I look on, shocked, as the four boys seem to be choking on air all of a sudden. It was the potion, I'm sure of it, but how? I never did any research on the effects of mixing Veritaserum with some other beverage. Or maybe something went wrong with the potion itself?
They're currently gasping for air, and the skin on their forearms starts glowing and becomes more and more blotchy every second. There is nobody else in this hallway anymore except for me and these four. Even the Professor left.
Oh, Merlin. I poisoned them. Why am I only realising this now? The boys don't seem to have a clue as to what's going on, they're just staring and gesturing at each other in panic. I seem to be the only healthy one here, although I'm not so sure of that myself.
The Transfiguration classroom is at the fourth floor. The Hospital Wing is on the first. How am I ever going to get four boys three floors down while they're slowly losing their consciousness and I'm having trouble staying calm?
"Can you walk?" I ask timidly, and they all stare at me. "It was just a suggestion," I whimper. Right now, I'm very glad I listened to Lily when she told me I'd be severely outnumbered if I ever wanted to fight them all at once. Even now that they're all sitting on the floor, they seem too much for me to handle.
Now just wait a second. I frown; since when am I intimidated by these four? Better yet, why am I intimidated by them now? They're in no state to fight.
I turn back to them and almost bark, "Get up, you wimps. If you want to get better, we'll have to get you to the Hospital Wing. And since I'm not going to carry you there, you'll have to walk."
Planting my hands on my hips, I attempt to glare at them. That is quite hard, seeing as I feel guilty as hell for putting them in this pathetic situation. Still, this is better than being intimidated by them.
One by one, they all stand up, hesitantly. With wobbly knees, they take a few steps. Since they've stopped coughing and choking by now (but for how long?), that doesn't cause them to lose balance, at least. Still, their faces and arms don't look good.
"You really have to hurry up," I urge them. The last thing I would want is end up in Azkaban for killing them or something similar.
"What did you do to us?" Al manages to splutter when we've reached the third floor.
"Now is not the time for that, Al," I say impatiently. "Save your energy to get to the Hospital Wing."
Besides, I really need to think of how I'm going to put that eloquently.
I burst into the Hospital Wing and walk headfirst into Madam Pomfrey, who, yes, is still here, even though she must be over a hundred by now. But that's just a guess.
"Madam Pomfrey!" I cry out. "They've been… poisoned, I think!"
She looks past me and immediately notices the four boys in the doorway, panting from walking here. They seem to be swelling up everywhere by now; it's not a pretty sight.
Madam Pomfrey ushers them in quickly and points them all to empty beds – apart from us, there's nobody here right now.
"Ms Weasley?" she suddenly says. "Can you go notify the Head of your House?"
I nod once and sprint out of the door, downstairs, and to the grounds. Bursting into one of the greenhouses, I bend over and try to breathe. Unfortunately for me, I have yet to get used to running like this. It sucks.
"Rose? What's wrong?" Neville looks surprised at seeing me. I just smile awkwardly and then notice that he's actually teaching the fourth year Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors. Lily stares at me, surprised as well.
"Could I – have a word – with you – outside – Professor?" I manage to gasp in between breaths, and he nods worriedly.
"What's wrong?" he asks once we're outside the greenhouse.
"It's Al and – " I gasp again. "They've been – uh… poisoned."
"Poisoned?" he asks, frowning. "How? By whom?" Now, I'm glad I'm still out of breath. It's a good excuse for me to not answer that particular question.
He doesn't wait for an answer, but goes back inside and says something, then comes back outside and runs off towards the castle. I guess I should follow him, but I really don't want to. So, as a sort of compromise, I trudge back towards the castle as slowly as I can.
"Rose?" Lily catches up with me easily, and Hugo's with her. "What's wrong?" I just shake my head. "What is it?" she asks.
"The potion," I say softly, glancing from her to Hugo.
"Did something go wrong with the potion?" she asks sharply. "But… how?"
I shrug. "I think it was the mixture with something else that caused something to happen."
"And now?" she asks urgently.
"They're all… blotchy and glowing and swollen and – stuff like that." Lily just stares at me disbelievingly. "Stupid side-effects," I mutter, and walk a little quicker now.
"What are you talking about?" Crap. Hugo doesn't have any idea of what's going on.
"They've been poisoned," I say, not looking at either of my companions.
"You poisoned people?" Hugo exclaims, and I cover his mouth with my hand.
"Could you keep it down?" I hiss. "Not everybody here needs to know. But yes, I accidentally poisoned people. By accident. They were only supposed to tell me where my diary is, but they never did. They just said stupid stuff and now they look like hell."
Hugo seems to finally understand who we're even talking about. "That's pretty bad," he says almost nonchalantly. Then an odd gleam appears in his eyes. "Do you think we can see them? It must look pretty hilarious."
I roll my eyes. "I have no idea, Hugo." We're almost near the Hospital Wing again, and Neville just walks out.
"Rose! There you are. They can't speak at the moment, so you're going to have to tell us what happened."
Wonderful. "I did it," I say bluntly, and Neville gapes at me.
"Excuse me?" he almost splutters – almost, because it's not professional for a Professor to splutter.
"It was an accident," I add quickly, and I can see Lily nodding fervently beside me. It's good to know she's still with me at this point, even though everything is going wrong.
At that moment, we hear loud laughter coming from inside the Hospital Wing. Hugo comes walking out, almost doubled over – that's how hard he's laughing. "It's so funny!" he says, wiping his eyes. "It's so funny."
Neville, sadly, doesn't seem to think so. "I will call your parents as well, then, Ms Weasley." With that, he stalks away. The only sound left are Hugo's hiccups.
"I'm so dead," I say quietly, and Lily pats my arm comfortingly. Mum will kill me, not to mention Aunt Ginny. Or Luna… perhaps. And I try not to think about Malfoy's parents at all. They will really kill me. I think the time to truly panic has finally come now.
We're not allowed to come in anymore; Madam Pomfrey claimed that she needed to take care of her patients in silence. I suspect she also doesn't trust either me or Hugo at the moment, and Lily's with us so she's not allowed to go in either.
At long last, there are voices approaching us. Although – I'm not so sure if that's such a positive thing. Neville is back and he brought a whole posse of people. Awesome. I cower behind Lily's back, but Lily doesn't seem very comfortable anymore either.
There's mum and dad, Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny, Luna and Rolf, and two people I don't know. Must be Malfoy's parents then. I barely have time to wonder whether none of these people actually has to, I don't know, work, since this is a Friday morning after all. Oh – look, James is here too. He's the only one in the group who's actually grinning from ear to ear. I swallow.
The adults, however, all rush inside, probably to see how everyone is doing. The odd thing is, even my parents do so. James, however, only peeks in for a couple of seconds and then turns to us, almost choking from laughter.
"That's hilarious, Rose," he says, giving me the thumbs up. "Poisoning them, that's an ever better idea than the one I came up with."
"But we used your idea!" I splutter. "I did brew Veritaserum! I just didn't realise it would go wrong if I mixed it with something else!"
That comments causes James to start howling with laughter again, and Hugo joins in. Unfortunately for them – well, for all of us – that's the moment Rolf comes out again. He blinks at the two boys rolling around on the floor (yes, they went there) and says, "Could you all come in now?" I'm surprised by his tone – he doesn't sound too angry. He sounds rather calm; one wouldn't guess that his two sons had just been poisoned.
I nod quietly and walk into the Hospital Wing, with my head down. Lily follows me closely and I have no idea how long it takes James and Hugo to pick themselves up from the floor and come in as well.
"Well, Ms Weasley, you seem to be lucky today." It's Madam Pomfrey who speaks, and I stare at her in wonder. I do? "Whatever you did to these boys, it's curable. They'll be out of here tomorrow, or the day after that."
I sigh in relief and put my head on Lily's shoulder, closing my eyes for a moment. Lily pats my back for as far as that's possible, and I open my eyes again. The adults are scattered across the room, and only my parents are watching me. Correction; only mum is watching me. Dad is too busy glaring at Malfoy's father.
"Rose Weasley," my mum starts, "we are very disappointed in you. Right, Ron?"
"Hm?" Dad looks annoyed; after all, he was winning the glaring contest he had with Mr Malfoy. "Uh, yeah, that's right. Very disappointed."
"Do you have anything to say for yourself?" mum asks, crossing her arms and looking at me sternly.
"They stole my diary," I say in a small voice, and for a second, everyone is quiet. Except for a giggle in the background that has to come from James. I'm disturbed.
"They did?" Aunt Ginny turns to Al sternly, and I'm fairly sure my cousin whimpered. Sweet victory. Well, sort of. I'm still screwed. "Al, is that true?"
"Yes?" he replies timidly, eyeing his mum apprehensively.
"And are you going to give it back?" Aunt Ginny asks.
"It's in my bag." Al's voice is nothing more than a whisper, but I hear it anyway. Ready to jump at his bag, I move forward, but my mum stops me.
"Rose? We're not done yet." I groan, but I can see Aunt Ginny picking up Al's back and rummaging through it. She quickly finds my diary and tosses it to me, and I flash her a grin.
"They stole your diary and you poisoned them? That's a little extreme, in my opinion." It's Malfoy's mum who spoke now, surprisingly.
"It's a little more complicated than that," I say, trying to smile. "See, I asked it back first, a couple of times, and we tried to just… take it away, but that didn't work. So… we brewed a potion."
"Who's 'we'?" mum asks, interrupting me. I redden; I didn't even realise that I said that. Damn it.
"That would be me," Lily says quietly, and Aunt Ginny raises an eyebrow. I'm sure there will be hell to pay for Lily once she's alone with her parents. That makes me feel even more guilty.
"I did all the brewing though," I say quickly. "Anyway, we made the potion and it was supposed to be a simple truth serum. I just forgot that I shouldn't just mix potions with other drinks."
"Still, it's pretty interesting to see what happened," Luna says all of a sudden, staring at Lysander curiously. He, in turn, looks scandalised, and he's not the only one.
"Interesting?" Mr Malfoy exclaims. "That girl poisoned my son and you think it's interesting?"
"Rose poisoned our two sons, so I think my wife has a right to speak," Rolf defends Luna, and Lily and I share a quick smile.
"Why a truth serum?" mum asks, and everyone goes quiet again.
"A truth serum combined with a Sticking Charm and Two Way Mirrors," I tell her, and Uncle Harry, looking from Al to Lily, pales slightly.
"That sounds pretty smart," dad says, but he shuts up as mum sends him a glare.
"Who gave you the stupid idea of a truth serum?" Mr Malfoy asks, annoyed and I have to bite on my tongue to keep myself from immediately telling on James.
"What else was I supposed to do?" I retort instead, and dad sends me a proud smile.
"You could've written us," mum says, and I fold my arms uncomfortably.
"Yeah, well… I didn't want to bring you into this," I mumble.
Al coughs loudly and tries to sit up. He rasps, "But you did want to bring James into this?"
All heads turn to James now, who glares at his younger brother with all his might. If looks could kill, Al would've died five times over.
"James?" Aunt Ginny asks strictly. "What do you have to do with this?"
James shifts from one foot to the other. "I may have given Rose the idea of using Veritaserum."
"And he sent me a Howler," Al adds, and consequently has another coughing fit.
Dad, I notice, has trouble keeping a straight face, and Uncle Harry has a small smile on his face as well.
"He did, huh?" Aunt Ginny asks.
"It was just a joke, come on," Lily says impatiently. "Honestly, Al, you make it sound a lot worse than it actually was. Besides, you started it all."
"It was for a good cause!" Al rasps on, and he looks at his three companions, probably irritated that they're not saying anything.
"Al, you don't steal girls' diaries," Aunt Ginny tells him as if speaking to a toddler. "Even if you've known them your entire life and you're related to them. It's not polite."
"We had a reason to do it," Malfoy now backs up Al, and his parents – especially his father – don't seem happy that he's doing so. "Really, we did."
"And what was that reason?" mum demands to know, looking around the room.
Al now stares straight at me. "We'll discuss that with Rose once we're out of here," he says quietly, but sure of his case.
I glare in return. "I certainly hope you will."
"Okay, are we done now?" dad asks. "We really need to get back to work."
Mum shoots him an annoyed look, but shrugs. "Probably. We'll talk about this later, Rose. You're coming home in the Christmas break and we will talk about this some more."
"We'll probably join you then," Aunt Ginny says. "I'm sure Rose and Al have a lot to talk about."
"No, we don't," I mutter, but I'm ignored. Seriously, adults.
Dad and Uncle Harry leave soon after, and James sneaks out as well. Luna and Rolf stay a little longer, but then go home as well.
"Isn't she going to get some sort of punishment for what she did?"
Honestly, I can now see why dad hates Malfoy's dad so much. He is, if possible, even more insufferable than his son.
Neville looks up and blinks. "Uh – right. I guess she should be punished. So Rose – no Hogsmeade for you tomorrow. Or for any of you," he adds I an afterthought, looking at the boys.
"I wouldn't allow them to go anyway," Madam Pomfrey says, and Neville nods.
"And… I'm going to deduct thirty points from Gryffindor for such behaviour."
Thirty points, that's not too bad.
"And what about the Potter girl?" Mr Malfoy demands.
Neville looks at him coolly. "If I'm going to deduct Lily points as well, I'll have to add to these boys' punishment as well." That effectively shuts up Malfoy Sr. Finally.
The Malfoys leave as well now, and Neville returns to the greenhouses – apparently, another class is about to start. I didn't even realise it was that late already.
I'm just glad that they're all going to be alright, annoying as they may be. And no Hogsmeade for all of us – that seems fair, I suppose. I flush as I remember the original plans I even had for that trip – that wouldn't have happened anymore anyway.
Somehow, I end up alone with the four hospitalised boys, and Al beckons me over. Pressing my diary (I've got it back! Finally! Words cannot express how happy I am right now, even though I'm still in trouble) to my chest, I slowly walk over to him.
"What?" I ask. Looking at him from up close, I notice that most visible signs of poisoning are gone already.
"You're an idiot, Rose," he says. "Seriously, Veritaserum? That doesn't make any sense. But I suppose that's what you get when asking James, of all people, for help."
I huff. "You're just mad that we got the idea to brew a potion before you lot did."
"You're a danger to society, Weasley," Malfoy growls. "You should be locked up at the ward for the mentally instable in St Mungo's." I want to ignore him, but he continues. "You're seriously the dumbest person I've ever met. It's a miracle you didn't actually kill us. I bet that was what you were trying to do, wasn't it?"
I'm about to protest as Lysander speaks as well. He sounds even raspier than Al when he just started talking. "You're an idiot, Rose. There are just no other words to describe you right now. It was just a frickin' diary. Grow up."
Grow up? They're honestly telling me to grow up? "Words can hurt too, you know!" I exclaim, stomping my foot and crossing my arms. They don't realise it. After all those years of taunting, they still don't realise that words can also be used to hurt people where it hurts most – in their head, in their heart, in their soul.
"Oh, I know." I freeze. "I know all about it."
I turn towards Lorcan's bed and stare, feeling defeated. He looks pretty bad – not as bad as Lysander, or Malfoy, for that matter, but still quite bad – and the disappointed look in his eyes is enough to make me want to cry. Now, I realise, is not the time to tell him that I like him as more than a friend as well. Not at all. And I wonder if that time will ever come.
"Lorcan," I start feebly, and I fall silent again. "It was an accident. We didn't mean to target you." I'm not sure if they all heard it, but it seems that he did.
He shakes his head. "Of course, Rose. I'm just having trouble believing you nowadays."
That does it for me. Biting my lip to at least refrain from crying until I'm out of the room, I run. I don't care where I'm going – anywhere but there sounds good to me now.