The Rod of Asclepius
Chapter II
Ron Weasley yawned as he was awakened in the middle of the night by the light coming from the other side of the room. He got out of bed and walked over to where his room mate bunked and found Harry sitting at the desk next to his bed with a pile of books. Potter was attempting to read by the light of a guttering candle, while scribbling notes onto a pile of foolscrap. Ron drew his wand from his pocket and mumbled the light incantation causing the tip of his wand to illuminate.
"What are you doing at this late hour?" Ron asked.
Potter pulled open a drawer on the desk and extracted a long tallow candle which he lit from the dying flame of the one on the desk. He carefully pried the stub out of the candle holder and replaced it with the fresh one.
"Possibly a fools errand I'm afraid." Harry sighed. "Dumbledore entrusted me to do a bit of research for him, but so far I've found nothing useful. Even these books from the restricted section of the library haven't led me anywhere yet. Draco's looking over my shoulder in the library today, and the interference by his toadies didn't help the situation much either. Now I'm going to dread facing Professor Snape in class tomorrow since I've probably done a poor job preparing for his potions lecture as a result of the time I've been wasting on this project."
"Snape sure does seem to have it in for us in Gryffindor." Ron agreed. "He's always cutting breaks for those in Slytherin, and takes their sides in any confrontations."
"I don't know." Harry said. "I often get the feeling that there is something about Professor Snape that we just are not aware of yet."
"Well in any case, it's now nearly two in the morning." Ron said. "We'd better try and get some sleep if we are to stay awake in class tomorrow." Ron walked back to his bed and tried to resume his sleep.
Harry picked up the book he was reading to close it and set it back on the pile of books on the desk, when he noticed something.
"Hey, there is a page missing from this volume." He said. "I could have sworn that the book was intact when I borrowed it from the library."
Harry set the book down and blew out the candle. He found his bed by the moonlight pouring in though the window and quickly fell asleep.
Dr. Black Jack put the various jars that Ellen had brought in from the car on the shelf in his treatment room. He read the names on the jars of the various herbs, roots, and insect extracts and muttered to himself. Most of the various items were totally unfamiliar to him and the labels on the jars read like the contents of a sorcerer's laboratory. Still, he had used exotic herbal remedies before, most of which had come from places like the rain forests of the Amazon.
"I'll help you mix and prepare the potions you'll need for treating Mr. Slytherin," Ellen said. "He's taught me how to do it as I often assisted in his self treatment."
"We'll start him out on chemotherapy, and radiation treatments right away." Black Jack said. "I need to at least try and slow the advancement of his legions and tumors before I perform the first of many surgeries. Cancers have settled in his lungs, stomach, and brain. The latter will be the most difficult to remove without killing him, even with my alleged skills."
"Your skills are more than adequate for the task, doctor." Ellen said. "Have some faith in your abilities. Augustus does."
Albus Dumbledore looked up from his desk and cried out "Come in, Serverus". The potions professor pushed the heavy door to the headmaster's study open and entered, closing it behind him.
"You sent for me?" Snape asked.
"Yes, I've just come back from the hospital wing after looking in on Draco Malfoy and speaking with Madam Pomfrey," the headmaster explained. "Very early this morning, Lucius Malfoy barged into this office demanding that I start an inquisition into finding out who had poisoned his son. He yelled at me that he had found an owl note from you upon rising from bed, and that he had rushed over to the dormitories to find his son in a coma like state. He immediately had him rushed to the hospital wing with great haste, and then then came to me with his demands. I tried to pacify him, promising him that Draco would be getting the very best of care, and I then rushed over to see the boy myself."
"I am aware of young Malfoy's illness." Serverus replied. "I was called over to the dormitories myself in the middle of the night by two of the students in my house. I gave the boy a general healing potion that should have brought the cause of the illness to the surface. It appeared to be the result of some sort of self inflicted spell. I found this among Draco's books."
Snape extracted a folded scrap of paper from his pocket and handed it to the headmaster.
"I think this is from an old volume in the restricted section of the library." he added.
Dumbledore took the paper and examined it. "It does appear to have been ripped from the pages of a volume that I am familiar with." he said. "The book is a collection of monographs on spells and potions for the creation of diseases, cures, and immunity to same. What is strange though, is that this is one of several books that I had asked Harry Potter to research for me. I wonder how Master Malfoy got possession of that page?"
"I should have known that Harry Potter would have something to do with this." Snape remarked.
"Come on now, Serverus," Dumbledore replied. "Potter had that book on my orders, and I wrote the permissions note for him to make use of the restricted section of the library on my behalf. "
"Potter was doing research for you?" Snape asked.
"Yes, and that is all I am going to say on that part of the matter." the headmaster replied. "As for how Draco came into possession of this page, I can render a few guesses as to that. More than likely one of your Slytherin house students tore that page from the book while Harry was not looking. By the way, did you find any evidence of experimentation in the boy's room, such as a damp powder or dark liquid?"
"How did you know?" Snape asked.
"Did you read this page?" the headmaster asked.
"Yes, of course I did." Snape answered. "It is written in old Latin in Rune letters. I am not familiar with the spell, or its purpose."
"If you read between the lines, there is a hidden message." Dumbledore explained. "The section of the book that this page came from is from a monograph on potions for the creation of plagues, and spells to make use of them. It is the darkest part of the book and this very page contains the instructions for the potion that is the basis for author's belief that he could extend life though the use of diseases tailored for the purpose. This leads me to believe that your idea that Malfoy's malady could be self inflicted is probably correct. For whatever reason, I think he was trying to conjure up a bit of dark magic that was way beyond his abilities and it backfired on him."
Snape picked up the paper from the desk and carefully re-read it. "It was late and I was tired or I should have seen this immediately." he said.
Lucius Malfoy felt his son's forehead and frowned. "What's wrong with him?"
"I really don't know yet." Madam Pomfrey told him. "He does appear to have been inflicted by some sort of spell, but I am not familiar with the nature of this one. There may also be a potion at work here as well."
"I found these two items in my son's room." Lucius told the nurse. He handed her a mortar containing a bit of white powder and a small cauldron containing a small quantity of a thick dark liquid. "Professor Snape informed me in a note that he had examined the contents of these vessels, but he was not able to come to any solid conclusions as to what the purpose of these concoctions were, or if they are responsible for his malady."
Madam Pomfrey took the two vessels. "I will make my own examination of this and try a few experiments. However, I think we may have to bring the boy to St. Mungo's Hospital for an expert consultation."
Horace Slughorn entered the hospital wing and walked over to the bed where the young Malfoy lay comatose. "I came over as soon as I heard about it." He said. "I hope your son recovers quickly."
"Thank you, Horace," the elder Malfoy replied.
"Do the healers know what's wrong yet?" Slughorn asked.
"It appears that my son may have been experimenting with things he was not prepared to handle yet." Lucius said. "However, I wouldn't be surprised if that half blood Potter put him up to this."
"Potter isn't a half blood, both of his parents had the gift." Slughorn quickly said.
"His mother was." Malfoy replied, "Which makes his bloodline impure."
"Never mind." Horace sighed. He knew better than to bring up the Slytherin rhetoric regarding Warlocks of less than pure blood, and now regretted defending Harry Potter in front of Lucius Malfoy.
"I'm trying to come to terms with the illness of a family member myself."
"I'm sorry to hear that, Horace." Lucius replied. "Who is ill?"
"My great great uncle Augustus Slytherin." Slughorn replied. "He can trace his linage all the way back to old Salazar himself. Augustus has been quite ill for some time, and hasn't been able to make use of any magic for the past few months. The healers at St. Mungo's hospital were not able to do much for him, and in desperation Augustus has been seeking the aid of several different Muggle doctors."
"How shameful!" Lucius said mockingly. "Muggle healers? Barbaric!"
"I wouldn't be too quick to judge, my good man." Horace replied. "Augustus has shared his research with me, and I can see why he might put his faith in them to cure him. Like it or not, Muggles and Warlocks are still nothing but human beings. We have the same frail bodies, and suffer from the same ailments. Sometimes I think we just might be a bit arrogant in our beliefs that magic can cure everything."
Dr. Black Jack turned to Ellen giving her a questioning look.
"If you are going to observe my procedures close up you will need put on medical greens and scrub up," he told her. "The operating room is kept absolutely sterile to prevent the transfer of germs."
Ellen picked up the pile of clothing, and carefully examined it. She frowned, but nodded.
"Agreed."
"There is a bathroom just down the hall to your right where you may change." Kuro instructed her.
Augustus lay face up on the operating table. He turned to face the doctor.
"I understand you won't be putting me under for this one?" he asked.
"The brain is incapable of feeling pain." Black Jack told him. "I will be using a local anesthesia while I am opening your skull, however it will be helpful to have you awake while I am probing the areas that need to be removed."
"I understand," the elder Slytherin said. "I can guide your scalpel, because I know exactly where the cancerous tissue is in my brain. I can see it with my mind's eye."
"You can?" the doctor asked.
"Actually, so can you." his patient replied. "You just don't know it yet."
Ellen entered the operating room. She now had the loose fitting green overalls hanging from her shoulders, her hair was covered with a tight fitting cap, and a gauze breath mask covered her nose and mouth. She walked over to the sink and scrubbed her hands under the nearly scalding hot water, and used the strong soap and scrub brush to sanitize her hands, as she had seen the doctor himself do. Finally she pulled a pair of surgical gloves over her hands.
"Very good." Black Jack told her.
"I'm the assistant!" Pinoko said, giving Ellen a slight bump to the side with her hips. "You are only observing!"
"I wouldn't think of upstaging you!" Ellen laughed at Pinoko.
Ellen's gloved hand reached into the pocket of the gown and she fingered the item she'd hidden there. Moving her wrist just slightly with the object in her grip she mumbled something under her breath. The pocket of the gown glowed for a moment, and then went dark.
Black Jack drilled three tiny holes though the shaved area of Augustus scalp, and then used a battery powered saw to remove the bone over the area to be exorcised. With the surface of the brain now exposed he brought his scalpel toward the tissue. Suddenly an image formed in his mind and hovered transparently in his field of view. Superimposed over his view of the surface of the brain he imagined he could see deep into the core of the organ and the cancerous tissue stood out like a sore thumb.
Augustus looked up into the face of the surgeon and could see the surprise on his face.
"I don't understand this." Black Jack told the patient.
I told you that you had the ability," the patient replied.
Ellen looked at her mentor and winked, which the elder Slytherin returned.
The tip of the doctor's scalpel seemed to glow as he brought the tip to the area that required cutting. The doctor felt the scalpel guide his hand along the paths he needed to slice, rather than the other way around. As he removed the cancerous tissue, he noticed a structure in the patient's brain that he'd never seen before, but the doctor quickly forgot about it.
"I can feel the pressure lifting." Augustus said. "The affliction is gone. Thank you Doctor."