Magical Twins – Chapter 7
"Hello Julian, how're you feeling?" Poppy queried, waving her wand to cast a diagnostic spell.
"Much better," Julian replied softly. "Can I get up?"
"No, your condition hasn't improved at all yet. You only feel better, because you're under the influence of the potions," the Mediwitch replied, sighing. "What would you like to eat, Julian?"
Julian threw her a terrified look. "Nothing please; I'm not hungry at all. I only want to drink water."
"So much about feeling much better," Poppy muttered to herself as she helped Julian to sit up and made him drink some water. "Drink slowly please; you don't want to drown," she admonished him lightly as the child tried to greedily gulp down the cool liquid that felt soothing to his burning throat.
HP
In the meantime, Dudley had breakfast at the Gryffindor table, once more sitting together with the Weasley twins. "As soon as you've finished eating, I have to speak with you in private," he whispered to the twins as soon as Minerva had returned to the Head table after giving out the time tables.
"But we have to stick to our classmates; otherwise, we don't know where the classroom is," Fred replied, glancing at his brother.
"Exactly," George agreed. "Does it have to do with a prank?"
"I'll tell you outside, and Julian will take you to your classroom. What do you have first?" He glanced at Fred's timetable. "Ah, Transfiguration, all right."
"Well then, let's hear what the plot is," George decided after a glance at his twin, and the three boys stood up, trying to leave the Great Hall as innocently as possible.
In the entrance hall, Dudley told the stunned twins about Julian's and his classes with the house-elves and about the plan Julian had made that morning.
"Why would he want to attend our classes..."
"... especially if he's ill?" the twins queried.
Dudley sighed. "As I told you, normally the house-elves teach us, and they already told us we already have all the knowledge about the elves, so they have to teach us Muggle knowledge, which both of us are not very interested in. Since Julian isn't allowed to attend our class this morning, he decided to get away and invisibly join you for your first classes. He just doesn't know what your first class is, and I think he feels a bit apprehensive about it, so he asks you to wait here for him. He'll tell you where the Transformation classroom is."
"This sounds like fun, don't you think so, Forge?"
"I think so, Gred. Let's wait in the alcove over there, where people won't easily see us."
"Tell him to hurry please," they said simultaneously, causing Dudley to smirk.
"I will. Thanks for your help." With that he ran along the corridor, before he turned himself invisible and popped into Julian's and his room, groaning inwardly as he saw Poppy fussing over Julian.
"What was that?" Poppy asked in confusion.
"What?" Julian asked innocently. He had heard the small pop, knowing his brother had returned to their room. "May I try to sleep for a while?" he asked softly, tiredly laying back.
"Of course, sweetie, sleep well. I'll come to check on you shortly before the end of the last morning class," Poppy replied, gently tucking him in, before she bustled away.
"Thank God," Dudley said as he made himself visible. "The twins are waiting in a small alcove right next to the entrance hall. You look worse for the wear though. Are you sure you're well enough to attend classes?"
"I'm not, but this is a chance today, and I'm not going to miss it. If I feel worse, I can just pop back here at anytime, so it's no problem," Julian croaked as he scrambled out of bed and made himself invisible.
"Well then, good luck and have fun," Dudley smirked and popped to the elves' quarters for his classes.
Julian downed another glass of water and popped himself to the alcove, where the Weasley twins were waiting. "Good morning," he whispered, causing the twins to jump in surprise.
"Julian, is that you?" George queried.
"Yes, it's me," Julian whispered, before he made himself visible to the twins, careful to remain invisible to everyone else. "Now, what class do you have first?"
"Transfiguration," the twins replied, causing Julian to groan, knowing he was in no condition to climb so many steps.
"All right then, climb up the large staircase until I'll tell you otherwise," he instructed the older boys and popped himself ahead, making sure they were following him.
Just in time, they reached the Transfiguration classroom. The twins waited until everyone else was seated, before they sat in the last row, where they found three empty seats together. Julian let himself sink on the third seat, incredibly relieved to be able to sit down.
"Julian, are you all right?" Fred asked worriedly as he took in the younger boy's heavy breathing.
"I'll be fine. Do you see the cat on the teacher's desk? That's Professor McGonagall."
"Are you delirious?" Fred queried. "That's a cat."
"Believe me, I know her cat form. She and Professor Snape are my guardians," Julian whispered, resting his achy head on the table in front of him. 'Thank God no one except for the twins can see me anyway,' he mused as Minerva jumped from the table and transformed into her usual self, causing the first-years to let out a collective gasp.
Julian lazily watched how the students tried to transfigure a toothpick into a needle. 'Why do they use wands for that?' he mused in surprise. Neither Dudley nor he possessed a wand yet, and the house-elves were performing all the magic just by waving their hands, just like they had taught Dudley and himself. Seeing that Fred and George were just giggling about something, he quickly waved his hand at Fred's toothpick, causing the twin to gasp loudly at the sight of the needle lying in front of him.
"Very well done, Mr. Weasley. Five points to Gryffindor," the teacher commended him promptly, causing Fred to stammer, "Err... I...I have no idea how I managed that, Professor." He waved his wand at the object that Minerva had already transfigured back and spoke the incantation to no avail.
"Well, I'd like all of you to practise this transfiguration until our next class," Minerva said crisply, dismissing the first-years.
"I'm sorry, Fred," Julian whispered, causing the twins to laugh.
"No problem, provided you help us when we need it," George replied, smirking.
"Of course. What's your next class?"
"Potions," the twins replied, groaning. "We heard the professor is an absolute git. Is that true?"
"No, he's my guardian together with Professor McGonagall, and he's really very nice, provided you're interested in Potions. But I can help you. He already taught me a lot. Go to the Potions classroom with the others; I'll meet you there."
Julian popped back into his room and lay down on his bed, knowing he could rest for fifteen minutes until the beginning of the second morning class.
This time, the twins couldn't manage to reserve a chair for him, and Julian decided to sit on the floor right next to the classroom door, leaning against the wall. 'I could even lie down here, knowing that no one is able to see me,' he mused but didn't dare doing so, afraid that someone would step on him if he fell asleep.
From his spot at the back of the classroom, Julian watched the students brew an easy potion, remembering that it had been the first potion Severus had taught him to brew. From time to time, he scrambled onto his feet and walked over to the twins, observing their brewing process for a while, before he proceeded to sit down again.
The last morning class was History of Magic. However, Julian remembered that Poppy was going to come to check on him before the end of the class, and he felt too ill to attend another class. 'History of Magic won't be very interesting anyway,' he mused as he popped back into his room and greedily gulped down some water, before he stretched out on his bed in relief.
'How could I be so stupid and go to class?' he thought. 'I feel even worse than before. On the other hand, I really liked attending classes; perhaps I should try to convince Barney to let Dudley and me or at least me go to the first-years' classes instead of teaching us Muggle knowledge.'
He was pulled out of his thoughts when Poppy entered the room, waving her wand at him. "What have you been doing this morning?" she queried in disbelief.
"Nothing," Julian lied, shivering violently as the Mediwitch felt around his neck with icy hands.
"Your condition is much worse than before. I'm afraid I have to take you with me for observation," she said thoughtfully and lit the tip of her wand to examine his throat.
"Oh please don't take me with you, Aunt Poppy," Julian whispered, throwing the witch a pleading look.
"Well, we'll see. I'll come again right before the last afternoon class ends, and if you're still getting worse, I'll need to move you to the hospital wing. I have to go back now; Minerva or Severus are going to come and have lunch with you in a few minutes." With that she spelled the potions straight into the boy's system and, after a worried look at the child, retreated to the hospital wing.
Julian sighed in relief as he felt the potions take effect. 'I'll only attend Herbology and then come back here and skip Defence,' he mused as he slowly drifted off to sleep, until a faint pop made his mind turn back to consciousness.
It was Misty. She stood next to his bed, waving her hand over him, before she asked sternly, "What have you been doing, Julian? I can sense that you popped yourself five times during the morning. You were very bold because you aggravated your condition very much, and Misty is going to punish you after your recovery."
tbc...
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I'm not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes or help me to correct them.
All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.