When Rose woke up that Friday morning, she knew she was getting sick. She could always tell by the taste in the back of her throat and the first echoes of an ache in her body. Still, it wasn't anything serious, so she got up and readied herself for her day.

By dinner, Rose knew that she was most certainly ill, and so did all of her friends. James seemed to be holding back laughter as Rose slurped soup from her spoon, sniffing back her running nose and trying to get the broth down her swelling throat.

"Go to the Hospital Wing," suggested Lysander. "Madam Chang can give you something."

"It's just a cold," said Rose stubbornly. She absolutely hated taking potions for silly little things like colds. Her body could deal with this on its own. All she needed was some sleep.

Rose Weasley had a hard time admitting when she was wrong. She came from a rather stubborn family and had grown up listening to years-old arguments rehashed over family dinners. It seemed to be a Weasley gene, passed down through the generations. So when she woke on Saturday morning and felt (by her estimation) a thousand times worse than the night before, she refused to admit that Lysander might have had a good idea.

However, by the time she managed to sit up and fully assess the situation, her resolve had begun to waver. Her vision was swimming, it felt like her throat had been sliced open and hastily glued back together, and she wasn't quite sure she could feel her feet.

"Tia," she tried to say, but all that emerged was a dull croak. She swallowed, wincing at the pain, and tried again. "Tia."

But everyone else seemed to have already gotten up for the day. All four beds were empty, Rose realized, though it took a moment to lock her vision in on each one in turn. Groaning, she pulled herself off the bed using one of the four posts and steadied her legs beneath her. Everything shifted sideways, but she refused to go down with it. Instead she closed her eyes, breathed, and waited.

When she felt more steady on her feet, she began shuffling towards the door. It was slow going, but nothing compared to the stairs. Measuring the distance between each step was time-consuming, and her energy level was already wavering somewhere near zero. She was grateful that her room was not higher up in the tower. She didn't know how long it took her to reach the common room, but by the time she made it, she felt ready to drop again.

Thankfully, the room was not as empty as her dormitory. A few students still lingered, though she couldn't tell if these were the last few to go to breakfast or the first to return. Among them was Lysander, chatting with Ethan Duram as they descended the stairs from their own dormitory.

Rose tried to call out for him, but her voice again failed her. Instead, she mustered up all her strength and shuffled forward, hoping to catch his attention before he could slip through the portrait hole.

Thankfully, Lysander had always been the attentive sort. He saw Rose nearly instantly and turned, changing his course to head towards her.

"Rose, you look like hell," he said worriedly, taking in her pyjamas and what was sure to be a desperate case of bedhead. "You need to see Madam Chang."

All Rose could do was nod weakly. Lysander- for a moment it seemed to be both Lorcan and Lysander as Rose's vision split then rejoined- looked her over once more.

"Hey Ethan," he said, "help me get Rose down to the Hospital Wing? I'll meet you at the game after."

Rose wanted to object, but the boys flanked her, each taking one of her arms. They started forward and Rose nearly went down as her legs refused to work.

"It's alright," said Lysander calmly, "we've got you."

She stopped resisting and allowed the two boys to share her weight. Once they were through the narrow portrait hole, one of Rose's arms was slung over each of their shoulders, and she felt far more secure. She remained in her dazed state as they helped her through the castle, her hearing fading back into a faint buzz in both of her ears. She knew that she should probably be concerned about that, but she honestly didn't have the energy to worry.

Rose was vaguely aware of the brighter lights as they entered the Hospital Wing, and how her weight shifted as she was lowered onto one of the beds. She was definitely more disoriented now than when she had first woken up. Her lips were suddenly wet as she was urged to drink something that tasted a bit too metallic for her liking, but she was too drained to resist.

"She'll be fine," someone said in the background of all the buzzing. "Give it a few minutes to kick in."

Rose's first stubborn instinct was to insist that she was perfectly fine, thank you very much, but there was no use trying. Instead she embraced the feeling of the bed beneath her as she was leaned back to a horizontal position. Her hands were warm, and the metallic taste was still lingering on her tongue. She tried to swallow and clear the taste away, but her throat was still too sore to manage much.

But it no longer sounded like warring bees bustling around her skull. Rose realized that she could hear clearly again just as Lysander was saying, "...out to the game today, but I wanted to wait and make sure she was alright."

"Well it's good you did," replied the soothing voice of Madam Chang. Her voice sounded like wind chimes, thought Rose with an internal smile. She understood why the woman became a Healer. "She should have come to me last night. It wouldn't have gotten so bad."

"That's what I said," muttered Lysander. "But you think it's just a bug?"

"I've seen a few more with similar symptoms," said Madam Chang. "They've been coming in before it got so severe, but it's clearly the same illness. Simple potions are all they need, even though it looks frightening."

The heat around her hands tightened, and Rose realized that Lysander was holding them.

"Has your brother been well?" asked Madam Chang.

"Never better," said Lysander absently.

Rose chuckled, the sound coming out jagged and rough, but not tearing open her throat the way it felt like it might. She blinked, forcing her eyes to focus on the two people before her. Lysander was sitting on the side of the bed, still holding both her hands in his own, and Madam Chang was offering her a soft smile.

"There we are," she said, "it's all uphill from here. You just need to rest for a bit before you can leave, alright?"

Rose glanced at the clock on the wall. It was almost time for the Quidditch match to begin, and as always, she had promised her cousins that she would attend.

"I'll get the other potions you'll need," continued Madam Chang, who had not seemed to notice Rose's lack of response. As she walked away, Lysander squeezed Rose's hands and then released them, dropping his own back in his lap.

"Gave us a bit of a scare there," he said with a chuckle. "Next time, you'll think twice about coming to see Madam Chang, eh?"

"Sure," groaned Rose noncommittally. "Should go."

"You need to rest," said Lysander firmly. "We'll head to the game in a little bit. It's not like Quidditch is a quick game."

In fact, James and Albus had repetitively said that this should be one of the longer matches of the year given how many points they needed to make up to surpass Slytherin for the Cup. So Rose let herself relax against the pillows, eyes drifting closed for only a moment.

When she reopened them, Lysander was across the room chatting with Madam Chang. They both turned as Rose sat up, swinging her legs over the side of the bed with ease.

"What time is it?" she asked, stretching her neck.

"Half past noon," replied Lysander. "Feeling better?"

"Much," said Rose, the pain in her throat now just a lingering discomfort.

"Then you're good to go," said Madam Chang, bringing her three small bottles. "Drink this one now for a bit of a pick me up. Your muscles might have some soreness later on- this is for that. And this," she said, lifting the third, "is to make sure you sleep tonight. Your internal clock is going to be thrown off and we can't have you wearing yourself out, now can we?"

"Thank you," said Rose, quickly drinking the first potion. She then realized that she was still in her pyjamas. Seeing her dilemma, Lysander slipped the other two bottles into his robes.

"Let's get you bundled up and ready for Quidditch," said Lysander with sparks of false enthusiasm. Rose resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Getting out in the cold air actually sounded rather refreshing at the moment.

She felt even better after changing into real clothes. Anyone but Lysander might have joked about her wandering the castle in her nightclothes, but he just waited patiently for her to redress.

As they walked down to the pitch, Rose craned her neck and squinted, trying to catch a glimpse of the players overhead in the distance. By the time they reached the base of the stands, however, they heard the unmistakable voice of Barton Everett booming throughout the grounds.

"The Golden Snitch has been caught by Gryffindor Seeker James Potter!"

Rose and Lysander cheered with the rest of the crowd as the players began to land. Rose knew she should feel worse about missing the actual match, but she just couldn't muster the feeling.

The Gryffindor team swarmed together as they landed, jumping up and down and hollering wordlessly. Cameron hopped off his broom, moved swiftly around his teammates, and grabbed Dominique by the arms. Before she had a chance to react, Cameron was kissing her.

Rose smacked Lysander's arm.

"I know!" he said, even as she continued hitting him. "Yeah, I see it too!"

Dominique pulled away, stumbling backwards a step, eyes wide and mouth open in a small o. The rest of the team had turned to watch, as had many of the Hufflepuff players. When it seemed evident that no one was going to speak, James broke from the center of the pack.

From the distance she was at, Rose could not hear exactly what he said, but she clearly saw her cousin turn and repeat Cameron's actions with Patricia Longgrass, swinging into a dramatic dip as he kissed her.

"I know!" said Lysander as Rose hit him. "Geeze, Rose."

It took Patricia much longer to break away than Dominique. By then, many of the students from the stands had swarmed onto the pitch to congratulate the players. Rose and Lysander would have to fight their way through to reach their friends.

They looked at each other, then turned and started back towards the castle. The team, along with the rest of the school, would be inside again soon, and Rose was sure that James and Cameron would be bombarded with questions.

By the time the Gryffindor team reappeared, however, much of the attention had been deflected from Cameron onto James, who entered with his arm around Patricia's waist. The pair laughed as they were swarmed with questions from the other Gryffindors. Rose hung back, waiting for Albus to push through to their secluded chairs by the side of the room.

"That," she said when he finally found her, "was quite the ending to a game."

He shook his head, looking just as confused as she felt.

"I didn't know James fancied Patricia," said Albus, glancing back at the pair. "But when we went back to get changed after the match, he thanked Cameron for setting things up so he could finally kiss her."

James made his way over, finally separated from Patricia, who had been stolen away by some of her female friends. He cocked a grin at Rose.

"Great game, eh?" he said.

"James-"

"I mean, I caught the Snitch at the end, that was pretty sweet."

"James-"

"And we get some house points for that, right?"

"James Potter!" snapped Rose. "What on earth are you doing with that poor girl?"

James feigned ignorance, but she knew him better than to fall for it.

"Patricia?" he said. "Nah, I... you know how it is."

What Rose knew was that James, under all of his bravado, was an awfully quick thinker. And that since the team had reentered the common room, Cameron hadn't stopped watching Dominique, who seemed set on ignoring him.

"Cam was just setting things up for me," said James, his voice still loud and drawing a bit of attention from the surrounding students. "Wanted to make sure I had a shot with Patricia. Good old Patty."

Albus winced.

"Stick with Patricia," he advised.

By the time the celebration was over, everyone had forgotten about the fact that Cameron had seemed to go after Dominique first. He had just been the bloke to set James Potter up with the girl he had been after, the great friend who took one for the team.

As the room emptied, Rose watched Cameron finally sit next to Dominique, who had waved her friends away. The pair talked for a few moments, then Dominique began to laugh and hit Cameron's arm.

"Anything for James," Rose heard her say as she stood. "Don't worry about it Cam. It's good to know the kid needed a bit of help getting the girl."

If Dominique noticed how Cameron watched her as she ascended the stairs to the girls' dormitories, she did not let on. Once she was out of sight, Cameron slumped in his chair, running a hand through his short hair with a long sigh.