"Well," Poppy broke the silence. "Perhaps we should get started now." Time, alas, does not stand still.
Rising from her seat, the bear headed to another part of the room. I followed her.
Our journey was not long. Literally a few tens of seconds later we found ourselves at the ritual altar. Is it really a solid illusion again? ...
- Is it really an illusion again? I bet this is exactly the thought that crossed your mind, but I must disappoint you, it won't be an illusion," Pomfrey said, as if reading my thoughts, although most likely this is a banal experience. "This altar is not only a projector and repository of solid illusions. No, it's more of an operating table than a projector. Even the form itself hints at this, don't you think? - she asked me a question.
And indeed, in addition to the runes that were located throughout the "body" of the altar, the upper part, shaped like a kind of stone couch, caught the eye. It is quite suitable for placing a patient. There is even a mini pillow, by the way, also made of stone.
"But that's not all of its functions," Poppy continued. "He can also stabilize the patient's condition, temporarily put him into stasis and much more. A very convenient thing. It's true, finding altars like this is a real challenge," the witch told me with some sadness.
Having comprehended her words, I took a different look at the "bed". Still, I need to devote more time to the runes, even if they work in this universe, but who knows what awaits me next? Tools like this altar can come in handy. True, you shouldn't rely heavily on them anyway; they are still an auxiliary tool. You shouldn't elevate them to the Absolute, it may come back to haunt you in the future.
"There is one more important detail about healing that is not immediately obvious," she said, turning sideways to me. — If a witch doctor treats only people, or rather humanoid creatures, be they vampires, werewolves, or others, then healers, in turn, treat everyone. People, animals, birds, and there were even cases of treating dragons. Nowadays, animals are treated by someone like veterinarians, only they specialize in a certain type of animal.
After a slight pause, the bear continued:
"You're not a witch doctor, but a healer, at least a future one." Therefore, I will teach you exactly as a healer. And the first step on the path of healing is the treatment of small animals.
She waved her wand (when did the wand appear in her hands?) and in a flash of light a very ordinary rat appeared on the altar, of which there are plenty in the basements of the castle. A gray, mangy rat. I must say, her condition was not very good. A wounded side, a partially bitten ear, and a missing paw - it's immediately clear that this is my patient for the duration of the exam.
"As you can see, this rat got hurt, Mrs. Noris had a lot of fun with it," said the witch's voice. "She is currently in a state of stasis on this altar. The rat is not magical, just ordinary. Your task is to stabilize her condition, thereby saving her life. An additional goal is to patch up as much as you can. Is the task clear? - I could only nod. - Get started. You have 2 hours. Time has passed.
At the end of her speech, an hourglass appeared on the side, right in the air, which measured the time. Psychology at its finest. Another reason to make a person nervous. If it were an ordinary schoolboy in my place, he would immediately rush to the rat and hastily get things done. Well, how lucky I am that I am not an ordinary schoolboy.
Slowly, slowly moving my feet, I walked towards the altar. A pulse of mana and a wand appeared in my hand.
"Sterilitas Matrimonium," a wave and a dome appears above the rat, visible to me only in magical vision. A sterility spell, everything that falls within the confines of this dome will be cleansed of harmful bacteria, microbes and the like. One of the main spells during operations.
Approaching the rat, I examined it with magical vision. Judging by the flow of mana, no curses were used on her. This is undoubtedly a plus, less hassle.
"Corpus Diagnostic," a bright blue beam erupted from my wand. It engulfed the rat's body like some kind of octopus, slowly absorbing into the body itself. In the body, the spell began to send out magical waves, like sonar. This went on for half a minute. After this period, all the "waves" that emanated from the center of the spell returned to the same place from where they appeared. A sort of lump of dull blue color formed, which flew out of the rat's body and returned to the stick.
A wave of the wand, as well as a mental message, and this ball slowly flowed into my mind. The diagnostic spell worked as it should, collecting all the information about the patient and transmitting this information to me.
"An ordinary rat," I began to say out loud the standard "report" to the witch. This is not my whim, this happens during all magical operations. You need to report to the chief medical wizard what you found out. Still, the power of the spell is different for everyone, as is the range of application. — No magical formations or anomalies were detected. There is no magical gift. There are no traces of the curse. Critical blood loss was detected and one rib was broken. The integrity of the skin is compromised. Lost paw and part of ear. "The condition is stable and serious," I finished my report without even looking at the witch. This is not the first time I have had to "report" like this. - I'm starting the operation.
A wave of desire and the rat falls into a deep sleep. Its time to begin.
There was nothing interesting in the normal field of vision. I just waved my wand for a few tens of minutes, said phrases in Latin and basically that's it. The result of my actions could only be observed by the calmed breathing of the rat. It immediately became clear that she felt much better than before. Good sign.
However, in magical vision everything was different. Every wave of the wand, every word created a resonance in the mana, both mine and the one that was in the rat's body. Gray streams entwined the broken rib of a rat, thereby creating a kind of "tire" in order to hold the bone in place.
Another spell and new flows, only this time red, headed into the body. This time they looked like a kind of jelly. It healed all the vessels that were torn. Thereby preventing blood from flowing further out of the body. With every second, the risk of losing the patient was approaching zero.
A wave and tendrils of greenish mana come out of the wand. Obeying my commands, they entered the rat's body, through the wound, and headed towards all the small parts of the bone that, due to the blood flow, had spread throughout the body. One more swing and all the parts that were already entwined with this mana "floated" out through the same wound. At the same time, without damaging the body even more. Where the fragments could not pass, there I used mana to soften the muscles and push the fragments further. I spent more than 10 minutes on all this, due to my lack of experience. But now this task is over, all the fragments were removed and were on the altar, separated from the rat itself.
After some time, I began the most difficult part - merging the nerves. Even with the help of magic, this is not the easiest job. But everything worked out well; all I had to do was spend 20 minutes of time and an incredible amount of concentration on controlling the yellow tendrils, which were less thick than a spider's web. I can't imagine how medics without magical vision can deal with this? The only thing that comes to mind is spamming diagnostic spells every few seconds.
Bringing the stick closer to the wound itself, I ran the end of the same stick over it. Obeying my gesture, gray magical threads securely sewed the side of the rat. All that remains of the wound is a memory, and a scar. Nothing else.
Looking sideways at my left paw, I sighed, I need to try. Mental effort and the paw, which had previously been lying nearby on the altar, flew up to the stump. Pointing the wand at my paw, I said:
- Crucio, - an unforgivable spell of pain, or rather, it is considered such at the present time. Previously, this spell was used to activate all processes in the body, which was accompanied by overexcitation of the nervous system, which led to pain. The truth is that there is a nuance here, this spell is very strongly influenced by the range of emotions. Dark ones do more harm than good, light ones do the opposite. So, under the influence of my spell, the paw, as well as the tubes in place of the paw, showed signs of life.
Having joined the paw and the stump, I sewed them together, leaving a gap for better penetration of subsequent spells. Now everything is as usual - fuse the bone, remove the fragments, fuse the capillaries, followed by the muscle, and then the nerves.
The last stroke and the wound closed, and with it the rat woke up. Taking a magical look at her again, I nodded contentedly. I'm happy. There is no trace left of the dying rat, now it is only a rat that is incredibly weak. Well, his appearance had changed - a couple of scars, as well as the absence of part of his ear, that's all that reminded him of the past.
Glancing at the clock, I realized that everything took a little over an hour. And it turned out well. Even saved time.
"Congratulations," the witch's voice tore me from my thoughts. — Your first operation was successful. May I check the quality of the work? - she asked me a question. I nodded in response.
Moving away from the altar, I watched Poppy's action with magical vision. So she sends diagnostic charms, they came out much faster and stronger for her. After standing for a couple of seconds, she threw them again. Somewhere after a couple of seconds, she used a new spell. And again the situation repeated itself.
This lasted about ten minutes, at the end of which the bear turned to me and stared intently into my eyes.
- What? — I was the first to break down. We've been looking at each other for about five minutes. This stresses me out.
"Calder," she began, slightly excitedly. "Tell me, how did you get all the bone fragments without ever using a diagnostic spell again?" — it seemed that her gaze was following my every action and gesture. Too closely.
"It's all simple," I began. - Do you know about my memory? — a slow nod on her part was my answer to the question asked. "I remembered exactly where these fragments were, so it wasn't difficult to find them." It was a little more difficult to get. I had to rely on my mana sensitivity. As soon as the fragment came across a wall of muscles or something similar, I used the mana of the spell itself to slightly soften the muscles themselves. Thereby giving passage to the fragments themselves. All this was found thanks to the mana property of the Solidum Output spell. Why am I explaining this to you, you yourself know it all perfectly well," I became indignant at the end of the story.
"Yes, you're right," Pofrey answered, calming down slightly after a minute of silence. - Sorry, the fact about your memory completely slipped my mind. She's getting really old, ahah," she laughed nervously. - Well, let's get back to our topic.
She collected herself, took one last look at the rat, and walked out of the room.
"I almost burned myself to death. Just a little more," that's exactly the thought that was in my head. It was necessary to forget this no less important fact that not all wizards have magical vision. I got too carried away with the operation and became unacceptably relaxed. This could come back to haunt me later, but whatever it could. It's already backfired. And I'm sure it will come back to haunt us in the future. The bear will not ignore this, she looked too excited, this is not easy.
Lamenting my carelessness, I followed the witch. But this is not the first time. The same situation occurred during the experiment with consciousness. For several months now I have been trying to understand why I did this? What prompted me to do this? So many questions and so few answers.
Returning to the witch's office, we sat down opposite each other.
"So," Poppy began. — Let's sum up the results of the operation: you completed it completely, I would even say you exceeded it. The rat's leg feels normal, the wound is eliminated, the bones are completely protected from further stress until complete recovery. There is no internal hemorrhage observed. Harmful objects and substances have been removed," the witch said in one voice. - Congratulations Calder, you did it. Your work was not in vain.
At the end of her speech, she smiled at me, openly like never before. She seems more happy for me than I am. It was flattering.
"Thank you Miss Pomfrey," I stood up from my seat and bowed slightly. - All this is thanks to you. If it weren't for you, I would have achieved this result for more than one year, if not more.
"This is not my fault, Calder." "All this is your doing, yours alone," she said seriously, while still smiling.
"Okay," she said after a while. - It's time for you, Calder. The next lesson, as agreed, will be after the holidays. Good luck, have a good rest.
"Thank you," I thanked. "And the same to you," and heading to the door he said, "goodbye."
"And for you, Calder, and for you," I heard in response.
So I left the Hospital Wing and did not notice how the very serious gaze of the bear followed me.