Outbreak
a Harry Potter story
by midnight_angel_girl
Prologue:
Severus Snape looked at the clock on the wall of Remus Lupin's cottage. It was a few days after the full moon, and true to form, Remus had come down ill a few days prior. Dumbledore had sent Snape to look after Remus for the weekend, since the lycan tended to be rather weak. That had been on Friday evening. Now, at long last, it was 10:00 Sunday night and time for Snape to head back to Hogwarts.
"Well, Lupin," he scowled. "It's time for me to head back to school. I do have classes in the morning."
Remus opened his mouth to speak, but instead, turned his head and sneezed into his handkerchief. "Harchushh, heyshhushhh, heychoo . Excuse be. Thak you for everything, Severus. Uhchushoo . Terribly sorry I keep sdeezig like this." He paused to blow his nose.
"I expect it from you by now." Snape uttered, cooly.
"I dow. If I'b dot sick, it's allergies. I do hope that with all of by sdeezig this weeked, I didn't give you by cold. Huckshoo. "
"As do I." Snape responded, heading for the door. He was eager to get to a point where he could apparate to Hogsmeade, then walk back to Hogwarts, to his chambers and a decent headache potion. He hoped that the dull ache behind his eyes was the result of spending the weekend with Lupin and not an indication that he had caught the man's cold.
"Good-bye Severus. Thak you agaid." Remus said, cheerfully despite his congestion.
"Good-bye," Snape walked out the door and within 15 minutes, was back at Hogwarts. He grabbed a headache potion from his personal stores, changed into pajamas and was quickly asleep.
Infection:
Snape slept soundly through the night, awaking in the morning with a dryness in his throat and mouth that indicated he had slept with his mouth open. "Hurchoo ." Before he could think about that, a sudden sneeze propelled him forward. 'Where did that come from?' he wondered before he inhaled deeply through his nose. The result was a deep audible sniffle. He groaned; his nose was completely blocked up. The damn, bloody werewolf had given him his cold.
"Mrow?" A soft meow caught his attention as his cat, Vexation, pounced on his chest.
"Bordig. I'll feed you id a bit, Vex." he said, scratching the kitten under her chin as she purred. Merlin, he was stuffed up. Grabbing his bathrobe and change of clothes, he headed for his bathroom, hoping that a long, hot shower would ease his congestion. Nearly 30 minutes later, he exited the steamy bathroom, sank down on the bed and blew his nose relentlessly. Another 10 minutes and ½ a box of tissues later, his nose was finally clear enough to sort of breath through. After he fed Vex, he jotted a quick note to the house elves requesting more tissues, grabbed an extra handkerchief, and headed to the great hall for breakfast.
Snape picked over his breakfast, then headed to his office for his free period before class. After working for an hour, he gave his nose a few strong blows and headed into the classroom. Flicking his wand at the chalkboard, the lesson appeared. "There is your assignment. At the end of the period, place your vials on my desk. There is to be no talking. Points will be deducted accordingly." He sat at his desk and began grading papers.
"Archesshh, Hurchesshh ." Midway through the period, a pair of thunderous sneezes split the silence. After blowing his nose, he glowered at the students.
"Bless you, sir." Draco Malfoy spoke up.
"5 poindts fromb Slytherind for talking." He glared, daring the students to speak or giggle at his congested speaking.
The remainder of the class and the rest of the day progressed slowly and in silence for Snape. He managed to keep the majority of his sneezes under control, only sneezing 3 or 4 times in each class period. Massaging his temples, he decided to go lay down until dinner.
When he reached his chambers, he started the fire, then dozed off, missing dinner.
Slytherin:
Draco woke Tuesday morning with an intense, burning tickle in his nose. "Heyeshhoo, hesshoo. " he sneezed wetly, fumbling for a tissue. As he softly blew his nose to avoid waking anyone else up, he heard coughing coming from Crabbe's bed.
"You ok, Draco?" he asked hoarsely.
"Fide." he responded, surprised at how stuffed up his nose was. "Probably just caught Professor Sdape's cold. Souds like you did too."
"Heh-chuhh ." Any response Crabbe may have had was interrupted by a deep sneeze from Goyle.
"Bless you." Blaise Zabini said from the next bed. "Souds like all four of us are sick." he sniffled, before sneezing himself. "Huh-utchh. "
"We should probably go see Badabe Pobfrey. Yehh-shoo. " Draco sniffled. "Get sobe pepper-up before breakfast."
"Good idea...atchoo. " Crabbe sneezed as the four of them got dressed and proceeded to the infirmary.
Gryffindor:
Harry Potter was woken Tuesday morning by the sound of sneezing coming from Ron Weasley's bed. "Heh-kihshh, heh-kushh, kihshoo. "
He tossed a box of tissues towards the redhead. "Bless you, Rod." He paused when he heard his congested voice and sniffled.
"Thaks." Ron answered. "I thik I caught Sdape's bloody cold. Souds like you did. Too, Harry." He took several tissues from the box and tossed it back to Harry so he could blpw his nose as well.
"We should go to the infirmary before we get Dead ad Deville sick." Harry suggested. "Ickshoo. "
"Too late,:" came a response from Dean Thomas's bed. "Hetchuhh. I'll joid you guys id goig to go get pepper-up. He summo"ned a change of clothes and got dressed as Ron and Harry did the same.
"Do you thik Deville's sick, too?" Ron asked
"Wake hib ad fide out." Harry suggested.
Dean shook Neville awake. "Hey, are you sick?"
"No, I'm fine. Why?"
"We all caught bloody Sdape's bloody cold." Ron told him. "Probably frob hib sdeezig id class yesterday."
"I wasn't in Potions yesterday, remember. I had that accident in Charms and Flitwick had to fix it. It took the whole period to get it straightened out."
"Thahh...ahhhchishhh ....that's right. We're goig to see Badabe Pobfrey thed. See you at breakfast." Harry said as the trio headed towards the hospital wing.
Hospital Wing:
Harry, Ron and Dean reached the hospital wing where they saw a small crowd of people. Padma Patil was stood with several other Ravenclaws near the front of the line, sneezing and blowing her nose into a crumpled blue handkerchief.. Behind the Ravenclaw group were Draco Malfoy and his flunkies. The three of them joined the group, standing behind Hannah Abbot and Ernie MacMillan.
"You guys sick, too?" Ernie snuffled.
"Hitschoo ." Hannah sneezed softly, blowing her nose as Ernie handed her a tissue from the box he carried. "Thaks," she rasped.
"Yeah. Figure we caught it frob bloody Sdape sneezig id class yesterday." Ron groused.
"Souds logihh...logical...ahshoo, hahshoo. " Ernie sneezed, blowing his reddened nose.
"Bless you." said Dean as Professor McGonagall appeared, dispensing tissues.
"Colds for you five, as well?" she asked as they all nodded. "All right, Madame Pomfrey or Professor Sprout will be with you in a few minutes. Potions is cancelled today, just in case you don't hear Dumbledore announce it a breakfast."
"Heychoo, heyechoo ." Harry sneezed.
"Bless you, Mr. Potter." she told him, handing him a handful of fresh tissues.
"Thak you, Professor." he said as she continued her way down the line.
15 minutes later, they were in the infirmary where Professor Flitwick wrote down their names and sent them into a treatment room. Within another 15 minutes, they had been dosed with pepper-up and sent to the great hall for breakfast where nearly half of the students could be seen to have smoke billowing from their ears.
Back to Snape:
Severus Snape woke up about 11:00 the next morning. He vaguely remembered Dumbledore coming in to inquire as to his absence at dinner. Looking around, he saw a note lying on the nightstand next to him. 'Severus, I know you may not remember me coming in last night. After talking with you, we decided to cancel your classes for the day. I disabled your alarm clock spell so you could get some more sleep. Just let me know if you require another day off and would like me to take over your classes on Thursday, as I do feel responsible for your cold. I took the liberty of tucking you in last night. Hope you don't mind. Albus. P.S. I fed Vex for you."
"Heyuhhchhh, hurchooo. " He went into his potions laboratory and began brewing a cold relief potion he had gotten from his boyfriend's sister-in-law. When it was done, he drank it, and returned to his bed. Given the severity of his cold, it would take a while for the potion to work.
After a few minutes, Vex came and snuggled next to him. They lay there until he sneezed rather forcefully. "Herahshoo, huhchushoo, hehrrsheshh ." Startled, Vex jumped to the floor and looked at him. "I'b sorry. I didn't bead to scare you. Cobe back up." He patted the spot next to him, and after a moments hesitation, Vex crawled back in bed next to him.
No own, no sue
Weekly Hatching #35