HH_mirror

The problem was, Dr. Cox had somehow thought that the new job would actually fix things.

Which he guessed was his first mistake, come to think of it. Come on -- he'd also thought divorcing Jordan would fix things, and that hadn't done a whole lot.

Anyway, the fact of the matter was that something... was in the air around here, and his nice new salary wasn't doing a whole lot to get rid of it. At first, he'd thought maybe it was just that he was more bored than usual... But nah, that wasn't it. Something was definitely different. Something was changing. People were starting to disappear left and right, like something was actually repelling them away from the place. And good God, some of the people that were coming in! He kept hearing rumors through the House Elves about all kinds of... well, some of it was better than his stories, but some of it was just downright disturbing, disgusting, and many, many other adjectives that, when you boiled it right down to it, all meant "screwed the hell up."

It had been putting him on edge, that was for sure. He was snappy to begin with, God knew, but lately even he had to admit he'd been unbearable. And -- well, he could not tell you why, but one day enough was enough.

Maybe it was that he'd gone down to the Popcorn Room and seen one too many new names he knew. Maybe it was that on his way to the Great Hall for lunch, an owl had crapped on his lab coat. Maybe it was just that he wasn't getting enough fiber in his diet. Whatever it was, he was done.

When he got back to work, an errant House Elf dropped a set of beakers, and Cox finally snapped for good. "All right," he snarled at the poor, terrified Elf, "that's it! I have had it up to here with the amateurish crap that goes on around this place aaaand if I have to go ahead and do hyeverything by myself, well, gosh darn it, I may as well do it someplace that doesn't make me want to go ahead and kill myself and everyone around me." He gave the Elf a twisted, manic grin and surged to his feet, knocking over the rest of the beakers. Whistling cheerfully, he stalked out of the Wing, heading back towards the Popcorn Room.

The fact of the matter was, magic wasn't fun anymore, not these days. The fun had gone right out of the whole damn place. And he couldn't go back home, not with everything he knew now. So, he guessed, it was time to find out what was next.

And maybe -- just maybe -- if he was reeee-heeeeeeally lucky -- JD wouldn't follow him this time.