no: they only wanted experienced healers dealing with the outbreak. He wasn't bitter, really, he was just disappointed. He was downstairs trying to cheer up the welcome witch when the first patient of his morning came in.

"What kind of an organization do you think you're running here?" the old witch screamed as soon as she came in the door. Kellen was the only healer in the room, and she bee-lined right to him and his lime green robes. "Are you out of your mind? If this weren't the only magical hospital in the area I swear..."

Kellen was very confused. She seemed to have some kind of growing rash and cuts on her hands and forearms; his best guess was that she'd found some dangerous weeds in her garden and hadn't taken care of them properly. Why that would upset her about St. Mungo's, however, was beyond him. "Ma'am, I need you to calm down and--"

"I'm not going to calm down! Offensive, hateful, bigotted, disrespectful symbol like that at the front of an esteemed establishment like this. How do you people live with yourselves? Why am I even talking to you, you're too young to understand--to really understand--"

"Ma'am!" Kellen said forcefully, stopping her rants for just a moment. "I honestly have no idea what you're talking about, but if you'll please calm down we need to get your arms looked at. Please tell me what's happened."

"The Dark Mark is what's happened, young man! Right there on your front sign! I come in here for help and this is the kind of treatment I'm meant to receive? The Prophet and the Ministry will both be hearing about this, I can assure you!"

Kellen didn't hear much beyond Dark Mark, but luckily the old witch's racket had attracted the attention of a few other healers who'd come in to see what was going on. "What's going on, McCrea?"

"This is...actually, I don't know her name," he said, distractedly. "She looks to be injured on her hands and wrists, but hasn't told me what's happened yet. She won't stop ranting about a Dark Mark outside on our sign...can you take care of her?" he asked hurriedly. "I'm going to go out and figure out what's going on."

The other healer nodded and tried to calm the old witch down, but she was still ranting when Kellen was outside the door. There it was, just as she'd said: the Dark Mark, right there on the 'Closed for Refurbishment' sign. His heart sank. This was bad. This was very bad.