Draco-luver - You did your homework, love. You must have gone back when Severus snaps at Remus and Sirius before chapter 18. I confess that I am most certainly not your typical dunderhead. Perhaps that just makes me an atypical dunderhead? I'll let each of you decide for yourselves. ;)

Antidote and Accusation ~*~

One of the responsibilities of being headmaster of Hogwarts was giving bad news to parents, and Albus Dumbledore currently found himself in position of having to give a lot of bad news to a large number of parents.

The first thing he had done when he left the infirmary was to summon the house elves to try to take care of the disaster that was currently the great hall. He knew it wouldn't be long before worried parents began to arrive, and he didn't think it would do to have them see the flooded room littered with mangabey remains and splattered with blood.

The second thing he did was quickly compose two letters; one to go to the parents of those students that had been injured, and one to go to the parents of those that had not. He was putting his signature on the second letter when McGonagall arrived with the list bearing the names of the wounded. She now wore robes again, as did he.

"Here's the list you asked for." McGonagall noticed that the headmaster seemed to look his age at the moment. "Albus, are you alright?" She asked in a worried fashion.

"Yes, Minerva, but I'll feel a lot better once we deal with all the parents, and when Severus gets that potion finished." Dumbledore replied in a tired voice.

McGonagall looked thoughtful for a moment and then patted the headmaster's arm. "He'll do it." She said in a quiet tone of reassurance.

Dumbledore nodded. "I know." He said. "Now, if you'll be so kind as to see to it that these letters get sent immediately?"

McGonagall nodded and took the letters and left the headmaster's office.**

Ron had no idea what was in the vial he was delivering to the female auror, but he knew he didn't like the odd smoky violet color of potion he held in his hand. He ran in the door of the infirmary, and quickly located the woman sitting by the side of Harry's godfather. Ron cringed a little as he saw how awful the man looked, and his eyes met those of a very worried Harry as he approached Kaneene.

"I'm supposed to give this to you." He panted as the woman looked up at his arrival. "Professor Snape said you'd know what it was, and that it was for 'just in case'." Ron held the vial out in his hand.

Kaneene stared at the offering for the longest time, and with a sigh resigned herself to take the vial from Ron. She did indeed know what it was, and she also knew now that she would use it if she absolutely had to. She looked at the man slipping in and out of consciousness next to her, and prayed that it never came to that.**

When the potion ingredients were ready, Snape stepped in front of the three cauldrons and address Marlina and Hermione. "Now, watch and pay careful attention. This is simple but you must get the order right."

The two women watched along with the Weasley twins as the Potions master added the measures of crab's eyes, coral powder and velvet to the potion.

"Ten minutes, and then the rest goes in." Snape repeated the first step with the next two cauldrons as they waited. When the required time was up he added the pulverized bezoar, minced crab claw leaves, and then tiny bits of shredded boomslang skin. The mixture was now becoming somewhat gelatinous.

When the third cauldron received the final component, Snape pointed to the second set of cauldrons and spoke to Marlina. "Start the next three, and then set up another set of cauldrons, just in case," he ordered. " I'll be back after I see how much more we're going to need." He cast a charm over the three cauldrons to make them lighter, and looked meaningfully at Fred and George as he picked up the handle of the first one. Each brother jumped to grab a cauldron and follow him to the fireplace. They were going to take the fastest possible route.**

Lorien was hovering between a first year student that was rapidly slipping into a coma, and Sinistra that had been in the same condition for a short while now. She was frustrated that her hands were tied, and she worried about what would happen if someone actually died. Her eyes went across the room to Poppy, and she was sure the older witch was probably having many of the same thoughts, as she stood by the two valiant, but unresponsive Hufflepuff boys that had tried to protect the younger students.

She looked at where Harry, Ron, Remus, Keath, and Kaneene were all hovered around Sirius, and she wished that there was something else she could do for him.

Her head snapped up as the fire flamed higher in the large fireplace on the ward, and Severus stepped out followed by the Weasleys. She didn't know if she was ever so glad to see him, and she ran to where he set the cauldron down.

He spoke to her immediately. "The first batch is ready. You'll have to cut it with something by half - wine, cider, pumpkin juice, anything but water."

Poppy was already sending for a house elf and Lorien grabbed Severus by the arm. He knew what she had in mind and he ran out of the ward and down two doors with her to her rooms. Lorien handed him half a dozen wine bottles and grabbed four more herself, and they ran back to the hospital ward.

When they reached the cauldrons again, Snape didn't bother with an opening charm, he merely smashed the neck off the first bottle on the edge of a table and then dumped the wine into the first cauldron. Lorien copied him and they were able to dilute the first two cauldrons of potion enough with the wine that they had retrieved.

Poppy directed Fred and George to start filling the dosing cups with measures of the potion, and she and Lorien set about bringing a dose to the most critical patients first.

Remus and Keath saw what was happening, and with a look at one another, sprang out of their chairs and started grabbing doses of potion to distribute.

Lorien went first to the comatose first year and tipped a few drops of the potion onto the girls tongue at a time. She knew she needed to get to Sinistra, but in her mind the students came first. She ran to get another dose for the Astronomy professor and met Remus at the cauldrons, which were already nearly empty. She grabbed his arm. "Remus!" She whispered. "Get a dose for Sirius." We're going to run short and it'll be a bit before the next batch arrives."

Remus nodded and grabbed a dose for his best friend as Lorien went to tend to Sinistra. **

Lorien hated to admit that she even had the thought, but the idea that she could arrive just a little too late with the potion had in fact popped into her mind, if only fleetingly. She sighed and raised the Astronomy instructor's head enough to start dripping small amounts of the potion on her tongue. Hopefully this would work in time and they wouldn't have to lose anybody, including Sinistra.

Severus stepped close to where Lorien was working, and after watching for a moment, spoke to her. "It would have been easy to overlook her treatment, Lorien." He said quietly.

"Perhaps." Was all she said in return as she worked.

"This is better." He said with a nod.

"I know. That way we might actually be able to save everyone." Lorien replied.

Snape leaned closer and spoke in a low voice. "Plus the bitch will wake up owing you and I a debt that she'll wish she never did. It'll be appropriate torment for her."

Lorien looked up into the intense black eyes and slowly broke into a smile. "There are times when I really like the way your mind works, Severus."

He snorted with amusement. "Scary thought, Mistress Lorien." He turned and flung a handful of floo powder into the fireplace and was gone.

Lorien hoped he would hurry back. They had been able to treat all of the most critical patients with a first dose, and many of the less severely affected students, but there were some that had yet to receive their first dose, and most of the hospitalized cases would need at least one more dose in a couple of hours.**

Remus walked quickly to Sirius with the dose of potion that he had grabbed and spoke as he neared his friend. "Ok, Sirius. Here's a little pick-me-up courtesy of the potion making team."

Sirius opened his eyes a little and questioned Remus. "Everyone else has been treated?" He asked hoarsely.

"Yes. Now drink this." Replied Remus.

Sirius frowned. "Moony, you are such a terrible liar. Give that dose to a student!"

Remus tried to argue. "All the most critical cases have been treated. You're the next worse one."

" Remus, just do it." Sirius ordered weakly. "I'm not drinking that stuff until everyone is treated, do you understand?"

"Sirius," Kaneene started, "you're being difficult. Remus is right. You really need this more than some of the others."

"Save your breath, sweetheart." Sirius closed his eyes and proceeded to ignore them.

Kaneene frowned at him. This was obviously how the man survived his stay in Azkaban. He was too damn stubborn to give in. She looked at Remus and threw her hands up. "You might as well put that to good use."

Remus went to Poppy to see which patient needed the potion the most.

Kaneene found that each minute she sat and waited next to Sirius seemed like forever, and she didn't know how much longer she could chance waiting for the next batch of antidote to be finished. Finally after glancing one more time at the man laying only half alert next to her, she knew that she needed to act. She wasn't taking any chances. Sirius wouldn't be happy with her later when he found out what she was about to do, but better that he would be alive to be mad, than take a chance on losing him.

She went to Remus and pulled him aside for a moment, speaking very quietly in solemn tones. "I can't wait any longer, Remus. I think we should give him this." She held her palm open, showing him the vial in her hand.

Remus looked at her questioningly. "What is that?"

"Same stuff that saved Keath. Snape sent it just in case." She replied.

"A class IV?" Remus said, obviously surprised. "May I?" He reached out to take the vial and examine it out of professional curiosity. After a moment he glanced at where Sirius lay with his eyes closed and nodded. "He's going to be pissed if he finds out where that came from, and Merlin only knows what went into that stuff."

Kaneene shuddered to think about it as well. "I think it's time. Will you help me?"

"Of course." Remus answered, turning to go back to Sirius.

Kaneene stopped him with a hand on his arm. "I'll tell him later, so don't worry about it."

Remus nodded. "I'm not. I just want him alive." They went to their weakening friend.

"Sirius?" Kaneene shook him a little.

"Mmmm?" He opened his eyes a little.

"Lorien wanted us to give you another round of restorative to help until the rest of the antidote gets here." She lied.

"Do I have to?" He asked very weakly, knowing how bad the potions tasted, and still trying to joke.

"Yes, here." Remus helped prop his friend up as Kaneene looked at him once more and then uncorked the small vial.

She put the vial to his lips, and hoped that he'd forgive her later. Well, if he didn't at least she'd know that he was alive, and that was all that mattered to her at that point.

Sirius made a face and sputtered as he swallowed the contents of the smoky violet vial. He wanted to comment about how each dose tasted worse than the last, but found that he just didn't have the strength.

Remus and Kaneene looked at each other and knew exactly what the other was thinking. They were both hoping it would be enough, and waited while the minutes ticked by very slowly.**

Marlina and Hermione found that together they made a pretty effective potion brewing team, and rapidly were finishing the next three cauldrons of potion. All three appeared to be the same consistency and color as the first ones, and since Snape hadn't returned yet, they decided together to take them up to the hospital via the fireplace.

Everyone was greatly relieved when the two women arrived with the latest round of potion, and Poppy and Lorien rapidly cut it with the jugs of pumpkin juice that the house elves had finally brought.

Keath, and Hermione helped them pass the rest of it out, and then Remus sprang from his chair to get a dose, and went directly back to Sirius with a cupful. He shook Sirius, and was relieved when the man finally opened his eyes. "Here. No arguments this time!" Remus scolded him as Kaneene helped him to get Sirius propped up with a pillow.

Sirius looked at Remus questioningly.

"Everyone has been treated, and there's still a full cauldron." Remus reported.

"All right. Let's get this over with." He croaked, and made an awful face when he finally swallowed the potion they gave him. "Damn!" He sputtered and coughed a little. "Don't they ever taste halfway decent?"

Remus grinned. "Not with crab eyes in them."

Sirius looked ill again. "Did you have to tell me that part?"

Remus smiled, relieved that his friend would likely recover soon. "Absolutely."

"Thanks a lot, Moony." Sirius hoped that Remus would not tell him anything else that had gone into the making of the concoction he had just drunk. Little did he know that he'd be even more horrified at what had gone into the making of the previous potion he had been given.**

Snape stepped back into the potions classroom to find it empty, and was relieved to know that the two women had finished and had apparently taken the potion to the infirmary straight away. That was good. It left him free for a short time to deal with another pressing issue at hand, and he swept out of the classroom and toward the Slytherin dorms. He expected that wherever he had been, Draco Malfoy would now likely have returned to the common room, and he fully intended to get to the bottom of what he knew the boy must have been involved in. The whole situation had Voldemort written all over it.

It was not an unusual occurrence in the Slytherin common room for the door to slam open and for Snape to make a dramatic entrance when he was on a rampage, and the students that had returned earlier, after disaster had struck, knew that someone was in deep trouble by the way their head of house looked.

Snape's gaze swept the room and came to rest on Milicent Bulstrode. "Malfoy." Was all he said as she visibly squirmed under his intense scrutiny. She pointed to the entrance to the boy's dorm, and Snape quickly crossed the room and slammed that door open as well.

When he got to the room shared by the fifth years, Malfoy was laying on his bed, casually reading a Quidditch magazine as if nothing at all had happened. Snape glared at the two other occupants of the room. "Out!" He snarled, and the other two boys were gone in a flash.

Malfoy looked up and arrogantly yawned as if he were bored. "Something I can help you with, Professor?" He purred.

Snape crossed rapidly to where the boy had sat up, and Malfoy's smug expression was wiped clean off his face as the head of Slytherin grabbed his arm and yanked him off the bed. "How?!" He asked, snarling the word close to the boy's face.

Malfoy looked furious. "How? How what?" He asked with great anger evident in his eyes.

"Don't." Snape's voice was dangerously soft. "Don't even try to play that game." He warned. "I want to know HOW they got in!" He hissed. "I know you did it Malfoy. There isn't anyone else that had enough reason or enough of a connection to do it."

Draco now smiled charmingly at the taller man. "I haven't the slightest..."

Snape yanked him across the room. "You haven't the slightest? Well, dear Draco. Why don't we make sure you do have the slightest.....idea of just what you've done!" He pulled the blonde boy toward the fireplace and flung a handful of floo powder from a pouch inside his robes into the flames. "Great hall." Was all he said, and he yanked the boy into the fire with him.

Snape stepped out of the large ornate fireplace in the great hall and flung Draco ahead of him. House elves were getting started on the enormous mess, but there was enough devastation still evident that Draco could get some sense of what had happened.

He looked around and then spoke to the Potions master as he shook his head. "Tragic." Was all he said.

Snape was furious and grabbed Draco again by the arm. "There's more." He snarled. "I want you to experience as much as is left for you to experience." He pulled Draco to a section of floor that remained wet. "There!" He pointed. "That is the blood of your very classmates." He pointed to a wall and then to another spot on the floor. "So is that, and that!"

Malfoy was starting to look a little pale, and Snape knew he was on the right track. He knew he couldn't allow the boy to feel detached. "Come with me." He ordered, and he guided Draco to the hospital ward with a hand firmly clamped on his shoulder.

Draco did his best not to appear surprised, but to Snape's satisfaction, he was obviously not prepared for the number of casualties he found before him, and Snape saw the boy go even paler at the sight. Snape gave him a minute to take it all in and then spoke in a low voice next to Draco's ear. "Keep in mind, that this is only the remnants of the destruction that you caused. All the people in here, up to a short while ago, were bleeding, hurting and crying. And Draco, they'd been poisoned and they were DYING." He paused for a moment and continued. "You now have the luxury of standing here knowing that all of these people will live."

Draco continued to stare around the room, and when he finally spoke it was in a hoarse voice that was a far cry from his arrogant sneer of a short while ago. "There are so many." He croaked. "I..I didn't.."

"I know." Snape answered him. "But you need to know. You need to see what the consequences of your actions are." He wasn't letting up yet, and steered the boy back out the door.

He spoke again when they were in the deserted hallway together. "Draco, I'm giving you the chance to come clean right now. The truth is something you can volunteer, or as I'm sure you are aware, something that I can obtain one way or another." Snape of course was referring to the use of veritaserum, but Draco wouldn't miss the implied threat in the former Death Eater's statement.

Malfoy paused for a long time, not liking any of his options. He was getting angry again. Getting caught was not supposed to be part of the bargain. The fact that his classmates, and in fact many of his housemates had almost died, was not part of the bargain. Or was it? Draco felt seriously ill as he realized the enormity of what he'd done. He leaned against the wall and put his head back.

Snape watched him and then spoke again in a quiet, but not so dangerous manner. "Have the courage to admit what you did, Draco. Show them that Slytherins are not cowards."

Draco didn't look at Snape as he replied. "Aren't we?" He sneered. "Hiding in a classroom on the third floor is no better than hiding behind a mask."

Snape shrugged. "It doesn't have to be that way."

"No? So you just walk away?" Draco asked sarcastically.

"Yes." Snape replied. "You walk away. You take all of the sins, and all of the guilt and leave all of the expectations of the others behind, and you just walk away." He wasn't sure if he was referring to himself or Malfoy. Probably both.

Malfoy snorted with mirthless laughter. "It's that simple, huh?"

Snape looked at the boy intently for a moment and then shook his head. "But it'll be simpler now than in three years." He said. "You decide."

Draco was still angry and turned to verbally attack his head of house. "So, now because of a little well-timed fatherly advice I'm supposed to stop hating you? Is that how it works, Professor?" He sneered the last word. "I'm supposed to straighten up and fly right now because of your well meaning guidance?"

Snape grabbed Draco by the front of his robes and loomed over the young Slytherin. "I don't give a damn if you hate me or not, Malfoy! As a matter of fact, I want you to hate me. Hate me enough to avoid ever being anything like me. Be better than me, Draco. Hate me enough to be stronger than I was and walk away from the nightmare now!"

He shoved the boy back against the wall and let go of his robes as he whirled and walked rapidly away, black robes fluttering wildly behind him.*******

Okay - if anyone can tell me why my formatting has suddenly stopped being recognized by FFnet I would appreciate it. If I leave multiple return spaces between paragraphs to denote a scene change - it decides that I haven't left any, and runs everything altogether. Of all the annoying hippogriff dung!