It was embarrassing — one of Emilia's experiments had gone rogue, and burned her. The salve she kept in her astronomy room of the Department of Mysteries had healed some of the blisters on her right hand, but not all of them — giving her no choice but to leave the Ministry and head to St. Mungo's. Luckily, she had not run into any of the younger Unspeakables on her way.

She was quickly processed in the waiting room, and sent off to wait for a mediwitch. Emilia read the newspaper with her unburned hand, and looked up at the sound of the small exam-room door opening. "Miss Dawson," she said, with a nod to her son's maybe-former friend. (Emilia was not entirely certain what had happened there.) "Thank you for seeing me."