"So, all in all, not one of Ron's better birthdays?" said Fred.

It was evening; the hospital wing was quiet, the windows curtained, the lamps lit. Ron's was the only occupied bed. Tori and the twins had just heard about Ron's incident as Tori stood at his bedside.

"This isn't how we imagined handing over our present," said George 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," said Fred.

"There we were in Hogsmeade, waiting to surprise him —" George sighed.

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

"We were thinking of buying Zonko's," said Fred gloomily. "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."

He drew up a chair beside Harry and looked at Ron's pale face.

"How exactly did it happen, Harry?"

Harry retold the story about Ron eating the love potion sweets and Harry taking him to Slughorn. "—and then I got the bezoar down his throat and his breathing eased up a bit
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 go keep taking Essence of Rue."

"Blimey, it was lucky you thought of a bezoar,"
said George in a low voice.

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

Hermione gave an almost inaudible sniff.

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

"So the poison was in the drink?" Tori asked, speaking up for the first time.

"Yes," said Harry at once. "Slughorn poured it out —"

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

"Probably," said Harry, "But why would Slughorn want to poison Ron?"

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

"Why would Slughorn want to poison Harry?"
asked Ginny.

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

"So you think Slughorn's a Death Eater?" said Ginny.

"Anything's possible," Fred replied darkly.

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

"Or he could be innocent," said Ginny. "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," said Harry. "Slughorn was in hiding for a year before he came to Hogwarts. And... 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 him. "So the poisoner could just as easily have been after Dumbledore."

"Then the poisoner didn't know Slughorn very well," said Hermione, speaking for the first time in hours and sounding as though she had a bad head cold. "Anyone who knew Slughorn would have I known there was a good chance he'd keep something that tasty for himself."

"Er-my-nee," croaked Ron unexpectedly from between them

They all fell silent, watching him anxiously, but after muttering incomprehensibly for a moment he merely started snoring.

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 dolphin-sized footprints all over the floor.

"Bin in the forest all day!" He panted. "Aragog's worse, I bin readin' to him—didn' get up ter 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 seven visitors at a time!" said Madam Pomfrey, hurrying out of her office.

"Hagrid makes six," George pointed out.

"O... yes..." said Madam Pomfrey, who seemed to have been counting Hagrid as several people due to his vastness. To cover her confusion, she hurried off to clear up his muddy footprints with her wand.

"I don' believe this," said Hagrid hoarsely, shaking his great shaggy head as he stared down at Ron. "Jus' don' believe it... look at him lyin' there... who'd want ter hurt him, eh?"

"That's just what we were discussing," said Harry. "We don't know."

"Someone couldn' have a grudge against the Gryffindor Quidditch team, could they?" said Hagrid anxiously. "Firs' Katie, now Ron..."

"I can't see anyone trying to bump off a Quidditch team," said George.

"Wood might've done the Slytherins if he could've got away with it," said Fred fairly.

"Wood was insane. Quidditch has always had big rivalries, but never to this extent." Tori noted.

"Well, I don't think it's Quidditch, but I think there's a connection between the attacks," said Hermione quietly.

"How d'you work that out?" asked Fred.

"Well, for one thing, they both ought to have been fatal and weren't, although that was pure luck. And for another, neither the poison nor the necklace seems to have reached the person who was supposed to be killed. Of course," She added broodingly, "That makes the person behind this even more dangerous in a way, because they don't seem to care how many people they finish off before they actually reach their victim."

Before anybody could respond to this ominous pronouncement, the dormitory doors opened again and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley hurried up the ward. Molly seized hold of Harry and hugged him very tightly.

"Dumbledore's told us how you saved him with the bezoar," She sobbed. "Oh, Harry, what can we say? You saved Ginny... you saved Arthur... now you've saved Ron..."

"Don't be... I didn't," muttered Harry awkwardly.

"Half our family does seem to owe you their lives, now I stop and think about it," Arthur said in a constricted voice. "Well, all I can say is that it was a lucky day for the Weasleys when Ron decided to sit in your compartment on the Hogwarts Express, Harry."

Madam Pomfrey reminded them that there were only supposed to be seven visitors around Ron's bed; Harry, Tori, and Hermione rose at once to leave and Hagrid decided to go with them, leaving Ron with his family.

"It's terrible," growled Hagrid into his beard, as the four of them walked back along the corridor to the marble staircase. "All this new security, an' kids are still gettin' hurt... Dumbledore's worried sick... He don' say much, but I can tell..."

"Hasn't he got any ideas, Hagrid?" asked Hermione desperately.

"I spect he's got hundreds of ideas, brain like his," said Hagrid. "But he doesn' know who sent that necklace nor put poison in that wine, or they'd've bin caught, wouldn' they? Wha' worries me," said Hagrid, lowering his voice and glancing over his shoulder. "Is how long Hogwarts can stay open if kids are bein' attacked. Chamber o' Secrets all over again, isn' it? There'll be panic, more parents takin their kids outta school, an nex' thing yeh know the board o' governors..."

Hagrid stopped talking as the ghost of a long-haired woman drifted serenely past, then resumed in a hoarse whisper, "The board o' governors'll be talkin about shuttin' us up fer good."

Tori sighed, running her hands through the pockets of her robe as she picked out her pocket watch. "I should get going, I told Mad-Eye I was taking a half-day and he'll want to know about this. Keep us updated, Harry."

She smiled weakly at the three of them and headed down a corridor. It felt walking through it, knowing that only last year she had been doing the same.

Tori was nearly towards the front gates when she noticed Dove was sitting on a bench, reading over a book. She was alone, mumbling to herself as she flipped over the pages.

Dove had just happened to look up and the sisters made eye contact until Tori turned away, and left Hogwarts.

✧ ✦ ✧

"You're back earlier than I thought you would be," George said grimly as Tori walked into the shop later that night.

"You too," Tori replied.

"Mum wanted us to go home. She said Ron needs his rest." George said, putting a fallen box back on the shelves. "I sent everybody home." He gestured to the empty stations.

Tori nodded, leaning on a counter. "Mad-Eye's getting in contact with Dumbledore. Everything's becoming more and more confusing..."

The two stood there for a while, silent.

"Where's Fred?" Tori asked, realizing he wasn't there. George sighed, "He's not feeling well. He went upstairs to lie down."

Tori nodded, leaving George and going up the stairs towards the flat. Each step was hallowed, making Tori feel worse and worse.

Tori opened the door quietly, not wanting to wake Fred up in case he was sleeping. She silently shut it, hearing something from inside her and Fred's room. She crept towards the door, which was halfway open, and heard crying.

Fred sat on the bed, his hands covering his face. She could hear him crying, despite him trying to cover it. Tori opened the door, silently crossing the room.

Fred looked up when she sat on the bed next to him, feeling the pressure shift. Tori looked at him for a moment before hugging him tightly. Fred hugged her back, his body shaking as his cries grew into sobs.

Tori didn't know what to say, so she said nothing. She just sat there with him in her arms, letting him cry into her shoulder.

sad