Finn Lynch lives a quiet, tranquil life in a rural village in the mountains. Her life may lack spontaneity and excitement, but at least it's peaceful. And if it's a little lonely too, then she can't complain too much - she's still happy, after all.
...
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The lobby of St. Mungo's hospital is so chaotic that Finn feels herself getting a headache from the moment she arrives.
The other people waiting in the lobby are suffering from a truly bizarre range of magical maladies. One man sitting against the far wall and reading a copy of Witch Weekly has three hands growing out of his chest; every few moments, the hand in the middle of his sternum reaches out to turn the page. A stern-looking middle-aged witch keeps hiccuping enormous pink bubbles, and a small child sitting beside what seems to be his highly-stressed mother is covered in frankly alarming bright green scales.
Finn is still so frenzied that she barely sees them at all. She's been arguing with the bloody receptionist for at least ten minutes now. The witches and wizards behind her waiting on the sterile white chairs are visibly impatient, tapping their feet and sighing loudly as Finn continues holding up the line at the reception.
"-I need to see him now, he sent me a message telling me to come-"
"Auror Moody is not taking visitors at this time." The pretty blonde witch manning the desk is utterly disinterested in her job, and she doesn't even look at Finn. "Please come back another time."
"No!" Finn snaps hotly. She's still holding the stupid boot that had acted as the portkey, and she shakes it at the witch to emphasise her words. "I need to see him now!"
They've been arguing back and forth like this for ages now, and Finn is not the only one getting frustrated. Behind her, the queue of patients waiting to register at the reception are growing visibly more restless the longer she takes at the desk, but Finn absolutely refuses to leave without being let in to see her uncle.
Finally, the receptionist looks up from her long, perfectly manicured nails in order to give Finn a testy little glare. Ironically, the sign on the wall beside the front desk proclaims "Our Welcome Witch will be happy to help you!"
"Well, I apologise for the inconvenience," The Welcome Witch sniffs in a tone that really doesn't sound apologetic at all, "But only Ministry officials are permitted to visit Auror Moody right now."
"He sent me a message telling me to come, you silly bi-"
Before Finn can start swearing for real, a hand lands on her shoulder. She whirls, ready to start tearing into this new-comer as well, but her voice dies in her throat before she can say anything at all.
For a split second, her stress-addled brain wonders how on earth Regulus managed to find her all the way in London, but then she blinks and realises it's his bloody brother standing there looking at her.
"Oh, for fuck's sake." She hisses, kneading her knuckles into her exhausted, burning eyes. "Now I'm stuck with the fucking pervert!"
Sirius Black frowns, clearly a little offended as she shrugs out from beneath his hand. "Oi, I'm only coming to help!"
