Orchids and Sunflowers | Jegulus

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In Greek mythology, Clytie was a water nymph, who fell passionately in love with Apollo, the sun god. Every day she would gaze longingly as Apollo drove his chariot of light across the sky. Sadly, Apollo did not reciprocate Clytie's love and instead continued to watch the sun's progress. Clytie lay on rocks for nine days, watching the sun without food or water. On the ninth day, she turned into a sunflower. She is still looking towards her lost love.

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Regulus knew he had the worst luck. Being born into the Black family was the first clue. The second was meeting James Potter. Regulus hated him at first. Stealing his brother, being good at nearly everything he put his mind to. He never knew when that hate turned into this. Into waking up early in the morning to sunflower petals sitting on his pillow beside his head. He stared at them for a few moments, wondering where they even came from.

Regulus picked the petals up, throwing them into his drawers, deciding to deal with whatever it was later. He casts a quick Tempus, seeing it's too late to go back to sleep, but way too early for Barty and Evan to even be awake, deciding it's a good time as any to get up. He froze when he felt something in the back of his throat. Regulus cleared his throat, trying to get rid of whatever it was but it didn't work. It instead sent him into a slight coughing fit. He tried to keep himself quiet, not wanting to wake up Barty and Evan but when he felt something come up his throat and saw a petal land on his lap he let out a loud gasp.

Regulus stared at it, realising it was the same petals he saw earlier. He picked it up, seeing a few blood drops on it. He knew what this meant. Spending most of your time in the Black library meant he knew a lot about ancient magical diseases and this was something he knew barely anything about, but he knew the symptoms. He got out of bed, threw some clean clothes on and managed to sneak out of the dorm without waking his friends up. Regulus knew he should do some research before coming to any ideas.

Regulus knew the library was rarely locked during the night, so he snuck in and immediately went to find any books he could that talked about magical diseases. It felt like hours, flicking through multiple books before he finally found a book that mentioned it.

Hanahaki Disease

Hanahaki Disease is a rare disease in which the victim coughs up flower petals when they suffer from unrequited love. Due to their one-sided love, flowers begin to grow in the victim's lungs. It ends when their loved one returns their feelings, or when the victim dies. It can be cured through surgical removal, but when the infection is removed, the victim's romantic feelings also disappear, alongside any memories of the person of interest. There are 4 total stages of the disease, the fourth being the last and most deadly stage.

Stage 1- During this stage, only petals are coughed up. The victim would only feel a mild discomfort but can go about their daily life. At most, only 2-3 petals can be coughed up daily (Depending on the flower) and would be accompanied by small amounts of blood. Normal length: 1-2 weeks, depending on proximity to their loved one.

Stage 2- This stage is similar to stage one, only petals are being produced, but, they are being coughed up in more quantities. The amount of blood would be increased at this stage. The number of petals will grow to 7-10 petals daily (Depending on the flower). Normal length: 4-5 weeks.

Stage 3- At this stage, the roots of the flowers start to take form in the victim's lungs. Petals are now being replaced with blooming flower heads. The amount of petals at this stage will grow to 13-16 petals daily. Normal length: 4-5 weeks.

Stage 4- This stage is the most deadly, and many victims who have managed to get to this stage did not survive. This stage has the flower heads connected to full roots. At any time, the victim could cough up a few petals to cough up multiple, fully grown, connected flowers. This stage can have an unknown amount of petals/flower heads, all factors depend on the victim. Normal length: Any time between a few days to 4 weeks.

Being in close contact with their loved ones makes the disease worse, and can sometimes even increase the growth in the lungs. There is no other known way to get rid of the disease other than having the feelings returned or having surgery. Normal life span is between 10 weeks (2 months) and 25 weeks (5 months). All rese-

Regulus slammed the book shut and pushed it to the other side of the table. He put his head in his hands and groaned. Of course, this stupid crush on James Potter was ruining his life. He lifted his head up and stared at the book. He had two months. Two months to decide if he wanted to forget all about James. To forget all about Potter, and his stupid hair that never sits down, or his stupid glasses that he barely keeps sitting straight on his face, or his stupid smile that always lights up the ro- He starts to cough, ruining the silence around him. It feels like someone is trying to rip something out of his chest through his throat. The only thing to come out was a sunflower petal and little specks of blood. He groaned and dropped his head to the table.