[Odhrán Ó Dálaigh]

Odhrán didn't like the idea of waiting, but Deitha seemed to have the situation in hand, and he didn't really fancy a more active role in whatever she was doing to extort information. He'd seen Deitha in action before and it had been mildly terrifying. She'd held her own against the group of dementors. She could handle one half-injured wizard. Still, the noises coming from upstairs made him flinch.

An eternity passed and finally Deitha was heading down the stairs to meet with him. Of course, she was right about the charm and nature of secret keepers. They were lucky she'd gotten any information at all. Perhaps, the next time they did something like this, they should plan ahead. Odhrán paused his thoughts slightly perplexed. Next time? What in the name of Merlin was wrong with him? There would be no next time. There shouldn't be a next time.

She brushed past him to disappear into nothingness. He blinked. How strange to witness somebody pass into a magically hidden space. One moment she was there, and then something in fabric of reality distorted and she was gone. Odhrán stared into the empty space with an uncomfortable expression. Hopefully the victim would be in a better state than the last one he had treated. That time he had barely managed to stabilise the patient and things had been critical a couple of times. Ugh, he couldn't think about that now.

Time passed so slowly he could barely stand it. At last, Deitha re-emerged supported an injured woman. From the looks of it she was conscious, though clearly malnourished, and weak. Just how long had she been here? The question could wait.

"Easy," he said, moving to take the patient off Deitha's hands. "I'll apparate her with me, if you can get Bonehead home." He sounded confident suddenly. Having a person to care for and treat was giving him a familiar rush and he easily fell back into a familiar pattern. Not waiting for Deitha to confirm he whisked the young woman in his arms back to London, back to Meridian Clinic where she would be safe.

[Deitha Albron]

Odhrán had ferried that poor young woman away and in so doing Deitha felt one knot in her stomach ease - and another form. Odhrán was in healer mode again, and that was reassuring: one balance had returned to the world. But the other knot started to tighten.

He had left her alone with Bonehead, the unconscious man in the hallway and this house. And that left her with a dilemma. The man in there, unconscious as he was, had done things, and would probably do them again if not stopped. Men like that always did, exercising their power - and their excesses. Having their way with the world, as vile and twisted as it might have been.

She'd remembered the conversation she and Odhrán had had. His insistence at their target receiving true justice. Proper justice. A trial with a jury and everything. Letting the long arm of the law work the way it should. But she knew first hand how effective the long arm of the law truly was, between the Auror's Office hung up on such trite matters as "evidence", and Azkaban not really being the deterrent the authorities claimed.

There was a part of her that burned. Incandescent fury, raging and coursing through her. There was a part of her that imagined levelling the place to the ground. Not so much merely laying waste to it, but erasing it from existence, every scrap and morsel of experiment and experimenter rendered unto oblivion. Several choices even percolated through her mind as to exactly what she might do before settling herself on the notion of laying about the place with Fiendfyre. Rennervate the man she'd spoken to, block the door up again, and let the place burn.

She thought about it. She sat down on the floor, pulled Bonehead toward her for a cuddle. "Oh, Bonehead, what would you do?"

Bonehead just licked her face. And while it seemed completely the wrong reaction, Deitha just laughed. "Yes, I think you're right after all."

She got up, brushed herself off and prepared to apparate back to Meridian. A discreet note to the Auror's Office would ensure some kind of investigation and as long as someone brought a Legilimens or some Veritaserum, it would all smooth over in the end. She had to ball her fist up very tightly though. Some kind of warm fuzzy twitch in her wand hand...

Deitha scooped Bonehead up - not the easiest of tasks but safest - and reappeared in the reception at Meridian.

There was a noise from the treatment room so she tied Bonehead's lead to the bannister of the stairs and headed up. "How is she?"

[Odhrán Ó Dálaigh]

Upon arrival back at Meridian a vague smell of decomposing rosemary was still present, but it didn't seem to register with Odhrán anymore. Instead, his thoughts were firmly with his patient. He'd only just settled her into one of the treatment rooms upstairs, but in his mind, he was already considering her treatment options and which tests and checks he should run. He was surprised how quickly things seemed to come back to him and when it actually mattered his magic served him just the same as it always had. Maybe, Helene was right. Maybe, it had all been in his head.

"Do you have family and friends you would like me to reach out to?" Odhrán asked softly. "You shouldn't be up and talking for long, but a couple of minutes are alright. They can come see you tomorrow, but at least tonight you should have a deep rest. I'd like to induce a deep, magical sleep to aid your body in healing, that is if you can trust me enough to let that happen. I know you've been through a lot."

"Yes, yes, I can make it dreamless of course. Don't you worry. It'll just be restful and restorative. No bad dream, no memories to torment you. Not tonight."

He tried to give what he hoped was a reassuring smile. Downstairs, Deitha seemed to be arriving. He could hear her and Bonehead's steps. Whatever had taken them so long? It had to have been what? Ten, fifteen minutes?

"Yes, we're okay up here," he called to his friend.

Then his focused snapped back to the patient. "Alright, why don't I give you a couple of minutes so you can make your calls. Don't make it too long. You need your rest."

Odhrán stepped out of the treatment room, meeting Deitha in the stairwell. "How's you," he asked her. "I assume you didn't have any trouble getting back here." Part of him wanted to pull her into a hug, but it felt strangely inappropriate.

"Shall we go for dinner somewhere?" It seemed like a bizarrely mundane thing to ask given everything they had just been trough. "I'm hungry and could do with a bite. Need to tend to my patient first though. Maybe half an hour just to administer some potions and let her rest. There don't seem to be any serious physical injuries. Her mind, well, that's a different story."

[Deitha Albron]

Deitha was relieved to be back in familiar territory - such as Meridian was familiar, anyway. That smell of decomposing rosemary lurked at the edge of her perception, but somehow it was less unwelcome than the stench of that laboratory. Not so much any smell it had, but the waves of nausea-inducing smells one couldn't help but imagine.

"No, no trouble coming back here." She paused, tilting her head to one side. "Dinner - or at least a drink - sounds like a fantastic idea right about now." Her voice took on a giggle. "Something very alcoholic." But she knew it was a brave face she was putting on. She was more internally reviled at what she had seen and wanted something to cushion that.

"I know you need to look after your patient for a bit - and I need to get Bonehead home and fed. But after that a drink is a wonderful idea. And probably some food too, can't drink on an empty stomach." As if to punctuate her sentence, her stomach growled - but she knew just how vile she actually felt and that food was definitely not immediately on the agenda.

"Besides, I need to change, I got some mud on this dress, and I won't have us going somewhere nice to celebrate with me looking like... like this!" She gestured almost comically at her hemline.

"Tell you what, let's say back here in an hour? That'll give us both time to do a few things, change clothes and make our way to somewhere nice."