Year 4: A Fresh Start

Chapter 34: December 2017

The next few weeks at Hogwarts were some of the strangest Molly had ever experienced. In the days following Debbie's hospitalization, everyone had been tested to check whether they had contracted the disease too, and it was confirmed that only one other student was infected: a sixth year also in Ravenclaw. She too was immediately moved to St. Mungo's and Madam Eldridge was optimistic that her recovery would be quick since they'd caught it so early.

It was a relief that the disease hadn't spread more than that, as spattergroit could be highly contagious, and indicated that Debbie had checked herself into the hospital wing just in time. Nevertheless, the students of Hogwarts remained on edge, worried that there was still a chance of contracting the disease. Students started washing their hands more frequently, some even darting to the bathroom to wash between every class. Many students had begun to give those in Ravenclaw house a wide berth. The fact that both cases of the disease had come from the same house made people think that somehow it had originated there, despite Madam Eldridge's official statement that Debbie had probably contracted it from someone while visiting Hogsmeade village.

One of the strangest things though, was that students had begun to keep away even from Molly and Sarah. Under the circumstances, all the disputes and negative exchanges that had happened between them and Julie over the past year had been forgotten, and the three had banded together in the absence of Debbie. Identified as Debbie's friends, a good majority of the school were convinced that regardless of the negative test, the three of them could be carriers of the disease, even though Molly and Sarah hadn't hung out with Debbie since the previous year.

People were scared. And no matter how many times Madam Eldridge stood up in front of the entire school during dinnertime announcements to reassure them that the school was now completely rid of spattergroit, many of the students were still paranoid.

Molly and her friends honestly didn't really care. They didn't care that their classmates wouldn't sit near them in class. They didn't care that students refused to sit within ten feet of them in the Great Hall. They didn't care that when they walked through the halls, it was as though they were surrounded by a giant magical bubble, much like the one that had surrounded Debbie the night she'd been taken to St. Mungo's.

It was even worse in Gryffindor Tower. Molly and Sarah had been informed in no uncertain terms that they were no longer welcome to linger in the common room. Molly's cousin Victoire, who was Head Girl, had of course fought against it, but Molly didn't care. In the dormitory, Flora, Amber, and Eliza had moved their beds as far away from Molly's and Sarah's as they could manage. Amber and Eliza's beds were pushed together in the corner, and Flora, who's bed was situated in between Molly's and Sarah's, now refused to sleep in it, and instead had taken her mattress and made herself a makeshift bed between Eliza's bed and the far wall. But Molly didn't care.

All Molly could think about, all any of the three of them could think about, was Debbie. Poor Debbie, stuck in St. Mungo's, unable to talk, and surrounded by a bunch of strangers, poking and prodding and feeing her all manner of healing potions. Poor Debbie who was far from home, far from her friends, and rapidly falling further and further behind her classmates in her schoolwork.

"I just wish there was something I could do," Julie said one day in the library.

"There's nothing anybody can do," Molly sighed. "Apart from the healers, who I'm sure are doing everything they can."

"I've been doing some research on spattergroit," Sarah said. "Apparently there are tons of different strains of it, and they all have slightly different symptoms."

"I thought spattergoit was always pustules and an inability to speak," Julie frowned.

"Well those are just the basic symptoms," Sarah replied. "But then depending on the strain, there can be other ones too."

"Like what?" Molly inquired.

"Well certain strains cause memory loss," Sarah informed the group. "And there are others that result in a decrease of motor function, even upon recovery."

"Oh, I hope she doesn't have either of those strains," Molly shivered. The memory loss especially scared her.

"I'm sure she just has the regular kind without any extra symptoms," Julie said then. The way she said it, Molly knew that while Julie wasn't sure, she needed it to be true, at least for now. So Molly and Sarah both dropped the subject.

"We should try to visit her over the holidays," Molly suggested then. "I'm sure it would lift her spirits."

"Yes, that's a great idea," Sarah agreed. "And even if she can't talk to us, I'm sure it would mean a lot to her."

"Let's write her parents," Julie suggested, on board with the idea. "Make sure it's alright with them."

So the three girls set to work writing a letter to Mr. and Mrs. Alderton. They sent the letter by owl as soon as they'd finished it, and a return letter arrived before the day was out.

To Debbie's friends,

Thank you so much for your letter. It's so nice to know that Debbie has such good friends that care about her. Debbie is doing well at St. Mungo's. Though she'd nowhere close to recovered, she has been stabilized and the infection is no longer spreading. The healers are hopeful that soon we much be able to start leeching the infection out of her system, which would signify the beginning of the road to recovery.

I know Debbie would love it if you would all visit. She can't talk, or move really, but her eyes lit up when I read her your letter today. Now that the infection is under control and being monitored, it is safe for her to receive visitors, though the health and safety protocols here at the hospital are rather stringent for patients with spattergroit.

Let me know when you would like to visit, and I'll set it up with the ward.

Best wishes for the end of term,

Darlene Alderton

Upon receiving Mrs. Alderton's letter, Molly and her friends immediately began making plans for their visit to St. Mungo's. First, they had to check with their respective parents, all of whom were on board with their plan. Then they had to coordinate a day that worked for all three of them and check in with Mrs. Alderton yet again to make sure it was a good day on her end as well. They didn't want to be inconveniencing the Aldertons during this difficult time.

Before Molly knew it, the end of term had arrived. The girls had decided that they didn't want to wait to see Debbie, so they'd arranged to visit her on their first day of the holidays, the day after they arrived back home.

Molly awoke that morning with a great sense of anticipation, but also a strange sense of dread. Up until now, she'd been eager to visit her friend, so worried she'd been for Debbie. But now that the day was upon her, Molly was nervous. What would Debbie look like when she finally saw her? How would Molly feel, seeing her friend laid up in the hospital? Would Molly be able to see past the healers and the medicines and the illness and just see her friend?

As Percy needed to go to work, Audrey would be accompanying Molly to the hospital. Meanwhile, Grandmother Weasley had volunteered to come over and watch Lucy.

Molly and Audrey were able to floo straight to St. Mungo's, as their fireplace was luckily on the same line as the hospital's. They waited in the main lobby for Julie and Sarah to arrive, Julie with her mother and Sarah with her father, and then the six of them headed up to the second floor, which was the magical bugs department, for further direction.

"Excuse me?" Sarah's father stepped right up to the welcome desk. "My daughter and her friends are here to see Debbie Alderton. She's in the infectious disease ward with a case of spattergroit."

"Oh yes," the witch behind the counter nodded. "We've been expecting you. Mrs. Alderton indicated that a few of Debbie's school friends would be coming to visit today."

Molly, Sarah, and Julie all stepped forward to greet the welcome witch.

"That'd be us," Sarah said confidently. Though it was normally Julie who took charge in these kinds of situations, Julie was strangely not paying very close attention to what was going on, instead gazing around the waiting area they stood in with large eyes and a fearful expression.

"Very well," the welcome witch nodded. "Now I'm afraid there'll only be enough room for the girls to go in, unless you'd like to go in in shifts?"

"No," Sarah shook her head. "We're going in together."

"Alright," the welcome witch agreed, accepting that Sarah was now the voice of the group. "In that case, your parents can feel free to wait out here in the waiting area…"

At her words, Audrey patted Molly on the shoulder, giving her an encouraging smile, and then took a seat a few feet away. Julie's mother did the same, the two women eventually being joined by Sarah's father once he accepted that the girls could handle this on their own.

"I'll see you soon, sweetheart," Julie's mother called after her as the welcome witch led the three girls down the hall.

"Which one is Debbie's room?" Sarah inquired as they passed through a set of doors labelled 'Infectious Disease Ward'.

"Oh, I'm not taking you to your friend's room quite yet," the welcome witch replied. "First we have to get you properly outfitted."

"Outfitted?" Molly frowned. Mrs. Alderton had mentioned stringent measures in her letter, but nothing quite as serious as needing to wear entirely different clothes.

The welcome witch came to a stop outside a door marked 'sterile'. She knocked on the door, and when it opened, it revealed a younger witch, probably not a full healer, but a healer-in-training.

"These three are here to visit the girl with spattergroit," the welcome witch indicated brusquely.

"Oh, how wonderful," the healer-in-training clapped her hands together enthusiastically. "Well I'll get them sorted, thank you very much Hilda."

As the healer-in-training ushered Molly, Sarah, and Julie into the 'sterile' room, the welcome witch, Hilda, turned around and walked back down the hall without another word.

"Well, welcome to St. Mungo's," the healer-in-training said, the wide smile on her face making Molly uncomfortable in such an environment. "I take it this is your first time visiting the hospital?"

Molly and Sarah nodded, but Julie shook her head. She didn't provide any more details though, and the healer-in-training sailed through the awkward moment.

"Well my name is Gwen," she introduced herself. "I've been on Debbie's case since she arrived here last month, and I have to say, your friend is very strong. I haven't seen too many cases of spattergroit yet, but this is a mean one, and she's hanging on like a trooper."

"Can we see her yet?" Sarah asked impatiently.

"Of course you're anxious to get moving, I'm sorry," Gwen apologized. "Yes, Debbie will be our next stop, just as soon as we have you properly outfitted."

This was the second time the word had been used and Molly couldn't help herself from asking. "What do you mean 'outfitted'?"

"Well you can't expect to enter a room filled with an infectious disease without taking the proper precautions, can you?" Gwen responded. "Now, we could always set up a magical barrier between you and your friend, but then you wouldn't be able to get close to her or sit near her bed, which I imagine is part of the reason for your visit. So instead, we have magical bodysuits for you all to wear."

As she spoke, Gwen produced three hangers, from each of which hung a piece of clothing that appeared no thicker than a summer cloak, and shaped like a large bag with a hole at the top to climb into.

"When you put them on, they'll conform to your size and shape," Gwen explained, noting the skepticism in the three faces before her. "And they've all been imbued with magic that will repel the fungal infection from affecting you, no matter how close to Debbie you get while you visit with her."

"So we could hold her hand if we wanted?" Julie asked hopefully.

"Absolutely," Gwen nodded. "In fact, we encourage it. Patients who recover from spattergroit often suffer from a variety of mental health issues upon their physical recovery because of the isolation that they are required to endure while they are infected. These infection-repelling suits are a rather newer invention that we hope will contribute to minimizing these kinds of long-term repercussions.

"And we definitely can't contract the disease while wearing it?" Molly asked, just to be sure. If it was a new invention, it was possible that it hadn't been fully tested yet.

"Don't worry," Gwen assured her. "They're perfectly safe."

Eager to see Debbie, the three girls each took a suit and climbed into it. As soon as Molly had put her second foot inside, she could immediately feel the suit contract, wrapping around her legs, her torso, her arms, and finally her entire head. For a moment, she felt it squeezing her, as if trying to shrink even smaller, and then the pressure relaxed. Molly took an experimental breath, and though she could feel the material covering her entire face, mouth included, she could breathe as normally as she could before putting on the suit, and she could see through it the same as if it wasn't there at all.

Looking around at her friends, she found that their suits had also shrunk around them, clinging to them as tightly as possible. The material of the suits was white, and while it was clear that they were wearing the suits, it was also possible to make out the person underneath the suits, even though they were covered head to toe.

"Alright, you three look ready," Gwen said excitedly, opening the door back into the hall and leading them out again.

Debbie's room was quite a way down the corridor. When they reached the end of the one they were in, they turned a corner and had to go through another set of doors before they came to a stop outside room 247.

"I'll wait right outside the door," Gwen informed them then. "I'm not wearing a suit, so if I went inside, I'd have to cast a barrier, which would defeat the purpose of you three wearing the suits. But if you need anything, I'll be right here."

"Don't you have other patients?" Molly frowned. It wasn't that she didn't appreciate Gwen's help, but this was a hospital. Did healers-in-training really have this much free time?

"I have time for this," was all Gwen said, and then Julie was pushing open the door and Molly and Sarah were following her inside.

The room wasn't big. There was only the one bed, probably because with a disease as contagious as spattergroit it wasn't safe to share rooms with other people. Mrs. Alderton, also wearing one of the bodysuits, was sitting in a chair by Debbie's bed, reading aloud to her from what appeared to be a copy of The Standard Book of Spells: Grade Four.

On the bed, Debbie lay on her back, but twisted a little as if she'd prefer to be on her side. What skin was visible was so covered in pustules that Molly could only see purple, all sign of Debbie's natural skin hidden underneath the ugly welts. On either side of her, her arms were tied to the sides of her bed, preventing her from moving them, or from turning fully onto her side.

Upon their entrance, both Debbie and her mother looked up, and while Mrs. Alderton's expression immediately turned to a smile, Debbie's expression was impossible to read.

"I'm so glad you could all come to visit," Mrs. Alderton said, closing the book and setting it on the bedside table. "Look Debbie, your friends are here to see you, just like I promised."

Immediately, Debbie began to thrash, shaking her head, and a muffled moan escaped her lips. Molly immediately took a step back, not sure what was happening.

"Mrs. Alderton immediately reached out in an attempt to soothe Debbie.

"Honey, it's alright, they're your friends," she said gently. "You don't have to be scared."

But Debbie continued to thrash, her movement severely hampered by the fact that her hands were secured at her sides.

Molly felt emotion welling up inside her and immediately wanted to return to the hall. She didn't want to see this. She didn't want to see Debbie tied down and in pain, so sick that she could barely communicate. Molly didn't want to remember the girl this way.

"Why can't she move?" Julie asked, taking a step forward, and then retracting it as the motion caused Debbie to thrash more violently.

Mrs. Alderton sighed. "It's to prevent her from scratching," she explained. "The more she scratches, the worse the scarring will be when she recovers."

Julie nodded, and then as though making up her mind about something, reclaimed the step she'd taken moments ago, and then took another and another until she was right at the side of Debbie's bed.

Debbie had stopped thrashing now, and was turned on her side towards her mother, refusing to look at Julie at all. Her face was wet, suggesting that tears were running down her face, and she shook her head pitifully at her mother.

"Girls, I'm so sorry about this," Mrs. Alderton said. "I shouldn't have lied to you in my letter, but I was so hoping that Debbie would have come around by now. It's s important to have a good support system – at least that's what Healer Dax and Gwen keep saying. I wanted her to know that her friends still cared about her. But she's embarrassed, about the way she looks. She told me she didn't want anybody to see her like this."

"She told you?" Molly asked hopefully. If Debbie was able to speak, then she was already starting to recover.

Mrs. Alderton shook her head. "She wrote it to me," she corrected herself. "When she wants to communicate, we give her a quill and a scrap of parchment to write on."

"Debbie?" Julie spoke then, drawing everyone's attention. Julie reached out and placed a hand on Debbie's shoulder. "Debbie look at me."

Debbie shook her head, refusing to turn over, and shook her shoulder, trying to get Julie to remove her hand. But Julie held firm.

"Debbie, I don't care that your face is covered with pustules. I don't care that you look like something from one of Hagrid's care of magical creatures class. You're my friend and you're sick and I want you to know I'm here for you."

Everyone stayed silent as they waited to see if Debbie would move, but all she did was close her eyes, as if trying to shut everything out.

"Debbie?" Sarah stepped forward. "I know things haven't been that smooth between us recently, but I care about you, and so do Molly and Julie. We don't care what you look like. You're still you, and that's what matters. The pustules will go away, they aren't a part of you, they're a part of the disease."

When Debbie still didn't move, Julie and Sarah looked to Molly.

Though Molly still wanted nothing more than to run away, to step out into the hall and take off the bodysuit and find her mother and go home, she couldn't bring herself to leave. So instead she stepped forward too, reaching out and placing a hand on Debbie's foot, as it was the closest thing to her.

"Debbie stop being an idiot," she declared.

Julie and Sarah both shot her confused looks, but Molly pressed on, feeling that her point would be made clear momentarily.

"Your appearance doesn't matter," she continued. "And if that's all you care about, then you've become as shallow as Flora Bailey. You remember her, she's the one that wears flowers and bows in her hair."

As Molly spoke, Debbie twitched a bit, as if she'd started to laugh and then had stopped herself. Molly took this as encouragement and kept going.

"But you don't define yourself by your appearance. None of us do. Because we know that looks aren't the most important thing. The most important thing is our minds. You're smart. You're one of the smartest people in our class. You're the best in our year at herbology, and really the only people that even measure up to you in any of our classes are standing in this room. The most beautiful thing about you is your mind, and while this disease may mar your skin and change the way you look, even after you've recovered, it can't touch your mind. And that's the thing we came here to visit with, and that's the thing that's going to accomplish great things when you get out of here."

As Molly finished her grand speech, she felt herself becoming unsure. Maybe what she'd said had seemed encouraging to her, but would only make Debbie feel worse. Maybe Debbie really did care about her appearance enough to let it drive a wedge between her and her friends now.

But then, Debbie slowly shifted and turned over so that she was looking right at Molly, and Molly was able to discern a smile. Debbie let out a little hum, and in that moment, Molly stopped seeing the pustule-covered purple blob that was Debbie. Instead, she saw the person that had spent years constantly beating her at herbology, the person that challenged her to work harder at all her subjects, and the person that even now was so strong as she battled this new demon. Molly saw strength.

Mrs. Alderton left then, and the three girls gathered around Debbie's bed, pulling up chairs so that they could sit with their friend. Debbie couldn't talk because of the infection, but Molly, Sarah, and Julie had plenty to say. So they spent the next few hours updating Debbie on everything that had happened at Hogwarts since she'd been gone, as well as making sure to keep her appraised of how far they'd gotten in each of their subjects so that she could have her mother read her the appropriate chapters. If Debbie was going to keep up with the rest of the class, she had to stay on top of her studies, even while in the hospital.

Eventually, Gwen knocked on the door from the outside and informed them that visiting hours were ending soon and that it was time to say their goodbyes. Promising to visit again before the end of the holidays, the three girls each gave Debbie a hug before returning to the hall and letting Mrs. Alderton back in to sit with her daughter.

"Did you have a nice visit?" Audrey asked as Molly and her friends met up with their parents in the waiting room.

"I did," Molly nodded.

Audrey smiled serenely, leading Molly towards the nearest fireplace so that they could return home. "I'm very proud of you."

"Thanks," Molly said. She was proud of herself too.