The Epitome of Health

"AA-CHOO!"

"Judd," Ellie hissed. "Go up to the hospital wing already!"

Judd shook his head, wiping his nose with a napkin. "No, I'm starved, Ellie. Really, I'm fine." He reached for a sausage, his back giving the pre-sneeze tremble. He quickly grabbed a handful of sausage and dumped them onto his plate, biting his tongue and fighting the sneeze back. He was fine. Judd had not been sick in years. His immune system was great. He didn't need-

"AA-CHOO!"

"Mate!" Foster yelped, having just taken a drink of orange juice before being so thoroughly started as to have spit it out in the direction of a younger boy a few seats away. "You need help, Judd." Judd panted a little bit before wiping his nose. Judd sighed, sitting back. "I am never sick. I do not need to go to the- ah. Aaaaah. Aaaaaaaah."

His friends dove under the table and he sneezed above all of the noise in the Great Hall.

"AAAAA-CHHHHHOOOOO!"

Coral was convinced she was feeling fine. Mostly. She had doubts, of course. She woke up with a few light aches in her joints, a sniffly nose, and a small cough... All signs of the common cold. It wasn't anything serious, and so, she wasn't alarmed. It would probably clear up in a week or so, maybe even just a few days, if she was lucky. And so, she was determined not to pay any attention to it. This was nearly impossible since it seemed the guy across from her had caught a cold as well, one in the later stages or much more severe than hers... it was hard to tell. Regardless, it annoyed her, but she continued to ignore and not pay any attention to it until one particularly loud sneeze jerked her fully alert. Her expression was completely neutral for only a moment as she studied the Ravenclaw in front of her. Then, she smiled slightly, pleasant, warm... and completely and obviously fake.

"Excuse me, sir, but I believe you just sneezed on my food. That isn't very polite," she said softly, before turning her head and delicately coughing in the crook of her elbow. She sniffled a little and looked kind of tired but nonetheless, she grabbed a new plate of food to replace her old one and resumed eating.

Judd was still recovering, his nose twitching like a rabbit in the spring time, his eyes bloodshot and watering, his face devoid of all color. He rubbed his pinkish lips together, and reached up to rub his eyes, looking terribly haggard. His friends were still hiding under the table and he had not noticed the younger girl to his left and in front of him, nor had he noticed he had directed his sneeze right that way, putting her smack dab in the middle of his line of fire.

A soft voice stirred him from his stupor and he turned, blinking at the girl. "Oh..." he said, still trying to gather his bearings. "Sorry." Ellie and Foster slowly rose up back into their seats and the girl coughed. Ellie glanced over at the girl and said, "So you have it to?" She grimaced at Judd. "It's not just you then. I have a few girls in my dorm with it too. I'm going to start sleeping with a surgical mask."

"How long have you had it?" Foster asked the girl curiously, blinking behind his glasses.

Coral's perfectly polite and pleasant expression remained in place, as though, she had no idea what the boy was talking about. "Excuse me for asking, sir... but how long have I had what?" She coughed delicately again, and once again covered her mouth to prevent from spreading germs. She poked at the breakfast on her plate, naturally sitting straight, almost as rigid and unmoving as a plank of wood. She ate slowly and in small bites, not a morsel of food spilled. It was as though she were living in her own little world where there was no such thing as slouching or bad manners.

Judd wiped his hands thoroughly on a napkin before reaching over to pour himself a tall goblet of orange juice the way his mother always had when he was sick or ill in any way. OJ and chicken noodle soup. He planned to go down to the kitchens that night and ask for an entire vat of chicken noodle that he could keep up in his room and heat up when neccessary. Right now, he felt that if he could get some OJ into his system, he might start to feel a little better.

The girl had been confused by Foster's question it seemed. He readjusted his glasses and said, "This cold going around. Neither Ellie or I have caught it but Judd's had it for a week now. And it's cropping up everywhere." Ellie nodded and added, "It's really weird. I talked to the Hogwarts nurse and she says she had been swamped."

"There does appear to be a cold going around. It must be absolutely dreadful for anyone who has it. I feel sorry for them," Coral said, sniffling a little as she daintily lifted a spoon to her mouth. She was, of course, being willfully ignorant that anyone was accusing her of having a cold. As far as anyone else was concerned, she wasn't going to admit sickness unless it was something truly serious. "It's no wonder it's cropping up everywhere. Colds are very contagious. I'm sure it's nothing the nurses at Hogwarts can handle, though, bless their hearts." She wasn't even going to acknowledge the possibility that she could get a cold, either, it seemed.

Ellie was beginning to get genuinely worried that this little girl did not seem aware of the fact that she had this cold that was flitting around. Foster shrugged and willfully turned his attention back to his eggs and sausages, casually saying to Judd, "This might mess with the Quidditch season. Far's I can tell, both Gryffindor and Slytherin have half their teams out sick. We could win this yea-"

"Hang on," Ellie said, shooting Foster an irritated glance. She turned so she was facing the girl. "Obviously you have the same thing. Have you not noticed?" Judd glared at Ellie, who responded, "What?! It it obvious! Look, I'm getting a little freaked out by this cold, it's raging like mad. The better informed we are, the better off we are all around." She looked back at the girl. "Surely you've noticed."