Chapter 16:

Chicken Pox

It was Harry who first received the disease, unhappily scratching his pocked skin as he snuck into Iliana's room at 5 in the morning. Not knowing how to deal with the poor boy, Iliana had floo called Severus who immediately explained the muggle disease to her and sent through a few salves and creams.

"Hush now Mr. itchy," the fire dancer said as she warmed her core temperature in an effort to calm Harry. "We'll put on this salve first to try to get rid of some of these marks, and then the cream to stop the itching."

Severus' remedies worked on Harry, but only for a few hours. The same held true for Blaise who woke up the next day, having caught the chicken pox from Harry. Iliana did her best, applying salves and creams as needed. Both boys were fussy and bad tempered, but when Iliana Zabini set her mind to something, she always had her way. They were given strict, healthy diets, and were limited to what and where they could play. It was when Draco and Hollyhock got the chicken pox that things got worse.

Draco was just like Blaise and Harry in temperament, but was being looked after with the utmost care. It was Hollyhock that everyone was worried about. Vine elves reacted differently towards diseases, thus Holly had always either never been sick at all, or when she was sick, it was extremely bad. She had almost died once from a case of pneumonia. When Narcisa asked Feebee to wake Holly for breakfast the morning after Draco got the pox, she found the girl glued to the sheets, her sores oozing a nasty pus.

"Master and mistress must come quickly!" exclaimed Feebee, ringing her hands. "Mistress Holly is unrecognizable!"

When Narcisa and Lucius rushed into the room, which resembled a jungle and rain forest combined, they found that Feebee had floated Hollyhock up above the bed. The pajama clad elf had stripped the little girl of her own pajamas and they could plainly see all the weeping pock marks which covered her from head to toe. Her eyes were also glassy and she definitely had a fever. The worst thing of all, though, was that her long auburn hair was matted and glued so tightly to her body, they feared they might have to cut it.

"We're going to have to go above Severus on this one and call the elders," said Lucius hoarsely. "We should still ask if Severus and Morgan can get time off though in case…"

Narcisa put a comforting hand on Lucius' shoulder, before rushing out to contact Elder Lahana. While she was doing that, an elf brought her a letter from the Grangers. It stated that Hermione had a very bad case of the chicken pox and wouldn't be able to play with any of the boys or Holly for the next several weeks. Rage filled Narcisa's veins, making her want to send a scathing letter back disinviting the Grangers from her home for life, but she realized that she didn't have time to be mad. She informed the elf to let Mr. and Mrs. Granger know that she was contacting the elders due to a severe case Holly had contracted.

"While you're at it," she told the elf, who she now realized was Mousy, her personal elf, "Tell Iliana that Draco and Holly are also sick, but that Holly needs immediate attention from the elders. When you come back, see if you can deliver this letter for me please."

Mousy nodded, surprised Narcisa had said please to her. It didn't happen often. She took the letter and popped away.

Narcisa arrived back in Hollyhock's room, noticing that Morgan and Severus were now there as well. Lucius must have used Dobbie to call them. They sat in one of the chairs at Holly's play table, Morgan clutching onto Severus as they stared up at the floating girl. Narcisa sank into the chair beside the canopy bed, noticing for the first time that the room smelled strongly of pine trees and lavender.

"Do you all smell that?" she asked softly.

Morgan nodded, stating that at first they thought it might have been the plants in the room. It wasn't though and they all knew it. Each one of them focused on some part of their darling girl, whether it was her face, her eyes, her hair, or her tiny frame.

"I wonder when…"

There was a pop and Elder Lahana stood at the foot of the bed with Mousy's hand in hers. She looked at the scene in horror, a hand going to her mouth. Mousy disappeared and came back with a taller, yellow vine elf. Elder Lahana reached for his hand and grasped it so tightly, her knuckles went white.

"This is a tragic thing we are seeing," said the man, not even bothering with formal hellos.

"Everyone this is my dominant, Gloran," said Elder Lahana, her body quivering with sadness. "It is a rare thing when a muggle disease brings low a vine elf child."

"Can you heal her?" asked Morgan through free flowing tears.

"Aye we can," said Elder Lahana, "But not here. We will need to take her to the elven healing halls. She needs to be cleansed, and put in a healing sleep. Only then can we begin to heal her."

"Can't any of us come with you?" asked Narcisa.

"I'm afraid not," answered Gloran. "As one of the head healers, I can say that it would be unwise for an adult human to enter the healing pools with her. After that, she will be sleeping in an isolated chamber until the next gibbus moon, whereupon we will heal her in an enchanted circle. The ritual is only known to elves."

"So what you're saying is," said Severus as he consulted the lunar chart he always kept with him, "We won't have Hollyhock back for at least a month and a half!"

"Do you want her healed or not?" asked Elder Lahana gently. "We're sorry that it has to be this way. If it were other healings, we could have performed them right here."

Finally they all agreed and Hollyhock was floated next to the elves. They joined their free hands around her after floating her upright, then all three of them vanished in a cloud of blue and yellow.

The women were openly sobbing, and even Lucius and Severus had a hard time containing their grief. In the end, though they would just have to bare it. Holly was getting the best care needed. Severus sent over the same remedies to the Grangers he had to everyone, telling them how to apply them. He then flooed over to Iliana's house so he could speak to Harry alone. In the end, Harry didn't understand why his sister had to be away for so long, but he accepted that she needed healing. There was a temper tantrum involved in which he insisted to see her, but finally he gave up and hugged Severus, saying sorry and wishing as hard as he could that Holly would come back sooner than what felt like him to be forever.

A/N Okay I know it's short and I apologize for that but it's a new chapter so I hope you all enjoy it. I have been reposting chapters, trying to make them flow better. Some have new beginnings and some have new endings. There are only 2 that are undone for which I apologize but I hope you will go back and look at what I've done. Please read and review and let me know what you would like to see in the story.