Author's note: My apologies.. when I was writing the previous chapters I
could not, for the life of me, remember what the Gryffindor hang out place
was.. the lounge (shakes head) I just remembered it's called the COMMON
ROOM! Hello!!!! *smacks forehead* Anyway, thought I'd bring that to your
attention, not that you noticed anyway, right?
P.S. Me no own Harry Potter stuff.
Now on to: Headache, Quidditch, Breakfast, and Death
Ron was rudely awakened by someone shoving him.
"Ron....(shove)" No response. "Ron! (harder shove)" The red head groaned.
"What?" Ron cracked his peepers open in his dark dormitory room. "Stop shoving me!"
"Ron, we've got Quidditch practice, remember?" Harry was hovering over his friend, dark hair a frightful mess, half dressed, and glasses askew. It looked like he had just rolled out of bed, which he HAD.
"What are you talking about?" Ron sat up slowly and immediately his head began to swim. He reached out to grab onto something, but only grabbed air. Why was the room spinning? Harry sighed, exasperated.
"Five-thirty Quidditch practice, remember? You asked me last night, and I, like an idiot, said yes." Harry yawned loudly. "Get up, already! I'm going to fall asleep on my feet."
Ron was confused. He vaguely remembered talking to Harry and feeling unexplainably happy. Ron grabbed his head, willing it to stop spinning.
"What do you mean, I asked you to do five-thirty Quidditch practice? Me? Are you sure it was me?"
"Yes!" Harry's patience was growing thin. "Are you coming or not? If not, I'm going back to bed." Ron shook his head, which was a big mistake. He groaned.
"No, no. We're up already. Might as well." What he really wanted to say was that he felt like he was going to be sick and to forget Quidditch. Instead he stood up and slowly started to change. Harry watched his friend, skeptically.
"Are you all right? You didn't seem like yourself last night."
Slowly images were coming back to Ron. Hating Harry (which he was starting to feel guilty for), eating meat pies, feeling extremely happy and confident, being downstairs and practically snogging the new girl. Whoa, what?! Ron froze in the middle of pulling his shirt on. He spun around to look at Harry. Another big mistake. His head was a few seconds slow in spinning with him and he almost fell over.
"Harry, what exactly happened last night?" He finished getting dressed as his friend gave him a strange look.
"Well, you left supper early, and later I came in here to ask if everything was all right. You were uh... strangely happy. Not that you're never happy, but it just wasn't YOU. Anyway, you said you were going downstairs to the common room and the last I checked you were throwing yourself all over that new girl, Lydia." Ron grabbed his broom and quaffle. Harry sighed.
"You're serious about going out there?"
"Yeah, yeah, let's go," Ron said impatiently. He was deep in thought as they left the Gryffindor tower and left the castle for the Quidditch grounds.
Harry yawned the whole way. He hoped that whatever was eating Ron would hurry and resolve itself so he could go back to bed as soon as possible. He'd somehow managed to weasel his uncle into letting him go off to Quidditch Camp for the remainder of the summer before school and felt very much up to par. He would have preferred to sleep in the first day of classes. But alas, what are good friends for?
Ron in the meantime was trying to sort out last night's events in his mind. Everything was so fuzzy. But WHY? He had a sneaky suspicion it had something to do with the meat pies.
"Ginny!" He suddenly yelled loudly, making Harry jump.
"What?" Harry scratched his cheek again. They sure were itchy.
"Ginny put a potion in my meat pies! I bet Hermione was in on it too. They were laughing at me last night."
"Oh. Okay."
"Are you saying you didn't know anything about it?" Ron asked. They had arrived at the Qudditch field and started stretching.
"Um..." Harry thought hard. He couldn't remember overhearing anything. "No, I think I was a little pre-occupied." Ron frowned at this. Harry saw this and grabbed the quaffle.
"So, what did you want to practice?" He bounced the ball easily from one hand to the other. Ron shrugged, suddenly feeling unnerved. A little sneaking thought entered his mind. "Super Seeker Harry wants to help you. You're the lousiest one on the team and an embarrassment as a friend. Why else would he bother getting up so early if he didn't want to be seen with you?" Ron shook his head to get rid of the thought.
"Uh, I was needing some work on blocking. Fred said I was getting better, but I was off by a second."
"Okay. Fly on up."
Ron mounted his broom and shoved off. The cool early morning air whistled through his hair. The sky was a lightening shade of blue patched with dark, thick clouds. He closed his eyes. For one brief moment he felt free. He reluctantly opened his eyes and found the goals at the end of the pitch. Harry flew up, (on his much faster broom) and yelled,
"Are you ready?"
"Yeah!" Ron did not feel ready. His thoughts were suddenly on Ginny and Hermione and the meat pies. Then suddenly his mind turned to that new girl... what was her name, Lydia? His cheeks were just flushing pink as he remembered how close he had been to her, his arm nonchalantly draped on the couch nearly touching her shoulders when the quaffle was suddenly flying at him. Ron lunged as hard as he could, but the ball went in the hoop. Ron smacked his broomstick. "I wasn't ready!"
Harry had dived to catch the quaffle and come back up.
"But you said you were!"
"Well, I wasn't!" Ron shouted back grouchily. Harry was a little taken aback.
"All right, well let me know when you're absolutely ready! You know it's not going to be like this in the game! You need to be on your toes every second." Ron growled. Harry was telling him what to do yet AGAIN.
"I know that! It's not like I haven't played before!"
"Are you ready now?" Harry asked, trying to keep his temper. Ron was really starting to get impossible. Ron breathed deeply.
"Yes!" but he wasn't really. Yet again, Lydia's face appeared in his mind's eye, impossibly close. Her blue eyes were sparkling in the firelight. She was saying something; smiling, laughing, touching his arm. He could almost feel her warm hand on his skin- WHAM! The quaffle slammed into his forehead. Ron had to grab onto his broomstick to keep from falling off.
"What the- Ron, what happened?! I aimed that right at you!" Harry flew up to his friend who was pressing his fist to his forehead, trying to keep his eyes from watering.
"Yes, I KNOW! I almost felt it as it NEARLY KNOCKED MY HEAD OFF!" Ron finished with a yell.
"You don't have to yell, Ron, I'm right in front of you."
"I do too have to yell, because my head is throbbing and it's all your fault!"
"MY fault? You said you were ready TWICE and you weren't. And it was your idea to come out here in the first place. Maybe if you had practiced more in the summer, you wouldn't have to be dragging your friends, who DID practice, out at some insane hour of the morning!" Ron's fist dropped, revealing a bright red spot, his jaw slack in shock. That had cut right to the heart and it showed in Ron's eyes. Just then it started raining. It went unnoticed, however, between the two boys.
"I can't believe you just said that. What kind of a friend are you? You KNEW that I practiced all summer! Couldn't you have helped me instead of going off to some fancy, snotty quidditch camp?" Harry shook his head.
"Don't be blaming your lack of talent on ME." Harry said nastily. Ron's jaw clenched at the words and his face turned a dangerous shade of red. The spot on his forehead started to throb visibly. (eeewwww, but I had to write it!)
"Forget it," he said quietly. "Forget practice, and FORGET YOU!" He flew down to the ground, but was passed up by a much faster Harry, which made him even MORE furious. They stomped off the field (not speaking), into the castle (not speaking), and up to the Gryffindor tower... well you get the idea. This wedge in their friendship was not going to go away so easily.
Ron threw himself on his bed, drenched clothes and all, but when Harry entered the room, Ron picked himself up and went downstairs to the common room. He put a few lumps of coal on the fire and curled up on the sofa. He stared at the growing flame, shivering and feeling miserable. What had just happened? One day at Hogwarts and his life was an even bigger mess than when he'd got here! Thoughts swirled around and around in his head. He needed to remember to chew Ginny and Hermione out for messing with his food. But what for? Hadn't they done him a favor?? He rubbed his sore head, trying to remember.
Lydia was so beautiful with her freckled nose, glittering sapphire eyes and shy smile. He remembered cracking some joke and she had actually laughed at him! It hadn't been a fake laugh either. He smiled slightly and nestled into the squishy couch cushions. He had been so confident, so carefree.
The next thing Ron knew, he was surrounded by people talking on their way out of the common room.
"Hey, Ron, are you coming to breakfast?" Ginny stood with Lydia looking at him and both of them had very puzzled looks on their faces.
"Did you sleep out here all night?" Lydia asked worriedly. Ron sat up confused and groggy. His wet hair had dried all smashed up to the side, there was a huge red welt the shape of a quaffle on his forehead, and he had some dried drool on his chin. (Gosh I feel SO BAD for him! HA!) On top of this one side of his clothes were still damp and very, very wrinkled.
"Uh, what? No, no. I just fell asleep out here, that's all. Breakfast did you say? Yeah, sure." He was apparently unaware of his appearance. Ginny stifled a giggle unsuccessfully. It wasn't until Hermione walked by that she stopped and rolled her eyes.
"Really, Ginny. You were going to let him go downstairs like THAT?" She pulled Ron to his feet, still a little confused, and marched him to his room. "You need to wash your face, do something with your hair, and change your clothes," she stated matter-of-factly. "What in the world did you DO to yourself?" Ron shook his head sadly.
"For some unknown reason I asked Harry to go to 5:30 Quidditch practice this morning under the influence of some strange potion..." at this he gave her a dark look. She feigned innocence. "I woke up feeling sicker than I ever have with some vague memories of flirting with the new girl, went to practice Quidditch, got a quaffle in the head, got insanely angry, and now Harry and I aren't speaking." Hermione sighed.
"Oh, Ron. I'm sorry to hear about you and Harry. I hope it's nothing that I did. The potion was supposed to help not -" she caught herself, but not in time. Ron gave her a dark, suspicious glare. She smiled nervously. "Look, I'll wait in the common room with the girls. Don't take too long. We're hungry." She made a quick exit and Ron spiffied himself up the best he could, mumbling about meddling friends.
Sure, he had had a good night. It was obvious since that Lydia girl was actually talking to him of her own free will. But if there was anything close to a relapse from the potion, this morning sure was it. He finished up, grateful Harry wasn't there to annoy him further, and trudged down to meet the girls, depression setting in. What else did this lousy day have in store?
Ron was silent as they walked downstairs. He tried to make an effort to smile at Lydia who was making her best attempts at conversation, but Ron just wasn't even close to being as happy and confident from the night before. Lydia eventually gave up and joined in with Hermione and Ginny and Ron was left lagging behind.
They reached the crowded, noisy dining hall (oh crud.. is it the dining hall or the great hall???? I'm so confused! I know this stuff! Arrg) and took a seat all together at the Gryffindor table. As a last valiant effort Lydia sat next to Ron, quite close in fact, to the point where their knees almost touched. Ron blushed slightly noticing this. Ron noticed Harry sitting at the far end of the Gryffindor table with a bunch of girls and found himself scowling. Lydia cleared her throat. She and Ginny had been filled in about Ron and Harry's not speaking to one another.
"So, Ron, do you think they have any spots open on the team? I was thinking of trying out." Ron didn't react right away.
"What? Oh, um, I don't know." Lydia frowned. They served themselves and started eating. Ron was grateful for the silence. He was, however, very watchful over his food. He spent the whole meal eyeing his sister and Hermione who only sighed and rolled their eyes at each other.
Just as Ron was starting to cheer up somewhat from having some decent, untouched food in his stomach, Harry walked by. He winked at Lydia, making sure Ron was watching. Lydia flushed and smiled politely but didn't make much of it. Ron however snapped.
"What was that??" He asked to no one in particular. Harry was smart enough to walk faster until he was out of danger. Lydia took the comment to be directed at her.
"What was what?"
"You smiled at that jerk!" She frowned, her forehead furrowing.
"So? I was just being nice. It's not like we're going steady! I can smile at whomever I want to!" Her voice started to rise, making Hermione and Ginny's eyes widen in surprise. They hadn't seen this side of the new girl yet. Ron, however, wasn't to be put off.
"Well, do you want to?"
"Want to what?"
"Go steady!" Lydia shook her head in disgust. By this time their argument had gotten the attention of the surrounding tables.
"You know what, Ron? You're not the person I thought you were. What happened to the guy that I met last night?"
"Well, that guy doesn't exist! Someone poisoned me and made me temporarily pleasant! So sue me!" Ron scowled. That had NOT come out the way he had intended it to. Realizing this he stood up, ready to leave. He turned around and was immediately confronted with Draco pointing and laughing at him from the Slytherin table.
Ron walked away before he could even think of doing something violent. This was not right. Not at all. Why did all this have to happen to HIM?
He walked out of the great hall, unsure of where to go. He decided on going outside before classes. He needed some fresh air. Just as he was passing the staircase, Professor Trelawney passed him, late to breakfast. She stopped suddenly, going rigid and turned around.
"You!" She screeched. Ron stopped and hung his head. What now? He turned to face her.
"Yes, ma'am?" He tried to remain pleasant, but he had to work really hard at it. She stretched her trembling hand out to him. She had a funny glazed look in her eyes.
"You," she whispered hoarsely. "You must heed me! The decision is not what you think it is! Beware!! Beware of the chocolate frog!!!" Her voice quavered on the last syllable, and suddenly rose to a high pitch. "Beware! Beware!!! The chocolate frog brings DEATH!" Then suddenly she shuddered and blinked. "Oh, hello, young man. Just coming from breakfast?" She leaned forward confidentially. "Were the scrambled eggs slimy?" Ron stared at her strangely, a little put off.
"Uh, yeah they kind of were." The old woman clapped her delicate hands together in delight. "Ooooh, goody!" and she practically skipped off to the great hall.
Ron gazed after her, in shock. What had she just said? Beware of the chocolate FROG? That old hag was getting battier every year! At that moment the bell rang and students poured into the hall, where Ron was standing, on their way to classes. He was suddenly surrounded by dozens of chattering students. There might as well have been a million. Ron suddenly felt closed in and started to panic. He glimpsed Draco sauntering by whistling "Weasley is Our King". Harry flashed by, scowling at him. Ginny, Hermione, and Lydia passed, shaking their heads in disgust. The room was spinning and spinning and spinning. Ron felt like his head would explode.
It was then he snapped.
Ron was rudely awakened by someone shoving him.
"Ron....(shove)" No response. "Ron! (harder shove)" The red head groaned.
"What?" Ron cracked his peepers open in his dark dormitory room. "Stop shoving me!"
"Ron, we've got Quidditch practice, remember?" Harry was hovering over his friend, dark hair a frightful mess, half dressed, and glasses askew. It looked like he had just rolled out of bed, which he HAD.
"What are you talking about?" Ron sat up slowly and immediately his head began to swim. He reached out to grab onto something, but only grabbed air. Why was the room spinning? Harry sighed, exasperated.
"Five-thirty Quidditch practice, remember? You asked me last night, and I, like an idiot, said yes." Harry yawned loudly. "Get up, already! I'm going to fall asleep on my feet."
Ron was confused. He vaguely remembered talking to Harry and feeling unexplainably happy. Ron grabbed his head, willing it to stop spinning.
"What do you mean, I asked you to do five-thirty Quidditch practice? Me? Are you sure it was me?"
"Yes!" Harry's patience was growing thin. "Are you coming or not? If not, I'm going back to bed." Ron shook his head, which was a big mistake. He groaned.
"No, no. We're up already. Might as well." What he really wanted to say was that he felt like he was going to be sick and to forget Quidditch. Instead he stood up and slowly started to change. Harry watched his friend, skeptically.
"Are you all right? You didn't seem like yourself last night."
Slowly images were coming back to Ron. Hating Harry (which he was starting to feel guilty for), eating meat pies, feeling extremely happy and confident, being downstairs and practically snogging the new girl. Whoa, what?! Ron froze in the middle of pulling his shirt on. He spun around to look at Harry. Another big mistake. His head was a few seconds slow in spinning with him and he almost fell over.
"Harry, what exactly happened last night?" He finished getting dressed as his friend gave him a strange look.
"Well, you left supper early, and later I came in here to ask if everything was all right. You were uh... strangely happy. Not that you're never happy, but it just wasn't YOU. Anyway, you said you were going downstairs to the common room and the last I checked you were throwing yourself all over that new girl, Lydia." Ron grabbed his broom and quaffle. Harry sighed.
"You're serious about going out there?"
"Yeah, yeah, let's go," Ron said impatiently. He was deep in thought as they left the Gryffindor tower and left the castle for the Quidditch grounds.
Harry yawned the whole way. He hoped that whatever was eating Ron would hurry and resolve itself so he could go back to bed as soon as possible. He'd somehow managed to weasel his uncle into letting him go off to Quidditch Camp for the remainder of the summer before school and felt very much up to par. He would have preferred to sleep in the first day of classes. But alas, what are good friends for?
Ron in the meantime was trying to sort out last night's events in his mind. Everything was so fuzzy. But WHY? He had a sneaky suspicion it had something to do with the meat pies.
"Ginny!" He suddenly yelled loudly, making Harry jump.
"What?" Harry scratched his cheek again. They sure were itchy.
"Ginny put a potion in my meat pies! I bet Hermione was in on it too. They were laughing at me last night."
"Oh. Okay."
"Are you saying you didn't know anything about it?" Ron asked. They had arrived at the Qudditch field and started stretching.
"Um..." Harry thought hard. He couldn't remember overhearing anything. "No, I think I was a little pre-occupied." Ron frowned at this. Harry saw this and grabbed the quaffle.
"So, what did you want to practice?" He bounced the ball easily from one hand to the other. Ron shrugged, suddenly feeling unnerved. A little sneaking thought entered his mind. "Super Seeker Harry wants to help you. You're the lousiest one on the team and an embarrassment as a friend. Why else would he bother getting up so early if he didn't want to be seen with you?" Ron shook his head to get rid of the thought.
"Uh, I was needing some work on blocking. Fred said I was getting better, but I was off by a second."
"Okay. Fly on up."
Ron mounted his broom and shoved off. The cool early morning air whistled through his hair. The sky was a lightening shade of blue patched with dark, thick clouds. He closed his eyes. For one brief moment he felt free. He reluctantly opened his eyes and found the goals at the end of the pitch. Harry flew up, (on his much faster broom) and yelled,
"Are you ready?"
"Yeah!" Ron did not feel ready. His thoughts were suddenly on Ginny and Hermione and the meat pies. Then suddenly his mind turned to that new girl... what was her name, Lydia? His cheeks were just flushing pink as he remembered how close he had been to her, his arm nonchalantly draped on the couch nearly touching her shoulders when the quaffle was suddenly flying at him. Ron lunged as hard as he could, but the ball went in the hoop. Ron smacked his broomstick. "I wasn't ready!"
Harry had dived to catch the quaffle and come back up.
"But you said you were!"
"Well, I wasn't!" Ron shouted back grouchily. Harry was a little taken aback.
"All right, well let me know when you're absolutely ready! You know it's not going to be like this in the game! You need to be on your toes every second." Ron growled. Harry was telling him what to do yet AGAIN.
"I know that! It's not like I haven't played before!"
"Are you ready now?" Harry asked, trying to keep his temper. Ron was really starting to get impossible. Ron breathed deeply.
"Yes!" but he wasn't really. Yet again, Lydia's face appeared in his mind's eye, impossibly close. Her blue eyes were sparkling in the firelight. She was saying something; smiling, laughing, touching his arm. He could almost feel her warm hand on his skin- WHAM! The quaffle slammed into his forehead. Ron had to grab onto his broomstick to keep from falling off.
"What the- Ron, what happened?! I aimed that right at you!" Harry flew up to his friend who was pressing his fist to his forehead, trying to keep his eyes from watering.
"Yes, I KNOW! I almost felt it as it NEARLY KNOCKED MY HEAD OFF!" Ron finished with a yell.
"You don't have to yell, Ron, I'm right in front of you."
"I do too have to yell, because my head is throbbing and it's all your fault!"
"MY fault? You said you were ready TWICE and you weren't. And it was your idea to come out here in the first place. Maybe if you had practiced more in the summer, you wouldn't have to be dragging your friends, who DID practice, out at some insane hour of the morning!" Ron's fist dropped, revealing a bright red spot, his jaw slack in shock. That had cut right to the heart and it showed in Ron's eyes. Just then it started raining. It went unnoticed, however, between the two boys.
"I can't believe you just said that. What kind of a friend are you? You KNEW that I practiced all summer! Couldn't you have helped me instead of going off to some fancy, snotty quidditch camp?" Harry shook his head.
"Don't be blaming your lack of talent on ME." Harry said nastily. Ron's jaw clenched at the words and his face turned a dangerous shade of red. The spot on his forehead started to throb visibly. (eeewwww, but I had to write it!)
"Forget it," he said quietly. "Forget practice, and FORGET YOU!" He flew down to the ground, but was passed up by a much faster Harry, which made him even MORE furious. They stomped off the field (not speaking), into the castle (not speaking), and up to the Gryffindor tower... well you get the idea. This wedge in their friendship was not going to go away so easily.
Ron threw himself on his bed, drenched clothes and all, but when Harry entered the room, Ron picked himself up and went downstairs to the common room. He put a few lumps of coal on the fire and curled up on the sofa. He stared at the growing flame, shivering and feeling miserable. What had just happened? One day at Hogwarts and his life was an even bigger mess than when he'd got here! Thoughts swirled around and around in his head. He needed to remember to chew Ginny and Hermione out for messing with his food. But what for? Hadn't they done him a favor?? He rubbed his sore head, trying to remember.
Lydia was so beautiful with her freckled nose, glittering sapphire eyes and shy smile. He remembered cracking some joke and she had actually laughed at him! It hadn't been a fake laugh either. He smiled slightly and nestled into the squishy couch cushions. He had been so confident, so carefree.
The next thing Ron knew, he was surrounded by people talking on their way out of the common room.
"Hey, Ron, are you coming to breakfast?" Ginny stood with Lydia looking at him and both of them had very puzzled looks on their faces.
"Did you sleep out here all night?" Lydia asked worriedly. Ron sat up confused and groggy. His wet hair had dried all smashed up to the side, there was a huge red welt the shape of a quaffle on his forehead, and he had some dried drool on his chin. (Gosh I feel SO BAD for him! HA!) On top of this one side of his clothes were still damp and very, very wrinkled.
"Uh, what? No, no. I just fell asleep out here, that's all. Breakfast did you say? Yeah, sure." He was apparently unaware of his appearance. Ginny stifled a giggle unsuccessfully. It wasn't until Hermione walked by that she stopped and rolled her eyes.
"Really, Ginny. You were going to let him go downstairs like THAT?" She pulled Ron to his feet, still a little confused, and marched him to his room. "You need to wash your face, do something with your hair, and change your clothes," she stated matter-of-factly. "What in the world did you DO to yourself?" Ron shook his head sadly.
"For some unknown reason I asked Harry to go to 5:30 Quidditch practice this morning under the influence of some strange potion..." at this he gave her a dark look. She feigned innocence. "I woke up feeling sicker than I ever have with some vague memories of flirting with the new girl, went to practice Quidditch, got a quaffle in the head, got insanely angry, and now Harry and I aren't speaking." Hermione sighed.
"Oh, Ron. I'm sorry to hear about you and Harry. I hope it's nothing that I did. The potion was supposed to help not -" she caught herself, but not in time. Ron gave her a dark, suspicious glare. She smiled nervously. "Look, I'll wait in the common room with the girls. Don't take too long. We're hungry." She made a quick exit and Ron spiffied himself up the best he could, mumbling about meddling friends.
Sure, he had had a good night. It was obvious since that Lydia girl was actually talking to him of her own free will. But if there was anything close to a relapse from the potion, this morning sure was it. He finished up, grateful Harry wasn't there to annoy him further, and trudged down to meet the girls, depression setting in. What else did this lousy day have in store?
Ron was silent as they walked downstairs. He tried to make an effort to smile at Lydia who was making her best attempts at conversation, but Ron just wasn't even close to being as happy and confident from the night before. Lydia eventually gave up and joined in with Hermione and Ginny and Ron was left lagging behind.
They reached the crowded, noisy dining hall (oh crud.. is it the dining hall or the great hall???? I'm so confused! I know this stuff! Arrg) and took a seat all together at the Gryffindor table. As a last valiant effort Lydia sat next to Ron, quite close in fact, to the point where their knees almost touched. Ron blushed slightly noticing this. Ron noticed Harry sitting at the far end of the Gryffindor table with a bunch of girls and found himself scowling. Lydia cleared her throat. She and Ginny had been filled in about Ron and Harry's not speaking to one another.
"So, Ron, do you think they have any spots open on the team? I was thinking of trying out." Ron didn't react right away.
"What? Oh, um, I don't know." Lydia frowned. They served themselves and started eating. Ron was grateful for the silence. He was, however, very watchful over his food. He spent the whole meal eyeing his sister and Hermione who only sighed and rolled their eyes at each other.
Just as Ron was starting to cheer up somewhat from having some decent, untouched food in his stomach, Harry walked by. He winked at Lydia, making sure Ron was watching. Lydia flushed and smiled politely but didn't make much of it. Ron however snapped.
"What was that??" He asked to no one in particular. Harry was smart enough to walk faster until he was out of danger. Lydia took the comment to be directed at her.
"What was what?"
"You smiled at that jerk!" She frowned, her forehead furrowing.
"So? I was just being nice. It's not like we're going steady! I can smile at whomever I want to!" Her voice started to rise, making Hermione and Ginny's eyes widen in surprise. They hadn't seen this side of the new girl yet. Ron, however, wasn't to be put off.
"Well, do you want to?"
"Want to what?"
"Go steady!" Lydia shook her head in disgust. By this time their argument had gotten the attention of the surrounding tables.
"You know what, Ron? You're not the person I thought you were. What happened to the guy that I met last night?"
"Well, that guy doesn't exist! Someone poisoned me and made me temporarily pleasant! So sue me!" Ron scowled. That had NOT come out the way he had intended it to. Realizing this he stood up, ready to leave. He turned around and was immediately confronted with Draco pointing and laughing at him from the Slytherin table.
Ron walked away before he could even think of doing something violent. This was not right. Not at all. Why did all this have to happen to HIM?
He walked out of the great hall, unsure of where to go. He decided on going outside before classes. He needed some fresh air. Just as he was passing the staircase, Professor Trelawney passed him, late to breakfast. She stopped suddenly, going rigid and turned around.
"You!" She screeched. Ron stopped and hung his head. What now? He turned to face her.
"Yes, ma'am?" He tried to remain pleasant, but he had to work really hard at it. She stretched her trembling hand out to him. She had a funny glazed look in her eyes.
"You," she whispered hoarsely. "You must heed me! The decision is not what you think it is! Beware!! Beware of the chocolate frog!!!" Her voice quavered on the last syllable, and suddenly rose to a high pitch. "Beware! Beware!!! The chocolate frog brings DEATH!" Then suddenly she shuddered and blinked. "Oh, hello, young man. Just coming from breakfast?" She leaned forward confidentially. "Were the scrambled eggs slimy?" Ron stared at her strangely, a little put off.
"Uh, yeah they kind of were." The old woman clapped her delicate hands together in delight. "Ooooh, goody!" and she practically skipped off to the great hall.
Ron gazed after her, in shock. What had she just said? Beware of the chocolate FROG? That old hag was getting battier every year! At that moment the bell rang and students poured into the hall, where Ron was standing, on their way to classes. He was suddenly surrounded by dozens of chattering students. There might as well have been a million. Ron suddenly felt closed in and started to panic. He glimpsed Draco sauntering by whistling "Weasley is Our King". Harry flashed by, scowling at him. Ginny, Hermione, and Lydia passed, shaking their heads in disgust. The room was spinning and spinning and spinning. Ron felt like his head would explode.
It was then he snapped.