7th, In Memorium: Healing Magic
Catty Engles

"It was stupid, pointless, irritating beyond beliefe that he still had four days left of being unable to perform magic... but he had to admit to himself that this jagged cut in his finger would have defeated him. He had never learned how to repair wounds, and now he came to think of it - particularly in light of his immediate plans- this seemed a serious flaw in his magical education. Making a mental note to ask Hermione how it was done, he used a large wad of toilet paper to mop up as much of the tea as he could, before returning to his bedroom and slamming the door behind him."


"Ta-ra-ra-BOOM-de-ay, ta-ra-ra-BOOM-de-ay," floated out of the kitchen doorway as Kreacher busied himself making lunch, steak and kidney pie by the smell of it. The change in Kreacher's demeanor after the apprehension of Mundungus Fletcher had made Number 12 Grimmauld Place almost homey.

Ron and Hermione worked quietly near each other in the drawing room. Ron was on the floor pouring over a large pile of parchment. A few pieces had been spellotaped together. Scrolls were haphazardly secured in the unrolled position with paperweights like a lamp in the shape of a griffin's claw and a small bronze trophy for "Kelpie Dressage – 1st Place." Ron had a memo pad on which he was scratching notes, his tongue poking out of the corner of his mouth and his brow furrowed.

Hermione had commandeered the coffee table, two side tables, and the couch. They were all crowded with a wide array of equipment. She perched on an overstuffed armchair, her lips moving silently as she took the itinerary of her territory. Every three days or so, Hermione decided to repack her beaded bag, and today was such a day.

It had become a common occurrence that Hermione would dash at her bag unexpectedly over tea, breakfast, even once in the middle of the night, thoroughly frightening Ron and Harry. Hermione's shriek from her bedroom that night had been because she thought she hadn't brought Break with a Banshee.

"I'd been debating taking it, you know," Hermione said, breathlessly, her hair even wilder than usual, when Harry and Ron stumbled into her room, wands drawn, at 1am. "Lockhart wrote the book, but there's actually a few useful tidbits in here, and I hadn't finished reading it yet. I didn't forget it," she said apologetically, and the boys slumped back to their beds.

Just now, Hermione was trying to find an accurate pile in which to categorize the offending book. She had originally organized her books alphabetically, but had just this morning decided to first sort by genre and then by title.

Momentarily flummoxed, she looked over at Ron who was utterly absorbed in his task. He hadn't looked up for the better part of an hour. Hermione couldn't think of a time that he had worked this diligently over any of his homework for the past six years. She smiled proudly. He was making a map of the Ministry from what he could piece together from the trio's few visits, years of his father's dinner conversations, and what the three had picked up while staking out the arriving witches and wizards for the past few weeks.

She pondered interrupting him to ask about his progress, but he was so intensely focused, she couldn't stand to break his concentration. Hermione gazed at him until she felt a blush creeping onto her cheeks, then quickly returned to organizing her small library. You would only have seen it if you were looking closely, but just as Hermione turned back to her task, you could might have caught a ghost of a smirk on Ron's face.

Just then, the door to Number 12 Grimmauld Place opened quickly, and a soft yes! was swallowed by a gagging sound from the entrance hall. The tongue-tie curse and the chill wind of the Dumbledore dust-ghost had almost become a welcome sound as it meant one of the trio had returned from stakeout duty. "I didn't kill you!" whooped Harry, apparently too gleeful to let the spectre get his spirits down.

"The Chosen One returns," Ron said with a grin. Hermione laughed appreciatively, and his grin widened.

Harry Potter himself slid around the corner, holding onto the crenellated doorframe to make the turn.

"Landed right smack on the front stoop this time. Two feet planted. Gold metal dismount," he said excitedly to Ron and Hermione as he dashed to the window and pulled back the curtain cautiously. Two men sat on the bench outside looking very bored, one was in the process of rolling a cigarette.

"Ha! Didn't see a thing. I'm getting good at this." It had become a bit of a game between the three of them to try to make sure they weren't seen as they apparated back from stakeout duty. It was a game with potentially fatal consequences, but the trio were quickly developing a robust graveyard humor. It was the only way to keep their sanity.

Ron stuck up his hand for a high five, not taking his eyes off the constellation of parchment. "Good on you, mate," he said approvingly.

Harry high-fived him hard, spinning to land squarely in the only unoccupied seat left in the room, throwing a leg over the wing-backed chair's armrest and taking out his wand in one smooth movement. He shot off golden sparks in celebration.

Hermione giggled and Ron snorted. Just then, Kreacher bustled into the room carrying biscuits and tea. "Welcome home, Master Harry," greeted the house elf, happily.

"Hiya, Kreacher," Harry said warmly, now concentrating on making firework like explosions in various colors from his wand. Kreacher delivered Harry's favorite tea—Early Grey directly to his hand accompanied by a plate of biscuits, and Ron's spicy orange herbal was set right by his knee.

Hermione's chamomile was abandoned on a small unoccupied part of an endtable as if by accident. Kreacher did not acknowledge Hermione, as usual, and the tea was at the farthest corner from her as possible. Before Hermione could thank him like she always tried to, he scampered back to the kitchen, obviously trying to avoid talking to her.

Hermione sighed, getting up to retrieve her cup. Sadly, she noticed Kreacher had purposefully not put the teabag into the tea before filling it with hot water. She frowned slightly, looking up at Harry who was watching her.

"I can call him back, tell him to try it again," he said warily. Hermione knew both boys were never sure quite how she would react to anything that had to do with house elf labor, and she could see the apprehension in Harry's face now.

"No, no," said Hermione, "it's fine. Thank you though, Harry." Harry relaxed and popped a whole jammie dodger in his mouth, chewing appreciatively.

"What's that?" said Ron, not having followed the conversation. As he turned to look at Hermione, he knocked his unnoticed and scalding hot tea all over himself. He yelped, even as he dived for the parchment, scooping them up out of harm's way.

Harry leapt off the armchair to help Ron gather up the notes as Hermione directed her wand at the spilled tea, siphoning up the remaining liquid. Once all of the papers were safe and accounted for, Ron rolled up his pantleg to expose a freshly burnt knee and lower thigh. He fanned it as it bloomed into an angry red, many shades more vibrant than his hair.

Hermione dived towards the mantle at the far side of the drawing room that currently boasted a cluster of delicate looking glass bottles. She snatched one that contained some orangish gray paste. As she hurried back towards Ron, she tipped some into her hand. Hermione knelt at Ron's side, preparing to smear the paste on his burn.

"Don't!" said Ron suddenly, blushing scarlet. The burn was concentrated on the inside of his thigh. Harry coughed suddenly and took a few steps back.

"Oh, don't be silly you two!" Hermione scolded, dabbing the paste onto the burn mark with a medically matter-of-fact air. "Go on, rub it in yourself if you're so embarrassed."

Ron did, and sighed in relief. "Wow, that works great. What is that stuff?"

"Phoenix Ash Scorch Cream," said Hermione matter-of-factly, "I got it by owl-order from Paracelsus's Drams and Drafts." She returned it to the cornucopia of other vials that were overflowing the mantle, crowding out dour Black family portraits and evil looking heirlooms. Harry followed her, suddenly intrigued by vials of pickled murtlap tentacles and demiguise hair.

"That reminds me, Hermione, I have been meaning to ask you about, er, a few good healing spells," said Harry. "I think a bit of knowledge about cures would do Ron and me good. I can't just keep shoving a bezoar down his throat every time there's trouble." Harry shot Ron a grin. After years of getting Hermione to help with their homework, they both knew that flattering Hermione's studious side normally got what they wanted. In fact, Hermione looked quite pleased as she reorganized the bottles and cruets.

"It's not just spells, Harry. Witches and wizards go to extra advanced school after Hogwarts for years to learn all this stuff. Healing magic is a very advanced art, be it potions, tonics, poultices, curative magic—and those are just for non-magical injuries. If you're wounded by a magical creature, plant, or bug, there's a whole department at St. Mungo's devoted the wounds like that. But the real tough stuff comes from trying to undo a jinx or a curse. There's a lot of theory behind it all."

"Well if you were to put it simply, what would you start with?" said Harry, cutting off Hermione's lecture before it began.

"Well, simply put, I'd say-" Hermione began.

"Sim-ply," interrupted Ron. "I know that look on your face. Whatever answer you were about to give was anything but simple." Hermione's nostrils flared, but Harry laughed out loud.

"He's got a point, Hermione," agreed Harry, "You know you're leagues ahead of us when it comes to this stuff." Ron gave Harry a look that said, stop laying it on so thick.

Hermione hadn't noticed, she already had an armful of bottles, books, and a few scrolls that she had cherry-picked from the organized mess around her. She pushed the coffee table away, clearing a space on the rug in in the middle of the room and laid everything out before herself. She looked up at the boys expectantly. Obediently, they sat down in front of her.

"The first and most simple thing you need to know about healing magic is that the body is its best doctor, and most magic is designed to either speed up, bolster, or encourage the body's natural processes. A human's biological healing power is practically magical, and no spell or potion has been able to replicate it fully."

"Are you trying to say that if a blast-ended skrewt got me with one of its suckers, you'd tell me the best thing for me is lots of bedrest and mum's homemade kippers?" Ron asked sarcastically.

"Essentially, yes," Hermione said, rather austerely, picking up one of the scrolls in front of her. "Of course there's other ways to hasten that process along. Cleaning the wound, neutralizing any lingering magical interference, and strengthening the immune system. That's why Madam Pomfrey is so liberal with her Pepper-Up Potion, other than curing colds, it gives the body the basis upon which to heal itself."

Hermione spread the scroll she was handling in front of her. Harry and Ron both leaned forward.

"Hey, this is Polyjuice Potion!" exclaimed Ron.

Hermione beamed, "Yes, well done!"

"I remember since you were the one to swipe the Boomslang Skin from Snape's personal stores. I like to keep close track of the times you break the rules," Ron said cheekily, and Hermione's cheeks turned scarlet.

"Well, yes, rather… anyway. I brought it out because it's an excellent example of the individual elements of a potion combined to make a whole. Take a look at the ingredients list."

Fluxweed

Knotgrass

Lacewing Flies

Leeches

Bicorn Horn

Boomslang Skin

"Fluxweed allows the body unprecedented mutability, knotgrass and lacewing flies help intertwine two identities, leeches are mostly important in extracting the essence from whatever part of the person you add to the potion, bicorn horn ensures you are able to keep the two identities separate, and boomslang skin makes sure that it's only the outer layer of the body which is changed, not the inner."

"And what happens if you use part of a different species that's not a human?" said Ron.

Hermione lunged at him, and Harry, laughing, had to hold her back. "You know perfectly well what happens then, Ronald Weasley! I was in the hospital wing for weeks! Do you know how long it took to convince that tail it wasn't mine?" Ron was still laughing uproariously, and Hermione struggled against Harry's hands around her wrists trying to get at him.

"So what does polyjuice potion ingredients have to do with healing?" Harry asked, trying desperately to change the subject. Hermione harrumphed and disentangled herself from Harry, sighing as if she were throwing pearls to swine.

"It's only to start you thinking about the component parts of magic. Every incantation, potion ingredient, and flick of the wand is a building block that can be combined in different fashions to make every known facet of magic in current knowledge. Here, for instance. Harry, what's the wand motion for the Flipendo?"

Harry made a quick slash and flick motion across his body.

"And for the Locomotor Charm?" Hermione asked.

Harry thought for a second and then made a more sweeping upward gesture with his wand followed by a downward flick.

"And how about Wingardium Leviosa?"

"Oh let me have a go," said Ron. "I do believe, Miss Granger, that would be the swish and flick," he said in a perfect imitation of Professor Flitwick.

"Precisely," said Hermione with a guarded smile. "Don't you see anything similar about those spells? They all have to do with movement. The Knockback Jinx, Flipendo, pushes something away from you, the Locomotor Charm will let you transport any object you desire, and Wingardium Leviosa, of course, results in levitation. Now think of the wand motions."

"The flick at the end," Harry concluded, "They all have it. Are you saying that's what causes the motion?"

"Well, in part," said Hermione, "but that's a step in the right direction. Here, take a look at this." Hermione flipped through her copy of Miranda Goshawk's Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2 and then thrust it into the boys' laps, pointing at an entry halfway down page 67.


The Freezing Charm

Explanation: will stop any living or inanimate creature from completing their current action and hold them in a suspended state.

Incantation: Immobulus (ih-MOW-byoo-luss)

Wand Gesture: Signal Point

Notes: Purpose, as always, is critical when performing this piece of magic. The caster's body should be held as still as possible to mimic the desired effect, and the wand pointed with a decisive and direct motion at the intended target. Interestingly, this spell is an exception to the common rule of "Fear Induced Failure" laid out in Chapter 17, and is actually strengthened instead of weakened when the caster is feeling a fair amount of fear, as was noted when Hale Cuthbert of Brighton was confronted by a charging Re'em while on holiday in Borneo. And even though he wet himself in fear, his Freezing Charm was of such immense force that the irritable Re'em was stuck for 16 hours and 7 minutes before the spell wore off.

Quantums: Stillness, and to a lesser extent, cold.
Antipodals: Motion, and to a lesser extent, heat.


"Yeah? So?" said Ron, trying to push the book back towards Hermione.

"Look closer, at the very bottom of the entry," she insisted.

"KWAHN-tums? Anty-POE-dahls?" said Ron, squinting at the fine print under the passage. "I don't think I've ever noticed those."

"An-TIP-uh-dahls," corrected Hermione. "And you never have had any need to before. We wouldn't have started work on them in Charms until this year. I only know about them because of some extracurricular reading, and of course Arithmancy."

"I thought Arithmancy was magic math," said Harry, confused. Hermione blew a sigh out of the corner of her mouth, obviously becoming a bit frustrated with the pair of them.

"Arithmancy does have to do with the importance of numbers and their magical properties, magic math as you call it, but it also deals with the basic components of spells and potions and how they can neutralize one another. Quantums are the pieces that make up a spell. Antipodals are direct opposites of those Quantums. As for the Freezing Charm, stillness and cold are your Quantums and motion and heat are your Antipodals."

"Would this help in dueling? Sending out a spell that is the opposite of your opponent's?" asked Harry.

"Precisely. But you do have to be careful. Even though Incendio is the exact opposite of Aguamenti, it will still be weaker. Fire will always yield to water. Other natural opposites are harder to guess," said Hermione, looking cautiously at Harry.

"Makes sense," said Ron.

Hermione continued, "Some spells are exact opposites of one another. For example, Stupify and Renervate are a very common pair of spells that are exact opposites—all of their Quantums are the Antipodals of the other. Others spell pairs are inexact, like Locomotor may be to Immobulus. Locomotor uses the component parts of motion and control, while Immobulus uses the component parts of stillness and cold. Locomotor will negate stillness but not necessarily cold. An exact opposite of Immobulus may be a spell that induces motion and heat, but there's really no need for a spell like that, is there, so one hasn't been invented yet, or at least, hasn't been reported to the Ministry." Ron and Harry's eyes started to take on the glazed look they'd get when listening to a particularly complicated lecture from McGonagall.

Hermione tried a different tact, "Speaking of creating new spells, Arithmancy is also the practice of making new pieces of magic. Spell Architecture and Potion Creation is a very, very tricky skill and can be quite dangerous if practiced improperly."

"So naturally, you've already mastered it," Ron said with a bored look.

Hermione smirked, and took on a bit of a haughty air. She tapped the Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2 still open to the Freezing Charm page with her wand three times, and announced grandly, "Locum Costodi." Nothing happened.

"Well, you gave it your best shot. It looked good," said Harry kindly. Hermione exhaled exasperatedly. She closed the book, and shoved it at Harry.

"Open it," she commanded.

Harry did as he was told, and the book fell open to the Freezing Charm page. He closed the book again, and opened it to a different section, and the pages ruffled until he was back at page 67, right where he had left off.

"You made a book-marking spell," said Ron. "Of course you made a book-marking spell. You could have created a surefire way to avoid teachers in the hallways or given yourself teeth that never had to be brushed, but you made a book-marking spell."

"This is very complicated magic! It took me almost three months of work to do this! I'm now a published author in the Ministry's Catalogue of Developing Spellcraft, the youngest in 30 years," Hermione said rather huffily.

Ron had taken the book from Harry, and was riffling through the pages, opening and closing the book, and having it insistently return him to the Freezing Charm page. "So how do you make it go back to how it was?"

"Well… I'm still working on that part," Hermione said evasively, taking back the book. "Anyway, do you see how Quantums and Antipodals work? And how knowing about them can be highly valuable when creating a cure?"

Met with rather blank stares from both boys, Hermione continued. "You know how there are some things Madam Pomfrey sent off to St. Mungo's to be taken care of that she couldn't handle? Like when Katie Bell was cursed by that opal necklace Malfoy made Madam Rosmerta give her?" They nodded.

"Well that's work for mediwizards. Madam Pomfrey is a healer. Which means she has a concentration in healing non-magical wounds. Though Madam Pomfrey has plenty of experience reversing simple hexes and jinxes, Mediwizards are people who are professionals in Antipodal Cures and concocting antidotes for curses, jinxes, hexes, and other backfired spells. They break the original curse down into its constituent parts and then treat each of those individually. Just like how when you create an antidote in potions, you need to decant off each ingredient and cure them individually. If I seem to remember correctly, the Half-Blood Prince wasn't too useful for you there, Harry," Hermione teased.

Harry looked sour, remembering that particular Slughorn class at which he had failed miserably.

"So how does this help us cure wounds?" Ron said. "I knew you couldn't make anything simple," he said with a nudge thrown at Harry.

Hermione swatted his shoulder. "Curing spells isn't simple! There's nothing I could have done to make it so… Alright, curing wounds, let's get to it. What kind of injuries can a witch or wizard sustain? Let's take the mundane sort first. Broken bones. Easy. Episkey will work for most fractures, and you'll want to us Brackium Emendo for anything more dire."

"Hold on," Harry said, worried, "are you sure about that one? I spent a very painful night re-growing bones because of Lockhart's Brackium Emendo."

"Quite sure," said Hermione placatingly. "It was a bad bit of magic, that's for sure, but any spell always has a slight chance for malfunction, even if you are a well-qualified wizard, as Lockhart most clearly was not."

"Burns we know," said Ron. "Use the magic firebird slag paste."

"Ron!" scolded Hermione.

"What?! Slag means ash. Honestly, woman."

"Bites," said Harry, thinking of any number of creatures that Lord Voldemort might have turned to his cause.

"Well, you're fresh out of luck if it's a werewolf. Obviously, only if he's currently a wolf, otherwise the results are not so terrible, like we saw with Bill's encounter with Fenrir. Bites from many dark creatures like vampires or chimaera aren't able to be healed by any kind of known magic. Other creatures and plants have a toxic bite, like Venomous Tentacula or Cornish Pixies. Those kind of poisonings can generally be healed with a Common Poison Antidote. I've got plenty of it here," Hermione held up a vial of thin, faintly lavender looking liquid.

"As for the wound itself, knitting flesh is a bit harder than healing bone. Bones are not as complicated you see. They're a single structure, and they're probably the easiest bit of healing magic out there, but flesh is a bit trickier. Essence of Dittany will speed up the healing process by many days, weeks even," Hermione indicated a small stoppered bottle, "and if bleeding is a problem, you can use Vulnera Sanentur to slow down or even stop the flow of blood."

"I've heard that one used before," said Harry, but didn't expand. Hermione and Ron exchanged a glance but decided not to pursue the topic.

"But on the topic of Magical Creatures, we have learned most of the basics of defense against common creatures like grindylows, red caps, or boggarts, thanks to Professor Lupin. Others like yetis and quintapeds are so confined to specific areas of the world, we'll probably never have to worry about them. Did you know, Harry, that the Patronus Charm can be used on another creature other than dementors? Lethifolds, also called, Living Shrouds. They sound truly horrible," Hermione shivered.

"Alright, diseases. What if I really did have Spattergroit?" Ron said challengingly.

Hermione picked up the gauntlet, "Well, in that case, Harry and I would be staying well away from you for at least a few weeks. It's caused by a nasty fungus that has to be convinced to take a different host. It prefers another wizard, but after a few weeks, it will grow bored and normally a tasty, decomposing log, or something of that nature will suffice, and it will move hosts. But that process could take ages, and still the original host will have to fight off the infection on their own. Dragon Pox is a more fatal version of Chicken Pox—another reason to believe chickens are descendants of dragons!—Gunhilda of Gorsemoor created a cure to it in the 1600s. You know that humpbacked witch that conceals a passage to Honeydukes from Hogwarts? That's her! I only just realized that last year when Professor Binns was going over some truly remarkable medical history."

Ron and Harry both kept quiet about Hermione's immunity to being bored out of her mind in Professor Binns' class.

"So, I have a question," said Ron. "How did the twins go about making their Skiving Snackboxes? I've always wondered."

"It's actually quite an advanced bit of magic!" said Hermione. "They've created new potions that induce vomiting, fainting, nosebleeds, and fever, and then baked them into pastilles, nougats, fudge, etcetera. And then they created a perfect antidote to their original potions. I'm sure that's what most of their testing was about, because creating a perfect pair of Quantums and Antipodals is not easy. Also baking. Those boys must be a whiz in the kitchen."

"They are!" said Ron. "You'd never guess it, but they are!" said Ron through a mouthful of scone. Apparently, talking about the snackboxes had made him hungry.

Hermione gave him a slightly sickened look, but then turned to Harry. "Does that answer your question satisfactorily?"

"More than," said Harry gratefully, "thanks, Hermione."

A silence fell over them, broken only by Ron's chewing as they surveyed the spellbooks, notes, and potions that surrounded them. For a few crazy minutes, preparing to fight back against Voldemort had felt like an intense study session leading up to an exam. But now, the reality of their quest took hold again. No amount of homework could prepare them for what they may face in the coming months.

Their overwhelming task weighed heavy on their shoulders. Ron swallowed, catching the tension in the air just as Hermione flung herself at the boys and enveloped them into a hug. Both of their faces were lost in her bushy brown hair. Ron started to gag jokingly.

"Oi! My mouth was open, Hermione!" Harry complained loudly.

Ron smirked, joining in the ribbing, "Yeah! I'm going to be spitting brown hair for days!"

"Sorry, sorry," said Hermione, embarrassed. Ron was already munching on something else when Hermione looked up. "Ron! That chocolate isn't for eating! It's got important healing powers! Put it back!"

"Oh, and I suppose this licorice is for healing as well, is it?" teased Ron.

"It certainly is!" shrieked Hermione, trying to grab back her vials and boxes and stuff them into her beaded bag out of Ron's sight.

"I dunno, Harry," Ron said suspiciously, "I think Granger's holding out on us!" Harry laughed and Hermione fumed.

Just then, Kreacher came around the corner to announce that lunch was ready and the trio trooped off to the kitchen for one of their last decent home-cooked meals for a very long time.