Gloves, Toaster and Toilets

Arthur woke up on Christmas Day with a clear head and a worried conscience. Last night's fiasco was still fresh on his mind and he had a bad feeling about it all. Soon after Arthur had woken up, a special Christmas breakfast came. Arthur and the other inhabitants of the ward ate with enthusiasm and their mood seemed to rise. Arthur had nearly forgotten his predicament but, Pye came into the ward. Arthur's mood dropped dramatically; Pye had a worried look on his face. After checking up on the other patients, Pye came up to Arthur.

"Happy Christmas. How are you feeling?" Pye was polite to him as he would be to other patients.

"Happy Christmas. I'm feeling fine, now." Arthur also chose to be polite to Pye.

"I showed the results of the blood analysis test to Smethwyck. He asked me to get more of your blood so he can test something out. He also said that he was going to want to see you after he gets more blood. I have no idea what it's about but, I think it's about yesterday. I'll be back in a little while to get more blood from you." Pye tried to keep his manner as professional as possible and to not let anything slip that the other patients could tell Smethwyck.

Arthur nodded. "Alright, I'll be waiting for you." He didn't very much like the fact that Smethwyck wanted to see him. He suspected that Smethwyck had somehow realized what had happened with the stitches and expected the worst but, he did not let that show. As Pye was leaving he also gave him a newspaper. Arthur read for a while and, Pye soon came back. Like the last time, he took a sample of Arthur's blood. He gave Arthur a blood replenishing potion and changed the bandages so that he could see how the wound was healing. He got rid of the tools and looked at the clock in the ward. He received a shock to see that it was afternoon. He cursed quietly under his breath and addressed Arthur.

"I'm sorry, but, I have to go to meeting now. I won't get a chance to give this," he pointed to the vial of Arthur's blood, "to Smethwyck. He should be coming soon so, when he comes, give the vial to him and tell him that I could not give it to him myself because I had to go to a meeting. I should be back pretty soon." He gave a half smile and hurried off out of the ward. Again, Arthur was reminded of Percy; he tried to push the thought out of his mind, he was in a bad enough situation without being reminded of Percy.

Smethwyck did not come but dinner did. It was turkey and Arthur ate the meal in still a gloomy mood but, he covered it up quite well. As he heard noise outside the door he thought it might be Smethwyck but, he turned out to wrong. It was Remus, Mad-Eye, Remus, Molly and the kids. They all greeted him cheerily and gave him their presents.

Molly did not seem to be satisfied with my expression. "Everything all right, Arthur?"

"Fine, fine," Arthur tried to sound cheerful. "You -- er -- haven't seen Healer Smethwyck, have you?" He added this carefully.

"No, why?" Molly seemed to get suspicious of what Arthur said.

"Nothing, nothing," Arthur tried to avert the conversation from his health. He started opening Harry's present which was on the top of the pile. He addressed the general crowd. "Well, everyone had a good day? What did you all get for Christmas?" He looked down at Harry's present for him; it was foose-wire and scewdivers. "Oh Harry -- this is absolutely wonderful --" Arthur reached over to shake Harry's hand.

Molly, however, was peering at the bandaging over Arthur's wound. "Arthur, you've had your bandages changed." There was a snap in her voice that Arthur well recognized by now. "Why have you had your bandages changed a day early, Arthur? They told they wouldn't need doing until tomorrow."

Arthur was getting nervous now. "No, no -- it's nothing -- it's -- I--" He looked at Molly's face and, the rest of his courage was gone. "Well -- now don't get upset, Molly, but Augustus Pye had an idea . . . He's the Trainee Healer, you know, lovely young chap and very interested in . . . um . . . complementary medicine. . . . I mean, some of those old Muggle remedies . . . well, they're called stitches, Molly, and they work very well on --on Muggle wounds."

Molly made a sound that was halfway between a shriek and a snarl. Arthur knew this sound well and so did the others around his bed. Remus walked away casually to the werewolf, who seemed envious of the crowd around Mr. Weasley. Bill muttered something and left the ward, the twins hot on his tail. Molly seemed unaware that everyone in the ward was cautious of her.

"Do you mean to tell me, that you have been messing about with Muggle remedies?" Her voice was growing louder with every word that she uttered and it was clear that she was close to exploding.

Arthur now had a pleading tone in his voice. "Not messing about, Molly, dear. It was just -- just something Pye and I thought we'd try -- only, most unfortunately -- well, with these particular kinds of wounds -- it doesn't seem to work as well as we'd hoped --"

"Meaning?"

Molly's mood wasn't getting better. Arthur was still hesitating. "Well . . . well, I don't know whether you know what -- what stitches are?"

Molly let out a crazed laugh. "It sounds as though you're trying to sew your skin back together, but even you, Arthur, wouldn't be that stupid--"

"Well--that is the . . . um . . . general idea."

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, THAT'S THE GENERAL IDEA?"

By now, everyone else who had arrived to visit him had disappeared. Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny all left the ward and, Arthur wished that he could have gone with them. Even Mad-Eye backed away to the woman with the chunk missing from her leg.

"Well -- Pye tried to sew the skin back together --"

"TRIED?"

"Yes -- the stitches melted so it really made no difference."

"SO YOU SEWED YOUR SKIN TOGETHER AND IT DIDN'T REALLY WORK?" Arthur nodded meekly. "YOU SEE HOW USELESS IT WAS? SHOULDN'T YOU HAVE AVOIDED IT IN THE FIRST PLACE?" Arthur kept nodding throughout her rant and eventually her rant ended. After a little, Molly and the others left and, Arthur could breathe a sigh of relief. After Molly, he could surely take Smethwyck but, when he heard Smethwyck coming, that thought dissolved and he was as terrified as ever.

"Hello. How are you doing Arthur?"

"Hello. I'm feeling better than I was. Here's the blood sample you wanted." He handed Smethwyck the vial and was about to start the explanation that Pye had given him but, Smethwyck interrupted him.

"Don't worry. I know why Pye couldn't give it to me. Now, I want to talk to you." Arthur gulped at this quite audibly. "It's nothing bad; in fact, I have good news for you. I think I have an antidote for you." Arthur was no longer worried and his face had brightened up considerably.

"That's great!"

"Yes, it is. I'm just going to perform some final tests on your blood and I'm going to be able to try in on you soon. You can expect me to come back tomorrow or the day after that to give it to you."

"Alright, I'll be waiting for you."

"That's fine. Oh, and before I forget, Happy Christmas"

"Happy Christmas." Smethwyck left and that night, Arthur slept soundly. Molly may have screamed at him but, Smethwyck hadn't found out and, he was going to be cured soon and, he had gotten great presents. What's not to love about a Christmas like that? Arthur sure knew that he couldn't think of anything.