Two Souls

Chapter Seventy Nine

"Ron Weasley is in the hospital wing!" Pansy shrieks with laughter, entering the Slytherin Common Room on a casual March evening. She's doubled over in laughter, clutching her sides as if it's the funniest thing in the world. "Slughorn's poisoned him! He's poisoned him!"

"What the bloody hell are you talking about?" Zabini asks from the couch, sitting very close next to Daphne. The two of them have been extremely on and off this entire year, but they're dating right now.

"Weasley accidentally took a love potion, so Potter took him to Slughorn to fix it and the guy poisoned him!" Pansy cackles.

"S-Slughorn?" Draco asks nervously. "What did the old man even give Weasley?"

"Poisoned mead. I heard Neville and Luna talking about it in the Great Hall," Pansy says.

"I have to use the washroom," Draco says, standing up and quickly leaving. I don't even need to question that he's had some part in it. I sigh, standing up myself. I have to visit Ron in the Hospital Wing.

I need to tell Harry, Ron, and Hermione the truth. Well, part of the truth at least.

It takes about fifteen minutes to walk to the Hospital Wing and once I arrive, Harry, Hermione, Ginny, Fred and George are all there.

"Oi, Grey! It's been a while! We've missed you at the Burrow. Mum's been asking about you," Fred says, being the first one to see my entrance. He engulfs me in a friendly bear hug and George does the same. The rest of them look at me skeptically.

"What are you doing here, Amelia?" Ginny asks. Her eyes go to Ron, who is unconscious in the bed. "Ron wouldn't want you here. You should leave."

"Now, Ginny, that isn't very polite of you, is it?" George asks, looking distastefully at his sister. "Last time I checked, Grey helped to save all your asses in the Department of Mysteries."

"Yeah, well a lot has changed since then," Ginny says rudely, turning her back to me.

"Someone wouldn't have a grudge against the Gryffindor Quidditch team, would they?" Harry asks. "I mean . . . first Katie and then Ron?"

"I think the two are connected, but I doubt it's because of Quidditch," Hermione says quietly. "They were both ought to be fatal and weren't because of luck. Neither the poison nor the necklace have reached who it was supposed to kill. The person doesn't seem to care how many people they finish off before they reach the victim."

My jaw clenched unintentionally. I wish I could tell her how we have no choice. I wish I could show them how Draco cried himself to sleep for weeks straight over the fact that he might've killed Katie Bell. We aren't evil.

"There can only be five visitors at a time," Madam Pomfrey says, glancing at the six of us with a raised eyebrow. She looks directly at me, knowing I have the least connection with Ron.

"Er — sorry. I won't hold you guys any longer. Give Ron my best wishes," I say, exiting the Hospital Wing quickly. It's probably best if I leave — Draco needs the comfort right now anyways.

As I leave, I realize I never got the chance to tell them anything. Perhaps it is for the better — I've always been against revealing too much. Especially since the three of them are obviously not on my side about this matter.

******

The news about Ron Weasley's near-fatal poison was surprisingly not as big of a deal as I had thought it would be. Everyone seemed to assume that since he was in the Potions room when it had happened and he was given an antidote so quickly, he was fine.

Everyone, especially the Gryffindors, seemed to be preoccupied with today's upcoming Quidditch match. It was Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff, with Zacharias Smith as Chaser. Everyone wants to see his punishment during the match, since he made such foul comments toward the Gryffindors.

Draco and I, however, decided that this would be the perfect time to utilize the Room of Requirement and continue our work on the Vanishing Cabinet. Everyone would be at the match, leaving the corridors empty for today. Of course Crabbe and Goyle accompanied us since we need the look out.

The two of us walk down the hallway, with Crabbe and Goyle shortly behind us, before I stop short at the sight of Harry Potter. Draco gives a short, humorless laugh before he takes my arm and continues walking with me.

"Where're you going?" Harry demands, standing in front of the two of us. Harry towers over me, but Draco still has a few inches over him.

"It's really none of your business," I say, trying to remain as polite as possible.

"You'd better hurry up, they'll be waiting for the 'Chosen Captain' — 'The Boy Who Scored' — whatever they call you these days," Draco sneers. Goyle snorts from behind us.

"We have to make a detour," I whisper to the three of them once we turn the corner. "Harry is already suspicious of us enough."

"Potter is needed for the Quidditch match. He won't have the time to follow us," Draco responds.

"Well, it's not out of character for him to do something like follow us, is it?" I whisper back. "C'mon let's just round the corners a few more times so that we lose sight of him."

Draco and I manage to make it into the Room of Requirement without any more interruptions. Crabbe and Goyle serve as lookouts, despite the entire student population at the Quidditch Match.

I giggle to myself — we force Crabbe and Goyle to take the Polyjuice Potion every time we go to the Room of Requirement. They are always random girls.

"How many children do you want?" I ask him randomly after about an hour of doing nonverbal jinxes onto the Cabinet.

"Is that your way of asking to have sex again?" Draco asks in an amused tone, pausing his work and turning to me with a raised eyebrow.

"Get your head out of the gutter, Malfoy. I was just curious," I chastise, my cheeks flushing a harsh shade of red.

"I don't know if I'd even want kids if they were to grow up in a world like this," He says, his eyes trailing down to his left arm. "Perhaps if things were different, I'd love to have a child or two. Most certainly a son, but I wouldn't mind having a daughter as well."

I nod. "If things were different."

——
Aw :(

How's everyone's day been?