I've you dont believe me now you'll never believe me now

[caretocure.livejournal.com]

*Roderick's open-door policy is literal, and as the wing housing most Healer's offices puts itself to sleep for the night the shadows flickering past his room grow more and more sparse he fails to leave with them. A cup of tea steeps half-forgotten on his desk, and it's steam warms one side of his face the longer he fails to lift his chin from his hand and look away from the mess of ill-gotten confidences in front of him.

He hadn't found the magazine until midday when the name Crouch caught his eye, abandoned on a waiting room chair. A Healer is a hectic profession, but Roderick cannot believe there are so many of his colleges who could read about a patient like this, regardless of the truth they know in the medical file, and not feel unnecessarily guilt-ridden at least for a time. His professional contract to the Crouches has not been broken, but the real secrets he has kept respectfully filed for years now have been twisted into a weapon for a woman who, by all accounts, really is on a downward slope. She is his patient, but her friendly face is one of the one's he'll remember most clearly when all is said and done. A family so prosperous but so ill-fated, so influential but so open-minded to his mixed media treatments, is one that deserves to be protected, not slapped on paper for all the world to gawk.

He sighs, feeling momentarily rather older than usual, and takes a long-overdue sip of his tea. It's bittered by now, but before he can reach for sugar a shadow fills his doorway and does not pass it toward the exit.*

-Oh, Mr. Crouch.

Comments

[notquitefacist.livejournal.com]

*He has stepped far enough in though the doorway when Roderick looks up that the harsh backlight from the hall doesn't darken his face, in fact from the warm glow of the desk lamp he looks rather rosy. He doesn't need the mediocrity of looming in shadow for his determination to turn the office into an uneasy place, his set expression is the only tool he needs to make it clear he is, indeed, here to talk about the paper laying open on the desk. He makes a point of looking it's way before demanding Roderick's time.*

Hello Healer Southwell. I see I have less preamble to go over with you than I was anticipating.

[caretocure.livejournal.com]

*He closes it with a heartfelt sigh and takes off his spectacles, sitting back in his chair.*

I had hoped you might come. I was going to floo you in the morning but I suppose that doesn't matter, now you're here yourself - Please, take a seat.

[notquitefacist.livejournal.com]

*Though farther from the door, Crouch Sr. lowers himself into righthand side chair as he always does, leaving the left empty for the hypothetical presence of Bernadette.

With a scan of Southwell's desk, he decides the next several steps he will take. Purposefully avoiding letting his gaze linger on the still steaming mug of tea, he lets a minuscule vial of a very powerful liquid fall into his palm from up his sleeve - a very unexpectedly muggle magic that he's discovered works much better than any spell and is often so unexpected that no one thinks to check for it.*

I'll take some tea, if you don't mind. It isn't my aim to stretch this on any longer than it needs to be but to be perfectly frank with you, I'm troubled and I believe there is a great deal you and I have to discuss.

[caretocure.livejournal.com]

*He had nearly forgotten his drink but another cup is produced from a desk drawer and Roderick fills it with a steady hand.*

I'm afraid there isn't much I can do, Mr. Crouch, beyond what I am already. These situations are almost impossible to predict an outcome, something journalists never have understood - Here, chamomile.

None of us can deny it's a slippery slope... But unless Bernadette were to stop responding to treatments I would not think to give up hope. And we all know that her conditions are undeniably genetic. Anyone with a clear mind will know there's no link between her symptoms and muggleborn contact, the notion will be discredited one day soon if there's any reason left in the world.