Poppy Pomfrey's Advice to Everyone

Know your remedies.

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, knowing your remedies would be it. The long-term benefits of knowing your remedies should be obvious to all, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own surprisingly extensive experience. I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 40 years, when you find yourself back in the hospital wing with stiff joints, swollen ankles and stomach trouble every couple of months, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now freely you moved, how much more quickly you healed how easily you digested the most bizarre combinations of foods, and how fabulous you really looked.

Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to re-grow bones by playing chess. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday when two-thirds of the students stagger in carrying the remaining third on stretchers.

Do one thing every day that scares you. I’ve been the Nurse/Healer of Hogwarts for a long time and believe me, some of the injuries I see still scare me!

Sing. It’s very good for your cardiovascular system.

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts. Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours. You’d be surprised how many illnesses have their roots in depression and emotional turmoil so don’t make my job any harder than it is.

Floss. I can repair your teeth, but you should take some responsibility yourself.

Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, you’ll be back in my infirmary with broomstick blisters whether you win or lose.

Remember compliments you receive. Assume the insults are simply the pain talking.

Keep your old love letters. Occasionally, a patient’s crush will turn into something darker and more dangerous and it helps to have all the evidence. (Merlin, I’m starting to sound like Alastor Moody!)

Stretch.

Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. I’ll keep you alive till you figure it out.

Get plenty of calcium. Be kind to your knees. You’ll be kind to my nerves in the process.

Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't let Gilderoy Lockhart mend your broken bones! Or your spouse’s broken bones. Or your children’s broken bones. Or your grandchildren’s… oh well, I’m sure you get the idea.

Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. But have it examined by a Healer at least twice a year. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own, so take care of it.

Dance. It’s good exercise and safer than Quidditch.

Read the directions. Often the only difference between a potion and a poison is how much you swallow.

Do not read beauty magazines. Read health journals. The glow of good health is the best cosmetic there is.

Get to know your parents. Make sure you know their medical histories. When the sad day comes that they're gone for good, find out whether what they died of was hereditary. Be nice to your siblings. Occasionally, even in the wizarding world, someone needs an organ donor.

Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who can still take you to-and-from your appointments with the Healer.

Live in New York City once, but leave after you’ve observed a Muggle heart transplant. Live in Northern California once, but leave after you’ve observed a New Age spirit cleansing. Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths: Old people will overdose on sweets. Young people will take dangerous risks. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, old people ate sensibly, young people knew they weren’t invulnerable and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders. It will lower their stress level and help them live longer.

Don't expect your body to withstand everything you can throw at it. Maybe you have protection spells. Maybe you have natural resilience. But you never know when either one might run out.

Don't mess too much with your hair or I’ll just have to re-grow it for you.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of healing. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from death’s door, disinfecting it, mending the broken parts and recycling it as an immunization spell.

But trust me on the remedies.