Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Writing's On The Wall
By : Carfunky
Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female
Views: 158 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter
Chapter List
- 1-Ch. 1
- 2-Ch. 2
- 3-Chapter 3
- 4-Ch. 4
- 2
- 3
- 4
The following Monday morning Matt walked into St. Mungo’s feeling slightly lighter than he had the previous Friday. Although none of his friends had a quick-fire response to his predicament, it felt good to have just told them. He knew it was a long shot, but long shots were all he had left.
“Morning Nikki!” he called to the blonde witch behind the counter.
“Good morning, Matthew!” she called to him as she was shrugging her coat off to hang on the back of her chair.
“How was your weekend?” he asked.
“Oh, it was quite the time! My partners wanted to go into London, see a Muggle movie and go to a Halloween Party.” Nikki replied.
“Wow, sounds like it.” Matt commented and smiled.
“Yeah, once I woke up the next morning, hung over. Had a time getting my costume back on before we all went home!” Nikki laughed. Matt smiled.
“I don’t know how you do it. I can’t pin down one relationship, let alone three!” There was genuine awe in his voice.
“It’s all about communication! We have these!” Nikki pulled out a small notebook barely larger than her hand. “They’re Protean Charmed. So, what any one of us writes in it, all the others see. We keep in constant contact with each other. It’s incredibly handy.”
“I’ll bet…where did you get them from?” Matt wondered and was considering ordering a bunch if he could find the shop that sold them.
“No idea! The journals were just something bought at Asda. But Mike enchanted them with that Protean Charm. Said he got the idea from one of his classmates.” Nikki explained. Matt grinned. He knew exactly what Nikki was talking about. Hermione’s coins from the D.A. She was unknowingly still inspiring her classmates years later.
“That’s pretty slick!” Matt said and moved off to the stairs. “See you at lunch!” he called over his shoulder and made his way to the third floor.
Once there, he opened the door to the brewing room and walked inside. It was a large room with half a dozen large potion stands; each could hold three standard sized cauldrons on them. There were also two other large-scale cauldrons at the back of the room. These typically were only used for special potions requiring an entire person to be placed in. The walls of the room were stocked high with shelves and cabinets full of potion ingredients of every kind. At the back of the room, the only wall not covered in shelves and cabinets were three large windows to let in sunlight. In the corner opposite the door was a large shower, for rinsing off potions should an accident occur. Beside it was a long counter with a sink and an area to prepare ingredients, with cabinets mounted above.
Matt opened his stores and began floating out all the supplies he would need. As cauldrons, scales, knives, and bottles were flying over the room, Matt picked up the pieces of parchment out of a small tray that had been left over the weekend for him.
While his primary focus was researching and developing new potions and improving old ones, he also functioned as something of an apothecary for the hospital. He routinely spent the first portion of every morning brewing a fresh stock of potions when they got low. Order forms were dropped in his inbox overnight and he would start making fresh batches as needed. Mondays were almost always devoted entirely to replenishing stock, due to the weekend. Matt may not have needed to work, but the hospital never shut down.
He was quick to start the cauldron’s boiling for his first batch of replenishment orders when the door opened, and Matt turned. A tall, skinny, blonde man, with an upturned nose walked into the room.
“Morning Zach!” he said cheerily.
“Morning.” Zach replied and moved to a cabinet.
“It’s going to take these cauldrons a little while to warm up. We’ve got a lot of brewing to do today.” Matt said showing off the parchment order forms.
“Oh, wonderful.” Zach deadpanned.
“Yeah, I know. It’s Monday, gotta refill the coffers.” Matt joked and put the forms down by Zach’s workstation. “I’m going to have you do most of these, unless you need help.” Being the senior department member gave Matt some ability to delegate tasks.
“But I was hoping to work on that new Shrinking Solution. I’m positive it’ll be huge.” Zach replied, as Matt rolled his eyes.
“If you get those orders filled before you leave today, then yes. Not before! Hospital pharmacy always takes priority!” Matt said with a smile. “Now, while that’s all getting hot, let’s go over your samples from last week.” Zach brightened up at this and they moved to a room adjacent to the brewing room.
It was a smaller room, with only one window, a sink and some cabinets mounted on the wall, with a counter. In the middle was a single potion stand with a cauldron on it. They never removed it from the stand as it was often used to test uncertain and new potions. The insides of the old and battered cauldron were stained with years of failed potion residue. Zach collected his samples from the previous week and Matt looked them over. As Zach was only an intern and Matt was a full-time staff member, Zach only was there three days a week and was not paid very much. Matt felt bad for him but there was little he could do to help the boy’s situation. His personality was disagreeable, and he was hard to work with. It was no wonder that Zach had to take a paid internship rather than a part-time paid position. He had seen Zach’s resumé and knew that he had gone through a number of jobs before landing here.
After pouring out Zach’s samples into the cauldron and waving his wand, Matt deduced that none of the new potion improvements he had developed the previous week were viable. Matt shook his head sadly each time. Although Zach was a pain to work with, Matt was sure a breakthrough might give him a boost of confidence and help with his negative demeanor.
“Sorry Zach, these just didn’t turn out.” Matt said as he vanished the samples.
“No! I was sure! You must not have checked them right.” Zach argued, looking unhappy.
Matt sighed.
“No, you overdid it with strengthening solution you added. You have to tweak that one just right. It’s meant for human consumption, if you don’t adjust the ingredients and watch the substitutions, it’ll just nullify the potion you’re trying to enhance, rather than strengthen it.”
“Oh,” Zach scowled.
“That’s why I don’t use it. I think it’s more prudent to adjust quantities and add ingredients to recipes to make them stronger rather than adding an entire other potion to the mix.”
“Fine. I’ll try it your way.” Zach relented with a huff.
“Atta boy! Go see to those orders. I’ve got some work to do myself.” Matt said and followed Zach back into the brewing room. As Zach began to prepare ingredients for the hospital’s orders Matt moved to a room opposite the testing room.
This was his personal office and workspace. He had a small desk with all the usual supplies of parchment, quills, inks and a large desk lamp, tucked in one corner, and on the opposite wall a pair of windows with blinds so he could see out if he chose. He also had a small sink and ingredient prep counter, and a potion stand. There were cabinets above the counter and sink and lining the one wall, except for a single large shelf in the corner nearest to the desk. The shelf was full of books, mostly potion recipes and tomes on potion making, both modern and ancient. Matt had hoped he would come across an older technique that might just give him the breakthrough he himself was looking for. In addition to the potion manuals and notebooks he wrote, the top shelves held a small collection of fictional works. These were mostly books Hermione had recommended to him, and he found he liked. Matt kept additional copies at work, in case he ever got bored at lunch.
He glanced out the window on his door leading to the brewing room. Zach had his back turned and was bent over the preparation counter, carefully measuring, weighing, and cutting his ingredients. Matt did not like to hover unless he was asked. He found it bothered Zach and led to him being annoyed for some days. Instead, Matt flicked his wand, and his own cauldron and ingredients hovered out of their storage areas and over to the potion stand. He drew out his samples and began to work.
At lunchtime, Matt and Zach came out of the brewing room, the fumes had curled Zach’s wiry short blonde hair and even Matt looked a little disheveled at how much work they were putting in. As Zach went to wash up, Matt double-checked his work and found it to be satisfactory. Shockingly, Zach had managed to handle all eighteen cauldrons brewing at once and not only did they not have any accidents, but all the potions were up to hospital standards. Matt felt like Zach was really coming along with his efforts. He might even put in a recommendation to hire Zach as at least a part-time assistant to Matt and let him work an extra day or on the weekends.
“Does this mean I can help you with your work?” Zach asked as he and Matt sat down with Nikki for lunch, each of them carrying trays of sandwiches and chips from the hospital lunchroom.
“I would say so!” Matt grinned and then looked at the time. For what he wanted to do next, he would have to come back later that night.
“Ooh, making a big breakthrough, are we boys?” Nikki asked eagerly.
“I think we’re getting there.” Matt said with a smile.
“I can’t wait to hear about it!” Nikki said.
“After we actually have it and I’ve written the paper on it.” Matt said holding up a hand with a smile.
“Matt’ll be a big name if this goes through!” Zach said with a grin.
“Let’s just see how things go this afternoon.” Matt replied and dug into his meal.
After their meal, Matt and Zach returned to the third floor. Matt ducked into his office to collect his bottle of potion and some samples. They moved to another room further down from the brewing, testing, and office they usually occupied. This room was small as well, like the testing room, but had no windows and was only lit but a small handful of candles floating in one corner. Matt flicked his wand to make them burn much brighter so they could initially see.
“Prep the slide?” he asked Zach. Zach nodded and drew out a rectangular piece of metal, about the size of a Polaroid photograph. He slipped a thin piece of film inside the metal slide and carefully placed it on a stand with a cutout the exact size of the metal slide. Matt, meanwhile, slipped on a pair of white gloves and drew a small eye dropper of potion from the bottle he brought. Next, he withdrew a black plastic bag from his robes. With a flick of his wand the candles instantly dimmed.
Matt, using a pair of tweezers, carefully drew a set of hairs from the bag and placed them in a clear plastic dish and then the dish on the metal slide. He tapped the slide with his wand and said ‘Magnificus’. The cellular structure of the hairs appeared floating above the slide. Next his wand slipped under the slide, and he flicked his wrist, adding a twirl. Zach shielded his eyes as did Matt. A blinding flash came from the tip of Matt’s wand, and he sighed.
Zach quickly took a small black box and moved over to the slide. Matt picked up the dish and placed it back into the bag the hairs had been in originally. Once Zach had collected the slide off the stand and placed it into the black box Matt flicked his wrist and the candles flared to life. They repeated the process of loading another slide, except this time, before he cast ‘Magnificus’ Matt dropped the eye dropper of potion onto the hairs. There was an instant change. The gray thick and wiry hair in the dish shrunk to thinner, silkier, and brown. With the candles low, Matt noted the time, twelve o’clock in the afternoon on the nose. Another blinding flash later and the next slide was in its own black box.
“Take those down to the dark room in the basement. Are you any good with developing films?” Matt asked.
“No, not really my thing. Too bad Creevey isn’t still around, he’d be perfect for it.” Zach said.
“It’s fine. There’s always someone down there during the week anyway. Ask them to get those back to us as soon as possible.” Matt said and winced with exhaustion.
“Sure.” Zach was less than pleased with being tasked with something as menial as this was, but he still complied with the request all the same. Carefully Matt returned the plastic dish with the altered hairs on it to the dark bag they originated in and sealed it. He slipped it back into his robes, put a stopper in his potion bottle and returned to the brewing room. He had cleaned up his own workspace by the time Zach had returned.
“Any luck on finding a date yet?” Zach asked casually as they were working on cleaning the cauldrons for the day.
“No…that is not going well.” Matt replied sadly.
“That’s a serious problem you’ve got. Facing marriage or deportation.”
“Oh, I know.” Matt said as he levitated a cauldron and a brush to scrub it out. He had not told Zach everything, as he did not need to know if Matt were deported and wound up homeless, he would likely be killed by his own government. M.A.C.U.S.A.’s paranoia over the Statue of Secrecy was as high as ever and he hated it.
“Well, what about that Alice Runcorn? She’s a looker!” Zach offered.
“Are you serious?” Matt asked in a tone of ‘do you hear yourself?’.
“Yeah, what’s wrong with her?”
“Well, for one thing, her family is deep into the dark arts. For another, you know how they always said Daphne Greengrass is an ice queen?”
“Yeah, what about it?” Zach wondered.
“Daphne Greengrass looks warm and cuddly compared to Alice Runcorn. Runcorn’s so full of herself, she keeps a pair of mirrors strapped to her wrist so she can see her entire head at once. Her only ambition is to be pretty and horrible. She’s there though, she is pretty horrible.” Matt replied.
“Why not ask out Greengrass then?”
“Uh, no thanks. She and her sister run around with Malfoy. After Crabbe died, Malfoy kept Goyle around but replaced Crabbe with Blaise Zabini. That’s one lot I’m good not throwing my hat in with if I can help it…” Matt said with a heavy sigh.
“Desperate times call for desperate measures, you know?” Zach replied and Matt rolled his eyes.
“I’ll wait until it’s December before I start calling it ‘desperate times’.” The truth was Matt was scared that November, which was all but there was going to slip away too quickly from him. He shuddered and flicked his wrist. The last of the cauldrons floated to their storage cabinet and it closed itself up. “Head home for the day Zach, no point in hanging around.”
Zach nodded and wished Matt a good evening, saying he would see him on Wednesday. Once Matt was sure there was nothing else left to do for the day he headed back downstairs. He grinned and hovered over Nikki’s desk.
“Hey Nikki?” he asked with a smirk.
“Hey whatty?” she replied.
“I’m going to come back in tonight, in…oh say about six hours or so.” Matt said flourishing his wrist and looking at his watch.
“Six hours! That’s midnight!” Nikki exclaimed.
“I know. And the security enchantments will be up by then in our department. Can I get a pass? I’ve got take another slide at the twelve-hour mark.” Matt explained.
“Oh fine…” Nikki said and rolled her eyes. She handed Matt a card with a set of runes printed on it.
“Thank you! I owe you one!”
“Yes, you do!” Nikki called out to Matt as he breezed through the front doors.
Matt returned home and made himself a decent meal of grilled chicken, rice, and sautéed peppers and onions. He even went to bed early but set an alarm to get up at eleven so he could get back to the hospital before midnight. He arrived just at eleven-thirty and quickly made his way up to the third floor. He pulled the security pass from his pocket and waved it so he could slip through the enchantments. He wasted no time collecting the hair samples from his office and getting to the lab room.
Once there he prepped another slide himself and flashed it, noting the time was midnight exactly. With a satisfied sigh, Matt slipped the plastic dish back into its black bag and extinguished the candles in the room. The slide in his hand, he went down to the basement level and entered the development room. The photo mages had gone home for the day, but Matt frowned. He saw sitting on the counter beside their inbox were two slides untouched from earlier. Feeling suspicious, he flipped through the logbook for the day and discovered that Zach had simply laid them down and left, without telling anyone.
Annoyed and fully awake, Matt decided to develop the slides on his own. He had heard about film developing from Colin Creevey while at Hogwarts so much, he was sure he could do it by himself. With a quick review of the potions needed and process to develop the slides, thanks to some manuals left in the lab, he set to work. It took Matt most of the night but by the time morning had come around, the films were fully developed. Slipping them into a folder he trudged up to the welcome desk.
“Matt! I was about to owl you. You never turned in your pass.” Nikki admonished.
“That’s because I never left.” Matt said heavily.
“What?! What happened?” Nikki wondered. Matt explained to her what he found out and had been up to the last six hours.
“So, I’ll have to talk to my boss and see what he wants to do about it.” Matt said.
“I know Cyrus Bolt can be tough, but surely he wouldn’t fire him, would he?” Nikki asked.
“I don’t know. Healer-In-Charge Bolt can be tough at times. Zach’s lackadaisical at times and he has yet to make headway with his projects, but firing him? I won’t recommend that. We can still use him, but maybe just a good talking to…you know? Straighten him out a little bit, get him to think about his work ethic.” Matt replied.
Matt returned the pass to Nikki and waved good morning to her as he ascended the stairs to the third floor. Although he was exhausted, he was still hopeful about the results he would see. He knew he would need a few more hours’ time before he could examine the sample and take one more slide.
“Santini!” came a deep smooth voice from down the corridor, just as Matt was about to enter the lab.
“Healer Bolt!” he said and turned as the speaker strode towards him. Cyrus Bolt was a tall man with dark skin, a round face, and shaved head.
“Mr. Santini, you look like you’ve had a rough night.” Healer Bolt said looking over Matt’s disheveled appearance.
“I was here most of the night, sir. The filmstrips we took yesterday for Project Lykos weren’t developed and I had to develop them last night.”
“I see. And why, pray tell, were they not developed by the lab?”
“I sent them down to the photo wizards with Zach yesterday and he apparently did not tell them to develop the films before the end of the day and simply left them on the counter.”
“I see. I’ll have a word with Mr. Smith when he comes in tomorrow.”
“Of course, sir. Just don’t be too harsh with him? He’s coming along and I really can use the extra help when he’s here.”
“Very well, Mr. Santini. I won’t fire him.” Healer Bolt said. “You know, you could take the day if you need it.”
“No, sir! I have to get another film slab in about five hours or so.”
Healer Bolt smiled and wagged a finger at Matt.
“Careful, Mr. Santini. You’re going to end up going far with that kind of work ethic. And ambitions like a Slytherin. Are you sure you were a Gryffindor at Hogwarts?” Healer Bolt teased. Matt turned red and smiled.
“Yes, sir, I am quite sure.”
Healer Bolt gave an approving wave and moved off down the corridor to his office and Matt went to work in the lab, picking up the day’s orders and summoning cauldrons to their stands to begin brewing.
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Writing's On The Wall	By : Carfunky Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female Views: 158 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter

Writing's On The Wall