A Hole in the Veil

OOC; Lots of godmodding. sorry, sorry, sorry. if you want me to edit, i shall!!

Brian picked up Khaat like he was never going to let her go ever again. Michael locked arms with Kate and they all apparated to St. Mungos.

It appeared that Jack had arrived just a split second before them. The healers were in utter mayhem at seeing the former deputy minister and Robert, of all people, down. They were scrambling. Robert was trying to calm them, even as injured as he was. And then when Brian apparated in with Khaat, the whole emergency room seemed to explode in complete panic.

"SILENCE!" Michael bellowed at the top of his lungs. They looked at him in stunned shock. They were appauled that someone was bellowing. And they hadn't liked it a bit.

"THIS is a hospital!" Someone had the nerve to rebuke Michael.

"Really?" He got immediately sarcastic. He truly wanted to be a smartass, but Robert spoke quickly to him--and Michael knew it had been on purpose to keep Michael from cussing at them.

"Thank you," Robert managed. He issued orders for Thaor right away. Life support. Immediately. Healing spells. They stepped in with fresh healers to relieve Robert of his need to keep Thaor alive. Brian simply made himself at home and laid Khaat on a gurney in the hallway. When they went to help her, Brian waved them away.

"I've got this," Brian said quietly. "See to Mr. Elldir and to the Minister." Michael took his jacket off and wrapped it around Kate who was suddenly getting a bit self conscious about being here in her white silk gown and robe. They went over to Jack.

"Thank you, Jack," Kate said. "They'd all probably be dead if you hadn't been there tonight. You sure you dont want to be an auror permanently? I don't believe Robert would object. We all owe you a great deal."

"I can think of a couple million ways to start to repay that, Kate," Michael laughed, grinning at Jack. Over his shoulder, he could see a couple of healers help Robert to Thaor's room. He was not leaving Thaor until he was sure that all that could be done is being done.

"By all means," Kate said. Michael looked at Jack. Kate was giving him carte blanche with Robert's money. That could be fun.

"Jack," Michael said. "That idiot can wait, if you want to wait and see how Thaor is. I'm not going anywhere, except if I go with you." He wanted Jack to know he was aware of how hard this was, and he was sticking with her--like he always did.

Jack had done her job by arriving. She had transported them and managed to get them all in one piece, without hurting either of them. She stumbled back to remove herself from being in the way. She watched Robert and Michael orchestrate the frenzied crowd and reminded herself that she was glad she was not a Healer. Mungo's had to be close to hell nowadays.

She waited aways away, knowing she was best at use not being in the way. Kate approached and thanked her. Jack said, "It's not the Auror in me. I don't think that has much to do with it. I'm fine where I am, thank you. I like the critters, like you." She grinned a bit, thanking Kate in her own twisted Jack-way.

Michael and Kate were planning some sort of repayment and Jack shook her head. "No. I wouldn't like that. I don't want to be rewarded for protecting someone. That's not how things should be. It's part of my job. My paycheck is my reward." She really didn't like the idea of getting paid twice to do what she would have done for free.

Michael said the idiot could wait and she started to speak. "Well we could be of use there but... No. I want to wait here." She decided it then. "He has to come in to work sometime anyway."

"Too bad," Michael shrugged at Jack's decline of Kate's offer. "It could have been fun."

"But I understand it," Kate smiled at Jack. "If I can ever be of help to you with the animals, I would enjoy that. The only ones I get to talk to anymore are my own or Khaat's. I rather miss meeting new ones."

When Jack mentioned that Severus had to come to work sooner or later, Michael smiled. "I like the way you think. And if he doesn't show up, we'll just go get him."

"I'll be right back," Kate said. "Excuse me." Kate went upstairs to Robert's office and found his bottle of brandy. She brought it back downstairs. She really didn't care what the hell anyone else thought. She nearly had lost almost everyone she loved tonight. She found some paper cups and motioned for Michael and Jack to come with her to some seats right across from Thaor's treatment room.

"You really can't serve that in paper cups," Michael scowled, following her.

"Watch me," Kate said defiantly. She poured three cups and set one aside for herself, along with the bottle, and handed one to Jack and one to Michael.

"Any wagers on how soon we'll know something?" Michael asked.

"Probably not long. Robert has a great deal of help in there. He'll work on getting him stabilized. Setting healing spells in place. Making sure the life support holds. From there, I presume he'll send him to Intensive Care, and they will be with him nonstop. As soon as he's ready to transfer him upstairs, he'll be out to talk to us." She took a sip of the brandy, feeling as if it was burning out the fear out of her heart and replacing it with a fire within. She wasn't sure how that was going to show itself. But for her, this wasn't ending here. Not nearly.

Jack grinned, saying, "Well you can have free reign to help with our department! I can make sure you get full clearance. You can teach some of the newbies and the interns a thing or two about how to handle the critters."

Kate excused herself and Jack took the time to reacquaint herself with St Mungo's. She was usually here with someone who had almost been killed, never one that had been the attempted killer- unless Poe counted in that respect. She rarely felt like a guest- she was usually helping or had some magic being done on her.

Kate approached and poured some brandy. Jack laughed, "I don't care what it's in!" and she eagerly downed a big gulp. Being around Poe had increased her alcohol tolerance considerably. She sat down and settled herself for a wait.

"You'll have to get Michael to bring you out. We have a hippogryff that we found as an orphan years ago. And, believe it or not, we have a pair of unicorns that needed shelter one bitterly cold winter. I offered them shelter in our barn and food, and they'vve been with us ever since. They're not pets. They're more like guests that never left. And the female is pregnant. She should deliver any time. It might be good experience for you to be part of the birth of a unicorn, if you like," Kate said.

"Jack knows about the pygmy puffs," Michael said. "She took your overflow and is rehoming them." Well, yeah, that was true...more or less. Right? He had just dropped them off in her shop. He hadn't asked her if she wanted them. He just 'gifted' them to her. And he was considering repeating it with the next batch of those darned footstools. It seemed that footstools were more prolific that normal cocker spaniels.

He glanced over to the gurney in the hallway. He saw that Brian had Khaat awake and was feeding her tiny sips of something from a cup.

"Seer's tea," Kate said, seeing where he was looking. "Its some sort of old brew that I first heard of from my divinations teacher back in the day. Dumbledore's brother knew how to make the stuff, and eventually Albus weasled the recipe out of him. It does have some ability to help seers recharge their energies faster. At least he's got her awake. That's excellent for so far depleted as she was. At this rate, she might well be back to herself within hours. Its very promising indeed."

Michael was glad, but when he saw a young healer coming out of Thaors room, he hailed her. "Any news on Mr. Elldir?" he asked, a bit impatient.

"Mr. Lupin is still working," the healer said. "He hasn't regained consciousness, but that could take time. Excuse me, he's sent me to the potions lab." She hurried off.

Matt had been enjoying a good beer in his hotel room when he was interrupted. He had simply been watching the muggle television when a pm from Khaat patronus from Brian had appeared before him. Khaat and Robert were injured, and at St. Mungo's. Matt's face fell, that wasn't something that happened every day. He grabbed his jacket and ran outside, apparating as he walked.

He found himself outside the magical hospital. Upon entering he began to look around to see if he could see anyone. It looked as normal as it always was. He made towards the reception desk. "Uh, Khaat and Robert-" he began. "They're all gathered in the emergency room." the receptionist told him. He thanked her and made towards the floor where everyone would be located.

Upon entering said floor he noticed some familiar voices and soon found them. "Really, you don't waste a good brandy on plastic cups." he said cheekily as he walked towards them. "Any news?" he asked.

"Robert is trying to still care for Thaor when he can barely hold himself up," Michael sighed. "Brian has Khaat over there..." He pointed a short ways down the hallway where Brian had laid Khaat on a gurney in the hall. "Shes conscious again, but she spent almost all she had keeping Thaor alive. And I have an auror I am going to kill--Robert can just suck that one up. I presume Brian has sent for the Deputy Minister, but I dont' know. And you're right. Kate was desperate, I think. Good brandy does not deserve to be mistreated though. So I think I should drink it as soon as possible."

Brian saw Matt talking with Robert and spoke with Khaat softly and motioned one of th ehalers to stay with her for a moment. He walked over to them.

"Thank you for coming," Brian said. "Khaat and I need to brief you on some of the inside concerns we have. It might very well be important to you." Brian and Khaat were concerned that the Order needed to not be surprised if the peace they'd had was about to be broken.

Matt smiled softly, at least Khaat was conscious and Robert seemed fairly alright. The Lupins, oh how he loved every last one of them. Never selfish, always looking out for other people. Khaat had nearly died trying to save some traitorous swine and if she lived she would do it again. He smirked slightly when Michael finished and Brian came over breaking his train of though. He nodded to Brian, "Save some of that stuff for me, alright old timer?" he asked, trying to lighten the mood. It was odd not having Michael call him by his nickname.

He walked towards where Khaat was laying. She looked so pale and weak. He wasn't even sure if she could talk. But they both had information for him and he wanted to get that out of the way. "Alright, what have you got to tell me?" he asked Brian.

"Depends on how long you take, Skinny," Michael teased. "Kate might suck it all up before you get back."

"You never know. I just might," Kate said.

Brian led Matt back to Khaat. "Robert hasn't had time to catch anyone up on what happened with Thaor but us because it all happened so fast. Thaor accused Robert of being responsible for Grindelwald's takeover of England. And accused Khaat of, basically, conspiracy. The trial was declared a mistrial. That seemed to send Thaor over some sort of edge. He just...wasn't right. Robert didnt' have a choice but to fire him. Thaor told him at that time that he was dying."

"My father told me that Thaor left the Ministry building before he could stop him to help him," Khaat said. "But Thaor was outraged with me at the trial. My father and Michael and I were in Hogsmeade tonight when we heard an explosion. Thaor was...not thinking straight, and he was trying to get into Hogwarts..." Brian stopped her wanting her to ease up a bit.

"Long story short," Brian said, "Elldir was out of his bean and attempted to kill Robert, and Khaat kept him alive. Whether he's still crazy, we don't know. But...I don't know where he went or what he did in the time he was gone from the Ministry and then reappeared at Hogwarts. I think it is altogether possible that he may well have tried to go tothe Death Eaters Especially if he thought Robert and Khaat were evil. He might have gone to the only place his little twisted mind thought could help him.

"And if that is the case, there is no way to know if he has set off the Death Eaters again. If he has, I don't know if they will come after the Ministry, or after the Order. But as twisted as his thinking is, I think anyone that Thaor thought ever held the same beliefs as the Lupins could truly be in lifethreatening danger. You know what a powder keg we're hearing it is with the Death Eaters right now. Its entirely possible Thaor has just set that off."

Thaor regained consciousness and slowly opened his eyes, taking in his surroundings. He knew he was in the emergency room of St. Mungo's, and that Robert and six other healers were all in the room with him. The last thing Thaor could remember was the Battle of Hogwarts, his head hurt, but he knew there were others who needed attended to after that battle.

We're done here, I'm sure other people need your help more than I do after that battle. Thaor said, sitting up. He didn't remember being injured, it was strange to him how it all happened, how he ended up here. Robert, what happened to me? I don't remember being hit or anything. The last thing I remember is dueling some death eaters by your side. Thaor said, frowning, struggling to recall the events that lead to him being here.