Draco Malfoy's Dirty Little Secret

Chapter 44

I screamed. I couldn’t help but scream as Ron lay there on the floor, shaking and foaming. I dropped my glass of mead from my hand and raced over to him. Tears started to stream down my face as I heard my glass shatter on the floor. It was the only sound that could be heard other than Ron’s choking noises. I looked over at Professor Slughorn, who was just staring down at Ron. What didn’t he do something? He was the one responsible after all. I stood up and as soon as I did, Harry pushed me out of the way and shoved something down Ron’s throat. I suddenly wished that I hadn’t offered to help Harry get Ron out of the common room and down to the Potion Master’s office.

It had all seemed quite hilarious though because Ron had accidently swallowed a love potion that Romilda Vane had slipped into Harry’s chocolate cauldrons. He was comical the way he had been acting, and I tried my best to help him not fall off the back of the sofa, but when he does fall despite my trying, it tends to be laughable. Things had all of a sudden gone from happy to bad. It was in ten seconds flat, no doubt. Harry had screamed at me to help him to the hospital wing, but I was backing up. Despite the fact that Ron looked normal now, I couldn’t help but continue to sob as Professor Slughorn offered to help him. As soon as they were gone, there was only one thing that I could think of. Hermione needed to be next to Ron. So, I bolted out of the office and headed straight for the Gryffindor common room.

“Courtney?” she questioned, standing from the sofa. “What is the matter?”

“It’s Ron!” I shrieked. “You have to be there. Come on!”

Kam then walked down the stairs from the girls’ dorms. “What’s going on guys? Courtney, why are you crying?”

“Ron’s in the hospital wing. We need to be there!” I shrieked again and grabbed Hermione’s wrist and ran.

“Oh my goodness!” Hermione’s voice cracked once we had gotten down there. “What happened to him?” she stood beside his bed and let the tears flow freely from her eyes. “Courtney, Harry,” she said, looking from me to him, “What happened to him?”

“He’s been poisoned,” Harry murmured.

Kam squeezed my hand, and I laid my head upon her shoulder. How could the poison have possibly gotten into that bottle of mead? I was quite sure that Professor Slughorn didn’t have anything to do with it because he looked just as shocked as Harry and I had. I then remembered that Slughorn said that he had meant that bottle of mead to be a Christmas present for Professor Dumbledore. Wait…that only meant one thing…that someone was trying to kill our headmaster.

“This mead, usually having traces of cherry and licorice, has been heavily dosed with a deadly poison,” Snape had said from behind us. “Who could be possibly trying to kill you, Horace? If this was in your possession…”

“It wasn’t for me,” Slughorn replied in a small voice. “It was meant for Albus.”

“Professor,” I said, turning. “Someone is trying to kill you,” I started sobbing again as Dumbledore smiled sweetly at me. “First with the necklace. Now with the mead. You are being targeted, Professor. You need protection.”

“Thank you, Courtney, for your input, but I am quite aware of the situation. I appreciate your concern though,” he still smiled at me.

“Miss Flint, you are very perceptive. You could very well be placing blame on someone you wouldn’t want to,” Snape said to me with a nod.

“I know who it was,” Harry said forcefully. “It was Malfoy.”

“As I said before, Potter,” Snape smirked at him. “Do you have any proof?”