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Part 1- Discovery * Part 2- Breakfast * Part 3- Chamomile Tea * Part 4- A Potion * Part 5- Chicken Soup * Part 6- The Black Ledger * Part 7- Apples * Part 8- Exercise * Part 9- Hot Shower* Part 10- Sleepy Time Tea * Part 11- Fever Rising * Part 12- Breakfast in Bed * Part 13- Yarrow Tea * Part 14- Honey
Same ratings apply to this part

Too Many Cooks
Part 15: Garlic

“We’ll leave it on for a little while,” Remus decided. “So it has time to do… whatever it is it’s supposed to do.”

“In the meantime,” said Sirius, hopping up and going over to the desk. He returned with something clutched in his fist. “In the meantime, there’s this.” Sirius’ fingers uncurled and he held his hand out, palm up, to reveal a large clove of garlic.

“That’s dice…” James said, eyeing it as he traded a used tissue for a new one. “What ab I subbosed to… oh doe.”

“Going to sneeze again?” Remus asked cautiously, pulling several tissues from the box to have them at the ready.

James shook his head, sniffling. “Doe… I bead… yes, actually, but… buhhh…” His eyes fluttered closed and he reached out blindly for the tissues. Remus pressed them into his hand and James held them all to his face. “hehhhChoo! Ahh-hahh-Shooo! hahhChoo! KShooo! Ughh…” He pulled the tissues away and re-bunched the wad, pressing dry portions to his sniffling, dripping nose. He barely got a few moments of sniffling in before he had to sneeze some more. “ahhhShooo! Sniff! Hahhh-Tchooo! Ahhh… sniff… ahhh… hahhhChoo!” He blew his nose only a little, just enough to get a bit of relief, then looked up at his friends again. “You’re goig to bake be eat that, ared’t you?” he said, his tone making it a statement instead of a question.

“It’s not as bad as you’d think,” Peter spoke up in defense of the treatment, though avoiding a direct answer.

James nonetheless found a shiver running through him at the thought. Here he was, trapped in bed, slathered in honey, feeling miserable and congested, surrounded by well-meaning friends who insisted on keeping him there… and now he was going to be forced to eat garlic. Naturally, he wasn’t altogether excited about the prospect. “He took another few tissues and blew his nose. The sound was wet, full, lengthy. Somehow he felt like maybe, if he kept sneezing and blowing his nose, he could put this treatment off indefinitely. Who id their right bide eats garlic like this?” James asked.

“Someone with a bad cold,” Sirius replied with a no-nonsense tone.

James was unconvinced. Tea and apples were one thing. Even honey made a little bit of sense, even though his skin was starting to itch where it had been liberally applied. But eating garlic? Even saying Lily’s name over and over to himself wasn’t convincing him.

Luckily, his stalling tactic returned, and he turned his attention back to his nose again. “ehhhhhKShooo! hahhh-Ahgshhh! hehhChooo! Sniff! SNIFF!” He blew his nose again. Then he looked up into his friends’ faces, one at a time, with all the seriousness he had in him. “I’b dot eatig that.”

Sirius sighed, still holding the clove out for him. “Look, Mate, I know it’s all little strange. But a book said this will help. We’ve gone to a lot of trouble looking up what’ll work. Sure, some are old remedies but we’ve already weeded out the crackpot, invalidated ideas.”

Remus coughed nervously, and turned his attention to the black ledger, looking interested in reading it as though he did not already know what it said. This didn’t make James feel very comfortable or trusting. He tried to rise, but Sirius held him down.

“You can’t keep fighting every single cure we propose,” Sirius continued. “We’ve got about thirty ideas left to go through. You’ll run out of energy by number ten if you keep getting worked up about every little thing. So just lie back and let us do our thing, okay?”

James pitched forward, suddenly, with another sneeze. “hahhhhh-UHShooo!” More blowing bought him a little more time, but when he finished, his friends were all staring at him expectantly again. James finally sighed and put his hand out. “All right. What do I have to do with this?” he asked, hope in his voice. “I dod’t really have to eat it, do I?”

“No! Of course not,” said Sirius, waving his hand dismissively.

“You have to peel it,” Peter explained. Glad for the news, James started right to work peeling it. Though he could not imagine how this was supposed to help him.

However, Peter wasn’t finished. “And then you put it in your mouth and bite down on it every few minutes.”

“What?” James looked accusingly at Sirius.

“That’s still not eating it,” Sirius pointed out in his own defense.

James looked over at Remus for help, though his friend was clearly trying not to make eye contact. “Rebus?”

“Just try it,” Remus said at last. “I’ll try to find you something a little less… objectionable to try next.”

This did not fill James with the sort of confidence he’d wanted, and wasn’t the answer he’d wanted from Remus, either. Remus sounded worried, and his words implied that he didn’t believe this garlic treatment was going to help. But the fact was, they were doing this to help him. And they weren’t going to let up until something worked.

With a deep sigh, James popped the peeled clove into his mouth and bit down. The taste was overwhelming and made him purse his lips with displeasure. His eyes teared up at the intensity and he fought against the urge to spit it right out. But he kept it in his mouth and eventually swallowed. Then he looked miserably at his onlookers.

“That’s a good boy, Prongs,” Sirius said comfortingly, as though he were a child. “In no time at all, you’ll be over that cold.”

“And out on that date with Lily,” Peter added.

“And look on the bright side,” said Remus, who was awful at being optimistic. “If any vampires come near you, all you’ll have to do is breathe on them.”

James rolled his eyes. Sirius chuckled at Remus’ joke, and at his own. “Heck, if any enemies come our way at all, we’ll have you breathe on them. No better way to torment someone than with a head cold this bad!” Peter joined in on the laughter, but James was beyond rolling his eyes now.

So James just rubbed the side of his hand at his nose and bit down again.


Next up- Part 16: Cinnamon