"So, all in all, not one of Ron's better birthdays?" Fred said.
It was currently the evening, and Eliza was sat with Fred, George, Ginny, Harry and Hermione in the empty hospital wing - well, except for the bed they were crowded around.
"This isn't how we imagined handing over our present." George said as he put the large wrapped gift onto Ron's bedside cabinet.
"Yeah, when we pictured the scene, he was conscious," said Fred.
"There we were in Hogsmeade, waiting to surprise him —" George said but he was cut off by Ginny.
"You were in Hogsmeade?"
"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." Fred looked over at Ron's pale face, "How exactly did it happen, Harry?"
Apparently, Ron had eaten some chocolates that had been given to Harry, this caused him to 'fall in love' with a girl in their year. Noticing that he wasn't acting normal, Harry took him to Slughorn who came him the antidote. After that, Slughorn poured him a glass of mead - it had originally meant to be a present for Dumbledore. But it had been poisoned causing Ron to fall and then luckily Harry thought to put a bezoar down Ron's throat and helping his breathing. Slughorn ran for help and McGonagall and Pomfrey arrived on the scene and took him to the hospital. "They reckon he'll be all right. Madam Pomfrey says he'll have to stay here a week or so, keep taking essence of rue."
"Blimey, it was lucky you thought of a bezoar," George said to him.
"Lucky there was one in the room." Hermione gave an almost inaudible sniff causing Eliza to hold her hand.
"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."
No one said anything as they all watched as Ron mumbled in his sleep, "So the poison was in the drink?" Fred asked.
"Yes," Harry said immediately. "Slughorn poured it out —"
"Would he have been able to slip something into Ron's glass without you seeing?"
"Probably," said Harry, "But why would Slughorn want to poison Ron?"
"No idea," Fred frowned. "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, 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?" Ginny asked him.
"Anything's possible," Fred told them all.
"He could be under the Imperius Curse," George added.
"Or he could be innocent!" Ginny said to her brothers. "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." Harry informed them, "Slughorn was in hiding for a year before he came to Hogwarts. And . . ." He paused, "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 it to Dumbledore for Christmas," Ginny reminded him.
Eliza raised an eyebrow, "So the poisoner could have been after Dumbledore and just like with the necklace someone else gets hurt rather than the intended victim."
"Then the poisoner didn't know Slughorn very well. Anyone who knew Slughorn would have I known there was a good chance he'd keep something that tasty for himself."
"Er-my-nee," Ron whispered out unexpectedly.
Everyone stopped talking and waited to see if he said anything else but instead he started to snore.
The Hospital Doors flew open loudly causing them all to jump. Hagrid strode into the room, looking a complete mess, "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?"
"Not bad," Harry replied, "They say he'll be okay."
"No more than seven visitors at a time!" Madam Pomfrey hurried out of her office.
"Hagrid makes seven," George pointed out to her.
"Oh . . . yes." She nodded her head in confusion before going to clean the dirty footprints he had left behind.
"I don' believe this,"Hagrid said, "Jus' don' believe it. Look at him lyin' there. Who'd want ter hurt him, eh?"
"That's just what we were discussing. We don't know."
"Someone couldn' have a grudge against the Gryfinndor Quidditch team, could they?" said Hagrid anxiously. "Firs' Katie, now Ron."
"I can't see anyone trying to bump off a Quidditch team," Eliza told him.
"Wood might've done the Slytherins if he could've got away with it," Fred said causing Eliza to flinch at the name.
"Well, I don't think it's Quidditch, but I think there's a connection between the attacks," Hermione told them all.
"How d'you work that out?" Fred asked her.
"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, 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 anyone could respond, Mr and Mrs Weasley rushed into the room. Straight away Mrs Weasley hugged Harry tightly, "Dumbledore's told us how you saved him with the bezoar. Oh, Harry, what can we say? You saved Ginny, you saved Arthur, now you've saved Ron."
"Don't be. . . I didn't." Harry told her awkwardly.
"Half our family does seem to owe you their lives, now I stop and think about it," Mr Weasley said as he was deep in thought, "Well, all I can say is that it was a lucky clay for the Weasleys when Ron decided to sit in your compartment on the Hogwarts Express Harry."
Madam Pomfrey came out and reminded them that they were only allowed to have seven visitors around Ron's bed. Harry, Hermione and Eliza got up straight away with Hagrid following so Ron was left with his family.
Bidding the three goodbye, she went to Dumbledore's office, "Ah, Miss Dawlish, I was wondering how long it would take for you to come."
"It was meant for you, wasn't it?"
He smiled, "I do believe so."
"Who is the one behind all of this?"
"I don't know."
She stared at him, "Do you have any suspicions?"
"Do you Miss Dawlish?"
"Draco Malfoy."
Dumbledore chuckled, "What makes you think that?"
"He's close to he-who-must-not-be-named and he's at Hogwarts."
"They are plenty of people here close to him."
Eliza nodded her head, "The Malfoy's need to prove themselves! This is the best way for them to show their loyalty by killing his greatest enemy. The one man he fears."