you've gotta have faith...right?

[Kelly Evans]

Kelly shut the door to her office on the third floor of St. Mungo's with a bang, then winced as the sound reverberated in her temples. She ran a hand across her eyes tiredly as she crossed the room, and then sat down behind her desk. The sun streaming through the double windows on the wall beside her desk was making it very difficult to want to be here at work, especially when she considered how lovely the Park would be at this time of the day...

The witch shook her head and forced herself to concentrate on the task at hand. There was a stack of paperwork on her desk that, while it admittedly was made slightly easier with the help of magic, still needed her to check and recheck all the facts and details. Nobody had come up with a spell to do that, yet. Her Mediwitch robes were clean and hung well off her frame, and her dark hair was tied in a fishtail braid, hanging over one shoulder. As she picked up a quill her eyes fell on a framed photograph of her and Jacques, and she had to smile. Their reunion was still fresh in her mind, and she couldn't help feeling slightly lighter.

The other pressing matter that was still fresh in her mind was less happy, though, and as her mind always does it moved too quickly from the happy memory to the not so happy. Straw's pronouncement the previous evening at dinner still had Kelly rattled, and worried. Straw breaking the law and involving herself, Kat and Queety in it were one thing, but Kelly was more worried that someone - pretending to be the long-dead Josh Chambers - had hoodwinked Straw so deeply that he had been willing to break the law in the first place. She herself just could not believe it. Josh was dead. She knew it, Hermione knew it. After all this time, why would Straw drag all this pain up out of the grave?

And yet... Kelly knew Straw very well, and she knew how much his family meant to him. Surely he would not have been so reckless and stupid unless he was sure he was right? Unless there was incontrovertible proof that Josh really was alive?

[Hermione Chambers]

Her hand was still throbbing. It had been several days since the punching bag incident at the Ministry, and like the stubborn woman that she was, Hermione hadn't immediately sought medical treatment. Granted, she did use some numbing charms, but those only lasted so long. Pain was something she was used to, but it was starting to get to the point of being annoying. Unfortunately, she had never focused on learning the healing arts, even after all these years. Sure, she could medically triage in an emergency, which is why she was so good at numbing charms, but that didn't fix the problem.

Hermione was a bit nervous as she walked down the bustling hall of St. Mungo's. She hadn't been the best friend to Kelly over the last 8 years, popping in and out, staying away longer and longer. Flat out, she'd abandoned her friend too many times. How many times could she get away with it before Kelly no longer tolerated her. However, she didn't know too many healers personally, and she didn't feel like getting asked too many questions that would lock her into paperwork or risk her true purpose getting discovered.

Finally, she came to the door she was looking for. Kelly had done well for herself while Hermione had been gone. She'd known Kelly was a rising star and was proud to see that her hard work had paid off. Hoping that she wouldn't be turned away, Hermione knocked on the door with her good hand.

[Kelly Evans]

Kelly stood up from her chair immediately at the knock, and, crossing the room quickly, opened the door, half expecting bad news. As a welcome surprise, Hermione stood on the threshold instead, and Kelly's face split into a wide grin. "Hello, stranger," she said warmly, opening the door wider to allow the other woman to enter. "Step into my office." As she always did when her friends and loved ones entered the hospital, Kelly quickly looked Hermione over, making sure she wasn't bleeding from anywhere obvious. "I hope this is a social call and you're not terribly injured or sick."

She couldn't help but feel slightly nervous. Not that Hermione was there, she was Kelly's friend, and had been for a very long time. But after the previous evening and Straw's pronouncement, she felt like it was written all over her face. Although, now that Kelly was looking at Hermione, things started falling into place; Straw must have told her his outlandish ideas about Josh that afternoon in the Three Broomsticks, which had then made her storm out so flustered. Certainly not something Kelly blamed her for, considering she very nearly stormed out on Straw herself.

She walked back to her desk and conjured a comfortable-looking chair for Hermione to sit in, before sitting back down herself. She got comfortable and arranged her Mediwitch robes about herself and then looked back up at Hermione with a smile. "How are you, Hermione? How can I help?"

[Hermione Chambers]

Hermione was a little unnerved by Kelly's good cheer. It might have been her guilty conscience, but she felt that Kelly should yell at her or something for her poor behavior. Nevertheless, she was grateful as she entered the office and sat in the conjured chair. "I'm good," she stammered a little, still waiting for what she deemed as the inevitable explosion.

"Wish I could say this was a purely social call. Still getting acclimated to being home, I guess. Sorry I haven't been around much. Lots to do getting settled back into the department here," she rambled. Holding out her wrapped injured hand, she revealed the main reason for the visit. "I won a fight with a punching bag, but, didn't walk away completely unscathed."

Hermione looked a bit sheepish with her hand in the air. "And I'm not very good with healing, and I don't want to have to live in my office over the accident reports. Can you?" she left the question hanging in the air. After all, even though they were friends, Kelly was also a curious sort and intuitive. More than once she'd called Hermione on her more evasive manner.

[Kelly Evans]

Kelly smiled wider. "That's good," she said warmly, sensing Hermione's slight discomfort but not entirely sure why. The pair had been friends for a long time, and Kelly was used to Hermione's sometimes long absences from London. "We missed you around here," she added. "It's been too long. No hard feelings though," she said with a bright light in her eyes.

Kelly got as comfortable as she could in her office chair, and listened intently as Hermione explained about her sore hand. She laughed warmly, shaking her head. "You're just like Straw. He's always getting into little scrapes that just aren't worth the paperwork," she said with a grin. "Although, if I was supposed to keep that a secret, don't tell him I told you." Kelly reached across her desk and gently took Hermione's wrist in hand, testing with her fingertips whether or not there were any bones broken.

As Hermione winced, Kelly gently replaced her hand on the table top, and picked up her wand from where she'd placed it beside her now cold cup of tea. "Your hand feels broken. It's not too bad, but it is bad enough that it will cause trouble if we leave it unchecked," she explained. She raised her wand and performed a quick spell which would tell her definitely if her hunch was correct. Her wand beeped twice and she nodded. "yep, definitely broken." She muttered "Episkey," before lifting Hermione's hand in her own once more to feel the bones. They had healed, but Kelly knew that it would still be sore. "Your hand will be sore for maybe a day, the spell only fixes the bones, it doesn't take away the swelling."

The witch stood up and went to the cupboard standing against the wall beside her desk, rummaging around the various potions that she'd stockpiled there. Her own collection, and not of St. Mungo's stock. "I have a potion that will help with the swelling and the general soreness of your hand, so you should be back to normal in no time," she explained, turning back with a small vial of bright pink liquid. She sat back down and pushed it across the table to Hermione.

"So other than fighting with punching bags, what else has been happening, Hermione? What's got you so frustrated that you need to beat up inanimate objects?" If her hunch about Straw's revelations was correct, Kelly knew exactly why Hermione would be in such a state, but she didn't want to bring it up until she knew what Hermione knew.

[Hermione Chambers]

Hermione winced at the poking and prodding of her hand, but gave a brief sigh of relief as the pressure she'd felt building in her hand alleviate. The sometimes sharp pain had dulled to a slow throbbing, but that was something she'd be able to ignore. Of course, she knew she wasn't going to get away from the interrogation of her friend. Part of her wanted to tell her everything, but Hermione had never gotten the job she'd had by spilling secrets easily. Then again, she wasn't captured and holding secrets against an enemy, this was someone she'd been friends with for over 10 years. But, the secret she was holding could jeopardize another one of their friends. The more people in on the secret, the more likely it would get out and Straw could face some serious consequences. That was part of her frustration in tracking down the escaped prisoner, explaining how to keep Straw's involvement out when she did catch him.

Hermione looked up and realized that she'd zoned out a little, in her thoughts. Kelly was staring out her, still waiting as patiently as ever. "I think Longbottom is punishing me for taking so many out of country assignments. Granted, I did go over his head straight to Potter for the transfers. But he's been giving me all these small cases that have nothing to do with each other, like he's trying to keep me busy or something. I like being busy, but I like it to feel meaningful. Not just cleaning up stuff."

She looked at Kelly, hopeful that by giving her a side issue, Kelly would miss the larger one. Then again, Kelly was astute, something Hermione liked about her. She had also seen her slight dust up with Straw nearly a month earlier.

[Kelly Evans]

Kelly nodded as Hermione explained her frustrations about work. She wasn't fully convinced that that was the only issue, but she waited patiently as her friend spoke. Still listening intently, Kelly picked up her wand and summoned a tray holding a dainty tea set she was given as a birthday present the year before to where she and Hermione were seated. She poked her wand at the pot which immediately started steaming. She lifted it up in her hands, raising an eyebrow at Hermione before pouring hot tea into both cups. She added milk and sugar to her own and then pushed the tray towards Hermione.

"That's definitely understandable," she said, taking a sip of tea and then set the tea cup back down in front of her, leaning towards Hermione slightly. "But could he be more worried about you burning out than he is trying to punish you?" she asked, trying to be fair. "I don't know that he'd have anything at all to punish you for, other than going over his head in the first place," she added with a grin. "You do great work, Hermione, Straw is always talking about it. Even Jacques, and he's in a completely different department of the Ministry. But I definitely understand about the paperwork and the cleaning up," Kelly went on, waving a hand at her own pile of paperwork that she'd been actively avoiding all week. "The admin is always the worst."

Kelly paused for a moment to take another sip of her tea, wrestling with her conflicted thoughts. If Straw's revelation to herself and Kat the previous night had not been the same as what he'd told Hermione to have her react so strongly, and Kelly inadvertently tells Hermione something she didn't already know, there could be real consequences. Hermione was very serious about her work as an Auror, and like it or not, Straw had broken the law. But Kelly desperately wanted to talk to someone about it, and if Hermione's reaction at the Three Broomsticks, even though Kelly had only seen it from afar, was anything to go by, Hermione and Kelly were in the exact same mind of Straw's actions and his news. She didn't really think Hermione would arrest Straw...

"I would have thought whatever Straw had to say at the Three Broomsticks the other night would have been playing on your mind as well, perhaps," Kelly said slowly. "Not that he told us what it was; when we interrogated him he just pouted like a child and said you had things to do and that's why you left so quickly."

[Hermione Chambers]

'Well it was worth a shot,' Hermione thought, noticing how Kelly went straight towards the night a few weeks ago. Hermione prepared her tea the way she liked it and began sipping it while Kelly waited for a response. Something was off about the question. Kelly was good at sniffing out issues, but so was Hermione.

'Had Straw involved others now in his delusions?' Hermione knew the only way to get a straight answer was to ask a direct question. Granted, it would get really close to the issue Hermione was avoiding, but she had to assess the risk to Straw due to his good heart and naivety. Setting the tea down on the tray, wincing slightly as she flexed her recently healed but sore hand, Hermione gave Kelly one of her more potent, "I am an auror, and you will not lie to me" looks.

"I know you wouldn't let him get away that easy. After all, Straw's an open book with enough puppy dog eyes. What has he told you?" The question came out a little harsher than she had intended, but Hermione needed to know how bad this situation had evolved.

[Kelly Evans]

And there it was. Busted. Kelly set her tea cup down and met Hermione's gaze, which had hardened slightly. Not that Kelly was offended, she knew she was toeing a line that could have very bad consequences. But Kelly decided then and there not to lie, let the chips fall where they may. If Hermione knew everything and she wanted to have Straw arrested, she would have done so already. "He didn't say anything at the Three Broomsticks," she said firmly. "Not in front of Carina and the rest of the pub. But yes, he told Kat and I something that has me quite concerned. He'd told Queety already, I don't know how or when. And from the look on your face, I am guessing you and I have had a very similar reaction to the news."

She paused, trying desperately to organise her thoughts. She hadn't intended to blurt everything out, especially not to Hermione, who was perhaps the most dangerous person to confide in, if only because her position more or less dictated how she would have to react. She leant forward towards Hermione again, her eyes bright in her pale face. "Hermione, I can't begin to imagine how you must be feeling. You've been hit by this on more than one level, a professional and a personal one." Kelly refused to repeat the words, especially not here, but she knew now that they were on the same page. "And while I am seriously concerned about his mental capacity at the moment, Straw is not stupid. He wouldn't bandy this about to just anyone. He told us for the same reason he told you: he wants us to believe him."

Kelly sighed and looked away, fearing that all she was doing was digging a bigger hole around herself, and around Straw. "What are you going to do, Hermione? I don't like this any more than you do, but Straw wouldn't do this unless he had a very good reason. He must have a reason."