Sick At Heart - And In Body

After finishing breakfast, I had to run to the bathroom in order to avoid getting sick all over Penelope and Albus. It wasn’t the breakfast that had made me ill – if I was honest with myself, I had been feeling nauseous ever since arriving in this time. It was the oddest thing, as I should have been feeling better than I ever had. I had finally been able to sleep through the night, I was not sad, and I was eating well, too. Mentally, I had never felt better. Physically, however, was another story.

Albus had followed me into the bathroom and held my hair as I vomited up my breakfast. After I had finished, he lifted me up gently and carried me into the living room.

“What’s wrong, dear heart?” Albus asked, a concerned look in his eyes.

He noticed my reluctance to respond and followed my gaze to Penelope, who was standing in the doorway looking at us.

“Penelope, dearest, can you run to the Hospital Wing and fetch Madam Pomfrey, please? Tell her to come back to our rooms,” Albus said, prompting a nod from Penelope before she ran out the door and down the hall.

“Oh, Albus,” I groaned, resting my head on his chest. “I’ve been feeling sick ever since I arrived in this time – I don’t know what’s wrong with me! I’ve never been so happy in my life, so why don’t I feel well?” I asked piteously.

Before Albus could respond, the fire in the grate crackled and turned emerald. Madam Pomfrey and Penelope stepped out onto the carpet.

Madam Pomfrey gasped, and turning to Albus, she asked, “Albus – is that really Minerva?”

I looked at Poppy, who had been one of the few people who liked me when we were at Hogwarts together. She was the Matron here? That wasn’t how it was in my own time.

“Later, Poppy. Right now, we need to find out what’s wrong with Minerva. She travelled sideways through time using a time-traveller of her own creation. Ever since she got here yesterday, she says she’s been feeling nauseous. This morning she began vomiting, so I sent Penelope to fetch you,” Albus explained in a worried tone.

“You travelled sideways through time?” Poppy asked, wonder clearly evident on her familiar features.

I nodded weakly, trying to stave off the nausea I still felt.

“Can I see it, please?” Poppy requested. I unfastened the chain from around my neck and handed the time-traveller over to her. After watching her examine it for several minutes, I had to dash to the bathroom again before I became sick.

As I returned, shaking slightly from the exertion, Poppy and Albus had solemn expressions on their countenances.

“Minerva,” Poppy began timidly, “I know why you’re sick. You can’t stay in this time – it’s not meant to be. You have to return to your own time immediately or else you’ll die.”

I collapsed, sobbing, when I heard her grave pronouncement. How could I return to my own time? I had been here for only a day and a half, yet I felt more at home in this time than I ever had in my own.

More importantly, how could I leave Albus and Penelope? I did not think that I could face the Albus of my own time, with his cold, indifferent attitude towards me when my Albus loved me. And my daughter! How could I leave my daughter? The Minerva of this time had given birth to her, but that Minerva was still me – just in a different time. How could I leave this place?

Albus had been stroking my back as his own tears dripped onto my hair. Penelope had wrapped herself around Poppy’s legs, burying her face in the nurse’s apron.

Finally controlling my sobs long enough to speak, I asked Poppy, “When do I have to leave?”

She replied, “As soon as possible. The longer you remain in this time period, the sicker you will get.”