Disclaimer (for the whole story): This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Pairings: HP/DM

Rating: NC-17

Warnings: language, sexual themes, slash, slight bondage, light humiliation, no romantic relationship, AU at the end of 5th year (e.g. Sirius is alive and Lucius is not in prison) and of course a lemon! So, you'd better leave if it isn't your cup of tea.

guide: "Talk", Thoughts, ~letters and other written stuff~

Beta: Makoto Sagara

AN: Thank you for taking the time to read this story. I hope that you will enjoy reading it and may even leave a review. This story is what happens if you go to an Influenza vaccination in the morning, read Drarry in the afternoon, and end up dreaming about dragon pox immunisations at night. The readers of Altair may be warned that this story is not as detailed, but then it is only a one-shot(posted in four parts due to length). So, have fun reading it!

And once again I thank Sevfan from the hexfiles for the final corrections.

-~-~- Dragon Pox -~-~-

-~-~-by StillWatersAreDeep-~-~-

It was the first week of July. Harry was again staying at number four, Privet Drive for the first half of the summer holidays. Currently, he was outside in the backyard tending to Petunia's flowers. Harry liked to work in the soil and to see the plants growing under his care. Also, it was not as stuffy outside as in the house. Especially since Dudley thought he needed to watch the whole Mr Bean series that he had gotten on VHS for his birthday in the living room with the curtains and windows shut closed.

Still, Harry could not wait until his birthday to finally leave this place and go to number twelve, Grimmauld Place. By pure chance, Sirius had only been stuck in another dimension for two and a half weeks. Harry had been more than happy to hear that his godfather was still alive—or alive again depending who you asked. Sirius, the carefree man that he was, had just stated that he had been too young and handsome to die and thus, the veil had had no choice but to spit him out again.

Harry talked with Sirius through letters, as he had broken his two-way mirror when he thought that he had lost him forever. However, he still had not had a chance to see Sirius in person. So, Harry could not wait for his birthday when he could finally see his godfather again and see for himself that Sirius was indeed healthy and alive.

While Harry was out in the garden tending to the flowers, a barn owl flew to him, carrying a letter. Curious as to who could possibly be sending anything to him, as the owl was not one his friends or godfather would use, he took it with caution. Turning the letter around, he saw the Ministry's seal. Can't be anything good then, he thought, opening the letter nonetheless.

~ Dear Mr Potter,

We hereby inform you that your mandatory immunisation against dragon pox has been scheduled for 1st August. It will take place in a private room at St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies' Inoculation Ward. Please be at the hospital shortly before eight o'clock to be checked in and assigned to your room. Please notice that the immunisation process usually takes between three to seven days, depending on the state of your immune system. Therefore, we advise you to cancel all appointments which fall within this time frame.

You will go through this together with partner(s), for whom this is regarded as a revaccination. They will be responsible for taking care of you during the process, as close contact with an infected is necessary for their re-immunisation. You will meet your immunisation partner(s) at St Mungo's. Clothing for the duration of your stay will be provided by the staff of St Mungo's. So, please, do not bring an exchange of clothing with you.

Please be reminded that the participation in this programme is mandatory for all British witches and wizards. Non-appearance will result in a fine of sixty-six Galleons (AN: £330), as well as a forced participation under the guard of two Aurors.

With best regards,

Godwin Kempton

Ministry of Magic, Health Department~

Great, just great, Harry thought. Here, I thought that I would be able to finally see Sirius at the end of the month again. But no, I will have to stay between three to seven days in St Mungo's first. As if I haven't spent enough time in a hospital bed already this year. Even better is that I don't even get to know who my partner or partners for the immunisation are.

It would have to be one of the wizarding raised students. Knowing that they pair the people up by their day of birth, Neville would be the obvious choice, he thought. But Harry knew that Kevin Entwhistle, a Muggle-born boy from Ravenclaw, would be turning sixteen in the second week of August and as far as he knew, Neville was the only boy in his year whose birthday was during the holidays and had already gone through the immunisation at five. Therefore, those two will most likely be paired for the immunisation, Harry concluded.

So, I'll be paired with someone whose sixteenth birthday was earlier in the year, while school was still in session. "Hmm," Harry hummed, trying to figure out who of his classmates could be his partner(s) for the immunisation. The only person I can think of whose birthday was last month is Malfoy, Harry thought. Really, why can't they just write in the damn letter who your partners will be. I just hope that I will be lucky enough to only end up with one partner. As it is the end of the year, most of the wizarding raised students should have already had their re-immunisation, so that it won't be necessary any more to pair two of them with one Muggle raised student.

I better inform Sirius of this now, rather than later when he's already planned those days away, Harry thought before getting up from the patch of grass he had been sitting on to read the letter to go inside. After he had composed the letter to his godfather, he would send it with Hedwig, who would be happy to deliver it. So, Harry sat down on the kitchen table and started writing.

~Dear Padfoot,

How are you? I hope that the twins aren't getting on your nerves with all the new joke products for their shop they are testing at Grimmauld.

Anyway, I am sorry to say that I got my dragon pox immunisation letter today. I have to be at St Mungo's on the 1st August at 8. So, I will be unable to stay with you for the beginning of August. I hope you will still let me come for my birthday and after.

Love,

Harry~

He was happy that this year his uncle mercifully allowed him to use his owl during the day, as Sirius had written a nice letter to Vernon, threatening to kill him and his family if they mistreated Harry. Harry was not sure if it was only a threat or if Sirius would go through with it if anything should actually happen.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ Dragon Pox ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

The next day Harry received the answering letter from Sirius. Eagerly, he opened it.

~Harry,

I'm sorry to hear that you will only be able to stay the night here before you have to go to St Mungo's. We both know that you've already stayed long enough in Hogwarts' hospital wing this year. But, it can't be helped. Let's just hope that you will recover as quick as Hermione had and will only need to stay for three days, not the full seven.

At least I will be able to see you before you have to go there. I really feared for a moment that old Dumbledore would say that you should go straight to St Mungo's from your aunt's house. But even Albus Dumbledore is afraid of Molly Weasley to not interfere with her plans for your birthday.

I can clearly remember when it was my turn to get vaccinated against dragon pox. Let me just say, I hated it like hell. But thank Merlin, it was before they decided that being vaccinated against dragon pox at age five is not good enough and you need a revaccination with sixteen. All the pain only because one Abraxas Malfoy died of it at a rather young age. Even if in the case of a revaccination you only get ill for a day or two at the maximum, I still can do without all the itching.

I wish you the best of luck. And let's hope that you won't get one of those stuck up wannabe Death Eaters as your partner. The whole immunisation process is already nerve wracking on its own to have to go through, so you could do without the extra trouble. But, since the Ministry finally seems to acknowledge that HE is back, they hopefully have enough sense to not pair you with one of them.

Love,

Padfoot~

Knowing the Ministry, they would not care if I am paired with one of the Death Eater children, Harry thought. For all I know, the pairings are assigned a year or more beforehand. And at that time, they were still denying that Voldemort was back. So, they would not have cared who my partners are. They may even have gone so far to pair me up with one of the Death Eater children to prove their point that Voldemort is not back.

It wasn't the first time Harry wondered why the wizards could not adopt a Muggle method completely if they were already copying them. It would be much easier to simply go to the hospital and get an injection with the attenuated virus in my arm like the Muggles do, Harry thought wishfully. But no, in the wizarding world instead of an injection, one gets covered up with an infectious cream and actually has to go through the disease to be immunized. But then, dragon pox is a magical disease...The standard Muggle immunisation method might not work right for this kind of illness, he pondered.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ Dragon Pox ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

Wednesday, 31st July 1996, 12 Grimmauld Place, London

Harry had a great birthday. Not only had he been able to leave his aunt's house for another year, but he had finally been able see Sirius in person. To be able to hold his godfather in his arms and to be sure that he really was okay had been the best birthday present ever. Even receiving his Hogwarts letter could not compete with this.

With the birthday party going on, Harry had not found enough time today to spend with his godfather. Therefore, at shortly after ten, he knocked on Sirius' bedroom door.

"Come in," Sirius called from inside the room.

"Ah, Harry," Sirius greeted as Harry entered the room. "What can I do for my favourite godson?"

"Nothing in particular, I just wanted to spend some time with you," Harry answered from the entrance.

"If this is the case, then come on in and sit down. And don't worry about sitting on the bed, I've already vanished the jinxes the twins put there. Those two aren't bad, but they still can't outsmart a Marauder," Sirius said proudly.

"This explains why your hair turned green along with everyone else who ate the birthday cake today," Harry answered with a smirk.

He fondly remembered that in celebration of his birthday; the twins had added something into the cake while Molly had not been looking. The result was that the hair of everyone who ate the cake had changed into a bright green colour. When he had asked them why they chose green, they said that it reminded them of Harry's eyes. The change lasted for the next few hours depending on how much of the cake you had. For example, Ron's hair had still been green the last time Harry had seen him half an hour ago, but then he had eaten more cake than everyone else. Both Harry and Sirius' hair had turned black again after only two hours.

"Oh, no. They didn't trick me. I just thought that I would go along with them. It surely made you laugh. And besides, I looked rather dashing with the green hair, didn't you think so?" Sirius asked, trying to talk himself out of the tight spot.

"If you say so," was all Harry said to this comment. Exhausted from all the celebrating, he let himself fall down on Sirius' bed, stretching his arms before folding them behind his head.

Sirius followed Harry's example and lay down beside his godson. "So," Sirius began, "are you nervous about tomorrow?"

"Not really. It's not like I can get out of this anyway. Best to just go there, hope that it will be over as soon as possible and then come back here as quickly as I can. Though, it bothers me that I don't know with whom I will go through the whole dragon pox immunisation. Really, the Ministry sometimes can be as bad as Dumbledore with the whole secrecy thing they have going," Harry answered.

"That is true. I really wish that Dumbledore had allowed me to tell you about the whole prophecy. But, what's done is done."

After a pause where both of them were watching the ceiling in silence, Sirius spoke again. "You know, I clearly remember when I had to go through the dragon pox immunisation. Normally, in wizarding families, the child goes through this some days after their fifth birthday, but my mother didn't want to go through with the whole thing twice. So, instead of doing it in October, she had waited until my younger brother Regulus had turned five at the end of September in the following year. Like this the two of us were both five for two weeks. Enough time for us to have the dragon pox immunisation simultaneously.

"The good thing about this was that we both were in the same dilemma. Both of our hands and feet were tightly wrapped in wool gloves, so that we could not scratch the blisters. And we really, really wanted to scratch them and they were itching so badly. No wonder that my bitch of a mother had decided to wait until we both were five. This way she only had to hear our complaints once," Sirius informed Harry. "I would not be surprised if she only had us so closely for just this reason." Here, Sirius paused in his speech.

"Your hands and feet were wrapped up?" Harry asked, intrigued. Neither of his friends had told him that this would happen.

"Of course they were. It is a standard procedure. Sometimes, the caretaker even seems it necessary to gag his patient, as some people tend to try to open the blisters with their teeth," Sirius answered him.

As if Harry hadn't interrupted him at all, Sirius continued going down memory lane. "Regulus, the lucky one, only had to endure the thing for four days, while for me it had lasted six. The healer said that it lasted longer for me because I had been very close to being six years old. I seem to remember that Arithmancy says that five and sixteen are the best ages for being vaccinated against dragon pox."

Intrigued by the new information he had received regarding your hands and feet being wrapped up, Harry decided to ask his godfather to explain the dragon pox vaccination in detail, especially since his friends seem to have let out quite some important information about the process.

Sirius, of course, was more than happy to supply Harry with all the things he still could remember about his own vaccination.

"First, a healer will do a usual check-up. Nothing more than simply confirming that you are healthy before they start the vaccination. It would be fatal if you had a cold while you are vaccinated for example." Harry simply nodded at the explanation Sirius gave, as this check-up made sense. It would do no good to be ill and on top of that get infected with dragon pox.

"Second, your caretaker will rub two creams on your skin. Together, those two will infect you with a weakened form of dragon pox. Then, all you have to do is to you simply wait a day before the typical dragon pox blisters start to form on your skin. If you are lucky, you will be hit with it full force on the same day, high fever and all, before your skin heals on the third. Though, in most cases the peak will only be reached on the third or fourth day and the healing takes about two days. But hey, maybe your magic is as resistance against dragon pox as Hermione's."

Harry clearly remembered that Hermione had been happy that she could have her dragon pox inoculation while she theoretically had still been fifteen. Technically though, she had already turned sixteen in the middle of August last year, with all the time gathered through the use of the Time-Turner in third year. So, the Ministry had agreed that she could go through the process a week before school started, so that she would not have to miss one of her OWL lessons.

"If I remember correctly, Lily's magic was rather immune to dragon pox. She was back to classes after only three days. James, though, was not as lucky. His mother told me once that she really had been worried about him because it had taken five days for him to get into the high magical healing fever. I believe that it had taken nine days for James to finally get out of the Inoculation Ward in St Mungo's."

"Then, I hope that I've inherited my mother's dragon pox resistance," Harry told Sirius. He wanted to spend as little time in the hospital as possible.

"I hope so too, Harry," Sirius said. "Lying around in the bed all day long, without being able to use your hands really isn't very entertaining. You aren't even allowed to get up to walk around the room, except to go to the bathroom. Not that this is a nice experience while you are still covered in blisters. I don't understand why they insist that even your manhood has to be covered in the dragon pox cream. I'm still waiting for someone to get impotent because of the dragon pox vaccination. Too bad that Snivellus wasn't this person," Sirius told Harry wishfully, before Harry yawned.

"You should go to bed sometime soon," Sirius advised Harry. "With all the itching you'll be doing, you will hardly be able to get some sleep after the first day."

Looking at his watch, Harry saw that it was quarter to eleven already. To be on time for his appointment at eight, he would have to get up at seven at the latest tomorrow. He was glad that the twins had offered to Apparated him to St Mungo's, so that he could save a thirty minute trip through London.

Getting up of the bed, he said "G'night" to his godfather before heading to the bathroom to get ready for bed.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~ Dragon Pox ~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~