Alexandra Weasley: Book 6

23

"So, all in all, not one of Ron's better birthdays?" Fred remarked. He and George, along with their parents had come to Hogwarts. Their parents were speaking to Dumbledore, and had come an hour before the twins.

"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 joked.

"There we were in Hogsmeade, waiting to surprise him-"

"You were in Hogsmeade?" Ginny asked, looking up.

"We were thinking of buying Zonko's," Fred answered gloomily. "A Hogsmeade branch, you know. Fat lot of good it'll do if you lot aren't allowed out at weekends to buy our stuff anymore. But never mind that now." He drew up a chair beside Harry and looked at Ron's pale face. "How exactly did it happen, Harry?"

Harry recounted the story Alex had heard so many times, and she turned her attention to her brother, trying to tune it out.

"Blimey, it was lucky you thought of a bezoar," George said quietly.

"Lucky there was one in the room," Harry denied.

"Do Mum and Dad know?" Fred asked. Alex nodded, but Ginny spoke up.

"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 they all watched Ron mumble a little in his sleep.

"So the poison was in the drink?"

"Yes," Harry said firmly. "Slughorn poured it out-"

"Would he have been able to slip something into Ron's glass without you seeing?"

"Probably, but why would Slughorn want to poison Ron?"

"No idea," Fred frowned. "You don't think he could have mixed up the glasses by mistake? Meaning to get you?"

"Why would Slughorn want to poison Harry?" Ginny pointed out.

"I dunno, but there must be loads of people who'd like to poison Harry, mustn't there? The 'Chosen One' and all that?"

"You think Slughorn's a Death Eater?" Alex frowned. "No way, he was in hiding. If he was a death eater, he'd be on Voldemort's good side for all his connections."

"Anything's possible." Fred disagreed.

"He could be under the Imperius Curse," George added.

"Or he could be innocent." Ginny spoke up to Alex's defense. "The poison could have been in the bottle, in which case it was probably meant for Slughorn himself."

"Who'd want to kill Slughorn?"

"Dumbledore reckons Voldemort wanted Slughorn on his side. Slughorn was in hiding for a year before he came to Hogwarts. And..." He paused. "And maybe Voldemort wants him out of the way, maybe he thinks he could be valuable to Dumbledore."

"But you said Slughorn had been planning to give that bottle to Dumbledore for Christmas." Ginny reminded Harry. "So the poisoner could just as easily have been after Dumbledore."

"Then the poisoner didn't know Slughorn very well," Hermione spoke up for the first time in hours and sounded as though she had a bad cold. "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 suddenly.

Everyone fell silent, watching him anxiously, but after muttering incomprehensibly for a moment he merely started snoring. Alex pondered Ginny's point as the silence suffocated the room. There was something she felt like she ought to know, like her brain was connecting dots without telling her.

The dormitory doors flew open, making them all jump: Hagrid came striding toward them, his hair rain-flecked, his bearskin coat flapping behind him, a crossbow in his hand, leaving a trail of muddy footprints all over the floor.

"Bin in the forest all day!" He panted. "Aragog's worse, I bin readin' to him- didn' get up fer 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."

"No more than six visitors at a time!" Madam Pomfrey, hurried out of her office and Alex stood.

"I'll go." She said. "I have to think."

"Alex-" Hermione looked worriedly at her, but she shrugged.

"Just tell me if he wakes up. I need to think." She walked away.

Alex went to the entrance of the school and stood, letting the cold air wash over her. There was something about Ginny's idea that the poison was meant for Dumbledore that bugged her.

"What is it?" She muttered. "Someone wants Dumbledore dead, probably Voldemort. But Dumbledore's already dying and that's a secret. If Voldemort wants him dead, then it makes sense to have a spy within the school. Not Snape, because if he fails then Voldemort loses a valuable line into Dumbledore's side and his spy. Draco!" Her eyes widened. "Unbreakable vow, what better way to cement Snape's loyalty to Voldemort's side, oh my god!"

She rushed back into the school and headed right to Dumbledore's office. She collided with her parents who were leaving.
"Alex." Her mother said. "What are you doing here?"

"I need to talk to Dumbledore." She said. "The hospital wing was getting a little crowded."

"How are you doing?" Her father asked and she shrugged.

"Fine. You should go check in on Ron." She said and then moved past them to the lift. As soon as she stepped on the staircase, it moved up to let her into Dumbledore's office.

"Alex." He said warmly.

"Tell me I'm crazy." She said. "Tell me I'm paranoid. Tell me Voldemort did not assign Draco to your murder. Tell me the task you asked of my uncle was not to kill you. And tell me he did not make an unbreakable vow to kill you to protect Draco."

"You'd make a very good auror."

"You're not telling me I'm crazy."

"You aren't crazy. You're perceptive and incredibly smart."

"Why would you tell Snape to kill you? How could you ask him to?"

A/N- well then, Oop. Favourite line is "You're not telling me I'm crazy."