Disclaimer: JKR owns Harry Potter. This story was written for Healer Pomfrey's April Challenge and its plot may be similar to other stories written for this purpose.
Listen to Your Friends, They Talk for a Reason
What on earth is that? Hermione stopped in her rushed dressing and looked down at her bare leg, pulling her robes up a bit. There, on her upper thigh was a red pustule and it seemed to be quivering slightly, as if there was a creature living under her skin. She poked it, biting down on her lip to keep from crying out. It hurt!
It had to be some kind of bruise. Maybe a magical one. Hermione generally tended to avoid getting injured and ill and she wasn't very familiar with magical maladies. She bit her lip again, swearing to look this up in the library the first chance she got. Between studying for OWLs of course.
Back on track, Hermione let her robes drop and pulled on socks and shoes, swinging her book bag over her shoulder and hurrying out of the girls dormitory into the common room of Gryffindor house. Harry and Ron were already prepared, standing at the portrait hole looking exhausted and very ready for the exams to be over. The seventh years all looked worse and Hermione was not looking forward to her last year at Hogwarts.
"Let's go." Ron said, his voice rather hoarse. "What on for today Hermione?"
Hermione opened the pocket on her book-bag and pulled out the scrap of parchment she copied out the exam schedule on. "Charms, written in the morning, practical in the afternoon." She pulled out her textbook and flipped it open to the page she'd stopped on last night.
The day was horrible. Hermione's head ached and it wasn't just from Pansy Parkinson's miscast shrinking charm hitting her robes and the material tightening around her neck. The examiners had been furious and made both girls retake the practical exam in separate locations, to certain no cheating was going on.
By supper, Hermione was too exhausted to eat. She watched, unbelieving as both Ron and Harry worked their way through several helpings. "Night." She said quietly, heading back to Gryffindor tower, all thoughts of researching the odd bruise on her leg gone.
The next days of exams followed the same pattern, they were all horrible. The odd bruises multiplied constantly and they were definitely moving all over her. Like little worms. It was disgusting. Her arms, legs, torso and chest had them everywhere. And her headache hadn't disappeared, it had gotten worse.
But Hermione used the concealment charms she'd learned from Lavender Brown to make sure that if any of the pustules should happen to go somewhere that someone could see them, they'd be well covered up. Not that anyone had the energy of alertness to notice. By the time Hermione had finished writing the last exam, History of Magic, she and everyone else was ready to collapse where they were standing.
The morning after exams had finished, Hermione didn't get out of bed for breakfast. She was hungry, but when she tried to sit up, her head spun and her stomach threatened to lose its holds on the small amount of food she'd eaten the night before.
She took slow, deep breaths, calming her stomach and her spinning head. Oh well, sleeping some more sounds like a good idea too. Hermione yawned and snuggled back under her blankets, letting her eyes drift close.
When she woke again, it felt as if someone had lit her skin on fire. Sweat poured down her face and soaked her nightdress. Hermione kicked off her covers and flipped her pillow over, pressing her face into the cool cloth. She closed her eyes again and fell back asleep, hoping she'd feel better in the morning.
"Hermione. Hermione, wake up." Someone was shaking her, rather insistently. She groaned and rolled over, nearly knocking Ginny over. "Oh good, I was so worried that you weren't going to wake up!"
Hermione sat up, it was hard, but she leaned against the wall and tried to not let Ginny see how difficult the simple activity had been. "What is it Ginny? I was trying to sleep."
Ginny sat down on the edge of her bed. "You slept all day. Curfew's in ten minutes." She motioned to the window. Outside was dark. "Are you all right?" She wanted to tell Hermione how bad she looked, but she didn't dare.
"Fine." Hermione yawned and swung her legs over the side of the bed. "I'm going to take a shower." She paused for a moment, then turned to Ginny. The girl had gone strangely silent and still.
"Hermione, are you certain you're all right?" Ginny pressed her hand to Hermione's forehead. "You're burning up and your bed's soaked. So are your pyjamas." She looked back at her friend, waiting for her to deny it.
The older Gryffindor shook her head. "I'm fine."She squirmed along the bed so she was closer to the edge, not noticing how her nightdress rode up as she moved. Now her legs were bare to mid-thigh and hundreds of angry red pustules, moving quickly were visible on her skin.
Ginny looked at Hermione's legs in horror. "What are those?" She exclaimed, pointing.
Hermione looked down and stood up quickly, pushing down her nightdress. "They're nothing. Bruises or something like that."
"I don't think so." Ginny looked more carefully at her friend. They were all over her. Her arms, ankles. Every part that she could see, save her neck and head. "Hermione, you're covered with them. You've got to go to the Hospital wing!"
Hermione shook her head. "I'll be fine. I'll take a shower and go back to sleep. I'm certain they'll go away on their own."
Ginny crossed her arms. "What if it is something really bad? Or contagious? You've got a fever too Hermione."
The door to the third year girls dorm banged open and Lavender and Parvati entered giggling. They stopped at the sight before them. "What's going on?" Parvati asked, moving closer to the two angry girls. "Is something wrong?"
Neither spoke not wanting to let anyone else in on the fight.
Parvati looked more carefully at Hermione. The girl didn't look well at all. Then she saw the red pustules and they moved. "Hermione, you've got to go to the Hospital wing. Madame Pomfrey can only do so much, the sooner you go, the better."
Hermione looked at the girl. Usually she wrote off everything the girl said and didn't think much of her in general. "What is it?" Do you know what these are? I've honestly got no idea."
She nodded grimly. "It's a type of measles. Padma and I had them a few days after we arrived from India. They're nasty. You can get really sick. Britain's got a vaccination program. But India doesn't and since you're muggleborn, you probably missed out."
Hermione groaned. "Joy." She opened her trunk and took out her lightest robe, throwing it over her nightdress and stuffing her feet into slip on shoes. "I don't know when I'll be back." She glared at Ginny. "Thanks Parvati."
Parvati looked at her best friend. "Lavender, have you had the vaccination? You should probably go with Hermione. Pomfrey might have some of the vaccine potion or something. I don't want you to get sick."
Lavender nodded. "I'll go. Then Hermione can have some help getting there too." She put an arm around Hermione's waist to help support her. "Come on, let's go. I don't want Snape to give you detention now. He probably would too."
The two girls arrived in the Hospital Wing ten minutes after curfew. Hermione was sweating heavily and leaning nearly all of her weight on Lavender. She didn't think she could walk another step. Lavender helped her settle on a bed and hurried through the empty hospital wing to Madame Pomfrey's office at the end.
Hermione swung her legs onto the bed and laid back on the white sheet to rest her head on the pillow. She closed her eyes and let the murmur of quiet voices coming from the office and the tap of shoes on the stone floor lull her to sleep.
A few minutes later someone was shaking her. Hermione moved as if sleepwalking from the main ward to a small quarantine room behind Madame Pomfrey's office. She heard Lavender's soft "ow" as Madame Pomfrey gave her the vaccination and then the steps as someone, or several some-ones walked back towards the room she was in.
"Miss Granger please wake up." The voice was soft and soothing. Yet Hermione still groaned and rolled away from the hand on her shoulder. She was tired and achy and not in the mood to talk to people of do anything involving others. Even if the mediwitch had potions and spells to make her feel better.
The voice was more insistent now. "Miss Granger, I need you to open your eyes and look at me. I have some treatment I need to start to get you feeling better." The hand came back and turned her over, gently but firmly.
Hermione groaned and open her eyes. Madame Pomfrey was looking worriedly down at her. "Miss Granger, Hermione. I'm going to cast a diagnostic charm on you to be certain that you have the flubberworm measles, and to be sure nothing else is troubling you." She waved her wand in a complicated pattern over Hermione's body, clucking as the results of her diagnostic appeared in some odd short forms above Hermione's body.
"All right Miss Granger. You are indeed suffering from the flubberworm measles. How long have you been feeling poorly?" The mediwitch asked, turning away from Hermione to prepare a few potions and a salve for the moving pox.
Hermione looked away. "Since just before OWLs began. I didn't want anything to interfere with the exams so I just ignored the pox and symptoms."
Madame Pomfrey shook her head. "I'm very glad you finally came to see me. If you had gone untreated much longer there's no telling how badly you could have been affected. We also need to try and contain the outbreak. It is a very contagious disease and quite deadly to muggles."
"Oh no!" Hermione looked horrified. "But it's summer! I'm going home, to see my parents!"
"I'm afraid not. You'll be confined to bed for the next three weeks while the disease runs its course. We have to keep all of the students that would be returning to areas with high concentrations of muggles here. Unless they've already had the disease or were vaccinated as children."
Hermione nodded, but inside she was crying. She drank down the foul potions, a fever reducer, skin soother and mild sleep inducer and fell asleep as Madame Pomfrey was beginning to apply a cool salve to the itching, moving pox that covered her body.
When Hermione awoke again she was feeling much better. The potions obviously hadn't worn off yet and she knew that the feeling wouldn't last. But this was an opportunity and she took it. The Gryffindor girl pushed herself up and looked around the room she was in.
It was rather small, all white, with only five beds. But now all of the beds were filled. Lavender was sleeping next to her and the rest of the girls were in years below Hermione. Three Hufflepuffs and a Ravenclaw. Hermione yawned, noticing a bracelet on her arm as she covered her mouth.
The bracelet was made out of an odd material. This must be the wizarding equivalent of plastic. Hermione thought. Cool. It had a number on it, but the numbers seemed to squirm around before her eyes. She did catch the short for temp. and a degree sign. Probably tells my temperature or something.
"Miss Granger, you're awake." Madame Pomfrey entered the room, in her hand was a large pot of salve. She handed Hermione a rubber glove and a small container of the salve. "Apply that to your pox and any area that feels uncomfortable."
Hermione nodded and did as she was told. The salve was wonderfully cool against her hot skin. It soothed the slight itching and helped her to relax. After she was finished the mediwitch had the house-elves bring her a light meal of soup and bread. She ate hungrily and returned to sleep.
The next week passed by slowly. The quarantine ward was expanded and now fifteen girls were sharing it. Apparently there were twenty boys in the expanded room next to them. Between potions, salve, sleeping and food, Hermione enjoyed herself.
Most days she wasn't feeling too poorly. Just a bit itchy and achy. After her initial night in the hospital wing her fever had gone down to a comfortable level and she wore dark glasses and the curtains were pulled tightly shut to prevent her headaches and those of the other girls from coming back.
And on the days when she was feeling all right, the fifteen girls did things. They talked, played word games, talked about boys, went over the material they'd studied during the year and read aloud to each other. It was rather fun and Hermione felt that she was actually developing relationships with other girls. It seemed like every single day she and Lavender found something new to talk to each other about.
Slowly, day by day, Hermione's condition improved. By the time her three weeks were finished, all of the pox were gone ans she was once again bright eyed and energetic. Finally she was going to get to return home and see her parents. Have a summer break.
"Goodbye Miss Granger. Remember, any sign of a relapse or any questions at all, feel free to owl me." The mediwitch told her. "Take it easily at first." She handed Hermione a sheet with a few instructions and her summer address. On the back of the page were the signs and symptoms and how to treat them. It also told her what situations she should contact help in.
Hermione smiled. "Thank you Madame Pomfrey. I hope you can go home soon to." The mediwitch smiled tiredly and nodded in agreement. Before leaving Hermione stuck her head back in the girls ward. "Bye Lavender. See you all in September!" She waved and headed outside. One long ride later and she'd be waiting for her parents at King's Cross Station.