Chapter 8: Ron's Rough Time
Things were not going well for Ron Weasley.
Nobody was paying him any attention. It was like he wasn't even there. His own mum had sent Harry more letters than she had sent Ron. Worse, Ron couldn't try out for the Quidditch team this year because of the bloody Tri-wizard tournament. Quidditch had been cancelled. That wouldn't have been a total loss with Viktor Krum, Ron's absolute idol from the Bulgarian national team, coming to the school along with the Durmstrang contingent, except that the wizard sports star wouldn't acknowledge Ron long enough to give an autograph. He was always followed by packs of moon-eyed girls.
Not that anyone noticed. No, his best mate and Hermione never really thought about Ron, did they? It was always Harry this or Harry that. Never mind that Harry had beaten the Dark Lord, saved his sister from a basilisk and a demented diary, won the Quidditch House Cup for Gryffindor almost single-handedly, they really should be paying attention to him, Ron. This was supposed to be his year to be popular.
Of course, Ron knew he was thinking like a prat. He had known it when Harry had gotten that charm right when he couldn't. Ron knew the little spat they had afterwards was really all his own fault. But it needled him that Hermione had immediately sided with Harry. Yeah, he knew he was the one who was wrong, and that was part of what was eating at him.
And what was with Harry and Hermione suddenly spending so much time studying together? It was as if he wasn't good enough to hang out with the two of them any more. Okay, mind you, Ron had no interest in studying about Gamp's laws or the application of arithmantic sequences to conjuration, but when did Harry care about that? And Ron didn't like how close the two were sitting or how animated Hermione would get when Harry apparently started to catch on to whatever it was they were studying. Not that Ron was jealous. Of course not. It was just that, well, she shouldn't be looking at Harry like that!
Things had been so much better over the summer. Ron had been interviewed by the Daily Prophet, received owls from several important people in the Wizarding world, and had even been examined by an Unspeakable from the Department of Mysteries. Oh, sure, it got to be a bother after a while. But it really wasn't so bad. Especially since his interview had been on page four of the Daily Prophet, while Harry got the front page for blowing up a dementor and curing a werewolf. Ron had been mentioned in the main article on Sirius Black being innocent. He was in three lines of the article. Harry, however, was mentioned every other sentence. Everything was "Sirius Black, godfather of The-Boy-Who-Lived..." or "Harry Potter, recently famed for curing lycanthropy through the homorphous charm, is now staying with Lord Sirius Black…"
Ron shook his head to clear it of these uncharitable thoughts. He had apologized to Harry about the blow up in Charms and the two of them were back to being best mates. Thinking about rubbish like that was a sure way to go mental. Ron dashed through the halls on the way to meet up with his friends for class.
As Ron turned a corner, he caught sight of a group of female students wearing pastel blue uniforms. Girls from the Beauxbatons Academy of Magic, also at Hogwarts as part of the Tri-wizard tournament. There was something about French witches and their accents that made the Weasley boy's heart flutter. Or maybe it was the magical butterflies that the girls would create around themselves from time to time that were fluttering. Rumor had it some of them were even part veela. Ron caught them talking to each other mid-conversation.
"…Mais oui! You are correct! It is zis 'orrible 'ogwarts food 'zey serve here. It is as if zey are trying to ruin my figure!" the plumper of the trio was saying, her accent stressing the English syllables in a most French way.
"What does it matter? 'Zere is no boys to attract here, Cherie. So few of the Hogwarts stu-dents are handsome. But of course, 'zere is Monsieur Krum…" another said.
"Ah…Krum. He is so very strong and rugged. But…" the third, a truly pretty blond witch was saying, "…for me, I think 'zis 'Arry Potter is so striking. 'Zey say 'e has cured were-wolfs and defeated 'ze dementors."
The first girl giggled. "Yes. And 'is eyes are such a pretty green."
Ron grinned. He was definitely going to tease his mate about this later. He listened a bit more, staying out of sight but within hearing range.
"Yes, 'Arry is très beau. But 'e is always with 'zat girl and his strange friend."
"Ze one who is going mad?"
"Oui. 'Zey say 'e sees 'ze future. Like 'zat Divinations teach with the thick glazzes. It is too bad 'zat one is always aroun' such a catch, non?"
Ron's face went bright pink in embarrassment. Inwardly he was seething, but he did nothing as the visiting students flounced off, still gossiping together.
Ron took some steadying breaths. This was nothing. Just a bunch of girls from some stuck up French school who really knew nothing about him. Who wanted a bunch of half-veela witches anyway? By the time Ron neared the classroom where he was about to meet up with Harry and Hermione, he had nearly managed to convince himself that he was better off without their attention and that the girls had been hideously ugly as well as haughty.
That was when he saw Harry standing there…with Viktor Krum. And they were chatting. Ron watched in amazement as Krum signed something of Harry's. Then, unbelievably, Viktor Krum, the Bulgarian national team seeker and Ron's idol, was handing Harry a book and Harry was giving his autograph to the professional Quidditch star!
"Zank-you, Harry. It was an honor to meet you. And a pleasure to meet you as well, Hermione," Viktor was saying when Harry handed his book and pen back to him.
Ron managed to collect his wits, hurrying over to join up with his friends and his favorite Quidditch player who wasn't playing for the Chuddley Cannons. Just as he was about to say his hello, though, Viktor Krum pivoted to leave and nearly knocked Ron off his feet.
"Umph…" Ron grimaced. Viktor shot Ron an annoyed look, then began walking away. Ron hurriedly called out, "Um, could you sign this?"
Viktor Krum didn't even look to see Ron's second hand textbook being extended towards him.
"Sorry, about that, there, Ron," Harry said to him apologetically. "Krum must have been late to his own classes. I'm sure you'll get him to autograph something for you soon."
Ron choked with frustration. Then he noticed the official, full color magically moving glossy poster of the seeker flying in action that Viktor had given Harry. The message the star had written on the poster was: "To Harry, my favorite fan. Hope we can have a chance to fly together some day. Your dear friend, Viktor Krum."
Neither Harry nor Hermione had ever seen Ron turned that shade of purple before, at least without Ron having first eaten something from Fred or George.