A week passes with Sirius anxiously waiting for a reply from his mother. Shaula had already received the reply from Regulus saying that he doesn't care where he spends Christmas as long he was with his siblings. Sirius grinned when he heard this, whilst Shaula patted him on the head at his eagerness for their mothers reply and his over-excitement at hearing the little brothers adoration for them.
It was early Tuesday morning, earlier than normal when Shaula sat down at her table for breakfast. Her head was pounding, her nose stuffy and throat sore. She was sick, and she hate it but Merlin did she hate taking potions even more. She laid her warm forehead against the cool table, a bowl of grapes on her lap. Shaula slowly plopped grape after grape in her mouth, chewing them with tiresome effort. Her limbs felt heavy.
"Miss Black, what's wrong? You're not looking too well."
She heard a squeaky voice just behind her say worriedly. Weakly, she lifted her head and turned to look at her head of house and gave a tiny smile.
"I'm not feeling too peachy today Professor, but I'll be okay," she responded, voice raspy. Flitwick muttered a quick charm and a faint number appeared in the air. '42' The Professor gasped in shock.
"Miss Black, you're running a temperature! Let's get you to the hospital wing before you pass out." He goes to help her up, Shaula not having the energy to argue back allowed him to direct her down the halls to the hospital wing. By the time she made it to a hospital bed, she was breathing heavily and everything in sight was spinning.
"I'll go grab Madam Pomfrey for you Miss Black, then'll I'll inform your brother and Miss Fawley of you being in here. I'm sure you'd like them to come visit you," Flitwick said as he made sure she was led comfortably on the bed. Shaula whispered a thank you and closed her eyes tiredly as her head of house went to fetch Madam Pomfrey.
Shaula soon drifted off, the sound of Pomfrey buzzing around her and a wet cloth being pressed to her forehead being the last the felt. A few hours go by before she's woken by Pandora shaking her by the shoulders lightly.
"It's lunch time Shaula."
She releases a pathetic small moan at being woken up, but licks her dry lips and pushes herself up in the bed. During her sleep someone had placed a thin cotton blanket over her. The wet cloth falls off her head and onto her legs, which Shaula let Pandora move for her after she stares at it for a couple seconds blankly. A tray was placed on her lap, on it was a slice of bread and a bowl of chicken soup.
"How are you feeling?" Pandora asked, eating her own bowl of tomato and basil soup. Shaula weakly dips a piece of torn bread into her soup and places it into her mouth.
"Awful. Achy, tired. My head hurts," she mumbles and sniffs, tearing another piece of bread to dip into her food.
"Madam Pomfrey has some potions for you to take after you've eaten," Pandora says quietly. Shaula grimaces at the idea of taking potions.
"When Sirius found out you were in here, he had to be dragged out so he could go to his lessons. He didn't want to leave your side," giggled the blonde, remembering how angry and concerned the male twin was as he was wrestled out of the room by his three best friends. Shaula smiled at the thought, her brothers always stayed by her side when she fell ill.
The two ate in silence for a bit, Shaula savoring the taste of the soup and its warmth: she had begun feeling a bit chilly upon waking up. Every now and then she would go into a daze for a couple seconds, her eyes glazing over and movements halting as her mind hazes over. It was after the fifth time it happened that Pandora speaks up.
"Do you need me to get Madam Pomfrey?"
Shaula turns her head towards the blonde, confusion on her face as she nibbles on a piece of bread.
"You keep zoning out. It worries me," Pandora continues and realization washes over Shaula. She smiles at her best friend and takes the bread out of her mouth to speak.
"It's alright Pan, it's actually quite normal of me to go into a daze when I'm sick. This is probably my 'annual' sickness of the year you could say." Shaula giggles slightly and then winces, the pounding in her head spiking painfully. Pandora's eyes widened however in worry and shock.
"Annual sickness? What does that mean?"
Shaula coughed slightly, mucus having started to gather at the base of her throat suddenly. Giving another cough to clear it she speaks, "I get sick really bad at least once a year, sometimes twice. My brothers and I had made it a joke to call it my annual yearly sickness, as its usually in winter. If it's twice a year then it's once in winter and once in summer. My health is just awful honestly."
She smiles and then continues to eat her soup. Pandora sits, watching how calmly her friend spoke of her poor health without a care in the world. She had always worried over her friend since she first met her. The first day in their shared dorm, Pandora remembered how the Black girl didn't speak to anyone and instantly shut herself away from the other girls who had joined together to get to know each other. The morning after, Pandora waited for the girl to get out of bed, watching as the other three girls all got ready for their first full day at Hogwarts and leave for the Great Hall. Pandora watched as Shaula seemed to have ignored everything in the room and went straight into the bathroom. Pandora waited for the girl, deciding that no one should isolate themselves, and that she was determined to make the Black girl her friend.
It was their walk to the Great Hall that morning as well, when Shaula hadn't berated her when she mentioned Wrackspurts, but instead engage in a conversation with her, linking their arms to keep them together and not get lost. It was then that Pandora knew that she had a life-long friend, one she would anything for.
It was now, when her best friend spoke so carelessly about her health, that Pandora decided that she would do everything she could to help Shaula, whether she wanted it or not. Whether it was with improving her health or just making her happy, Pandora silently vowed to help her.
Lunch soon passed and Pandora left for classes and Madam Pomfrey came over vanishing the mess made during lunch. Shaula knew exactly what was coming next, and she was already dreading it.
"Miss Black, why did you not come to me the second you fell sick? We could have avoided this entire mess and you could be in lessons. Honestly child..." The older woman went off, before grabbing a couple potions and placing them on the bedside table next to Shaula. The young girl cringed and tried to shuffle away from the potions, but stopped when the aches in her body protested.
"Now now, no whining. You could have gotten better quickly with a simple pepper-up potion, but you decided to put it off and gotten worse. Now you'll have to take more than a simple pepper-up," Madam Pomfrey said as she bustled about the bed, making Shaula dizzy and feeling queasy in her stomach. She could feel the mucus clogging up her throat again and decided it was best to stay silent for now, and but coughed a couple times to clear her throat either wa
"Now, you'll still have to take the pepper-up, but I also want you to take this anti-sickness and pain reliever potion. I'm not doubting that you'll have a few achy joints and a large headache don't you," Madam Pomfrey continued as she begun to uncork the bottles. The queasiness in Shaula's stomach began to get heavier at each uncorked bottle. She passed Shaula the pepper-up potion first, who hesitantly took it, her hand shaking. She looked pleadingly up at Pomfrey, who only raised an eyebrow.
"I know that the potions never taste any good, but it'll make you feel better. I promise."
With that, Shaula took a deep breath and chugged the potion. Half through the potion she stopped, gagged, and threw up over the side of the bed. Madam Pomfrey quickly vanished the sick and summoned a large bowl, which Shaula promptly threw up into straight after. The young girl gagged a couple times, coughing and spluttering into the bowl. She didn't notice when the half drunk potion in her hand was removed and a cool damp cloth was dabbing at her forehead until said cloth whipped the sick and spit from around her mouth. She took a couple deep breaths, her eyes closed as she lent over the bowl. It was after a couple more gags into the bowl and some heaving breathing after, that the bowl was taken away from her and she was slowly pushed back onto the bed.
Shaula opened her eyes slightly, just enough to see that Madam Pomfrey was doing something next to her and she closed her eyes again.
"Sorry..." she mumbled quietly, before turning onto her side and giving off a quiet whine at the sharp pain in her throat and small cough to clear her throat once more.
"It's alright Miss Black, I've seen and dealt with worse. Now I want you to drink some of this juice for me."
Shaula opened her eyes again only to see a glass of pumpkin juice in front of her. The smell of it had her covering her noise and shaking her head slightly into the pillow, more whines being released.
"You need to drink Miss Black, keep you hydrated after all the fluids you just lost."
Shaula didn't say anything for a few minutes, before slowly sitting half way up and glaring at the glass of the orange juice.
"Can it be water instead please..." she said, her voice raspy and raw from being sick. The nurse sighed at the girl, but then quickly changing the juice to water. Shaula sipped at the water slowly, Madam Pomfrey helping her hold it. Once she was finished, Shaula led back on the bed exhausted. Throwing up always took her energy out of her.
"I'll leave you to sleep for now, it's no good giving you potions on an empty stomach, and I doubt you'll be able to hold anything down for now. I'll come check on you in half an hour." With that, the nurse left, leaving Shaula to succumb to sleep for a few hours. Madam Pomfrey checked on her every half hour, placing a fresh damp cloth on her head to try and cool her down.
It was a few hours later that Shaula woke up to quiet chatter around her and a hand softly stroking her hair. She nuzzled into her pillow with a small moan, which immediately halted all conversation around her. She turned around on the hospital bed to try and find the owner of the hand that was on her head, and finds that it belongs to her brother. She grabs it and holds onto her brothers hand, wanting the physically comfort of being held but also not wanting to be touched right now. So she compromised with herself and held Sirius' hand. She looked around ever more and saw that Remus was also there as well. Both boys gave her small smile, Sirius giving her hand a squeeze as well.
"How you feeling Shau?" Sirius asked, his voice soft and low, knowing that when she got sick her head often ached. Shaula gave a smile and nuzzled his hand slightly, but didn't speak.
"Pandora and I took notes for you in all the lessons you missed today," said Remus, who then nods to the stack of notes that were on the bedside table. She smiles at him in thanks. They both take note that she wasn't in the mood to speak, so they decided to tell her about their day. How James and Peter wanted to come visit but they had detention with Professor McGonagall. They said how Lily and Severus had stopped by to visit her already, or as it looked like, Lily dragging Severus to see her. They mention how Pandora would be here as well, but she was doing some research in the library on some herbology homework that was due in soon.
Madam Pomfrey soon comes around however and kicks the two boys out so that 'she can get some rest'. She gives Shaula some soup to eat, but not nearly as much as she had during lunch. After waiting half an hour to make sure she doesn't throw it up, Madam Pomfrey manages to get the three potions down her throat successfully and tells the young girl to go back to sleep.
By the next day, Shaula wakes up with an almost clear head, no aches in her body and the mucus that kept clogging up her throat didn't return. Pomfrey doesn't let her leave however until the next day with another pepper-up potion in her system and no pounding in her head. Reluctantly, Shaula used the day of bed rest to complete her catch up work, leaving anything she didn't understand for when one of her friends came to visit. Preferably the friends being Pandora, Remus or Lily.
A/N: I know it's not my usual day to post and that I'm a week late, but there's a lot going on with birthdays and exams and such, so once it's all over I'll hopefully be back on a weekly schedule. But until then it's going to be once every two night, but to compromise, I'm trying to make the chapters longer. Sorry for the filler, but I needed to establish that Shaula has shit health and it needs to be shown, her health takes a significant part in the story. Thank you to everyone that's favourited, reviewed and followed this story! Nearly 100 followers! I'm so excited!