Rosabella Black |Daughter of Sirius Black| (Book 6)

Elf Tails

The dormitory doors flew open, making us all jump. Hagrid came striding towards us, 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! 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?" Hagrid panted.
  "Not bad. They say he'll be okay." Harry said as I wrapped both of my arms around Harry's arm and lay my head on his shoulder.
I felt Harry place a quick kiss on the top of my head.
  "No more than eight visitors at a time!" Madam Pomfrey said, hurrying out of her office.
   "Hagrid makes eight." George pointed out.
   "O. . . yes . . ." Madam Pomfrey said, 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 foot prints with her wand.
   "I don' believe this. Jus' don' believe it. . . look at him lyin' there. . . who'd want ter hurt him, eh?" Hagrid said hoarsely, shaking his great shaggy head as he stared down at Ron.
   "That's just what we were discussing. We don't know." I said.
   "Someone couldn' have a grudge against the Gryfinndor Quidditch team, could they? Firs' Katie, now Ron. . ." Hagrid said anxiously.
   "I can't see anyone trying to bump off a Quidditch team." George said.
   "Wood might've done the Slytherins if he could've got away with it." Fred said fairly.
I let out a short, humourless laugh.
   "Well, I don't think it's Quidditch, but I think there's a connection between the attacks." Hermione said quietly.
    "Definitely." I agreed instantly.
Hermione and I shared a grim look.
   "How d'you work that out?" Fred asked.
   "Well, for one thing, they both ought to have been fatal and weren't, although that was pure luck." Hermione said grimly.
   "And for another, neither the poison nor the necklace seems to have reached the person who was supposed to be killed." I said broodingly.
    "Of course, 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." Hermione finished in a dark voice.

Before anybody could respond to our ominous pronouncement, the dormitory doors opened again. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley hurried up the ward. They had done no more than satisfy themselves that Ron would make a full recovery on their last visit to the ward. Now Mrs. Weasley seized hold of Harry and hugged him very tighty. I had to quickly move so I would be suffocated.
    "Dumbledore's told us how you saved him with the bezoar. Oh, Harry, what can we say? You saved Ginny from being possessed . . . you saved Arthur. . . now you've saved Ron. . ." Mrs Weasley sobbed.
   "Don't be . . . I didn't . . ." Harry muttered Harry.
   "Nearly half our family does seem to owe you their lives, now I stop and think about it." Mr. Weasley 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." Mr Weasley said.
Harry could not seem to think of any reply to this and seemed glad when Madam Pomfrey reminded them that there were only supposed to be eight visitors around Ron's bed. Harry, Hermione, Michael and I rose at once to leave and Hagrid decided to go with us, leaving Ron with his family.
    "It's terrible. All this new security, an' kids are still gettin' hurt. Dumbledore's worried sick . . . He don' say much, but I can tell . . ." Hagrid growled into his beard, as the three of them walked back along the corridor to the marble staircase.
   "Hasn't he got any ideas, Hagrid?" Michael asked desperately.
   "I spect he's got hundreds of ideas, brain like his." Hagrid said.
   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," Hagrid said, lowering his voice and glancing over his shoulder (Harry, for good measure, checked the ceiling for Peeves),
    "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 said and then 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." Hagrid finished.
   "Surely not?" Hermione said, looking worried.
   "Gotta see it from their point o' view. I mean, it's always bin a bit of a risk sendin' a kid ter Hogwarts, hasn' it? Yer expect accidents, don' yeh, with hundreds of underage wizards all locked up tergether, but attempted murder, tha's diff'rent. 'S no wonder Dumbledore's angry with Sn -" Hagrid said heavily.