Chapter Thirteen
A New Life
Author's Note: I know this is different, but don't worry we'll be back at Hogwarts soon! Thanks for all your reviews! I'm glad everyone's enjoying the story. I hope I didn't mess it up with this chapter.
Ron was able to leave the hospital on his fourth day of being awake. He would have to take sleeping potions nightly and calming potions daily for at least two weeks. The sleeping potions would allow him to get a good night's sleep without the nightmares. The calming potions would keep him relaxed during the day. Once he had been able to eat and drink regularly, his strength returned to him. His parents had purchased a cabin not far from the hospital in Salem. They had no choice but to borrow money from Grandfather, but Grandfather felt he owed it to them.
Ron would start his learning in Salem on Monday, but for now he had the whole weekend to relax and spend with his parents. Ron was supposed to do nothing but rest, but Ron couldn't stand resting anymore. Ron convinced his father to let him fish as there was a pond out back, and fishing rods were left in the closet. Ron knew there was no use for fish, if your mother could just magic food, but he wanted to be outdoors, doing something, and spending time with his father.
It was quite fun learning with his father how to fish. After all, fishing was a muggle thing, and Mr. Weasley was fascinated with muggle things. It took them quite a while to figure out what they were supposed to do, but they used their logic and made sense of it. Ron competed against his father to see who could catch more fish. His father caught more, though Ron swore the same fish just let himself get caught over and over. They didn't kill the fish, as they had no use for them; they caught them, and threw them back in.
They came inside just as Mrs. Weasley was placing dinner on the table. Ron noticed that there was five plates set instead of three.
"Why two extra plates?" Ron asks.
"Because we're hungry too." Bill's voice answered from the living room.
"What are you two doing here?" Ron asks.
"It's nice to see you to. I'm so glad we came to see if you were all right." Charlie jokes.
"Trying to haunt me with that ugly face of yours?" Ron jokes.
Bill laughs. Charlie drops his jaw in shock.
"You're lucky your hurt or I'd hurt you." Charlie says.
"You'd try and hurt me, you mean. Maybe you didn't notice, but I'm out of the hospital." Ron says.
"Bad move." Bill says.
Charlie gets up and chases Ron out of the house.
"Charlie!" Mrs. Weasley yells from the window. "Charlie, don't you hurt him!"
Bill walks over to the window to see Charlie picking Ron up in the air. Mrs. Weasley banged on the window trying to get Charlie's attention. "Charlie!"
Charlie brought Ron to the ground and tickled him endlessly for minutes. Finally, after Ron took his ugly remark back, Charlie got tired of tickling Ron and stopped. Ron ran in the house clutching his rib.
Charlie followed him in the house.
"Charlie! You can't horse around like that! Your brother's been through a lot of trauma. He can't be straining his body. He's not supposed to be running, he's supposed to be resting." Mrs. Weasley reminded him.
"Mum, relax. We were just having a bit of fun. Ron's been cooped up for days in the hospital. He's got a lot of energy in him. He's like a puppy." Charlie says.
"Don't compare me to an animal." Ron says.
"Or what?" Charlie asks.
"Or Bill said he would kick you're a- butt." Ron says.
"Oh, did he?" Charlie asks.
"Charlie, that's enough. Boys, dinner is ready." Mrs. Weasley says.
They all sat around the wooden table in the kitchen of the cabin.
"Did you tell Hermione about the book I left her?" Ron asks taking a bite of mashed potatoes.
"Yes… speaking of Hermione, she hasn't attended a single class since she got the Daily Prophet. She beat the stuffing out of Malfoy." Charlie says.
"Did she really?" Ron asks amused.
"From what I heard, she made quite a scene." Bill says.
"The boys, and Ginny didn't find out from her, did they?" Mrs. Weasley asks.
"No. They knew something was wrong, but they didn't know what was happening." Bill says.
"Did you tell Professor Dumbledore?" Mr. Weasley asks.
"Yes, we told him, but I think he saw through me." Bill says.
"As long as he doesn't say anything." Mr. Weasley says.
"Weren't you supposed to come back days ago?" Ron asks.
"Yes, but we gave it time, incase anyone was tracking us. They'd expect us to come back the next day." Bill says.
"Oh." Ron says.
"Where's Percy?" Charlie asks.
"He went home. He had to tell Fudge that he no longer thinks he's right. He said he was going to see if he could repair any of the damage to the burrow." Mrs. Weasley explains.
Ron shuddered at the thought of the burrow. Mr. Weasley must've noticed because he asked, "Ron, are you all right?"
Ron forced a weak smile. "Yes, I'm all right." Ron says.
Bill noticed that Ron had gone pale quickly too, but he didn't want his parents to press him. It was obvious Ron didn't want to talk.
"Fred and George… I don't think they've ever been madder or sadder. George threw a plate and broke it, he was blaming everybody, and Fred was very apologetic. He thought you died hating them." Bill says.
"I never hated them… I told them I did when they covered my room in tarantulas, but I was exhausted at the time, and I hate spiders. We made up though. Like we always do. They should know that if I ever held a grudge against them I wouldn't be speaking to them, but we're always talking after a day or so." Ron says.
"Yea I told them that you had a few last words… said you looked up to them with their creativity and their sense of humor. I said you wanted them to look after Ginny for you. I told Ginny that she was very important to you, I said you were worried about her more than anybody." Bill says.
"And Hermione got the book?" Ron asks.
"Yes." Charlie says.
"Good." Ron says.
Across the Atlantic Ocean back at Hogwarts, Hermione read the entries of Ron's journal.
I've been insulted more times than I want to remember about being poor, but nobody's insult came as painful as when Hermione insulted me. I used to just think people were just jealous because they don't have as many cool brothers as I do. Even though it was a bit embarrassing to have my ankles show when I outgrew somebody's old pants. If I could change my life to have a Gringotts bank account all at the expense of my large family, I wouldn't. I hardly knew anybody besides my family growing up, and friends I did have, weren't nearly as entertaining as Fred and George.
As much as Ginny annoys me by tagging along all the time… I know it would be the end of the world if something happened to her. Being her older brother I feel it my responsibility to protect her, look out for her…I remember taking the blame for actions Ginny did, even if I was mad at her I would spare her a lecture, because her eyes were full of fear, and mum was always softest on me.
Still, Hermione caused me pain when she said everything. Her words were full of hate. I don't know whether or not I deserve it. I called her a bitch and said she was jealous of Padma. I thought she was, the way she acted when I was with her indicated to me that she was. Maybe I just hoped she was, though she would definitely not admit it with four other boys in the room. Still her words echo within my head.
'I can't believe how stupid you are; I don't know why I chose to be friends with somebody as dumb as you! You know what, I don't want to be friends with you anymore! In fact, I don't want to talk to you again! I'm sure you'll benefit from this, because you won't have to get me a birthday present, not that you could afford to buy anything anyway!'
I don't deserve to be friends with somebody as brilliant as Hermione. She's too good for me. Maybe the reason I always argue with her is because I'm insecure around her. We've been friends since we knocked out a troll in our first year, but I think she only ever became friends with me because I was a friend to Harry. I just feel stupid when she's around. Nobody's smarter than her, especially not me. I could be smart; I just choose not to be. I don't like reading, at least not for educational purposes. I know I could never read as much as her.
I'm starting to wonder whether Harry's too good of a person to be friends with me as well. I always wondered… but he's always had my back, except when I said or did something stupid to make us stop talking.
Hermione shut the book and tears ran down her face. Harry entered the common room and saw Hermione hugging the book tightly against her chest.
"You've missed ten days worth of lessons. Do you realize that?" Harry asks.
"Only nine. I'll catch up on Monday." Hermione says throatily.
"Is there anything in there about me?" Harry asks.
"Do you know that he thought we were too good to be friends with him?" Hermione asks.
"He always was insecure about himself." Harry says sadly. "You know I don't know what's worse… not being best friends with him when he died, or being best friends with him when he died."
Harry wiped his own tears away from his eyes.
"You'd think it be easier with him ending friendships with us before he died, but it makes me feel ten times more guilty. I ruined the friendship between him and I. I ruined it for you two." Hermione says.
"You don't think it was something else? I don't know why he stopped being friends with me, but I don't think that Ron would end his friendship with me just because of you." Harry says. "Maybe it says something in there?"
Hermione opened the journal. It would be an entry late in September… no the middle of September, because it was before her birthday. She found it.
It seems as if everyday is getting worse. I wonder if things would've been good still if I had only listened to Hermione and not messed with Padma. Then I wouldn't have agreed with Sirius' wish, if I didn't have Padma as a last resort, but now that I don't, I still can't see myself going against Sirius' wishes in leaving Harry alone. Padma dumped me… she dumped me. I didn't dump her like Parvati says. I don't think I could be so cruel, but it doesn't matter. I think I'm better off with not dating anybody else this year.
Why hadn't I listened to Hermione? Padma is only trouble. Perhaps if I hadn't gotten involved with Padma, Hermione and I would still be friends… perhaps I could tell her what Sirius said. Perhaps I wouldn't have agreed, because I wouldn't have had a girl in Ravenclaw. If I ever make up with her, I promise to never doubt her. I'll always listen to her.
Why did I listen to Sirius? 'Stay away from Harry… I don't want you around him. I mean it. I don't know what you're going through, but you're getting yourself into trouble, and Harry will end up following you there, only trouble for him could mean death…you got in a fight in Diagon Alley, he got in trouble for just being there. Harry's really upset about you and Hermione having another conflict. He's not sure if he can still be a friend to both of you. You two are adding too much weight on his shoulders. He's already got the Wizarding World's fate, Cedric's death, and his own parents' death on his shoulders. The last thing he needs is to choose sides. Do him a favor. Tell him to side with Hermione. She doesn't have any other friends. You have that girl in Ravenclaw. Don't be even more selfish. Think about Harry and Hermione. Please, for Harry's safety, stay away from him.'
I guess it was because I knew I was a burden that Harry didn't need I complied with Sirius' wishes. It was horrible to say what I did about Hermione having no friends. I didn't want to say it, and especially not meanly, but I had to, or they might've talked me into making up with them. I could never tell Harry that Sirius told me to stay away from him. As much as I hate Sirius for ending the best friendship I had, he's still all Harry has in a parental way. He's the person Harry needs, and I don't want Harry to be mad at Sirius because of our friendship. I just want… no I need a friend right now, but I have nobody anymore. And that's how it's got to be. I won't let anybody hurt me again.
Hermione's mind was battling over what she should tell Harry. Ron didn't want to tell Harry, but Hermione felt that Harry should know the truth. However, Ron was gone now, and the last thing Harry needed right now was to end his relationship with the closest thing he had to a father.
"I couldn't find anything else. I haven't read the whole thing yet. His entries are long for somebody who hates to write. If I read anything I'll let you know." Hermione assures Harry.
Monday came. Ron was enrolled into Salem's Institution of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He hadn't had a tour of the school, and he was definitely lost. It wasn't a castle, although it did look a bit medieval from being made out of stone and it had five floors with long corridors and classrooms on either side when you walked down the hallway. Along the walls of the hallways were lockers. Ron had never seen so many lockers in his life.
He had all of his books. Percy had brought Ron's trunk to America over the weekend. So foolishly Ron was walking down the halls of the school dragging his trunk. Luckily, he seemed to be late so no American students saw him lugging his trunk around.
Somebody was walking toward him from around the corner. As the footsteps of somebody in high heels got louder, the lady turned the corner and met Ron. The lady being in her fifties wore a black dress under black robes. She wore a witch's hat and looked curiously at Ron.
"Young man, your late for class." She says.
"Sorry madam, but I'm new here and I'm supposed to meet Professor Turner?" Ron asks.
"Oh, you must be Mr. Weasley." The lady says.
"Yes, madam. Are you Professor Turner?" Ron asks.
"No, I'm Mrs. Maloney, I'm the principal here at the Salem Institute. That would be your headmaster or mistress where you're from." Principal Maloney says.
"Oh, right." Ron says.
"Let's bring this up to your dorm, and then I'll show you to Ms. Turner's office." Principal Maloney says.
"All right." Ron says.
"What year are you?" Mrs. Maloney asks.
"I'm in my fifth year." Ron says.
"Fifth year… how old are you?" Mrs. Maloney asks.
"Fifteen madam." Ron says.
"When will you be sixteen?" Mrs. Maloney asks.
"March." Ron says.
"You're a sophomore." Mrs. Maloney says.
"Oh, isn't that a second year?" Ron asks confused.
"Yes, but we follow the muggle's schooling. We take witches and wizards out of muggle schooling when they're in sixth grade. The second and third years are thought to be going to middle school, which is 7th and 8th, and fourth years through seventh years are freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors. We keep it like this, because during the summers when the kids go home if they meet any muggles they can just say that they're attending a junior high school or they're in their sophomore year in a school up north. Then they change the subject. We have a strict policy about magic and that is the muggles aren't to know about it. Unless you marry one, but even then you must make sure they don't slip. You will learn in History of Magic that Witches, and wizards suffered heavy persecution all because of some hysterical little puritan girls. Seventeen in all died back in 1792, because muggles are afraid of us. Back then; we didn't have schools in America to learn how to save ourselves." Mrs. Maloney explains.
They stop outside a door on the fifth floor. "Sophomores stay in here. This is their recreational room, where they stay when they want to hang out, before bed and classes. I think we'll put you in room ten." Mrs. Maloney opens the door that has the number ten on it.
There were ten beds inside this room five along each wall, and each bed had a good amount of space between each one. Each one had its own bedspread and such on it. It was not a Gryffindor dorm where there were five scarlet covered four-poster beds with hangings. They walked to the window where the only bed that didn't seem to belong to anybody was. It was right by the window too, and Ron could see willow trees below him. None of them looked like a Whomping Willow, which was good, because Ron didn't want to hear the branches beat up the ground all night.
Ron left his trunk beside his bed after getting all of his books out, not knowing his schedule and placing them in his bag. He followed the principal down the staircases and followed her into the front office. She brought him back behind the secretary's desk and showed him into a room, which had a sign that read: Guidance Counselor, on the door. A sign on the desk indicated that this was Ms. Turner's office.
Ms. Turner was a young lady in her early twenties who had long brown hair pulled back in a ponytail. She wore a brown dress under brown robes.
"Ms. Turner, this is our new student, Mr. Weasley." Mrs. Maloney says.
"Oh good, I was afraid he wasn't coming. It's nice to meet you." Ms. Turner shook Ron's hand and was smiling sweetly at him. "Have a seat."
"He brought his things up to the sophomore dorm. You can help him with his locker and everything else." Mrs. Maloney says.
"Of course," Ms. Turner says.
"Well, Mr. Weasley it was a pleasure meeting you. If you'll excuse me I have business to attend to." Mrs. Maloney says.
"Of course, thanks for your help." Ron says shaking her hand.
Mrs. Maloney leaves.
"You have a fascinating accent." Ms. Turner says.
"Thanks, your accent is wicked as well." Ron says.
"Thank you too. Well, I'm the school's guidance counselor. I'm the person the students talk to when there's a problem. For example, if a student is having a problem with another student, then they come here and talk to me, and we try to resolve it. I'm here to listen any time you want to talk. Now, I understand you've been through an awful lot recently, so any time you feel up to talking about it, knock on my door. If I'm in a meeting with another student, I'll send you back to a lesson or your Rec room and I'll get you when I'm free." Ms. Turner says.
"All right." Ron says.
"Did you want to talk or get to class?" Ms. Turner asks.
"I should get to class, I've missed a lot of lessons already." Ron says.
"All right. Come with me. I'll let you put your books in your locker, and then I'll show you to your classroom." Ms. Turner says.
Ron followed Ms. Turner out of her office and into the main office. They stopped in front of a secretary.
"Ms. Bell, may I have Mr. Weasley's schedule please?" Ms. Turner asks.
Ms. Bell flicked her wand and a paper hung on the tip of it. Ms. Turner took it.
"Thank you Ms. Bell." Ms. Turner says.
Ms. Turner led Ron down the first floor hallway. They stopped at locker 599A. It was a top locker right next to a classroom. It took Ron about fifteen minutes to learn how to open a locker. They had to use combinations, and they couldn't be opened magically not even with Alohomora. This way a student couldn't break in a locker for valuables or a book if they had lost theirs. It had taken all of the witches and wizards a good amount of time their first year to learn how to open one. Ron learned that there was a locker 599A on each floor that belonged to him. It had the same combination and held anything he put in the locker on one floor on the others. So he could get his books on any floor he was on. The only time he would need to carry his books to a future class was for Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology, which always was outside.
Ron looks at his schedule. "Excuse me Ms. Turner. I don't take Muggle Studies, I took Divination back at Hogwarts." Ron says.
"Oh, you'll have Divination as well. It's on your schedule for tomorrow see? Muggle Studies is a required course." Ms. Turner says.
"Oh." Ron says.
"All right, well its Monday… Monday, Wednesday, and Friday have your more important courses for example Transfiguration, Potions, Herbology, Charms, and Defense Against The Dark Arts. Tuesdays and Thursdays you'll have History Of Magic, Astronomy, Divination, Care of Magical Creatures, and Muggle Studies." Ms. Turner explains.
"All Transfiguration and Potion Lessons are on the first floor. The second floor is where you'll have Charms and Defense Against The Dark Arts. The third floor is Divination and History of Magic, and the fourth floor is where Muggle Studies Lessons are. Astronomy classes are also on the fourth floor when the weather's bad." Ms. Turner explains.
"What if it isn't bad?" Ron asks.
"On the widow's walk. It's a rooftop walk way." Ms. Turner explains. "Your Herbology lessons and Care of Magical Creatures lessons will be taught outside, in the greenhouses, and at the zoo. Your classmates won't let you get lost. The fifth floor as you know is for the students' dormitories. If you have anymore questions, don't hesitate to ask me or one of your classmates."
She stops outside of a door. "This is Mr. Damore's room. He'll be your transfiguration teacher." Ms. Turner says as she knocks on the door.
"Come in." Mr. Damore calls.
She opens the door and enters, Ron slowly entered behind her to find a class of about twenty students.
"Hey Ms. Turner, you going to save me from these two? They're trying to make me do work!" A black boy who had cornrows jokes. The class laughs, and one of the teachers, Ron didn't know who he was started toward him. The boy let out a fake scream, causing the students to laugh even more.
"We're trying to make him do work, hence the word try, but we're failing miserably." The teacher at the front of the class says. He chucks a piece of chalk at the kid. The boy fakes another scream.
"Ms. Turner, they're trying to kill me!" He says.
"Now, before Ms. Turner was so rudely interrupted, she came to see me. Ms. Turner, how may I help you?" The teacher at the front of the desk asks.
"Yea, you'd be begging her to come see you." The boy jokes reminding Ron of Fred and George, only nobody could be as close to teachers without getting a detention, as this kid was with these two teachers.
The teacher chucks another piece of chalk at him.
"How can I help you Ms. Turner?" The teacher asks.
"Mr. Damore," Ms. Turner says to the teacher standing behind his desk, she turns to the teacher who was in between students' desks, "Mr. Ridgeway, you have a new student. This is Ron Weasley, he's from Hogwarts over in Britain, and he'll be with us for a month or two..." Ms. Turner began. She was about to say more, but the boy with the cornrows spoke up.
"For real, he's from England? Does he got a British accent?" He asks.
"Does your mouth ever shut?" Mr. Ridgeway asks covering his mouth with his hand.
The boy pulled back, before saying, "No."
Mr. Ridgeway walked away from the boy and walked toward the front of the classroom.
"Mr. Weasley it's a pleasure. I'm Mr. Ridgeway, that's Mr. Damore, and that kid over there is loud and obnoxious." Mr. Ridgeway says.
"Don't listen to a word he says, he's a liar." The boy says. He gets up out of his seat and walks to the front of the classroom. He offers Ron his hand. "I'm Derek Evans." Derek says.
Ron shakes his hand. "Ron Weasley."
"Who said you could be out of your seat Mr. Evans?" Mr. Damore asks.
Derek grins widely. "Ms. Turner did."
"Ooh, I smell a write-up… being disruptive…" Ms. Turner says.
"If we wrote him up every time he was being disruptive, he'd never be here, because he'd be serving a life time of detentions." Mr. Ridgeway says.
"Me, disruptive? Never." Derek says.
"Its your middle name." Mr. Damore says.
"Thank you Ms. Turner." Mr. Ridgeway says letting her leave.
"Mr. Weasley why don't you have a seat next to Mr. Evans? No, wait… I take that back. We need to move somebody. The reason that seat is always empty, is because nobody can get any work done sitting next to him." Mr. Damore says.
"No, it's because you always throw chalk at me, and you have bad aim and hit that seat instead of me." Derek says. "But its cool, he won't throw chalk at me if you're sitting there. So sit next to me."
"Mr. Weasley, if you don't mind sit there, and if he bothers you, we'll move him." Mr. Ridgeway says.
Ron took a seat next to Derek.
"All right, let's see… Mr. Weasley, what were you learning in Transfiguration at Hogwarts?" Mr. Damore asks.
"We were learning how to become Animagi." Ron says.
"So you know how to turn yourself into an animal?" Mr. Damore asks.
"No, we were reviewing how to change things perfectly. Our professor didn't want us taking chances." Ron says.
"Could you give us an example of what you were transfiguring?" Mr. Damore asks.
"A table into a horse… a bird into a feather." Ron says.
"All right, it shouldn't take you too long to catch up. Why don't you go with Mr. Ridgeway into the library?" Mr. Damore offers.
"Yes sir." Ron says.
Ron follows Mr. Ridgeway out of the classroom.
It was the end of the class when Ron returned with Mr. Ridgeway. Only, he wasn't human anymore.
"Well, how'd it go?" Mr. Damore asks looking at the door for some sign of Ron.
"No way!" Derek exclaims as he stood up. He saw the red fox shyly enter the room.
"Well, Mr. Weasley, can you change back?" Mr. Damore asks.
Ron turned back into his human form.
"Well, we have a new Animagus. Mr. Weasley, you may continue to catch up tomorrow. Ms. Green, will you show Mr. Weasley to his next class?" Mr. Ridgeway asks.
"Of course." A sweet brunette assures him.
"I can." Derek offers.
"Ms. Green will." Mr. Ridgeway says.
"I see how it is." Derek says.
The young brunette walked over to Ron. "I'm Jade Green. It's nice to meet you." Jade says shaking Ron's hand.
"A pleasure to meet you as well." Ron says. He pulls out his schedule. "I have potions now. Where's Professor- I mean where's this person's room?" Ron asks. He wasn't sure if it was a male or female.
"You have potions with Mr. Williams now." Jade says.
"What do you have?" Ron asks.
"Potions, only with Ms. Costello." Jade says. "I'll show you to Mr. Williams' room."
"No need, I can do it. I got Williams too." Derek says.
"I pity you." Jade says to Ron. She leaves for her own class. Ron follows Derek into a Potions classroom.
"You can be my partner in Potions if you want. I don't got a partner, because it was an odd numbered class, and everybody wants to avoid trouble, so they avoid me." Derek says.
"Are you sure you don't mind? I'm not the best in Potions, I never listened to my Professor at Hogwarts… he hated me, gave me detentions all the time." Ron explains.
"You should've gone to the guidance counselor." Derek says. "I'm a best friend with all the teachers."
"We don't have guidance counselors at my school. Besides, he's mean to all students who aren't his own." Ron says.
"What do you mean? Over here, teachers aren't allowed to teach their own kids. That's why there's so many different classes." Derek explains.
"There's four houses at Hogwarts, my school… Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. The head of the houses are in charge of whoever's in their house. Professor Snape favored Slytherins and hated everyone else." Ron says.
"Oh yea, we read about that school in History of Magic." Derek says. "Don't worry, this teacher's cool. Even I get passing grades in this class. I just get them loudly."
Two teachers, a black male and a white female entered the room with cups of coffee in their hands.
"What you didn't bring me a cup? You know the rules, you can't have it unless there's enough for everyone, or there's the exception of just Derek, but…" Derek jokes.
"We only drink coffee in this class, because you're in it." The female teacher says.
"Yo, Mr. Jones, Ms. White, did you not notice that somebody's sitting next to me, and every chair in the room is filled?" Derek asks.
They see Ron and put their mugs of coffee down on the desk.
"He's new. This is Ron Weasley, that's Mr. Jones, and Ms. White." Derek introduces.
"A new student?" Ms. White asks.
"Come down here, and introduce yourself, young man." Mr. Jones says.
Ron made his way down to the front of the class.
"Where are you from?" Ms. White asks.
"Devon, in England." Ron answers.
"Oh, right. I heard Mrs. Maloney talking about you. You'll be with us for a couple of months, if I'm not mistaken. Tell us a little about yourself." Ms. White says.
"Like what?" Ron asks.
"They don't care, they just want you to talk so they can hear your accent." Derek says.
"Do you play Quidditch?" Mr. Jones asks.
"I was keeper for Gryffindor back at Hogwarts." Ron says.
"Tell us about your family? Do you come from a long line of wizards or is it half and half, muggleborn?" Ms. White asks.
"Long line of wizards." Ron says.
"Do you have any brothers or sisters?" Mr. Jones asks.
"Five older brothers and one little sister." Ron answers.
"Damn!" Derek says.
"Are they here?" Somebody in the class asks.
"No, they're back at Hogwarts." Ron says.
After about fifteen minutes of interrogation, Ron was allowed to sit back down, and he had a surprisingly enjoyable potions lesson. He and Derek even earned an A.
"We've got first lunch." Derek says and he shows Ron to the cafeteria, which was huge. There were tables everywhere.
"Grab a tray." Derek says grabbing his own tray and joining the lunch line.
Ron does the same.
"Do you want a ham or cheeseburger?" A house elf behind the counter asks.
"What are they?" Ron asks.
"A cheeseburger's just a hamburger with cheese." Derek explains over all the noise.
"I'll try a cheeseburger, I guess." Ron says.
The house elves gave him a cheeseburger and placed French fries on the side of his tray. They got to the end of the line where there was a choice of bottled water, chocolate milk, or white milk.
"We've got soda in the machines." Derek says.
Ron picks up water anyway. He follows Derek to a table.
"Are you sure you don't mind me sitting with you?" Ron asks.
"Not at all. Want a soda?" Derek asks pulling out some green paper, which Ron guessed was American muggle money.
"Er… no, thanks." Ron says holding up his water.
"It's on me, are you sure?" Derek asks.
"I'm sure." Ron says.
Derek gets up and runs over to a vending machine. He comes back with two Pepsis. He gives Ron one.
"Thanks, but no thanks." Ron says.
"Why not?" Derek asks. "Is this because you don't have American money?"
"It's because I don't have any money to pay you back." Ron whispers, turning red of embarrassment.
"Oh, my bad… I should've realized coming from a family of seven kids you wouldn't have a lot. Look, its my treat." Derek says.
"Are you sure?" Ron asks.
"Yea, man, it only cost me fifty cents." Derek says.
"Thanks." Ron says.
Three other boys joined them as Ron started on his cheeseburger. They all wore their own clothes under their robes.
"Ron, this is Doug, Dave, and Josh. Guys, this is Ron and he's from England." Derek introduces. Ron shook hands with Doug and Dave who were twins, they both were black with short curly hair, and then shook hands with Josh, who was white with brown hair.
"What's up?" Dave asks.
"Yes, they're twins," Josh answers before Ron could ask.
"Dumb and Dumber." Derek whispers.
"This boy must be new if he's hanging with you." Doug says.
"Just got here this morning." Derek says.
"Do you talk?" Dave asks.
"Yes." Ron says.
"So speak up." Josh says.
"What am I supposed to say?" Ron asks.
"Well, tell us about your school. Is it different than ours?" Doug asks.
"No, fool it's the same. Honestly, how dumb are you. Nothing in Europe is the same here." Dave says.
"It's funny, his lips didn't even move yet I heard somebody talking." Doug says.
"It's really different. We don't have guidance counselors; we have a headmaster, not a principal. Are school is broken up into four different houses. There's Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. A professor's a head of the house. Our Transfiguration professor was head of Gryffindor, the Herbology professor was head of Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw's head was the Astronomy professor, and the Potions Master was Slytherins head. Each house has their own students, and the head of their house is responsible for punishing you, which is lucky, because if the Slytherin's head of house could punish anybody, only his students would remain. He's bias. He likes his own students and hates the rest. He always took points from other houses and gave detentions to other houses. First day we went back I was mopping floors till three in the morning because I got into a fight with one of his students. The head of Gryffindor, my house was strict, but she was fair to everybody. The professors were nothing like the teachers you have here. I mean if Derek were to come to Hogwarts, he'd be suspended for being so disruptive. Not that he did anything wrong, but the Professors are really strict. I mean I learned a lot already, and I actually enjoyed Potions. Back at Hogwarts I'd be cursing the Professor's name under my breath, but the Potions teachers here are really good. I mean I'm actually learning something here." Ron says.
"Yo, that accent is awesome." Josh says.
"Thanks, your accent is pretty wicked as well." Ron says.
"We don't got an accent." Josh says.
"To him, we do, fool." Derek says smacking Josh upside his head.
"So, what brings you here?" Doug asks.
Before Ron could answer, Ms. Turner walks over to him and taps him on the shoulder.
"Excuse me, but when you're finished eating, I need you to come to my office." Ms. Turner says.
"All right." Ron says. He stands up. "What do I do with my tray?"
"You're not going to eat anymore?" Derek asks.
"No, I'm full." Ron says.
"Leave it here, I'll have your fries." Derek says.
"All right." Ron says. He follows Ms. Turner into her office.
"How were classes this morning, too slow? Too fast?" Ms. Turner asks.
"No they were great. I was behind in Transfiguration, but Mr. Ridgeway helped me catch up. In Potions I actually did well." Ron says.
"Was it harder at Hogwarts that you didn't do well?" Ms. Turner asks.
"No, you just couldn't ask the teacher for help or anything. Professor Snape, the potions teacher, was really bias." Ron says.
"Do you want to tell me what happened at your home when Voldemort came?" Ms. Turner asks.
"No madam, it's a long story and I have Herbology in ten minutes, it might take me ten minutes to find the right greenhouse." Ron says uncomfortably.
"Maybe later then. I'll see if you can talk after dinner." Ms. Turner says.
Ron leaves and goes to his locker. He couldn't remember his combination. He dug through his bag and found his schedule.
"All right, 13, 24 35…" Ron tries his combination, but it won't open.
Now he was going to be late. He tried the combination again his fingers were slipping.
After trying five times and not making any progress, Ron turned around in defeat. Now, he would have to get Ms. Turner for help.
Before Ron could take a step however, Derek and Josh were walking toward him.
"Hey, what's up?" Derek asks.
"My locker won't open. I did the combination five times, and it won't open." Ron says.
"Give me your schedule, I'll see what's wrong. Okay, locker 599A. Put in your combination, I'll see what you did wrong." Derek says.
Ron did it again.
"You stopped at the second number. You're supposed to go past it the first time, before stopping." Derek says.
"Oh." Ron says.
"It's cool though. We all make mistakes." Derek says.
Ron opens his locker and gets his Herbology book out.
After Herbology, Ron had Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts. He didn't find any class as interesting as the first two. After dinner, Ron went to the Rec room with the guys avoiding Ms. Turner's office. In the Rec room music was blasting from a radio. Derek was break dancing to the music.
"Talked Mrs. Maloney into letting us have a dance this weekend in honor, of you." Derek says.
Ron remembered the last dance he went to, the Yule Ball. "That's nice of you, but you shouldn't have." Ron says.
"Why not?" Derek asks.
"I don't dance." Ron says.
"You will. Don't worry. We won't let you go out there like a fool." Derek says.
"Well, I'm going to get to bed." Ron says.
"What? Why? What dorm are you in?" Derek asks.
"10." Ron says.
"Mrs. Maloney must've known." Derek says.
Ron assumed Derek shared the dorm too, but didn't say anymore as he went up to his dorm. He was already unpacked. He assumed houseelves did this, but didn't wonder long, as he fell asleep the minute he hit the bed.
The next morning he awoke to his alarm clock. He kicked the covers off of him, and took a shower before changing into his clothes. He went downstairs and got his book for History of Magic out of his locker. He found his History of Magic classroom, just as Derek as walking towards it. "I was wondering where you went." Derek says opening the door.
Unlike Professor Binns, the boring ghost who taught History of Magic at Hogwarts, Mr. O'Connor and Ms. Gable were very much alive and very enthusiastic.
"These are things you have to know that will be on the OWLS. It's not enough to read something, you have to learn it." They said starting up the class. They knew how to hold the class' attention, as Ron found out.
"…Now Emily is being held in a kitchen in China. In a few minutes, she'll end up in a take out bag. This is why they made the law that you must register to be an Animagus. The president of magic, and the minister of magic both couldn't save her, because they don't know she's an Animagus, and she can't turn into a human, because the Chinese muggle would know. What do you do? Emily was forced to turn into her human self, modify the muggle's memory and this caused problems with the Ministry of Magic in England, because that's where she was from... So from that time forward, they made a law for you to register your Animagus form. This way they can know if you're in trouble, if you need help. They can tell you where you should not be for a cat like Emily was you should not be in China in your Animagi form. If you were a dog, you could end up in the pound, or as a muggle's pet. So when you register your Animagus form, they will give you all the precautions that come with your form." Mr. O'Connor says very enthusiastically.
The bell rang.
"For homework read the next chapter of your book, and summarize it. We'll talk about it on Thursday." Ms. Gable says.
The class left for Divination or Arithmancy, whatever they chose. Ron and Derek headed toward Divination.
"What is this teacher like? Is she always predicting somebody's death?" Ron asks.
"No, she hasn't done that. You'll see what she's like." Derek says.
"Is she a phony?" Ron asks.
"No, but she is hard to understand. She's like a Chinese Fortune Cookie the way she speaks in philosophical phrases and such, but once you understand them, she's kind of right." Derek says.
They enter Ms. Langford's classroom. Ms. Langford first gave Ron an eerie feeling. They had tea, and they were supposed to read their future by the color of their smoke.
Derek's smoke turned a grayish blue, while Ron's turned a turquoise blue.
"What does this mean?" Ron whispers flipping through his book, but finding no answers.
"Ms. Langford, what page do you want us to turn to? I don't know how we're supposed to read our futures from colored smoke. Is it like a mood smoke or something?" Derek jokes.
Ms. Langford walks over to their table. "Indigo smoke, are you an Aquarius?" Ms. Langford asks.
"Yea." Derek says.
"Look up your horoscope." Ms. Langford says.
She pulls a seat up next to Ron.
"A Pisces?" Ms. Langford asks.
"Er… yes." Ron says nervously.
Ms. Langford studied him a moment, before smiling. "You are filled with life's most precious treasures…" Ms. Langford says standing up.
"Ms. Lang, what's that?" Derek asks interested.
"Hope." Ms. Langford says.
"What about me? I didn't get my 'words of advice' for the day yet!" Derek says.
"Don't ask, don't say. Everything lies in silence." Ms. Langford teases.
"Hey, you're just trying to get me to shut up." Derek says.
"Wow, you got that after about five seconds… now try and do it." Ms. Langford says.
"I shut up when you spoke." Derek mumbles.
Ron laughs. This Divination teacher was better than Trelawney, though Ron didn't really believe in Divination.
After Divination they went down to lunch, where Ms. Turner approached Ron. "Hey, weren't you supposed to see me last night?" Ms. Turner asks.
"Oh… sorry… I forgot." Ron says.
"It's okay. You can come talk to me when you're finished lunch." Ms. Turner says.
"All right." Ron says. Ron took his time eating and talking to the guys, so by the time he was finished it was time for Care of Magical Creatures.
Their class was held in a zoo. There were two teachers in this class. Mr. and Mrs. Hunter taught it.
They took ten minutes out of the class to interrogate Ron about the animals they learned about at Hogwarts, and asked if he had ever seen the kelpie, which takes shape as a sea serpent, referred to by muggles as the Loch Ness monster. They laughed when Ron told them that the majority of the animals they learned about were any of the dangerous ones. Then the teachers taught the class about Jarveys.
Mr. Hunter faked an Australian accent to sound like the muggle crocodile hunter. It entertained the class as they learned about the overgrown ferret looking creature that could talk like a parrot in short and rude phrases, but didn't have the wit to talk true conversation.
Mrs. Hunter walked into the Jarveys cage and pulled out a Jarvey from the ground.
For homework they were told to read and summarize the chapter about Jarveys.
Ron went inside with the rest of the class and went to the fourth floor where he'd be attending muggle studies. Derek warned Ron that this class was twice as long as any of the other classes, and they usually ate during class.
Ron entered the class and the two teachers greeted him warmly. "A new student? How lovely! I'm Ms. Hoffman, and this is Mr. Levine." Ms. Hoffman says.
"I'm Ron Weasley." Ron says.
"You're not from here, are you? You have an accent." Ms. Hoffman says.
"I'm from England." Ron says.
"Of course you are. What a pleasure it is to have you here… were you required to take muggle studies at your school in England?" Ms. Hoffman says.
"No, it was an option given to us in our third year." Ron says.
"Did you choose it?" Ms. Hoffman asks.
"No." Ron says.
"Well, you haven't missed too much… let's see we have four hours in every muggle studies class. Usually, we watch a movie, or we play a muggle game or sport, we always eat in here. We have muggle food brought up. Let's see, do you know anything about muggles?" Ms. Hoffman asks.
"They use cars, and use eckeltricity, plugs, and use phellytones?" Ron asks knowing he sounded dumb.
Everyone laughed.
"They use electricity, power that runs through wires, which are plugged into the walls. They use telephones to call each other, and they do travel in vehicles, such as cars, trucks, motorcycles. Do you know any muggle sports?" Ms. Hoffman asks.
"Er, a friend of mine is muggleborn. He likes football. A game where they run back and forth kicking a ball in a net." Ron says.
"Yes, football, or soccer as we call the game in America is a muggle sport." Ms. Hoffman writes this on the chalkboard.
"Anymore?" Ms. Hoffman asks.
"No. I come from a long line of wizards." Ron says.
"Who wants to help me out?" Ms. Hoffman asks.
"Basketball." Derek says.
Ms. Hoffman writes this on the board.
"Basketball is a game where there are two teams, and each has their own basket. The team wants to shoot the ball into the basket, but there's defense, on the other time who will try and stop them and give their ball the team." Mr. Levine explains.
They went through a list of sports: American football, hockey, lacrosse, volleyball, baseball, and tennis explaining how each sport worked.
"Now, you have perfect timing joining us today. You are just in time for our next project." Ms. Hoffman says.
All the students groaned.
"Yes a project, oh man, this project will be learning how to play a muggle instrument. Who can tell me what an instrument does?" Mr. Levine asks.
"All the people who are from muggle parentage are exempt from this class." Derek reminds them.
"Right, well you never know. Instruments such as a piano, a keyboard, a flute, a clarinet, a saxophone, a tuba, a horn, a bassoon, a guitar, or the drums make music, and up until Christmas break you are to pick one of these instruments to learn how to play, and then learn how to play." Mr. Levine says.
"Cool, so we got until Christmas just to pick which instrument we want to play? Easy assignment. I'll choose the day before we leave." Derek says.
"Oh, wouldn't you love that Mr. Evans, but no. You must learn how to play one song by Christmas break. Your grade depends on how long and well played the song is. We will be your music teachers. You'll only have eleven required classes to do this. Today we start… we got the 14th, 16th, 21st, Thanksgiving denies classes on the 23rd so you can't learn then… the 28th, the 30th, the 5th, 7th, 12th, 14th, 19th, and on the 21st you must be ready to play a song. We recommend that you sacrifice some weekends to learning." Mr. Levine says.
There was more groaning from the class as they got up and tested each instrument they wanted to try.
Ms. Hoffman and Mr. Levine recommended the keyboard to Ron so he could learn some of the muggle's technology, as it was electronic. The rest of class, they tested their instruments, and watched a movie about muggle music. It was called Mr. Holland's Opus. At six thirty Ms. Hoffman left the class who was sitting on beanbags or lying on the sofa watching Mr. Holland's Opus to go get dinner. When she returned it was seven o'clock, and she had six boxes of delivered pizza in her hands. They ate pizza while they watched the rest of the movie. This was now one of Ron's favorite foods.
They had a four hour break before they had to attend their Astronomy lesson. Luckily, Ms. Turner hadn't come after Ron in that time, because he had no excuse to get out of a meeting with her now. During the four hour break, Ron did some homework and Derek, Dave, Doug, and Josh taught Ron how to dance with the help of Dominique, who Ron thought was very attractive, and she definitely was a great dancer.
They went up on the Widow's walk, and looked through telescopes at the stars. There were telescopes set on certain stars that the class had to identify. Ron didn't think it was that hard, and the rest of the class they were looking for their astrological sign's stars to see how bright they shone. There was a sad side to this though. Ron thought of Padma when he thought of the stars, and because Hermione would always scold him for having another girl tutor him, he thought of Hermione, and he started to feel homesick. Then again he thought it might've been the four pieces of pizza.