The Secrets of The Sighted (Golden Trio Era) {3}

Theories

"So, all in all, not one of Ron's better birthdays?" Fred said looking between his brother and his girlfriend. It was evening; the hospital wing was quiet, the windows curtained, the lamps lit. Ron and Mikayla's beds were the only ones occupied in the hospital wing. Harry, Hermione, and Ginny were sitting around in the chairs between their beds, rotating every once in a while to hold Ron or Mikayla's hand. Harry and the girls had spent all day waiting outside the double doors, trying to see inside whenever somebody went in or out. Madam Pomfrey had only let them enter at eight o'clock. Fred and George had arrived at ten past.

"This isn't how we imagined handing over our present," George stated grimly putting down a large wrapped gift on Ron's bedside cabinet and sitting beside Ginny. "Yeah, when we pictured the scene, he was conscious," Fred said dryly unable to force himself to crack an actual joke as he saw his brother's lifeless body and his girlfriend facing inner turmoil and being completely helpless in stopping it. "There we were in Hogsmeade, waiting to surprise him-" George was cut off by Ginny, "you were in Hogsmeade?" Ginny tone eluded to her surprise as she looked up at her brothers. "Yeah, we were updating our stock list in our Hogsmeade branch, although don't suspect that business will be thriving if you lot aren't allowed out at weekends to buy our stuff anymore... But never mind that now." Fred drew up a chair beside Harry, his eyes flickering over Ron's pale face. He was unable to look at Mikayla's distress anymore.

"How exactly did it happen, Harry?" George asked and a flash of pain and worry flickered in Harry's eyes as he stares at Ron. Harry had retold the story once again, he had already recounted for what felt like a hundred times to Dumbledore, to McGonagall, to Madam Pomfrey, to Hermione, and to Ginny. "...and then I threw the bezoar to Mikayla and she shoved it down his throat and his breathing eased up a bit, Slughorn ran for help, McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey turned up, Mikayla collapsed into an Anxietas attack and they brought them both up here. They reckon Ron'll be all right. Madam Pomfrey says he'll have to stay here a week or so... keep taking essence of rue..." Harry informed, pausing as a whimper leaves Mikayla's lips. 

"As for Mikayla, it's up to her as to when she's going to stop torturing herself for what happened and break out of the Anxietas series." Mikayla still hadn't woken up from her Anxietas attack, Dumbledore had come to the conclusion that she was reliving more than one memory. Every so often Mikayla would stop moving, only for a couple of minutes before she started trashing around again, mumbling, crying and shaking fiercely. Madam Pomfrey had to put the bed rails to prevent the blonde from throwing herself off the bed, but every so often her limbs would hit off it, leaving behind bruises from the force of her thrashing. "Blimey, it was lucky you thought of a bezoar," George commented in a low voice trying to divert everyone's attention away from Mikayla, as they were utterly helpless in her situation. 

"Lucky there was one in the room," Harry stated, he kept turning cold at the thought of what would have happened if he had not been able to lay hands on the little stone. Mikayla was focusing on giving him enough time to search for something, and Harry doesn't know how long clearing his airway repeated would work. Hermione gave an almost inaudible sniff, she had been exceptionally quiet all day. After she hurtled up white-faced to Harry outside the hospital wing and demanded to know what had happened. She had taken almost no part in Harry and Ginny's obsessive discussion about how Ron had been poisoned, but merely stood beside them, clench-jawed and frightened-looking, until at last they had been allowed in to see him.

"Do Mum and Dad know?" Fred asked mainly Ginny, "yeah, they've already seen him, they arrived an hour ago- they're in Dumbledore's office now, but they'll be back soon..." Ginny explained quietly before there was a pregnant pause while they all watched Ron mumble a little in his sleep. "So the poison was in the drink?" Fred asked quietly trying to wrap his head around the whole incident. "Yes," Harry answered instantly, he could think of nothing else and was glad for the opportunity to start discussing it again. "Slughorn poured it out-" George interrupted Harry to ask if it would have been possible for Slughorn to slip something into Ron's glass without him seeing. "Probably, but it was in all the drinks. Mikayla almost drank it too, but she must've smelled the poison because she tried to stop the rest of from drinking it."

"You don't think he could have mixed up the glasses by mistake? Meaning to get you and Mikayla?" George asked them, "why would Slughorn want to poison Harry and Mikayla?" Ginny counter-asked, and at first he just shrugged noncommittally, before Fred decided to tell them their thoughts. How there must be loads of people who'd like to poison Harry, considering he's 'The Chosen One'. And as for Mikayla, she's been poisoned before and they all know that people want her dead, since there's been multiple attempts on her life in the last two and a half years. "So you think Slughorn's a Death Eater?" Ginny asked the twins incredulously, "anything's possible, Gin" Fred responds darkly, his brows furrow to emphasis his point. "He could be under the Imperius Curse," George also offered another reason, 

"Or he could be innocent." Ginny reasoned. "The poison could have been in the bottle, in which case it was probably meant for Slughorn himself." Fred theorised and it seemed that they were at a loss, without Mikayla they couldn't know for sure what actually happened. "Who'd want to kill Slughorn?" George asked his sister, "Dumbledore reckons Voldemort wanted Slughorn on his side. 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." Harry offered making sure to be vague as to what Slughorn has of value to Dumbledore as it's supposed to be a secret.

"But you said Slughorn had been planning to give that bottle to Dumbledore for Christmas," Ginny reminded them, "so the poisoner could just as easily have been after Dumbledore." The room fell silent for a moment to try to come up with alternative theories, "then the poisoner didn't know Slughorn very well," Hermione voiced her thoughts, speaking for the first time in hours and sounding as though she had a bad head cold. "Anyone who knew Slughorn would have known there was a good chance he'd keep something that tasty for himself." Ginny nodded her head in agreement after picking up on Slughorn's habits during Slug Club dinners. "Er-my-nee," croaked Ron unexpectedly from between them. 

They all fell silent, watching him anxiously, but after muttering incomprehensibly for a moment he merely started snoring. The Hospital Wing doors flew open, making them all jump, only relaxing when they see Hagrid came striding toward them. Hagrid's 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 loudly, "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?" Hagrid's features twisted in worry, "not bad, they say he'll be okay." Harry responds instantly to calm Hagrid down.

"No more than six visitors at a time!" Madam Pomfrey called as she hurried out of her office. "Hagrid makes six," George pointed out. "Oh... yes..." Madam Pomfrey says, who seemed to have been counting Hagrid as several people due to his vastness. To cover her confusion, she hurried off to clear up his muddy foot prints with her wand. "I don' believe this," Hagrid croaked 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?" Harry admitted that they were trying to figure that out. "Someone couldn't have a grudge against the Gryffindor Quidditch team, could they?" Hagrid asked anxiously, "firs' Katie, now Ron, Mikayla and you, Harry, if you had drank it too."

"I can't see anyone trying to bump off a Quidditch team," George tries to dismiss the thought, as it did seem very fair fetched to him. "Wood might've done the Slytherins if he could've got away with it," Fred commented 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 questioned. "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." Hermione began as the others listened to her intently.

"Of course, 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." Just as Hermione's theory came to an end, there was a gasping sound from Mikayla. They all turned her in shock to see her sitting straight up, her eyes wide open and her mouth shot out in a silent scream, much like Katie months before. Just as Mikayla as rigged as a board, a raspy barely audible whisper utters from the back of her throat, before she collapsed back into the bed. "What did she say?" George questioned as if he needed someone to confirm what he just heard. "Malfoy." Harry confirmed, but before anybody could respond to Hermione and Mikayla's ominous pronouncement, the doors opened again and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley hurried up the ward.