5th April 1969
"Dragon Pox!" repeated Pomona, settling herself down onto a hard, white plastic chair at the foot of Minerva's bed.
"Yes," answered Minerva, sighing deeply and resting her head back on the pillow, which was propped up behind her back.
"Now wonder you looked so ill," said Pomona, realisation dawning, "I suppose you did not miss that epidemic after all," she continued, looking pensively up at her friend before giving a shrug and reaching down into a bag which was down at her feet.
"I suppose not," replied Minerva tiredly, thinking back to the Dragon Pox epidemic she thought she had escaped from a few weeks ago.
Moving her back to get into a more comfortable position, Minerva sighed deeply. She had been in the Hospital Wing for days and it was only now that her skin was reaching normal colour again and that her tiredness and dizziness was diminishing that she was allowed visitors other than Madame Lynch. Hating the feeling of being so useless and frail, Minerva sighed once more.
"Here," said Pomona, removing her hand from the bag she had been previously searching and putting a collection of magazines onto Minerva's lap, "I thought you might enjoy these."
Minerva looked down at her lap and saw four copies of the Transfiguration today she had missed in the past week. "Thank you, Pomona," she said, picking them up and looking at each of their covers in hopes of trying to find one that sparked her interest the most. Finally, she successfully found one which was about human Transfiguration. However, still feeling a little nauseous and tired, Minerva put the magazine to one side and looked back up at her friend who was concentrating hard on her knitting.
Pomona, feeling Minerva's gaze looked up as well, "You look dreadful," she stated bluntly.
"Why thank you, Pomona that really does make me feel better," replied Minerva coldly, setting down the other three magazines onto her bedside table.
"When are you allowed to leave?" continued Pomona. The clicking of her needles now coming to a halt.
"Three days," answered Minerva, failing to conceal the bitterness in her voice; she hated not being able to teach when exams were so close.
"Albus is taking care of your classes perfectly," said Pomona, correctly identifying Minerva's annoyance, "And anyway, you only have three more days left and two of those days are Saturday and Sunday."
Minerva scowled; she had been in a terrible mood all week. In addition to all of the horrible side effects of having Dragon Pox, Elphinstone had sent her a letter proposing to her yet again, and her father had also fallen ill in Caithness which was worrying due to his age.
Pomona clucked her tongue but said nothing to "I'm surprised you got Dragon Pox; usually people don't get it twice."
"Well, count myself lucky then," grumbled Minerva, feeling the headache, which had disappeared an hour ago, slowly ebb back. Massaging her forehead, she grimaced and thought longingly of the holidays, which were soon to come.
"Did you read the Daily Prophet this morning?" asked Pomona after a while, her needles coming to a halt once more.
Minerva looked up and felt her heart beat painfully in her chest, "No," she said, a sense of foreboding enveloping her as she thought, what now.
Pomona's face turned an odd shade of green as though she too was recovering from Dragon Pox, "Two Muggle families murdered and a muggleborn."
Minerva closed her eyes feeling suddenly nauseous, which had nothing to do with the illness she was recovering from, "And we still have no information on the attackers?" she asked, already knowing the answer to her question.
"Nothing," answered Pomona, sighing and rubbing her eyes, "Elphinstone must be going crazy!"
"He is. He told me he is considering quitting but he never would – he is not the type of person to quit, especially if it endangers more lives," said Minerva, making a mental note to write Elphinstone a letter that evening.
"No, I don't think he would…" agreed Pomona, shaking her head from side to side, "Actually…" she said, her face lighting up, "I think Albus told me briefly of two men being caught last night. I am not too sure how he knows because it was not in the Daily Prophet this morning but he looked pretty sure of himself."
"Two men?" asked Minerva, feeling much more hopeful than before.
"Yes. Don't ask me anything else about them though, I don't know anything else," stated Pomona, looking back down at her half finished scarf, staring at it for a while before shrugging and stuffing it back into her bag, "It's nearly dinner time, Minerva. I think I'll be off but I will come back to visit you tomorrow, ok?"
"You don't need to if you're busy," started Minerva, looking up at her friend who was busy collecting all of her things.
"Nonsense, Minerva, of course, I'll come," snapped Pomona sharply, giving Minerva a hard stare, "I'll bring the newest copy of Transfiguration Today with me," she continued, her face softening.
"Thank you, Pomona," said Minerva, smiling and patting Pomona gently on the arm, "I appreciate it."
"Not at all, Minerva. See you tomorrow afternoon?" answered Pomona, already making her way to the exit of the hospital wing and waving goodbye.
"Tomorrow afternoon," agreed Minerva, waving goodbye as well, "See you soon, Pomona."
"See you soon, Minerva," called Pomona, walking out of the Hospital Wing, turning left and disappearing from sight.
Minerva sighed and rubbed her eyes. Despite her not having done much that day, she was dreadfully tired and longed for seven o'clock to come so that she could go to sleep without it being too early.
A little short but next post will be much longer. I have been very busy so I haven't had much time to write, however, I am taking a long plane journey on Friday so hopefully, I will be able to write a longer chapter. Hope you enjoyed this chapter and have a nice day!