Apartment 23 & 24 (Dramione)

Chapter 22: Hypnos

Song: Skinny Love by Bon Iver

Hermione glanced at Draco nervously, on the other hand Draco and all of his Slytherin pride smirked at her. She could feel heat rising in her cheeks but she'd be damned if Professor McGonagall saw her swooning over Draco Malfoy.

"Are you all right, Ms. Granger? You look a little flushed." Asked Professor McGonagall, a little concerned.

"I'm fine," the redness from her face disappeared as she pulled herself together, she noticed that all of the people in hospital beds were unconscious, "What happened, Professor?"

"Well it seems that an attacker was able to get into the kitchens and poison the drinks served at lunch. The students in this room were the only ones affected since they were the first to lunch. We kept the other students from entering the Great Hall once the students affected started falling to the ground unconscious. I don't know who the attacker is, but whoever it is must know there way around Hogwarts really well.  Most students don't know where the kitchens are only Professors and house elves are supposed to."

Amycus Carrow, it makes perfect sense, thought Hermione, He was a professor, "Do you mind if  I go down to the kitchens and have a look around?"

"Not at all."

Down in the kitchens all of the house elves sat aimlessly against the wall, some of them even banged their heads against pots and pans. They were ashamed that they had failed to do their job. It pained Hermione to see the elves treat themselves like that.

"They've been punishing themselves all afternoon." Informed Professor McGonagall, "I told them that I don't blame for what happened, but they carried on with their ways."

"Have you questioned any of them to see if they saw anything?" Asked Hermione, this is my chance, now I can prove that it was Amycus who was behind all of this.

"I asked a couple of them what they saw and they all told me that they saw a tall cloaked figure come in and then they all passed out. Whoever did this must be a very powerful witch or wizard not just anybody can knock out a hundred house elves with a wave of their wand."

"Do you think it could've been a Professor or a former Professor? You said earlier that only the staff and house elves know how to get in here." Hermione was slowly trying to narrow this investigation towards Amycus Carrow.

"Maybe. We did have some questionable people teaching here during the war." Thought the Headmaster.

"Alecto Carrow was turned into the ministry yesterday, some Magizoologist found her while they  were returning a hurt pixie back to its habitat."

"That's of awfully specific Ms. Granger." Noticed McGonagall.

"You know me, Professor, I always do my research and read the Daily Prophet." Countered Hermione, not missing a beat.

"Very well then," the Headmater looked around the kitchen, "Do you see anything suspicious?"

"Hmm... lets see," Hermione walked off and surveyed the area around the replica of the house tables. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, at least until Hermione stumbled upon a drop of what looked like some kind of purple liquid, "I think I found something."

McGonagall looked down at the substance on the floor, "Do you think it's the poison that was used?"

"There's only one way to find out," mumbled Hermione, she conjured a phial out of thin air and used her wand to maneuver the substance into it, "I'm gonna have to run some tests."

"I'm glad you found something that might link us to the attacker," McGonagall looked up from the phial, "We should go back up to the hospital wing and see if Madam Pomfrey and Mr. Malfoy are making any progress."

Professor McGonagall and Hermione made their way up to the Hospital wing in what seemed like no time. The castle seemed exactly the same to Hermione, every nook and cranny was just how she remembered it. When they reached the Hospital ward they walked in and noticed Draco and Madam Pomfrey hard at work.

The two healers stopped what they were doing when they saw Hermione and Professor McGonagall walk in.

"Did you find anything?" Asked Madam Pomfrey, wringing her hands.

Hermione pulled the phial out of her robe pocket, "I found this by the replica of the house tables. I'm sure it's the poison the attacker used."

"Do you know what kind of poison it is?" Questioned Madam Pomfrey.

Hermione studied the substance for awhile, "No, not yet. I'm going to run some tests on it and see if I can figure it out."

Draco stepped forward, "Let me see." Hermione held the phial out and he took it, his fingers grazed over hers as he reached for it. It sent a jolt of electricity through Hermione's finger tips, "I can run some tests on it back at St. Mungo's it shouldn't take long to get the results back."

"We need these students awake as soon as possible, the school year is almost over, and they have final exams coming up." Stated Professor McGonagall.

"I understand, I'll have the test results back as soon as possible." Said Draco.

"Professor, I can handle this on my own." Interrupted Hermione, she didn't like other people taking over her job.

"Miss Granger..." Started Professor McGonagall, "I have twenty of my students unconscious in the beds in front of me and forty angry parents who believe Hogwarts isn't safe anymore. I need all the help I can get right now. I trust that you and Mr. Malfoy can work together and come up with a counter potion for these students."

Hermione nodded, slightly intimidated by her former professor, "We'll get right on it."

Professor McGonagall gave her former students a small smile, "I'm sure St. Mungo's most respected Healer and the brightest witch of her age will be able to fit this puzzle together, so to speak."

* * * * *

It was growing late into the night, Hermione and Draco had been trying to figure out what the potion might have been for what felt like forever. There was definitely some tension in between them, neither of them addressed the moment they shared just 24 hours before.

"I found it," Exclaimed Draco he pointed at a description in an old thick text book, Hermione came over and looked over his shoulder, "It's right here. Hypnos is a sleeping poison named after the greek god Hypnos. It is a thick purple substance that can put can put anybody into a deep sleep. It contains, rhubarb, grinded pixie wings, and a crushed basilisk eyes." Draco paused for a moment, "The only counter to this potion is blood from a corpse."

"Planning on donating any blood?" She asked, only half joking.

"Not particularly." He replied.

"This is bloody awful, no pun intended." Joked Hermione.

"Hermione, that's not funny, there's twenty kids back at Hogwarts whose lives are endangered." Said Draco a bit irritated.

"Sorry, I was just trying to lighten the mood... It seems a little tense in here." observed Hermione.

Draco didn't say anything for a moment, he turned around in the rolling chair he was in and looked up at Hermione, "Tense? Lighten the mood? Earlier today you acted like you still despised me. Do you really not want to work with me? We seemed to get along great the past couple of weeks... Yesterday at the park, did that not mean anything to you?"

Hermione bit her bottom lip, "Draco... I didn't mean to come off like that. It's just that I'm not good in situations like that. I'm not good at telling people how I feel about them, I tend to just push them away. It's not that I don't want to work with you, the past couple of weeks have been great with you... I just don't want to get close to you and lose you."

Author's Note:

Hey y'all thanks for 40.3K! I was giddy over the moon when I saw I reached 40k. I know the whole blood of a corpse thing is weird, but it has to do with a quote I read earlier today about the greek god hypnos. Hypnos had a brother who was the god of death so I thought it would be a good idea if the counter to the poison was something death related. IDK I'm just weird like that. I'm not into greek mythology I just thought it was cool. Exams are over and I'm on Christmas break so I should get a lot of writing done.

- MC