Well, I promised you a Friday update, and you got a Friday update. Like I said last time, there is a character death, but it's not a main character. Um, I don't think there's anything else I wanted to say. . . wait, yes there was. I may be needing names for students soon. If you want to contribute names for the story, give first and last names, boy or girl (sometimes they aren't what they seem), house, year, and anything special about them. I won't accept any Head Girls or Head Boys, however, I will accept four prefects for each house, two girls, two boys. Draco is already a Slytherin prefect, and Hermione is a Gryffindor one, so that takes those counts down.
Quidditch positions are good too, but keep it with the book. I don't want five Ravenclaw seekers, not counting Cho, or more then one person for each of the seven positions for each house. I'm saying the only free Gryffindor team slot is Keeper, but I might put Ron in there. Ravenclaw seeker is Cho, Slytherin is Draco. Other than that, everything's open, I think.
Have fun!
Wolf-Child
Dumbledore examined the wall James was stuck behind and had a nice conversation with him via Lily, but made no progress in getting him out. Sirius sent James a plate of éclairs via Dobby. Harry spent all his free time by the wall with Noko, talking to his parents. Draco spent a lot of his free time at the wall too, making sure Noko didn't get stuck in the hole when Harry ignored her. Fred and George were the heads of a group of students and teachers put together to figure out how to free James, but they weren't having any luck either.
Meanwhile, the disease was running rampant through the forest. Care of Magical Creatures was moved inside and Quidditch was temporarily cancelled after an ill hippogriff chased Draco around the field in the middle of a game before dropping dead.
Draco woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of someone vomiting. Looking around, he saw Terence Nott losing his dinner in his bed. Draco got up and brought Terence a glass of water, but Terence couldn't dink it. Draco transfigured the glass into a large bowl, which Terence accepted gratefully. Draco rubbed Terence's back soothingly, unsure of what else he could do.
Even through Terence's pajamas, Draco could feel the other boy was burning up. Occasionally a spasm would wrack his body.
Draco froze. Spasms, fever, vomiting, inability to drink . . . all these were signs of the forest disease. Draco left Terence and moved to Blaise Zambini, shaking him awake.
"Mmm, wha's wrong Dray?" he asked in a sleep-slurred voice.
"Blaise, start waking people up and help me get them to the Great Hall! Terence has the forest disease, we can't stay here! It's not safe!'
The note of urgency in Draco's voice woke Blaise up. He rolled out of bed and padded over to Crabbe. "Wake up, wake up! You have to get out of here!"
Before too long, all of Slytherin House, except Terence, was standing in the Great Hall, shivering and scared. Most of them had no idea what was going on, but they all knew that if a Malfoy looked ruffled, it was bad.
"Now what?" Blaise asked Draco quietly.
"I'm not sure," he whispered back. "Do you know where Dumbledore's office is?"
"No idea. Snape?"
"I guess. Let's go."
As they left the Great Hall, they ran into Professor McGonagall. "Boys! What do you think you're doing out of bed?" She frowned down at them. Before she could punish them, Draco interrupted, speaking quickly.
"Professor, Terence Nott is sick with the forest disease. We were told to get the students as far away from the sick student as possible, so we brought Slytherin House to the Great Hall. We were just looking for a professor."
"Nott is sick with the forest disease?"
"Yes Ma'am."
"You did the right thing then. Get back to the Hall."
The boys obeyed. A few minutes later, Professor McGonagall's magically magnified voice echoed through the castle.
"ALL STUDENTS AND STAFF REPORT TO THE GREAT HALL IMMEDIATELY."
Harry was jolted out of bed by McGonagall's voice. He parted his curtains and looked around. "What's going on?" he asked. Ron shrugged.
"We should probably get to the Great Hall though."
The common room was packed as students poured from their dormitories. The stairs were even worse. Eventually Ron and Harry made it into the Hall. Noko wriggled her way through the crowd, Hermione close behind. Noko had been sleeping in Hermione's dorm for a while now.
"Mione!" Ron hugged her as Noko wrapped herself around Harry's legs. "You're a prefect; do you know what's going on?"
Hermione shook her head. "No one seems to know! The teachers aren't telling us anything, but it's rumored that Dumbledore went down to the Slytherin dungeons."
"Slyrin?" Noko asked, worried. "Dayco?" She gasped, clapping her hands to her face. "Dayco owwied!" She ran back into the crowd, working herself into a frenzy. "Dayco! Dayco! Dayco, where you!?!" She felt herself be caught up in a pair of arms. "Dayco! You 'k?"
Draco hugged her tightly. "Yes Noko, I'm okay."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione jogged up. "Noko, don't run away like that!" Harry scolded her.
Hermione tapped her chin. "Draco, you're a Slytherin prefect. Do you know what's going on?"
Draco nodded. "Terence Nott is sick with the forest disease."
"No!" Hermione gasped.
"Yes."
Dumbledore walked in and whispered something to Madame Pomfrey. She covered her face with her hands and nodded. Draco shoved Noko into Harry's arms and hurried over to Dumbledore.
"Headmaster, will Nott be all right?"
Dumbledore looked sadly at Draco. "I'm afraid Mr. Nott passed away. There was nothing we could do for him but ease his pain."
Draco was stunned. It wasn't that Terence had been a friend; actually, Draco really couldn't tolerate him for long. He was shocked more because he had just been rubbing Terence's back less then half an hour ago, and now Terence was dead.
"All students, please move to the front of the Hall. A student has died from the forest disease." Dumbledore waited for a moment before quelling the panicked voices. "When we first learned of this disease, Madame Pomfrey and Professor Snape concocted a way to test for it, even if you have no symptoms. The professors will circulate through the Hall and administer the test. If it turns red, you are fine, if white, you have the disease. Once you have received the test, move to the other end of the hall. Please remain orderly and calm." Dumbledore picked up a small bag and strode into the press of students.
"Here Mr. Potter, one for you. One for you, Mr. Malfoy, Ms. Granger, Mr. Weasley. Oh, and here's one for the puppy." Madame Pomfrey handed them each a small black disc about half the size of a snitch. "Put it on your tongue and hold it in your mouth for about a minute, then take it out and look at the color. No move to the other side of the Hall and mind you don't swallow it."
Harry shrugged and popped the disc in his mouth. The others did the same, then sat at the far end of the Hufflepuff table. A minute later, they all spat out their discs. None of them were white.
"Well, that's a relief," Hermione smiled. Draco nodded and toyed with his disc absently. Noko bit hers and made a face.
"Ucky."
"You're not supposed to eat it, puppy." Harry took the disc away from her.
Fred and George walked over, obviously holding discs of their own in their mouths. Fred grunted something and waved his hands at them.
"We're all red," Ron said. "What about you?"
Fred spat his out.
"Red."
George pulled his out.
"White."
Ooh, I'm so nasty, aren't I? Don't expect another update until maybe Monday. I work best when I'm writing this at school, for some reason. However, the next few chapters are planned out. You can ask my brother, he's heard me tell him them. However, nothing's written down yet.
~Crawler