Rosabella Black |Daughter of Sirius Black| (Book 6)

Elf Tails

Rosabella's Point of View:
    "So, all in all, not one of Ron's better birthdays?" Fred said.
It was evening. The hospital wing was quiet, the windows curtained, the lamps lit. Ron's was the only occupied bed. Harry, Hermione, Ginny, Michael and I were sitting around him. We had spent all day waiting outside the double doors, trying to see inside whenever somebody went in or out. Madam Pomfrey had only let us enter at eight o'clock. Fred and George had arrived at ten past. Winter kept nudging Ron's arm gently with her head, trying to get him to wake up.
   "This isn't how we imagined handing over our present." George said 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.
   "There we were in Hogsmeade, waiting to surprise him -" George said.
   "You were in Hogsmeade?" Ginny asked, looking up.
   "We were thinking of buying Zonko's. 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 said gloomily as he drew up a chair beside Harry and looked at Ron's pale face.
I sat on Harry's otherside.
   "How exactly did it happen, Harry?" Fred asked.
Harry retold the story we had already recounted, it felt like a hundred times to Dumbledore, to McGonagall, to Madam Pomfrey, to Hermione, and to Ginny and then to Michael.
   ". . . and then I got the bezoar down his throat and his breathing eased up a bit." Harry said.
   "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 . . ." I finished.
   "Blimey, it was lucky you thought of a bezoar." George said in a low voice.
   "Lucky there was one in the room." Harry said.

Hermione gave an almost inaudible sniff. She had been exceptionally quiet all day. Having hurtled, white - faced, up to Harry and I outside the hospital wing and demanded to know what had happened. She had taken almost no part in Harry's, Ginny's, Michael's and mine's obsessive discussion about how Ron had been poisoned, but merely stood beside us. Clench - jawed and frightened-looking, until at last they had been allowed in to see him. I gave Hermione's hand a reassuring squeeze.
   "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 a pause while ee all watched Ron mumble a little in his sleep.
   "So the poison was in the drink?" Fred said quietly.
   "Yes. Slughorn poured it out -" Harry said at once.
   "Would he have been able to slip something into Ron's glass without either of you seeing?" Michael asked.
   "Probably, but why would Slughorn want to poison Ron?" I said.
   "No idea. You don't think he could have mixed up the glasses by mistake? Meaning to get you?" Fred said frowning.
   "Why would Slughorn want to poison Harry?" I asked.
   "I dunno, but there must be loads of people who'd like to poison Harry, mustn't there? The 'Chosen One' and all that?" George pointed out.
   "So you think Slughorn's a Death Eater?" Ginny said.
   "Anything's possible." Fred said darkly.
   "He could be under the Imperius Curse." George said.
   "Or he could be innocent." Ginny said.  
   "The poison could have been in the bottle, in which case it was probably meant for Slughorn himself." I said.
   "Who'd want to kill Slughorn?" Michael said.
   "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 said.
   "But Slughorn said he had been planning to give that bottle to Dumbledore for Christmas. So the poisoner could just as easily have been after Dumbledore." I reminded Harry.
    "Then the poisoner didn't know Slughorn very well." Hermione said, 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." Hermione said.
    "Er - my - nee." Ron croaked unexpectedly from between them.
My eyes widened and I looked at Ginny we smirkedcat each other as we glanced at Hermione.
We all fell silent, watching Ron anxiously, but after muttering incomprehensibly for a moment he merely started snoring.