The day after the match, Harry finally woke up in the hospital wing. As soon as Neville got the news, he brought Loren and Hermione along to visit him and Ron.
That's right—Ron was still lying in the hospital wing. In the original story, he'd only been lightly knocked on the head by one of the chess pieces and was woken up by Hermione on the way back, without even needing to step foot in the hospital wing.
But now, nearly every bone in his body had been broken. If it weren't for the automatic training suit's repair function, Ron would probably have died on the spot.
However, the automatic training suit's repair function was limited. All it had been able to do was drag Ron back from the brink of death and keep him in a serious but stable condition, preventing his injuries from worsening.
When Neville carried Ron to the hospital wing, even Madam Pomfrey said that if it hadn't been for the protection of that automatic training suit, Ron would most likely have been shaken to death by Neville's rough handling on the way.
Fortunately, the magical world's medical magic was very advanced, and Ron was now awake and able to talk.
Of course, if he wanted his bones to fully knit, he would still need a few days. After all, this time nearly all the bones in his body, aside from his skull and spine, had been shattered.
The only reason the three of them were allowed to visit Harry and Ron at all was Loren's connections.
Loren was the only student in all of Hogwarts who had ever given Madam Pomfrey a present. Naturally, Madam Pomfrey was willing to give him this bit of face.
"Harry—"
Neville, seeing Harry awake, almost flung his arms wide to hug him, but managed to restrain himself at the last second.
Harry let out a long sigh of relief. The memory of Neville tearing apart Devil's Snare with his bare hands and punching through walls was still fresh in his mind. If Neville got carried away and lost control for just a moment, Harry had no doubt he'd end up like Ron, paralysed from head to toe.
"Harry, what exactly happened back there? The whole school's talking about it."
Neville asked anxiously.
If he hadn't personally experienced the first half of the story himself, even he might have believed some of the rumours.
Harry told them everything from beginning to end: Quirrell, the Mirror, the Stone, and Voldemort.
Neville and Ron listened with rapt attention, both of them gasping sharply whenever Harry got to a particularly dangerous part.
When Harry talked about the face on the back of Quirrell's head under his turban, Ron cried out excitedly,
"Neville, go find George and Fred, quick! Tell them that under Quirrell's turban is the Dark Lord's true face!"
"Forget it, Ron. That betting pool's been closed for ages. Besides, you don't have any proof for what you're saying."
Neville's one sentence knocked Ron flat back onto his bed, utterly defeated.
"Loren, I'm sorry. I blamed you before."
When Harry finished his story, he turned to Loren to apologise.
The little lions of Gryffindor had all heard about Harry's exploits and had spontaneously prepared gifts for him, but because of Madam Pomfrey's strictness, they had no way to deliver them.
Later on, somehow, they learned that Loren "had connections" (most likely because George and Fred let it slip), so they handed everything over to Loren and asked him to pass it along to Harry.
There were so many gifts for Loren to deliver that very soon Harry's bed was buried under a small mountain of them, which made Ron, in the next bed, incredibly jealous.
Seeing how envious Ron looked, Loren also handed over the present George and Fred had prepared especially for Ron.
Ron eagerly tore open the beautifully wrapped gift, only to discover that it was… a brand-new toilet seat.
That completely shattered Ron's spirit. He slumped on the bed like he'd lost his soul.
Ignoring Ron as he messed about, Harry turned to Neville and asked,
"So… what happened after I blacked out?"
"Oh, I made it back just fine," Neville said. "I got Ron to the hospital wing, then went to write to Dumbledore. After I finished the letter, I was worried Dumbledore might not make it in time, so I went to find Professor McGonagall as well. Then I went with the teachers to the third-floor corridor. After that we ran into Dumbledore's Patronus—it drove all the students and teachers outside the castle. In the end, I saw Dumbledore carrying you out into the crowd."
"Do you think Dumbledore meant for you to do all of that?" Loren asked.
"He gave you your father's Invisibility Cloak, and only then did everything else happen, right?"
"Dumbledore wouldn't do something like that, would he? If he really did, he almost got Harry killed…" Neville muttered from the side. But when he glanced at Loren next to him, he suddenly seemed to remember something, and his voice trailed off, getting quieter and quieter.
"That's not it at all!"
Harry immediately refuted Neville's words, almost shouting.
"Dumbledore is a very interesting man. I think he just wanted to give me a chance. He seems to know more or less what's going on down there—he may even know exactly what we're up to—but he doesn't stop us. Instead, he secretly gives us help when we need it. I don't think it was an accident that he let me be the one who got the Stone. It's like he thinks that, if it's possible, I have the right to face Voldemort myself."
"Exactly! That's what makes Dumbledore so extraordinary."
Ron said proudly from the next bed.
Loren's skin crawled a little at that, and he quickly and casually changed the subject.
"All right, let's not talk about this anymore. Harry, want to hear how the last match went?"
Hearing Loren bring it up, Neville immediately grew excited.
"Harry, even though you missed the last match, Loren went on as a substitute—you've no idea what the Ravenclaw team's faces looked like back then, they were about to cry. Not long after the match, they announced that each House team is allowed to recruit reserve players. I'm thinking that next year I'll go and try out with you."
Neville was still talking nineteen to the dozen when Loren noticed Madam Pomfrey standing outside with a very dark expression. He hurriedly tugged Neville's sleeve and said,
"Harry, Ron, we'll get going. If we don't leave now, Madam Pomfrey's going to blow her top. Don't forget you're both invited to tomorrow's feast."
With that, Loren grabbed one person in each hand and hauled them out of the ward.
The next evening, the Great Hall was buzzing. The entire hall had been redecorated in Gryffindor's colours of red and gold. On the wall behind the staff table hung a huge banner painted with the Gryffindor lion.
They were celebrating Gryffindor's victory over Slytherin, who had held the House Cup for six years in a row.
The whole hall rang with cheers. The Gryffindors were celebrating their House's victory, while the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were celebrating Slytherin's crushing defeat.
At that moment, the doors of the Great Hall suddenly opened and Harry walked in. The hall fell abruptly silent. Many eyes—including those from Slytherin—turned towards Harry, and whispers rippled through the crowd.
Harry pretended not to notice any of it and strode quickly to the Gryffindor table.
Neville leaned over and asked quietly,
"Why are you on your own? Where's Ron?"
Harry answered in the same low voice,
"Ron still can't stand for very long. Madam Pomfrey wouldn't let him come to the feast. She told me to take some food back for him once it's over."
Neville's answer immediately caused a small stir. Out of nowhere, a bunch of people rushed over and surrounded George and Fred; they seemed to be in the middle of a heated argument.
After a while, they appeared to reach some sort of agreement. Then George and Fred, escorted—one might almost say "frog-marched"—by a few students, made their way over to Neville.
Seeing them coming, Harry thought they were there to ask him about what had happened that night. He was already frantically trying to think of what he should say.
"Neville, is something wrong with your appetite today? How come you've eaten so little?"
George asked softly once he reached Neville.
George's tone startled Neville, but once he understood the question, he answered carefully,
"My best friend Ron is still stuck in the hospital wing and can't come to the feast, so I left some room. I'm going to take food back and eat with him later."
Hearing Neville's reply, another wave of arguing broke out at the other end of the table. In the end, all Harry saw was the crowd around George and Fred dispersing and heading back to their own House tables.
Before long, groans and wails could be heard rising from every table in the hall.
George and Fred came back to Neville's side, clapped him on the shoulder and said solemnly,
"Ron's lucky to have a friend like you. As his brothers, we're really happy about that. Here, this is for you and Ron—split it between you however you like."
Off to the side, Loren and Hermione were already laughing so hard they could barely stay upright.
Earlier, George and Fred had opened a betting pool based on Neville's appetite, gambling on how much he'd manage to eat on the last night of term.
Neville's wolfing down of food had attracted lots of attention. Once people heard about the betting pool, they all joined in for fun and put down small wagers.
As Neville's appetite increased day by day, it became more and more likely that, according to the odds they'd started with, George and Fred would lose money. To keep themselves from going broke, they had no choice but to keep adjusting the odds, trying to minimise their potential losses.
In the end, though, because of Ron, Neville actually ate less than an ordinary person at the feast that night. That meant everyone who'd placed bets ended up losing everything they'd staked—hence the round of wailing from all four House tables, and everything that had just happened.
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