Elaine's POV:

With Fred upset with me for having to be friendly towards Draco, he spent the rest of the night shut-up in his dorm. "He'll get over it," George told me...but I wasn't so sure. He was mad at me, but it wasn't even my fault...it was Dumbledore's.

That night, Fred was still up in his room, but I still hung around the common room incase he decided to come downstairs and talk to me. Soon enough, it was 1am and it was just Harry and I left in the common room. I decided to ask him about the task Dumbledore gave him (to collect a memory from Professor Slughorn). "So have you gotten any closer to getting the memory?" I asked Harry quietly; just in case someone came into the common room. "Nope," he said, sounding very disappointed in himself. He then pulled out his map, showing me Slughorn's name on it. "He's awake," Harry said, pointing to the moving name tag. "Fancy a walk to his office? Maybe I can help...he seems to like me in class," I offered. Harry agreed and went upstairs to grab his invisibility cloak. As I waited for him, I heard Harry call my name from his room. "Is everything okay?" I called up towards his dorm. "Elaine? Could you come up here...now," Harry called back.

I climbed the stairs and entered the room. Ron was wide awake and upright in his bed. "What's wrong?" I asked Harry. "Where is she?" Ron demanded and stumbled over towards me. "Ron? Where's who?" I asked, holding out my arms so he wouldn't fall right into me. That's when I noticed his eyes were glazed over and unfocused. "Uh...Harry," I said as I looked behind Ron and saw Harry shuffling through his things. "It's beautiful isn't it...the moon," Ron said as he stumbled towards the window sill. "Divine," Harry said. He had clearly was figuring something out as he examined a card that was on his bed. "Have ourselves a bit of a late night snack, did we?" Harry said as he tossed a heart-shaped box in my direction. "It was on your bed, the box. I thought I'd try one," Ron explained in a dreamy voice. "Or twenty," I laughed, showing him the empty box. "I can't stop thinking about her, Elaine," Ron said as he got really close to my face. I quickly pushed him back onto his bed. "Honestly, ya know, I reckoned she was starting to annoy you," I said, folding my arms in front of me. "She could never annoy me! I think I love her!" Ron said, jumping back to his feet. It was obvious the chocolate Ron ate had something in it. "Well...brilliant," I said, confused. "Do you think she knows I exist?" Ron asked, now cuddling a pillow. "I bloody well hope so...she's been snogging you for three months," I snapped. At this point, I made my way over to Harry. The card he was holding was from Romilda Vane, a fifth year. "Snogging? Who are you talking about?" Ron snapped back at me. It had clicked in Harry and I's mind at the same time. He was under a love potion. "Who are you talking about?" Harry asked, just to be sure he was under a love potion. "Romilda of course...Romilda Vane," Ron said with a goofy smile. "Take him to Slughorn's office. Talk to him while you're there," I said, whispering in Harry's ear so he couldn't hear.

Harry and I then turned to Ron. "Come on Ron...um...Harry's gonna take you to see Romilda," I said as I took Ron's hand. Harry led the way to the common room as Ron continued to trip and sway on every step. As we walked through the common room, Lavender had walked in through the portrait hole. "Won-Won!" she squealed. I was about to explain to her what was going on, but Ron spoke instead. "I'm going to see Romilda!" he shouted, causing Lavender to shriek and burst into tears. She ran up to our dorm before she could say anything to her.

Seconds after the portrait hole had closed behind Harry and Ron, Hermione came down the stairs. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and sat on the couch next to me in front of the fire. "What's going on? Lavender just came up to the room crying," Hermione asked as she yawned. I then explained what had happened and we decided to wait up until they came back. Luckily for us, Harry left his map for us so we could see where they were in the castle.

After checking every half hour or so, Hermione and I noticed the dots labeled Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley and Horace Slughorn were moving. About time too...it was already 2:30am. "Slughorn's probably escorting them back here," Hermione said when I asked why Slughorn would be with them.

Another fifteen minutes had passed and they still weren't back, so we checked the map again. "Look!" Hermione exclaimed. They were in the hospital wing. "Something's happened," I said, standing up from my seat. Hermione stood up too. "Good thing you're a prefect," I said as we rushed through the empty corridors and towards the hospital wing, not worrying at all about getting caught.

When we finally arrived at the hospital wing we saw Harry and Slughorn (who looked absolutely in shock) watching Madame Pompfrey tend to Ron (who was passed out on the hospital bed). "Harry what's happened?" I asked as Hermione and I entered the hospital wing. "He's been poisoned," Harry said quietly. Not a moment later, Professor Dumbledore rushed into the hospital wing. "Professor," Dumbledore said, holding a hand out in front of Slughorn. Slughorn handed him a bottle of wine. "Laced with poison. Professor do you remember who gave this to you?" Dumbledore asked. "No...but I was told to gift it to someone," Slughorn muttered back. "To whom might I ask?" Dumbledore asked. "To you, headmaster," Slughorn replied. "Very well. You three if you'd be so kind as to go back to your dormitories...Mr. Weasley is in good hands and you can visit him tomorrow," Dumbledore said, addressing Harry, Hermione and I. We didn't dare protest, so the three of us left the hospital wing quickly.

When we got back to the common room, Harry told us the entire story. The three of us didn't sleep a wink. The next morning the first thing we did was tell Fred, George and Ginny what had happened. Fred was finally talking to me again. The six of us immediately went to the hospital wing, forgetting about whatever class we were supposed to be in.

The six of us sat with Ron for a while, as Hermione asked Madame Pompfrey a ton of questions about if he was going to recover. After a few silent moments, the rest of the Weasley family burst into the hospital wing. "Where's Ron?" Mrs. Weasley asked as she ran over. Harry, Hermione and I quickly stepped away so Mr. and Mrs. Weasley could see Ron. "My poor boy," Mrs. Weasley said, brushing Ron's hair away from his face.

A moment later, Dumbledore strolled in. "Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, if you could please follow me to my office, I'd like to discuss a few things with you," Dumbledore started. As Mrs. Weasley was about to reply, Lavender burst into the room. "Where is he? Where is my Won-Won?" she said as she ran up to Ron's bed. Before Lavender could reach his bed she stopped dead in her tracks at the sight of Hermione. "What's she doing here?" Lavender demanded. "I might ask you the same question," Hermione snapped back. "I happen to be his girlfriend," Lavender said as she held her head up high. "I happen to be his...friend," Hermione replied. "Don't make me laugh...you haven't been on good terms in weeks. I suppose you want to make up with him now that he's suddenly all interesting," Lavender snapped. "He's been poisoned you daft-dimbo...and for the record I've always found him interesting," Hermione said as her face grew red. Before Hermione could say anything else, Ron stirred in his sleep. "Ha! See? He senses my presence. Don't worry Won-Won I'm here..I'm here," Lavender said as she leaned over Ron's unconscious body. "He-mi-ni," Ron muttered. Then a moment later, Ron spoke much clearer. "Her-mi-nee," he repeated. I saw Hermione's face turn an even deeper shade of red as she stared at Ron. Once Lavender realized what Ron had said she ran straight out of the room...crying. "Oh to be young and to feel love's keen sting. Well, come on everyone. Mr. Weasley's well tended to," Dumbledore said as he gave a wink to Hermione. As everyone left, Harry and I took one last look at Hermione and Ron and watched as she held his hand. "Oh shut up," she said to the both of us and with that, we left the hospital wing.

By the end of the week Ron was finally released from the hospital wing. The day he was released, Lavender broke up with him. She refused to tell him what he said in his sleep and I'm starting to think he knew what he said, but didn't want to admit it. Either way, I'm grateful they broke up. Hermione and Ron were back to normal again and everyone was friendly with each other. This was especially a good thing since classes were getting more and more difficult, and the homework was already piled to the ceiling.

About a week after Ron was poisoned and released from the hospital wing, we had a particularly difficult Transfiguration exam in the afternoon. This meant Hermione was in charge of getting Harry, Ron and I awake early to study and have a healthy breakfast (Hermione loved lecturing us on how important a healthy breakfast is).

Halfway through our breakfast, and as the four of us flipped through our notes, something started to cover my plate of food. "Stop it Ron...you're making it snow," Hermione said, pointing to the tiny cloud above his head. Ron hadn't been focusing on his notes at all; instead he was staring at Lavender. "Tell me how I broke up with Lavender again," Ron pleaded. Hermione and I looked at each other and then back at Ron. "Um, well, she came to visit you in the hospital and you talked. I don't believe it was a particularly long conversation," Hermione explained. "Don't get me wrong...I'm bloody thrilled to be done with her but it's...she seems a bit angry," Ron whispered. Harry, Hermione and I all turned to see her staring each of us down. She was holding her spoon so tightly that it began to bend out of shape. "Yes, she does seem angry doesn't she?" I said, popping a piece of bacon in my mouth.

After finishing breakfast, we decided to hang around in the Great Hall to study a little bit more. Our exam wasn't until the afternoon, but Hermione suggested we use our time wisely. "Harry look! Katie's back!" I heard Hermione say. I poked my head up and saw Katie walking into the Great Hall. Harry rushed up to her and they began talking. After they parted, I saw Harry was about to turn back to us, but his legs began moving the opposite way. It was Draco...he had just walked into the Great Hall, but was quickly pushing people out of the way to leave. Harry was hot on his trail.

"Oh no," I muttered, grabbing my wand and rushing out of the Great Hall. I knew that Ron and Hermione had saw what I had seen and they knew they weren't going to be able to stop me. Just as I got out of the Great Hall, I saw the back of Harry's head turn a corner. I quickly ran in that direction and heard shouting from moaning myrtle's bathroom. "I know you cursed Katie!" Harry's voice shouted. I pressed my ear up against the door, not sure of what to do. "Didn't mummy ever tell you to mind your own business, Potter?" Draco shouted. Seconds later, spells were being casted. I heard glass breaking and water running. Before I could step in and stop them from fighting any further, I heard Harry yell a spell I've only heard once before. It was a spell from his potions book (the one that the Half-Blood Prince had written all over). I burst through the door and saw Draco on the floor in a pool of blood. His chest and neck had huge gashes. "Harry!" I screamed, bending down next to Draco, who was wimpering. Blood was soon all over my hands and robes and I tried telling Harry to go get help. But Harry didn't move. He was in a state of shock.

Professor Snape came into the bathroom, his robes swishing as he rushed to Draco's side. "That'll be detention every Saturday for the rest of the year, Potter. You are in big trouble...I need to see all of your school books at once," Snape screamed as he pulled out his wand. He muttered spells under his breath, as most of Draco's blood retracted back inside of him and his wounds stopped bleeding. "Miss Granger I need you to escort Mr Malfoy to the hospital wing immediately," Snape ordered. I nodded and Snape grabbed Harry by the collar and pushed him out of the bathroom.

Once the bathroom door closed behind Snape and Harry, I turned to Draco. He was trying to sit up. "Hey it's gonna be okay," I said, as I turned to see someone else had entered the bathroom. It was Fred. "Oh my god...what happened," Fred asked, rushing over to me after he noticed all the blood on my robes and hands. "Snape told me to bring him to the hospital wing...Harry did this," I said. A wave of relief washed over Fred's face when he realized that I wasn't the one who was hurt. "Here," Fred said, taking out his wand and drawing a floating hospital bed out of thin air. Fred helped me get Draco onto the bed and with a tap of his wand, the bed started floating out of the door and towards the hospital wing. "You sure you're okay?" Fred asked me. I nodded 'yes' though I really wasn't sure what the answer was. "Well...go follow him...Dumbledore will have wanted you to," Fred said pointing to the bed that was floating away slowly. "Thank you," I replied, kissing Fred on the lips. I knew that took a lot for him to say, so I made a mental note to pay him back for it.

After saying goodbye to Fred, I quickly caught up with Draco. His bed floated all the way to the hospital wing and when we finally reached our destination, Madame Pompfrey immediately began working on him. "There's clean clothes in that drawer," she said to me as she tended Draco's cuts. I put them on, glad to get out of my gross robes, and washed the rest of the blood off my hands. I took a seat in the chair that was next to Draco's bed while Madame Pompfrey continued to mend Draco's wounds. First, she poured a potion down Draco's throat, that put him to sleep. "It's best if he's not awake for this part...it's quite painful," she explained. She then put a bright red liquid on his cuts that sizzled when they touched his skin. Next, she wrapped the cuts in bandages. Finally, she poured a potion that smelled like toast and instantly the color in his face turned from pale to a much more normal skin tone (which was still pretty pale for Draco). "This is to help with all the blood loss," Madame Pompfrey explained to me as I watched her. When I thought about it, I could definitely do something in the medical field. It would mean I would have to get at least 7 OWLS, though, which seemed like a long shot...but you never know.

When Madame Pompfrey was finished caring for Draco, she allowed me to stay, but I couldn't for long...I still had my exam. As I stared at Draco sleeping, I saw his hand twitch. It continued to twitch and I figured he was probably dreaming. Without thinking about it, I moved my chair closer to his bed and grabbed his hand. When I grabbed his hand, he squeezed it. "Are you awake?" I asked, feeling stupid since I was most likely talking to myself. "Shh," Draco said, squeezing my hand again, making me laugh.

After spending another half hour with Draco (he remained half-asleep), I was off to take my exam.