So Sick [Scott]

[Amelia Pace]

A hacking cough could be heard from the seventh year, girl’s dormitory. It was followed by a pained moan and a stumble as somebody got out of bed and gave up on trying to sleep.

Amelia Pace appeared in the common room with her usual blanket. She was bound up in layers of clothes, slippers, hats and scarves. All of which were precautionary of course in case she got cold, which she had been for periods of time throughout the entire day. When she wasn’t too cold, she was too hot, and she was struggling to find a happy medium in which she could reside.

With a crackled groan, Amelia slumped into one of the plush sofa’s in front of the common room fire. She curled up and leaned against one of the arms of the chair and closed her eyes. With the large amount of people around her she was bound not to get any sleep here either, but at least she could be grumpy and bored with people to talk to, rather than cooped up on her own.

Another hacking cough ricocheted around the common room, ”Owh,” Amelia grumbled as she put her head to her throat and gently massaged it, as if that would make it any better. She tried to breathe through her nose was overcome by the severe blockage that she needed a tissue to dispel of. She cried to herself, a small whine escaping her lips as she dove her hand into a pocket of one of the jackets she was wearing and pulling out a used tissue.

Blowing her nose hard three times she found herself even less capable of breathing than she had been before. She gave in. Her nose hurt from having blown it so many times, so she wiped it to make sure she didn’t have any of the snot across her face and took to breathing quietly though her mouth.

She lived under no pretense and she was certain she sounded like Darth Vader. Right now though, she really didn’t care. She just didn’t want to ill any more.

[Scotty Kovac]

Repetitive thuds echoed through the empty corridor as Scott dragged his over-full bag across the floor. He let out a loud yawn; boy detention was exhausting some times. Bloody professor Connery had made him scrub all the desks in the Defence Against the Dark Arts department and now his hands felt like they were almost raw. Damn that man for not letting him use cleaning charms, it was lucky Scotty looked up to him otherwise there would have been a nasty prank heading his way.

It wasn’t like the stunt he’d pulled to land detention was that bad. McGonagall had acted like he’d blown up Dumbledore’s tomb or something. All Scott had done was let loose a few harmless Nifflers, nothing serious, even though they’d torn apart the Headmistress’ office for her shiny things. Scott snorted in repressed laughter at the memory of the look on McG’s face.

He grumbled some more as he neared the Fat Lady’s portrait, plotting his revenge. His incoherent mutterings scored him a nasty look from the fat lady who abruptly asked him the password and quickly swung open when Scott replied. It almost seemed she was glad to be rid of him. Scott shrugged it off, who cared what a portrait thought? Idly he dragged his bag and himself towards the dorm stairs but stopped as loud, rasping breathing echoed from across the room. He dumped his bag roughly against one of the armchairs, causing a few empty ink pots to tumble out, and searched for the source. It was coming from a familiar blonde haired girl who did not sound well at all.

“Ame is that you?” he asked tentatively before making his way over to her. Indeed it was Amelia and just like she sounded, she didn’t look very well. Expertly Scott’s eyes past over her, taking in her physical appearance. Even though she was a little sweaty, clammy and bedraggled she still looked beautiful. Scotty gulped and pushed aside his personal feelings for a moment, right now he needed to know how sick she was.

“Wow you don’t look so good,” he observed lightly as he crouched down in front of her. Gently he placed a hand on her forehead, she definitely had a fever. In the back of Scott’s mind he prayed James wouldn’t walk in, his friend was the last person on earth Scott wanted to fight because one, James was his friend, and two, he’d lose, badly.

Scott was pretty sure any explanations as to why he had his hand placed on Amelia’s forehead and face would go unheard.

[Amelia Pace]

Any attempt of actually replying to Scott ended up being a muffled, ”Uhumg,” noise. She hated feeling like this. She was starting to get too hot again and she’d soon be stripping herself of the many layers she had adorned herself with. That would gain her more weird looks. Or more snide comments if she started undressing in front of Scott. That would go down well.

She made no attempt to move as he approached her. Her head hurt too much and protested at the shear thought of all that effort. She managed a weak smile at him as he appeared in front of her. A choked laugh escaped her lips as he crouched, ”Don’t particularly feel that great either,” she croaked. Speaking made her cough, she tried her hardest not to cough in his face too much, bringing her hand in front of her mouth.

His hand felt icy cold against her fevered forehead, a slight comfort, aiding in cooling her down slightly. Right now, she really didn’t care who saw what, she just wanted to feel better. She didn’t want to go to the Nurse though. Too many bad experience with nurses. She always felt that the entire medical population looked down on her because of her warped DNA. Like it was her fault she didn’t respond to things as well as other people.

”You know, your hands are bloody freezing,” she said as she pulled her head away from him. As comforting as It was, the one small area of chill didn’t make the rest of her feel much better and was quite disorientating.

She coughed again, putting her hand in front of her month she doubled over, ”This, really, really, really hurts,” she moaned falling back into the sofa again and burying her head in the arm of the chair. If anybody could make her feel better though, it would be Scott.

[Scotty Kovac]

“Heh sorry about that, it’s cold down stairs,” Scott mumbled apologetically, blushing slightly. He felt slightly hurt when she pulled away but reminded himself she was with James and that was how it should be. Out of habit a smirk crossed over his face as he thought on what to do next. Scott knew Ame and he knew that she hated going to the nurse so that option was out but who needed the nurse. All this was was a bad case of the flu, something he’d seen billions of times before when he’d snuck out of St Mungo’s doctor’s lounge to watch his father work.

He mumbled to himself in Croatian, going over the different remedies. There were so many for the flu that Scott didn’t know which one to try first. He thought about ducking to the Hospital Wing and stealing a pepper potion but he decided he’d only risk that if it came to it. Finally Scott made up his mind which option to try first and whipped out his wand. With a precise flick he summoned a kettle full of hot water, a mug, a spoon, half a lemon and some honey. Without looking at Amelia he squeezed some honey and lemon juice into the mug followed by some hot water. He mixed the concoction it as he handed the mug to the girl.

“Here, try this it’s one of my favourite flu remedies but be careful it might be a bit hot. It’s Med i limun,” Scott said nonchalantly before stopping and looking at her again. Damn James for getting to her first and damn himself for being such coward. Sure he could hunt down creatures in the woods and tackle them just fine but when it came to Amelia Pace he was an absolute coward. Oh god. Scott grinned sheepishly at her as he realised what he’d done. “Sorry I mean ‘Honey and lemon’. I’ve gotten into this really bad habit of just randomly speaking Croatian; I guess my brain still thinks it’s on holiday,” inwardly he kicked himself, that was the third time he’d done it without realising today.

[Amelia Pace]

Amelia would have happily placed a bet that it was cold everywhere in the castle. As much as they had torches and magic, it was always freezing, and not only in the winter months. It may have just been Amelia though. She had always tended to feel the cold. She’d still be wearing jumpers on Mid-summers day if she had her way. She generally got told she was being stupid and told to take it off. Not that she would. She was seventeen, she wasn’t about to be ordered about on something so trivial.

She sneezed as Scott started to mix honey and lemon with some hot water and hand it over to her. She looked at it oddly then took it in her hands and warmed the cold appendages on it. She smiled at him slightly, ”It’s cool,” she managed before having to cough. Careful not to spill the scolding liquid over herself.

”Gives you something above the other guys,” she smiled. Reminding herself she was spoken for, in a manner of speak she sipped the liquid. It tasted bizarre. Like nothing she had ever tasted it before, but that didn’t mean it tasted bad. It cleared her throat slightly, it felt like anyway.

”Thanks for this,” she said over the rim and taking a few more careful sips. It was still hot but that seemed to be helping too. Amelia shuffled on the sofa slightly pulling her blanket away from the couch next to her to allow Scott to sit down if he wanted. She leant into the arm of the chair again, resting the cup in her lap when she wasn’t drinking from it, ”You got a date for the ball?” she asked quietly so she didn’t hurt her throat too much.

[Scotty Kovac]

Scott couldn’t help but a let a huge smile cross his face. The honey and lemon seemed to be working and Amelia seemed to like it. Who needed fancy potions when there were great muggle alternatives that worked just as well?“Thanks,” he blushed bright red as he spoke, hiding his face in a fake yawn. Out of the corner of his eye Scott noticed his bag was squirming.
“Be back in a sec,” he muttered.

Reluctantly he picked himself up off the floor in front of Ame and went to his bag, which was now hooting indignantly.
“Corday, sorry I forgot you were in there,” Scott laughed as he pulled the tiny owl out of the mess of papers she’d been sleeping in. He could have sworn the owl gave him a nasty glare before she huffily found her usual perch on his shoulder. Delighted at the fact Ame had cleared a space for him on the couch he instantly dropped himself on it and sighed. After working like a dog in detention the comfort of the sofa felt heavenly on his aching muscles. He vowed that he would make sure to blame someone else if he got caught next time.

“Hey no problem, you know me. I’m full of random medical crap,” Scott laughed in answer to her thanks. The countless hours his father and brothers had dragged him through both muggle and magical hospitals had made him a walking, talking medical encyclopaedia. Sometimes his dad joked that Scotty knew more than most first year med students, a joke he liked to tell anyone who would listen. Scott rolled his eyes at the thought and glanced back at Amelia as she spoke again.

A small knot in the pit of his stomach announced itself as she mentioned the ball. He’d so far managed to put finding a date off which was not a smart move. If he waited any longer there wouldn’t be anyone left to go with.
“Uhh nope not yet,” Scott answered, “I haven’t really thought about it.” He had everything but a date. “You going with James?” yes, Scott already knew the answer to that but it was good for making conversation. James had spilled the news to him pretty much as soon as it had happened. The boy gently scratched the owl on his shoulder and smiled, unsure of what to do or say next.

[Amelia Pace]

Amelia nodded sleepily as he moved away to let his owl out of his bag, at least that what she thought he was doing, you could never be too sure with the way her head had been teh last few days. She cuddled into the cushions of the sofa and rested her head.

"Random medical crap that just so happens to come in handy!" Ame replied after coughing some more. She moaned to herself and took another slow swig from the mug Scott had aided her with. She wiped her nose with the back of her hand and leant forwards, she put the nearly empty mug on the table in front of her so she could rid herself of one of her jumpers. The rush of the cooler air attacked her unshielded arms before she could wrap herself back up in her blanket and lean back into the sofa.

"You'll find someone," she said positively, collapsing slightly so her head came to rest on the shoulder next to her, the opposite shoulder to that of his owl, Corday. She let out a short laugh, "How did you guess?" she replied sarcastically. She knew James would have told him about as soon as he had asked her. She was fed up of hiding away from the world, so was he. What better way to come out of the dark about the whole thing than at the school Ball?

"Thought about your costume?" she prompted as he fell silent. She yawned slightly and sniffed. Last thing she wanted was for her nose to start running when she had just gotten comfortable for the first time all day. Who cares what people thought about her, Scott was her friend.

[Scotty Kovac]

Again Scott couldn’t help but smile at another compliment from Amelia Pace. The outlook of getting more was almost making becoming a doctor seem more worthwhile, but not quite. Being just like his brothers and father wasn’t a tempting future prospect. He craved to be different, Scott’s interests lay elsewhere. They lay with fighting what was left of the evil in the world, keeping people safe. With his talents he’d probably end up an Auror medic. There was no escaping the family tradition and deep down Scott knew that.

“Yeah, I dunno,” he sighed, “if I don’t find someone I’ll be happy to go alone but I’m going to steal you off James for a dance.” He laughed, trying to make it clear that it would be a dance between friends and nothing more, no matter how much he secretly wished for more. To be honest he’d thought about maybe asking Vivian Jones or even Hazel Parish but hadn’t really worked up the courage to do it. “How did I guess huh? It was my awesome mind reading skills,” Scotty joked while giving Corday another scratch.

“Do you think Connery will be jealous of you and James? Kidding,” Scott couldn’t help but bring it up. Once more he laughed, tongue in cheek; the jeer had been an attempt to distract Ame from his costume. He was more than a little embarrassed to tell her what it was lest she think it stupid. “As for my costume,” he said smugly, “you’ll have to wait and see.” No one was going to know what he was going as; he’d worked too hard on it to be told it was stupid now.

At Amelia’s insistent sniffs Scott summoned a box of tissues.
“Here you’re definitely going to need these,” he offered the box to her and noticed her blanket had fallen down. Gently Scott pulled it back over her and directed his gaze at the smouldering fire. Next first year that was unlucky enough to walk in would be put on fire duty.

[Amelia Pace]

Amelia hefted a sigh, which only caused her to cough and cause her throat more pain. Burying her chin into her chest she covered her mouth with her fist so not to cough all over Scott and give him whatever bug it was she had, ”Have you looked in the mirror lately?” she croaked as she rested her head back down onto his shoulder, ”Any girl you ask would be an idiot to say no.” she smiled, ”I would be honoured to have that dance with you,” had she not be bundled beneath the blanket she would have shook his hand on the matter, but patted him lightly near his knee instead.

She groaned slightly at Scot when he mentioned Connery, that bloody school paper needed killing, or at least putting out of print. Amelia was grateful though that they hadn’t known the real reason she’d been at the Head of Gryffindor’s office in the early hours – she’d rather they believed that she was having some indecent affair with her teacher than know the truth.

”Maybe I should get him to dance,” she mumbled into Scott’s shoulder, humour in her tone, giving a heart sniff to stop her nose from running.

She let the costume lie, she wanted to know, she hated the apprehension of having to wait to find things out. She only knew what James’ costume was because she was destined to match.

Amelia accepted the tissues with a slight cough and pulled one out of the box to blow her nose, ”Thanks Scotty,” she said, muffled by the tissue as she felt her cold arm warm again as he pulled the blanket over it again. She settled back into the sofa and allowed herself to relax into the cushions, her head leaning against the side of Scott’s rather boney shoulder. He didn’t make a good pillow – at least his shoulder didn’t.

”Scooooott!” Amelia complained as she saw the embers of the fire start to fail and turned to look up at him, ”Why’s your shoulder so bloody hard?” she just about managed before her voice cracked, the last words lost in a slight wheeze.

[Scotty Kovac]

A huge blush lit Scott’s face up, and combined with the huge grin, it had a glow to rival a Christmas tree. Sure he got compliments from his friends all the time but hearing them from Ame made him feel twice as good. Practically elated, the boy shifted a little to give her his shoulder to lean on. For once he was stumped at what to say as she complimented him further. “Thanks,” Scott mumbled before turning back to stare absently into the dying fire.

Once again, damn James Pottter for having the guts to get the girl.

Inwardly he sighed, no use worrying about it know, not when he had the girl for the moment. “I guess I work out too much,” Scotty replied deviously, “and what do you mean my shoulder’s too hard, I’m sure it’s fine.” Not that he’d know, he’d never really attempted to lay his head on his own shoulders, he wasn’t that flexible. The boy couldn’t help but laugh and dwell on the rumours of Ame and Connery for awhile. Scott didn’t believe them but he thought they were hilarious none the less.

“I’m sure Connery would love to dance with you, I heard dancing’s not all you do with him,” and she’d probably gone and thought he’d forgotten the topic already. His tone of voice and the mischievous glint in his eyes told the girl he was only joking around. It was a look she should have been all too familiar with. “If not, I’ll dance with Connery. He sure is once handsome guy,” the last bit Scott put on a stereotype gay voice and winked at Ame.

The Gryffindor’s thoughts wandered back to the ball. He didn’t need a date, he had scored one dance with Amelia Pace, that was good enough for him.