AN:

Thanks again to Lexi and Anna for fixing the grammar and all.

Karerukoto Ryuukou-byou: comes from the Japanese, 'karerukoto' is the noun version of the Verb 'karemas' which means 'to wither'. As for 'Ryuukou-byou', that is the word for epidemic (or at least that is what I got out of the dictionary, if by any chance it happens to be wrong than let me know so I can change it…). Also it might happen that I write it this way: Ryūkō-byō, because that is they way I'm used to write my Japanese 'ou' or 'uu' in classes…

Anyway enjoy^_^

Chapter 6

"What do you think we should do next?" asked Harry as Fred helped him sit up in his bed.  A week and a half had passed since he had fallen sick in the dungeon and he had been brought to the infirmary. A week and a half since Draco had more or less confessed that he and Harry weren't enemies. A terribly long week it had been…

Thanks to the research of the Potion Master, Harry had been more or less been rid of the really bad traits of his sickness. Draco had apologized for having forgotten that Harry might be infected due his mother's muggle heritage. Fred and George had even gone so far as to go back to the High Council and announce that their return had to be delayed until the Yorae was fit again. Or at least that it was they had said. Draco wasn't so sure on that, because if they indeed had done so, then their clan wouldn't have allowed them to return here since the two had already overstayed their time in the human world. And Tom had somehow managed to convince the Death Eaters that Jathy was off on a mission and couldn't come. Still, the professors wanted answers, which they couldn't give… not yet.

"Well first, you must get better first," said Draco as he yawned tiredly. He had last night gone to Tom and helped him not to have a fallback into his illness. Draco had said it was much easier to control due Tom's God blood.

"I'm already feeling better," Harry protested.

"Oh, is that so?" George raised an eyebrow. "How come you're still stuck here in the infirmary?"

Harry pouted; he hated to be tied up to a bed unable to do anything.

"By the way…" Fred sat down next to Harry. "I talked to Marv earlier, he said the Death Eaters were making a move on the Southern Regions." Marv was how they referred to Tom in public, when there was a chance of others listening.

Draco blinked. "My father hasn't said anything."

"Your father is a loser, Draco," said George annoyed. "Lucius has a great deal of influence in the Inner circle, but he's still nothing more than a mere pawn in all of this."

Draco crossed his arms. "Whether that is true or not, we cannot forget that he's seen as one of Voldemort's most trusted men."

The others nodded in understanding.

"Have you any idea how Marv's influence is doing?" Fred asked the boy next to him.

Harry shrugged. "All I can say is that he is making a big handful of followers, but I thinks that more out of fear than real trust and believe. " He looked at Draco, sitting to his right. "What about you?"

"Not good enough, people say I'm striving to take over my father's place."

George sighed. "In other words the only person with enough power in this would still be Snape."

"Ha, ha, ha…Like that would help us!" said his twin with a sarcastic tone. "He doesn't even know how great his influences truly are, and we can't simply go to him and say: Professor, did you know that you could rival Voldie's influence among the DE's?" he snorted annoyed. "That would only mean we'd have to reveal our true powers…"

Harry nodded in agreement. "Something like, hey people, were are all not truly human, but half-breed dragons' and/or gods."

"That sounds stupid, even to me," said George.

Draco leaned back in his seat. "Well, what will you have me do?" he looked at his friends. "I'm open to any suggestions."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sirius walked next to Lupin in his Animagus form as Professor McGonagall led them to the headmaster's office.

"Minerva, have you any idea what this is all about? Albus doesn't simply call for us without a good reason," Remus said.

Minerva sighed. "It's not so bad anymore so don't worry."

Sirius made a sound and Remus nodded. "Is it about Harry?" he asked for his friend.

McGonagall turned her head slightly. "Yes." She stopped before the door and opened it inviting the other two to step inside.

"Ah, Remus and Sirius, good that you could make it," the headmaster said as he saw them enter. "Come and sit down and I shall explain everything."

Remus smiled thankfully and took place in an empty chair next to the headmaster. He nodded Snape a greeting seeing him sitting in one of the seats. The Potion Master snorted back. Sirius changed back in order to be able to glare at Snape more effectively. He would gladly have made a rude comment about the Potion Master if the look on Remus' face hadn't stopped him. So he quietly settled down as far away from the slimy man as possible. Finally Minerva joined them after closing the door.

"Albus, before you start on anything, we would like to know about Harry," said the werewolf.

The headmaster narrowed his eyes. "I know you want to know about Harry, but first things first." He folded his arms and leaned back in his seat. "Tell me have you heard of the Karerukoto Ryuukou-byou?"

"Isn't that the name of an epidemic that was let loose in the Asian lands during the Dark Ages to lower the muggle population and eventually eliminate it? Withering Epidemic is the translation, I believe…" Sirius said slowly.

Dumbledore nodded. "Yes it is a virus, which attacks the non-magical cell-structure of the human being. To us wizards it's harmless unless one does not come from a pure line heritage…"

Remus was beginning to see where this was leading. "How pure?" he asked, not sure he really wanted to know.

"At least two generations, we think, maybe more. " answered Minerva.

Sirius's face darkened in worry. "What are you getting at? Does Harry-"

"We believe Voldemort is using this virus, " interrupted the headmaster.

"But if that is true that would mean that most of the world's population would simply be…"

"Eliminated!"  Minerva finished Remus' sentence. "Yes, that's true, and worst of all, how many pure lines can we trace back? The old wizard families as the Malfoy or the Weasley would surely suffer no harm, but what about others?"

Remus' face went pale. "What are the symptoms? … How can we stop this?" The true depth of Voldemort's plan was slowly sinking in.

"Severus here, has been doing research since we know about this. It seems we are able to slow the process, but I believe he can explain it much better than I. " Dumbledore looked at Snape and motioned him with a hand movement to go ahead.

Severus turned to them. "Since I know that neither of you are any good when it comes to Potions I'll make this simple."

Sirius growled, annoyed but Remus glared at Sirius to keep his temper.

"The victim of this Virus seems to start by suffering a lack of concentration, then the illness takes over the motor activity of the body. In other words, one suffers from sight-problems, sudden trembling of the muscles up to convulsions. It might also occur for the body to make sudden moves without the knowledge of the person. This all is accompanied by high fever which are regularly punctuated by cold ones, but this, I believe, may vary." Snape paused to see if the others could follow him so far. "Another problem I was able to notice is that the virus slowly consumes the blood-structure enabling the body to continue building it and taking down it's natural defenses against other illnesses.  And of course, it comes all accompanied with the other normal symptoms of a cold, coughing and such. Not forgetting that the magical essence within our cells is turned into a matter which the body starts to reject and eventually attack with it's remaining defenses." Severus closed his eyes with a dry smile on his face. "The victim's body is being killed slowly on a cellular level until it eventually dies. Of course, for those of pure heritage the disease has no effect since the magic within builds a united front against the virus and it is unable to attach itself to the body." He re-opened his eyes. " And before I forget, it seems to damage the mind as well, probably the memory."

Sirius gaped at him before his shocked expression turned to anger. "What's with your stupid smile?!"

Snape snorted. "As horrible as it may sound to you, Black, whoever came up with this was a genius; a madman and a genius."

Seeing that Sirius would pretty soon decide on killing the Potion Master, Remus thought it better to intervene. "Albus said the process could be slowed down… How long does it actually take?"

Severus focused his attention on him. "I think four weeks, I'm not entirely sure though. The documents on this are old and the symptoms varied in each patient." he turned his head slightly and his hair fell forward disguising his features. "But, yes, I have come up with a method to slow it down. This allows the body to grow stronger and rebuild its magical forces against it and fight the sickness back on its own." He explained.

"How does this virus-"

"By air." Severus answered if knowing Remus' line of thoughts. "Although, it might be able to be passed on through other means."

"You're not sure?" Sirius glared at Snape.

"We are talking about an ancient, barely known virus." Severus snapped.

Remus sighed. "Sirius please!" his friend remained quiet this time. He rolled his eyes and focused on the others. "So Harry has been infected?"

Sirius' head turned alarmed to Remus.

"Yes." The headmaster confirmed. "He has been sick for at least three weeks."

"WHAT?!!" Sirius jumped from his seat. "That's impossible Lily and James were both-"

"Weren't you listening, Black?! At least two generations! Lily came from a Muggle family, or have you already forgotten that?" Severus was starting to lose his calm.

Remus got up and pushed Sirius back into his seat. "How is Harry?"

"Oh, the boy has been doing much better thanks to Severus' potion," said Dumbledore with a calm smile. "He should be able to attend classes again by next week."

Snape snorted.

"Yes, he is much better, if I think of the day when we had to bring him to the infirmary…" Minerva shook her head dismissing the memory.

"When was that?"

Remus sighed mentally, Sirius should calm down.

"A week and a half ago. He collapsed after Potion class. Mr. Malfoy had detention with him in the dungeon and it seems as though Harry suffered a total break down." Albus explained. "He started to cough blood, he already had a high fever and his body was shivering. Mr. Malfoy immediately aided Harry and notified Professor Snape of the situation. Then it was just a matter of time before we were told." He nodded at Minerva.

"I bet it's the slimy git's fault or Lucius' little brat's!!" Sirius spat, glaring daggers at Snape, but the other took a deep breath and ignored him.

"Sirius, I can assure you that neither Severus nor young Malfoy had anything to do with this," said Dumbledore calmly. "As a matter of fact, it was Mr. Malfoy who told us about how long Harry had been truly sick and explained his suspicion on the virus pointing out the symptoms for us. The boy has been very concerned for your godson's well being."

"That is just more reason not to trust him!!" Sirius was furious. "I bet his father was the one who got him to do the dirty job! They all just crawl at Voldemort's feet!!"

"You think Lucius Malfoy is that stupid, Padfoot?" asked Remus narrowing his eyes. "No, I am on Albus' side on this, neither Severus nor the boy are responsible."

"Then who?!" Sirius wanted someone to blame and to kick off the tower to vent his anger.

"We think Draco knows, but he's afraid to tell." Minerva reached for a cup of tea on the table, which the house elves had brought at some point during the shouting. "And so does Harry, but neither one wants to share this information."

"I don't understand. Why would Harry refuse to give out important information like that?" Remus murmured low.

Hearing his question she answered: "We don't know, and we can't force him to tell us either, since no one else has been contaminated. Although we do keep him in quarantine."

"Maybe you two could get him to cooperate with us." Albus glance at both of them.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Well, you two, we've got class in a few minutes. We'll see you later," said Fred as he dragged George out of the infirmary before Madam Pomfrey could decide to show up. Although, George was pretty sure that he had done the Don't-think-about-me spell very well.

"You've got to go too, right?" Harry asked as he lifted the wizard's chess from his bed and put it on the table to his right.

"Not really. Potion's class has been canceled for today. Snape's in a reunion with Dumbledore about your sickness." Said Draco as he walked over to Harry's other bedside and pulled the table forward so that they could play a game. "You know, your friends have been very worried. Weasley thinks I drugged you during detention and the Know-it-all believes the same."

Harry smiled amused. "Sorry, I didn't think I would actually collapse."

"It's my fault anyway. I forgot about your mom." He shook his head. "I shouldn't have let you near Tom in the first place." He started to arrange the figures on the board. "I mean, Tom being sick is one thing, he'll live through anything, even you."

Harry sighed and laid a hand on the Slytherin's shoulder. "What's done is done."

"Yeah, but I still can feel how my heart stopped as you started convulsing on the ground." He passed a hand through his hair, his eyes looked haunted. "And then the blood and…" he turned fearfully to Harry. "I thought: 'he's dying and I can't stop it!!'" His expression lightened again. "And the next thing that came to me was 'Tom will kill me, if Harry dies!'"

Harry smiled at Draco's display. "I can imagine his face when you told him."

Draco sighed rolling his eyes. "Are you nuts? I send the twins to tell him. I'm not suicidal!"

Harry laughed this time and Draco couldn't help but join in. He was glad the other was feeling better. Just in that instant Harry bend over coughing badly.

Draco jumped up in alarm. "Are you alright?" he asked as he reached out worriedly and started to move his hand in circling, calming motions over the dark haired boy's back.

Harry's breathing slowly went back to normal. "O…Okay…" he closed his eyes, tears rolling down his face. Ever since the day he collapsed he was aware of how terrible the virus was and that he could die if he didn't take care of himself properly.

Draco pushed the table aside and sat down on the bed pulling Harry into a comforting embrace. "Shh… It's fine now. Don't worry." He rocked the other boy back and forth, his brow furred, draing the world to try and harm the child in his arms. He continued a while until he could only hear small sobs against his chest. He pushed Harry carefully back on the bed. "Maybe it would be better if you rested now," said the Slytherin.

Harry nodded whipping the remaining tears of his face with his hands. "Will you stay?"

Draco smiled warmly. "Of course." He pulled Harry's covers up giving him a kiss on the forehead. He then settled in the chair nearby and took a book out of his schoolbag.

"What's that?" Harry asked tiredly, dismissing the thought that his mentor was acting more emotional than usual.

"An old story book from the clan. It's about legends and mystic events and stuff like that."

Harry yawned closing his eyes as he rolled to the side facing Draco. "Will you read me one?"

Draco blinked. "It's in…" he paused. "Never mind." He opened the book and started to read aloud. He didn't really think Harry understood all the words he said, but Draco guessed that it didn't matter to the boy whether he understood the old Dragon language or not, but that he wasn't alone when he succumbed to the darkness of sleep. And so he continued page after page until, he too, feel into Morpheus' embrace.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"He has been quiet for some time. I think he's still asleep. I was going to wake him to see if he would eat a little bit."

Draco rubbed his eyes sleepily as he glanced around familiarizing himself with his surroundings.

"Can we go see him, Poppy?"

He stretched his back and yawned, trying to get the sleep off him.

"Hmm, I guess, but remember he's still not fully healed, so I don't want any of you to cause him stress or anything."

Draco blinked suddenly as his mind finally registered the voices.

"Well, come on you two he's back here."

Draco jumped up hearing the approaching steps and voices of the teachers. He pushed Harry lightly on the shoulder.

"Potter!" he hissed, stressed. "Wake up!"

Harry stirred lightly and opened an eye slowly. "Wha iz i'…"

"Someone's coming! Where's your cloak!"

Harry blinked trying to focus on Draco, which wasn't working without glasses. "What?"

"The Invisibility Cloak! Where is it?!" Draco growled.

Harry pushed himself up and reached under his pillow bringing the cloak to light. "Here-"

Draco grabbed it and threw it over his shoulder before sliding under the bed. "Harry the book!"

Harry leaned down. "What?"

"The book!" hissed the Slytherin.

Harry looked around and saw a dark blur at the end of his bed. He crawled over to it and was about to hand it down to his friend as Sirius' voice startled him and he let it fall to the floor. Remus reached for it picking it up looking curiously at the cover.

"Si…Sirius?!" Harry stuttered surprised

"Harry!"  And a moment later he found himself in the loving embrace of his godfather. "How are you feeling?" Sirius sat next to him on the bed. "They told us, me and Remus…" he nodded at his friend before focusing his complete attention on his godson. "…about your sickness."

"Ah… they did?" Harry looked nervously at the people around him. Professor Dumbledore stood next to Snape and his Head of House next to Remus holding Draco's book. He cursed mentally. "Professor Lupin, could I… my book…" he pointed at the man's hands. "Err…Could I have it back?"

Remus smiled and handed it back to Harry. "Interesting book. What is it exactly?"

Harry smiled nervously. "Children's stories… It's a… present. Yes, a present from…from a friend…" he took the book and placed it under his pillow crawling back under the covers.

"And what language is it?"

Harry's head snapped to the werewolf. "What?"

"The language, I didn't recognize the writing."

"I… I…" he was trapped.

"Oh Moony! Leave him alone. He's been sick, who cares about a piece of paper." Sirius said, turning first to Remus, then back to Harry. "You look much better than I expected.

Harry sighed relieved. "I do feel better…"

Madam Pomfrey appeared then, pushing the separating curtain aside, bringing with her a trail with food and medicine as well as other medical stuff Harry wasn't really interested in getting acquainted with.

"Now, don't get the boy worked up, he still needs some good rest." She said as she pushed him so he would lay back. She took his wrist in her hand checking his pulse, then checked his temperature and finally ordered him to take the medicine. Then she left closing them off from the rest of the infirmary again.

"Harry." Albus started. "I let Sirius and Remus come to see if you're maybe willing to tell them where and how you got your illness." The headmaster let a chair appear and settled down.

Minerva followed his example. Snape on the other hand remained where he was glaring at him as he usually did. Harry gulped, it was one thing to keep a secret from the headmaster, another from his Head of House, a complete different issue was to keep things from Severus Snape, but to hide something from the person he trusted most, his family, was a totally impossible thing to think about. Harry looked down at his hands. What should he do? He heard a soft movement to his right. Draco must have come from under his bed. Harry looked up. The headmaster's eyes were narrowed. Yes, Draco must have most definitely have come out of his hideout. And he was sure the moment he felt a familiar hand on his shoulder and a soft whisper in his ear.

"Don't tell them…" the Slytherin insisted.

"Like I have a choice…" he muttered under his breath.

"Harry…" Sirius caught his attention. "Please tell us, we just want to help you and maybe others."

"Think about all the lives you could save by giving us the information," added Remus. "It's important to us, not only you."

"Why won't you tell us, Harry?" asked Minerva, her usual strong manner being displaced by a look of motherly concern.

Harry watched them biting his lower lip. And not for the first time he wondered how his life had become so complicated?

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"And you are sure, Herm?" Ron asked in a low voice.

"Yes, I saw him and Snuffles walking with Professor McGonagall into the headmaster's office," she said closing the entrance door of the Gryffindor Common Room.

"You think they are going to see Harry?" he asked curiously.

"Probably… Highly probable, I'd say."

Ron sighed. "By the way, where was Malfoy during Charms?"

Hermione shrugged. "Who knows, he's been missing since Transfiguration."

"Maybe he lost his fighting spirit with Harry gone," Ron laughed.

Hermione stopped in midway. "Don't joke about that! It sounds worse than you'd think!"

Ron apologized and they continued their way down the corridor.

Fred glanced at his twin as he stepped from behind a statue. "Did you hear that?"

George nodded. "Maybe he stayed with Harry?"

"I don't know… I have a bad feeling, we should go check." Said his brother thoughtfully.

George stopped him by grabbing his wrist. "Wait, why worry? Remember I put a spell? So even if he were still there, he'd have time to annul it and get out.

"Are you sure?" Fred asked, the alarm in his head was getting worse.

"Well, not a 100%, but…"

Fred freed himself of his brother's grip. "Then you wouldn't mind checking, would you?"

George's eyes widened slowly. "Wait… Do you really want to go?"

Fred nodded.

His twin caught on Fred's words. "Oh Merlin! The spell wore off!"

Both ran out of the Gryffindor Tower heading to the nearest corridor that would lead them to the secret passageway to the infirmary. George led the way, muttering passwords at the statues and paintings to clear their way until they came out next to Madam Pomfrey's office. Fred took a peek inside seeing the older woman busy arranging potions into shelves. He nodded for his brother to follow and with a silent spurt they ran towards Harry's compartment. Fred let himself glide the last meters as he tried to stop and George almost bumped into him following suit.

"Harry, Draco! The Professors are coming!" George said alarmed.

"They are heading this way with your godfather an-" Fred froze in mid-sentence as he starred at Professor Snape's face.

Harry hit his forehead with his flat palm cursing annoyed under his breath.

"Uhh… I guess they are already here," George said matter-of-factly.

Fred smiled nervously as he pushed his brother to leave. "Never mind us, we're leaving."

"Weasleys!" McGonagall stood up from her seat putting her hands on her hips.  "May I ask what you're doing here?!" she said with a stern look on her face.

"Us?" George looked at his brother for aid.

Fred gazed innocently at them. "Nothing… We're just leaving."

"Weasleys!" Now there was something in Snape's voice that made it clear that one shouldn't simply push him over his limit.

The twins sighed in defeat. "Yes, sir…"

"Explain yourselves!" Snape was definitely better at getting information than McGonagall. He was sometimes freaking intimidating when he glared.

The two red haired boys looked nervously at each other. What should they say? On one hand there was the truth and it came accompanied with Draco glaring from under Harry's Invisibility Cloak. And then the there was a lie they could come up with, that would of course come with a handful of adults who, if ever found out about the lie, would most likely be in a very fool mood.

Harry could see the internal debate the twins were having, and he could guess why. Draco was grabbing onto his shoulder so hard that it hurt, but he couldn't say word about it. So instead he put his hand on his friends to loosen the grip. Draco seemed to understand because he heard a whispered apology.

/ What should we do? / Fred asked his brother after opening a mind link.

\ Have you seen Snape's face? Don't even think about making something up! \

/ Easy to say, that just leaves the truth! / Fred snapped.

\ Hey! Either Snape or Draco, which one could be worse? \ George's voice echoed in Fred's head.

/ Between those two, probably Draco, but right now there's McGonagall, Dumbledore, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black to consider as well!! / There was a high-pitched tone in his voice that told George Fred was about to go into hysterics.

\ … Okay, the truth then? \ George wondered.

/ I guess… /

Their Conversation was interrupted by Harry's voice. The twin's heads snapped towards him. Also everybody else's attention focused on the boy in the bed.

/ George? / Fred glanced at his twin. /Did he just… /

\ I believe so…\ stuttered his brother unsurely.

"What did you say?"  Fred finally asked.

Harry sighed, but the hand on his shoulder urged him to repeat himself. So he looked at his friends with an angry expression on his face, just the way Draco wanted him to. He opened his mouth repeating the sounds he had given earlier. The teacher's blinked confused and so did his godfather, only the twins narrowed their eyes, their whole body language changing from defense to attack.

"What?" Sirius stared at his godson perplexed, but Harry ignored him, eyes fixed on the twins.

George took a step forward and snapped something back, the words as incomprehensible as Harry's had been. The dark haired boy closed his eyes like listening to something before replying once more in sounds more than words. This time Fred grabbed his brother's arm before he could start again. Fred glanced passed Harry at Draco still under the cloak.

"You wouldn't dare!" he said seriously, but he could see in Draco's expression that he would dare anything. Fred cursed under his breath and looked away, he couldn't further this discussion and he told George so. "Leave it!"

"But-"

"I said: Leave it!!"

George face turned angry, but he understood, if Draco brought Tom into this whole mess it wouldn't end well. And Tom would come if Harry's position were threatened in any way. As much as he wanted to deny it, the Slytherin was right. Tom would come if the truth came out.

Harry watched all this nervously. Even if he had said Draco's words for him, he still had not understood everything, nor was he very sure if he had acted correctly. Clear was only that Tom couldn't be bothered with this matter. He lowered his gaze to his hands; somehow this was entirely his fault. Suddenly he was overcome by a wave of sickness, his stomach wanted to turn upside-down. His body began to tremble and he leaned over the bedside coughing blood again and again. He could barely feel Draco steadying him as Sirius grabbed alarmed for his shoulder. Then there was a sudden amount of uncontrollable pain in his head, his scar burning like fire as tears rolled down his cheeks. Voices were talking to him, so many voices he knew. Draco's presence was gone before he could stop it. He was left alone. Where were they? Where was Tom?