Chapter 36 – Red Wine

Much to Lizzie's dismay, news circulated quickly that her and Seamus had broken up. She knew from the beginning it probably wouldn't last, but it was a sting, nonetheless. She and Seamus took a stroll together out to the grounds several days later and decided to keep terms good between them. The friendship cliché actually seemed to genuinely apply to them. Lizzie was hoping Ron would follow suit, but Lavender still had her hooks in him fairly tight.

Neil, Cormac, and Anthony had all asked Lizzie to Hogsmeade, but she refused each. There was no point in her mind kindling anything for a rerun of what happened with Seamus. He didn't seem to accept any advances from anyone either.

It was going to be a late night catching up on the stack of essays Lizzie ignored for over a week. She was sitting alone cross legged on the sofa in the common room wearing an oversized t-shirt and flannel pajamas bottoms, ready to start snorting ground coffee beans because the cups weren't keeping her awake and sharp enough to write anything particularly intelligible. She was reading a section in the Half Blood Prince's book and writing a foot of parchment on alternative poison anecdotes. Whoever you are, you are saving my arse on these essays, she thought, scratching away on the parchment. Her quills lost their feathers quickly because when her eyebrows thinned from impulsively yanking the hair loose, she took to pulling on the feather strands of quill while she thought through her next line of content. Hermione knew immediately when Lizzie pulled an all-nighter on homework because the floor around wherever she was sitting would be covered in pieces of bird feather.

Lizzie heard hurried footsteps come down the stairs and before she could look up, Seamus had snatched her wrist and nearly dragged her back toward the stairs.

"What the devil are you doing?" She asked, as he pulled her up to the boys dormitory.

"Seamus! It's late, I have essays, we're not even -" she said, confused by his behavior. He pushed her in front of him and grounded her by the shoulders from behind, pointing to Ron sitting on the floor in a complete daze.

"That, can you get him to talk? He won't talk to me," Seamus whispered. Dean, Neville, and Cormac all were asleep with their curtains pulled. Lizzie looked at Seamus confused, then back at Ron.

"Ron?" She whispered. He startled a little.

"Hi!" He said happily, still in a daze.

"Did he smoke something?" Lizzie asked, but Seamus shrugged incredulously.

"Ron...?" Lizzie said again with some hesitation. He exhaled dramatically and smiled.

"I'm in love," he said to the air, as though he was talking to someone else entirely.

"What?" Lizzie asked, feeling certain his feelings for Lavender could not have taken an opposite turn so quickly.

"You know that feeling when you just know someone completes you?" He smiled. Seamus snorted on a laugh. Lizzie nodded.

"I thought you were getting tired of her?" Lizzie asked.

"Who?" Ron asked.

"Your girlfriend? Lavender?" She said indignantly.

"Hm? No! No! Not her," he said dismissively. For a moment Lizzie hoped he was realizing how much he loved Hermione, though it was an extremely off putting way to express it.

"So... who?" Seamus asked as he crouched down on the other side of him.

"Michael... Michael Corner," he said, as though it was the most obvious answer in the world. Lizzie and Seamus both looked at one another and broke into a fit of breathless laughter. Ron looked at them astounded and utterly offended. "What's funny?!" He growled defensively.

Lizzie swallowed a laugh. "Ron..." she said, rubbing his head. "I didn't realize... I mean, you could have told us... BUT you can do so much better than Michael Corner, I mean just ask Ginny..." she broke out laughing again remembering what a dumpster fire their short-lived relationship was, and Seamus couldn't contain himself, trying to vigorously rub the amusement out of his face.

Ron shoved Lizzie and she fell backward onto her bum from the crouched position she was in. She gaped at him in response.

"You take that back! You don't choose who you love!" He bellowed. Lizzie put up her hands to surrender.

"Ron...ok... totally fair point...I am beyond supportive... promise we aren't making fun of you for that. It's just coming out of left field is all. Did you eat or drink anything recently?" She asked.

"Oh... well yeah... Michael gave me a box of chocolate to give to you. I wanted to test it you know... just in case. It was all white chocolate so I just ate it for you because I knew you wouldn't like it," he explained.

Lizzie and Seamus looked at each other knowing what must have happened. "That's some really great looking out, Ron, I really appreciate that," Lizzie said with her voice breaking into short fits of laughter. Seamus was biting his knuckles to stop chuckling.

Lizzie got up to consult with Seamus. "What do we do?" he asked, looking at Ron stare blankly at the wall and pretend he was talking to Michael.

"We should go wake up Lavender; I will not die happy until I see her reaction," Lizzie said excitedly and turned to bound off to her dormitory. Seamus pulled her back by grabbing the back of her t-shirt and shook his head, but even he couldn't veil the evil grin. "Come on, she'll be so mad, the airhead won't even register it's a love potion right away," Lizzie insisted and chuckled into her hand.

"Your mean streak is really getting out of hand, Liz," he said reprovingly. "Got an anecdote? Obviously this is a love potion, he took a bullet for you with Corner. They all just flock in like voulchers, or what?" Seamus asked then chuckled uncontrollably when Ron turned around at hearing Michael's name with the most eager and enthusiastic expression in his eyes.

"I overheard Corner at the start of last term talking to Goldstein and McLaggen about slipping me a love potion. Apparently news got out that I'm richer than the Queen now that I inherited Sirius's vault on top of my dad's... seemed to be the main draw... but then they said it wasn't worth it to end up like Diggory. Guess they changed their mind... bloody idiots..." she explained and sneered with contempt.

"Well, if that's the case, maybe I should've proposed," he said facetiously.

"Shut up," she snipped.

Lizzie looked back at Ron and the idea dawned on her to take him to Slughorn. "Help me get him up?" She asked, they each grabbed an arm and Seamus asked her why with his eyes.

"Slughorn," she whispered. "He'll have something." Seamus nodded.

"Where are we going?" Ron asked.

"Taking you to Corner, mate," Seamus said happily and Ron got boyishly excited. Lizzie laughed harder at the enthusiastic look on his face wondering what Michael would say if they dropped him off in front of the Ravenclaw common room.

"Seriously the last guy I would have paired him with... maybe Ernie or Justin... but not Corner.." Lizzie whispered on her way down.

They made it to Slughorn's quarters and Lizzie rapped on the door apprehensively. He hadn't spoken to her in a couple of weeks. "Lizzie? What are you doing here? It's far too late!" Slughorn asked at his door.

"So sorry! Ron got slipped a really large dose of love potion," she explained, and Slughorn gestured for them to come inside.

Slughorn prepared an anecdote and they watched Ron drink it and return to normal quickly. "What happened?" He asked dubiously.

"Love potion," Seamus said.

"You were obsessed with Michael Corner... I owe you one, don't eat chocolate directed to me. Just toss it, especially if it's from someone like Corner," Lizzie said with a chuckle.

"Last person I'd… you know… he's a jerk, just ask Ginny," Ron said shaking his head.

Slughorn opened a bottle of wine and poured out a few glasses. Lizzie didn't want to say anything about the red wine since he'd already opened it. Surely one of the boys would drink hers. She stood next to Seamus and across from Ron as they toasted the drink. However, when they went to take a sip, she swore she smelled something off and stopped Seamus's hand while Ron took a swig too quickly to do the same. Lizzie looked up at him in horror.

Ron collapsed in seconds and started seizing on the ground violently. Seamus ran to his side while Lizzie rushed to a supply cabinet. She rummaged frantically through various bottles and ingredients and found a beazor in one of the lower drawers. From the Prince's notes this should work on most all poisons if lodged in the victim's throat, she thought.

Lizzie rushed over to him and shoved the stone in his mouth, she pushed it down into his throat, and rested her forehead on his chest with shaking hands. Seamus was holding his breath in anticipation. Ron stopped convulsing and looked like he might have already passed.

"No! RON! No, no, no!" Lizzie shrieked and shook violently. She pressed her ear to his chest for a heartbeat, and tapped his face for any sign of life.

Seamus impulsively put a supportive hand on her back, she was muttering some sort of desperate prayer he couldn't make out the words for through her panicked breath. This went on through several long moments of silence. Lizzie grew more convinced with every second that he was gone.

With a sudden lurch, Ron inhaled deeply and shot up from the ground. Lizzie exhaled loudly with relief and wrapped arms around his shoulders. Seamus pulled her off cautiously so he could get Ron some air and water.

Ron laid back down motionless, alive but delirious, and Lizzie felt unable to climb down off the height of the panic level she hit. Seamus sat down on the floor next her with their backs to the sofa. He put his arms around her and pulled her close when she started sobbing.

"I - thought - he - was - gone," she said in between short sobs.

"It's ok," he whispered into the top of her head, "he's ok," but he trembled in his skin too.

"How did you know?" He whispered after he had realized she spared him the same fate by stopping his hand.

"The... smell... I knew that smell..." she said with a shaking voice. For the moments she thought Ron was gone, she considered that losing her best friend like this was a cruel reparation for what she did to Vernon.

They made their way to the hospital wing. Snape and Dumbledore were both woken up to inspect the situation. Poppy offered Lizzie a blanket when she noticed she was shivering in the pajamas, and Lizzie sat down on the bed next to him while the professors discussed the situation.

"I was given this as a gift, actually. It was left for me, I was planning on giving it to you for some reason... I really can't place now exactly why," Slughorn said to Dumbledore, feeling perplexed by the entire situation.

"You must be proud of your student, Horace, that was quick thinking on Lizzie's part to use a beazor," Dumbledore said.

"Yes, yes, I was surprised she knew just from the smell that something was wrong with it. She stopped Mr. Finnegan and was ready to knock it out of Mr. Weasley's hand, but he had already taken a sip," Slughorn explained. "What poison did you recognize, dear?" He asked. Lizzie shook her head and wiped her face with the edge of the blanket.

"No poison in particular... I just knew something was in it. They used to poison sacrament... it's why I dislike red wine..." she said. Snape stared at her with a calculating expression.

"You should go up to bed, Lizzie, Ron will be alright," Poppy said. Seamus got up and reached for her hand but she didn't take it.

"Really, Lizzie, get some sleep, I promise he will be ok, you got him the anecdote just in time," Poppy reassured, and Lizzie nodded absently while she looked at Ron unconscious on the hospital bed. She wondered how many times he'd sat here with her and didn't want to leave him. Dumbledore insisted she was safer in Gryffindor Tower and she followed Seamus up to the common room after several lingering moments with Ron.

"Thank you," Seamus said sadly. Lizzie nodded and her face contorted in pain. "I'm sorry, Liz, I know... I was scared too," he said apologetically.

"What are the chances? What are the chances of that?" She asked, burying her face in her hands. Seamus hugged her.

"I... I thought I was about to pay dearly for something," she whispered.

"What do you mean?" He asked, but she shook her head not wanting to admit any truths.

"Never mind," she said quietly and refocused on the more concrete reality that the bottle of wine was meant for Dumbledore.

The following morning, Lizzie walked down to the hospital wing before classes resumed and saw Hermione and Ginny sitting with Ron. She nearly collided with Lavender as she ran from the room crying, and gave Hermione a confused look that Hermione smirked back at with eyes that indicated she would tell her later.

Arthur and Molly were talking to Dumbledore. "Oh, Heavens, Lizzie!" Molly shouted and bombarded her with a giant hug and kisses. "I don't know how many times you're going to save our necks, sweetie, but my family owes you everything," she said in an exasperated tone.

Lizzie smiled back and gave her a tight hug. "I thought he was gone Molly. Would have had to hold me back from taking a big swig of that stuff too if he had," Lizzie said sadly. Arthur rubbed Lizzie's back and they looked down at Ron. He was in a sort of potion coma the way Poppy explained it. The poison had run a fast course on destroying internal organs, but the remedy she was giving him three times daily was regenerating everything. She assured them he would return to normal. If he hadn't fully recovered in a few weeks, then the healers at St. Mungos would run a go.

Hermione stayed with him more than the others. She explained later that day that the state he was in made him cling to her exclusively and Lavender left out of jealousy and rejection. Lizzie let out an exhale of relief at this and gave Hermione a devilish smirk at the premise of it.