CHAPTER SEVENTY-SIX;

AN UNPLEASANT ENTANGLEMENT

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

The trip to Hogsmeade that was supposed to take place in March had been cancelled – not to anyone's surprise, but much to Ron's displeasure. It was supposed to have taken place on his birthday, and he was apparently looking forward to it.

"Well," Cassie told him the day before his birthday, in an attempt to cheer him up, "at least you've got Apparation lessons to look forward to.."

He only glared at her in reply. She stifled a knowing laugh; from what she'd heard, Apparation lessons were not going well for all parties involved. Their Ministry-Approved teacher could not so much as answer a simple question, so the students were practically useless when it came to actually performing the art of Apparation. There had only been three lessons – once a week since they had begun in February – and, as Harry had put it, Hermione sounded as though she were the only one who could successfully get somewhere.

   In other news, Cassie was now allied with Harry against Ron and Hermione to try and prove that Draco Malfoy was a Death Eater. They were together into the darkest hours of night, sitting across from each other on Harry's bed, poring over the Marauders' Map and snacking on chocolate frogs. One night, at nearly one a.m., Cassie could have sworn she saw Malfoy's name disappear from the map entirely. She nudged Harry and his head fell from its resting place on her shoulder; he jerked awake with an incoherent mumble.

   "Harry, his name's gone," she breathed, pointing to the spot where it had last read 'Draco Malfoy' on the parchment.

   "Can't be," Harry mumbled, his eyes squinting. He adjusted his glasses and shook his head. "Where could he have gone?"

   "He can't be leaving the castle, can he?"

   "The map never lies," Harry replied quietly.

   It was a quiet sort of night after that. Harry fell back asleep around two, leaving Cassie to her own devices. She ate a couple more chocolate frogs and inspected the map for another hour before her eyes unwillingly drifted shut and she fell asleep.

   What felt like only a few minutes later, Cassie awoke to Harry wishing Ron a happy birthday. She rubbed her eyes and yawned. With a start, she realized she was still in Harry's bed, and she sat up so quickly that her head made painful contact with the bedpost. She grimaced and rubbed the sore spot, though still hastily climbed out of Harry's bed.

When she looked over to Ron, he had already dug into the piles of birthday gifts and cauldron cakes on his bed.

   "Happy birthday, Ron," said Cassie. She watched as he swallowed half a cauldron cake in a single bite. "Aren't you gonna save any room for breakfast?"

   "There's just something about these cauldron cakes..." His gaze flickered up to Cassie for a second before his jaw dropped and he forgot about the sweets in his hands. "Oh, sweet Merlin, you're beautiful."

   Harry dropped his left shoe. Cassie, who had been making Harry's bed for him, stopped abruptly and turned to face Ron. She shared a perplexed glance with Harry. "Uh... what?"

   "How did I not see it before?" Ron stood from his bed and rambled over to Cassie, extending a hand to run it through her hair awkwardly. She ducked away from the gesture, still much too bewildered to say anything. "Cassie, I... I think I love you..."

Cassie did the only sensible thing she could think of at the moment and brought her hand up to slap Ron across the face. He recovered quickly, however, and placed a delicate hand on his own cheek, a lovestruck look in his eyes. "Ow," he said dreamily. "I love a lady who can hit well."

"What is wrong with you?"

"Nothing is wrong, darling, I've just.. I've just realized that I've made a mistake of not doing this earlier," he said. Cassie barely had time to ask what he regretted not doing earlier before he was crushing his lips against hers in an uncomfortable and warm kiss. She pushed against his chest, but it was Harry that pulled him off of her and held Ron back from continuing the snogging session.

"Bloody hell, Ron, what on–?"

"I love her!" he shouted to Harry, gesturing wildly to Cassie. As if he had just had a great realization, a look of anger settled on Ron's face and he glared at Harry. "And you.. she... she woke up in your bed!"

Before Cassie could catch his arm, Ron drew back a fist and punched Harry across the nose.

"Calm down, Ron!" Cassie sputtered, rushing to Harry's side on the floor. Blood trickled down from his nose. She drew her wand and said, "Episkey; Scourgify." Harry's nose righted with a great crack and the blood was scrubbed from his face.

   "Ron," he said slowly, sitting up to a seated position with a light groan, "who gave you those cauldron cakes?"

   "Don't know," said Ron, clinging onto Cassie's back as she dealt with Harry. She rolled her eyes up in frustration and clenched her jaw. Even though it was now apparent that Ron had been dosed with a love potion, she could not help the immense anger she still held him to.

"Get off," she told him, shrugging his arms off her shoulders. "Harry, you'd better take him to–"

"No!" said Ron, drawing away, a look of horror on his face. "No, I'm not going anywhere unless you're coming, Cassie. Have I told you I love you?"

Cassie drew in a deep breath to keep from shouting. "Fine. Harry and I will both take you, how's that?"

   "Yeah," said Ron dreamily. Then, he shot Harry a glare. "As long as he keeps his hands off my girl."

   "I'm not your bloody girl," she muttered, slinging one of Ron's arms over her shoulder and gesturing for Harry to do the same. As they walked, Ron kept trying to plant wet kisses on Cassie's cheek, all of which she subtly avoided or wiped off with her sleeve when he wasn't looking.

   "You better watch yourself, mate," Ron warned Harry seriously. "If I hear you've been sleeping with her one more time, I swear, I'll... I'll.... I don't know what I'll do. But it won't be good for you!"

   Cassie held back a laugh, though immediately wished she hadn't as Ron turned on her with a ditzy grin. "I made her laugh. Harry, Harry, I made her laugh!"

They arrived at Professor Slughorn's office and Harry knocked on the door. Cassie pursed her lips. As Ron leaned onto her shoulder, she thought of how Harry had come to Slughorn only the day before and asked about Horcruxes, but Harry said it had ended abysmally... She could only hope Slughorn's ego wasn't too wounded so he could help Ron.

"Harry!" Professor Slughorn's head appeared in the crack between the door and the doorframe, his nightcap still on and blue pinstriped pajamas barely visible beyond the door. "What in Merlin's name has got you at my door at this hour of the morning?"

   "We're sorry, Professor," said Harry imploringly, "but my friend Ron's swallowed a love potion by mistake. You couldn't make him an antidote, could you?"

"It was a really powerful love potion," said Cassie, nodding for emphasis. Helpfully, Ron leaned onto her shoulder and cooed. She winced.

"Well, Harry, I'd've thought you could whip up an antidote in no time!" said Slughorn. He eyed Ron with disgust.

"That's the thing, Professor. Since this love potion is so powerful, we thought it would be better if the antidote was made by more.. experience hands."

"It's his birthday, Professor," Cassie added, trying her best to pull the same face she used to pull with Remus when she wanted cake for dinner.

"Oh, alright, come in, then," said Slughorn reluctantly. He pulled the door open the rest of the way, revealing his full matching set of pinstripe pajamas. "I've tot the necessary here in my bag, it's
not a difficult antidote.."

Ron burst through the door into the small office and tripped over a tasseled footstool. He regained his balance by grabbing a tight hold of Harry, glancing around nervously, and muttered, "Did she see that?"

Cassie decided to focus her attention on the portrait sitting behind Slughorn's desk as to not embarrass Ron further than he would be when he drank the antidote.

"Here you go, drink this up," said Slughorn, handing Ron a glass of clear liquid. "A tonic for the nerves, keep you calm."

"Brilliant," said Ron eagerly, and he downed the entire antidote in a gulp. Cassie watched, along with Harry and Slughorn, as Ron's grin sagged and vanished to be replaced by an expression of utmost horror.

"Back to normal, then?" said Harry, very obviously stifling a laugh. "Thank you, Professor."

"Don't mention it, m'boy, don't mention it," said Slughorn, as Ron collapsed into a nearby armchair looking devastated. "A pick-me-up, that's what he needs," Slughorn decided, bustling over to a table crowded with drinks. "I've got butterbeer, wine, one last bottle of mead.. Hm, meant to give that to Dumbledore for Christmas. Ah, well, he can't miss what he's never had.."

He pipped the cork from the lip of the mead and drew four glasses, pouring a splash of the honey-gold liquid into each glass. Harry watched in interest as every time Ron made eye contact with Cassie, he blushed down to his neck and looked the opposite way. Cassie was quite clearly having a ball with the situation, despite how much she obviously wanted to hit him again.

   "Well, a very happy birthday, Ralph," Slughorn said as he handed Ron a glass first. "May you have many–"

   Ron had tossed back the drink in one swallow. Harry jumped to alert. Somehow, he had known something was wrong with the mead the second Ron had thrown it into his mouth. Ron crumpled to the ground, his limbs and head jerking uncontrollably. Foam dribbled from his mouth and his eyes bulged from their sockets.

   "Professor!" bellowed Harry, dropping his glass to rush to Ron's side. "Do something!"

   Slughorn seemed paralyzed with shock. Ron twitched and choked; his lips were turning blue. Cassie knelt by him, eyes nearly as wide as his own as she watched her friend convulsing and choking on the ground. Harry leapt over a table and rushed to Slughorn's ingredients cabinet, throwing it open and searching through it frantically.

   "Harry, the bezoar!" said Cassie, now remembering the lesson in which Slughorn had taught them that bezoars can act as a temporary antidote to any poison. Harry understood immediately and bound back over with the bezoar in hand, wrenching Ron's jaw open to shove the item in his mouth. Ron gave a great shudder, a rattling gasp, and his body became still.

   "Merlin, no," Cassie muttered, almost inaudibly, watching and waiting for a sign of life in Ron's limp body. "No, Ron, I will not lose you too.."