Romeo and Juliet (Book 1) - SS x OC

Chapter 24 - Apples And Acromantulitis

No matter how many duvets and sweaters Renee used to wrap herself up, she still felt uncomfortably cold. She was freezing as if winter hadn't subsided; it was mid-spring and she knew it wasn't normal for her body to behave that way. She wrote a note to Madam Pomfrey through Jamila and Fred asking for some tonics to help relieve her sore throat and fever, but that was the only thing she told her. The truth was that she knew her condition was something else, but she didn't want to stay in the hospital wing-- the tonics and potions would take effect anyway and she'd be fine here.

At the moment though, fine was the last thing on Renee's mind as she had never felt so sick in her life. Her wound wasn't getting any better either and from the state of it, she knew that she must've got some sort of disease from the Acromantula venom.

It was torture for Renee to be left alone in her dormitory with only her thoughts to keep her company. If she wasn't sleeping, she would be crying from pain-- both physical and emotional. She still could not remove Severus from her mind; she badly wanted to see him, hold him, ask him what went wrong, but she also didn't want to see him and talk to him because she knew what to expect and it wasn't pleasant.

I love you, Severus. I'll always love you, even if you'll never love me...

It was only yesterday when Renee had a dream about Severus; she dreamt that his hands were chained and he was screaming out loud. She was trying to move towards him but she couldn't because she was in her Siren form and they were on land, and she discovered that her body was chained as well. She woke up crying silently, trying to breathe out the intensity of the nightmare and held her forehead, only to find out that she was still burning with fever.

Renee couldn't sleep anymore after that, mostly because she kept thinking about Severus as well as Clarice and the things she said. Renee was too sick to riddle out the rest of the things she told her and the only thing that kept bothering her was the fact that Barty Crouch Jr. was in Hogwart-- according to her, at least.

After an excruciating headache overpowered her better senses, Renee couldn't think straight anymore since all she could focus on was trying to get herself warm so with difficulty, she drank the sleeping draught from the hospital wing and knocked her sick self out.

•••

~ S ~

Four days of Renee not gracing the castle with her presence was too much for Severus to handle, so he finally decided to pay her a visit in her dormitory later while the Send-Off Feast for the Easter break of the Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students is ongoing. There was definitely something wrong with her-- four days was too much for a supposedly simple sickness.

All students were given a free period before the feast and the teaching staff had a scheduled meeting, so all the professors were mucking about in the faculty lounge, discussing school activities and things to accomplish while the students are on their week-long break. Most of the blasted children preferred to stay, complaining that they've got piles of assignments to finish, but the staff really needed to get the school in order so they encouraged everyone to go home for the break.

Severus couldn't be more impatient and wanted to go and see Renee already, but he knew he had to wait until everyone was in the Great Hall lest someone gets suspicious of why a bloody, creepy male professor goes to a girls' dormitory.

"Severus, are you aware that Ms. Capulet has not been attending classes for..." Pomona approached him and started to browse through her record.

No, I'm not fucking aware. I've only been bombarding the hospital wing for days just to make sure she has received her tonics. "Four days. Yes, I have been informed that she is sick. Do provide me with a list of the school works she has missed; she will be taking them as soon as she recovers."