Many thanks to Lex who betaed this for me. It's late and I'm tired so the sentiment is not grand but it is real.

Chapter 8: Nineteenth Century Healing

"I'm sorry about the small space everybody," Hermione announced to the unsettled group. "Let's just squash in as best we can. I'll try to move around the room as much as possible so everyone can see what I'm talking about."

Hermione paused waiting for the group to hush and get comfortable so that there would be no movements to distract her. Despite her confident tone she was rather nervous about presenting today, she knew that teenagers could be merciless when they felt you didn't deserve their respect. She was happy to do this though, education was important and she was glad to help where she could, especially since Albus and Rose were involved in this project.

"As some of you already know I am Rosie's mum, my name is Hermione and I'm here today just to give you a brief insight into nineteenth century Healing," she began. "I'm not going to talk you through every specific instrument here and their functions, but what I will do is talk you through the main methods of medical care. I will go over what some of the more common instruments were used for, and, while I have my own ideas already, I want to see if we can deduce together as a group what might have occurred here." She paused again, letting her words settle over them and taking a deep breath before continuing. "Okay, why don't we start with Albus and Scorpius, I believe you both had the opportunity to explore this room independently yesterday. Tell me what you found here."

"A Boggart," Scorpius replied a little petulantly and Albus cringed. He was hurt slightly at the rudeness displayed towards his aunt and the way Scorpius seemed to be devaluing their Boggart experience together. Albus tried to look away from Scorpius, he could feel the blond staring at him, but his eyes betrayed him and he looked up to see the Slytherin looking sadly back at him.

"Yes, and I'm told you removed it very effectively, well done," Hermione said, politely ignoring the young man's childish tone. "Now, apart from the Boggart, can you tell me about some of what you found here?"

"Everything was covered in protective sheets when we arrived which probably preserved things much better then they would have been without the protection," Albus explained, answering the question that had been directed at Scorpius. He didn't want to give the boy the chance to be rude to his aunt again, and frankly if he wasn't going to act maturely – if he was going to be an arse to him for no reason – Albus didn't care one bit if Scorpius thought him rude too.

"That's a possibility," Hermione commented.

"Once we uncovered everything we started exploring the cupboards," Albus continued. "There are some things here that I recognized; I think they might still be used today, or at least not that long ago."

"Very good, Allie!" Hermione gushed, using his family nickname by accident. "Medical practices were fairly similar to what they were when this poor person was sick up until about fifty years ago with only small advancements over time. Nowadays things are developing much more quickly, the medical researchers at St. Mungo's Hospital are becoming more knowledgeable and more efficient all the time. One discovery seems to lead to another and we are developing treatments that fifty years ago were not even thought possible."

"What kinds of treatments did they use when this person was sick?" Albus heard a girl ask from the other side of the room.

"Bleeding and leeching were common and used as late as the early nineteen hundreds, particularly in more rural areas like this one where people held more strongly onto their traditions," Hermione explained.

"Bleeding and leeching? What's that?" the same girl asked.

"Oh, um, well, it was rather unpleasant," Hermione replied uncertainly, she didn't think it appropriate to go into the gory details with children, but it was against her grain to deny them at least basic knowledge. "Alright, well, without getting too graphic about how exactly how it was done… leeching was used in poorer families as an alternative to bleeding. Leeches were used to suck out what physicians believed to be bad or infected blood, of course in reality we now know that leeches aren't that particular about what blood they consume – blood is blood, it can't be separated into healthy or unhealthy."

Hermione paused to see if the group understood what she was telling them, they seemed to as one of the students urged her to go on and explain 'bleeding' to them. "Bleeding was a far more dangerous process and it was favoured by wealthier families that could afford the 'treatment'," she answered; Albus grinned as she used air quotes around the word treatment, he always thought it was funny when he saw one of the adults do something like that. "Bleeding was essentially the practice of renewing the blood by bleeding out the old and renewing it with a blood replenishing potion. Of course the potion was not as refined as it is today and nearly eighty-five percent of patients didn't survive the process."

"So is that what happened to this guy?" John asked looking far more fascinated than one should after learning this kind of brutality was once normalized, and rather expensive, too. Albus couldn't imagine who would pay for something like that; he'd Avada himself before he'd let someone even get close enough to Bleed him. Sick.

"Well, let's see what we can find out," Hermione suggested before beginning to search through some of the ancient medical equipment they'd found.

Hermione went on to discuss some of the more common instruments and their functions, noting that there were several glass bottles that were likely used to contain leeches, as well as some of the equipment for bleeding. "Due to the high mortality rate, bleeding was often used as a last resort for many people, not everyone but some, so perhaps this family had tried leeches first and the other method later once they'd discovered the disease didn't wane." She went on to talk some more about Healing and answered a few questions, but ultimately explained that much of the evidence of what occurred had been lost to the passing years and would be difficult to determine.

"In cases like this we must then think outside simply our knowledge of Healing and look at other areas of knowledge that might be useful," she explained and she was pleased to see the group looked on intrigued. "So, as I am not particularly familiar with pureblood traditions and social customs, I might need some assistance. Mr. Malfoy, if you'd be so kind?"

Scorpius was surprised but managed to keep his smooth demeanor. "Of course," he replied obligingly as he stepped up to the front to join Albus' aunt.

"Now, I know Professor Faulkner has gone over this with you and Albus, but for everybody else's benefit, it is likely this room was not a permanent residence for anybody, is that correct?" she asked.

"Yes, that's right," Scorpius nodded. "We thought it was most likely a guest bedroom." Scorpius' gaze flicked over to where Albus stood not far from him and Albus found himself standing taller to demonstrate his confidence and strength. He was not going to go all weak in the knees for a flighty Slytherin who was honey one moment and icy the next.

"What makes you think that?"

"Well, there was nothing personal in here, and traditionally the main bedrooms are upstairs, and guest rooms are on the ground floor," he replied.

"Did you think it was odd for a family to be treating a guest for what looks to be a rather serious illness?" Hermione asked him, leading the conversation so that the children would be able to connect the information together and come up with some conclusions.

"Yeah, not for anything serious."

"Okay, so considering this new information in light of what we already know, does anybody have any theories about what happened?" she prompted.

"Maybe they got really sick really quickly and then they couldn't be moved to the hospital," somebody piped up from the back of the room.

"Possibly," Hermione acknowledged. "Anyone else?"

"It could have been an extended family member who didn't usually live here, but the family here was obviously wealthy and maybe they paid for the treatment," Albus offered.

"If that were the case they would have paid for the treatment to occur in the relatives own house," Scorpius replied logically, but Albus just frowned at the challenge. "There's no sense in having a sick person unnecessarily in the house to make everyone else sick."

"That's it!" Hugh exclaimed from beside Albus. "Perhaps it was someone who lived here after all, what if they were contagious! If they were allowed to stay in their usual rooms up with the rest of the family then they might have infected the whole house, so they were moved downstairs to a guest room!"

"Well done!" Hermione exclaimed. "That's what I was looking for! What's your name?"

"Hugh," he replied. "Hugh Daines."

"Hugh Daines?" Hermione said suggestively, raising her eyebrows and glancing over at Rose who turned bright red at the action.

"Well, as I said, when you're considering a situation like this where much of your evidence has been lost, you need to look at everything you have available to you, particularly things that seem unusual or out of place," she continued. "That's usually the key. So, now we have narrowed the possible ailments to contagious diseases and viruses, what are the conditions that spring to mind?"

"My Great-Grandfather died of Dragon Pox," Scorpius suggested, drawing Albus' eyes for a moment. "That's contagious."

"Yes, you're right, it is," Hermione nodded. "It was very common back then too so it's a distinct possibility. Anything else?"

"Celtic Fever?" Rose answered.

"Yes, well done, that's contagious as well," her mother smiled at her. "You've been browsing through my Healing books again, have you?" Rose simply blushed and diverted her gaze to the ground. "Any other suggestions?"

"Highland Flu?" somebody asked.

"Good thinking, but I think that epidemic came about a century after this person died," Hermione replied.

There were several more answers brought up and, whether they were right or wrong, Hermione politely encouraged every one, except those that were obviously made up; those she laughed at along with the rest of them.

"Okay, I think we're getting a bit off track so let's just wrap up shall we, I'm sure you're all starving by now, we've gone a bit over our lunch break, haven't we?" The groups voiced their agreement and a few of the boys rubbed their sore, empty tummies. "Okay, very quickly now, what would the next logical step be if we were to pursue this investigation, we now have a few leads to follow, so what now?"

"To go back to the instruments here and see which ones were used to treat which diseases," Albus suggested.

"Good thinking, Allie," Hermione congratulated him. "That would be exactly the next step, the only major problem you might encounter with that though is that treatments back then were very generic, there were very little treatments designed to specifically treat certain illnesses. So, in that case, we would have to look at investigating other areas, we'd probably look into who was in here – their age, sex, and lifestyle, as well as family history, past medical history; that is, of course, if we are able to access that information. We also might look into other deaths in the local area outside this family to see if there was anything in common." The group nodded their understanding, but Hermione could no longer deny the look of desperate hunger in their eyes. "Alright, I won't torture you any longer, let's break for lunch!"

That afternoon Albus was permitted to spend the day with Rose and his Aunt – Scorpius was paired with Stacey and Albus thought it served him right. The two Weasley grandchildren gave Hermione a tour of the old Manor and they described their first few days here. Albus confessed to his indiscretion with Scorpius and how they were punished by having to clean out the Doxies from one of the studies, however he didn't mention the secret room or the two ghosts that were now constantly on his mind.

Hermione was very interested in the Manor and kept telling them how jealous she was that she never got to do something like this when she was in school. Of course, both Rose and Albus knew all too well that Hermione was busy doing other things in school with her two best friends; saving the world only being the half of it!

At dinner, Scorpius again sat with an empty seat beside him and gazed wistfully at Albus as he entered with his aunt and cousin. Albus felt a little guilty and after spending such a pleasant afternoon with his family he was inclined to give the Slytherin a break and sit with him at dinner, before he could excuse himself though he was descended upon by Oscar who was keen to meet Hermione the war-legend.

"Aren't you going to introduce me?" Oscar asked scooping Albus up into his arms, and Hermione's eyes widened at the action; she'd been under the assumption that Albus was with Scorpius Malfoy, even if they were having a bit of a tiff.

"Mum, this is Oscar Diver," Rose said, rolling her eyes at the sixth year's obvious attempts to hold on to the non-existent piece of Albus he thought he had. "He's a Gryffindor as well, but the year above. Poor sod wants Albus but he won't have a bar of him, will you Allie?"

Albus' mouth dropped open at Rose's frankness, and Oscar was quick to release him as his face flushed bright red.

"I see," Hermione commented, and Oscar threw her a quick 'nice to meet you' before scurrying off.

Albus looked over to where Scorpius was sitting, but he had gone. Disappointed, Albus sat with the two women to brood over his steak, wondering why Scorpius hadn't waited for him.

"I had no idea you were so popular," Hermione commented, making Albus' face pink.

"Neither did I really," he shrugged.

"Yes, well, your father was always the same, completely oblivious," she chuckled. "They send their love by the way, your parents. You mum was saying she wants to come and visit you in the next weekend or two."

"Yeah, she said before she left that she would," he replied. He gazed at his potatoes chewing his lip while he tried to figure out the best way to word his next question.

"Spit it out," his observant aunt told him. "You have the same look as Harry when he has something he wants to say but doesn't know how."

"Um, well, all this stuff with Scorpius and Oscar," Albus began nervously. "Could you – I mean, you won't say anything, will you?"

Hermione sighed. She'd been afraid of this. "I won't say anything, but I can't lie to your parents, Allie."

"I know, I just – I want to tell them myself," he told her and she nodded.

"Then I won't say anything." She covered his hand with her own in a comforting gesture.

"Thank you," he sighed with relief.

"Albus!" he heard someone call out to him. He turned to see Professor Faulkner making his way over with a sealed envelope. "You have a reply to your letter!"

Albus' heart sped up; it was the reply to his letter asking about the family that had lived here last. "Thank you," he said again, this time to Faulkner as he retrieved his letter. "Aunt Hermione," he started to apologize for running off on her but she shushed him after seeing the excitement in his eyes and told him to run along.

Clutching the letter tightly in his hand, he glanced back one last time to see Hugh Daines take his place at the table next to Rose. He smiled and then rushed off to find somewhere quiet to read his letter, hoping it might shed some more light on the mysterious Henry and Catherine.

Yes, I am fully aware that was rather short and not particularly plot heavy, but I wanted to indulge myself in a little Hermione action - I do so love her - and the added tension in Albus and Scorpius' delay in making up is definitely a plot point so while it may not seem like it now this chapter is not entirely filler.

The next chapter won't be too far behind this one.