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BOOK FIVE: CHAPTER FIFTEEN

"YOU DID WHAT!?!" Veronica had heard enough. If she had been alone in the room with Archie, they all knew she would have strangled him to death already, but she had to resort to staring daggers at him from behind Dumbledore's desk. Her nails dug into the polished wood and her knuckles were bright white, and she knew she could easily hex him without even batting an eye. Her two professors probably wouldn't have even punished her for it. If Snape hadn't placed his hand on her shoulder at that very moment and brought her back to reality, she shivered to think what she would have done.

"You heard me! And I'm not sorry either!"

"You little piece of–" Veronica lunged at him over the desk, and Snape had to use all his strength to hold her back.

"Veronica, breathe. Do you need to step out for a moment?" Dumbledore's voice sounded calm, but Veronica knew him well enough to know he was doing everything he could to contain his anger. It didn't happen to him often, but Archie's confession had gotten under his skin.

Veronica took a deep breath and shook her head. "No. I need to be here. I'm fine."

Dumbledore nodded before turning back to Archie. "Mr. Smeltt, let me ensure that I am understanding you correctly. Not only were you the one that burnt all the Ravenclaw brooms prior to the first game AND jinxed Ms. Singer's broom today, but you were also the one behind Ms. Singer's mystery illness that caused her to spend months in the Hospital Wing this year?"

Archie smirked as he stared right at Veronica. "Yup."

If looks could kill, Archie would already be six feet under. Veronica had never been so mad. "HOW!?! HOW THE FUCK DID YOU POSSIBLY DO THAT!?!"

"Easily. Over the summer, I did a little research on muggle poisons, and I found one that was perfect. In small doses, it would cause a whole lot of uncomfortable side effects and make you really sick, but only in large quantities would it actually kill you. And that's all I needed. I needed you to be sick enough that you couldn't play Quidditch so I would have a chance to show the new captain that I was a better Beater than you. Little did I know YOU would turn out to be the captain. After I found that out, it was all about making you look incompetent and making you fail."

Veronica pinched the bridge of her nose and took a deep breath. It took everything in her not to kill him on the spot. "Let's ignore for a second that your stupid, childish plan failed - you didn't prove to anyone that you were better than me. You actually just proved to the whole school that you suck." Archie growled at her but quickly quieted down at the glares from their two professors. "All of that aside, how the hell did you manage to poison me? I'm assuming you must have slipped it into my food or drink at some point, but how? You were nowhere near me at mealtimes."

"Well, I had remembered that Weasley had a younger brother at the school, and–"

"Don't fucking tell me you used Percy! Don't you dare!"

"Oh, I absolutely did!" Archie chuckled as Veronica lunged at him again, and this time it took both her professors to hold her back. Archie loved seeing her all riled up, and it made him so happy that he was the reason for it. "I figured you'd have wanted him to stay out of our drama and knew you wouldn't have told him anything about me. That's why I cornered him in the halls one day and told him I was a good friend of yours and that I had this new product that would do all these wonderful things for you, but that it only worked when the drinker didn't know they were drinking it. Kids... they're so gullible! He practically insisted on slipping a drop or two into your pumpkin juice each morning, and I made sure to warn him not to tell his brothers because they wouldn't be able to keep the secret. I even told him that it may make you sick at first, but to make sure you keep taking it and eventually it will start working. Poor kid never even had a clue. As he was slipping into the Hospital Wing each night while you were asleep to keep giving you your 'medicine,' he called it, he kept coming to me with concerns about how sick you were getting. I just insisted it would kick in soon, so he kept giving it to you," Archie chuckled maniacally. "I must say, that part of my plan worked brilliantly. None of you had any idea what was going on. And of course, because it was a muggle poisson, Madam Pomfrey couldn't figure out what was causing the symptoms, and it wouldn't have shown up in any of the tests she performed. I really am a genius, if I do say so myself."

"No, you're a fucking snake! You're a spineless coward! I can't believe you would do that to him; he's an innocent first-year! He had nothing to do with this! And for you to POISON ME! All because you didn't make it onto the FUCKING QUIDDITCH TEAM!?! Are you kidding me!?! Ever since that day, you turned this whole thing into such a big deal when you could have easily tried out the next year for a different position! But you knew you sucked, so you had to find someone else to blame! And for you to go as far as to sabotage your own house team!?! You're insane!" Veronica's face was bright red, and she felt heat radiating off her.

Before Archie could respond, Dumbledore addressed him. "Mr. Smeltt, I have given you the benefit of the doubt this whole year. Ms. Singer expressed her concerns to me from the start that you were the one behind all this, but I didn't listen to her. I wanted to believe you wouldn't stoop to this level, but you have proven me wrong. Mr. Smeltt, you are hereby expelled from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Your parents will be notified, and they will come to the school to retrieve you. I will spare you from losing your wand this time, but the Ministry will be made aware so that if anything like this happens again, you will have your wand snapped, and you will no longer be allowed to practice magic. Do you understand?"

Archie's jaw had dropped the second Dumbledore had said he was expelled. It was as if this consequence hadn't crossed his mind. "Wait, what? You... You can't expel me. Where am I supposed to learn magic now? I haven't finished my studies."

"You should have thought of that before you poisoned a classmate. You're a 6th year, Mr. Smeltt. You should have known better. As for your options, you can either enroll at a different school, or your parents can continue your education at home. That is something you can discuss with them."

Veronica wished she could say she was happy about this. She wished this outcome had brought her any satisfaction. But truthfully, it didn't. Despite wanting this for years, it didn't make it any easier to see. Unlike Archie, she was a good person with a good heart, and she didn't like to see anyone upset, but she also knew this had to happen. Dumbledore was right; they had given him plenty of chances to change. He hadn't taken any of them. So now, it was time for drastic measures. And part of her was ready for it. Part of her was ready to wake up in the morning without the worry of what would be waiting for her around every corner. She was ready to lose the anxiety that came with Archie. She was ready for a new start.