Summer Picnic

"My guess is you're an auror who needs help," she said quietly, reaching over and touching the bite wound to slow the bleeding and draw off the pain. It felt to her like he hurt in more places than just at the bite wound, but that made perfect sense with what she could see of his symptoms. "This should make it more bearable for the moment."

Robert was just finishing the pint he'd had with the fish and chips. A perfect lunch with his son in law, and all without Kate's harping on him about his cholesterol for eating greasy deep fried foods. A win/win, for sure. Cholesterol was a muggle disease, not something most wizards seemed to get, not at Robert's age, anyway, but that didn't stop Kate from being the Snack Police. And there it was, the interruption that always seemed to come on his time off. This time it was Jess, and had Abbey with her. That made both him and Brian perk up at the first sight of her.

"I didn't bring my bag with me," Robert looked up at Brian. Well, of course he didn't. He didn't plan on doing surgery on his fish and chips. His only plan was to smash through them.

"I'll go get it," Brian said. "Jess, I'll leave Abbey at the farm with her Gram when I get the bag."

"And you can come with me back to the Shrieking Shack," Robert said. "You have Khaat's portkeys? Do you know how to use them for a return trip? Michael's been tinkering with them. They'll either work, or we'll be splinched, probably upside down and backwards."

"Now, that's going to make her feel so much better about traveling with you," Brian scowled at him. He looked at Jess. "The biggest thing you need to be brave about is his dry sense of humor. If Michael weren't sure they were going to work, he'd never given them to Khaat. You can be sure of that."

"Do you have your portkey to the farm?"

"Of course," Brian said.

Jack looked at her and chuckled softly " I guess I am at that." he felt the pain ease through his body as she lightly touched his hot skin " thank you, can I ask, is it normal not to feel like yourself once your bitten?" he asked hoping she would know the answer to his question as he looked at the flask " may I have a drink?" he asked.

Jess was relived when she saw Robert and Brian nodding to Brian and passing Abby to him as they spoke between them then Robert spoke to her " yes I have them , they got us here all right, so I have every confidence they will get us back" she said holding up a brass key to show him she knew which one it was. She nodded at Brian's words handing it to Robert " I think I'd rather play safe and leave it to you to port us sir" she said then looked at Brian " from what I saw hes a werewolf whose not had his potion for some time his hands shook and his skin was clammy, im not sure if he'd hurt Khaat, but he is a big ...and I mean big guy, the sooner we get back the sooner he can get help."

"I would hope our ministry would not get rid of an injured auror just for being injured," she said. "I'm glad you're feeling a little better. From what I understand bites change everything because they alter the physiology of whoever was bitten. I can't speak from any experience..." she didn't feel like elaborating yet. "But it's just what I've been told from people whom I would trust about that." She picked up the flask and handed it to him. "Sure. Here. Help yourself."

"Oh, good girl," Robert said, more than a little impressed when she could still distinguish the proper key in all the keys on Khaat's keyring. He glanced up at Brian. "We're fine. Go." Brian nodded and ported out. Robert looked at Jess. "Let me teach you something. You need to know how Michael Tremaine works. He always has some weird logic to what he does, so that won't be any different here. Now, I have figured out how these little keys of his work but when he gave me my set, he purposely did not tell me which key went where. He doesn't ever give me any bloody directions to these little gadgets. He makes me figure them out. That's his little way of making me crazy. The only way for me to find out where they went was to use them and find out. Let me tell you about Michael's sense of humor where I'm concerned. The man has a boggart in a box in his basement--or is it in his attic now? Anyway, he keeps this darned thing because, every so often it's apparently funny to let it out and scare the poop out of his very dear friend. The man can be a bit of a loon. So, let me teach you how to think just a wee bit like Michael thinks. Take a look at the keys and think. When you use a key, you turn it in a bit of a circle, don't you, like turning the hand on a clock. To go forward, what do you do? You turn the hands to the right, clockwise, right? And to go backwards, you turn the hands to the left So, if you want to go back Hogsmeade, you twist the bit on the key to the left, not the whole key, just the bit. Now, with your permission, I'll travel with you. You're driving." He took her arm to let her use the portkey for both of them to take them to Hogsmeade.

Jack nodded at her words " even...even if its a werewolf bite, but..its in here" he pointed to his head as he took the cup with the drink in it from her gently but drank it fast. " that was good." he said placing the cup between them.

Jess nodded and stood listening to him as he explained the portkeys Michael created " that would stop any one else using them there for locking them to there owners right as they would be the only ones to know the trick."  she realized and smiled " I'll remember that if I use them again." she felt him take her arm and they ported back to Hogsmeade. " This way" she said and headed back in the direction of the shack . Growing closer she could see Khaat sat with the large men, he seemed to be talking with her.

"Khaat, you okay, I brought Mr Lupin, Brian will be here soon too." she told her stopping short of both of them her arms crossed over her chest as she frowned at the man " he said anything yet, like who he is and why he was watching us?" she asked noting how he shook his head at her tone of her voice.

Jack looked at her and shook his head " it was the food, not you I was looking at." he half snapped at her but then he rained in his anger " not again" he said softly his body shook as he slowly slid to the ground pain growing from inside him.

"Calm yourself," Robert said to the man, ignoring the conversation between him and Jess. He went over to him and knelt beside him. "You won't change during the day. It's the moon that causes the change, and its unlikely to happen now with the afternoon sun almost at its full height." He touched him and began to assess him.

"We're fine," Khaat said quietly to Jess. "His name is Jack, and he's an auror."

"How long have you been without your wolfsbane?" Robert asked Jack. It looked surely like more than just one night. That would not have caused this sort of withdrawal unless he was taking great amounts of it, and it surely was entirely possible that someone had duped him into taking more than he needed by saying the extra was because of Jack's larger size. Nonsense like that happened all the time. He checked the bite wound in his midsection. "Two of you brawling, huh? Well, that doesn't happen very often. When my supplies get here, we'll tend things properly, but until then, I suggest you breathe and learn to calm yourself. You have somehow developed some way of using the adrenalin that happens for you naturally as a triggering mechanism to start to become aggressive. In other words, you can solve a lot of issues by getting angry and looking like you're going to fully transfigure, but unless you're in a full moon, you might grow hair or other things but I doubt you have many full transformations. We'll have to get you back on your potion and then see if we can't develop some variation of it that gives you a better response without the addiction factor. In other words, I think we might be able to do better than this."

Jack looked at the man now talking he took slow deep breaths feeling himself calm down. He heard him and understood he knew more about what had happened. "Thank goodness and you could say that..I..I found my brother, he took acceptation to me, called me a runt then attacked me." he told him motioning to his side "His work, my name is Jack Blackheart, I'm grateful and its's...it's been..." He paused what day is it?" he asked not at any one particular.

"its Monday" Jess replied she saw him relax his shoulders as he looked towards Robert to speak.

"A week!" he said " its been a week, when I get hold of that...dealer I'm going to." he paused feeling his anger growing again this time he looked to the man "Sorry." he said taking the cup again " please" He asked holding it up to Khaat but it was the other woman who now knelt next to him and pored the drink.

"Perhaps I should introduce myself," Robert said. "My name is Robert Lupin, and I am, amongst other things, a healer and a potions maker. Remus Lupin was my brother, so I know a thing or two about werewolves, things that I can't image wanting to know otherwise. I think I might be able to help you. A couple of key questions, if you please. First, what did this dealer give you. You said you were bitten by your brother--obviously a werewolf, so did you know what he was, and was this your first time bitten?" Robert asked, suspecting that this man might not have been turned before now. He inspected the wound, already seeing that it was indeed a werewolf bite. Robert heard the sound of someone apparating in, and he glanced back to see Brian there with his bag.

"How did you apparate here?" Robert frowned. "Its too far for that."

"Portkey to Hogsmeade, and apparated from the square," Brian said with a cheeky smile, bringing the messenger bag to Robert. He had a potions vial in his hand already and he handed it to Robert. It was a vial of wolfsbane. Robert handed it to Jack.

"Take that for now," Robert said. "Let's keep any more transformation business from happening tonight, shall we? The moon will still be full enough that you might well have some symptoms tonight when it gets dark if you don't take this. Take it and then give me your facts, in order, as you remember them while I work on this bite wound."

"Would you rather I..." Khaat began to offer to rid Jack of the wound.

"No thank you, my dear," Robert said. "I've got this. I'll draw off some of the wound but these bites are resistant to healing, so we will have to keep after it for awhile. It will need to be cleaned and dressed properly, and it will need to be tended regularly because it will bleed and seep for awhile. It will need regular dressing changes. How about one of you take the blue glass jar in my bag and use it as an ointment on that wound and then dress it while I try to draw some of the toxicity off it, please?"

Jack gave a slight nod of his head to Robert as he told him who he was, he could not help but feel relief at having some one who knew about werewolves. He was about to awnser when another man appeared. Closing his eyes for a second he took a long slow breath out calming himself " His name is James,I was looking for him as he could help me find my sisters, and yes he is " he said shifting so Robert could tend his wounds, happy to let him as his body now no longer hurt " and no I didn't know he was until last night when he bite me and I...I turned " he watched the second man hand Robert a black doctors bag before handing him a small bottle.

Opening it he took a small sip, slowly he felt his head clear and he leaned back on the log he had been using as a seat and now lent against. He watched the second woman who'd given him a drink just roll her eyes and he half chuckled half winced.

"So he good to go, or are we taking him back?" He heard her ask " becuse we could drop him at St Mungos, and let them look after him?" she said

"He's g Ifoing to have trouble if he's on his own," Khaat said, "at least for awhile. He needs to get this stabilized, and we need to make sure that his wolfsbane dose is right for him. He might need it adjusted a little."

"I can take care of that piece," Robert said, making sure he talked to Jack and not about him. "I can calculate your proper dosage without trouble, but its going to take you a bit to get your energy back, and then there's the whole business that it's the first time you've changed. That's going to take you a bit, and then there's the wound you have. I'm guessing it's going to take you the better part of a week before you're going to feel like yourself again. So, what's your living situation? Got any mates that you trust that might help you for a few days? If not, we could let you stay in St. Mungo's, just until you get the worst of this behind you."

Khaat cleaned Jack's wound, and took the blue jar and did as her father asked and tended the wound and taped a thick surgical bandage over it so that if it bled or seeped, it would not bleed through any time soon. In the meantime, he was tinkering with a few of the bottles he had in his bag, making a hasty potion into an otherwise empty vial.

"Well done," Robert said, approving. He swirled the little vial around and held it up to the light to check it. "That should do it. Here, Jack. This will stop those withdrawal symptoms. At least you'll be all done with that nonsense, and it should help you feel better." He handed the vial to him. "Sorry, it isn't going to taste good, but, it should do the trick."

Jack watched Khaat tend his bite and felt almost like himself again. He could not help but sigh as he was asked about his living arrangements. "Thank you, I don't have a place yet, its why I was in the shack." he looked at the bottle and nodded at Roberts instructions and just what would happen to him from now on.

"well...I have a spare room, I guess till hes back on his feet he could stay there, beside he'll need some one to change that dressing" Jess offered "plus it would be less stressful while he adjusts to his...situation." she said then looked down at him " first sign you turn or go to attack me , I will not hesitate in letting Robert turn you into a bug and put you in a jar, you got me?" she said leaning slightly closer to him to show she was serious with her words.

Jack used the log to push himself onto his feet but he wobbled and to his surprise Jess moved to hold him steady, lacing his arm around her shoulders "Thank you and I won't harm you." he said looking down at her then the others " I was... an Auror with the ministry, I swore to help others and I will try...no, I am going to still do that, no matter my condition." He looked at Robert. " I owe you my life, If i hadn't seen and met Khaat, I would most likely still be hiding in the woods