Chapter 26
For Our Sake, Ron!
Romania

The news that Ron had been poisoned spread quickly the next day, but it did not cause the sensation that Katie's attack had done. Which in a way was better for everyone involved, as the whole school did not come asking for information about what happened. Most people were more interested in the upcoming Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff.

Though, Romania noticed that Harry was paying much less attention to the Quidditch match than he normally would've done, as he was obsessed with proving Malfoy as guilty. He was staring into the map a lot, and Romania was starting to get worried, as the obsession was stepping into the territory of being unhealthy.

It was hard to see Harry around, as he was busy avoiding Lavender Brown and Cormac McLaggen while also trying to find Malfoy and try to identify where he keeps on disappearing off to. Because of Harry's constant disappearances from Romania's sight, Romania hung out with the other nations and Hermione a lot more than usual.

They too tried to avoid Lavender as she kept on asking anyone who knew Ron if they saw Ron awake in the Hospital Wing and if 'Granger' was still visiting him. Apparently, Ron was always asleep when she visited him. No-one dared to tell her that they saw him awake every time they visited him.

By the point Lavender's hysteria was making everyone's annoyance meter reach its maximum, Romania went to tell Ron to just not pretend to sleep when Lavender comes to see him, only to see Harry and Norway in the Hospital Wing as well.

"Let me guess," Ron said, stopping Romania from saying something as he took in his breath, "'Please stop pretending to sleep when Lavender comes to see you.'"

"Yes!" Romania said, almost in tears, "Please! It's driving me crazy and I can't keep on taking the long routes to my classes forever to avoid her!"

"At least you're not avoiding McLaggen," Harry mumbled.

Then England rushed into the Wing as well, took in a deep breath to say something with his hand raised, pointing at the ceiling, before Ron stopped him too.

"Please, okay, I get it, 'Please stop pretending to sleep when Lavender comes to see you,' I know," Ron said, holding his hands out in a 'calm down' gesture. England nodded and crossed his arms. "It's not easy, okay?" Ron said, "To well, y'know, tell her that I don't want to… go out with her anymore…"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Romania said, "But please. For our sake, cough of the courage. You're a Gryffindor!"

"Okay, okay!" Ron huffed, "I'll find a timing! But er, is, er, is Hermione going to look in before the match?" he tried to say that casually but failed miserably.

"No, she's already gone down to the pitch with Ginny," Harry said.

"Oh," Ron said, looking rather glum, "Right. Well, good luck. Hope you hammer McLag— I mean, Smith, Harry."

"I'll try," Harry said shouldering his broom with a chuckle, "See you after the match."

"See ya, Ron!" Romania said, also chuckling, while Norway just gave Ron a silent wave.

They hurried down through the deserted corridors to reach the Quidditch field just like the rest of the school until they saw Malfoy walking towards them with two girls, both of whom looked sulky and resentful.

Malfoy stopped short at the sight of Harry, then gave a short, humourless laugh and continued walking.

"Where're you going?" Harry demanded.

"Yeah, I'm going to tell you, because it's your business, Potter," Malfoy sneered, "You'd better hurry up, they'll be waiting for the Chosen Captain – the Boy Who Scored – whatever they call you these days."

Malfoy pushed past Harry and the girls followed at a trot, turning the corner and vanishing from view.

Harry was frozen in place, staring at where Malfoy disappeared off into until Norway grabbed a hold of his arm to pull him along his way.

"You're the Captain, you can't be late," Norway said, and Harry hurriedly got his mind back into place and sorted for the match as he quickly apologized to rush off and leave the nations behind to walk slowly over to the field casually.

By the time Norway and Romania were seated next to the rest of their gang on Gryffindor's side, consisting of Hermione, Neville, Terry, Anthony, Seamus, Dean and England's four younger friends (Malcom, Graham, Stewart Ackerley and Noel Harwich).

Romania fit in between Neville and Terry just as the players walked out into the field. The game started and Harry still looked heavily distracted. Malfoy, Romania guessed. The issue with Malfoy was really getting into Harry's head.

"And that's Smith of Hufflepuff with the Quaffle," a dreamy voice said, echoing over the grounds, "He did the commentary last time, of course, and Ginny Weasley flew into him, I think probably on purpose – it looked like it. Smith was being quite rude about Gryffindor, I expect he regrets that now he's playing them – oh, look, he's lost the Quaffle, Ginny took it from him, I do like her, she's very nice…"

Romania's head turned to the commentator's podium to see Luna commentating. He smirked, as he was pretty sure that this commentary would be one of the best he'll ever hear.

"…but now that big Hufflepuff player's got the Quaffle from her, I can't remember his name, it's something like Bibble – no, Buggins –"

"It's Cadwallader!" McGonagall, sitting next to Luna, loudly said, making the crown laugh.

Moments later, Cadwallader scored. McLaggen was shouting something at Ginny, before Harry shouted something at him, to which McLaggen shouted back to. Romania couldn't exactly hear what the argument was, but it seemed like McLaggen was blaming Ginny for Cadwallader's score.

"And Harry Potter's now having an argument with his Keeper," Luna serenely said, "I don't think that'll help him find the Snitch, but maybe it's a clever ruse…"

Romania saw Harry circling the pitch again to search for the snitch, while the scoring continued without Luna noticing. She was suggesting that Zacharias Smith, who had so far failed to maintain possession of the Quaffle for longer than a minute, may be suffering from something called 'Loser's Lurgy'.

"Seventy–forty to Hufflepuff!" McGonagall barked into Luna's megaphone, making the crowd laugh again.

"Is it, already?" Luna vaguely said, "Oh, look! The Gryffindor Keeper's got hold of one of the Beater's bats."

Romania immediately turned his attention to McLaggen, who had pulled Peakes's bat from him and appeared to be demonstrating how to hit a Bludger towards an oncoming Cadwallader.

"Will you give him back his bat and get back to the goalposts!" Harry roared loud enough for the whole crowd to hear without any spells for technology, pelting towards McLaggen just as McLaggen took a ferocious swipe at the Bludger and mis-hit it.

Romania's eyes widened and Hermione let out a scream as the bludger flew straight to Harry and hit Harry straight in the head, causing harry to plummet down to the ground.

"McLaggen, that son of a – " Terry shouted before glancing at the younger students around and changed his words into something more friendly but still harsh.

Everyone stood up to get a better view of Harry, and saw Coote and Peakes catching him and bringing him down to the ground safely. Harry was rushed to the Hospital Wing and then the match continued.

Romania rushed down, not really caring about the match anymore, and over to the Hospital Wing with a couple of others following him. The group of students was not allowed into the Hospital Wing until after Harry was treated and settled in.

Madam Pomfrey told them that Harry had a cracked skull, and also told them not to worry, as she had treated a cracked skull before.

But Romania, being very concerned – the head was a crucial part of the human body, after all – rushed up to the Gryffindor dorm to dig into Harry's trunk to find the mirror that Sirius gave Harry as a quick contact method.

"Sirius!" Romania called into the mirror, "Sirius! Sirius Black!"

Sirius' face appeared in the mirror after a few more seconds.

"Harry - ? Oh, Vlad! Is everything all right?" Sirius said with a frown.

"Well, Quidditch happened, and Harry has a cracked skull now," Romania said, "Thought you should know. I think it'd be good for you to come and talk to Harry – or I can give this mirror to Harry."

Sirius stared at Romania's red eyes for a bit and then bust into a fit of laughter.

"A cracked skull! Hahaha! He's getting more and more like James! We cracked our skulls a lot too when we were your age, you know," Sirius managed to say, "And yes, yes, I'll visit Harry. I'll contact Dumbledore. I get the feeling that a cracked skull isn't everything."

"Well – yes," Romania admitted, thinking of Harry's new obsession with Malfoy. Sirius smiled at Romania and winked.

"I'll be seeing you tonight at the Hospital Wing by Harry, then," Sirius said and called to Kreacher to make him deliver the message that he's coming to visit his godson to Dumbledore.

Sirius' image disappeared from the mirror, and Romania quickly put it back where it was in Harry's trunk, feeling bad to digging through his things. Then he plopped down onto his bed and played with Negru who had woken up at Romania's sudden entrance into the dorm while the bat was sleeping upside-down, hanging from the ceiling above Romania's bed.

Romania heard both Luna's interesting, funny commentary and McGonagall's shouting of the scores over Negru's screeches. Gryffindor was losing, but for some reason, Romania did not feel bad about it.

He smirked as he imagined an embarrassed McLaggen, failing at being a Keeper and a team player in front of the whole school.

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SOMEBODY REVIEWED: 'PLEASE CONTINUEEEE' SO HERE IS THE NEXT CHAPTER.

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-PotterheadNo.04