Chapter 9

Magical maladies and miseries

Marietta's shoulders drooped, pulling her head to the floor. Maybe it was the weight of the many eyes looking at her? Maybe it was the prior convoluted week that she had just come off? Perhaps it was the fact that despite several attempts at healing her she was left with several new scars, but none of them replaced the old ones, which she would have accepted with open arms. Or maybe, just maybe it was because Tom was now tending to her, and with her precious Burberry scarf upon the woven table before her, there was nothing keeping him from witnessing just how hideous she looked.

A tortuous week had resulted in failed attempts of curing her ailments. They had relied on the Healing students when all hope seemed lost, but after four sessions she remained unaffected. Though she grew a bit of confidence to separate herself from her veil, it had surely sunk at an all time low again, especially seeing Stephanie with her beautiful face doing everything she could to impress Tom. Negativity flooded her thoughts and she found it very hard to believe that something would change.

The sessions were conducted by the Healing students, all divided into groups of four, each containing of a team of five students. The first case was given to group A, who had brewed a Polyjuice potion, using a grain of her hair, hoping that it would provide a relief for her to hide her scars. They failed dismally and she overheard Dr. Grant shouting utter disappointment at them, even announcing that they were all going to fail.

The second case was given to Group B, who brewed another potion, except instead of drinking it she had to smear it over her face. It took effect immediately. She felt it soaking into her pores. She felt miniature movements along her face and thought that it was a positive sign. However, after a few minutes had elapsed, her face remained the same. Dr. Grant took up the investigation on what they did. It turned out that they had created a product that would act like a facial cleanser by scanning the facial tissue and removing unwanted marks. In Marietta's case however, her pimples went unrecognized. Dejected she returned to the wards and spent the rest of the time in her room.

The third case was given to Group C, who decided to take a much more adventurous route. They had created a mask, made from Group A's idea with the Polyjuice potion. In turn they conjured up another potion that they warmed using a hot air charm. The potion was created as a by product from a Furnunculus jinx, that is, a pimple jinx, but by applying the hot air the molecules would be split up and thus execute the opposite to what the jinx did. Then, they mixed both in a flask and after carefully stirring gave to Marietta. It was extremely warm she thought, as she held the flask, but she had tried a ton of facial cleanser products, even those that were Muggle made, and knew that hot water was usually the key to washing them off. Carefully she smeared the blue, watery liquid upon her face gliding her hands along her skin, pressing in heavily wherever she felt her blisters more pronounced. The heat certainly sunk into her face, but for some reason she did not sweat. One of the students seemed pretty happy that she didn't, indicating that it meant it was a success. After a few minutes, Marietta felt something pressing on her face, a lot softer than her palms, gushing from her forehead. She made to grab at it, but they told her that it was the product taking effect.

She didn't feel any pain, but as the ripples made their way to her cheeks she felt her forehead growing much lighter. Finally, as she felt it on her chin, everything stopped. She felt something stiffening against her lips and chin, before finally growing lighter. The student's faces were enough to let her know that it was a success. She quickly grabbed the mirror beside her scarf on the woven table at the centre, something she hadn't done in a while. She was very startled at the reflection looking back at her. There she was all perfect. Her fair skin glowed in the rays of the beams of light shining down around her. She quickly grabbed at her cheeks where the SNEAK ran across, and grew disappointed that she could still feel it.

"What this is," the leader of the group said, "is a protective coating mask. Do you still feel warm underneath?"

"Yes I do,"

"Well, the heat being generated is being absorbed from your mask, and then what will happen is that your face will get pasted over with the mask, and then when you remove it, it will be gone in a few hours."

So Marietta joyfully skipped out of the Healing office, but just as she rounded a corner along the concrete floor, her jaw dropped. She felt her face erupt in burns, much like she recalled that night. She felt it first at her forehead. Quickly she grabbed hold of it, her heart pounding rhythmically as she recalled the events from that night in Dolores Umbridge's office. Suddenly she felt upon her once smooth forehead, buttons spreading from left to right. Just then, her cheeks erupted furthermore, her nose, her lips and her chin. Panicked, she rushed back into the office. The students were cleaning up their workstations where Dr. Grant was discussing their grade. As she stormed in, she began stammering, until Dr. Grant checked out what she was discussing. Suddenly where her hand had touched, Marietta felt her face burning again. She screamed out, and Dr. Grant panicked as she felt more blisters forming on her chin. She quickly called out to the team's leader who explained what his products were and quickly Dr. Grant ordered them to remove it. They were all rooted to their spots as they explained that it could not be removed save for the time limit they set.

Angrily, Dr Grant drew her wand and muttered an incantation. A bluish glow shot out from the wand onto Marietta's forehead. She asked Marietta to stay still for a moment, warning that it would pinch. It certainly didn't pinch. It stung! Grunting but holding her tongue, Marietta kept her head up. Her nurse's face said many things when she was done. The students beside them looked startled. Quickly, Marietta grabbed the mirror still at the table across the room and looked on. She dropped the mirror to the floor and started weeping. Her face was now severely pasted with acne. It ran lengthways across her entire face, from her forehead to her chin, even across those purple blisters that spelled out the word SNEAK. Dr. Grant threw a shoulder over her, muttering those words she hated, "It will be all right dear."

Marietta resorted to wearing her shemagh scarf again. It took an entire day, which Marietta spent lying on her bed claiming she was ill for Katherine not to nag her, for the pimples to abscond from her face. Dr. Grant paid her a visit and said that she had a cure to heal her recent complications, making use of Group B's product which cleared away the excess pimples that had scarred her face. It worked immediately and she threw herself into her nurse's arms, not wanting to let go. Dr. Grant decided that she should take a couple of days before returning for the final group. She also informed her that their results were submitted and everything prepared them for a better attempt.

Now came the final group, and Marietta was extremely nervous. The summer vacation was nearing an end. She would be released shortly and if this failed she was surely looking at suffering for the rest of her life. The only bit of confidence she had was the previous night whilst heading to her room, she saw Tom with his group going over some notes. They seemed pretty confident, and as little faith as she had in them, she certainly had that vision of Tom being her knight in shining armour saving her, a prospect that made her blush and rush away into her room as if they could see through her thoughts.

"Okay Marietta, it's ready!" said Tom in a perky tune.

She shifted her gaze slightly seeing him just beneath the chest, wrapped in his white healing cloak. In his clenched hand he held a number of leaves that looked as if it were in the sun for too long. Beside him came Stephanie holding a glass bowl with both her hands, stirring with a grey substance. Tom dropped the leaves inside and suddenly they began disintegrating into the substance turning the colour to a lighter grey. Another student came up beside them and flicked his wand vertically and suddenly the substance turned to solid.

Stephanie fumed for a moment, and turned the bowl over, without the substance spilling. "We might need a few more minutes you idiots..."

Tom patted his finger on the substance smiling. "No, it's good. Maybe not the block we wanted but just get the water okay,"

"Accio mug!" the girl behind them shouted and a mug appeared before her. She pointed her wand inside muttering, "Aguamente." The jar filled with water.

"Good, all right, Marie... would you like to stand up?"

Marietta stood up and approached them. Stephanie's eyes locked onto her face, Marietta quickly bent her head again but could still feel her staring. Tom placed the bowl on the table, as the other student approached.

"Well it was supposed to be like a bar of soap but we didn't have anything like ice trays..."

"Okay,"

"It will work though," said the other girl behind the group, popping up with the mug.

Cupping her hands, Marietta took the water and splashed it on her face, feeling spills of it leaking upon her pink shirt. Using her wet hands she rubbed her wet finger on the huge block, feeling it being stained by the soap. Using both her wet palms she rubbed in until her hands were grey like the liquid. She looked at the others all looking on in awe. Here goes everything. Firstly targeting her cheeks where the SNEAK pimples had now grown into, she rapidly began rubbing her face with the soap. Stephanie advised her to repeat the process a couple of times until the soap was thickly covering her face. Marietta rubbed it around her face, avoiding her eyes.

"So what now?" she asked looking at the other boy in the group, standing next to Tom as he was looking through his paper.

"Well, you have to leave it for a few moments." He placed a small hour glass on the table, and patted it with his wand, "Five minutes should do. Then wash it off and we will have to see the results."

"Obviously, it wouldn't heal it right away... but, it should help possibly discolour it from being... purple and gradually take effect."

"How will we know if it works in the long term?" Marietta responded to Stephanie sharply.

"Well," came Tom's soft melodious voice, "we went down to the garden and retrieved strands of Athelas herbs. It's a healing herb, mainly used for medical poisons and such, but that's why we made this potion. In it is a poisonous substance, don't worry, the herb would have killed it and fermented the liquid. So basically the poison would have disintegrated most of the molecules, so, mixed with water spreads it about your pores and well, it is usually immediate with the herb. Most times, it keeps one from dying long enough to attempt to heal..."

"Basically, it will fade the colour immediately, and the purple spots underneath the pimples would fade too, but the blisters are still too large, by the end of the week, if you use it three times a day, you will see a big result," interrupted the other boy, who Marietta now noticed wore an identification card, issued to Frank Spencer.

"Okay," said Stephanie looking somewhat glaringly at Frank for cutting off Tom, "so I think that should about do it,"

The other girl looked over to the hour glass that just poured out the final grains of sand.

Marietta cupped her hands again as Tom filled it with water. He stepped back as she splashed it across her face, perfunctorily rubbing around her cheeks again. She cupped it again and he filled as she splashed once more, rubbing off the coatings of the substance. Stephanie gave her a towel that she began wiping her face with.

"Excuse me a moment," said the girl to Marietta aiming her wand at her clothes, "Ventus Duo!" Marietta felt a stream of hot hair gush at her clothes, drying them up and in turn drying her skin that it had penetrated onto.

She wiped her face once more and then looked up at the others.

They all stood together looking at her, Stephanie with a slight smirk. That smirk could only suggest that she must have been satisfied with the results. Quickly, Marietta grabbed the mirror on the table, but Tom had already started talking.

"It worked!"

Marietta heard it and quickly pulled the mirror up to her face. There it was: the hideously, large, ugly pimples scattering across her cheeks, totally faded from its purple colour but slightly darker than her skin tone. Marietta smiled for she hadn't felt that way in a long time, not counting her slight moment of triumph after Group C's effort. She studied the mirror for a while, before looking up at the group, all smiling, with high fives radiating across the room. She looked at Tom and smiled.

"It worked... I don't believe it..." she said.

"It does!" he said beaming.

The door opened and Dr. Grant entered. She smiled at the group, "Good job. Marietta, how does it feel?"

"Well, does this mean it will clear everything up?"

"Yes, it does!" said Stephanie, apparently defending her work. She turned to Dr. Grant and began telling her what they did.

Marietta studied her face again, half smiling before overhearing Dr. Grant ask a question, "Did you use Kingsfoil?"

"Yes we did..." said Tom.

"Kingsfoil... Kingsfoil..." Dr. Grant lingered for a moment holding her chin, "that helps withdraw poison from substances, at least temporarily while Healers can cure them. If you didn't use a cure for the potion, then that could mean that the molecules..."

The other students seemed stunned for a moment. They all gathered around Frank and began skimming through his paper. Dr. Grant seemed a bit perplexed, analysing different possibilities. "It's likely that if you didn't mix a cure, even after the weed is used, the molecules could still rejoin... then..."

"What's going on? Is something wrong?" Marietta asked.

"No dear, nothing detrimental. But the weed doesn't kill... poison, it temporarily paralyses it, and then it reforms without immediate revival. Kingsfoil is only temporary to prevent it from spreading. Then, what happens is that the broken atoms eventually combine again, reversing the symptoms."

"Poison?" she asked nervously.

"No, you won't be poisoned, but then it is likely that the substance you rubbed on, the molecules will rejoin and then it would be like you just washed your face with the potion, which could not have an impact after all..."

Nervously, Marietta spent the next few minutes on her bed, while Dr. Grant discussed the grades with the students outside. She overheard them given a B, which agitated her mind furthermore with what would happen. She longingly gazed at her face in the mirror. She longed to see her beautiful self looking back, but she was equally as happy seeing normal blisters chiselled onto her skin, as abnormal in size as they were despite the word sneak still printed. Tom was pretty disappointed she saw, when he realised the mistake they made. She thought about it, realising how difficult it must be for everyone to help her. Perhaps it was a lost cause. This was her life as she knew it. In just a moment, her pimples would regain their colour and Dr Grant would come in and tell her that it was all right.

Instead, some hope came despite the return of the purple stains. Dr. Grant whole heartedly believed that the product would work and was issuing the group to remake it, but instead of using Kingsfoil weed, several strands of Abyssinian Shrivelfig would be replaced. Marietta remembered learning about it in her second year Herbology class, and immediately remembered it as a shrinking solution. Dr. Grant explained the contents and believed that it would be sufficient to reduce the pimples, and eventually remove it from her face. The only drawback was that there was no way to tell how long it would be before she saw any result, another thought that concerned her greatly.

"What a loser," said Stephanie, sitting outside in the lounger leading to the walkway that would lead down the aisle to Marietta's hospital room, with a group of other students who had attended to the magical malady. They all burst into laughter, except Tom, Frank and the other girl, Asher, whose eyes narrowed harshly on Stephanie for her haughty personality.

"Blimey, large purple pimples? That's just hilarious... and I find it funny that it won't go away. You all don't actually think Dr. Grant's idea will work do you?" asked one of the students.

"Oh, well... we will do it anyway. We are going to get an A plus for certain once we do it. Whether it works or not, it's not really our concern, but for the effort we will do well," boasted Stephanie again

The other students complained that their failure resulted in poor grades.

"So," started another student, "we are being failed for someone being ugly?"

"She is not ugly!" snapped Tom, standing up from his bench.

"Oh, did I strike a nerve?" responded the boy.

"We are all Healers, it doesn't matter what grade we get. We have a patient suffering..."

"Suffering, really? I don't know what kind of ward rotations you get Tom, but that isn't really a medical catastrophe," replied Stephanie.

"Steph, it affects her a lot. She has to walk around hiding her face, ashamed. It may not bother her medically, but it is a malady and it makes her lose confidence in herself."

"If I didn't know better, I'd say Thomas has a bit of a thing for the girl," said Gregory Johnson sitting next to Stephanie.

Tom as per usual, smiled receiving a mixed reaction from the group, except from Stephanie who seemed a bit flustered. Tom's face recoiled as he pondered over their insinuations, finding it gross to like someone younger than him, still in school. "No, I am just saying she is a patient,"

"Yeah, a patient whom he went out with a few nights ago," said Stephanie.

Gregory led the whistles this time, asking Tom if he mixed his part time job with pleasure. Tom blushed immensely at the accusations, even more so when Frank and Asher looked at him with raised eyebrows teasing him.

"Look it's not like that she didn't have anything to do..."

"Enter you..." said another student cackling in the corner.

"I have another round to do here this afternoon, I don't have time to waste on you lot," Tom announced picking up his bag and throwing it over his shoulder, "and I suggest you all get to yours too..."

Frank and Asher stood up and walked ahead of Tom to the door, keeping it open as Tom spoke to them. "I will walk you guys, I am heading to Block Thirteen right now."

Frank entered in opening the door, nodding at somebody coming down the aisle. He held the door open for them.

Asher entered nearly bumping into whoever it was, "Oh! I am sorry. I didn't see you coming..." She stepped back out of the door frame smiling and looking back at Tom who turned around angrily at Stephanie's cynical comment.

"Look at you Tom, have to leave to avoid smiling. That's exactly what someone does when hiding their feelings."

Tom angrily looked at them, "What's wrong with you guys, she is a patient..." Stephanie turned to Greg who rolled his eyes.

"Sure Tom, whatever you say..." she said as the other Healers giggled.

"Really guys, what's wrong with you. Stephanie, do you feel like you have competition or something? She is young, and god, she looks so horrid and ugly, how the heck could you insinuate I like her. Have you seen her face? Unless of course, you have..." He trailed off as he felt someone bump past him from behind the door. He turned around and saw Marietta walking ahead, hastily, towards the exit of the lounge. Ridden with guilt, he looked back at his friends who were all now looking sternly at him. Fuming, he called after her. "Marietta, wait..." he called again as she opened the door. He walked towards her, "Marie!" but was too late. She stepped out and the door slammed shut behind her.