Emergencies

Chapter 3

Emergencies

It took the class two thirds of the lesson to finish their Draught of Peace potions. They had all began collecting samples for marking when Grace noticed Ron put his head right over the cauldron.

"Ron, no!" she shouted, just as he inadvertently breathed in some of the fumes.

He swayed on his stool and crashed to the floor in a heap. He let out a loud snore as Grace rushed round with Snape on her heels. She bent down and placed his head on her lap as Snape stood over them, looking more scornful than ever.

"We need a revival draught. I don't suppose you have any lying around?"

"No," he replied. "It's always best to make it fresh. It causes insomnia if it's left for too long. I would have thought a potions expert such as yourself would be privy to such information. Or have I been misguided to think that you are truly an expert in said field?" he said scathingly.

Grace looked at Harry and Hermione, who were at Ron's feet, and gave them a knowing smirk.

"Hermione, would you take my place please?" she asked.

"Of course, Professor."

Grace stood up to face Snape and leaned in a little so as not to speak too loudly.

"Prepare a cauldron," she said through gritted teeth, staring straight into his black eyes.

He stepped back and waited a few seconds before preparing a cauldron on the front desk.

The class was completely silent as Snape started to add ingredients to the cauldron. Grace watched for a few moments and then suddenly stopped his hand. His head whipped up so fast that she thought he might have snapped a tendon. Grace saw the students' eyes widen in shock.

"This happens to be one of the most potent revival draughts I know," he said, curling his lip and twitching his nose.

"That may be, but I have one of my own. Maybe this could be my test?" she said, looking at him with one eyebrow raised.

"Perhaps."

Snape emptied the cauldron and waited for her to bring the ingredients she thought would make potent revival draught. She then began instructing him on what ingredients to add and when. She had gathered ingredients that he'd never even considered using with one another; and although he tried to remain as indifferent as possible, he was curious to see how the potion would turn out.

After 15 minutes, the draught was ready. Snape was surprised, to say the least, as most of the potions he knew and used took much longer. He sometimes brewed potions that took months to prepare.

"Would you like to test it?" Grace enquired. He quickly ran through the list of ingredients in his head, making sure that none of them would do any harm.

"No, I believe it is safe to administer to Mr. Weasley."

Grace nodded and took a small vial of the revival draught to the snoring Ron. Hermione lifted his head while Grace tipped a little of the potion onto his lips. It immediately made him stir and swallow, giving Grace ample chance to pour the rest down his throat. Within a few seconds, he had swallowed the entire contents and was wide-awake. He bolted to his feet, looking around confusedly.

"You got too close to your own draught, and the fumes knocked you out cold," Grace explained. "On the plus side, at least your potion was successful."

She looked directly at Snape as she said this. He raised an eyebrow in return. Harry and Hermione smiled at Ron, knowing full well that Snape was in the habit of finding fault over Ron's potions almost as much as he did with Neville Longbottom's.

"Everyone prepare a vial of your potions. Label the vials clearly and place them on my desk for marking." His voice was as stern as ever.

Her throat a little dry from the ordeal of proving her potion skills to Snape, Grace poured herself a cup of tea from the pot that the house-elves had prepared before the lesson.

The class was hurriedly placing samples on Snape's desk when Draco Malfoy called Grace over. She quickly made her way to the back of the class towards the Slytherin table. Pansy made for Grace's cup of tea.

"I'll hold that for you, Miss." She smiled sweetly, taking the cup.

"Oh, thank you. What's wrong, Draco?"

"Well, I think something might be wrong with my potion," he whined.

"It looks okay. What do you think is wrong with it?"

"I don't think I let it simmer for long enough," he said, slumping on his stool.

"It should be okay. It has a similar smell and look to Ron's, and we know his works!" she said, smiling at him.

"Thanks, Miss." He smirked as she turned away.

"Here, Miss." Pansy thrust the cup at Grace.

"Thanks," Grace said and took a big swig of the tea. It tasted a little different, but she immediately put it down to the tea going cold.

By the time she reached the front of the room, most of the class had submitted their potions and were leaving. Grace suddenly felt hot and sweaty.

"Is it warm in here, or is it me?" she proclaimed.

"It's you," Snape remarked without looking up from his desk.

She felt a little shaky and looked down to see her hands trembling. She felt dizzy and suddenly realised what was wrong. She started to get breathless and was wobbling all over as she made her way to her bag by Snape's desk. She rummaged around, but she could not find what she was looking for.

"Oh no! This is bad!" she said between breaths.

Snape looked up sharply as he heard Grace drop her cup. She had lost the use of her legs and slid down the wall.

"Are you ill?" he asked, looking at her confusedly.

"Evelyn..." she whispered before collapsing to the floor shaking violently. At that moment, Hermione had entered the class and noticed Snape bent over Grace.

"Sir, what happened?" she asked.

"She's shaking ... or fitting or something." He had no idea what was going on.

"I think she's having a seizure. Does she have any conditions you know of?" Hermione questioned.

"I don't know. Maybe her sister does. Go get her quickly." Hermione wasted no time running to Evelyn's large classroom on the first floor. They returned quickly as Grace's seizure worsened.

"She complained of being hot, and seconds later, she collapsed," Snape reported.

Evelyn went to Grace's bag and found nothing there.

"Where are those damned needles!" she cursed.

"Needles?" Snape looked incredibly confused.

"Yes! Needles! Injections! She's a diabetic!"

"I have no..." Snape replied, shaking his head

"Look, it's a serious condition. Just get underneath her."

"What?" he questioned, shooting Evelyn a wide-eyed look.

"Get under her! You need to restrain her arms and legs. I'll be back. I have to get some insulin." At that, she ran out.

Snape reluctantly slid himself under Grace's badly shaking body. He wrapped his arms around her chest, capturing her arms, and restrained her legs with his own. He found this difficult, as she was much stronger than he expected. Suddenly, her fingers clenched into fists, and her face contorted with a look of agony as she let out a low scream through clenched teeth. This made it all the more difficult to hold Grace's arms, so he resorted to digging his fingers into her forearms.

Evelyn barrelled into the room with a medicine bag in her hand. She dropped to the floor, ripped open the bag, and pulled out a needle and vial. She lifted Grace's shirt to expose the flesh near her hip and stuck the needle into the vial.

Snape was watching with heightened curiosity; he'd never seen a needle and wondered what it was for.

Evelyn wasted no time in sticking the needle into Grace's lower abdomen. After 30 seconds or so, Grace's fits started to cease. Her fingers uncurled, and her teeth unclenched. Her breathing slowed, and Evelyn helped Hermione prop her up against the wall so Snape could remove himself from the floor. Her eyes slowly opened, and she stared unfocusedly into the distance.

"Grace, look at me," said Evelyn, trying to coax a reaction from her. Her eyes started to focus.

"Grace, what happened?"

"I don't know... just felt hot... dizzy...."

"Where are your injections? Why weren't you carrying any?" Evelyn questioned.

"I don't know what happened to them... I check everyday... It came on so fast... didn't have time to do anything." She was a little more focused and was aware of Snape and Hermione staring down at her.

"Maybe it's the fumes from the potions," Hermione suggested.

"No, I've been around more potent potions than that before. It must have been something I ingested." She looked over to the broken cup on the floor and then at Snape.

"The tea!"

"I assure you, I did not put anything undisclosed into that tea," he quickly admonished.

"No, I gave my cup to Pansy while I was speaking to Draco. After I took it back off her and had a drink, I noticed it tasted a little different. What could she have put into it?" Grace mused.

"Are you suggesting that a student purposely spiked your drink with something?" Snape questioned.

"It's the only thing I can think of, and my injections were gone. They must have found out from someone. Maybe they didn't realise how serious a condition it is."

"Bullshit!" exclaimed Evelyn.

"Evelyn..." Grace pleaded.

"No! They must have known what would happen. They deliberately went into your bag and took your injections. They knew exactly what they were doing."

"I think we should hear their versions of events before we 'hang, draw, and quarter' them," Snape said sarcastically.

"You are no longer needed, Miss Granger. You may go."

Hermione had been watching the events unfold in disbelief. She simply couldn't believe that the Slytherins hated Muggles so much that they would try to kill one right inside the school.

"It's okay to go, Hermione. I'm fine now," Grace reassured her.

"I just have one question. Where were you when all this was going on?" Evelyn looked at Snape accusingly. But before he could answer, Grace interjected.

"We were helping Ron. He'd taken in a whiff of his potion and knocked himself out. That's when I think they took the injections from my bag. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't have left my bag unattended."

"I want all those involved in Dumbledore's office in 10 minutes. Grace, let's go." Evelyn took hold of Grace's arm and pulled her towards the door. Grace broke free of her grip and turned to face Snape.

"I just want to say thanks. If you hadn't had the presence of mind to get Evelyn, I wouldn't be here. None of you knew of my diabetes except for Madam Pomfrey. I should have warned you before, but it's never been that bad." She turned and left.

Snape turned to his desk and placed his hands on it while lowering his head and breathing deeply. He had almost witnessed his assistant's death on her first day. While he wasn't sure if the prank was deliberate or not, he wondered how the Slytherins had learned about such a condition and knew to take her injections. He couldn't let it lie. If she had died, Malfoy, Parkinson, Crabbe, and Goyle would have been sent to Azkaban.

He rounded up all four members of the elite gang they seemed to have established and marched them all to Dumbledore's office.