Horrifying Honesty [Eden/Sabrina/Milton]

[Rowena Jones]

Rowena stared at the door, a bottle of wine hanging limply from her fingers. Eden had given it to her as she’d turned to leave both her and Sabrina at the hospital canteen. As agreed, she was to go first, to get Milton to agree to meet them all and answer their questions. Rowena had been so sure during their meeting in the Leaky Cauldron. Now all her doubts and concerns had left her frozen, standing metres away from her target.

A door opened down the corridor.

“Be sure to leave that poultice on for five hours.”

Her head whipped around, eyes wide and heart racing at a voice that sounded so familiar, but she was faced with a blonde haired stranger who walked past her without a glance. Rowena closed her eyes to brace herself against the pain of her heart breaking again. That was why she was doing this. She needed to put these memories to rest. This was no way to live, jumping at every similar voice, starting at every sighting of messy dark hair or too green eyes.
She steeled herself for the job at hand, knocked and entered.

“I was wondering how long you were going to stare at the door,” Milton quipped, gesturing towards an empty seat in his office.

Rowena flushed. “Sorry. I was just thinking…”

“About my offer?”

“Hmm?” The witch glanced in his direction, brow wrinkled in momentary confusion before she shook her head. “Oh. No.” A pause. “Not that your offer isn’t important!” she added hastily. It was after all the original reason for the day’s meeting.

“It sounds like you could use some of that wine you’re holding,” Milton chuckled, though concern coloured his tone. “How about I pour us both a glass and you can tell me what’s bothering you?”

Rowena nodded distractedly, handing over the bottle. Silence fell over the office as he poured them both a drink and Rowena fell back into her turbulent thoughts. Just how did one start in a situation such as this? Damn. Sabrina and Eden had been right after all. She was incapable of the task at hand. No matter how she tried to formulate the questions she wanted to ask, it always sounded like she was accusing him. Milton was her guide, a father figure, a friend. Rowena didn’t have many of those left in her life. She didn’t want to lose him too.

She took a large gulp of her wine as Milton took a more measured one.

“I miss him,” There was no need to say who ‘him’ was. “It’s hard being back here,” she admitted, glancing up at Milton to measure his reaction. Talking about Max and the past year was a bit of a tough subject for him she knew. During her recovery, they’d often talked but whenever she’d mentioned her ex, it had been as if a wall had gone up around him and the subject had always quickly changed. Rowena had understood. Max had meant a lot to a lot of people and it was painful to think of him as gone. Except now she had people planting suspicions in her mind that the man on the other side of the desk was responsible and that thought was terrifying.

If Milton Bonham was guilty, then that was just another nail in the coffin of her life and honestly, Rowena didn’t know much more she could lose. She’d lost her childhood memories and her family to the Shadowloved, lost her magic and the love of her life to the aftermath of the war… and now if Sabrina was right, she might lose her mentor, her trust in a man who managed the hospital that formed such a crucial part of her identity.

Not for the first time did she wish that her plan had gone, well to plan. Life after the Shadowed Battle, as it had been dubbed, was truly no life at all. She had tried. For the sake of the few people she had left, she really had made an effort. But it was hard to move forward when every foundation had been ripped from under you. She had helped save the world, but the price to pay had been high and she had been left floundering in a world where maybe she didn’t belong in anymore.

“I walked past the ICU on the way here,” Rowena said, “I thought that would be the hardest part. Going where he was last… but he’s everywhere. He’s in the Atrium, drugged up on painkillers to get through Mungos Madness, he’s floating up the side of the building, he’s in the patient rooms trying to tell me I’m doing it wrong.” He was sitting at a table betting on her to save her from an awful date, he was awkwardly stuck to her after saving her from a patient gone rogue, he was leaning against the wall watching her work, he was mocking her tendency to explain everything too thoroughly, he was kissing her in his office… She finished her glass and sighed heavily.

“I can’t… I can’t come back to work here knowing that this is where he died… I’m sorry. Mungos was my home. I always thought I’d be here forever… but it turns out Max was my home and I can’t be here without him.” Several tears escaped before Rowena could brush them away. “I know you don’t like to talk about it, but I need to know I didn't miss anything. Are you sure you didn’t see anything unusual? Who were there Healers who moved him?”

[Sabrina Wells]

It was her eyes. Every time those sunrise-golden eyes met his Milton’s heart broke for Rowena Covington all over again. In her class of healers Rowena had been his shining star: ambitious, sharper, and more dedicated than any other witch or wizard he took under his wing. She was keen to run the Hospital herself one day, and when Milton watched her work he believed she could do it. There was fire in her, drive he hadn’t seen since his own early days representing his family’s legacy.

How things had changed since then. How aimless she looked sitting in the office she had once sought to inherit. How much she had lost since then. And Milton had too, he supposed.

“It sounds like you could use some of that wine you’re holding,” Milton chuckled, though concern coloured his tone. “How about I pour us both a glass and you can tell me what’s bothering you?”

The air in the office felt heavy with his companion’s mourning as Milton opened the bottle and summoned two wine glasses from a cabinet behind him. Rowena took a hearty gulp and Milton matched her with a measured sip. It was the least he could do for the poor girl to not let her drink alone.

“I miss him,” There was no need to say who ‘him’ was. “It’s hard being back here,” she admitted, glancing up at Milton to measure his reaction.

Milton’s shoulders squared and back straightened at the mention of their mutual loss, and he took a slightly more generous sip of the wine closed in his fingers. Milton and Rowena had done this dance several times over the last few months. Rowena would open up to a figure she trusted and Milton would go cold, unable to grapple with his complicated feelings about the boy he’d pledged to protect. Even with Albert he struggled; the tragedy and subsequent investigation left an unspoken divide neither could close to comfort the other. It would be easier, he thought, once the matter was closed and Max Kameren’s woeful spirit could finally rest. Milton would breathe easier.

“I walked past the ICU on the way here,” Rowena said, “I thought that would be the hardest part. Going where he was last… but he’s everywhere. He’s in the Atrium, drugged up on painkillers to get through Mungos Madness, he’s floating up the side of the building, he’s in the patient rooms trying to tell me I’m doing it wrong.”

He chuckled. A warmth of sympathy and recognition in her story filled Milton’s chest with another sip of wine and he leaned forward. She needed something, someone to hear he. Milton needed to give her something, and if he was honest with himself a bit of musing could ease his own pressure as well. He leaned forward, the hint of a mischievous smile coloring his words. “Eighteen years that boy followed me through these halls, and even as an eight-year-old he found opportunities to correct me. Could only cast Incendio, but his debate was relentless…”

The warmth of good memories faded back into the chill of loss between them and Milton chided himself for letting emotion slip through in a moment of weakness. He needed distance from this subject, from any thoughts of the mistakes that haunted him in the halls of the hospital. The sacrifices he had had to make to keep the walls standing around them were far too great.

“I can’t… I can’t come back to work here knowing that this is where he died… I’m sorry. Mungos was my home. I always thought I’d be here forever… but it turns out Max was my home and I can’t be here without him.” This was suddenly too intimate. Milton looked away, his eyes instead following the marbled light in his wine glass. It was a mistake to invite Rowena into a space so personal.

“I know you don’t like to talk about it, but I need to know I didn't miss anything. Are you sure you didn’t see anything unusual? Who were there Healers who moved him?”

“Everything about that night was unusual, you know that. Please, I – “ The story he had repeated so many times stuttered on his lips and instead of speaking Milton emitted a toad-like belch, his brow furrowing incredulously. He’d nearly told her, the words were barely held back from his lips. The men who moved him hadn’t been Healers, though Milton was unfortunate enough to know them too well.

Details such as those were to be kept secret, to be taken to his grave. Albert didn’t even know; no one would understand. Least of all the woman sitting in front of him. Miltons’ eyes fell on the wine glasses between them, and his eyes narrowed in hurt suspicion. “Rowena, what did you do?”

[Eden Fletcher]

Rowena fucking Covington was going to ruin the whole plan. If she ever decided to move. The polar ice melted faster than the woman. It took all of Eden’s willpower not to snatch the wine bottle and march into Milton’s office herself. He’d be surprised to see her. Eden rarely went to St. Mungo’s willingly. Aurors were a superstitious lot and going into mungo’ was just taunting fate, asking it to send an auror there with an injury. Besides, Eden didn’t really know Milton. He hadn’t been her mentor. Just another figure of authority that would pop in to the Godric's Hollow house now an again. He’d healed a few scrapes of her as a child but Eden had pretty much avoided him before Curse died and he stopped coming around afterwards so she didn’t really get to know him. Not like Max had. Mad had seen a different side of Milton than Eden had. He’d always seemed to be sulking when he’d come over to see his friend. After Eden grew up she’d interact with him a few times a year but it wasn’t more than idle chit chat. He was a calculating bureaucrat that had only seen Eden as a monetary amount whether it be from charity donations or as a patient.

It wasn’t until Max’s disappearance that Eden gave Milton more than a passing glance. Something shady was going down at St. Mungos. Too many injuries. Too many breaches in security to be coincidence and the Head of the hospital was hiding something. Milton was not a idiot. In fact he was one of the smartest men of his generation but he apparently didn’t know what was going on in his hospital. It hadn’t always been that way. St. Mungo’s had a history of excellent security. It wasn’t until the last few years that things have slacked. Why did these breeches happen all of a sudden? What had caused Milton to slip? What had changed?

The tree known as Rowena, finally uprooted herself and started down the hall out of site. Eden waited ten very long minutes before she strode after her. There was no bloody way she was going to let Rowena Covington loose her courage and ask weak ass questions. This was there one chance. Rowena had 5 minutes to gather courage to enter the room and five minutes to get the man to drink. If he hadn’t taken a sip by now Eden would just resort to force. Without waiting to see if the reporter came with her, Eden pushed open the door to Milton’s office.

“Rowena, what did you do?”

“The real question is what did you do Milton? What part did you play in Max Kameron’s disappearance from St. Mungos hospital?” Eden said cooly as she strode into the room, her wand at her side in case he moved to summon an antidote.

[Sabrina Wells]

Sabrina wrung her hands at the canteen table, the footsteps of her auror partner’s impatience growing her anxiety with each heavy thud. It had been far too late before Sabrina realized her mistake: where Rowena Covington was reluctant to take Sabrina’s story seriously, Eden Fletcher had latched on with an iron grip and run with it.The planning of their ambush gave Sabrina whiplash between Fletcher’s brashness and Covington’s trauma; it was a fragile balance to make. But they didn’t have much time to argue. They were already seven months behind.

“We’ll give her another twenty minutes trying to hack it on her own before we step in, maybe.” Sabrina’s offer fell on deaf ears, she could tell. She adjusted her glasses to watch Eden pace. She could practically see the vein throbbing in her conspirator’s forehead. “…Maybe fifteen. Ten? Eden!”

The auror stormed down the hall and Sabrina followed close on her heels. “We need to trust her, he’ll be more amenable to answers if there’s someone he trusts! We can’t just barge in and - “

Her pleas fell on deaf ears and Fletcher shouldered the door open, forcing the two to intervene on what appeared to be a cocktail hour in progress. Milton Bonham’s chestnut eyes were glassy with confusion for only a moment before he directed his first response to his only friend in the room: “Rowena, what did you do?”

“The real question is what did you do Milton? What part did you play in Max Kameren’s disappearance from St. Mungo’s Hospital?” Their plan had fallen from covert operation to Shakespearian melodrama in seconds. Sabrina covered her face in her hands as she pulled the door closed behind them.

“I beg your pardon!” Milton reeled back in his chair at the accusation. The old man’s eyes finally fell on the mortified woman behind Fletcher and realization dawned on him. “Oh, I understand. You’ve been busy, Ms. Wells.”

He supposed he should have expected as much from Eden Fletcher; over years of long-held friendship with Curse and Max, his friend’s ward held nothing but hostility for him. He would never say as much to the Kameren’s but the feeling was somewhat mutual; he’d always found Fletcher gruff and unpleasant in demeanor, as well as unremarkable in intellect save for the seeing abilities she often took for granted. But Max had been her friend since childhood and Curse saw a bit of himself in her troubled home life, so her pestering endured.

But he expected better of the woman in front of him, who had endured so much trauma but kept a level head through it all. “Really, Rowena, I’m hurt that you would conspire with these two to ambush me like this. You know you can talk to me.” He shook his head. “And I’m sure I don’t have to ask whose idea the Veritaserum was…”

All eyes fell to the culprit, and Sabrina’s look fo embarrassment turned to pure horror. Veritaserum?! That was surely illegal, even if an auror slipped it into the Hospital Administrator’s bottle. If this made it back to the Prophet she would be fired. Not to mention any information they received from Milton under the influence of Veritaserum wouldn’t be acceptable to the Wizengamot. Eden had utterly ruined their plan; if they couldn’t use any of this information, what was it all for?

To find him, of course. Sabrina had been so wrapped up in the journalistic idea of following a lead that she forgot the common thread between her two sources: they were desperate to find him, at any cost. The reporter sighed heavily, leaning against the door and boring into Bonham with a dead-eyed stare. “Answer the questions, please, Healer Bonham.”

Milton’s face crumpled with fury and he pushed the wine glass away, looking over the three conspirators with disgust. “I most certainly will not! I will not entertain this nonsense! I did nothing to – “ Milton choked on his words, the toad-like belch bursting forth again to replace the end of his statement. He sighed heavily, pushing himself to his feet to restart. “Max was like a son to me. I did not kill him. I don’t know where he is.” The older Healer pushed a hand toward his office door and it opened, pushing Sabrina forward with its silent force. “Now please, leave.”

[Rowena Jones]

“Rowena, what did you do?”

The witch frowned at the question, not understanding. What did he mean ‘what did she do’? Her mouth opened but before words could escape, Eden Fletcher burst into the room.

“The real question is what did you do Milton? What part did you play in Max Kameren’s disappearance from St. Mungo’s Hospital?”

Oh for fuck’s sake! That wasn’t going to go down well. They’d never get answers now… unless… Rowena’s gaze turned to horror as she stared at the almost empty glass in her hand. Golden eyes flickered between the bottle of wine and the blonde woman standing menacingly in the room. She hadn’t…

Rowena found herself watching in disbelief as the scene played out in front of her. Milton had obviously figured it out too and his anger was evident. The witch shrank into her chair, fingers turning white as her grip tightened around her traitorous drink. How had she let this happen?! Why had she trusted Eden, why had she ever taken the wine in the first place? Of course it had been drugged! Merlin, she was so stupid!

“Really, Rowena, I’m hurt that you would conspire with these two to ambush me like this. You know you can talk to me.” He shook his head. “And I’m sure I don’t have to ask whose idea the Veritaserum was…”

“Wait! No! I didn’t- I didn’t know!” Rowena gasped out, still reeling at the fact that she’d unknowingly drugged Milton… and herself. Her gaze narrowed as she glared at Eden. “How could you! You’ve ruined everything!” He would never trust her again. Even knowing that she had to be telling the truth of her innocence, Rowena knew Milton wouldn’t ever give her the chance to ask those critical questions again. They’d lost their only lead.

“Answer the questions, please, Healer Bonham.”

…except of course they hadn’t. He had drunk the wine. No matter how it had happened, Milton was under the influence of Veritaserum. He had to answer the questions he had dodged for so many months.

Milton’s face crumpled with fury and he pushed the wine glass away, looking over the three conspirators with disgust. “I most certainly will not! I will not entertain this nonsense! I did nothing to – “ Milton choked on his words, the toad-like belch bursting forth again to replace the end of his statement. He sighed heavily, pushing himself to his feet to restart. “Max was like a son to me. I did not kill him. I don’t know where he is.” The older Healer pushed a hand toward his office door and it opened, pushing Sabrina forward with its silent force. “Now please, leave.”

The words burned in Rowena’s mind and she finally stood. For a second she stayed there, oblivious to the turmoil around her, her eyes scrunched up tightly as if she could deny what her mind had deduced. When they reopened, her gaze was fixed upon Milton. Her voice trembled as she asked the question she wasn’t sure she wanted the answer to.

“No. You didn’t kill him. You don’t know where he is… but did you cause or allow harm to befall one under your care?” She paused and the heartbreak was evident in the way her hands trembled and the tears that threatened to burst down her cheeks. “Milton… Did you break your oath?”

The words echoed in her mind, so clear despite the many years since she’d stood on the stage and recited her oath, fulfilling her dreams of becoming a Healer.
My hands are my tools, my mind my guide.
With them, I swear to bring comfort and healing to all who ask for it.
My patient will forever be my first consideration. I will keep their secrets and do them no harm.
For I am a Healer and I will practice my profession with conscience, respect and dignity.
Most importantly I pledge to maintain the utmost respect for Life.
I make these promises solemnly, freely and upon my honour.

They were words to never be forgotten, the very foundation of their profession. Healers just didn’t break their oaths… it would be a betrayal of everything they stood for, of their entire Order. It would bring suspicion and disgrace to them all.

[Sabrina Wells]

“Milton… Did you break your oath?”

The door slammed back closed. Milton looked at Rowena as if she had slapped him across the face. Her voice echoed his conscience, the question he asked himself in the dark hours of the night when his office was closed, Albert was asleep, and there was no one to hold up his mask for. Slowly he lowered himself back into the chair behind his desk, his head shaking to make up for the word that could not make it to his lips.

He took a shuddering breath and his eyes glazed over with tears as he met Rowena’s, the other two conspirators in the room fading away. His focus was only on the girl in front of him, who he saw so much of himself in. Little family, big ambition. The man he had chosen to love was just as work-minded as he was. They had no children, instead they had the hospital. The patients and the healers were their children; Milton was the last of his family’s living legacy, only the hospital would live on. He had paired Rowena with Max for that reason; they carried that same drive that would keep St. Mungo’s thriving. Rowena Covington was the bright, bright future of what healing could be.

And the way she looked at him now, he knew his worst thoughts were true. He was a disgrace who brought shame on the centuries-old institution he gave everything to save. “I did what I do every day: I made a difficult choice to save as many patients as possible. I just didn’t know it would be him.”

Milton turned away to hide the tears that dropped wet and heavy on the parchment across his desk. His voice became a low mumble, his words for his own benefit more than the woman before him: “They’ve been funding the hospital for years, since the MHS cuts five years ago the hospital was falling apart... we would have had to close. Thousands of people every year with no one to heal them.” With a ragged sniff Milton wiped his face. His tunnel vision had narrowed now even to exclude Rowena; Milton only whispered to himself, hopelessly pushing back at the guilt that he knew he would carry for the rest of his life. “What they asked me to do was... terrible. Horrifying. But what could I do? What would he have done, when posed the question? Let one go, to keep healing thousands? I knew his answer, my dearest friend...”

Milton snapped out of it, turning on the younger healer with desperation in his red, puffy eyes. “That night they needed cover to move someone valuable out of the hospital. I assumed it was a dark wizard, some cruel leader they needed to protect from consequences.” Milton didn’t try to hide the tears pouring down his cheeks now, showing Rowena the pain he had hidden from her in months of her questioning. “I agreed, but realized too late who they were looking for. If I tried to stop them our agreement would have been exposed, and the Hospital would have suffered.” With a ragged breath Milton wiped away his tears, his tone evening to mournful regret. “St. Mungo’s service to the community is far bigger than any one person. It needs protecting, no matter the cost.”

Milton had wished many times over that it had been his life they had wanted. He would have given it without a second thought. Now she had her answers, he hoped Rowena would understand. Not for his benefit; if she never forgave him she would be justified, as he would never forgive himself. Milton’s secret transgressions could bring St. Mungo’s entire history crumbling to its knees.

[Eden Fletcher]

Eden felt no regret. She would drug the whole world if she thought it would help find Max. There was no way in hell Eden was going to leave the questioning up to Rowena, or even Sabrina. Milton was slippery old fox with a skill for bending the truth. He was a bloody politician, it was his nature to avoid giving real answers.

Milton’s face crumpled with fury and he pushed the wine glass away, looking over the three conspirators with disgust. “I most certainly will not! I will not entertain this nonsense! I did nothing to – “ Milton choked on his words, the toad-like belch bursting forth again to replace the end of his statement. He sighed heavily, pushing himself to his feet to restart. “Max was like a son to me. I did not kill him. I don’t know where he is.”
Eden rolled her eyes at his protest. It was futile. He would tell the truth eventually. Maybe he needed to drink more. Eden hadn't used the entire vile in the wine just in case he hadn't drank it. She was more than willing to shove it down his throat. Assault charges be damned.

“No. You didn’t kill him. You don’t know where he is… but did you cause or allow harm to befall one under your care?” She paused and the heartbreak was evident in the way her hands trembled and the tears that threatened to burst down her cheeks. “Milton… Did you break your oath?”


Oath? What oath? The healers oath? Eden rolled her eyes about to intervene when Milton just fell a part. he slumped into his chair like an old man. he seemed to actually age in front of them.

And the way she looked at him now, he knew his worst thoughts were true. He was a disgrace who brought shame on the centuries-old institution he gave everything to save. “I did what I do every day: I made a difficult choice to save as many patients as possible. I just didn’t know it would be him.”

Milton turned away to hide the tears that dropped wet and heavy on the parchment across his desk. His voice became a low mumble, his words for his own benefit more than the woman before him: “They’ve been funding the hospital for years, since the MHS cuts five years ago the hospital was falling apart... we would have had to close. Thousands of people every year with no one to heal them.” With a ragged sniff Milton wiped his face. His tunnel vision had narrowed now even to exclude Rowena; Milton only whispered to himself, hopelessly pushing back at the guilt that he knew he would carry for the rest of his life. “What they asked me to do was... terrible. Horrifying. But what could I do? What would he have done, when posed the question? Let one go, to keep healing thousands? I knew his answer, my dearest friend...”


Fuck. Milton was a part of it. The bloody bastard. Max was like a son and he betrated him for easy money. Wait. Dearest friend. Did he do something to Curse too?

"Did you do something to Curse Kameren?" Eden asked after he stopped talking.

Read more: alohomoraadventures.proboards.com/thread/1025/horrifying-honesty-eden-sabrina-milton?page=1#ixzz5o9A7iAy6