Two people sat quietly in the infirmary wing. These Gryffindor students, the only people present in the sparsely furnished hall.
"Did Ron not come with you this time, Hermione?"
"He's caught up with his study buddy in the library."
"Ah, right. Forgot they scheduled during the weekdays. Bet he's close to biting his tongue off by now."
"Harry!" Hermione held an exasperated look on her face.
"I mean she isn't the friendliest person you've ever met Hermione, be honest."
"Even so..."
"Speaking of study buddies, how's it going on your end?" He used the opportunity to breach the topic that had been a sore spot amongst their group for a while now.
"..."
"You'll have to see Taka again at some point." He stated simply.
"...I know. Feels like that time will arrive sooner than I like. How was it when Sakayanagi came by?" She replied, attempting to divert attention from her worries.
"Pretended nothing had happened. She just studied like we had last time. Granted it was a bit tough given the setup." He looked towards his cast and the leg which resided inside it, the offending limb suspended by a sling. "But... well we managed. Not that it felt like much of it stuck."
"Too busy thinking about it?"
He tutted. "Obviously."
"You're always so busy worrying about everyone else, you should spare a little of that forethought for yourself. Just look at where you are now."
"It's a simple break, Madame Pomfrey said I'd be out of here in a day or two from now. The fracture was clean, it'll work the same as it always has. Nothing to worry about." He waved his hand dismissively.
"But what if you go too far and next time it isn't?"
"..."
"If you keep running to save others, breaking yourself in the process... then who's going to be there to save you in the end?"
"...What's the alternative, let them get hurt when I could do something to help?"
"...I don't know. Truly, I don't... But am I wrong for just wanting my friend to stay safe? Is that so bad?"
"...No, you aren't. But what about Neville? Or Ichinose? Don't they deserve to stay safe as well?"
"Of course! But-!"
"I didn't see anyone else moving in that moment. That's why I chose to do what they wouldn't." He looked away briefly, not maintaining the eye contact he had established.
"Still, it doesn't mean you have to be the one to-"
His eyes returned to her own. A resolved look forming on his face. "It does. Because otherwise they wouldn't be safe."
"..."
"I'm fine with being hurt for that. That pain doesn't matter."
"D-DOESN'T MATTER!?" A sudden shout came from her quivering lips, a look on her face clearly betraying any concept of calm. Hurt seeped through those features.
"Ah, uh- maybe we came at a bad time? Haha..." Long blonde hair with a pink highlight swayed slightly from the draft forming in the infirmary. Hermione's shouts clearly alarming the Hufflepuff students.
"Ah, you guys came by again?" Harry asked, the traces of excitement covering his features.
"What, getting bored of us already?" A young boy asked, his hair tied up in a topknot. The playful words leaving his mouth, but his eyes racing from the boy and the girl who had just screamed bloody murder.
"You're all welcome to stop by whenever you'd like. I appreciate the company."
Ichinose walked slowly towards the bed, raising a single hand in greeting towards the frizzy-brunette. "It's a pleasure to meet you properly, Hermione Granger. Harry was talking about you a lot, ah and Ron as well! I'm Honami Ichinose. Guys, introduce yourselves!" She gestured to the three other students tagging alongside her.
Hermione stood rather quickly, her gaze stuck to floor as she cut off their introductions. "Sorry, but I'm not celebrating this. I just... can't!" Hermione abruptly bolted for the open door and out of the infirmary, to who knows where.
"Ah, was it something I said?" Hashimoto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
"Idiot, clearly not the time for jokes!" Kushida accosted him immediately.
"My bad... My bad. I get it, stop whacking me!"
"Is everything alright?" Hirata chimed in.
"She just doesn't understand..." The injured boy replied quietly, almost to himself.
"Girls, huh? I don't understand them either."
"Everyone already knows that Masayoshi-kun."
"Seriously? You mean no one even had the vague feeling that I might actually understand them, like even a little, tiny bit?"
"No." Kushida replied without missing a beat.
"Never." Ichinose uttered with a smile.
"Hirata, why are they so mean to me all the time?" A half-feigned exhaustion encompassed the boy as he rested on Hirata's shoulder.
"I think it's wonderful you guys are so close you can joke around like this."
"That isn't joking around! Can't you see the mirth in Kushida's eyes? It's like a bottomless swamp of hatred." Hashimoto wrapped his arms around himself in an excessive show of fear.
"Forget that idiot, I'm not even sure if this airhead beside me understands either." Kushida said pointing to the offending girl.
"Me?" Ichinose managed to utter, slight apprehension on her face.
"Who else do you think I'm talking about? Do you know how close you were to dying? It's a good thing Harry's as brave and dumb as he is, otherwise, you didn't have a chance!"
"I don't think it's Ichinose's fault either-" Harry tried to counter.
"You shut up! Both of you guys trying to act like heroes, no wonder she's annoyed, I'm close to storming off myself." They both looked towards the floor like scolded children.
"..."
"She's scared for you, you idiot! You two might think it doesn't matter if you get hurt so long as everyone else is fine, I bet that's it, isn't it?"
"..."
"Well then you guys are as stupid as each other. You nearly killed yourselves for a trinket that would've been taken back by the teachers. Think how guilty Neville would've felt if something had happened! All because your pride got in the way."
"T-To be fair, Harry only tried to save me. So he isn't really at fault for that same issue..." Ichinose poked her two forefingers together, shyly looking up only to recede her gaze back to the ground upon witnessing Kushida's rage.
"That isn't true. His hand was still on the broom after we were told to drop them by Madame Hooch. If it wasn't you then he would've done the same. I'm right, aren't I?" Her anger reignited and focused on the bedridden boy.
"Y-Yeah..." The sheer intensity of her gaze gave no room for argument or falsehood.
"All because you guys want to appear like some sort of hero to other people, doesn't that mean you just don't care about the friends you might leave behind? It's just... too cruel." Kushida teared up slightly, her face flushed.
"Kushida-chan. I-!" Ichinose attempted to console the grieving girl, she pushed her hands away. Darting for the open doors. Ichinose following her shortly after.
"Drama all around..."
"If anything had happened, I don't doubt you would react the same, Hashimoto-kun."
"...Uncool. I'd like to think I have a bit more composure than that."
"There's nothing wrong with worrying about your friends, especially when they're in danger."
"What a prince-like answer."
"You were the first to report the incident to the teachers, weren't you? The girls would've thanked you if they knew."
"If you knew it was a secret there was no reason to say it now..."
"You're a better person than you give yourself credit for. I'm just acknowledging that fact."
"Well, keep it on the downlow. Might tank my reputation if others know." He nudged Hirata with his elbow.
"Yeah, yeah. That pristine reputation you have..."
"Why do you-?" Harry began to ask.
Hashimoto immediately cut him off. "I heard Neville got out of the infirmary a day or two ago. I'm glad the injury wasn't anything too serious."
"..."
"I know the girls were grilling you for that choice. But in my eyes what you did was pretty swell. Even if they were scared for you, I don't think it's fair to blame you after doing that. Sometimes guys have to step up, I think you did the right thing. So, thanks. For helping Ichinose." He bowed his head to the injured boy, a strange comfort lighting up the boy-who-lived's chest.
"Anytime." He grinned extending his hand to the bowing boy.
Hashimoto receded from his bow straightening his posture, looking at the extended hand for a moment before wiping his palm quickly and reciprocating.
"Still... I do wonder why all that happened in the first place."
"Malfoy isn't exactly known for his manners."
"Not him. I meant Neville, what even caused him to lose all control like that? Like the teach said, brooms don't have a mind of their own."
At that admission the three boys sat in a quiet silence, a few questions racing through their minds upon the sudden possibility of a darker turn of events.
[Scars of White]
Just what was wrong with that girl?!
'What have you even been doing with your time?'
'Can you not even read at this level, what are you illiterate? This isn't even my native language, shouldn't you be the one teaching me?'
'You really can't understand this simple concept? I shudder at the promise of magical Britain's future with children like you at the helm.'
She was like Hermione without the self-doubt. Nightmare. I don't know how much more of this I can take... Just thinking about her annoyingly smug yet unchanging face will set me on edge for days. And I have to meet her every week?!
She speaks perfect English already! As much as it annoys me to admit it, she does a lot of things perfectly. I'd be caught dead telling her that, though. I can already hear how she'd reply; 'Of course, it's perfect. It is me doing it after all.'
Insufferable.
All because I gave her a nickname. Damn Suzy. Japanese names are hard to pronounce, what do you expect? It isn't like everyone calls me Ronald, I wouldn't want that anyway...
If she knew that I was raised on a farm she'd probably start calling me Ronald McDonald, damn bully.
I need ammunition to fire back with before next time... Stingy Suzy... No, no that doesn't hit hard enough. Sadistic Suzy... hmm, getting better. Freaking cyborg Suzy... She was kind of robot-like but not as much as Taka...
Robotic...
Now that I think about it... why are the Japanese students so strong? They aren't robots, are they? Or some kind of magical instrument? The way they acted kind of made me less inclined to think of them as human.
The Director's daughter, that shrimp held off the overgrown demon dog from hell along with Taka. From what Hermione was saying she might've even been able to kill it. I don't know about the others, it hasn't been that long but... then there comes Ravenclaw.
I forget her name. The one that kinda looks like a fairy with the shimmering white hair. Likened to the greatest transfiguration wizard in the last few centuries and that was as a first-year. Add Taka into the bunch as well... Goes without saying that guy isn't even human, or at least does what humans shouldn't be able to.
They were weird but they all seem to know English fairly well. Just from a few conversations you can tell the Director's daughter doesn't need any help in that direction. I can't say the same for all of them, but it was worth noticing.
Then again... you wouldn't choose students that had no chance of understanding the language before sending them here.
Maybe I'm just overthinking it.
I just can't help but attribute it to something else. It was a gut feeling. Which meant no matter how hard I tried to dismiss it, it dredged itself back up into my brain. The thoughts climbing down into my throat as words.
"Why boy-girl pairs?" I wondered aloud. It made enough sense they were in the same house, in the same year. We were stuck with each other for the next seven years. But why that fixation? Was it chance? I didn't even need to know the calculations to work that out. Numerology, arithmancy or whatever, it wasn't chance.
Even Taka and Hermione, the only pair that took place outside of the same house, as far as I knew, were a boy-girl pair in the same year. Because of this strange rule, I got stuck with Suzy. Damn it.
Then there were the specific pairs.
Harry and the Director's daughter... it was a pairing that went beyond chance. It felt deliberate. The hero of the west. The boy-who-lived and the foreign dignitary from another state.
I'm looking too deeply into it aren't I...
I just can't stop myself from noticing these things ever since the troll incident. Ever since Harry and Hermione tried to convince me that something strange is going on. Perhaps I noticed these things even before then, only they were bothering me now. Just as we had become involved with whatever plots were moving in the background.
I was reminded of what my parents had taught me and what their parents taught them. The Burrow has been land owned by the Weasley family for generations. I never took much to the farm lifestyle, if we could live somewhere with less stress and chores, I'd take it up in a heartbeat. But because of that, I knew some things didn't quite line-up here.
Gnomes. Periwrinkles. Roods. Just a few of the pests that we dealt with on the farm. Never mind pixies and other trouble causers.
They each had unique characteristics which led to the specific methods used to remove them. It wasn't often that a troll made their presence near us, in fact I had never seen one in person, they were often in mountainous areas or cavern systems. But we still had practice drills in case one suddenly appeared on the farm.
However, they all worked on the idea that the troll wasn't agitated. As oafish and strong as they were, they weren't quick to anger, at least not in the traditional sense. They didn't attack like a wild animal as soon as they saw something smaller. They attacked if they felt under danger or if they had been wronged by someone else. Territory had been intruded on, or their belongings were taken or touched... Or they had been attacked first.
The troll even getting on campus is strange enough, then actually attacking Hermione who hadn't done anything to aggravate it. Even if it was bewildered it seems too strange...
The major question was how that troll got here in the first place... To answer that, where do I look?
The first source of information. The one who reported it.
Professor Quirrell.
He found it in the dungeon. Why was he there? How hadn't anyone else seen it beforehand? Did he let it through?
He taught magical creatures, some of them were kept in the dungeon for safe keeping. So that makes enough sense. The fact it was also dinner time made it excusable that no one else seen the creature before him. However, why wasn't he at dinner along with everyone else?
As the professor in charge of magical creatures he should also be capable of at least calming down and escorting a troll off campus...
Everyone knows he's a coward, you can tell that a mile away from his constant stuttering. But would Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts, really allow someone incompetent to teach here? If so, why? Hagrid would also fit the bill as a potential candidate to run the class. He practically lives for the stuff and his giant's blood would be a strong contender for most other magical beasts. If he can train that puppy from hell, then he could probably handle a troll...
Am I being unfair?
It's possible that this is just policy for the teachers, if he had been guiding the troll and a student suddenly got in his path it could be a safety risk. However, I feel like the same could be said if he were to take his eyes off of the troll and run straight to the main hall... Even if all the students were supposed to be there, it's still possible some students were absent just like we were on the day we arrived on the third floor by accident.
I didn't like the idea that was forming in my mind.
If he could lead the troll off campus, then naturally if you apply the same logic in reverse, he was also capable of leading it into the castle for a rampage...
But for what purpose?
Quirrell fainted as soon as he arrived in the main hall, he was out cold and all the students disappeared into their house chambers, except us. It was a good thing he wasn't a house leader, that would've put the other students at risk...
Hold on.
Unmonitored in the great hall. All students gone. Teachers with a troll threat in the dungeons. The perfect chance to travel to the third floor whilst all eyes are off his body.
Assuming that's the truth, how far did he get?
Is whatever was being kept on the third-floor even there anymore?
...I had been avoiding thinking about Snape's injury, but now it made a bit more sense. He hadn't come to the toilets after to help with the troll threat, because he had found the real motive of the attack. The third floor. That was how he got the injury, chasing after the culprit. Whether that was really Quirrell or not, I'm unsure. It felt too easy. Quirrell was the only unaccounted for body during that time, it made me question it. Was I overlooking something, or was it all just that simple?
No, that shouldn't be the case. What are you thinking? If this was that simple Dumbledore or another teacher would have seen the same, Snape would've notified Dumbledore himself. You aren't a sleuth, a detective or a hero. Just Ron. If it was this easy to make these conclusions myself then the teachers should be able to see even further. I'm getting conceited. Just because I'm friends with a hero doesn't make me one all of a sudden. Even that same hero was hopeless when face-to-face with a 10-foot triple-headed dog. That gave me a small moment of levity. As instantaneously as that satisfaction came it was washed away. Shameful. That's your take-away from this situation? Feeding your miserable self-loathing with excuses?
Shut up, do you see what I'm up against here? Students that might as well be as accomplished as fully fledged wizards and witches, humans that defy physics by defeating monsters five times the size of themselves and already established heroes. The closest to this would be living during Merlin's time or in a fairytale book.
I had found myself at the end of my metaphorical rope... the last strands of patience coming to a pitiful snap. Frankly, I'm annoyed. And I don't know what to do about it.
Every single way I turn is just another annoyance, I felt like my face might soon match the colour of my hair and that would be my natural complexion from that point onwards.
Classes I don't have any understanding of. Friends that outclass me in every possible area. To top it all off, my best friend was now my biggest rival towards the goal I held so close to heart. Youngest seeker in a hundred years. A hundred. He was damn gifted, damn courageous as well. Still in the infirmary and all since that little scrape during our first riding lesson. I knew all that. But I couldn't remove this burning feeling inside... whenever I see him, I wasn't just angry I was furious. An ugly jealousy all of my own.
Green envy, huh?
That was wrong.
The colour of envy wasn't a green that turned your stomach, it was a blood red.
The kind of red that covered your vision when you see something you wanted and it was taken, right before your eyes. I didn't even reach my hands out for it, I didn't even try to grab it for myself. Yet, as soon as I seen Harry acquire it. I knew it wasn't just something I wanted. It was something I needed. For far too long.
"Wingardium Leviosa!" I shouted, procuring my wand from within my robe. The object didn't even move, or stutter as if it was completely unaffected by my chants.
Was this what Ollivander meant? The wand has no reason to follow my command because I don't meet its criteria? Because I have yet to accept myself, whatever that means?
My gaze wandered out the castle window, a few riders throwing a quaffle between each other as they practiced shooting drills.
Working towards my goals without any distractions...
Quidditch cup. Head boy. Recognition.
I walked towards the centre of the room, my gaze redirected towards the grand mirror in the centre. Those same aspirations directed back at myself.
Was this what I wanted all along?
I can see it there, a real smile, one that covered my entire face easily. If I can see it, does that mean I can reach it?
How?
What did I have to change to achieve it?
The reflection cut for a moment to show; well, me. As I was now.
The answer was clear.
Everything.
---
Word count: 3614
A quieter chapter. Wanted to give some insight on Ron, because I think he's an interesting character that doesn't get enough focus. I think his characterisation in HP canon is actually pretty apt. He's a character that wants many things but doesn't actually put practice in for them, there are plenty real people like this. I could actually understand why he gets frustrated by Harry, the chosen one. Harry essentially does the same but is naturally gifted in comparison. I think that realisation, the mirror of Erised and his study buddy Horikita would push him in the direction of making an actual change, amongst other things.
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Hopefully you all enjoyed the chapter let me know your thoughts below.
Until next time.