Annabeth Chase and Things Are Getting Intense

Chapter Twenty Seven

Ron mumbled a little in his sleep—something that sounded a lot like Hermione's name. No one seemed to notice, but Hermione's eyes widened slightly before she seemed to dismiss it as something else.

"So... the poison was in the drink," Annabeth said quietly.

"Yes," Harry said. "Slughorn poured it out—"

"Would he have been able to slip something in Ron's glass when you weren't looking?" Fred asked.

"Probably," Harry said. "But why would Slughorn want to poison Ron?"

"I don't think he wanted to poison anyone," Annabeth said. "He's not the type. I think if he wanted someone dead, he would have found a way to get someone else to do the job for him."

"So what do you think happened?" Ginny said.

"Someone gave the bottle to Slughorn, probably to get at him. Dumbledore said that Voldemort wanted Slughorn on his side. He can't be happy that Slughorn is here now."

"But Harry said that Slughorn had been planning to give the bottle to Dumbledore for Christmas," Ginny pointed out.

Hermione sniffed. "Then the poisoner didn't know Slughorn very well. Anyone who knew Slughorn would have known there was a good chance he'd keep something that tasty for himself."

"Er-my-nee," Ron croaked from his bed, his eyes fluttering for a second before going still again.

Everyone fell silent, staring at Ron anxiously as he shifted in his sleep, but he seemed to be done sleeptalking.

Meanwhile, Annabeth was thinking. This was the second time someone had been attacked. Yes, Katie had technically just touched a cursed object, but that object had been given to her by someone.

Both of these things—the necklace and the mead—had been meant for someone other than the actual victims. And both were supposed to have killed someone, though it was only luck that they hadn't.

So the questions were: who was behind this? Was it the same person behind both of the attacks? Annabeth was thinking yes. And the other question: who was supposed to be the victim, and why?

Harry had said that the mead was supposed to be a present for Dumbledore. Though it could have been that the poison was meant for Slughorn, and the poisoner had known him enough to know he would keep the mead. It wouldn't be surprising if he was the target, but there was a strong possibility that the target was Harry, or even Annabeth.

Except... Voldemort wanted to kill Harry himself. He wanted to make Harry suffer. He wouldn't settle for something secondhand like poison or a curse. And he wanted to use Annabeth for something. Probably her godly blood, but there were other options, too. But that wasn't really too pressing.

The target could have been any of the teachers, really. Most of them were active members of the Order of the Phoenix. Taking any of them out would be pretty damaging. But Annabeth guessed they were going for the big guns: Dumbledore.

The headmaster probably knew someone was trying to kill him. Much as Annabeth didn't like him, she had to admit he was clever. If Annabeth had figured it out, chances were he had, too, especially after this second attack. Maybe he also knew who was behind them, which hopefully meant he would put a stop to it.

The question was on Annabeth's mind for the rest of the day; who was doing this, and why? And when would they strike next?

***

Hagrid showed up after a while. Apparently he had been in the forest all day taking care of his sick giant demon spider that made Annabeth shudder just to think about. She hoped it died slowly.