It had been a long day, but the little antidote problem with Harwood was bothering Arcturus greatly - a bit more than he really should be bothered about, in honesty. He'd dealt with worse cases, but for some reason this one just stuck. Maybe it was because the number of people voicing the same problem with the antidote in question recently, and there were usually no problems with a normal Antidote to Common Poisons.

Arcturus flipped through Harwood's notes as he examined the intervals between the treatments, noting the times. There really was nothing wrong. The administering of the antidote was not required to be precise - not when the poison was just traces of it by now. At least Harwood had the sense to stop eating when his fiancee told him what the mushroom really was.

So what was wrong with it? Arcturus got to his feet and picked up the labelled bottle containing the correct measure of Harwood's treatment. Perhaps Joy would know, and it would be so much better for him to discuss it with someone else at this time of the day; he was aching a little and it was distracting him.

Bottle in one hand, notes in the other, he made his way to her office, making a mental note to himself to get back to stocking when he was needed. He hoped she was in; she'd passed his desk earlier on in the direction of her office and he hadn't seen her since then.

He cleared his throat and knocked on her door with the hand holding the notes, careful not to drop the antidote.

Joy was surprised with the fact that no serious case had been reported today. Instead, she had used her time to take inventory of the potion ingredients in the lab room, go to buy and get ingredients to restock what was missing or low, get through several patients records to update some things, and take notes about the antidotes that were recently being used the most. Antidote for Common Poisons seemed to be it, as always.

Just as the healer was sorting through a section on notes that she had taken on recent poisonings she had treated, a knock came at her door. "Coming, dear." With a wave of her wand, Joy straighten some of the papers on her desk, then walked over to the door and opened it. "Ah, Arcturus. Please, come in." She closed the door behind him, then used her wand to move a chair from the wall so it was facing her desk, and motioned for him to sit.

Joy sat back in her own chair at her desk. "What brings you to my office today?"

The door opened; Arcturus gave her a quick smile in response to her greeting and entered without a word. He watched her move the chair, but he wasn't inclined to sit down. He might not be able to stand up again.

"Afte-- Eve-- oh, you know what time of the day it is. I was wondering if you've heard of the recent cases involving the Antidote to Common Poisons? Not its efficiency, more of its...sudden ability to inflict some sort of scratchy throat issue."

He put the notes and the antidote on her desk. "This is the most recent case for now. Harwood's getting better, but the antidote still has the odd effect. Most likely nothing to do with the actual working of the antidote, then."

He looked at her. "Any ideas as to why this is happening? I haven't had the time to test the potion, but maybe an ingredient is being problematic."

Joy didn't take mind to the fact her co-worker didn't take the casualty to sit down. However, when Arcturus stated the problem a faint frown creased her face. "I have not been informed of such a problem with the Antidote to Common Poisons."

Taking the bottle, Joy removed a glass phial from her desk and poured some of the antidote into it, beginning to examine the contents of the phial. She looked it over, then smelled it.

"If the antidote still works fine then whatever is causing the problem must not be something too serious. A small mishap when the potion was made is probably to blame. The color is fine, and it smells as usual." The healer then held the top of the phial and starting to move it in slow circles, watching how it moved to check the consistancy.

A smile came across her face as Joy became aware that she had found the problem. "The consistancy is a little off. Parts of it aren't as smooth as they should be." The healer stuck her finger into the antidote to feel it, then pulled it back out. "It seems as though the bezoar was only crushed into a fine powder instead of a very fine powder."

Wiping her finger on a towel from a drawer in her desk she kept for potion spills, the healer looked back up at Arcturus. "Are you aware of who made this batch of Antidote to Common Poisons?" Joy wasn't angry, she was simply hoping to go to who had and teach them the difference between very fine and fine by appearance and texture so the mistake wouldn't be made again.

Arcturus watched her test the potion, and then make her conclusion. When she looked up at him, he shook his head. "I haven't been assigned on stocking shift this week - or last, come to think of it. I also haven't heard of anyone else in the hospital who worked in the stocking areas recently."

He looked around for a moment, and then his brow furrowed. "Don't you have a schedule somewhere for the stocking shifts? Or is that up to the Head Healer and not up to the Healers-in-Charge to decide?"

He picked up his notes again, seeing as she most likely didn't need them.

Joy shook her head. "It is not up to me to decide, just to make sure that the inventory is filled. I'm responcible for making most of the more complex antidotes and treatments that require greater skill, and for stocking something if it is getting low without notice or not restocked."

Dismissing the thought, the healer rose from her chair. "It doesn't matter. I will simply make more Antidote for Common Poisons myself and we can throw out any of this week's stock." Joy walked over to where Arcturus stood. "Would you like to join me Arcturus? If we both make a cauldron we can replace any from this week and stock next week. That is, if you are not busy right now."

"It'll be a pleasure to do something." Arcturus gave her another quick smile; he was tired, sure, but anything to keep him on his feet.. "I've managed to finish most of my tasks today. Apart from one treatment later on tonight, I'm free - and I don't have anything on between now and that time." He absently gestured with the hand holding the notes. "I'll just need to put these down on my desk, which will be fine since it's on our way out."

He glanced at the antidote bottle sitting on her desk. "I'll dispose of this one on our way there as well. The next treatment won't be til the day after tomorrow, and from his records it's possible the hospital may discharge him later."

With a smile, Joy put her wand back into a pocket in her uniform, walked over to the door, and opened it. "After you." It was common for the healer to be polite like that, even with those who had a lower status than herself.

Exiting and closing the door behind herself, Joy followed Arcturus to his desk, then to the lab room. Pulling out her wand, Joy perform a series of summoning spells to get all of the ingredients, it was always faster than gathering them by hand. "I'm quite sure you are familiar with the recipe, as am I, so the recipe book won't be needed. Am I correct?" The witch had been brewing Antidote for Common Poisons and Antidote for Uncommon Poisons for around thirty-one years, she had memorized how to make both.

"It's an easy antidote to make, compared to other potions," Arcturus replied, observing the ingredients. He looked up at her and smiled, a little more genuinely and with a slightly more alive hint this time. "If I weren't familiar, you might need to get a new Healer on the floor; as it is, you know you don't."

He picked up the bezoars. "These are fairly good quality, it seems we've got ourselves a good batch this week. What do you think?" With a quick move, he slipped out his wand from his sleeve and summoned two mortars to grind up the bezoars before slipping his wand back into sleeve as if nothing had happened. "Would you like me to help with the grinding first? Or prepare the measures and cauldron before joining you?"

"Yes, they were the best that I could find. Very nice selection of bezoars in the Apothacary today." It was Joy's job to restock the potion ingredient inventory, as she had done that day. Most of the plants needed were homegrown, cared for by Lily and grown with dragon dung fertilizer so they were always quite healthy and well-tended, but everything else was hand chosen from the Apothacary.

Slipping her wand into her wand pocket, the healer took one of the bezoars and picked up a pestle. "It would be quite helpful if you prepared the cauldron, since you are offering." Joy put the bezoar into the mortar, then began to pound it the stone-like object with the pestle. After a number of hard blows it was in smaller pieces, and the witch started to grind it, moving the pestle in circular motions.

After the bezoar was nearly the size of dust, Joy stopped. "Would you like me to grind your bezoar as well?"

Arcturus nodded and moved over to the balances, picking up the required ingredients along the way. The clinking sound of the mortar soon filled the room as he carefully divided the batch of ingredients into the right measures, using the balances available.

Eventually he returned to the cauldron and prepared it, dropping in the right measures. He was so caught up and enjoying the simple process that he nearly missed Joy speaking to him. Thankfully, he caught it in time.

"Oh. Yes, go ahead." He was a bit distracted from his usual peaceful manner. "I'll join you shortly."

Eventually he finished what he was doing and returned to the mortars. "Is it all right if I come back here? Or have you already finished?" he asked with a chuckle, keeping his tone lighthearted and  bright.

At Arcturus's responce, Joy repeated the process on the second bezoar, getting it down to a very fine powder. She looked up at Arcturus, watching him prepare the cauldrons. "You are only preparing the cauldron, correct? Crushed bezoar is the first ingredient."

She finished the second bezoar and waited for her co-worker to return. "Sorry, I finished yours." She picked up the two mortars of crushed bezoar and walked over to the cauldrons. "Here is yours," Joy said, giving Arcturus the second mortar. She took out the right measuring tool, then used it to put four measures of the powder into her cauldron.

"Mm, I'm just checking things." He cleaned out the cauldron. "It's been a while; I was worried about being rusty for a moment. But it's fine."

He looked up as she approached the cauldrons, and took the second mortar from her. "No need to apologise, it's quite all right." Carefully, he retrieved the four measures of finely crushed bezoar from it and set it down somewhere safe before adding in the powder into his cauldron, gently tapping the measuring tool he was using against the rim to get all the powder in while looking around to locate the rest of the ingredients he had already measured and put aside.

"So how has it been in your world lately, Joy?" he asked nonchalantly, adding in the right amount of standard ingredient. "Any interesting cases around? Or has there been any news on updating current healing methods?"

"Fine, no patient had anything that new," Joy replied as she poured two measures of standard ingredient into her cauldron. As Healer-in-Charge, Joy healed patients with rare poisonings, severe poisonings, and new or unknown poisonings. "There hasn't been any new healing methods I've heard of. Though, the most interesting case I've had in the past few weeks is someone who bought a Streeler in Diagon Alley as a pet, but it slithered onto him when he was taking a nap."

She used her wand to increase the heat of the fire to a medium temperature, then brought it back down five seconds later. "Burned the skin off of the front of of his leg, even farther in some parts." Joy channeled magic into her cauldron, and then left it to brew.

"It took a Blood Flow Charm, disinfectant, Antidote to Uncommon Poisons, Vulnera Sanentur, Star Grass Salve, and a lot of Dittany to heal. Not to mention a large amount Blood-Replenishing Potion. Poor thing would have bleed to death if he hadn't come when he did." She slipped her wand back into her pocket. "Any new cases for you?"

He listened to her as he heated his cauldron for five seconds, keeping an eye on the brew and making sure it was according to what he was familiar with. As he waved his wand over it, he shook his head.

"Really, a Streeler? Oh well, careless handling happens." Arcturus slipped his wand into his sleeve. "Although if we had more witches and wizards with common sense, we wouldn't be this busy.

"Me? Nothing much either. Possibly my most exciting case this week so far has been a wizard who accidentally mistook the berries of the belladonna plant to be blueberries and ate ten of them." He stood back from his cauldron, watching the potion brew.

"The solution was apparently Antidote to Uncommon Poisons, but I had to Petrify him to administer it in the first place. And then it took an Induce Vomiting Charm and the Reparifors Charm to get rid of the effects of the poison. He was discharged yesterday and I made sure he went home with a pamphlet on recognising belladonna and other plants of the nightshade family." Arcturus shrugged. "Education is a must, after all."