Meeting a Muggle

Chapter 7

The surgery was reasonably simple, removing splinters of metal from the patient's chest where an industrial accident had driven the fragments deep into his thoracic cavity. Unfortunately, a couple of fragments were sitting too close to the aorta for comfort and that was why Dez had been called into the operating theatre.

Her team was all assembled and the patient was under. On her left side, scrub nurse Mike Travis stood at a relaxed alert, his cool competence a pleasure to work with. Mike Chang passed the gas, a very competent - not to say talented - anaesthesiologist who seemed to read her mind when it came to working together. He also had a student in to watch today, Ricky Morgan, in his final year of study. The final member of Dez's private team was Sue Barker, who knew her so well she also seemed to read Dez; mind when it came to passing instruments and assisting in the surgery. At her right side, staring down intently, her latest student Paul Macklewaite was eager to learn something new.

The four person nursing team were prepared and stationed around the room at the various positions and Dez stood poised, her scalpel at the ready to open the skin. She had chosen to go in with a larger incision than she usually used then use the powerful magnifying glasses and mini cameras to trace the path of the splinters, and hopefully draw them back along the same channel for minimal trauma. This would also give Paul a chance to see the principles and techniques of microsurgery on a scale large enough to see with the naked eye.

Chang the anaesthetist gave her the nod and she nodded back as the air went bang and two black robed, white masked strangers appeared in the operating theatre. All ten of the Guys Hospital staff froze in total astonishment and disbelief. Both of the intruders were moving erratically, and they had wands in their hands as they tried to cover all ten people in the operating theatre. Dez straightened abruptly, wondering when they would actually use magic. She thought these people must be the Death Eaters Ron had described for her, but what were they doing here? One nurse screamed reflexively and a flick of a wand sent her slamming into the wall. One of the men laughed as her screams became whimpers of pain.

"Which one of you is Desire?" one of them demanded with a distinct leer in his voice, the other sniggered inanely.

"I'm Desiree Hanson," Dez said firmly, making them both survey the six person team around the patient. She thought they might be drunk or high by the way they fidgeted and twitched. The shortest of the pair was definitely stumbling as he moved.

"Which one of you said that?" the stoned one snapped furiously.

"Take those stupid masks off!" his partner snarled, his wand waving wildly.

Dez and Mike Travis exchanged astonished glances while Mike Chang the anaesthetist chuckled. "Pot meet kettle, kettle meet pot," he said but again the surgical masks hid the speaker. There was another sound of furious frustration and Dez shook her head slightly to quell her team.

"I am Desiree Hanson," she repeated, holding up a finger. "Who are you and why are you in a sterile environment, while obviously unsterilised?"

The taller of the two intruders dashed around the table and wrapped an arm around Desiree's throat, his wand pressed into her ear. "We don't give a toss about your sterile areas, we just want to torture and rape you, and make sure Weasley gets the message."

"And what message is that?" Dez asked, trying for nonchalance, and hoping she was making it.

The second figure pushed the student surgeon aside and stepped up to the table near where Chang sat watching his patient. The South African moved very slowly, a loaded syringe in his hand as he turned to stare at Dez intently. The intruder didn't notice as he leaned forward and almost drooled on the patient. "That he is not safe, he will never be safe and we will destroy everything he touches and he just can't stop us!"

Dez felt Travis and Barker gathering themselves, the rapport they shared during surgery making it almost child's play to coordinate their thinking and movements. "Is that so," Desiree said softly, tensing her neck muscles as hard as she could before she made every other muscle in her body go totally limp. The Death Eater behind her was left with a dead weight on his hands.

~~*~~

"Two Death Eaters were seen apparating into the Guys Hospital this afternoon," Alastor began and Ron stiffened in terror.

"Dez!" he murmured then glared when Alastor glared at him. "My fiancé is working at Guys as a surgeon."

"Desiree Hanson? Oh dear, that was who they were asking after when our man spotted them at the hospital's inquiries counter. From the descriptions, I think we are dealing with Lubbock and Shamenson, both second stringers but dangerous in the unpredictable way of the slightly insane."

"If they have gone after your fiancé Ron, where would she be at this time of day?" Lecross asked in bored tones. If people didn't know him, Frank Lecross always came across as a disinterested and bored party, but in reality he was a keen and dedicated officer.

Ron thought deeply for a moment. "Hard to say," he replied then scrubbed his face, forcing his terror away. "If she is not in her office, she may be in surgery, or consulting on a case. Here, let me ring her secretary." He pulled out his phone and speed dialled Desiree's office, getting her secretary. "Hi Jane it's Ron, is Dez in? Okay, which theatre? Um, yes, which floor is that? No, no message, I'll stop by instead... yeah 'bye." He closed the flip-phone and sighed. "She's in theatre three on the tenth floor of the building in the East wing. That's just about here." He pointed to a spot on the three dimensional map Alastor had conjured for them.

"Humm, if we apparate into this corridor here and ... no that gives them the rest of the room to retreat to."

"If we cast trackers over the room, so anyone disapparating will leave a trace ... no, too many variables."

Ron gnawed on a thumb nail as tension coursed through him. All he really wanted to do was apparate to Desiree's side and keep her safe from the psychotic rages of the Death Eaters. When were they going to be free of the war? When were they going to be able to relax a little and live like real people? Constant vigilance, it was Alastor's creed and catchcry, and he was beginning to understand that in a very fundamental way.

"Alright," Alastor said firmly, drawing their attention back to the model. "Weasley, you and Lecross apparate into these wash rooms. Bronson, Margay and Coleson, you three apparate into the antechamber, er, recovery room, here. Meekers and I will apparate here, to the corridor. Once into position, we cast anti-apparation charms and all teams go in when I signal, wands drawn. Stun anything that moves, the Muggles as well as the Death Eaters and we'll sort them out after we secure the place. Questions? Fine, let's go!"

~~*~~

Sue Barker shoved the hapless Paul Macklewaite out of the way as Chang drove his syringe full of Pentothal into the short Death Eater's thigh, discharging it fully. Intramuscular Pentothal was not particularly effective but it made the man shriek in shock. Even as he turned in fury, Ricky Morgan's large right fist took him under the chin and literally lifted him off his feet. Both men were on their feet and put the boot in substantially, to make sure the psycho wasn't going anywhere in the immediate future.

Dez fell to the floor, taking the Death Eater with her then his weight was gone. Mike Travis grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and lifted him into the air. The idiot tried to get his wand around but Sue Barker grabbed his wrist and twisted, making him scream as one of her martial arts nerve pinches paralysed his hand. As Desiree surged to her feet, she made sure she head butted the bastard fair in the crotch, making him gag and scream, until Travis put him out of his misery with a neat upper cut.

"See, I told you weight lifting was a useful sport," Mike said smugly, glancing down at Barker.

Sue sniffed and picked up the wand, twirling it between her fingers like a baton. "You're just in it for the muscles to flex for the girls, admit it!" she said in snooty tones as the rest of the staff slowly unfroze. "How are you, Boss?"

"I'm not sterile now, thanks to that bozzo! Honestly, give them a mask and a wand, and they think they own the bloody world. Break those wands, boys, and use a sheet to tie them up, and make sure they are gagged. How is Lisa doing?" she asked of the nursing team who were hurrying to see to their casualty.

"Not good, Doctor Hanson, she says she can't feel her legs."

"Shit! We need to get her to X-Ray and ... now what?" Desiree stamped her foot in exasperation as all three doors to the operating suite were flung open and red robed men and women exploded into the area. "Oh, so the cavalry finally arrived did it?" she snapped, glaring at the slightly shocked Aurors. "You - with the glass eye - are you any good at using magic to fix bones? My nurse has a broken spine, thanks to your stupid Halloween horrors, and I want it fixed immediately. Ronald Weasley, I hope you are good at sterilisation; we do have a badly injured patient who just will not wait. Oh, and by the way, take those two idiots with you. We broke their wands and gagged them, I hope that was enough? Good. Well, hustle about then, get on with the job."

The Aurors stared at the tall woman who was tapping her foot in impatience, giving orders to their boss and telling them how to deal with their prisoners. For a moment Ron thought Alastor was going to explode, but then he gave a crack of laughter and nodded happily. "Yes, you'll make a good Weasley," he commented as he assigned people to deal with situations. "You broke their wands? Well, that's not something we would do, but you know, it really makes sense. Right, let's have a look at you, Girl." Alastor mumbled a few words under his breath and smiled in satisfaction as the girl began to breathe easier, her toes curling when he asked her to move them.

Alastor nodded imperceptibly to his team and a murmur of Latin suddenly stilled everyone in the room except Desiree. She glanced about wildly then stared at Ron in surprise as he enfolded her in a thankful hug.

"I have never been so terrified in all my life!" he muttered into her hair. "When I heard...."

"I'm okay, just a bit shaken. Thank goodness our team have been together so long we can almost read each others minds. What happens now?"

"Now, young lady, we obliviate them," Alastor said firmly.

"If you want that to go seamlessly, you will have to sterilise the area and everything. Mike Chang used a full syringe of Pentothal on Shorty there, so that will have to be replenished and there's a dent in that wall, which will have to be fixed for authenticity."

"Huh, she's nearly as bossy as Molly," Alastor grumbled but in a fairly good natured way as he set his team into motion.

Ron and Desiree exchanged relieved kisses.