"Hey, Ron... are you okay?"
At the entrance of the Gryffindor Common Room, Harry asked softly, watching Ron, who hadn't spoken a word and was climbing the stairs silently since the selection ended.
The boy's voice wasn't loud and didn't attract the attention of the other excited people around. Although only a few from Gryffindor actually made it, those who stayed until the end still witnessed an exciting battle... or a wonderfully beaten one?
But either way, everyone felt that it was worth it, and since Gryffindor had two more people making it compared to Slytherin, everyone's face was filled with excitement, even Peeves rushing out with a bunch of trophies from the display room didn't receive any special "welcome." Some even greeted him warmly.
"... ..."
Looking at a group of joyous little wizards, Peeves stopped with some disinterest, then threw the trophy in his hand onto Filch's head, who was chasing him and panting at the staircase entrance.
"Clang—"
From the crisp sound, you could tell the quality of the forehead and the trophy was quite good.
"Meow-ha!"
Mrs. Loris hissed while successfully assuming a Norwegian Ridgeback mode, then jumped up vigorously, darting past Peeves' feet. Her gradually plumper bottom, due to an improved diet, slammed hard onto Percy's head, tilting his head to the side, nearly causing him to kiss Fred next to him.
"Hey! You're my brother!"
Fred shouted exaggeratedly, almost involved in "improper conduct."
"I haven't settled accounts with you two for what happened before!"
Percy, indignantly, was about to dispute with the twins after removing the flailing gray cat from his head. Surrounded by the crowd, they squeezed past the Fat Lady's portrait and returned to the common room, leaving only three or four figures in front of the painting.
"No, Harry, of course I'm fine..."
After a bit of the commotion, Ron rubbed his nose and said without turning his head.
His voice was muffled, and anyone could tell that he was not speaking his true feelings.
"Ron, actually it's normal if you can't beat Malfoy right now. After all, you were Petrified for nearly two semesters last year, during which Malfoy wasn't idle..."
Neville carefully chose his words, afraid of saying something wrong and upsetting the boy in front of him.
"Maybe Harry could tutor you a bit, and next year when the seventh-year students graduate, maybe William will choose some more people to join?"
Hermione, who had been walking at the front of the group, also stopped in front of the Fat Lady's portrait. Although there had been significant disagreements between her and Ron recently, she had noticed Ron's miserable defeat before, and losing to Malfoy in this situation...
Having spent nearly two and a half years together, Hermione knew what kind of blow this was to Ron.
What Hermione knew, Harry naturally could think of as well. He quickly chimed in, "Yeah, I can help you with Charms, and the new Professor Lupin is quite responsible. Catching up to that nose-in-the-air idiot Malfoy shouldn't be too hard in the future."
Saying this, Harry seemed to find his statement more reasonable and spoke with more excitement, "Besides, we also tricked Malfoy today, otherwise, he probably could have gotten those two fools Crabbe and Goyle into the Duel Club. Just thinking about almost having to be with people like that in the future..."
Harry shrugged his shoulders, sniffing as if he caught a whiff of something nasty.
At times like this, belittling others is often an effective tactic. Although unethical, it still made Ron's mouth twitch slightly. He was about to say something when he met the gaze of a stout aunt—
"Hey, are you guys coming in or not?"
The Fat Lady's portrait scanned the few people in front of her, asking impatiently, interrupting the conversation that seemed to continue a bit longer.
Enough talking, she still wants to sleep.
"Oh, uh, fortune favors the bold..."
Neville scratched his head, then pulled out a piece of paper from his sleeve—although his dueling skills had improved, his memory hadn't changed much. He was still very forgetful, only recently thinking to write important things on paper, though these notes tend to get lost easily too...
Neville's solution was to prepare several backups.
He didn't want to be stuck waiting at the door every day for someone else to let him in; that would just be too unlucky.
Hearing the password, the Fat Lady reluctantly shifted aside the portrait frame, and just as the few of them were preparing to climb into the common room, Harry suddenly felt a weight on his shoulder—the boy instinctively turned his head to see a tuft of gold and red feathers.
"Hey, Fawkes?"
The boy, curious, took Fawkes, who sat on his shoulder, into his hands. The few who hadn't gone in also curiously looked over, ignoring the Fat Lady's frustrated shouting, "Why are you here?" Staring at Fawkes' bright, shiny eyes for a while, Harry finally curiously asked.
Saying this, he wrinkled his brow, "Is the Headmaster looking for me?"
Hearing the boy's words, Fawkes shook his head in a very human-like manner. Then, under the curious gazes of everyone, its figure was swiftly engulfed in flames, spreading to encompass Harry entirely. With a gentle pop, both boy and bird vanished without a trace—
"Oh, where did that big bird come from?"
Ron blinked in surprise, his attention thoroughly captured by this astonishing scene.