Year 1: A New Generation
Chapter 6: February 2012
Luckily for Victoire, the rumors about her and Professor Longbottom died down pretty quickly. Even better, after examining Raina's fertilizer, Professor Longbottom confiscated all of it and forbid her from doing any Herbology experiments in the dorms. He did give her a special space in greenhouse two where she could tend to her plants, but it meant that for the first time since the start of term, the first year Gryffindor girls' dormitory was odor-free.
As February arrived, the Professors began to pile on more and more work. Even Professor Brunwell, the Astronomy teacher, who had always avoided giving more than an hour's worth of homework each week had started assigning longer and longer essays. Everyone was falling into the tradition mid-winter rut that came with every February at Hogwarts. For the first years, it was no different.
"Victoire, you should really eat something," Kara said at breakfast one morning. "If you don't, you'll be starving all morning."
"I told you, I'm not hungry," Victoire insisted.
"You say that now, but in half an hour, when we're trapped in the dungeons with Professor Abbott-Longbottom, we're going to be the ones you're complaining to," Brianna grumbled.
"I swear, I don't want to eat anything," Victoire said. "I think I must've eaten something funny last night at dinner because my stomach was being weird all night."
"You think the elves messed up one of their stews?" Kara asked, concerned. "Didn't we all take our stew from the same pot?"
"I don't know," Victoire sighed. "Maybe it was the cookie I ate before bed. Dominique baked them for me for Christmas and I just started a new batch. She could have done something weird to them."
"Do you want to go and see Madam Eldridge?" Kara asked.
"Nah, it'll pass," Victoire said. "I just need to power through."
"Well at least have some toast," Kara said, spreading some butter on a fresh piece and placing it on Victoire's plate.
"If I eat this will you leave me alone?" Victoire asked.
"I promise," Kara swore.
With a sigh, Victoire lifted the toast to her mouth and took a small bite, chewing for much longer than necessary before swallowing.
"Okay, that's it, I can't eat any more," Victoire said, putting it back down.
"You only ate one bite," Kara protested. "You barely touched it!"
"Seriously Kara, do you want me to puke all over you?" Victoire challenged.
"Gross!" Brianna exclaimed. "Kara, just let her be. If it comes down to it, we have to pass the Great Hall to get to History of Magic after Potions, so we can always nab a snack between classes."
"Fine," Kara said, backing off. "I hope you know I was only trying to help."
"And I appreciate it Kara, really I do," Victoire assured her friend. "Come on, let's just get to class. The smell of all this food is upsetting my stomach."
Taking one last swig of pumpkin juice, Brianna swung away from the table and stood up. Victoire and Kara followed suit, heading down to the dungeons. They were studying the combination of ingredients used in standard ingredient today, so Victoire got out her notes from last class as well as some fresh parchment, her favorite quill, and a bottle of black ink. It wasn't long before the rest of the class was filing in and soon, Professor Abbott-Longbottom had started the lesson.
For the first ten minutes or so of the lesson, Victoire was able to pay attention just fine, but soon her stomach started acting up and she was having trouble focusing on her teacher. She started to feel like she was going to throw up, but she convinced herself she was just imagining it and she focused her attention on pushing whatever was in her throat back down. Unfortunately, she wasn't imagining things and before she knew it, she was throwing up all over her desk.
"Ahh!" Brianna cried, jumping up and knocking into Kara on her other side in her attempt to get away from the vomit. "Gross, it got on my shoes!" she cried.
"Are you okay?" Kara gasped, hurrying over and placing a comforting hand on Victoire's back.
Victoire shook her head, not trusting herself to open her mouth. This was utterly humiliating. She had thrown up in front of her entire class. She could practically hear the Slytherin girls snickering and whispering behind their hands.
"Victoire I think you ought to go to the hospital wing. One of your friends can take you up," Professor Abbott-Longbottom said.
"I'll take her," Kara volunteered, taking Victoire's hand and leading her out of the classroom.
"Hold on," Victoire said once they were out in the hallway. "Just give me a minute."
"Okay," Kara said, pausing as Victoire leaned against the stone wall and slid down to the ground. She lifted her knees up and put he head between them as she waited for the wave of nausea to pass.
"Okay, I think I'm good to walk now," Victoire said, reaching out a hand to Kara for help getting up.
Once she was upright, she was able to walk without assistance for most of the way, only needing to lean on her friend a couple of times. When they finally got to the hospital wing, it was empty and Madam Eldridge was nowhere in sight.
"Hello?" Kara called out. "Madam Eldridge? Are you here?"
The door to the hospital wing matron's office swung open and Madam Eldridge popped her head out. "Hello dear, did you need something?" she asked.
"I have a sick student," Kara called back.
Madam Eldridge sprung into action immediately, hurrying over and placing a hand on Victoire's head.
"You have a terrible fever," she said, leading her over to one of the beds. "How are you feeling?"
"Well she just threw up in the potions classroom, so I'm guessing not that great," Kara said.
Madam Eldridge shot Kara a look. "I need to hear from the patient," she told her.
"I feel okay right now," Victoire said. "I still feel a bit nauseous though, and if I'm being honest, my head hurts a bit too, but that's pretty normal for me."
"I'm going to have to do a full check-up on you," Madam Eldridge informed Victoire. Then she turned to Kara. "You can go back to class now. If she doesn't come back to class, you can come and visit at lunch or when afternoon classes are over."
"Are you sure I shouldn't stay for moral support?" Kara asked.
"It's fine Kara, really, you should go," Victoire assured her. "I'll catch up with you in History of Magic."
With a final goodbye, Kara departed, leaving Victoire in the hands of Madam Eldridge.
"I am going to perform a few spells on you now," Madam Eldridge told her. "Just to check your temperature and other routine stuff like that. Just lie back, you shouldn't feel a thing."
Victoire nodded and did as she was told. The nausea was starting to bubble up again, so she shut her eyes and focused on holding it down, at least until Madam Eldridge had finished her check-up.
"Well, it's just as I thought," Madam Eldridge declared when she was through.
Victoire opened her eyes and sent the matron a questioning look.
"It seems that you are the first case of this year's strain of the magical flu," Madam Eldridge informed her.
Just as she said this, Victoire could feel more vomit coming up, so she reached for a nearby garbage can and leaned over it. It wasn't as bad as the last time, but when she was done, Victoire felt even worse.
"There you go," Madam Eldridge said, taking the garbage can from Victoire. "You just lay back and rest. I'll get you a proper bucket in case that happens again. I'll be by in a minute with some potions you can take, but I'm afraid you're going to be staying here for a few days at least."
"You mean you can't just cure me and send me on my way?" Victoire asked.
"I'm afraid not," Madam Eldridge told her. "If you had a regular strain of flu, I could treat you with a simple three-dose potion regimen. Unfortunately, you have the magical flu, which is a lot more difficult to treat. It also presents differently every year, and I can never start working on a treatment plan until the first student comes down with it. Unluckily for you, you're my first."
Victoire groaned and fell back against the pillows. "So I'm just supposed to lie here all day?" she asked.
"Try and get some rest," Madam Eldridge told her as she returned to her office. "I'm sure you're exhausted."
VvVvVvVvVvV
She was right, Victoire realized. She was exhausted. Vomiting twice really takes a lot out of a person, she noted. She decided to give it a try and she closed her eyes. Within minutes, she was fast asleep.
"Victoire?" a voice was saying from somewhere far away. "Victoire, can you hear me?"
Victoire struggled to clasp onto the voice. It was real, she realized, and she was asleep.
"Kara?" she asked, forcing herself awake. She opened her eyes to find Kara and Brianna standing on either side of her bed. Sometime during her sleep, Madam Eldridge had pulled dividers over to shield her bed from the view of the rest of the castle, for which she was grateful. Especially if more people were on their way into the hospital wing with the same illness she had.
"Hey there sleepyhead," Kara smiled. "We came by at lunch, but you were fast asleep."
"I slept all day?" Victoire asked groggily.
"Yup," Kara confirmed. "But it's good. Madam Eldridge says that resting allows your body to get the energy it needs to fight this flu or whatever."
"Is everybody talking about how I threw up in potions?" Victoire asked.
"Nah," Brianna assured her. "Everyone basically forgot about that when Sara Pucey from Slytherin threw up all over Professor Tonks in Transfiguration this afternoon."
"She's in the next bed over," Kara added. "But she's asleep right now."
"Oh my God that's so much worse," Victoire exclaimed gleefully.
"I know right?" Kara said, pulling up a chair and sitting down while Brianna did the same on the other side. "So what did Madam Eldridge say? She wouldn't tell us much."
"Basically I'm going to be stuck here for a few days at least," Victoire sighed. "Apparently I'm the first student with this year's magical strain of flu and you can't figure out how to treat it until you see it's first presentation. I guess basically I'm her test dummy."
"Oh, it's just the flu," Brianna assured her. "It's not like it's going to kill you. And look on the bright side. You get to miss a few days of classes. That's not terrible."
"I'm going to fall way behind," Victoire said.
"No you're not. All our Professors gave us notes to pass along to you and made us promise to make sure you do the assignments on time," Kara said, producing a stack of parchment almost as thick as Victoire's transfiguration textbook.
"That's all from today?" Victoire asked, aghast.
"No, that's for the rest of the week," Brianna said. "They figured this way you would have it all and could do it at your own pace."
"When am I going to have time to go through all of this?" Victoire moaned.
"How about when you're stuck in here all alone with these other sick people and we're all stuck in class," Brianna suggested.
"And I thought this was going to be a vacation," Victoire rolled her eyes sarcastically. "Just leave it on the side table, I don't want to look at it right now."
"Oh, and we brought you your bag with all your things," Kara added, gesturing to the bag in question, which was on the floor, leaning against her side table.
"Thanks," Victoire said gratefully. "I had some important things in there."
"Like what?" Brianna asked.
"Nothing special," Victoire shrugged. "Just, you know, it would suck to have to re-buy all my textbooks."
"You were talking about the stuffed bear, weren't you?" Brianna accused her.
"What?" Victoire cried. "You know about L'Ourson?"
"Of course we do, we're your best friends," Kara said. "It's no big deal. So you have a stuffed bear that you carry around everywhere you go. I can't use the Floo Network unless I'm wearing my lucky shoes."
"What?" Victoire asked.
"Never mind," Kara said, waving her hand in the air. "The point is we don't care that you have a stuffed bear."
"For the record, I don't usually carry him to class with me," Victoire said defensively. "It was just that I wasn't feeling well and I thought he might bring me some extra comfort."
"Well then it's a good thing he's here with you now," Kara said, reaching into the bag and pulling L'Ourson out. "There you go," she said, tucking the bear into the crook of Victoire's elbow.
"Thanks," Victoire smiled.
"We should get going," Brianna said, noting the time. "Dinner's about to start."
"We'll stop by later," Kara promised. "Feel better!"
Victoire waved as her friends stepped to the other side of the partitions and left the hospital wing. She realized she was still quite tired, so she rolled over to her side, clutching L'Ourson close and closed her eyes, letting sleep claim her once again.
VvVvVvVvVvV
"You know, when you take a puking pastille, you're not supposed to go to the hospital wing," a voice muttered, pulling Victoire from her sleep. "You're supposed to eat the other end and then go be mischievous."
"I didn't take a puking pastille," Victoire muttered, pulling herself up into a seated position.
"Could've fooled me," Teddy grinned.
"I'm seriously sick," Victoire groaned as her stomach decided to start flipping around uncomfortably.
"I heard," Teddy said, leaning back in his chair. "I talked to Madam Eldridge."
"I thought Madam Eldridge couldn't divulge personal information about students to other students," Victoire questioned.
"Okay, so I made my grandmother talk to Madam Eldridge and then I eavesdropped," Teddy admitted. "Happy now?"
"Not really," Victoire said, feeling bile rise up into her throat.
"Well then what do you want me to – "
Teddy stopped short when Victoire suddenly reached for her bucket and began to heave into it. He immediately jumped up to sit next to her on the bed and rubbed circles on her back as her throat continued to convulse.
"Ugh, I'm so sorry," Victoire said when it was done, putting the bucket back on the floor.
"Don't be sorry," Teddy said, returning to his seat. "You're sick. It's not like you did it on purpose."
"That's true," Victoire agreed. "Alright, then I guess I'm not sorry."
Teddy chuckled. "So I hear it happened in potions?" he asked.
Victoire groaned and buried her head in her hands. "So everyone is talking about me!" she cried.
"Nah. Actually, everyone's talking about your neighbor over there," he said, motioning to the bed on Victoire's left. "Rumor has it she threw up all over my grandmother. Grandma wasn't too happy about that, let me tell you."
"So who told you about me?" Victoire asked.
"I had to weasel the information out of Kara and Brianna," Teddy confessed. "They weren't too eager to share, but I eventually cracked them."
"How?" Victoire wondered.
"I might have threatened them by saying that if they didn't tell, I would convince my grandmother to give the first years a terrible month-long project and make sure to pair the Gryffindors with the Slytherins," he said.
"That's so mean!" Victoire exclaimed.
"I wanted the information," Teddy defended himself.
"Could you really get your grandmother to do that?" Victoire wondered.
"Not a chance," Teddy shook his head. "But Kara seemed to believe me quickly enough."
"Kara's pretty gullible," Victoire agreed. "So why'd you so desperately need all this information? Are you going to send a report to my father?"
"Oh, didn't you know?" Teddy asked in mock surprise. "I send your father weekly reports about your activities and general wellbeing."
"You do not!" Victoire cried.
"I do, I really do!" Teddy insisted. "I tell him what you eat at every meal, what time you wake up and go to bed, how many hours you spend on your homework, and how often you paint your nails in the common room."
"What you've just described right there is stalking, my friend, and it is a very unattractive look on anyone, least of all you," Victoire said, scooting up. As she did so, the covers shifted a bit, revealing L'Ourson sitting in her lap.
"Oh my gosh, is that L'Ourson?" Teddy gasped grabbing him and examining him thoroughly. "I remember him, you never used to go anywhere without him!"
"Give me that!" Victoire cried, grabbing the bear back and stuffing it under the covers. "I only have him here because I'm sick. Usually he just sits at the bottom of my trunk collecting dust."
"Oh, no judgement here," Teddy assured her. "I just didn't realize he was still around. I thought you got rid of him when you turned nine and decided that you'd grown much too mature for a stuffed bear."
"Well I didn't get rid of him," Victoire sniffed. "I figured I might need him someday and clearly, I was right."
"I think it's sweet," Teddy said.
Victoire rolled her eyes.
"No really, I do," Teddy said. "Listen, don't tell my room mates, but I still have that stuffed wolf from back when I was a kid. You know, the one Uncle Harry gave me?"
"Seriously?" Victoire laughed. "You still have that old thing?"
"Yeah, I keep it in the cupboard next to my bed and if I'm feeling sick or sad or something, then I wait until everyone else is asleep and I take him out," Teddy revealed.
Victoire smiled. "Alright, that makes me feel a little better," she admitted.
Just then, Madam Eldridge bustled over, shooing Teddy out. "Lights out in five minutes!" she insisted. "Visiting hours are over!"
Teddy got up and gave Victoire a hug before obeying Madam Eldridge and leaving the hospital wing.
"Here is your nighttime potion," Madam Eldridge said, handing a smoking concoction to Victoire.
"Is it safe?" she asked skeptically.
"Absolutely," Madam Eldridge assured her. "It will help with the nausea and make it easier to sleep."
With a shrug, Victoire downed the potion and handed the empty goblet back to the hospital wing matron. It took effect almost immediately, quelling the somersaults in her stomach and making her eyelids very heavy. She was asleep before she even hit the pillows.
VvVvVvVvVvV
Victoire ended up having to stay in the hospital wing for a week and a half. By the time she was finally released, she was so bored she was even looking forward to History of Magic class again. She had gotten so much homework done during the long days alone in the hospital wing that she was actually way ahead of Kara and Brianna, which meant that while they slaved over potions essays and star charts, she got to lounge in the common room reading Teen Witch articles. All in all, though, Victoire was just glad to be back living in a place that didn't smell like sterilizer. After the second day in the hospital, she'd thought her nose was going to fall off. It was worse than the fertilizer even. Actually, the fertilizer was worse.
"Feeling better?" Caitlin asked when Victoire returned to the dorm for the first time.
"Yes, thank you, I am, I'm feeling much better," Victoire said.
"Well if you suddenly decide you have to throw up in the middle of the night, try and make it to the bathroom," Caitlin pleaded. "I definitely don't need the smell of vomit stinking the place up."
"I'm not going throw up," Victoire said. "I'm not sick anymore, remember?"
"I'm just saying that if you feel like it's going to happen, get to a sink or a toilet," Caitlin said.
"Whatever," Victoire sighed. It was starting to feel like she was saying whatever to Caitlin a lot these days, but what was the use in fighting with her? Caitlin would never relinquish her position, even if it became glaringly obvious that she was in the wrong.
VvVvVvVvVvV
"Truth or dare?" Victoire asked Kara later that night as the three friends stayed up late in the common room.
"Uh… truth," Kara decided.
"What was the most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to you?" Victoire asked.
"Oh boy, that would have to be walking into the Great Hall Halloween morning dressed as a mermaid," Kara reminisced.
"Really? That's your most embarrassing moment?" Brianna asked.
"Sure, what's yours?" Kara asked.
"Definitely the time my younger sister stole my mom's wand at her office Christmas party and accidentally vanished all my clothes," Brianna revealed.
"Oh my gosh, that's so much worse!" Kara cried, clapping her hand over her mouth.
"It was humiliating!" Brianna agreed.
"Vic, truth or dare?" Kara asked.
"Truth," Victoire decided.
"Hmm… ooh! I have a good one! Why do you still sleep with your stuffed bear?" she asked.
"Seriously?" Victoire asked. "You're not really going to make me answer that, are you?"
"Okay, well now you definitely have to answer," Brianna said.
"Fine," Victoire said, looking down at the floor uncomfortably. "It reminds me of my grandfather," she muttered. "He gave it to me before he died."
"Grandfather Weasley passed away?" Kara asked, furrowing her brow.
"No, my other grandfather. Grandpapa Delacour," Victoire clarified. "He was my mother's father. He died when I was six. I only have a few memories of him, and one of them is when he gave me L'Ourson."
"I'm so sorry," Kara said, reaching a hand out and placing it on Victoire's shoulder.
"It was a long time ago, it's not like it haunts me or anything, but L'Ourson makes me feel closer to him sometimes," Victoire said.
"I totally get it," Kara agreed. "I have this necklace that my grandmother gave me before she passed away and whenever I wear it, I think of her."
"That's so nice," Victoire smiled. "Way less embarrassing than a stuffed bear."
"There's nothing embarrassing about a stuffed bear," Kara said. "What about you Bri, do you have anything like that?"
"No," Brianna said shortly. "I think I'm tired of playing. I'm going to bed." She stood up rather abruptly and left without another word.
"What was that about?" Kara wondered.
"I don't know," Victoire frowned. "But I think something must seriously be bothering her."