Time Draws Nearer

[Felicity Hjort]

Sunday December 21, 2008
2:17pm

For once, she didn't feel like even being out in the snow, though that was where she sat, overlooking the ice that was forming over the lake. She knew there was something going around the school, the whole reason for them being confined to it for break, but she wasn't happy. Felicity had been looking forward to going home and enjoying the short break with her family, spending Christmas with them, working, maybe going to Diagon with Drew again on their official one year anniversary. However, instead, she was stuck at the castle, having to read the letters from her parents about how upset and angry they were with the school for making such a rash decision and as for the fact they weren't allowed to visit? Felicity was their daughter and as far as they were concerned they could pull her right from the school at that very moment and have her home with them. Forget magical training, with the invasion the previous January and now the containment of the school, even the blonde's mum was feeling rather annoyed. Sure her dad didn't know about the invasion as it was kept a secret from him, but he was pretty livid about not being able to see Felicity. That would make a whole year, one whole school year without seeing his daughter, without having that chance to tell that boy she was dating the new rules, without anything.

Actually, Felicity had a letter from her dad that she was supposed to give to Drew, but she wasn't so sure she wanted to hand it over to him. But what if she didn't give it to him and only got Drew in trouble with her dad because of it? There went that idea, she would have to hand the letter over to Drew, still sealed in its envelope, and hope for the best.

However, instead of seeking Drew out right away, which wasn't all that normal for the blonde, she opted to sit outside in the snowbank and stare out over the lake. Sure, the snow usually put her in great spirits, but she was feeling a little off about things. For one, she wasn't allowed to go home, let alone see her family over a Christmas break. For two, her actual anniversary with Drew was drawing nearer and they would have to celebrate it at the school instead of like she had wanted to in Diagon. For three, January was drawing nearer and her nerves were becoming more and more on edge. What if what happened last year happened again, but this time worse things happened? What if this time, people were more than just hurt?

Knees pulled up to her chest, her letters from family members folded in her hand, tears brimming her eyes, Felicity looked out over the lake. She wanted to go home. And what was worse, she wasn't sure if she was feeling very good or if it was just the thought of possibly getting sick from everyone else who was sick. Her dad already wasn't fond of what the illness was, after her mum explained it to him, and he wanted her away from the school, not stuck in it.

(OPEN)

[Connor Manning]

Connor wasn't going home for the holidays.

And really, the only reason he wasn't going home was because he wasn't allowed. He didn't know how to take it, he couldn't see his mum and dad, or even his sister Bella and her new boyfriend. Connor could see the entire family gathered around the large kitchen table, papa and yaya joining as well. The only thing missing would be him. This would be his first Christmas without his family. He didn't even know how to take the news that Dragon Pox was quickly spreading throughout the school. He had already had the illness when he was a child, so the threat was minor, but he was wary about who he hung around with. If everyone was so concerned about people getting sick then why were they containing them with other sick people? The entire student body of Hogwarts was close as a whole, even Connor had friends that ranged in house and year. It would be easier to spread, especially with school lessons to go to.

Connor was feeling more homesick than he had ever felt in his life, and he couldn't believe it that it was only four days away from Christmas. His heart heaved with anxiety as he let himself out of the courtyard and across the bridge that would eventually lead him to the grounds of Hogwarts. He didn't know why he was feeling so anxious, maybe the idea of running into someone that had dragon pox scared him more than he knew. Or maybe he didn't want any company, despite the feelings of being lonely.

The fact that he saw a figure sitting down and huddled down on the edge of the lake both surprised Connor and didn't surprise him. He wasn't surprised by the fact that someone would be out and about, the lake was a magical place sometimes, but he was surprised by who it was and what she was doing.

Despite the fact that his instincts were telling him to leave Felicity alone, but drew nearer to the girl until he was standing behind her, just to her left. " Felicity? " He said as he sunk down to the ground next to her. If she didn't want to talk, he was fine with that. But she looked sad, far from the normal bubbly Gryffindor Connor was used to seeing.

[Felicity Hjort]

While Felicity was often selfish at times, she felt she had the right to be this time. Being contained at the school wasn't something on her to do list in life, instead, she wanted to go home. There were a number of holidays she was all ready missing away from her family due to being enrolled in school, but to be forced to miss such one? Especially with all the meaning her family put behind this particular holiday? It was horrible, she hated it, she hated Raynor, and she hated the stupid disease that was going around. But most of all, her anger was geared toward Raynor, as always.

The letters in her hand were were easy to see how enraged her parents were, her dad more so because of the epidemic, her mum because she knew of the basics of the events that last January and she wasn't fond of the vulnerability aspect it put the students in, at least in her opinion.

Lost in her own thoughts of self-pity about how she was aching to see her family, she didn't hear anyone approach, but after the voice startled her from where she'd been, and it had registered, she quickly turned her head to get a good look to make sure it was who she was thinking of. As soon as her light brown eyes laid sight on the boy, she spun right back around and began furiously wiping the tears from her eyes. There was no reason to be crying, she was supposed to be a Prefect, uphold the stupid school, all that jazz.

"Hi Connor," she greeted the boy softly, still trying to remove all signs of the tears. "How's Slytherin holding up?" she asked, trying to be curious about the other Houses.

[Connor Manning]

As Connor dropped to the ground he let his feet slide lightly against the thing layer of ice covering the Great Lake. He dug his shoes into the ice while sitting precariously on the edge of the bank. He didn't want to fall, but he also felt compelled, for some reason, to break the ice, figuratively.

He gave Felicity a bit of space as she turned from his and wiped her tears away, he wanted her to have privacy if she wanted it. Connor respected people for the most part, so he didn't mind sitting in silence for a few seconds until Felicity responded to his initial greeting. His eyes scanned the lake as he pulled his legs up, not wanting to break the forming layer of ice anymore. He didn't want to ruin any more of the progress it had made on its job of covering the lake, surely a hard job to do. He propped his leg up in front of him, leaning forward with his arms draped over his legs. He only looked back to the Gryffindor girl when she spoke to him.

' How's Slytherin holding up? ' The irony that she would ask such a question was outstanding to Connor. He knew that she meant the actual house, but he chose to think of it as her asking how he was holding up. A wierd transition of thought, but that was how Connor's mind worked. He gave a small shrug and a light smile to the girl. " Better than Gryffindor. " He said, his smile still in place. He wasn't sure if she knew that he meant her when he said Gryffindor, but he would be willing to tell her if need be.

[Felicity Hjort]

Focusing her light brown eyes on the lake as Connor settled in, she hoped she wouldn't say or do anything to make him upset with her. There was a tendency on her part to do such things while she was upset, but she didn't want to anger Connor any. It was to the point where she would consider him a friend, and she hated upsetting her friends, especially when Celina was their friend too. It was more than obvious through classes the two of them had become much closer than before.

When he answered her question, it took a moment for her to understand his answer. Did he mean there were less Slytherins ill than Gryffindors? She wasn't sure if that was so, then again, she didn't know the ratio of every House that were ill. It was another moment of silence before she understood what he meant. There was no more speak of the general House, she understood that he was speaking of himself only.

"You don't mind not being allowed to go home for break?" she asked uncertainly. It was her opinion that it wasn't fair they could not go home. True, there was always the choice to stay at Hogwarts over Christmas break, but she hadn't ever planned on staying at the school for it anyway. She wanted to go home, she liked going home, she wanted to see her family.

[Connor Manning]

The pox outbrake wasn't something to be taken lightly, especially in somewhere as heavily populated as Hogwarts. It made sense that the school should cancel the annual winter holidays, but that didn't stop Connor from liking it any less. Sure it would give him a chance to be around his friends more, but he was with them nine months out of twelve, and it was always nice to visit home for a week or two in the winter time. Connor didn't think it was fair at all, he wasn't sick, but he didn't complain too much about it out loud. What good would that do for anyone? Not much.

His hazel eyes didn't go back to Felicity as she spoke again, this time remaining out on the lake as he answered. " No, I do mind. I can't stand not being home for Christmas. " He admitted to her, finally dragging his eyes away from the scenery in front of him to land on the Gryffindor girl beside him. As he turned to look at her he caught a glimpse of some crumpled papers in her hand. " What ya got there, hm? " He asked, nodding his head in that general direction. There was nothing that caused him to ask, just that he was curious. It was kind of cold out, and surely there would be a better place for someone to do homework.

[Felicity Hjort]

"Oh," she answered softly. Felicity didn't like not being allowed to go home either and her parents didn't much care for the situation, at all. What made things worse was the fact parents weren't allowed to visit. Her dad had gone off quite a bit in the letters she'd received about how he was really ready to pull her from the school. All in all, she knew once she was allowed to return home for summer holidays she would have to fight to be allowed to return to Hogwarts again. While her mum might be a bit more understanding, Ib Hjort wouldn't take no nevermind of anything about would probably go to such lengths that he'd enroll his youngest daughter in the public school again. It took her over four years to convince him to let her go to Hogwarts, that would all be wasted because she'd have to start all over again.

But what was said next caught her by surprise and her eyes traveled to the letters in her hand before she said a word, as though she didn't know they were there.

"Threats from my parents," she answered with the smallest of smiles. "They're not very pleased about everything, and mostly not with Raynor. Mum doesn't understand why we're being locked in and down without warrant when dragon pox apparently isn't the worst of disease and is treatable and curable with the correct treatments. Dad is right off angry about me not being allowed to go home." His baby daughter wasn't going to be home for the holidays, he wouldn't see her until June, and he wasn't pleased. Not to mention, he was an awfully scary person when he was angry and the blonde wasn't looking to hearing about all of this at the beginning of summer, especially when she knew she'd be dealing with her own things, things like the fact Drew wouldn't be returning to Hogwarts with her in the fall.

[Connor Manning]

It was the first Christmas away from home. Connor always imagine his first Christmas away from his family would be... well, just far in the future. He imagined it being when he had a family of his own, not when he was only sixteen and stuck at a school full of sick people instead of home. He liked the school, it was indeed his second home, but with everyone sick or afraid of getting sick, it wasn't the most social place as of late.

He gave a short nod of his head as she let out a soft ' oh. ' He wasn't sure what he expected her to say really. " It's wierd, being stuck here. I've never been away from my family for too long. " He said, his eyes alternating from looking at Felicity when she talked, and looking out into the lake or the trees. The longest time he was away from his family was just during the school year, with the break of Winter Holidays in between. If anything, it would be unfamiliar to him at best.

Connor wasn't surprised that the Gryffindor girl's parents were mad, most parents were mad about it. Even Connor's parents, who were usually very calm, level-headed people, had sent him a letter of complaints about not being able to see him for Christmas. " That's what I don't understand, why don't we just treat the sick people and send them on their way? Or even just let the people who aren't all that sick on their way and everyone else get treated, then go. It makes no sense to keep everyone locked up, it will only make things worse in the long run. " If everyone was stuck in the school, then there would be more spreading of the dragon pox virus. There would be more people to spread it to, which is exactly what they were trying to stop. Connor couldn't complain too much, he had already had the virus when he was a little boy and was at much less of a risk than others who hadn't had it yet.

[Felicity Hjort]

"Me either," she answered. When she was younger she wasn't even allowed to stay over at her friends homes, the only time she'd been away from any amount of school was when she started at Hogwarts. Last fall had been her technical time away from home, as she'd also spent time away from home when she'd stayed at her siblings or cousins home, but Hogwarts was the first place she had ever stayed without family. It wasn't odd to be stuck at the school, but she found it upsetting and disappointing. All blame still fell on Raynor, it was her fault for closing the school down. If she hadn't of, then people would be at home having a good time hopefully due to the holiday season.

"Well, I know the potions need to be done in three doses, but still, those who weren't ill could've gone home at least." Three doses, one every third day, but why couldn't their parents just take them to the hospital? Of course, those who were muggle born and their parents might not know where to go to be taken care of properly, but still... But Connor was right, it would only make things worse in the long run by requiring everyone to remain at the school. Those who weren't likely to be ill were now basically being forced to be and those who have no chance of being ill were being kept against their will. What good was it bringing? None as far as the brown-eyed blonde could see.

"Have you ever had Dragon Pox?" Felicity inquired, turning her attention to her friend. She knew Drew had had it, wasn't sure about Celina, or really anyone else for that matter.

[Jason Williams]

"The was its going every ones gona have this god damned thing" A voice said behind the Seventh and Sixth year. Wearing a black coat with jeans and boots was Jason.
He shook his head and and the white snow that formed fell off. Jason walked up to the two and stopped beside Felicity and looked out across the lake.

"I think its safe to say almost every one in there is gona catch this blasted desise" Jason said turning his head to the Slythern and Gryffendor students. "and thers nothing any one can do to prevent it, just cure it fast enough before anyone dies" Jason turned his head away from them and coughed.

[Connor Manning]

Connor gave a nod of his head once again, brushing stray bits of hair out of his eyes. His hand absently went to his lip piercing and began spinning it as he thought. It was a bit of a habit he had gotten into when puzzling over something and he was currently trying to think of what he could do for Christmas now. He didn't want to associate with too many people who were infected, while Connor had had a bout of dragon pox as a kid, he was still able to get sick. It wasn't as likely as a person who hadn't had it already, but it was a possibility.

Three doses, that didn't sound too bad at all to Connor. He remembered hearing someone talk about having to take the doses every third day or so. It would take about nine days for someone to be cured of the pox, and that didn't always include the time to recover from the flu-like symptoms that usually came with dragon pox. " Nine days, then. Does that mean they're not contagious after the nine days or what? " He asked her, thinking that it made sense if the pox become less contagious after the patient had taken the medicine for it. Connor didn't understand much about magical medicine, or muggle medicine for that matter. He wasn't too sure on how things worked like that.

Connor smiled slightly, saying, " Yeh, I got it when I was a wee little lad. My mum and dad decided they should just expose me to it and get it over with. Got all better, and that was it. You? " He asked, wondering if the girl had ever had dragon pox before. Some people had and some people hadn't. Just as he was about to continue on he heard the voice of another person behind them. Connor turned his head to see Jason Williams, same year as he and Felicity, same house as Celina. He didn't know the lad, but it appeared he just appeared out of thin air.

The thought of Jason just appearing out of thin air, much like apparation, caused Connor to feel the slight tugging feeling of a smirk pulling at his lips. He knew that it was impossible to apparate inside the Hogwarts grounds and castle, anyone with a brain knew that. He listened to what the Ravenclaw was saying and nodded his head along. " Really think someone's gonna die, mate? " Connor asked, thinking otherwise.

[Jason Williams]

Jason turned back to Conor. He didn't want anyone to die, and he hoped that they could get through this with out anyone dieing, but the possibility was still there.

"I Hope not" Jason said turning back to the frozen lake. "but you can't rule out the possibility, the pox has a history of taking life's" Jason looked back at Connor. "all we can do is hope the get the meds to the people who need them in time, because personally i really don't wanna start breathing fire" Jason said with a half smirk.

Jason turned to the lake, he thought about what he would do if he found the person that started the epidemic in the school.
"Who did this to us" he said not taking his eyes off the lake. "how the hell did this happen"

[Felicity Hjort]

"I think they're not supposed to be contagious after the second dose," she answered, though completely unsure. Never having had the disease and therefore never needing the medication, she didn't know and doubted any of the ill would want to go through the process of explaining it all to her. Especially with how she didn't always understand things being said to her. But she started shaking her head when Connor asked if she'd ever had it. She lived in a muggle community, no dragon pox there, just chicken pox.

However, hearing the voice suddenly appear from nowhere, Felicity jumped and instinctively moved closer to Connor. She knew Connor, a little bit, not well, but enough to know that he likely wouldn't let something happen to her. Hopefully. Turning to look off to the other side of her, light brown eyes landed on a semi-familiar face, one she'd seen around but not one she'd spoken to often. Turning back to the Slytherin, Felicity smiled apologetically at him for her jumpiness, but didn't move away from him either as looked back to the Ravenclaw.

"It's a disease," Felicity answered, not really sure the blame could be put on any one specific person. "No one is responsible for it, it just happens and it's easily spread, so we couldn't very well prevent it if we tried." She knew Alexander hadn't been feeling well a while back, but he was only one of a large number of others who weren't feeling very well. Though she wished she could blame Raynor, the woman wasn't even responsible for the spread of dragon pox, other than forcing them all to stay around and pick up on it if they hadn't had it before.

[Connor Manning]

Connor couldn't remember if it was the second dose or not, but he took Felicity's word for it. Despite the fact that he had already had dragon pox, he had only been a little kid when he had gotten it, so he couldn't remember details such as that. He only remembered not being able to play with his friends and being rather mad about it. He smirked slightly at the memory. He had been so mad that he refused to talk to his mother and father for two days. Being a little kid, two days was a long time not to talk. He only spoke with his sister, who also had dragon pox at the same time. She relayed the messages back to their parents until Connor got over it and began talking to them again.

Connor looked over at Felicity with a look of curiousity as she moved a little closer to him upon hearing Jason. She didn't look too at ease about the new arrival, so Connor didn't say anything about it . It appeared to the Slytherin that Jason was pretty pissed about dragon pox beind at Hogwarts. " I don't think anyone will die, we have enough medicine for everyone. " He wasn't sure if it was true, but he would bet money on it. The Ravenclaw's annoyance was concerning, Connor didn't know the other boy too well, so perhaps he was always like this. He wasn't too sure, but agreed with Felicity as she mentioned it probably not being any one persons fault.

" I seriously doubt anyone would intentionally bring dragon pox here. " It was a possibility, but it didn't seem like the most likely of things to happen at Hogwarts. Fires? Sure. Takeover by the Deva? Sure. Introducing dragon pox on purpose? He hoped not.

[Jason Williams]

Jason didn't take his eyes off the lake. He also was sure no one did this on purpose, but nothing would surprise him.

"I can't help but to agree with you, i guess" Jason said looking out acrossed the lake. "but to honest, in this world nothing would surprise me" Jason said turning to Connor and Felicity.

Jason smiled "I'm sorry where are my manors, I'm Jason Williams, Ravenclaw sixth year" Jason said holding out his hand to Connor shake. "I dint mean to be so grim, talking about people dieing and all, i just get the way sometimes"

Jason turned to the girl "and if i remember right your, Felicity Hjort, Drew's girl friend" Jason said "Ive seen you around him alot, and its nice that i Finlay have a chance to properly introduce myself for a change" Jason added with a smile.