Severus stalked to the hospital wing after his classes ended, intent on finding Tirza and learning what this chicken pox was. He entered the hospital wing and saw Tirza asleep in a bed. "Merlin! She's... she's... spotted!" he shouted.
Poppy gave a small laugh from the girl's bedside, and nodded a bit. "Yes, Severus. Those would be pox."
"What are these pox? And how do they go away?" He raised an eyebrow, looking almost confused at the dots all over his child.
"They come with the illness. They are small, itchy spots. Luckily, I have anti-itch potions, but I don't have potions to make them go away. They'll go away, as she gets better."
Severus scowled at the nurse. "How long will she have them?"
"At the very least, a week." Poppy said simply. "Once the fever goes down, the spots then slowly vanish."
Severus frowned. "Is she contagious? Can I take her back to my chambers?"
"She is highly contagious." Poppy said softly.
His eyes widened. "Merlin... Are you implying the horror that I think you are?"
Poppy gave a small nod. "Yes. These pox will take over Hogwarts." If she hadn't looked so deadly serious, Severus would have laughed.
Instead, he groaned loudly. "Wonderful. Bloody wonderful. Does she need to stay here, or can I take her?"
"You can take her, Severus."
Frowning again, Severus carefully lifted Tirza from the bed. "Well... thank you..." he grumbled, then turned and left the hospital wing.
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Luna came stumbling into the hospital wing a few moments later, a slight scowl on the girl's face. "Poppy!" She called.
"Yes? Oh hello Luna." Poppy smiled at the young girl. "Are you ill?" It was a rather pointless question, since she could see a few spots starting to break out on Luna's face and arms.
"The stars! They have punished me." She looked heartbroken. "I feel ill, and I have these weird.. things on me! It's like the stars have given me spots for punishment! I am a child, not a leopard!"
"No Luna, you are not being punished by the stars," Poppy could barely keep from chuckling. "You have chicken pox. It's a muggle illness that Tirza somehow got a hold of and is going to spread to practically the whole school."
"But.. chickens do not have spots." Luna said. "Am I going to sprout chickens from these spots?"
"No dear. I am not sure why it is called chicken pox, but you won't sprout chickens. You will have a fever and be itchy, but that is it."
Luna itched at one of the spots on her arm, and sighed. "They itch. Why have the stars done this to me? Why!" She sighed loudly again.
"It wasn't the stars," Poppy repeated firmly. "Let me get you some potions. Do you want to stay here, or go back to your dorm room?"
"My dorm will be here soon, so I might as well hang here." Luna sighed, as she itched more. "I will have to apologize to the stars." She decided.
Poppy rolled her eyes and ushered Luna to a bed. "Do you want a pair of pajamas, dear?"
"Yes, please." Luna nodded, sitting up on the bed. She looked out the window. "When night comes."
For the rest of the day, students of Hogwarts piled into the hospital wing. All houses came together in common ground to get rid of these annoying spots.
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Poppy burst into Albus Dumbledore's office with hardly a knock at five the next morning. "Albus, I can't take it!" she exclaimed. The school mediwitch looked more frazzled then she had ever looked, at least to Albus' recollection.
"Sit down Poppy. Tell me what I can do to help," Albus quickly poured the poor woman a cup of tea.
"There's so many of them Albus! This pox is worse then anything I've ever seen! How do muggles survive it? I can't fit anymore in the hospital wing, where am I going to put the rest?"
In his head, Albus quickly did a count of available spaces in the hospital wing. Cramming each bed in, with only a foot or two between, there should be enough space for 79 beds. "And you've…"
"Yes, I conjured the beds into bunk beds Albus," Poppy half-growled. "There are 158 infected children in that hospital wing and more standing or sitting in the hallway! Anyone who isn't muggle-born or been exposed to this before HAS it!"
"Including…?"
Poppy nodded and Albus' eyes twinkled. "Poor Severus…" The headmaster chuckled.
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"NO NO NO!" Severus Snape thundered.
Tirza looked up from her where she had been resting on couch and turned her gaze towards her father's room.
"Daddy, it's early," she whined.
"I CANNOT…. THIS IS NOT HAPPENING!"
Pouting, Tirza got off the couch and trudged towards Snape's bedroom. The door was open so she was able to peer in and see him standing there shirtless and… spotted! "Poor daddy got pox, huh?"
Growling, he threw on a robe, picked up Tirza and her lion and headed out of his chambers, straight towards the hospital wing.
"I'm hot, I'm nauseated, and I'm SPOTTED! What am I supposed to do!"
Poppy shrugged helplessly as Snape ranted at her. "The same thing as everyone else. Find a bed. Put on some pajamas, get into a bed and rest quietly while I get you some potions. Don't you disrupt my other patients Severus Snape!"
Shaking her head at him, Poppy took Tirza from his arms and carried her over to one of the upper bunks, tucking her in. She took her time doing it too, enjoying Snape pacing and looking for an empty bed and thinking it rather served him right for helping to spread the disease anyway!
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Albus shook his head sadly as Poppy finished telling him of Snape's loud entrance just a few hours ago. "I'm quite sad that I missed that Poppy," he admitted. "But for now, our task is to find suitable places for more beds for the stricken."
With charming the hospital wing doors to remain as fully open as possible, and conjuring more bunk beds, the hospital wing spread out into the hallway. Several classrooms were stripped of furniture, doors charmed, and beds placed inside. The hallway itself was lined along each side with bunks of children.
"By your count Poppy, how many are not ill?" Albus asked, stunned at the numbers before him.
"47, including staff that is still healthy. Otherwise, they are all here." She answered.
Meanwhile, those 43 students were beginning to arrive at the Great Hall for breakfast, to find only one table with plates, silverware, cups and food.
"Bloody hell, are we all that's left?" George Weasley asked the small group.
"Looks like it," a first year Ravenclaw piped up. "I had pox when I was little, my mum said so. We must have all had pox before!"
"Dad brought it home to us," Ginny told her. "He really likes muggle things, but he didn't like that one!"
A huge grin spread over Fred's face as he looked at the group. "Oh, this is brilliant. Look around you lot; what houses are we from?"
There was just over a dozen each from Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff.
"There's no Slytherins!" Harry exclaimed.
"Remind me to do something real nice for Tirza when she feels better," Ron told Hermione.
"Oh, that's sweet of you!" Hermione exclaimed.
Ron smirked at her, and then at his brothers. "Only because she's the one person at Hogwarts who managed to bring all of Slytherin house to its knees in about 32 hours!"
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Poppy was exhausted; she even looked more exhausted then she had twelve hours ago. No one had ever seen her look this way before, and most were frightened by it. The next person to come for aid, however, was not.
"Poppy, what is going on right now?" Minerva growled, her eyes looking very Snape-like. "I've got these… these spots!"
"You are one of those infected by a muggle disease called Chicken pox. Find a bed, good luck, I'll be around to you soon," Poppy told her quickly, moving to another bed and doing a scan.
"Erm, excuse me?" Minerva followed her, eyes narrowed. "Um, no. I'll be going back to my tower, thank you Poppy. Just give me something to get rid of these spots, and I'll be on my way."
"There isn't anything I have to get rid of the spots. You WILL find a bed, now please! I will deal with your fever and itching as soon as I can." Poppy narrowed her eyes back at Minerva.
Minerva gave a soft growl, sounding like a tiger who had got her steak taken from her. "You will get rid of these spots, NOW." Minerva said.
"I CANT Minerva! Find a bed and lay down or I will put you to bed MYSELF!"
Minerva huffed at her, and turned on her heel. "I'll go to Severus. He'll make me something." She muttered, before heading towards the hospital wing door.
"Severus has already found a bed! He's in that direction!" Poppy pointed down the long line of beds. "Somewhere close to my office."
"Oh. Well, I'll make my own anti-spot stuff." She huffed angrily.
"There is no cure Minerva. I will put you to bed if you do not cooperate." Poppy pointed her wand towards Minerva.
Minerva aimed her wand back at Poppy. "You will not."
"Oh yes, I will. Petrificus totalus!" Minerva fell over onto the floor; every person within earshot looked up at the bang and gasped at McGonagall lying stiff on the floor
Harry gasped quietly, staring at the sight. "Wow, never thought I'd live to see this." He and Hermione had volunteered to help Poppy out some; in fact everyone who wasn't ill was trying to help in some way.
Hermione narrowed her eyes at Poppy. "Are you sure, that's allowed Professor?"
Severus looked quite amused. A soft snicker came from him.
"Of course it is," Poppy huffed. She levitated McGonagall over to a bed and tucked her under the covers. "Would you hand me the fever reducing potion Hermione?"
Hermione stared in shock at Minerva, whose face was stuck in a straight glare. Severus was almost doubled over with laughter.
Poppy poured the potion down Minerva's throat and accio'd a sleeping potion, pouring that down her throat as well. With a flick of her wand, Minerva was in a pair of pajamas and soundly sleeping.
Poppy smirked at her for a moment, before releasing the petrificus totalus. "There. She will sleep soundly for at least two hours. Maybe by then my wish will be granted and I will die..." she spoke to herself. "Thank you for your help Hermione."
Hermione was still staring. "Professor, she's going to kill you."
"Really? That will be a blessing dear. Run along to lunch now with your friends." Poppy patted Hermione's head, before resuming her rounds.
Harry looked over at Hermione. "Did that really happen?" He asked with a slight sigh. Severus was now roaring with laughter. This was the funniest sight he had gotten to see in a long time.
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"Tirza... Tirza..." Severus called. His fever had spiked and Poppy was waiting for Hermione and Albus to finish more potions before she could give him one.
"Yes, daddy?" Tirza asked softly from the chair.
"Come here... quickly." He patted the bed, wanting her to sit with him.
Tirza got up, and went over to him. She climbed up on the bed, and smiled at him. "What's wrong, daddy?" She asked gently, putting a hand on his cheek.
"I don't think I'll make it Tirza. I want you to promise me some things," Severus whispered.
"Daddy, you are going to be fine." Tirza whispered quietly.
"No, I won't. I'm dying, I know it. Promise me you won't do potions. You'll get hurt and I won't be there to protect you. And don't date, because I won't get to threaten all the boys that look at my baby." Severus hugged her tightly, squishing her to his chest.
Tirza wiggled a tiny bit, tears coming to her dark eyes. "You aren't going to die."
"Don't play with dragons either. They have fire and fire burns." Tirza looked into his eyes and saw they were rather glassy. "And don't let Albus give you jelly beans, they have poison. I know, I had one." His voice started to get a bit louder.
"Daddy, please." Tirza whispered, burying her face in his chest. "Calm down. You'll be fine." She whispered, though her voice was muffled now.
Poppy came over and patted her shoulder. "Go back to bed dear. He doesn't know what he's saying; his fever is a bit high. I'm going to give him a sleeping potion."
"Fever? I have no fever! Severus Snape doesn't get sick, EVA!" Snape ranted.
Tirza clung to Severus, looking up at Poppy. "He's really sad." Tirza said quietly.
"The spots are going to kill meeeeeee," Severus shouted. "Spots spots everywhere!"
Poppy chuckled. "He isn't sad dear, I promise. You can stay with him if you want, but I do need to give him a sleeping potion. You need your rest too."
Tirza patted her dad's cheek, tears rolling down her cheeks. "It's ok, daddy."
"Spots... why... I like stripes better... Damn spots..." He ranted.
"Oh Severus, shut up!" Poppy pushed him gently against the pillows just as Hermione arrived with more potions.
Tirza gently patted her dad's cheek. "Maybe you'll get a disease with stripes?" She offered.
"Yes, I like stripes. Love stripes. I love you Tirza, even if you have spots, because I just do... argh!" Severus nearly choked as Poppy began pouring the potion down his throat.
"Sleep Severus, or else!"
A moment later, Severus Snape was sound asleep.
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A/N: Next time Minerva wakes up and Poppy has a nervous breakdown!