'HP: Dolen Amser'
Chapter Nine
- Repercussions -
A/N: Don't own squat, save the plot.
This is not a complete chapter... see second note after.
Natalia Tena, the actress that plays Tonks in the films, bears a strong resemblance to Alex Kingston (River Song—Doctor Who). Well, to my mind at any rate. Given that, I've always pictured Andromeda Tonks being played by Alex Kingston. You're free to picture whom you wish, of course, but I thought you'd like to know.
In the middle of the night, Dora was roused by the sound of Jim groaning in obvious pain. Feeling next to her, she found the bed to be empty. Eyes darting around in the dark, she mumbled, "Lumos," lighting the bedside candles. "Jim?"
With the room softly lit, she found him on his knees next to the bed, holding his head and curled into a vertical ball. Scrambling next to him, she was understandably frightened. "Harry, what's wrong?"
"Don't knooooowwww," Jim moaned. "Head's on fiiiire. Worse than when I woke up here the first time. Not my scar."
She didn't understand that, as he hadn't explained the morning after his arrival. Still, she held on and rocked with him as he rode through whatever the hell this was. When he started groping blindly at his bedside table, she saw his fingers wrap around something she couldn't exactly see. When his wand flipped off onto the floor, she snatched it up and held it out for him. "Here, baby."
"Thanks," he grunted. Sitting up, he tapped whatever was in his hand in a rather odd pattern: Tap – Tap, Tap – Tap – Tap, Tap – Tap.
"What was that?" Dora asked.
He groaned louder for a moment, then hissed through clenched teeth, almost slipping into parseltounge. "Emergency Medical Assisssstance Required. Unssspeakable Healer here sssoon. You ssshould… go."
"I'm not leaving you like this!" Dora protested in a hiss of her own. She didn't care that they were only in tee shirts and boxers either. All she knew was that her beau was in pain and needed her. Propriety could stuff itself as far as she was concerned.
At the edge of the Hogwarts Wards on the Hogsmead side of the castle, a lone disillusioned Unspeakable faded into existence. Looking about, the Healer crossed the ward line, then fade stepped rapidly. Every other step took the distance of twenty yards, as the ancient wards could only suppress fading, and was at the main doors in under a minute.
Wearing a standard Unspeakable Aura Suppression Ward-stone around the neck to stay out of the castle wards scrutiny, the healer fade stepped through the main door, then made a near-beeline through the castle to the Hufflepuff common room.
The door to Jim's room opened, and Inkwell dropped the disillusionment. Entering the room, the agent followed the soft cries of pain while flicking out some privacy wards, then froze when it was readily apparent that Mr. Potter wasn't alone.
"Don't just stand there," Dora said with wide eyes. "Do something! Don't worry about me. I figured it out a long time ago. Just Help Him!"
"Step aside and let me work," the distorted voice ordered. Dora sat on the bed and didn't drop Jim's hand. Taking the girl's place on the floor next to him, the evaluation began. "What can you tell me, Mr. Potter?"
"Worssse than when I woke up in the infirmary the firssst time," he hissed. "My head'sss on fire."
Pulling a potion from a pocket, the agent handed it over. "Same as the first one you took." After Jim swallowed the potion and became a bit more coherent with an obvious sigh of relief, the inquiry began. "What did you change?"
"What? Nothing, I swear! I promised! I vowed!" Jim protested, still holding his head. "The only thing I've come close to remotely changing is my professional relationship with the resident Potions Master, who was being a complete pillock. As usual, he assumed something and was taking it out on me. Proved him wrong and he apologized." He would've made more sense about it, but he couldn't think all that clearly at the moment.
The Unspeakable scoffed and ran a few diagnostics around Jim's head. "You're showing a temporal imbalance, so try again and go with the truth this time."
Dora wasn't taking that lying down. "Get it through your thick head! I'm with him constantly and would know if he tried anything. For the love of Merlin, he's leaving his godfather in prison to keep time straight! So, don't get all accusatory, Grey-Face!"
"Stay out of this, Nymphadora! Sit! Be Quiet!" the Unspeakable chastised.
Dora blanched and cringed at the same time. Looking the grey clad person, she noted that there was absolutely nothing discernible about him or her. If it was a her, then she should have some sort of chest. However, the body posture, shout and mannerisms screamed, "Mum?"
Startled, Inkwell reared back to look at her. "Shit. I'm not obliviating you. How?"
"You had that head wobble, while the shout reminded me of my childhood," Dora said with a smirk. "Is he gonna be okay? Why do you think he changed something?"
"Something did change," Jim spoke up as he sat back on his heels. "I'm remembering being introduced to Jim Blake, your fiancée and otherwise known as Lord Black."
Resting on her own heels, Andromeda whipped her hood back in a bit of a nutter. "What? Shit! What the devil? How?" She paused as her brain unlocked. "What was your altercation with Professor Snape!?" she demanded.
"He thought I was Sirius' son, so I gave him the cover story," Jim said while rubbing his temples. "Told him Marius was my grandfather instead of my granduncle, but didn't give his last name."
"I miss him," Andromeda said sadly. "He would've liked you, Harry."
Jim shook his head. "I don't get it. Snape said he wouldn't betray my confidence."
"Maybe not," Andromeda thought aloud. "He is rather Slytherin at going around such promises, though. Hints in the right ear…" She paused as an idea flashed in her mind and glared at Jim. "The right ear! That shit told Arcturus!"
"Oh, fuck. I'm screwed," Jim mumbled. "Why couldn't this have waited a few months? He dies in January!"
"Dies?" Dora parroted with wide eyes. "From what?"
Jim shook his head, then winced from the motion. "Dunno. Rumour had it as old age, but nothing was ever substantiated."
"Well, that's bollocks," Andromeda stated flatly with a frown. "He's barely in his nineties."
"Duel?" Dora speculated.
Jim slowly shook his head again. "Doubtful. If it was, it would've been all over the Prophet. Seem to remember someone else important dying in November, but not who."
"Regardless," Andromeda said, abruptly shifting from Abraxus Malfoy's recent death as she eyed her daughter, "Why are you in Jimmy's dorm room?"
Ire up, Dora looked down her nose at her mother. "This has been our sleeping arrangement for quite a while, mother. Besides, it's not like you have any room to throw stones."
"Permission would've been nice!" Andromeda snapped.
Dora's hair was blood red at this point. "Like you, right!? Don't be a hypocrite, mother. It's distasteful and unsightly," she ranted in a very posh voice.
Jim looked warily between the two. "Please don't fight," he whispered.
As one, they turned to him and said, "Shut it," then resumed their argument. Like any male with self preservation issues, he did as was told and climbed into his desk chair while the two bickered, bantered and shouted back and forth… depending on which point they were trying to make.
All the while, he was rubbing his temples and going over the rather odd new memories that were springing up in his head. As to the familial argument, the bickering was about propriety, the bantering was about Ted, and the shouting was about babies of all things.
Which is the point where Jim screwed up and opened his gob. "Babies won't be an issue for years." This of course brought both women up short to glare at him.
Dora held out her arm with a palm up towards him, nodding. "See? We're both on potions! Besides, we haven't even done that yet!"
"What about later?" Andromeda asked with a hint of steel in her eyes as she glared at Jim.
Jim held his hand up and closed his eyes. His head still hurt, and was more than a bit irritable. "From what I can somewhat remember now, Dora won't have a child at least till after '96. Is that good enough, or do you want to berate us some more? Both of us are of age, and you claiming tradition is like a slap in the face of hypocrisy. You would've been Lady Malfoy if you followed tradition, so stuff it!
"Funny though, you being Inkwell. Makes me think that my employment choices are going to be severely constrained after I graduate," he paused to stare rather accusingly at what he just recognized as his future mother-in-law. "Thoughts?"
Andromeda inwardly blanched as she looked at either of them with her eyes. "Well," she said quietly, "Croaker was a bit hopeful."
"I'm not a researcher," Jim stated rather flatly. "I see bad shit happening, I stop said bad shit. It's what I do."
The smirk was on her face before she had a chance to hide it. "Keep this under your hats, kids, but there's more than one department in the DoM. Research and Development is what everyone knows. The Other… not so much. I can't say more due to vows."
"And which one needs a healer?" Dora asked.
Mother frowned at daughter. "Not research," she eventually said.
A/N: Apologies - Rewrite
This half chapter has been sitting and collecting dust for quite a while. Rather than let it sit, I'm putting it out there... then I'm going to be doing a complete rewrite. This will be left here for posterity, though.
This is very odd, discussing this...
As many of you that read my bio know, I've had a bit of a time of it this year. In short, due to reasons that I cannot fathom, my wife left me and stranded me in Texas without a vehicle and rent for an apartment.
Not going to lie, here. Had my mother not come to take me back to Tennessee, I would have ended up as another statistic – bathtub and a knife, if you're morbidly curious.
That said, I only found out this year that I qualify for medical benefits from the VA. Stupidly, I thought you had to retire from the military to get them. C'est la vie. Sadly, dental isn't covered if it wasn't combat related. Oh well.
So, I've been going to multiple appointments: Physical and Mental Health. I won't lie and say I wasn't scared when I was escorted to the E.R. by Nashville's Finest. While I had been given some medication for severe depression, it was at a state where my emotions were blunted, and I admitted to two other near moments with a knife since being here.
That got me into mandatory therapy. Much suck is involved, but it's been necessary.
Now that I'm on a somewhat stable medicine regimen, things aren't perfect, but they're getting better.
Here's something that you folks might find amusing in all this: My Therapist gave me homework. When I told her how writing has been a good vent for me, as well as how some stories seem to write themselves while I'm in a Zen-like state, but motivation and interest waned this past year:
She basically ordered me to write fanfiction.
The universe is ridiculous.
So, here I am going over the various incomplete stories I have. Went to the stats, and saw that Dolen Amser has the most favourites, reviews and community postings overall. Chaos of the Phoenix came a close second.
In rereading Dolen Amser, comments and PM's I've had concerning when it would be updated again, I've decided to rewrite it in a more coherent state, and go with my original plot. This will irk some, and make others clap. Can't satisfy everyone, and I'm not going to try this time.
Apologies to those that will feel gypped. There's nothing I can do about that, as this is now real therapy for me. Sorry folks, but I'm going to be writing for me this time.
Also, Bits and Bobs will most likely have other ideas popping out here and there when they need to escape my brain.
Speaking of therapy again, there's another author here that writes as therapy. He's another vet, who goes by 'hostial' here. He only has one story posted so far, but it's rather unique. Definitely recommend it. It's 'Saving Her, Saving Himself'. Another time travel story with a sideways twist. Go read... it's good.
Now for a plea to you people: If you know of a person who has withdrawn from the things they like to do, and are showing signs of depression, please talk to them or suggest that they get help.
Depression isn't something that can be fixed with a simple, "Get over it and move on." This is a real problem, and can either be solved by therapy, medication or both.
There will be some people that won't believe that: either people who have had no problems and don't understand it, or those that live in an Egyptian River with things they don't want to admit to themselves.
It's a delicate balancing act, but in my experience, people will believe what they want to believe. I have one here that doesn't believe in therapy or medication, and it has been a giant chore dealing with him.
For those that require medication, there is a chemical imbalance in the brain. This isn't a thing of 'take this and this will solve everything'. It would be lovely if that were true. Sometimes it takes several attempts with different meds to find the right combination. Everyone is different, and what may work for one, won't for another. Which is where the much suck comes in. Once you have one med in your system for a while, and discover that it isn't helping, you have to ween down that before going with another.
Crap... talking about this like this has got me down again. But, honestly, if you know someone who might possibly consider committing suicide... SPEAK UP! Talk to them. If you don't think you can, talk to someone who will. Hell, call 999 or 911 or whatever your emergency number is and tell them.
UK, Northern Ireland,
Republic of Ireland:
Samaritans
116 123
08457 90 90 90 (UK)
1850 60 90 90 (Republic of Ireland)
Hours: 24 hours, 7 days a week
Languages: English
Website: samaritans dot org
United States:
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline
1 (800) 273-8255
Hours: 24 hours, 7 days a week
Languages: English, Spanish
Website: suicidepreventionlifeline dot org