(1939-07-28) Race for the Cure
Details for Race for the Cure
Summary: Healer race for a cure to save the lives of those afflicted by the poison in the Terrorist attacks.
Date: 1939—7-28
Location: St. Mungos - Potions and Plant Poisons
Plot: For The Greater Good
Related: Attack on the Alleys
Characters
KeenanKahrenClover

The briefcase has finally been cleared and moved to the Potions and Plant Poisoning Department of St. Mungos' Hospital. While the M.A.C. and M.L.E. are also investigating it is the responsibility to find the cure for those still afflicted by what was used in the Terrorist Attack, the briefcase has been placed in a sectioned off area of the Department and placed on a simple table. It has taken almost two days to determine that it is indeed a potions area and not that of spells or aretfacts. The tone in the room is quiet, as the first team to take a shot at this new threat is dispatched.
Standing on one side of the door is a Hitwizard, while at the other side is an Auror, standing guard to prevent anyone unauthorized from entering. The full write up on what St. Mungos and the Ministry of Magic was provided to all three members of this team, lining out any information possible from the attack, the smoke, the turning red, the smoldering and finally the explosion. Autopsy reports line the pages of this file as well as additional eye witness reports.

Kahren, truth be told, was loathe to enter the room with the horrible device that had taken so many lives - but it was necessary, of course. Necessary to study it, understand it, and help those still afflicted. Necessary to protect themselves from such vile magic, and prevent it from being used again. She flips through the reports, reading in silence, her stomach giving an uncomfortable twist as she comes across a photo of one of the victims - a child. Why did they have to put a picture of a child in the file?

While this isn't a great thing to have the 'honour' of debugging this problem, Clover cannot help but be curious to see just what it is that caused all of these problems. She's reviewed the file, and while the pictures were unsettling, sh eis in work mode, putting her feelings away in a box for later. So far she's just been setting up the area, getting out a few potions they can use to help figure out the answer to this puzzle.

The tall Irish Man enters, the healer robes open and pushed back slightly as his hands are deep in his pockets. The red hair falls slightly across his forehead as he enters, his head bowed. MacDiarmada Apothecary was in the middle of the blast zone, and Niamh's new assistant was one of the fallen, and the close at hand destruction weighed heavily on him. He's been working around the clock since the attack, and it shows in the mussed hair, slightly rumpled clothes under the flowing chartreuse robes. He's seen many of the pages already assembled, having been one of the healers from the Spell Damage ward to assist in the conclusion that this weapon didn't fall in that ward's sphere, but rather that of his second specialty. He takes one hand from his pocket, opening a new file to look in, and raising his head when Clover enters. "Clover," he greets quietly, the familiar greeting rather than professional title he usually uses at work speaks more to his weariness, but dogged determination than anything else. Kahren receives a nod as he turns and leans back against the table, a ways from the breifcase itself. He crosses his arms loosely in front of him as he waits for the other two to have a chance to look over what's there so far.

Kahren follows Keenan in when the man enters, giving Clover a small, grim smile. There hasn't been much joy around St. Mungo's the last couple of days - though that's no real surprise. "This was carefully thought out," she remarks. "And… as reprensible as it all is, it seems quite meticulous as well."

"Keenan, Umbridge." Clover says wiwth a breif nod of her head. "It was reprensible, however we need to look at this as objectively as possible. This wasn't something done on a whim, it was planned out, and if we can figure out just how planned, it might give us the clues we need to find the person responcible." She says, idly smoothing down her robes and sitting at her make shift exam table. "How much of a sample did they leave us?"

"Dark Magic usually is well thought out. Mostly because ye need teh make sure it's not going teh backfire on ye when ye're creating it," Keenan says quietly. "The potions were carefully arranged and padded to make sure they didn't come close teh each other before the right time." Pulling his wand from his pocket, the ginger healer levitates a rounded piece of glass with rough edges. A dark stain can be seen still clinging to one edge. "Nae much, but perhaps enough. It's why I suggested we stop doing random tests when it started pointing to a potion attack."

Objective is going to be difficult - attacking children. Attacking a /sweets shop/ after the Hogwarts letters have gone out. Kahren can't think of anything more vile.
Still - there's work to be done, and important work. Kahren pulls a seat up towards the brief case, and sits down. She pulls out a pair of thin, well-fitted leather gloves and puts them on - she has no desire to touch these potions. "So - two separate potions, safe enough on their own, but deadly when mixed… creating a smoke that aerosolizes the effect, and triggers a fire spell," she remarks, spouting off the basic facts. She cautiously picks up one of the shards, trying to note the color and consistency of each one before going any further.

It's not a lot to work with." Clover says with a frown, as she looks over several of the other potions and solutions she has near by. "Perhaps we should dilute it, to see if we can break down what was in it. At least one of them, if we figure out one, we can easily figure out what would be voiltile when it is mixed with the other. Hopefully we'll only going to need a small sample."

Keenan nods. With a little motion of his wand, the shard is lowered back into its nest, and he taps his wand to his hands for an impervious type charm before he lifts one of the sample vials and holds it up for Clover to remove a sample and put it in.
Kahren pages: In the movies, they group-cast that warding spell at Hogwarts, to make it cover the whole school. Could Scarpin's Revelaspell be group cast to be more effective? Or is that to help spells cover larger areas?

"More easily," Kahren contradicts Clover a bit wryly. "I don't imagine any of this will be easy." She watches the others work, before remarking, "There's enough of the purple potion for Scarpin's, but…" They all know what will happen to the sample if they try /that/. She worries about the patients that have been affected. After all - a few of them were some of /theirs/.

Clover is careful when she goes to take the sample of the green goo. It takes her a second to get just the right amount and puts it in a fresh vial. Handing it back to Keenan she nods he rhead. "You're right. This is probably going to be one of the bigger mysteries that we might end up having to solve. Were the situation not so dire, I might be excited."

"I think we're all here because we enjoy a puzzle," Kahren agrees. She watches them both take a sample of the precious green potion, leaving barely any residue behind - fitting, considering they had more than a decade of experience on her. "I'll try with the purple," she volunteers, carefully sampling a small amount.

"But… it's all that we have," Keenan finishes Kahren's sentence. "With the effect these potions have, I'd rather not risk all we have on one test. By the time we can do the paperwork teh get the MLE or MAC to give us their samples, more patients could die than if we took tha time teh do smaller samples tek be more thorough." He takes the sample that Clover puts in, and then gives a nod as he works on it. The green eyes squint a bit as they watch the ingredients thin and separate.

"No, we need to be hasty, but we can't be reckless." Clover takes her own sample and starts to work her magic on it. It's a slow process but she wants to pick apart this goup as best as she can. She gets quiet, like she does when she's trying to work out a problem, and for a moment she looks just plain confused. Finally it dawns on her. "I've got it." She says, holding up her sample. "Thermit. We don't see it much here, but in colder climits, it is used to treat hypothermia. It increases the amount of heat generated by movement, handy if you're in the tundra but, not so great here."

Kahren has a look of concentration as she tests her sample, flicking repeatedly through her results, and a heavy stack of references. She mutters quietly to herself on occassion, as she scratches down some notes in a messy scrawl, slowing down at her expression turns more puzzled. "Dastaredly clever," she remarks as Clover shares her discovery. Her attention turns to her own work, twirling her hair idly in the fingers of her left hand as she thinks. "Why would they use…?" she starts, before abruptly jumping to her feet. "I need another book - I'll be back in a moment!" Kahren announces before dashing from the room. Hadn't she read just the other week…?

There is a measure of comfort, and therefore less stress, in working side by side with Clover. The familiarity that goes back, maybe even to Hogwarts, makes it easier to concentrate and work on the potion. He lifts a quill to write what he's finding, then pauses. "Can't be…" he mutters, then peers closer. He gives a tap, but whatever it is he was looking at remains the same. He glances to Clover and nods, "and saguarrow. It's a cactus in southwestern deserts of America. One of my trips the guide pointed it out. The syrup was used once by muggles to cure insanity. However, it had a rather bad side effect of high fevers, to high a dose would literally burn a patient. Muggles call it spontaneous combustion."

Clover watches as Kahren bounds out of the room looking for her book. "Well at least this his helpful so far." SHe starts making a few notes before Keenan comes up with his own bits. "Well then, that an explain the explosions, just think of how easily it would be to get all of this to explode." She says with a shake of her head.

When Kahren returns, she's waving an old copy of a Healing journal. "Almond mushroom," she announces. "Or as the Muggles call it - God's mushroom. We don't use it much anymore, but in the 14th century, it was integral to potions prepared to combat the Black Death. It provides the delivery that really makes things work." It's a good thing she 'wastes' so much time reading all these healing books and journals.

Keenan nods once to Clover. "Someone knows about rare herbs, as well. You can't find these on the shelf at your local apothecary." He glances when Kahren returns, and pauses to think about what she relates. "So, we have some rare, internal warming and flammable agents, with a delivery…" he makes a few more notes, then pinches the bridge of his nose after he sets his quill down.
Keenan pages: Can sample the purple, too?

Clover since she had such a great bit of green potion, Clover tries her hand at the purple one. Using the same process and potion solution she did on the green she waits for a response. However nothing seems to come of it, and after a few moments she frowns. "Damn, I think I blew it on this one. Any luck with yours?"

Taking on of the green samples, Kahren mulls over it, carefully studying the results they already had, and then trying to carefully tip in a little more solvent. Carefully, caaaarefully… And the, of course, her hand slips. She lets out a horrified gasp as far too much goes into the testing vial, and the sample is ruined. "Oh… dear," she murmurs disconsolately. But if she has to, she'll go bound on the MAC's door personally, to get some more samples. "No luck here. Sorry."

As he takes a look at the sample of purple he took, Keenan again writes his notes, rapidly listing off what he sees. He's about to lean back, possbly almost finished, when he looks to his list, then back to the sample. A moment later, a gaelic oath escapes his mouth. "Clover, will ye look at these?" he says, pushing it towards her as he starts making a notation next each one. She'll note that for each listed, he's made a second notation. Each herb listed as a component has been replaced with a plant that is similar in properties, being in the same family, but is actually a deadly cousin of the plant listed. "I'd really like teh meet this witch or wizard. They are an encyclopedia of dark and dangerous herbs."

Clover takes a look of what Keenan has for her, and she nods her head slowly. "Alright, I think I know where to start." Clover gets to her feet and starts to gets everything ready to brew the potion. She even gets out the fancy cauldron, the ones they only use for the rarest of potions, since she figures this is going to require that.

Keenan nods, a grin finally making an appearance in the weary creases at the corners of his mouth. The green bears a bit of sparkle as he settles the cauldron Clover sets out, and places the burner underneath. He starts a small, but steady flame, bringing the heat up slowly, as it's a potion that shouldn't be rushed, not matter how urgent the need.

Pouring over their notes, and the references they brought with them, Kahren adds her own two knuts more than once. She helps with chopping and crushing many of the ingredients, frowning thoughtfully as she adds, "Have we got the key figured out, though?" She doesn't need to mention that Golpalott's third comes into play here… "Myrrh, perhaps?" she murmurs thoughtfully.

The research team's keen eyes and observation aided in their research. As hours ticked by as they slowly formulated a possible cure. Not a single bit of leeway was given to any detail and precision their guide. Finally all the ingredients, often times pulling rather rare and hard to find ones out of St. Mungos' cabinets, but the end result was a brewing potion, that bubbled and hissed. If this potion was to fail, it certainly would take a heavy toll on those who brewed it, between hours spent and the rarity of what was used.
Finally all that could be done was, none of them could sleep as the potion sat and breathed over a small simmering flames. Almost twelve hours passed by, the exhausted team was about to accept defeat when a soft 'POP' escapes, causing the pacing and wall leaning to stop as the research gathers around and the potion starts to turn an almost eerie shade of icy blue. Looking almost as if it was frozen.
A few moments of conversations and some quick tests on the batch are done, but all three agree it looks and feels right. Taking a single dose they step out of the research room and are brought to the special portkey to take them to the secured location, a simple potted plant. As the world warps and twists around them, they find themselves in the rather grim and exhausting warehouse that had been setup to prevent any fires at St. Mungos'. Greeted by a younger healer, they are informed that only two families have consented, that of a young 8 year old boy who is critical and this may be his last chance and a stable women 7 months along with their unborn child.
The conversation was brief, all three healers concluding that the boy was the priority. They all approach his cot, his skin bright red and starting to smoke again. The healer who greeted them, slowly tilts back the boys head and lets the potion that even feels cold in his hands, slide down the boys throat. The boy instantly starts to cough and gag, gasping for air, his eyes shooting open and rolling into the back of his head.
It looks grim for a moment, as he falls to the cot limp, his breathing slowly. Though suddenly the red begins to fade, replaced by a soft blue tint to his skin, his body temperature drops only for a moment before normal tint returns and all signs of the poison appears to be have vanished. He stays under observation for the next 12 hours, awakes, walks runs, talks, acts just like an 8 year old boy and not a fireball. It appears they did it, now all that is left to administer it to everyone and inform the Ministry. Today good triumphed over evil.

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