a bit of a pickle. [MOLLY]

[Franklin Harold Longbottom]

frank longbottom had never been a particularly careful person. he didn't really think ahead much, something that had gotten him in constant trouble throughout his years of hogwarts. the consequences, of course, were always minimal. a slap on the wrist, a minor detention, writing lines until his hand cramped up. nothing too serious. nothing he couldn't handle. in fact, consequences for his carelessness had always been rather minor.

however, that was not the case now that he was out in the wizarding world, with nothing to protect him from his own stupidity. and of course, he'd chosen one of the most dangerous jobs known to wizarding kind. he'd been training as a curse breaker for a few months now. so far, he'd raided a total of seven tombs with his mentor, and considering how much time he'd spent in egypt over the past couple weeks, he was considering becoming a permanent citizen. that was, if he ever made it to his twentieth birthday.

today was the day of his first solo raid. and things had been going absolutely swimmingly. until, of course, he'd tripped a wire and ended up dangling from the ceiling, flailing like a wounded giraffe. bloody egyptians. did they really have to use the oldest trick in the book? and did he really have to fall for it? he whipped out his wand a moment later and muttered the countercurse, tumbling to the floor with a resounding 'oomph'.

groaning a bit, frank rolled over onto his back and sat up, shaking his hair out of his eyes and scrambling to his feet. he hoped that would be the worst of his injuries for the day. after all, he didn't want to return to gringotts empty-handed. the goblins were unfriendly enough, he didn't need the prospect of no gold to make them even more so. so he decided he'd tread carefully from there on out.

however, in the next room, he could feel something was wrong. as soon as he stepped through the threshold, he was hit with a severe pain in his abdomen, as though he'd swallowed poison. he forced himself upright, and swiveled on the spot, brushing the dirt off the wall opposite him to read the runes inscripted on it. bloody hell. the ancient curse of queen nazarena is inescapable. die slowly, mortal, in the knowledge that you failed.

the egyptians were pretty sore winners, weren't they? frank knew he needed to get out of there. and he knew exactly where to go. as soon as the pain subsided a bit, he turned on the spot, and the dusty old chamber disappeared in front of his eyes. a moment later, he was standing in a stark white hospital room, and he instantly grabbed the nearby counter to keep himself upright. as soon as his vision adjusted itself, he found a rather angry looking redhead standing in front of him.

"molls!" he exclaimed, slightly out of breath. "lovely to see you, dear. how's the job been going?" typical frank. exchanging pleasantries when he was minutes away from a painful death. he grimaced noticably as the pain cut into his stomach. "no time to chat, though. gotten myself in a bit of a pickle." he flashed her a pained smile before crumpling to the floor, no longer able to support himself. "bloody egyptians," he muttered to himself.

[/font][/size][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Molly Noelle Weasley]

Another day, another emergency floo call at three am, it seemed to become a regular occurrence lately. The fire was ALWAYS on now a day, in fact, young Molly Weasley couldn’t remember the last time in months that her fireplace was dark. It didn’t bother her in the least, in fact, if she didn’t have the need of it for her job, she would probably leave the fire on constantly anyways. It was comfortable, never having to be cold, the only down side was that it seemed to be a bit difficult to wake herself up then it ever used to be during her lifetime while at home and Hogwarts. Well that, and she never happened to have enough floo powder anymore.

It was interesting being out on her own for once, no parents and no more teachers watching over her. Her parents were…and still are opposed to the idea of her being on her own, they worry too much. Most of the family half expects that without someone to watch over her that she could just drop out of exsistance all together. None of them seem to remember that her job(where she is at almost, 24/7)is ST. MUNGO’S for the amount they all worry for her health.

Still, she enjoyed her job, despite the hours and despite the fifty-something letters she seemed to get weekly, making sure she was still capable of walking from her parents. Even on days like this, when she had been working for several hours and it was barely hitting noon, she was never down. It was almost bizarre how energetic she was, all the time. Most of her patients, here on the spell damage floor turned out to be children, probably because she was one of the few who could deal with a crying child who just sprouted wings on his head or who’s skin was slowly turning a bright violent blue with a never faltering smile no matter what else was popping up on this floor.

She was just finishing up with another case of an Engorgement Charm, once again causing some poor girl’s tongue to swell up and fall to the ground. This was the fifth person in today with this very curse, usually placed upon her patients because someone really needed them to stop talking. She was about to sit down hoping to give herself a five minute break off her feet before walking into the next room when the sound of falling objects rang in her ears, she widened her eyes at the sight of a very familiar shock of brown hair literally falling into her view. Her look of concern at the sight of Frank’s slumped up body was quickly taken over by an unmistakable narrowing of the eyes. “Why do you have to be so careless?” she asked every time something like this happened, never expecting a serious answer from him.

She shook her head frustrated, about to snap at him for, well being him and never getting right to the point, until of course he completely fell to the floor. “Frankie!” A look of horror was on her face as she quickly bent down to get a better look at him. This was a lot worse than his usual incidents he got himself into. She wanted to get him into the hospital bed that was right next to the two of them, but she knew she couldn’t lift him herself and there was no time to get someone in here to help her yet. She flipped him over so he was on his back, and instantly conjured a pillow under his head.

She was glancing at his body looking for any physical signed of injury as she asked him for information. “What happened? Where were you this time? What hurts?” She hoped he’d be conscious enough to at least get her the basics and then she would just figure it out from there. She was a lot calmer than it looked, her mind already thinking of what could be wrong and how to fix it before even hearing his reply. Spells were flying through her mind for what she could remember about the incidents she’s heard about or witnessed with code breakers.

This was the first time he’d come in with something like this to her. She was constantly worried about him, secretly hating his job even though it really wasn’t much of a secret since she always said something about it when he hurt himself. She had basically been waiting for a day like this to happen the moment he told her what he’d be doing with his life. She just wished it hadn't come already.

[Franklin Harold Longbottom]

frank felt a bit bad for bursting in on molly without warning. after all, he knew she had hard days pretty much every day. work at st. mungo's was always tough. there were so many people who got themselves into stupid situations, or got jinxed and didn't know how to reverse it. in fact, half the stuff she had to deal with everyday was just stupid stuff. but all the same, he still respected her for the patience she showed when dealing with the people who came into mungo's looking for someone to reverse their spell damage.

as close as molly and frank were, they hadn't seen much of each other since graduation earlier that year. frank had been travelling in the middle east and northern africa for most of the summer. after all, he'd been getting training from a friend of his on how exactly one raided tombs. he wasn't about to go out there with no training. no, his mum would definitely kill him if he tried something stupid like that. but thoughout all his training, he hadn't had much time to come home. he'd apparate home for sunday dinner sometimes, and would pop in on molly at times just to say hi. but they hadn't had lots of time to just talk.

not that they really had time now either. from the severe pain frank was feeling in his abdomen, it looked like he only had a few minutes to live. but frank knew he wasn't in any danger. well, he was. but molly would save him. she'd never failed him yet, and frank didn't feel like today was the day he would die. besides, he'd always had complete and utter faith in molly. he cared about her; she was one of his best friends. and he knew she felt the same way about him. so he hoped she wouldn't give up on him, especially now.

at her outcry, he felt a pang in his heart. he did hate worrying her. of course, she was always fretting over him, always telling him he was an idiot whenever he managed to hurt himself, which was actually quite often. frank was a bit careless when it came to his own well-being. well, perhaps more than a bit. as she knelt down next to him, he tried his best to give her a smile, but it only ended up being a pained grimace. probably not too promising. he heard her questions, but it was a moment before he could get his breath back to answer her.

"tomb-raiding, what else?" he asked, breathing heavily, beads of sweat beginning to form on his brow. he clenched his eyes closed, trying his best to get the better of the pain so he could be more specific. "some 'ancient curse' bullshit. supposed to make me 'die slowly'. they're never very specific, molls. ever so sorry." he snapped his teeth shut a moment later, his muscles tensing and his breath becoming more labored. "bloody hell," he panted, trying to focus on her face, but even that was becoming blurry.

[/font][/size][/blockquote][/blockquote]