BXBX NOVEL Chapter 208
Half an hour later, Felix and Mrs. Longbottom stood in front of an old red brick department store, the nameplate showed its name is ‘Purge and Dowse Ltd.’, which looked decayed and cold, with a big “Closed for Refurbishment” sign hanging on the dusty door.
Felix looked through the window and surveyed the tattered plastic mannequins in front of him, the ugliest one, which had crooked facial features, eyelashes stuck to its face, and wearing a green nylon dress.
“I guess this place never opened?” He said in an affirmative tone.
“What a silly thing to say, the Ministry of Magic went to a lot of lengths to find an appropriate place.” Old Lady Longbottom said absent-mindedly, her hands tangled together as she kept rubbing the thin leather cords around the big red purse in her hand, “Are you really sure about this, Professor Hap? I have experienced disappointment too many times over the years.”
“I cannot give you a definite answer, madam. This is my last-minute idea for compensation; after all, my request may seem … not so anywhere near humane.” Felix said.
Old Lady Longbottom pursed her lips, “You mentioned the accidental magic riot … are you sure there is no danger?”
“Is there any danger in accidental magic riots for little wizards as they grow up?” Felix asked rhetorically.
The old lady Longbottom said with a serious expression: “You had reached my knowledge blind spot, my experience tells me that every little wizard will go through this step, and there is no need to worry. But the artificial creation of magic riots …” she shook her head, seeming to find it incredible.
Felix explained, “Ma’am, it may be that I have a special physique, I have personally experienced more than one accidental magic riots, and even though the whole experience is unpleasant, I have benefited from it.
In fact, I realized its value very early on and also raised possible speculations. Only this experience remained strictly unique to me, with no other supporting evidence. It wasn’t until this summer that I finally came across a very rare exception.”
Lady Longbottom pursed her lips, “If you can cure … no, I won’t ask for more, but I need Dumbledore to be present, whom I believe and trust.”
Felix curled the corners of his lips, “No questions whatsoever, ma’am.”
Old Lady Longbottom addressed the particularly ugly mannequin, “I’ve come to visit Alice and Frank Longbottom.” The mannequin nodded slightly and waved at them.
The two then walked through the window glass and entered St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.
Felix found himself in a waiting room, and he looked around with interest: a dozen male and female wizards sat on wobbly wooden chairs, and two healers in green robes recorded their symptoms.
In front of him on the left is the information counter, a woman with blond hair standing behind it, a long line in front of her. Behind the woman is the emblem of St. Mungo’s, a wand crossed with a bone.
The surrounding walls have portraits of healers and a few tag lines.
At this moment, a middle-aged male wizard is showing his right hand to the healer, a black kettle biting hard on him, with dark green blood oozing from the wound, and he is yelling angrily –
“Can’t you see – a curse, I’m cursed – an anonymous birthday present sent to me – don’t let me know who it is! Ouch – this stupid kettle -” he kept flinging his arms.
“Don’t move, you’re shaking it so much I can’t see it properly.” The young healer with the writing pad looked carefully for a moment, “You’re required to go to the Spell Damage Unit on the fourth floor.”
Felix looked at the signpost:
—————
ARTEFACT ACCIDENTS UNIT – Ground Floor
(Cauldron explosion, wand backfiring, broom crashes, etc.)
CREATURE-INDUCED INJURIES UNIT – First Floor
(Bites, stings, burns, embedded spines, etc.)
MAGICAL BUGS UNIT – Second Floor
(Contagious maladies, e.g. dragon pox, vanishing sickness, scrofungulus)
POTION AND PLANT POISONING UNIT – Third Floor
(Rashes, regurgitation, uncontrollable giggling, etc.)
SPELL DAMAGE UNIT – Fourth Floor
(Unliftable jinxes, hexes, and incorrectly applied charms, etc.)
VISITOR’S TEAROOM AND HOSPITAL SHOP – Fifth Floor
—————
“We’re going to the fourth floor,” Mrs. Longbottom said to him, as they made their way up on a crooked staircase to the fourth floor, passing through some double-door wards until they saw a very long hallway – where the doors were locked.
A healer with a gold and silver floral ribbon on her head emerged from the closed ward, smiling as she greeted, “Mrs. Longbottom, here to see your family? Let me take you in.”
“Thank you, Miriam.”
The healer, Miriam, chanted “Alohomora” and led them into the ward, passing over several beds to the far end – where there were two beds behind a floral curtain.
She lifted the curtain and said cheerfully, “Frank, Alice, your mother is here to see you again.”
Felix saw the Longbottoms for the first time. Both were dressed in pyjamas, their faces thin and gaunt, their hair half white, Neville’s father blankly sitting at the end of the bed, as if he could sit like this until the world’s end, with an occasional glance from his eyes; Neville’s mother, on the other hand, responded more distinctly, holding a snack bag in her hand and carefully studying it.
But both of them didn’t respond remotely to the healer’s words.
“She’s probably just looking at the pattern on it,” the healer said, “Most of her memories are gone, which you should understand.”
“Miriam…,” Old Lady Longbottom said, “can you give us some time?”
“No problem.” She closed the curtain and left.
Old Lady Longbottom went to the bed, and took Neville’s mother’s hand, as she caressed the dry hair on her head, “This is one of the after-effects of the Cruciatus Curse, ageing faster than normal, I fear, they will go ahead of me …”
“If you don’t mind, madam?” Felix asked softly.
“What, oh, sure, what do I need to do?” The old lady Longbottom asked nervously.
“Nothing …” Felix snapped his fingers lightly and suddenly the world spun and everything in the room distorted, colours and shapes tangled together like some kind of abstract painting.
But soon, everything returned to normal, no, not normal. Felix’s expression became solemn as he tried to pull Neville’s father into the thinking room, which he partially did –
In the half of the space that belonged to him, there is no trace of a problem, but the other half, which is empty, is nothing but a shattered world: in his vision, there is darkness as serene as the starry sky of the universe, darker than the densest ink, and large chunks of memory floating in midair, they are fragmented, like a curtain that has been torn completely apart.
Felix stood at the edge of the room and watched the scene which is strange as it could be, a hazy glow flashing now and then with scattered images of men and women –
A baby with a small round face, old Lady Longbottom, a few fierce faces, Dumbledore, an ugly man with a fake eye, Lupin, a man who looks a lot like the grown-up Potter …
The most appeared still a woman with a round, friendly face, she looked very young, with a very gentle gaze, even if the appearance has changed, Felix immediately recognized her – Alice Longbottom, sitting in the bed nearby.
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