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Chapter 10 - Threats and Detentions
N.E.W.T. classes were HARD, Ron thought to himself upon reflection. Ron was taking four N.E.W.T. classes - Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Care of Magical Creatures, and Herbology. It wasn't exactly what he had seen himself doing in the past, but it was definitely satisfactory to Ron. Ron was surprised to find out that he was actually particularly good at Charms, he had even been personally complimented by Flitwick during class. A particularly draining class, though, was Defense Against the Dark Arts. Ron was still miffed as to how he was better at everybody at wandless magic, even Harry. It was exhausting, but it was also Ron's favorite class. The only thing that he didn't like about it was that he didn't get to spend much time with Harry or Hermione in it - the whole class had been paired to other people based on their skill level. Harry was surprisingly paired with Parvati Patil, who was very good at wandless magic, and Hermione with Lavender, neither of whom were very good at it. Ron was paired with Park himself, as he was better than everyone else and the class had an odd number of people. Park would tell Ron everything that they were going to do the next day because Ron would always help Park demonstrate new concepts. Ron smiled to himself as he thought about his first Defense Against the Dark Arts - it was electrifying, wandless magic. And that he could actually do it! Park had taken him outside that first day to ask him to be his personal assistant during class. It was an unofficial thing, but the whole class knew it - Ron was always the one who would be helping everybody else whenever they had trouble.
Today was a crucial day in Defense Against the Dark Arts - as Park had said at the start of the year, it wasn't for everyone. So Park was basically going to tell everyone he thought should continue to continue, and everyone who didn't get recommended would simply not keep going. It was only happening in Defense Against the Dark Arts N.E.W.T.s though, since the fact that they did well in the O.W.L.s didn't really tell anything about the N.E.W.T. because they were so different. Ron grinned to himself and was grateful that he didn't have to worry about not being selected. The general impression in the class that the only obvious choices to stay would be Harry, Parvati, and Ron. Hermione was a total wreck because she was fairly sure that she would not be picked - she simply couldn't do this very well. Ron had offered to help many times, but Hermione always refused. It will do her good to drop a class, though, she's taking too many, Ron mused to himself. Hermione was taking Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Arithmancy, Astronomy, Herbology, Potions, and Charms. It was absolutley ridiculous, and Ron had told her so many times. Harry was taking a load similar to Ron's - Charms, Potions, Transfiguration, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. Of course, he had Prefect Duties along with that, so Ron was by and large alone for much of his free time - although he had very little. Harry had been (predictably) made Captain by McGonagall, and was sticking practices in wherever he could. Ron thought the team had more than a fair shot at the Cup this year - they had him at Keeper, Harry as Seeker, Ginny, Dean, and Parvati at Chasers, and Seamus and Jack Sloper at Beater. It was an extremely strong team other than Sloper, who was simply average, but Seamus was picking up the slack. The first match was today - against Slytherin. Malfoy had been made Captain too this year, and Ron could tell trouble was coming - Malfoy wasn't likely to play fair. The typical terrorizing campaign had started this year, but had quickly fell - all the players on Gryffindor were fifth year or above and were far too smart to be caught by Slytherin's tricks.
"My, you're up early, aren't you?"
Ron turned his head to see Hermione sit down next to him. To be truthful, he had barely gotten any sleep anyway, which was usually the case since the kidnapping but hadn't told anyone. They had probably guessed by now, anyway. Hermione had traditionally been an early riser, but Ron had lately been getting to the breakfast table before her.
"Hey, Hermione. How's it going?"
"Alright. I've decided that it's okay if I get dropped out of Defense Against the Dark Arts - which I'm sure it will be."
"Good, you're taking far too many classes anyway."
Hermione laughed before spotting Harry.
"Harry! What're you doing up so early?"
"I could say the same to you two. My excuse is the Quidditch game today, how about you Hermione? Ron?"
"Harry, what a ridiculous question. You know I'm always up this early - but you should really get your sleep for the game today. I don't know about Ron, though, he was here before me..."
Ron quickly avoided their eyes and muttered "Couldn't sleep..." before digging into his food.
Professor Park stood up from his resting position on the floor.
"Now, I have no need to remind that there is no shame in not being recommended. As you recall, I said that wandless magic is not for everyone a few weeks ago, and that remains the same. This does not make you any less potent of a wizard, it simply means that you are not adept at this particular piece of magic. Magic has hundreds of fields, and this is only one - remember that."
Ron pondered to himself about Professor Park. Park, although slightly intimidating upon first sight, was an extremely principled, powerful wizard who possessed wisdom beyond his twenty-two years. Although outgoing he demanded respect. He was the rare teacher who most students respected, admired, and enjoyed being with. Park could also say "Voldemort" without any trace of fear whatsoever, and Ron wondered if he was in the Order. Probably, Ron decided, but it was curious that he had never seen Park before...
"Alright, I will not waste any more of your time. The following students are recommended to continue - Mr. Weasley, Mr. Potter, Miss Patil - both of them, and Mr. Finnigan. The rest of you are free to come around any time you wish - provided it's not during class time - and I trust I will see you around the school."
Everyone but Ron, Harry, the two Patils and Seamus left the room.
"Alright, you five, now that we've got the cream of the crop we should be able to advance faster than we did previously. Congratulations to all five of you. I'll let you all out early as a reward for making it in."
Everyone nodded and smiled thanks to Park before leaving, Harry rushing off to Luna (now his girlfriend) to tell her about making it in and Seamus talking to the two Patils. Oh well, Ron sighed to himself. Better go find Hermione.
Ron unsurprisingly found her in the library studying Arithmancy.
"Ron! Congratulations on making it in - like everyone knew you would. Why are you out so early?"
"Oh, he let us out early as 'congratulations for making it in'."
"Well that's great! What do you want to do?"
Ron shrugged indecisively.
"I dunno - match of wizard's chess?"
"Alright, let's go to the common room."
Ron and Hermione went up to the Gryffindor Common Room chatting happily.
"So, are you nervous about the big game?"
"Yeah, but I think we'll win."
"Oh yeah, the Slytherins are no match for you guys - I've seen your practices, you guys are really -"
"Well, well if it isn't the Mudblood with Ragtag. You guys the new item, are you? Filthy little disgrace for a pureblood, no wizard with any pride at all would do such a shameful thing -"
"Shut your mouth Malfoy. Hermione's a thousand times more of a girl than you'll ever be."
Malfoy flushed at the obvious implications of Ron's statement as everybody laughed around them. A crowd had begun to gather. around the three of them, with Ron and Malfoy at the center about five feet from each other. Malfoy suddenly whipped out his wand and yelled "Expelliarmus!" and Ron's wand went flying out of his hand, clattering to the ground. Hermione went to go pick it up, but Malfoy was acting too fast, Ron wouldn't be able to block Malfoy's next spell. Malfoy grinned maliciously before yelling out a curse that nobody could hear. It looked nasty, though, and a purple jet started flying towards Ron. Hermione gasped and started to run towards Ron, but Ron was suddenly struck with an idea. He raised his hand and deflected the spell off using wandless magic. Malfoy, caught totally by unawares, was sent flying backwards by the curse and landed on the ground. The curse had obviously lost its effect when Ron blocked it, though, and Malfoy suddenly stood up, livid. He was about to yell out another curse, but was stopped when Park came by.
"MALFOY! FIFTY POINTS OFF SLYTHERIN AND TWO WEEKS DETENTION!"
Malfoy turned around and looked up at the Professor. Park wasn't about to be intimidated, though, and Malfoy quickly turned around, beckoning for Crabbe and Goyle to follow him. He didn't leave before whispering a last threat to Ron, though.
"I'll get you for this, Weasley."
Park turned away after Malfoy had gone away, and slowly the crowd dispersed. Hermione went over to check on Ron.
"Ron! Are you alright, that must have been exhausting, blocking a spell like that!"
"No, I'm fine, Hermione, I'm really fine."
"I hope that was an empty threat at the end there."
"Somehow, I don't think so."
Ron and Hermione went quiet for a minute there, their thoughts obviously both on the upcoming Quidditch game. Ron shrugged suddenly and smiled.
"Oh well, nothing much we can do, is there? We can't prove he did anything to the game until it happens, so how about some chess?"
Hermione was about to nod yes when Harry suddenly came down the hall.
"Hey Ron, I heard that Malfoy's got fifty points off AND two weeks! And that you blocked a spell into him without using your wand."
Ron laughed.
"Yeah, it was hilarious. Too bad you weren't there. Hermione and I are going to the common room, want to come?"
Harry nodded amiably and fell into step with his two best friends.
Sorry, I needed this chapter to end and so I decided that I should just end it before stretching it out too long. Anyway, I thought this was one of my better chapters. Next, the Quidditch match!
Chapter 10 - Threats and Detentions
N.E.W.T. classes were HARD, Ron thought to himself upon reflection. Ron was taking four N.E.W.T. classes - Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Care of Magical Creatures, and Herbology. It wasn't exactly what he had seen himself doing in the past, but it was definitely satisfactory to Ron. Ron was surprised to find out that he was actually particularly good at Charms, he had even been personally complimented by Flitwick during class. A particularly draining class, though, was Defense Against the Dark Arts. Ron was still miffed as to how he was better at everybody at wandless magic, even Harry. It was exhausting, but it was also Ron's favorite class. The only thing that he didn't like about it was that he didn't get to spend much time with Harry or Hermione in it - the whole class had been paired to other people based on their skill level. Harry was surprisingly paired with Parvati Patil, who was very good at wandless magic, and Hermione with Lavender, neither of whom were very good at it. Ron was paired with Park himself, as he was better than everyone else and the class had an odd number of people. Park would tell Ron everything that they were going to do the next day because Ron would always help Park demonstrate new concepts. Ron smiled to himself as he thought about his first Defense Against the Dark Arts - it was electrifying, wandless magic. And that he could actually do it! Park had taken him outside that first day to ask him to be his personal assistant during class. It was an unofficial thing, but the whole class knew it - Ron was always the one who would be helping everybody else whenever they had trouble.
Today was a crucial day in Defense Against the Dark Arts - as Park had said at the start of the year, it wasn't for everyone. So Park was basically going to tell everyone he thought should continue to continue, and everyone who didn't get recommended would simply not keep going. It was only happening in Defense Against the Dark Arts N.E.W.T.s though, since the fact that they did well in the O.W.L.s didn't really tell anything about the N.E.W.T. because they were so different. Ron grinned to himself and was grateful that he didn't have to worry about not being selected. The general impression in the class that the only obvious choices to stay would be Harry, Parvati, and Ron. Hermione was a total wreck because she was fairly sure that she would not be picked - she simply couldn't do this very well. Ron had offered to help many times, but Hermione always refused. It will do her good to drop a class, though, she's taking too many, Ron mused to himself. Hermione was taking Defense Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Arithmancy, Astronomy, Herbology, Potions, and Charms. It was absolutley ridiculous, and Ron had told her so many times. Harry was taking a load similar to Ron's - Charms, Potions, Transfiguration, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. Of course, he had Prefect Duties along with that, so Ron was by and large alone for much of his free time - although he had very little. Harry had been (predictably) made Captain by McGonagall, and was sticking practices in wherever he could. Ron thought the team had more than a fair shot at the Cup this year - they had him at Keeper, Harry as Seeker, Ginny, Dean, and Parvati at Chasers, and Seamus and Jack Sloper at Beater. It was an extremely strong team other than Sloper, who was simply average, but Seamus was picking up the slack. The first match was today - against Slytherin. Malfoy had been made Captain too this year, and Ron could tell trouble was coming - Malfoy wasn't likely to play fair. The typical terrorizing campaign had started this year, but had quickly fell - all the players on Gryffindor were fifth year or above and were far too smart to be caught by Slytherin's tricks.
"My, you're up early, aren't you?"
Ron turned his head to see Hermione sit down next to him. To be truthful, he had barely gotten any sleep anyway, which was usually the case since the kidnapping but hadn't told anyone. They had probably guessed by now, anyway. Hermione had traditionally been an early riser, but Ron had lately been getting to the breakfast table before her.
"Hey, Hermione. How's it going?"
"Alright. I've decided that it's okay if I get dropped out of Defense Against the Dark Arts - which I'm sure it will be."
"Good, you're taking far too many classes anyway."
Hermione laughed before spotting Harry.
"Harry! What're you doing up so early?"
"I could say the same to you two. My excuse is the Quidditch game today, how about you Hermione? Ron?"
"Harry, what a ridiculous question. You know I'm always up this early - but you should really get your sleep for the game today. I don't know about Ron, though, he was here before me..."
Ron quickly avoided their eyes and muttered "Couldn't sleep..." before digging into his food.
Professor Park stood up from his resting position on the floor.
"Now, I have no need to remind that there is no shame in not being recommended. As you recall, I said that wandless magic is not for everyone a few weeks ago, and that remains the same. This does not make you any less potent of a wizard, it simply means that you are not adept at this particular piece of magic. Magic has hundreds of fields, and this is only one - remember that."
Ron pondered to himself about Professor Park. Park, although slightly intimidating upon first sight, was an extremely principled, powerful wizard who possessed wisdom beyond his twenty-two years. Although outgoing he demanded respect. He was the rare teacher who most students respected, admired, and enjoyed being with. Park could also say "Voldemort" without any trace of fear whatsoever, and Ron wondered if he was in the Order. Probably, Ron decided, but it was curious that he had never seen Park before...
"Alright, I will not waste any more of your time. The following students are recommended to continue - Mr. Weasley, Mr. Potter, Miss Patil - both of them, and Mr. Finnigan. The rest of you are free to come around any time you wish - provided it's not during class time - and I trust I will see you around the school."
Everyone but Ron, Harry, the two Patils and Seamus left the room.
"Alright, you five, now that we've got the cream of the crop we should be able to advance faster than we did previously. Congratulations to all five of you. I'll let you all out early as a reward for making it in."
Everyone nodded and smiled thanks to Park before leaving, Harry rushing off to Luna (now his girlfriend) to tell her about making it in and Seamus talking to the two Patils. Oh well, Ron sighed to himself. Better go find Hermione.
Ron unsurprisingly found her in the library studying Arithmancy.
"Ron! Congratulations on making it in - like everyone knew you would. Why are you out so early?"
"Oh, he let us out early as 'congratulations for making it in'."
"Well that's great! What do you want to do?"
Ron shrugged indecisively.
"I dunno - match of wizard's chess?"
"Alright, let's go to the common room."
Ron and Hermione went up to the Gryffindor Common Room chatting happily.
"So, are you nervous about the big game?"
"Yeah, but I think we'll win."
"Oh yeah, the Slytherins are no match for you guys - I've seen your practices, you guys are really -"
"Well, well if it isn't the Mudblood with Ragtag. You guys the new item, are you? Filthy little disgrace for a pureblood, no wizard with any pride at all would do such a shameful thing -"
"Shut your mouth Malfoy. Hermione's a thousand times more of a girl than you'll ever be."
Malfoy flushed at the obvious implications of Ron's statement as everybody laughed around them. A crowd had begun to gather. around the three of them, with Ron and Malfoy at the center about five feet from each other. Malfoy suddenly whipped out his wand and yelled "Expelliarmus!" and Ron's wand went flying out of his hand, clattering to the ground. Hermione went to go pick it up, but Malfoy was acting too fast, Ron wouldn't be able to block Malfoy's next spell. Malfoy grinned maliciously before yelling out a curse that nobody could hear. It looked nasty, though, and a purple jet started flying towards Ron. Hermione gasped and started to run towards Ron, but Ron was suddenly struck with an idea. He raised his hand and deflected the spell off using wandless magic. Malfoy, caught totally by unawares, was sent flying backwards by the curse and landed on the ground. The curse had obviously lost its effect when Ron blocked it, though, and Malfoy suddenly stood up, livid. He was about to yell out another curse, but was stopped when Park came by.
"MALFOY! FIFTY POINTS OFF SLYTHERIN AND TWO WEEKS DETENTION!"
Malfoy turned around and looked up at the Professor. Park wasn't about to be intimidated, though, and Malfoy quickly turned around, beckoning for Crabbe and Goyle to follow him. He didn't leave before whispering a last threat to Ron, though.
"I'll get you for this, Weasley."
Park turned away after Malfoy had gone away, and slowly the crowd dispersed. Hermione went over to check on Ron.
"Ron! Are you alright, that must have been exhausting, blocking a spell like that!"
"No, I'm fine, Hermione, I'm really fine."
"I hope that was an empty threat at the end there."
"Somehow, I don't think so."
Ron and Hermione went quiet for a minute there, their thoughts obviously both on the upcoming Quidditch game. Ron shrugged suddenly and smiled.
"Oh well, nothing much we can do, is there? We can't prove he did anything to the game until it happens, so how about some chess?"
Hermione was about to nod yes when Harry suddenly came down the hall.
"Hey Ron, I heard that Malfoy's got fifty points off AND two weeks! And that you blocked a spell into him without using your wand."
Ron laughed.
"Yeah, it was hilarious. Too bad you weren't there. Hermione and I are going to the common room, want to come?"
Harry nodded amiably and fell into step with his two best friends.
Sorry, I needed this chapter to end and so I decided that I should just end it before stretching it out too long. Anyway, I thought this was one of my better chapters. Next, the Quidditch match!