Mandy limped heavily, leaning on a stranger's arm for support. She wasn't wearing shoes, which seemed odd to her. One of them had been removed due to the amount of swelling in her left foot, and the other had been discarded because it was hard to walk in only one high heel. Once they were up the stairs her good Samaritan helped her to a chair and walked away, presumably to speak with the receptionist. She didn't know what to do while she was waiting. The man had checked her in and left, saying that he had a meeting, so she had no one to talk to. There were magazines laying about, but she wasn't interested in reading at the moment. All she could do was hope that they called her name soon.

"Mandy? The healer will see you now."


She glanced up in time to see an orderly walking into the waiting room with a wheelchair. He brought it close to her chair and, with some difficulty, she was soon seated and wheeled to an examination room. He helped her onto the table and then she was alone again. She was okay with it this time, since she probably wasn't fit to be seen. A quick glance into her compact made grimace and revealed exactly how terrible she looked. Her hair was mussed, her eyes were puffy and red from crying, and most of her makeup had been washed clean off by the tears.

Neville dropped off his patient's folder at the front desk. "Alright, Sara. Tell me there's not another idiot that got in a duel and his brains turned to mush. Please." The receptionist laughed and handed him another folder.

"You're in luck. A lady came in with a broken ankle, it looks like. You're the first free healer we've got."

He started to look through the folder. "Well, it's on the other side of the body I'm used to, but I'll improvise." Neville walked down the hall and to the examination room. He knocked on the door before opening it.

"Hello there, I'm Neville Longbottom and I'll be your healer today. Looks like you took a bit of a spill and hurt your foot, am I right?"

The sympathetic tone he used made tears well up in her eyes and she nodded, wiping the remnants of her tears, and most of her mascara, away with the back of her hand.

"That will teach me to run in heels, won't it?" she asked. The laugh was more sob than laugh, but it was better than nothing.

Neville grinned at her while flipping through her chart. "Well, I can't say I've tried it before, but I'll take your word on it. So, you just tripped? I'd be stupid to ask about pain, but is it a sharp pain or pulsing pain?" He sat down in a chair and lifted her swollen foot up to inspect it.

She only stared. Why did they feel the need to ask these stupid questions? It hurt, it was broken, what more did he need to know? With a deep breath, she focused on the pain. It hurt. "I don't know, sharp?"

Neville nodded and tapped his wand against her foot and she seemed surprised when the he caused the pain to stop.

"I just needed to know the type of pain so I could focus my spell and try to get an idea of where the break was. It should bring a bit of relief. Right, now just sit back and relax. You won't feel a thing."

He waved his wand and an image appeared over her foot. It was a three dimensional image of the bones in her foot. He studied it for a moment before writing down some things in her file.

"Well, bad news is there is a fracture. Good news is it won't require skele-grow. A few simple potions and a few days' rest and you'll be good as new. Only... stay off the heels for bit."

She sighed. "Well, the bad news is bloody awful, but at least I can go shoe shopping. Am I going to have to use crutches, or will I be able to get about on my own?"

The problem with the entire situation was that she couldn't rest, even if she wanted to. Not with a story of that magnitude about to break, and she couldn't imagine herself hobbling about on crutches, chasing down a lead.

He laughed. "Let me rephrase myself. Rest means no weight. You could use crutches, but you'll have to have your foot wrapped tightly and with a lot of padding so if you lose your balance and you accidentally put your foot down it won't damage it. It'll only be for a few days. Four or five at most. After that, you must be careful. No high heels for a week. Try only soft house shoes and flat shoes."

Neville wrote more things down in her file. "And don't bother adding cushioning charms to your heels, either. A girl did that once and the charm wore out suddenly and she ended breaking her foot all over again."

Mandy suddenly wanted to cry again. She could just see herself in the flat shoes. She was short to begin with, and that would only make it worse. Not to mention that flat shoes made her ankles look fat. And no weight at all on her left foot was going to make things difficult for the next week or so. Her editor was going to kill her if she didn't get a rough draft of the story written up, but she didn't see how that was going to happen since she wasn't exactly in a position to interview people. She was going to have to push the date back and submit one of her old pieces for now. She sighed. Life was just not fair.

He peered up at her and gave a small grin. "And you look like I just told you I killed your cat and told you couldn't have another. Have something pressing you need to do?"

"Just the biggest story of my career about to break, you know," she said with a frown. She would figure out a way to get around, she was resourceful.

"You're a reporter," he said with some surprise. "So, big story you need to finish, right? Surely you can do that without that much running around."

She grinned at the look on his face. "Well, I try," she said sardonically. "And, I still have several people I need to interview, and some of them live in Scotland. It's going to be a bit rough, but I think I can handle it." It would just take a bit of trickery on her part.

Neville laughed and put down the files. The longer he could stay in here, the less time he'd be out doing clinic work that he really didn't care for.

"You're going all the way to Scotland? What in the world for, if you don't mind me asking? I won't read the story so you're the only chance I'll have at the tale."

"I can't really say, for now." she smiled, he really was pretty cute. "I might just send you a copy, as a thank you."

"Oh come on. Now I'm really curious," he said while leaning against the counter in the small examining room. "At least tell me who it's about."

Well, it couldn't hurt that much. "Well, if you promise to keep it a secret." She bit her lower lip and glanced around, as if she was going to see a competitor eavesdropping. "It's about Harry Potter being a very naughty boy."

He had to purse his lips so he wouldn't laugh. He should have known. All media was about Harry these days, and it seemed this was no different. Oh, he so wanted to laugh.

"Naughty as in 'I charmed all the doors shut' naughty or 'Not suitable for children' naughty?"

"Not suitable for children' naughty. It's not your run of the mill story. This one is going to make my career." If she could get it written. She silently cursed fate for laying this burden on her doorstep.

Neville shook his head. Everyone wanted their piece of Harry Potter's story. If she thought she had something, then it was fine with him. He hoped she would send a copy to him, just so he could owl Harry and laugh.

"Well, now I'm so curious I think I will take that extra copy."

She didn't want to talk about her article now, just in case it would jinx it. She would send him a copy, but she wasn't going to answer questions anymore. "Are you going to wrap my foot? Will it hurt?" she asked, hoping that he wouldn't comment on the abrupt change in subject. It had just occurred to her that he and Harry had been mates at school. Would he mention it to Harry? Lord, she hoped not.

"I'll send in a nurse or a medi-witch to wrap it and give you more directions. I'm on a rotating shift of clinic and emergency hours, and it's time for me to change spots. Have a good day, Miss Brocklehurst. Be sure to send me that copy."

"Thank you, and I will." She wasn't going to delay that little interaction more than she had to. Besides, she needed to run to the apothecary for a few potions and it closed earlier than most places.

[Summary] Mandy has a bit of an accident and Neville gets to play healer.