| Details for Confusing Magpie at Mungos |
| Summary: | The caged magpie is brought to Mungos and a couple of Master Healers attempt to figure out what is going on. Little Agatha and Xylina try and fill in some blanks, but still, the situation proves to be confusing to all around. |
| Date: | June 29, 1941 |
| Location: | Spell Damage Ward, St. Mungos |
| Plot: | Zoanthropy Epidemic |
| Related: | Beware of Swooping Magpies |
| Characters |
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A representative from the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, Victor Proudmore, drops off an irate magpie in a bird cage. As one would expect at St. Mungo's, this is no ordinary magpie, but rather a witch who transformed quite suddenly in the middle of Merlin Square. On the floor of the cage are the witch's robes, now spattered with droppings.
Also arriving at St. Mungo's is a five-year-old girl with two long, dark braids and a bright blue dress. Agatha clings tight to Xylina's hand. Surrounded by green-robed healers, the girl hasn't been too keen to talk, instead just hiding against Xylina's side every time someone poses a question. Another witness, just along for the ride, is Aiden. But since he was there, he should have some valuable information, right?
It might be a transfiguration gone wrong. Or perhaps a bad potion. So, of course, who better to send the lot to than Master Healer Keenan O'Shea. An orderly, carrying the cage taken from Victor, ushers Xylina, Agatha, and Aiden into the Spell Damage ward to wait for Keenan.
With an arm about Agatha's shoulders, Xylina seems to have placed herself as the girl's protector and friend. Pausing long enough at Leaky Cauldron to get her a crisp or two, the two follow the caged magpie, the older girl offering answers when any questions is put forth to Agatha when the girl refuses to answer and hides against her instead. One of the healers may notice that one arm sports some scratches down the top of her forearm that have bled a little - no cleanup or bandaging has been done as of yet.
Aiden looks around and remains quiet for the moment. Hes not quite sure what to make of all this or how to act with it all. He doesnt know much about what happened after all, he heard something and went to go check it out. He happened upon this all very much by accident, Aiden retreats a bit almost to a corner and watches whats going on.
It doesn't take that long for the door to open and admit a tall, ginger haired healer with the appropriate patches on his robes to mark him as a Master Healer in both Spell Damage and Potions. He looks to those in the room, and especially at the irate Magpie. The chart in his hands is set down, without a need to look at it any further as it seems he's already read it. He settles down in a chair so that he's on a better eye level with both bird and girl. "Agatha, is it? And this is yer mama?" he asks the little girl with a softened tone and Irish lilt taking the question from the expected clipped and professional tones to a more personal, friendly level. He removes his wand and waves an impervious charm over his hands before he turns his visual attention to the magpie. "Afternoon, ma'am, I'm Healer O'Shea. If ye don't mind letting me take a look at the robes ye have there, and it looks like some… bandages? We can hopefully have this sorted soon."
Xylina sits down with the girl, letting her tuck herself against her side. Being helpful, she offers, "I'm Xylina Cobb, and this is my friend Agatha. Her mum is the one in the cage there." A tilt of her head is given as she 'whispers' to the little girl, "What's your last name, and your gran's name, hmm?" Information for Keenan to pick up on.
Aiden comes out of his corner to take a look at the healer. He still doesnt say much but he does crook his head and smile at the accent. Aiden gets a little closer to the rest of the group but stays far enough away that he still feels safe. Obviously he has trust issues, for one who tries to act brave and tough.
With some urging, and perhaps a little repeating of anwers by Xylina, Keenan is given an afirmative of the fact that yes, the magpie is the girl's mother. Robes and such are easily gotten out of, "Just be careful, she will go after you.." She gestures to her own arm and the scratches there, "She dove at me, I guess she was protecting her daughter.." That said, Xy goes on, "She was fussing with Agatha at Merlin's Square. Next thing.. she started growing a beak. Then poof.. turned into a magpie, caught up in her robes. "
The Magpie doesn't seem to understand the words that Keenan speaks to it, and the evil beady eye threatens to peck him if he tries to take a look at what's in the cage. "Right then," he murmurs and nods to the Journeyman that has been assigned to assist, and swivels the chair, rolling it a little closer to Agatha and Xylina to listen to the answers the little girl gives to the questions with a calm, encouraging smile while his body blocks her view of the magpie being given a body binding spell. He nods at her answers, and transfers his gaze up towards Xylina with another nod. "We'll need teh patch ye up as soon as we've done what we can here, Ms. Cobb." A glance to Aiden is mildly curious and again, that curve of the mouth that seems more geared towards making one at ease, rather than actual humor.
Aiden moves even closer now and is watching what the healer is doing. His curiosity starting to outway his nervousness and fear. "Me names Aiden sir, Aiden Merrythought. I was on my way to go lookin at things I may be wantin fer school in September when I heard the sounds O' these folks and when I got to the square…." He trails off shaking his head back and forth. "This is really the wee lass' mum?" He asks sounding sympathetic. "Can this happen ta anyone?" Aidens curiosity is getting the better of him again.
Agatha remains a little shy, but the ease in which Keenan speaks has her warming up to him a little more. "We were doing some shopping, and this little dog came up barking at her, and bit her on the ankles. Its why they were bandaged. Not bad.." Xylina nods quietly as the little girl speaks to the healer.
"Agatha here did say she has a grandmother in Perth. No one else. Mum sounded like she was from Australia, maybe?" She glances to Agatha who nods her head to that.
"A little dog bit her, then?" Keenan asks the little girl, his eyes appropriately wide with surprise and consternation. "Well, let me take a look at yer ma, and we'll see what we can do, alright?" He gives her another smile, and goes to the cage to take out a now limp bird, gently laying her on the table. Even though the likelihood of him being pecked is much less, he doesn't dispell the charm on his hands. He spreads her wings, examining for anything that looks 'unbirdlike' about the magpie, then he takes his wand to wave a spell over her, perusing the aura that swirls over and vanishes. He turns to the Journeyman and gives an order for the robes to be cleaned, but the bandages left, and also to request the attendance of Healer MacMurry.
Turnig back to the others, he settles down, gives a nod to Aiden. "Well, technically speaking, anything can happen teh anyone," he replies to the question. "We just have to found what it is that happened, first. Agatha, did yer Ma have any potions today, or did ye eat anything while ye were out shopping?"
Agatha nods, and gives a description of the dog, from what it sounds like, a chihuahua. "Mum and another person shooed it away and it ran off barking." The girl says before Keenan takes out the limp bird and begins to check it over. She watches quietly, chewing on her thumb in worry.
Xylina rubs Agatha's back soothingly, keeping her close, "I wondered if she was an Animagus, but Mr. Proudmore (Victor) pointed out that if she was one, her clothing should have shifted with her. " When asked, Agatha speaks up, "She gets really bad headaches and has a potion she takes for them sometimes?"
Aiden nods understanding. "Well I'm hopin shes ok there Sir." He says taking a couple of steps back again. Aiden figures it best to let the adults talk at the moment. Upon hearing more of the story and blanks being filled in Aiden gets a look of utter shock and terror on his face. "I'm sorry this happened to you an' yer mum." He says his own Irish brogue becoming more prevelent in his speech. After saying what he felt he needed to he looks for a place to sit away from the rest for a few moments, so they can talk and get this figured out. After all hes just a kid not much he can do to help.
Clover arrives from St. Mungo's Hospital.
"This is true, clothing does usually shift with an animagus, and an animagus is usually more… aware. There's a certain air of human intelligence about an animagus that I'm not seeing with our patient," Keenan muses at Xylina's guess. He's sitting in a chair facing a woman and young girl, with another youngster off to the side. On the patient table a magpie is resting, and it seems to be unconscious or sedated in some manner. Some bloody bandages are next to it. "Detection charms are not picking up any sort of spell signatures, so I don't think she's been cursed, which is why I requested Healer macCurry. She's a potions specialist I've worked with many times, perhaps there was something she ate or drank that was contaminated…" he pauses and looks to Agatha again. "She does? Did she take any today, Agatha?"
"My aunt's an Animagus, so this I do know.. it's not normal at all." Xylina offers quietly, gesturing towards the quiet magpie. Brows furrow as Keenan continues to look the bird over, noting the things that aren't showing up. When he turns to question the young girl, Agatha hides against Xy's side, but with another round of coaxing from the Gryffindor, she sighs and shrugs, "Dunno?"
"You don't know if your mum took one of those potions today or even yesterday? When was the last time she might have had a headache, do you remember?" Xylina continues to coax out answers to which the girl shakes her head, "Not.. today. Not yesterday? Maybe this past weekend?" If nothing, it's not been recent by the girl's memory. "That's okay, Agatha.. "
Some poor Journeyman got to head to the plant room to find Clover. The potions expert was busy tending to one of the many medicinal plants that are grown in house. So when she's needed for a consult she follows along. She knows the office even before she walks into it, since she's usually down here pestering Keenan when they both have a break.
"Greetings Healer O'Shea. Do you have something stumping you?" The Master Healer asks as she leans on the door frame. She has her deep green forest robes and her hair is pulled back into a bun to keep it out of her face. "I didn't know you had a pet."
"Healer Weaver-Macnair," Keenan says with a grin, scooting his chair back to turn it around. "I have a patient that perhaps has been affected by a potion rather than a spell, and I thought ye'd be tha perfect person teh consult in this matter," he tells her, the smile going a bit more rogueish, but it stops short of leaving the professional realm. He gestures towards the bandages on the table, with their blood spots. "So far, Miss Agatha here," he bestows a smile to the little girl, "has been helping me with some information. We don't think she's had any potions out of the usual in the past few days, not too sure about the food. Maybe there's something in the blood… she was bitten by… well, literally an ankle biter this morning. Little dog. Maybe ye can take a look at the patient while I take care of Ms. Cobb here, who's been tryin' teh keep the focus a little more on the patient than her arms." He turns back to raise an eyebrow to Xylina and beckons her forwards "Do ye mind if I borrow yer protector for a few minutes teh patch her up, Miss Agatha?"
Agatha does speak up as Keenan relates the information to Clover, "Yestaday morning is when she was bitten." A small correction there. It's only when Keenan then calls attention to Xylina's scratched arm does Agath pull away, fussing just a little over her protector, "Gotta clean them up, me mum says, so they don't get.. all icky. Mum will be sad she scratched you!" And so Agatha sits in her chair, remembering the chocolate Xy got for her, and nibbles on it quietly.
Xylina ohs, glancing to her arm where obviously the bird scratched her down her forearm, though not to bad that it's still bleeding, but enough that the scratches will likely sting when cleaned. "I've been scratched worse by some of the felines my aunt keeps. There was one, Captain Hook, who really got me good once when we were cleaning him up after finding him. He'd lost a leg somehow, and was quite a mess, you see.." And so she rambles just a little.
Clover blinks several times before she walks in to look over the magpie. "It would be a rather powerful potion to change her form like that." Clover says idly as she walks into the room and takes out a quill to start writing out notes on a clip board. She gathers what information she can and raises a brow. "So the only odd thing is she was bit by a dog, I don't see how that would be potion related Keenan." She says with a smirk though she'll gesture toward the patient. "What have you tested so far?"
"Nothing, yet, other than that it wasn't caused by a curse or any other spell," Keenan replies to Clover. "I'm not sure how the dog could be related, unless something entered through the wounds caused by the bites." He begins to clean the wounds on Xylina, and shakes his head. "Well, we've no idea what Ms. Magpie might have gotten her talons into, so we don't know what kind of dirt an' such she may've given ye." He gives the woman a smile, and looks over his shoulder after finishing the basic cleaning. "If it was dog related, that would be a twenty four hour incubation time, approximately. But then we'd be callin' in a CII specialist teh see if they've heard of any venemous dogs that turn people into magpies." He winks. "They might give ye an odd look on that one." With the wounds cleaned, he settles back down to Agatha's level for a moment again. "Well, maybe, it can be our little secret, then?" he asks. "We don't want teh make yer mum sad, do we?"
"Ms. Magpie? Her name is Margaret, not magpie. She just a magpie /now/… never before." Agatha is quick to say once she's swallowed the bite of chocolate she'd taken. With Keenan offering to keep the secret her mum scratched someone, she bobs her head in a quick nod of agreement, holding out her pinky finger to make the promise with him.
Xylina ponders this, wincing just a little as the scratches are cleaned, "There was another boy there, but don't think she scratched him.. he ran off after the bird chased him a little." She glances to Aiden then, "You didn't get scratched, did you?" The only other one besides Victor that was around at the moment.
Aiden jumps as his name is mentioned and he starts forward. "No ma'am I wasnt scratched I got there only as the bird scratched you." He says moving forward. "Im not sure what is goin on ta be sure. Iffin Im bein honest I don know much abou whats goin on. I juss know that its lookin like somethin outta a book."
"Why wouldn't the dog be related? This young lady states that her mother often takes headache potions, so unless they were tamepred with, what else is left but the dog. I'm surprised you didn't bring in someone from Creatures, it would be good to get their opinion as well." Turning toward the girls Clover will watch as the wounds are clean. "Did you bring the headcache potion? Without it I will be unatble to tell if it was tampered with or if this was the cause. Though from what I know about standard headache potions, they don't cause transfiguation."
"Ms Margaret," Keenan corrects himself with a grateful look to Agatha. "Perhaps a last name to go with Margaret?" he asks, hooking pinkies with her in a solemn shake. Then he straightens a bit returning his attention to Clover. "Why would it be related? I would have gone teh CII first if she had turned inteh something canine related, but avians are not related teh canines. However, ill made polyjuices have been known teh have some rather stunning results at times, especially if an amateur potioneer is trying teh come up with one that has an animagus effect. I was thinking more she might have had something teh eat from a stall that had been potioned at the time I sent fer ye, but so far, it seems she hasn't eaten anything unusual or out of home."
Agatha gives a last name, shaking pinkies with the master healer before he rises to discuss things with the other healer. Xylina offers the little girl a smile, "We'll get a call to your gran, and see if she can't come over and take care of you, hmm?" No doubt, the CPS has been notified, and already on that, to send someone to take care of Agatha till her grandmother arrives if her mother doesn't snap out of being a bird anytime soon. "I think it's safe to say, it was a surprise to Ms. Maragret. She didn't even realize it was happening at first, still trying to fuss at Agatha. It was very odd."
"So, you don't have her daily potion here for me to examine and you do not have any food that I could inspect for poisions or potions?" Clover says with a raise of her brow. Turning to Keenan she'll shrug her shoulders. "An animagus uses the same spell to transform themself, but that does not mean they will turn into the same animal. Perhaps the same principle applies here? The bite may have been a catalyst."
"No, but we do have her blood on the bandages that was there before transformation to test for traces of potions or poisons," Keenan replies mildly. "I did not think that Miss Agatha would be carrying her mother's headache potion around, but it is perhaps easily obtained, which I can do if ye wish. We can also consult CII as well, I was merely taking it one step at a time going through the theories I had at present, if you think they are off base then you are free teh return teh yer work, I apologize for having bothered ye." There's a moment, and his gaze goes distant as he hears something. Turning back he asks, "she was fussing at Agatha? Anything in particular, or just a general, ongoing sort of thing?"
Xylina listens to the two healers go back and forth, talking quietly with Agatha on the side. When Keenan speaks to her again, she ohs, looking to the healer, "Agatha here was climbing Merlin's monument, and she started fussing at her to get down. Normal stuff, really, I think? But one moment she was fussing, the next moment, she started growing a beak, still trying to fuss at her. From there, her eyes turned, then other parts, then poof.. bird caught up in her clothes."
The pieces of the picture take shape. Xylina and Agatha offer most of the information. It soon becomes clear that Aidan didn't actually see much, but he can relate the speculations of the crowd and their general responses. It isn't long before a constable of the M.L.E. arrives to see to it that little Agatha is well taken care of until her mother can be returned to her human self. Xylina receives commendation for looking after the child so well thus far.
In the end, the healers know that the transformation wasn't a result of spell damage. But Margaret the Magpie took potions for headaches and was bitten by a chihuahua the previous day. So, suspicion remains that it might have been a bad potion (though they think it unlikely), or due to some sort of chihuahua venom. In the Mysticked District, stranger things have happened.