Hiding at Hogwarts
~ by Healer Pomfrey ~
All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.
19 - A Failed Ambush
~ The library ~
Ron entered the library, wishing that he had paid more attention to Hermione, when she had lectured him and Harry many times about what to find and where to search in the huge room. He hurriedly skimmed the shelves, figuring that it had to be a Charms book that he was looking for.
"Heya Weasley."
Ron looked up in surprise and turned his head towards the voice. "Crabbe," he replied, staring in disdain at the Slytherin. "Did Malfoy send you to spy on me or what? Now that you're all best friends with Potter."
The other boy shook his head. "No, on the contrary. Since Draco and Harry get along so well, Draco hasn't even done as much as even look at us."
"Exactly," another voice agreed, and Gregory Goyle came around the corner to stand next to the two boys.
'Maybe it won't be bad to have two allies,' Ron mused, before he asked aloud, "Friends?"
"Okay, I'm Vincent."
"Gregory."
Somehow surprised that the two boys so easily agreed, Ron followed their example and introduced himself, before he hesitantly explained about his idea.
"You better ask your brother for a spell, not us, 'cause we're not so bright," Vincent said, pointing to Percy, who was standing a few metres away skimming the shelf.
'When did he come here?' Ron wondered but found that it was a good idea and asked Percy, conveniently leaving out the intended purpose of the spell.
~ The corridor leading to Harry's rooms ~
After dinner, Ron returned to the corridor in front of the study rooms, the small parchment with the spell that Percy had found for him in his hand. Glancing around to make sure that he was alone, he took a quill and wrote Harry's name at the end of the spell, although he doubted that this measure would alter the spell to only work for Harry. Having done that, he exchanged the quill with his wand and proceeded to point his wand at the painting on the left hand side, while reading the spell from the parchment. Hoping that it had worked, he repeated the process with the painting on the right side of the corridor.
Contentedly sliding his wand into his robe pocket, he hid in a nearby alcove. 'I hope he'll return to his rooms well before curfew,' he thought, as he observed the quiet corridor from his hiding spot.
It was almost an hour later, when he spotted Harry finally entering the corridor, dressed in his Quidditch robes and carrying his broom. Glad when his former friend passed in front of the third year study room, Ron eagerly watched, only to slump in disappointment, noticing that nothing happened when Harry passed in front of the paintings. 'Why not?' he thought, upset, just when he saw the boy come back. 'Thank Merlin he only left his things in his room,' he mused, disappointment spreading over his face, as Harry again managed to pass in front of the paintings, unharmed.
As soon as Harry vanished into the third year study room, Ron made his way to the paintings, wondering what had gone wrong. 'Strange, Percy is really good at spells,' he mused. Not noticing that Hermione came out of the study room, observing him in surprise, he paced up and down in front of the painting, mumbling to himself, "Why didn't it work?"
All of a sudden, the armoured witches and wizards came out of their pictures and attacked the boy.
HP
Hermione was on her way to the girls' bathroom, when she spotted Ron in the corridor just a few metres behind their study room. 'Does he want to come in here?' she wondered. 'But the year is written on the door, so it's not that he can't find the room,' she thought, staring at her classmate in surprise, when he suddenly began to pace the corridor, ending up being attacked by the warrior wizards and witches in the painting.
"Ron, are you okay?" she hissed, completely shocked at the scene in front of her.
Ron was lying on the floor, not moving and seemingly unconscious. Other than that he appeared unhurt. Noticing in relief that the armoured wizards and witches let go of him, Hermione conjured a stretcher and levitated the boy onto it. Her wand trained at the stretcher, she let her eyes wander back at the now again quiet spot, picking up a small parchment that was lying on the floor. On the way to the hospital wing with the stretcher floating in front of her, she studied the spell on the parchment, her face transforming into an angry frown. 'It was meant for Harry... and supposed to work at the fifth time someone passed the paintings. Stupid Ron,' she thought as she left him in the hospital wing, before she swiftly walked to the Headmistress' office, the small parchment firmly gripped in her hand.
~ The third years' study room ~
Harry glanced at his wrist watch. 'Where's Hermione?' he wondered. 'She left half an hour ago just to go to the bathroom. I hope everything's all right.' However, his concerns only intensified, when another twenty minutes later, Cicero appeared in front of him.
"Master Harry, the Headmistress expects yous in her office now," the tall elf informed him, bowing slightly, before he popped away.
Seeing that everyone looked at him questioningly, Harry shrugged. "No idea what I might have done now," he said, sighing. "I hope I'll be back soon, as I really want to finish the Transfiguration homework tonight."
~ The Headmistress' office ~
To Harry's surprise, Hermione and Professor Lupin were assembled in Professor McGonagall's office, apparently waiting for him.
"Hello Harry," the Headmistress greeted him and motioned him to take the empty seat next to Hermione, before she explained to the surprised boy what had happened. "We wanted to discuss this with you first, before summoning Mrs. Weasley and speaking with Mr. Weasley, who is in the hospital wing with a concussion."
"No," Harry heard himself protest without even considering the matter. "Don't contact Mrs. Weasley, Professor. It's all right, nothing happened, and I think talking to Ron won't help with his jealousy anyway." Seeing that Hermione and the professors were looking at him in surprise, he continued, "In fact, I've been thinking about the matter, and I'm considering appointing him the reserve Keeper for the school team."
"Is he good enough to play on the team, Harry?" Professor Lupin was the first to voice his thoughts, sounding astonished.
"He's not bad I think, and it's not the first team but only the reserve team," Harry replied, thoughtfully, looking questioningly at the Headmistress.
"I think it would be awesome for him to get such a chance," Hermione said warmly. "That's exactly what he needs."
"Yes, that might be," McGonagall agreed, hesitating. "On the other hand, do you want to reward him for playing such a dangerous prank on you?"
Harry let out a long sigh. "Well, not exactly, but he doesn't know that I'm aware of what he tried tonight now, does he?"
"Harry, you're so much like your mother," Lupin spoke up, smiling down at the boy from warm, brown eyes. "She also gave everyone a second chance."
"Thank you, Professor," Harry said quietly, thinking, "oh well, it's not Ron's second chance but at least his third or fourth. I just hope it'll help."
"Very well, Harry," the Headmistress decided, "this time we'll let him get away with his pitiful attempt; however, if he ever tries to play another prank on you, I'm going to inform his mother."
~ The Quidditch pitch ~
A week later, Ron was finally deemed well enough to play Quidditch, and even if he was not a member of the Gryffindor House team, Professor Lupin decided that Ron should attend the practice as second Keeper in order for Harry to assess if he played well enough to become a member of the reserve House team.
Harry, who was still attending the Quidditch practices of all four Houses, although he had almost put his team together by now, closely observed his former best friend. To his surprise but also relief, the boy did not play badly. 'He's good enough,' Harry thought, when something on the ground caught his attention.
A black dog was sitting in the Gryffindor stands, exactly in the top row, and seemed to be observing their practice. 'A black dog like the grim that Hermione was talking about the other day,' he mused, trying to remember where he had heard something about a black dog before. 'Oh right, Sirius Black is a black dog, the one, who ate Ron's rat,' he finally remembered, resolving to speak with the dog after practice. However, by the time he landed on the ground, the black dog was gone.
~ Harry's rooms ~
Later the same evening, when he returned to his own rooms, he spoke with the Founders, who always used to ask about his day, about the black dog. "If it's Sirius Black in his Animagus form, I'd like to speak with him, even if he can't openly show himself, because we can't prove that he's innocent," he admitted to his ancestors in the painting.
"Ahhh dear, I'm going to keep an eye on the grounds," Helga promised gently. "From my painting in Poppy's office I can overlook the Quidditch pitch, and I've seen him quite a few times during the last weeks, always at night though. He seems to be friends with Hermione's pet kneazle."
"Oh Granny, please tell me if you see him," Harry said, feeling very excited at the thought of meeting the man, whom his father had appointed his godfather. 'Mum didn't like him though,' he remembered and fetched his mother's diary from his own room to continue reading about her time at Hogwarts.
HP
A few days later, Helga informed Harry that the black dog was walking over the grounds together with Crookshanks.
"Oh thank you, Granny," Harry replied, immediately rising from the sofa, where he was skimming through a huge pile of Salazar's books.
"Harry, take my mini portrait with you," Salazar instructed him in a firm voice. "In case you get into trouble, I can quickly summon Severus."
"That's right," Helga agreed with her husband. "Be careful, sweetie."
Inwardly groaning at the Founders' over protectiveness, Harry fetched Salazar's portrait, before he hurried out in the direction of the Quidditch pitch, not caring about the fact that curfew had already begun.
tbc...
Thank you all so much for your many kind comments here and on facebook. We'll see about the relationship between Ron and Harry...