Week One: Task #2 - “First-Aid Fiasco”

[Aquaria Sandalwood]

You are well on your way into the Forbidden Forest with your group, and even though it’s a bit spooky, you’re also very excited to see where this scavenger hunt will take you! All seems to be going well until you hear one of your professors gasp loudly, and everyone stops where they are and turns to look and see what’s wrong.

“Just a small problem,” the professor says shakily. “We seem to have forgotten our first-aid kit!” They say with a nervous laugh. The professors look at each other with mild looks of panic on their faces.

“What’s the big deal?” asks a fellow student. “We’ll just be careful, it will be fine! What’s the worst that could happen?”

“That’s a great thought,” replies one of the professors, “but the problem is that we never know what types of situations and creatures we may encounter here in the Forbidden Forest. It is, of course, completely safe for us to be here, but we really do need that first-aid kit to ensure our continued safety throughout this adventure!”

You weren’t really scared before, but now you’re wondering if you should be. The professors don’t seem to feel very confident without their first-aid kit, and now your mind is racing, thinking of all the scary creatures and deadly plants you could come into contact with in here, and with nothing to help you if something bad happened!

One of the other students looks like they have an idea and raises their hand. When the professor calls on them, they look uncertain, but still have something to say. “Isn’t one of the reasons we're here to find different plants? Why don’t we look for all the medicinal plants we can find and make our own first-aid kit?” they ask.

“Now that is actually quite a good idea!” exclaims one of the professors. “Why don’t we all divide up with our Herbology textbooks and find as many medicinal plants as we can and see what kind of first-aid kit we can come up with! Divide yourselves into groups of threes, and let’s go!”

Relief washes over you as you look around for a few friends to work with. Maybe it isn’t so scary after all, and maybe you already have everything you need right around you!

Task: Write at least 100 words about how you created your first-aid kit including what’s in it and how you found the ingredients. Be creative! Are there any magical medicinal plants in it, or just the common variety? Do you have any specific things that you’re worried about encountering that you wanted to be sure you had a remedy to?

This activity is worth 10 beans/sapphires, with an additional 10 beans/sapphires available if all Week One tasks are completed by the due date. Everything is due at 11:59 pm HOL time on November 30th.

[Janne Halla]

I created my first-aid kit with a mix of the muggle and magical things, combining common first-aid elements with a few magical ingredients just in case! First, I included bandages, antiseptic wipes, and medical tape, finding these at a nearby muggle store before I went to Hogwarts. A simple Accio brought the items from my dorm. Sometimes, it pays off to be a Muggleborn.

For the magical part of my kit, I also summoned Mandrake restorative draught and wiggenweld potion in case some of us get cursed, transfigured or petrified (hopefully not!). I also found some dittany, luckily I remembered my lessons from Herbology!

[River Fenwick]

The first-aid kit that I created will consist of magical and non-magical aspects. Gauze, bandages, gloves, and tweezers are some of the main non-magical items I pack into it, as well as some Muggle medicines such as Aspirin and Diphenhydramine to use if needed. I'd pack some medicinal herbs like Kava Kava. I'd back some magical potions and pastes like Murtlap Essence and Burn-Healing Paste to try to cover the bases of healing. I'd also pack a Skiving Snackbox for the half of the sweets that cure ailments, for example, a Nosebleed Nougat, in case of minor medical emergencies that should still require some medical aid.

[Galena May]

I should think that magical and Muggle medical emergencies are quite different. For example, a bleeding wound could be a medical emergency for a Muggle, but for a witch or wizard it is a matter of minutes with Essence of Dittany. So, I think we can do without Muggle bandages or gauze, for witches and wizards don't really manually dress wounds. Being petrified or transfigured is something Muggles will never have come across, so you are unlikely to find someone like Madam Pomfrey bending over a petrified student or a half-transfigured person in a Muggle infirmary. No! I think that the most important ingredient in a first-aid kit meant for a magical school excursion into a magically haunted forest, would be a wand. That is the first and foremost magical first-aid in my opinion. A simple Episkey or "Finite" (assuming that we need a counter- curse), a Brackium Emendo (to heal fractures), Anapneo (to clear airways), a Bandaging Charm, a Reviving Spell, and other counter-curses would be difficult without a wand.
A first-aid box, besides handling emergencies is also meant to handle common ailments without visiting a hospital and to contain the unique medicines that one could specifically need for the purpose at hand which in this case is a trek to a magical forest. Assuming we decided to keep the wand in our pockets and not in the first-aid box, the items to be placed into the box would include in my opinion:
1)Murtlap essence
2) Essence of Dittany (better still if one can find silver to mix with it for werewolf bites, for we can expect werewolves in the Forbidden Forest) - to heal injuries.
3) Pepperup Potion - since it is winter at Hogwarts.
4) Mandrake Restorative Draught - just in case a Basilisk is encountered.
5) Lavender essence, or Calming Draught - to calm down students who may lose their nerves.
6) A bezoar and some anti-venom (for snake bites, also very likely in the forest)
7) Bruise-Healing Paste and Burn-Healing Paste
8 ) Blood-Replenishing Potion
9) Skele-Gro
10) Phoenix pellets or phoenix tears
Some of these have herbological alternatives and can be found as plant parts, and some can be found as animal residues in the forest, so I march off with a friend with my Herbology book under my arm and luckily the first thing I find in the forest is a bezoar from the stomach of some unfortunate goat lying on the forest floor. I also find Dittany growing in the forest, some mandrakes growing wild, a bunch of bubotubers planted close to the periphery of the Forbidden Forest, and a lavender meadow. Some of these potions need a complicated brewing process, so I have to take an idea from Janne and use Accio to summon them from the cabinet in the Potions classroom in the Dungeons.
I also think that carrying the healing half of the Skiving Snackboxes is a great idea.

[Luna Ravenlong]

I would have a mix of muggle and magical items (I know it’s unlikely we’d need the muggle items, but it pays to be prepared!) The muggle items I would take include bandages and gauze, plus a basic splint for any cuts or fractures. I would also bring an epi-pen just in case someone had a severe allergic reaction. These I brought from home.

The magical supplies I would bring are the Wigenweld potion and Murtlap essence along with an always handy beazor. (I raided the potions cupboard for these). Then, when we head into the forest to look for plants, I’d be on the hunt for Dittany for curing wounds and Shrivelfigs as they’re known for having medicinal properties. Buboter Pus might also been useful, in case we need to make a healing potion. I’d also be on the lookout for non magical plants like Aloe Vera or Lavender as they could also be useful.