Astringent Fabric Prodigal Finished

The 26th of August, 2019
Manchester
Evening

Previously...

"Mother, could you please come to me already. I guess I broke a knee."

"Oh, darling," her mother came out of nowhere with a serious expression, "I'm not sure about that, but I feel there's possibly been a split, you porcelain thing."

She analysed the knee by pointing at it and murmuring some incantation, then tapped it and said "Ferula", and fresh snow-white bandages were conjured out from thin air and tightly wrapped around the knee, and then "something Emendo" and she heard a loud crack as if her bones were breaking further instead of being mended, but there was no pain. She was pronouncing them clearly and loud as if she wanted Meenauh to understand and remember. She didn't pronounce any incantation unless she wanted Meenauh to learn it, so the girl absorbed the spells.

"Your father will prepare something to get it to the right condition faster," she said and helped Meenauh get up and get to bed, "You exhausted yourself a bit with that powerful Accio, to be honest, but I didn't know you're that breakable," she frowned, "Probably we'd need to review your diets," the last bits were murmured as she was putting Meenauh to bed, more to herself rather than to her daughter.

"So, Ferula and what-was-that-Emendo?" she asked her mother, actually feeling exhausted, "I got the first, though I missed the wand movement, the second one felt as if you were breaking my knee — what was that?"

"It was actually a bone-mending spell. I don't believe you would get to it at school as it's pretty advanced," she answered remembering the year she spent in medical camps, "the other one you got correct, there's no wand movement, just point where you want it to be conjured. If I remember correctly, you'll be learning it in a couple of years."

The 25th of February, 2020
Late Morning

She was a bit nervous as she entered the classroom. There were quite a lot of third-years from what she could get, practising the spells. So, she was squeezing between the pairs of students, trying to be careful and not get in the way of some spell.

Practice lessons were the most productive, but not for the newly learnt spells. She was allowed to be present at the joint lesson for the third years as a reward for her academic success. At least she believed in it.

There was just one tall third-year boy in Hufflepuff robes, who was talking to Professor Vernatis and who seemed to have no pair. The professor must have noticed Meenauh crawling through the classroom awkwardly and asked the older Hufflepuff to suggest his help because otherwise, she had no explanation how the boy could notice her.

She smiled and accepted the proposal. Practice time was precious and it was uselessly flowing away, so the sooner it would commence the better.

The boy smiled back and stretched his arm, preliminarily freed from the heavy burden of the robe's sleeve. Meenauh unsheathed her wand, concentrated on the snow-white fabric and pointed at the boy's denudate wrist.

"Oh, right,"she thought and prepared to tap, not to just point at it.

"Ferula," she clearly pronounced, just how they learnt it and tapped the boy's wrist.

The bandages were conjured almost instantly, though not of the expected blinding white colour. But the try was considered sufficient.

"Give me your other wrist," she sort of demanded without a pause after the bandages tightly tied themselves, but hurried to add, "please," and pointed at the boy's other arm, which was resting on his hip. The boy, first surprised by the tone, relented after the added magical word.

As soon as the boy stretched his other arm, Meenauh tapped it and pronounced again:

"Ferula!"

The bandages, now cleaner, appeared around his wrist and enveloped it a bit tighter than the previous time as Meenauh saw the boy flinching a bit, probably because of the unexpected discomfort. Content with her performance, they repeated the same routine with Meenauh's wrists and then in another cycle they tried it on elbows.

It was no goal of hers to stand out, as it wasn't her year's spell and she actually studied and imagined it for quite a while to decrease her chances of failure to the minimum. It was no goal of hers to receive any praise from Professor Vernatis, but still she instinctively threw one or two glances at the professor after especially successful casts as the feeling of accomplishment, first of all, gave her enough power to enjoy herself in those moments.