Chapter 14
Madam Poppy Pomfrey watched as the tiny first-year left the hospital wing. Once the girl was out of sight, she cursed softly under her breath and gathered the files for Crystal Potter. She couldn’t believe that Dumbledore had allowed such a situation to arise for the poor girl. Pomfrey would need to keep a close eye on her to ensure she didn’t develop any other side effects. Who knew what a high level of ectoplasm could do to a human?
She updated the girl’s files and sent a message to the staff, requesting an urgent meeting about a student’s allergies.
Poppy sighed as she considered that some professors might doubt the seriousness of the girl’s allergy.
After setting a charm on the hospital wing doors to alert her if any students came in, Pomfrey left and made her way to the staff room on the third floor.
Upon entering, she saw that several staff members were already present, though a few were missing since someone needed to supervise the students. The caretaker, Mr. Filch, was absent as well. Poppy planned to find him later to inform him about Ms. Potter’s allergies.
Filch might be a grumpy man, but Pomfrey knew she could rely on him to alert her if he noticed Ms. Potter having an allergic reaction. Despite his tendency to punish and scare the students, he did care about their well-being and would not want a child to suffer or die on his watch.
Albus Dumbledore was the first to speak. “Poppy, my dear, you mentioned you needed to discuss a student’s allergies. I’m assuming they’re life-threatening if you’re bringing it up so urgently.”
Minerva McGonagall added, “Would this have anything to do with Ms. Potter? I know she came to see you about an allergy—”
Before she could finish, Severus Snape interrupted with a sneer. “Of course, this is about Potter. I should have known. We all know the brat is just seeking attention; she probably doesn’t even have the allergy she claims.”
“Severus Snape, how dare you speak about a child that way!” Poppy snapped, surprising everyone. Pomfrey was known for her patience, a necessary trait for a medi-witch in a school full of magical children, so it was rare for her to lose her temper, especially on the first day.
Several professors felt their stomachs drop, realizing that Potter’s allergy must be quite serious for Poppy to react this way.
“For your information, I used a charm to confirm her allergies. She didn’t realize I had done it, but I know for a fact she was telling the truth because that charm does not lie!” Poppy glared at Severus, who felt a sweat bead on the back of his neck.
“Fine, what is Potter allergic to?” Severus sneered, taking a sip of his tea.
Pomfrey took a deep breath to calm herself. She was angry with Severus, whose hatred for James Potter seemed to have transferred to poor Crystal. If Pomfrey allowed Severus to continue believing the allergy was fake, he might even accidentally cause harm to the girl by using blood blossoms in potions.
“First, you need some context. According to the girl, when she was younger, she was in an accident that exposed her to high levels of ectoplasm. She didn’t specify the cause of the accident, but she did mention that when she gets angry, her eyes glow blue. Apart from that and her allergy, there are no other side effects.”
Poppy looked around the room at the pale faces staring back at her. “Crystal Potter is deathly allergic to blood blossoms. Pomona, Severus, if you have classes involving those flowers, please excuse Crystal Potter.”
Pomona Sprout nodded. “I can do that. Poor dear.”
Severus frowned, leaning forward. “This means she won’t be able to take certain potions, including the blood-replenishing potion. If she gets seriously injured and loses too much blood, we won’t be able to administer it to her; it would be fatal.”
After a moment of silence, Filius Flitwick spoke up. “There’s a procedure from the Muggle world called a blood transfusion. They take blood from someone with the same blood type and give it to the person in need. We could potentially do something similar here.”
Dumbledore rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Yes, that might work, Filius. The donor could take a blood-replenishing potion afterward to replace what they’ve donated.”
Dumbledore was concerned. He didn’t know about the accident, which meant his sources hadn’t informed him and the Dursleys were unaware of it. How had Crystal been exposed to such a high level of ectoplasm, considering she lived in the Muggle world away from the wizarding world and its ghosts?
He would need to call her to his office to get more information and to understand how else the ectoplasm might have affected her. Were there other side effects besides her glowing eyes?
He sighed as he remembered something. “I also have news to share: the Sorting Hat will need to be cleaned by hand. I don’t know how long this will take, but when it’s done, I’ll see if we can add charms to prevent head lice and the like from setting up home on it.”
Poppy huffed, crossing her arms. “Those charms should have been added from the start. Every year, there’s an outbreak of head lice, and none of us thought to check the Sorting Hat for any issues.”
Minerva sighed. “Yes, that was an oversight on our part. I’m ashamed to admit that I chastised Ms. Potter this morning for making a scene. Now that I’ve had some time to reflect, I realize I owe her an apology. She was right that if she hadn’t mentioned it, we’d be stuck in the cycle of head lice outbreaks every year without understanding the cause.”
Pomona winced. “You scolded her for looking out for her health? Minerva, that’s not good. You’re right; you owe her an apology.”
Severus rubbed his face, grumbling. “I hate to admit it, but Potter was right. I’ll be glad not to spend the first few weeks of school brewing potions to combat lice.”
Filius chuckled. “It might even improve your attitude a bit, Severus.”
The professors continued discussing the matter before heading out to check on the students and inform the other professors about Ms. Potter’s allergy.
Dumbledore returned to his office, scratching his beard in contemplation. This explained why he often caught head lice; many of the head lice potions Severus brewed went to him. Until the hat was cleaned, he wouldn’t have any more conversations with it, which was a shame since he valued those chats.
As he was lost in thought, Professor Quirinus Quirrell walked into his office, closing and locking the door behind him. Once he was sure he was alone, he began to laugh darkly.
“My lord, can you believe it? A way to take out the Girl-Who-Lived just fell into our hands!” Quirrell looked into the mirror with a dark smirk, feeling his master’s satisfaction.
“I’ll wait until Halloween, my lord. It will be poetic to take out Crystal Potter on the same day you took her parents, years ago.”
Quirrell took a deep breath. “This also gives more people the chance to learn about her allergy, making it easier for anyone to slip blood blossoms into her food.”
He relaxed, sensing his master’s glee with the plan. He had been worried that his master might want to act immediately, but was relieved that the master was patient.
Quirrell sat behind his desk, beginning to plot the downfall of the Girl-Who-Lived.
~With Crystal~
Crystal was exploring the castle when she felt a cold chill run up her back. She expected her ghost sense to activate but was confused when no red wisp of air came from her mouth. Now that she thought about it, she didn't actually get cold chills when her ghost sense went off; she felt warm ones, aligning with her fire core.
Shaking her head, she decided to ponder this later. It was probably just the drafty old castle; it was bound to be a bit breezy and chilly in some areas.
As she turned the corner, she bumped into someone. Thanks to her training, she managed to avoid falling flat on her back but did stumble a bit before regaining her balance. Looking up, she was surprised to see that she had just bumped into Cedric Diggory.
Cedric was with a few friends: a girl who looked like she might be Chinese, with long, shiny black hair and wearing the Ravenclaw uniform. She had a few freckles on her nose and was a bit shorter. There were also two boys who looked like twins, with flaming-red hair and an abundance of freckles. They were tall and well-built, dressed in the Gryffindor uniform.
Crystal decided to apologize. “Oh, hey, sorry for bumping into you, Cedric.”
Cedric laughed it off. “It’s fine, Crystal. It’s hard to avoid collisions when walking around corners. How’d it go with Madam Pomfrey?”
Crystal saw the concern in his eyes and responded honestly. “It went okay. I think she’s telling the other professors about my allergy now. I could tell she was horrified when she heard about my accident.”
The black-haired girl interrupted. “What accident are you talking about? Ced, how do you know this first-year?”
Cedric glanced at the girl. “Cho, this is the first-year I took to the nurse’s office this morning. I mentioned her when you asked where I went.” He turned back to Crystal and offered a smile. “Crystal, this is my girlfriend Cho Chang, and these are my friends, Fred and George Weasley.”
Crystal winced when she heard the name “Weasley,” which did not go unnoticed by the group.
Cho, looking defensive, said, “What, do you think you’re better than them because you’re rich?”
Crystal looked taken aback. “No, not at all. I just don’t get along with their brother, that’s all.”
One of the twins spoke up. “And why don’t you—”
“Like little Ronniekins?”
Crystal could already tell the twins’ rapid speech might give her a headache until she got used to it. “I was in the same compartment as him. He spent most of the time trying to keep me from reading my books, complaining about things to make me feel bad for him, and he even asked if I remembered anything from the night Voldemort murdered my parents.”
The twins frowned and exchanged a look that Crystal couldn’t quite decipher, but she guessed that little Ronniekins might be in trouble with his older brothers.
Cedric spoke up, trying to diffuse the tension. “How about we give you a tour of the school, and in return, you could tell us about Muggle ghosts?”
“Muggle ghosts? What are you talking about, Ced?” Cho asked, regaining her voice. Cedric explained what Crystal had shared with him that morning. It was clear Cho was skeptical, but the twins seemed intrigued.
“Sure, I’ll take that deal. It’ll be better than navigating this maze on my own,” Crystal huffed. “I don’t understand why they don’t provide maps to new students.”
Crystal allowed herself to be led around the school. Thanks to the twins, she learned about several secret passageways and discovered that the portraits were always watching. They would report interesting events to the teachers or gossip about them.
Crystal made a mental note to avoid any ghostly activities when in view of the portraits on the walls.