Messalina had been shaking all week long. It was a rather common tic of hers, all her nervous and excess energy prompted her to move at least one body part at a time. The twins had many photographs of Messalina lying on her bed kicking at her covers while fast asleep. And so this wasn't much a difference aside from the cold that she was coming down with.
Saturday came surprisingly fast as the whole school talked about the dance and the important first match of the year: Gryffindor vs. Slytherin. Only those who were on Gryffindor's team knew that they weren't terrible as some of the other houses' players were saying. It was half a sexist thing, seeing as Messalina was the only female captain, and half the idea that Gryffindor wouldn't be good for once.
"Messalina, will you stop moving your leg? You're shaking the whole table!" Lily complained and Messalina nodded absentmindedly but she merely switched legs and began to bite on her thumb nail.
"Lina stop it. You're going to be fine!" Marlene told her with a smile that Messalina tried to return but it ended up looking more like she was in terrible pain. "Don't, don't do that."
"Why?" She asked as she shoved a piece of toast in her mouth.
"It's a little...scary Lina." Marlene pointed out and Messalina rolled her eyes smirking.
"I'll see you two later okay? I'd better be getting to the pitch." Messalina stood up to the pair's wishes of good luck and assurances that it was going to go perfectly.
"Lina!" Messalina turned just as she left the Great Hall to see Remus hurrying towards her, his hair clearly not having been brushed yet since it was going every which way.
"Hello Remus." She smiled at him and his heart skipped.
"Good luck today."
"Thanks."
"Did you change your mind?" He asked suddenly and she looked at him confused. "About the dance I mean. Are you coming? Did you end up getting asked by anyone?"
"I think I might make an appearance. Lily's trying to force me to go so I think I'll end up caving in. She went as far as to have her parents send her the dress she wore last year. And yes, I was asked by a few people but nobody worth going with." Messalina smiled at the memory of Lily and Marlene's owls struggling under the weight of the pale pink glittering ball gown neatly packed into a white box. "Mrs. Evans was very happy that someone else was going to be wearing it rather than it just sitting in her attic. And you? Who are you going with?"
"Good Lina, I'm glad that you decided to come." Remus smiled at her, suddenly very excited for the dance that evening. "I'm not going with anyone, the others and I decided we'd all go stag this year."
"Don't get your hopes up yet Rem. Lily and Marl both have dates and I don't plan on being a fifth wheel." She told him with a small laugh. Remus turned to face her quickly but she was looking the other way, gazing out at the familiar green hills in the distance. "I never appreciated how beautiful it is here until this year. It was always here but I never really noticed.
"I can understand that." Remus said, thinking back to third year when he had finally realized that he might seriously fancy the girl. Before then he had always thought she was rather pretty but never really paid attention to what she was up to. That day would change that though.
"Remus, hand me that ink bottle will you? I'd like to get this paper done tonight so I won't have to do it after detention tomorrow." Remus handed the bottle to James wordlessly, not even looking up from his DADA essay. "Sirius did you see what the Prewetts did to Malfoy and your cousin Narcissa? It was priceless."
"No, I missed it James. What did they do?" Peter asked suddenly, looking up from where he and Sirius were playing wizards chess.
"Charmed some little birds to sing as shrilly as possible whenever they got within five feet of one another. They were trying to snog in an alcove by the library and those things wouldn't leave them alone." Remus looked up from his essay smiling slightly while Sirius broke out in a fit of laughter.
"Messalina Lucien, you ought to go wash your mouth out! What a horrid thing to say about darling Antonin! What on earth has he ever done to you?" Fabian or Gideon Prewett called out suddenly from a back corner and the girl sitting across from him on the table didn't even look up from whatever she was working on.
"Oh my darling cousin never did anything to me. He just got me crucioed a dozen times over the year and gave me night terrors to the point that I couldn't even sleep at night until I was 11 years old. So I'm not sorry if I say some things that might not be construed as pleasant enough for polite society." She snarled without even lifting her head from her essay. Remus couldn't even see her face, with her long hair acting like a curtain separating her from the rest of the Common Room.
"Merlin Lina, tell us how you really feel!" The other one cried, grinning from ear to ear.
"I like this Lina a hell of a lot better than the Lina we met two years ago, eh Gideon?"
"Oh Merlin yes, this Lina's rather badass."
"Do shut up or I'll be forced to go to the library. And everyone knows that you two can't go there after last year. What a mess you caused that wonderful Madame Pince." She said with a small laugh, running a hand through her hair. This revealed her face and Remus recognized her from a few of his classes. She sat next to Peter in Charms and diagonal from him in DADA. He had never noticed how pretty she was before then though, with her long wavy hair and aristocratic features.
"Oh like you didn't have fun putting all that stuff in those hollowed out books. Those were some exciting explosions that went off. It was all the school talked about for a good half a month!"
"Sod off will you? I need to have this transfiguration essay done for tomorrow!" That was a lie, there had been an essay due two days before and another assigned that day but that one wasn't due until the next Monday. They had nearly a week to do it.
"Fine little bookworm, fine do your bloody essay. We'll just have to entertain ourselves." One of the two twins teased her which only made her shake her head. Remus couldn't help but stare as she brushed some of her wavy hair out of her face.
"Try not to do anything too kinky will you?" She replied instantly and the twins did the same as her while they talked rapidly from one to another.
"Not without you my beautiful darling." The other added in which only made her laugh softly. "It wouldn't be half as much fun if you weren't there."
"I do bring all the excitement." She told them with a dazzling smile that made Remus' heartbeat speed up three times. The twins laughed at her and one of them tickled her nose with the tip of a quill. She wrinkled her nose at them and laughed softly as they began to bicker with one another. "But really guys, I've got to finish this essay or else she'll give me detention. And Mum's already pissed that we got detention last week for flying after hours."
"Who cares if Mum's pissed?" One of them asked while they stood up.
"Yeah, it's just Mum. Plus we've done loads of shit over the years and she's never gotten too mad at us."
"Yeah but she's your actual mother. She gave birth to the both of you but not me. I'm adopted." She snapped and the pair exchanged a look of worry.
"Lina, Mum and Dad both love you just as much as they love us. Plus you haven't caused nearly half as much grief to them as we have."
"Mum had some complications with our birth and she didn't even have to birth you. If anything she would love you more seeing as you haven't caused her any pain." She smiled softly at the boys and pushed aside her work easily as though it was forgotten.
"Lina do your work will you so we can plan the next prank?"
"I can do it later-"
"No Messalina, if its due tomorrow you will do it right now." One of the twins ordered her and she instantly began to work on the essay, her head ducking back down over the parchment.
"I can't believe that I never noticed how it looks here." She stated in awe as they walked towards the pitch. Remus noticed how she wouldn't stop fidgeting, almost her entire left arm was shaking and she had begun to bit onto her thumb nail. Messalina wiped her nose on the sleeve of her sweatshirt and coughed into the crook of her elbow.
"Lina, what's going on?" He asked concerned but Messalina gave him a confused look.
"Nothing, I'm fine." She stated, her eyebrows furrowing. She gave him a small smile when she saw that he meant her fidgeting. "Just nervous for the game."
"Lina, you're going to do just fine. You've been practicing so hard for so long and I doubt that a couple of brawny Slytherins can keep you from winning the Cup." She gave him a fake smile but he could see right through it.
"I'm just so nervous. I'm never this nervous for Quidditch but I can't help but think about what happened last year and about how everyone wants me to fail at this and oh Merlin Remus, I'm terrified." She looked like she might be about to cry and Remus stopped walking to pull her close to him.
"Don't worry about it Messalina. You did perfectly last year and you'll do perfectly this year. And even if you do lose it's just a game." Messalina smelled lovely like a mixture of familiar cinnamon soap and vanilla shampoo. Remus held her tightly in her arms while she stood shaking. She wrapped her arms around his neck and held onto Remus like her life line.
"I don't want to play, I don't want to play now and I don't want to play ever." She murmured in Remus' ear and it sounded like she was about to begin crying.
"Don't worry Lina, no one's going to hurt you. You're at Hogwarts, its the safest place in all of Britain." Remus muttered in her ear and just as Messalina went to answer, there was a loud throat clearing.
"Messalina, I uh just wanted to say good luck today." Graham said from where he was standing with John about ten feet away. Messalina had jumped about a foot away from Remus when Graham had cleared his throat.
"Thank you but I don't think that I can say good luck to you if all I intend to do is hit all of your teammates with a bludger. So I guess all I have to say is I hope you have fun." She smiled at him brightly but turned back to Remus. They had walked all the way to the pitch and almost all of the Gryffindor team was standing beside the locker rooms talking to one another. "Thank you Rem really. I'll see you after the match okay?"
"See you after Lina. Good luck." She waved back as she entered the locker room and both Remus and Graham waved back.
Not ten minutes after Messalina had been in the air her head began to feel like it weighed a hundred pounds. Her shaking was only getting worse and she couldn't hit the buldger with half the intensity she normally could. She watched as Edgar Bones sent a bludger towards Rudolph Draken and the massive fifth year barely ducked in time.
The game progressed tightly, with Slytherin leading 80-70 after a half hour. James flitted across the pitch like a hummingbird, his eyes scanning constantly for the snitch. As the game continued though, Messalina began to feel like she had swallowed a razor or something sharp, her entire throat burning.
She found herself slipping to the left a few times and corrected herself a bit slower each time.
"You alright Messalina?" Sirius yelled as he passed and she nodded weakly.
"I'm fine," She called after him and adjusted her position on the broom for what felt like the hundredth time.
Remus and Lily glanced at one another as they watched Messalina beginning to sway on the broom.
"What on earth is she doing?" Lily asked, watching as she hit a bludger at the last possible second. "What is going on with her?"
"She was really nervous before the match-her arm was shaking nonstop." Remus replied without taking his eyes off of the far away speck that was Messalina.
"You don't think that the Slytherins did anything do you Remus?" Marlene asked but Remus didn't answer, choosing instead to watch in horror as the figure went too far to one side and slipped right off the broom. There was a communal gasp as her body fell towards the ground rapidly. It was like the year before when she had been hit and Remus felt his heart starting to stop.
"MESSALINA!" Lily screamed from beside him and Peter buried his head in Remus' shoulder. The werewolf couldn't move though, he couldn't tear his eyes away from her falling figure.
She crashed into the sand below and didn't move, her crumpled figure just lying on the pitch motionless. Madam Pomfrey was over to her quickly, lifting her off the ground with just a flick of her wand. It was a routine incident but Remus couldn't help but feel extremely nervous for the girl who was being carried off. He had never seen anyone fall down for what seemed like no reason though. And he couldn't help but feel extremely worried for his ex-girlfriend.
"Miss Lucien, are you okay?" Messalina opened her eyes slowly, blinking slowly up at the young woman standing over her with a concerned look on her face.
"Wha-what happened Madame?" She asked, lifting a scratched hand to her bandaged forehead.
"I'm not quite sure, you fell off your broom. Do you know why?" She asked, sitting down in the chair beside Messalina's bed.
"A bludger?" The brunette asked, completely unsure if her answer was at all true.
"There were no bludgers around you or quaffles. No one hit you, you just fell off." Madame Pomfrey told her, watching her every move with her hawk-like eyes.
"Just fell off?" The sixth year repeated slowly and hesitantly.
"Yes, you were slipping and sliding on your broom before you did so. Do you recall what was going on?"
"Just-just that my head hurt really badly." Messalina recalled, hardly able to remember anything from that morning. "Oh and my arm couldn't stop twitching. It hadn't been that bad since I was ten years old."
"And why was that?" Madame Pomfrey asked as she organized her potions beside the bed.
"I had scrofungulus as a child. I got it seven times when I was little," She explained sadly and Madame Pomfrey nodded thoughtfully.
"Have you been sneezing a lot in the past week Miss Lucien?" She asked, standing up.
"Yes. I think I'm allergic to something in Madaline Shatter's new perfume."
"Are you allergic to anything?"
"No, not that I know of."
"Excuse me." The older woman hurried from the bedside into her office, closing her door. Just then the door to the wing opened to reveal Lily. With every step she took, Lily's expertly curled hair bounced prettily and Messalina felt a pang of jealousness.
"Oh good you're awake! Marlene's having a panic attack in the dorm because she can barely zip up her dress. I need your help."
"I haven't been cleared to leave yet." Messalina told her, gesturing to the drab hospital gown she was wearing with her bandaged hands. "Madame can't figure out what happened."
"Messalina's health is far more important than Marlene's dress not fitting." Messalina turned to see Remus sitting down beside her. She hadn't even heard him enter but was surprised to find that she was very happy that he had come.
"Well of course Remus Lupin, don't be silly." Lily teased and took in Messalina's appearance. Her hair was a rats nest and there were a few cuts on her face from her broom splintering when she hit the ground.
"Does that mean you won't be coming to the dance?"
"The only gown that Miss Lucien will be wearing tonight is a hospital gown." Madame Pomfrey stated as she left her office, a potion in her hand. "Drink this up now. All of it."
"What happened here Madame? Do you know?" Lily asked concernedly, unconsciously tugging on one of her curls.
"I don't know yet but I will figure it out Miss Evans. It's very good of you both to come and visit her though." Messalina grimaced as she drank down what tasted like a mixture of vinegar and rotting eggs."
"Merlin's pants Madame Pomfrey, what was in there?"
"It'll promote your wrist bone to get back to normal a great deal faster. You're wrist will be back to normal in a matter of an hour or so."
"Couldn't you just use episkey Madame?" Remus asked and the woman smiled proudly.
"For the broken bones in her left hand, yes. But the wrist was broken in more places and will be a bit more complicated to heal." She smiled, pleased that Remus did indeed pay attention to her post-full moon lectures on what she was doing to get him back to normal. "Very good Mr. Lupin. Now Miss Lucien do you feel any worse than you did when you woke up?"
"A bit better yes Madame. My head's not as bad."
"I'll hold you here for another hour and if you're better I'll let you go to the dance but you'll have to be back tomorrow for a check up. You both ought to go get ready, you only have two more hours before the dance." Lily hugged Messalina tightly and Remus did the same after.
"I'll see you in our room in an hour or so okay Lina?" Lily asked as she ran a hand through her hair.
"Will do Lils."
"And I'll see you at the dance Lina." Remus smiled at her and she returned it easily, wanting to leave the wing terribly to go to the dance.
"Bye." She waved at the pair as they left and she laid down on the bed, her head feeling light.
"Miss Lucien are you alright?" Madam Pomfrey asked, coming out of her office.
"My head's hurting more Madam."
"That's never a good thing," Madam Pomfrey informed her, beginning to concoct something beside Messalina's bed. "Please drink this Miss Lucien."
Messalina drank it far easier than she had the last potion, drinking it down without wincing or grimacing this time. It tasted sweet like candy from Honeyduke's and Messalina placed the beaker in her lap.
"What did that taste like to you?" The older, blonde woman asked casually as she took the beaker from Messalina.
"Cherry candy. Why?"
"I don't wish to alarm you Miss Lucien but I believe that your scrofungulus has come back. I'd like to do a few more tests but I'm believe its back. As I'm sure you remember this disease usually alters the taste buds first. I'll contact Mr. and Mrs. Prewett after I run a few more tests and I'm sure it has returned." Madam Pomfrey informed her but Messalina shook her head as she began to panic.
"That can't be possible. The healers said that it wouldn't come back. That it would be rare that it would come back after I went through puberty. You must be wrong."
"Miss Lucien, I wouldn't tell you this unless I was fairly confident." Madam Pomfrey stated firmly and Messalina shook her head, tears beginning to run down her face.
"What'll happen if I do have it?" She whispered, hugging her knees to her chest as she began to shake.
"Well scrofungulus is not a contagious disease so you could go to class if you are well enough. But you will not be leaving the wing tonight. No way are you going to that dance Miss Lucien. I will be monitoring you for the next 48 hours to see how you're progressing." Madame Pomfrey informed Messalina, going into her office mid-speech and rooting around for something else.
"Please tell me that you're not going to have to do that thing where you shove the q-tip up my nose." Messalina called, remembering how painful it had been as a child to have it pushed into her sinuses.
"Don't worry Miss Lucien, there is a new test now." Madam Pomfrey informed her with a small smile on her face.
"Oh thank Merlin."
"I will have to pour a potion into your nose and it will come back out the other side. It doesn't hurt though." Madam Pomfrey added quickly when she saw the concerned look on Messalina's face.
Messalina fell asleep an hour and four different tests later. They had all come back positive which made Messalina's head hurt even more than it already had. Madam Pomfrey was going to prepare the bed beside Remus' 'reserved' bed in the corner of the wing where you could see out onto the lawn of the school.
Halfway across the school, Remus Lupin searched frantically for Messalina. He had figured that she would have come to the dance, she had seemed excited for it when he had talked to her. And yet she was nowhere to be found.
"Oh Remus, you look rather handsome." Remus stopped craning his neck to look down at Lily Evans. Her red hair had been curled and her sea foam colored dress showed off more skin than Lily usually showed.
"Thanks Lily, you look very pretty. Hello Hollister." Remus nodded at the tall and muscular seventh year who returned the nod.
"Remus."
"Have you seen Messalina? She said this morning that she thought she'd come." Remus asked, turning his neck to scope out the room.
"No, she never came back from the Wing. I figured the two of you were in a broom closet somewhere." Lily responded, grinning cheekily at the tall sixth year. Remus blushed and shook his head.
"No, I haven't seen her since after the match."
"Well then no I don't know where she is." Lily stated looking concerned.
"I think I'm going to go down to the Wing and see if she's still down there." Remus told her and Lily quickly said that she would go with him.
"No, that's alright Lily. I've got it. She might have just gone back to the dorm. Have fun Lils." Remus said good-bye to Hollister and Lily before quickly going to leave the Great Hall.
"Moony!" Remus turned when he heard the familiar voice of James. The bespectacled boy and Peter emerged from the crowd who had flocked around the band.
"Where do you think you're going?" Peter asked, breathless from dancing. There was red lipstick smudged on his cheek and his dress robes were loosened. "The dance is just getting good."
"Messalina's not here and Lily hasn't seen her. I'm going to the Hospital Wing to see if she's there." Remus explained, James' eyes widening at the mention of Lily.
"Doesn't she look gorgeous tonight? Merlin knows I wish I was Hollister." James was staring over Remus' shoulder at the couple, Hollister's hand on the small of Lily's back and her arms around his shoulders. "If he tries anything, I swear to Merlin I'll lose it."
"Don't lose it James." Remus told him sternly. "That will not get you Lily and you know that just as well as I do."
James nodded and Remus turned around, leaving the Great Hall and laughing students behind him.
He got to the Hospital Wing surprisingly quickly and found that there was no one in the room apart from Madame Pomfrey coming out from behind a partition separating someone from the rest of the wing.
"Mr. Lupin! I'll be with you in just a moment." Remus nodded and ran a hand through his hair, realizing just how tired he was. "What can I help you with?"
"Madam I was just wondering if Messalina ended up leaving the Wing earlier or if she stayed. I can't find her anywhere."
"Your search can end here. She's in the bed beside your usual one. She might not want to see you though. Ms. Lucien isn't very well." Madam Pomfrey told him cautiously and Remus felt himself nearly unable to breath.
"What's wrong with her?" He managed to say but Madam Pomfrey shook her head.
"That's up for her to decide to tell you. It's not my choice to inform you of what is going on Mr. Lupin. Excuse me." The blonde woman turned around and went into her office, leaving Remus standing by himself. He was a bundle of nerves, not ten minutes ago he had been fairly certain that Messalina had probably just fallen asleep and hadn't woken up. But now that clearly wasn't the case. Somehow he managed to walk over to the bed. In case she was asleep he opened the curtain as quietly as he could.
"Hello?" Messalina asked, her voice small and raspy. She fumbled with the light beside her bed and after a moment or two managed to turn it on, bathing the two of them in soft light. "Rem? What are you doing here?"
"I was looking for you. What are you doing here?" He asked her, taking in her appearance. Apart from her head all of her body was covered by the thin hospital blankets and a thick comforter. At his question her face screwed up and he worried that she was about to start to cry. "Lina, what is it? You're worrying me."
"Oh Merlin Remus, my scrofungulus has come back." She whispered so faintly that Remus could barely hear her. "I'm going to be sick and miserable forever."
Remus was at a loss for words. He knew that scrofungulus was a genetic disease and that no one would 'catch' it from her but he also knew what a pain the disease could be. Months on end of having the chills constantly, not being able to stop coughing, mucus clogging the nostrils until it was impossible to breath out of their. Just a hundred years ago, having it was practically a death sentence.
"I know." Messalina murmured before starting to sob. She buried her head in her arms and Remus felt like his heart had been ripped in half.
"Lina, Madam Pomfrey's the best. She'll do everything that she can and you'll be better in no time. Don't worry about it Lina. I can tutor you in our classes and I'm sure Lils will for the classes we don't have together. And the classes that I'm rubbish at." Remus moved from the chair onto the bed, rubbing Messalina's back soothingly. She lifted her head from her arms and put her head on Remus' shoulder. She stopped crying then, wrapping her arms around Remus' neck as tightly as she could.
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