HERMIONE'S POV
Rain splattered the full-length windows in my dormitory as I sat on the window ledge and gazed out across the grounds. The green grass was being turned brown due to mud, and among it all I saw Hagrid setting up tents made of tarp around his garden. The blue tarp blew wildly in the gale-force winds, but Hagrid was strong and managed to tether the tents safely to the ground before going back into his hut.
Lavender Brown, another classmate, was sitting at a table painting her nails the Gryffindor colors: scarlet and yellow. It was quite interesting to watch her doing so. First she carefully applied a coat of scarlet polish to each nail and blew on them until they were dry. Then she painted a diagonal yellow stripe across each nail. After dipping her brush in the bottle, she made sure to wipe off the excess before proceeding to paint on her nails.
I smiled and got up, going over to my four-poster bed where I sat down to my Potions homework. Professor Snape had assigned a three foot long essay on the Yuccatamien Potion. That is the potion that allegedly cures people of the Yucca virus, which no human has ever had. Honestly, even I have found that you can only write so much on certain things such as this. I reached two feet and simply ran out of information. I decided to do a bit more research on the virus itself in hope that I may strike a new idea for my essay. I opened a library book called uAlleged Diseases/u. There in page nineteen was my bookmark, for this was the page on the Yucca virus. I read a paragraph from it:
A wizard by the name of John Palp discovered the Yucca virus in 1397. He discovered it when he went too his fields to tend to his sheep. Upon arriving at his flock's side, he saw that two of them had begun to decompose but were still alive. Their wool was falling off and where it was gone their skin was dark and shriveling up. Horrified, Palp contacted the top minds in animal care and medicine, but no one could explain the mysterious disease that caused his sheep their awful fate. Twelve days after Palp's sheep were found to be decomposing, they passed away quietly in their sleep. The virus got it's name because the only thing that was determined about the disease was that it came from an unusual tree planted behind Palp's home. The sheep often grazed there. The tree always had to be planted next to a Yucca tree to survive for some unknown reason. The tree is no longer in existence and was never named. Thus, because of it's reliance on the Yucca tree, it is called the Yucca virus.
I closed the book, disgusted. Not in a disrespectful way, but in a - well, agonized way almost.
"Hey Hermione. What're you doing?" asked Parvati Patil, entering the dormitory and sitting on my bed.
I glanced over at the table to see that Lavender was still there but was now reading. Parvati's greeting puzzled me; usually she and Lavender are stuck together like glue. Was everything all right with the two of them?
RON'S POV
"Damn peas," I muttered to myself at dinner.
Really, have you ever noticed how annoying peas are? I mean, they're a revolting shade of green that's earned them a color named after them, namely pea green. That color, of course, is not generally used in a good way. Also, they're a terrible pain in the ass to eat. You can't use a fork because they're so small, but when you use a spoon you always manage to leave behind one or two on your plate.
Wow, I really need to get a life don't I? Don't answer that. Please.
Harry sat down across from me, looking mildly disturbed about something or other. I figured the dementors must still be on his mind.
"Hi Harry," I greeted my friend. "How are you?"
He looked up at me. "Fine, I guess. But I need to ask Hermione about something."
"What would that be?" I asked, moving on to my rice pudding.
Harry's emerald green eyed looked deeply troubled, I could tell. "Earlier today McGonagall took me to talk to Dumbledore and Fudge. Fudge apparently communicated with the dementors, for he said they told him they were chasing after a deadly killer - the Yucca virus. I though maybe Hermione knew something about it."
"About what?" asked Hermione, joining us. She sat next to me and smiled. "Does it have to do with Snape's essay? Because I don't think I can bear to think about it any longer!" she said as she reached for the chicken legs.
Harry repeated the story for Hermione. When he was done she too had a disturbed look on her face.
"The Yucca virus," she repeated slowly. "Yes, I was just reading about it as a matter of fact. And I'll tell you what I know."
And so she proceeded on to tell us about the wizard John Palp and his mysterious decomposing sheep.
"Let me get this straight," said Harry, frowning, "They know it was the Yucca virus but it's never affected humans before?"
Hermione nodded, her brown hair swinging across her shoulders. "Exactly Harry. And I'm not sure how the alleged antidote came to be. I haven't gotten that far yet."
The three of us exchanged worried looks. If the Yucca virus really could attack humans, then Hogwarts would be in for one hell of a ride.
Rain splattered the full-length windows in my dormitory as I sat on the window ledge and gazed out across the grounds. The green grass was being turned brown due to mud, and among it all I saw Hagrid setting up tents made of tarp around his garden. The blue tarp blew wildly in the gale-force winds, but Hagrid was strong and managed to tether the tents safely to the ground before going back into his hut.
Lavender Brown, another classmate, was sitting at a table painting her nails the Gryffindor colors: scarlet and yellow. It was quite interesting to watch her doing so. First she carefully applied a coat of scarlet polish to each nail and blew on them until they were dry. Then she painted a diagonal yellow stripe across each nail. After dipping her brush in the bottle, she made sure to wipe off the excess before proceeding to paint on her nails.
I smiled and got up, going over to my four-poster bed where I sat down to my Potions homework. Professor Snape had assigned a three foot long essay on the Yuccatamien Potion. That is the potion that allegedly cures people of the Yucca virus, which no human has ever had. Honestly, even I have found that you can only write so much on certain things such as this. I reached two feet and simply ran out of information. I decided to do a bit more research on the virus itself in hope that I may strike a new idea for my essay. I opened a library book called uAlleged Diseases/u. There in page nineteen was my bookmark, for this was the page on the Yucca virus. I read a paragraph from it:
A wizard by the name of John Palp discovered the Yucca virus in 1397. He discovered it when he went too his fields to tend to his sheep. Upon arriving at his flock's side, he saw that two of them had begun to decompose but were still alive. Their wool was falling off and where it was gone their skin was dark and shriveling up. Horrified, Palp contacted the top minds in animal care and medicine, but no one could explain the mysterious disease that caused his sheep their awful fate. Twelve days after Palp's sheep were found to be decomposing, they passed away quietly in their sleep. The virus got it's name because the only thing that was determined about the disease was that it came from an unusual tree planted behind Palp's home. The sheep often grazed there. The tree always had to be planted next to a Yucca tree to survive for some unknown reason. The tree is no longer in existence and was never named. Thus, because of it's reliance on the Yucca tree, it is called the Yucca virus.
I closed the book, disgusted. Not in a disrespectful way, but in a - well, agonized way almost.
"Hey Hermione. What're you doing?" asked Parvati Patil, entering the dormitory and sitting on my bed.
I glanced over at the table to see that Lavender was still there but was now reading. Parvati's greeting puzzled me; usually she and Lavender are stuck together like glue. Was everything all right with the two of them?
RON'S POV
"Damn peas," I muttered to myself at dinner.
Really, have you ever noticed how annoying peas are? I mean, they're a revolting shade of green that's earned them a color named after them, namely pea green. That color, of course, is not generally used in a good way. Also, they're a terrible pain in the ass to eat. You can't use a fork because they're so small, but when you use a spoon you always manage to leave behind one or two on your plate.
Wow, I really need to get a life don't I? Don't answer that. Please.
Harry sat down across from me, looking mildly disturbed about something or other. I figured the dementors must still be on his mind.
"Hi Harry," I greeted my friend. "How are you?"
He looked up at me. "Fine, I guess. But I need to ask Hermione about something."
"What would that be?" I asked, moving on to my rice pudding.
Harry's emerald green eyed looked deeply troubled, I could tell. "Earlier today McGonagall took me to talk to Dumbledore and Fudge. Fudge apparently communicated with the dementors, for he said they told him they were chasing after a deadly killer - the Yucca virus. I though maybe Hermione knew something about it."
"About what?" asked Hermione, joining us. She sat next to me and smiled. "Does it have to do with Snape's essay? Because I don't think I can bear to think about it any longer!" she said as she reached for the chicken legs.
Harry repeated the story for Hermione. When he was done she too had a disturbed look on her face.
"The Yucca virus," she repeated slowly. "Yes, I was just reading about it as a matter of fact. And I'll tell you what I know."
And so she proceeded on to tell us about the wizard John Palp and his mysterious decomposing sheep.
"Let me get this straight," said Harry, frowning, "They know it was the Yucca virus but it's never affected humans before?"
Hermione nodded, her brown hair swinging across her shoulders. "Exactly Harry. And I'm not sure how the alleged antidote came to be. I haven't gotten that far yet."
The three of us exchanged worried looks. If the Yucca virus really could attack humans, then Hogwarts would be in for one hell of a ride.