Up and Down

Knowledge and Ignorance

Nurse Bailey had things to say after Anna dragged herself over to the infirmary in the late morning hours. But she sat calmly on the bed - the same bed she occupied not even three days ago - and drank a foul potion that felt like swallowing a glass full of needles and made her bones scream in even more agony, and smiled and didn't say a thing about where she got this break.

Ominis walked into the Hospital Wing some time after she settles down on the bed, cringing as she feels her bones begin to stitch together - properly this time.

"Anna," he sits by her bed and she opens her eyes to find a stack of books floating next to him in the air, "please... next time you limp into the castle injured let me know at once. I had to hear of it from the rumours in the halls."

"Sorry..." she looks away, ashamed, "I was just... in a lot of pain. All I wanted was to rest, and I didn't... I'm sorry."

Ominis sighs and reaches out a hand to her which she takes, before glancing at the stack of books, still floating in the air.

"Is that my homework?" she asks with a weak smile, "I know professor Weasley doesn't approve of my excursions but she could have gone a bit easier on me while I'm convalescing."

"No, this came for you this morning in the post. Samantha Dale gave me these to give to you."

"Oh... it must be the books I requested..." she props herself up into a sitting position, gritting her teeth at the pain, "That was sooner than I expected! And thank goodness. I can use a distraction. Some light reading."

"What are those?" Ominis seems surprised and slightly concerned, "something you couldn't find in the Hogwarts library?"

"Indeed I could not."

She takes her wand from the nightstand and gently takes over the Levitation charm from Ominis before setting the stack next to herself.

"It seems like... a lot. What are those books about?"

Anna opens the first one, the crisp sound of a fresh book spine crackling makes her scalp tingle with pleasure.

"Medicine and physiology. The latest my uncle could get his hands on."

"Your... uncle? Your Muggle uncle?" Ominis' pale eyes widen in understanding, "those are books on Muggle medicine... aren't they."

"Yes."

Anna traces the table of contents on the front, immediately finding a promising chapter. 'Diseases of the Stomach, Intestines, Liver, etc' by a bloke so-and-so. She flips the book open.

"You think..." Ominis gets up from the rickety chair and begins to pace, his wand pulsing in time with his steps, "you think what's happening to Anne... it's not a curse. It's a disease."

"Anne told me they had tried everything they could. But I think there is one more avenue we are yet to explore."

Ominis shakes his head, still pacing.

"But why? Aren't Muggles dying from simple things like cuts and bruises turning infected? I heard the mortality rate is atrocious, and the plagues of the past..."

"Things have changed, Ominis," she doesn't look up, scanning the text and detailed prints, "dramatically, I might say, and the wizarding world hasn't been paying attention. In the last few decades, the discipline of medicine has come leaps and bounds. I don't blame you for being sceptical, but you haven't lived in the Muggle world as I had."

Anna flips the page, breathing in deeply the scent of new paper and fresh ink. Her uncle must have gotten the absolute latest editions of the books she asked for. He might have been disappointed to see her leave to join the wizarding world, but his affection for her endures.