Gloves, Toaster and Toilets

Things were quiet for a while until a few days before Christmas. It was then that Arthur decided to try out stitches. The talk with Mad-Eye and Tonks was still bothering him but, he decided to put it out of his mind. The days passed by easily and nothing really happened in the ward. The woman still didn't tell anyone what happened to her and the werewolf still stubbornly thought that there was no hope for him. Christmas Eve soon came. It was then that Pye came to visit Arthur.

"How are you doing today?"

"I'm doing fine, much better than I was." This was true, Arthur had improved greatly.

"My offer of giving you stitches still stands. If you are still interested, this would be ideal time to try them. I change your bandages on the 26^th, so, if we do it now then, People shouldn't notice that the bandages were changed a little early." Pye seemed to have timed this beforehand so that everything was well planned.

"Of course I still want to try the stitches! Can we do them now?" Arthur seemed cheered by such good news on Christmas Eve and could now be considered quite excitable. Fortunately, Pye seemed to be thinking along the same lines.

"Yes, that's what I was hoping for. Robert Payne is in for counseling for the next few hours and Agatha Smythe is being re-diagnosed and that could take a while so we have this time free to ourselves. Should I get the tools ready?" Pye was ready to try a new muggle remedy any day.

Arthur did not recognize the two names that Pye had said but, he guessed they we the werewolf and the woman with the mangled leg, respectively. He addressed Pye, "Yes, please do." He watched as the young boy rushed out of the ward to get the tools while thinking about what stitches might be like. Soon after, Pye arrived back in the ward, locking the door behind him carefully.

"Alright, we're ready. I told Smethwyck that I was doing an analysis of blood for you so that he wouldn't get suspicious, I even wrote up a sign and that claims that and put in on the door. We should be alone for about an hour so, we can easily finish this, with time to spare." He laid out the tools and was soon ready to start. He performed a numbing spell on Arthur's midriff, so that Arthur would feel anything and, took out the threaded needle that he would use for the stitches. Arthur had only seen needles occasionally, even in his line of work and Pye answered his unasked question while taking the bandages off from Arthur.

"This is a needle. It was once used to make clothes but, now, is only used for minor repairs. They seemed to have made better ways of making clothes." He had finally unwrapped the bandage and he disposed of the old item. He hesitated a bit but, made started sewing up the wound while Arthur watched the progress. As he finished sewing up the wound and knotted and broke off the rest of the thread. The process seemed to have worked for a few seconds but then, a very strange thing happened. The stitches themselves seemed to have dissolved. Arthur and Pye stared at them perplexedly. Arthur turned to Pye, "Was that supposed to have happened?" He seemed to be dreading the answer.

Pye answered with some disappointment with his voice. "No. That definitely was not supposed to have happened. The blood seems to still be affected with the snake venom. Whatever's still in your blood is strong enough to melt string. Stitches won't work on you after all."

Arthur also sounded disappointed at the result. "Perhaps, its best that it didn't work, it's for the better." He said these words only halfheartedly.

Pye went into the routine that he had claimed to be doing to his superiors. Handing a potion to Arthur he said "Drink this potion; we should replenish your blood supply now." Arthur did so without comment and handed the vial back to Pye. "I'll do an analysis of your blood since we have more time on our hands and it would support my story." Arthur nodded his assent and Pye began the routine. He extracted a bit of blood from Arthur and after re-bandaging him; he performed a sequence of spells on the blood to test it. After about a quarter of an hour, Pye was finished.

"It doesn't seem all that bad for you anymore. Most of the poison has left your system except from a small amount. The poison that is left seems to be the thing working to keep the wound open. I'll show this sample to Smethwyck to show him what I found out." He vanished the tools that he had used to try to apply the stitches and straightened the whole room to make the room look a little more acceptable. As he finished he took the vial with Arthur's blood sample and the report he had written up and turned to Artur. "I'm to show this to Smethwyck now; I'll tell you later what this means. You should take this time to relax. Oh, I have another newspaper for you." He handed Arthur the newspaper and left the room. Arthur laid in bed for a while until Robert Payne and Agatha Smythe came back. He then started reading the paper a bit. Pye didn't come back at all that night and this made Arthur worry. Eventually as night fell, Arthur fell asleep. This Christmas was one he had come to dread.