13. A Discovery

Neville was offering his friends some of the biscuits Hannah had baked, when Harry knocked the box from his hand.

"Don't eat that!"

"Harry? What's the matter?" Daphne looked at her boyfriend's ashen face.

"Get the Healer!" Harry barked at Hermione. She knew that look and raced to the door.

Healer Bainbridge gaped at them in astonishment.

"Thallium poisoning! Neville is suffering from thallium poisoning…just like the others!"

"What others?" Daphne looked at Hermione blankly, but the Gryffindor girl was nodding frantically. "Harry's right! I should have realized!"

She picked up the box of biscuits and handed them to Bainbridge. "Check these for a muggle poison named thallium. The effects mimic lots of various diseases; if we're right, Neville and some others have been ingesting it."

Harry nodded grimly. "Pansy Parkinson. Ginny Weasley. Andromeda Tonks. And now Neville!"

Neville stared at them through deadened eyes. "I should have known."

"What?" Harry was baffled. "How?"

Neville shook his head. "Because…I'm not exactly …someone's prince. Hannah never seemed to….I'm the one who pushed for marriage. I should have known she didn't want that….didn't want me!"

His head drooped. "No one…will ever want me."

Harry nodded slowly. "I understand better than you think, Nev. I know what it's like…"

"Stop it!" That's when Hermione Granger, that most contained, most logical, of witches, smacked Neville Longbottom across the face.

"Hermione!" Harry gasped. He'd been thinking that he understood, that Neville's lament resonated within him, with his Dursley upbringing… and then Hermione…

"Never…" said Hermione, through gritted teeth… "say that again!"

"I should say not!" Daphne tossed her head, blonde curls bouncing indignantly.

She rounded on Harry. "Don't tell me… you ever felt like that!"

"Well…" he managed weakly.

"The Weasley bint?" She scowled. "You're an idiot!"

"You're both idiots!" Hermione added angrily.

Harry and Neville exchanged helpless glances of appeal. "We are?"

The two witches nodded emphatically.

"You're looking at trees and miss the forrest," Hermione sniffed. "You are…both…everything any woman could want!"

Neville found his voice. "But Hannah…"

"Any woman with half a brain," qualified Hermione.

At his doubtful expression, Hermione shook her head and sighed.

"Forget it, Hermione," Daphne advised. "Subtlety is wasted on some people."

She stomped over to Harry, and kissed him hard on the mouth.

Then she drew back and frowned. "I, for one, am sick of waiting for you to get a clue, Harry."

"I agree completely." Hermione leaned over Neville's bed and tendered a kiss that nearly shocked him senseless.

"There!" She announced, with a sense of satisfaction.

"It's about time," applauded Daphne.

Harry wasn't sure if she meant that for Hermione or him, but resolved to just take the win.

Much later, a rather dazed Harry hoped he did not look as gob-smacked as his mate Neville, who sat in the kitchen at Grimmauld Place, still shaken from having a bezoar shoved down his throat.

Hermione sat beside him, holding his hand. "How did you guess about the thallium, Harry?"

"It was quite clever," the blonde in Harry's lap told him admiringly.

"Not really," Harry admitted. "It was in a muggle book I read last summer."

Hermione jerked upright, startling Neville. "Yes! How did I miss that…Agatha Christie's The Pale Horse. It's about a series of murders committed by thallium poisoning, but nobody knows for a long time, because all the symptoms are different."

"Except for one thing…" Harry reminded her, "…the victim's hair always falls out!"

"Lucky thing you caught on," said Neville. "Lucky for me, anyway."

"And me." Hermione squeezed his hand.

"Only one problem," Daphne fretted. "How do we prove it?"

"Hannah baked the biscuits," offered Neville.

"But how do we prove she poisoned them?" demanded Hermione. "Anyone could have done it!"

"Muggles go by means, motive, and opportunity," Harry explained. "She definitely had opportunities. Everyone passes through the Leaky Cauldron at one time or another."

"And she studied to be a Healer at first." Hermione was thoughtful. "I know thallium has some medical uses."

"That leaves motive." Daphne considered. "I've suspected she was interested in Harry…that accounts for Neville, if she wanted him out of the way. She'd know Harry would never betray a friend! Also Ginny, in case Harry ever took her back?"

"I wouldn't!" Harry was firm. "I doubt I ever truly cared for Ginny anyway."

"She might've wanted to be certain. Andromeda? Hannah was attached to Teddy and she was a stumbling block." Hermione frowned. "As for Pansy…"

"Inquisitorial Squad," Neville supplied. "Half the school would have liked to see Parkinson dead!"

Harry nodded glumly. "Still, we're back to Square one…how to prove it?"

"Same way they did in that book by Agatha Christie!" Hermione said eagerly. "We set a trap! I'd be willing to be the bait."

"Absolutely not!" Neville was horrified.

"Besides," Daphne considered, "there's no reason for Hannah to target you. She'd probably be glad to see you pair up with Neville."

Hermione's face fell. "True. I thought it was a good idea."

"It is!" Daphne insisted. "Just, not for you. I'll be the bait!"