Herbology for healing
Herbs and other magical plants can be very useful - and very dangerous - to witches and wizards. They appear in many potions, and can be used to harm people. Sometimes even the living plants themselves can cause injury. We'll take a more detailed look at herbs in healing now.

Herbs in potions
Pepper: This is in fact a spice, and although it is well-known in the muggle world as a condiment, it is still useful in magical healing. It is the main ingredient in Pepperup Potion, used to cure a patient of a cold or influenza. The piquancy of pepper in the right combination with the other potion ingredients helps to literally clear the pipes. The makers of Pepperup Potion have recently revealed that the second active ingredient in Pepperup Potion is dragon's blood, and when asked to justify this, a spokeswitch said 'well, how many dragons have you ever seen with the sniffles?'.

Mandrake (mandragora): This plant, when chopped up and stewed, is the active ingredient in the Mandrake Restorative Draught, used to cure people suffering from petrification. The potion requires the use of mature plants, which takes almost ten months from seed.

Wolfsbane: Also known as monkshood or aconite, this plant is used in the wolfsbane potion given to werewolves around the time of the full moon. It acts on the mind of the werewolf, and prevents the dementia associated with the transformation, allowing the werewolf to remain harmless to people.

Bubotuber: Bubotubers, while ugly and smelly, are useful medicinally as a skin tonic. The pus, which can be extracted from the plant by squeezing its boils, is useful in diluted form as a cure for acne. The resulting potion is applied to the skin, and is one of the few potions that are not ingested. Undiluted, however, it causes painful eruptions of boils, and so caution should always be exercised when harvesting pus.

Harmful effects of living plants:
Mandrake: As useful as mandrake is once chopped up, it is very dangerous in living form. When repotting mandrakes it is vital to wear ear protection, since the cry of a fully grown mandrake will kill, and even the cry of a seedling mandrake will cause prolonged unconsciousness.

Devil's snare: we have seen that Devil's Snare has very violent tendencies, including trying to crush people, and strangling them. A victim of Devil's Snare who has managed to escape will need treatment for exhaustion and injuries inflicted by the plant. It is useful for the emergency healer to know that the most effective way to repel Devil's Snare is to expose it to heat and light.

Potions
Potions are perhaps what one thinks of first when magical healing is mentioned. They are certainly the most convenient method of getting magical ingredients into a witch or wizard to cure them of whatever ails them.

As we saw in the 'herbs' part of this lesson, pepper, mandrake and wolfsbane can all be used in healing potions. A short description of other healing potions follows, and we will finish the lesson by discussing poisonous potions.

Boil-curing potion: This is a very simple potion, and is probably the first method of healing that a witch or wizard learns. It contains crushed snake fangs, porcupine quills, stewed horned slugs, and dried nettles. When ingested, it will cure the affected witch or wizard of any boils that happen to be on their person, whether magically inflicted or from natural causes. As with all potions, however, if incorrectly made, it can cause the very symptom it sets out to cure, especially if it comes into contact with the skin.

Wound-cleaning potion: this is a purple, smoking potion, which stings when applied to the skin, but quickly cleans cuts and scrapes before magical healing of the damage.

Skele-Gro potion: This is used for re-growing bones lost due because of accidents or shoddy spellwork. It takes a few hours to work, and can be given last thing at night, although this may cause your patient to be woken in the night by splintery pains caused by their returning bones. Skele-Gro speeds up the natural bone formation process, and is an extremely potent potion.

A blood-replenishing potion is used to help treat a patient with extensive blood loss or a wound that cannot be closed by magic. It needs to be taken every hour until the wound has healed, or until the patient is looking and feeling healthy again.

The Draught of Peace, a very complex potion, is used to soothe anxious, agitated witches and wizards, and can be helpful in cases of emotional stress and upset. it contains powdered moonstone and syrup of hellebore.
A similar potion to the Draught of Peace is the Calming Draught, commonly used in lesser cases of anxiety such as exam nerves.

A strong purple sleeping potion can be given to a patient in need of sleep. This potion must be made in the exact concentration to suit the patient (weight, depth of sleep required, and magical ability of the patient must be taken into consideration), and the full dose must be given or it will not be entirely effective.

To heal burns, a thick orange paste is applied, which will magically regenerate the damaged skin without scarring. This must be kept on the injured area until the burn is fully healed, and the patient must remain calm and quiet while it works.

Dr Ubbly's Oblivious Unction can be used to heal the mind of bad thoughts and memories of accidents or distressing situations. It works as a memory modifier, but instead of removing the memories, it separates them from the rest of the mind, making them less painful to think of.

Harmful Potions
The swelling solution is a relatively simple potion that, when applied to the skin, will cause rapid and severe swelling of the body part concerned. The effects of this are most often encountered by the healer as a result of accidents or pranks, rather than any true malice. A simple deflating draught is an effective cure.

Aging potions can be extremely harmful if too much is taken - instead of finding themselves a few months or a few years older, a witch or wizard may find themselves in the body of a 300-year-old. Not very pleasant at all. This potion, of course, may be used with malicious intent by a Dark witch or wizard. An invigoration draught combined with a beautifying potion may be used to restore normal form and function to the prematurely aged body.

Confusing concoctions and befuddlement draughts can also be used maliciously, to cause confusion in an enemy or victim, making them easier to defeat. A wit-sharpening potion may be used as an antidote to restore normal mental function before the effects of the confusing concoction or befuddlement draught have worn off.

The Draught of the Living Death contains asphodel and wormwood, and causes the drinker to fall into a deep, sometimes permanent sleep.

Of course, poisonous potions do not have to be obviously so - a poisonous ingredient may be hidden in an otherwise innocent solution, or even slipped into a drink.

The most useful potion ingredient a healer can have in their possession when dealing with poisons and harmful potions is a bezoar. This is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat, and is an effective antidote to most poisons.