Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Harry Potter/Wizarding World. They were all created by the genius that is J.K. Rowling.
Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who's reading and reviewing. I had planned on finishing this up and posting it last unfortunately that didn't happen. I had a little trouble getting things from The Burrow back to Hogwarts, so I've decided to skip up a little time to Ron's Birthday. After all I don't want to drag things out and I have awesome ideas for The Deathly Hallows.
Chapter 11: Lessons Learned
Arriving back at Hogwarts didn't have the same comforting feeling that Harry was used to. Everything seemed to become even more chaotic if that was even possible. It started on the train when Harry saw Malfoy; he'd never seen him look so…run down. He was pale…..well paler had dark rings under his eyes and looked like he could break down at any moment. Harry actually kinda felt sorry for him, at least he would if it wasn't for the fact that he knew, Malfoy had chosen to become a Death-Eater. Then when they arrive back at the school he was met with a message from Dumbledore with the time and date of their next lesson. It was a lesson that made even less sense after Dumbledore revealed a very confusing memory that had been given by Slughorn who'd tapered with it to hide what had really happened. To keep anyone from knowing that unknowingly he'd helped a young Tom Riddle on his rise to becoming Voldemort. Harry knew that it involved something about Horcruxes and shared the limited information with Hermione and Ron. Hermione, being Hermione buried herself in the library trying to find anything at all possible that might have been there but so far was coming up with nothing.
On top of all the strain of trying to find out what Malfoy was up to, and the assignment Dumbledore hand given him which was to procure the real memory from Slughorn, Harry hadn't really had much of a chance to think of anything else. That anything else was the promise he'd made to Hermione's father, he knew that he put Hermione in danger. The very fact that she was his girlfriend put her in danger. Voldemort had no conscious from what he'd saw of his youth he probably never had one. Throw in the fact that Hermione was of Muggle birth and meant more to Harry than anyone, well that put a big old target on her and her family by association. The night after they'd had tea with them Harry had talked to Bill and Mr. Weasley about what could be done to keep them safe. Bill agreed to put some protection charms in place and monitor their activity.
The morning of March first had arrived before they knew it and along with it Ron's 17th birthday. Hermione dropped her gift by the boy's dormitories before heading to the library pour through the books in hopes that she would find something, anything for them to go on. There were a few books that she hadn't checked for the Horcruxes she knew it was a long shot but she was starting to get that helpless feeling that she tended to get when she couldn't find what exactly she was looking for. Not to mention the fact that it was information Harry needed. Needless to say she was more than surprised when Lavender came running into the library in hysterics, after being severely scolded by Madam Pince Hermione gathered her things and helped her friend from the library. "You need to breath you're going to hyperventilate." Hermione said trying to calm her down. "What happened?"
"It's…..Ron." She managed to get out in between sobs.
"What about him?" she asked.
"He…" Lavender's voice cracked before going into this high pitched half cry half shriek. Hermione was only able to understand about every other word. It was enough however for her to gather that he was in the hospital wing and in critical shape. The first thing that went through her mind was that whoever cursed Katie Bell might have cursed Ron as well.
"We're going to hospital wing now but you really must calm down Lavender. It won't do Ron any good for you to be upsetting yourself to the point that you're ill." Hermione said wrapping her arm around the girl and leading her away.
Harry was pacing outside of the hospital wing with a grave look on his face. His arms were crossed over his chest and by his expression alone it was quite clear that the outcome wasn't very good at all. Ginny was sitting on a bench with Dean who had his arm wrapped around her and she was crying. "What's happened?" Hermione asked after helping Lavender, who'd started sobbing again, sit down beside Ginny.
Harry raked his hand through his messy hair and looked down at Hermione. "Do you remember back before Christmas, Romilda Vane and the box of chocolates she'd forced me to take?" Hermione nodded and Harry continued the story. "I'd meant to throw them in the fire and got distracted. We left for Christmas and I kinda forgot about them. This morning while Ron was opening his pile of gifts I was looking for something in my trunk. Somehow those chocolates ended up mixed in with Ron's presents. They were laced with a love potion that was cured over time."
"And Ron's never met a Chocolate Caldron he didn't like." Ginny added with a sniffle.
"If that's all-"
Hermione started by Harry cut her off. "That's not all; I took him to Slughorn to brew an antidote which worked. Slughorn explained something about the effects of that strong of a love spell and coming down from it leaves you kind of depressed. So he opened a bottle of mead…as soon as Ron took a drink he started ceasing."
"The mead was poisoned." Hermione said. She was trying to distract herself with the fact that Ron was actually very ill. The only thing she could think of was Romilda and her damned toxic chocolate. "Excuse me."
"Hermione?" he asked as she turned and headed down the corridor. He knew that walk that was her, 'I'm pissed off and gonna punch Malfoy in the face', walk. He'd only seen it once before and this time he knew it wasn't Malfoy she was after.
After sharply giving The Fat Lady the password she walked into the common room and up to Romilda sitting around with a group of fourth years. The younger girl paled when she saw Hermione undoubtedly she'd heard that Ron was in the hospital wing and why. "Come with me." Hermione said.
"No….I don't have to I haven't done anything wrong." Romilda protested her voice shaking.
"Come with me." Hermione said again trying very hard to keep her temper in control.
"No." Romilda protested.
Hermione grabbed the girl by her arm and drug her from her seat. "You and I are going to have a very long life discussion." She said dragging the girl from the common room.
"I didn't poison him. "She said.
"Yes actually you did poison him Romilda." Hermione said her hand still firmly around the younger girl's upper arm. "Not intentionally, you meant for Harry to eat those chocolates. Did you really think that it would work?"
"If he didn't have you chasing after him it would have." She said coolly.
"I never chased after Harry Potter and it wouldn't have worked for many reasons. Firstly that there are many people who'd like to see him hurt and dead do you really think he would have eaten something forced on to him by someone he barely knew? Secondly I've known Harry since our first year here I know him better than anyone. That's the reason he's with me and not someone who wanted to trick him into thinking he was in love with him. What do you think would have happened if he would have found out? Do you think he would have still wanted to be with you?"
"I didn't poison Ron." She said again ignoring all the brutal truths Hermione had given her.
"Yes you did…the love potion you put in those Chocolate Caldrons is poison. It pollutes the system it increases the endorphins but it doesn't create love, a potion can't do that. What it creates is blind obsession and passion and when both of those things run high it can be dangerous. When a potion like that is left to cure it makes it even stronger. Do you know what would have happened if Harry wouldn't have taken Ron to Slughorn if he would have found you? He could have hurt you or raped you or both or worse, I know that's not what you want. If Ron would have done those things even though his will was taken away it would have destroyed him. You know who else it would have hurt, Lavender. Has she ever done anything mean to you, Romilda? For that matter have I ever done anything mean to you? I mean after all your little toxic chocolate was meant for Harry."
"Why are you doing this?" Romilda asked tears falling down her cheeks.
"Because it's important for you to see what you've done."
"But my potion didn't put Ron in the hospital wing!" she sobbed.
"Not your potion alone but your potion is at the root. If you never would have given Harry those Chocolate Caldrons they never would have set at the bottom of his trunk, they never would have ended up mixed in with Ron's things, and he never would have ate them. Then Harry wouldn't have had a reason to take Ron to Slughorn and Slughorn never would have given him mead that was laced with poison that could have killed him. Believe me Romilda it came very close. Could you have lived with it?" Hermione asked. She knew that she was being very harsh with the girl and some of it was because she kept thinking what would have happened if it would have been Harry and not Ron who'd been poisoned.
"I didn't put the poison in the mead though." Romilda said crying harder.
"No but that's the only thing you're innocent of here." Hermione agreed.
"Then why are you making me come to the hospital wing?"
"Because you need to see what your love potion, which was at the root of this, has caused. Every decision we make there are consequences. You disguised a love potion to get something you wanted and that was wrong, even though at the time it seemed like a little thing that wouldn't hurt anyone. What happens when it's something bigger that can hurt a lot of people? If you don't learn from it now, later it might be too late."
"How is Ron?" Hermione asked Harry who was still waiting outside the hospital wing when she arrived back with Romilda.
"Better resting." He said raising an eyebrow. "Is everything okay?" he asked.
Hermione nodded, "I thought it was important for Romilda here to see what magical mistakes can cause."
Hermione and Harry lead Romilda into the wing to the bed where Ron was sleeping. He was pale his eyes looked sunken. Lavender was much calmer since being allowed to be with Ron. "Can….Can I go now?" Romilda asked softly.
"Yes." Hermione said.
They were able to stay with Ron who was in and out of consciousness for a while before Madam Pomfry ran them out for dinner. On their way to the Great Hall Harry looked down at Hermione. "Gonna tell me what that was all about?" he asked.
"Romilda needed to learn a lesson. What she did was wrong. She might not have poisoned the mead but her love potion in a lot of ways is a poison and in a lot of ways is just as dangerous." Hermione explained.
He nodded, "Honestly…I thought you were gonna hit her."
"Why would you think that?" she gave him a shocked look.
"Well…you had the same look in your eyes that time you hit Malfoy."
