January 10, 1894 — Hospital Wing
@"Daffodil Potts" Adelaide Lawson

"I cannot express enough how glad I am for the extra set of hands," Fiona said as she moved about the hospital wing. She'd done a bit of reorganizing over the holidays--as there hadn't been much else to do, for once!--and was showing Miss Lawson the new places she'd decided to store supplies that were used most often. "Winter is always rife for sniffles, on top of the usual issues."

Of course, the hospital wing was never as busy as Fiona had learned to be accustomed to when she worked at the hospital. Even at its busiest, things were generally much calmer here, and Fi was grateful for it. Still, she thought it was probably much nicer to start here, and she was happy to help students with healing ambitions when she could.

"...And I think that is all that's changed," Fiona concluded, closing the cupboard she'd been showing off. "Do you have any questions?"

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Addie was truly grateful for the opportunity to help Madam Little in the Hospital Wing. With her ambitions to become a healer after her graduation, she was determined to get in as much practice as she could so she would be ready. This was extremely helpful, even if she obviously didn't get to treat patients. At least she could be around and hear how everything was handled.

"I can imagine," the cold weather, everybody being stuck inside together, no sun. It spelled a recipe for disaster. After keeping a runny tally of all of the differences in the Hospital Wing, Addie thought it all made sense, so she didn't exactly have much in the way of questions. She wasn't exactly allowed to handle the potions or anything. "Is there anything specific you would like me to do? I'm not exactly sure how best to help." She knew what she wanted to do, but probably wasn't permitted to do much interacting with other students much.

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"I like to have ready-made poultices on hand for when they're needed," Fiona said. She had all of the ingredients stored in the cupboards, along with some of the trickier potions that required the aid of Professor Valenduris, well-stocked ahead of time so she didn't have to bother the man more than was necessary. But some things Fi made in smaller batches for various reasons and remade as needed. "It's a job that goes faster with an extra set of hands, and shouldn't be too difficult to teach."

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"I would be happy to learn." Anything that would be good experience for her future career was high on Addie's list of things to learn. She was pretty good at potions, so making a poultice shouldn't be too hard, right? "I do well enough in potions." She assured Madam Little with a wide smile. She'd been allowed to continue on at the NEWT level after all. It was sort of like cooking, which she also enjoyed when she was home with her aunt.

"I really do appreciate the opportunity, my aunt says hands on learning is the best way to get the hang of such things." It was the her preferred way as well. She could read about everything and understand it, but it seemed like she never quite got it well until she was able to work through it with her hands.

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"Your aunt's thoughts certainly match my experience," Fiona said. To her mind, it was a mutually beneficial arrangement. She got a little help, and Miss Lawson got a little taste of the healing profession. Really, everyone won.

Fiona had written up a recipe for the poultice she wanted to make first and handed it to Miss Lawson to study as she set up to prepare it. "This is sometime I routinely use for minor scrapes," Fiona explained. "If I were to suggest one bit of healing magic that anyone should learn, regardless of their life path, it would be this one."

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Addie beamed when her little piece of sage wisdom was accepted readily. She looked through the piece of parchment with the recipe that Madam Little wanted help with. It looked pretty straightforward, not too far off from anything she had made in potions class. That was a bit of a relief. She had to work at potions, but it really was all about paying close attention and following the recipe. Thankfully her aunt helped her quite a bit in the summers with it. The extra practice, just like this, was so beneficial to her skills.

"It doesn't look too complicated," Addie smiled. "But I'm not familiar with this ingredient." She pointed to the one she wasn't even sure she could pronounce correctly. "Other than that, I'm very ready to try this." If it was something that the nurse used often, it would be vital to her future repertoire.

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"Let's walk through it together," Fiona said. "I'm sure you'll be comfortable in no time." Practice made... well, never perfect, perhaps, but certainly more competent.

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