Hello everyone... Chapter 54 is here... Enjoy!
"Absolutely not," exclaimed John.
"Mate..." sighed Ron, disappointed.
"You should do it. I think it's a great initiative... But it does not need to include me," retorted John.
"But it can't happen without you," protested Ron. John looked at him, confused. "Look," said Ron and sat down beside John. "You are the experienced one out of all of us. We will be like headless chickens without you," said Ron. "We want to start a friends duelling club type thing. It's only going to be us, people that you know very well," he added.
John remained unconvinced by the idea.
Meanwhile, Harry was struggling just as much with Hermione.
"Hermione," exclaimed Harry, surprised. "Why are you acting like this?" asked Harry.
"I'm not acting like anything... I don't think this is a good idea," replied Hermione bluntly.
"But, why not?" asked Harry, confused.
Hermione thought it was a decent idea. Sure, she could have some fun with her friends. But, she had no intention of being near Harry any more than she already had to.
"I don't have the time..." replied Hermione finally.
"What? Oh, come on, Hermione," pleaded Harry. "You already know a lot of things... if anyone, it is you who can make time," he added.
After much discussion, Ron managed to come to an agreement with John.
"Okay... We will ask Daphne, Draco and Neville. If they are comfortable with you being there, you'll join us, deal?" asked Ron.
John nodded his head in agreement.
And Harry played his final card, one that he knew Hermione wouldn't refuse, for anything.
"Think about this... we all know You-Know-Who is back. Don't you think we should be well equipped to face him? We will have John oversee us, and we can all improve under John, the way Ron and I improved under Remus," suggested Harry and watched the expression on Hermione's face turn.
Was she going to refuse just because she couldn't be in the same room as Harry? Were her issues bigger than You-Know-Who's threat? Of course, they weren't. And she agreed after much deliberation.
Harry had been clever not to mention to Hermione that Daphne would be there as well. It was going to come as a nasty surprise. So be it, at least she'd be there.
Two down, there were three more to convince.
As it turned out, Ron had a much easier task with Neville than he initially thought.
"John is nice... I have seen him with all of you, and I have no trouble with him," remarked Neville.
"So, you're in?" asked Ron.
"Of course, I'm in. I'd love to join your group," replied Neville, happily.
Harry had taken it upon himself to convince Daphne. And the boys had decided to talk to Draco together.
"Malfoy... got a minute?" asked Harry as they approached Draco right after their Potions class.
"Potter and Weasley... this is unexpected, what is it?" asked Draco.
"We were wondering..." began Ron and glanced at Harry.
"Would you like to practice duelling?" asked Harry and glanced at Ron.
"What?" retorted Draco, confused.
"Lockhart's a prick... Rotten eggs are better than his classes," replied Ron.
"We thought of practising some wand work. Since Lockhart's classes aren't going to do it for us," added Harry.
Draco looked taken aback. He hadn't imagined a world where he would find Harry Potter and Ron Weasley inviting him to anything even half-decent, let alone an exciting duelling club.
"Are you actually inviting me to your group?" asked Draco, surprised.
"Yeah," replied Harry.
"Yeah," added Ron.
"Wow... Sure, I'm in," replied Draco, with a grin.
"Great..." remarked Harry.
"Brilliant..." remarked Ron. "Well, that means Hermione, John, Neville and Draco... all are in," he added.
"Longbottom's going to be there?" asked Draco, with a smirk.
"Yeah... you have a problem with that?" retorted Harry.
"No... none at all. It'll be hilarious seeing him fall on his face, that's all," retorted Draco.
"Daph," called out Harry faintly.
"Hmm?" responded Daphne, as she opened her eyes to look at Harry's face.
"Ron and I came up with an idea..." he said and stared at Daphne to read her expression.
"Hmm"
"We were thinking of doing something fun after classes," he added cautiously.
"Fun? Like what?" asked Daphne curiously, as she sat up straight.
"Lockhart's useless, isn't he? We were thinking of meeting up after class and practice duelling," replied Harry.
"What's with you 2 and your duelling?" chuckled Daphne. "You're acting like there is a war coming," she added, smirking. Harry looked at her speechless.
"We had lots of fun last year with Professor Lupin... we wanted to continue this year too," replied Harry. "And I was thinking... we should do it as a group, not just Ron and I," added Harry and gave a hopeful look to Daphne.
It took her a couple of seconds, but then she replied, "are you asking me to join you and Ron in your duelling club?" asked Daphne, surprised, and mildly excited.
"That's exactly what I'm doing," replied Harry, confidently.
"Yeah, of course... I'd love to..." began Daphne but stopped mid-sentence. Harry looked at her anxiously. "I'm not the only one, am I?" she asked instead, curiously.
"What do you mean?" asked Harry, acting confused.
"Who else have you asked?" retorted Daphne.
"We have a few who'll be joining us," replied Harry.
"Harry... don't play around the bush... why are you acting so cautious?" asked Daphne, curiously.
"Ron and I will be there... Hermione and Neville will be there too..." replied Harry, hesitantly. And Daphne saw right through the hesitation.
"And?"
"And John will be there..." added Harry, still hesitant. Daphne's expression turned a little on the dull side. Though it wasn't John whom Harry was worried about.
"John?" retorted Daphne cautiously.
"Yeah, John will be there," replied Harry.
"Harry..." whispered Daphne disapprovingly. "Can we not..." she added hesitantly.
"Daph... John's a good guy. Trust my judgement and give him a chance..." reiterated Harry. "You barely spend time with us, as a group... this will be a perfect way for you to get to know my friends," he added.
After a couple of minutes, Daphne replied, "Fine... I'll join your duelling club," she said. "So, it's going to be Ron, Hermione, John, Neville, You and I?" she sighed.
"And Draco," added Harry cautiously and watched Daphne's expression turn from hesitant to shocked, mixed with anger.
"Have you gone mad?" retorted Daphne.
"Oh, come on," sighed Harry.
"Not him... anybody, but him," retorted Daphne.
"Daphne..." protested Harry.
"Why? I mean... why? And how is he fine with John being there? He's the biggest coward I know," retorted Daphne.
"Draco's fine with John... they're cool... And he's fine with you being there as well," replied Harry.
Daphne looked confused.
"I'll talk to him, alright? I'll ask him to stop all the taunts and everything else," suggested Harry.
"Harry," exclaimed Daphne, angrily. "I want you to do no such thing. I can handle that smug-faced idiot..." she added, angrily.
"Okay," retorted Harry quickly with his hands up in peace.
A few seconds later, he had a grin on his face.
"What?"
"You know? Duelling club means some wand action... You could never get a better opportunity to take some revenge against him," suggested Harry. "You stun him a few times... it's not like he can complain," he added with a sheepish grin.
"John," exclaimed Hermione, faintly.
"Relax... we'll be there soon," replied John.
"Where?" retorted Hermione.
"The perfect place for what we require," replied John.
After a confused few minutes of following John, Hermione found herself coming to a halt. They were in the left corridor on the 7th floor of the Hogwarts castle.
"Give me a minute," said John and walked ahead. Hermione watched in intrigue as John walked back and forth past a section of a blank wall. He had his eyes closed and seemed to be concentrating hard.
Hermione was about to ask what he was doing when out of nowhere an old-fashioned door appeared across the blank wall.
"What?" gasped Hermione, stunned, and walked closer to John.
"Oh, it worked..." exclaimed John, happily.
"What is this?" asked Hermione, confused.
"We are about to find out," remarked John, excitedly and opened the door to walk in.
Both Hermione and John were experiencing different kinds of amazement. Hermione had never read, heard or seen the room of requirement before. To see something like it appear out of nowhere took her by surprise. While John had been to the room of requirement once before, was eager to find out the full extent of the room's capability.
The pair entered the cosy-looking room. It looked very different from what John had remembered from his previous visit. This time around, the room had a wooden floor and an enormous mattress, more like a rug laid out. There were a couple of big cushions as well. Amazed by what the room held, John and Hermione walked in and gazed around at the sight. The room had a beautiful scent associated with it, though there weren't any scented candles or perfume visible to the naked eye. The lighting in the room was pleasant, not too bright, not too dull. And surprisingly, it was quite compact. There seemed to be a cool breeze blowing, but there wasn't any ventilation of any kind visible.
Confused, mesmerised, surprised and intrigued by everything, Hermione glanced at an equally mesmerised John. "What is this place?" she asked.
"Welcome to The Room of Requirement," exclaimed John.
"The room of requirement?"
"This room is supposed to cater to our requirements. And it apparently changes every time," replied John.
"Wow," gasped Hermione as she continued looking around what the room had turned into.
After a couple of minutes, John and Hermione found themselves sitting on the rug, facing each other.
"So... how is this going to work?" asked Hermione, anxiously.
John chuckled in response.
"Why are you laughing?" asked Hermione.
"Nothing..." retorted John and stopped smiling, though there remained a "this is funny" look.
"Tell me"
John chuckled again. And replied, "Well... I can't believe I'm trying to kill an ant with a sledgehammer," he remarked with a smile.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"You are sad that Harry is with Daphne. They're doing... things... that upset you. And your response was to come to me for help, help with decluttering your mind," replied John, calmly.
Hermione remained silent and looked far less upbeat than she had done till then.
"You are aware of my struggles with magic. Sure, Severus' potions have helped me, so much so that I haven't had them for a few months now. Regardless... you were still adamant about having legilimency performed on you. All because you couldn't deal with your crush snogging someone else," added John, bluntly, yet calmly.
Hermione looked hurt. John was piling on the misery and with every word he said, she felt more and more embarrassed.
"That is just so..." began John and got interrupted by Hermione.
"John," she exclaimed, with a lump in her throat. She had almost gotten up to leave when she saw a grin on John's face. "Why are you doing this to me?" she asked.
"I'm sorry... I couldn't resist it," chuckled John. "But all of this is way too ironic for me to not react," he added with a smile.
"Ironic? How?" asked Hermione.
John gave a wry smile. "You did this to me," he replied. Hermione looked confused.
"I looked up to you... you were my idol, my superhero, yeah? And then, one day, this girl broke my heart... Guess what I did?" added John with a smile.
"What did you do?" asked Hermione, curiously, as she wiped her glistening eyes. The lump in her throat had vanished.
"I came to you," replied John.
"You did?"
"I did... And I asked you to wipe my memories of her," replied John, with a chuckle.
Hermione gave a big smile of realization. "What happened next?" she asked.
"You helped me of course..."
"And that's why you agreed to help me now?" asked Hermione.
"I would have helped you either way," replied John. "Right..." he added and sat up straight, with folded legs and took out his wand. Hermione sat up straight facing John and took out her wand as well.
"You're not going to need your wand for this," remarked John. Hermione obliged instantly and kept her wand away.
"I haven't done this in a while... So, let's take this slow," said John. Hermione nodded along.
"The mind is a complex construct. Your brain, your memories, your actions, and your emotions, are all different, yet the same and affect one another. It's a complex structure..." he added.
"What I am about to do now... I am going to try and invade your memories. You are going to try and prevent me," added John and continued. "This way... you will get some Occlumency lessons on top of therapy," he added with a chuckle. Hermione gave a short smile in response.
And thus began a recurring mental workout for Hermione.
The pair had spent close to a couple of hours in the room of requirement. And they had even made plans to make their furtive meetup a routine.
John and Hermione were making their way back to the common room, and then to the library, for Hermione had also been hyperventilating over her unfinished Runes' homework. However, their journey was interrupted by the Weasley twins.
"Where are you 2 off to?" asked George.
"Library," replied Hermione nonchalantly.
"Care for a snack?" asked Fred with a beaming smile while George offered the pair a colourful-looking candy.
"No thanks," retorted John staring at the fruity-smelling sweet.
"Miss Parchment?" asked George looking at Hermione. Hermione's tired eyes glared angrily at John. Apparently, his nickname for her had been travelling around.
"No... I'd rather not," retorted Hermione.
"You do look terrible," remarked Fred.
"Here," said George and pointed at one half of the sweet Hermione held. "This half will get you up to speed," he added.
"What do you mean, this half?" asked Hermione, confused.
"The other half will get you sick," replied Fred and Hermione dropped it on the floor instinctively.
"I take it that you prefer to get better naturally," remarked Fred as he picked up the puking pastille.
"May we borrow, John?" asked George after a couple of seconds. Hermione looked surprised by the question, John looked intrigued.
"Sure... what's up?" asked John. The twins took John away from Hermione into a quiet corner.
"We have been thinking," began George.
"How you've refused our help," added Fred. John shrugged at that statement.
"So we decided to invite you into our exclusive club," added George.
"You're a talented wizard, Mr Smith," exclaimed Fred in a fake deep voice.
"How would you like to put that into some good use?" asked George with a similar fake deep voice.
John chuckled at the twins' impression. "I am going to make you an offer you can't refuse," he replied, trying his best to mimic their impression.
Fred and George chuckled at the impression and glanced at him, intrigued whether he meant what he said.
"Sure... I do have some ideas of my own," said John.
"We have a deal," remarked Fred and the twins shook hands with John.
Compared to their previous 3 years at Hogwarts, the subjects in the 4th year seemed a lot more heavy. The whispers about the importance of OWLs had also started. The homework given by the Professors seemed to take up a lot more time than the students would have liked. But, regardless, one fine evening, Harry and Ron had asked every member of their group to gather on the castle grounds for discussing the venue for their duelling club.
John and Hermione were the first ones to reach. Draco arrived almost immediately after.
"Hey," said Draco as he made his way to the pair. Hermione gave a weak smile in response.
"Hi Draco," greeted John.
"Where are the others?" asked Draco.
"Don't know," replied John. And just as he replied, Neville walked up to them.
"Hi Hermione, John," he greeted cheerfully.
"Hi Neville," greeted Hermione.
"Where were you 2?" he asked.
"Library," replied Hermione nonchalantly.
"Longbottom... you are here," exclaimed Draco, acting surprised.
Neville looked at him bewildered. But before he could respond, Draco continued, "why did you bother coming?" he asked.
Neville looked too confused and stunned to speak.
"Draco," exclaimed Hermione angrily.
"Oh, come on, Granger... you are really soft. That wasn't even a little bit rude," argued Draco with a chuckle.
Hermione seemed a bit out of it and refrained from replying. The 4 of them stood and paced around the grounds for a few minutes, but Harry, Ron and Daphne were nowhere to be seen.
"You alright, Hermione?" inquired Neville after a couple of minutes.
"I'm alright, Neville," replied Hermione, though her tone seemed to suggest otherwise.
"Did you have one of those chocolates, Fred and George have been giving around?" asked Neville, looking concerned.
"No"
"They're nasty... The other day, they gave me one after lunch and the moment I ate it, I fell to the ground. Turns out, I missed Snape's class and he gave me detention too," said Neville.
"Oye, Longbottom... Does she look unconscious to you? Not everyone's stupid like you," retorted Draco who had been silent since his previous jibe.
Hermione opened her mouth to hit back at Draco, but just then they all heard, from quite far away, loud rants from the voice of Ron, Harry and Daphne.
"I swear, if he does that one more time, I'm going to mix poison with his drink," exclaimed Ron, loudly.
"That was so stupid," added Daphne, but her words were overshadowed by Ron's loud and enraged expletives.
"Who cares what he did in the cold desert," sighed Harry angrily.
But just as they approached the waiting John, Hermione, Draco and Neville, Daphne became relatively quiet even though the boys were still going on.
"What happened?" asked John, surprised at the state of the 3 who had just arrived.
"You're not going to believe what that git just did," replied Ron, angrily.
"Who?"
"Lockhart... who else do you think?" retorted Ron.
"We were at the library... And we were just about to get out of there when Lockhart walked in," replied Harry.
"The moment he saw us, he walked over to us and started asking us these questions about Potions," added Ron.
"And then he went on and on and on about how he was a potions master... and helped brew the Wolfsbane potion," added Harry, exasperated.
"And then..." began Ron but paused, leaving the intrigued listeners confused.
"Then what?" asked Hermione.
"Well... he started giving us advice on our relationship," replied Harry glancing at Daphne, both of whom looked disgusted.
"He did what?" chuckled Draco.
"And that's why we are late... Because of that stupid git," sighed Ron.
It took a few minutes for everyone to settle down. Ron who had been noticing Daphne's weird glances toward John lost his nerve.
"You know, he's not going to eat you alive," exclaimed Ron loudly looking at Daphne, taking her by shock.
"Ron," exclaimed John and Hermione at the same time.
"Sorry," apologised Ron. But continued, "he's actually not going to eat you alive," he chuckled.
"I'm not," shrugged John with a smile on his face. Daphne however looked disinterested.
"Right... we need 2 things," said Harry diverting the topic.
"One... we need a cool name for us. Something we can use in general conversations," added Harry with a chuckle.
"And we need somewhere to practice our duelling. Especially one where that git wouldn't be able to find us," added Ron, still pissed off.
"Can't we use one of the classes?" asked Neville, finally uttering a word after a long silence.
"A bit risky, isn't it?" retorted Ron. "We need someplace... that would be massive," he added.
"Forbidden forest," suggested John and got a glare from everyone there. "That was a joke..." he added with a chuckle.
After a minute's silence, John said, "What about the chamber?" he asked, but his serious expression failed him and he burst into laughter looking at the alarmed faces of Daphne and Neville.
"John... mate..." sighed Harry, unhappily.
"Listen... I have a place," said John, this time genuinely. "But I'm worried it will get exposed if we all start using it randomly," he added. Hermione glanced at John and immediately understood which place he meant.
"What place?" retorted Ron.
"You're going to love this..." remarked John looking at Ron. "It's called the..." he began but stopped. He had just noticed something that threw him off completely.
Harry, Ron, Hermione and Draco turned in the direction John was staring and they all saw what John had seen. Gilderoy Lockhart was walking toward the group.
"You've got to be kidding me," sighed Ron angrily.
Lockhart walked up to the group, but instead of stopping to have a chat with them, as they all expected, he just greeted, "Good evening, boys and girls," he said and walked past them.
Once John was sure Lockhart was out of earshot, he did, once again, this time to a bigger audience, what he had done with Hermione. The party of 7 made their way to the 7th-floor corridor. John opened the Room of Requirement, the one place in Hogwarts that had even the pureblood wizards in the group, who had grown up with magic around them all their life in awe of what it held. It had already been quite late that evening. And hence, there wasn't much duelling involved. Just as they were about to leave, Harry spoke up.
"Phoenix Juniors," he muttered under his breath.
"What?" asked Daphne, confused. Ron and everyone else got their attention diverted towards Harry.
Harry gave a weak smile and glanced at everyone. "Phoenix Juniors," he said, this time for everyone to hear.
Ron smiled a little and so did Hermione and John. The others had an indifferent reaction.
"I like the sound of that," remarked Ron. And the kids left for the great hall pretty soon thereafter.
A couple of days went by and it was Gryffindor's first quidditch day of the year. The new-look Gryffindor side was taking on the Hufflepuff side first match of the season. Harry had sneaked his way into the team meeting and had some kind words for young Colin Creevey. As he made his way to the Great Hall to get himself some breakfast, he heard the last remnants of the conversation Hermione, Ron and John were having.
"... was the one everyone feared before You-Know-Who," finished Hermione.
"Wizards have always had a thing against the muggles," remarked Ron. "Hi Harry," he greeted as he saw Harry sit beside him.
"What are we talking about?" asked Harry as he helped himself to some toast with marmalade.
"Nothing too important, how's Colin?" asked Ron.
"Worse than I was before my first game," replied Harry, anxiously.
"We're gonna get battered, mate," remarked Ron, sulking.
Ron was partially right. The Gryffindor team were much better this time around against Hufflepuff, and the game was poised well at 70 each. But, Cedric Diggory, the Hufflepuff captain had found and caught the snitch and the Gryffindor team fell to a heavy defeat to open the season.
The day wasn't all bad for announcements came in early that evening about their next Hogsmeade visit.
"Halloween weekend," remarked John.
"Butterbeer," sighed Harry and Daphne yearningly.
John noticed the Weasley twins winking at him. He smiled broadly in response.
"What was that?" asked Hermione.
"What?" asked Ron, confused and realised she was asking John.
"Nothing... just something I've been working on with them," retorted John.
Truth be told, the Hogsmeade visit was indeed a nice change of pace for everyone. There was this excitement that it held, that everyone looked forward to. As far as Harry and Daphne were concerned, Hogsmeade visits meant a lot of alone time. More so this year than the year before, since ever so recently, the couple had been spending very little time to themselves, and most of them were spent along with the group in either the Room of Requirement or in the many other places around the castle. Similar was the case with Ron, Draco and Neville. Every one of them had been having exhausting weeks ever since the Phoenix Juniors meet-ups began. And then there were 2, John and Hermione. Apart from everything else they had been doing with the group, and the pile of homework and studies the Professors chugged at them, they were also tiring themselves out with the mental workout sessions.
The day began just as it promised, if not better. Everyone seemed to be high in spirits. The swarm of students at Hogsmeade had all queued up at the various shops. Whether it was the Maestro's music shop, Dervish and Banges, Pippin's Potions or the Sprintwitches Sporting needs, every single one of the shops and streets in Hogsmeade was filled with people. Honeydukes and Zonko's were obviously some of the most packed ones. Ron and Hermione had spent most of their time at Hogsmeade with a bunch of their fellow Gryffindors. Harry and Daphne had tried to spend it away from the spotlight, though that was rarely ever possible. John, on the other hand, had a few things to sort out with the Weasley twins, including a wand recommendation to give to Neville who was still using his father's wand and had spent the remaining time roaming around the village.
Late that evening, Harry and Daphne were making their way to Honeydukes for another round of butterbeer, only to find out that it was overcrowded beyond belief. Disappointed, they walked away from the sweet shop when they bumped into Neville, Ron and Hermione.
"We were thinking of going to Hog's Head," remarked Ron.
"I'll take anything right now," retorted Harry and glanced at Daphne who seemed to have a similar expression. As the 5 of them walked towards the Inn, they ran into John and Draco, who seemed to have noticed the group, well before the group had spotted them.
"Where are you off to?" asked John as the pair joined to complete the group.
"Hog's Head," replied Neville.
"Isn't that place a bit obscure?" remarked Draco.
"Isn't the entire village a bit below your standards, Malfoy?" retorted Daphne sharply.
Draco managed to chuckle away that comeback.
However, his words echoed in their heads when they finally reached the Hog's Head Inn.
It was not at all like the Three Broomsticks, whose large bar gave an impression of gleaming warmth and cleanliness. The Hog's Head Inn comprised one small, dingy, and a very dirty room that smelled strongly of something that might have been goats.
They had a few drinks in the creepy bar, but none of the kids had any desire to stay there any longer than they had to. After about 10 minutes, it seemed like everyone was awkwardly glancing at each other, wondering who'd take the plunge and confess to hating the establishment.
"Enjoying your time, Daphne?" asked Draco as he sipped his disgusting warm butterbeer. Ron couldn't help but chuckle at that remark, and neither could Harry.
"Ugh," responded Daphne staring into her drink, wondering if she had spotted a beetle in it. "You win... can we leave now?" she retorted.
And leave they did. It had already been late and the evening sky had started turning a slight shade of orange. The tired legs strolled much slower at the end of the day. Draco was on the far right, followed by Neville, Hermione and John. To John's left was Ron and beside him Harry and then finally, Daphne. They hadn't gone too far away from the Inn when all of a sudden an owl dropped an envelope right in front of Ron's stride.
"Woah," gasped Ron and Harry as they came to a sudden immediate halt. Hermione and John came to a halt a couple of steps ahead. Draco and Neville stopped a few steps further whereas Daphne kept walking ahead.
"What's that?" asked Hermione as Ron picked up the envelope.
"Don't know... There's nothing on the cover," he replied as he turned the envelope around and found "Quidditch" written in bold colourful printed letters.
"Quidditch?" he muttered, intrigued and tore open the envelope. Enclosed inside the envelope was a letter.
John's attention got diverted by a familiar buzzing sound. He took out his watch and saw that Ron's needle was pointing at "Mortal Danger". But before he could react, it had happened.
The moment Ron took out the letter to read, he felt something in his skin. It felt weird initially but the very next moment, he felt the curse travel rapidly across his body, leaving a deep burning sensation everywhere. The letter fell slowly to the ground as the area surrounding the group suddenly got engulfed in loud cries for pain.
Such was the shrill, high-pitched cry in pain Daphne heard from a few feet behind her that she turned around in shock and almost lost her footing in the process.
"Ron," exclaimed John, Harry and Hermione at the same time as they watched his knees buckle, his body fall down and squirm, writhe, twist and turn in pain.
"Don't," exclaimed John loudly as he saw Hermione and Harry go near Ron. "Your wands... Now," he added. Hermione and Harry were struggling to work their brains, nothing they heard or saw got processed. It took them a while amidst the loud wails of anguish to take out their wands as instructed. "Draco... you too," added John and Draco had his wand out immediately.
"Nev... Go to Madam Rosemerta, and ask her to get Dumbledore, McGonagall and Snape to Hog's Head... NOW," added John looking at Neville.
"I'll come with," added Daphne though barely any voice came out of her. But the pair went running back to Honeydukes instantly.
"On the count 3... Levitate him, right?" he asked frantically. Draco and Hermione nodded in response, Harry looked lost and had to be nudged by Draco to get back into some sense.
"On the count of 3," repeated Harry.
"Procidat Incipio," whispered John and pointed his wand at Ron. Almost instantly, he seemed to calm down, though he seemed to have also closed his eyes.
Draco, Hermione and Harry stared at him, stunned. There were tears pouring out of Harry and Hermione. Even John's eyes were glistening. Draco seemed to be the only one handling the shock and accident the best.
"1... 2... 3..." exclaimed John loudly, and the moment John uttered 3, all 4 of them with a swish of their wand muttered, "Levicorpus," and Ron's body lifted in the air.
The four of them carried Ron across to where they had just left, Hog's Head Inn. The moment they reached outside, John gestured them to lay Ron flat outside the bar.
Once Ron was on the ground safely, John ran into the bar as Draco followed him. Harry and Hermione stayed behind to watch Ron.
"Aberforth," exclaimed John, his voice quavering, the moment he ran in.
"He's not here," replied another man, who seemed to be the one handling the customer's drinks.
"Aberforth... We need you," exclaimed John, this time much louder and out came a spectacled man, with long stringy, wiry grey hair and beard.
"Make another sound and I'll ring your head like a bell," remarked Aberforth, the moment he walked out.
"It's Ron... Something's happened to him," replied John. The angered old man noticed John and Draco's appearance and walked out with them.
A flick of the wand and Ron was screaming and writhing in pain again.
"Bloody fools... Never put a man in pain in an illusion," sighed Aberforth angrily and took out his wand to take the pained Ron in and up the stairs.
"How did it happen?" asked Aberforth as he began working on Ron with his wand.
Hermione and Harry were in too much shock to reply. Even John who had dictated actions till then seemed to have lost his voice.
"There was an envelope. The moment he opened it, he started..." replied Draco though he couldn't find an appropriate way to end that sentence.
"You can say it how it is... he started screaming," retorted Aberforth, sounding annoyed.
John couldn't take any more of watching Ron's screams and he walked out of there, wiping his tears away. Hermione closely followed him out.
"He'll be fine," whispered John the moment he saw Hermione walk up to him. It sounded more like hope than a statement of fact.
"He'll be fine," repeated Hermione.
After a minute's silence, Harry and Draco walked toward the pair.
"He says Ron's to be taken to St Mungo's. The curse has spread and that it needs someone better than him to look after it," said Draco as he walked towards them.
"Dumbledore and McGonagall will know what to do," sighed Harry as he sat down beside Hermione and lay his head on her shoulder. Draco took a seat beside John.
"He's supposed to be good at these things," whispered John.
"Who's he?" asked Draco.
"That is... Aberforth... Dumbledore" replied John, with a blank expression on his face.
"Dumbledore?" retorted Draco, shocked and confused.
"Brother," replied John faintly. Neither of them knew Dumbledore even had a brother.
Just then, the bar door's opened wide and in walked the senior Dumbledore, Albus, Professor McGonagall and Severus Snape followed by Daphne and Neville.
Without saying a word, Albus, McGonagall and Severus walked up the stairs to Aberforth and Ron, while Daphne and Neville slowly made their way to the rest of the group.
"What happened to Ron?" asked Daphne as she leaned onto Harry.
"He was cursed... He's going to be taken to St Mungo's," replied Harry, weakly. Just as he uttered those words, John facepalmed in shock and exasperation. The next moment he was up and had dashed away from the group.
"John," exclaimed Hermione.
"Where are you going?" asked Harry, but neither got any response. Draco had dashed after John the very next moment. He was sprinting hard but found it difficult to catch up to John. But then he saw him come to a sudden halt.
"John," exclaimed Draco, panting hard for breath. John had his wand out and was scanning the area around. They were at the exact place where Ron had opened the envelope and collapsed.
"What happened?" asked Draco, gaining back some breath.
"I'm an idiot," muttered John under his breath.
"What?" retorted Draco, failing to hear what John had just said.
"I'm the stupidest idiot in the whole of Hogwarts," exclaimed John as he kicked the ground angrily. Draco looked confused and stunned.
"You need to take a breather, mate..." replied Draco.
"The envelope," sighed John as he sat down on the ground.
"What about it?" asked Draco.
"It is gone... I forgot to take it... Whoever did this, came back for the letter and took it with themself," replied John, exasperated.
The incident at Hogsmeade spread like fiendfyre across the castle. The Weasley twins who had been at Hogsmeade, just a few hundred metres away from the scene of the incident had only found out about it through Neville Longbottom once the group had gone back to Hogwarts.
Ron was immediately taken to St Mungo's, while the Professors had urged the students to get back to Hogwarts. Reluctantly, they had to return back to the castle. The moment they made it back, however, everybody they knew or didn't know in the castle made it a point to ask them a million questions about what had happened, making the incident even more traumatic than it had to be.
Even Lockhart seemed to sneak in a few words with Hermione, the first chance he got.
"Miss Granger," exclaimed Lockhart with a small smile as he found Hermione and Harry talking in the corridor. "Harry," he added.
"Professor," exclaimed Hermione, surprised to run into Lockhart late in the evening.
"How is Mr Weasley?" he asked. "I'm sorry about what happened," he added.
Both Hermione and Harry remained silent.
"I'll talk with the authorities at St Mungo's. I have some friends there... Mr Weasley will be given the highest care," he added with a smile.
"Thanks," replied Hermione weakly.
"Any clue how it happened?" asked Lockhart.
"We don't know much, Professor," replied Harry angrily.
"I understand that you are all upset, Harry. Worry not, Mr Weasley will be back in no time," replied Lockhart, gave a big smile and walked away.
A few moments later, Hermione glanced at Harry.
"I should be going as well... I need to find John," she said faintly and walked away before Harry could say anything.
There was only one thing on Harry's mind. "Ron wasn't supposed to get cursed. The envelope wasn't meant for him, it was meant for me," he kept repeating to himself.
Lockhart had failed in finding out what had happened. The moment he heard about what had happened, he had gone white. This wasn't part of the plan. And the first thing he did, he picked up an envelope of his own and hastily wrote a letter to his master, the dark lord, pledging his loyalty and confessing that he wasn't behind the attack on the redhead.
"... waiting for Christmas..."
"... swear, this wasn't me..."
"... never defy you, Mr Bryce,"
"... I'll always be your fan..."
"... Pray that you remain my fan..."
And he went on and on.
Gilderoy Lockhart had by now gotten used to addressing the Dark Lord as Mr Bryce. Frank Bryce, the caretaker and gardener of the Riddle house, was of course killed by Voldemort the moment he was born from the elixir of life.
Only a week ago, he had written a letter to "Frank Bryce", informing his "fan" of how he had found out about an interesting group of people who loved to gather around and play with sticks. Silver Brat, as Lockhart referred to Draco Malfoy was also a member of this group. And in return, Lockhart received appreciation for his charity and also advice on how to make his life better.
But what had happened to Ron was not part of the plan. Lockhart hadn't done it, and if any of Voldemort's underlings had, Lockhart was definitely not made aware of it.
Well... that was chapter 54. Hope it was a mix of light and heavy in the right amount, and of course, completely enjoyable.
PS - Chapter 55 will be out early next week