The Gryffindors all waited impatiently in their common room. Even Jackson Lestrange was worried for Bella's safety. Sebastian being her cousin was allowed to go to the Hospital Wing with her, but everyone else who tried was refused by either Professor Longbottom or Madame Pomfrey.
"I just want to know how she is" James moaned, after he was turned away for the fourth time.
"We should never have played the game" said Violet. "We should have called it off the moment we got that howler."
"No way; we did the right thing" disagreed Aoiffe. "Professor Longbottom should have taste tested the food before she ate it."
The door to the common room opened, and Sebastian Gorren walked inside. Several people went over to ask how Bella was, but Professor Longbottom soon entered the common room himself.
"Sir…" began James.
"I've got good news, and bad news" Longbottom said firmly. "The good news is that Bella will eventually be fine, and will suffer no everlasting harm."
Most people began to sigh with relief, but a few of the more observant students noticed the catch in Longbottom's words.
"What do you mean by eventually sir?" asked Nigel Thomas.
"What I mean is that Bella will be in severe pain for a long time" replied Longbottom. "Two to three weeks, possibly more."
"Why?" demanded James. "What happened to her?"
"Everyone who is squeamish, I suggest you go to your dormitories now" ordered Longbottom.
A lot of the younger students, as well as a few older ones darted to the doors leading to their dormitories. The wait for them all to leave was killing James; he needed to know what happened to Bella.
"They're all gone now" said Benedict. "If you don't mind sir… please tell us what the cause of all this is."
"Professor Vane found traces of potion in the curry that was sent to Bella during dinner" explained Longbottom. "After testing, she identified it as being the Cockroach Dagger."
"I've never heard of such a potion" noted Benedict.
"There's a reason for that" Longbottom continued. "The Cockroach Dagger is a potion that requires dark magic in order to create properly. Those who drink it are forced to suffer terrible pain and sickness until the potion wears off."
"Good gracious" gasped Aoiffe.
"There is no known cure" Longbottom went on. "They are used only for the most desperate of interrogations by aurors. There were reports of some potions being stolen last summer, and sold illegally in Knockturn Alley."
"You said earlier that Bella's forced to suffer" James said worryingly. "Can't you give her a potion to at least ease the pain away?"
"That's the most terrible thing about the Cockroach Dagger; you can't get rid of it" Longbottom explained. "There is no curing it, and there's nothing you can do to make the pain go away."
"So all we can do is sit down and wait for Bella's pain to go away" Sebastian concluded bitterly.
"How did the Traitor of Gryffindor get the Cockroach Dagger into Bella's curry?" demanded James.
"I've spoken with the house elves. It turns out that somebody last night snuck inside the kitchen, and told them that Bella was unsatisfied with the food she was given, and that she would like a curry with a tea spoon of the potion he had."
"He?" gasped Victoire Weasley.
"Heis most likely the person calling themselves the Traitor of Gryffindor" Longbottom replied.
But James didn't think that was the part that Victoire was confused about. He glanced at Aoiffe, and he could tell that she arrived at the same conclusion. When the Traitor of Gryffindor took the dream-o-graphs, everyone who knew the full truth of them all concluded that the Traitor of Gryffindor must have been a female; however if the house elves were to be believed, the person who gave them the Cockroach Dagger was a boy.
"I guess it didn't matter if we actually backed out of the game against Hufflepuff or not" Patricia muttered. "The culprit sent the howler this morning, having already set their plan into motion."
"Would the house elves who were in the kitchen recognise him?" asked Nigel hopefully.
"No" replied Longbottom bluntly. "The culprit was wearing a mask; the elves could only hear his voice. But don't you concern yourselves; we know who's behind everything."
"What?" Sebastian suddenly shrieked.
Evidently this was one piece of information that Sebastian wasn't told whilst he was in the Hospital Wing.
"You know who it is" murmured Aoiffe. "Then who the hell is it?"
"I cannot say at this time" Professor Longbottom replied. "We don't have the evidence; and under code of conduct, I can't tell you anything until we are one hundred percent certain of the facts."
"Why are you telling us this at all then?" demanded Dranzebar Lang. "All we're going to do now is suspect one another."
"Because I wanted to let the person I'm talking about know that they aren't clever, they aren't smart, and they aren't hidden. When we find the evidence, you will be punished. Torturing a first year student like that could result in a prison sentence in Azkaban. If you have any sense of morality, then you should own up to what you've done now."
Nobody in Gryffindor Tower said anything. A furious Professor Longbottom left, as the remaining students started to group up together.
"He knows who the Traitor of Gryffindor is?" gasped Hyacinth. "But how?"
"That I cannot say" replied Benedict.
"What's Azkaban?" asked Darren.
"It's the wizard's prison" replied Jackson. "It's where they've locked up all of Voldemort's Death Eaters."
"You know an awful lot about Azkaban for a muggle-born" Sebastian snarled.
"Well I can only be told you should be locked up in Azkaban so many times, before I look up what it is" Jackson replied back sarcastically.
Nobody else said anything related to the Traitor of Gryffindor, but James was certain that they were all thinking the same thing. Who was it who poisoned Bella? Unsurprisingly, she didn't turn up for breakfast on Monday morning. Despite Professor Longbottom instructing the house elves not to accept any ingredients given to them by students, many of the Gryffindor students were still using their friends to taste test their food for them.
"I really should visit Bella after classes" James told Darren. "But I don't want to see her in agony like that."
"I'm sure seeing you would distract her from that pain" comforted Darren.
"Do you mind if I come to?" asked Jackson. "I know I've said some bad things to you all, but…"
"Don't you dare go anywhere near my sister again" screamed Sebastian, as the owl post began to arrive. "It's bad enough that someone from a house as evil as yours is in Hogwarts to begin with. I am not allowing you to stand a metre away from my cousin ever again."
"Sebastian, look" shouted Patricia.
Despite Sebastian's outburst, no one else was paying attention to him. Instead the owl that had sent the howler had returned, and it had delivered a new one right onto the desk of the Hogwarts staff.
"Oh my god" muttered Jackson.
"You think you scare me Neville Longbottom?" the howler asked in the same voice it did yesterday. "Nobody scares me. Not you, and certainly not that century old bitch who runs the school."
"What did it just call Professor McGonagall?" Patricia winced.
"I'm not finished yet" the howler continued. "There will be one last incident before the Christmas holidays. No need for the Hospital Wing this time, but I'm certain the pain will be enough regardless."
The howler then burnt itself up. Professor Longbottom ignored it completely, and continued his breakfast. Professor McGonagall however stood up to make a speech.
"All you have demonstrated is that you are not only a terrible human being; but also an incredibly stupid one."
She sat back down again, and like Longbottom continued her breakfast as if the howler was never sent.
"What on earth was that?" gasped James.
"I must concur with Professor McGonagall" said Benedict. "Whoever the Traitor of Gryffindor is, they are certainly hiding their personality well. To be able to be so bold in his language towards one of the greatest witches still alive today, indicates to me that whoever wrote this letter is somewhat mad."
The door to the Great Hall then slammed open. Silverstone McLaren had kicked it forcefully with her foot, as with both her hands, she was carrying a large golden trophy.
"I won the championship" she screamed at the top of her lungs. "Formula One, here I come."
She stood there waiting for an applause that never came. James guessed that even though motor racing was growing in wizard culture, most people in Hogwarts still didn't care for Formula One. Out of the students James knew did enjoy the sport, they were all still stunned by the howler.
"How annoying" McLaren said irritably. "I'm on track to be the best woman in car racing ever; and all people are talking about is that girl in the Hospital Wing."
"How entitled of her" Patricia snarled.
The day went by very slowly for James' liking. He wanted to see Bella to check up on her. Despite not voicing his intentions to any of the teachers, Professor Flitwick must have guessed what he planned on doing, as after Charms, he gave James a box of self-replacing chocolates.
"You just take one out of the box, and then another one turns up in its place" he explained. "I bought one myself for a birthday treat, but I think Bella would find it a most useful distraction from that ghastly poison."
James and Darren went over to the Hospital Wing the second their final lesson ended. Despite offering to join them, Jackson opted to visit Hagrid instead.
"I suppose Sebastian's threat got under his skin" Darren noted.
Madame Pomfrey wasn't as happy to see James and Darren as expected. She was heavily insistent on them spending no longer than fifteen minutes, as she persisted that Bella needed all the rest she could get. Upon seeing her, James didn't know how Bella could be expected to get any rest at all. She was coughing at least once every second, and she grasped her hand tightly across her stomach.
"How are you feeling?" James asked gently.
"Terrible" replied Bella. "I knew I shouldn't have said there was nothing that the Traitor of Gryffindor could do to me that Thicknesse wasn't already doing."
"I wouldn't put it past him" muttered Darren.
"Professor Flitwick has a present for you" said James, as he handed Bella the box of self-replacing chocolates.
"Ooh, these are made with hippogrith milk" Bella said as gleefully as she could. "These must have been expensive."
As Bella opened the box of chocolates, the door to the Hospital Wing opened again. James was expecting it to be someone from his own house, but it was McLaren who entered, carrying a book with her.
"I thought I better get you something" she said. "I was a real arse at breakfast; I didn't realise what had happened to you."
"McLaren?" Bella murmured.
"I thought this would cheer you up" McLaren grinned, as she gave Bella the book.
James leant over Bella's bed to have a read of the title, Martin Miggs: The Mad Muggle Annual.
"I used to love Martin Miggs" Bella said gleefully, before letting out a series of coughs. "I loved the one where he caused an earthquake by shouting so loud into a phome."
"You mean a phone" Darren corrected her.
"That was one of my favourites too" McLaren agreed. "I was terrified in my first car race where I had a radio, because I was worried that if I shouted too loud, the whole track would give way. I had to ask my pit crew after I won how many times earthquakes were caused due to people shouting over phones too loudly. He looked at me as if I was thick."
"How can a girl who knows how to drive cars really fast, be so thick when it comes to the rest of the muggle world?" Darren hissed into James' ear.
James didn't want to answer the question, as he remembered being embarrassed in muggle primary school about believing the exact same thing. It took weeks for the rest of the school to stop teasing him about it.
"Right now that's enough" pestered Madame Pomfrey. "This girl needs rest; out all of you."
James, Darren and McLaren were all unceremoniously kicked out of the Hospital Wing, but the moment Madame Pomfrey shut the door behind her, Kevin Bletchley marched angrily round the corner.
"Silverstone" he yelled.
"Now what do you want?" McLaren asked in a far more irritated tone.
"I'm waiting for you to apologise to me" Bletchley roared.
"Apologise for what?" McLaren asked again.
"You told me to throw the match against Hufflepuff" accused Bletchley. "Ever since then, I've almost had it as bad as that Lestrange kid from Gryffindor."
"Did you really believe that you wouldn't have that reaction after betraying your team?" McLaren scoffed. "You really are an idiot if you thought life was going to be that easy."
"I think we better go" James muttered to Darren.
The two of them left as Bletchley screamed at the rather bored sounding McLaren. Unsurprisingly, the news the following day was that the pair of them have split up.
"Serves that Slytherin right" Sebastian declared. "A scumbag even to his own kind."
"In fairness, it certainly sounds that McLaren was the one who persuaded him to do it in the first place" said Benedict. "We need to be careful of her for our next match."
The time soon came back to Friday afternoon; and whilst James was looking forward to a relaxing weekend, he was dreading the Transfiguration class. Indeed, when the lesson started, Thicknesse had them all attempt to transfigure a block of wood into a teacup.
"What has happened to Ms. Gorren really is terrible" he said insincerely, as everyone bar Jackson was struggling to complete the spell. "I think one thousand points off Gryffindor is an appropriate punishment."
"A thousand points" James gasped.
"Yes Potter, I think that amount fits the crime" Thicknesse sneered. "And a further five points for your cheek."
James scowled, but he was secretly glad that Thicknesse didn't punish one of his friends for his dreaded mistake of being shocked.
"Sir, I've done it" Jackson declared.
"Excellent work Lestrange" Thicknesse said, after examining Jackson's teacup. "Five points for Gryffindor; makes up for James' losses."
James made sure not to roll his eyes until he was certain Thicknesse wasn't looking at him. His attempts at the spell weren't going as well as Jackson's. Every time he tried, the wood would form the shape of the cup, but its material still remained the same. Darren was faring even worse. His block of wood remained exactly the same since the lesson began.
"Transforium" he shouted, before absolutely nothing happened.
"Do not shout in my class Crawford" Thicknesse roared. "Your pathetic attempts at doing anything are not going to change by shouting."
"Why can't I do it then?" argued Darren. "I have been trying this spell all year, and I just can't do it."
"You can't do it, because you are useless as a wizard" answered Thicknesse. "When I was under the Imperius Curse, and became Minister for Magic, I was forced to make it illegal for muggle-borns to attend Hogwarts. They were all rounded up, and locked away in Azkaban. It's people like you which makes me wonder whether that was actually a bad idea."
Thicknesse walked away, leaving the rest of the class either shocked or furious with what was just said. Nobody put in the same amount of effort afterwards, and Thicknesse didn't seem to care, focussing his attention on rewriting the book that was destroyed when the Traitor of Gryffindor trashed his classroom. James never felt so relieved when the end of lesson bell rang.
"James, stay behind for two minutes" ordered Thicknesse.
James did as he was told. He didn't say anything back, but glared at Thicknesse as harshly as he could get away with, as the rest of the class all packed up and left.
"What do you want sir?" James asked.
"No need to panic, you're not in trouble" Thicknesse sneered. "It's just that I didn't want Gorren to be missing any valuable lesson time."
He duck below his desk, and emerged later with a book about the size of James' three largest textbooks combined.
"This is Wood Transfiguration by Armando Dippet" explained Thicknesse. "Eight and a half thousand pages long. Give this book to Bella, and tell her that I want her to copy out the entire book."
"All eight and a half thousand pages?" gasped James.
"Exactly" smirked Thicknesse. "I was told that Bella was spending her time reading a book based on Martin Miggs the Mad Muggle. In bed sick or not, I thought that there were far more appropriate ways to be spending that time. Give that to Bella, and if I don't have it handed it by next week, she'll be getting detention."
James reluctantly grabbed the book, and carried it out of the classroom. It felt less like a book, and more like one of the heavy weights his old P.E. teacher used to make him lift. James could barely make it through two corridors when he bumped into Professor Longbottom.
"Everything ok James?" he asked.
"No" James replied. "Thicknesse wants me to give this thing to Bella and…"
"I see" Longbottom murmured. "I just had complaints about Thicknesse from Jackson."
James was surprised to hear that Jackson had complained about Thicknesse, considering that he seemed to be the one student who Thicknesse liked. It appeared that Thicknesse's outburst about muggle-borns got to him as badly as it did everyone else.
"Thicknesse wanted Bella to copy out the entire book" James explained.
"Madness" Longbottom muttered. "Between you and me James, if we were in a position to fire Thicknesse, he would have gone years ago."
Longbottom cast a silent spell, and the book flew from James' hands, and into Professor Longbottom's.
"I'll perform a few spells to get what Thicknesse wants in Bella's handwriting" he said. "Hopefully it'll be enough to fool him."
"Thank you sir" James said graciously, before a thought suddenly came into his head. "Sir, do you really know who poisoned Bella?"
"I have my suspicions" Longbottom replied more seriously.
"So when the howler a few days ago says that something's going to happen before Christmas, do you believe it?"
"Yes" answered Longbottom. "And believe me when I say that Hogwarts is on high alert; though if you do hear anything suspicious, please tell me right away."
"I will sir" said James.
Longbottom nodded back, then made his way back to the staff room. James made his own trip back to the Gryffindor Common Room. It was only a few more weeks before the Christmas holidays, and he was worried about who the Traitor of Gryffindor will target next.