Robert had not intended to hurt Khaat. He had trained so often and so hard that defensive moves happened instinctively. Khaat and Brian and Robert and Remus had all understood each other well about that. It wasn't like Robert hadn't hurt her before as he had protected himself out of a kneejerk reaction, both in training and in real life. Hell, they all had hurt each other accidentally at one time or another. They worked hard and played harder, and rarely did anyone ever get to enter the safety they felt when they were training with one another. It was just utterly verboten. Her mother often had watched, but had never gotten to participate. Not in that circle. Khaat had never understood why not. Her mother could be rather handy with a wand when it came right down to it.
The fact that her father had hurt her? That had not been what had upset her. Not at all. That part was completely her fault. She had, after all, been stupid enough to draw on him first. She did know better. And she hadn't anticipated he would feel so strongly about giving Eli back his memories that he would twist her arm. She barely had even noticed it, except for the initial sound and the initial pain. She didn't feel it now. Didn't notice the swelling of her arm and the fact that her forearm was turning coal black clear down into her hand. She had, however, not been able to ignore being tossed out of the room and slammed into the wall clear across the hallway.
The only thing that had truly bothered her was that she had failed. Completely and utterly. She had never, never wanted Eli to remember Felix Barker. Not ever. She wanted that gone for him for all time. She knew there were other horrors that he had faced, but to the best of her knowledge, it had been one of the worst events in his young life. And the memory thread he had been given had been the events from her perspective. Her own, well, was it death? The ripping of her heart as she tried frantically to find a way to give him hope when he believed it was all gone. It had bonded them in ways that she had been willing to sacrifice now and toss away forever if he just had never had to remember. Sealed in that memory was how very much she loved him. And if he never remembered it again, she was prepared to give that up if he just had not had to remember.
Essentially, she knew her father had been right. In his own occasionally arrogant fashion. Eli would have to remember at some point. She had tried to protect him and It had spared him nothing. And, now, hard as she tried, she could not focus her magic enough to get home. Until it worked again, she was stuck here. The heavens wickedly mocked her, and a violent thunderstorm flaunted in her face that she wasn't much of a seer either. Within just minutes, she didn't have one dry inch of clothing or skin either one. And the rain kept coming.
Her father's rattling of her memory threads in her mind had resurrected her horrors for her too, and it was flooding her mind in much the same way she knew Eli was being bombarded. And right now, she never expected to ever see him again. Eli would want nothing to do with her. Would not even remember how many times she had tried to throw herself under the proverbial bus for him. And for some reason that mattered. It mattered very much. She tried screaming to shut out the memories and the noise, but no one would hear her. Not here. Eventually, she fell into an exhausted, pitiful heap in the long grass, hearing nothing but thunder and the sound of lightning and rain.
At St. Mungos, Robert had seen Elli's violent reaction, as he knew would come sooner or later. It had been merely a matter of time. There was never an easy way to do this. Khaat hadn't made it better by interfering. her overreaction had made the whole scene worse. When it came to anyone she considered her child in any given sense of the word, she didn't know how to hold back. He hadn't thought she'd take the business of it well, but he hadnt counted on hurting her not once but twice. That had been a terrible accident, and he knew he now looked like the last candidate for father of the year. He looked like a huge bastard. Most of the time, that didn't bother him, but how Khaat saw him? He did care about that. He had heard her hit the wall in the hallway, He had turned his head enough to see her hit the floor in a heap and had planned to go to her, but she had apparated out. And now, she could be bloody anywhere.
Oh, and joy of joys, the Krums had impeccable timing. Personally, he didn't give a jot about Viktors' threats or opnions. Particularly any of Viktor's editorializing about his relationship with his daughter. That was just wasted air. The lad had accused them of not giving him good medical care by trying to pace what memories they gave him and had spat typical bitter Krum venom at him. What Khaat knew about Eli's life was limited. Clearly, it had triggered more, and it had been a calculated risk. One Robert had been willing to take to keep Eli from torturing himself any more by what he didn't remember. He had a whole ward full of them upstairs--lifetime residents--obliviated, institutionalized wizards like Gilderoy Lockhart and so many more who had been driven insane more by what they had not remembered and how they had tortured themselves in a frantic, endless search to remember. It was almost never by what fragments they did remember. Robert had not wanted that for Eli He never wanted to see the boy up in the psych ward. Certainly not until Eli turned old and gray or worse.
Whatever the Krums thought, what Robert had done was far better than the greater risk of doing nothing and letting time drive him totally mad. They hadn't stuck around for him to explain, and he didn't believe they would accept a word of it anyway. What Robert had given him was merely a taste of what he had been demanding, and, ironically, as bitter and painful as it had been for the boy, it truly had been a kindness, particularly when compared with the alternative. Robert knew the cures could often be painful or revoltingly bitter to swallow. This had been one of those times. He did know that Eli might never see it that way, though. Neither would any other of the Krums. But then, his own life had never been a popularity contest. In the room doorway, Robert saw his assistant. Hannah stood aghast at what she had just witnessed, openmouthed.
"Close your mouth, Hannah," Robert said calmly, "You'll be letting the flies in. It was inevitable. Putting it off was not going to help the boy. When the lad stops wretching completely, do see to it that he is made comfortable again. Oh, and let me know when Khaat finds her way back, would you?" He opened Eli's chart, made a note, signed it, handed it back to her, and walked away.
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