Draco was hurt, and he had no one to go to but Madam Pomfrey. He clutched his scorched arm to his chest and hurried into the medical ward, looking everywhere for the nurse. When he found her he could scarcely whimper, and simply held his arm out for her to see the damage.

"Good heavens what have you done?" Pomfrey swept him to a bed and seated him on the starched, white sheets. Draco was unable to to answer through the pain. She pushed his sleeve back further, exposing a horrendous burn on his left forearm, seared across his dark mark from his elbow to his wrist.

"Hold this here," Pomfrey doused a clean cloth with a numbing potion and pressed it to the burn. She hustled off to the medicine cabinet and waved her wand to lift the protective wards. She returned with wound cleaning ointments and bandages. The numbing potion began to take effect, leaving a tickling furry sensation in place of the pain. Draco whimpered once more, this time in relief.

"I spilled in potion class," he explained, hoping the teachers didn't compare notes. He was certain Pomfrey would have no reason to have memorized his class syllabus.

"Slughorn should take more care when teaching the uses of salamander hide," she muttered disapprovingly as she lifted the cloth and gently dabbed a fire potion neutralizer on his arm. Now that the pain was easing, Draco could look at his skin. There were deep channels burnt into his arm, like acid had eaten straight through his skin and deep into the muscle tissue. Which was precisely what had happened, he thought.

"Salamander requires great care," Pomfrey continued, now applying a healing ointment. Her wand remained in its holster. "It builds upon itself. A double dose is four times as powerful as a single dose. A triple dose is more nine times as powerful. Every bit of salamander added makes the fire burn hotter." She began rolling gauze around his arm. "I can't mend this for the next two days. We have to keep an eye on it to make sure we neutralized all of it." She caught his eye seriously, "If we mend it now and even a drop of the potion is trapped, the fire will spread and burn from the inside."

Draco nodded, his stomach tightening in a knot. He took an extra roll of gauze and agreed to re-wrap the wound twice a day for the next two days. He agreed to return if the burn spread or worsened. She gave him a small bottle of numbing potion for the pain and sent him on his way.