Much to Dumbledore's frustration, Voldemort kept his promise and he and Leah remained at Hogwarts overnight. Severus delivered the first step to Hermione's antidote less than an hour after Voldemort had arrived at the school. He'd then spent the rest of the night working on the second part of the antidote, and he administered it first thing the following morning.
"How long before she wakes up?" Leah asked once Severus had administered the second antidote.
As well as Dumbledore hanging around the hospital wing, Kingsley and McGonagall were witnessing the administering of the antidote, as well as Madam Pomfrey keeping a watchful eye on proceedings.
"Not long," Severus replied. "Providing the two antidotes worked as they should have, I would say she'll be awake in less than half an hour."
"And what happens if she isn't awake in half an hour?" Voldemort questioned.
"Something's gone wrong and we need to run more tests, but that's not likely to happen," Severus replied.
"Let's hope not," Voldemort muttered darkly as he turned back to Hermione.
The following twenty minutes were fraught with tension, but finally Hermione began to stir. The entire room held their breath as slowly the young witch's eyes began to flutter open. While Leah and Voldemort anxiously waited for their daughter to be focused enough to speak, Madam Pomfrey stepped forward and checked over her student. Madam Pomfrey spent a few minutes checking over Hermione, before she stepped backwards and allowed the young witch to see her family.
"Hermione, we were so worried about you, sweetheart," Leah gushed, brushing the hair out of her eyes.
"Mum," Hermione whispered, blinking slightly at the surprising sight of her mother at her bedside. Although when she turned her head to the other side, she got an even bigger surprise when she spotted her father as well. "Dad?"
"We're here, Hermione," Voldemort said softly. He was very aware that Dumbledore and his cronies were watching him closely, but right now his main concern was his daughter. "Can you remember what happened?"
"Not really," Hermione replied with a frown. "I can remember being in Hogsmeade, and then I began to feel light headed. After that, I can't remember anything."
"You were poisoned," Voldemort explained. "Luckily, Draco and your friends managed to get you up to the castle. Thanks to Severus's quick thinking your life was saved, and he was able to whip up an antidote."
Hermione glanced over her father's shoulder and spotted the Potions Professor hovering at the bottom of the bed. "You saved me?"
"I wasn't going to let you die," Severus responded, and from his tone of voice Hermione suspected that someone, most likely Dumbledore, would have done just that.
"Thank you," Hermione said, giving Severus a small smile. She was beginning to think that Draco had been right, and that Severus could be trusted.
"So is Hermione going to be all right now?" Leah asked.
"I'll run some tests to check if the poison is still in her system," Madam Pomfrey answered. "If it's gone, which I suspect it has, she just needs some rest."
"Maybe at home," Leah suggested hopefully.
"What do you say, Hermione?" Voldemort asked. "Do you want to come home?"
"Why would I need to go home?" Hermione questioned as she pushed herself up in the bed, so she was sitting up.
"It's clearly not safe for you here," Voldemort answered. "Despite my warnings, it would appear someone didn't listen."
"I can assure you no-one from school was involved in this incident," Dumbledore said defiantly as he stepped forward to join in the conversation. "Whatever happened, happened at Hogsmeade, out of our control."
"See honey, you're not safe," Leah said, urging her daughter to think carefully before making a decision. "We can't trust these people."
"While I disagree with who can or cannot be trusted, I do agree in principal that Hermione would be better off at home," Dumbledore announced. "Hogwarts is not the place for her."
"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Hermione sneered as best she could, even though she didn't feel much like doing anything other than curling up and going back to sleep. "You'd like it if I went home. Well, it's not going to happen. I have as much right as anyone else to be here, and here I will stay. No-one's going to chase me away."
Dumbledore visibly bristled at Hermione's attitude, but before he could say anything else, Voldemort chuckled proudly and announced that if Hermione wanted to stay at Hogwarts, then that was what would happen. So unless he was going to kick Hermione out, and he had no reason to do so, Dumbledore was stuck with The Dark Lord's daughter for a bit longer yet.
"I guess if you're staying, we should be off," Voldemort announced. "Don't worry, Hermione, I'll find out who's behind this. And believe me, they'll soon regret messing with my daughter."
"Is that a threat?" Dumbledore demanded sharply.
"Only if you're the one responsible for poisoning my daughter," Voldemort replied with a wicked smirk. "And you're not that stupid, are you old man?"
"I've already told you, no-one at this school is responsible for what happened," Dumbledore retorted through clenched teeth. It pained him to be dealing with Voldemort in such a civilised manner, but Fudge had warned him not to antagonise the dark wizard while he was on school premises.
"We'll see, won't we?" Voldemort replied, before turning back to his daughter and saying goodbye.
Once Leah had also said goodbye to Hermione, the pair swept out of the hospital wing after extracting a promise from Severus to keep them up to date. Not wanting to risk Voldemort roaming the school, Dumbledore hurried after the pair along with Kingsley and McGonagall.
"When can Hermione have visitors?" Severus asked Madam Pomfrey. "I know her friends are eager to see her."
"Not until after lunch," Madam Pomfrey replied primly. "Right now she needs rest. They can come and visit this afternoon."
"I'll let them know," Severus said, addressing Hermione. "They'll all be so pleased to hear you're alright."
"Thank you," Hermione replied. "For everything."
"It was nothing," Severus said, shifting uncomfortably at the way Hermione was scrutinising him. "Now get some rest, and I'll check on you later."
Before Hermione could get some rest, Madam Pomfrey wanted to run a few tests, but once they were all done, she was able to settle down and digest what had happened. She was still battling the effects of the poison, but she able to mull on things for a short time before she drifted back off to sleep.
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Hermione next woke up shortly before lunch, and after taking a trip to the bathroom she returned to find Madam Pomfrey had arranged for the elves to bring her some food. Eyeing the plate of food on the bedside table, Hermione realised she was fearful to eat it. Whoever had poisoned her had probably done so via something she'd ate or drank, and despite Dumbledore's protests, she wasn't sure if the culprit was lurking around inside the castle.
"Are you not eating?" Madam Pomfrey asked as she emerged from her office to find Hermione sitting looking at her food with a frown on her face. "I would have thought you'd be hungry."
"I am," Hermione admitted quietly.
"But you're wary given what happened yesterday," Madam Pomfrey correctly deduced. "You needn't be, the food at Hogwarts is perfectly safe."
"Even so, I'm not sure it's worth the risk," Hermione muttered as she got back into bed without touching the tempting plate of food.
Madam Pomfrey shook her head, but didn't say anything as she retreated back into her office. Ten minutes later the doors to the hospital wing opened and Severus strolled into the room. Walking straight over to Hermione, he gave her a smile as he checked how she was.
"I've got a headache, and I'm pretty tired, but I'm alive," Hermione said.
"You could feel lethargic for a few more days yet, not to mention the headaches might continue," Severus explained. "But the poison is gone from your system, so you should be back to your normal self within a week."
"I won't have to stay here all that time, will I?" Hermione checked.
"I doubt it, knowing Madam Pomfrey you'll be out sometime this evening or tomorrow morning," Severus answered with a chuckle. "Although if you don't eat, I'm not sure she'll let you leave," he added, eyeing up the untouched plate of food and the full glass of pumpkin juice beside Hermione's bed.
"I can't eat it," Hermione said with a shake of her head. "I don't know if it's safe."
Reaching into his robes, Severus pulled out a small vial of clear liquid. "This will help. It detects poisons, but it's tasteless and won't ruin a meal. Put one drop on the side of your plate, and if there's anything untoward going on with the food, a green stain will appear where you dropped the liquid. Do the same for drinks, and if they're unsafe to drink they'll turn black."
"Thank you," Hermione replied as she took the vial and immediately tested it on her food, which luckily was poison free. "I'm sorry for not trusting you earlier."
"I didn't expect you to trust me right away," Severus replied, glancing over his shoulder to check they were still alone. "It's just a shame you almost had to die for me to prove myself trustworthy. I would rather have done it some other way."
"The important things is I now know I can trust you," Hermione said.
Severus quickly reminded Hermione her friends would be up to see her once they'd ate, before he poked his head into the office and spoke to Madam Pomfrey. He then left the hospital wing, and left Hermione to eat her lunch in peace now she was content it wasn't going to harm her.
Hermione had barely finished her lunch when the doors opened again, only this time an entire group of people descended on the hospital wing as Draco led the Slytherins in to see her. Alongside Draco was all her other new found Slytherin friends. Blaise, Theo, Vince and Greg were right behind Draco, along with Daphne, Millicent, Tracey and even Pansy.
"I'm so pleased you're okay," Draco said, wrapping his arms around Hermione when he reached the side of her bed.
"Thank you for saving me," she said to the blond. "All of you," she added, looking around the concerned group with a smile. "I'll always be grateful for how quickly you got me back to school."
Before anyone had a chance to reply, Madam Pomfrey poked her head out of her office and turned a furious shade of red as she spotted everyone crowded around Hermione's bed. Marching over to the group, she tried to insist that they could only visit two people at a time, but Hermione quickly shot her down. One mention of how displeased her father would be if she wasn't allowed to see her friends had the Medi-Witch backing off and agreeing everyone could stay for ten minutes, then the visitors would be limited to two at a time.
"You showed her," Blaise chuckled as he pulled up a chair and settled himself beside Hermione's bed.
While everyone else pulled up chairs and settled themselves around the bed, Draco sat himself down on the bed beside Hermione and wrapped his arm around her. Hermione happily settled into Draco's side, feeling much happier now he was with her.
"I think she's still reeling from having father in her hospital wing all night," Hermione replied with a small smile. "I'm sure she doesn't want him to come back, kicking up a fuss."
"Speaking of kicking up a fuss, he's got the entire school in a panic after his display yesterday," Theo said.
"What display?" Hermione asked in confusion.
"He didn't tell you?" Draco asked. When Hermione shook her head, the group proceeded to tell her all about her father bursting into the Great Hall and the ultimatum he delivered.
"Wow, I had no idea," Hermione said.
"It was awesome," Theo gushed. "You should have seen the Gryffindors shaking in their boots. They're terrified."
"So they should be," Hermione muttered. "Especially since a few of them were likely behind what happened yesterday."
"Yeah, Potty and the Weasel," Blaise sneered.
"Do you really think they would have the balls to do something like this?" Daphne questioned, a sceptical look on her face.
"I'm with Daph, I don't think the pair are the culprits," Draco said, causing Blaise, Theo, Vince and Greg to all protest loudly. "Will you let me finish," he snapped at the foursome. "I don't think either Potter or Weasley did this, but I think they were involved. I think they kept bumping into us to distract us while someone else slipped Hermione the poison."
Hermione nodded thoughtfully, agreeing with Draco's deductions. "It sounds plausible to me. Make sure you tell Severus so he can pass the message onto Father. He won't rest until we found out who did this, and neither will I."
"Don't worry, I'll make sure your father knows exactly what happened yesterday," Draco vowed, dropping a kiss to the top of Hermione's head. "We all want to know who did this, and when we find out, there's going to be hell to pay. Your father isn't the only one out for vengeance, we all are."
Hermione looked around the group, finding them all nodding in agreement with Draco. The only one not nodding in agreement was Pansy. She was sitting with her head down, and Hermione thought she looked as though she was on the verge of tears. Even though they'd been getting on better these last few weeks, Hermione still didn't think they were close enough for Pansy to be so upset at what had happened.
"Is everything okay Pansy?" she asked, wondering if something else was bothering the other girl. Maybe she still wasn't feeling well.
"I'm sorry, Hermione," Pansy said tearfully, looking up at the witch in the hospital bed. "This is all my fault."
"What? How is this your fault?" Hermione asked with a frown.
"It was my suggestion to go into Hogsmeade," Pansy wailed. "If I hadn't suggested it, you might not have been there."
"Of course I would have been there," Hermione replied. "Even if we hadn't all been together, I still would have been in the village. You didn't cause this, Pansy. The only people to blame here are the bastards that poisoned me."
"I'm still sorry," Pansy said quietly.
"You've got nothing to be sorry for," Hermione insisted. "Honestly Pansy, I don't blame you in the slightest. I'm just sorry we didn't get a chance to spend the day together. Maybe next Hogsmeade trip you'll be feeling better and I won't get poisoned."
"Yeah, we'll do the same thing next Hogsmeade weekend," Draco said with a firm nod. "We're going to show everyone that we're tougher than they thought. They won't get rid of us that easily."
"No they won't," Hermione agreed with a sly smirk.
As frightening as the experience had been, she couldn't help but think it might have been worse for whoever had tried to poison her. Not only had they failed to get rid of her, but they'd only succeeded in making her father incredibly angry. She knew there was no way Voldemort would just sit back and do nothing following her poisoning. He would retaliate, and Hermione couldn't wait to see just how he would do it.