RP: Shall I find myself employed today?

[anon_lily]

Date: 30th October 2002
Character(s): Lily Potter and Mungo Bonham
Location: Mungo Bonham's Healer practice
Status: Private
Summary: Having seen the ad in the paper, Lily faces meeting her hopefully new employer.
Completion: Complete

Comments

[anon_mungo]

"And you can call me Mungo," Mungo said, nodding his thanks as he took the cup from her. He took a few cubes of sugar from the bowl and dropped them into his tea before adding sugar. He stirred it thoughtfully, staring off into space for a moment.

"It is curious, isn't it?" he said, turning back to her with a smile. "Annwn isn't very large, you'd think we would have met before now."

[anon_lily]

"Of course, Mungo." Lily replied with a grin as she took a sip of her tea after having put in dash of milk in it.

"It is..." She trailed off. It was rather strange that most of the people she knew here hadn't been aware of the town until four years ago. She couldn't even remember what came before she opened her eyes and took her first look at Annwn all those years ago. "I don't know what to make of it, to be honest." Lily shrugged and reached for a biscuit, taking a bite. " All I know is that Annwn is like a second chance for me... to get to know my son." She whispered the last part with a smile.

[anon_mungo]

Mungo chuckled kindly, even though his heart felt a little like breaking.

"You're very lucky," he said. He sighed and glanced down at his tea. "As far as I know, neither my children nor my wife are in Annwn. Nor any descendents, alive or dead."

[anon_lily]

Nodding silently, Lily ran a hand through her hair. What did you say to something like that? Other than... "Well, they might just not have found their way here yet." She said softly. "Just keep your hope up, Mungo. That's what I did until I almost literally ran into my son just a couple of weeks ago."

[anon_mungo]

Mungo gazed at Lily for a long moment and then smiled. He found himself liking Lily, and he knew she was the right person for the job then and there.

"Well, I hope you're right," he said, then he laughed. "Although I don't know how my wife would react to finding out that her husband is now 99 instead of 39."

[anon_lily]

Arching an eyebrow, Lily flashed him a small grin. "Well, it couldn't be any harder than finding out that your son is your age."

Lily took another sip of her still warm, well, lukewarm tea and looked at Mungo. She wondered what was going through his mind and whether or not this was part of his way of doing a job interview. But either way, she took the time to enjoy the relaxing atmosphere.

[anon_mungo]

Mungo's laugh deepened. "I reckon you're right," he said. "Though I wouldn't mind finding out my kids lived that long." He took a sip of his tea as his face grew serious. "Maybe we should get to the topic at hand. Why don't you tell me what made you interested in working for me?"

[anon_lily]

Lily smiled and nodded her agreement, then put her cup down while glancing at Mungo. "I don't know exactly to begin with..." She trailed off, thinking about what she would say. "I guess it was a chance encounter with your ad that made my decision final. For a couple of weeks, I've been feeling restless." She tapped her chin once with a single finger as she tried to form the words, she knew was what had brought her here.

"But... when I found your ad, I couldn't help thinking that I could possibly work here, help. That perhaps I could do something I like." Lily didn't know if she wasn't making sense to him, but she tried to explain things the best she could.

[anon_mungo]

Mungo nodded, a grin forming on his face.

"That's very similar to what happened to me," he said, leaning forward in enthusiasm. "My parents didn't want me to go into healing at all. My father had a successful import/export business and he expected me to join him. But one day, right after I left Hogwarts, I was coming home late from a night of carousing--I was young once, too--and I came upon a deserted street in the Muggle part of town. There were red crosses on all the doors, and carts were taking away the dead bodies, all victims of the bubonic plague. I'll never forget it." He fell silent, gazing out of the window for a moment before turning back to Lily. "I couldn't do anything to help the Muggles, but that's when I decided that I wanted to be a Healer. And here I am."

[anon_lily]

Lily listened with a serious expression as he recounted how he had come to be a Healer. She nodded occasionally when remembering something from her old history classes. It was quite a story and she could only image what it must have been like so long ago. She shuddered at the thought of not being able to do anything, being helpless. Lily could only feel a sense of awe that he had lived through such a time and she looked at him. "I'm afraid I don't have that kind of insight. But then the Muggle medicine has evolved quite a lot since the plague."

[anon_mungo]

"True," Mungo said with a nod. "Wizarding healing has as well." He cocked his head at her. "So, what will it be? Do you think you could stand to work with an old coot like me? The job's yours if you'll have it."

[anon_lily]

"Which is understandable, with time comes progress." She shrugged lightly. Breaking out into a smile, Lily nodded. "Of course! I don't mind you being an old coot. I've dealt with those before." She chuckled with a teasing grin.

[anon_mungo]

Mungo burst out in a hearty laugh. "All right," he said. "Welcome aboard. And now, let's talk about what it entails..."