That night, Harry did not get to sleep in his beloved bed in the dorm. Instead, he was holed up in his usual bed in the Hospital Wing. His nausea had returned with full force, and at the Welcoming Feast he'd noticed dark tendrils following the veins in his hand spreading out from the supposedly innocent scar. He'd hidden it from Hermione until they'd gotten back to the Common Room, where she'd demanded to see it before allowing him to go to bed. She had then used her Head Girl status as a means of walking him down to the Infirmary, despite it being after curfew.

Madame Pomfrey had been just as uncertain about the apparent infection in his hand, and this, more than anything, had alarmed the Wizarding Savior. However, because he had no more symptoms than the constant nausea and exhaustion, and she could find nothing wrong through her spells, the Mediwitch had told him that he would have to stay overnight in her Wing. Come morning, she would seek out Snape so that he might run tests on Harry's blood, and perhaps discover what sort of infection could cause such visible damage but remain undetectable to diagnostic spells.

Come morning, they would discover that they should have gone to the effort of rousing the Potions Master to run his diagnostics before Harry was allowed to sleep.

Break

Poppy Pomfrey burst into the Headmaster's office during a meeting with the four Heads of House. The five professors looked at her askance. Never had they seen the Mediwitch so out of sorts, or so out of breath.

"Headmaster, you must come quickly!" The woman announced to the room. "It's Potter!"

All five of the professors exchanged a look of mild dismay mixed with fear before making a mad dash to the door, led by the very witch that had just come running in. She led them through the corridors, students leaping out of the way of the startling group as they all-but ran to the Hospital Wing. When they arrived, Poppy led them to the Seventh Year's bed. There, they all observed that the Boy Who Lived was floating an inch from the bed spread, his exposed forearm and hand a mesh of blackened veins.

"I came out here to check on him," Poppy told the five professors, her voice high with panic. "He was fine last night. Then I found him like this this morning, and he will not wake for anything. I even dowsed him with water, in hopes that it would startle him, but nothing worked."

"It's alright, Poppy," Albus soothed the woman, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "We'll get Mister Potter sorted. Just tell us what you know, alright?"

Poppy nodded. "Of course, Headmaster. I don't know the full story, though I think Miss Granger does…" Before she could say more, Minerva McGonagall was already leaving the Infirmary, likely in search of the school's Head Girl. "All I know is that the day before last Mister Potter received a cut on the palm of his hand, which Miss Granger cleaned and healed for him. And then yesterday he was brought here by the very same friend because he was unaccountably tired and nauseous, and the healed wound had blackened the veins directly around the small scar." She sighed a high-pitched whine. "I ran a few diagnostics, and I couldn't find anything wrong! I had thought he had simply touched some plant in the Weasley's garden before the wound had been healed! I assumed he would be safe for the night, and planned to enlist your help, Severus, this morning."

The Potions Master growled. "You should have retrieved me immediately!"

"Severus," The Headmaster said abruptly, the hint of a warning in his tone. The Potions Master deflated, but not completely. "Do you know what this is, Severus?"

"I have my suspicions, Headmaster, but I will wait for Miss Granger to pass judgment," Snape grumbled angrily.

Albus sighed and nodded, accepting that he would get nothing else. He turned to his Charms professor. "Filius, could you take Poppy to her office and order a tea service from the House Elves? I think she may need something to calm her nerves."

"Of course, Headmaster," Flitwick answered in his squeaky voice. He took hold of Poppy's hand and led her away, down the Wing towards her office.

"Pomona, could you please go down to Breakfast?" Albus asked, turning to the Head of House yet to be addressed. "There should be at least one professor there who has some hold over the students. No doubt our walk down here has already spread through the vine, and it would not due for the students to panic prematurely."

The Herbology Professor looked worriedly at the student lying prone above the hospital bed.

"I will keep you apprised of any developments," The Headmaster assured her.

Sprout hesitated for a moment longer, then looked at her fearless leader. "Yes, Albus, of course. I will go and try to temper the rumors in the Great Hall. What should I tell the students?"

"Nothing," Severus answered immediately. He stared back defiantly when twinkling blue eyes shot him a sharp look. "If we tell the students that Harry Potter has fallen mysteriously and suddenly ill on his first day back at Hogwarts, the students will riot. Within a few hours, we will have half the parents demanding their children be sent home for fear that it was an attack by one of the Death Eater sects that have evaded capture. We should wait until we have confirmation of what is ailing Potter, we should wait until we hear from Miss Granger."

"I have her!" Minerva said from further down the Wing near the door, walking back in with a very harried-looking Head Girl.

Severus sneered as the girl went immediately to Potter's side, brushing aside the fringe on the stony, sleeping forehead. "Granger, explain."

The girl looked at him with teary brown eyes. "It's my fault, I should have made him come here as soon as we got to the school."

"That's not helpful," Severus told her, still growling.

"Severus, enough," Albus said firmly. Snape turned to see his mentor giving him a strange, searching look before those blue eyes swept over to the Seventh Year witch. "Tell us what you know about how this happened."

Granger nodded, sniffling. "Harry went walking to the village, Ottery St. Catchpole, on his own the day before yesterday. When he was headed back to the Weasley's he literally ran into Romilda Vane, who'd just left the Burrow in search of him. She's a Fifth Year this term, the girl who poisoned the chocolates Ron ate last year. The one who runs that idiotic Harry Potter Fan Club." The girl explained. "She knocked Harry off his feet, and when she tried to help him up he cut himself on a dagger she kept hidden in her sleeve. She cleaned the dagger in front of him, though, she couldn't have used his blood!"

Snape sneered again. "She didn't need his blood, she'd poisoned the dagger. Don't you Gryffindors ever pay attention in my class?! Certain poisons will cling to a blade! I covered this in your Fourth Year!"

"Severus!" The warning was no longer a small hint in the Headmaster's tone, but a deep, seething anger. "Calm yourself." The Potions Master huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. He would not apologize. When the Headmaster spoke again, the anger was gone. "Do you know what poison this is, and is Harry in immediate danger?"

"No," Snape spat. "He is not in any danger aside from too much sleep. The poison is Lover's Rest, more commonly known as Sleeping Beauty's Spindle."

The Headmaster gave a small gasp of damnation, but the three women present looked on in confusion.

"What, what does this mean?" Minerva asked in concern.

Severus looked to his rival Head of House. "It means Potter will not wake by any normal means. Sleeping Beauty's Spindle is referred to as thus because of a witch who used it in the 14th century to curse a Muggle princess. You should know the fairy tale that sprung up from the truth."

"You can't mean-" Granger said, scoffing. "The only thing that will wake Harry is true love's kiss?"

Snape smirked humorlessly. "True love conquers all, Granger. Or don't you read fairy stories?" The girl scowled, and Severus caught a glimpse of his employer scowling as well from the corner of his eye. He gave a tense sigh. "No, Miss Granger, it will not require the mythical 'true love's kiss', only a kiss from someone Mister Potter feels strongly towards romantically. His magic, when it senses the contact of the kiss, will react to that person's magic and flush the potion from his system. Until then, his magic will lie as dormant as he is."

"Then I will retrieve Miss Weasley," Minerva announced immediately.

Severus gave a stiff nod. The youngest Weasley would likely be happy to finally be the one to save her savior. And, presumably, she would do the job admirably.

"It might not work," Granger said softly as Minerva started to leave. This gave her Head of House pause. The collective of professors looked at her curiously. They had all been privy to the whirlwind romance between Potter and Ginny Weasley the year before. Granger blushed under their scrutiny. "I-I mean, it might, but…well, it might not. This summer, Harry was pulling away from Ginny, and then a few days before his meeting with Romilda, he-he dumped her. She was heartbroken, and he couldn't really give an explanation besides him not loving her, and not wanting to hold her back. He might still feel for her romantically, but he told us every time we asked that he did love her, but as a sister. He couldn't say what had led to his attraction to her last year."

Minerva sighed, exchanging a look with the Headmaster. "I think we should try, anyway. What harm could it do?"

Albus nodded. "Yes, and bring Miss Vane as well. If Miss Weasley isn't the cure, Miss Vane might have modified the potion to react only to her. Whether it works or not, I then want you to bring Miss Vane to my office. I will have her parents and the Aurors waiting."

Minerva paled before leaving, and Severus had to stop himself rolling his eyes. Of course the Headmaster would want to press charges on behalf of his student. Surely Minerva didn't believe that, just because the girl was only fifteen, a deliberate poisoning would go unpunished. It was not the first time a student had required the interference of the Aurors, and Severus doubted it would be the last.