alternity | Attention First-Year Students

Attention First-Year Students

Think twice before eating any sweets generously offered you by older students--particularly if they are presented as study aids, 'brain enhancers', 'sense brighteners', or the like. (It is extremely unlikely that you will find yourself able to memorise the contents of your textbooks by simply glancing at their covers. Nor are you at all likely to acquire the ability to see through the robes of other students.)

I have now administered antidotes to seven students made ill by ingesting owl treats, which, as it happens, contain an ingredient human bodies find difficult to tolerate. Come to me immediately if you believe you may have fallen victim to this so-called joke. Symptoms set in rather quickly, and may include rash, hives, nausea, vomiting, weakness in the extremities, rapid heart beat, difficulty breathing, dizziness, and/or loss of consciousness.

So far there have been no deaths, but that does not mean one ought to take the matter lightly.

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I wanted to let you know that this morning's post included a packet of materials from your healers at St Mungo's. I believe that I have all the information I would need in case of emergency.

I hope you've managed this week's challenges without significant setbacks?

Do let me know if you require my assistance.

~~Madam Pomf~~ Poppy --

Glad the information made its way to you -- it took several tries before I could make the clerk I was speaking to understand what I was asking, so it's good to hear the request did not get garbled along the way.

As to my week -- dreadfully exhausted, but I have been bearing up with fewer awful side effects than I'd feared. The numbness and muscular weakness are the most inconvenient parts (have asked the elves to start serving my coffee and tea in pewter rather than china; grew tired of casting Reparo six times a day) -- however, it's neither spreading nor growing more pronounced, so am calling it part and parcel. Caught myself tripping over my tongue more than I have been during lecture today, but I suspect that to be the exhaustion; I did not sleep well Tuesday or Wednesday. (Healer Kosta's mediwitch did warn me of that common side-effect of discontinuing the Nettleforth's Neuralgia potion, which Kosta took me off Wednesday last; don't know if he had a chance to update the records to indicate. I was simply hoping, in vain one supposes, to be spared. Ah, well, it is still better than the falling asleep on the spot the Nettleforth's prompted after dosage.)

Sadly, I suspect most of my maladies are the sort time alone might heal. If you've any suggestions for addressing the difficulty sleeping without interfering with the rest of my formulary, though, I would be most grateful.

Wishing you continued luck in the battle against ill-advised practical jokes,
Antonin

Actually, Antonin, and please don't take this amiss--I realize what I am going to suggest risks sounding like a quite rude jest--given what you are presently taking, I believe the most effective sleep aid I might safely offer is Eupatoria Pliny's Dry Dreams syrup. Not formulated for this purpose, precisely, and generally intended for younger patients, but the interplay between this in a moderate dose and your other tonics might work a treat.

I'll send an elf with a dose for tonight, should you wish to try it.

...If you believe it the best option, I am certainly willing to try.

(Am tempted to ask for an unlabelled bottle for the sake of my dignity, but one quickly learns to abandon one's dignity when subject to long-term care. At least in this case I am permitted to keep my own underthings.)

Shall await the elf, and thank you most dubiously,
Antonin

I hope you managed more hours of sleep last night. Do let me know whether you found the Pliny's a help. If not, we may need to look to tisanes of various sorts until they authorise a decrease or change in your other potions.

My apologies, I am just seeing this -- I spent a quite pleasant day lazing about my quarters and completely ignoring my journal!

A single night's evidence is inconclusive, of course, but I do believe it helped: I woke several times through the night still, but in each case was only awake for ten or fifteen minutes before I was able to fall back asleep, rather than the hour or so I've been tossing and turning all week. Whether the effect was psychosomatic or actual, I can't say, but I will continue its use and let you know if anything untoward happens. (I am quite hoping to be able to avoid adding more potions to accomodate the side effects from the other potions. It's already beastly to remember the schedule as is.)

My thanks for the suggestion, and for the sop to my dignity in relabelling the bottle,
Antonin

I was sorry to interrupt your conversation with Dolores Wednesday afternoon. I trust my box included all the triage aids you needed--plasters and gauzes, cleansing wash, chafing cream, joint stabilisers, cramp relaxant. If I forgot anything, do let me know.

I suppose you've been pressed by all and sundry for tours of the pitch, but if you're still willing, I would still very much like to have you show me all that's new out there.

Congratulations on keeping the flying casualties to a minimum this week! Does that mean this crop of first years are more skilled than usual or simply more timid?

Would you be so good as to stop up sometime this evening or tomorrow morning?

I should like to see whether the ointment I've given you is having the desired effect.

Have you had any recurrence of the rash that brought you to see me yesterday? Do not hesitate to return if you have any further bother with it.

I hope you are feeling a bit more at ease with the matters we discussed? I have had further opportunity for observation and have a few further thoughts if you wished to stop by over the weekend. If it's not already a moot point.

Know that you're welcome to come here whenever you wish, whether or not you accept my offer of tutelage. I don't wish to press you to make that decision if you're not yet certain of the other demands on your time, but it does occur to me that it might serve a purpose for you and I to come to a formal arrangement that could then be altered from week to week to accommodate those other constraints.

I'll stop up this weekend to talk about the matters we discussed and also some formal arrangement. Will you find it very frustrating if we set something up and then I have to cancel repeatedly? I'm not sure yet how much time YPL will take this year.

I sought out some additional counsel as well and got some advice that I think will be useful.

Thank you.

It's kind of you to be concerned, my dear, but the truth is that at my age and in my profession--and after the summer I've had--it's difficult to imagine that anything you might do or omit could seriously test my patience. Truly, I wouldn't have offered such a thing if it would have put you at risk of annoying me.

Miss Cadwallader,

This morning's post brought a note from your father, requesting that I examine your shoulder to see if there is any residual pain or restriction in movement. He is most concerned that it not impair your abilities on the Quidditch pitch.

Stop up, please, at your earliest convenience.

I've got a fresh pot of unguent for you. It might be more discreet if you would come up and collect it than if I were to bring it along to a meal.

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Attention First-Year Students

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