Brumby's Desk

It had taken Gwen an entire three days to summon up enough courage to enter the Hospital Wing. She wasn’t afraid of Healers, just new people in general. She always wondered how she had ever gotten sorted into Gryffindor. She didn’t feel very brave at all. Now, as she approached the entrance, her fear returned. What if the nurse was mean? Or grumpy? Gwen took a deep breath and urged herself on. She winced painfully when ever her foot touched the ground. Her ankle had started swelling. Why had she attempted to climb that ladder in the Library? Gwen was very small for her age and she had trouble reaching things. The last time she had visited the library, (three days ago,) she had been determined to reach Quidditch Through the Ages. She had attempted to ask the librarian, but she was to busy, So she had borrowed a ladder…now she was here. When she finally entered the Hospital Wing, she didn’t see a sallow faced, pale witch, but a man with a kind face. Well, a nice person was easier to talk to than a mean person. Her terror lessened. “H-hello.” She stuttered. “Are you th-the nurse?” Gwen’s face went read.

After a year had come and gone, Kels had become a bit more used to being around children all day. Of course, he already liked them, they were funny, and most of them had not lost the lust for life so many adults left behind for habit and security. Liking children didn't mean it was an easy process, though. Kids were shy, scared, or hard to understand. A lot of them were getting their first major social experience, especially those from rural muggle beginnings. Some kids naturally took to challenges and showed amazing resilience, and some kids needed careful consideration and 'kid gloves' to even start to get them into a place of healing.

It was that line of thought that he returned to when he saw a red faced kid coming up to his desk like they thought he might suddenly come after them like the angry dogs in Looney Tunes cartoons. She stuttered out some words, still not yet confident enough to ask for help. "Eeyup, it's me. I'm the nurse, Nurse Brumblestumblestiltskin."

He had been going through a cabinet to get a few ingredients to brew, but since he hadn't started yet, he just closed the door and returned to his seat at the desk. "I imagine yer lookin' fer me because y'need a nurse fer somethin'? What's up?"

Gwen blushed. She turned, if possible, more red. At least the nurse was nice. It was easier for Gwen to talk to new people if they were nice. Despite his kindness, though, she still felt nervous. “I…think I hurt my ankle.” She muttered. She hoped Nurse Brumby wouldn’t ask how she had hurt it. “I-it’s started swelling.” Gwen managed. She looked at her feet and allowed a drop of sweat to fall to the floor. Her hands felt clammy and her throat was tight. Gwen wondered if she had caught some sort of magical disease. Then, Gwen wondered if she had a mental disease. What the muggles call “Social Anxiety”, maybe?

Gwen gulped. She mustered the bravery to look back at the layed back nurse. How had she ever gotten into Gryffindor. She couldn’t even talk to new people without stuttering. Gwen pinched herself like she always did when she was punishing herself, and realized that the nurse was looking at her. At that moment, Gwen almost turned around and ran away.

“Coward.” She said quietly to herself. She wasn’t scared of dragons, or acromantula…she was scared of strangers. How had she ever protected her brother from that rabid dog? She shrugged. Maybe she could only talk to people she knew very well.

The girl would only become more mouse-like as the attention was put on her, squeaking and looking for a means of escape. Kels had never been a shy kid himself, but he had met enough people in his life to know a fear of strangers when he saw it. Usually, it was because they hadn't had many people to talk to before then, or a stranger had given them enough of a scare that they lived in fear of it happening again. Not being a psychologist, the best he could do was be consistently helpful, and hope that worked. He'd not be changing any hearts that didn't want to change.

"Ahhh, okay. Let me see..." Kels would walk around the desk to where she was, taking a gander at her ankle. She had been walking in as though it was in pain, and while sprains weren't usually very visible, it did indeed look swelled compared to her other ankle. "Alright, there's an easy fix for this. I jes' gotta cast a spell and all the pain will poof away."

Kels would draw his wand from where it was sitting on the desk, awaiting her approval and consent before casting the spell. Not every student was used to magic, and especially with first years he didn't recognize, he had to make sure they were okay before throwing magical bandages around.

Gwen nodded at the nurses words. It would be nice for her ankle to be healed. It was hard enough to get around the castle with her terrible sense of direction, even without her ankle hurting. Just in case the nice nurse hadn’t seen her nod, she said, “thank you, s-sir.”

Gwen recalled that her mother had used a similar spell on her when she and her brother, Jason, had been attacked by that dog. The rabid dog had scratched Gwen under her eye, and her mother insisted on doing the spell. Gwen’s face no longer felt hot and she trusted Nurse Brumby a little bit more. It usually took people a long time to earn her trust. She had never seen the nurse before that day and she wondered if nurses were just naturally good at getting people to trust them. Gwen supposed they probably had to be very trustworthy, especially if parents were going to trust them with their children.

Gwen was relieved that he hadn’t asked her how she had hurt her ankle. Not yet at least. She blushed again for no particular reason. The more she thought about it, the more humorous the situation seemed. Some tiny lerson had slipped on a ladder and was to scared of strangers to ask for help.

The quiet girl remained quiet for the most part, but it didn't phase the nurse, who was getting used to these types of clients. So long as there wasn't an extra, hidden injury that she was hiding, he would be able to do his job even if she remained shy and meek.

With her go-ahead, he would swish the wand through the air, what looked like a large wave and a small wave, before incanting, "Ferula." Then, the expected result would follow-- bandages would be conjured and wrap around the ankle, and, like magic, the aching pain would ease. After walking up so many stairs, it was no doubt a nice relief.

Throwing his hands up, he'd smile again as he looked at her. He might have grown up as a goof, but his healing was pretty much always consistant and strong. He got plenty of practice in his job before this one.

"I expect that's all y'came here for, right?" He would ask, trying to help her find her words. "D'ya want a piece of butterscotch fer bein' so brave? I got tea too, but y'don't seem like the conversational type."

Putting his wand away, he'd leave her side to return to his spot on the desk, where all of the things he needed were within hand's reach.

Gwen stared at the friendly nurse. “N-no thank you, sir.” She gulped. “I don’t like candy very much.” At that, she smiled meekly at the nurse and ran for the door. For good measure she said, “Thank you.” Gwen walked easily down the corridor, smiling at the assurance that not all grown ups were scary. She hoped that she hadn’t been too hard to deal with. As she walked, Gwen glanced over her shoulder and looked fondly at the door to the Hospital Wing. She vowed never to try and get a book with a ladder without asking for help first. Who was she supposed to ask, though? She didn’t have very many friends. She was too scared to make any. How had she ever gotten in Gryffindor? Oh well, the Sorting Hat was always right, right? Was it right to say always about anything? Gwen shook her head, she was giving herself a headache. This was just like when she had been pondering Time Turners. Like, what would happen if an apple hit some guys head, so he picked it up. Then, later, the man traveled back in time and threw the apple at his past self. The apple could never exist, right? Gwen shook her head again. She looked out the window and saw that it was getting late. She had better return to the Gryffindor dorms…if she could find them.

Gwen Eclipse has left the Hospital Wing.

@Kelsey Brumby

Avery rushed to the Hospital Wing, breathlessly carrying a stack of fliers for the Asian Society Club, hugging the fliers to his chest in one arm, and carrying a box of pins in his other hand, which rattled as he jogged from the Small Hall. Although his breathing was ragged, his mind was racing. What was Nurse Brumby going to say about this? Would he even believe him? Was he going to die from The Curse of the ASC? A lot seemed to be at stake, and our young boy was frantic.

"NURSE BRUMBY!" He screamed the name loudly in a high-pitched voice as he ran straight into the large hall, voice echoing between the vaulted ceilings and tall windows, very possibly startling a few of the resting patients within. With a panic-stricken look on his boyish face, the widening of his eyes like a deer in headlights, and the sheer terror in his voice, one might think that a student had been stricken by an Unforgivable Curse.

Which was practically true. Because Avery had The Curse of the ASC, which was basically just as bad.

Without further ado, he raced up to Nurse Brumby's book- and ingredient-strewn desk, plopping himself into the plush, pea green chair without being asked. For a chair this comfy, it did nothing to soothe our young boy's nerves.

"N-Nurse Brumby," he repeated as he tried to catch his breath, as if afraid that he wouldn't have the nurse's attention unless he said his name over and over again. Because he needed Brumby to focus on his curse, now. It was quite the emergency. "I... I have-" All of a sudden, he found it difficult to speak. Saying it was like admitting it, and resigning himself to the terrible fate of previous Asian Society Club presidents. He closed his eyes to muster up his courage, and inhaled deeply to steel his nerves. "I have The Curse of the ASC," he explained, slamming an ASC poster from his pile atop Brumby's desk. The poster looked back up at them innocently, in cute bubble letters that said: "Join the Asian Society Club!" as if everything in the world was flowers and rainbows. Oh, how untrue all of that was, now.

"It-it's that curse," he continued, trying to remember exactly what Hana said, "The curse that makes ASC presidents disappear into thin air as if they never existed. Because I'm the ASC president now. And I have all the symptoms," he managed to say, before his mouth closed itself shut once more as his nerves took over, and he looked up at the nurse with pleading eyes. Would Nurse Brumby know about The Curse of the ASC? Avery didn't even know if it applied to other ASC clubs, possibly Aerobics and Acrobatics, or did it just apply to the Asian Society Club? Did it apply to Asian Society Clubs at other schools? Avery felt that his muggle-born roots were a disadvantage in trying to figure out the scope of magical curses.

There was no telling what Nurse Brumby would be doing at any given moment in the hospital wing. The tasks required of him were varied, and the tasks involving his unrepentant curiosity were even more varied. No matter what he was doing though, if he was on the clock, he had to be ready for an emergency. The magical world had access to incredible healing magic that could bring someone from the brink of death to good as new, yet there was also dark magic, which rejected healing as though it were oil and water. Hexes, jinxes, and curses were like an old foe that he had devoted his life to fighting, and he had battled it long enough to know it never went away. The recent calm after the last epidemic of curses was merely the eye of the storm.

So, he would fill with this seriousness and dread unbefitting his usual demeanor when the wing filled with shrieks akin to a banshee's. Kels attention would divert from his current task, and watch the speed demon descend upon his desk, as palpably afraid as a cat who had seen a cucumber. When he stuttered out some words, 'curse' being among them, he would share a piece of paper. Looking down, Kels' mind would blank. He had to take a moment to register this incongruent information. His eyes would buoy between the paper and the child as he waited for an explanation, which was thankfully provided.

That is, he said some things, but it didn't make any sense. In fact, it sounded like the most rediculous thing he had ever seen anyone whole-heartedly believe. This kid had to be insanely gullible, which was kind of funny. Not that the poor thing's sad puppy eyes didn't break Kels' heart a bit, but also it's... pretty funny.

"Oh... uh, no, that sounds, like, completely made up." Kels would explain in his usual professional parlance. "Are you sayin' that the last president of this club vanished?"

More than anything, Kels had to know all about this situation. It was by far the most interesting thing that had happened to him all day.

He watched Nurse Brumby's eyes stare blankly at the poster he slapped onto his desk. Did it not register for him what this curse was about? Avery had to keep talking, and keep explaining. "The ASC! The Asian Society Club!" he screeched, voice somehow getting higher, as if it were possible. Surely, that would ring a bell? The worst case scenario Avery could think of is if the nurse had never heard of The Curse of the ASC. How else could Avery expect to get treated before he, too, disappeared into ether like he had never existed within this world?

A lifetime -- 11 long years -- of struggle, of self-discovery, of striving to make a mark on this world! -- Gone! Nothing could be more earth-shattering than that. All those pain-staking hours of violin practice, all that quidditch athleticism and raw, unmatched potential... no more.

He gaped at the man before him, jaw dropping an inch. Was he really the nurse of this institution? He who thinks that an entire curse is 'made up'? Why, had he never fixed a curse in his entire life? Because Nurse Brumby sure didn't seem to know how to even identify them. Well, he wasn't 'Doctor Brumby', now was he?

When the man spoke, Avery knew that Brumby needed a lecture. "Yes!" Avery exclaimed, answering Brumby's question about the last president vanishing, feeling like he was on the brink of a panic attack now. "The last presidents" -- stress on the plural -- "of the club vanished! That's why I'm the new club president. Because the club had two presidents beforehand but they're both gone." He realized now that what Hanako said made even more sense. Because, what else could've caused both presidents to leave before they could ever make a notable mark on the club? Explain that, Brumby!

But, of course, the most important evidence for his infection were the symptoms, of which there were three, he remembered. "I have all three symptoms," he said confidently, quite sure that Brumby would be convinced after he carefully explained. "First, I feel a tingling in my fingers, as if I am starting to disappear. Sometimes, when I'm playing the violin, my fingers start to tingle in the second hour of practice." Here, he held out his hands and fingers for the nurse to examine. In actuality, his fingers were well worn from practice after long periods of scales and difficult music that required repetitive practice for advanced techniques. They were also impacted by bludgers and quaffles from quidditch practice, causing a bit of injury and discomfort, exacerbated from hours of violin practice.

He continued. "Second, I hear strange, inexplicable noises sometimes. I hear cackling, pounding, and voices at night from my dorm, sometimes when I get up to use the restroom," he explained, shuddering from the thought of how real his symptoms now were. Little did he know, Selim Faust had a workshop in the basement, and some nights were filled with insomnia-driven projects and Aku's furious rants from ventriloquism.

"And lastly," he said slowly, filling with more dread as each second ticked by, "I've heard voices in my head telling me to leave Hogwarts," he gulped. "These voices come to me in my dreams. I dream of my parents telling me that I should go back to regular muggle school and quit Hogwarts, because they think this magic stuff isn't as relevant to my career as muggle science and mathematics. It's a right nightmare, because I think Hogwarts and magic are great fun, and I'd very much like to stay." These were just dreams, after all. In actuality, his parents had given him time to figure out the quality of education at Hogwarts, and for the boy to explore his passions there. While his muggle parents were somewhat skeptical about the type of career a Hogwarts education could earn their son in the future, they would ultimately let their son make his own informed decision after he could competently explain the value of his education to them in the near future.

"So," he exhaled, eager to hear Brumby's assessment after his very thorough explanation, "Do you still think it's completely made up?" Surely, the man would come to his senses.