Author's Note: For the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition, Season Two/Round Five, as Captain for the Caerphilly Catapults, Edgar Bones in his favorite Hogwarts class. Also, for the If You Dare Challenge, prompt 508. Bones.
~Hannah
Healing Bones
(Edgar Bones' favorite Hogwarts class in his last year was voluntary.)
Edgar Bones' favorite class at Hogwarts in his last year wasn't really a class. Instead it was his free period on Wednesdays and Fridays when he would spend his time following Madam Pomfrey in the Hospital Wing to learn healing spells, since he always liked to help people.
Today, Edgar was in the back Nurse's Office re-alphabetizing the healing potion stock. He was just putting back the pepperup potion when Madam Pomfrey rushed in.
"We have a first-year Hufflepuff girl who fell off her broom," she told him. "I need you to help me with her injuries; we have a lot of patients in today."
Edgar jumped up and followed her to where the first-year was on a cot, and Madam Pomfrey went off to attend to someone else.
"What is it that hurts?" he asked.
"My leg… left one… and my shoulder." She pointed to her right shoulder, where Edgar could now see blood starting to seep through her robes.
"Did you land on your left side?"
The girl nodded. "And I cut my shoulder while I was falling."
She seemed embarrassed, so Edgar said, "Don't worry, we've all done it. And, what was your name?"
"Amelia Clarke."
As Edgar signed her into the Hospital Wing on a clipboard, he said, "I have a sister named Amelia. She's in Hufflepuff with us, too."
"Really?"
"Really." Edgar started checking all of her vital signs, her pulse, temperature, respiration rate, blood pressure…. All of them checked out—so she hadn't lost too much blood.
He asked her to point out where her leg hurt, and then he probed the area until he found where it was injured. "It's fractured," he said, "but at least it's not broken."
"Can you fix it?" Amelia asked anxiously.
"Of course," said Edgar. He pointed his wand at the fracture. "Ferula," he said, and then it was bound and splinted. He placed a pillow under her leg, and then excused himself back to the Nurse's Office to get an ice pack and a pain potion, both of which he gave to Amelia.
"And, you said, your shoulder?"
"Uh huh."
Edgar helped Amelia move her robe out of the way so that he could see the gash, and cast a spell to clean it and close the wound, then cast dittany to remove the scar.
"The potion should help for that, too," he assured her.
"Thanks," she said.
"Of course. I'll be right back, again." He went to fetch crutches, and then went back. "You can use these to walk for a while…." He demonstrated how to use them, pretending to be very old, making Amelia giggle and feel better.
Soon after, she was out of the Hospital Wing, and it was almost the end of Edgar's free period. He wasn't looking forward to the end, but it was for much different reasons than most.
. . . . .
Edgar spent the last part watching Madam Pomfrey heal a sixth-year Slytherin boy who had been hurt in a fight.
He was unconscious, so Madam Pomfrey talked to Edgar in between explaining things about what she was doing—more complicated spells for some more severe injuries. "I saw you with that first-year today," she said. "You're becoming much more competent."
Edgar was surprised. Despite the tone, he could hear the pride in Madam Pomfrey's voice, and she didn't praise often, but when she did, she meant it. "Thank you," he said.
Madam Pomfrey hmm'ed and went back to explaining, "Well, episkey, you know, is handy for broken noses, but there's a variant for broken bones in the legs or torso…."
Edgar listened interestedly, fiddling with the badge on his robes that read Matron's Assistant. It was almost time for dinner, so the Hospital Wing was dimly lit by the sunset shining in through the windows on one side, and it caught on his badge, glinting occasionally.
"And you know what not to use on bones, right?"
"Ossio Dispersimus?"
Madam Pomfrey nodded. "And as for healing head injuries, there are some potions and spells that come in handy…."
She went on until the Slytherin boy was all ready to go, and then they both looked at the clock and realized that they were late for dinner. The house elves who watched the patients while Madam Pomfrey was away had already arrived. "Come along, quickly; we'll walk down together," she said, and they started to walk at a decently fast pace down the hall.
Edgar and Madam Pomfrey both had a habit of losing track of time; his friends were used to him being late to dinner now, though they just couldn't understand why he gave up so many perfectly good free periods without looking at the clock the whole time.
"We should start setting a timer," Edgar said lightly.
"I think I need a timer for waking up and for every meal of the day," agreed Madam Pomfrey.
Things in the Hospital Wing were always a bit hectic, but Edgar enjoyed it anyway. And maybe his favorite class wasn't really a class, but it was still always the best two parts of his week. Everyone else preferred learning how to duel, in classes like Defense Against the Dark Arts, but Edgar would always prefer healing people to breaking them.
END
