Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The history of medicine began thousands of years ago, originating in rituals and magic aimed at warding off disease. The art of healing, the meaning of the word medicine, which derives from Latin, is therefore an ancient practice, but one that is constantly evolving.

Medicine is the science that studies health as a whole. Its goal is to prevent and combat disease, maintain quality of life, and promote well-being, whether individual or collective. It differs according to the cultural and religious aspects of certain peoples and regions of the planet, but at its core, it is concerned with curing disease.

Hippocrates, considered the father of Western medicine, recommended that doctors possess natural abilities, culture, perseverance, dedication, and a willingness to study and work—all aspects that already foreshadowed the difficulties of the profession. Thus, medical school is seen as one of the most difficult, demanding intense dedication, sacrifice, and physical and emotional endurance from students.

And also one of the most sought-after. Medical school is full of dreams. Some more ambitious, others more honorable.

When Regulus Black entered medical school, he didn't have a dream. He had no specific purpose, nor did he see any divine magic in the medical profession. But something always drew the boy to hospital corridors, whether it was his childhood drawing on charts and hiding in surgical galleries, thanks to his mother, the renowned Dr. Walburga Black, or perhaps it was fate, or something similar.

But the point is, he graduated, and his entire medical school journey and his own life were leading him to one place: the operating room.

Well, actually, first it was leading him to his surgical residency. Which started today, and he was late.

And there was a naked man lying on the floor of his living room.

"Holy shit..." He grumbled, covering himself with a blanket to get up from the couch.

Regulus threw a pillow at the boy, who woke up at the sudden touch.

"Good morning."

"Good morning," Regulus replied, chuckling nervously. "Look, last night was pretty crazy, and I'm a little late now, so could you please leave?"

The boy rolled over on the floor, still drowsy, tucking the pillow under him to cover his groin.

"Crazy is an interesting adjective to describe a night of wonderful sex," he said, smiling amusedly. Regulus rolled his eyes. "I thought we'd pick up where we left off..."

"Look..."

"James," the boy finished, sitting on the floor facing Regulus. "Nice to meet you."

"Look, James, I'm late. I'm going upstairs to take a shower, and when I get back, you won't be here anymore."

The boy laughed, but nodded.

"Can I at least get your name?"

"Regulus."

"Regulus," he repeated. "It's a nice name. Your house is nice too."

"It was my mother's." He commented, shrugging "I'll probably sell it, but that's beside the point, come on, get moving."

James laughed again, but got up and started searching for his own clothes. Regulus waited until he was reasonably dressed; he didn't want to leave some random guy wandering around the house, especially with so many unopened boxes scattered throughout the rooms. Important boxes, full of his and his mother's belongings.

When James was just buttoning his shirt, Regulus saw his cue to remove himself from the awkward atmosphere.

"I'm going, bye James."

"Bye Regulus."

Then he went upstairs to get ready.

Seattle was a big city, surrounded on all sides by water. It was full of ferries and bridges, and the traffic could get crazy if you were too late. Regulus was lucky to make it for the boss's speech at the first day of his surgical internship at St. Mungo's. He was able to slip through the crowd in the hallway and catch the final parts of the speech by Ted Tonks, head of the hospital's surgery department.

"You will spend seven years in this hospital. They will be the best and worst years of your lives. You will be tested, pushed to the limit, put to the test," he said, as they entered one of the floor's operating rooms. "About a month ago you were in medical school, now you are in the arena. The game is for real and it begins now. The cadavers will now be living people. The reports will now be passed to their families. The cases will be real, and your mistakes will cost lives. Many will switch to an easier specialty, some will give in to the pressure and quit, others will be asked to leave. But for those who fight to stay, welcome to the first day of your lives, surgeons. Face your opponents, choose your strategies, and may luck be with you."

The first day of your life.

They were directed to the interns' locker room, where they would spend the next two years before becoming residents. Regulus had already changed and was finishing putting his things in his locker when he was interrupted by a dark-skinned girl with braided hair standing next to him.

"You're Black?" she asked, closing her own locker.

"Yes. Regulus Black, and you must be Dorcas Meadowes."

She nodded.

"Which resident did you get?" she asked, referring to the resident.

"Evans. The Nazi."

"Me too. I heard he's horrible."

"A Nazi is a Nazi," a boy with blond dreadlocks next to them commented. "I'm hooking up with that one too. Evan Rosier, nice to meet you."

"You are with Evans too, Ev? What a coincidence." The girl next to him, practically the girl's female counterpart, said over his shoulder. "Pandora Rosier, nice to meet you, I'm Evan's sister."

"Twins?" Dorcas asked. "At the same boarding school?"

"That's right," the girl agreed. "It was a coincidence. We were going to other hospitals, but we ended up choosing this one together without even knowing it."

"You're stalking me, that's what," the boy murmured, but in a playful, non-aggressive tone.

"Rosier's, Black, and Meadowes, down the hall," one of the residents called out, pointing to the ward desk just ahead.

There was a short woman with copper-red hair tied back in a ponytail, writing something down on a file there. She was wearing the resident's uniform.

"The Nazi is a woman?" Dorcas murmured.

"A Nazi is a Nazi, regardless of gender," Evan murmured again.

"Maybe they're jealous of her and call her that because of it. She could be amazing," Pandora countered.

"Or a monster," Regulus grumbled.

They approached her, and soon Evans turned to them, frowning.

"I'm Lily Evans, and I'll be your resident for the next few years. You will obey me, don't question me, and don't give me any trouble," she said, stepping away from the counter. "Medical records, phone list, and pagers. Never leave them alone. The nurses will call, and you will answer them quickly."

She started walking, and the group hurried to grab the items and follow her.

 "I have five rules. They're not hard to break, but I don't expect much from you. The first is that there's no point in sucking up to me. I hate everyone equally and I won't favor anyone. Rule number two is to run, run fast, and don't be late," Evans continued. "This is your first shift, and it will last 48 hours. You're interns, the bottom of the food chain, or in other words, nobody. You run tests, take notes, suture, do whatever the staff and residents don't want, work until you drop, and don't complain!"

They walked through the corridors of St. Mungo's Hospital, one of the best in the country. It has five floors and covers a wide variety of clinical and surgical areas, as well as research. Regulus knew his work could extend throughout the hospital, but especially the first three.

"This is the on-call room. There are several like it scattered throughout the hospital. Sleep where and when you can, and when you can't, drink coffee and energy drinks. You need to be alert at all times. This brings us to rule number three: if I'm sleeping, only wake me if the patient is dying. You're not stupid, you can perfectly well see the patients assigned to you without me having to babysit. And rule number four: don't kill anyone! Got it?"

Regulus raised his hand.

"And the fifth rule?"

Lily Evans' pager beeped.

"When I walk, follow me."

She ran down the hallway, pushing past everyone in front of her. The group of interns looked at each other and quickly started running after her.

Regulus forgot to mention, but there's a helipad above the fifth floor, and that's where they were headed.

"Hellen Goyle, 15, has been having seizures for the past week, and another one started on the helicopter's descent," the paramedic began. "She has no IV access, and her pulse is racing."

They took the stretcher down the elevator, rushing the girl to the outpatient surgery suite on the third floor. The girl was shaking and moving almost as if possessed, drool dripping from her mouth, and Regulus and Evan immediately turned her onto her side, holding her to prevent injury.

Lily Evans gave the orders, and they obeyed, beginning the girl's initial exams and administering anticonvulsant medications. Pandora almost missed the diazepam line, but Evans warned her before she made the mistake.

After a few minutes of panic, the girl stopped convulsing, and the interns were able to lay her down on the stretcher again.

"We have a girl with seizures, then?" A doctor in dark blue scrubs entered the room, taking the chart and reading Hellen's information.

"That's right, Dr. McKinnon."

"Good." She closed the chart. "You know what to do. I want all the tests possible to locate the source of the seizures and check her current health status."

"You heard Dr. McKinnon, kids," Lily said, as the blonde woman left the room. "All the routine tests: CT scan, CBC, toxicology. Dorcas, take care of the blood tests. Evan, I want you to examine the patient. Regulus will take her for imaging as soon as your colleagues are finished. Get to work."

"Dr. Evans, what about me?" Pandora asked.

 Lily looked her over.

"Drectal exams, dear, first floor. Get the charts from the infirmary. Come on, get moving!"

Pandora left the room with a truly depressed expression. Dorcas took Hellen's chart and began filling out the test requests while Evan performed the initial exams on the girl, taking her blood pressure and recording her vital signs on the monitor.

Regulus leaned against the wall and waited.

"Let the games begin," Dorcas murmured.

"You're lost," the girl said as the elevator door opened for the second time.

"I'm not lost," Regulus grumbled. But he was, indeed, lost; he'd missed the hospital tour. "How do you feel?"

"What do you think? I'm going to miss the beauty pageant! I was a finalist!"

"There's always next year."

"That's not how it works," Hellen grumbled. "Come on, are you new? Is this your first day? We've already been down this hallway."

"It's just your impression, all the hospital hallways are the same. I'm taking you to the CT scan."

"I fell during my rhythmic gymnastics practice last month, twisted my ankle, and wasn't treated by someone as incompetent as you, and it was just a nurse."

Regulus rolled his eyes.

First day of the big game, and he's already taken the bad luck.

Two floors below, Evan was missing the vein of one of Dr. McKinnon's cardiovascular patients for the third time in the cardiac department. The doctor watched his attempts almost with pity.

"Get out."

Then she masterfully accessed the vein on the first try.

"You can't even complete the basic training for a nursing technician course," she murmured, and Evan smiled awkwardly.

"Everyone makes mistakes when they're new, right?"

McKinnon stared at him.

Maybe she never made a mistake.

While on the first floor, Pandora wanted to die after the fifth DRE. And Dorcas reviewed Hellen's exams once again.

No significant changes.

"Dr. Evans," she called from the nurses' desk. "Hellen Goyle's exams aren't showing any significant changes that would explain her seizures. I thought you'd like to be informed about that."

"Okay, thank you," the woman thanked her and went back to filling out her own charts.

Dorcas stared at her.

"What is it?"

"I heard the on-call staff chooses an intern to perform a surgical procedure on the first shift."

"And?" Lily raised an eyebrow.

"N-Nothing. I just wanted to confirm the information."

"Get out."

First day. The game begins.

"Did you know Regulus's mother is a doctor?" Pandora commented at the lunch table, after the first six hours of her shift.

"It's not the most unusual thing in the world for a doctor to be the son of doctors," Evan countered.

"He's not just any doctor, he's the elite. He's Walburga Black's son," Dorcas said, her eyes practically glowing. "A living legend, twice awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine!"

"She performed the first abdominal wall transplant in history at the beginning of this century!"

"And she was one of the residents on the team for the first robotic-assisted surgery in 1985," Dorcas completed Pandora's information. "I'd give anything to be her daughter, or to be her!"

"And Black is coming," Evan informed, watching Regulus approach the table with his tray of food.

"I hate that girl. If it weren't for my Hippocratic Oath, I'd recommend euthanasia," he grumbled.

"Come on, eat up." Evan changed the subject, indicating Pandora's untouched plate.

"Try eating after 8 rectal exams?" She grumbled, but ate a forkful of salad.

"On-call is a marathon, Dora, not a 100-meter sprint," Regulus reinforced.

"Okay, okay..."

"Have they already announced who's performing the first procedure for the group? Or do they announce it at the end of the first shift and the procedure isn't performed until the next one?" Dorcas questioned.

"They posted something on the bulletin board, but I was too hungry to see it before I came, so I didn't have breakfast," Regulus commented, devouring his own plate of pasta. "McKinnon's coming."

"Well, it's already on the notice board, but I'd like to announce it personally," she said, approaching the interns' table. "As you may have heard, the most promising intern on the first shift has the honor of performing an appendectomy alone, supervised only by a staff member."

They looked at the doctor apprehensively. Regulus already knew it wouldn't be him, having just been pacing back and forth with that damned Hellen Goyle doing imaging tests for the last few hours.

"And this year's chosen one is Evan Rosier."

"What?" Evan choked on his juice.

Dorcas glared at the boy while Pandora just rolled her eyes.

"I thought she hated me," Evan muttered.

"Evans hates me, McKinnon probably doesn't even care about you enough to," Pandora grumbled. "But congratulations, Evan, you're going to rock."

"Dr. Evans?" Helen Goyle's parents are here and want information. Are you going to talk to them, or should I call Dr. McKinnon?

Lily turned to Regulus, still reading her own case report.

"Dr. McKinnon? Oh no, the case has been passed to the neurologist. You're going to talk to the new specialist, Dr. Potter. He should be in the Neurology Clinics department. Call him."

"Okay."

And then the universe dealt Regulus Black another bad luck punch.

Dr. Potter, standing at the desk in the Neurology Clinic ward, chatting with other colleagues, was none other than James.

The naked man in his living room that morning.

The man he had had sex with the night before.

As soon as James turned and saw Regulus, the intern ran for one of the stairwells. But James Potter chased after him, intercepting him before he could go up or down to another floor.

"What are you doing here?" he questioned Regulus, who didn't have the courage to look up at him.

"Dr. Potter."

"Dr. Potter? This morning it was James."

"Dr. Potter," Regulus repeated, still not meeting his eyes. "I wish you'd forget about that, it's not right."

"Which part? The night we had sex or when you kicked me out of your house this morning? Those are very fond memories I'd like to keep," James said, smiling in amusement, the same damn smile from that morning.

"No!" Regulus exclaimed, finally looking at him. "You're my boss! My teacher!"

"Actually, I'm the boss of your boss."

"Anyway, that can't happen. It was an accident."

James smiled.

"Oh, it wasn't an accident. I'm handsome and I was drunk. You took advantage of me."

"What?! I was drunk. I didn't take advantage of you!"

"You didn't deny I'm handsome," James countered. "But do you want to take advantage of me more? How about Friday night? I found a great restaurant around here..."

"No!" Regulus blushed. "I work here now, I'm an intern, and you're staff. It can't happen."

James just kept smiling, looking Regulus up and down, who was still flushed and with his arms crossed, trying to maintain a serious and angry demeanor.

"And stop looking at me like that."

"Just like."

"Like someone who saw me naked, Dr. Potter. You're being rude, stop and think, damn it!"

Then Regulus went down and up the stairs, leaving a disconcerted James behind. But it was time for his colleague Evan's first surgery, and he wasn't going to miss it for some silly smile from some handsome doctor.

Some really handsome doctor...

Chapter Text

Being a surgeon means holding someone's life in your hands every day. One wrong cut, and the person dies. Pressure in the wrong place, and the person dies. A forgotten detail along the way, and the person dies. That's why many surgeons end up with a huge God complex.

But surgeons are not gods; it's not in their hands to decide destiny, who deserves to live or not. Surgeons are doctors, they swear to save lives, to do everything in their power to ensure that someone sees the sunrise again. But they are also human, they make mistakes, they forget things, they tremble and sweat from nervousness, they feel sleepy, thirsty, and need to go to the bathroom. Their feet and backs ache. Their eyes burn and itch after many hours awake.

The point is that these mistakes, from the moment you are inside an operating room, cost lives.

Evan Rosier was now inside an operating room. He was already scrubbed and sterilized, reviewing the steps of a successful appendectomy, waiting for Dr. Marlene McKinnon to arrive to begin the surgery.

The gallery was full.

"I bet 15 dollars he'll cry at some point," Dorcas said, sitting behind Regulus.

"I bet 20 that he'll drop the instruments inside the patient," another intern said behind them, a young man with dark, messy hair, a bit punk even.

"I bet 50 that he manages to do everything right," Regulus said suddenly.

His colleagues looked at him.

"It could be any of us, come on," he justified himself, shrugging. "But I also bet 30 that his suture breaks."

"35 that he doesn't find the appendix," Pandora interrupted.

"Bet!" Dorcas exclaimed.

Dr. McKinnon entered the operating room, and the operation finally began.

"Scalpel," Evan requested. The gallery was in an uproar. McKinnon chuckled under his mask but signaled for everyone to be quiet.

Evan proceeded to request the necessary instruments and opened the patient's abdomen, making a deep and precise incision in the lower right side of the abdomen. He began the process of dissecting the layers of the abdominal wall, then proceeded to separate the muscle fibers to expose the peritoneum and the transversalis fascia.

He was doing well, and with each successful step of the surgery, the interns in the gallery cheered, while others who had bet on certain stages grumbled in frustration, but also congratulated their colleague on his progress.

Evan grasped the peritoneum with the forceps and made the incision to expose the abdominal cavity and locate the appendix. He palpated the exposed organs until he identified the cecum and then the appendix, finally suturing the mesoappendix to prevent hemorrhages and then isolating the base of the appendix.

He managed to perform a double ligation at the base of the organ and finally sectioned it between them, removing the organ with surgical forceps and placing it in the requested container.

Regulus, Pandora, and Dorcas were jumping for joy in the gallery.

But then it was time to finish the operation and perform the invagination of the stump, that is, "folding inward" the appendix stump inside the cecum, usually with a suture to keep it in place. It's a more complex technique, and Regulus always heard his mother saying that she preferred a simple ligation to avoid deformities in the cecum and it has less risk of infection. But anyway, they learned both methods in medical school.

The problem was that when pulling the suture to keep the stump in the designated place, Evan pulled too hard and the suture broke.

The problem is that this isn't a piece of clothing being sewn, but an organ, and the cecum is an organ full of shit. Literally. Then, while removing the sutures, Evan lacerated the cecum, causing a hemorrhage of blood and feces to spill from the cecum throughout the abdomen.

"You lacerated the cecum, what are you going to do?" Dr. McKinnon questioned. "There's a hemorrhage and it's filling with feces, come on, what are you going to do, Dr. Rosier?"

Evan froze with his hands inside the patient's abdomen, covered in blood and feces.

"Think, Dr. Rosier, you need to aspirate and start redoing the sutures before the patient bleies to death or gets an infection," the doctor instructed, but Evan remained paralyzed. "Vance, give him a clamp."

The nurse offered the clamp, but Evan remained frozen and didn't take it.

"He's messed up," Dorcas said, apprehensively.

"Come on Evan, get a grip," Pandora murmured.

"It's now or never, Dr. Rosier, concentrate! Do the aspiration!" McKinnon exclaimed.

Nothing.

"The vital signs are dropping," Nurse Vance warned.

"Get out!" Dr. McKinnon exclaimed, pushing Evan aside and taking control of the operating table. "Get him out of here, clamp!"

"007," the young man with the messy hair from earlier commented.

"Yeah, he's 007," another intern agreed. "You got the good one, Black."

"What is that?" Pandora questioned, looking to Regulus for an answer, while handing him her own money.

"License to kill."

"They're calling me 007." Evan grumbled, lying on a stretcher in a deserted hospital corridor.

"Nobody's calling you 007, Evan, for God's sake!" Dorcas exclaimed irritably.

"Yes, they are, I heard it in the elevator, even the nursing assistants mumbled 007 when I passed the ward."

"They're not, Evan, it probably wasn't about you" Pandora grumbled, also frustrated and tired.

"Would we lie to you, Evan?" Regulus questioned.

Evan raised an eyebrow and stared at him.

"Yes. Absolutely."

"Oh, then go to hell."

"How many times are we going to have to repeat this before I hit you, Evan? Because I'm definitely going to hit you." Dorcas threatened, getting up from the stretcher and going to get a snack from the vending machine.

"It's easy for you to complain about it, Dorcas, you were first in your class at Cambridge, I don't even know what you came to do in Seattle in fucking America" Evan retorted.

Dorcas showed him the finger, and Evan stuck out his tongue, like two teenagers.

A pager started beeping. Regulus's pager.

"Emergency for Hellen Goyle" He murmured "I have to go."

Then he ran.

He flew through the hospital to the neurosurgery clinic floor, taking the stairs because it was faster than waiting for the elevators. He ran down the corridors until he reached Hellen Goyle's room.

Who was calmly lying in her bed.

"You took forever, I had to do the exorcist to get someone to attend to me here" The girl grumbled.

"I received an emergency call, what are you feeling? Are you okay?" Regulus questioned, beginning the basic examinations on the girl, checking her vital signs, her pupil reaction and her motor reaction.

Everything was fine. He checked the medical record for possible nursing notes and nothing.

"I'm just bored."

"What do you mean? You're not feeling anything?" Regulus questioned indignantly.

"Stop stressing, nobody was answering the intercom, I had to do something," the girl justified "I can't find the contest channel on TV, can you put it on for me?"

"Listen here girl..." Regulus exclaimed, but closed his eyes and took a deep breath, he can't offend the patients, especially not on his first day of work. "This is a hospital, understand? A real hospital, with real sick people, nobody here is on vacation, we are working. Go to sleep and leave me alone!"

"I'm stressed out, I want to watch TV."

"If you have so many thoughts in your head then it will be great entertainment to deal with them" Regulus retorted, leaving the room.

Dr. Lily Evans was sleeping on a stretcher in the hallway. Sleeping serenely, very well.

But Pandora had a patient who needed a type of venous access that she had never performed before. The patient wasn't dying, Dr. Evans was sleeping.

So Pandora didn't know what to do.

"What's the problem?" A nurse questioned.

"The patient in room 402 has veins like a drug addict. He needs antibiotics and I wanted to try access through the chest."

"Then do it," was the response of the same nurse, but noticing Pandora's discomfort, he added "You don't know how, do you?"

"Yes. Could another nurse do it?"

"We can do many things, but this type of procedure is only authorized for doctors. You already know what to do."

He indicated the stretcher where Lily was sleeping.

"Isn't there anyone else I can call?"

"She's the resident on call. Unless you want to bother a staff member for this."

"No, no," Pandora stated categorically.

Dr. Evans or Dr. McKinnon? Quick death or torturous death?

She preferred a quick death.

So she continued down the hallway to the stretcher where the young red-haired doctor was lying and sleeping. She still considered the idea a few more times, maybe even looking for a YouTube video teaching how to perform the access, but finally decided to tap Lily's shoulder.

"What is it?" She mumbled without opening her eyes.

"The patient in room 402 has veins like a drug addict."

"Is he dying?"

Pandora swallowed hard.

"No."

"Then get out of here."

And Pandora actually left at first.

But then she stopped in the middle of the hallway and came back. She didn't touch Lily, just stared at the young doctor, and coughed falsely. Lily Evans got up reluctantly, walking with angry, heavy steps towards room 402. Pandora followed her promptly.

Pandora sterilized the patient's chest area, while Lily organized the instruments needed for the procedure. She precisely located the vein and inserted the needle, performing the initial blood draw and then maintaining the access point positioned on the chest.

"Now you can administer the medication," she grumbled, glaring at Pandora. "Next time, remember, he has to be dying for you to wake me up."

The doctor turned to leave the room, her red hair gradually escaping from her bun and falling down her neck and back. Pandora watched her with a wary and apprehensive look.

"Could you teach me more things, Dr. Evans?"

Lily stopped at the door of the room, turning and leaning against the doorframe.

"Excuse me?"

"I-I mean, I don't want to bother you anymore with such futile procedures, so..."

"Didn't they teach you enough in medical school?" The young woman questioned, appearing irritated, but there was a hint of a smile on her face.

"Y-Yes, I'm sorry..." Pandora murmured, losing herself in her own words.

"End of shift, clinical research department, second floor" Evans replied, then turned and left the room "Don't be late or you won't get anything more from me!"

Pandora remained static in the same place for a few minutes, until she finally woke from her trance and began administering the medications to the patient.

Regulus Black's pager beeped again while he was getting coffee in the cafeteria on the first floor. The name Hellen Goyle appeared on the small screen in green digits.

He just sighed, putting a lid on his cup and heading for the nearest elevator. The floors slowly went up, with people getting in and out, until the door finally opened on the neurosurgical clinic floor. He headed towards the ward, but as soon as he heard the hurried footsteps and the beeping of the machines, he started to run.

Hellen Goyle was having a seizure.

"Why did you take so long?" A nurse exclaimed, while trying to measure the girl's pulse.

"I just gave the second dose of Diazepam, 2mg, how do you wish to proceed, Dr. Black?" The head nurse questioned "Dr. Black?"

Regulus was paralyzed. He didn't get into this state so easily, but his patient was having an aggressive seizure and he was the doctor in charge in the room, and he was late getting there and now all the teachings from his medical school seemed to have disappeared from his mind.

"Dr. Black, you need to tell us what to do!"

"Have you paged Dr. Evans and Dr. Potter yet?" Black questioned, picking up the girl's medical chart "Administer phenobarbital."

"No change! You need to tell us what else to do!"

"Call Dr. Potter again!" Black exclaimed.

Then the machines beeped. A high-pitched, terrifying sound for anyone who doesn't work in a hospital, or even for those who do.

"Cardiac arrest!" The nurse exclaimed, making room for them to bring the defibrillator closer to the bed.

Regulus took the lead while the nurses positioned Hellen on the bed and opened the girl's gown. He positioned the paddles on her chest, one on the upper right side and the other on the lower left, while the machine was turned on.

"Charge to 200" He requested "Clear!"

A shock. Nothing.

"Still fibrillating" The nurse warned "Charging, 19 seconds."

"Set it to 300!" Regulus exclaimed "Stand clear!"

Another shock. Absolutely nothing changed. The girl's body rose and fell back onto the bed.

"27 seconds, charging."

"350!"

Nothing.

"Respond, Hellen!" Regulus exclaimed through gritted teeth "Charge again!"

"It's almost been 1 minute, we need to administer another medication, Dr. Black."

Regulus remained firm.

"Charge again!"

Another shock.

The heart rate normalized, and the blood pressure started to rise again. Just in time. Right at the 60-second mark.

"What happened?" James appeared at the door, breathless, but already ready to examine the girl.

"She had a seizure and went into cardiac arrest, 4mg of diazepam was administered previously, and phenobarbital as well, but "she still went into cardiac arrest and..."

"Seizure?" James exclaimed, his gaze now fixed on Regulus "You should have been monitoring her."

"I was! I..."

"Get out of here, Black" He exclaimed.

It was Dr. Potter, not James.

Dr. Potter, neurosurgeon, staff, attending physician. He wasn't James there. And Regulus wasn't the boy from the bar.

Wasn't that what he asked for?

Regulus walked out of the room, his steps slightly unsteady. Dr. Lily Evans was coming towards him, angry and with firm steps, actually, towards the room.

"When I tell you to call me, you call me immediately, Black!" She exclaimed, glaring at the young man "Immediately! You were paged, page me, not just after you get here! You're my intern, your mistakes are answered for by me, damn it!"

But Regulus just kept walking down the corridor. He took the stairs this time, went down three floors and walked through the corridors to the hospital entrance.

"Regulus?" Dorcas passed him, but he ignored her too.

He walked outside, to the gardens full of bushes and trees that surrounded the entrance of the grand hospital. Then he leaned against a tree and vomited.

Dorcas followed him, but remained standing a few meters behind.

Regulus regained his composure, wiped his mouth and swallowed hard. He turned to Dorcas and hissed.

"Not a word about this."

Dorcas didn't dare speak.

They just walked back inside the hospital together, side by side.

The first 24 hours had passed.