Help prepare the first-year magical vaccines.

Credit to Artican for the idea for this chapter.

"So, Golondrina, you want to be the first at Fay's bedside after she wakes?" Miss Wormwood says, her head of green snake-hair writhing distractingly. "Perhaps you could help me with a practical task. That way you'll be here when she wakes."

"What would that be, Miss Wormwood?" you ask hopefully.

"One of the tasks every year, when we have new students arriving, is to ensure that they are fortified against magical contagions," she says. The snakes sway in rhythm with her voice. It's fascinating, a little hypnotic, really. "Preparing the doses is the first step. It's a simple task which demands close attention so there's no contamination; really it's about patience. Consistency. Diligence."

"Yes, Miss Wormwood," you say.

Her eyes hold yours. She smiles. "I had hoped you might sit with me. It's tedious, but very important." Several snakes extend their forked tongues in your direction, tasting the air. "I shall write a note to your Tutor requesting your assistance," she says. "He will grant it." Her snakes ripple in unison.

"Yes, Miss Wormwood."

Miss Wormwood sends you with a note addressed to the Tutor of House Leontes. At your House, you're issued a packet of uniforms and ordinaries, assigned half of a double room, and sent back to the Infirmary. Leontes is bustling with the start of the new term, and you get little more attention, though the Master gives you a nod when he sees you, before turning back to confer with the Warden on some matter.

"We must bathe, banish, and robe," Miss Wormwood tells you. She leads you to a small bath off the Infirmary, opening on an interior courtyard little larger than a dormitory carpet. The water is already steaming and ready. "Off, all," she commands.

You bare yourself to Miss Wormwood's eyes and the many glittering eyes of her snakes. Their forked tongues flicker out at you. You feel a tightness in your breath. Your nipples swell under the regard of all those eyes.

"You look like a strong, sturdy girl," Miss Wormwood says, looking you up and down. "Very good."

She disrobes, revealing her pale, pale skin traced with blue veins. She has no hair other than her eyelashes; even her brows the merest suggestion, enhanced by paint. The scent of her body is warm and dusty. Her narrow lines make the cords of her sinews visibly evident as she moves. There are many scars upon her wrists, white cicatrices in pairs. Snakebites. There are even some on her inner thighs. Is she so limber? She might well be.

"I will wash you," she says. She takes sponge and bucket, soap and flannel, and diligently works from top to tail. As she leans close, you feel the tickle of serpent tongues upon your cheeks, your ears, your neck. Your heart beats fast. She soaps your breasts, and rinses. Beneath your arms. Your belly. Your bush. Between your lips. Behind, between your cheeks. Serpent tongues caress your buttocks. Each leg. Each foot. And done. "Very good, Golondrina, yesss," she says. She takes a fresh bucket of water and upends it above your head.

You stand statue-still, dripping, as Miss Wormwood washes herself. Though she faces away from you, several snakes stare at you, swaying in unison and flickering their tongues now and again. Pale, thin, bone, sinew and skin, the snakes' green scales glittering. Her every motion seems smooth and lithe, a great tense strength held back.

You blink and gasp when she turns round, a spell broken.

"Dear girl, don't stand there, dry yourself," Miss Wormwood says.

"Y-yes, Miss Wormwood," you stammer.

"Now, come along," she says.

She leads you both nude, but for slippers, back through the tiny courtyard and leads you into a small laboratory, its walls thick with shelves and cabinets. In the center is a high pedestal topped with black slate with a stack of folded white cloth upon it.

"We shall banish, then robe. Your wand?"

Miss Wormwood leads you through a simple banishing and cleansing rite, to clear influences away from yourselves and the room.

"Apo pontos, kakodaimonos!" she concludes with a sweep of her wand, dispatching any lingering traces beyond the far seas. "There," she says with satisfaction.

Miss Wormwood hands you a fresh white robe and apron and dons her own.

"Now, I'll lead you through this process. Follow carefully," she says.

Roll +Diligence -1 (-1) to ACHIEVE A GOAL, and on success, Miss Wormwood will allow you to see Fay as soon as she wakes.

You have 2 XP. The head of House Leontes is your FRIEND and owes you a FAVOR. Morgan from House Minerval owes you a FAVOR. You have offered Miss Wormwood a FAVOR (your GOAL) to see Fay when she wakes.