The title for chapter seventeen is from…Lion King. Congrats to Vicster200, X-Kate-X, Easterly Winds, LeiaSedai and EragonEldest, Yank2324, CardboardCreative, Firstlady1408, Kalia, and Wickedgreenchild.
I promise the title for this chapter will be harder. I hope. And it's not beta-ed, since Mara's internet has died. Or something like that.
Disclaimer: I don't own Wicked. I don't own Harry Potter. End of story.
Chapter 18: Unsettled Scores
The spy grumbled to himself as he made his way down to the kitchens. How dare Pettigrew steal his glory? Thropp was his assignment. That…that rat had no business in doing his assignment for him. Well, he'd show Pettigrew. In fact, he'd show them all! He was going to be the one to kill the green witch. He was going to receive praise from his Master, and then, he'd be the one to rise above them all.
By this time, the spy had arrived at the Hogwarts kitchen. He paused before entering and pulled out a small vile of a sickly green liquid. Sticklewood juice. Two drops would kill someone in thirty seconds. The wonderful thing about this juice was that it was completely untraceable by the normal witch or wizard. It would dissolve in any liquid and leave nothing but a clear coloration.
It really is rather ironic, the spy though sardonically, that the green Order member is going to be killed by a green poison.
He then turned the handle that had appeared on the portrait of fruit guarding the entrance of the kitchen and let himself in. He was immediately surrounded by a cluster of house elves. "Welcome to the kitchen," one of them squeaked. "How can we serve you?"
"Are you serving drinks at the Order meeting today?" the spy asked bluntly.
"Yes sir, we are," the house elf replied.
With a sinister smile, the spy handed the vile of Stickleroot Juice to the house elf. "Could you please slip this into Fae Thropp's drink? It's a supplementary nutrient potion that she has been needing."
"As you wish sir," the house elf said, taking the poison and pocketing it. "Do you wish for me to tell Miss Thropp that I have received this-"
"No, no," the spy hastily interrupted the house elf. "If Th-Fae knows that she's consuming any kind of supplementary potion, she won't drink it. Madame Pomphrey told me to give this to her secretly to help clear up any side effects from the…cold she had a month ago."
"Of course," the house elf bowed again. "Is there anything else, sir?"
"No, nothing else." The spy turned to leave. "Thank you for your time." Once he was outside again, he cackled slightly. "Enjoy your last few hours, Elphaba Thropp. Enjoy it while you can."
"Are you saying that the power the Dark Lord knows not resides in Fae?" Snape asked. The major Order members (bar Hermione) were currently having a meeting, and Dumbledore was explaining the breakthrough that he, Harry, and Elphaba had found regarding the Grimmerie and Harry's power to read it.
Harry sighed in aggravation. "No, Snape. That is not what Dumbledore is saying. He is saying that I have to power to read this 'lost language', as does Fae. That is the power that 'the Dark Lord knows not'."
Before Snape could reply, several house elves appeared with the drinks that the Order members had requested. "Here is your water, Miss Thropp," one of the house elves said, bowing.
"Thank you," Elphaba replied, taking the drink and setting it down on the table.
"As you were saying?" Fiyero prompted Harry, interested in this new development.
"When I looked at the Grimmerie," Harry explained with a forced patience, "I could read the spells. Seeing that Fae says that only a very small amount of people in Oz can read these spells, we think that the Grimmerie may be the key to defeating Voldemort."
Elphaba picked up her water glass and raised it to her lips.
"Have you looked for a spell in there yet?" Fiyero asked with a frown.
She half-gestured with the glass. "No, not yet," Elphaba answered for Harry. "We've been working on reading the different spells, as Harry still needs to accustom himself to the language, but we haven't actually looked for a specific spell that would defeat Voldemort yet."
"How do you know-" Snape began before he was once again interrupted, this time by the door opening.
"Hermione!" Harry said, looking up at his old friend. "Where have you been? The meeting started half an hour ago."
"Sorry I'm late," the witch replied apologetically. "I was held up at St. Mungo's. Some idiot Splinched himself while Apparating."
"That's fine, Hermione," Dumbledore reassured her. "Have a seat. We were just discussing the spells in the Grimmerie."
"What about it?" Hermione asked, pulling out a chair next to Elphaba, but not sitting down.
"We think may hold the key to defeating Voldemort," Elphaba explained briefly.
Hermione's eyes went wide. "But…" she started, then coughed and cleared her throat. "Er, sorry, my throat's really dry. It's sometimes impossible to be heard without yelling at St. Mungo's, you know. Could I have something to drink?"
Elphaba realized she was still holding the glass of water. "Here, I haven't had a sip yet."
"No, I'll order her a drink," Fiyero said quickly.
Elphaba ignored her ex-boyfriend's comment and gave Hermione the glass of water, who gratefully took the glass and drank it down far too quickly. Hermione gagged. She started coughing and out came most of the water she had just swallowed.
"Whoa, there!" Fiyero said, trying to get out of the way of the waterfall coming from Hermione's mouth.
The witch straightened and wiped her face, "I'm sorry, I guess it went down the wrong pipe or some…" She abruptly stopped mid-word as her face quickly turned pale.
Harry's eyebrows furrowed. "Hermione, are you okay?"
Hermione frowned. "I feel…so strange," she whispered. Elphaba quickly stood up and felt Hermione's forehead.
However, Hermione clutched her throat and shook her head before she slumped into Elphaba's arms.
"What the hell was in that cup?" Harry demanded, picking up the glass that Hermione had dropped.
Snape grabbed the cup out of Harry's hand and held it up to his face. He noticed the faint odor of berries, something which was prevalent in…"Sticklewood Juice," he said after half a minute. "A fast-acting poison- one of the fastest ones on the market. Luckily, she coughed a lot of that water out, or she would be dead. Fae, you have one of the fastest Animagus forms. Transform and go find me a beozar in my potion stores a floor below us. It can be used against most potions. I've never tried it with Sticklewood Juice, though. Go!" With a tense nod, Elphaba transformed into her black panther form and dashed out of the room.
"Poisoned?" As Snape was talking to Elphaba, the other Order members were all shocked and rushed over to assist Hermione, although crowding around Hermione probably did more harm than good.
"Move aside!" Snape growled as soon as Elphaba had left. "None of you are helping right now! We need to take her to Madame Pomphrey as soon as Fae gets back."
A moment later, Elphaba ran in, a beozar held carefully in her jaws. Snape took said beozar and put it into Hermione's slightly open mouth. "This should keep Granger stable until we get her to the Hospital Wing."
Without another word, Elphaba transformed back into her human form, silently lifted Hermione up, and left the room, leaving a still shocked Harry, Fiyero and Glinda to chase after her.
After the worried Order members had made sure that made sure that Hermione was going to be alright, they began to dissipate. Glinda stood by the corner, waiting for Elphaba, but the green witch shook her head. "I'll come later, Glinda," she said softly. "I'll meet you in my rooms or something."
Glinda didn't move. "Elphie, are you all right?" she asked, sending a worried looks towards her girlfriend.
"Yes, I'm fine," Elphaba sighed, trying to reassure Glinda. Glinda, however, knew enough about Elphaba to know that Elphaba was definitely not fine. Lurline knows that Elphaba had lied about her well-being enough in the past.
Thus, she put her hands on her hips and glared at Elphaba. "No, you are not 'fine', Elphaba. You are anything but fine. Now, what's bothering you?"
"Nothing," Elphaba stressed, slightly agitated.
Before Glinda could argue further, Harry walked out of the Hospital Wing and closed the door behind him.
"Well?" Elphaba asked anxiously. "How is Hermione?"
"As well as can be expected," Harry replied. "She's awake, if you wanted to see her. I heard some kind of argument out here; what's going on?"
"Elphie is being stubborn," Glinda immediately said.
Harry grinned. "Really? Our Fae? Stubborn? I'd never have guessed." He ignored the glare that Elphaba sent him. "What is she being stubborn about?"
"Something's bothering her," Glinda explained. "And she won't let me help her."
"I know what's bother you." Harry turned to Elphaba.
"How could you know?" Elphaba scoffed.
"Please, Fae, I haven't been your friend for five years for nothing." Harry waved a hand dismissively. "You're blaming yourself for the poison, aren't you?"
"How-"
"I can read your body language easier than you think," Harry said impatiently. "But that doesn't matter. What matters is the fact that you're blaming yourself for things out of your control."
"Harry, I was the one that gave Hermione that water. If I hadn't-"
"Then you would be the one in there," Glinda interrupted.
"Or dead," Harry added tactlessly.
"Oh thanks," Elphaba snapped. "I feel loads better now, knowing that my actions could have led to Hermione's death."
"Elphaba Thropp, stop it!" Glinda cried. "For once, would you just stop and listen to what you are saying?" When Elphaba didn't speak, Glinda continued. "You are needlessly blaming yourself for events that could not have been prevented! For Lurline's sake, Elphie, why must you always find a reason to blame yourself? Listen to me for once and know that not everything is your fault!
"Yes, maybe you did give Hermione the water, but did you put the poison in the drink? Did you know that someone wanted you dead?" As Elphaba opened her mouth, Glinda cut her off. "No, you didn't, Elphie. All you tried to do was to help a friend. As such, you are entirely blameless in this whole event. Do you understand?"
Harry merely nodded, looking slightly fearful of the small blonde. "What she said," he added.
"I know," Elphaba sighed. "But I still can't help but think- if I hadn't given her the water-"
"Look, Fae," Harry finally said. "Either you accept that this whole deal wasn't your fault or I'll hex you into next week." He slowly pulled his wand out of its hoister. "And don't think I won't, either."
Elphaba paused. "All right," she finally sighed. "You win."
"I want you to say that none of this was your fault," Glinda ordered. "Say it out loud."
"I am not to blame for the events that happened today," Elphaba repeated quietly.
Glinda sighed. Well, it was a start. She could still tell that Elphaba didn't truly believe what she was saying, but well…a start was better than nothing, right? They'd work on that later.
"Where were you two headed?" Harry asked.
"Well," Glinda began, "I was headed back to Elphie's rooms, and Elphie here was headed to…Elphie, where were you going to go, anyhow?"
"Honestly, I wasn't sure," Elphaba admitted. "But I was most likely going to visit Hermione. She is stable, right?" she shot at the Boy-Who-Lived.
"Yes," Harry said. "The beozar saved her. You saved her, Fae."
"Is Pomphrey allowing visitors?" Elphaba didn't wait for an answer as she moved over to the door.
"What she doesn't know won't hurt her," Harry shrugged. "I'll come with you and keep a lookout or something."
"Fine," Elphaba agreed. As Glinda walked around the corner, Elphaba attempted to open the door to the Hospital Wing.
However, Harry put his hand over hers, stopping her. He looked seriously at Elphaba. "There's something else, isn't there, Fae?" he asked.
"What are you talking about?" Elphaba snapped. "If this is about me blaming myself-"
"No, not that," Harry cut in. "I can tell…something else is bothering you. The blaming yourself is only the surface, isn't it? I didn't want to push you with Glinda around- I could tell you didn't want her to know, but…Fae, all we want to do is to help you. We can't unless you're willing to let us in."
"It's just that…" Elphaba trailed off, unsure of how to put her feelings into words.
"Just say it," Harry coaxed. "Whatever it is, Glinda and I will help. As well as Fiyero, Hermione…everyone. You know that."
"Well, it's slightly…unnerving to find out that someone hates you enough to kill you," Elphaba burst out. "I mean, I know I shouldn't be so surprised, seeing that I do fight against the one of the darkest wizard in England's history, but just being specifically targeted is…"
"I know what you mean," Harry replied. "I really do. I found out that Voldemort wanted to kill me as a baby when I was eleven, remember? It's really quite…scary to find out that someone that is so feared that no one dares to speak his name has a personal grudge against you."
"Well maybe I shouldn't be so surprised," Elphaba said darkly. "I really should be used to it, coming from Oz. Still, I thought that I had escaped all that after my death stunt. Why am I always hunted everywhere I go? Did I somehow manage to piss off some god or deity or something in a past life?"
Glinda, who had been listening to this exchange all the while, stepped around the corner to face Elphaba. "Elphie, no one should be used to being wanted dead," she declared firmly.
"Glinda?" Elphaba was startled. "I thought you were gone."
"You also need to stop hiding things from me," Glinda scowled. "Why did you want to tell me how you really felt?"
"I didn't want to…worry you?" Elphaba said hesitantly.
Glinda glared at the green witch. "This 'worrying me' business really needs to stop, Elphaba. For Lurline's sake, I worry about you on a daily basis. It just comes with knowing you."
"Wonderful," Elphaba replied dryly. "First, I find out that I'm marked for death, then, I find out that I worry everyone that knows me."
"Fae, you have to admit, you are a bit…rash," Harry stated. "We can't help but wonder what insane, suicidal thing you're going to do next."
"I can take care of myself," Elphaba snapped.
"I know you can," Harry answered calmly. "That still doesn't change the fact that we care about you. We're your friends, Fae. And that's what friend do."
Elphaba didn't speak for a moment. Finally, she looked up. "Thanks," she whispered to Harry and Glinda. "I needed that."
"Well, are we going to visit Hermione or not?" Harry said loudly.
Glinda went to open the Hospital door. "I'm coming with you."
Elphaba nodded slightly. "Fine," she replied. "Let's go then." She watched Glinda and Harry walk in slightly before her, and wondered, as she often did, how she deserved to have such wonderful friends.
Coming up: Easter plans and spies revealed
My AP History test (last Saturday was merely the SAT History test) is this Friday, so don't expect any updates from now until then. Which really isn't a long time, if you think about it. :D
-Wolfie