Psychomagical
DISCLAIMER: That part of this world and those characters you’ve seen before belong to their Creator: JKR. The rest is mine - although I cannot quit my day job as I make no $$$
A/N: And another one ‘cause it’s been so long.
CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE: PSYCHOMAGICAL
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23 rd 1993
It was the day of the first Hogsmeade visit of the year. Harry had wondered why the first one was so late in the year when the weather was getting miserable and the days far too short and why there were only four such Saturday visits scheduled during their nine months at the school. He had heard about the wonderful shops and such. But he realized after spending hours there that four visits was probably more than enough. There were only two shops that truly drew students visit after visit. One was Honeydukes which was a candy store with all of its myriad of confections made right there. One of its attractions was you could watch while candy was being made. The other store was Zonko’s which was similar to Gambol & Japes in Diagon Alley. It sold toys and joke items. The Weasley twins said Zonko’s was better in the joke department. The shop made most of its own stuff. Dervish and Bangs bought theirs from suppliers which while the stuff was pretty good, it lacked originality or so the twins said.
Harry had spent the day with three of his ladies. Luna could have joined them for she had an exemption to the rule that barred the visits to First and Second Years as she was married and therefore legally an adult. But Ginny could not come so Luna stayed at the Estate with her. Ginny was merely betrothed and no exception had been granted based upon the betrothal. They had wondered about this. They knew Dumbledore still believed his contract trumped the others to some extent and had tried to bend the rules to his view of things in a way that would make Ginny more valuable in Harry’s eyes than his other wives. He tried that the day they arrived and it failed miserably. His only recent attempt was to try and ban Harry from Hogsmeade altogether, except he could find no support from either the school rules or any of the other professors not named Snape. So instead he banned Ginny hoping that Harry would not go without her and to add insult to injury he apparently had suggested allowing Astoria Greengrass and exemption by virtue of her betrothal to Neville. That exemption also died in the faculty meeting, but Harry had learned of it. Luna wondered if this was what Harry was worried about, but the others were sure it was not the “other shoe” even if Harry was wearing both of his and the others either were wearing both of theirs or none at all. Harry remained convinced that Dumbledore’s next real move would be against his emancipated status and his current magical guardian.
The truth was, aside from Zonko’s and Honeydukes, none of the other shops interested him. Scrivenshaft’s Quill Shop looked useful. It sold all sorts of quills including enchanted ones. Unless one paid a fair bit for an Everlasting Quill (never needs trimming or sharpening), one did need a fair number to last the year and it did sell blank parchment and stationary. But they had stocked up on these items before term began. Gladrags Wizardwear was also useful if he needed to replace clothes. But with all the elves on the Estate, it was not something that was likely to happen. There was an Apothecary which would be useful had he been running low on supplies for his school potions kit. But that was not the case. Most of his potions supplies came from the estate and the rest of his standard kit was from his Estate stores which held far more ingredients in both quantities and types than was required for all of their classes. There was a place that catered to the needs of young witches, it said so on the sign. Harry thought that sounded kinky, but it was really a place that sold magical cosmetics and beauty supplies which while it might interest his girls (and provide him with gift ideas) it was not a place he had any desire to hang around in. One would think with four House Quidditch teams at the school there would be a store selling Quidditch supplies. That would make sense even if it only sold during the year. Naturally, there wasn’t one.
There were three places to eat in the village. On the edge of the village there was the Hogshead Tavern which looked like a dump so Harry and his three “dates” decided not to have a look. Then there was Madam Puddifoot’s Tea Shop. Harry thought it was entirely too girly and wondered why any boy would be caught dead inside, until he saw that the boys who were there were first of all with a girl and secondly clearly experimenting with and interesting way of ingesting scones. It was the only place in the Village where the couples really did need to get a room. Hannah thought it was delightful, except the snogging was enough to give it a pass. Daphne thought that whatever the proprietor had hoped to achieve with the décor, it was too much and way over the top and she agreed that the customers' preferred activities had little to do with tea. She wondered how the shop made any money unless you rented the table or booth. Hermione did not like it at all for any number of reasons. Besides, they did not need to go to a tea shop - if that was what it was - to get boyfriend time.
They met Ron and Katie at the Three Broomsticks for lunch and were soon joined by Neville, Sally-Anne, Padma, Parvati, Tracy and Susan. They had a large table and all agreed the food was very good and not too pricey. The best bit was Butterbeer. Harry had never had it before. The twins were known to smuggle it into the dorms and break it out for parties, but the Prefects made sure the younger students did not get any. The truth was Butterbeer was a mildly alcoholic drink that reminded Harry of fizzy muggle soda. You could get intoxicated if you drank a lot, like a gallon of it or so. Harry and his girls had occasional glasses of wine with dinner at the Manor which were far more intoxicating. But apparently there was some rule about Butterbeer and the lower two years. There was a rumour the twins had a still somewhere where they boiled Butterbeer down into something much stronger. No one had seen it or the results which told Harry and Ron that there probably was not one, although both agreed that the twins had probably thought of doing something like that. Ron could just see them spiking someone’s Pumpkin Juice for a laugh.
Ron thought the Shrieking Shack was totally brilliant even if he and Katie had kept their distance. Harry and the others had seen it, but taken little note. After all, House Potter knew the truth about it. They knew it was where a student suffering from Lycanthropy had spent the nights of the full moon and knew it was again being used for that purpose. Sirius and James had told them the stories of the Marauders and so they knew that their Defense Professor was that student and was a Werewolf. It didn’t bother them because he was a really good person and one of their best professors and because they knew what most people in their world thought of Werewolves, they said nothing about Professor Lupin’s “little fury problem.” They respected him too much. That, and it appeared that Dora Tonks was all “googley eyed” about him and they did not want to be on the receiving end of one of her hexes, she was a top Auror Trainee after all.
“Really isn’t all that much here,” Harry said.
“You had two huge pieces of shepherd’s pie, Harry,” Hermione countered. “I’d say that’s quite a bit.”
“Not to mention the ploughman’s lunch you had before the others arrived,” Daphne added. “It’s a wonder there’s room in there for all of it.”
“I’d say you’re channeling Ron, ‘cept he’s right here,” Katie laughed.
“Hey!” Ron protested, “I didn’t have the ploughman’s lunch!”
“No, but you’re packing away the pie like it’s being discontinued.”
“It’s good!”
“I meant Hogsmeade,” Harry said. “And what Ron said. Can I help it if this stuff’s good?”
“It is a village, Harry, not London or Diagon Alley,” Hannah offered.
“Zonko’s is brilliant,” Ron offered. “I wish I could by all of it!”
“Even the plushies?” Katie asked teasingly.
“Um… maybe not those. Not for me anyway.”
“I think the idea of the visits is for us to get out for a bit,” Padma said.
“Makes sense,” Neville agreed. “The place does get old, especially after two years. But we do have a place to go now so this isn’t so necessary. Still, it is part of the experience, I guess.”
“Well, whatever you think, I like this place,” Harry said meaning the Three Brooksticks.
“My Dad would too,” Hermione agreed, “if it sold a good beer.”
“It does,” Katie said, “but Madam Rosemerta won’t serve that or the wine ‘til your Sixth Year and she knows who’s who at the school. Fred and George tried to trick her last year and it didn’t work, although it was funny.”
“Your parents are coming tomorrow, right?” Harry asked Katie.
“Already here, or they might be,” Katie said. “Along with my younger sister Agnes most likely.”
“Brilliant,” Ron grumbled.
“Hasn’t met them yet, has he,” Neville observed.
“Nope,” Ron replied. “Then again, they can’t be worse than my Mum.”
“What did your Mum do?” Harry asked. “A Howler without the red envelope?”
“That would’ve been okay,” Ron groaned. “No. She was thrilled and then went on and on about sex and that. Like I really want an idea of what Mum and Dad did at school, you know? Or at home, for that matter. Dad hadn’t even given me the talk yet. Fred and George told me ‘bout theirs, I think, but you can never tell with those two. I thought she was so… well, she always made it seem wrong, you know? But now? It was a nightmare! She even offered to offer Katie advice on… stuff. Told us to have as much fun as we wanted, just not in her living room. And that was the same day she yelled at Fred and George about what they… well… which one’s seeing Alicia?”
“Fred,” Katie said. “According to Ginny, Mrs. Weasley caught Fred and Alicia and gave them… well Fred, but Alicia was there… an earful about proper behavior. Then Fred said that George and Angelina were doing it too, so they got the business. We were just told not to be stupid about it seeing as we have our own room at school and at the Burrow. And yes, Mrs. Weasley did say if I had any questions… although Ron here would rather I didn’t.”
“Far as I can tell, she’s perfect as is,” Ron said with a grin. “No complaints here.”
“Likewise,” Katie added. “But it was… weird. Not Ron, his Mum.”
“Now I’ve got to meet her parents. She says they’re nice, but…”
“Daphne’s were the hardest,” Harry nodded. “Didn’t know them at all and there was little warning about what was coming, you know? Hermione’s weren’t so bad, but I think that’s ‘cause her Mum was there when we began bonding - and before you say it, Ron, for us all it took was the right kind of kiss at the right time. Mr. Greengrass was all business about it which helped me. Her mother was concerned about her, but that wasn’t too bad. But I think I was more scared of them than I’ve ever been about Voldemort.”
“Good news is, it’s a done deal,” Sally-Anne said. “My parents are Muggles, you know. The Flamels were the ones who explained it to them and when they remembered what happened, it was not so bad. I mean the bond is the bond.”
“Tracy’s were the hardest for me,” Neville nodded. “They were okay about it, but like Harry said it was a little warning thing. Just be yourself Ron.”
“On second thought, don’t say anything unless you’ve thought it through first,” Parvati said. “You’re not as thick as some people think, but you do speak without thinking about it.”
“I know. I was planning on saying nothing,” Ron said. “Course, I’ll probably have to say something. They’ll probably want to know how I could possibly support Katie. What’s the deal with the basilisk, Harry?”
“You’re so greedy,” Parvati chided.
“Am not! Okay, maybe a little. But it’s all I’ve got, you know? I’d like to be able to tell them that… well, that they won’t have to… um… that I can afford this stuff. So Harry?”
“Expecting another letter from Gringotts tomorrow,” Harry said. “We’re close to an agreement and I’m pretty sure there’ll be one tomorrow.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“You mean how much?” Harry drawled. “Can’t say, except it’s already more than twice what we talked about. I’ll let you do the maths.”
“Four hundred fifty-seven thousand and change,” Ron nodded, “a little over forty-one thousand a year in interest to spend at nine percent, right?”
“Um… I guess?”
“Pretty sure that’s close. Should make them happy as forty-one thousand a year’s nothing to sneeze at.”
“How did you…?” Padma asked.
“He seems to be able to do that,” Katie said. “Told him to talk to Professor Vector as he might have a mind for Arithmancy. Tell them, Ron.”
“I did… talk to Professor Vector and then Babbling too. I’ve wanted to drop Divination since the first class. Sorry Parvati, it’s not for me. Although I will say Trelawney is more entertaining than most. I just don’t get it at all. Guess I don’t have one of those eye things. Not my cup of tea, pardon the pun.”
“It’s okay,” Parvati said. Most at the table knew she thought the class was brilliant. “We’re learning to read tea leaves,” she added for those who missed the pun. “Are you dropping?”
“Yeah. Talked to McGonagall yesterday. I’m picking up Arithmancy and Runes.
“Well, there are some who think Professor Trelawney’s a fraud,” Parvati chortled, “but she was right about one thing.” Everyone looked at her. “She predicted that one would leave us before the end of the year! We thought she meant one of us would die, as she seems to predict stuff like that. But she didn’t say that and I guess one of us dropping the class was it.”
No one responded to this. “But Ron, you’re already a month and a half behind,” Hermione said.
Ron shrugged. “First few weeks in both were introductory. You really didn’t begin doing anything aside from memorizing a few Runes which is easy enough. Should be caught up in Arithmancy by Monday if you do another week tomorrow, Harry.”
“A month in a half in a week?” Hermione almost shrieked.
“It talks to me, Hermione. Runes not so much. But Katie’s taking that and’s gonna help. It is useful.”
“You mean do your work for you,” Hermione snorted.
“No, I mean help me if I don’t get it. I have to do okay on my exams if I want to stay on the team and if I let someone do all my work during the year, how can I do okay on the exams?”
“What have you done with Ron Weasley,” Hermione asked Ron.
“Ron Weasley bonded with Katie and made the Quidditch Team,” Ron said. “Ron Weasley learned if he does well, he might be Quidditch Captain Sixth Year. If he does the way he’s been doing, he might be lucky to still be on the team. I want to be on the team and I wouldn’t mind being Captain.”
“You’d be a better choice than me even if I am senior,” Harry said. “Anyone who pays attention knows you know more about the game than I do. To me it’s look for Snitch, see Snitch, catch Snitch. The rest is an annoying distraction from my broom.”
Cissy and Andi were standing across the street from their destination. Before them stood a tall, stone façade with large, plate glass windows on the ground floor and smaller, more normal looking windows on the floors above. A faded sign over a broad doorway stated “Purge & Dowse, Ltd.” A faded poster of some sort in one of the ground floor windows announced “Closed for Refurbishment.” In the tall windows stood manikins displaying mostly women’s fashions. Cissy had never come to this place in the manner she had today. She and Andi had walked from the Leaky Cauldron through the Muggle streets of London with the throngs of shoppers and tourists common on a somewhat pleasant Saturday in October and the streets filled with black cabs, buses, some private cars and other vehicles. The street they were now on was less travelled, but that was not to say it was empty.
“Oh, what a lovely façade,” an accented voice said. Cissy turned and saw a Muggle woman about her age with another woman and a man. “What kind of shop is that?”
“A closed one,” the other woman said. “It’s been under refurbishment at least since the War. Look at the clothes! All that lot’s good for is a costume party. That’s been out of style since well before I was born.”
“Was it a costumers?” the man asked.
“Wouldn’t know. Before my time. Probably before my mother’s time, truth be known. My husband Nigel thinks it’s really some very quiet government office of some sort; the kind the government doesn’t want us to know exists. My brother thinks some foreigners probably own it in order to get out of paying their taxes or some such nonsense. My sister’s certain that the Prince of Wales is behind it somehow. Thinks someone bought it to put up one of those ghastly glass tower office buildings and it was declared ‘historical’ and therefore must be preserved before the owner could begin to take it down.”
“There’s a lot of that going on back home,” the man said. “The States and the Feds are always declaring this derelict building or that of historical import so you can’t change it or get rid of it either.”
“Yes. I’ve read the Prince got that idea from your side of the Pond. He was amazed that we have thousands of years of history being flattened in the name of progress, while our cousins across the way whose history is only a few hundred years old preserve some privy because someone famous took his ease there once upon a time.”
“I’m pretty sure we don’t preserve historical outhouses,” the woman said. “Well, not unless there’s a historical house that goes along with it at any rate.”
“Right then,” the first woman said, “we’re only a couple of streets away from the real Baker Street…”
“What’s so important about that Baker Street place?” Cissy asked once she and Andi had passed through a magical portal hidden in one of the plate glass display windows of “Purge & Dowse, Ltd.” Beside an animated manikin that responded to magical people such as themselves when it was safe to cross over without being seen by Muggles. They were in the waiting room of St. Mungos Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries.
“No idea,” Andi said. “I would say it must be a Muggle thing although the lady from around here seemed not terribly interested. So I guess that couple from the colonies must think it’s terribly interesting for some reason and the other lady is humoring them for some reason.”
“Colonies?” Cissy asked.
“The other lady said ‘across the Pond’ which was where the couple was from, apparently. That means the Americas.”
“Oh.”
Andi led Cissy to a door marked “Employees Only.” They entered and it was a stairwell.
“They’re in the Stanhope Ward for Psychomagical Trauma,” Andi said. “It’s on the fourth floor. This way.”
It did not take them long to climb to the fourth floor nor that long to find the Stanhope Ward but, Cissy mused, Andi was a Healer and knew her way around. The Ward was not one could find easily. It had its own magical barrier to prevent people from either finding it or entering. Andi explained this was for the safety of the patients. During the War, many had been victim of Death Eater depredations and by surviving remained targets. The staff found it best to keep the protections in place.
The Stanhope Ward was the newest and least known of the many wards at the hospital. To the uninitiated, the hospital was a confusing place. After all, if one broke their arm, the directory did not clearly state where they needed to go. All purely or predominantly physical injuries (which oddly included childbirth) were seen to on the Ground Floor which, according to the Directory only seemed to handle “Artifact Accidents.” Routine examinations were handled on the Second Floor although the directory said it was for “Magical Maladies.” The Stanhope Ward was on the Fourth Floor which housed Spell Damage. But unlike the other unlisted examination and treatment wards, there were few who would ever require a visit.
The Ward was a product of the last war. Before the Death Eaters, none had seen a need for treating Psychomagical Trauma and according to the few practitioners in all probability prior cases had been handled (probably with little success) as Spell Damage. That war, however, caused many such traumas. People were forced to do horrible things or watch as they occurred. The magical effects of two of the unforgivable could be countered magically and their physical effects could be repaired, but the psychological damage could be incapacitating and it did not respond to traditional techniques. As the new branch of Healers studied this “new” condition, they learned that there were those who suffered without ever being victim of an unforgivable.
Andi led Cissy to a room that was too small to be a waiting room. It had three comfortable chairs, two were facing the other and behind the other was what looked like a mirror. There was a woman in Healers' Robes seated in the lone chair. There were no tables or anything else.
“Good afternoon, Healer Tonks,” the woman said. This healer looked young, but clearly older than one might look just out of Healer training. “I am Healer Ellie Parsons,” she said more to Cissy than to Andi. “You must Mistress Black.”
Cissy nodded. Her annulment from Lucius Malfoy had been registered two days earlier declaring her marriage null and void meaning as far as she and the Wizarding Wolrd were now concerned, she had never been married. She was once again a Black and was here in that capacity.
“I take it this is your first time in the psychomagical ward?” Healer Parsons asked.
Cissy nodded.
“Most people are a little… out of sorts visiting here,” the Healer commented. “Then again, most of our patients are all out of sorts.”
“Is there a reason why the girls are here?”
“Well, they’re not foaming at the mouth or hearing Merlin or seeing nonexistent things, if that’s what you’re asking. We do have some here who are well and truly out of their minds, to use a lay term. But they have gone through a severe emotional trauma and this ward is best equipped to deal with that aspect of their treatment and observation. Were we to leave them in Spell Damage or such, they could run off or harm themselves. Suicide attempts are not unknown given their recent… experiences and I dare say most the other Wards are not staffed or particularly trained to deal with suicidal patients.”
“Are they?” Cissy asked. “Suicidal I mean?”
“Well, they haven’t exhibited overt behaviors. But it is early in their treatment so we can’t rule it out. We might never be able to completely. Our treatment plan is to minimize that risk and ameliorate their emotional and psychological trauma so that they can adjust and go on to a more or less normal life. We hope to bring them to a point of acceptable stability, but this is a less certain field than others. You do understand they all have been through a living hell, don’t you?”
“N-not the details. I was there the day they were found and can only imagine what happened.”
“We can quantify what happened to them physically and magically. But as you say, we can only imagine what happened to them emotionally and psychologically. The results can be observed, maybe. But we can’t waive a wand and say they suffered this or that to any degree, nor cast a spell or administer a potion that’ll make it all better. Our job is to try to help them cope with what has happened so that they can live a more or less normal life, but we can’t cure them. What happened to them will always be a part of them.”
“Their memories?”
“Yes,” the Healer said in digust, “the Ministry is rather attached to Obliviation, isn’t it? To them it’s a cure all for any bad things. It’s not. We have learned that in cases such as these patients it would be the worst thing we could do. It would not be unlike treating a person with a broken leg with pain relief potion. The pain would go away, but the bone remains broken and if they try to act as if it is not and walk, they only make things worse. For Psychomagical Trauma, Obliviation is similarly useless and harmful. It hides the injury, but the injury remains and to ignore it will only make it worse. Masking the trauma from the conscious memory and mind does nothing for deeper trauma. The patients must be able to deal with the trauma consciously, or it will eat them alive as it were. We have found that Obliviation is actually worse than doing nothing because the patient can begin exhibiting adverse and atypical behaviors consistent with the trauma, but cannot know why nor can anyone else.”
“What kind of behaviors?” Cissy asked.
“The list of specifics is long,” Healer Parsons said. “The behaviors would be out of character for the patient, invariably self destructive in one way or another, possibly antisocial and harmful to others. They would also be harmful to family and relationships…”
“These girls have no families left,” Andi said.
“But… that’s not in their case histories! They all talked about their families. There was nothing particularly remarkable from a psychomagical perspective, just normal teenaged stuff… That one of them might exhibit such a delusion as to believe they have a family when they do not is possible, but all four?”
“We have no reason to believe they are aware of that fact,” Andi said.
“The Auror reports,” Cissy began looking through a sheaf of notes, “which included examination by an Auror Legilimencer, show that Mary Pierce remembers going to sleep in her bed at her home and waking up in that hell hole. Her family was found dead in their beds. The Muggles figured it was from carbon monoxide poisoning - which can happen apparently - and believe she was a runaway. The Aurors now think it was her abductor and the Killing Curse. Jenny Stanley was abducted walking home from a friend’s house. Her family died in a car crash two days later in a manner that suggests the Imperius Curse. The man drove into a bridge abutment at a very high speed for no apparent reason. Angela Hammer was also out walking alone when she was abducted. She lived with her grandmother who was found dead a couple days later from an apparent heart attack - again probably the Killing Curse. And Elizabeth Mabry went missing from her home when her family was out. They died when the house burned to the ground the next day. The fire was not inconsistent with Fiendfyre.”
“This makes things difficult,” the Healer said. “They don’t know. We haven’t tried to pensieve their memories. Saw no reason to. But to do so we’d need permission from their family or guardians. You think these are related?” The two sisters nodded. “But, we need to release them somewhere eventually…”
“They are under the protection and guardianship of five Ancient and Noble Houses,” Andi said. “I’m authorized to grant such permissions, but if you need a signed slip from their new Head of House, I can have that within a day or less. As for releasing them, House Black wants them as treated as you can do before discharge is even contemplated.”
“Yes. I saw that. It’s why we still have them. Normal procedure for Muggles is to patch them up and send them back to their world… Ordinarily, they never would’ve been referred to us. Administration’s right put out about the additional treatment, truth be told. So these Houses are trolling for brides?”
“That was uncalled for, Parsons!” Andi said. “I can assure you that two of the Houses couldn’t troll for brides - as you call it - if they wanted to being down to but a single witch. All the Heads and heirs of the other three houses are already married, so that too is not an option. Our world did this to them. Our Ministry and by your own statement our Healers would rather do nothing about what has happened to them. The Houses, on the other hand, feel otherwise. Magic did this to them, magic must make it right by them and the fact they are Muggles only increases our obligation!”
“I… sorry,” Healer Parsons said. “It’s just… I’m Muggle Born…”
“As are four of the wives I mentioned. You’re point is?”
“My experience with the old families is not… Well, I have a low opinion as to their motivations regarding all but the other old families.”
“Not entirely undeserved,” Cissy nodded. “The five families we mention do not advertise their motivations or goals. Rest assured, they truly do have those girls' best interests in mind. We’re here on behalf of the guardians with respect to those girls, not to discuss the obvious flaws in our society.”
“Yes, of course. Sorry. I hope you can understand my concerns?”
“Probably more than you can know,” Andi said. “Back on task. Take us through their treatment to date, please.”
Healer Parsons referred to her notes. “They arrived here on the twelfth, all four were under a stasis charm. Each patient was revived in order to undergo initial examination and evaluation. All four were confused and exhibited behaviors consistent with abuse and prolonged psychological trauma. All four were in no immediate physical or magical distress but it was clear they were in the need of treatment for numerous injuries. They were admitted to physical trauma for initial treatment.
“Aside from their obvious injuries, all four were otherwise physically healthy. Despite between one to eight months of captivity following abduction, they had no signs of infection, illness, disease or malnourishment. Interviews determined they were fed at times forcibly. Their diet was more than adequate from a nutritional standpoint but otherwise quite bland: mostly potato soup made with milk or cream and butter and nothing else…”
“That’s adequate?” Cissy asked in shock.
“As the soup included the skins and the potatoes were prepared properly such that their nutritional value was not lost, yes it was. A person can live on that diet quite well indefinitely provided they meet their caloric needs. True, it would be bland. But it is healthy enough.
“Their physical injuries were limited. All had bruises, abrasions and minor cuts on their arms, torsos and thighs consistent with beatings. All also had bruising and abrasions on their wrists and ankles consistent with the use of restraints and struggle against the same. All also showed evidence of vaginal and anal tearing consistent with forcible rape and sodomy. However, there was no evidence of internal injuries: no damage to the internal organs, no broken bones. Two showed signs of old injuries, one had formerly broken her arm and the other her lower leg, but these injuries were of sufficient age to rule out their abduction and subsequent treatment as a causal factor in those injuries. Interviews stated all four were slapped frequently and beaten with what they believe was a rubber hose. All injuries were treated, although it was not possible to restore the patients to their previous physical condition…”
“Why not?” Cissy asked. “What do you mean?”
“All of them were virgins when they were abducted,” the Healer replied. “That’s something we cannot give back.
“Examinations showed signs of magical exposure and trauma. Most notably from Physical Casualty’s perspective was the fact that despite evidence and their reports of constant sexual violation, none of the patients were pregnant. Given their ages and other factors, their daily sexual assaults should not have resulted in all four being pregnant despite having congress throughout their monthly cycle, but one of them most likely should have been at least, possibly two. They were not on non-magical birth control and there was no evidence of such use. But quantities of birth control potions sufficient to prevent conception were detected in all four patients.”
“It works on Muggles?” Cissy asked.
“Well, I’ve read nothing about any clinical trials,” Andi answered. “But the potion deals with physical not magical processes of fertility. Physically, witches are indistinguishable from Muggle women so it stands to reason that the potion would work on both. Although it might work differently.”
“Differently?” the two women asked.
“Muggles have no magic and we know that magic has some affect on many potions mostly as to their potency. Magic either enhances or diminishes the potency of a potion which, if such is the case with birth control potions would mean Muggles would need to take it either more frequently or less depending upon how magic affects it.”
After a pause, Healer Parsons continued. “After a day in Physical Casualty, they were sent to Spell Damage. All four were exhibiting symptoms of exposure to the Crutiatus Curse as well as extensive Imperius exposure. It appears that the torture was inflicted to establish dominance and punish unacceptable behaviors such as any displays of resistance or free will. The imperius was used to compel the girls to perform various sexual acts without resistance or hesitation. From my perspective, the effects of those spells had to be dealt with before there could be anything I could do for them here. They were there for a week.
“We’re dealing with the effects of systemic rape,” she continued. “From the time the girls arrived at their place of confinement until they arrived here, every day included multiple assaults and violations. Initially, there was but a single assailant whom they knew only as ‘Master’ although within a week or less they were expected to ‘entertain’ his guests. Only he was allowed to beat them or use the curses on them but aside from that his guests could do whatever they pleased. Once they became ‘entertainments,’ they were to entertain several guests each day, often more than one at a time.
“From our perspective, it is necessary to help them isolate that experience and put it in a proper perspective. They must see that they were true victims, that they did nothing to deserve the treatment or assaults. They must come to learn that the events they went through are abnormal, that such behavior by the man they knew as Master and his guests is unacceptable. They must learn to live their lives despite their recent experiences. If they can’t get past what has happened to them… Well, their chances of living a productive life are then all but nonexistent. We are using some magic upon them to help them cope, but in the end they must come to terms with their experiences on their own. Support for them, emotionally, is essential. Naturally, losing their families - their most likely support - is not a good thing. But there is also the possibility that returning them to their previous lives might also be counterproductive, it’s hard to say.”
“That’s not an option in any event,” Andi said.
“Yes, you did say their families are no more.”
“There’s more to it than that. Have you noted any temporal anomalies?”
“Temporal?” Healer Parsons asked. “Um… well, the consensus is that all of them seem to have adopted an odd coping stratagem. All seem to think they’re older than they really are. One claims to have been born in 1965, another in ‘68, another in '73 and the last in '78 although it’s clear they are delusional. Physical examination shows they were born between February 26th, 1979 and June 25th 1980.”
“That assumes no use of temporal magic,” Andi said. “They were found under stasis charms, the Auror team did not place them under it. They were born when they said they were. Most of their time in that place was under stasis charms.”
“Is that even possible? That would mean years for all of them!”
“I am aware of an unrelated case where two people were under stasis for almost twelve years without any physical or magical degradation,” Andi said. “The duration was accidental. Whoever it was that was supposed to revive them never showed up. So there was some disorientation as they had missed a dozen years or so, but it’s proven manageable.”
“But they knew about such things and that they were under it?”
“Yes.”
“These girls have no concept of such things. To them, they’ve been gone months. You’re saying it really has been years?”
“Miss Mabry’s been missing for a little over two years, Miss Hammer seven, Miss Stanley eleven and a half and Miss Pierce fifteen.”
“And their families are gone too? This complicates things.”
“Clearly sending them back to their former lives is not an option,” Cissy noted.
“No. It couldn’t work,” Healer Parsons agreed. “That option is not possible and sending them back would only add to the trauma. But what other option is there? They’re Muggles after all.”
“The Houses have an option available,” Andi said. “It would mean a completely new life for them in new circumstances. It would also mean they would retain a connection to our world - although we are confident a very different one from the one they experienced. They do know about magic, don’t they?”
“Yes. Their abductor ‘educated’ them, as it were. We saw no reason to disabuse them of that reality for now. Normally, that would be the final treatment although we in this Ward have managed to keep the Obliviators away. As I said, erasing their memories is contraindicated although we had not yet thought of a way to retain the memories and return them to their former lives. You’re saying that can’t happen in any event.”
“Those lives are gone,” Andi nodded. “The Muggles believe them to be dead. No one is looking for them or expecting them. Moreover, were they to return how could they explain their youth without revealing our world?”
“We think it best we take over their care,” Cissy said. “After all, it was our world that destroyed their lives, it is up to us to set things to rights if that can be done at all. True, they will live in a magical society, but not the one they’ve known. There will be young people their age…”
“They’re not witches,” Healer Parsons said.
“Well, we were not thinking of sending them to Hogwarts, if that’s what you mean. Home tutoring is still done in Muggle families, although it is primarily a practice of the well to do. We have parents of Muggle Borns who can assist in their education.”
“Three of the four wives we mentioned earlier,” Andi said. “Their parents have agreed to assist or oversee the education.”
“I wasn’t just thinking about that,” Healer Parsons said. “I mean their needs are different than witches their age. They are not going through magical adolescence.”
“What do you mean?” Cissy asked.
“They do not need sexual release,” the Healer said. “Despite the stuff you might’ve read about Muggles, they are not promiscuous by our standards at all. Children their age are rarely sexually active and girls their age generally do not and have not engaged in sexually stimulating behaviors on purpose. Some have, most have not. They don’t have that need, really. It’s actively discouraged, in fact. But even if they do stimulate themselves on occasion, seeking intimacy is also discouraged especially with other young women. Again, unlike young witches they don’t truly need it to develop. Odds are one or two of them may have engaged in masturbation, the others have not. None of them had been sexually active of their own volition before they were abducted and odds are none would be inclined to be so with a girl as a partner. Given their recent experiences, to thrust them into any form of sexual activity is unnecessary and could be damaging to them emotionally and psychologically. They need to come to terms with what happened in their own time, which might take years.”
“We understand that,” Andi said. “We are aware of that difference as are the young people we’ve mentioned. The Houses have no intentions towards them in that regard.”
“I had to point that out,” Healer Parsons said. “There have been inquiries, you see.”
“Inquiries?” the sisters asked.
She nodded. “Anonymous, of course,” she said. “Well, most were. One was from a known bordello in Knockturn Alley and the others were individuals who seem to think the girls are… available.”
“That's… ,” Cissy began. “And what has been the response?”
“Fortunately, the first arrived after Lord Black attained Guardianship over them,” Healer Parsons said. “Our response was to take it up with their Guardian, without revealing who that was.”
“Fortunately?”
“Had Lord Black not assumed Guardianship, the girls would’ve been released a few days ago for certain. As they had no parents to return to… But that’s not the case and this Ward is intent on seeing that it remains so. To return them to anything approaching what they had been through would be a death sentence more than likely. As it is, we cannot rule out suicide although the initial crisis may have passed. Our experience is they either do it very soon or much later… perhaps years later. Naturally, we can’t keep them here forever. We can do our best and hope their lives do not drive them back into the dark place where they were. Consequently, if Lord Black has any intentions…”
“He does not,” Andi said. “Nor do the other families as we said before. It’s a pity those inquiries were anonymous as I’m sure Lord Black would be more than willing to express his displeasure with the mere suggestion personally and quite possibly in a permanent manner!”
“While this Lord Black is not into such depravity,” Cissy added, “he is Head of the Ancient and Noble House of Black. That house has always played for keeps and the current Lord is not about to change that policy. One crosses House Black at their peril, even more so now than in recent memory, I should think. He will not think twice about destroying his enemies in a manner from which there can be no recovery.”
“Um… ,” the Healer began.
“On the other hand,” Andi said, “for those he favors and those under his protection, you could not ask for a better or more generous Head of Family. He takes such responsibilities seriously.” Actually, while Andi did believe that of Sirius, she knew she was speaking of the Family as in many, not one. They took their responsibilities seriously.
“Can we see the girls?” Cissy asked.
“I would like to be there,” the Healer replied.
“Understandable. The question remains.”
“Um… they’ve been isolated. Aside from the Ward staff, they’ve had no other interactions since they were referred to us.”
“So they haven’t spoken with each other?” Andi asked.
“They have. We initially had them all in the same room. But it proved upsetting for them so we separated them into private rooms. They knew of each other from before, but had never been allowed to speak to each other so… well, they compared notes as it were. We thought they came up with a mass delusion of sorts. We were not informed of the use of the stasis charm so there was no way for us to believe their claims that they were from different times. They believed it, however. I was inclined to, but was overruled by my superiors.”
“Why were you inclined to?” Cissy asked.
“Muggle Born,” she replied. “I grew up in that culture and am familiar with it, particularly its music and its cinema. That was how they figured something was very off. Their knowledge of contemporary music and cinema led them to the conclusion that either they were all mental or something else had happened and I knew that they did not make that stuff up. My Wizarding raised colleagues cannot believe that music and such changes as rapidly as it does in the Muggle World. Nor can they believe the sheer variety. Then again, with a thousand or more Muggles for each of us it stands to reason there would be a thousand times as many musical groups. There are only five or six on our wireless who are current and one has been ‘current’ for forty years. It doesn’t work that way with Muggles. Groups popular today didn’t even exist five years ago and groups popular five years ago may have disbanded or faded in popularity. A wizarding child could neither invent the groups nor when they were popular and for what.
“There are other things as well that cannot be made up. One has only ever seen pictures in the theater or on television. One has seen some on a video cassette machine at a friend’s and the other two had such machines in their home. Three have seen an entertainment format known as a music video, one has not. One has seen a home computer, one has used one and the other two have no idea what one is. What these things are is not important. But they are evidence of the passage of time. All of them exist today and none of them existed in 1978. They came into existence or became affordable at different times. So either those girls have very detailed collective imaginations, or they are from different times. They tend to believe that something like time travel has happened. This has disturbed them as you can well imagine.”
“Do you think it would help if they knew the truth?” Cissy asked.
“I don’t know,” Healer Parsons admitted. “I will say to hide the truth from them would hurt them in the end.”
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 24 th 1993
The Estate was under Time Compression again. It had been the day before for one extra day to placate Oliver Wood’s seemingly insatiable desire to practice until the rest of the team dropped and then practice some more. The advantage with the extra day for practice was their team Captain was not booking the school pitch for every possible spare hour during the regular week. Fred, George, Angelina and Alicia were certain that he would have otherwise and while the twins might act as if OWLs were not all that important, the two Chasers wanted to do well and that meant they did not want to spend six, eight or ten hours a week on the Pitch. The extra day kept such tensions to a minimum, although there was talk about locking Wood in a dungeon and losing the key.
The Sunday Time Compression was to allow the Bell’s to visit the Estate. Katie’s brother was not among the visitors, but her younger sister was. Fortunately, the Greengrass family was again visiting as the youngest Bell was between Jenna and Cynthia Greengrass in age. The visit was another week long. With Harry’s mother’s due date moving up quickly, there was now a “Healer In Residence” during Time Compression. Yesterday it had been Madam Pomfrey and today it was Andi Tonks who was also here to talk about her sister and “the poor Muggle Girls.”
Harry was in his study. Another advantage of at least the occasional extra week of time was he could sit down and attempt to manage his House Affairs. What he really did was sift through it all and come up with some ideas and then sit down with his parents and Sirius and sometimes Neville and talk it over. True, they were no more experienced in heading and Ancient and Noble House than he was, but he Sirius and Neville were Heads and his Dad was becoming his chief advisor about such things - at least when he wasn’t asking for advice from his wives. Still, he thought, where there was time having many opinions and ideas to consider was better than just doing something and hoping it was for the best.
“Have you seen the most recent offer from the Goblins?” he asked the group gathered in his Study. This group consisted of his parents and his wives although he was asking his Dad.
“Looked it over,” he said. “They’ve come up a bit.”
Harry nodded. “I’m thinking of taking that offer.”
“They might come up some more.”
“Not much, I should think. There’s not much more I can drop down either. We’re close enough now.”
“They’ve still refused to offer what we know has been offered for some of the stuff in the past.”
“That’s one way to look at it,” Harry agreed. “They think they’re getting it for a steal with this offer. The truth is, the joke’s on them, isn’t it?”
“How so?” Hermione asked.
“They offered me a million sight unseen for the lot,” Harry said. “I countered as the Flamels suggested bargaining on price for the bits by weight and volume - area for the skins. They probably saw me as trying to get more for less, meaning they think there’s less of a basilisk than I said there was, but it’s actually bigger than I said. So, they try to keep it under what I might get selling to wizards, thinking that way they can both avoid paying me a million and make a killing. But their first counter-proposal was for over a million when you add all the bits up. They’re still getting it under market, but they’re gonna be in for a shock when they see just how much they thought they under bid on.”
“So what are the numbers?” James asked.
“Added all up, their initial offer would’ve totaled about one and a half million. We countered back and forth since that week and their current offer stands at… let’s see… around 6,423,000. Market value is only about a two million more. But that assumes the price doesn’t drop and I’m told if we dumped this stuff on the market, the price would plummet. I’d be lucky to get a million for it. This offer is firm, I think.”
“Looks that way to me,” James said.
“Which means they’re stuck with it and have to pay what they agreed to, right?”
“Again, that’s what it looks like.”
“Not that I need the money, but is there a point trying to get more? Justin, Collin and Clearwater are due to get about 400,000 and Ron is over one point two million. Seems to me more is silly.”
“My brother’s getting that much?” Ginny said. “Does he know?”
“Wasn’t going to tell him how much,” Harry said. “He knows it’s over 450,000, but not how much over. That’s enough information to keep your parents and the Bells from raising too much of a fuss about their bonding so young.”
“When are you going to tell him, or the others for that matter?” Hermione asked.
“Actually, I was thinking of waiting until the final disbursement,” Harry said. “Can you imagine the look on Ron’s face when the Goblins show him he has that much in his new vault? True, he can only access nine percent of it this first year and only the interest earned on what’s left ‘til he’s older; but nine percent is more than I had to start with when I left school for this past summer.”
“He’ll probably pass out,” Ginny chuckled.
“And what do you have now?” Hermione asked. “You’ve spent a small fortune, you know.”
“True,” Harry chuckled. “But I’ve made a small fortune too, not including that snake. My balance stands at 254,611 all told, about six thousand more than before I started spending. My spending account is still down about twenty-two thousand, but that still leaves me with 94,575 to spend, not that I’m planning on spending much of anything before Christmas and even then, not that much. By then, however, it now looks like I’ll be adding over three million to my Trust Vault with almost 300,000 available for spending. It seems Harry luck with money is almost as odd as with life. I can’t seem to not make money,” he added with a chuckle.
“Or spend it fast enough,” Daphne said. “Not that I can see much to spend it on that we don’t already have.”
“What do you intend to do with it?” his mother asked.
“Honestly? I haven’t thought that far ahead,” Harry admitted. “Didn’t make sense to think of that until I knew how much or how little there was to think about. I have some ideas, of course, but nothing certain.”
“And your ideas?”
“Aside from support my family, you mean? Trunks.”
“Trunks?”
Harry nodded. “You know Sirius got one of these, right?”
His parents nodded.
“You also know we’ve connected the Potter Estate to the Longbottom one just as we connected all our trunks into one Estate. House Longbottom is along our north property line. We can now drive from here to there rather than use the floo connections or such. Well, Sirius asked and I agreed that he will also connect into the Estate. His place will connect in along the east boundary of Gradfather’s first trunk and part of the southeast boundary of my new trunk due east of the Manor. Neville will be able to expand his estate to the north, northeast and northwest. Sirius to the east and southeast. Then there’s Ron whose also thinking ‘bout getting one and with what he’ll make he will be able to do so easily even if he has to buy the elves to staff it. I was thinking of his tying in along the east boundary of our northeast trunk and allowing him to expand to the east and northeast. That leaves the west for House Potter to expand. But before that, I was thinking of getting what I call a Common Trunk. After all, there’s now a fair few who almost live here like the Grangers, Greengrasses, Mrs. Abbott and the Weasleys; not to mention Neville’s Gran and his in-laws. There’ll be others too, it seems. So, rather than have the almost constant guests living in guest houses, why not give them their own places? It would be a town in that common trunk, I’m thinking. But that decision can’t be mine alone. Neville needs to be in on it (even if I pay for it) and maybe Sirius and Ron as well.
“Another thing I was thinking was to buy up all of the trunks like this out there. Sirius told me there were at least four ‘gathering dust’ in that trunk shop in Diagon Alley and there’s two more in another shop. The builder makes two every three years or so. Aside from Sirius, House Potter and House Longbottom own all those that have been sold so why not the lot of them?”
“I take it there’s more to this than just having them all,” Hermione observed.
“There is,” Harry nodded. “If we have them, no one else will. I’m not trying to be exclusive or something. But while we’ve had no new memory uncaps, we do know there will be more and more importantly we know that despite what we have done so far, the future’s going to get a lot worse before it can get better. Why would we even risk the chance of the bad guys getting their hands on one of these? Can you imagine what Lucius Malfoy might’ve done with an estate like this? The Aurors would never have found those girls we were told about. I want to take that option away from the bad guys.”
“So you plan to buy all of them?” Lily asked.
“If necessary,” Harry nodded. “Actually, I know you and Dad have a fair bit in his trust and there’s Sirius and Ron and Neville. I may be head of House Potter, but I see no reason why you can’t have your own farms or a place like this set aside for my brother or sister. I’m going to ask them to think about it as well as you. No rush. Those trunks don’t seem to be going anywhere and I’m not about to mention this to Ron ‘til he gets his cut from the basilisk which won’t be for a month or so even if I sign off on this offer today.”
“Why so long?” Hannah asked.
“It’ll take about that long to get all the stuff to the Goblins and make sure they don’t lose track of any of it,” Harry said.
James laughed. “They’re going to love you!”
A/N: Yes, the potato diet above is not made up (although it would be terribly boring). One might say 20th Century Europe would’ve been a very, very different place were it not for the humble and bland potato.