Chapter 2: Repercussions
Fred flicked up the tenth of his fingers and leaned back away from his brother, secretly very glad he had not taken this potion himself. Any sexiness from speaking the foreign languages would have been cancelled out by the rancid odor it caused. There would have been no more snogging for him tonight. He made a note to try to find something to counteract that side effect if possible. After another exclamation George lifted up one of his fingers. A few more angry exclamations and five fingers later and Ron finally ran out of steam. He sat and glowered at his brothers.
Fred whistled. "That many different languages, eh? How many are there in the world anyway?" George shrugged. Fred laughed and rubbed his hands together. "Well, shall we find Lee now and get that aging potion going?" he asked George.
"We shall!" George said. George stood up and looked at Ron. "Do let us know how long it lasts. Oh and good luck with the breath thing."
"Have fun in class!" they both said in unison, chuckling as they walked off.
Ron smacked his forehead with his hand. Class! How was he going to get through his classes like this? Surely it would not last all day, right? Right? No telling with his brothers. Ron sighed aggressively and glared down at his summer homework. He had been so close to finishing it, too. No way he would be able to concentrate on it now. All because of his rotten brothers. He hastily rolled up the parchment and stored it in his bag and pulled out another parchment, this one with his class list on it. Today was Monday so he had Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures, and Divination.
Ron groaned. None of them were particularly enjoyable classes but Care of Magical Creatures would be the worst since it was still with Slytherin. Well, at least he would not really be expected to talk in any of those classes. He might be able to get away with this. Maybe. Only one way to find out. He got up and headed off to Herbology.
As he stepped into the greenhouse, he spotted Hermione and brightened up. Hermione would help him! But as he made eye contact with her, grinning madly with hope, she narrowed her eyes at him and turned away. Ron's smile faded into a scowl. Oh, right, he had forgotten she was mad at him for some stupid reason. Well fine then. At least she would not find out about his predicament since she would not be speaking to him. Ron huffed and slammed his books down at an empty spot away from Hermoine, glaring her way as if it were her fault he could no longer speak English at the moment.
Ron jumped as Harry irritably plopped down next to him. Harry looked at Ron expectantly and Ron raised an eyebrow back at him. Harry stared at him a bit longer then rolled his eyes. "I got detention, thanks for asking," he grumbled.
"Oh," Ron mouthed. Suddenly he had a grand idea! He could not speak, but he could mouth to Harry what he wanted to say. Or write, but that would take longer. So he mouthed "Sorry" at Harry. Harry stared at him. Ron tried again but Harry looked even more puzzled. Ron sighed and gave up. That clearly was not going to work.
"No puedo hablar en inglés," Ron whispered to Harry, figuring he might as well let him know what was happening. Maybe Harry could persuade Hermione to help him. Harry wrinkled his nose and leaned away.
"Your breath is rank," Harry said. He raised his eyebrows up. "I didn't know you could speak another language."
Ron sighed aggressively, causing Harry to scoot away from him a bit. He could not help but think that Hermione would have understood that something was wrong immediately. He hastily pulled out some parchment and scribbled to Harry: Fred and George tricked me into drinking some potion! I can't speak English until it wears off! And my breath smells terrible.
"Oh," Harry said. "How long does it last?"
Ron shrugged.
Harry paused and thought a moment. "Ok, well we have all our classes together so I can just speak for you. If anyone calls on you I'll tell them you've lost your voice. Just uh, don't try to talk anymore…" Ron grinned and nodded in agreement. This could totally work.
Ron covered a yawn as he walked out of Divination class with Harry. No one had called on him that day so Harry had not needed to lie for him. He had done it! He had gotten through the day. Now all he had to get through was dinner and then he could play Wizards Chess or, and this was an appalling thought, do his homework. He frowned at the very thought.
Hermione was already sitting at the dinner table when they got there. He figured she would ignore him as she had at lunch. Ironically, he did wish he could apologize, but he did not want to disgust her with his breath. He was not entirely sure why he cared so much but he did.
Whatever. He sat across from her and endured her silence. Harry did not seem to have anything to say either. It was a quiet dinner for their group. Harry left for his detention right after. Hermione left without a word, probably heading to the library or something. She likely would avoid the Common Room for a while at least.
Ron was not sure how he should feel. He had gotten his best friend detention, irked his other best friend to the point where she did not want to talk to him, and gotten tricked into taking a potion by his brothers. All in all it was a rotten start to what should have been a very exciting year of school.
He was thinking of all this as he walked out of the Great Hall. So wrapped up in his own thoughts was he that he accidentally stepped on the tail of Mrs. Norris. He jumped as she yowled. So sour was his mood that instead of apologizing to the cat as he should, he instead aimed a kick at her and said obscenities at her. What came out instead was something garbled and much harsher sounding than the other languages he had been speaking all day. He actually was amused by it for a moment for it was a perfect language to cuss in.
"Don't you hurt Mrs. Norris, you rotten child!" a voice rasped, ruining his amusement. Filch hobbled over to him and glared at him. Great, now he had been caught kicking at Filch's cat. He was screwed.
"Uhhh," Ron said, grateful that at least was something universal across all languages. He tried to apologize but what came out was "Es tut mir leid."
"Kicking Mrs. Norris and cussing me out in another language are you? Oh-ho don't think I'm fooled. I know a cuss word when I hear it, no matter the language!" Filch was getting more animated as he talked. This student had clearly wronged him and would be punished. Punishing a student was exciting for him and he made no attempt to hide it.
Ron's eyes widened at the vehemence of Filch's speech. He felt a presence behind him and felt a dim hope that he was about to be saved, until he heard a slick, oily voice. Ron felt a weight in the pit of his stomach as he recognized that voice. He turned around to face an equally slick, oily figure sneering down at him.
"What is going on here?" Professor Snape asked, a smirk curling around his face. His eyes darted around as if looking for Ron's friends. Ron felt even worse now as he remembered once again it was all his fault that his friends were not with him.
Filch hastily went to Professor Snape's side and began before Ron could even try to explain himself. "He's cussing at me in other languages, he is!"
"Is he now? Strange, I was positive Mr. Weasley could barely speak one language."
"See for yourself," Filch said, positively gleaming with anticipation.
Professor Snape raised an eyebrow and turned his attention to Ron.
"Umm," Ron said noncommittally, trying to think of a way out of trouble. He wondered if he could get out of talking but seriously doubted it.
"Even worse," Filch interrupted. "He kicked my cat." He said this in a grave voice, as if this offense in and of itself were worth all the thumbscrewing he had ever threatened upon students in the history of his working there. Professor Snape flicked a disgusted look down at Mrs. Norris, who hissed up at him.
"Mhux I ma qabiżx!" Ron said insistently.
Professor Snape loomed over Ron triumphantly. "I see you've been meddling with potions outside of class- again," he said, hissing that last word.