Return to Routine

[alt_poppy]

I dare say I've never felt more pleased to see the long vacation end and term begin. I have filed the materials from my summer courses, unpacked the supplies that were delivered in my absence, and set this ward to rights.

And have had not a spare moment since!

I forget that as much as this school is my home, the place I miss dearly when I am away, it can seem a strange and foreign place to those newly arriving on its docks and doorsteps. My first official duty of the term was to assist those of our newcomers who found the water journey discomfitting. And, of course, there have been the usual weeps, wobbles, and wettings, but on the whole I'd say we've had no worse a first night than usual.

Welcome to those joining us for the first time, and welcome back to the rest.

Do not hesitate to come if you need my care.

Comments

Re: Private Message to Poppy Pomfrey

[alt_poppy]

Thank you. Antonin, then. And do, please, call my Poppy.

I appreciate your letting me know the facts of your condition, and I agree it would be a wise precaution if you would let your principal healer at St Mungo's understand that you have authorised me to see to any immediate care that might be needed here if you were to take a turn for the worse.

I assure you that with the magic of the Floo at our disposal, I have managed rather a number of cases here while receiving close consultation from the specialists at St Mungo's. And, of course, when necessary, we've transported patients there (or specialists here).

Let's hope none of that is necessary, but if you would, do please initiate the basic protocol of authorising my assistance in your care.

As for your offer to warn me in advance with respect to the risks your lessons might entail for students, well. Would that your colleagues would show the same wisdom! Thank you.

Do send along the list of your prescribed potions and any other information on your condition that you are able to share. I hope that we have opportunities for fuller acquaintance, but I understand that walking this castle from end to end is not yet on your list of therapeutic activities, so I do not anticipate seeing you here in person.

In that regard, please let me know (the fires work internally here) if you require a visit from me. In circumstances like yours where mobility is an issue, I am happy to make a 'house' call--provided, of course, that things are quiet here on the ward.

Wishing you continued and steady healing,
Poppy

Re: Private Message to Poppy Pomfrey

[alt_antonin]

Madam Pomf Poppy --

(I am likely to have the same trouble with you as I appear to have with Professor S Horace. I beg your leave as I work to retrain old habits.)

I shall write to St M's directly, then, and authorise you to receive information on my care. (And once you receive it, I would be ever so grateful if you'd confirm my suspicions as to whether I am being treated as an interesting subject! It's not that I mind -- I've a researcher's bent myself -- so much as a man does like to be warned before he finds himself a published case study.) So as to save you the trouble of copying information from journal to file, I shall duplicate the potions list and the list of cautions myself; if you plan on being at table tomorrow for supper, I will pass them along then; if not, I shall press one of the children into service as runner for their delivery. (You are quite correct that I am looking to condense my regular range into as small a footprint as possible!) I also hope that if I've need of your services it will not be on an urgent basis, but it is very good to know the option is available -- I thank you in advance for your consideration even as I hope there'll be no need for me to rely upon it.

Your good wishes for my healing are greatly appreciated, as well. I am better than I have been, less recovered than I hope to be. (Isn't that always the way?)

As for class -- it will be several weeks before we move to practical application and I do intend to start slowly and with areas of study that have not been foregrounded in the schoolroom thus far (and, as I'm aware of -- let us be kind and call it "past classroom trauma" -- for the most part when a human partner is required they will be practising their casting on me, rather than on each other, until they are more comfortable with their skill, so I've extra incentive to choose spells with less chance to go wrong.) But I am well aware of several -- difficulties -- to have come out of Hogwarts' programme of study in the Arts these past several years, and so my curriculum is designed to be strong on variety while seeking to avert potential harm at every opportunity. I shall hope I am significantly less of a burden on your resources throughout the year than you may have been fearing.

With warmest regards,
A