Part Nine
Minerva McGongall let out a contented moan as Serverus Snape ran his hands down her body and kissed her face softly. It had been a mad-cap week, and now she was finaly able to relax properly.
"Mmmm, God this week dragged by."
"Tell me about it. I thought it would never end, what with Neville Longbottom" 'spilling his Invisibility potion all over the floor and half the class disappearing, and then making the other half disappear as well when he tried to counter the effects. Stupid boy, he really should be thrown out, he's unteachable!" She tutted crossly.
"That may be so, but you really shouldn't talk about students like that, it's not right. Poor Neville, he does try, bless him." Serverus snorted with laughter.
"That;s not what you said when he accidently brought his chair to life and you had to spend the day chasing it around the school!" she pursed her lips at the memory.
"Yes, well......I don't suppose he can help it, he was just born that way."
"Oh, so he was born as thick as two short planks? Because you know, I was inder the impression he'd just been dropped on his head one too many times as a child. But if he was born like that, then I suppose it really isn't his fault." she slapped his arm".
'"You're terrible, honestly you are!" He smirked and pulled her closer to him.
"Only just realised that? Kind of slow on the uptake aren't you?" she laughed" 'as he nibbled her earlobe.
"Let's not talk about Neville Longbottom. I was starting to relax before you strated taking about him."
"Okay, it's not exactly my idea of a perfect evening either, discussing hopeless cases." She tutted again, and frowned.
"Now that's enough." she told him crossly. "From now on, we do NOT mention pupils. We are going to spend the evening together, unwinding after a long week, NOT talking about Neville Longbottom! Is that clear?"
"Yes ma'am," he muttered." ' She glared at him, and was about to say something, when he moved his hands to the back of her head and gently pulled her hair out of the tight bun she had so carefully pulled it back into. She rested her head on his sholder as he ran his fingers through her hair, and felt her eyes start to close. For the first time that week, she was starting to relax, and was definatly enjoying it. She had almost allowed herself to fall into a sleepy stupor, when someone knocked at the door.
Jumping back from Serverus in fright, she realised just how the situation would appear to whoever was stood outside the door, and was in the process of shooing him towards the bathroom, when the door opened and Hermione Granger's face peeked through.
"Sorry Professor," she mumbled, her cheeks going scarlet as she realised what she had walked in on. "But, uh, it's Lavender you see. She's sick. Really sick. She's really hot, but she says she's freezing, she can't keep anything down, and she's having hallucinations."
"Well take her to Madame Pomfrey then," she snaped without meaning to, impatiently. "She is the school nurse, is she not?"
"Well, we did, but she said it was probably just the flu, everyone's got it at the moment, and she was really busy, so she just gave her a potion to take. But she just brought it straight back up! I really don't think it's the flu Professor, I've never seen anyone so sick before." Minerva sighed impatiently.
"She probably just has a very bad case of it. Honestly Hermione, if Madame Pomfrey says it's the flu, then it's the flu-"
"But Madame Pomfrey didn't see her like she is now! She's getting worse, tossing and turning, and screaming about green alsation dogs! She's driven Parvati to tears, and Seamus is refusing to leave her bedside!" Serverus spoke for the first time.
"Well what the hell is Finnigan doing in the girl's dorms? Tell him he is to leave immidiatly and leave Miss Brown to get on with it. If she isn't over the worst by the morning then take her back to Madame Pomfrey. Well, why are you still here? Scoot!"" 'and Hermione, trembling in fright, fled the room.
"Well, that certainly got rid of her.....don't you think you were a little harsh?"
"Not at all, you wanted to say the exact same thing, i could tell. Silly girl, I really have no patience with her."
"Well that may be so, but it's never a good idea to shout at a person you need to keep a secret for you. Adn anyway, she's not silly really, she's very-" he put a finger to her lips and silenced her.
"I thought we weren't going to talk about pupils this evening?"
Five minutes later, Minerva was feeling almost relaxed as she was before Hermione had burst into the room, when there came another knock at the door, and Hermione's head once more poked around the door frame.
"Please Professor, she's even worse! She's thrashing around like anything, screaming at things no one else can see! She's delusional and I really REALLY don't think it's the flu!" Minerva pursed her lips, exasperated.
"I have already told you, she probably just has a particuarly bad case of it. She'll be fine by the morning, you'll just have to let her ride it out. Now if you would please return to your dormitory......" Hermione turned sullenly, and left the room once more." 'Serverus sighed.
"Now maybe we can get some peace and quiet-" No sooner had the words left his lips, when the door banged open once more. Hermione was back, this time accompanied by Harry.
"What-do-you-want?" Minerva growled.
"Professor, Lavender is really sick." Harry said.
"So I've heard." She muttered.
"Please, just come and have a look at her! Once you've seen her, you'll know we're not exagerating. And, and if you don't come, then, then, we'll have to go and see Professor Dumbledore and tell him why you wont come!" Hermione cried".
'"Is that a threat?" Serverus asked, but Hermione knew she had touched a nerve.
"No, it's a promise." she said cooly, unafraid of Snape for what was possibly the first time ever.
"Serverus, i think I'd better go and take a look at Lavender," Minerva sighed. She brushed her lips against his cheek, and murmed: "I guess we'd better leave off for tonight, it's obvious we're not going to get any peace." He nodded his agreement, and they both left the room and went their separate ways, Minerva accompanied by harry and hermione.
Upon reaching the girls dormitry, Minerva knew at once that Hermione had defginatly not been exaggerating. Lavender was lying in her bed, cheeks red and sweat running down her face, screaming "The dogs are coming, the dogs are coming! Aghhhhhhhhhh, help!" 'It's got me!!!!"
Hurrying to her bedside, Minerva shouted over her sholder: "Hermione, run and get Madame Pomfrey. Tell her I sent you, and let her know it's an emergancy. And Harry, run and get Professor Dumbledore, he should be in the staff room. Hurry!" She pulled out her wand from the front of her robes, pointed it at Lavender and muttered "Calamara sutra!" and at once, she stopped thrashing around. She sat down on the edge of Lavender's bed, and prayed that Dumbledore would get there in time.
Two hours later, and you wouldn't have known that Lavender had been sick at all. She was laughing and joking with Parvati, ("Was I really having hallucinations?!") and appeared as fit as a fiddle. She seemed quite content to be told she had just been a little sick, but she was going to be fine, but, unfortunatly, Harry, Ron and Hermione seemed to want answers. As she was about to leave through the portrait hole in the common room, she was stopped by a shout of "Professor!" from Harry.
"Yes?" she asked.
"What WAS wrong with Lavender?" hermione demanded. Minerva sighed.
"She appears to have had a particuarly nasty case of 'Halo Camarsutrio.' it's a particuarly nasty disease, known most commonly for the hallucinations it can cause. But whilst sufferers are busy ranting about things only they can see, the disease, well, eats away the victims insides. It's lucky Lavender was treated when she was, the disease is known, in most cases, to be fatal." The three of them all wore the same shocked expressions.
"But how did she get it?" Ron asked.
"Well, it's a little like shingles in a way. You know how, if you've ever had chicken pox as a child, the virus satys inside your body and can flare up years later as shingles?" they nodded. "Well, it's like that. Except the virus is directly linked to scarlet fever, not chicken pox. At some point, Miss Brown will have suffered scarlet fever, and has now experianced it's cousin in 'halo camarsutrio'. You need not worry, it's not catching, but she was very lucky. Any longer, and she probably wouldn't be with us any more." She noticed that they were all glaring at her. "Yes?"
"You weren't going to come." Hermione said stiffly. "You were too busy getting up to God knows what with Snape." she sneered as she said it. She couldn't believe she'd said it, but it felt good. "Lavender could have, no, WOULD have died if I hadn't come back with Harry. You should have come the first time I came to you." Now they were all giving her disgusted looks.
"Don't be ridiculous-"
"We're not being!" Harry flared up. "This isn't a game any more. Someone could have died."
"What are you saying?" she questioned.
"We're going to Dumbledore." Ron said coldly. "