Chapter Fourteen

The Swampwart Flu

The pre-holiday meeting took place just before breakfast on Monday morning as sleepy professors wandered into the staff room, getting their rolls and coffee and settling around the table. As usual, Minerva had been the first to arrive, looking over her notes and smiling at each staff member as they came in.

"Good, it looks as if we're all here," she smiled thinly, looking about. "Midterm results are, as always, due the day after the students leave, so let's get them on time so everyone who's leaving can get out of here. Let's see, is anyone staying this year?" Sagittari, Rolanda, and Archibald raised their hands. "Good. We'll have just over a dozen students as well. I'm sure it's nothing we can't manage," she said, her eyes twinkling. "Now, for those of you going to the wedding, don't forget yourselves in front of the Muggles. I know it goes without saying, but I want you to be especially careful since we'll be quite a ways from home and we want to set the school a good example. Anyone who doesn't feel quite sure of themselves in that environment, I would recommend hanging with someone who does, so that we don't have any incidents." Anna and Severus both looked directly at Jennifer. Jennifer blinked in surprise. After all, she wasn't all that bad with Muggles, was she?

"Now, I believe Rolanda had some sort of news about the spring dance she and Filius were organizing?"

"Yes, actually," Rolanda said cheerfully. "I had been thinking it'd be nice to have something a little more exciting this year for music…not to slant Filius' enchanted band, of course, we just thought the students would appreciate something more their style," she grinned. That earned her suspicious looks from several of the Professors, including Severus and Jennifer. "So with some help from Sirius Black who happened to know Donaghan Tremlett's home owl address, I arranged to have the Weird Sisters come and play!" Filius and Hermione clapped excitedly, and several others congratulated her on her good work.

"I'm sure the students will appreciate it, at least," Minerva said with a reserved smile.

"That's great, Rolanda," Jennifer said, "Although I have to admit I rather like Filius' band myself."

"The stuff that Weird Sisters 'play' is hardly anything but noise if you ask me," Severus put in.

"Oh, Severus, don't be such a Snitch in the mud, there's nothing worse than a dull professor. Keep it up and you're going to turn into another old man Binns," Rolanda said, rolling her eyes at him.

"All right, that'll do, Rolanda. Now, let's all do what we can to make this dance work and let everyone have some fun without too much trouble. Only students with even or a positive number of points will be permitted to go, so feel free to remind them of that when they get out of hand, and I'm sure you'll see an improvement in most of them," Minerva said, her eyes twinkling. "And if all goes well, we'll be having a dance every year."

After the meeting, Jennifer went straight to work getting her reviews in order before her first class then spent an uneventful week drilling students on everything from the proper way to gut a horned toad to the bubbling point of slug slime. Corey seemed a lot more distracted with the approaching holidays and the trip, and Jennifer couldn't help wondering if he wasn't going to end up in negative points after all.

Danny seemed more fervent than last year, writing down everything with more passion than ever. But Jennifer knew it was all going to come down to the potion itself, and Danny just didn't have quite the subtle touch that Corey did. At lunch, Jennifer slipped over to Severus' office, peeking in the door. He looked up from the desk quizzically but already had an idea what she was going to say.

"Well? Have you talked to her yet?" Jennifer asked.

"No, as a matter of fact, she seems to be purposefully avoiding me. I'll corner her, don't worry, just stop pestering me about it," Severus said.

"Just ask her in your office. There's no reason to make it complicated," Jennifer said. "She is getting worse by the day, you know. It's starting to affect her work."

"Yes, yes, I know. Minerva has noticed it as well," Severus frowned. "And Minerva also noticed that Corey's work is slipping too, and I'm not sure it's all because of Danny."

"No, I think not," Jennifer admitted, sitting down. "He's just too excited about going to the States. Oh, and if I read him right, he's gotten himself a bit preoccupied talking to one of the Hogwarts paintings. I'd think he's a bit old for that, but I suppose they all go through it," Jennifer grinned.

"Well, you still talk to mirrors and how old are you?" Severus said evenly.

"Very funny. You know that's different… well, perhaps not entirely," Jennifer admitted sheepishly.

"Not to mention he was Muggleborn, so he's never seen them before. Which one is it, anyhow?" Severus asked.

"I don't know, I didn't look that far. Should I?"

"No, I seriously doubt it's important. I'm sure he'll grow out of it," Severus said, proofreading his test thoughtfully. "I do have to admit that the older he gets, the less trouble he seems to be getting into. He hasn't been in detention since Halloween."

"Ugh, don't jinx him by pointing it out," Jennifer chuckled. "You know, though, even with him intentionally missing questions now and again, I don't think Danny's going to make first in potions midterm."

Severus nodded grimly to Jennifer, putting down the paper.

"Then let's just hope that doesn't mean what we think it means," Severus said.

Midterms started the next week, and so far Corey thought he was doing well with perhaps the exception of Muggle Studies. Each student had been given a different subject to write about and was told to write a one to two page essay on the topic. After writing half a page on the differences between the Council of Wizards and the Parliament, Corey ran out of ideas, and spent the rest of the period inserting extra words where he could and rewriting it to look neat. Danny, annoyingly enough, had finished hers before he was even ready to recopy it, handing Madame Hughes two pages and exiting out of the classroom with a relieved smile. And why shouldn't she? There was little doubt who was ahead in that class, especially having been tutored on Muggles and Muggle economics before she'd even gotten to Hogwarts. Finally getting his paper recopied, he ran out to find Doug waiting for him.

"Come on, don't take all day about it, I'm starving!" Doug said.

"You're always starving. What about Taylor?" Corey asked.

"He's still at it, on the second page from what I saw," Doug said. "Let's go to lunch though, we'll just meet up with him afterwards." They had just settled into place when Taylor came in, signaling so frantically that Doug waved at him in understanding. "I guess he wants to talk to us anyhow. But not right now, I don't want to miss lunch," Doug said.

"Doug, how come your leg is on the bench?" Corey asked with a sigh.

"What?"

"You didn't rush here just because you're hungry, did you? Who are you saving a seat for today?" Corey asked. Doug grimaced.

"Oh, all right, you have me. I thought it'd be nice if Gail joined us. And Katie too…she likes you, you know," Doug grinned.

"I hope you're not trying to set me up for the dance already," Corey rolled his eyes at him.

"Aw, come on, Corey. Humor me, here. It's hard trying to be smooth with the girls when you're always around. They hover around you instead of me," Doug said in annoyance. "I figured that if I get you set up with one, maybe then I can have a break with the rest of them."

"So you picked the one that turned you down to sit with me," Corey said, chuckling. "I swear, the older you get, the worse you get with this girl thing."

"So, you're telling me you don't like girls?" Doug asked, folding his arms.

"No, it's not that. I just want to wait for the right one, that's all," Corey said, watching his glass fill up thoughtfully.

"I'd think you'd know better," Doug tsked at him. "Besides, what's wrong with playing the field while you're waiting for the right… hi Gail, hi Katie! How are midterms going?" Corey smiled and shook his head slightly at him, making room for the girls as they talked about classes.

He found himself longing to get back to the trophy room and talk to Caprica. After all, it would be weeks before they saw her again. Taylor, Doug, and Danny had all told him it was nothing but an elaborate picture without true thought or feeling. But something in Corey had made him doubt that from the beginning. It was no ordinary painting… an ordinary painting wouldn't have been able to get Amadeus off of his back.

Taylor met up with them as they went towards the Trophy Room after lunch, looking a bit concerned.

"Hi Taylor! We're heading up to see our friend upstairs," Corey said. "Where's Danny?"

"Danny's not coming," Taylor said. "She said she had to do something and went outside. Corey, I'm really worried about her. She doesn't want to go home."

"Would you relax? I'll just do what I did last year and mess up a couple. It's not like my parents care if I come in first or second as long as I do my homework," Corey said. "Don't get so worked up, Taylor. I mean, if he's as bad as all that, why wouldn't she have told us about it, or my parents, or Dumbledore? I think you're just overreacting," he added as they entered the room.

"Corey, you don't know her like I do. I study with her every day and I'm telling you it's not normal for a person to be getting this stressed out over marks," Taylor said.

"Well, I can't argue with you there," Corey admitted with a chuckle. "But it's not like she's the only person in the school like that. Madame Granger was like that."

"My sister is like that," Doug said, rolling his eyes. Corey nodded.

"And who is the topic of conversation today?" A voice asked from over their heads.

"It's Danny. I think something's wrong," Taylor said. Caprica turned unusually serious, nodding to him.

"Yes, I do think you're right, Taylor dear," Caprica said. "And you've tried talking to her about it?"

"That's just it, she won't talk about it. Not to me, not to anyone," Taylor said with frustration. "It's like her life outside of Hogwarts doesn't even exist to her. Well, except for these frantic pushes for top marks."

"Sometimes parents tend to push their children a bit too far when it comes to such things. They so want them to succeed, they don't realize how much pressure they're putting them under," Caprica said.

"Yes, but I think there's more to it than that," Taylor said. "I think he's wanting her to succeed just for himself."

"Well, that is always true of those sort," Caprica smiled sadly, but then nodded. "But I think I understand what you're trying to tell me. The girl is in pain, no question. And apparently she's too afraid to confide in anyone about it. Well, I'm going to talk to her. Many people find it's easier to talk to a painting. After all, we're not real," she smiled with a wink.

"You're real to me," Corey said so fervently that she smiled at him.

"When are you going to talk to her? We've only got today and tomorrow left before we head out," Doug asked.

"I know, Doug. I'll talk to her tonight once you all finish your midterms. Perhaps I can catch her alone in the Slytherin rooms after dinner. Maybe I'll get lucky and have a chance to visit Amadeus while I'm there," she ventured. The three boys grinned at each other knowingly. "I rather want to see if he's behaving himself. By the way, don't the two of you still have a Transfiguration test? And you a Potion test, Taylor?" she asked, pointing at the clock then putting her hands on her hips.

"Oh great, we'd better book it," Corey said, heading out the door. "You know how McGonagall is about being late."

"Worse, I know how your Mom is," Taylor said, waving at Caprica on his way out.

Danny was already in her place, tapping her pencil as Taylor came into the class just as the bell sounded. Craw gave him a stern look as he hurried to his seat out of breath. He smiled at Danny softly, but she wasn't looking at him, her eyes intent on the front of the class where Professor Craw was handing out tests. He couldn't help but notice that Danny looked rather tired, probably from all the late night studying, and quietly hoped for her the best of luck. Craw cleared her throat as she came around and he looked back towards the front as the paper arrived on his table as well as the rest of the back row, as Craw headed back to the front of the class.

"Very well, you may begin the written section of the test now. Please pay special attention to the lab directions. I'll not be held responsible for what you might turn into if you get them out of order," Craw said with a mischievous smile.

Taylor peeked at the back long enough to see it was a transformation potion and sighed. It meant fresh ingredients and temperature sensitive components for sure, but at least he was fairly confident on the formulas. As he started down the column of the written part of the test, he heard a soft sound from the left of him and risked a glance up, wondering where it came from. Professor Craw, still sitting at her desk marking papers didn't seem to notice, so Taylor looked back down.

As he was trying to work out his calculations on altering potions for differing time delays, there was a loud thud, and Taylor looked over to see Danny on the floor. The rest of the class gasped in surprise. Taylor dove to the girl's side, trying to figure out what was wrong as Craw rushed over, kneeling on the other side of her. Her skin was slightly green in tone, and odd welts had begun to appear on her face that Taylor didn't remember seeing there just a few minutes before.

"Taylor, step back!" Craw snapped. "The rest of you as well! Get back to your seats!" She quickly called up a stretcher, gently laying the girl on it, a worried look on her face. What terrible timing for the girl to come down with something! Craw's bat Ratfly, who had been sleeping on a perch in the corner, woke up and sat on the table. "Finish your tests and put them on my desk. And don't try to cheat, I'll find out if you do," she warned, whisking the girl to the hospital wing.

What could have possibly happened? She had been fine that morning in Muggle Studies, Taylor remembered. He raced through the rest of his test, perhaps a little faster than he should have, starting up his cauldron for the lab before anyone else. But labs couldn't always be rushed, and it was all Taylor could do to keep himself from adding the ingredients too soon after it boiled, finally stoppering it and hurrying out to check on his friend. A crowd had already gathered outside of the hospital wing, including Professor Snape and McGonagall, who had been called from their classrooms as well.

"Don't fret, Professor. Sagittari is just making sure that Craw doesn't have any ill effect from the dose," Madame Pomfrey was saying. "We need to give one to the entire class to make sure they don't get sick as well."

"Give us what? Is Danny all right?" Taylor asked. McGonagall looked around with surprise.

"Goodness, they're starting to finish already! I thought Jennifer said they had a complicated lab," Minerva said.

"They do, but it would seem that some of them are a bit more concerned about Miss Nelson than their test," Severus said, squinting slightly at Taylor. "I will go down and make sure none of the others have left."

"Come inside, Mr. Brittle," Madam Pomfrey ordered, ushering him in. "You need to take a preventative dose straight away. Swampwart Flu is highly contagious, you know."

"I'm going to need to go make more antiflu doses, Doctor, I'm sure there's not enough to go around," Jennifer said from where she sat on one of the other beds.

"Not so fast, Jennifer. You stay put for awhile until I'm quite sure you're not infected," Sagittari said sternly. "I'm certain someone else can get that if we need more."

"How's Danny?" Taylor asked again as he was sat down on a bed while Pomfrey poured out another dose and handed it to him.

"She's resting comfortably. Here now, drink that," Poppy said sternly, not saying another word until he downed the whole thing, trying not to gag. "She'll be under quarantine for awhile. There's not much we can do once someone has it. She's just going to have to sleep it off until she gets better," Poppy said, glancing up at where McGonagall stood guarding the door. "Someone will need to send a note to her father, she won't be able to be moved for awhile. I doubt she'll make it home for Christmas, poor girl," she sighed, walking back to the other room to check up on her. Jennifer frowned and she looked towards the back room. Then she glanced at Taylor in such a way that he was quite sure that she was trying to read him.

"Taylor, did you notice Danny acting odd at all today?" she asked.

"She's been really nervous and stressed about her tests," Taylor admitted.

"Anything else?" she asked. Taylor thought a moment.

"Well, she didn't want to meet up with us after lunch like she normally does. She said she had something important to do," he said. Jennifer nodded and went over to the shelf along the back wall, combing through medical books. Sagittari went over to her.

"You don't think this was a random occurrence?" he asked her, causing her to look up from the book.

"No more than you do," Jennifer said. "I remember something in one of my Dark Potion books about people being infected with the disease after someone harvested warts off of infected toads and used them in an altered healing draught."

"It's possible, but who made it? I know Miss Nelson is very good with potions, but one of that complexity?" Sagittari asked. Jennifer shook her head.

"No, I don't think she could, honestly. Someone would have had to do it for her," she said, feeling a sudden fear creeping in. "Surely it couldn't have been Corey," Jennifer said, just as much to herself as to the centaur. "No, he wouldn't do anything like that, even if he could probably pull it off."

"You are probably right," Sagittari agreed, waving his wand across her for a moment. A bright aura of color surrounded her, fading into blue before dissipating altogether. "Very well, you may go."

"Good, because I have got to find out how she got that flu," Jennifer said.

"Just try to not overdo it," Sagittari said with a sigh, knowing his advise would probably not be adhered to.

It wasn't until the next morning that Danny, feeling worse than she ever could remember feeling, woke to the sound of a train whistle in the distance. She immediately felt more at ease. Looking around the heavily shaded room, she wondered where everyone was. But then she heard a sound that paralyzed her… the sound of her father's voice. She stared at the closed door with dread, wishing she could hear what was going on. Caprica, who had been watching over her from a painting on the opposite wall, decided to peek into the next room by hiding behind a tree in the landscape she had borrowed before.

"I'm sorry, sir. You can bellow all you like, but it doesn't change the fact that Miss Nelson is under quarantine and can't be moved," Poppy said sternly. She and Sagittari were standing in front of the back room door, while Severus and Jennifer stood near the entrance, and none of them looked very happy. "She's a health risk not only to the school but anyone outside of it. If you doubt Doctor Sagittari and my right to quarantine, you can speak to the Ministry, but I don't think you'll have any more luck going through them."

"Fine, but I want a doctor of my own choosing to come in here and see for himself," he growled. "And I want to know how, if this flu is so contagious, that my daughter was the only one to be exposed to it!"

"We are looking into that, Mr. Nelson," Severus said in an even tone. "The best guess we have right now is that she might have been exposed to a contaminated potion, but we're still investigating to find out for certain if that was the cause."

"A contaminated potion," he snarled, turning towards Jennifer. "And what careless soul allowed that to happen, I wonder?"

"If you're implying that it came from out stock, it didn't. In fact, the school happens to use the same source of ingredients as your daughter does. We go to Witolf," Jennifer said calmly. "Whoever made it must have known exactly what they were doing if it cam from a potion. If they didn't, we would have had at least two infected people, not just one."

"So, was your adopted protégé tested for the flu?" Byron asked.

"It wasn't Corey, if that's what you're implying. He was not in that class, and I spoke with him myself afterwards," Jennifer said firmly. "He hadn't seen Danny since Muggle Studies. I'm quite convinced he wasn't involved in any way."

"I am hardly going to trust the word of someone who is obviously biased in favor of her adopted son. You don't truly expect me to believe that a Muggleborn who can barely keep up an average mark in Muggle Studies could possibly be the top student in two of the three classes he has with you, and second in the third, without a little motherly help," Byron said angrily. Jennifer stared at him a moment in disbelief.

"Potions has always been Corey's best field since the beginning. In fact, he's been in our advanced Dabbler's class since his first year here, as any teacher can attest to. I'm sorry if your daughter has to take an incomplete on the last test because of what happened, and she's quite welcome to make it up once we get back. But the fact is, as brilliant as Danny is, all the money in the world can't buy raw talent," Jennifer said.

"Was it truly talent, or was it that you let him in that Dabblers class to get another easy mark?" he asked. Severus stepped between them, his dark eyes flashing slightly.

"I don't know where you're getting your information from, Nelson, but I'll have you know it was I who was Potions Master his first year, and I was the one who put him in Dabblers. Furthermore, how we judge other students' abilities is truly none of your concern regardless of who the student is. Now, shouldn't we be talking about your daughter's health, which is a bit more important than her marks?" Severus said with a stony expression. "Or is it, to you?" he added in a low, cold voice.

"I see I am not going to get anywhere speaking to either of you," Byron said, looking at them condescendingly. "I will be back to deal with you later, with a real doctor, might I add," he said, shooting distasteful looks at both Sagittari and Poppy who glared at him with pure disdain. "Let me be clear on this, however. If I find that either of you had anything to do with this illness, you will both be out of a job," he threatened, turning towards the door.

"If the board of governors are foolhardy enough to think we'd poison a student, I wouldn't want to work here anyway," Severus said evenly, following closely behind him with a dangerous glint in his eyes. "Allow me to show you out. Not that you have any true choice in the matter." Jennifer watched them go then walked back over to Poppy and Sagittari, finally letting her frustration show through.

"Are you all right, Jennifer?" Poppy asked.

"No, of course I'm not all right. The man couldn't care less that she's in there terribly ill! There was no worry, no remorse, or anything of the sort in his face. He only came here to yell at us for keeping her here against his wishes. It's no wonder Danny never wants to go home. I'd hate to think what it might be like living with that man," Jennifer said angrily, sitting down. "We have got to do something."

"I wish we could too, Jennifer, but we don't have any proof that anything's wrong," Poppy said.

"I think I've seen enough to make a case for it, if I were registered Truth Seeker," Jennifer muttered.

"Bother the registration, Jennifer, go to Arthur anyhow. He'll listen to you, he always does," Poppy said. "Or head on over to talk to Minerva about it."

"Oh, I already tried that route, and Minerva gave me the 'we may only make it worse' speech. Not that it's not a valid argument, but things have gone much farther now. If Danny's desperate enough to try something like this, we can't be blind to it anymore," Jennifer said. The other two nodded in agreement. "Because I don't think her getting sick was an accident."

When Caprica finally slipped back into the other room and Gunhilda allowed her the use of her painting again, Danny was still awake, her head turned to the window and looking out in a daze. Her skin was covered with green blotchy patches, and her violet eyes seemed unusually grey as they looked over to try and figure out who was calling her name.

"Is that you, Professor?" Danny asked quietly, afraid that someone outside the room might hear.

"Yes, Danny, it's me. Or rather, the painting of me," Caprica said, chuckling softly. "You can go back to sleep if you like. Your father's gone for now and there's not much he can do to break a quarantine."

"Did he seem very angry?" Danny asked expressionlessly.

"Yes, but not at you, so don't fret about it. Anyhow, I came over the minute I heard you weren't feeling well. Since nobody else is allowed to see you except the doctors, I thought you might like some company. Yes, yes, I know I'm just a painting, but I promise you I can be more entertaining than a still life," Caprica winked, giving her a smile. "I even know where there's a painting of a chess game if you want to play. I might be able to borrow it. And I know all sorts of stories about when the school was founded that I bet you never heard of," she said. "You just let me know if you need me and holler… when nobody else is around of course… and I'll sneak right in from the Trophy Room. It's really only a few frames away, you know," she giggled. Danny smiled slightly. "No one should be without a friend or two this time of year, sick or not. And while we're at it, perhaps you can help me think up a fun prank to pull on Amadeus Longbottom. I hear his father had to go out of the country on business." Caprica said, grinning mischievously. Danny returned the grin as Caprica rubbed her hands together. Perhaps Christmas wouldn't be so bad after all.