A/N: New story! This won't make any sense unless you've read book 1 so I would definitely recommend reading that story first. Usually I try to stick to as much canon as I can in my stories but in this one I'm going to have to stray slightly from the plot. please just go with it. I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 1

50 weeks ago, one of the biggest wars in wizarding history had ended. Wizards across the United Kingdom had been freed of their terrors and Lord Voldemort was defeated. For the Weasleys, this meant that their family had all survived and could live safely. Since then, the youngest Weasley child, Ginny, and her boyfriend Harry Potter had found their own apartment near to the Ministry of Magic in central London but the twin boys of the family had definitely been the most busy. They had bought out the shop next to their own on Diagon Alley which they used for storage of hundreds and hundreds of products. This meant they could add a whole second floor to their business just as colourful and fun as the first. They'd even gone to the lengths of adding a 'trick floor' so that every so often when a customer walked over it, it would seem to disappear from underneath them. This led to multiple screams of terror every day as someone thought they would be tumbling through to the room below. They had also gained an extra member in their household. Angelina Johnson had moved in with them recently so that the twins and their respective girlfriends lived together in the flat above the shop. Bianca had made excellent progress in her Healing career and somehow progressed to a level 5, one of the highest qualifications you could get. She had decided to remain at that level for a while so that she could remain on the ward she loved the most with her favourite colleagues, Daisy and Kyle. When she had time off, she helped the boys in the shop, showing customers around and restocking shelves. Mrs Weasley regularly made sure her children came over for celebratory dinners or Sunday roasts as she didn't like being alone in the Burrow all day every day.

Sirius Black had completely redone his old house at Grimmauld place and lived there with his friends Remus and Tonks and their one-year-old son, Teddy. Remus, who was a werewolf, obviously had to leave his family once a month to keep them safe which was why they decided to live with Sirius. He didn't want his wife to be left alone with their baby so regularly for the sake of all of them and, seeing as Sirius preferred company, it seemed like the best option to be all together.

Kingsley Shacklebolt was the latest Minister for Magic and had worked endlessly to combat all after effects of the war. He had teamed up with Professor Minerva McGonagall, the headmistress of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry to plan a memorial event scheduled for exactly one year after the horrific Battle of Hogwarts. It would be taking place on the school grounds and, for that day only, the Hogwarts Express was available for direct transport from London to Hogsmeade. Anyone was welcome to attend and the day was now a national holiday for the wizarding population in respect for those who gave their lives. Despite the ongoing building work on some areas of the castle, the school had reopened in the September but had been finally completed just before the end of 1998. The ghosts of the school declared it was exactly like it had been previous to the destruction which, when published in the Daily Prophet, had made everyone smile. They felt it would be wrong to change anything about the ancient castle so had put their best efforts into keeping it as similar as they could.

Unfortunately, the spring season had bought about a very contagious 'wizard-flu' which was nearly impossible for staff at St. Mungo's Hospital to combat. Young children and older adults were asked to come in regularly for checkups in the hope that they wouldn't be infected by the virus. Countless patients were admitted under the same symptoms so staff had been publicly advising the community of what to look out for in terms of early signs. Sore throats and occasional headaches were some of the first indicators that someone was infected, and these were things which were regularly passed off as a cold or perhaps just the consequence of a hard day at work. It didn't take long, however, for the occasional headaches to become one agonising migrane which was accompanied with nausea, dizziness, fatigue, dangerously high or low temperatures, aching joints, lost voices, lack of appetites or spots across the body that mimicked the muggle illness 'chicken-pox' which were horrifyingly itchy and seemed to suck the colour from the rest of the face. If people weren't cured quickly enough, the little tickling cough they suffered from could often end up as choking up blood. Sometimes, the other infections people caught because of their struggling immune systems could end up as fatal.

Multiple members of staff stayed long term in the hospital because they had caught the infection and figured that they might as well help those also suffering instead of lying in bed at home. For those healers who hadn't caught the illness, they were sent through a series of procedures every night to try and prevent further spread. This involved burning and replacing their robes every day so each time they got dressed for work, it was an entirely new set of clothes. They also had to shower before leaving the building and wash their hands after treating every patient. Visitors weren't allowed anywhere near the ward where infected patients were. They tried to only admit people overnight if they were at serious risk of things becoming more dangerous. People who were declared able of recovering quickly were sent away and told strictly to take the correct medication and be in contact with as few people as possible. After all, the reason it had spread in the first place was presumably because of everyone's renewed sense of community and closeness with each other after the war. Once everyone was safe, the streets and shops were once again crowded with people in such close proximity, it was obvious anything would spread crazily fast. Twelve people had already died because of the disease and hundreds of others infected.

By following protocol, Bianca was, so far, successfully managing to avoid getting the virus but, just in case, she was also avoiding going down to the shop floor where there would be crowds of young children shopping with their parents while their older siblings were at school. Instead, while she wasn't working, she stayed up in the flat cleaning. She would have visited her family, but she didn't want to risk them getting ill either so resorted to finding things to do around the flat or storage next door. Kyle had already come down with the illness but didn't fancy staying at home alone when he was ill so was one of the Healers staying at the hospital until the disease cleared. The outbreak had been everything the Daily Prophet reported for weeks. It looked like the fatality count was going to rise as more and more people came down with it and chose not to act early enough. It also made it more difficult for Healers to help when they themselves were getting infected. Of course this meant indirectly that the whole workforce were being affected and the staff they had left were working more than overtime to combat it.

Five weeks after the original breakout, Bianca got home at half three in the morning and crawled into bed next to Fred. Disturbed by the sudden movement, he rolled over groggily to face her.

"You're late back," he mumbled sleepily, "Where were you?"

"I had to work over time," this was no uncommon thing anymore, "Too many people to look after."

"When's your next shift?"

"Tomorrow," she yawned and sniffled slightly, "Eleven till seven supposedly."

Fred wrapped his arms around her waist and snuggled his head into her neck.

"We've got no spare beds anymore," Bianca said, propping herself up to look at him, "The staff are sleeping on the floor in the cafeteria for more room. It's getting out of hand."

"But it's curable," Fred said, "This outbreak isn't going to last forever."

"They're working on a way to distribute the cure to everyone so that if they get ill they don't have to come into St. Mungo's. They're also talking about an immunity potion but at this point I'm not sure it'll be worth it at this point. So many people are sick now."

"We've had to put that Muggle waterless soap around the shop because of all the little kids."

"Waterless soap?"

"Yeah, you squirt it on your hand and rub it in so it kills bacteria and stuff. George and I thought it would be a good idea seeing as the shop's really busy and this thing spreads really fast."

Bianca smiled at the twins' thoughtfulness and lay back down, her throat scratchy from hours of endlessly comforting patients or explaining their diagnosis. Seconds later, she was fast asleep, even though Fred was still talking to her. When he saw that he was now speaking to nobody, Fred smiled and moved one hand so he could run his fingers through her but got slightly concerned when he could feel how warm her forehead was. He chose to hope it was just the warmth of the flat, decided to check up on her properly in the morning and he too allowed himself to drift off again.

Bianca and Fred both got up early the next day and Bea's bright and chipper mood meant Fred immediately forgot that she had shown any signs of illness the night before and they both set about their day as normal. Bianca and Angie spent the morning in Diagon Alley before Bea left her friend to go to work. She met Daisy in the locker room and, as they were both on the team assigned to looking after patients with the flu, headed to the designated ward together where they found Kyle. He, as a lovely greeting, sneezed on both of them, meaning they both had to go and wash their hands again and they all set to work. Thankfully, emergencies were at a minimum and the only accident Bianca had to deal with was when someone in the very late stages of the illness who had finally decided to come in for help collapsed in the foyer. She even managed to get home at the time she'd told the twins she'd get back. Not that they'd ever tell Angie this, but secretly, they all savoured the time they could spend as a three just like how it was when they were growing up.

Unfortunately, on this particular day, Bianca was so exhausted from all the extra hours she'd been doing that as soon as she got into the flat and sat on the sofa, she fell asleep. George had been working on cooking dinner while Fred was doing some paperwork for the shop but both the boys had got up to greet Bianca when she came in and noticed her pale complexion and strained voice.

"You don't think she's caught it, do you?" George asked.

"I wouldn't be surprised," Fred said, "She works all day with people who are infected."

"You don't sound concerned."

"Well the thing about working in a hospital is that she also has access to the medicine so, if she takes her own advice and takes her medicine like a good girl, she'll be right as rain in a couple of days."

George shrugged, "As long as she decides to actually help herself and not be noble to 'save the medicine for everyone else' or something like that. Because we both know that's exactly the type of thing Bea would do."

"If we think that's happening, I will make sure she takes her doses in front of me so I know."

"I'm just saying we should be careful," George said, "This virus kills people and we don't want to be spreading it around the shop.

"Well don't you two look serious?" Angie said as she came in from work and kicked her shoes off, "What's going on?"

"We think Bianca's got the flu," Fred said sadly.

Angie looked concerned and sat on the sofa next to where Bea was lying, carefully positioning her friend's head in her lap as a comfort.

"I doubt she'll admit it," George said, "Not even to herself, let alone us."

Angelina looked up at Fred, "Are you going to sleep separately?"

"What do you mean?" The paperwork was now completely forgotten.

"Will Bianca sleep in her old room?" she clarified, "I mean, if you get it, then George probably will too and soon every single person who comes into the shop is going to be ill. For the sake of people's safety, should you think about closing the shop for a while?"

"Absolutely not," George said, "People's spirits are low, the whole point of the shop is to cheer people up. That's why we created all those products. If we have to take extra precautions to keep people safe we will. But the shop doesn't stop."

Angie put her hands up in surrender, "Ok. It was just a suggestion."

George finished cooking and started dishing up the food onto four plates, "Ange will you wake Bea up and ask if she wants any food?"

While Angie gently roused Bianca, Fred ran downstairs to put the paperwork away. As it turned out, Bea didn't want to eat as a result of her nausea and blinding headache so George guided her through to her and Fred's room where he closed the curtains and flicked the lights off. After they'd eaten, the twins headed to the hospital to inquire about what they should do. They came across Kyle pretty quickly who, along with everyone else suffering from the flu, had resorted to wearing masks over his nose and mouth.

"It's protocol to be examined before medication is given," he explained, "Potions can be really dangerous if misused so I'm sorry but I can't give you anything to help until Bianca's been seen by a professional. You have to bring her in."

"She can't walk in a straight line," George said, "Or she couldn't when we left- her head hurt so bad that her vision was distorted."

Kyle nodded understandingly but then had to steady himself from a wave of vertigo and dizziness, "We think that's why we're having so much trouble with stopping this spreading. People physically can't come in to get help and then the people looking after the ill get infected too. That's also why we're working on a remedy that isn't dangerous if people aren't sick. The ministry wants to develop that and send it out to everyone on mass."

"Well, knowing her she'll want to come in to work tomorrow so could you make sure she sees someone?" Fred asked after waiting for Kyle to recover from a sudden coughing fit.

"If I'm still on my feet," Kyle joked, but his eyes were tired.

"Thank you," George said genuinely, "We'll be sure to send you some chocolates."

"You know very well I'd never accept chocolate from you. But I know you appreciate it. Now get out of here before you get sick."

As Fred had suspected, Bianca was up at six the next morning to get ready for work. He'd made sure he was awake when she got up to make sure she got to work safely and wasn't too ill to leave the house. Of course, if it had been up to him, he would have kept her at home all day and looked after her but he did appreciate her need to help others in need and also knew she needed to get some healing potions so reluctantly let her go. George had got up early to check up on Bianca too. Once they'd seen her off, they both showered and, being paranoid, did quick checks of each other to make sure they weren't showing any symptoms. Around breakfast time, an owl appeared at their window from their mother informing them that Harry, Ginny, Percy and Mr Weasley had all caught the flu and checking that the four of them were all fine. George responded with the truth but reassured her that Bea would be getting help at work.

"Fred," George said as they headed down to the shop floor, "Has anyone actually recovered from this illness? Like, has anyone been cleared and made a full recovery?"

"Bea's not mentioned it," Fred said, "As far as I can tell, more and more people are getting ill and they can't stop it."

"And not everyone shows the exact same symptoms?"

"No. Why are you asking?"

"Because surely, if everyone was getting the same virus, everyone would show the same symptoms. But when we went to see Kyle yesterday, apart from a cough and some nausea he was fine, and he's been ill for weeks."

"And?" Fred asked distractedly as he flicked the lights on.

"Well think about how bad Bianca was after only a few hours. The Prophet's printed a list of symptoms that basically describe any sickness ever. Who's actually taken the time to say that everyone's infected with the same thing and not just assumed that everyone with flu-like symptoms has contracted the same disease?"

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that something about this is wrong. We're wizards, Fred, we have magic! Why hasn't this been stopped. When you have a cold as a kid, you take a Pepper-Up potion and a few hours later it's like nothing ever happened. What if everyone's getting the same treatment for different viruses and that's why we haven't got anywhere?"

Fred stopped where he was and turned slowly to look at George, "Don't you think it's a very unlikely coincidence that multiple outbreaks of different diseases happen at the same time?"

"Don't you think it's a very unlikely coincidence that these outbreaks happen almost exactly a year after the end of the war?" George retaliated.

"George-"

"If you didn't know there was an outbreak of an illness and you looked at Kyle compared to Bianca, would you think they had the same bug?"

"No, I see what you're saying and I agree, George, but that doesn't mean-"

"I'm just saying something's not right. That's all."

For the rest of the day, the twins were very distracted, thinking about what George had said that morning. Many of their customers asked if they were feeling alright because they were so quiet to which they'd smile effortlessly and respond with a light-hearted joke. When Angie came in, she pressed a hand to both of their foreheads when she noticed something was off. The boys didn't share their concerns with her but assured her that they were both completely fine.

"What time's Bianca meant to be home?" she asked, finally accepting that they were ok.

"Two hours ago," Fred sighed, "She's probably got caught up again. You know how busy it is at the moment."

As it turned out, when Bianca finally fell through the door another three hours later, the situation was much worse than a bit busy.

"We've run out," she said as she hugged Fred, "There's none left."

"Run out of what?"

"Potions. There's not one vial left in the building that contains the correct medicine to combat the flu."

"How is that possible?" George asked incredulously as he handed her a mug of tea.

"I don't know. It shouldn't be. There was no warning of it either. Just very suddenly, they were all gone. Apparently no one was aware because up until a few hours ago, there weren't any more being made. Now there's a desperate search for ingredients from every apothecary in the UK. It's a nightmare."

Fred pulled her onto the sofa, "Mum sent an owl earlier. Harry, Gin, Perce and dad all have it too."

Bianca sighed and put her head in her hands, trying to block out the light which was splitting her head into thousands of pieces. Her migrane had been making it difficult for her to think and see straight all day but the hospital needed everyone they could get to deal with the sudden influx of now very angry patients.

"Do you want something to eat?" Fred asked her quietly.

Bianca shook her head very gently and whispered back, "I just want to go to bed."

Fred helped her stand up, very slowly to avoid her getting dizzy and they moved across the room to their bedroom. Angie and George had already vanished somewhere so Fred could speak before they'd left the living space, "George had a realisation this morning that we thought you might like to hear." He continued to explain what George had said this morning until she was sitting in bed, covers pulled up high to try and stop her shivering.

"So you think this isn't a natural outbreak? Someone caused this?"

"Maybe. We don't know, but we thought at least there'd be a way to see if everyone really was suffering from the same thing which would be a start."

"I suppose. I'll mention it at work tomorrow."

"You aren't going to work tomorrow," Fred said.

"I have a shift. I have to go, people need help."

"No. If George is right, then we don't actually know what's wrong with you. I don't want you catching something else when there are no antidotes about."

"Fred, I am a fully qualified healer, I have to be there to save people. It's my job!"

"Would you not always tell us to put ourselves first? It's not selfish to take a day off for being ill. You're not going to be any help to people if you can't even get out of bed. All I'm suggesting is one day off to get some rest and then if you're feeling better, you can go back in. One day."

Bianca frowned, "Fine. One day. That's it. Then I'm going back in. They need me."

"I know. But I also need you and preferably not when you're ill. George and I can't function without someone to boss us around."

Bianca snorted and patted the bed next to her, signalling for him to come and sit with her for a while, "If you're not scared you'll get sick, that is."

"If that happens, it's just another reason to stay with you all day."

Bianca rolled her eyes then immediately regretted it when she was treated with sharp pains shooting through her head, "Ow," she moaned quietly, leaning forward and putting her head in her hands. Fred easily picked her up and moved her so she was curled across his lap, head on his chest so he could rock her gently.

"I'm not a baby, you know," Bianca half-smiled, "You don't have to rock me to sleep."

"You can't tell me it's not nice though, right?"

"Oh, it's lovely," Bianca mumbled with a slur, "But not necessary in any way."

Fred smirked, "Bea?"

"Hm?"

"Nothing," he counted to five in his head then repeated her name. This time there was no response, just the song of some steady breathing.