Part Seven:

Angelica opened her eyes in a series of short blinks. She was lying on an unfamiliar soft bed. There was someone perched at the side of it, though she couldn't make out who it was as the room and everything in it, were still very blurry.

"A-are you awake, A-a-angelica?"

It was Quirrell's voice, which meant she was in Quirrell's private quarters, lying in Quirrell's bed. But why? She nodded in response and attempted to prop herself up on her elbows but was too weak to do so.

"Y-you f-f-fell ill, b-b-but y-you have h-helped me in a w-w-way you can not really understand r-right now," he explained in a tone of frustration intertwined with relief. "I-I-I've done something unf-forgivable, b-b-but you m-m-might have s-saved me." He broke out into a sweat and clutched his turban in pain. "A-a-at least for a-a little while," he added with a forced laugh and walked over to his wooden dresser where two cups of some strange-smelling liquid awaited him. He drank one.

Unsure of what a response to something like that might be, and what Quirrell was talking about, she did kind of enjoy the fact that she was lying in Quirrell's bed. Was that why he wanted to see her alone so late that night, because he had romantic feelings for her? With all these thoughts dashing through her head, she hardly had noticed him sitting back down again, next to her.

"D-drink this, it will h-h-help," he said, handing her the other cup, and she drank it up without question. It was wine, but she tasted an infusion of Tourengane. Although she wasn't that great at Herbology, she did recall Tourengane was used in love potions. But why would she need that? She didn't think it was possible to love him more.

"Where were you Angie? Everyone was asking about you at breakfast! And I couldn't very well hide it from our room mates that you weren't here all night," Fiona ranted the next morning when she found Angelica sitting by the window in their dorm room.

"I fell ill," Angelica answered truthfully.

"What happened? Are you okay now?" Fiona questioned with concern.

"I'm fine, just tired. I fainted."

"Did Madam Pomfrey give you something?"

"N-no. Professor Quirrell did," Angelica kept her eyes on the carpet.

Fiona looked confused. "Quirrell? Was he at the infirmary too?" She asked presumptively.

Angelica paused and chose not to answer that. "He made me a potion out of some herbs to help me get my energy back. I think it was a remedy Madam Pomfrey didn't know."

"But I don't understand why Quirrell was there? That seems odd. Though, he hasn't looked well himself, maybe he needed treatment too?"

This caused a thought to spread inside Angelica, she had been so consumed by her having spend the night in Quirrell's quarters, and wondering what the purpose of the potion he gave her was, that she'd ceased to think about what he needed her for. He had said she helped him, but how? Could it be that he really was sick? That might explain the paleness, garlic, and his seeming out of sorts lately. Angelica recalled that the spell he cast before she blacked out had the word "rudictus" in it and that had something to do with plants because she once heard Professor Sprout use that word in a charm to stop the roots of a monkshood plant from choking the other plants nearby.

"Anyway, we've got to get going to class Angie," Fiona told Angelica, whilst grabbing her potions class materials.

"I-I know. You go on ahead though, I'll catch up with you soon," Angelica replied, pulling her Herbology text out of her stack of school books.

Fiona shrugged and left their dorm as Angelica started flipping pages to get to Tourengane to find the listing of what potions it can be used for. On her way to the Ts the page on the plant named angelica caught her attention and caused her anxiety to rise. "Angelica, used in potions or sachets for protection," she read to herself, feeling sick, "he needs me to protect him?

Shortly after her realization, she had Potions class, which she was not looking forward to, especially not today. Of course she joined up with Fiona, Jonathan and Oliver in the laboratory; this made things more intense as Angelica had a lot of explaining to do. All this stopped however, when Snape limped into the room.

"I thought, perhaps, it might be of use to take a slight detour and make one of the most potent exorcism potions. It wouldn't surprise me if one day you might be stupid enough to get yourself possessed. You will need half a vile of Acacia Senegal oil, three drops of Dragon's blood, wait until the mixture comes to a full boil and then add four kilograms chopped root of..." He took a dramatic pause and set his black eyes on one student in particular, "Angelica."