The New Big Four In Hogwarts

Chapter 22: The Mystrious Illness

Hiccup woke up at three in the morning and ran to the bathroom. He had eaten more than his stomach could handle last night. He should have stopped himself, but after how little he had had for lunch, he was just so hungry that nothing had mattered but eating. Jack woke up a few minutes later and came into the bathroom.

"Are you okay, dude?" Jack asked worriedly.

"Get Astrid." Hiccup coughed.

"What for?"

"Just get Astrid." Jack ripped the door open and ran across the hall and pounded on the girls door, yelling at them to wake up.

"What do you want Jack?" Astrid yelled back grumpily.

"Hiccup needs you!" Astrid flung the door open. She and Rap must have gotten up and started getting dressed when Jack had pounded on the door.

"Where is he?"

"In the bathroom in our dorm." Astrid tore past Jack, nearly knocking him to the ground. By the time she got there, Hiccup was retching and coughing blood.

Astrid looked around the gold and red bathroom that both dorms had and that she had once loved the color of. Now most of the red was darkened with Hiccup's blood and the gold had turned red.

"You ate too much again, didn't you?" Astrid asked grimly. Hiccup could only nod. His stomach was empty, so now he was only coughing up blood.

"What's with the coughing and the blood?" Astrid asked.

"I have no idea." Hiccup replied before he doubled over, coughing. Astrid put her hand on his back.

"Hiccup, you need to get back to bed."

"I'll just keep coughing, Astrid."

"Hiccup, are any of your ribs broken?"

"Why would my ribs be broken?" Astrid pulled Hiccup upright as he finished coughing and felt his ribcage. Three of them were broken.

"Hiccup, three of your ribs are broken."

"It's not my fault that I'm not tall enough to climb out of the cells."

"Snotlout pulled you out and you banged your ribcage on the wall?"

"Yep." Hiccup barely got the word out before falling flat on his back. Astrid half carried, half dragged Hiccup to his bed. His broken ribs weren't bent enough to be in his lungs, so why did he keep coughing up blood?

"Hey Rap, can you come here and heal Hiccups' ribs?"

"Sure." Rap easily healed Hiccup and his breathing became more normal.

"Wait." Astrid thought. "What if he has.... No. That's only on Berk, and he's already had it before."

"But he can get it again." A little voice in her head said. Hiccup coughed in his sleep and rolled over. Astrid started rubbing his back absentmindly, the way she always had when Hiccup had been sick back on Berk. Hiccup, still half asleep, turned his head to her.

"Astrid?" Hiccup's eyes were glassed over with fever.

"First coughing, maybe even coughing blood, then fever." The voice spoke once again. She took her free hand and put it on his forehead. He was burning up.

"Astrid?" Hiccup whispered again. He reached his hand up to touch her face, as if to check that she was real. As he brought his hand down, she caught it in her own. Hiccup squeezed her hand and started coughing again. Astrid looked toward the door to see if Jack and Rap were still there. They weren't. They had probably gone down to the Common Room.

"Let's get you to the bathroom, Hiccup." But right after that, he stopped coughing and fell back asleep. Astrid found Rap and Jack sitting by the fire, talking.

"Hey guys." They jumped and turned to face her.

"How's Hiccup doing?" Rap asked.

"He's fine. He's sleeping now, and I think that he'll sleep through the rest of the night."

"I don't know about you two, but I'm going to bed. It's almost four." Jack said as he got up and headed back to the boys' dorm. After talking for a few minutes, they followed suit.

The next morning, Hiccup was fine, other than the fact that he had a slight fever, not high enough to be worried about. There was a cure on Berk, but even if you took it, you could still get sick again. There was a better cure here, and they were going to try and get it for Hiccup.

"Professor Malfoy? Hiccup is sick with comla. (Made that up. It doesn't exist.) Do you have a cure that we could give him? Astrid asked calmly.

"Of course I do, dear. Pour this in his drink, and by tomorrow, Hiccup will be as healthy as ever!"

"Thank you." Astrid took the glass vial full of golden liquid and headed down to lunch. Hiccup was looking at her, so she hid the vial in her sleeve. Jack got Hiccup to turn to him and start talking, and Astrid quickly uncorked the vial and poured the potion into Hiccup's strawberry punch. It turned golden for a moment, then faded to a gold-red, but the gold wasn't even noticeable unless you knew it was there.

"Hey Astrid. Where were you a few minutes ago?"

"I was just stayed behind to ask Professor Malfoy a question." It was the truth, but not the whole truth. Hiccup just shrugged and downed his punch.

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In the morning, Hiccup looked better. He wasn't pale like he had been yesterday, and he didn't have a fever. The potion had worked.

"I can't wait for next Saturday!" Hiccup said as he entered the Common Room.

"What's next Saturday? Jack asked.

"My birthday."

"That's right! November 17th is Hiccup's birthday! I have to get him something yet!" Astrid thought.