Oliver mused that colds and flu came in stages nowadays. It started with a sniffle, soon his throat felt a bit scratchy, before long he would be coughing and sneezing with the best of them. When he was younger he felt able to carry on with Quidditch training despite the fact that his head pounded and his muscles ached. Lately it seemed all he could do to get out of bed. Of course with his new teaching responsibilities he felt that he had to pull himself from his bed. There was no else who could cover his classes for him. He had never missed a training session before, even though that often meant infecting his own team with his germs, he was not about to start now.
Which was why he found himself in the infirmary on Monday morning with a great many of his students. Madam Pomfrey was still going strong, still handing out Pepper Up potion to the students. She had a helper however, Oliver couldn't help but grimace inwardly as he was called over to Professor Tunstall's station. The two had not spoken since their last drunken encounter, Oliver had never felt comfortable being drunk; he felt too out of control. He made his weak way over to her, a wary smile on his face.
"Hey Spar- uh Professor Wood. If you'll just take a seat. Can I take your symptoms down?" she said, noting the students around them staring open-mouthed at her outwardly familiar greeting to a fellow teacher.
"Professor." he nodded curtly, he knew what was expected of the teachers and their interaction between one another. "Why do you need my symptoms?" he asked sitting down on one of the many sick beds
"Research." she said, shrugging, taking up his indifferent attitude to a fellow teacher. She held a clipboard expectantly.
"What are you researching?" he asked.
"Just looking for a common link between all these invalids. You know, bit of fun, make the day go a bit faster. You never know I might end up finding the culprit for this little epidemic." she said gesturing to students surrounding them. "Nothing so far, probably just fresher's flu."
"What's fresher's flu?" Oliver asked, slightly confused as to why anyone could find listing symptoms a fun experience.
"You know, new students, new germs. Put 'em together and everyone drops like flies. So your symptoms are?" she asked again, putting her pen to the parchment, ready to take down his notes. Oliver was amused to see she held a muggle pen instead of a quill.
"Oh right. Uh, stiff neck, aching muscles, sore throat, sneezing."
"A cough?" she asked, marking down what he had already listed.
"Not really. Just a tickle, well at the moment anyway, I guess."
"Yup fresher's flu strikes again." Karen smiled widely, and ticked a box on her clipboard. "Pepper Up should do the trick. Keep yourself warm and dry. Don't do anything too strenuous. No drinking obviously."
"Obviously." Oliver said, smiling in spite of himself.
Professor Tunstall opened a cupboard behind her and pulled out a small bottle of potion. She handed it to Oliver with a shrewd look on her face.
"Now I can trust you with this right? We're asking the kids to come back for top ups but you can look after yourself right, I'm not going to need to check you aren't overdosing on this stuff?"
"Is it that dangerous then?" Oliver couldn't help but grin widely as he imagined the side effects of the potion.
"Well not really no. But as a medical professional I have to ask."
"I didn't know you were a Healer?" Oliver asked as he took the bottle and got up from the sick bed.
"Well, I'm almost a Healer." Karen admitted.
"Almost?"
"Well, I did all the training and passed most of the exams but I kind of skipped out on the last couple to go travelling. You know, You-Know-Who was gone and I figured my training wasn't exactly a priority anymore so I figured I'd re-take them when I got back."
"But you ended up here." he finished for her.
"Psychic eh?"
"Just a good guesser."
Madam Pomfrey decided to clear her throat at that point. From the stern look on her face the two Professors' knew they had taken longer than the aging Healer deemed necessary.
"Well Professor Wood I think that's you all done. If you don't feel any better in a few days you should come back."
"Thank you Professor Tunstall."
The two smiled at Madam Pomfrey, and the Healer turned back to her patients.
"Oh and if I find out you're over medicating Sparky there'll be hell to pay eh?" Karen whispered conspiratorially.
Oliver nodded solemnly as he walked away, not exactly with a spring in his step, he still felt a bit too sick for that. Yet he found he wasn't dragging his body around either. He left the infirmary and headed for his private room to take his medicine. He could barely believe the number of students he passed. He was sure that during his time in Hogwarts there had never been this many sick students each year. He couldn't help but wonder what they would be like on the Quidditch pitch when they were so susceptible to illness. Could these children cope with bludgers' flying at them every which way? They seemed so fragile to look at. He had never realised how fragile children could be until now.
His classes so far had been extremely productive despite the recent spate of illness, all of his students could now fly adequately. Oliver was more than pleased to see how well Jake flew. He supposed that Marcus had taken the boy out, father-son bonding and all that. He found that he could not quite muster up the bitterness he had felt when Marcus was first announced as Jake's father.
The boy was polite, thoughtful, quick to pick up the basic skills of the game. In short everything he could ever hope for. In addition to that it was clear that the boy had never been mistreated. He was happy and healthy, proof of which being his absence from the line of sickly students, and to Oliver that was now all that mattered. True he had not raised his own son, but he could not complain about the outcome.
He still kept his eyes peeled for potential trouble makers. The older students could be a bit boisterous now and again, yet that all just seemed down to free spirits. These children had nothing real to fear, not like he had. Their parent's were no doubt more relaxed than his were, true the Statute of Secrecy still had to be upheld. But there were fewer things for the wizarding world to worry about now, it was evident on the carefree faces of his students. Of course the younger ones looked too delicate to be any trouble, as if one hard push would shatter them. Then again he supposed that Tom Riddle had once been a small child, but that line of thinking led him to headaches and sleepless nights. Voldemort as a fragile child was not an image his mind could conjure up easily.
Still he appeared to have little to worry about where his son was concerned. The boy had many friends, and no real enemies. True there were boys that he didn't really get along with, that seemed to be down to a difference of opinion more than anything. Some were impressed by who his father was, some even seemed jealous; both concepts were hard at first for Oliver to understand. He vowed to keep a watchful eye on his son all the same, now that he had the chance. While he could not be a father to the boy here, he could be the next best thing, to Oliver that made all the difference.
Can I just say I miss fresher's flu, it was so much easier to cope with than proper flu. Three guesses as to the state of my health at the moment :) Anyway in my off time I've written three other chapters, which could mean that you'll get a chapter next week. And the week after that, maybe even the week after that. Rejoice, sing songs, plant trees.