Ron and Harry paired off and went their own way farther down the field where they had met Hagrid. There were a couple of minutes of awkward silence between them, as Ron was unsure of how to respond to Harry's strange behavior. Ron eventually broke the silence by awkwardly murmuring, "This should be fun, eh?"
Harry grinned. "I hope so."
Ron picked up on a strange intonation that he had never really noticed hearing in Harry's voice before. He couldn't quite place it. Even around one of his two closest friends, he still felt exceedingly awkward. He could normally easily communicate with Harry (save an incident the year before last), but this didn't seem to be Harry. Ron couldn't explain it.
He decided to do his best to surpass his trepidation. "Harry," Ron said rather softly, "why are you acting so... strange?"
Harry seemed genuinely taken aback. "That's the second time that you've asked me that, Ron," Harry said. "Have I done or said something to offend you?"
"No," Ron replied, shaking his head fervently. "No, you haven't. You just don't seem yourself."
"I'm fine," Harry said noncommittally and then added, "In fact, I am more than fine."
Ron once again decided to let the matter go for the time being and move on. He pulled the rolled parchment that Hagrid had handed them out of the left side pocket of his khaki shorts and untied the ribbon that kept it rolled. He unrolled the paper and held it out in front of him so that Harry could see it, too. Harry leaned in close to Ron and took a gander at the paper.
"Pewter size 2 cauldron, silver key, floo powder, golden snitch, pack of self-shuffling playing cards, revealer, and wooden goblet," Ron said slowly, reading the items from the list. "Who comes up with these lists?"
Harry shrugged as he slowly backed away from Ron. "Probably someone who doesn't have anything better to do than to dictate our lives by writing them."
Such humor was not all that typical from Harry, but Ron had to laugh. Even if it wasn't necessarily something that Harry would normally say, it was still funny. All the same, however, Ron found himself missing Hermione and wishing that she had been participating in this event. Hermione, too, would very likely recognize that something was drastically and alarmingly different about Harry, and she would very likely have a considerably good idea of how to deal with it.