Magical Twins – Chapter 10

Two days before the end of the test week and the beginning of the summer holidays, Julian came down with the bad cold Dudley had caught a few days before. Not wanting to miss any of the tests, he tried to hide from everyone how bad he felt. He struggled through the theoretical part of the Transfiguration test on Thursday afternoon, glad that being invisible also hid his coughing and sneezing from the people around him.

"Julian, don't let go of your parchment; otherwise it'll become visible," Dudley whispered, throwing him a concerned look. "Are you feeling all right?"

"Yes, sorry," Julian whispered back, hurriedly touching the parchment with his left hand as he tried to concentrate on the test, knowing he had to hand it over to Barney right after the class.

On Friday morning, they had their practical Potions test. Dudley and Julian merely watched their classmates brew, knowing they had to absolve the test with Barney after dinner that evening. Julian shivered violently as he observed Fred next to him insert the ingredients. His cold had worsened immensely. His throat and his head were very sore, and he had the impression as if his head was filled with cotton wool. When another shiver shook his body, he laid his arms on the table to rest his achy head, sighing in relief as he closed his eyes. Unfortunately, his actions caused Fred to observe him in concern, knowing that no half way healthy Julian would show such behaviour in class, even if he was invisible.

"Fred, your potion!" George hissed; however, it was too late to for his twin to react, and seconds later, a white mist evaporated from Fred's cauldron, causing everyone sitting nearby to cough.

With a flick of his wand, Severus banished the potion, raising an eyebrow at Fred in surprise, knowing that the twins were the best brewers of the class.

After lunch break, the students were back in the potions classroom for the theoretical part of the test. Ignoring the worried looks he received from Dudley and the Weasley twins Julian tried to concentrate on the test. However, probably due to the white mist he had inhaled a few hours earlier, his condition had worsened immensely. His chest had become very sore, he had problems to breathe, and the letters on the test parchment were blurry and seemed to be dancing up and down the lines. One minute, he was shivering from the cold dungeon air, and an instant later, he felt the hot summer sun creep through the thick walls of the castle. Nevertheless, he tried to understand the questions and reply, noticing that the test was very easy.

Alerted by Julian's laboured breathing, half-way through the afternoon Fred unobtrusively reached for Julian's hand, letting out a gasp at the heat the younger boy radiated. "Dudley, you must go and fetch your elves' healer; Julian is burning up, and he can hardly breathe."

Becoming very worried, Dudley popped away and returned with Misty, who waved her hand over Julian, before she grabbed the child and popped away to the boys' room.

"I knew that he had a cold, and even if he didn't notice, I checked on him and tried to make him feel a little better yesterday and this morning, but how could he end up with pneumonia all of a sudden?" Misty asked incredulously, looking in disbelief at the pink number displaying Julian's temperature, before she popped away to fetch Poppy.

"What happened?" Poppy queried as she bustled into the room, looking at Dudley and Julian in concern.

"Potions accident this morning," Julian mumbled, "can't breathe."

"A Potions accident?" Poppy asked incredulously. "I thought you had classes with the elves?"

"Let me explain, Dudley," Misty suddenly spoke up, making herself visible. "Mistress Poppy, only Barney and Misty has been knowing about this, but Dudley and Julian has been attending the first-years' classes apart from Barney's Muggle lessons."

Dudley quickly jumped into the conversation, not wanting Poppy to become angry at Misty. "It's not Misty's fault, Aunt Poppy. She only knew by chance, because she is always watching over Julian and me. We had to hand in all the homework and tests to Barney, but we managed everything except for today's test, because Julian became so ill."

Hearing about the Potions incident in the morning that had obviously aggravated Julian's condition, Poppy called Severus, who listened to the whole story in disbelief.

"Yes, the imploded potion might have aggravated his condition; however, the pneumonia potion will take care of it," he said to Poppy, who sent Misty to fetch the potion, before he turned to Dudley. "You have been attending the first years' classes for the whole school year without anyone noticing?" he asked incredulously.

"Yes, only Barney, Misty and the Weasley twins knew, but please don't be angry at any of them. Everything was my idea, and we had also Math classes with Barney in the evenings," Julian croaked, feeling much better as the potions kicked in and Misty had spelled a huge amount of Healing magic into his body. "And Fred's potions incident this morning was all my fault, not Fred's. Can you please give him the points he would received if his potion had been all right?"

"Don't make yourself so upset, Julian," Poppy said, gently pushing him back to a lying position. "You're very ill and have to rest. Apart from that, no one is angry at Barney or Misty; we're all very surprised, that's all. Now try to sleep for a while."

HP HEALER POMFREY HP

While Dudley took his Potions test together with Barney in the evening and Misty was watching over a very ill Julian, Minerva, Severus, Poppy and Albus were assembled in Poppy's office, discussing the Taylor twins' education. Shortly before, Barney had handed all his notes concerning the twins' tests, practice and homework to Severus, and the teachers looked at the data in surprise.

"They seem to have properly completed their first Hogwarts year, except for today's Potions test of course," Minerva said thoughtfully, "and that with absolute best marks."

"I still can't believe it," Poppy threw in. "They are two years younger than all of the other first-years, they have been ill a lot during this school year, they had additional Math classes with Barney, and still they finished as the top students of the year."

"Exactly," Severus agreed. "I suggest we just allow them to continue with their second year after the holidays." He questioningly raised an eyebrow at Minerva, knowing how protective she was of the twins.

"Very well," the Headmaster threw in pensively. "However, in that case we need to get them sorted."

"I think they already sorted themselves into the elves' House," Poppy smirked. "I only knew today that Misty is not only my personal house-elf but also the Healer of the elves. She has been watching over Julian and Dudley the whole time. She told me she even gave Julian detention and made him help caring for her patients after he attended class in spite of being ill. A few times, I wondered why Julian or Dudley could recover faster than expected, and I only learned today that Misty can do Healing magic on her patients. She told me she never used it on humans before, but since the elves consider Dudley and Julian as elves, she often helps the boys with her magic."

HP HEALER POMFREY HP

"Misty?" Julian whispered, sensing the elf's magic near him, even if he kept his achy eyes closed.

"I is here, Julian," Misty replied softly, reaching for his hot hand. "What's wrong?"

"What is going to happen? Will they allow Dudley and me to continue attending classes?"

Misty let out a small sigh. "I is not knowing, Julian, I hopes so, but you musts not ponders about this now. You is very ill and you needs to rest and not thinks about such things."

"I can't sleep. My chest hurts, and I'm too worried about what is going to happen," Julian replied, shivering.

Misty gently laid two fingers on his forehead, causing a pink number to appear in the air. "Your fever is too high to worry," she told him as she gently moved her index finger over his face, causing Julian to lean into the cold touch.

"You're brilliant, Misty," Julian whispered gratefully, letting out a few harsh coughs.

"No, sweetie, I is only a house-elf," the elf replied softly.

"You're a Healer elf and a brilliant one," Julian objected, resolving, 'When I'm big, I'm going to improve things for the elves.'

"Thank you, my boy; now I wants you to sleep," Misty said, unobtrusively casting a light sleeping spell at the child.

HP

The twins' guardians decided to let the children continue with their classes, and Minerva, Severus and Poppy overruled the Headmaster, who insisted in getting them sorted. The Headmaster was not yet convinced, but when Barney showed up with the results of Dudley's Potions exams, he managed to persuade Dumbledore.

"These kids don't belong to a special House; they're Hogwarts' children. The castle knows them, they can speak to the castle, and all the elves have accepted them into the huge family of elves. You can't take them away from all of us and put them into a House. Mirai, who is a Seer and can see into the future, told me once that Julian will be the one able to improve the relationship between the humans and the elves."

"Very well," Dumbledore grudgingly agreed, slowly unwrapping a lemon drop. "Since you saw fit to decide over the twins' education over all our heads, I entrust you with the continuation of their education. While they will be allowed to formally continue their Hogwarts education, not only their human guardians, Minerva and Severus, but also you will be responsible for them.

Barney bowed deeply. "Thank you, Master Headmaster Professor Dumbledore, sir. Misty and I will act as their guardians in the elves' world."

The End?

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