"I don't know. I think it's better if he doesn't find out," Cho said shrugging a little. "I would hate for him to make a rule about it."
Hannah reached for another cake. "But that means you've never run into him up there before, so we're probably safe, right?"
"Yeah," Cho said with a laugh. "I don't think there's any danger of him cuddling with babies."
"Okay, good," Hannah said. "I shouldn't be much more than another hour or so." She contemplated the half-eaten teacake on her plate. "I wonder if the Ministry would accept 'not getting fat' as a valid reason for me not to be an Obliviator?"
Cho glanced over at the cakes, which she had yet to touch. "Probably, if they have any sense."
"I could argue it from a health angle. It'll be better once I'm Obliviating Muggles instead of war victims. Maybe I'll actually like it," Hannah said, though her expression remained doubtful.
"Definitely," Cho agreed. "I love my job now, and I didn't at first. The healers here, especially the older ones, are really hard on trainees. They like to weed people out."
Hannah finished off the cake and washed it down with some of the hot chocolate, feeling the therapeutic effects of the chocolate spreading along her nerves down to her toes. "If I have chocolate and babies to look forward to, I can get through the rest of the day. And then I'll find a way to get through tomorrow, and the next day and the next. By the end of the month I'll know more." She took another sip of her drink before slipping her watch from the pocket of her robes and snapping it open and shut. "I should get back--I have an appointment in ten minutes. Should I meet you upstairs in an hour?"
"Of course, in an hour," Cho said as she stood up. "I'll be waiting."
"Okay, I'll see you then!"
Hannah left a few Galleons for their food and went back down to the fourth floor. As much as talking to Cho had buoyed her spirits, Hannah felt they dropped even further over the next hour, especially during the last Obliviation of the day when she had to remove three different times that the patient had had the Cruciatus curse cast on them. Finally, though, she bid Frost a good evening and ducked into the loo until he was gone to cover the fact she was going up rather than down once she was in the lift.
She reached the floor with the maternity ward--the same place she'd come into the world herself--and navigated the halls until she spotted Cho behind two large panes of glass, surrounded by newborns. Just at the sight she relaxed a little, and she smiled at Cho as she opened the door next to the windows. "I'm done. Finally."