Alexandra Dursley {Golden Trio}

Chapter 115 - Ron's Most Disastrous Birthday

 "What kind of mead was it?" Al asked, only half-joking.

 "Oak-matured," Harry replied gloomily. Al sat up even straighter.

 "Ow," George said, sitting up and rubbing his head. "Yank my hair out why don't-"

 "Harry," Al said quietly but firmly, cutting George off, "Where've you had oak-matured mead before?"

 "I dunno," Harry shrugged, "Dumbledore gave us some, but-"

 "And where did Dumbledore get it?" Al pushed.

 "He said it was Rosmerta's finest, if that's what you mean," Harry said, "But that's what this bottle was too."

 "Right," Al said, "Now think back to Katie Bell's attack. Where did it happen?"

 "In that street," Harry said, frowning.

 "It was the girls loos in the Three Broomsticks," Hermione said quietly, speaking for the first time. "That's where she was imperioused."

 "Exactly," Al said.

 "You're not saying...Madame Rosmerta...?" Harry said frowning.

 "Well, maybe she's got something to do with it," Al said. Fred and George burst out laughing.

 "Rosmerta is not a Death Eater," Fred said, looking on the verge of tears as he laughed.

 "Well, neither was Katie or Slughorn," Al said.

 "You think she might be imperioused?" Harry asked, and then something clicked in his mind. "Then, Malfoy could've been at school while she did his dirty work! It fits!"

 "No, it doesn't, Harry," Hermione said, both exasperated and firm.

 "Er-my-nee," Ron croaked, drawing everyone's attention. The room was silent except for the faint and raspy breaths of Ron. Then, the doors burst open, and Hagrid walked in, looking over at Ron.

 "Sorry I only jus' got 'ere-" he began, but Madame Pomfrey came rushing out.

 "Six visitors only!" she said, looking furiously at them all.

 "I'll go," Al volunteered, getting up reluctantly. "See you," she said to them all, bending down and giving George another quick kiss.

 "Bye, Love," he said quietly. Al gave Harry a quick hug, before heading down to the Great Hall for a late dinner.

*****

 Al was enjoying the peace and quiet of the castle during the Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff quidditch match by reading the duelling book that Remus had given her. She was almost finished now, and only had a few chapters left of it. She was rather enjoying herself until a first-year Gryffindor girl came running up the stairs. "Hermione Granger sent me to find you," she panted, and Al immediately stood up in concern for her, hoping she didn't have asthma or something. "Harry Potter's been hit in the back of the head with a bludger."

 Al's stomach dropped and she felt her hands go clammy, "Did he fall?" she asked, already panicking. Harry had had plenty of quidditch accidents before, but he was bound to run out of luck at some point.

 The first-year nodded, trotting beside her. "Quite far, I think." Al swallowed the lump in her throat as she burst into the hospital wing. The Gryffindor quidditch team were crowded around him, and Hermione sat between Harry and Ron's beds.

 "Only six visitors!" Madame Pomfrey screeched from where she was hovering over Harry's bloody face.

 The two people in beater's uniforms stood up, but Al stopped them, "Did either of you hit the bludger?" she asked, and the smaller one looked a little bit scared.

 "No," he said, shaking his head. Al nodded once and jerked her hand ever so slightly, waving them away. They hurried off, clearly seeing the anger that seeped through Al's very veins.

 She sat down in a chair next to Harry's bed. He looked pale and ghostly, like he'd lost a lot of blood. It seemed like it was all over the bed. "Who did it?" she asked, her throat dry as a couple of tears dripped down her face.

 "McLaggen," Ginny said bitterly from where she stood next to Hermione.

 "I'm going to kill him," Al whispered, her teeth grinding.

 "No, you're not," Hermione said quietly and warmly. Al supposed she was right. She wasn't sure if she quite had the energy to anyway. She was shaking with fear, or rage; she wasn't sure which.

 "He'll be okay?" Al asked Madame Pomfrey, who had now straightened up and stepped back.

 "He's fought off worse," Pomfrey reassured her, and Al was rather worryingly reminded of her first stay in the hospital wing, when Harry had actually fought Voldemort for the second time. She took a deep breath and looked back to Harry, her hand gripping his so tightly she thought she might break it off.