[ttd] falling without caution

The label did clearly warn: 'Possible Hazardous Items - Don't Touch!' And Danny had learned his lesson when it came to dangerous dark objects and delivering them to the right departments and he was usually careful especially after the last time he had landed himself in St. Mungo's after sampling some 'contaminated' weed brownies. It hadn't been pretty, but he had gotten a few days off work. Of course, he had been puking up beetles for those two days so it was easy to say it hadn't been worth it. Long story short, Danny was a lot more careful when it came to those little warning labels on packages. Or usually tried to pawn them off onto Jeremy's cart for delivery.

He was swinging by the MLE floor, dropping off a few things to the jerks in Confiscation, popping by Wilson's office to remind him that he owned him twenty sickles for the quidditch bet they had made last week (why anyone would bet against the Falcons when they'd been so hot lately was beyond him), and shooting the breeze with Mica, the cute witch in Improper Use of Magic. Danny could think of a few improper things he could do with her, and maybe those distracting thoughts were the cause of his mistake.

He was sorting through the stack of packages on his cart for his last deliveries on this floor and his hand brushed against the don't-touch-it-stupid box and for the briefest second, he thought he might get away, safe and sound. But nope, in the next second, his legs were collapsing and he was falling to the floor as his legs turned to jelly with an awful squishing feeling. He had reached out his arms, trying to hold himself on his cart, but that of course fell over with him, his wand rolling out of reach as his legs felt as wobbly as jello, his bones feeling nonexistent.

"Hello?" he called down the hallway that conveniently was empty the moment he needed someone. "Little help here?" he called loudly. Danny would've been a bit more embarrassed, but honestly after so many occasions like this, it was starting to feel more familiar than upsetting.

@Hermione Granger

It was hard to get anything of value done during a morning full of meetings, especially meetings that could have been covered in a few memos. Notably, two of her meetings could have been covered with one memo, but Hermione pushed all of that from her mind as she finally sat behind her desk, behind a closed door. She had exactly one hour--fifty-eight minutes now--to herself, which should let her accomplish about three hours worth of work if she could really focus. The only sounds were the scratching of her quill and the ticking of the clock. That would do quite nicely.

She was down to forty-seven minutes left in her hour when there was a loud crash-- Hermione pressed her quill to parchment as she jumped in her chair, leaving a large blot of ink where she had been trying to make a rather good point about an analysis she was reviewing. Crashing sounds weren’t usually a good thing, especially when they were happening on the Intelligence corridor instead of the Investigative one--they were always itching for something to do, over there, weren’t they?--and she pursed her lips as she stood. “Bloody hell,” she said, not exactly under her breath, her boyfriend’s way with words rubbing off on her.

Hermione opened her office door and poked her head out in the hall as the hello came. She followed the voice and-- ah. She stepped out of her office, pulling her wand from her robes as she moved toward him. “Are you hurt?” She wasn’t a medical professional, of course, but-- he wasn’t hurt, anyway, just jinxed with jelly-legs. She stopped the jinx with a flick of her wand, peering down at him for a second before she offered him her left hand. “Can you stand up?”

"No, I don't think so, I think it's just-- oh, hello," he said, stopping himself halfway through as he realized who's office he was just outside of. The Hermione Granger. It was more of a knew of her, who didn't, then a knew her personally, but he smiled at her all the same. He was definitely going to brag to Jere later than the 'brightest witch of their time' helped him out of a bind. With a flick of her wand, the feeling started returning to his legs and he sat and hit his fists lightly against his thighs before moving down, trying to encourage the feeling to return to them. Jelly=legs jinx was annoying, but not nearly as bad as what happened last time he had touched a package with a warning label.

"Not hurt," he answered easily as he moved to the other leg. "Not the first time I've gotten the good old jelly-legs," he added with a rueful smile. He glanced up at her last question and saw her hand outstretched. He gave a shrug and grasped her hand anyway. "Let's find out," he said as he pulled himself up. And then promptly let out a long "Woahhhh" as he careened toward the wall to catch himself on. "Still a little jelly-legged, can I sit?" he asked as he stumbled into her office and barely managed to collapse himself into a chair in front of her desk. At least it was better than the floor.

He tried to jiggle his legs but they still felt a bit numb so he took the few moments of glancing around. He imagined he should get back to his cart and the packages awaiting delivery, but he would get back to it in a few, once his legs started working again. "Sorry about this, didn't mean to disturb you, I'll be gone in a few promise," he said as he smiled at her and then blinked as his eyes landed on some silver and shiny on her desk. "Oh hey, I've seen one of these before. They're err for your nails right?" he asked as he grabbed the stapler and clacked it a few times liking the noise it made, trying to remember if he had seen Freya use one of these before? He stuck his finger in the convenient slot and then wanted to hear the clacking noise again, but only sucked in a breath as he did it, feeling a sudden prick of pain and snatching his hand out. "Think this one's defective," he said as he sucked on his finger.

He wasn’t hurt, so that was good; he couldn’t stand, and that was less good. Hermione’s hand was still outstretched from helping him up, and she took a quick step forward to catch him before he found the wall. Sitting was a good idea. “Y--” she had been about to say yes, and that she could make him a chair for the corridor, but he was already through the door to her office. Hermione exhaled sharply and turned back to the mail cart, her eyes landing on the box labeled ‘Do Not Touch’. That was the likely culprit, she decided as she rolled her eyes. A second later she was back in her office, the box floating ahead of her in the air to land softly on her desk.

“It’s alright,” she said, her voice softening a little (she thought). “The counterjinx must have worn off the packaging,” she said, thinking out loud as she looked at the box. She put another counterjinx on it, then conjured another box to put that box in. She glanced up with the intention to tell him to be careful, try not to touch the one with the brightly colored warning label, but she was distracted by the stapler in his hand.

It was more for show than for use; it had sat on her desk at home for years, brought home from Hogwarts her first holiday break once she had realized she wouldn’t need a stapler. And now it sat on her desk here. But there wasn’t time for that explanation; he asked if it was for her nails, and Hermione opened her mouth. “No, it’s--” But his finger was already where it shouldn’t be. Hermione’s eyes went wide. Was this actually happening?

“It’s, um--” she held her hand out for it-- “for paper. For fastening multiple pieces together.” She pulled a few pieces of parchment from her scrap pile and showed him how it worked, though maybe parchment wasn’t the best medium for a stapler. She furrowed her brow after a second. “You alright? Do you want me to contact anyone for you?” His supervisor, his mother, whoever.

Danny nodded as he glanced out the door toward his cart. "Yeah, happens all the time," he said. He knew he should have been more careful, but he was trying to finish up early for the day and maybe sneak out early if Reg wasn't paying too much attention. Those plans were out the window though. He was almost definitely sure that Jere would finish his rounds before him, which meant Danny would have to buy the first round if they all went to Chester's tonight.

He glanced between the Hermione Granger and her stabby clappy thing and reluctantly gave it back to her. Sure, it had bit into his fingers, but he still wanted one. Danny peered over her desk as she grabbed a few papers and then his eyes widened. "Woahhh," he said as if she had performed a neat piece of magic. "Muggles are geniuses, aren't they," he said, easily impressed. And also easily distracted.

"No, no, I'm fine," he said as he reached over to touch something else on his desk before he heard Reg's voice out in the corridor. "That's my cue to skedaddle," he said as he stood and wobbled, his legs feeling a bit like jelly still, but he was able to hobble towards his cart, his left leg still feeling like pins and needles but he dragged it along in an effort to escape his boss's notice.

Danny peeked his head back around the open office door and gave her a wide smile. "Hey, thanks again, you're a real one," he said before he disappeared, his squeaky cart wheeling away with him.

/end

Hermione offered him a small smile, almost enjoying how impressed he was by something as simple as a stapler. “They are, yes.” They weren’t all geniuses, surely, but there surely was something to be said for all the muggle conveniences born out of not having access to magic. She could talk about it for hours, in fact, but she was at least conscious of the job he was meant to be doing, needed to be getting back to.

He assured her he was fine. Hermione pressed her lips together, repressing the urge to pursue the issue further, make sure he was really fine; she hadn’t forgotten the massive pile of work she needed to get through. She watched as he reached for the postbox-shaped pencil sharpener--another school supply relic she never needed past the age of eleven--and hoped his pinky finger wouldn’t fit in it--

She blinked, grateful that he was being called away, but she did her best to not let that show on her face. “Alright,” she said, flinching as she began to reach out and keep him from falling again. But he recovered all on his own, and she exhaled deeply as he left her office. She glanced down at her desk, recalling where she had left off, trying to figure out what had to be skipped now that she had wasted… seven minutes, per the clock she looked at then.

“Oh--” she hadn’t been expecting him to come back, and the surprise was evident in her voice. “You’re welcome.” She wasn’t sure she was a real one, but she smiled, anyway, waiting a handful of seconds before closing her office door behind him.

[[ end ]]