Ronald's Stupidity
It was a peaceful day at the Californian vacation home that Hermione had in the States. It was just near the border of Arizona in the desert. Ronald Weasley and Harry Potter were swimming in the large backyard swimming pool. Suddenly there was a loud knock on the front door the reverberated throughout the house. Ron jumped out of the water and screamed, "I'll get it!"
There was a loud splash of water as Harry went to follow him, but Ron held up a hand showing he would like to get it alone. I mean come on Harry, he thought, where's the trust? He yanked open the front door to see a young man of about sixteen years old. Upon meeting the teenager's eyes he saw that he held up a large cage filled with insect-like creatures to his face.
"Hello sir," the teen began, "would you like to purchase a pet scorpion?"
Ron raised a ginger eyebrow, "Why would I want to buy a scorpion?" The boy gave a malicious smirk.
"Because…" he struggled for words and a reason, "I'll-I'll give you a free…err-cookie, yeah you'll get a free cookie!"
"O.K.!" Ron practically screamed his reply. Ron handed over some money to the young teen and picked up a scorpion from the cage. He noticed that the poisonous barb tail was covered in a cloth to protect those who pick it up from harm. "Now," he said, "give me my cookie."
The sixteen-year-old handed over a cookie and walked away down the street as Ron backed up inside the house with his knew pet. Ron never even bothered to question how the young man-a Muggle probably-was even able to find the house as they were under a Fidelius Charm. Once back inside, Ron carelessly dumped the animal on the bed and went back outside to the pool.
"Who was it Ron?" Harry asked.
"Oh nobody, just Tonks," he replied. He wasn't quite sure why he was lying to Harry, but he figured it was because that if Harry knew about his new pet, he'd be bombarded by questions. Not that Ronald Weasley really understood what bombarded meant, he just stole it from what Hermione, his book-obsessed friend, had once said.
The day went on and the three friends, Harry, Hermione, and Ron ate dinner. Hermione mentioned how nice it was outside and that it may be nice to sleep out tonight. If she had known of Ron's dangerous pet however, she never in her wildest dreams would have suggested it. As Ron went to the bedroom he had while in the vacation home to retrieve his things for the night, he didn't realize that his little insect buddy hitch-hiked on his bedroll. Eventually, the three best friends of the Golden Trio went to sleep. When Ron had laid out his bedroll, his friend had been jostled unknown to anyone in the "camp". He was angry and frightened.
Little insect and poisonous creature that he was, the scorpion decided to go into a defensive mode and pierced the boy-owner in his sleep. Ron felt a tingle on his skin it was like an ever existent itch he couldn't rid himself of. Next came the pain, harsh bitter pain that Ron couldn't hardly bare. Ron's struggle with the poisonous scorpion venom was not known as he slept all the way through it.
When waking in the morning Ron realized that the burning pain in his foot was still present. By sight observation, he noticed slight swelling in the area of pain. I ought to show that to Hermione, he thought. With that in mind he went to seek her out. When he reached her she looked tired.
"Hermione?" he asked quietly.
"What Ronald?" she asked exasperated.
"I was only wondering if you would look at this bite-sting-thingy on my foot," he said with an air of 'You don't need to sound so harsh'. He lifted his foot onto a chair next to Hermione so she may examine it. The girl stared at the bite-sting and suddenly began to throw out instructions to Ron, who being who he was didn't understand any of it.
"Hermione slow down," he told his friend. "Just tell me what it is."
"That, Ron, is the sting of the California and Arizona Bark Scorpion. It is one of the only scorpions that are considered a danger to humans. Have you any idea how you could've been bitten? I recall making all precautions last night such as shaking out all bed supplies and clothing." Hermione continued to rant on about the scorpions.
When she finally stopped Ron exclaimed, "It must have been my pet scorpion…Hermione please describe what a so called Bark Scorpion looks like."
Hermione grabbed a pillow and elevated the leg on it forcing Ron to sit down. "Well first off they are of course insects so they have six feet. They grow to a maximum of three inches and have a thin tail only 1/16th of an inch wide. Their backs are marked with patterns or stripes on their bright yellow backs." Ron thought, That sounds a lot like my own scorpion… He mentioned this aloud and Hermione freaked. "What scorpion?" she half asked and half shrieked, "Where did you get it from."
Ron replied, "From the guy who came to the door yesterday, I believe his name tag read 'Lord Vol-De-Mort' or something. Below that another name in italics read 'Lord Flight of Death'," Ron trailed off.
"RON! Don't you get it? 'Vol-De-Mort' Voldemort, LORD Voldemort, the evil wizard dude who is trying to kill Harry…Flight of death is Voldemort's French translation into English!" Ron stared at her blankly. "Oh well Ron, if you don't get it now you never will." She mumbled under her breath something that sounded like, "I shouldn't treat you and leave you to research the Bark Scorpion poison treatment by yourself."
She went through the door to the kitchen and dampened a washcloth with water and soap. After thoroughly cleaning the wound, Hermione retrieved an ice pack wrapped in a fresh towel and applied it to the affected area. Ten minutes went by and she took the compress off waiting ten minutes before reapplying the pack.
"That should do it, Ron. I hope you learned your lesson about buying dangerous pets from strangers," Hermione said sternly.
Ron mumbled something that came out as, "I did it for the free cookie he gave me,"
Hermione left while thinking to herself, And he wonders why his mum won't let him pet shop, or rather do any shopping, alone…