Once inside, they were greeted by the receptionist, who told them that Minerva McGonagall was on the fifth floor. They stepped into the lift and headed up. Once inside the room where Minerva was, they were overwhelmed by the smell of flowers coming from the corner where she was.
"What on earth?" asked Hastings. "Who sent all these?"
"I don't know," said Sirius. "We sent her that one bouquet from all the teachers and a card… but there must be over a hundred here!"
They walked over to her bed, where she was reading a book. Professor McGonagall looked wan and thin. If possible, she looked like she'd aged ten yeas. "How are you, Minerva?" asked Gabe.
"Why, Hastings! Gabe! Sirius! How are you all?" said Minerva, her face brightening.
"We're fine," said Hastings. "But how have you been?"
"Fair to middling today," said Minerva. "I always feel a little better when I've had time to myself. Professors O'Reilly and Greene were coming on alternating days, at one point."
"They were?" asked Sirius. "What for?"
"Jade, because she wanted advice," said Minerva. "O'Reilly because… well, who knows why O'Reilly does anything?" They all laughed. "But I have enjoyed the company from time to time. I'm hoping to be released in a few days. Of course… last time I said that, Professor Greene came to offer me her congratulations and help me pack, and I became ill again."
"That's frustrating," said Hastings. "When do you think they'll allow you to go back? A few days, you said, right?"
"Well, I'm hoping for Sunday," said Minerva. "If all goes well."
"You could take the Hogwarts Express back with us." Gabe suggested.
"That would be lovely," said Minerva, "if I can. Professor Greene wanted me to send her an owl if it looked like I was going to get out of here. I suppose I can tell her that I'm coming back with you. That'll be a relief, it's been frightfully dull around here."
"Are… are those Blood Lilies?" asked Hastings, looking at a bundle of white calla lilies in a vase.
"Yes. They're from Jade," said Minerva. "I don't know the slightest thing about plants, but Falcon tells me that its fragrance has healing attributes, although I can't smell them to save my life. I know that if ingested they hurt you… but they are certainly lovely to look at"
"You can't smell them?" asked Gabe. "They usually carry a very pungent odor."
"Jade drained them of sap before giving them to me," said Minerva, "So now they're just like regular lilies."
"Was Jade the one who brought you all the flowers?" asked Sirius, looking around at the various bouquets.
"Well, a mixture of Jade and O'Reilly," said Minerva. "They're usually the only ones who can make it here on a regular basis." She sighed, "I keep wanted to just throw them out and then I think to myself that it'll hurt their feelings, which is just silly."
"We could throw them out for you," offered Hastings.
"That's okay, I'm leaving Sunday so I'll just keep them until then."
"Speaking of Sunday," Sirius said, "We'll be here at 10:00 to pick you up for the 11:00 train. Do we need to speak to the person in charge to get you released?"
"If he were here," said Minerva, "But Falcon seems to be at Hogwarts most of the time."
"That's where he's at right now," said Gabe. "He suggested I come along with these guys for a break. It's been mad at Hogwarts."
"How so?" asked Minerva.
"Many things," said Sirius. "Students acting strangely, one day they behave, and the next they go crazy. Lots of people in the hospital wing, too, right, Gabe?"
"Never been fuller," said Gabe. And Odessa's been given—"
"—Uh, some time off," said Hastings. "For… uh, a rest."
"Where's she at then?" asked Minerva.
"In the hotel… sleeping," said Hastings. "We'll bring her to pick you up on Sunday, we promise."
"Well, I look forward to it," said Minerva. "I suppose I'd better get some rest now. It's nearly eleven o'clock. Did you just arrive on the train?"
"We all only had a half-day of classes," said Hastings, "We got on the first train to London."
"Well, we'll leave you for tonight, then," said Sirius. "You feel better, okay?"
"I'll try, Professor Potter," said Minerva.
"And if you're not allowed to leave, we're kidnapping you and taking you back," said Hastings cheerfully.
"Wonderful," said Minerva, "I would love an adventure."
They left and stopped at the Leaky Caldron, and sat to talk about what had transpired. "We now have more evidence than ever that it's O'Reilly," Hastings said. "But wouldn't Jade pick up on the fact that he was doing something?"
"Maybe she has," said Sirius, "And she keeps coming here to keep an eye on things… maybe countering O'Reilly's jinxing."
Gabe spoke up. "Do you think Jade could be the guilty one?"
"I don't know," Hastings said slowly. "Possibly. I didn't notice anything odd when I was following her around. O'Reilly thinks it's Jade."
"All the more reason to think that it's O'Reilly," Sirius said. "Too bad we can't ask Odessa her opinion, but she'd just tell us how wonderful Malcolm is."
"She means well," said Hastings, "Just think of her as debilitated right now. She can't be allowed to see Minerva while she's like this… Who knows what could happen? She might go on about O'Reilly to Minerva, and we don't want Minerva thinking any better of O'Reilly than she already does."
"But O'Reilly gave her an illegal love potion!" said Sirius. "If we told that to McGonagall, I'm sure she wouldn't trust him anymore."
"We don't have actual proof that he did that," said Gabe, "And we should keep it quiet until Odessa's sorted out. If Minerva confronts O'Reilly, it could be bad. We need him thinking that she's on his side… for the present."
"You're right, of course," said Sirius. "I just hate this waiting. I want…" He rested his head in his hand. Hastings patted him on the shoulder. "I want her back…"
"We all do," said Hastings, "I'm the one who had to sleep in the same room as her… believe me, I want her back to normal. Oh! That reminds me. Someone needs to take a shift fore the first few hours of the night. I don't mind… I guess I can."
"No," said Gabe. "I'll do it…" he came close to Hastings' head and whispered, "Then I can watch you sleep like an angel."
"Ha!" said Hastings, "If you think I'm an angel—"
"You've obviously never been on the receiving end of her temper before," Sirius finished." All of them laughed. After musing things over for another half hour they went back to the Bed & Breakfast to relieve Odessa of her duty. Gabe had the first shift, Hastings would take the second, and then she would wake Sirius for the last four hours of the night.
"I hate this ruddy potion," Sirius muttered. "How many more minutes do I have to stir it before it's complete?"
"Just another minute and it'll be done," Odessa said, studying the potion closely. "You know, you shouldn't complain so much. You need to take things more like a man, like Malcolm does. He never complains."
Sirius gripped the spoon tighter, "I'm sure he doesn't," he said through gritted teeth.
"How do we know if we got the potion right?" Hastings asked.
"Easy, just take a sip of it. If it's done correctly it'll be the color of sapphire and taste faintly of roses."
"Is it okay to drink?" Gabe asked.
Odessa laughed, "I would hope so, since I just suggested it. It's perfectly safe, there's no effect on people who haven't been cursed. It's just like other love potion antidotes, perfectly harmless. You can stop stirring now, Sirius."
Sirius cheered and took the spoon out. "Okay, who wants to taste it?"
"I will, of course," Odessa said, moving over the cauldron. "Malcolm says that a good potion master never allows others to test his potions without first testing them on themselves."
"I'm actually grateful to O'Reilly for that little piece of advice," Sirius whispered to Hastings.
"How much do we need to bottle up for a cure?" Hastings asked.
"Only takes a few drops," Odessa said, dipping the spoon into the potion. "You know, I owled O'Reilly about the potion and I haven't heard back yet. I suppose I'll have to send him another owl and let him know that it turned out fine." Odessa brought the spoon to her mouth and sipped it. "Mmm, tastes perfect," she said. "I think O'Reilly will be really proud of me."
The others looked at each other, trying to suppress a groan, the potion obviously hadn't worked. A knock on the door startled them.
"You don't think it's Minerva, do you?" Hastings asked, going over to the door. "We told her we'd pick her up at the hospital." She opened the door and O'Reilly stormed in.
"Odessa, honey, don't drink that potion!"
Odessa looked at him in surprise, "What are you doing here, you dirty git?"
"Well…" said O'Reilly. "I guess you did drink it, then. No matter. I can always administer the love potion again. You will be mine, Miss Grace." With that, there was a loud popping sound, and he disapparated.
"What was he on?" asked Odessa.
"It's more of… what you were on," said Hastings.
"What are you talking about?"
"Love Potion mixed with Subtlety," said Sirius, "Looks like you're all better now."
"So… It was me the potion was for?" Odessa thought for a moment. "I… remember how I was acting… Oh, no! O'Reilly? That's… that's…"
"That's vile," said Hastings. "But it's going to be okay now. Now we really know we can't trust him."
Gabe said, "I hate to interrupt, but it's time to go pick up Minerva from St. Mungo's. Shouldn't we leave soon?"
"Yes," said Odessa. "It's just occurred to me that she might have another visitor first. O'Reilly just disapparated!"
Without another word, there were four identical pops, and the four of them apparated to St. Mungo's, right into Minerva's room.
"Why, I thought you'd taken long enough," said Minerva. "I am ready to get out of here, let me tell you.
"Minerva," said Hastings, "have you had any visitors besides us today?"
"No," said Minerva, "But I did have an owl from Professor Green asking me when they're supposed to let me out. I haven't answered it. I suppose she hadn't received mine yet letting her know it was today."
"Don't worry about it," said Gabe. "You can talk to her as soon as we get you home."
"Are you all set?" asked Odessa.
"Pretty much," said Minerva. "The Medi-wizard has to sign off…"
"Which I will do gladly," said a woman who had just walked into the room. "We'll miss you, of course, but I reckon Hogwarts needs you more than we do." She took a clip board from Minerva's bed and signed the bottom. "You are hereby released!"
There was a loud popping sound. "Wait!" shouted Professor Greene from the doorway.
"How did you get here?" asked Minerva.
"I… I just arrived. I wanted to see if… you were feeling better," said Jade.
"Well, she's feeling fine," said Hastings.
"I was going to bring you this potion here. This should give you energy to make the trip."
"I don't much feel like taking a potion just now," said Minerva. "I've taken enough potions the past few months. Thanks though."
"Nonsense," said Professor Green. "Why, just take a sip, it'll only—"
Professor Greene tripped over one of the many plants sitting on the ground and fell to the floor, the bottle soaring out of her hands, flying across the room, and shattering on the tile by the door. It emanated a sweet, though mediciney smell, along with something else.
"What is that?" asked Odessa.
Hastings, who could tell exactly what it was, bent over and was promptly sick on the floor.
"What the-" said Minerva.
"Experliarmus!" shouted Gabe, and Jade's wand flew out of her hand. The others trained a wand on Jade, and she put her hands up in the air, like she'd been arrested.
"What on earth is going on here?" Minerva exclaimed, standing up.
"Professor," Hastings said, wiping her mouth. "I'm sorry, but that potion had blood lilies in it."
"Wh-what?" Professor Greene stammered. "It couldn't possibly…I don't know…I just…Mr. Puddinghaste gave me that potion to bring to you." The room grew uncomfortably still with this pronouncement. It was Minerva who first spoke,
"I still don't understand what all this fuss is about. Would someone please be so kind as to explain it me?"
Sirius stepped forward, "I know this seems rather odd, Minerva, and I apologize for that. The thing is…we've thought for some time that someone was poisoning you."
"Poisoning me? Good heavens Potter, I thought you had more sense than your father." At these words Sirius' face turned red.
"It was my idea," Odessa confessed, stepping forward. "You see…I…" she paused for a moment, feeling a little silly. "It all started when you got sick. We found O'Reilly in Hastings' office going through her books. He mentioned something about thinking you were being cursed. It seemed odd to us too. No one gets the flu anymore and…well…it just didn't make sense. And then you weren't getting any better. Gabe suspected the same thing when they couldn't find a reason for your illness. We knew it couldn't be the flu because you'd be better by now. And then Hastings' office was broken into again and a lot of her stuff was taken. We presumed it was by whoever was harming you. We thought it was O'Reilly, he kept acting so strange. He would show up at the oddest times and stalk me. He mentioned that he thought it was Professor Greene. We always thought it was O'Reilly. It could still be, I suppose…but it seems as though he has more of an obsession with…" Odessa paused, embarrassed.
"With Odessa," Gabe broke in. "But the fact that he mentioned Jade made us a bit suspicious of her anyway. Especially considering that the last time you were supposed to return Jade showed up and then you were too ill to come back to Hogwarts. When she returned so suddenly here, anxious you for to take that potion we all assumed the same thing. It was confirmed when the bottle broke. Hastings was sick because it has essence of blood lilies in it."
"Well, it seems like a lot has been happening since I've been gone. Do you have anything to say Jade?" She asked. "I think you can put your wands down," she added as she sat back down.
Professor Jade looked rather upset, "I had no idea this was going on." She said. "I knew the students were acting odd, which I told Minerva about. And I've never liked O'Reilly, he's always been a bit too pretentious for my taste, but my goodness." She paused, thinking. "The last time I came here to bring Minerva home I brought her a potion as well, from Falcon. He mentioned that she gets motion sickness and that it would help. She fell ill again shortly afterwards. I never put two and two together. Falcon suggested I bring this potion as well, for the same reason. You don't really think…?" Professor Greene went over to wear the bottle had broken and took a quick breath. "But Gabe's right, there is essence of blood lily in there." Her eyes got wide, "I left Falcon in charge while I was gone. Isabella has been sick the past few weeks. Similar symptoms now that I think about it. We have to get back. That is…if you believe me."
"I do," Minerva said. "I've known you for twenty years now Jade and if you were going to try something you would have done it years ago. Besides, I happen to know that your potion skills are not the best." Minerva eyed the other four, questioningly.
"I believe her too," Hastings said, feeling bad for having suspected her in the first place.
"Me too," the others chimed in.
"Well then, I need to get back to Hogwarts immediately. Who knows what Falcon is up to." She looked at the group. "Gabe, why don't you come with me, goodness knows I'll need some help. And Hastings, you too if you feel up to it. We need your skills. Odessa and Sirius can go with Minerva on the train."
"I am perfectly capable of apparting," Professor McGonagall said irritably.
"Not after how sick you've been," Gabe said. "We don't want you splinching yourself. We'll see you tonight." With three loud pops Gabe, Hastings and Professor Greene disappeared.
"Shall we?" Sirius asked, offering Minerva and Odessa an arm each.