Author's note: This is written for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition Season 4 (Round 2) "Hogwarts Subjects". I really had to brush up on plants for this one, as I realised that I actually didn't know that much.
Task: Subject: Herbology. Write about someone utilising their skills or knowledge of the subject as part of their job.
Disclaimer: I, unfortunately, do not own Harry Potter.
Healer Madeline Byrd had always believed that nature held the key to everything. That was quite possibly the reason that she had ended up heading one of the busiest wards on the first floor of St Mungo's Hospital.
As soon as she had taken Herbology lessons in her first year at Hogwarts, Madeline had been set on becoming a Healer. The Creature-Induced Injuries department was the ideal place for her to use her passion for unusual plants that inhabited the magical world, to help heal those in need.
She had known at the time that Potions was an important part of the profession, and had adjusted her school work accordingly, but now she could work almost exclusively in plants, which suited her down to the ground.
The job had been a little more complicated than Madeline had originally believed, but she had tried to adapt to yield the best results for her patients.
On that particular morning, she found herself in one of the rooms at the end of the first floor which were used exclusively for growing plants that were needed in the hospital.
She was stood inside a greenhouse-like room, glass on all four sides, which housed a plethora of plants from around the world. She had used her great volume of books to set the exact growing conditions for each plant herself.
Madeline bent down, a short distance away from a Fire Seed bush. She could feel the heat radiating from the plant, even at that distance, and suddenly felt a small amount of dread at having to collect the seeds from within the shrub.
Pulling her blue gloves slightly further up her forearms, she took a deep breath and pulled her wand out. Pointing it directly at the amber foliage, she cast a freezing charm which immediately cooled the plant's outer leaves, enabling Madeline to pull the short branches apart to reveal the seed pods at the centre.
She carefully plucked two pods, casting an extra freezing charm on both so that they were able to be handled by the other Healers. She placed them inside a small glass vial before standing up and moving back towards the door.
"Take these over to Healer Daniels on the Dai Llewellyn ward," Madeline instructed a younger woman, as she wiped her forehead of any sweat that had formed due to the heat of the plant. "He will be able to make up the Antidote to Uncommon Poisons to cure Mr. Bernard's Doxy bites."
"Of course, Healer Byrd," the woman said, taking the vial from Madeline and walking swiftly back down the hall.
Madeline sighed slightly, the exertion of a long day finally beginning to catch up with her. Closing the large book on plant species, she placed it, and the pair of gloves, gently on the table in front of her, making a mental note to take it back to her office at the end of her shift.
She re-entered her ward on the left-hand side of the hallway and checked on a few of her newest patients. She was recording the extra dose of a nettle-based cream that she had administered to one patient when a shout rang out.
"We need help! All free Healers are needed on the fourth floor now!"
Every person on the ward moved their gaze to the end of the hallway where a Healer stood, clearly out of breath. To Madeline, he looked unhealthily pale, but it was the look in his eyes that truly put her on edge. His expression told her more than she wanted to know. People only looked like that when something awful had happened.
Madeline put down her pen and almost ran to the staircase. The other Healer had already begun to ascend the stairs once more, so Madeline ran a little faster in order to try and catch him up.
"What's happened?" she asked urgently, now almost level with the man.
"There's been an attack," he replied quickly, as they continued to climb at an accelerated rate. "It's Frank and Alice Longbottom… they've been… you'll have to see for yourself," he finally decided, pressing his lips together in a firm line.
Madeline bit her lip as they reached the fourth floor, now surrounded by another six or seven Healers. What could possibly have happened to require so many Healers from different disciplines? She tucked the loose strands of her blonde hair behind her ear as they waited patiently for instructions.
"There you are," a stern looking witch said, beckoning them to follow her. She led them down towards a private room, the door to which was constantly swinging open and closed as more Healers came in and out.
Madeline went to ask once more what had happened, hating to be left in the dark, but the other witch started before she could even open her mouth.
"We don't yet know the whole story," she said, turning to face them as they reached the door, "but they have been tortured by followers of You-Know-Who, both physically and mentally. The Cruciatus Curse was used almost certainly used."
This news caused a collective intake of breath from the group, and several clapped their hands over their mouths.
"You all best prepare yourselves," the older woman continued, with a grimace, letting her stern demeanour slip for just a second. "They have been through a lot. Both their bodies and minds are in a very bad way."
She pushed the door open to allow the small group to enter. Healers rushed around the room, each carrying a huge array of different items that they hoped would help the Longbottoms to recover. Madeline could barely make out the outline of the figures on the beds, due to the amount of people surrounding them.
"Healer Byrd, is there anything new in your plant stores that could help with the external wounds? Or even the mental ones?"
Madeline turned at her name to see an older man standing over the left bed, gesturing for her to come over. She composed herself as best she could, before moving to stand next to him to examine the patients.
On the surface, the cuts, bruises, and scrapes only looked superficial, but she found that knowing how they had been inflicted made the sight seem one-hundred times worse.
"Um, Dittany will help ease the healing of these cuts, if you use the essence and the leaves themselves. Though I know, you will have already administered them," she said, giving the simplest solution she could think of. She grasped for another answer that might be able to help, but found that she could do little more. Most of the help they needed was in their heads; herbal healing rarely helped with anything that you couldn't physically see.
"I'm sorry," she said quietly, "I don't think there's really anything I can do."
Feeling a little overwhelmed, she left the room promptly and stood in the hallway. She took deep breaths as she watched other people move through the corridor, taking more things in and out of the room. She realised suddenly that the cloistered environment she worked in, where she could cure everything with knowledge from her books, hid the real issues from view.
"Mrs. Longbottom, I need you to sign these admission forms," one Healer said to a woman stood at the other end of the hall. She was trying to take the pen from the Healer, but was prevented from doing so by the cries coming from the bundle of blankets cradled in her arms.
Madeline walked over to them, determined to be useful in some capacity.
"I'll take him," Madeline offered, noticing how Augusta Longbottom was struggling to balance the little boy. She had a reputation of being such a strict woman, but you would never have known from the way her hands were shaking as she handed the boy over to her.
"Thank you, dear," she said, taking up the pen. "It's just so awful for poor Neville," she explained, tears welling up in her usually severe-looking eyes.
Madeline didn't know how to respond, but placed a hand on her arm in a comforting manner, before allowing her to sign the papers.
"It's okay, little one," she cooed to Neville, who had temporarily stopped crying. She moved away from the commotion a little, so that the child wouldn't be in the centre of it all. "Everything will be alright," she continued, knowing in her heart that nothing about this event would leave the boy feeling alright.
Healer Madeline Byrd had always believed that nature held the key to everything. But somewhere in that moment, Madeline realised that nature could not cure everything. As she now held the small, effectively parent-less child in her arms, she knew that the problems made by the cruelness of man were never so easily fixed.