Memories of Memories // Open

The Fight or Flight response died just as soon as Mali saw who she was swinging at. The Healer let out the breathe that she'd been holding and ran a hand through her long dark hair. An uneasy look settled over her features, tinged with guilt. She caught her lower lip between her teeth and shoved her hands into the pockets of her jeans. "I'm sorry, just a bit jumpy with everything that's happened." especially considering the setting. Shifting her weight from foot to foot, Mali looked down at the cobblestone. It looked like all the other cobblestone but this patch of it held the awful memory of the dementor and all the things that bubbled up when it drew near.

She felt very awkward, kind of guilty and sort've silly over the whole thing. It was broad daylight, in the middle of a crowded alley and she was swinging on innocent people with children in tow. Gods, she needed to get a grip. Mali, desperate to smooth things over looked back up to the woman with a strained half smile. "Please, my name is Mali. We work together after all. Sort've. We work for the same people, at least." Mali stuck to her spell damage floor most of the time, save for her one foray into Medi-Wizardry with Theo on the day of the Eye incident. It definitely wasn't her cup of tea, she broke down over the stress. Her talents laid in the finesse of repairing complicated spell damage in a calm, controlled environment, not grappling with confused patients in a battle zone. "You've got two children, don't you?" she asked with a tilt of her head. If she remembered correctly there was a boy too. She crouched down to the child, feeling awful that her gut reaction had frightened the child. "Are you having a girl's day with mummy?"

Mali nodded when Ophelia spoke, essentially turning down her apology in a gentle way, as if there was no need for one. There certainly was, but Ophelia was kind and sweet, someone who easily overlooked nearly being clocked hard by a fist to the face. Mali toed at the ground, uncomfortable with how her actions made her feel even if Ophelia brushed them off. "i suppose you're right." It was true, something she would do well to remember. Everyone was having a hard time, not just her personally. Healers were tried, people were scared, the mood of the wizarding world as a whole had certainly changed drastically over the past few months. "It seems to be calming down though, doesn't it?" Aside from the dementors, and the werewolves, and the death eaters. Maybe it wasn't calming down at all but it was easier to pretend it was rather than hold her breath in anticipation of the next disaster.

Robin, that's right. That was the boys name. She found herself grinning when the child spoke up. Little ones had a soft spot in her heart and Miss Imogen was precious and seemed to be fond of books. Probably a Ravenclaw in the making, like her mum. "Splendid!" Mali said, clapping her hands together. "You can never have enough books, what sort've magic will be your favorite, do you think? I'm partial to charms myself, d'you know that you can make teacups dance with them?" As a muggleborn, Mali sometimes wondered if little magic tricks such as making a tea cup dance across a table was as spectacular to magical children as it was to someone who didn't grow up surrounded by magic since birth.

There was a grimace and Mali noted it with regret. How she wished it were true, that things were improving and calming down, that there wasn't a new batch of Death Eater victims. It wasn't just the Death Eaters either, near exsanguinated bodies were showing up with more frequency. Mali dreaded the full moon with so many newly turned werewolves it was sure to be a bloody one. All anyone could do was grin and bear it. "I'm sure they will, sooner rather than later. I'm sure they're working hard." They to Mali meant Aurors, maybe due to her own experiences. As skeptical as she was over the new Minister she was confident the aurors were taking the threats to the safety of the wizarding world very seriously and working very diligently.

Instead of focusing on all the bad, one could focus on the bright spots. Like sweet little girls. Mali tilted her head as Ophelia spoke. "D'you call everyone by their last name? That's so formal. I'd like to think we're all past that as coworkers, at least." Even if she wasn't terribly fond of some of them. Ashley was alright but there were others that inexplicably rubbed her the wrong way. Her attention returned to the small one, enamored by her enthusiasm "Oh!" Mali exclaimed, eyes wide in dramatic amazement over the tale of paper butterflies. "That's wonderful! I bet that was a complicated bit of magic, your mummy must be a Ravenclaw. They're good at everything.."

Mali listened patiently as the child tried to work out the name for Transfiguration, hands resting on her knees as she crouched to the girl's eye level. "That's a really impressive branch of magic. Vegetables into cupcakes is a brilliant idea! You know they say people who are really good at Transfiguration can turn into animals!" She tapped her chin thoughtfully as she pondered her next statement. "What animal would you turn into I wonder? Maybe an owl, they're supposed to be really smart, just like you."