Albus Potter, Classmates and Elves

Ch 48 Meetings before Easter

Diane inspired a section of this chapter. Thank you.

*

Mid-morning the twenty-fourth of March Harry called up healer Dr. Kearney, telling him, "I had a bad night last night, but feel much better today."

"I am going to send someone over to take another test, Harry," the Dr. responded. "Magi have better immune systems than No-Mag, so we usually recover much quicker. We are just beginning to understand the way it works, but there seems to be some magical component in the immune system that just makes it work better. That does not mean that all the virus is gone from your system, however. I am real worried that Magi can seem to have recovered, and feel fine, and still spread this illness."

*

The evening of twenty-four March Hermione received a call on her mobile from Dr. Kearney.

"Hello, Dr. Kearney."

"Hello, Hermione. Jane's grandfather just died of Covid-19. There are not many Muggle deaths from this illness yet in Britain, but I am very worried that there will be many more. The No-Mag, Muggle, Prime Minister does not seem to be taking it all that seriously. Millions could die worldwide, tens of thousands in Great Britain, if the British Government doesn't take this virus more seriously.

"Do you want me to tell Jane?"

"The good news is that the magical medical masks seem to work. Our simple magical masks work better than the, I have to remember you call them Muggles instead of No-Maj, the Muggle N95 masks. There is even a store selling a variation of our mask that you can make invisible, or make so it is invisible to Muggles but Magi can see you are wearing it. Is George Weasley related to you?"

Hermione laughed. "George is my brother-in-law, and that sounds like him. My husband Ron is a partner in that business. I will ask Ron about the masks.

"I assume you want me to tell Jane about her grandfather."

"Yes, and I still want Hogwarts quarantined. We need to make sure every Magi is paranoid about masking and not gathering in groups without masks."

"How is Harry?"

"Feeling better, but still contagious. The marvelous magical Magi immune system has kicked in. He should be raring to go in a couple of days, but we need to quarantine him for another week at least."

*

"Hello, Hermione. What now?" Lavender wondered.

"I am sorry to call you in the evening, but Jane Clark's grandfather just died," Hermione replied. "I can tell her, if you want, but I know you have been working on her case, and I wondered if you would be the better person to tell her."

"Sometimes I think half of my work, and most of the more difficult parts of it, are after what one would call normal business hours. It was a little rough when the children were small, but we lived with my parents during those first years, which helped. I guess you could say they live with us now; they have their own flat in the same complex where we live, and we both own the sections where we live.

"I would like to visit Jane at Hogwarts. I can be there first thing in the morning. I will call and let Minerva know, and then either use her Floo or the one at the Hogsmeade Auror office."

*

Jane Clark noticed a masked Mrs. Lavender Blackburn waiting for her as she exited the Gryffindor common room to go to breakfast, and Jane sniffed, "It is grandfather, isn't it?"

Lavender nodded yes. "You still have your Aunt and Uncle Smith, and they would like you to live with them, if you want to. Mr. and Mrs. Potter love you as well, and it is your choice. It is not like you have lost everyone who loves you, although this is very hard. I am so sorry for you."