Chapter 12

Harry lay in the Hospital Wing and sighed. He felt extremely neglected. No one had bothered to visit him! Only Ginny and her friends did, but that was because of the love potion. Hermione did drop in for about two minutes, but Harry wanted to see Ron. Ron wasn't boring like Hermione. Harry was planning to confess to Ron about the love potion, before Peeves did something horrible with it. However, Ron had come in yet. Hagrid did not either.Harry resented them for that andvowed to remember it forever, so that if one day Ron were to lie dying at his feet and begging for help, Harry could bring up this moment. Then Ron would die, consumed by guilt. Sweet vengeance!Harry looked at the clock. Visiting hours were over. No one had sent him any chocolate today, or any other sweets. Harry expected more, him being the Chosen One and all, but he was sadly disappointed. The poor boy had been utterly forsaken! Harry needed to see Ron NOW or else he would die from anxiety. He wanted to tell Ron about the potion as soon as possible!This love potion business was extremely urgent! Who knew… it could be too late by now…

Suddenly, the door burst open! Sound erupted into the Hospital Wing! A crowd, headed by a violently redheaded person, tumbled in. The mob was singing uproariously to—could it be—"Weasley is Our King"!

"Hey Harry!" grinned Ron, smirking slightly. His face was pink and his hair was extremely mussed. Parts of his robes were slightly torn as well.

"Wha--?" yelled Harry bewilderedly. "Aren't visiting hours over?"

"Well mate," replied Ron, "I got a signed note from Professor McGonagall, Hagrid, Professor Slughorn, Professor Flitwick, Professor Sprout, and Professor Sinistra. Except I had to give them each a signature of my own of course."

Harry still could not fully comprehend what Ron was saying.

"Er… all those teachers gave you a signed note just to see me?" puzzled Harry.

"Hey, I don't know why! But you should have seen them! They were all clambering over each other just to hand the note to me first!" Ron shrugged his shoulders indifferently and grinned at Harry again. The crowd behind him was pressing in rather close, and Harry was beginning to feel dizzy. He hoped Madame Pomfrey would come and shoo them out. Then, it dawned on Harry. It was the love potion!

"Ron, could I speak to you privately for a minute?" muttered Harry out of the corner of his mouth.

"Sure mate!" laughed Ron cheerfully. This was the most pleasant Ron that Harry had seen in a while. Harry almost felt sorry about what he was going to do next. Ron turned around and climbed onto the chair next to Harry's bed so that the people in the back of the huge mass of people could see him as well.

"May I have your attention please?" bellowed Ron. The crowd immediately stopped their singing and listened attentively to what their idol had to say. "Could all of you please leave the Hospital Wing for a minute? I want to talk to my best mate alone please!"

"But I thought we were your best mate!" pouted a Slytherin girl near the front. Ron smiled indulgently down at her.

"Oh, but you are! Except I need some private time with my other best mates!"

"Will you spend some private time with me after?" blushed a Hufflepuff girl shyly.

"Sure, sure," beamed Ron magnanimously. He spread his arms wide. "I'll spend private time with each and every one of you!" The swarming throng cheered, and stampeded out of the door. The door wasn't big enough, so some misfortunate people had to go through the walls. They left a flattened Madame Pomfrey behind. She lay still on the ground with footprints all over her back, and groaned softly. Then she went limp. Ron got off the chair with an energetic bound and turned to Harry, with a smug look on his face. Harry felt it ought to be fined. Ron truly resembled Percy whenever he smirked like that.

"Ron," began Harry hesitantly, "Do you have any idea why the whole school seems to love you?" Ron appeared confused by this question.

"Er… because I'm good at Quidditch?" Ron looked at Harry. "Do you know why?"

"Yes," replied Harry, "And it isn't because of Quidditch." He took a deep breath, "It's because of a love potion!"

"LOVE POTION?" gaped Ron in shock. He stared at Harry, willing him to say that it was a joke, that it wasn't true, and that the school loved him because he was lovable.

"Yea…" said Harry, and he told Ron the whole story. When he had finished, Ron had sunk down into the chair and buried his freckled face into his hands. He was utterly desolate and deflated!No one truly loved him! He really was unlovable! His worst fears were confirmed. He was nothing compared to the Harry Potter, the Chosen One, the man with a thousand admirers! Nothing! He was nothing! He was absolutely nothing! Oh poor Ron!

"I think I'll be going to bed now, Harry," mumbled Ron. He turned and left the hospital wing without sparing Harry a single glance. Ron shrugged off his massive gaggle of devoted admirers who were waiting outside, and shuffled up to the dormitories, utterly broken. Catching sight of the Harry Potter shrine in the Common Room did not help either!

xx

Hermione rushed to the Hospital Wing to tell Harry her idea! It was a great idea! It was actually quite brilliant! She just couldn't wait to tell! She ran straight into the hospital wing. She didn't even have to knock because there was a huge chunk of wall missing where the door used to be! She didn't even have to get past Madame Pomfrey either because Madame Pomfrey was unconscious and dirty and icky on the ground! Hermione couldn't wait to tell Harry her wonderful, ingenious idea! With her bushy hair puffing out behind her like the plumage of a frazzled turkey, she sped to Harry's bedside.

"Harry! Harry!" gasped Hermione fervently. She reminded Harry of Colin. "I just had the most brilliant idea! I know how we can solve the problem about the love potion! You've heard of what happened to the school haven't you?" Harry nodded his head wordlessly. He was still feeling extremely sorry about Ron.

"Anyway," continued Hermione, still somewhat breathless, "I can brew an antidote and put it in a perfume bottle, and spray the whole school in the face! It might take a while, but it'll be better than brewing everyone an individual cup of it!"

"Yeah," replied Harry absently. He wasn't really listening.

"You aren't really listening are you Harry?" asked Hermione. She looked at him closely. "Is something bothering you? Did something go wrong with Ginny?"

"No… It's just that I told Ron about the love potion too and— " Hermione cut him off.

"—He's feeling depressed about the whole thing isn't he?" Harry nodded wordlessly. Hermione turned and fled, much like the way Ron did a few minutes earlier. She didn't even look back at Harry, or say goodbye. She had to get to Ron!

xx

Ginny watched Hermione thunder up the staircase to the boys' dormitories.

"What's she doing?" whispered Ginny.

"I don't know," muttered Ophelia quietly, "maybe she's going to see your brother. I never knew she was like that!"

"Maybe she's getting her homework back from Ron," suggested Miranda. "Who cares. Anyway,I'm framing my pair of Harry's boxers! Look! Doesn't it look great?" Miranda held up the undergarment in the frame.

"Cool! I'm pinning mine up next to my bed!" yelled Juliet.

"I'm going to fold mine up and stick it under my pillow!" giggled Ophelia. Hermione was quickly forgotten.

"Back to work! Back to work! Our shrine isn't quite finished yet!" hollered Colin. The other four Harry fans quickly turned around and began to paste wallpaper with "The Chosen One" written all over it in bright, flashing colors. The worked in peace for a while, occasionally breaking into songs of praise about Harry Potter. The shrine looked great! A huge portrait of Harry hung in the middle, striking heroic poses, and underneath his massive chin, a pair of lurid, mismatched socks were pinned. A table sat before the portrait, covered in various Harry Potter objects and pictures. Next to it was a cabinet, also filled with Harry's posessions. The Harry Potter Club stood back to admire their work.

Unexpectedly, the portrait hole burst open in the middle of their decorating. Lavender and Parvati, who were arguing furiously, stomped in.

"He's mine I tell you!" screamed Parvati.

"No! He's mine! He snogged me last year! We dated! He's my boyfriend!" retorted Lavender.

"He WAS your boyfriend," yelled Parvati, "But he dumped you because you're an ugly old hag!"

"Am not!" shrieked Lavender angrily. She whipped out her wand. "I don't know what kind of delusion you're having, but Ron still has feelings for me and he would never want to date you! Not in a million years!" Parvati whipped out her wand as well.

"You're the one who's deluded! Didn't you see the way he looked at me when he said that he'd meet with each of us in private? And he's probably in love with me because he went to the Yule Ball with my twin sister, who looks exactly like me you know!"

"That was what—three years ago? He's gotten over your sister already okay? So stay away from him! He's mine!" shot back Lavender. The Harry Potter Club watched fascinated, waiting to see what the two girls would do next.

"Hey! What are you looking at?" howled Parvati at Ginny and co. Lavender turned furiously to the Harry-shipians as well.

"Stop looking at us! Stop it! Stop! Your stares are ruining my skin!" screeched Lavender. She covered her face as if she were warding off a vampire. The Harry-shipians stared even more. The two girls were obviously insane! The heat of their argument had boiled their brains!

"Don't look at us like we're mad! Because we're not! Stop! Stop!" bawled Parvati. She raised her wand and took a threatening step toward the five innocent bystanders.

"What are those atrocities behind you? Is that Harry Potter's face I see? Take it off! Take it off! Only Ron's face may belong there!" screamed Lavender.

"Don't call my Ronnikins so familiarly! He's Weasley to you!" yelled Parvati. She turned to the Harry Potter fans. "And you blokes! Get rid of that monstrosity of a shrine! I'll show you true beauty! I'm going to replace it with Ronniwobble's handsome widdle face!"

"Don't you dare touch our shrine!" cried Colin squeakily. He positioned himself, with arms spread apart, in front of the Harry Potter altar.

"Colin! You're so brave!" sighed Ginny. "I'll help you!" She drew her wand and stood herself next to Colin.

"You want a fight? Is that it?" shrilled Lavender. She pointed her wand at Ginny.

"We'll help you!" cried Ophelia, Miranda, and Juliet simultaneously. "Expelliarmus!" they cried in unison. Lavender and Parvati's wands flew out of their hands. With a bestial shriek, Lavender ran toward the Harry Potter shrine and began to tear it down.

"No!" screamed the Harry-shipians in horror. Then ran forward and tried to pull Lavender off. Lavender could not be moved, and continued to claw haphazardly at the wallpaper. Parvati joined her as well, and threw Harry's beloved Sneakascope onto the ground. Then, she ripped a pair of boxers to shreds. Miranda broke away from the scuffle and began to sob over the remains of her most precious possession. She stood up and threw herself at Parvati.

"Watch the hairs!" warned Colin, but too late. The thin strands of Harry's hair were lost in the brawl. He gave a howl far worse than that of a bloodthirsty werewolf, and began to pummel random people left and right. Ophelia gave an ear-piercing screech of pain as Colin's fist collided with her ear. She turned and kicked him soundly in the shin. Colin stumbled backward, and crashed into one of the cabinets holding Harry Potter items. It tipped over, and all of the objects inside began to slide off. The Firebolt, and various many other heavy bits plummeted, and hit Ginny right on the head…

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

I'm almost done with this fanfic! Yay!

Please Review:) Thank you!