Gloves, Toaster and Toilets

Arthur woke up to see Bill, his oldest son, sitting in a chair next to the bed. Bill noticed that his dad had woken up and perked up considerably.

"Hey, dad, how are you feeling? Is everything okay?"

"Yea, everything's fine don't worry, it's only three snakebites." They both started laughing, somewhat uneasily and Arthur reassured him. "Really, everything's fine. I'll be able to leave as soon as the wound heals. The Healer says that will probably be a little after Christmas Day.

"That's good, dad." He looked at his watch. "I'll have to leave soon because I have to get to work in about 12 minutes." He started getting up but, Arthur stopped him.

"Okay, but, before you leave, could you give me my cloak?" Bill picked up the cloak and handed it to his dad. "Thanks, bye."

"You're welcome. I'll leave the chair here so you could put the cloak on it when you don't need it anymore. Bye." And with that, Bill apparated to work. Right after Bill left, Trainee Healer Pye came in. Arthur noticed the bandages had been changed.

"Whenever we try to take off your bandages you start bleeding like mad so, you can tell that it isn't a very good thing." Pye informed him that nonchalantly like it wasn't a big deal. This may have seemed insensitive but, it was the attitude a good Healer should have. He suddenly dropped his professional attitude. "But, there is another option." Arthur listened more carefully. "It's a Muggle method but," now Arthur was really paying attention. "It has been proven by Muggles to be quite effective." Arthur was eager to try whatever method Pye was talking about.

"Tell me more about it. I love Muggle things." Arthur was glad that he was not the only person interested in Muggles. He gestured to Pye to continue.

"I'm interested in complementary medicine, you know, Muggle remedies. " Arthur nodded. He did not know much about Muggle medicine. "Well - they're called stitches. They're more or less what they sound like. You sew up the skin until the wound heals. It helps the skin keep together. It's dead useful." Arthur knew that this would be very useful.

"Yes, I think I'll try it." He was excited about trying this method. The trainee Healer rushed off to get the necessary tools. While Arthur waited he took his wand out from his cloak and put it on his bed-side cabinet. He also took out parchment a quill and some ink just as Pye rushed in. He started straitening out his bed and propping him up. While he did this, he whispered to Arthur.

"We'll try them later so that Smethwyck won't notice anything." Just as he said this Smethwyck came in. He examined Arthur and told Pye something, who rushed off. Smethwyck did some more tests and just as he finished Pye came back in. He was holding some sort of vial. The vial was handed to Arthur and Smethwyck told him to drink it. As he did so, Arthur felt a tingling sensation in his veins. He looked quizzically at the Healer.

Smethwyck answered his unasked question. "That was a blood revival potion. You will need to take one every hour. You lost a lot of blood and we need to get it back. We're working on a potion so that you will stop bleeding long enough for the wound to heal. You're lucky that that's all you need to heal the wound. We will probably have a potion by Christmas and, at that rate we'll be able to change the bandages the day after Christmas and you'll go home shortly after that."

Arthur still had one question to ask. "What about the time between now and when you find a potion to heal the wound? What will you do then?"

"It's just going to be some basic tests to make sure that you're otherwise healthy and relaxation, and the blood revival potion. We'll probably have the remedy to heal the wound before Christmas. Pye or I will come back in a few hours to check up on you. You can get visitors now, if you want." He took back the potion and said a few words to Pye, who hurried after him. Arthur was vaguely reminded of Percy and Cornelius Fudge but, he pushed the thought away quickly.

He took his wand from his bedside cabinet and performed a spell which made his bedcovers solid and straight so that the gloves could write with no problem. Using the bottle of ink as a paperweight, he placed the parchment on his now solid bedcovers. The gloves stood up on the bedside cabinet and hopped onto the parchment. As usual the gloves had the quill and were dipping it in ink.

What happened?

"I can't be sure, but when I was guarding, a snake turned up and bit me 3 times in the ribs. Now I'm stuck in Mungo's, the hospital, until after the holidays." Arthur was speaking in a hushed voice to avoid waking up the other occupants of the room.

I know that much, I'm not stupid you know. Your wife was worried about you.

"Yes, Molly worries a lot - sometimes too much. Did anything interesting happen when I was - uh - asleep?"

Nope, not unless you count that guy, the other glove jabbed its finger at the werewolf, growling at the guys trying to help him and making them run out of the room.

Arthur chuckled; he had not expected the gloves to have a sense of humor. "So that guy really does think that it's hopeless for him," Arthur muttered to himself but, the gloves had heard him nonetheless.

Yes, he thinks that being a werewolf is the end of the world. Your - uh - pep talk didn't really help.

"I didn't think that him wanting to bite me meant that he had just realized that he has a chance. So, what do you think of this stitches thing?"

I think that you're being really stupid and if your wife finds out about it you're going to be dead. Although, if it works you're going to heal faster and you'll have less time in this place it's your choice though - and I know that you're going to do this.

"Okay, not that I didn't already know that but, I'm still going to do it."

Wow, I, the other would have glared if it had eyes, - we are stunned. That was so unexpected - the gloves suddenly stopped - someone's waking up.

Arthur looked bemused that the gloves knew that but, hurriedly shoved the gloves into his pocket and picked up the quill himself. Sure enough, in a few seconds the werewolf woke up. He stretched and got out a copy of the Daily Prophet and started reading. Arthur wrote a short note to Molly saying that he can get visitors now. He ripped that off from the place where the gloved had written and put it on top of his Daily Prophet. He organized his things a little bit and, after fixing his pillows, stated reading as well.