All of your fantabulistic reviews and alerts made me want to update all the more soon, but I haven't had the time! Thank you dear readers! :)

Disclaimer(keep on forgetting to add these, always in a hurry): I do NOT own HP. Sadly :(

The fact that Harry had preformed a mouth-to-mouth on Ron ran through the castle at the speed of light.

"For it to be a fact it actually has to be true," Harry mumbled, head in hands as Ginny asked him what had happened. He told her the story which he had already told Dumbledore, McGonagall and Madam Pomfrey, and soon later had to tell Hermione, and then Fred, and then George.

"Blimey, it was lucky you thought of a bezoar," said George in a low voice. They now sat round Ron's sick bed. Fred and George had been waiting to surprise Ron in Hogsmeade; they had been thinking about opening a branch there. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had arrived an hour ago, and Harry, Hermione and Ginny had only just been allowed in, at eight o'clock. Fred and George had gotten there at ten past.

"Lucky there was one in the room," Harry said, not wanting to think about what could have happened if he hadn't been able to lay his hands on the precious stone.

Hermione gave an almost inaudible sniff. She had been quite white and quiet the whole day. She had taken almost no part in Harry and Ginny's discussion about how Ron had came to be poisoned, but merely stood there, jaw-clenched and frightened, until they had been allowed in.

Ron stirred, and she immediately looked up, and bent over him, quavering.

"Do mum and dad know?" Fred asked Ginny.

"They've already seen him, they're in Dumbledore's office now, but I expect that they'll be back soon..."

There was a pause in which they all watched Ron mumble a little in his sleep.

Then they went on to discussing how the poison came about to Ron.

"The poisoner didn't know Slughorn very well," Hermione suddenly said, sounding as if she had a bad head cold and speaking for the first time in hours. "Anyone who knew Slughorn would have known there was a good chance he'd keep something that tasty for himself." Though her voice trembled, she still had that matter-of-fact tone, and Harry kind of admired her for that.

Hagrid came in, and then Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, so Harry, Hermione and Hagrid decided to be the ones to leave, and leave the family alone. And in that short time, Hagrid let slip that Dumbledore had been arguing with Snape.
"I never said tha'" he said, though his look of panic couldn't have been more of a giveaway.

At that time of night, once Harry and Hermione finally reached the common room, the Fat Lady was snoozing peacefully, and was not pleased to be woken. She opened the porthole grumpily to reveal an empty and peaceful common room.

Hermione went straight to bed. Harry, however, stayed in front of the fire, thinking. So Dumbledore had argued with Snape, because he wanted Snape to investigate the Slytherins. Perhaps one single Slytherin; Draco Malfoy. And, also, there was a part of the story he retold that he had left out; though he probably should have told Hermione. She would probably find out anyway. He made a vow to tell her in the morning.

Ron gulped down the potion eagerly, having being told that it was a tonic for the nerves .Harry and Slughorn watched him. For a moment, Ron beamed at them. Then, very slowly, his grin sagged and vanished, to be replaced by an expression of utmost horror.

"Back to normal, then?" Harry asked him, grinning nervously. Slughorn chuckled. "Thanks a lot, Professor."

"Don't mention it, my boy, don't mention it," said Slughorn, as Ron fell into an armchair, looking devastated. "Pick-me-up, that's what you need," Slughorn continued. And he babbled on about the choice of drink.

Harry looked at Ron, expectant. And then, finally, it came.

"You bastard," he murmured, looking at Harry. Harry could feel the color drain from his face.

"What was that, Ralph?" Slughorn asked, sorting through many drinks.

Harry just stood there, mouth half-open, babbling like some sort of an idiot. Perhaps he was one.

"I've got Butter-beer, I've got wine, I've got one last bottle of this oak-matured mead … hmm… meant to give that to Dumbledore for Christmas… ah well, he can't miss what he's never had!"

Harry was watching Ron, who just stood there, looking betrayed. It was worse than Harry could have ever imagined.

"How could you?" Ron whispered as he took his glass from Slughorn. Harry took his own. He could do nothing more but look guilty.

And everybody knew the rest. Harry was a hero, saved Ron's life…

"Right," he said to himself, leaning forward, elbows on his knees, hands clutched together in front of his mouth.

"Backstabbing git," he scolded himself.

"There you are, Potter!"

Harry jumped and drew his wand, just to find that it was Cormac McLaggen.

"I've been waiting for you to come back," said McLaggen, disregarding Harry's drawn wand. "Must've fallen asleep. Look, I saw them taking Weasley up to the hospital wing, earlier. Didn't look like he'd be fit for next week's match.

It took Harry a few moments to realize what McLaggen was talking about.

"Oh… right… Quidditch," he said, putting his wand away. "Yeah… he might not make it," he wished out loud. All respect to Ron, he didn't want to be in the hospital wing for the Quidditch game; though he probably deserved it. But Gryffindor didn't.

The news that Ron had been poisoned spread quickly, though it didn't cause the sensation that Katie's attack had done. In fact, the Gryffindors seemed much more interested about the upcoming match against Hufflepuff. The whole school seemed dumbstruck at Harry and Hermione breaking up, when it had all seemed so perfect – "yeah, right," Harry had scoffed at an eager Colin Creevey . Harry, however, had become more interested in Draco Malfoy's activities.

But he didn't get much time to worry about Malfoy either, what with Quidditch practice, homework, Cormac McLaggen and Lavender.

McLaggen seemed to believe he was captain… Lavender kept on trying to discuss Ron. At first, she had been very annoyed that nobody had told her that Ron was in the hospital wing – "I mean, his is my boyfriend!" – but now she had forgiven Harry for that, and had become keen to have lots of in depth chats with him about Ron's feelings, a most uncomfortable experience, without the fact that Harry had been kind of dodging Ron's sickbed since the very day it had happened. He had gathered, however, that Ron pretended to be asleep every time she walked in the room.

Sunday, the day after the incident, Hermione had gone to the hospital wing before Harry got a chance to warn her, and Ron had managed to wake up for that.

"I mean, at first he looked rather smug, and then he smiled and said that it didn't matter anyways! I know that you told him Harry, it's rather obvious. But it's not the reaction I was expecting. It's making me quite nervous, actually."

"I know what you mean."

Harry was sure that Ron wouldn't be so amicable towards him.

The day of the match approached.

On the way to the pitch, Harry bumped into Malfoy, but had to try and ignore it. McLaggen was being true to his idea that he was captain.

"Tricky conditions!" he said as the team walked out onto the pitch. "Coote, Peakes, you'll want to fly out of the sun, so they don't see you coming-"

"I'm the captain, McLaggen, shut up giving them instructions," Harry said angrily. He had a reason to be. "Just get up by the goalposts!"

He also had a reason to miss Ron.

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