It’s… AGRH… it’s just a damn burn. Pain seared through Ryder’s arm and he winced to fight back the tears welling in his eyes. The man had countless injuries throughout his lifetime. Hell, it was a wonder how he was still alive sometimes. Even without the constant danger of the magical world from backfiring spells and magical creatures, he found enough peril in the muggle world with snowboarding, or really any sport that would allow him. Surely, the universe had good reason to keep him alive and well, and he figured this new injury wouldn’t be the death of him with all that he has faced.

In fact, this whole thing was quite ridiculous. It wasn’t Ryder’s first burn caused by a dragon, and in his line of work, it most certainly wouldn’t be his last. For crying out loud, he had worked as a dragonologist before taking the job at the Ministry. He knew damn well what he was in store. However, he didn’t know this new position would require going to the hospital every time he had a simple scratch. If his buddies that studied dragons with him knew he was going in for a burn, they would never let him live it down. “Only wimps go get treated for burns and scratches, Ryder.” Yeah, and ministry officials apparently. Try telling that wimp nonsense to the higher ups at the ministry. “No, Mr. Dawson, you must have it checked. We must do due diligence in the area of worker’s compensation claims. You understand, son.” Ugh. And I wish they would stop calling me son, like I am some child. I’ve seen more than any of those pompous bastards in suits.”

Ryder found himself lost in his thoughts. He was back in Romania. No, Sweden, watching the Short-Snouts fly over the Abisko National Park. It was true, the young ministry worker had seen a great deal in his short life, and he often found himself missing those days. Alas, he settled down for a reason. Surely the reason though wasn’t to return to work only to be sentenced to standing around the second floor of St. Mungo’s waiting for some healer to baby him. Ryder looked around trying to seek out a healer. They must be really busy today. Surely, they will just send me on my way then.

@alexandra

It was a somewhat hectic day for Alex and she loved every minute of it, it didn’t matter that patient or ailment she was treating, she was in her element. Some days or rather some weeks she spent more time at the hospital rather than her own flat. Her colleagues probably thought she was over doing it but frankly she saw no harm in it.

As she made her way around the floor today, she had seen wide range of injuries, including one child who had been bitten by an owl. She had no idea how that could have happened but had sternly warned the youngster not to harass the bird any further or else he’d wind up here again. Not that she minded treating children, not at all, but she really hoped the boy had learnt from his mistake for he would be forever contending with them when he starts Hogwarts. Alex made her way out of an examination room, after having treated a middle aged witch before she went over to the counter to pick up her next chart. She looked around, trying to work out who this patient could be when she spotted a familiar face, one who was clearly not the patient listed on the chart she was holding, she knew him from school and hadn’t seen him since he graduated.

“RJ??” She asked the wizard as she approached him. He of course looked older but he was still very recognisable. Alex’s eyes then dropped to his arm and she saw his burn. “Oh my Merlin! What happened to you?” she asked hastily as she looked around for a free examination room.

Finding a vacant room she motioned him to follow her inside before she levitated the chart she held back to counter and shut the door and motioned for him to take a seat on the bed.

The ministry worker began to scan his brain for information that was stored away many years ago. Surely, there was some spell he had learned in school that would allow his burn to heal quickly. If he could remember it, he could just perform it on himself and be on his merry way. Ryder would just tell the ministry a healer fixed it quickly and was much too busy with other patients to be bothered with such nonsense. However, his journey to the memories of old left him empty. He remembered breaking his telescope in hopes he would be excused from astronomy. He reminisced of the time his buddies dared him to go flying after curfew and he got caught. He reflected on a nickname he once had. No… he wasn’t reflecting on it. Someone had said it.

Ryder turned to try to find just where he had heard that name from so long ago. His eyes landed on her, a friend from long ago and a smile spread across his face. “Now there’s a name I haven’t heard in years coming from a friend I haven’t SEEN in years,” the smile grew to allow even more teeth to show, “It’s good to see you, Alex, AGH!” The former Gryffindor had raised his arm in attempt to hug his old school friend, but upon moving the burnt arm, pain shot through him. Surely, this wouldn’t help his case to just leave without a fuss. And of course, Alex is fretting over it.

“This?” Ryder winced but tried to hide his pained expression. “Oh this is nothing. It’s just a dragon burn. It’s not my first. Won’t be my last. Ministry made me get it checked out. Thought it would be a waste of time, but apparently not because I get to run into you. How have you been?” The last sentence he said through gritted teeth as the burn shot another unpleasant sensation through his whole arm.

Secretly when they were friends at Hogwarts, Alex had always thought that Ryder did have a pretty amazing smile, though she couldn’t ever remember telling him that. Not that she would ever tell him that. He was always the one with the big personality, the guy who made friends with everyone and she was the girl who always studied. How they ever became friends was a mystery to her. She glad to see him now even under such circumstances.


She shook her and gave him a stern look as he went to hug her. Ever the Gryffindor Ryder would be, she didn’t think he could ever change. Not that it was a bad thing. “It’s nice to see you too Ryder” she smiled at him briefly, remembering to keep her personal composure on at all times, even in the presence of a friend.


Alexandra looked at him as he winced as he tried to answer her question. Her eyebrows shot up immediately at the mention of ‘dragon burn’. She didn’t even know that he worked with dragons now, wait did he work with them? Or are you just assuming that? How else would he get burnt? She asked herself all these things in her head in quick succession. It wasn't his first, that didn’t mean she was any less worried about him. Even without seeing him for all these years, it was puzzling how quickly her worrying about him came back to her. Thought it would be a waste of time, but apparently not because I get to run into you. What was that supposed to mean? “Yes it’s your lucky day” the healer joked before she answered his question. “I’m…..well” it was the truth and not because things were bad and that’s why she paused in answering, no, she just had nothing interesting happening in her life, at all.

While talking to his old school friend, he couldn’t help but to observe her. Ryder was a respectable man, but a man nonetheless, and he couldn’t help but notice how well Alex had developed. She had been a year behind him in school, and therefore, he had always seen her as just a girl. However, this was not the case anymore. She had grown up just like he had. Alexandra was now a woman, and a beautiful one at that. Alas, this was probably not the best time to get wrapped up in those thoughts, nor was it really appropriate to think of an old school friend in that way.

Ryder gave her one of his trademark smiles when she looked at him and shook her head. Since the two went way back, it was probably no surprise to Alex that he was still engaging in antics that would hurt himself. Still though, she had never judged him or thought him stupid for all that he had done and for that he was grateful. She was also not like those ditzy girls that were always impressed by the reckless things Ryder and his friends did. The boys used to eat that up, but Ryder had never done anything to gain the attention of a girl. What he did was genuinely because he thought it was fun and freeing.

Watching her more, as for some unknown reason he found it difficult to take his eyes off of her, he could see her eyes shoot up when he mentioned the dragon burn. “Ah come now, Alex. Surely you can’t be that surprised that I’d be something crazy with dragons,” he said laughing. Just talking to his fellow former Gryffindor was easing the pain and making him feel better. It had been a while since he had really talked to anyone he knew. He was now really regretting now keeping in touch with people more. Ryder hadn’t realized how much he missed friends, particularly Alex. It hit him all the more when he heard her laugh. In their younger years, Alex had spent most of her time behind books, but it was a joyous delight when she finally decide to emerge and enjoy life a bit because she always had a contagious laugh. The man couldn’t help but laugh with her. “I would consider myself very lucky,” he said in a tone he was unfamiliar with. He tried to put his finger on how he sounded, but came up with nothing. Had he had his wits about him, he would have been able to realize that what he said was sort of flirtatious and perhaps wouldn’t have said it at all if he knew.

When the woman shared that she had been well, Ryder quirked an eyebrow. “Just well? I haven’t seen you in what… seven years I think, and that’s all you have to say? I think someone that succeeded in being a healer is doing better than ‘well’ don’t you?” He gave her another smile and a wink. This, for Ryder, was not flirting as much as was just part of his playful personality. Unfortunately, his smile was interrupted by another shoot of pain and another wince. Damn this burn interrupting a very good conversation.

She saw the wizard looking at her closely, almost as if he was examining her, which was ironic since he was the patient here and she was meant to be examining him. Which she would start very soon, she didn’t like seeing him in this much pain, she never liked seeing anyone in pain, another reason she became a healer. Alex wondered why Ryder was looking at her so closely. Sure they hadn’t seen each other in a number of years but surely even then friends didn’t observe the other so closely. Was something wrong with her healer robes? Did she have something on her face? She almost, nearly went to ask him that but didn’t in case she embarrassed herself.

While it was definitely nice to see her friend again, she had wished they had run into each other under more happier circumstances. He continued to watch her even as she reacted to his reason for being here, not that she minded so much but she just wondered why. “Well RJ you always did have a knack for doing crazy things” she smiled at him before she took his a closer look at his forearm. “What exactly do you do with Dragons? Dragon keeper ?" the healer asked, not lifting up her eyes as she took his arm in her hands gently and went to pull out her wand. She knew that conversation though it be minimal would help keep him distracted, even a little from the pain. She had to make sure the burn hadn’t passed through too many layers of skin. Or else she would have to come up with other type of treatment. Alexandra finally looked up when he laughed along with her. At his words her laugh halted and she looked at him with an alarmed expression. She caught the hint of tone and assumed he hadn’t meant it to sound like it had, but it had. She had had many male patients flirt with her but had never ever reciprocated. She wanted to drop his arm immediately but the burn couldn’t face any sudden movements.

 Alex realised following Ryder’s response to her answer of being ‘well’ may have sounded but she didn’t have much else to say. She did of course live a rather dull life, the most excitement she ever encountered was when she was here at the hospital. And that damn wink of his, a wave of memories came back to her when she was in her sixth year and he in his seventh, she had seen that look many, many times. “You know me, I was never one to show off and while I do love being a healer I’m not about to parade my profession around” she smiled at him slightly before gently releasing his arm. “Let’s fix your burn first before we continue chatting away okay? I’m sure you want a cool scar to show off to the girls” she teased before going to fetch a tub of burn healing paste from a nearby cupboard.

“What can I say, Ms. Wilcox? You know me well,” he said with a smile as he remembered some more of those crazy things. Perhaps the stupidest one that he could recall was when him and a few other of the Gryffindor boys decided they would fly their brooms up to the Quidditch goalposts and sit in them while dodging quaffles thrown by the others. Why did we do such dumbass things? The young man still had his fair share of crazy things he did, but he would like to think they were no longer as pointless and stupid.

Before he got too carried away in reminiscing he thought back to what he had just told her. “Wait, I shouldn’t assume. For all I know, you may not be Ms. Wilcox anymore,” he added as he tried to check her hand for a finger, when she checked his forearm, but she was too quick and her hand was now under his arm. A weird feeling shot through him when she touched him. he wasn’t sure what. Ryder assumed it was pain, but no, whatever this was didn’t hurt.

His old friend asked him what he had been doing with his life. She guessed dragon keeper which was a good guess, honestly. “Not anymore. Used to be until recently,” he paused to try to observe what she was doing, but abandoned his observation as he really had no idea. “Still work with them, but only now, I do it for the Ministry. Believe it or not, I did sort of start wanting some kind of stability in my life.” Ryder had never seen himself as that sort of person, but he wasn’t a kid anymore, and he had seen a lot of the world already for still being as young as he was. It had been wonderful, but something had been missing from it all. To this day, he still didn’t know what it was, but knew he needed a change.

Alex had shared that she was not one to parade her life around, and he knew this well. She had often been quiet as long as he had known her, but the man knew he could get her to have a good time when he so desired. In fact, now would have been a wonderful time if she wasn’t working and well, his arm was covered by burnt skin. She then made a joking comment about showing off to girls. He rolled his eyes with a smile. “Oh, you know me, Alex. Ain’t living unless the ladies are watching,” he called out sarcastically to her as she walked towards a cabinet. Truth be told is that Ryder had been too busy to care about women since graduating Hogwarts. When he was a teenage boy, he had only had the occasional girlfriend that lasted for a few weeks or a couple of months. However, after he graduated, he had moved around so much it had been hard to settle down. Maybe that would change for Ryder now that he had a more stable job and living situation, but only time would tell there.

Alex continued to wonder why he had looked at her in such a way, Ryder had never looked at her like that before, well not that she could remember anyway. Sure they were friends but she had never felt anything more for him, but she was teenager years ago and she hadn't seen him in since he had graduated and now he was here before injured and she was treating him. She was treating him, something she had never ever seen herself doing back when they were at Hogwarts. No matter the stupid stuff Ryder and his friends had done when he was had school, he always found time to talk to Alexandra and how they had moved onto becoming friends she didn’t know but she was glad they had. She drawn out of her thoughts when he used her surname. Even though technically she was ‘Healer Wilcox’ she preferred to be called by her first name. “What can I say, I run into people doing crazy stuff everywhere I go” she recalled while teasing him at the same time
.

She was busy looking over the burn, measuring how much of his arm had been burnt in her head when Ryder mentioned that she may not be a Wilcox any longer. “Ah….ahh….I’m still single” she told him in a quiet tone not being able to look him in the eyes and but blushing profusely. The last time she had even been on a date was over two years ago. Even her younger sister now had a long term boyfriend. She now held her friend’s arm in her hand and this her feel a little awkward, as a healer physical contact with guys her age never bothered her but now with her friend, something was different but she couldn’t put a finger on why that was.


The healer nodded as she grabbed a note pad from her pocket and started to take a few notes on him. She would transfer all this to proper chart later on. Nodding along as he spoke, she took notes on his occupation. Her pen froze in writing when Ryder said he now worked for the ministry. “That’s impressive!” she smiled at him, Alex continued writing. Why was she acting like a teenage girl around him, he was her friend, she shouldn't be acting this way. “So you’re around London now?” she asked as casually as she could, wait! Why did she even ask that?

From where she stood in front of the cupboard she shook her head at the wizard. She removed the tub of burn healing paste and walked back over to the bed. She pulled back her sleeves slightly, not wanting to get any of the paste on her lime green robes. “I’ll leave a little of the burn for the ladies shall I?” she joked. Of course she would do no such thing. “Now this paste is not the most pleasant thing but it’s the most effective thing” she told him as he unscrewed the lid and removed some of the paste on her fingers. She started applying the paste to his arm, and watched as the orange coloured paste started to react with the burn. “What kind of Dragon was it?” she asked, again as casually as she could manage.

When told that Alexandra put up with seeing crazy things on a regular basis, Ryder began to let his mind run wild. What kind of things does she see? At first, it was harmless things where someone was probably stuck halfway in between their human state and animagus form. However, it did not take long for him to let his mind run wild. Soon, he imagined people trampled half to death by centaurs or limbs ripped clean off by angry hippogriffs. The man shuddered at the thought and suddenly had a whole new respect for what his friend did. He attempted to shake the horrid images from his mind with humor. “See, Alex! All of my shenanigans were just helping you prepare for your job.”

Once the words escaped from his mouth, he pondered them. The two had never talked about what they wanted to be. Is this really what Alex had wanted? It was fine if it was, but something seemed off. She did just say she had been ‘well’ when I asked her how she was. Is she unhappy? Maybe this was what she wanted and Ryder was misunderstanding. “So what made you decide to be a healer? Did you always want to be a healer?” A healer was great for Alex if this is what she really wanted, but Ryder had to make sure. Although, he couldn’t help but to wonder why he cared so much. Friends do that, right? Watch out for each other and care and stuff, right?

Alex had become real quiet when she answered his question about being single. At first, Ryder wasn’t sure if he could even hear her, but when he strained, he could. She was still single. “Oh good.” He froze. Ryder was usually obtuse when it to how something he said could come across as flirting. This time was the exception. What was worse is he hadn’t even meant it. It just slipped out. He could feel his face turning red, which never happened. “I-I-I…” Shit! Now I’m stuttering. “I… I didn’t mean it like that. I meant… I meant… i-i-it’s good, right? I mean, heh, no relationship weighing you down. The single and free life. Um, yeah, right?” His face was still flushed and he swallowed hard. Holy hell, what just happened? What the fuck is this? This has literally never happened. Usually the man was so calm, collected, and confident. Now, he was an awkward mess.

Regaining his composure, he tried to continue on with the conversation. He smiled when he head that she was impressed with what he did. It was the first time he had had someone told him that he had made a step in the right direction. His dragon keeping friends hadn’t understood his decision, so they weren’t the most supportive in the matter, which Ryder never expected. Ryder didn’t feel he needed support or encouragement, but still, it was nice to have it, and it meant even more coming from a friend like Alex. “Thanks Alex. That means a lot.” The woman had assumed that he had moved to London, which was a correct and safe assumption. “Yup, I live here in London. Er, my apartment isn’t the best, but it will do. I’ve slept in much worse conditions since graduating. I’m guessing you live in London too?” The man hoped she did. It would be nice to have his old school friend living close by.

Ryder watched the woman grab some sort of ointment and return. She joked with him about leaving a scar and he just shook his head at her with a smile. The smile quickly faded after the burn paste was applied. “SON OF A BITCH! OW!” Fuck! No wonder we never went to healers when we got burned. As the past switched to orange the pain intensified. It took all he had not to rip his arm away from Alex to go rinse this thing that tormented him off. Alex asked him about the dragon. Any other time, Ryder’s eyes would have probably lit up and he would have told her some epic tale of his efforts to tame the ferocious beast. But not now. Now, Ryder stood with fists squeezed, eyes closed, and teeth gritted. Through his clenched jaw he answered her. “Common... Welsh... Green.” Usually they weren’t so mean and relatively mellow, but Ryder had to interfere with it because it kept attacking a lot of sheep. Apparently, the dragon didn’t take too kindly to Ryder’s attempts to move it.

The healer could only chuckled at her friend’s words and looked at him for a second longer than she anticipated. She supposed that there was so some truth in what Ryder had said, she smiled at him before looking down at her shoes for moment. Oh God why had she had even worn those shoes today? Wait those were her normal shoes she wore when she worked, why did it matter today when she was with Ryder, the last time she had seen him she had been wearing school shoes, so why should the sneakers she was wearing right now matter so much. “Just as long as I don’t see you here again” she gave him a pointed look. Well not as a patient anyway. The witch added in her head as her expression changed to a sly smile.



Alexandra pondered Ryder’s question before she answered. She should have known that he would ask that. Almost everyone she met asked her that very question. She didn’t mind it. “Well learning about the war and how people were affected by it I knew I had to give something back, even if I didn’t have anyone in my family directly affected by it. But also when I was younger and my magic developed, it was the strongest of my siblings and healing requires a strong sense of magic” she told him. The second reason may have seemed a little selfish but she wasn’t too phased if she thought that too, however friends still accepted each other no matter their decisions, right? She wondered or rather hoped.


Ryder’s response of ‘Oh good’ made her look up. Was he flirting with her or was this just his cocky side shining through yet again, she had seen the latter side numerous times during their time at Hogwarts. Alex was about to ask why it was good when he went to explain and he stuttered his way through his answer. She’d be lying to herself if she said she didn’t find that cute. Wait! What the fuck! It seemed that her brain’s normal filter wasn’t working, when other patients had hit on her, she normally passed it off as nothing, why when Ryder did it (so she assumed) was it so much more significant. “I guess….” She started to reply before trying to format a more proper answer in her head. “…. Doesn't mean I’m not open to a relationship just haven’t me the right guy yet” the healer shrugged, she would let her friend interpret that however he wanted to. Alex of course didn’t have an idea of who the right guy was for her in head. She probably wouldn’t have that in her head until he was probably snogging her. “What about you, anyone special in your life?” she asked, wanting to take the focus off her.

She smiled at him, wondering why it had meant so much to him that she was affirming his career choice was the right one. Alex nodded her head. “Yes I live in Helga’s Harbour, though I spend most of time here” she blushed, she really should take more time to have fun, she knew that, Ethan and Melody reminded her constantly of that. “Maybe….” She started to speak again before stopping herself, wait no, she was going to ask if he wanted to hang out sometime but wondered why she was even thinking of that, sure it would be fun, but right now she had to get him and his injury sorted.

Alexandra fought of her chuckled that was threatening to escape her at his reaction to application of the paste. Perhaps a small chuckle may have escaped her. “Oh calm down Dawson, I’ve seen children with more severe injuries than you” she told him and sadly it was true, some of the stuff she had seen, Alex couldn’t wipe from her mind, no matter how much she tried or how much time she passed. She nodded as he answered as to the variety of dragon it was that gave him the burn. She stopped applying the paste and smiled. “Okay that will take few minutes, any other injuries?" she asked, hoping the answer was ‘no’.