Approaching midnight

One of the benefits of the night shift were that the Potions and Plant Poisoning floor could often get on with a bit of brewing in the quieter moments. Alongside their healing duties, the healers were always seeking to further their knowledge through study, and where possible research. Healing practice could not stay still. As one of the more recently qualified healers on her floor, Elixa was keen to show she could hold her own. Between rounds of the wards before bedtime and summons for new patients admitted during the night, she would be found in one of the laboratories.

It was there, stirring a potion when she got a shout for a new patient.
“They’ve brought them up here, but could be Spell Damage - someone’s coming down.” Their night administrator explained from the doorway, not lingering, his wand folding three paper airplanes as he relayed it, and his quill inking a fourth.

“Oh, and Phil’s busy reorganising someone’s digestive system,” his voice continued on his way, “up to his elbows literally when I saw him twenty minutes ago.”

Lix was out of the door and already on her way to meet the new patient, a mystery on their hands given someone was on their way down to help diagnose. She hoped they weren’t an arsehole.

Sandy Misslethorpe was the Deputy Head Healer of St Mungo's Hospital. Miranda Storm said he was the only wizard she trusted to do the paperwork she disliked. Sandy was sure she appreciated his experience and leadership too. But it was not in keeping with her persona to say.

The new patient was already on a floating gurney. He was dressed for bed. Striped pajamas. Dressing gown. In his fifties. His partner trotted beside it. Also in striped pajama bottoms. But a blue shirt buttoned up wrong and a raincoat. Got dressed in a hurry.

Healer Misslethorpe met them at the entrance to the third floor. It was not their dress which struck him first. It was the way the patient's foot looked to be on fire. There was the smell of burning flesh. A mediwitch was dousing it with water. Attempting to put the patient's foot in a bucket of water. Steam rushed into the air above.

"Mordent." Sandy said automatically. Observing the patient. "In here. In here." Sandy pointed.

"Healer Misslethorpe. Healer Mordent." He introduced them to the wizards without fanfare. Eyes on the foot. "How did this happen?

Not an arsehole, but someone who outranked her. Lix was surprised to see Healer Misslethorpe. For some reason she believed he was above treating new arrivals, and kept to his pet projects on the floor above. She did at least know he was more approachable than their Head Healer.

“Mordent.”
“Mr Misslethorpe.” Lix nodded, new patient history forms in her fingertips, at the ready. Her dark gaze swept over the scene. The Mediwitch dousing one foot in water, the patient’s age, gender and state of dress. It seemed odd to have an accident in bed, but she must not assume that was the case. Naturally she let Misslethorpe take point.

“How did this happen?”

“He’s not been feeling well all afternoon-.”
“I had just put my slippers on and next my foot started burning like a hot coal-.“
“So we thought it was just that but there was nothing - they’d not even been near the fire-.”
“- and my foot got redder and redder-.”
“-so we put it in a bucket of water, but…”

The patient and his partner tag teamed, and Lix got the immediate impression the two wizards were a well established couple, if not husbands.

“But that only slows it down.” The mediwitch interrupted, “The moment it’s out in the air it burns like it’s dry tinder.” She held the foot into the bucket. Lix peered in, noting the flesh looked as bad as if it had plunged into dragon flame, and the water was bubbling like a cauldron on the way to simmer.

All in all, it was nothing Lix had seen in her healing career to date, but initial bafflement aside, answers often came from decent questions.

“Alright, I need some details, a history, we’ll get to the bottom of this,” Lix assured them brightly, and began to take names. The mediwitch handed the bucket over and headed out to her next assignment.

Swiftly they became acquainted with Jasper and his husband Rufus. With lowered voices they added they were both unspeakables, and Jasper worked in experimental charms.

“Hm, that puts a unique angle on it,” Lix agreed, eyeing the bucket which appeared to be as good as bathwater now.

"Agreed." Nodded Sandy. "Ice water Mordent. We must cool this foot rapidly. But not to the point we lose the toes." Behind the eyes his mind was already weighing up multiple possibilities of magical fire. This was not a case of incendio. This was not a wizard with limited skill with his own wand. Jasper was an unspeakable.

"What of his slippers now?" Asked Sandy. "Did you check for ashwinders or eggs? Did you leave a fire going?" Rule out the basics.

So what did they have? A wizard who put a slipper on and his foot began to burn. An empty slipper and no fire even lit that evening. That the wizard was an unspeakable in experimental charms. That the foot was producing its own heat, enough to begin to simmer water, and if taken out it burned harder.

"Ice water Mordent." Misslethorpe took charge automatically, not that Lix wished to complain in the circumstances. She set aside her notes to conjure more buckets, water, and turn it cold as ice.

Sandy was asking about the slippers.
"No fire, no, and left them home. Took them off immediately..." Rufus fielded the questions this time. Looking worried at the suggestion of ashwinders. Their unchecked presence could burn a house down.

"On three," Elixa readied her bucket beside the first. "One, two, three-" in the time Jasper's foot emerged from the warm water of the first bucket and into the air above the second the charred skin fizzled like a frying pan. Its owner yelled in pain, and both healers plunged his leg into the ice water without delay. The other bucket was warm as bathwater.

"Worth trying some counter curses?" Lix suggested, wand in hand. Not truly looking for permission, as she raised her wand and cast all manner of general counter-spells, but still the ice melted. They could try together, but perhaps this wasn't the route to take.

"Tell us about the charms you've been working on. How you're testing them." She suggested.

It was no surprise that the unspeakables were reluctant to answer. It was their job to keep secrets and not divulge them. But this burning foot was not the same as other burning feet. So Sandy listened with his mind and ears. Not to read. Just to listen for stray thoughts. He had got a lot better at doing this in months. Even occlumens could slip when they were in pain.

"Has anyone else been in your home?" Asked Sandy. "Where did you get the slippers?"

The unspeakables exchanged a look with each other, as if reading each other's minds. Lix wondered for a split second if that might be possible. She knew Healer Misslethorpe could read minds, a lot of the senior healers had trained in these extra fields. Lix was content for now with her own specialities of potions, though it did not feel like potions was the correct field for Jasper's burning foot tonight.

"They were a birthday gift." Their patient explained, his words heavy with implication. Rufus had squeezed his arm tight in both hands.
"Not from you?" Lix asked the patient's partner. Who shook his head, paler by the second. "Could you fetch them? Carefully though - put them in something. Don't touch them." The last thing they needed was Rufus to come back with flaming hands.

"So potentially something in the slippers, or something they're made of," Healer Mordent explained aloud for her patient's benefit. "Happy birthday by the way."
"Yesterday, but thank you."
"Keep bucketing until he gets back?" Lix asked Sandy, seeking his experienced advice.

"We need to keep it colder." Instructed Sandy. He cast ice charms on the water. Topped it up. Cast again. Jasper was in pain. "Something for his pain Healer Mordent." Potions and Poisoning always had such remedies on hand. A foot on fire had got to be painful.

"Who gave you the slippers?" Sandy asked. He was still thinking how to fix it. Without cutting off Jasper's foot to save his leg. Drastic. But if they did not solve this quickly his foot might be toast.

It was another unspeakable. Sandy frowned. That meant this could be unusual magic. Something he did not know well. He summoned another pair of hands and mind from Artefacts downstairs.

Lix was obedient and quick, attending to a potion to put Jasper at some ease. How at ease could one be when one’s foot was a magical inferno in a bucket? It was the first one Lix had encountered that she couldn’t extinguish with a counter spell or dunking.

The news that the slippers were gifted by yet another secretive wizard on Level Nine didn’t apply any further reassurance. Did wizards who explored the edges of magic gift each other slippers from Diagon Alley or did they like to show off a bit?

She checked the time, wondering how long it would take Rufus to fetch the slippers. With Jasper’s leg entombed in ice and freezing water, and the pain relief potion beginning to take effect, Elixa stepped aside with Healer Misslethorpe to check they hadn’t missed anything.

“I hope nothing worse has happened to his partner,” she muttered, concerned they had just sent a man back to fetch potentially cursed slippers. “Are you hoping the slippers are the reason? That we’ll be able to examine them and find out?” She asked, and then adjusted her sleeves without needing to, glancing back to their patient. She lowered her voice further. “I think it’s spreading… What about trying dragon burn paste, dunk it in a bucket of that?” She couldn’t help but feel this case was more likely spell damage or an artefact accident than it was anything to do with potions.

"I am banking on them being the cause." Said Sandy. "If not we are back to square one. He will have to give us more of a history. Get the paste. I do not hold out hope but we will need it if we ever stop it." They heard footsteps running. The slippers had arrived! With them was Healer Ketteridge from Artefact Accidents. Sandy took the slippers. Set them down.
"Healer Ketteridge. This is Mr Jasper Limrick. Unspeakable. His foot is burning. It is not extinguished by water. We believe it may be caused by these slippers. Healer Mordent is fetching burn paste. We are keeping the foot submerged." She took a look in the bucket. Sandy began to cast spells on the slippers. Looking for curses. They were enchanted. They were red and fluffy. Gold stitching. With a rip Sandy tore the tops off. Looking inside. There on the sole in the toes. Runes. Kenaz.

The burn paste wasn’t hard to locate amongst the supplies. Lix lifted the lid to check the condition of the bright orange paste, the smell of which brought tears to her eyes it was so strong. Yes, that would definitely do. She grabbed a dragonhide glove and hurried back to her patient. She found four people in the room. To Lix’s relief, Rufus had returned, seemingly unscathed, and was back by Jasper’s side, providing comfort.

“Brilliant, that was quick!” She declared to the wizard, even though it had felt like a lot longer in person.

The new arrival was Healer Ketteridge who Lix recognised from the artefacts ward from when she worked in the apothecary before returning to healing. It must have been her who Sandy had summoned. Lix was glad of her arrival, but definitely felt the junior in the room. They were both pouring over the slippers, which were already in pieces, their wands out rather than touching them. Lix did not fancy anyone’s hands going up in flames.

“Here, we’ll try this on the top, see if it helps,” she offered Jasper, “it’s dragon burn paste, used to treat serious burns that are still hot or enchanted.” Admittedly not ones that reignited, but she had to show confidence to instil it in her patient. With dragonhide glove on, she smeared the luminous orange paste to the bottom of Jasper’s shin which sizzled. The burn was definitely growing…!

They did not have all the answers. But they did have more than before. The slippers were for sure the cause. A rune that could heat had been added improperly. Causing far too much heat. Healer Ketteridge agreed. She fetched a stone from a bag hanging from her waist. Used her wand to carve. Sandy motioned Healer Mordent and explained the plan quietly. When they all understood he told the patient.

"Mr Limrick. We are going to cast two countercurses. Isaz rune." Said Sandy. Pointed to the stone in Healer Ketteridge's hand. "We will need to take your foot out of the bucket. We will be quick as we can." He put his arm round the patient's thigh to lift his leg. Wand in hand. "On three. One two..."

"Expungo Maleficum!" Three healers cast together. The red glow of the foot flared. Then softened. Sandy gestured their second in time. "Finite Incantatem!"

Dealing with potions primarily, Lix always found it a bit of a thrill to be involved in casting the same spell with other healers to supply a stronger effect on a patient. This was something more akin to spell damage where curses and enchantments had taken deep hold. Precisely, she reflected, what had happened to Jasper Limrick and his slippers.

Healer Ketteridge pressed the rune stone to the top of the charred flesh and plunged the foot back into the bucket. It still steamed and sizzled the water but Lix crossed her fingers behind her back that it would solve it. Jasper took a deep breath and clutched Rufus, emotional.

“Has it done it?” Lix couldn’t help but ask, her curiosity and hope getting the better of her.

Sandy lifted Mr Limrick's leg out of the bucket. They waited. It was terribly burned. But it did not reignite. He nodded. "Now treat for burns. The paste Healer Mordent!" His heart lifted. So happy it had worked. He looked over his shoulder. "Good news. The fire is out. We will treat your burns. Hope to save your foot. You should be prepared to stay  a while." He sighed. Relieved. "Good work Healers." Sandy praised the witches.

He would have to notify the Ministry. To find out if the slippers were sold with the rune or without. If this was an accident or an attack. Sandy would be much more careful to put his feet in his slippers in future!

END