A/N: Hello everyone without further ado, here is the next chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.


Delirium, Delusions, and Cures

Friday April 15th, 2022

6:23 AM

"Wazzit?" Victoire muttered groggily when she felt someone shake her arm.

She blearily opened her eyes and saw Caitlyn standing over her, a contrite expression on her face.

"I'm sorry."

Victoire groaned and rubbed her eyes as she slowly sat up, "What's up?"

"Nathan's woken up," Caitlyn told her gently; her arms were folded awkwardly in front of her.

Victoire looked at her clock and held in her sigh. She'd gotten just under five hours of sleep. She stretched her arms out as she stood up, "I'll be there in a minute."

Once Caitlyn left, Victoire hurriedly changed into a new set of clothes, brushed her hair and pulled it back into a bun, and brushed her teeth and washed her face before leaving her tent and travelling to the med tent. When Victoire entered, she saw that Hayden and Caitlyn were standing as near to Nathan as they dared –meaning that they were speaking rather loudly to him over the open space– and Tasha was sitting in a chair only a little ways away from Teddy's bedside.

Victoire ignored Teddy for the present so that she could get into her slightly detached healer mode, conjured up some gloves for her hands and stood at Nathan's bedside.

"How're you feeling?" Victoire asked as she got a thermometer ready.

"I feel exhausted and my head hurts, but the light isn't bothering me anymore," Nathan said before Victoire stuck the thermometer in his mouth.

She smiled in response, "That's a good sign. You're going to be tired of course, and your head is still going to hurt because your meninges are healing, but it's shouldn't hurt too much."

Nathan waited for her to take the thermometer out of his mouth before responding, "It's just a little pain, nothing like it was yesterday."

Victoire nodded and summoned a potion to her hand, "Good. How's the neck pain and nausea?"

"All gone, although the nausea may come back with the next dose of potion," Nathan replied, eyeing the potion Victoire was pouring out.

"It's just today and tomorrow," Victoire told him with a small smile as she handed him the potion.

"Really?" Hayden asked in surprise before chugging the next dose of potion.

"Really," Victoire repeated, "The potion is very efficient."

Nathan handed her the glass back, and then reached out and pulled on the side of Victoire's shirt, "I'm tired."

"You can sleep."

"'Kayyyyyy," Nathan yawned as he lay back down and closed his eyes.

Victoire went to her office before going to check on Teddy because she needed to take the preventative potions again. Nathan was no longer contagious but there was a good chance that Teddy still was and since she was the only healer around, she didn't want to take any chances. She still didn't know exactly what strand of bacterial meningitis they had, but since taking all four of the preventative potions yesterday didn't have any adverse effect –that she knew of– she decided that just taking the two for bacterial meningitis should be okay.

Once she had swallowed both potions, she walked to Teddy's hospital bed. She noticed that Tasha was still sitting by his side and that she looked very worried. The bags under her eyes even suggested that she had had a hard time sleeping. Even though Victoire didn't like Tasha, she could not deny that she cared about Teddy.

"Teddy," Victoire said calmly as she looked him over with a critical eye.

His eyes fluttered open and she noted how red they were. Her heart panged because she knew that he was extremely tired, but at least the red eyes meant that Hayden had done his job of waking Teddy up most of the early morning when she was catching some zs.

"Hmmmm," Teddy murmured in response twisting his head around a little as he tried to figure out which side she was standing on.

Victoire stuck the thermometer in his mouth and took his pulse while it was heating up. When it was finished, she took it out and glanced at it, "Time for some more fever potion I reckon."

She quickly fed Teddy some potion and then told him he could go back to sleep.

"If everyone's still alive, then I'm going to go catch a short catnap," Hayden said waving goodbye briefly before exiting the tent.

Caitlyn also left the tent, saying something about how one of them should look like they're getting some work done on translating the runes. That left just Victoire and Tasha in the tent, both still by Teddy's side.

Victoire continued to ignore Tasha as she cast some spells over Teddy to check his blood pressure, breathing rate, and a few other tests.

"Is it really necessary to wake him up every few hours?" Tasha asked, it was the first thing she'd said to her that morning.

"Sadly yes. REM sleep is when a person dreams and he's been known to change his features when he dreams," Victoire replied as she looked at the bags that were starting to develop under Teddy's eyes.

"And you said that he also lets go of his morphing when he's in REM sleep too?" Tasha asked.

Victoire nodded, she was a little surprised that they were having a civil conversation but she wasn't going to ruin it, "Often he will, yes."

Tasha was quiet for a moment before she spoke next. It didn't get passed Victoire's notice that Tasha's voice was very quiet and a little unsteady.

"What does he look like?"

Victoire's eyes narrowed in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"What does he really look like? You know, when he's not morphed," Tasha explained very hesitantly. Her expression said that she was trying to play it cool but that she was very interested in the answer.

Victoire sat down on the edge of Teddy's bed and gently touched his hair with her glove-covered hands, "His hair usually goes back to turquoise blue, but it's the feature most likely to change in his sleep."

She moved her fingers to his forehead, "He looks his normal self though. The laugh lines on his face."

She trailed down to his nose, "The bump right here."

Her fingers covered the short distance to his lips. She was going to say something else but she got distracted by they way they looked. Without much effort, she vanished her gloves and trailed her fingers along the skin of his lips.

Tasha was looking at her with an expression that was easily recognizable as irritation, but her mood swing was the least of Victoire's worries.

"His lips are dry," Victoire said mostly to herself as she ran her finger over the dry and broken skin.

"He's ill," Tasha said in a tone of voice that implied that it was very obvious and that she thought Victoire was very stupid.

Victoire ignored her and picked up Teddy's hand. She pinched the skin and pulled it up, before letting it go to snap back down. Tasha watched her do it, a confused look on her face the entire time.

"He's dehydrated," Victoire explained. She stood up right away and walked over to one of the storage cabinets in the room.

Tasha tilted her head to the side, "You can tell that based on dry lips and by pinching his skin?"

"The skin test is a simplified one. If skin snaps back relatively quickly, the person is well hydrated. If it takes a little longer, chances are there's some dehydration. Besides, he's been sweating from his fever so it makes sense that he's started to go dry," Victoire expounded as she got an IV line ready.

She sent it over to Teddy's side and started hooking him up to it.

"You're a big fan of muggle medicine then?" Tasha asked glancing at the IV.

"Sometimes being more invasive also means being more precise. I'm more worried about force-feeding him water and then having him vomit because of his nausea," Victoire said defensively even though she was the healer and she had no need to explain herself to Tasha.

There was some more silence as she finished setting Teddy up with the IV. When she finished she turned and looked at Tasha, "I don't want to rush you, but I do suggest limiting your time in the med tent."

Tasha nodded, gave Teddy one last look, and then stood up and walked away without saying another word.

Victoire glanced back down at Teddy herself and took a slightly ragged breath. She could already tell that it was going to be a very long day


8:30 AM

"Vic?"

Victoire looked up from her spot in her office and saw that someone had stuck their head in the tent. It took her a minute before she realized that it was one of the other aurors who was at the camp. She recognized the man and was rather certain that he had graduated as a full-fledged auror the same time Teddy had, even though he was a few years older than him.

She walked over to where he was near the entrance of the tent; obviously, he wasn't risking coming much closer, and said 'hello'. He repeated her greeting and then handed her a small envelope. She recognized the handwriting on the paper and asked the auror to wake Hayden up for her and ask him to come to the med tent right away.

She had just finished reading the short note when Hayden wandered in looking surprisingly well rested from his power-nap.

"What's up?"

Victoire looked at him, hope shining in her eyes, "I got a letter from Ally. She said she'll send the potion for Teddy to the city tomorrow around eight o'clock in the morning."

"She has a cure?" Hayden asked excitedly.

The enthusiasm on Victoire's face fell a little, "She has something that will help him more than the fever potions, and will actually address the issue of the meningococcal bacteria."

Hayden nodded, "Do you want me to go get the potion tomorrow for you?"

Victoire took a deep breath, "No, she might have given explicit instructions about the potion only being allowed to be picked up by me, so I'll have to go. I will need you to come with me though, because I doubt Sir will let me go to the city by myself."

He nodded again, "Of course, anything you need."

"I'm going to need you to stay in here as well today," Victoire said. She knew that he wouldn't think twice about agreeing to do it, but she was a little hesitant, she didn't want him to risk getting sick as well.

"I'm not much of a healer," Hayden told her honestly.

"I don't need you to be a healer," Victoire told him, "I do need you to keep a close eye on Teddy though."

Hayden tilted his head to the side interestedly, "Oh. Why?"

Victoire swallowed thickly, "You need to make sure that he doesn't have a seizure."

Hayden's eyes instantly darkened, "Why would he have a seizure?"

"High fevers can induce seizures," Victoire stated factually.

"But I thought he was on fever controlling potions so that he wouldn't end up with a high fever?"

Victoire bit her lip, "He was on fever controlling potions, but I'm going to take him off of it, along with the pain and nausea controlling ones."

There was a beat of silence before Hayden spoke slowly, "I'm not a healer, but doesn't he need those potions?"

She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, "He needs a cure more, and I need him to be drug free for twenty-four hours so that he can take that cure. I have no idea what Ally's putting in that potion so we don't need any unknown drug interactions making things worse when we do give it to him."

"Executive decision?" Hayden asked quietly.

"Yes," Victoire said before walking over to Teddy's hospital bed, Hayden following close behind her.

"So how are we going to control his fever?" Hayden questioned her. She didn't respond but instead she sat next to Teddy, woke him up, and then gently pulled the t-shirt he was wearing off his body.

Hayden smirked at her, "Do you need me to leave?"

Victoire rolled her eyes and then went about pulling his cargo shorts off him, "We need to cool him down." She then pulled the blanket up to his neck, further confusing Hayden, until she cast several cooling charms on the blanket that he was lying on as well as the one covering him.

"You'll still need to watch him for signs of seizure," Victoire told Hayden as she conjured him up a chair so that he could sit next to Teddy.

"Stare at him all day instead of racking my brains trying to translate ruins? Alright then," Hayden said before he placed his elbows on his legs and propped his face up in his hands.

Victoire sighed and went back to doing some work in her office.

The rest of the morning passed quickly and quietly; Hayden continued to keep an eye out for seizures, and had even taken up waking Teddy up every few hours so that he wouldn't slip into REM sleep. Victoire took Teddy's temperature every half hour, and checked on Nathan several times even though he was in good shape and spent most of his time sleeping. Around lunchtime, Caitlyn came in with two trays of food, one for Victoire and one for Hayden, and asked for an update on the patients.

Victoire was just telling her that she was going to try Nathan on some soup when he next woke up, when Teddy suddenly started to moan and thrash around in his small bed.

Hayden, who was closer, reached out and tried to hold Teddy down so that he wouldn't hurt himself. As they scuffled, the sheets with the cooling charms fell away to the floor, and when Victoire reached his side to help, Teddy's skin felt burning hot under her hands.

Teddy's eyes popped open when he felt Victoire's hands on his chest and he muttered in a hoarse voice, "I'm sick of Dr. Seuss."

"I know," Victoire told him gently while Hayden eyed the two of them bewilderedly, "Lie back down."

"No more books!" Teddy said louder.

Victoire slid around Hayden and placed both of her hands on his shoulders, "I promise no more books. I'll just lie down beside you."

Teddy was starting to recline with her help when he became rigid again, "No singing!"

"And no singing," Victoire agreed softly as she firmly forced him back onto the bed. She then picked up the blanket, checked to see that the cooling charm was still intact, and sat down next to him, on top of the covers. She played with his hair for a few minutes before he drifted off to sleep, and when she got up, she had a very anxious expression on her face.

"What was that?" Caitlyn asked when Victoire walked a little ways away from Teddy's bed.

"The high fever's made him delirious," Victoire explained as she cast some disinfecting spells on Hayden.

"I thought he was on medication for his fever," Caitlyn commented confusedly.

Victoire looked at Caitlyn, "He was. I took him off it a few hours ago because I don't want it to interact when he takes a different potion tomorrow."

Caitlyn didn't say anything, but Hayden had his own questions.

"What did he say about Dr. Seuss?"

"When we were ill when we were younger we used to read books to each other. There was one time when he was ill for a week straight. He got very tired of my choice in reading Green Eggs and Ham repeatedly," Victoire offered. It was the only explanation she could think of that made sense of Teddy's words.

"And the singing?" Hayden asked.

Victoire rolled her eyes, "I don't sing particularly well, and apparently not only does he remember that but he does seems afraid that I was going to sing him to sleep."

Hayden smirked a little before his expression became serious again, "His fever's gotten higher then?"

Victoire sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, "Yes. I'm going to make some ice compresses to try to bring his temp down."

"I'll just get out of your way then," Caitlyn said sidestepping away from them and leaving the tent.


1:45 PM

Victoire was not happy with how high of a temperature Teddy had, but she knew that he needed to be clear of all other potions for the one he would, hopefully, be taking tomorrow after she got it from the city. Hayden was still watching Teddy for signs of a seizure, which he hadn't come close to yet, and he hadn't said anything else while in a state of delirium, so all things considered they were doing as best as they could at keeping his fever down.

Apparently, not everyone thought that Victoire was doing everything she could though, because when Tasha found out from Caitlyn what happened to Teddy earlier, she stormed into the med tent with a murderous expression.

"What's this I hear about you taking Teddy off of his fever medication?" Tasha asked bluntly. With her eyes dark and her hands on her hips, she looked like a menacing opponent.

Victoire, who was halfway through helping Nathan eat some soup, put a stern expression on her face, "I see you had a chat with Caitlyn. Now did you actually listen to what she told you, or did you hear half of it and run out?"

"I heard you took Teddy off of his medication, and as a result he reached such a high temperature that he became delirious," Tasha said, standing her ground.

Victoire left Nathan to his own devices, as she felt that he was strong enough to hold his own soup bowl and soupspoon, and walked over to stand across from Tasha.

"I made the decision to take Teddy off of his potions because we're going to be trying him on a new potion tomorrow and I don't want any adverse interactions between the potions. He needs to be potion free for twenty-four hours to be on the safe side."

Tasha glanced towards Teddy's hospital bed. He was still lying there with Hayden near him watching out for his fever. Hayden had gotten up from his seat next to the bed, and looked like he was stuck between wanting to stay where he was, and wanting to go to Victoire's aid.

"And your decision made his fever go up so high that he became delirious," Tasha accused.

"I'm managing his fever as best as I can, and frankly it's none of your business," Victoire said folding her arms across her chest.

Her scorching gaze flashed to a different emotion before changing back into anger, "I think I'm trying to stop you from killing him, so yeah, I'd say it was my business."

Victoire had caught the change of emotion in her expression before she could hide it, and it disconcerted her and knocked her a little off-centre, "I'm not going to kill him."

Hayden was surprised at the softness in Victoire's voice as she addressed Tasha's insult, "Tasha perhaps you should leave and allow the healer to get back to her work."

Tasha glared at Hayden, gave Teddy one more worried look, and then stormed out almost as loudly as she had stormed in.

"Ugh," Victoire groaned as she rubbed her eyes tiredly. When she was finished, she pinched her arm hard enough to make herself flinch, "Darn, I was hoping that this was just all a bad dream."

Hayden glanced at her with a look of sympathy; it was close enough to pity that it made Victoire want to scream out in frustration.

"Maybe Tasha's right."

"Bite your tongue," Hayden replied in an appalled tone, "O.A.R number one is never right about anything. My whole life is based on that simple fact."

"You've only known her for a few months," Victoire pointed out.

"Has it only been that long?" Hayden mused, "But seriously, nothing she says about you is right. What did she say that made you want to utter that horrible phrase?"

Victoire pinched the bridge of her nose, "She's right about me not doing enough. All I'm doing right now is putting some cold cloths on him. I have you sitting by his side to make sure that he doesn't seize because of his high temperature for Merlin's sake Hayden!"

Hayden frowned, "You're doing everything that you can for him. How were you supposed to anticipate that he would catch a bacterial disease that has a cure that he is allergic to? Heck, if it was anyone other than you, they would have given him the cure, and he would have gone into anaphylactic shock and probably died! How did you know that he was allergic to the potion anyway? Do you have the potions ingredients memorized or something?"

"No of course not, Teddy's allergic to Dalea versiessilis but it's not a very common ingredient in potions. It's mostly used in a certain brand of sleeping potions created by some potioneers in Florida, one of their group created the meningitis-curing potion and he used the ingredient because he was familiar with it. I knew that Teddy was allergic to the plant, so one time I looked through an index and memorized every potion that the plant was used in. It's a small list, the most concerning one being the meningitis potion of course. When I found out that he was travelling, most likely out of the UK, I made him get all of the meningitis vaccines that he could. For all I knew he was going straight to the meningitis belt in Africa!" Victoire said; her speech turned into a rant near the end.

Hayden's mouth opened in an 'O' and then closed again. He seemed to take some more time to think through his words before saying them, "You made him get vaccinated?"

"If it was up to him he would have gone without, he's not the biggest fan of needles," Victoire said walking over to Teddy's bedside to check on his sleeping, "He's going to wig out enough about the IV when he wakes up."

"You've literally done everything you could then to make sure that he wouldn't get ill. The fact that he did is just life giving you a slap in the face," Hayden told her, "Which is why Tasha is still wrong."

Victoire straightened up, "I'm too tired to argue."


10:13 PM

Victoire was wondering if it would be rude to kick everybody out of the med tent so that she could make sure that Nathan got a good night's sleep. He had been much more lucid over the past few hours, and everyone stopped by to say hello, and then goodnight. She didn't mind Hayden being there, although he had been helping her all day and she wanted him to get himself a good night's sleep. However, Tasha, and even Caitlyn were other stories. Caitlyn was no longer joining in on Tasha's attitude filled vitriol, but she wasn't exactly stopping her from her comments either. Victoire had assumed that Tasha's anger with her from earlier would stop her from wanting to visit, but she came with Caitlyn nonetheless.

Victoire glanced down at her watch, not just to notice the time, but to also check and see if Teddy was due for a wake-up call yet. She realized that she had awakened him about ten minutes ago, lamented that time was moving so slowly, and then looked at the saline bag hanging from the IV pole. The bag looked close to empty so she moved to switch it with a new one.

She was just finishing up when Teddy let out a scratchy cough. Victoire sat down on the edge of his bed to help him sit up a little. Hayden and Tasha moved a little closer to them, just in time to see Teddy's eyelids flutter open.

"Teddy?" Victoire asked him softly.

His eyes squinted as her glanced up at her, "Vic?"

"It's me," Victoire replied as she patted his hand. It was both meant to be a reassuring gesture and a way to ensure that the medical tape was holding the IV in properly.

Teddy's gaze followed the movement of her hand and he frowned, "Why aren't you wearing your engagement ring?"

Victoire froze for a moment. She could hear everyone else in the room gasp in surprise, and it was that sound that caused her to kick back into action.

"I don't have an engagement ring," Victoire replied in an even tone as she grabbed his wrist and started to take his pulse.

"Yes you do," Teddy argued, his eyebrows laying heavy over his earnest eyes, "I proposed at Christmas."

"You were away on your mission during Christmas," She reminded him as she reached for his neck. His pulse was low and it was difficult to tell by his wrist, so she wanted to try for his carotid pulse.

Teddy looked thoughtful as he listened to her words. With her fingers still on his neck, she could tell that he was swallowing very dryly, "So I didn't propose at Christmas?"

Victoire felt her heart pang, but she replied steadily, "No."

He looked at her hand again, "I haven't proposed yet at all?"

"No."

"Oh."

There was silence after that and Victoire rubbed Teddy's head for a minute until his eyes drifted shut. She then slid her hand down to his forehead and frowned at how warm he felt. She waved her hand to reapply the cooling charms on the sheets lying over him, and then stood up.

When she turned around Hayden, Caitlyn, Tasha, and even Nathan was staring at her in shock.

"What was that?" Hayden finally blurted out.

"He's delirious," Victoire explained methodically.

"He'd have to be, to be talking about proposing to you," Tasha replied scathingly.

Victoire shrugged and then walked over to her office so she could dispose of the empty saline bag that she took off the IV pole. As she did so, she heard Hayden unceremoniously forcing Tasha and Caitlyn out before following her into her office and closing the door behind him.

"You were way too calm for that situation," Hayden told her with a worried expression on his face.

"He's delirious from a high fever; it's a common medical condition. I'm a healer, I'm trained to be methodic," Victoire said as she straightened the potion bottles on her desk.

Hayden made a disapproving clicking noise with his tongue, "I saw him in his delirious state earlier and he was more confused about the time and place, yet everything he said about you was right."

"So?"

"So, I'm assuming that the little bit of truth in his words was that he was planning on proposing to you earlier," Hayden pondered.

Victoire shrugged non-committal.

"And for someone who's just finding out about your boyfriend's intent to propose, you don't seem very shocked," Hayden continued in a pointed tone.

She pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance, "Already knew. Haven't discussed it with him yet. Wasn't really planning to ever discuss it with him. Hoping that he doesn't remember this when he gets better."

Hayden opened his mouth to respond but Victoire cut him off, "You should be getting to sleep now. Your little catnap this afternoon won't be enough to sustain you for much longer."

Hayden was a little taken aback by her forcefulness, so he just nodded his head and left her office and the med tent without pointing out that she had probably had less sleep than he did over the past thirty hours.


Saturday April 16th, 2022

6:46 AM

Since Victoire was a healing student, she was use to staying up for an all-nighter every so often. Normally she'd have at least one other student with her studying, more often than not it was Spencer, but she had always thought that she could handle a day or two on little sleep. But when that little sleep was in the context of her staying up pretty much all night and day to heal some patients that included her own boyfriend, every minute that she was awake felt like an eternity. She made it through the night on pure will alone, and even forced Hayden back to bed at three o'clock when he woke up to switch monitoring shifts with her. If the new potion ends up working the way she hoped it would, then she would be able to get several hours of sleep after giving Teddy a large dose of it.

Victoire was just making a checklist to give to Caitlyn, who had promised to come by and look after her patients while she and Hayden went into the city to pick up the potion that Ally's letter said would be waiting at a mail outlet at the airport, when Tasha came into the med tent. The two girls had not seen each other since Teddy's delirious outburst the evening before, and with everything that happened yesterday Victoire was not in the mood to deal with whatever issue she had come to address.

"I know that you and Ayden are going into the city today to get a potion for Teddy," Tasha announced unceremoniously.

Victoire finished writing the last item on the checklist and looked up at Tasha, "Yes we are."

"I'm coming with you."

Victoire sighed and looked Tasha in the eyes, she wasn't particularly happy with what she saw there, but she knew that at this point it was just easier to accept it, "Fine."

Tasha actually looked taken aback that Victoire had caved so quickly, so there was a minute where she wasn't entirely sure what to do next, but she seemed to decide on going to Nathan's side to check up on him. Victoire sighed again, and then rubbed her eyes tiredly when she was sure that Tasha wasn't watching her.

The two weren't alone together for long before Hayden and Caitlyn came into the tent, both holding large cups of coffee in their hands. Hayden walked over to Victoire, handed her a travel mug filled with tea, and said, "When was the last time you slept again?"

She rolled her eyes at him and asked, "Are you ready to move?"

Hayden nodded his affirmative and then Victoire turned to Caitlyn. She handed her the checklist as she explained what was needed for both Teddy and Nathan. Nathan was quickly mending and could eat certain plain foods, whereas Teddy was mostly living off of IV fluids. Victoire had just topped him off so he should be good until she got back.

After she finished her instructions, Victoire and Hayden left the med tent with Tasha following them. Hayden had given Victoire a look when he saw Tasha behind them, and she shrugged her shoulders at him. They continued in silence as they climbed into one of the camp jeeps and started their drive into the city. They had told Sir that they were going to be going into the city to get some more medical supplies for the patients and he insisted that they travel in one of the camp vehicles, and to stop a potential argument, she quickly agreed.

Their trip into the city was long and very awkwardly quiet. Hayden didn't break the silence until he was nearing the city airport, "Which side is the mail outlet on?"

"The left," Victoire replied pointing out the entrance. There was more silence while Hayden parked the car, the three of them got out and walked over to the outlet. The door was closed and it didn't look like there was anyone in the place.

Tasha frowned as she squinted her eyes to read a card that was posted to the door with the outlet's hours on it, "It says that they don't open until nine o'clock."

Victoire folded her arms over her chest, "Ally's note said to be here at a quarter to eight, so we're here for a quarter to eight."

"I'm glad that someone trusts me."

Victoire spun around on her heel and froze in shock when she saw Alexandra Weasley walking up behind her.

"Ally!" Victoire called in excitement when she was finally able to move, she ran towards her cousin, and the two girls hugged each other tightly.

After a few seconds of hugging Victoire let go of her favourite cousin, "What in the world are you doing here?"

"That's rather a rude thing to ask the cousin who's come to save your butt Freckles."

Victoire head snapped around and she saw a tall man a little ways away from Ally that she had previously not noticed.

"Malcolm!" She was so excited to also see him that he got as warm of a welcome as Ally did.

"Now what are you doing here?" Victoire asked, not even realizing that Ally had not answered the same question which Victoire had posed to her.

Malcolm gave her a soft smile, "My cousin would not allow Ally to travel to where ever she was going without someone to watch over her."

An eyebrow rose on Victoire's forehead, "Really?"

"Um, shouldn't we be focusing on what's actually important here?" A disdainful voice called from behind Victoire.

Malcolm and Ally both narrowed their gaze in the direction of the voice.

"Big 'T', is that you?" Malcolm asked in a spiteful tone.

Tasha's face went red, "What exactly are you doing here Wood?"

"Being a good friend," Malcolm replied derisively.

Victoire ignored the two ex-friends from Hogwarts and turned to Ally and Hayden who were watching the scene with surprise.

"Hayden this is my cousin Ally, Ally this is Hayden, he works with Teddy," Victoire said introducing them.

They nodded to each other and then Victoire and Ally got down to business.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were going to send the potion by mail?"

"I didn't want to chance how long it would take to get to you. I spoke with Kingsley about it and he agreed, he arranged for me to take a portkey here. Malcolm joined me because Mum and Dad were not comfortable with me going by myself. They had no idea where I was going, Kingsley's still trying to keep some things confidential, so Malcolm said that he would come with me. He actually has the perfect excuse as his family thinks he's travelling to write another article," Ally explained.

Victoire nodded, "How did the potion end up?"

"That's partially why I decided to come in person. The professor who helped me create it had a lot of instructions about it and I thought it would be better to explain it to you in person," Ally said handing Victoire a small paper bag.

"What do I need to do with this?" Victoire asked.

Ally crossed her arms over her chest and took a deep breath to ready her explanation, "We basically started by deconstructing the potion. We took out all of the added elements that control fever, nausea, muscle pains, headaches, sleeping problems, etc. and broke it down to the bare ingredients that actually cure the bacterial disease itself instead of treating the symptoms. We had to use a few other ingredients to make everything work together, but we were able to make a something that should cure the infection."

"And it doesn't involve any bit of the plant he's allergic to?" Victoire clarified.

"None, whatsoever. It is the bare minimum though; we weren't able to add anything to control the headaches, fever, nausea, or muscle pains," Ally said apologetically.

Victoire sighed; she expected it but still needed to ask, "I assume that your professor suggests that I don't give him any other potions while he's on this one?"

"We have absolutely no idea how this potion is going to affect him, so I'd say so," Ally said.

Her cousin replied, "His fever should lower when the bacteria starts getting destroyed, and until then I can keep control of his fever the same way I have been. But is there any chance that I can give him some muggle medicine to take care of his fever? Paracetamol?"

Ally shook her head, "My professor still highly suggests not mixing any type of drugs that might cause an interaction."

Victoire nodded, her head spinning as she thought, "What about using a herbal remedy?"

"I don't think you should use anything stronger than a tea hand made from willow bark. And when I say that I literally mean that you should get some willow bark and make the tea yourself," Ally imposed.

"Salix rosmarinifolia would be better than just reapplying cold sheets to him," Victoire mused, "It's the best I'll be able to do at any rate."

"How is he really?" Ally asked, now that they were done with the explanations about the potion.

"His fever was high enough to cause him to be delirious, but he hasn't had any seizures yet," Victoire reported emotionlessly.

"And how are you?" Malcolm asked Victoire with worry. He and Tasha had been having a silent staring contest while Ally and Victoire talked potions, but he was now concerned with finding out how his best mate's girlfriend was faring. Teddy would kill him if he allowed Victoire to run herself into the ground while she was trying to heal him.

"I'm fine," Was her automatic response.

"You have bags under your eyes," Ally and Malcolm pointed out at the same time.

"She was up all night attending to her patients," Hayden added. He was not helping Victoire's case at all.

Tasha placed her hands on her hips and practically growled, "I don't see why you're so concerned with Victoire's wellbeing when Teddy's the one lying in a hospital bed and fighting a disease without the aid of any medication."

Victoire clenched her teeth, but Malcolm's anger was quicker, "You are the farthest thing from a healer, so you have no right to say that Victoire isn't doing anything to help her boyfriend."

Tasha's eyes sparked, "Bugger off Wood!"

Victoire ignored Tasha and Malcolm's burgeoning argument, and turned to Ally, "What's the dosage for the potion?"

Ally shrugged helplessly in response, "I have no idea. My professor suggested to start the dosage out small, maybe 10 mL? And then take intermittent spinal taps to see how the infection is faring."

Victoire nodded, "I'll use my own discretion then."

"What?" Tasha asked irately, "Are you telling me that you're going to give Teddy a potion that hasn't been tested on anyone, at a dosage that you're just going to make up on the fly?"

"Yes she is; do you have a problem with that?" Malcolm asked angrily.

"She has no right to do that," Tasha argued, "She's not a real healer, nor does she have the right to make medical decisions on his behalf when he's incapacitated!"

Malcolm smiled triumphantly, "Actually, I have a letter here from Andromeda –Teddy's grandmother if you'll remember, and his next of kin– that says that Victoire can do anything she wants to Teddy."

He handed Victoire a folded piece of paper as Malcolm spoke. She appreciated his foresight and unfolded the note to see what it actually said, "I appreciate the help Malcolm, but was it really necessary to word that as you– Oh, it literally says that I can do anything I want to Teddy."

Hayden looked over Victoire's shoulder and smirked, "That's convenient. Anything else you want to complain about O.A.R. number one? We do need to get this potion back to Teddy."

"Am I the only one who's concerned that this 'cure' is going to do more harm than good? Victoire's not a healer, and she could very well end up killing Teddy!" Tasha yelled.

"First Tasha, who are you to make decisions about Teddy? He hasn't been your friend for four years. And he doesn't want to be your friend. He doesn't like you. Second, you just need to fuc-"

Victoire cut Malcolm off very loudly to drown out the end of his comment, "Hayden's right, we need to get this potion back to Teddy A.S.A.P."

"Just let me finish-" Malcolm started before Victoire cut him off again.

"Just stop Malcolm," Victoire said. She was the only one who noticed how Malcolm's harsh words made Tasha's expression tighten.

Ally had no idea why Victoire was stopping Malcolm from further insulting Tasha, but she figured that the excuse of needing to get back to Teddy was a good one. She loudly told Malcolm that they should probably get back to England themselves, and they both gave Victoire some hugs and wished her good luck. They left after Victoire promised to send them each a letter once Teddy got better.

Victoire spun around on her heel and looked back at Tasha and Hayden, "I'm going to apparate directly back to the camp so that I can treat Teddy right away. If you have any problems with this, speak now or forever hold your peace."

"I'm coming with you," Tasha replied quickly.

"Fine," Victoire replied through clenched teeth.

Tasha walked away from her for a minute, probably to collect herself, and Hayden gave Victoire an odd look.

"Why did you come to her defense? And why do you keep letting her tag along with you? She's been insulting you since this whole thing started, and you're just letting her!" Hayden complained. He was insulted on her behalf.

Victoire pinched the bridge of her nose, "I don't want to talk about this right now. I just need to get back to camp and heal Teddy."

"But-" Hayden began.

"Ugh," Victoire cried pulling at her hair in frustration, "Tasha's in love with Teddy, okay? She's just as sick with worry about him as I am but every time she tries to voice her concerns you, and now Malcolm, make her feel like her feelings don't matter!"

Hayden was silent while Victoire continued.

"I'm not defending her actions. She's totally taking her frustration out on me and acting like a complete bitch, but she's probably so worried about him that she's not exactly thinking straight," Victoire said.

"How do you know she's in love with him?" Hayden asked quietly when there was an opening.

"I saw it in her eyes yesterday and her love struck look has been stuck in my head ever since," Victoire complained, remembering the expression in Tasha's eyes when the realization first struck her, "She's worried about him, so if she wants to come back with me so be it. Maybe when she realizes that I'm actually going to heal him, she might lay off on the petty complaints."

Victoire turned her back on him so that she could find a place to disapparate, and missed the sympathetic look that Hayden sent her back.


A/N: Well, it seems like a lot of stuff happened in this chapter . . . so what do we think? Gold stars for everyone who guessed the context of last week's teaser, as well for those of you who guessed correctly a few chapters ago as to why Tasha hates Victoire so much.

Show of hands, who thinks that Victoire's been surprisingly mature in this chap?

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns feel free to leave them in a review!

Consensus on New Story: If you are all willing to read one (which I gather you are from your fabulous reviews), and provided I have time to write one, I'll start another story once this one is done.

Next Update: Next week!

Next Chapter: We will get to see if Ally's potion works, and Teddy gets some interesting letters from his family.

Teaser for Next Chapter:

"Once she was out of the room, Teddy gave Hayden a pointed look, "I know I said something, so what was it?"

Hayden glanced at his partner, shot a look over his shoulder to the office Victoire had gone into, and then back to Teddy, "Victoire scares me more.""

Thanks to everyone who has followed, favourited, read, and especially reviewed last chapter when I asked for some!

A GREAT big thank you to:

BellaSwan340, Guest(1), Future Madam Pomfrey, SilverLining1294, WolfGirl, SoccerDiva, Seher Syed, Infinity Lily, jeremiah123, Micky, cmorehart, JustBeHappy, Nerdbird18, Omg, silverlover02, Manydifferentfandoms, Chocolate-Horse, DaughterOfTerpsichore, 1 fan, dragolove, Guest(2), TedandVic4ever, Autumn, Lobster, no cure for crazy, Encypher, blah345, GryffindorsRock, Guest713, NicoleTheSmith, MuggleCreator, Albert, Proseoffiction, bro, littledreaminggirl, Guest(3), Guest(4), brilliant incandescence, zvc56, Princess Cruella, Power of fire, , Izzydev, and loverloverlover.

BellaSwan340: It means 'Don't Forget To Be Awesome'.

Guest(1): Good guess on the delirium.

Future Madam Pomfrey: It's interesting that you said that non REM sleep produces little benefit, because what I've always been told, and what I found when I went to double check before writing this, was that during the deep stages of NREM sleep (I think around the 3rd stage) that the body repairs and regrows tissue as well as strengthens the immune system. I'm not saying that I don't believe you, but now I am rather confused. As for sleep deprivation, I do know that you're more likely to slip into REM sleep with the less sleep you've had, however, Teddy's only really been a day or two without uninterrupted sleep, it hasn't been very long yet so I've chosen not speed up his cycles just yet. Thanks for the feedback though :)

Infinity Lily: Trust me, I can fit a lot in a potential 13 more chapters ;) However, if you all would like to read another story, then I will do my best to write one.

jeremiah123: In theory it could, but it would take a lot of magic and some supplies that she does not have handy, as well as some help to create it. Also, it would be a little bit more extreme than trying to get Ally to create a whole new potion, Vic doesn't even know how her original work at St. Mungo's ended up, so it would be more of a gamble than what she's already attempting. I like that you've got your thinking cap on though :)

Micky: I don't think it would be possible to write a Vic/Teddy story without including their family, especially Louis/Cecilia since they're graduating in a few short months and will be free of Hogwarts.

JustBeHappy: We will see them before the story comes to an end, as well as have some sort of resolution, one way or another.

Chocolate-Horse:I think we'll see Eliza before the end of this story, and as for her appearing in a sequel, well of course. If I didn't how else would you hear about the baby?

Autumn: I was doing a few Thursdays if I knew that my Friday nights were going to be busy and if I had the time on Thursday evenings.

no cure for crazy: Oh, Tasha was back to yelling at Vic in this one, however, we now know why!

blah345: Thanks so much :)

NicoleTheSmith: I'm not presently working towards a doctor or nurse, I'm a Psychology student, however my first year of uni I was bio-med, so I understand enough of the material and research I do for what I mention. It's also why I don't go into too much detail since I would soon be out of my depth. Thank you though :)

Albert: I love hearing that a character I made up is one of your otps with Louis.

Power of fire: Thank you for the lovely review!

: Thank you for taking the time to review that chapter then.

Izzydev: There no such thing as getting to a story late, welcome to my wizarding world, I hope you enjoy the rest of the ride :)

loverloverlover: You got your review in just in time ;) And you were totally right, good job.

I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter,

Please leave me any questions or comments that you have,

I hope you all have a great weekend,

Until next time, DFTBA!