I Love You, But Please Die!

Remus laughed. I laughed. Somebody else laughed.

Remus turned his head to see who it was. Unluckily for me, that made me stick my butt up at whoever was behind us. I tried to recognise the voice but it was hopeless.

"Well, well. If it isn't Lupin and Henrys."

"What do you want, Black?"

Well, I'd never heard anybody talk to their friend that way. I assume it is Sirius seeing as there aren't any other Blacks I know.

"Just what I have been trying all day to get."

What is up with this guy?

"Like what...?" Remus asked as the person came closer.

"Like this!"

Suddenly, a hand reached out and grabbed the heart necklace dangling down from my neck. It ripped off me as the person pulled away and ran off. Hey! Jason gave me that!

"Ouch!" I screamed. The sound bounced off all the walls and made a really cool echo. "Who was that?" I asked Remus, still trying to get oxygen.

"Regulus Black. Sirius' little brother."

"What did he want with my necklace?"

"I'm not sure. Come on, let's try and get to the Hospital Wing."

"But that's four floors up! We can barely breathe let alone climb stairs."

"I know a few secret passageways, now come on!"

Remus walked us past the doors to the Great Hall, the sound of students eating and chatting fading as we walked away. My tummy made a gurgling sound from lack of food.

"It's okay, tummy. I'll get you some food soon," I muttered.

"What?" Remus asked.

"Nothing."

We shuffled over to a tapestry and Remus whispered a spell to make it open. He quickly closed it behind us and we plunged into darkness.

"I'm scared of the dark!" I said, my voice quivering with fear.

Remus sighed and lit his wand up. "Baby!"

I scowled at his arm - the only thing I could see. My back was aching from being slightly bent over and my hips were hurting from walking sideways.

"Are we there yet?" I asked as we started going uphill.

"Almost."

We shuffled a little farther and Remus opened up yet another tapestry. This one was a kind of pink colour. We walked down a hallway and came to the doors of the Hospital Wing. Madame Pomfrey rushed over and started demanding little house elves to retrieve various potions and tools.

"What happened, exactly?" she asked us, poking around to try and see where we were attached.

"We were running late for the carriages and missed them so we had to walk to Hogwarts-" Remus started before being cut off by Pomfrey.

"Blast those Protective Spells."

"So it was just a shield kind of thing?" I asked as she painfully pulled my free arm backwards.

"Yes, unfortunately it is very hard to come off."

I groaned. I really don't want to be stuck to him forever. Pomfrey pulled out a pair of scissors and I immediately backed up.

"Don't worry, girl. I won't hurt you."

She started cutting away at Remus' school robes. Luckily I hadn't changed into mine yet and I only had some old clothes on. She freed my shoulder and started on my forehead. She grabbed a bottle off one of the trays the elves had carried over and smothered the contents into my hair. Yuck! It smelt awful. With one final snip, we were free. She mended Remus' robes with a flick of her wand. We smiled as she nodded her approval.

"Now, unfortunately, you can't go yet."

The smiles vanished.

"I still need to remove the acids the phlegm contains so you won't fall ill. This involves an overnight process so I advise you to gather some overnight clothes and any other things you would like to keep you occupied. I want you back here in half an hour."

Eww! Phlegm! We were covered in Phlegm? She bustled away, informing the house elves of something. Remus and I walked out, rubbing various, cramped limbs.

"My neck hurts," I said as I ran a hand through my hair, only to get a sticky feel on it.

"You certainly complain a lot," Remus said cheekily. I whacked him on the arm before we split up at the nearest staircase. "See you back there," he said, climbing the stairs.

"See you," I replied, walking past him and down a corridor.

Once I had reached my dorm room, I decided to make use of the emptiness. I walked over to Sarah's bed and flipped the pillow over. She hates that. I walked over to my bed and started unpacking my pink trunk at the end of it. I pulled out my pyjamas, my toothbrush, my brush, a clean set of clothes and my teddy - Mr Ted.

"Come on Mr Ted, we are going on an excursion."

Mr Ted smiled. At least I think he did. I threw the stuff into my spare bag, placing Mr Ted on top so he could see what I was doing. I pulled out a piece of parchment and wrote a quick note to Sarah, saying where I was. I threw it down on her bed and picked up my belongings.

"Well, Mr Ted, say goodbye to this room because we won't be back until tomorrow."

Mr Ted and I walked out of the dorms and out through the Common Room. We slowly made our way over to the Hospital Wing. Remus wasn't back yet so I got first dibs on which bed I want. I picked the one right at the far end next to the full length window. It has a view out over the lake. I changed into my pyjamas and made a nice, cosy spot for Mr Ted. I'm sure he would thank me if he could. If only Mrs Dolly could be here. I'm sure she would enjoy it. I lost Mrs Dolly a few days ago and still haven't found her.

"Ah, Mr Lupin. Take the bed next to Miss Henrys, please!"

I turned to face the door and found Remus heading towards me. He stopped at the end of his bed and made a face at me.

"Appleby Arrows pyjamas, aye? Nice choice."

I smiled smugly and went back to combing Mr Ted's fur. He has quite a few knots that need tending to. By the time I turned back around to face Remus, he was also in his pyjamas, cleaning his reading glasses. I started trying to clean the 'phlegm' out of my hair after accidentally running my hand through it for a fifth time. It was really hard.

"You should use a spell for that!" Remus said, whipping his wand out and removing it for me.

"Thanks. Did you see Jason when you went to the Gryffindor Common Room?" I asked in hope of having some contact with the family.

He shook his head. "Nope." Damn. "I left a note, though. He knows where you are. He'll probably come around later."

Ha! Yeah, and my name is Albus Dumbledore.

"I guess," I lied, going back to Mr Ted. "So, Mr Ted, what story would you like me to read?" I got the feeling that he wanted a song instead. "No, Mr Ted! No songs, just stories."

Remus came up behind me and sat down on the chair between me and the window. "What are you doing?"

"Reading Mr Ted a story."

"Where's the book?"

"I make it up as I go along. Wanna play a game?"

"Sure, but that's more telling a story than reading it."

I chose to ignore that. "Okay, what we do is take it in turns to say a sentence and build on until we have a story. You go first."

"Okay...there once was a handsome Prince called Remus."

"He owned a puppy called Pumpkin."

Remus frowned. "He was the handsomest man in all the land."

"His best friend was Princess Belle."

"Who had a teddy named Mr Ted."

Hear that Mr Ted? You're in the story! "Mr Ted liked to play games and enjoyed having stories read...told to him."

"One day, Prince Remus found him a wife called Miss Bear."

"She was ugly, so Princess Belle banished her from the kingdom."

"Then, along came a huge dragon called James and he was killed by the nasty dragon slayer, Sir Sirius."

"Remus! Mr Ted doesn't like stories with death in them!" I scorned, frowning at him.

Remus chuckled, pulling Mr Ted out from under the bed covers. He ruffled his fur. "How long have you had this thing?" he asked me, reading the tag.

"Since I was born. Be careful! Don't give him knots!"

"So, you've had a toy all your life?"

"Yes. Your point?"

"Nothing." He put Mr Ted back and straightened the sheets. "Goodnight, Mr Ted," he said very seriously.

I carefully adjusted the pillows around Mr Ted's head and turned the lamp off so he could get some rest.

Madame Pomfrey came bustling back over with a few bottles of something. "Sorry about the wait, there was an incident with a few second years I had to fix." She carefully read the labels on the blue bottles. "Alright, so I'm going to have to keep you in overnight - as you already know. You must take a small dose of this every two hours." She looked up at us. "I'm afraid your sleep will be disrupted."

Darn. Double darn. I like my sleep!

"So, I'll ask you to take this in about twenty-five minutes, on the hour. It'll be easier."

She walked away, leaving the bottles on my bedside table. I picked one up and peered at it. The labelling said that it was 'Smithy's Toxin Removal'. I put the heavy bottle down and sighed. I heard somebody walk over as I looked out of the window, but I didn't look away from one of the bright dots out in the night sky. I wasn't sure if it was a star or a planet. It wasn't twinkling, but it wasn't staying still either.

"Hey, Belle, Remus!"

I turned at the sound of Sarah's voice. I squealed and jumped up for a hug. She smelt like shampoo. MY shampoo. Probably payback for the pillow. Nick was behind her too, so I got another hug. They sat around Remus and me, giving us curious looks.

"Why are you here?" I asked them.

"I could ask you the same thing. You two disappeared. What happened?" Sarah replied.

"I was attacked!" I said, trying to get some sympathy.

"Yeah, but what about Remus?" Sarah asked as innocently as she could.

"No sympathy here. Come on Mr Ted, let's look elsewhere." Just as I went to get up, Remus opened his mouth to explain everything - And so I sat back down.

"Well," he started. "Belle followed somebody pretending to be Nick into a carriage and they stunned her. Once I had found her a few hours later, we missed the carriages and had to walk to Hogwarts. And as if that isn't enough, when we passed the gates, this green gunk was thrown at us and we were stuck together until we got here."

"Yeah!" I agreed. "And Regulus Black nicked my necklace for some reason."

Sarah and Nick peered cautiously at me. Before Pomfrey gave us our medicine, they decided it was time to leave and they stood up to go. Sarah and Nick said goodnight to Mr Ted and the rest of us. I was pretty upset to see them go, but I let them leave. The stuff Pomfrey shoved down my mouth was probably the most disgusting thing I have ever tasted. Even worse than the stuff Aunty Dot used to feed me. Remus took it pretty well. No coughing, no spitting, no cringing, no wincing, no sign of disgust at all. I was quite the contrary.

"Now, I'll set this alarm to go off every two hours. It will be loud enough to wake you up. When it does, I want you to take a spoon full..." She put a spoon down on each of our bedside tables and placed an alarm of some sort down on Remus'. "And swallow it all. Don't forget."

"We won't," Remus answered, climbing into his bed.

"That's good. Lights out at ten." With that, Pomfrey walked away, informing the house elves around her that dinner was served.

I climbed into bed too. It was around nine 'o' clock. I tossed and turned. I tossed again. I turned again.

"Belle, are you okay?" Remus asked, sitting up.

"Maha!" I said, burying myself in pillows.

We both eventually fell asleep, Remus waking me up every two hours to take my medicine. When it was finally time to get up, I looked a sight. My skin was all pale, my eyes were red, my tummy was aching and I had a very bad headache. Remus was just the same. With a loud huuruguuue, I threw up down the side of my bed.

"Ew, Belle. That's disgusting."

"Shut up!"

--------------------------------

"Ohmigod!"

You know, I never thought Pomfrey was the kind of person to speak like that. But, she proved me wrong.

"What's happened here?" she screamed shrilly, piercing my ears.

With a loud huuruguuue, Remus threw up down the side of his bed.

"Ew, Remus. That's disgusting."

"Shut up!" he groaned back. I grinned to myself.

Pomfrey had picked up the bottle we had last used and smelt it. Her eyes suddenly widened and she took off running out of the Hospital Wing. I went to say something, but all that came out was more puke. I don't think I have anything more in my stomach to get rid of. I've practically gotten rid of my insides over the side of my bed. Yuck, that is really off. I reckon Remus is taking it better.

"I feel so sick!" I said as Remus finally gave up holding what ever was left in. I had a gross taste in my mouth, there was a very bad smell around and the person who was supposed to take care of us ran away. Mr Ted was still asleep. I didn't want to wake him because I am sure that he wouldn't appreciate it.

"I'm glad nobody else has to suffer this," Remus said, sitting up.

"Speak for yourself. If I have to go through this, I want everybody else to feel the same pain."

"Even Mr Ted?"

He had me cornered. "No," I answered quietly, shooting Mr Ted a loving look.

Pomfrey walked back in, Dumbledore at her heels. I'm sure this wasn't good.

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