Masquerade (Discontinued)

Chapter IX

St. Mungo's, London, England, Great Britain

Tuesday the 1st of September 1998

8:20 AM

Blaise Zabini stood in the doorway of his boss's office with obvious confusion. Healer Radbury was filling out paperwork for an emergency surgery that he had just completed days ago and Blaise knew that the patient was waiting to be discharged. But, that wasn't what was so strange about the entire scenario.

The gift surgeon had called him in two hours before his official day started.

"Healer Radbury?" he asked, quietly and the older woman looked up, serious brown eyes staring up at him and she gave a slight smile as she placed her quill back into the inkwell.

"Ah, Zabini. I did summon you early, didn't I?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Come and sit down. Lets talk about your progress in this program," Healer Radbury said, pushing her paperwork to one side of the desk and she reclined in her seat, waving her hand towards the chair across from her hair.

Blaise frowned but did as she requested. He sat in the chair, ramrod straight. Blaise had been raised to look as people expected of him. That was how his mother hunted. She became the ideal woman for every single one of her victims and he though he didn't wish to follow in her footsteps, he had picked up a few skills. Namely, becoming what people wanted you to be.

"What is it, Healer?" Blaise asked, quietly.

Healer Radbury laced her fingers together and she leaned into her desk with a stern look in her eyes. There was the smallest glimmer of amusement in her eyes but besides that, she was probably one of the most stoic people that Blaise knew.

"Zabini…Blaise, you're bloody brilliant. I hope you know that. You're a great student and you've known all the theory for what seems like years. This is very good. So, this means that you'll be working with patients next," Healer Radbury continued and Blaise's eyes widened and he knew that his eyes were the only thing betraying his utter shock at what Healer Radbury was telling him.

"So…I'll be skipping the seminar?" Blaise asked, monotonously and Healer Radbury nodded, with a smile playing at her lips.

"Of course. And you'll be working with our newest junior Healer. She doesn't aspire to be a mediwizard and a Healer like you. Most don't. It's probably why I took you on as am apprentice. To be honest with you, out of most of the applicants, you were one of the only ones that knew the difference," Healer Radbury said with a slight smile and Blaise couldn't help but look at her with a raised eyebrow and he shook his head.

"Then they don't have a passion for this. A Healer is a normal physician. A mediwizard is a field medic. Obviously," Blaise said, a sneer interjecting his voice and Healer Radbury chuckled, softly, a fond look in her eyes as she watched her favourite student in a very long time.

"Despite the fact that she isn't so ambitious compared to you, she's extremely gifted. Honestly, she could rival you," Healer Radbury said, bluntly and she watched as Blaise's eyes flashed and he smirked at her, accepting her sharp challenge as the most gifted student at St. Mungo's.

"I'm sure," he said, blandly though it was clear that he didn't believe it.

Healer Radbury restrained herself from bursting out into honest laughter and her eyes widened when she saw Blaise flash her a slight smile. It was a small smile but it was an honest to God smile on his face. It was the first time she had ever seen him smile.