"Professor!" shouted Sirius, Hastings, and Odessa at once. They rushed to her side, Odessa glaring at Professor O'Reilly.
"What happened?" she asked. "What did you do?"
"It's bad manners to assume that I did any—" said O'Reilly.
"Oh, dry up," said Sirius. "Curse Gabe for falling in that stupid Dream Ivy. We need someone with medical training."
"The only other person would be Professor Greene," said Hastings. "Who's with Gabe."
"Hang on," said Odessa. "Why wouldn't Greene know to perform the Levicorpus on him?"
"She wanted to harvest the Dream Ivy," said Hastings.
"Ooh, all Herbologists are alike," said Odessa, remembering one she'd dated in between her stints with Sirius. "They never seem to—"
"This isn't helping Professor McGonagall," said Professor O'Reilly with infuriating logic. "Why don't you all go and bring Professors Lupin and Greene back, then I will administer a Waking Draught—"
"Excuse me," said Odessa, "But I'm the Potions Master here. It will be me who administers what needs to be… um, administered."
O'Reilly turned toward her with impatience in his eyes, speaking with barely veiled disgust. "Then act like it!" Without another word, Hastings, Sirius, and Odessa ran out the Great Hall, in pursuit of Gabe and Jade.
"Should we have left O'Reilly alone with her?" Odessa asked, looking back at the castle.
"He won't do anything right now," Sirius assured her. "Not when all of the students and faculty are watching. Besides, he knows we're onto him."
When they reached Hagrid's hut, they saw Professor Greene coming out of the forest with Gabe floating behind her.
"Thanks, Jade," said Hastings. "I don't know why I didn't think of it before."
"It's nothing, dear," said Professor Greene. "After I received your note, I packed up some Dream Ivy in a hurry, resolving to come after you. I realize you were a little… distraught, having forgotten to use the Levicorpus."
"But… you thought of it, couldn't you have told Hastings?" asked Odessa, suddenly suspicious of everyone and everything.
"Well, let's just get him to the hospital wing," said Jade. "Oh, I sure could use some pumpkin juice. Let's go in. It's chilly out here." Together, they brought Gabe into the school while they told Professor Greene what had happened at the ball. When they arrived at the hospital wing Professor O'Reilly was already there, brewing some Waking Draught.
"Like I'm going to trust anything he brews," Odessa muttered.
"Odessa," Sirius said quietly, placing his hand on her arm. "I know you don't like the man, but he's perfectly competent."
"It's not his competence that concerns me," Odessa said. Sirius shot her a look, but before he could say anything, Professor McGonagall slowly sat up.
"What happened?" She asked, looking around.
"You passed out," Hastings said, stepping forward and taking her hand. Do you feel okay."
"Yes, I'm fine," Professor McGonagall answered briskly, shaking aside Hastings hand. "I've just been feeling a little under the weather."
"Professor, are you okay?" Gabe came up to her side and felt her pulse.
"Are you okay," Hastings interjected, looking at Gabe.
"Yes, I'm fine. The Waking Draught worked perfectly. Silly of me to walk into Dream Ivy." Gabe spoke as he checked Professor McGonagall out. "Looks like you might have the flu. I haven't seen a case of that in years and I'm afraid I'm low on the remedy. Odessa, would you go brew some please?" Odessa nodded and left. "In the meantime," Gabe continued, "Minerva needs to rest. The potion will be ready in about an hour. You'll need to take some tonight and the rest tomorrow morning."
"I'm not a child Mr. Lupin," Professor McGonagall said, a bit irritable.
"No, but you are my patient. So please, stay here until Odessa comes with the potion. Then you can go up to your room. I want to make sure you don't faint again. Why don't the rest of you leave so Minerva can have some peace." It was more than a command than a request. O'Reilly scowled and marched out the door.
"Well, at least he's gone," Hastings said to Sirius as he offered her his arm.
"Not a very pleasant bloke," Sirius said with a grin, offering Professor Greene his other arm. "Please allow me to escort you back to your rooms."
"Thank you Sirius," Professor Greene said, "but I really must get the ivy and the lilies to the greenhouse. Thanks for your help Hastings."
"You're welcome," Hastings said, as Sirius walked down the hall with her. She threw a final glance back towards the hospital wing, hoping to catch one more glance of Gabe.
"Got a bit of a crush?" Sirius asked, smiling down at her.
Hastings blushed, "Well, he is cute."
"Uh huh," Sirius said, still smiling at her.
"And the way he took command of the whole situation was really attractive." Hastings added. "Oh, and he didn't get grossed out when I threw up everywhere."
"Are you okay?"
"I'm fine now. It's the stupid blood lilies." Hastings stopped, "Why don't you go assure the students that everything is fine and then go pay Odessa a visit. I'm sure she'd appreciate it. Besides, I need to stop by my classroom before going to my room I left the papers my sixth years turned in today there."
"You sure?"
"Positive." Hastings said. Have a good night."
"You too," Sirius said, heading towards the Great Hall.
Hastings hummed to herself as she made her way up to the third floor. Tonight had turned out much better than she thought. She closed her eyes and remembered the way Gabe had just walked up to Minerva like nothing was wrong with him and taken care of her. Opening her eyes up quickly before her imagination took over, and before she ran into anything, she smiled to herself. "Not too bad, Miss Applespice," she said. "Not too bad at all." Hastings reached out and opened her classroom door. She could hear rummaging inside her office. She pulled out her wand and whispered, "Lumos."