Who: Evan and Gideon What: Gideon is the good uncle. Where: St. Mungo’s Creature Induced Injuries ward When: February 27 Warnings/Rating: None / G
Gideon stood at the head of the bed where they’d placed Charlie, determined not to move. He wasn’t entirely sure the boy even knew he was there but he was and that was the point. Molly’s message had been frantic: Arthur was out of the office and unreachable (something about biting toasters) and Charlie had found a doxie nest while poking around looking for animals and been stung. Gideon had been slow to realise the seriousness; doxie stings could be painful but not fatal and with so many children running around, Molly kept a vial of antidote on hand. The risk was that Charlie received more than a dozen stings, and at only age seven, his small body was overloaded with venom. The stings were red welts, his breath raspy and constricted, and his shirt still stained from when he’d been sick not long after.
Billy often complained about having to be in charge of his little brothers, but he’d found Charlie in the grasses and run straight back to the Burrow for help. How Molly, nine months pregnant and due at any moment, even managed to get out there to levitate the boy back to the house was something Gid would never know. When the antidote not working, Arthur out of the office, and Fabian often unreachable in his work for Gringotts, his sister sent him the message for help. His paperwork was put aside immediately and he’d Flooed to the Burrow. Billy was wracked with guilt that this was somehow his fault, Percy was scared, and the little twins still needed to be minded. Between the boys and her condition, Molly couldn’t take Charlie for help so Gideon apparated them both to Mungos.
A small part of him was terrified that Charlie wasn’t going to be all right and Gideon would have to take the news to his siter. He wished Fabian were here for company and he pulled at his sleeve cuffs, unsure of what to do with his hands without the comfort of a cigarette.
To Evan, working in England was jarring after a few years spent in France. He still expected to hear French every time someone opened their mouth, and seeing people he knew was unpleasant. He’d liked the anonymity of Paris.
When he walked into the room of his newest patient and spotted Gideon Prewett, his first instinct was to turn around and walk back out. Not that he had anything in particular against Gideon. He just hated Gryffindors on principle. However, Evan was a professional, and so he stood in one spot and looked at the chart in his hand.
“Is this your son?” Evan asked, barely able to read the paperwork through all the smudges the ham-handed admittance person had managed to leave.
And once Gideon answered, Evan took a seat on a stool next to the bed and began to check the child over. He was hurt, but he wouldn’t die. Which pleased Evan both because he took no issues with pure children, and because if one of his patients died it ended up making him look bad.
“I expect he’ll make a full recovery. He’ll need to stay overnight for observation and possibly longer depending on how he feels when he wakes up. Which won’t be for several hours. There’s really no need to stay.”
Evan didn’t want Gideon there, but he at least had the good grace not to say as much. It would just be far less annoying if he could come check on the child between rooms without Gideon sitting there.
Gideon shook his head; how could he leave Charlie alone? Children always wanted their mum when they were hurt and the boy couldn’t have that; Charlie needed someone to stay with him. “I’ll, er, I’ll stay. Just until his father gets here. If that’s all right.” He didn’t expect Arthur to be long.
“Can you tell me why he had such a reaction? Was it the number of the stings? Does he have some sort of allergy?”
“That many stings could land an adult in St. Mungos. Was no one watching him? Anyone with a wand could have prevented this in the first place.”
And that wasn’t kind, but Evan liked children and he didn’t enjoy having them landed here because adults couldn’t supervise them properly.
“Perhaps you should look into getting an elf. That’s one way to keep children safe.”
Evan had been raised by an elf and he felt he’d turned out fine.
Gideon nearly winced, thinking of poor Billy and how he blamed himself for not keeping a closer eye on his brother. But Charlie was always poking around outside of the Burrow looking for some animal to bring home; Gid doubted even Molly could have stopped him.
“That’s..not possible.” Certainly the Weasleys didn’t have the gold for an extravagance like an elf, neither did Gid and Fabian.
“My sister’s due any day with her sixth. He was with his brother.” He felt defensive for some reason, as if he needed to make sure this wasn’t a mark against Molly as a mother and Gid was proud of the way Billy handled the emergency. “She’s a great mum.”
“Sixth?” Evan asked. And it was difficult to keep the judgement out of his voice. Six children was a lot of children. However, Evan forced himself to just shut up. Because he was a healer and it wasn’t his job to lecture people for over-fertility.
“I’m sure she is. If she’s kept five children alive without an elf. But if nothing else, they should have someone inspect the area around the house for more doxies. He’ll be extra sensitive to them for awhile. And if his parents are pre-occupied, I could justify keeping him here for a few extra days if it’s going to be difficult for them to care for him and keep him still.”
“They’re not pre-occupied.” He was saying things all wrong and he resented the implication that Molly and Arthur wren’t capable of keeping Charlie safe or that it was such an accomplishment to manage a large family. Merlin, he needed a cigarette.
“I don’t think it will be necessary to keep him but you should discuss that with his father when he arrives,” Gideon continued, voice more firm than it had been. “And I’ve a mate in Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. We’ll get the doxies taken care of.”
“Mr. Prewett, I’m not intentionally trying to upset you,” Evan said, in his most healerly, patient voice. “I’m sure your sister and her husband have the best intentions. And I will speak to Charlie’s father when he arrives. The important thing is that he’ll be fine in the end.”
Evan knew how the reputations of most ex-Slytherins were, and he knew that not being a prat to Gideon might mean he’d tell someone that Evan wasn’t the same as the rest of them. Which was incredibly important for his cover.
“I’m sorry if you took anything else from this conversation. I feel very protective of my patients and sometimes that doesn’t come across the way I intend.”
Evan reached for the clipboard again and scribbled a note.
“I’ll have someone bring you in something to eat. You shouldn’t have to starve for doing a good deed.”
Gideon nodded at the offer of food. Perhaps he’d been too hasty in his judgements - the pressure of working a healer must be immense. “Thank you, I appreciate that. And thank you for Charlie. Will he be all right if I step out for a smoke?”
“He’ll be fine. Unless you’re gone for several hours he’ll never know you left.”
Evan gave Gideon a slight nod and then walked out of the room.
That was the probably when you worked in Creature Induced Injuries. A never ending stream of Gryffindors.