The Enemy of my Enemy

The Revelation of Truth

The doors to the Hospital Wing burst open and Teddie, red-faced and breathless ground to a halt at the foot of the bed where Ron Weasley lay. She had just overheard a couple of Slytherin third years talking about how the older Weasley at Hogwarts had been admitted to the Hospital Wing after a poisoning gone wrong, and while she and Ron didn't get on, she wanted to make sure that he was okay, especially after what had happened to Pansy.

Behind Teddie, came the rest of her little group, including Astoria and Mason, and Hagrid. The half-giant was puffing and panting as he slouched against forward. His black beady eyes looking from one student to the next as he tried his hardest to catch his breath.

"Bin in the forest all day!" Hagrid panted. "Aragog's worse, I bin readin' to him - didn't get up ter dinner till jus' now an' then Professor Sprout told me abou' Ron! How is he?"

"Not bad," said Harry. "They say he'll be okay. How did you hear?" he added to Teddie.

"Overheard a couple of Slytherin's talking at dinner," Teddie replied. "I know Ron and I don't have the best of friendships, but that doesn't mean I'd want him to die. The poison was in his drink?"

Harry nodded and retold the story of what had happened. He had told it so many times in the last few hours that he was sure he could recite it in his sleep.

Teddie placed a hand on his shoulder.

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

"It's okay," said Teddie, looking around at the matron. "My friends and I aren't staying. I just wanted to see if he was okay." She looked back at those surrounding the bed and then at Harry. "Let me know if anything changes, yeah? Oh, and good luck for Saturday."

Harry offered her a small smile and squeezed her hand as she pulled it from his shoulder. "Thanks, Ted," he said, watching as she and her friends left the Hospital Wing.

Outside, Teddie turned to her friends with a sombre expression. Neither of them really liked Ron Weasley, but neither of them would've wished this on him. Hell, neither of them would've wished this on the likes of Malfoy.

"Any chance that the drink was meant for Potter?" Daphne asked.

Teddie shrugged. "Could've been," she agreed. "But why would Slughorn want to kill Harry? He loves him."

"Maybe it's another Barty Crouch Jr thing?" Blaise offered. "You know, where he pretended to Mad Eye Moody for an entire year? Or, Slughorn could be under the Imperius Curse."

Teddie shook her head. "I know what it's like to be under that curse," she said, shuddering. "I'd recognise it if he was. He could be innocent. I mean, if the poison was in Ron's drink then that could mean it was in the bottle, a bottle which Slughorn purchased for himself. What if someone is trying to kill him?"

"Who would want to kill a retired Potions Master?" Theo asked.

"Voldemort?" Teddie offered. "Harry told me that Slughorn was in hiding for a year before he came to teach at Hogwarts. Why go into hiding if you're not under threat?"

"Question still stands," said Theo. "Why would Voldemort or anyone want a retired Potions Master dead?"

"Maybe Slughorn knows something?" Astoria asked.

"What does Slughorn know that You-Know-Who thinks he deserves to die over?" Blaise asked.

"What if it's to do with the memory?" Mason asked Teddie.

"You mean the one about Horcruxes?" Blaise asked.

Mason nodded. "Voldemort could be fearful that Slughorn will tell Dumbledore what transpired between them all those years ago, and it would give Dumbledore the knowledge to maybe stop him," he suggested.