Ophelia || Harry Potter

Chapter 134

(A/N) As I've said - I don't like Half Blood Prince and anyways, I feel like majority of the film happens after May plus it's mainly Harry and Dumbledore with the lessons

So time skip to March

It was evening time on the night of Ron's birthday. Harry, Hermione, Ginny and I sat in the Hospital wing. Previously today Ron had been infected with a love potion which was annoyingly meant for Harry, however he then seemed to be poisoned by the mead Slughorn gave him

"So, all in all, not one of Ron's better birthdays?" Fred spoke. He and George had come not long after they were allowed  in

"This isn't how we imagined handing over our present" George said, laying down a large gift wrapped present on the bedside table before taking a seat besides Ginny

"Yeah, when we pictured the scene, he was conscious" Fred frowned

"There we were in Hogsmeade, waiting to surprise him-"

"You were in Hogsmeade?" Ginny questioned, looking to the twins

"We were thinking of buying Zonko's" Fred told us "A Hogsmeade branch, you know, but a fat lot of good it'll do us if you lot aren't allowed out at weekends to buy our stuff anymore...But never mind that now"

Fred then drew up a chair besides Harry as he looked at Ron's pale face. He then turned to glance at Harry

"How exactly did it happen, Harry?"

As he had explained to us all before, he began to yet again explain it all to the twins "...and then I got the bezoar down his throat and his breathing eased up a bit. Slughorn ran for help, McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey turned up, and they brought Ron up here. They reckon he'll be all right. Madam Pomfrey says he'll have to stay here a week or so...keep taking Essence of Rue..."

"Blimey, it was lucky you thought of a bezoar" George quietly marvelled

"Lucky there was one in the room" He shrugged whilst glancing up at me. Lately our relationship had been slightly rocky again, arguments breaking out when he began to talk about Draco

I knew that his assumptions were indeed correct as I had finally given in and wanted to see the mark for myself. But that didn't stop this annoying feeling when he was getting the blame for something he did not want to do

"Do Mum and Dad know?" Fred asked Ginny

"They've already seen him, they arrived an hour ago-they're in Dumbledore's office now, but they'll be back soon..."

There was silence as we listened to the silent mumbles which came from under Ron's breath

"So the poison was in the drink?" Fred confirmed quietly

"Yes" Harry replied "Slughorn poured it out-"

"Would he have been able to slip something into Ron's glass without you seeing?"

"Probably" Harry sighed "but why would Slughorn want to poison Ron?"

"No idea" Fred frowned "You don't think he could have mixed up the glasses by mistake? Meaning to get you?"

"Why would Slughorn want to poison Harry?" I asked confusingly

"I dunno" Fred shrugged "but there must be loads of people who'd like to poison Harry, mustn't there? The 'Chosen One' and all that?"

"So you think Slughorn's a Death Eater?" Ginny questioned

"Anything's possible" Fred spoke darkly

"He could be under the Imperius Curse" George suggested

"You would know if he's cursed" I pipe in before Ginny speaks

"Or he could be innocent" She said "The poison could have been in the bottle, in which case it was probably meant for Slughorn himself"

"Who'd want to kill Slughorn?"

"Dumbledore reckons Voldemort wanted Slughorn on his side" Harry told us with a small shrug "Slughorn was in hiding for a year before he came to Hogwarts...And maybe Voldemort wants him out of the way, maybe he thinks he could be valuable to Dumbledore"

"But you said Slughorn had been planning to give that bottle to Dumbledore for Christmas" Ginny reminded him "So the poisoner could just as easily have been after Dumbledore"

"Then the poisoner didn't know Slughorn very well" Hermione surprisingly said after having been quiet for a long time. Her voice was slightly rough as if she had a cold "Anyone who knew Slughorn would have I known there was a good chance he'd keep something that tasty for himself"

"Er-my-nee" Ron unexpectedly croaked. We all looked at him as we fell silent, waiting to see if we got anymore talk from him. However it just turned to snoring

Suddenly the doors fly open to Hagrid who comes quickly striding in. His hair rain-flecked, his bearskin coat flapping behind him, a crossbow in his hand, leaving a trail of muddy dolphin-sized footprints all over the floor

"Bin in the forest all day!" he panted "Aragog's worse, I bin readin' to him-didn' get up ter dinner till jus' now an' then Professor Sprout told me abou' Ron! How is he?"

"Not bad" Harry told him "They say he'll be okay"

"No more than seven visitors at a time!" said Madam Pomfrey, hurrying out of her office

"Hagrid makes seven" George pointed out

"O...yes..." Madam Pomfrey realised before leaving again to clean up the muddy footprints Hagrid made on the ground

"I don' believe this" Hagrid said hoarsely, shaking his great shaggy head as he stared down at Ron "Jus' don' believe it... look at him lyin' there...who'd want ter hurt him, eh?"

"That's just what we were discussing," Harry told him "We don't know"

"Someone couldn' have a grudge against the Gryfinndor Quidditch team, could they?" Hagrid anxiously suggested "Firs' Katie, now Ron..."

"I can't see anyone trying to bump off a Quidditch team" George disapproved

"Wood might've done the Slytherins if he could've got away with it" Fred replied fairly

"Well, I don't think it's Quidditch, but I think there's a connection between the attacks" Hermione said quietly

"How d'you work that out?" Fred asked her

"Well, for one thing, they both ought to have been fatal and weren't, although that was pure luck. And for another, neither the poison nor the necklace seems to have reached the person who was supposed to be killed. Of course" she added broodingly which made me slightly nervous since I knew who was behind the necklace incident "that makes the person behind this even more dangerous in a way, because they don't seem to care how many people they finish off before they actually reach their victim"

Suddenly the doors crash open again to Molly and Arthur come hurrying in. She ran over and pulled Harry into a tight hug

"Dumbledore's told us how you saved him with the bezoar" she sobbed "Oh, Harry, what can we say? You saved Ginny...you saved Arthur...now you've saved Ron..."

"Don't be...I didn't..." Harry awkwardly muttered in response, amusingly pleading for help as she squeezed him tight

"Half our family does seem to owe you their lives, now I stop and think about it" Mr. Weasley said in a constricted voice "Well, all I can say is that it was a lucky day for the Weasleys when Ron decided to sit in your compartment on the Hogwarts Express, Harry"

Suddenly Madam Pomfrey came bundling in again. Stating only six visitors not since it was getting later into the evening. I stood up from my seat nodding at them all

"I'm going to go check on Luna" I softly smile "I'll see you guys tomorrow"