Jacoba sighed as she watched her brother fidget, nudging the vase on the small bed stand between the two neighboring beds.  The vase slid easily across the perfectly smooth, sterile, unadorned wood.  And, just as he’d done for the last five minutes, Sasha slid the vase right back to where it had started.  It was impossible to tell if the meddling had an end goal or if the boy was just mindlessly fidgeting. 

“Rudi!” Jacoba said, as sharply as she could, her voice still scratchy and hoarse.  “You’re going to make us all nervous.  There are people trying to heal here!”  Jacoba managed a grin as the boy jumped. 

Jacoba had no recollection of how she’d ended up at St. Mungo’s.  Saturday evening had found her out at a nightclub, enjoying a few drinks, but sometime after the second drink, she'd started to feel dizzy and then light-headed.  What she remembered of what followed was akin to one of her worst trips - and, she’d been known to play around with some pretty sketchy substances.  She vaguely remembered medics asking what she'd had to drink and if she'd taken anything else.  She thought she remembered telling them she'd been clean for years, but she also had memories of the two men melding into one and then splitting back into two like some really confused mutant.  The next lucid memory was waking in this hospital bed.  With Johann Storm laying in the neighboring bed and healers in green wizard robes bustling around the other beds in the long room. 

“I’m sure we can share though.  Look at him!  He’s clearly more of the flower type.”  The worried determination in Sasha’s expression had flickered into surprise when he entered the room.  That, along with the blush and single vase of flowers in his hands, suggested he'd found one more person than he’d been expecting to visit.  Jacoba hadn’t been able to surmise whether she or Johann was the plus one. 

“Besides, I’m not interested in floral.  You?”  She glanced across towards Johann. 

His quest to find the exact center of the table was a convenient mental distraction.  But, at the sound of a very old nickname, he jumped and glanced towards Jacoba. 

“That wasn’t necessary,” he said, shaking his head.  He glanced towards Johann and waved a hand dismissively.  “She’s clearly still delirious - ignore her.” 

Sasha shifted in the rickety visiting chair, folding his arms and tucking them in his lap to keep them from fussing.  He didn’t have a lot of experience with hospitals, aside from visiting their Oma in Munich.  That was more a residential dementia facility than a hospital, so all he’d learned from those visits was to repeat things slowly and agree with whatever was said, even if it made absolutely no sense. 

“Besides, I’m not interested in floral.  You?”

“I actually had two,” Sasha lied, grinning.  “But, one was stolen by a house elf.  Or a small child.  They’re sometimes difficult to tell apart.” 

Shortly after lunch, a message had been sent from the Hospital Hut, excusing him from his Transfiguration class.  Madame Nagde had started to explain something about poisonings and Jacoba and St. Mungo’s, but too many words like ‘stable but serious’ had been mixed in.  Sasha had had difficult following the woman's words.  She’d shuffled him through the floo in the fireplace where he was met by a Healer.  The wizard had escorted him to a long, packed ward where not only Jacoba but Johann had been tucked into hospital beds. 

His initial panic and dread had ebbed, compared to when he'd first walked into the room.  It was now replaced with a static, monotone unease.  But, visitors were supposed to a source of distraction - right?  That’s what they seemed to do in movies and he’d been assured both of them were recovering.  So, he was trying to avoid asking if they felt alright every second sentence. 

With varying degrees of success.  Sometimes he managed to avoid the question.  Other times, the question was simply reworded and veiled by a slightly different inquisitional focus.  "Are they still giving you treatments all the time?  I mean, they haven't forgotten anything, have they?  With everyone here, it's probably easy to miss someone."  He glanced around, intending to flag down a passing healer. 

Johann felt as if he might be impeding on a family visit merely by being in the next door bed. The wizarding world was a small one, after all, but he hadn't expected to wake up, rather more clear-headed that morning to discover where he was and also that his cousin's sister was laid up right beside him. It felt like only the other day they'd been joking about Muggly the Bear at Johann's expense.

In truth that had been over a year ago. Her brother, shuffling the flower vase as he did so distractedly, did not seem a moment older for his actions, and his sister's scolding with hoarse voice made him snap to.
"Look at him! He's clearly more of the flower type." Johann turned his head on the pillows a little more where he was propped up to examine the floral arrangement with more detail. "Besides, I'm not interested in floral. You?"
"I actually had two, but one was stolen by a house elf. Or a small child. They're sometimes difficult to tell apart." Sasha protested.

"Yellow roses, joy," Johann replied softly, like Jacoba, voice not quite right, and rather deeper than usual, "white lilies, youth, purity and majesty," he glanced from the flowers to Jacoba, "Definitely chosen for you, but if you insist. We'll share." He shifted to prop himself up a little better, wincing at his stomach muscles as he did.

Sasha seemed at a loss for suitable conversation, and Johann felt a little sorry for him. He'd come to see Jacoba, that was for sure. They wouldn't have let him out of Hogwarts unless it was a next of kin. His mother had visited late yesterday, the memory was hazy, he hadn't quite been aware, but she had left her book of poems for him on the bedside table. The one she had asked Ignan to read from for the funeral. Balfour would be back, eventually, he hoped. If he hadn't decided to let him go.

The dark thought crossed his mind and distracted him from Sasha's fussing from the uncomfortable chair between them.
"We're fine, Sasha." He assured, lifting his fingertips from the bedsheets a moment. "They've got it covered." He managed a smile, though it lacked his usual energetic enthusiasm. "We're the lucky ones, a number who came in Saturday night were not so." He lifted a hand to rub at the dark circles under each eye, and smoothed out the bed sheets.

"You missed the glowing vomit, though. I'm sure you're most dismayed. Don't tell me you're missing potions to visit us?"

"Yellow roses, joy, white lilies, youth, purity and majesty,”

Jacoba attempted to laugh, but the sound came across more as of a croak.  She let her head fall back against the pillow and took a deep steadying breath.  “Youth, maybe.  Purity, that’s a bit of wishful thinking.  Perhaps back when I was nine.  But, then I found Xena.”  Jacoba gave a half-hearted grin and nodded. 

”I really didn’t give it that much thought.  It was the one closest to the front,” she heard her brother admit.   Not that he was liable to give her, or anyone’s, purity much thought.  She probably didn’t have grounds to give him too much of a hard time, though; he could become preoccupied at the best of times.  As the perfectly centered vase could attest to. 

Jacoba shifted, trying to find a comfortable and more upright position so she turn more properly to her guests, but again, dizziness got the better of her.  She settled back and closed her eyes, waiting for a moment to let the vertigo pass. 

“Luckily, I missed the glowing vomit, as well,” Jacoba admitted.  “I’m sure it was spectacular.  Like Slimer’s ectoplasmic fountain.”  Without trying to lift her head, Jacoba pointed a hand roughly in Johann’s direction.  “If you have not yet been subjected to the wonders of Ghosbusters, that must be rectified.  You simply have not lived until you’ve woken from a nightmare starring Stay Puft wondering why it scared you.” 

"We're fine, Sasha.  They've got it covered.  We're the lucky ones, a number who came in Saturday night were not so.”

Sasha looked from Johann to Jacoba before twisting in his chair to look around the large room.  Beyond their boundaries of their little corner, the ward was in a constant flow of people.  Those with glowing green vomit were the lucky ones.  Sasha shivered and looked back towards his sister and cousin. 

“Do they know how this all happened, yet?”  He asked, shifting enough to free his school robes from his shoulder.  The magical hospital was appreciably warmer than the stone corridors of Hogwarts castle.  “We’ve heard rumors up at the school, but I didn’t pay them much mind.  Mid year exams and all,” he added, guiltily. 

"Don't tell me you're missing potions to visit us?”

“Double section, too.  Maybe Astronomy, depending on when they make me go back.  I’ll be able to catch up.  Or claim this as field research.” 

Sasha seemed strangely happy to confirm he was missing lessons to be there. This was the boy who crammed academic life into every corner of his day with obsession. Much as he was concerned for his sister, and now his cousin, he had exams to consider, how was he not anxiously watching the clock? Had Sasha Schlagenweit realised there was more than studies to life?

“Luckily, I missed the glowing vomit, as well, I’m sure it was spectacular … You simply have not lived until you’ve woken from a nightmare starring Stay Puft wondering why it scared you.” Jacoba's hand was pointed in Johann's rough direction.

"I take it back," Johann replied to Sasha, "Definitely delirious, I didn't understand a word of that." He winced. "Couldn't do me a favour, pass me -" he pointed to a jug of water set nearby with a tumbler that was empty apart from a couple of drops. "Haven't got my wand." He explained. "Thanks."

As Sasha reached him over the glass of water and he took it between two shaky hands, he added in a quieter voice, "Go talk to your sister, cousin, she's the one you need to be paying attention to. I'm good." He raised the glass of water to Sasha and then brought it to his lips. He attempted a wink.

"It's sometimes hard to distinguish between delirium and her usual thought process."  Sasha offered Johann an awkward half-grin and shrug as he heard Jacoba huff with indignation from her bed. 

"You clearly don't understand finer culture," Jacoba said, wistfully, shaking her head. 

“Ghostbusters is a movie.  Not very intellectually stimulating, but amusing.  It’s worth seeing.  Mostly because most muggles would think you'd committed a horrible sin if you hadn't.”  Sasha knew Johann had been introduced to movies, so the concept wasn’t entirely foreign.  "Kind of like the Lion King.  You'd think it's prosecutable to not see that movie, by the way some muggles react." 

“Because it's a classic,” Jacoba said, coughing slightly.  "And because of Bill Murray."

The Ravenclaw handed his cousin the glass of water and then hesitated, a moment, before grinning gratefully and nodding.  "Thank you," he offered quietly.  "Let me know if you, you know, need more water."  Somehow, it seemed like 'water' had become code for something unidentifiable. 

"Bill Murray is old," Sasha said, shifting the chair closer to his sisters bed and reaching out to fill the second glass with water.  He held the glass steady for her, as sipped from it. 

Jacoba shook her head, waving a hand.  "A beautiful mind knows no age," she offered, in feigned philosophy.  "You should know that.  Aren't you the one always talking about your boyfriend, Will?  Bill?  Your Bill.  The Science dude?" 

"Guy.  And, that's a non sequitur.  That doesn't-"  Sasha replaced the glass and leaned back as one of the Healers came shuffling in their direction. 

Ambrose nodded as he said goodbye to the patient he had seen, quickly continuing the route he had been assigned. Was it really after noon already? He had been kept too busy to even realize. Regardless, he could only be thankful that his work was easy; the hard decisions were not on his shoulders. As far as the real third floor medics were concerned, many of the extra hands from other floors were as good as errand runners, and that was fine by him. He gave a warm smile as he approached the next patient, taking a moment as he glanced over her medical chart. He was surprised that she had the curtain open and was chatting with the neighboring person.

“Hello, I’m healer-in-training Ambrose Darrion,” Had he introduced himself to them before? He couldn’t remember. He knew the patients by name, but that could be said for many of the floor’s patients, some of whom he’d never personally met. “Good afternoon, Miss Jacoba,” Ambrose gave an acknowledging smile to the neighbor, “Mister Johann,” and the visitor, “sorry to interrupt.” He looked to Jacoba as he prepped a pre-made mixture for her.

”How are you today? Any new concerns or questions?” He smiled to her as he asked, subtly examining her features for any obvious new symptoms. He soon stepped towards her with the medication, lowering his voice to match their new proximity, “If you could, then, please drink this whenever you’re ready.”

“Hello, healer-in-training Ambrose.  Have you seen Ghostbusters?” Jacoba offered with a grin.  Jacoba assumed the Healer’s answer would reveal whether the question made sense.

The young woman did recognize the healer, but that wasn’t necessarily a surprise.  She wasn’t any better equipped to identify him as one of those that had treated her; she hadn’t been lucid during most of them.  But, the patients had nothing but time and few activities to keep them occupied beyond watching the flow of traffic through the room.  And, he’d been an easy one to watch.

“This is my brother, Sasha.”  As reliable as crowing rooster, her brother obeyed all the niceties and rules of etiquette by popping straight up to his feet, fussing at his school uniform and extending a hand to the healer. 

”How are you today? Any new concerns or questions?  If you could, then, please drink this whenever you’re ready.” 

Jacoba accepted the concoction, grimacing in anticipation of the taste.  “Nothing new.”  Jacoba shook her head.  “Nothing beyond the impatient whining of someone eager to see the last of the evil juice.”  Jacoba inhaled deeply and then exhaled, so she could down the whole potion in one go.  She held her breath and waited for her stomach to settle around the bitterness before handing the flask back. 

Jacoba huffed at the two wizards making mild humour of her Ghostbusters conversation topic. It was one aspect of Muggle culture that hadn't been explained to Johann to date. He had only managed to be up to speed on Doctor Who in any detail and he'd not seen that for many months. He made a mental note to add it to the list of things to ask Adelia about when they next caught up. He would need to write to her again soon and organise something, well, when he got out.

The other two continued on the same vein of conversation while Johann concentrated on sipping water. There were green robes approaching, the rather young American chap Johann had clocked first thing when he'd come round on the back of morning rounds. They'd not interacted, but he'd overheard the accent.

Darrion. Ah that would explain who one set of initials were amongst the chalkboard above Jacoba's bed. Johann's own had AMH which were Arc's initials and a scrawling of other healer shorthand which were best summarised as no sedatives.

Jacoba persisted with her Ghostbusters line, and Johann attempted a chuckle and regretted it as his stomach muscles yelped.
"Nothing beyond the impatient whining of someone eager to see the last of the evil juice."
"Is that the technical name?" Johann asked with a smirk, resting half a glass of water on his leg as he watched.

“I believe the technical name is devil juice.  Evil juice is just the abbreviation.  I can’t believe you do this stuff regularly by choice.”  The last bit had been directed at Sasha and it was his turn to be the victim of Jacoba’s vague, accusatory finger pointing. 

“It’s - those are different potions.  More like energy drinks than medicine, really.”  But, either Jacoba was completely disinterested or she was doing a particularly good job at feigning disinterest.  Her head nodded back against the pillow, as she stared blankly into space.  After a several shallow breaths, his sister shook her head and looked back at them. 

“Holidays,” Jacoba continued, lifting her hand as if to point but without the accusatory finger.  “Now that I have a job I can probably protest holiday leave from, we should go on a road trip.”  His sister must have noticed his confusion, because she quickly shook her head.  “Not protest.  Recess.  Recess time off of work.  We could go to Amsterdam.  Spend time with Erwin and his husband.  Like we did left year."

Sasha shook his head slightly, frantically looking for some polite reason to express his distaste for that idea.  Traveling to Amsterdam (especially by car) would give Sasha a handy excuse to avoid going to Skye over the holidays.  Still, holidays were tough enough without the presence of near strangers and Sasha hardly knew the Dutchman, even if Jacoba regarded him as practically family. 

“I’ve got to make an appointment with the animagus registry office.”  Sasha explained, switching to German to offer his real, though still lame, excuse. 

“You what?  You did - you do?”  One corner of Jacoba’s mouth slid up in an awkward half-grin.  “You didn’t treble - no, telephone - it-”  Jacoba grew quiet and her eyes fluttered closed and her hands clutched the blankets on her bed.  Sasha straightened in his chair and glanced towards Johann, assuming he’d seem his usual nonchalant if this was a normal occurrence. 

Sasha immediately turned back and got to his feet, trying to catch the Healer’s attention.  Jacoba’s eyes had fluttered back open, but her hands were still gripping the blankets.  “Uhh - sir?  Mr. Healer Darrion, sir.  Could you - is this … normal?” 

Ambrose kept a polite attention while the family bantered. He took the vial from the young woman as she finished drinking the mentioned concoction. “Sorry, unfortunately the taste is pretty common for that sort of potion.” He took a moment to offer her the bedside water before returning to business.

“I have to take some data now. Heart rate, blood pressure, that sort of thing. Just housekeeping, you don’t need to do anything,” he explained to both Jacoba and Sasha as he accio’d her patient file, maintaining a pleasant smile. He gingerly took her wrist as he timed her pulse.

Vacations, roadtrips, and seemingly uncomfortable visits to relatives. All things Ambrose had no experience with, he thought. He took his wand from his healer robes as he moved on to a few more medical tests, often jotting notes onto Jacoba’s file. He glanced across to the neighboring bed, about to ask a, “How are you doing, Johann? Do you need anything?” Although Mister Storm wasn’t Ambrose’s jurisdiction, he was right there, what could it hurt to ask? Ambrose could hunt down Healer Hollingbury if necessary, though he silently hoped he wouldn’t need to disturb his steely superior.

The thought was interrupted before it came into existence, however, as Ambrose noted an unusual value onto Jacoba’s sheet. He made a mental note to grab her real healer afterwards to report it.

"You what?  You did - you do?"

Ambrose glanced to Jacoba’s face as her speech became increasingly confused. His brows lowered as he observed her for a moment longer. Was this normal for her? An old symptom? A new one? He couldn’t tell, they had only just met, but she had been chattering away just a moment ago… Ambrose quickly skimmed her chart. Unconsciousness, fatigue, vertigo, some delirium and confusion—

Ambrose turned away, scanning what he could see of the third floor for one of the true medics. She was following the conversation just fine, and trying to give appropriate responses; she clearly wasn’t delirious or confused—

“Uhh - sir?  Mr. Healer Darrion, sir.  Could you - is this … normal?”

Ambrose turned back to the Schlagenweits, and a startled expression crossed is face as he noticed Jacoba’s suddenly stiff posture. He returned back to her.

“Jacoba?” He looked down at her, hoping she would prove to still be respoonsive. “Jacoba, can you hear me? Are you in pain?” He asked, his light tone suddenly lowered.

He moved a hand to try and grab her focus, but the situation made him uneasy. He’d only seen a patient make such a negative turnaround when the contaminations first began. Had her dosage been contaminated? Her medication had been deemed safe! Ambrose reached a hand to his left shoulder, covering the St. Mungo’s badge with his palm. A silent incantation left the badge with a faint glow as it signaled for any of the third floor medics to assist.

In the meantime, Ambrose re-checked Jacoba’s vitals, jotting notes as he tried to hold her attention and assess the extent of her new symptoms.[1]

1.	Feel free to GMOD and run with this as you see fit, if you'd like

Jacoba was rather witty in her response of the technical name, and Johann grinned silently, not risking another attempt at laughter. Much as he was enjoying the odd company and interaction with his cousin of sorts, it only made him realise how exhausted he was.

"I can't believe you do this stuff regularly by choice." Jacoba remarked, and Johann wondered if she somehow meant him until he saw her point at her brother and felt relieved.

"... We could go to Amsterdam..." Johann sipped at his water, only half listening to what brother and sister were conversing over. He watched Darrion's interaction with Jacoba, the way he moved from her wrist and counted her pulse. For a moment the healer caught his gaze and looked to be about to say something.

Sasha's choice to suddenly switch to German did get a glance over to him. That was on purpose, considering Darrion's presence. Animagi?! Sasha had clearly been busy this term.

Suddenly he was paying full attention, but his interest in finding out his young cousin had achieved the magical ability he'd not long discovered his lover also had, was instantly extinguished. Jacoba was acting a little oddly, rather like some of the more recently admitted around them. She'd been holding pleasant, but intermittent conversation with Johann for a while before Sasha arrived.

Johann drew himself up off the pillows despite the aches and pains, so he could see better.
"Something's not right," He spoke urgently in English, and Sasha almost immediately exclaimed to the healer in training.

Darrion moved as quick as he could, summoning others and calling to Jacoba. Johann felt suddenly alert, in fear for Jacoba and for them all. He had believed the worst was over.
"Sasha, come out of the way, quick, let them help her." He extended a shaky hand out to his cousin, gesturing him to come and stand beside his bed out of the path of the oncoming healers rushing to Darrion, or rather Jacoba's aid.

Having worked at St Mungo’s since she was a fresh-faced 18-year-old, Jules had experienced her fair share of chaos. Through each epidemic Jules had acted professional and unflustered by it all. Her strict poker face hid any sign of distress -- she performed well under the taxing 0rdeals. Today was no exception, though Jules had to admit that this eruption of ailing patients was the most difficult yet. The added stress of being Head of her department had her running around the third floor.

Well aware that she was not going to get a moment’s peace today, Jules responded to each and every call. Poison being her domain turned her into a flash of red hair and spiky heels. Her badge alerted her to an emergency, and immediately Jules headed in the direction the call had come from. She suddenly found herself before a small group of people surrounding a young woman who appeared to be the source of the emergency call.

“What did you give her?” Jules demanded. This young healer-in-training looked familiar, though she couldn’t quite figure out why she recognized him. Without looking at the spectators much, Jules cast a spell in an attempt to clean her blood of any toxins,  to no avail. Part of Jules knew that this wasn’t going to work -- it hadn’t on any of the other victims. It still seemed worthwhile to try, considering there was not much else to be done yet. She moved around the girl rapidly, checking vital signs and discovering more problems.

The distinctive approach of Healer Deville made Ambrose turn, and he was quick to get out of her way. He had been underfoot a few times in the past, but he was almost always under her foot, specifically. He moved to the opposite side of Jacoba. Ambrose noticed Healer Deville examining the patient; standard, but Ambrose had already done that twice. The last thing he wanted was to knowingly let her waste time.
 
“I already have her vitals,” He spoke up, “these are from about a minute ago,” Ambrose said, extending Jacoba’s chart to the Healer-in-charge, which contained the notes he had taken while waiting for her to arrive. “I gave her her daily medication—also there,” he gestured to the notes, “and started taking vitals. This started soon after.”

He didn’t elaborate, unsure what ‘this’ was. ‘This’ was unusual, but he was sure Healer Deville could see that from her case notes: Jacoba had been making a good recovery. Eating, sleeping, speaking, she had even been predicted to be discharged very soon. Some medics had suggested she be dismissed early, due to the influx of more serious patients. ‘This’ was nowhere in her history. Ambrose looked to Healer Deville, awaiting instruction while avoiding the guest’s eyes.