My Loneliness is Killing Me -- DAHLIA

[Irina Rose Krum]

october 27, 2028

It had been two weeks of desk work and filing reports at Gringotts and Irina needed a DRINK. Perhaps it should be thrilling to write, edit and submit reports about the adventures she and her partner got up to while on the job. But if she was being honest, it got dull after the first one, and Irina had been a few reports behind.

Usually her partner helped with the reports, but she had been suspiciously absent since they got back. They normally did not send out Cursebreakers on their own, and on the rare occasion they were not paired up they let the other know. The radio silence was odd, so finally Irina couldn’t take it and had asked someone higher up where she was. Saint Mungos was the answer. While Irina had been documenting a pure silver dagger in the Andes Mountains, her partner had pocketed a few old coins because her gran was a rare coin collector. The coins never made it to her gran though - the minute they had taken the Portkey back to Gringotts, the numbness started, and by that night her partner was half dragged by her partner into Saint Mungos, nearly fully paralyzed. The curse had been very old, so they had nearly lost her several times. She was alive still, but not conscious. Because Irina had been present during the theft, she had been asked to stay away.

So when she finally caught up that Thursday night, Irina threw down her quill and pressed her palms into her eyes. Her hand was cramped so she kept her eyes closed but cracked her knuckles to alleviate the pressure. That’s it, she deserved a drink. She stood up abruptly and looked down at her clothes. She was wearing her standard dull blue-grey cursebreaking attire. True they had some pretty handy wards and charms woven into them but they did stand out in a crowd. She waved her wand from the top of her head to her toes, and dressed herself in black pants and a silk red top.

Irina wasn’t feeling the usual Thursday crowd so she decided to head out to a Muggle bar nearby. It was a relatively popular place, but Irina liked it for its decadent use of colors and glamor. It felt very old world, and it made Irina feel older than her twenty two years when she would sit at the bar. It was here she sat, ordering a dirty Martini, when she felt someone sit down next to her. She thought it would be rude to look to snap her head in their direction so she waited until her martini arrived and the other person, a woman, ordered her own drink. Recognizing the voice, Irina looked over at her fellow Curse Breaker - Dahlia. “Hi Dahlia,” she said with a small nod. Dahlia usually stuck around Rhys and her other siblings, but they had gone out with the same crowd when the other Cursebreakers convinced Irina to come out with her. “Remember when Rhys first took us here?” she asked.

dahlia jade greyback

[dahlia jade greyback]

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Wandering aimlessly after leaving the offices that the bank offered to the cursebreakers currently in London had become a bit of a habit over the last half a year. Dahlia couldn't stand the process of going home right after work, the silence digging away at the corners of her mind. About how she should be out in the field, or even doing something more productive than...paperwork and filing. Even the deviation of sorting through artifacts that she had been assigned to in Paris a few months prior was better than this. Alas, she was stuck until she was fully cleared by the bank's medical examiner (on top of St. Mungo's) and this was all they would allow her to do.

Since going home wasn't an option, it became another day of walking from shop to shop in Diagon, hoping to kill time until it was time to eat or dark enough that she could put her busy brain to sleep. Restlessness, while not an actual sickness, was the worst thing she had ever happened to her. After walking through every aisle of Flourish & Blotts for the umpteenth time that month, and deflecting the inquiries of the noisy girl that worked there, Dahlia made her exit and decided a liquid dinner was what she needed. Normally she would have begun her week-long ritual of wolfsbane tonight, though that wasn't necessary with the new potion she had been given. It still hadn't fully set in that missing the days leading up to the full moon was okay. Tricking the mind that she wasn't going to wolf out was far harder to do than most realized.

The non-magique didn't care about any of that though. Ignorant of the world that sat invisibly right on top of their own. Though they did have better drink options, and that was why she left the magical zone and headed towards a bar that she frequented when she didn't feel like dealing with her own kind. Usually there were a couple familiar faces from the Alleys there, as completely avoiding other witches and wizards was almost impossible, but it was better than dealing with the same people over and over again. And she wasn't in the mood for that.

Finding her way up to the bar and taking a seat, she realized that not only did she sit next to someone she knew, but a coworker at that. "Oh...hello," she greeted Irina. She wished she could be more enthusiastic as of late, but being stuck in London was not cutting it for her. Quickly ordering a drink, she turned back to face her colleague, who was reminiscing about when Rhys first brought both of them here. She remembered it well, or at least the getting to the bar part. Everything past the seventh shot was a bit hazy until the next morning, and even then that was spent with her head hanging over the toilet. "Only the start, unfortunately," she half-laughed, mostly at her own luck. "Were you working late?" Dahlia added, tapping her fingers on the bar as she waited for her drink.

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[Irina Rose Krum]

Irina nodded; it had been her first night out with that group and she had the memory of her foggy, sore head seared into her brain the morning after. “I was very happy to not have to work the next day,” she admitted. Irina knew how to push through a small hangover, but with how she felt that morning, she would have had to call in sick. Then she would have gotten some light ribbing from the boys when she came back. “It was fun though, I had never been….out like that before, to say the least,” she said with a chuckle. Growing up with Eastern European parents, she had been introduced to mulled wine the Christmas after her fifteenth birthday - the drink had always been a staple in the Krum household around the holidays. She rarely saw either parent without a mug of it nearby after five o’clock. But Dan had not been a drinker, particularly with his heightened senses, so Irina had abstained during her years as a trainee. Now he was playing Quidditch in Germany, and that part of her life had finally closed the door. Not that she intended to lose herself, but she wanted to be more spontaneous, even if it meant a thick head in the morning.

“Oh yeah, loads of paperwork from the Andes trip,” Irina told her, taking a long sip of her drink. It burned slightly on the way down but in a good way. “Natalia hasn’t woken up yet, and well, the goblins don’t want to wait for her full recovery for a full report,” she added, a dark look crossing her face. She understood why they didn’t want to wait when the Healers couldn’t give a definite time she would wake up. If she would wake up at all. But Irina felt that pit of guilt in her stomach still, and so she had sucked up her feelings and got the paperwork all done. “Hence the martini,” she added dryly, draining her glass. “Another thank you,” she said to the bartender as he took away her empty glass. “What about you? I didn’t see you as I was packing up,” she asked curiously.

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[dahlia jade greyback]

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While Dahlia was often fishlike in her ability to consume alcohol as if it were water, trying to outdrink her brother was a feat that hadn’t happened yet. He had mass where she did not, and there was always a limit to her adventures when it came to a night out. Usually the result was a semi-blackout and a horrendous hangover headache the following morning. Nothing she wasn’t used to on a monthly basis because of the full moon. Willingly making herself ill on weekends (and oftentimes weekdays) was sort of fun though. When they were back home, there was no telling how things would end up. At least with work abroad, they had to force themselves up in the morning so there was some sort of a limit. Sometimes.

It was sort of funny with the way Irina was describing it, mostly because Dahlia had plenty of nights that blurred together and ended up with the same end result. ”Rhys likes to drink. A lot,” she pointed out the obvious. There was never a point where he wasn’t, now that she actually thought about it. Except maybe when he had Amelia with him. But that was just how their relationship was. A couple of siblings that knew nothing of one another until a few years ago. Dahlia had prepared herself for others to appear since then, but it seemed like things had been quiet lately. Not that there wasn’t a constant swirl in the rumor pool of a Greyback spawn here or there. She had certainly appeared out of what must have seemed like thin air.

Right. The Andes trip. She had heard bits and pieces of it, though being caught up in her own problems with the bank, getting more information on it had been relatively difficult. Having multiple cursebreakers out of commission had to be driving the goblins crazy. All they had to do was reinstate her though. It was as simple as that. She was rearing to go, occasional concussion induced headache be damned. ”That makes sense,” she took a somber sip of the beer that had been placed in front of her.

”They have me in the basement these days. Cataloguing artifacts. My hieroglyphics are better than most, apparently.” Dahlia knew it was because her specialty was Egypt and that they would eventually send her back. Why they couldn’t do that already and just have her run the training program was beyond her. This was all the fault of their security troll after all. The least they could do as give her what she was requesting. ”I am…getting bored of it. I understand that they like to be cautious about injuries, but this is the second time I have been out of work for a long period and they take their time coming up with ways to fix it.” The first being when she was stuck outside of the country during the lockdown from Hag’s Fever. A summer long vacation in the south of France, while absolutely amazing, was not as great as working. And it wasn’t like they couldn’t ship her back to Egypt or some other country to do work while the rest of the cursebreakers were stuck in the UK. Gringotts’s efficiency sucked.

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[Irina Rose Krum]

Irina snorted. “I figured that out very quickly,” she agreed, taking a sip of the fresh martini in front of her. She grew more somber as Dahlia mentioned she was currently stuck in the basement. That was right; she had been injured too. How many did that make in a years time? She knew that danger came with the job description; indeed she had been injured in Mexico while still a trainee. It had led to a short-lived but sweet reunion with her old boyfriend, but being stuck in Saint Mungos had been no picnic. Fortunately for Irina, her full recovery came just after the Quidditch World Cup explosions, when the goblins had agreed to send Cursebreakers to the scene. Because of the shortage, she had been sent off to Germany on an artifact recovery that was deemed relatively safe, and when she came back unharmed and artifact in hand, they decided to keep her in the field. The only time she had been stuck in months of desk work was when she first started out.

Irina clucked sympathetically. “You may be good with them, but with all the injuries the ones they’re willing to actually send on recovery missions are spread thin. I’ve heard some of the more experienced ones are being sent on solo missions that really should have a partner.” She shook her head in distaste. “Have they given you a window of when you’ll be reinstated? Or are they waiting for another global disaster to jump into action?” Irina asked her, curious if they were dodging the question entirely or trying to placate her.

dahlia jade greyback

[dahlia jade greyback]

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Her own drinking had decreased drastically since her accident, as mixing and matching did not do well with the medication she was still taking. That hadn’t stopped Rhys when she went out with him. Not that she wanted him to slow down for her own sake, especially when he needed to de-stress. It was a little annoying that she couldn’t keep up at her usual pace anymore though. She never thought drinking would lose its charm, but when she had spontaneous headaches, she really didn’t want the one from the hangovers too.

Irina seemed to understand the problem at hand, and for once it felt nice to hear it coming from someone other than her brother. Because as much as she trusted Rhys’s word on it, it was still hard to watch him get to go off on trips and then listen to them after. Dahlia nodded her head as her colleague talked, having heard quite a bit of this as well from a few others. She hadn’t known the full extent of it though, and the tidbit on some cursebreakers being sent out on solo expeditions was new. That…wasn’t smart. ”Do they want more of us injured?” she said, a sudden anger in her tone. Had they not seen enough these last few months? All it took was a couple of them to die and then they’d change their tune really quick. Apparently, that was how it had to happen.

Now that she was upset about the prospect of more cursebreakers going into the field wholly unprepared, it sort of didn’t matter when she went back. ”Sometime next year probably,” Dahlia grunted from behind her drink. ”I still have symptoms a couple times a week. St. Mungo’s won’t discharge me until they are gone.” At this rate, it was going to be a full year on the bench. Maybe that was what the bank was actually waiting for. The bigger problem at hand was that if she ended up with another head injury, she would likely be done for good. Or dead. She already had enough problems as a werewolf, throwing in permanent brain damage really wouldn’t help her out at all.

”How is your partner? I heard she was in the hospital too?” They really should have started with that. The occasional slip up with a cursed object happened, so it wasn’t completely unheard of for that to happen. It still sucked though. Dahlia almost felt lucky that she only had prolonged concussion symptoms instead of being completely paralyzed.

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[Irina Rose Krum]

Irina took a deep breath when Dahlia asked after the health of her partner. She was glad she was going to make a full recovery, but she had been foolish, and that was what Irina found harder to forgive and forget. “She is at Saint Mungos, yes, the Healers are confident she’ll make a full recovery.” Irina hesitated, then continued. “When we were in the tomb, Natalia saw something that reminded her of her grandmothers lost necklace. Before I knew what she was up to, she had pocketed it. Her grandmother hasn’t been well, and maybe she thought the necklace would cheer her up. The numbing started almost instantly. Just her fingers and toes at first, but it quickly spread and by the time we’d reached the entrance where we could Apparate, she was almost fully immobile. She said something about a necklace and her pocket, so I fished it out and threw it back into the tomb.”

Irina paused, shuddering slightly. Though she had worn her gloves, as she always did, she still felt a sort of...malicious presence coming from the necklace, and she had been glad to be rid of it. “They’ve been able to get her limbs reworking, but she’s still unconscious; from the shock I heard.” Irina took another long sip of her martini, draining the contents. Another one was set down almost seconds later, and Irina gave the bartender a grateful smile. “So, I’ve had to do both our paperwork, but I’m grounded until a more senior Cursebreaker is available, or my partner wakes up.” She sighed. “It’s only the veterans they’re sending out on their own, but I agree. Natalia’s been a cursebreaker for…goodness, almost ten years and she still fell victim. Nobody is safe really,” she told her. 

dahlia jade greyback

[dahlia jade greyback]

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While it wasn’t uncommon for a cursebreaker to slip up and handle a cursed object without checking it first – a consequence of being overworked and often exhausted while adventuring through tombs – it was still relatively sloppy work. Dahlia bit her tongue though because she wasn’t one to talk. She had moments too where she brainlessly reached out to pick an item up only to be yelled at to stop. Some absolutely had alluring charms attached to them. It was the only explanation for professionals like themselves to make the mistake so often. Especially in locations known for dangerous levels of ancient magic.

Dahlia listened to the remainder of the story and shook her head at it. ”Unbelievable how easy it is…” And then here she was, getting smacked around by a security troll. How trivial life was. Luckily there hadn’t been any deaths in the field in a while. Dahlia had heard some of the senior cursebreakers comment about how they were unfortunately overdue. That was why so many were getting injured. Lapses in judgement across the board, and eventually a few of them would be unlucky enough to get themselves killed. All it took was one slip up after years of relatively safe work being done. She was not looking forward to that day.

”Hopefully she recovers soon. I would imagine that being out for too long means she will retire after?” Learning how to walk again would be difficult enough. Dahlia couldn’t imagine having to remember how to do everything necessary for cursebreaking. Especially if there was long term brain damage. That was where the mediwizards had been worried for her. Luckily her skull was thick and only her brain was bounced around a bit. No magically induced coma for her this time!

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[Irina Rose Krum]

Irina nodded her head, smiling a little sadly.  "I believe they will force her into retirement yes.  You know how they get when a Cursebreaker tries to pocket something of value from the tombs we are raiding on their behalf.  You can't ever gain that trust back," she said a bit bitterly.  No, Natalia would never see the field again, though at least St. Mungos was confident she'd have a full recovery.  So, at the very least, she'd have her life.  Perhaps she'd go into teaching - plenty of Cursebreakers followed that path and it was very respectable.  Still, something unsettled her about the forced retirement, and she had a hunch that Dahlia shared her sentiments.

"Well, they have been telling you that you MAY be able to return to the field at least.  That's better than being told no," Irina reasoned, draining her glass and sighing contentedly.  "Not that they've said I'm not allowed back out," she added quickly.  "But I'm not very good at doing the exact same thing each day, with no change in momentum.  At least with classes at Hogwarts, they were so different that it didn't feel...monotonous," she admitted, eyeing the bar and flagged down the bartender for a fizzy water.  Best not get totally sloshed tonight.

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[dahlia jade greyback]

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‘Retire’ was the nice way to put it. Irina was right; the trust with Gringotts was completely gone now. They thrived on making sure their Cursebreakers didn’t pilfer ancient artifacts from them. An ironic twist, because one could make the argument that their careers were built on stealing treasures. It all depended on perspective, she supposed. She had personally never viewed her career as such, though there were definitely groups out there that were very anti-Cursebreaker. It would be a completely different story if they were merely recovering lost goblin gold, but everyone knew that wasn’t the case.

”You know how they are…” Dahlia let out a long breath. The bank was overcautious. They knew the sort of press they would get if too many of their employees died after returning to work too soon. Even suspensions took forever these days. ”Neither am I. But they have me assisting with the trainees too. It feels degrading at times, because the students do not understand yet how serious injuries can be.” Despite her injury, there didn’t seem to be any problem with her bringing training materials back and forth between their main office and those that now taught at Hogwarts. On one hand, it was a stupidly easy job, on the other, it made her feel useless. Like they were using her as an example of what not to do. As if that was her fault to begin with. If anything, Gringotts was at fault for the accident because they hadn’t had the security troll properly controlled. They were lucky she had survived.

”They will send us back out once more get injured. Or to cover the trainees at the training pyramid.” Dahlia sighed again. She hated overseeing that practice specifically. It wasn’t good at reflecting what an actual tomb or job was like at all. Even with all of the traps activated, it was still easier than the easiest of pyramids out there. She had learned that very quickly during her training period.

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