HELLO FRIENDS :). This is the chapter that I have been waiting...and waiting...and waiting to upload, and I hope you like it!
This was insane. It was three days into Christmas break and I was sick as a dog. The illness came out of nowhere the morning of the second day and left me with a pounding headache, wheezing, vomiting and a raging fever of a hundred and one degrees.
I laid in my bed with a trash can by my side as Astoria laid cold cloths on my forehead to try and calm the heat. Draco sat on my left and rubbed my hand silently. Romana, Anna and Farrah had been removed from the room so as to not risk them contracting this mystery disease as well.
The first idea had been to take me to the muggle hospital, but when it became clear that moving me caused unimaginable pain, they decided to call one. The doorbell rang and Draco left to get it, hoping that it was the doctor.
"Thank you so much," Draco said as he led the doctor into the room. "Aladdin, this is Dr. Gmoser."
"Hello, dear," Dr. Gmoser smiled, taking Astoria's place by my right. "I've heard you aren't feeling all that well."
If I could talk properly, I'd so smack you, I growled in my head. I bet I looked like negative a million galleons right about now.
Dr. Gmoser did a thorough exam once. Then twice. The third time, he turned to Draco and Astoria in shock.
"I have never seen anything like this!" He exclaimed. "There are many diseases with these symptoms, but given the fact that it did come on so suddenly, its impossible. I am sorry, but I think the best you can do is keep her hydrated and do not move her until it passes."
Worried looks came onto Astoria and Draco's faces. If the muggle doctor didn't know what it was, there was the chance that it was a magical ailment and due to their parole agreements, they wouldn't be able to contact a magical doctor nor take me to St. Mungo's.
The muggle doctor left leaving me in my misery and the Malfoy's to worry.
"We can always get Teddy to take her," Astoria suggested.
"The wizarding world thinks he's dead," Draco reminded. "It's a wonder they didn't find out the truth when he snuck into Hogwarts! He'd never do it."
They went quiet for another minute. "How about we get Romana to send a letter to an on call magical doctor? She's bound to know one with her mother and all."
Draco lifted a blonde eyebrow, "Her mother is treated the muggle way, remember?"
Astoria groaned and collapsed onto Anna's bed, looking at me sadly. "Oh, dear," She sighed. "What in the world is wrong?"
Little did we know there was a very similar discussion going on in St. Mungo's.
Third Person POV
A group of four was sitting nervously in a waiting room that was nearly vacant. All of middle age, two had vibrant red hair and freckles while one had an oddly shaped scar on his forehead, leaving the last with rather tame yet somewhat bushy hair.
Ginny and Harry had been very worried when their son had contracted this odd disease the day before, but thought nothing of it until it got worse that morning. They rushed him to St. Mungo's, causing Hermione and Ron to join them for morale support, leaving all the kids at the Burrow-the Grangers understood full-heartedly and decided to go to the Burrow as well for fun.
"Albus Potter?" A nurse asked upon opening the doors to the emergency sector of St. Mungo's.
This group stood up.
"How is he?" Ginny Potter asked the nurse worriedly.
"Follow me," She sighed, leading the group towards a private room, inside of which laid Albus Potter.
The doctor flitted about him, casting diagnostic spells and speaking to his Quick-Quotes quill. When the family entered, he finished up his job.
"Ah, Mr and Mrs. Potter, I assume," The doctor said shaking Harry and Ginny Potter's hands. "And…you are?"
"Hermione Granger-Weasley," Hermione introduced. "And this is my husband-Ron Weasley."
The doctor shook their hands, "I am Dr. Vo. I have been charged with Albus' case."
"What is wrong with my son?" Harry demanded. He wasn't usually so crude, but this was his child. Harry could protect his children from bad people, bad animals, even bad spells, but the one thing he couldn't protect them from was disease and it scared the hell out of him.
Dr. Vo sighed and shook his head sadly. "I did a test on him. It was a long-shot, but I was desperate, yet turned to be true. Your son is one of very few souls that live not one, but two lives. Since it takes a great deal of magic for this, two souls with unusually strong magic are paired together and are born, and die, at the exact same times. They are, in all intents and purposes, soulmates."
Ginny was obviously getting irritated and interrupted the doctor. "What does this "soulmate" have to do with anything?" She demanded causing the doctor to glare at her.
"When the two souls meet each other once again, as in skin-on-skin contact, they cannot be apart without some sort of contact-even just seeing the other-made for more than twenty-four hours or else…this will happen," Dr. Vo gestured to Albus.
At the news, Ginny paled and leant on her husband for support. Ron tried comforting his sister while Hermione fumed.
"This person could be anybody!" She exclaimed.
Dr. Vo sighed. "What doesn't make sense is to why they wouldn't be here. The poor girl must be as sick as he is."
"Except they might not have a way to get here." Harry muttered to himself causing the doctor to look at him queerly. "I think I know who she is. And-if I'm right-why she isn't here. Excuse me."
With that, he quickly apparated to the outskirts of the Burrow and rushed inside.
"James!" He called, looking for his eldest son throughout the house. He soon found him in Fred and George's old room writing a letter that James started to hide. Harry couldn't be bothered to ask what it was. "Do you know where Aladdin is staying the holiday?"
"The Malfoys," James said looking at his father oddly. "How is Albus?"
However, Harry was already gone and had apparated, thinking Malfoy's current house. Luckily, it brought him to the cottage and he ran up, ringing the doorbell repeatedly. Harry could hear footsteps walking towards the door and was prepared when the blonde that is Scorpius answered.
"Where is Aladdin?" Harry asked causing Scorpius to narrow his eyes.
"Who wants to know?" Scorpius questioned protectively causing Harry to grumble in his head.
"Me." He explained. "Is she sick?"
"Maybe." Harry was ready to kill this kid. Albus was lying in a hospital bed coughing up his lungs and vomiting his intestines while the only cure was most likely in this house.
"Listen, I don't have time for this. If she is sick, I know how to get her better." Harry explained causing Scorpius' eyes to light up.
"Inside, inside!" Scorpius pulled Harry into the house, slammed the door and hurried him up the stairs.
They rushed down a hall to the last door on the right. Scorpius was going so fast that his socked feet slipped on the wood causing him to run into the wall as he pushed open the door.
Scorpius was used to the room and just hurried to Aladdin's bedside while Harry stopped to admire the four different sectors. Each style was so different, yet it seemed to work somehow.
"Mum!" Scorpius exclaimed. "Dad! Harry Potter says that he knows how to cure Aladdin!"
Draco jumped out of his chair to turn to the dark haired man. "You do?!"
Harry looked down at the clearly ill girl. "Yes," He confirmed. "But she must get to St. Mungo's."
Astoria's happy expression fell. "If we could, we would have taken her immediately!"
"This isn't funny, Potter," Draco growled. "We can't get her there and you know that."
"You can't," Harry nodded. "But I can. Do I have your permission?"
They turned to each other stunned. "O-of course!" Draco exclaimed, recovering from shock. "Take her now!"
Harry walked to Aladdin and lifted her carefully, making pained expressions at her whimpers of pain. Her arms went around his neck and she deliriously rested her pounding head on his shoulder.
"You can apparate out of here," Draco explained. "There aren't any wards."
Without any sign that he heard, Harry apparated to the ER apparition center and rushed to the front desk. When they saw him, he had to say nothing. They let him through and to the room.
He entered the room where his wife and best friends were talking to the doctor and laid Aladdin on the bed next to Albus. Almost immediately, they situated themselves into a position where Aladdin was curled into a ball with her head underneath Albus' chin and Albus was curled around her with his arms around her.
The small group watched and listened as their breathing became clearer. Dr. Vo did tests and watched as each of their heart rates got steadier and they both fell into an easy sleep. Color returned to the pale duo's skin. The dark bags underneath both of their eyes faded away. They looked as healthy as ever.
"Amazing." Dr. Vo breathed. Turning to the group of adults, "Let them rest for an hour, then you may return."
Ginny went to protest, but Harry put a hand on her arm. "We should all go to the cafeteria and eat something," He suggested. "It's been a long day."
The group left and walked to the cafeteria in silence. The only words spoken as they got their food was to say yes or no to the house elves giving out food. They sat down and began to eat, the silence as stony and cold as ever until Ginny broke it.
"What are we going to do now?" Ginny sighed sullenly as she pushed her spaghetti around the plate. "How can someone go through life like this?"
"And it had to be a stinking pureblood Slytherin to boot," Ron grumbled causing Hermione to half-heartedly slap his arm. "What?!"
"You aren't helping," She hissed.
"She's not a pureblood," Harry contradicted. "Aladdin was raised in a muggle orphanage."
"And who else do we know that was raised in a muggle orphanage and was a Slytherin? Along with being parseltongue?" Ron asked. "Oh, yeah, that's right-V-Voldemort."
Harry rolled his eyes at his best friend's ignorance, "Voldemort was incapable of love due to the fact that when he was conceived, his father was under the effects of Amortentia."
Ron rolled his eyes, "Whatever."
Hermione thought for a second before turning to Ginny, "Do you think Facetime would work? The curse only said that they had to see each other."
Harry choked on his food, "Curse?! Don't you think that's a bit ex-?"
"Maybe, we could ask the doctor. But I don't want to risk Albus' health," Ginny fretted.
"It's either that or have Voldemort Jr living in your house this summer," Ron grumbled.
"She is not Voldemort Jr!" Harry exclaimed, but was ignored.
Ginny looked at her watch. "It's been forty-five minutes," She reported. "Everyone eat up and we can go check on Albus."
"And Aladdin," Harry reminded. No one was paying attention to him though.
They ate quickly and headed to the room where they were shocked by what they saw. The two were awake and obviously discussing something while the doctor looked on in amusement. Aladdin's head was on Albus' chest, looking up at him as they talked.
"OK, well, we can stay at the Malfoys this Christmas…"
"My parents would kill me!"
"Excuse me, your family would kill me! Too many Gryffins."
"Well, how about we get Scorpius and Romana to come along as well and then we can spend spring break at the Malfoys."
"Good, then what about summer?"
"Switch off? My house first week, Malfoys second, and so on so forth."
"Ugh, that won't work, I have to spend the first two weeks and then the very last week of summer at the orphanage."
"Hm…Then I can stay in a hotel nearby for those three weeks and you can come over and we go do stuff."
"There's some pretty cool museums…"
"And you say you are nothing like your mother."
"Shut up."
Ginny coughed to get their attention. Their heads turned to her.
"Hi, mum," Albus smiled as Aladdin moved off of them so that they were just lying next to one another. "Dad, Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron."
"Erm…hi, Mr. Potter and co.," Aladdin said with an awkward smile.
A couple moments earlier
Aladdin's POV
I blinked myself awake to stare at someone's chest while I felt a comfortable weight on my head. I brought my head out from under and noticed that I was being held by Albus. Uncurling one of my arms from myself, I flicked his nose lightly.
"Albus…" I sang quietly. "Alllllbuuuussss…"
"What, Aladdin?" Albus grumbled quietly. "Wait-Aladdin?!"
I stifled a laugh, "The one and only."
"What are you doing here?" Albus looked around. "And in my bed?"
"I don't really know," I admitted. "I've been kind of going in and out of consciousness the last two days."
Albus looked at me in shock, "You got sick, too?"
I nodded.
"What with?"
"No clue," I shrugged. "Guessing it's magical cause the muggle doctor didn't know."
The door to our hospital room opened and a man wearing a lab coat and scrubs walked through and noticed us.
"You're awake," He smiled walking to our bedside. "You two gave us quite a scare there."
"What's wrong with us?" Albus asked, as we moved so that my head was resting on his chest and his arms laid loosely around my waist. I looked at the doctor, curious about the results as well.
"Technically," The doctor said, pulling up a chair and sitting beside us. "Nothing."
I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, "What? Nothing wrong with us?!"
"Tell me, how do you feel, right now?" The doctor asked.
Just as I was about to say horrible, I thought about that answer. My headache was gone. I was breathing fine and my stomach felt calm. What the hell?
"Great…" Albus muttered. "How?"
The doctor sighed and took off his glasses, rubbing his face tiredly. "There is a very rare, very few magical folk who live two lives. This is typically because, for some reason, they were born too early or there was something that they needed to do in the first life and then recover in the second. Due to the fact this causes high levels of magic, two magical folk are paired together for this to occur. Once they make physical contact in the second life, they cannot go more than twenty-four hours without at least seeing one another or else they will become gravely ill."
By the look on Albus' face, it was obvious that he was very confused. "But we first met as first years and we've been separated since!"
I pondered this fact. "I never shook your hand," I realized.
"Huh?" Albus asked.
"I shook Rose's hand," I reminded. "And then she introduced you. That was when your brother came in. Then we got sorted into rival houses and never talked to each other since. So the first time we touched…"
"Was when we got our buddy assignments," Albus gasped. Then he groaned. "Oh, my family is going to love this."
Now it was my turn to become confused. "How come?"
"Allie," Albus chuckled. "We can't spend more than twenty-four hours away from each other."
"Oh," I said. "Oh. Oh! Oh, Merlin!"
"Exactly," Albus groaned.
"OK, well, we can stay at the Malfoys this Christmas…" I said
"My parents would kill me!" Albus protested.
"Excuse me, your whole family would kill me!" I exclaimed. "Too many Gryffins."
"Well, how about we get Scorpius and Romana to come along as well and then we can spend spring break at the Malfoys." Albus suggested.
"Good," I agreed. "Then what about summer?"
"Switch off? My house first week, Malfoys second, and so on so forth." Albus said.
"Ugh, that won't work, I have to spend the first two weeks and then the very last week of summer at the orphanage." I reminded.
"Hm…Then I can stay in a hotel nearby for those three weeks and you can come over and we go do stuff." That's a good idea.
"There's some pretty cool museums…" I muttered.
"And you say you are nothing like your mother." Albus chuckled.
"Shut up." I groaned remembering all the times I had said that in the past. Mostly when people compared my sister to her.
There was a cough that came from the door and Albus and I moved our heads to look towards it. Standing there were Mr and Mrs. Potter along with Ron Weasley and Professor Granger-Weasley.
"Hi, mum," Albus smiled as we situated ourselves so that we were just lying next to one another.
"Er…hi, Mr Potter and co.," I said awkwardly.
They walked into the room fully and Mrs. Potter rushed to Albus' side. "How are you, dear?" She fretted.
"I'm good, mum," Albus chuckled.
"What were you two…talking about?" Mr Weasley asked.
"We were deciding where we were going to go during the holidays," Albus explained.
Mrs. Potter's eyebrows raised quickly and she looked at Mr Potter. "And why wouldn't you go home?" She asked her son with a voice covered in thinly stretched kindness.
"Because Aladdin has places she wants to go over the holidays as well." Albus said, confused. Shouldn't his mum know this?
"The curse just says that you have to see one another, I'm sure Facetime or the fire will work just fine," Mrs. Potter explained.
The doctor coughed to interrupt, "Actually," he said. "It won't. It's been tried and proven that in order to avoid sickness that it must be in true life-this is due to the fact that both the fire and muggle technology disrupts the image if so slightly that the naked eye can't tell somewhere in the mind, it can tell."
"Well," Mr Potter spoke up smiling at Albus and me. "It sounds like you two have the perfect plan worked out." He turned to the doctor. "Now, Dr. Vo, can we take them home since they are in perfect health?"
Dr. Vo cast a quick diagnostic spell, "Yes," He said. "Just let me get a few forms so that you can sign them out. Follow me." He turned to us. "Hang tight for a few moments, please."
With that, the doctor and Albus' family left. I looked at Albus. "I like your dad," I said. "The rest of your family…" Albus rolled his eyes.
"They have a slightly old-fashioned view on Slytherins," He admitted causing me to scoff.
"I'm going to just love staying at your house," I grumbled.