"And he did that, did he?" Harry edged.
                              
Joel swallowed. The wardens had told Harry that, too, because he hadn't. He kept his expression neutral.
                              
"His work was substandard, Potter. Every healer here rated him at Acceptable or lower, and we don't need Acceptable healers."
                              
"I rated him higher than Acceptable, didn't I?" Harry said.
                              
"Well, we all know that he's your...."
                              
"Healer Higgs," the head warned.
                              
"...protégé."
                              
"Yes, he is. Because he very much impressed me with his attention to detail, his dedication and his compassion. He learned and retained everything I taught him."
                              
"That'll make him a wonderful warden, too," Higgs spat, venomously. 
                              
Joel swallowed hard as Harry's eyes narrowed. The odds were stacked against him. Currently, Harry only had the head healer on his side.
                              
Harry wasn't swayed by the room's opinion, though. "It's a mark of a good healer. You can't always just wave your wand, and the patient is fine, Higgs. You have to see what's underneath."
                              
"And there's nothing special about the boy. Average in everything...not worth the effort to retrain to bring him up to the standards of the rest of us."
                              
Harry was about to open his mouth, but another voice popped up. "I didn't find him average at all."
                              
The board members turned in unison to look at the witch on the far end of the table. Joel barely knew her as the head of creature-induced injuries, and he had never spoken to her directly. Healer Smethwyck had trained him when he was in that ward. So, he didn't know where this was going.
                              
"Dindrane?" Head Healer Convaba said, slightly surprised.
                              
"Apologies, Ethel. This young trainee did very well in my ward. Performing his tasks, calming patients and he was very dedicated to learning as much as possible. I find Healer Higgs's opinion in this matter extremely tainted, and I suspect he's doing this because he dislikes Healer Potter."
                              
Silence followed that announcement. Joel looked at Harry, who smirked at Higgs, two people away from him. 
                              
Then a grumpy, older man from the Magical Bugs and Maladies department nodded. "I'm getting tired of this. He didn't fail, but passed all sections. What is the issue?"
                              
That was four. He needed three more, a majority, to become a full-fledged healer.
                              
"I still found him lacking in my ward," Madam Bones said, dryly.
                              
"Susan, please. He can learn," Harry said and gave her a pleading look. 
                              
She sighed and looked at three of her friends at the board, who shrugged. She didn't say no.
                              
Higgs paled, seeing that the tides were turning. "No! He can't be a healer!"
                              
"I think he can and, if anyone, besides Mental Health, has any real concerns, I'd like to hear them." 
                              
"His potion-making skills are poor," said the head of Potion Brewing and Analysis
                              
"Well, Joel... are you going to choose the Potions Lab as your specialty?" Harry asked.
                              
"No, Healer Potter," he said, speaking for the first time in forever.
                              
Harry shrugged for effect. "There, I'm not too worried about it. If I heard right, you failed potions, Higgs. I'm sure Mental Health was a soft option, wasn't it?"
                              
Higgs spluttered indignantly. "Soft option!?"
                              
"Yeah... easy. Less spells, potions and thinking. Just cast a bit of Legilimens and you're done, right?"