All of the sudden, Charley felt like she should be taking notes. The thought made her shiver, surely it wasn't from the cold of the room. Nor from the look of the ghostly lady, she had started getting used to those ice-blue eyes peering out from the pale flesh of her face. It still seemed much too unnatural to the urchin to look that pale, not that any part of this whole magical world felt natural at all to her.

Didn't mean she wasn't fascinated by a few parts, like stirring together ingredients to make magic happen.

"Ma always usedta make oatmeal 'til it was gross, and then rub it on," Charley remarked, eyeing the concoction in the salve with a keen interest. Peppermint and witch hazel seemed like things Charley could get herself, maybe not at the shop but surely from somewhere around Hogsmeade. She might find some growing out of someone's window box if she skulked around the rich people's neighborhood. It would be better than oatmeal. Her face turned at the thought and she almost shivered again, "I hate oatmeal..."

Charley pulled her arms tighter, wishing the nurse would hurry along. She pressed her cheek into her shoulder and shuffled her feet, anything to warm up a bit more. The question came out of the cold, stilled air, so out of the blue that Charley thought it was an icicle talking to her. No, just the ghostly lady again, making small talk like grown-ups enjoyed doing.

It took her mind off the cold for a second, anyway.

"Wha—? Oh, I did Hogwarts already, but it was only for a year, see? There was this dangerous beast in the dungeons and I stumbled into her nest once." Charley let the story roll off her tongue easily, embracing the distraction as eagerly as a wool blanket. "She had big ol' teeth and claws, but she wasn't gonna use 'em around her babies. She was still the meanest thing I ever met, snarlin' and hissin' at me. I only got out 'cause I used a charm to confuse her, but she spit all over me and now I can't get too close without her knowing."

She was warmer now, rekindled with the little life of the lie inside her. Charley liked telling stories like these, especially to someone who was really listening. "Since the beastie won't leave the school the dusty ol' profs thought I'd be safer if I left. So I can't come back unless the beastie leaves, and if I was her I'd stay forever!"

The urchin could have stayed at Hogwarts forever, too. She could have been happy there, and warmer. Though Charley didn't think she would have ever learned about a peppermint and witch hazel salve for itching at Hogwarts.

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