News Flash

Khaat had been at work since before daylight. She had just refilled her mug with more of her beloved French Roast coffee from the pot in her office. It was really the only thing she was overly fond of. Fond enough to keep a pot of it in her office on the credenza behind her desk.

The emergency wing was overflowing with people who were sick. Everything from from a cold to serious fevers and much more developed sickness. And then there was that infernal itching.

She herself had all the symptoms of a headcold. And that irksome rash had started across her shoulder. It was covered by her emerald green silk blouse, but still, she knew it was there, and it itched relentlessly unless she found some of her father's anti-itch remedy.

She heard a knock on her door. It was too early, she thought for her new assistant--unless he was eager. And if so, she was glad for the help. She was buried in paperwork. And if it wasnt her new assistant, she wasn't sure she wanted to answer the door.

Nevertheless, she cheerfully told whoever it was to come in.

"Good morning, Mr. Bletchley. Shall I call you that or would you prefer Atticus. Please call me Khaat. I expect we shall work closely together, so I would rather you be casual with me. sit down, please. We need to talk. Thank you for coming so early. We aren't usually stacked up downstairs with people waiting in the hallways to be seen, but, well, we all know this illness has everyone either getting it or afraid they might.

"So, in light of that, I expect several things. I expect that the newspapers will be contacting us at various intervals. Steer them to me if I haven't prepared press statements for you. I expect we shall at some point all be overworked. Please arrange for the conference room down the hall to be used as sleeping quarters for healers who need to remain around the clock. Take the conference table and chairs out and have beds with clean linens placed there with bedside tables. And place a liberal supply there of clean clothes and towels and all the personal items a healer might need to refresh themselves. They all know they can use the showers in either the surgical changing rooms or in the gym in the basement. This might well get uglier."

"My father is here. He is in the large potions lab downstairs researching what this stuff is and how we cure it. So far all we can provide is some symptomatic relief for the congestion and the coughing. Oh, and my father has developed a fairly successful anti-itch lotion. It doesnt' stop the spreading of that nasty rash, but it will keep it from making people buggy. And we're starting to see one more thing--the farther this progresses, the more a victim's magic is likely to go completely haywire. My father and I have already had to bind the magic of several witches and wizards.

"Have I overwhelmed you yet?" She wasn't going to continue until he had had a chance to absorb that much.

ooc: btw, the photo albums have a floor by floor photo gallery of what the spaces in the hospital look like. idk if you've ever checked that out or not, but it might help. khaat redecorated and updated the hospital about 4 years ago when khaat took over the directors job.

"Excellent. I'm not always easy to keep up with. Its nice that you're quick," she smiled. "I appreciate it. Accidental magic is one of the symptoms we're starting to see in some of the advanced cases. Healers can bind a witch or wizard's magic, but when we do that, we strip ourselves perhaps of valuable information about the illness.

"My father and I are working on creating a sterile and magically sealed environment for him. It appears to us that we may well be needing a potionsmaster to research the illness and research a cure. We need to consider isolating him so that we reduce his chance of getting this stuff to buy time for him to work. That means I need to create a living space for him down in the large potions lab that is self sustaining. If that happens, I will be needing to brief you and Sophia Granger on the operations of the hospital, in full. I have been repeatedly and massively exposed to this stuff. If there is the slightest chance I will get it to the degree that some of the first patients we saw are now becoming, then, realistically, I need to be responsible enough to build in a contingency plan in case I would become unable to do my duties. My father needs to focus on a cure and on the wellbeing of the Ministry.

"You would do well to learn healing skills. You may find that your duties are about as far from a conventional administrative assistant as it can get. But let me back up a moment and go to a couple of basics." She drew a golden colored card from her desk. The card looked very much like a muggle credit card. She signed the back if it with her quill and handed it to him. "Yours," she said. "Your employees' membership to the gym in the basement. You'll find it is state of the art and incredibly complete. I just added a foursided climbing wall in one room. It goes from beginners skills to the ridiculously complicated for experts. The gym never closes and it is staffed around the clock, including the massage therapists. You'd be amazed how great a swim or a massage can be during a break when one is pressed to be here overnight.

"You also will have the ability to charge any meals you have on an account in any of the dining rooms. You'll find the food is quite good. We have a five star chef in charge of all the food in all the dining spaces and over all the patient meals. Most of the dining spaces are also open around the clock.

"You do not need to wear traditional robes unless you choose to. Its your choice. I don't wear them by my own choice. I only prefer professional dress here, and what you have on today is exactly the sort of dress I expect. Oh. And here." She handed him a keyring with many keys. "Your set of keys to nearly every part of the hospital. You will need them because some of the spaces only open with these magical keys. And if you lose them, you need to tell me because you will be locked out of many areas. They are charmed to not be duplicated in any way. Have you taken the tour so that you have an idea of where things are?

"Um..a word on patient records. That is one of the most important things for you to know. St. Mungos is the largest wizarding hospital in the world and as such we have the medical records of nearly every witch and wizard who has ever lived, no matter what part of the globe they live in. And because of that, we have taken very careful precautions about patient records. They are purposely in an unplottable location and under many, many protective charms. There are only two people on the planet who have access to patient records. My father and me. Period. I am rethinking that to include Sophia Granger. But--if you need a medical record on a patient, you have no choice but to contact my father or me--at least for now. Still with me? And I'm sure you have questions. Feel free to ask anything."

"You are welcome to follow me, my father, Sophia, my husband Brian Quinn, or any of the other healers. They will be more than happy to teach you anything they know. Healing, though, is often a matter of individual skills. My father has taught Brian and I to heal in much the same way that he does--and that is largely by the energy transferance that comes by touch. We diagnose and often heal or initiate healing spells by the use of wandless and/or nonverbal magic. We use potions as well, and, of course our wands. We have a good many other healers who prefer to use potions, some who use wands primarily. It depends on what one's own skills tend to be, what one's training is, and what one is comfortable with. My father uses perhaps more potions than I do, but that is probably because of his comfort with them. I tend to use more touch, but then my mother and I are seers. So, if you learn healing, what you find to be your favored skills will probably align somehow with what you already excel in.

"And yes, you are exactly right. What if, for example, Voldemort could have obtained Harry Potter's records when he was a mere child in Hogwarts? Or what if he had gotten Dumbledore's? The potential for damage to a wizard, his family, or even our world can be compromised by the information in those charts. And it has been attempted in one form or another before. So we are exceptionally careful with them.

"You will find that not only will we need you to assist with the very necessary paperwork nonsense but, as I said, with healings, with staff matters, sometimes with patient emergencies, it is very unpredictable and completely unlimited. I do hope you have a spirit for adventure. Because the longer you stick around me, the more of it you may be likely to find. It tends to follow me, or so it has seemed to be for those who have worked for me or with me."

"You are more than welcome to come with me," she smiled. "And if you ever have the desire to learn auror skills, Brian specializes as a physical trainer and in auror training. I think you and I are going to get along just fine. I presume I should tell you a bit about my routine and my father's though, if you're going to be our assistant.

"We normally are here by 8 am when things are running relatively routinely. We are always accessible, 24 hours a day. You can send an owl from the owlery upstairs, or, we've learned to use the floo as sort of a muggle telephone to send audio messages to each other. To contact us within the hospital, we send paper birds. Like this." She wrote a message to Atticus that simply said, "Hello." Then she tapped the paper once with her index finger. The bird transfigured into a graceful little paper bird and flew over and landed on his shoulder. "Its a simple charm," she said. "The charm is actually 'Avis Pappo!'" She flicked her wand to demonstrate at a blank piece of paper and formed it into another of the little birds. "You'll find that a lot of the staff like them so well that they keep them as pets. I just prefer to use wandless magic.

"Um..let's see. The first thing I do is to brew a pot of French Roast coffee in here. My father normally brews a pot of Earl Grey. We both spend the first hour or so of the morning catching up on what's happened overnight. Then we make rounds to see our patients. If we have surgeries, those happen usually right after rounds, or if we're seeing patients who have appointments. Somehow in between, we try to make sure the bills get paid, the staff gets paid, and all the rest of it. The last thing we do at the end of the day is to make sure we dont' have anything outstanding here that is necessary. And we do depend, very much, for you to make sure our schedules stay straight. Both of us have time when we need to be gone from here so we can go to the Ministry, but we try not to do that at the same time.

"We are often here when our workday is typically over. Either here working somehow, or making use of the gym downstairs, or...if circumstances merit it, it is not unusual at all for either of us to have to sleep on the sofas in our offices here overnight. We both do try to keep changes of clothes in the closets in our offices out of necessity. We don't require that of staff, but don't be surprised if you find we've been here all night. Its normal to some extent.

"So, now, I've thrown a lot of information at you. What questions do you have?"