Chapter Forty Four
"Harry?"
Harry's eyes fluttered open, untangling his limbs from Daphne's who apparently liked to starfish while sleeping, and putting on his glasses.
"Corvus? What's up?" Harry mumbled.
Corvus forced a smile, "Nothing… nothing, I just wanted to make sure you were OK?"
Harry yawned and stretched, trying to wake up fully, something that wasn't proving to be easy, "Umm, yeah, yeah I guess. What time is it?"
"Just before seven." Corvus said, "Did you guys sleep down here all night?"
Harry nodded, "We didn't want to be alone. Why are you up so early?"
"I was hoping to get some studying in." Corvus shrugged.
Harry could here people starting to move in the dorms above them, "Thanks for waking us."
"No worries." Corvus said quickly.
Harry looked around and stood up, moving slightly closer to Corvus, "I hate to ask, but did you get the chance to talk to Gemini about your mum?"
"She says that she hasn't heard from Mater and Sir since they were arrested." Corvus sighed, "But she wasn't even trying to lie well, I know she's hiding something."
"Thanks for asking." Harry said, giving him a friendly smile.
"I will keep trying." Corvus assured him.
"Don't put yourself in danger with it." Harry told him firmly, "She seems…"
"Unstable?" Corvus said with a snorted laugh, "This was the best summer of my life… but it seems to have broken something in her brain."
Harry nodded. Corvus shrugged and moved away towards the door.
"I'm sorry." Harry called, just as Corvus was stepping through the door, "I'm sorry you're all caught up in this. It's not fair."
Corvus gave him a half smile and nodded before closing the door. The soft click of the door shutting into place. After all the talking, was enough to wake up Daphne and Pansy, who both sleepily wiped their eyes and got to their feet.
"Sofas are not good for back health." Pansy grumbled as she rubbed a sore spot on her back.
"Would have been better had Lady Greengrass been capable of sharing." Harry smirked.
Daphne glared jokingly at them, "It's not my fault I went from my antique crib to my king sized four poster, I'm used to space."
"Gods help your future husband!" Pansy laughed.
Daphne shrugged and stretched, "Bla bla bla."
Pansy threw a pillow at her.
They separated after a few more minutes of laughter, to get a quick wash and a change of clothes before heading to the hospital wing.
Madam Pomfrey rolled her eyes at the sight of them standing by the door but let them in with a smile.
"I thought I'd be seeing you sooner rather than later." she said, with a small laugh, "It's lovely to see how close you all are."
Draco was awake, propped up in bed with a mountain of pillows. Narcissa and Lucius looked tired, it was clear they hadn't gotten much sleep that night but the three of them smiled at the new comers, Lucius flicking his wand, causing three new seats to appear.
"You're awake!" Daphne smiled, resisting the urge to give him a tight hug, he still looked a bit fragile.
"I am." Draco smirked, "Although it got a bit close there."
Harry nodded, grimly, 'a bit close' seemed like an understatement.
"Is there any news on how this happened?" Pansy asked.
"Not that we've heard." Narcissa said, shaking her head, "We know it was a fairly rare poison but many Dark Magic shops do sell it."
"I bet none of them are in Hogsmead though." Harry pointed out.
"No." Lucius agreed, "They are not."
Draco shuffled, flinching slightly. Narcissa jumped up and helped him adjust his pillows.
"It would have been difficult to get it into the school." Draco said, still slightly breathless, "They check us for Dark magic items, remember?"
Harry nodded thoughtfully, "I'd not thought of that."
"So whomever did get the poison into the sweets, either did so before it reached the school, or somehow managed to get a very nasty poison in under the radar." Lucius mused.
"Where can you buy bountys?" Pansy asked, "Maybe we could narrow it down from there."
"Lily said that you can get them everywhere, any corner shop in the muggle world will have them." Narcissa sighed, "I asked as I thought the same thing, but I think it's a dead end."
"Did you get anything out of Petal?" Harry asked, fearing that that was also a dead end.
"She doesn't remember anything." Lucius sighed, trying to keep the weariness from his voice, "Dobby is with her currently. She seems perfectly back to normal."
"She remembers coming to the hospital wing, but not arriving at Hogwarts." Narcissa said, "Madam Pomfrey things it's just… age and she's working herself too hard."
"Petal always was a really hard worker, but it just doesn't quite add up." Draco said.
"This is not a common room." Madam Pomfrey's voice broke the calm of the room, "You have ten minutes, and then all five of you are off to breakfast!"
Hermione and Neville came over grinning, Lucius making them chairs around the now very crowded bed.
"I think it's sweet you all care so much." Draco grinned.
"Of course we wanted to see you." Neville said, giving Draco a playful and very gentle smack on the arm, "How are you doing?"
Draco shrugged, "Better. My breathing seems to be getting easier every minute, it was still really bad when I woke up but it's a lot better. Still kinda achy as well, feels like I've been sleeping on the floor for a week. Madam Pomfrey said that should all go soon though, I can even just take the antidote in the dorm."
"It gave us such a fright." Hermione said, feeling like she was either about to laugh or cry, "I'm glad that you're going to be all right."
"Right, out all of you!" Madam Pomfrey said, firmly but not unkindly, "You should all go and get some breakfast."
"Can't we eat here?" Pansy asked.
"Not today." Madam Pomfrey told them, "Mr Malfoy will be back with you all by dinner time, there is no point you all hanging around and making my ward look untidy."
Harry, Hermione, Neville, Pansy and Daphne all let out loud sighs and nodded, saying a quick goodbye to Draco and his parents before heading down to the Great Hall.
Ignoring the annoyed looks from the Lestrange twins and their friends they all sat together on the Slytherin table, all of them forcing themselves to eat as they really weren't hungry.
Severus strode down the table and tapped Harry on the shoulder, "How is Draco?"
"Better." Harry shrugged, "He's still not great, though Madam Pomfrey is pretty sure that he'll be fine by this evening."
"I'm glad to hear it." Severus smiled, he slipped a small bag into Harry's hand, "I got Lily to bring these from home, share them out and make sure that you keep them on you at all times."
Harry nodded and slid back into his seat.
"What did Professor Snape give you?" Daphne asked.
Harry pulled the drawstring bag open and tipped a dozen bezoars onto the table, "Bezoars… he said to keep them on us at all times."
"He's obviously worried about this happening again." Hermione said, rolling one of the strange stones in her fingers, "About someone getting poisoned."
"You don't think he knows something?" Pansy said, trying her best to keep the worry from her voice, "From… 'other' sources?"
Harry took a deep breath, "I have no idea. I know that he's still… he has to, to get information."
Neville reached over and gave his hand a squeeze, "You don't need to defend him to us."
Harry forced a smile, "Sorry. Either way, I think we should do what he says, and make sure that we have them on us." he handed out the bezoars, slipping the spare ones back into the pouch, "You should give one to William." he told Pansy, handing her another one.
"Thank you." Pansy smiled.
"I'm going to give one to Cho as well, and then there's one for Draco, but it leaves us with four spare ones." Harry told them, counting them out.
"What should we do with them?" Hermione asked, "Give them back?"
Harry shook his head, "No… I'll put them in the Come and Go room, then we'll always know where they are, we can all get them that way."
His friends nodded, slipping the bezoars into various robe and bag pockets. Harry slipped out of his seat and tapped Cho on the waist. She was sitting with her friends and jumped to her feet as she looked round, spotting Harry.
She wrapped him in a tight hug, "We heard."
Harry smirked, gossip never took long to get around Hogwarts.
"How are you doing?" Cho asked, "How is Draco?"
Harry brushed a strand of hair behind Cho's ear, "He'll be fine, we got him sorted in time. I'm OK, better now."
Cho let out a laugh, nudging his shoulder with her own.
"Draco's going to be fine." Harry assured her, "He's not feeling great but should be right as rain by this evening."
"I'm glad." Cho told him, "Truly. Walk?"
Harry nodded. They linked fingers and walked out into the bright sunshine outside. They wondered down to the edge of the lake, the squid basking in the sunshine.
"It's so lovely here in the summer." Cho said, taking a deep breath of the warm, fresh air.
"I know what you mean." Harry smiled, "I wouldn't mind living up here."
"It's not very far from home for me." Cho told him, "You should come visit some time."
Harry looked at her, wide eyed and his heart pounding in his chest, "Really?"
Cho laughed, "You needn't look like I've just slapped you. But yes, really."
Harry pulled her in for a kiss, "Thank you."
Cho ran her fingers through his hair, "You are very welcome."
Harry remembered the bezoars sitting in his pocket, "Oh… I need to give you this. Dad wanted me to give them out and told us to make sure that we had them with us at all times."
"Does he think this is going to happen again?" Cho asked, slipping the bezoar into her pocket.
Harry shrugged, "We don't know, but we know there is a chance, I guess."
Cho nodded, "Better safe than sorry."
Harry could see her face falling. It felt colder outside at just the very thought of another attack and that wasn't what he wanted her to be thinking about.
"Take your shoes off." Harry told her, taking off his own.
Cho frowned but took off her smart, black court shoes as he'd told her to.
"Come with me." Harry grinned, taking her hand and half guiding, half pulling her into the water.
"What are we doing?" Cho laughed, taking a deep breath as the cool water flowed over her legs.
"We're going paddling." Harry laughed, "Pretend we're kids again!"
"I've not paddled in years." Cho laughed again, splashing Harry.
"Hey!" Harry laughed, splashing her back.
It wasn't long before the both of them lay, floating on their backs. Harry held tightly to a root sticking out from the shore, his other hand holding onto Cho's.
"When I was in my first year, I was floating out here with Marietta and we didn't notice how much we'd floated out." Cho said dreamily, "We ended up over half way out into the lake and had to get the squid to rescue us. Marietta completely freaked out."
Harry snorted a laugh, "I can imagine, she's never seemed like one for adventure."
Cho sighed, "No… not not really."
Harry turned his head slightly, so he could see her face, framed by her dark hair flowing freely in the water, "What about you? Adventure?"
Cho thought about it for a moment, enjoying the sun on her face and the water supporting her back, "I'm not sure. I don't think so. I know I wanted adventure as a child, everyone does." Cho mused, "But now? The Ministry was terrifying."
"I'm sorry." Harry said, "It was awful."
She forced herself up so she could sit, facing Harry completely. Harry felt her hand let go of his and sat up as well.
"I didn't meant that. I'd do it again in a second." Cho tried to explain, "I don't think I want adventure, but I will always stand up when I need to, even if that does mean adventure."
Harry smiled, pulling her close, "I know what you mean. I think I'm in the same boat."
Cho laughed, "Well… I don't mind being in the same boat as you."
Harry grinned, "That's good then."