How Do "You" Like It?

Chapter five: Flow of the Unbound River.

“We should go to the medi-witch.” Neville said as the others paced the room.
“If you get it, you go!” Seamus said “No old woman is gonna poke around my Willie!”
“But, this isn’t normal.” Neville argued.
“Aye don Care!” Seamus responded. “Besides, it’s all in the damn book. Ron lived through it, other than the near faintin’ spell in potions. I kin handle it.”
“He’s right.” Harry said giving the others a scowl. “It’s his body and he has the right to decide.”
“If this is gonna spread, I wonder if we should make some more arrangements.” Dean spoke up.
“Like what?” Ron asked from his post on his bed.
“Like for disposal. We can’t keep sneaking into a girl’s bathroom like that. I can’t see Seamus doing it at all.” Dean explained.
“I suppose you’re right. Since you were both in this dorm, it must be passing around us, so I imagine we’ll all get it, eventually.” Harry said before getting an idea. ”Dobby?” he called.
The little house elf popped into the room and looked around at the five young teens.
“What can Dobby do for Mr. Harry Potter, sir?”
“Dobby, in the girl’s bathroom there are some special rubbish bins. Do you know about them?” Harry asked and the others looked on.
“Yes, Harry Potter. Dobby knows. Why does Harry Potter want to know?” the elf asked, his face nearly blushing in an elf way.
“Never mind that. Can you get us one of them and arrange for it to be emptied?” Harry asked and the elf nodded blankly. “Good. Do it. Thank you, Dobby. This is our little secret, okay?”
“Dobby is very good at keeping secrets.” The elf said before popping out.
“One problem solved. Any others?” Harry asked as the five continued their little meeting.
All five were late for Herbology and Gryffindor lost twenty five points more.

On Wednesday, Ron’s problems ceased but Seamus’ increased.
He had it slightly easier, as he was expecting it and had four staunch supporters. Also, potions class had no special surprises for him.
All in all, Seamus pulled through rather heroically, as befit his Gryffindor status.
Thursday, just after lunch, Seamus happened to look through the book.
“Harry! Harry! Ron! Dean! Neville!” he called from the portrait hole as he entered the common room and grabbed Neville’s arm. All five roommates headed up to the dorm.
The Gryffindors looked with shock at the page before them.
“Pass this book on to Justin Finch-Fletchley. Hufflepuff; Year five.”
“Well, That settles it.” Dean said, throwing up his hands. “It’s an epidemic.”
“How’m I gonna tell a Hufflepuff about this?” Seamus complained.
“At least, it ain’t a Slytherin.” Neville countered and Seamus’ face drained.
“At least?” He agreed. “Oh, Merlin!”
“How about we all go?” Neville suggested.
“No, I’ll do it. I know the bloke, after all. We did a project together for charms. He’s a good sort. Kinda weird, but good.” Seamus said retrieving the book. “Too good to have to go through this.”
The group disbanded but Harry held Ron back. When they were alone, he turned to his friend. “Apologize to Hermione!”
“Are you still thinking this was her doing?” Ron scoffed. “Hermione isn’t gonna hex a Hufflepuff. I know she was mad at Seamus for laughing, but Justin? Really, Harry. This is too big for her!” and the red-head headed for dinner.

The Gryffindors lost track of the book after Justin had passed it to a Ravenclaw and for two weeks there was peace in the tower.
A few of their classmates would disappear for an hour and they silently speculated, but no one dared mention it again.
Harry had all but forgotten the incident, when he was coming out of Transfiguration on a Monday and Ernie MacMillan caught his arm.
No words were spoken, just a sympathetic glance as the Hufflepuff handed him the book.
Harry put it in his robe pocket and headed to the library.
During this time, Hermione had been cordial and no mention had been made of the incident between her and Ron. Their relationship had felt the strain but they were still friends.
Harry wished he could ask her about the plague, but just as the others were too embarrassed, he couldn’t talk to any girl about this.
She had asked if he was alright, but he had mildly told her he was tired and begged off of dinner this day.
To make matters worse, he had a detention with Snape for a fight he’d gotten into with Malfoy and he trudged down to the dungeon with the most fateful expression on his face.
The potions master seemed to take pity on them, as he only ordered them to dust off his many shelves of ingredient bottles and then sort through a pile of old reports for any written by a Quincy Foghat in Ravenclaw.
Malfoy kept sneering at him, but Harry just concentrated on finding the papers and getting out of the room.
“Are you sick or something? Cause if you are, don’t give it to me. I’d hate to start acting as pathetic as you are.” Draco said as he finished his pile.
“Oh, you probably will get it. . .in time.” Harry whispered as he turned the last of his stack over.
He handed the two reports to Malfoy who rushed them off to Snape’s office with Harry following behind.
Then, Harry went to the dorm room to get his supplies ready.
Ron, Seamus, Dean and Neville were waiting for him.
“Ernie told us Harry. Are you alright?” Dean asked as Harry put the book on his nightstand.
“We’ve got you all stocked, mate. Nuthin to worry over.” Seamus indicated a box on the end of the bed.
“Thanks,” Harry said, none too excitedly.
Ron and Seamus were discussing the list of students that had been affected as Harry crawled onto his bed and curled up. The list included three of Ravenclaw’s Quidditch team, two other Hufflepuffs and a Gryffindor from the sixth years.
“See, Harry. Not a Slytherin in the bunch. I told you.” Ron said drawing the brunet into the discussion.
“I still think you should apologize.” Harry said closing his eyes and ignoring them.
“What’s he mean by that, Ron?” Neville asked and the red-head shrugged.
“Harry thought Hermione had hexed me, cause she was mad about those cuts I made last month. I told him she wasn’t behind this and he should agree with me, now. No way Hermione would curse you, Harry.” Ron argued.
“I agree with Ron.” Seamus said. “This is too big for a student. This is like Dark Magic. Too strong for Hermione.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure, Seamus.” Dean countered.
“Yeah, Hermione is a real good witch and she’s smarter than you guys give her credit for.” Neville added.
Harry drifted off, thinking how good it felt to have the friends he had acquired in this dorm.

On Tuesday, Harry skipped breackfast as well, his stomach was upset and he didn’t dare eat anything.
Ron waited at the door as Harry tucked an emergency packet in his robe and grabbed his books. They had transfiguration with the Slytherins and that was never an easy time. The brunet looked miserable and Ron was feeling real cruddy.
Worst off, the twins had heard something was going on and had been bugging him, relentlessly.
“Are you gonna be up to Quidditch today?” Ron asked, receiving a glare from his best friend. “If you don’t, Fred and George will ream me.”
“Not my problem. I’m not going to practice like this. Ron, the pants to my uniform are white!” Harry growled just as they turned down the hall to the waiting classroom.
Class was a disaster, as usual.
Ron turned his inkwell into a bat instead of a flag like he was supposed to.
Harry’s was a flag, but it just lay there, not waving at all.
After transfiguration it was double potions and Snape was in a real foul mood.
He assigned them all teams, four each, and Harry ended up with Theodore Nott, Neville Longbottom and Draco Malfoy.
It didn’t take a genius to figure out that this was a recipe for disaster. Neville was so nervous that he knocked over the cauldron and spilled the contents all over Harry and Nott. Theodore took the brunt of it and stormed out of the room, leaving his three partners to repair the mess while Harry suffered Neville trying to swab him down with a towel.
“Oh, for Merlin’s sake, Longbottom. Do you even remember that you’re a wizard?” Draco sneered, waving his wand and cleaning up the smelly concoction. “Now, stand back while Potter and I redo this. We have just enough time if you can refrain from botching it.”
The potion came out perfect, once Harry recovered from the shock and began cutting up the third ingredient while Draco mixed the others.
They were, however, the last team to finish.
After Snape had glared them through the final addition and mixing, the rest of the class having been dismissed when they had finished, Neville nearly fainted and Harry was staring at Draco oddly.
The Slytherin finished packing his supplies and looked up sharply, “What is it now?” he snapped.
Harry shook himself, then answered. “Nothing . . .just, thank you.” he blustered causing Malfoy to gawk awkwardly. Draco recovered first.
“Don’t be ridiculous, Potter. It was for a grade.” he snapped following Neville to the door.
Harry went to exit, when a sharp cramp shook his world. He grabbed the table to steady himself, spilling the contents of his bag out loudly. Draco stopped and turned.
“You are sick. For pity sake, Potter. You should go to Madam Pomfrey.” He spat, returning and aiding Harry onto a stool.
Harry looked up, panicked. "NO! No, I’m fine.” he worked out, scooping his things together as Draco scowled down at him. “I’m fine. It’ll pass.” Harry picked up his bag and rose to his feel, hoping that he could get back to the common room before another spasm struck. Draco stood there, arms crossed and face hard. “I said, I’m fine. You can go now.” Harry said, attempting to sound assured.
“I think I will just walk with you until you reach your house. No law that says I can’t. Plus, there might be some great future teasing material in all this.” The blond said, looking determined.
Harry paled. “Fine, but don’t walk with me. People will ask stupid questions.” He said before storming toward the door.
“Questions, Potter? What questions would anyone ask us? Oh, are you gay, too? That might spin some wonderful tales . . .‘the longtime rivals that were really star-crossed lovers’ Never mind. . .sounds too Gryffindor with a touch of Hufflepuff.“ Draco mused as he kept a step behind Harry.
Harry scoffed, leading the way reluctantly toward his house’s tower. One hall away, he turned on Malfoy. “Close enough, git. I’ll go on alone from here. Thanks loads.” the last came out extremely sarcastic, even though he actually meant the words. He would not admit it, but having someone walk with him was relieving, in his condition.
Malfoy nodded and turned, walking way as Harry continued on.
Soon, he was in his dorm, curled up on his bed and clutching his stomach.
Ron came in about then.
“Hey, mate. How’re you doing? It’ll be over soon enough.” he attempted at reassurance.
“Not really. Ron, did you read the whole book?” Harry asked.
“Not in detail. I was a little off at the time, you know.” Ron admitted.
“Look now.” Harry said handing Ron the open book. Ron scanned the page, his eyes wide and panicked looking. “Remember when this started, that was twenty-five days ago. This says the cycle goes every twenty-eight days. It’s not over, Ron. Not by a long shot. Ron, apologize to Hermione!”
The red-head nodded imperceptibly, then shook his head. Harry wasn’t sure what he had or hadn’t agreed to. Another cramp left him feeling disoriented and just wishing for a break.

Ever wonder if there is one?
Who will be next, there is a common indicator to how it all passes, but that will come out later.
So, poor little Harry is out of sorts and who is his hero?