Welcome to Charming, where swirling petticoats, the language of flowers, and old-fashioned duels are only the beginning of what is lying underneath…
After a magical attempt on her life in 1877, Queen Victoria launched a crusade against magic that, while tidied up by the Ministry of Magic, saw the Wizarding community exiled to Hogsmeade, previously little more than a crossroad near the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. In the years that have passed since, Hogsmeade has suffered plagues, fires, and Victorian hypocrisy but is still standing firm.
Thethe year is now 1894. It’s time to join us and immerse yourself in scandal and drama interlaced with magic both light and dark.
The cat, which Seraphina had named Heathcliff after the Wuthering Heights character, had found the doxy in the Bythesea solarium. This was thrilling to Heathcliff, who spent some amount of time trying to torment the thing before Seraphina found the pair. She had been trying to rescue the poor thing, but the minute creature could not tell the difference between a hunter and a rescuer. It bit down with some force on the meat of Sera's thumb, and her hand immediately started to purple.
She remembered enough of Care of Magical Creatures to know that doxies were poisonous, and took the floo network to Hogsmeade Hospital. Being wealthy and also possibly poisoned by the doxy, Sera was shown to a room, and she had only been picking at her nails for a few minutes when the door opened.
"Mr. Collins!" Sera said, smiling genuinely at the handsome, adventurous healer. "A pleasure to see you again, although —" she held up her damaged hand "— I wish it was under better circumstances."
It wasn't often Jack was called in to deal with things like doxy bites these days, but the ward was a little busy and he recognized the game on the chart so thought he would see to Mrs. Bythesea himself. "I get that a lot." He chuckled as he entered the room. "Been fighting with doxies this afternoon, have we?" He said as he set her paperwork and the things he usually used to treat a doxy bite down. Fortunately it was pretty straightforward, even though the bites were mildly poisonous, mostly if left untreated.
"I must say, we typically suggest this gets avoided." She had been pleasant to chat with at their last encounter, so he felt comfortable enough for some light teasing to get started.
The chiding he gave her was fair; Sera brushed a stray hair behind her ear, and was unbothered by his comments. She smiled at Mr. Collins. "If it makes me seem smarter," she said, "My cat provoked it first."
She shrugged at him, and added, "Although I suppose it would have been smarter for me to remember that doxies are poisonous."
"I'm sure they deserved it." Once they got in the drapes it was impossible to get them out without help from the ministry it felt like. "How long ago did it happen?" Sometimes he could draw the poison out from the bite, but only within a certain window. It could still be treated with a potion antidote, but the antidote sometimes had side effects.
He held out his hands, a wordless request to show him the bite.
Mr. Collins was just as handsome now as he'd been at the February party; Sera wished that she looked better in this moment, but she supposed that it couldn't be helped. She held out her right hand to offer Mr. Collins, so that he could see the deep purple spreading from where the doxy had sank its teeth into her thumb's flesh.
"About thirty minutes," Sera said, "I have this thing where I come here quickly if my skin starts changing colors."
"A wise conclusion," Jack said of the decision to come in when her skin started changing colors. "Fortunately it's early enough that it won't be too problematic, but I won't be able to extract it." That would have to be within a matter of minutes, best if a tourniquet is placed. Thankfully doxies were mostly irritatingly-poisonous, not deadly-poisonous.
Uncorking the antidote, Jack held it out to Mrs. Bythesea. "Let's start with this while I clean up the bite. We'll know if it's working if your skin returns to normal." It was usually fine, he just hoped the side effects would be mild. "It can cause a little dizziness, nausea, but hopefully nothing too bad."
Sera glanced at the antidote in her hands. She uncorked it, but hesitated. "No other effects?" she asked. She had dabbled in alcohol since her Awakening, but had steers clear of drugs like laudanum — and she did not particular want to take an antidote with any mental side effects beyond dizziness.
"None that I've been made aware of. It is rather strong, so not easy on the stomach. I could get some crackers if it would help?" He would hate for the antidote to make her ill, but it was far better than the doxy poison. And the effects only lasted a short while. The bite could have long term consequences if left untreated.
"Once you take that I can clean you up." He assured her. Everything was well within a good window for a completely successful treatment
Sera shook her head. "If there's nothing else, I should be fine without the crackers," she said. She downed it in one, and shook her head — he was not lying about the dizziness. Sera squinted her eyes shut and held her hand out.
"I will not be sick," she said — half-promise, half-prayer.
Jack watched Mrs. Bythesea cautiously as she took the potion. He certainly didn't want her to get sick and so he suggested, "You can lie back for a moment if it helps, while I get the things I need to clean up the bite." It would be better if he could give her a moment to acclimate herself anyway.
Sera lay back on the examination table as bidden, waiting for the potion to hit her stomach. She already felt vaguely ill about it, but thought that was more about her hesitancy to take magical substances than anything to do with the antidote itself. ''Am I the silliest person you've seen today?'' she asked, seeking distraction.
"Not by half," Jack assured her as he came back over to his stool with the cleaning supplies and ointment. "Had a fellow this morning who thought it would be a good idea to keep a small acromantula in his basement. That did not end well." Of course the man had waited too long to come in and bee seen, because he had the spider illegally. It had ended poorly, an emergency amputation of a couple of fingers to keep the infection from spreading into the rest of his hand and arm. Jack wasn't so sure that would be the end of it, but he had given the ministry a heads up to take care of the creature as well.
"This might sting, just a little." He warned as he put the potion onto a cotton tuft to clean out the bites on her hand.
"Oh, now that's a strange one," Sera said. She may have let Heathcliff get her into trouble, but she had not purchased a dangerous magical beast from somewhere. She exhaled a nervous breath at the stinging prickle in her wound.
"Did he also get arrested?" Sera asked, trying to distract herself with the story of other people's mishaps.
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