12 August, '93 — Hogsmeade Hospital

Her legs squirmed in the chair, more uncomfortable than usual with her hands firmly underneath. Usual, for the urchin, had gotten worse and worse over the last few days. Maybe that should have told her something earlier, but she could be forgiven for not keeping track of the days in August. An itch or two was normal, comforting really. Scratching something felt good, just so long as she didn't really dig in hard. A little scratch brought in sweet relief, something pleasant on a hungry day or when there was nothing else to do.

Lately, it seemed like all Charley was doing was scratching.

"I was thinking I en't got it bad, everyone's got itches," she was saying. It did help to talk about it, in a way. She wasn't scratching, or thinking much about scratching. But talking about itching meant thinking about scratching in a roundabout way, so Charley tried to talk fast to get through it. "But then I hear about the mange. And about some poor bloke's dog that's got the mange and he keeled right over one day, deader than a doornail."

She shook her head, nearly dislodging the cap tucked firm around her ears. It itched there too, and around her neck, at the tip of her nose, and even on top of her knees. Charley squirmed again, trying to keep her hands firmly underneath her. "I don't wanna keel over."

Charley could hear the quiver in her own voice, and she buttoned her lip. Not today, she told herself.

Not on her birthday.

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Open to welcome witches, healers, or even fellow waiting room patients.

  

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Tabi had grown used to her overnight shifts, so much so that when she was asked to cover a shift for the walk in cases, she hardly knew what time of day it was anymore. The waiting room had quite a few people in it, but nobody looked in dire straights, so she figured she may as well start with who she'd seen come in first.

"Why don't you come with me and we'll have a look?" She smiled gently at the youngin' who was complaining about something being itchy. Could be anything really, considering the girl didn't seem all that clean. Tabi had to wonder if she was of the working class or an orphan. Regardless, Tabs would treat her just like any other patient.

Motioning for the girl to follow her, Tabi started toward a nearby exam room, holding the door open. "My name is Miss Chevalier, now what exactly is bothering you?" Tabi smiled, moving to her station to take some notes.

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For a second, the urchin had to beat back the desperate urge to run. The lady who approached her looked half like a ghost already, and she didn't need anyone helping her on to the afterlife at this rate!

It took all she had for Charley to pry her butt out of the back of her chair, and her freed hands immediately flew to the back of her neck to scratch at the itch waiting there for her. That made her feel a little better, for a moment anyway. A little, "Yes'm," escaped her throat, not knowing if she was heading into an exam room or straight to heaven's door.

She just knew the top of her head was itching now.

Charley pulled the cap off her head, ignoring the slim braids that tumbled out of it. Her fingers dug around in her hair, trying to find the exact placement of the itch now. She plopped down where half-ghost lady showed her where to sit, scratching at her head. "Well, I got the morbs with these stupid itches, don't I?!"

The urchin tipped her head forward to show the lady, then pointed at her face and neck, under her arms, and a few other places, "And it's here, and here, and a bit of everywhere, really."

Everyone itched sometimes, but surely not everywhere all at once!

She looked at her hands, and then stuffed them under her knees again so they wouldn't make things worse. If that was even possible anymore. "It's mange, innit? Just let me write one last letter before you put me down, please."

If Charley only had one more chance, she'd use it to try contacting her parents again. Maybe she could send them the rest of her magic, too, even if she wasn't sure what her Muggle folks would use it for. It couldn't even stop her from itching, so what good was magic really?

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For a split second, Tabi was torn between astonishment of the young one's complete lack of manners, and amusement at the sheer straightforwardness with which she spoke. Choosing neither, she remained professional and started to look where the itchy spots were indicated.

"Do you mind removing your outer layers so I can get a closer look?" It was hard to see a good sample of the irritation when it was either on the girl's scalp or under her clothes. "When did it start?" So far all she could tell was it was red and raised and itchy. Could be anything really, so she needed a better look and some more information.

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"Don't bother me none," Charley offered with a shrug. It meant pulling out her hands again, and she scratched at her bare head once before catching herself. The buttons of her vest came apart, one after another, and the urchin was pretty sure they could have been here all day if that vest had just one more button. Her shirt came off easier, and when she dropped her trousers into the growing pile on top of her doffed shoes, the urchin cast one eye at the ghostly lady.

"They're not worth much, y'know?"

Except to Charley, really. She stood in front of the nurse in just her undershirt and drawers, not worried much about modesty. It was no different than changing into a costume for a play, she had done that in front of her parents' troupe often enough. She only worried about keeping an eye on her clothes, they were about the only ones she had.

There was one more shirt the urchin had stashed away, with a rip down the back she still needed to mend. A change of drawers for washing day, when she could get clean water without being chased out of the park. And her one dress she could still fit into, just a bit shabbier and tighter on her than it used to be. Charley didn't need all the finery some people walked around in, what she had was plenty good enough for her. She only wanted to keep it, and keep an eye on it.

"Lessee, today's a Sunday?" Papa always called it a Funday, for reasons he kept changing when she asked. Ambros told once it was for all the funerals on a Sunday, but that couldn't be right. What was fun about a funeral? Except hers, maybe, someone was sure to be happy for one less begging mouth to feed.

Charley held up a hand of fingers to the nurse while the other scratched idly under the fabric of her undershirt, thinking back to when she had last been itch-free. Might have been Friday, if not for the whole episode of chasing down her wayward cap on Thursday. "Thursday, prolly." Her hand was down to three fingers, then she added another. "Nope, Wednesday, for sure!"

"Why'd'y'wanna know?"

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Tabitha waited with her hands patiently folded in front of her for the young lady to shed some layers. "I don't think they would fit me." She offered by easy way of reassurance. Without any knowledge of the young one's background, by appearance alone, Tabi might assume that she was an orphan, but she didn't like to make assumptions. Without a name to go by, she couldn't ask around, so she would do her best to help get the girl cleaned up and checked out.

"Have you been in the woods at all? Touched anything unusual?" With a better look at the rash itself, Tabi was confident it was contact rash of some sort. Some plant or oil the girl wasn't used to. It certainly wasn't bites or anything of that nature, which was good. "Some things like this move quicker than others. Some of different shapes or colors." Tabi explained as she peeked around the neck of the girl's undershirt. "May I look at your back?" The healer requested. She had a couple of thoughts, but would need to see a larger patch of the rash.

"It's itchy, I can tell, but does it hurt?"

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The ghostly nurse wasn't telling her all that much, she just had a bunch of questions. Like so many grown-ups, all questions all the time. It was like Charley couldn't have a brain at all until she could see eye to eye with them. The first thing she planned to do then was stare down each and every adult who asked her a question until they answered two of hers!

"Not a thing good about the woods out there, 'cept if you like ghoulies and crawlies and centaurs. And I en't met a centaur yet," the urchin said with an obvious tone. She held her hands up in front of her to examine them, wiggling each finger as if she might remember more that way. There were plenty of things Charley had touched lately, and plenty more she thought were unusual. Then again, the whole magic world was still unusual to her, the pale lady would probably think she was silly for finding so much strange still. "Dunno. Bunch o'flowers that I water in Miss Crouch's shop, I guess? Or that spooky gate on Bludger Bend, 'cause someone sent a pot of geraniums there and the bloke who answered gave me the willies."

He'd said he could tell where she ended and the flowers began, which had confused her until she was walking away. Then the urchin was just mad she hadn't thrown those stupid flowers in his face. "Whatdja mean, they move?! " Charley looked back at the nurse, who had eyes fixed on some point on her back. Her wary eyes joined them, as if she could see any more than shoulder or the fabric of her undershirt on top of it. The urchin kept them there anyway, searching for signs of movement.

It seemed like the nurse couldn't tell either, because the next thing Charley heard was her asking to see more. "'Course, yeah!"

The urchin couldn't get the fabric apart fast enough. Her fingers scrambled at the buttons and ties, there were only a few of them but they made her vest seem wide open by comparison. Charley practically ripped the fabric of the undershirt off her back, not even thinking of keeping a watchful eye on her clothes now. She would have gladly given them to the nurse just to know there wasn't anything ghoulie or crawlie moving on her.

"Hurt? No, but," Charley squirmed, her shoulders moving this way and that as she tried to catch a glance. Her hands reached back to scratch at the bare skin on her back before she knew what she was doing. She couldn't help it, every thought of hers was trained on her back and that made it itch even more. "Is it bad? Is it moving? What is it?"

She couldn't help the alarm rising on her voice. Curse the bloody mange, Charley had never heard it could move! Or change her shape or colors. The urchin pulled her hands back to look at them, hoping not to see anything green or purple or black-like on them. There was one spot of ashen grey staring right back at her. That couldn't just be soot or dirt, not after the ghost lady had just told her about what the mange could do to her.

Her hands thrust behind her so the nurse could look. The urchin could barely hold still, desperate for answers and relief from the acursed itching. "It's on my hand now, too!"

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Tabitha hadn't meant to incite panic in the girl and she stepped back for a moment as she started to make it so Tabi could take a look at the rash. "Moves as in spreads, meaning there's more on your body. Some stay in one spot, others will spread out and be everywhere." Which appeared to be the case here.

Taking note of the possible interactions where the girl could have gotten something, she ruled out the geranium but if she was in some sort of flower shop, maybe that was where she had come into contact with something. At first glace of the girl's back, Tabi could at least confirm is was some sort of contact rash. They were all generally the same ands he could start to treat it without knowing exactly what had caused it.

"I believe you just touched something you shouldn't have, like poison ivy, you scratching is why it's spreading and it's now on your hands." She explained as she moved to the counter to start mixing a salve to put on it that would help calm the itch to begin with. "I'll make you something to put on it and then I'll get you a potion to help as well." She explained as she started mixing.

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"Oh!" The voice came breathless from the panicked, wired urchin withering at the mercy of the ghostly nurse. All at once she felt utterly silly and exposed. She felt cooler air on her back when the nurse abandoned her to the counter, and pulled her hands back. Charley tucked them under her arms, feeling the chill of the examination room creeping through her bare skin now, and her muscles tensed to stave off a shudder.

"Just a potion?" That warmed her a little, but only slightly. Charley had made her fair share of potions in school, and not once had she even blown one up like others in her year. Her only year, yet despite that she found herself peering over at the nurse's work. With her hands warming her ribs she couldn't scratch now, anyway, and felt enough restraint to satisfy a calmer curiosity.

"What's it made of?" Charley picked up her foot to scratch at the other leg, intent on keeping her hands docile this time. Besides, the woman said it was on her back and hands, not her feet. The urchin leaned in, close enough to take a sniff of one of the ingredient piles. She pulled back to avoid one of her braids falling into the mixture itself. Charley was far from an expert on potion-making but even she figured that ginger hair was probably not a useful ingredient in an anti-itch potion.

Charley released her hands enough to grab the cap from the floor, arranging her braids underneath as she put it on. It felt silly to be standing there in just a cap and drawers, but right now she was too enthralled by the process to consider it. She nodded once to herself and then asked, "Oh, issat borage? We made potions at Hogwarts, my year. They didn't look nothing like this."

Or maybe it was peppermint. That was used in potions sometimes, she was pretty sure. The urchin had never seen peppermint growing by the side of the road, though, just when it was all picked or cut up. The leafy ingredient smelled like something, she just wasn't sure what it was. Charley shifted from one foot to the next, itches tormenting her back and neck, and worse than that tormenting her mind. Impatience.

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"The potion will come from the stock room, I'll get it in a moment." Those were already made, but the salves were a little trickier, could be fine-tuned for a specific affliction. Tabi heaped ingredients into the mortar and pestle on the counter, adding a little water to give her a more give with the things she had mixed in. "Peppermint, it helps soothe the itch." She was impressed that the girl knew that, though supposed the smell would give it away. Thankfully it masked the less pleasant scents of some of the other ingredients.

Tabi mixed while the girl watched. "It's a salve, not a potion. Similar, but not quite. This will be spread on the rash to help with the itch." Hopefully if they could contain the irritation, there would be less itching and therefore it would stop spreading. "There's a little witch hazel as well that will help."

She continued to add and mix to her satisfaction. "What year will you be going into at Hogwarts?" She asked, thinking some other distraction might help.

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   Charley Goode

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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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Tabi had to chuckle, just a tiny bit at the mention of oatmeal. It certainly would have helped with the itch temporarily, but wouldn't help to get rid of it like this salve would. Motioning for the girl to sit back down, Tabi added one more charm to the salve before she retrieved a what looked like a little spatula from the closest drawer. Slathering it on in a thicker layer would help relieve the itch and heal the rash itself.

"It might be a little cool, but that will help with the itch too," she warned before she started to apply the salve to the girl's back. Tabi worked with the Hogwarts story was told and though she knew a fabricated tale when she heard one, she gave the appropriate responses where she thought them necessary, hoping it helped to distract from what she was doing. "Sounds like they should do something about it," Tabi replied finally as she finished up with the girl's torso, pausing to shuffle around for a piece of clean bandage to wrap around it. The cleaner it was kept, the more effective the paste would be.

"Alright, let's see those hands." Tabi thought that might be the trickiest part, so she'd left it for last. "Is there anywhere else I should see?" She would be send salve with the girl, but wanted to make sure she was thoroughly coated before sent on her merry way.

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absolute beauty by MJ

Ghost lady was actually a good listener, Charley could give her that. She wasn't like some grown-ups who had to interrupt or be contrarian. In fact, Charley was actually starting to like her a bit, even if the nurse's appearance still gave her the willies. The urchin didn't shudder when the nurse gestured in her ghostly way, and she didn't even try to scratch while sitting down again.

"I'm a big girl, I'll live with some cold," Charley shrugged, and then jerked involuntarily as the cool salve hit her back. She grit her teeth after the initial shock, but it wasn't long before her muscles unwound and she found herself breathing normally again. The salve felt like cool water, if water could be stilled and spread on her skin in a thick layer. It tingled and felt odd, but best of all she couldn't feel any more itching where it applied.

Which only meant every other itch suddenly felt like fire demanding water of its own.

"They should. I 'spect they're all busy with a new term and students and sortin' everyone out. Betcha anything in a couple months they'll have it sorted and be beggin' for me to come back." Charley said and held out her hands. She didn't actually know what happened after the first year, really. Could be that everyone had to go through sorting again and first years were just last, or they had to make a funny pledge about their House just to double-check. There were all sorts of rules and strange traditions in the magic world, and the urchin had come to expect something weird before anything mundane by now.

"Couldn't you jes' slather it all over me?" she looked up at the woman for a reaction first before realizing the silliness of it all. The bandage around her torso and hands promised more of it wherever the salve went on, and the thought of it made Charley giggle. "I'd look like a mummy walking out of her, but not one scratching myself!"

She snickered to herself and pointed to a few more places for the nurse's salve if she didn't like that idea. The back of her neck, her knees, anywhere else that felt like it was about to threaten more itching again. "You ask me all these questions but you don't take none," Charley pointed out without malice, then asked, "What's your name anyway? You go to Hogwarts, too? 'Cause you seem way more smart than just someone making salves all day."

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Tabitha continued to listen, nodding here and there as the young miss continued on about Hogwarts and questions and everything else that seemed to cross her mind. "It's Tabitha," she had introduced herself by her surname upon their arrival to the room, but clearly the itching was too distracting. Children seemed to handle first names better in the right setting anyway.

"We'll get you coated and I'll wrap you up." Tabs chuckled at the mention of looking like a mummy. She would indeed look like one before she left. "And whose name should I write on the jar?" She set her wand about applying the rest of the salve, while she put the remainder into a container to be taken home. "I did go to Hogwarts and graduated just a few years ago. I was a Hufflepuff." It felt like longer, she supposed, but hadn't been too long ago. Work kept her blissfully busy and she was incredibly thankful for it.

Once her wand finished up the rest of the salve application, Tabi pulled the bandages from a nearby cabinet and set about wrapping up the worst spots. The rest could absorb quickly enough, but she didn't want anything to scab or be accessible while the salve cleared up the rash. "There. That should take care of it." She was satisfied with the look of it already. "You're probably all set, but if it gets worse or doesn't go away in three days I want you to come back." Tabi instructed. "Apply a thin layer for the next couple of days before you go to bed, rub it all of the way in and let it dry." She wiped her hands on a rag and made some notes on the chart on the counter quickly.

Then she thought of something and pulled it from her pocket. "This will get you a meal in the tea room," she didn't use her own vouchers very often, so didn't have any problems letting this one go. "Why don't you get dressed and we'll get you something to eat before you go."

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   Charley Goode

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Tabitha didn't seem exactly the right sort of a name for a ghost lady. Even though Charley knew by now the nurse wasn't a real ghost, it still seemed like her name should be something grand. Something like Audrey or Æthelthryth, those could be proper names for a ghost and more assurance that Tabitha wasn't one herself. It made her happy to volunteer her own when asked, "I'm Charley, that's with a y."

Her assurance wasn't quite enough to stop the urchin from feeling relieved that the wand was doing the rest of the work today.

The salve felt chilly in a good way, like the brisk air to wake up to on an autumn morning. It made Charley feel itchy again, but an itch to get active and move around again. That was only slightly dampened when the last of the bandages were wrapped over the thicker spots of salve, and the urchin stretched experimentally to find the end of their reach. "That all? Just three days of goin' round like a buttered mummy? I can do that easy, this one time I ate a jar of flobberworms 'cause Xander said I couldn't and I en't let that stand."

She beamed at that claim for a moment before remembering the aftermath of the whole thing put a dour expression in her eyes. In fact, Charley wondered if she'd run the boy off entirely because she hadn't seen Alexander Waterford anywhere around since. "I puked for a week after, but it was worth it to see the look on his face!"

Her own face lit up again when Tabitha presented her with a meal ticket. That was a thousand times better than flobberworms. Charley took the paper happily, slipping it into a pocket as she pull her clothes back on. A cure and a meal was better than she could have expected for her birthday. "Thanks, Miss Tabitha!"

Dressed and ready to head out, the urchin hesitated in front of the nurse. Her feet shifted nervously and her mouth bunched into a contorted mess until she made up her mind. With a heavy hand, Charley plucked the cap off her head and offered it to the nurse. Her braids tumbled back down, giving her face a longer, plaintive look. "I don't got nothing else to pay with right now."

She hated parting with her favorite cap —her only cap, really, unless she could find or steal another one— but Charley had spent her last knut on something to repay Miss Crouch for her troubles. And a Hufflepuff, even a ghostly one, would know the value of something this important. "I'll wanna buy that back from you, if I can...when I got the coin."

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"Charley with a Y it is," Tabitha made a note on the chart, wondering if there was a last name to go with the first, but decided she probably wouldn't be treating any other children quite like Charley.

The anecdote about the flobberworms had Tabi chuckling and grimacing at the same time. She couldn't imagine, but Charley seemed to have come out of it just fine. "You're lucky they aren't poisonous," she made one more note on the chart and then moved to pull a potion from the nearby cabinet that would also help with the itching.

Distracted packing everything up in a little satchel, Tabi nearly missed the offer of Charley's hat as payment. Tabs smiled softly. "No payment necessary, don't you worry." She assured the girl as she passed over the little bundle, pushing the hat back gently as she did so. "Potion is twice a day, morning and night. There's clean bandages and the salve in there. Do you want me to write the instructions down?" She could do that when they reached the cafeteria.

Tabitha turned to wash her hands in the nearby basin and dried them. Carefully she straightened out her apron and motioned toward the door. "I'll show you where the tea room is." She would go just to make sure nobody gave Charley a hard time about using the voucher.

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absolute beauty by MJ