Who: Ainsley Galbraith, Bill Weasley What: Attempting to Figure Out Next Steps When: 13 March 2000, after Pride practice Where: The Leaky Cauldron, London Warnings: Language, Curse Talk
“Thanks again for taking the time to meet with me. I wouldn’t blame you if you’d rather be shot of me and the entire situation.”
Ainsley had told Mel that she would go with him to St Mungo’s on Monday after the Magpie’s game the day before, but then practice happened and she hadn’t heard from him. This suited her just fine, really, because right now she didn’t trust herself around him anymore. Since this was troubling enough, she’d broken down that morning and owled Bill, requesting this meeting.
She tried to smile at him from across the table, but knew it didn’t reach her eyes. The whole dynamic on the pitch had been terrible since yesterday, when Ellie had posted the memo and the team found out she’d be starting again in the next match. Even though a few of her teammates had been supportive, she still felt like a Godricdamned pariah.
Bill offered her a smile as he took his seat. "I don't really have it in me to walk away from this sort of thing. It's gotten me into trouble more than once, or so my wife likes to remind me."
He ordered tea and then folded his hands on the top of the table, hoping he could maintain a posture that would set her at ease. If it hadn't been obvious from the fact that she'd owled him at all that all was not well, it would have been from the way she struggled to keep her composure. He'd never even had a conversation with the witch, and he could see it. Where were Yaxley and Macmillan today? He couldn't help wondering why they weren't here, when the three had been so close-knit before.
But that wasn't the matter immediately at hand. "Why don't you start wherever seems most logical, and tell me what's been happening?"
“I guess-” Ainsley cut herself off with a slight grimace, and then started again. “After I left Mungo’s, I started not being able to sleep. I put it down to standard insomnia- I used to get it when I was younger. I just felt restless all the time. I started journaling really late- with Melchior Yaxley.”
She bit her lip and toyed with a bead of condensation that had dripped from her glass to the tabletop. “He was nice, keeping me company like that. Concerned. And I thought- I thought maybe that was why I couldn’t stop thinking about him.” The misery of this admission was clear in every single line of her body. “So I did what rational people do- I tried to ignore him and forget about it. But he- but I- I was so careful around him at Fraser’s birthday party. I talked to him a little, but that was all.
“Maggie- she’s my team’s medic- finally worked out that I hadn’t been sleeping, so she had me check in with Mungo’s again. I can’t take valerian root, y’see? So standard sleeping draughts couldn’t work for me. It’s part of the reason why I didn’t say anything to begin with. Stupid, I know. Anyway, they got me sorted, put me on a couple of different potions that finally seem to be working.”
Ainsley paused to push out a breath, because this… this was hard. “Through a series of unfortunate events, I had to talk to Mel at the Montrose game on Sunday. I was being careful again, polite. I was with Fraser, for Rowena’s sake. Except… except, I needed to tell him that I couldn’t stop thinking about him, and-and I touched his hand, and it felt- it felt like I’d been drowning for years and then finally broke the surface. Like I could finally breathe. And I know he felt it too. He said he’d had this tension for awhile, but that something happened when I took his hand. And, Merlin help me, I wanted to kiss him so badly. I nearly did, right there in the sodding Montrose Owners box.”
She shuddered, fingers pressing into her eyes before she dropped her hands again. “Bill, could this be curse related, or am I just going mad?”
Bill listened and attempted to keep his expression neutral and professional, but that wasn't exactly his forte—and this wasn't exactly his job any more. This time he was here in an unofficial capacity, in the hopes that he could help, but the truth was that he wasn't so much used to dealing with curses on people as he was on objects. Other than his own, anyway.
He leaned in a little, conscious of how private this matter was to be discussing in such a public venue. "The thing with curses and people is...sometimes they stick in ways we don't expect. That's not to say that this necessarily is the curse, but it's on the list of possibilities." He paused for a moment to take a drink of his tea, and to consider the best way to ask what he needed to ask. He decided straightforward was the best approach, since she'd been open about her situation so far. "I apologise if this seems insensitive, but I have to ask: were these feelings for Yaxley present at all before the first book incident? And if not, what about between the two incidents?"
It was a reasonable enough question, but why did it send her mind reeling? Was there a time before Mel, before he filled her head? “I… danced with him at the Portree fundraising event. That’s when we met. I thought he was-” her lips quirked up- “braw, but that was all, really. I met Fraser shortly after that, and we got on great. Started dating soon after. But, no, nothing about… Mel until I woke up in Mungo’s.”
Bill drummed his fingers on the side of his teacup. It was the answer he'd expected, but it did mean there wasn't a nice, easy answer to this situation. "I have some thoughts," he said. "Let's call them professional guesses, for now, because I've never encountered something similar enough to really have precedence on this. Did Macmillan fill you in on our discoveries and assumptions about the book and its origins?"
At her nod, he continued, "For starters, I would guess that some of their memories are still in your head, and in Yaxley's." Bill had studied the file before meeting her, but he couldn't recall the names of the supposed star-crossed lovers at the moment. "Probably so fragmented and entwined with your own now that you don't even realise they're not your thoughts. That's a job for a mind healer, and not my area of expertise at all. But my gut tells me it's something that could be worked out, or that might even fade on its own as your mind identifies the rogue bits.
"The other possibility" —and he really hoped this was not it, but he had to bring it up— "is that those two had a true blood bond. There are different types, with differing intents, effects, and intensity." There were some that had even theorised that lycanthropy was a blood bond of a sort, but that had never been proven. Still, the oddities of his own scars and how it had affected him lent possibility to the theory for him. "And if they had this bond, that the cursed passed it along to you and Yaxley."
Bill spread his hands wide. "It could even both of those things, or it could be neither. But if you want a place to start, those would be my bets."
Ainsley chewed her lip as she considered the options. One was far more attractive than the other, obviously. The idea of being bonded to someone not of her choosing was a horrifying prospect, made all the worse by the fact that she wasn’t even sure some days if Mel even liked her simply as a friend. He was sometimes hard to read. “How… do we find out which one it is? I mean, a mind healer for the former, obviously, but what about the latter?”
"Have you watched the memories I pulled from the book?" They had come out mostly intact, as far as he could tell, which meant there might be something useful contained in them. "That might give you some idea of the extent of their attachment to one another. I think they were rather young. If they performed a blood bonding ritual, it's likely they would need help. It would be memorable, to say the least. I wouldn't want to send you chasing down a potentially long road of spells and rituals if it's not necessary."
“No, but I remember some of them. I… haven’t looked at anything book related since it happened. Maybe out of a sense of self-preservation- or, in my case, costly avoidance.” She offered Bill a self-deprecating smile. “See where that got me. But, yes, they were young. In love.” A roll of her eyes. “But I don’t recall the ritual. More Romeo and Juliet level pining. I… I should probably ask Fraser about the memories.”
Sighing, she looked at her glass, and then made a motion with her wand. The contents swirled upward in a small vortex that ended in a thin, tapering wisp. Another flick, and it dissipated, flowing back into the glass. It was something else to focus on, if only for a few seconds. “What happens if it is a blood bond? Do I just have to live with it, with this feeling?”
Bill could understand if neither of them really even wanted to see the memories, because curses were usually traumatic to those involved, but in this case it was the best idea he had. "When I extracted the memories from the book, they were still, hmm, attached to the memories that had leached onto the two of you. Memories are made to bounce, to stretch, to hide, all that, but if some of them were severed instead, getting into the other half of them might help them process. The curse that made them transfer to you is gone" —of that, at least, he was sure— "so there's no physical danger in watching them."
He stared at his tea, again taking his time and measuring his words before answering her question. "I'm no expert in it, mind you. But I've read some things. Never know what might be useful in curse breaking." Case in point. "There are some suggestions that it's possible to break in general, but I haven't seen any evidence. More likely, your best bet would be to overwhelm it with something stronger. That is, form a blood bond with someone else." Bill would have done it in a heartbeat for Fleur, if she'd needed such a thing, but he knew not everyone would feel the same way, even within committed couples. But it was his job at the moment to impart what he knew, for better or worse. "I would never suggest live with it unless you've explored all options. I don't like to consider 'giving up' as an option."
Sitting back, Ainsley considered the options; it was impossible to see which one might be the right one. At this rate, she figured the damage was done, so she wasn't in a huge rush to try to tackle this thing with any sense of immediacy. She just needed to avoid one Melchior Yaxley until after next week's match. Then she would talk to Maggie… and Fraser. “I'll keep those in mind, and check on with my medic. Chances are, she'll have a line on a mind healer. I'll also look into those memories. Hopefully they'll provide more insight into the binding spell.”
Bill smiled in what he hoped was an encouraging way. "I'll ask around with some of the senior curse-breakers. In generalities, of course. If I hear anything useful, I'll owl you, yeah?"