Date: July 25 1999 Characters: Matthew Stebbins, Neville Longbottom, NPC Gran Longbottom Location: Matt and Neville’s cottage in Bedfordshire. Status: Private Summary: Matthew has a rough day at work following Witch Weekly’s parution. Completion: InComplete Warning: Swear words. Name calling. I am not responsible for the insults.
It was four and Matthew had just finished a double shift. Sixteen hours on the Plant Poisoning floor had proved to be almost fun and Matt thought he might as well specialize in that field once he would be able to choose. With all the Herbology knowledge available at home, it did seem like the sensible thing to do but in the end, he knew it’d be a tight race between that and Accidents. Maybe he could specialize to be a Quidditch Medi-Wizard?
Giving it a serious thought, he entered the locker room but was too distracted to realize that a few of his colleagues were already in there, whispering. He changed and smiled to himself as he remembered that he and Nev had invited Mrs Longbottom over for dinner and he was looking forward for that. He was pretty sure that he had told her seven o’clock in their latest owl which would give him plenty of time to make dinner and shower.
“What’s got you smiling, poof?” one of the bloke said to Matt, smirking.
“What?” He answered, blinking. He had no idea what the Healer was about.
In the meanwhile a Healer trainee that Matt knew was Watson approached him, a mag at hand while he changed into his regular clothes. Both men were taller, and much bigger, than Matthew. They just laughed and shook their heads.
The bloke who had accosted him at first approached him, smirking like a predator. “We know what you are, Fag. It’s all over Witch Weekly this week.” He said, his expression changing into disgust. Matt’s eyes widened and Watson laughed.
“Seems like the little cocksucker’s not even aware that he’s all over it, Bill.” He added and both blokes laughed while Matt’s blood drained from his face quickly.
Matthew wasn’t too sure who had grabbed him first, or what actually happened in the locker room but he eventually found himself alone in there, on the floor. His head felt like it had been split open and he gathered himself up, wincing.
He frowned as he grabbed his bag and Apparated home home, right into the living room. He knew for sure that Neville wouldn’t be in the house as he had told him he planned on weeding the morning glories before dinner which would give him enough time to heal himself before showering and making dinner.
He glanced at himself in the mirror and had it not been split in two different places, he would have chewed on his lower lip anxiously. He winced and touched the area around his left eye, finding it sore. It wasn’t blue yet as it was fresh but eventually it would if he didn’t heal it right away.
He opened his bag and glanced inside, Nev’s picture and his glancing at him from the cover of the Witch Weekly that Watson had thrown him before leaving him in the locker room. Picking it up, he opened the mag. His lower lip trembled and he threw it across the hall, roaring. It was definitely not the way he had wanted people to find out.