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Post by Fayre Thackary on May 11, 2009 23:55:19 GMT -7
Fayre sat behind her desk, reading glasses on and her long red hair pulled back from her face in a ponytail, reading over her report on Natalie Armitage once again. No matter how many times she read it, Fayre still had difficulty believing it. She cast her eyes up to the clock over the door, and frowned. It had been roughly an hour; Flintock should have been here by now.
Sighing, she flipped back to the first page of the report and began reading it again, searching for something - anything - to disprove her theory on just what was wrong with Ms. Armitage.
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Post by Gordon Flintock on May 12, 2009 0:14:27 GMT -7
Gordon's knuckles rasped on the door to Cruz's office. He had decided to skip seeing Natalie - he would see Healer Cruz first, as she would probably have valuable information on her condition. With disdain, he noticed that his shoes and the bottom of his robes were still wet and dirty from searching through the damp muggle suburbia. He quickly dried them with his wand.
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Post by Fayre Thackary on May 12, 2009 0:22:29 GMT -7
"Come in," Fayre called distractedly, shuffling papers on her desk as Gordon entered. "Take a seat." She said crisply, gesturing to the comfortable-looking armchair opposite her desk. Once Gordon was seated, she handed him a copy of the report she'd made on Natalie.
"I'm going to be frank...it's not good." she said. "It appears that Ms. Armitage is suffering from a severe form of psychogenic amnesia. It’s clear that whatever happened to her was intensely traumatic; probably severe torture. She was probably Crucioed to within an inch of her life, poor girl."
She sighed and turned the page of her report. “I’ve done several diagnostic tests; it appears that she’s lost her ability to access her autobiographical memories and personal identity. However, she has retained her basic semantic knowledge and procedural skills, which leads me to believe that her condition is not permanent. This sort of thing is often resolved simply by giving her time. Having said that, however...I think that Natalie has developed a split personality due to her trauma."
She went on to explain the strange behavior of Natalie during Fayre's examination. "If I were to hazard a guess as to what happened, I believe that when Natalie was tortured her mind 'split' the part of her that retains her memories and was separated from the rest of her mind, becoming it's own person. I don't think that this is a completely separate personality, merely a facet of Natalie. With therapy, hopefully, she will be able to regain her memories and combine both parts of herself again."
She leaned forward, intertwining her long fingers as she gazed steadily at Gordon. "You will be instrumental to her success, Mr Flintock," she said. "You are very important to Natalie. I need to know why. I ask that you be honest with me - and rest assured, nothing you say will leave this room - did you and Ms. Armitage have anything other than a professional relationship before her disappearance?"
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Post by Gordon Flintock on May 12, 2009 0:42:27 GMT -7
Gordon slowly made his way into the office, his head turning to key corners and points of interest. He considered passively how better furnished the offices of Ministry departmental heads were compared to the St. Mungo's equivalent... most likely due to a lack of funding, really. It seemed kind of unjust especially when considering the work that Healers did.
Gordon sat down and listened intently and patiently. He had prepared himself for the worst, which wasn't very hard, since he didn't really have much of a connection to Natalie other than his commitment to seeing her restored to health. Adam had entrusted him with Natalie's well being for whatever reason, and he was going to see it through.
"Did you and Ms. Armitage have anything other than a professional relationship before her disappearance?"
Gordon hesitated - for the second time that week he had been faced with the possibility of important personal information being leaked. He had considered lying, so as to avoid a situation anything like what was happening with Padril Crennent, but he decided that Cruz valued her career too much to leak something so insignificant. And in any case he had already hesitated.
"Not really." Gordon answered. "However, on the night before she was due to begin working for me as an Auror, we met by chance in a muggle cafe, where she used to work. She, um..." He struggled for the appropriate language. "...appeared to exhibit a desire to persue a romantic relationship with me. Which I refused." He relaxed a little, confident that he hadn't made Natalie sound like a whore, or suggest that he might have actually had sex with her.
"I'm not sure how she felt after that time, but I feel confident that if she did continue to feel that way, then she would never have shown it. I think her career as an Auror was always more important to her and she wouldn't have wanted to jeopardize that. That's if the thoughts never subsided, I don't really know."
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Post by Fayre Thackary on May 12, 2009 0:47:24 GMT -7
Fayre frowned a little. If Gordon's story was to be believed, Natalie had hit on him once, and he had turned her down. It made absolutely no sense - why was Natalie so attached to Gordon if he was nothing more than her old boss? A boss she did not remember in the slightest, no less. "Can you think of any reason why she might feel so strongly towards you then?" Fayre asked, trying not to come across as argumentative or accusatory. She personally did not give a rat's ass if the Head of MLE was fucking every Auror on his staff - but she did need to know. How did he expect her to do her job properly without getting a thorough background on her patient?
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Post by Gordon Flintock on May 12, 2009 1:19:48 GMT -7
Gordon's brow furrowed, considering both the question and the reason she might have asked it. "Well, like I said, at the risk of sounding egotistical... she could have been harboring a crush during her employment too. I made it clear that I just wanted to maintain a professional relationship, and I think she was devoted enough to her career that she wouldn't raise it again. Even if it was a strong or persistent feeling."
"Also..." Gordon began. "I found Natalie in a park. I knew she was there because I recieved an OWL from her brother, Adam Armitage. He was a Death Eater... it was the Death Eaters who captured her."
"He sent the OWL directly to me, likely because I am Head of the Department, but I think it's possible he might have known something. Natalie was missing for over two years, so anything could have happened. I would love to get him in here to answer some of your questions... if only it were as simple as that."
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Post by Fayre Thackary on May 12, 2009 1:33:14 GMT -7
Again Fayre frowned. It still didn't seem to fit. But then, she doubted that Gordon was lying to her. Her mind began working feverishly as she raced to find some way to help Natalie.
She snapped her fingers at Gordon suddenly, having an idea. "I think I have a way to get into Natalie's head and possibly retrieve her memories. Normally I would shrink from this, but...like I've said before, Natalie seems to think she has a connection to you. She trusts you. If you'd be willing to use Legilimency on her, perhaps we could learn more about her conditon...right now it's just a lot of guesswork, I'm afraid..."
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Post by Gordon Flintock on May 12, 2009 1:50:16 GMT -7
Gordon found it a little disconcerting that she knew about his legilimency before he had ever mentioned it to her, but then remembered that it had been reported in the Daily Prophet before, with some negative connotations... it hadn't been pleasant.
"Well, of course..." Gordon said. "Provided it's not going to cause any further damage. What should I be looking for?"
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Post by Fayre Thackary on May 12, 2009 1:55:56 GMT -7
"I'd like to start with the day or so leading up to her disappearance, and then we'll go from there," Fayre explained. "And - this is purely guesswork on my part - perhaps you will be able to communicate with Natalie's subconscious alter ego. It could prove integral to her recovery. However...I'd like to take care of her physical injuries before we proceed with Legilimency - make sure that she's healthy, and can withstand the strain. In the meantime, I'll work with her every day to see if she can recover anything without us probing into her mind. I recommend that you try to spend time with her as well, if you can spare time away from the Ministry."
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Post by Gordon Flintock on May 12, 2009 1:59:12 GMT -7
Gordon sat in thought for a moment. "I don't... I mean I've never heard of anyone using legilimency on someone with amnesia before. Do you know if that works?" he asked. "It would probably be easier if she were weaker, too... but I don't want to put her at risk of course."
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Post by Fayre Thackary on May 12, 2009 2:04:32 GMT -7
"Mentally, yes of course it is easier if the subject is weaker," Fayre agreed. "But I suspect that Natalie has been subjected to all kinds of mental attacks, and I have no idea how she is going to react when we attempt to breach her mind. I'd feel better about it if she were physically fit before trying something highly experimental."
"You have to think of Natalie's mind as a vault; all of the memories are still there, it's not like they were erased completely. She's just locked them into a corner of her mind that she can't - or won't - access. I don't know if Legilimency will work, and if it does, I doubt that it will bring Natalie's memories back to her. But if we know what happened to her, it allows us to treat her more specifically, and give her a better chance at recovery."
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Post by Gordon Flintock on May 12, 2009 2:09:14 GMT -7
Gordon nodded. "Alright then. Please alert me via my office if anything changes." He stood, shook Fayre's hand, thanked her and exited the office to go visit Natalie.
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