Chapter Text
Dr Zabini pointed his wand at the parchment, making Saint Mungus' seal and his signature appear on it.
"A curiosity, Doctor," Mum said as if she had just remembered something. "Wouldn't it be easier if Ginny was... Obliviated? Uh, I mean, if she forgets this ugly incident, everything would go back to how it was before, right?"
Dr Zabini sighed. "Mrs Weasley, I'll be frank with you. Yes, it's an excellent solution, but only short-term. Obliviating was the standard during the Wizarding War. In recent years we have found that the risks of depression, dissociative state, and violent and destructive behaviour outweigh the few benefits over the long term. That is because the spell erases the memories, but the trauma remains. Also, in your daughter's case, the trauma is from a spell she was exposed to for months."
Mum sobbed, and Ginny felt even more guilty. She wished to forget everything, the bad and some of the good things that happened since she went to Diagon Alley to buy her first school supplies.
"Then there's nothing that we can do? Only potions and the Shock Spell?"
"There is Riddikkulotherapy, but the spell is taught in the third year. I wouldn't recommend teaching it without the guidance of a Defence teacher or an Auror, especially in a group of fewer than ten people."
Something dormant - something putrid and slimy - surged inside Ginny.
"I'm not stupid! You can explain how to do it anyway, can't you? Besides, don't underestimate me!"
Dr Zabini smiled. "I don't underestimate you, Ginny: I've read your academic scores, and I know you're very talented. But believe me; you'd better wait another year to become stronger. It's an effective though brutal technique."
"But I-"
"Do you know what you can do instead?" the Mediwizard proposed. "You can think about how to mock your fears; then, by the time you learn the spell at school, you've done half the work."
Mum cleared her throat. "Are you sure Riddikkulotherapy can help Ginny?"
Dr Zabini nodded. " The Auror and any Healer working in my department have been following it for the past three years, although less frequently than a patient. After all, knowing our fears is the best way to treat other people's fears. Although its effectiveness is still subjective, I find it beneficial: the greater the trauma, the more time it needs.
He stood up, inviting Ginny and Mum to come with him.
"During the next consultation, we'll discuss what we'll do throughout the school year," the Doctor said, shaking Mum's hand. "I almost forgot. The administration didn't receive the subsidy paperwork yet."
Mum forced a tense smile. "It's... it's been denied."
The medium wizard blinked, dumbfounded. "'Why is that? Ginny has been exposed to a dark artefact for months!"
"The Spellbreakers could identify only a memory-preserving spell. They also found traces of another spell, but they do not know what it is."
Dr Zabini rubbed the back of his head as he walked them to the exit. Once at the reception desk, he took a scrap of parchment and a quill, writing down a name.
"Why don't you contact Professor Al-Saahir? We worked together in the past: if there is anyone who can identify what spell it is, it's him."
Mum's face didn't look happy while reading the slip of parchment. She still thanked the Medi wizard and paid the visit. Her face was even gloomier as they walked from the hospital to the Leaky Cauldron.
"I know I promised you ice cream after the appointment, but we'd better go home now," Mum said with a faint smile. "We'll visit Bill, however, since we need to see this professor."
Ginny would have jumped with joy at the thought of visiting Bill-it was since he went working in Egypt that she had asked Mum and Dad when they were going. But even using Portkeys -they needed eight! -the trip would be too expensive. So Ginny said nothing but only squeezed Mum's hand a little tighter.
When they reached the pub, Mum bought Ginny a small glass of pumpkin juice before going back home with the Floo Powder.
When they arrived at the Burrow, the living room was covered in golden and turquoise confetti while loud booms came from the garden.
Without batting an eyelid, Mum marched out the door. "What in bloody—"
But Dad interrupted her with a big kiss on her mouth.
"We won, Molly! The fifteen galleons are now seven hundred!"
***
"Now I understand why prices are so low in the summer!" Dad panted, fanning himself with a newspaper. "Maybe I was stupid to come here for the entire month of August!"
"What matters to me is that we were able to get an appointment with this professor," Mum said, waving her wand and murmuring a cooling charm
The office door opened, and a round-faced, bald little man showed them inside, shaking hands with each of them. The office was shrouded in semi-darkness, the half-closed shutters letting in only blades of golden light. The warm, humid air was thick, almost suffocating.
{The study was shrouded in the half-light; only a few amber glass lamps gave off a dim glow. The cold, damp air was thick, almost suffocating}.
"Please have a seat," the little man said, motioning to the armchairs in front of the desk and conjuring up a steaming teapot that gave off a fresh minty scent.
Books and yellowed papers were strewn around the desk; a pen lay on a parchment, staining it with ink. The clock nearby filled the momentary silence with its ticking.
{Books and yellowed papers were neatly arranged on the desk; a pen lay on the journal, sucking up every drop of ink. A distant, steady dripping filled the silence}.
Ginny rubbed her clammy hands over her trousers, swallowing the air heavy with moisture and dust. She forced herself to focus on the conversation.
"I have good news and bad news," the professor began. "The good one is, I may have identified the dark spell cast on your daughter."
"And the bad?" Dad said.
The professor winced. "To confirm my hypothesis, I need to collect your daughter's memories to examine them. Moreover, it would be helpful if she faces a Boggart: its shape can provide additional clues."
"Dr Zabini suggested Riddikkulotherapy, but Ginny is still young," Mum nodded, her breathing laboured with heat. "As for the memories, you need parental consent to extract them, right? Just tell us where to sign."
If the professor saw her memories, he would see all the bad things she had done—the dark potion to enter the diary and that she had to be detoxed from—the roosters and chicken she had killed with her hands—the pietrified forms of Mrs. Norris, Colin, Justin, Sir Nick, and Hermione and Percy's girlfriend.
He would have seen everything, everything! The nights spent pouring out her dreams and nightmares on the yellowed pages of a diary the dances the duelling lessons the secret places the innocent kisses that weren't innocent because the way out passed through her lips the fingers touching her with the softness of dead leaves fingers hungry for Life for Hate for Dread sensual hands prying hands cruel hands counting the ridges of her spine thorn-fingered hands thorns piercing her enclosing her in a cage of laudanum and absinthe thorns impregnating her with their poison thorns sucking her Life thorns of wood thorns of flesh and blood thorns wrapped in the purple tendrils of lost innocence sweet lips tumid lips pouring words of comfort of honey of hemlock lips curling in smiles of mock comfort lips curled into smiles of pleased disdain lips curled in feral smiles lowering on her because the way out passed through her lips
"... It's all right, Ginny... it's all right..."
Mum and Dad held her tight, whispering words of comfort to her. Their arms were scorching hot, and their sweat mixed with aftershave and perfume smothered her. The Egyptian summer was sultry, yet Ginny couldn't stop shivering from the cold.
The professor approached her slowly as if she were a wild animal tied to a rotten rope.
He placed a glass of mint tea in her hands -it was hot and cool at the same time and so sweet it was almost syrupy.
"I am no magipsychologist, but it's obvious this dark spell's damage is severe," the professor said when Ginny had calmed down enough. He flashed her a bitter smile. "The sooner we figure out the curse, the sooner we can find the best way to help your daughter."