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*** First of all I would like to apologize for the erratic updates as of late; I've been very busy and stuff like that but I'm hoping I can update more regularly again. Thank you to all my faithful reviewers. You guys are awesome. I read all reviews for chapter 45 but I didn't thank you all individually and I apologize for that…with that said: Kudos go to Lycr. I've read the first chapter of your story and I'm going to read the second in a minute, after I get this finished. Thank you for all your reviews! Celeste thank you for the congratulations! I think I did OK this first year…it feels good to have it all done! Thank you for your review! Mina *kiss* to you too! You're such a sweetheart! Enjoy this chapter for me! Soupcann314 you're very right, it is all winding down and I'll be sad…but relieved…when it's completed! Thank you for all your support and reviews, they mean the world to me! Hermionereincarnated I love fanfiction and you're right…we always seem to find time for it! LOL! Enjoy! TallemeraRane thank you for the congrats! It's so nice to see a new name! Thank you! I hope you enjoy this chapter! Hermione Weasley I hope you enjoy this chapter too! Thanks for everything! AmericanMonkey38 cute name! Thanks for your quick review! I updated as soon as I could! Enjoy! Maddy Leigh I'm happy my two couples are happy together too! Yeah for them! Felicia hello! I've emailed you but didn't know if you got them or not and so here's the next chapter! I'd like you to still beta read for me! Thank you! Ednyadove let's call this "Part I of Revising the Slytherin." That's what I'd call this chapter. Enjoy! Triniroo you're right, the last chapter was shorter…this one is a tad longer and I hope you enjoy it! HpFaNaTiCa you're right! It did take me a long time! LOL! I'm sorry! But I'm glad you're back from outer space! Enjoy! Lily Michelle I hope this chapter clears confusion up for you…and I hope you enjoy it too! Angelic Ashley are you really angelic? LOL! Sorry the last chapter was a little short…hmm…enjoy this one though! Ellie thank you for your nice review and compliments! I hope you've enjoyed the story! Shaunna I'm glad you like Natalie in my story! That means a lot to me! I'm also flattered you'd sneak around just to read my story! I hope you enjoy! Princess-Pixie-Sugar-Stix thanks for such an enthusiastic review of my story! And I'm glad you liked that quote—it's one of my favorites! Thank you everyone for reading and reviewing my story! I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Chapter 47: Stolen Ingredients
Natalie was sure it was taking Katie Bell longer than normal to wake up and so she was relieved to see a lucid Katie sitting up in the hospital bed. That left only one person. Pansy.
Natalie wouldn't have been sorry for Pansy if she never woke up, as terrible as that sounded.
Katie was lucid but she looked decidedly tired and haggard. Natalie's heart went out to the older girl. She looked tired but she looked contemplative. Deciding to skip seeing Carmen, who appeared to be sleeping peacefully; Natalie went to talk with Katie.
"Hi," she said in a friendly voice coming up upon Katie.
Katie Bell, usually with bright eyes, looked up at Natalie and smiled. And she continued to smile until her lips wavered and an apologetic look filled those eyes. "I can't remember your name for the life of me," she whispered.
Natalie had to grin. Katie was always a social conscious person. "Natalie. I'm in Gryffindor with you, only I'm in Sixth Year."
Relief filled her eyes. "Thanks for reminding me. Do you want to sit down?"
Natalie nodded. "Sure." She sat down gingerly and took in Katie's disheveled appearance. "Do you know why you're in here?" she asked apprehensively.
Katie bit her lip and nodded slowly. Then she leaned in closer to Natalie and whispered, "Because I like Lee Jordan and I didn't tell him."
"Yeah…" Natalie nodded. "Do you know why you're…awake now?"
Katie looked away wearily. "Because I have a choice," she answered inaudibly. Her eyes were sad with muted enthusiasm. "Lee and I both have to make a choice now."
"Do you know what your choices are?" Natalie asked. She didn't know how well informed Katie was, nor did she know what to say to her.
"Yeah…yeah I do. I have to choose between Mitch Reed's…feelings for me or my feelings for Lee." Her eyes fluttered shut for a moment. "And Lee has to choose between feelings for me or your feelings for him," she said at last.
"Yes that's right," Natalie replied although she found saying the words difficult. She wished Lee didn't have to make a choice. "I'm not going to fight with you for him," she said haltingly.
Katie raised an eyebrow and assessed Natalie carefully.
"I mean in," Natalie said firmly. "I don't want to sway Lee's decision in either direction. I want him to choose."
"You really like him, don't you? It's not every day that a girl wouldn't fight for her man," Katie said.
Natalie shrugged. "It's not that I won't fight for him. It's that I don't want to influence his decision one way or another. Well, I do…I don't know! It's confusing!" she announced.
Katie smiled. "I understand. It is confusing." Her smile grew brighter. "Hi Mitch!" she greeted kindly.
"Hey!" he returned. He nodded with a smile in Natalie's direction.
Natalie stood up immediately and left the two of them alone. They had a lot to talk about and they needed time to talk between each other.
"Natalie could you come here?" Lee asked from where he was laying.
She nodded and redirected herself to Lee's bed. "Yes?" she asked.
He smiled. "It's nothing really…I just wanted to tell you that I think you're an awfully pretty girl. And you're nice too," he added.
Natalie blushed. "Thanks."
***
Parvati had the last of the ingredients for the potion stuffed away in a pocket of her school uniform. She had the eye of a bat in her pocket.
It had taken some time and courage to put the eye in her pocket and even now she couldn't think about it without nearly getting sick. It disgusted her that there was an actual eye touching her clothing.
Poor Ron though. It had been his job to steal some of the spiders' hair. She had watched him take it from Snape during class with a particularly horrific look on his face. It had been hard not to laugh.
Hermione had stolen the newt foot a week ago during Potions and she had had no trouble.
It was Harry who had the hardest part. Yesterday, the trio had informed Parvati of Harry's invisibility cloak, which he would be using tomorrow night, after allowing their concocted potion to ferment, to drop the potion into Malfoy's drink. That is, assuming he would be drinking anything in the Slytherin common room. Really, it was getting Malfoy to the Infirmary that would be the difficult part.
She snuck into the empty classroom, no one knew what it once was or what it would be used for, making sure no one was around to see her lurking about suspiciously.
"You got it?" Harry whispered upon seeing her enter the shadowy room.
Parvati nodded and shrugged herself out of her robes and then picked through the vest, grimacing slightly when her fingers wrapped around the eye, and handed it carefully to Hermione.
"This is so disgusting," she mused when Hermione dropped the eye into the stolen flask. The contents bubbled into an orange color and then liquefied. "Malfoy has to drink that? My dog wouldn't drink that on a hot day, what makes you think Malfoy will?"
Ron rolled his eyes. "Malfoy won't know we've done anything to his drink, that's why he'll still drink it," he told her.
Hermione nodded but didn't say anything as she continued to stir the ingredients into a thick, gooey liquid.
Harry covered his nose. "That stuff smells like sweat! It's not going to once I put it in his drink, is it?" he asked.
"I honestly don't know," Hermione said slowly. With her nose wrinkled she looked at her three companions. "We'll never get Malfoy to drink it if it still smells like that in his drink! He'll know something is different!" she exclaimed irritably.
"That smell is just sick," Ron observed.
Parvati covered her nose with a delicate hand. "It's really not so bad when you cover your nose," she said.
"Yes well, that's not really going to help us tomorrow night is it?" Ron asked dryly. "I mean, who drinks with their hand covering their nose?"
Parvati rolled her eyes. "I'm just trying to think positively!" she said defensively.
"Arguing isn't going to get us anywhere," Hermione broke in. "And anyway," she began as she settled back on her bum, "we've got to figure out a way to get Malfoy down to the Infirmary. The potion only lasts five minutes after the person begins speaking the truth, remember," she reminded them.
"I say we just have Madame Pomfrey call him down to the Infirmary," Ron put in. "He won't listen to us and he hates listening to authorities but he'll do it," he told them reasonably.
"Sounds good to me," Harry agreed. "Um, Hermione, how long does that stuff need to sit?" He motioned to the bubbling liquid like it was a disease.
"Not long," Hermione answered. "Fifteen minutes only. We'll know when it's done when and needs to be stored when it stops bubbling."
"And where are we going to store it?" Harry asked. "No matter where we put it Filch will find it."
"The nasty bastard would probably drink it too and then where we would be? We'd have a housekeeper telling the truth for five minutes of his life. Probably the only time he's ever told the truth, too," Ron said.
Hermione shot Ron a disapproving look although she secretly agreed with him. "Parvati and I will take it to our room."
"We will?" Parvati asked.
"Yes, there is less of a chance of our roommate finding out about it considering that our roommate is in the Infirmary. Tomorrow is Friday. Tomorrow night we'll give you this Harry and the three of us will anxiously await your arrival in the Infirmary. Then we'll tell Madame Pomfrey to call Malfoy down. It should all be really very easy," Hermione told them.
The other three looked at each other with looks of confusion and apprehension.
"Right," they replied in unison.
What did ya'll think of this chapter? I hope you enjoyed it! Seriously, thank you for everything everyone! Please review!
After winter comes the summer.
After night comes the dawn.
And after every storm, there comes clear, open skies.
~ Samuel Rutherford
