Hogwarts was even larger than the photographs gave it credit for, Elixa marvelled as they had arrived and set up their stand. It was a little like Durmstrang, but so much friendlier, brighter and not quite as remote. Should could see why the alumni spoke so well of it.

The stream of student traffic to the stand had been fairly constant throughout the day, and at regular intervals they'd been there to demonstrate particular types of skills - bone setting, diagnosing poisoning, how to treat burns, and one that had been particularly well attended by some very curious teenagers - how to deliver a baby. Despite it all being mocked up and pretend, Elixa had found it mightily amusing as a group of boys had leapt back in horror and run away!

As potions and herbology were very important NEWT qualifications for being a healer, Elixa was overseeing a competition for the noses and other senses of the students. She had a series of potions in sealed glass tubes that could not be smelled or tasted, just seen, a set of boxes where hands could be put inside to feel raw materials, and pots with gauze on top which allowed smells to be released, but the ingredients not to be seen. Then finally, tasting of some harmless ingredients disguised as colourless solutions in little glasses.

"Correctly identify eight out of ten and you could win yourself some galleons!" She announced to passing students, willing them to come closer, doing her best to make her Swedish accent leave her words so the teenagers could understand. After a while she felt she needn't bother, they communicated in grunts between themselves without any difficulty...!

The career fair was a source of immeasurable opportunity, but also immeasurable stress.  She knew what she wanted to do; she wanted to be a Healer more than anything else.  It was prestigious without having to put her name or face to the ministry.  She didn’t want to follow her pathetic father’s legacy and she couldn’t rightly take her mother’s maiden name without eyebrows being raised – particularly when all of her exam scores would be registered under her father’s unfortunate surname. 

Dimbleby was destined for a career in the healing arts and despite her lack of experience in herbology, she was making up for it with independent studies and the seminars she was attending were covering a lot of what she thought she needed. 

Whatever the case, she had the pamphlet of booths that were appearing today and made her way toward the St. Mungo’s displays.  She didn’t want to do anything else really, and her eyes were laser focused on finding it.  When she saw the booth, she immediately rushed forward. 

She didn’t think she was going to win anything, but she did want to ask a different question.  Galleons weren’t for her.  “Hello,” Jordyn greeted politely, making sure that no one was coming up to actually partake in the challenge.  “If I may – I do have a couple of questions,” she was being direct: she couldn’t spend too much time here or she’d break into hives. 

Now here was a polite girl indeed. The accent put her as a Hogwarts students, and she was a pretty thing at that. Elixa beamed back at her greeting.

"If I may - I do have a couple of questions,"

"Of course miss!" She responded with enthusiasm, "Elixa Mordent, hospital apothecary," she thrust out her hand and with the other gestured to the apron she was wearing, which bore the hospital's logo.

"I'm not one of the healers, but I'll answer any question I can." She beamed at the student.

"No question too silly - what did you want to know?"

How long had it been since Arcturus had been back at Hogwarts? Hogsmeade yes, but Hogwarts? Just standing in the Great Hall was already giving him nostalgic pangs, so he had hurried off to help Elixa set up the booth in time. Fancy that, being back at the school with the thousand memories.

He was keen to leave Elixa to do the talking. Students these days he wasn't too familiar with and he didn't want to say anything that could possibly ruin their chances of getting people to actually attend the booths. He felt a bit like those muggle magicians he'd seen on the streets once in a while - they'd have an assistant, or ask someone to help. Right now he was the assistant to Elixa's speechcraft, putting on his own contented image. He did whatever she asked him to do, and supplied the props needed for their demos whenever they had need of them.

They'd been frequented quite a bit and he was happy for that, though. More healers were needed in the hospital and he was not above admitting that. He didn't really want to deny that he had pride for his job, but again he was always worried about saying something  wrong or, admittedly, being his healer self. Either one.

He pretended to straighten out pamphlets while he eavesdropped on Elixa's conversation with the student before their booth. It would not be good to make anyone uncomfortable.

Although Ambrose felt his heart was pretty much set on working with creatures, as it was not only his favourite subject, but the only one he was half decent at, he did traipse round the careers fair. Although the Department of Mysteries tent scared the buttocks off him, he had been able to say hello to family.

He found himself gravitating towards the St Mungo's stand owing to the fact they'd had some fairly gruesome demonstrations during the day.

The past year or two there'd been a lot of back and forth for the Peppers to St Mungo's as his mother was a long term patient in spell damage, and in that time he had become slightly curious about healers and their jobs. If he might end up working with animals, he might end up getting hurt.

Hands in his trouser pockets, he had been about to have a go at sniffing some of the things on the stand that the witch was challenging them all to identify, but Dimbleby had caught her attention and was asking questions.

Without intending, he happened to catch a gaze with a healer who was stood nearby, straightening out pamphlets, perhaps listening but not participating in the conversation. Although the man hadn't spoken out or greeted him, he felt a strange being-polite-to-adults obligation to acknowledge.

"Er, hello." Ambrose greeted, drawing closer, glancing down at the pamphlets. He didn't recognise the healer, so presumed he didn't work in spell damage.

"I er, I'm in my fourth year so I've still got some time, but I'm er," he shuffled his hands in his pockets, "not sure if I'm going on to do NEWTs. Don't think I'm clever enough to do them, let alone what you do." He blushed a little and looked up.
"Is there another way to learn to be a healer, than to study NEWTs? Can I, you know, apprentice at the hospital?" He asked, "Sorry, it's probably a stupid question, but I've been wanting to ask."

Apothecary.  Hm, that was interesting.  Jordyn hadn’t really considered the number of different skill sets it took to actually work in St. Mungo’s, nor the sheer amount of diverse talents it required – and that was a little comforting to her. 

“A pleasure to meet you, Ms. Mordent,” Jordyn took the woman’s hand and shook it, noting the apron she was gesticulating toward and Jordyn did like the look of that.  She assumed she’d get a different one, you know, being a healer and all, but donning the logo was something she was definitely looking forward to. 

But, she had important things to ask, and pulling her hand back, she clasped her hands behind her back to continue the conversation.  She opened her mouth to say something, but was momentarily distracted by someone else approaching the booth, but shook her head and turned her attention back to Ms. Mordent.  Yes: her question!

“I was curious about any opportunities for the summer?” she asked in as strong a voice as she could muster.  She didn’t really know if it was the most appropriate question, but she saw some other booths mentioning summer opportunities, and she was the first person to want to be out of her parents’ home as much as possible if she could, so asking was the first step.

Though, if they didn’t, she didn’t want to put the apothecary in an awkward place.  She pursed her lips and then hastily added, “If not, would you suggest anything? You know, that I could do to get an edge up for next year?”

The fact that she was being forced to attend a career fair was ridiculous beyond words. A healer, especially one of her level, did not belong around a bunch of sniveling students, most of whom were completely wrong for the job. Jules fiddled with her necklace and smirked as a shiny-faced toddler waddled his way up to Hollingbury, another Healer at St. Mungo's. The kid had chosen wisely in not coming up to her -- she would have torn him to shreds.

She glanced around, her eyes catching on Elixa's curls. She was talking to a girl who was thankfully much older looking than the kid who'd bumbled his way up to Hollingbury. Nobody had come up to her yet, which was probably for the best, so she waited around and tried somewhat hard to not look completely bored. Which she was.

Arcturus looked up at the timid greeting made to him by a brown-haired boy approaching the table. Well, Elixa was occupied, so he wasn't surprised. He looked younger than the girl talking to her, Arcturus was guessing fourteen or fifteen at most, but he could be wrong--

"I er, I'm in my fourth year..."

--no, he got it right. He straightened up, thankful for the distraction - he was sure his lumbar muscles were starting to creak from bending over the exaggerated pamphlet shuffling.

He listened to the question, frowning a little. It had never occurred to him that there could be other ways, but he had to be honest with himself that he'd never considered it because he never needed to. Either way, he'd been working in the hospital for long enough to know how things worked behind the scenes.

"No, no, it's a good question," he reassured the anxious-looking boy. "Most of the healers who come to work at St Mungo's of course have taken NEWTs, but no healer starts out a healer immediately unless they're a transfer from another hospital. It's usually a few years of working as a nurse, and then a few more years of being a healer-in-training."

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "If you don't have NEWTs, you might be subject to more...strict procedures to make sure that you're up to the task. Perhaps a longer time as a nurse, or even a trainee. I can't say for sure how long that term would be apart from being based on your performance."

That sounded a bit bleak even to him. He added, "If you're not sure about itbut would like to try, we might take in a few students as attachments in the summer. There may be pre-requisites, but I'm not privy to those details and it tends to vary. You're welcome to try for them all the same, we'd love to have more hands on board at the hospital." Oh yes.

"I was curious about any opportunities for the summer?" The student asked, and Elixa's eyebrows raised, and she smiled with delight at the girl.

"Yes, there are opportunities to my understanding, though they may be more observational and mundane, but understanding how the hospital works and how everything takes place is just as valuable as being able to remember the full range of poultices."

She went to turn to retrieve some information from So you want to be a healer? on the stand which Arcturus had been neatening up - in the process nudging one pile over the others without realising.

As she did she caught sight of Jules Deville behind her looking a little displeased to be there. Cheery woman she was!

"Now it would be good to know what sorts of healing you're most interested in. You're aware the hospital is split into departments, yes?" She opened the leaflet and held it out to Jordyn, listing the different departments in a little diagram. Tiny illustrated healers were moving about the wards on the floors.

"For instance, Healer Deville," she raised her voice a little to call the name in an attempt to attract Jules towards them, "Is the healer in charge of Potions and Plant Poisoning, which is also where Healer Hollingbury," she thumbed over her shoulder to the healer with black and white hair, "is also based as it happens. So any application for a summer post would be vetted by the healers in charge."

Just to make it more obvious she wanted to draw Jules into the conversation, she stepped aside and turned, seeking eye contact.

"I'm sure we'll be able to help advise you on the sorts of things they're looking for, subjects studied and such…"

Ambrose felt like a bit of a tool for asking, but too late now, he'd opened his mouth.

The healer who had been tidying up the leaflets in his green robes considered the question with seriousness and didn't laugh at him, so he felt a bit better about it.

"… You're welcome to try for them all the same, we'd love to have more hands on board at the hospital."

Ambrose lowered his head into a little nod, cheeks pink.
"Thank you sir, I just, I'm not sure I'm cut out to study lots of NEWTs, as I learn best doing things and such. I enjoy creatures, but I've always seen a healer to be the most important job of all. What sort of things do the nurses do? I could probably work my way up, like, from the cleaning and stocking and such, learning on the job?"

Dimbleby was infinitely more capable of being a healer than he ever was, but if he could make a small difference and be a set of extra hands like this healer said, and earn a little money once he left after his OWLs, he'd feel like he wasn't a complete failure.

"Did you study lots of NEWTs, sir?"

Jules was stuck here, so she had to get used to it. She did her best to tone down what she was sure was a very annoyed expression. Maybe if she looked approachable, some kid would come up to her and ask questions. If she stayed busy, the time would definitely pass by faster. Besides, maybe a few of these students would have actual potential. Jules was a bit skeptical of anyone's skills except her own, but she had to admit that some people had real talent in the healing area. The freckle-faced kid talking to Hollingbury wouldn't be a Healer for a thousand years, judging by his age, but the older girl talking with Elixa looked a bit more promising.

Just as she was considering this girl's capabilities (judging by appearance alone, since she had little else to work with), Jules heard Elixa drop her name. She tuned in closer, then adjusted her position so that she could join in the conversation once she realized that she had some things to add. "Which courses are you taking?" Jules inquired. This was one of the more important factors when it came down to becoming a Healer. It was a heavy courseload, but a necessary one. "Have you taken any NEWTs or OWLs?"

 “Observation is fine,” Jordyn finally responded, trying not to sound too eager for that, but at the same time, not sure she truly wanted to get her hands all the way dirty yet.  Sure, she’d patched up a couple of people and was doing well in the seminar, but perhaps it was best to leave the real work to the people who were actually qualified. 

Besides, she really wanted to know the next part: what did she need?  Nodding at the fact, Jordyn was aware of the divisions.  “Yes,” she responded politely, as it wasn’t the best to just nod when both of their eyes were trained on the pages.  Her eyes, however, lifted at the mention of another healer, and followed the line of vision from the dark haired woman to a violet haired witch who, while not physically imposing, had a look on her face that could probably kill. 

She didn’t imagine she would enjoy that floor, no matter how much she liked potions, but there were plenty of other options.  Spell damage, to her, was the most intriguing. 

She was about to enquire when the woman came over and didn’t even introduce herself, just jumped in with a question.  Standing up straighter, Jordyn blinked for a moment, thinking about her schedule before she could say anything.  “I’ve taken my OWLS, yes,” Jordyn, and achieved them in Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, Defense, Charms, Potions, Transfiguration, and History.  I’m taking my NEWTs courses in the same subjects,” her voice grew steadier with more confidence the more she spoke. 

“I’m considering spell damage,” she added, if that helped at all.  She didn’t know.  Then that made her anxious.  She tried not to look it even though she was twisting the extra part of the index finger of her right glove in her left hand.   

With luck, Deville took the bait and fired questions at the student. It was perhaps enough to put one off joining the floor.

"Spell damage is a tricky but very worthy floor to train with," Elixa chipped in, "as is potions and plants, but spell damage has a great variety of incidents to treat, from casual over-enlargements to critical burns." She did her best not to look gleefully excited, but just enthused, and slid her hands into her apron pockets.

"There's also the long term patients there with the spell damage to the mind there too. Sorry, rambling on - why does Spell Damage interest you most, dear?"

She glanced back at Jules, wondering if she should leave the two of them to talk and seek to engage some more students with the challenges to identify things instead. Even though the interest lay with another floor, she was more than capable to discuss it, after all.

It had been quite some time since Jules had attended Hogwarts, so she forgot pretty much everything about test-taking. So, she hadn't yet taken her NEWTs, but had received OWLs in a variety of impressive subjects. Regardless, this girl seemed like she was getting her act together.

"Ancient Runes?" Jules inquired. It was a subject that had always interested (and mystified) her. It wasn't a required course for the healer track, so the girl probably had an interest in it, or at least a talent for it. "Very interesting... Have you found any way of including this in work as a healer?"

The girl said that she was interested in spell damage, and Elixa correctly answered all of the questions. She did it in a way that was much more enthusiastic and helpful than Jules would have been able to muster, anyway. "Have you considered Artifact Accidents?" Jules asked. It might be a good area for the girl to consider, if she was planning to use her experiences in Ancient Runes at all.

Just by saying spell damage was tricky made Jordyn that much more determined to do it.  If something was difficult to master, she wanted to be good at it.  Jordyn craved being important and by being one of the few people who could do something she could get that.  Being an expert at spell damage would certainly fulfill that requirement. 

She was glad when the dark haired witch finally asked the question of her.  Trying not to sound too excited, Jordyn still immediately perked up.  “I like challenges, and like you said, there’s a lot to master.  Plus, charms is one of my best subjects.”  That was true.  Of course, the lavender haired woman inquired as to Anient Runes and Jordyn’s cheeks colored a little.  “That’s my other best subject,” she admitted, wondering if she was going to comment on how it was superfluous to healing arts, but Jordyn was pleasantly surprised.

“I – hadn’t thought of it,” she replied honestly, and with a bit of apprehension.  It was a good point. 

Artifact Accidents sounded really interesting, actually.  “Do you have any information on that ward?” Jordyn asked, “like a pamphlet or advice?  Would arithmancy be useful in that area as well, by chance?” It was nice to ask some questions too.  It made her feel more confident that this was what she wanted to do, and she held tightly onto the first pamphlet that Elixa had given her.