Three days...

For three-whole-bloody-days! Ron had to stay cooped up on the bed of the hospital wing with only Hermione and the occasional visitor to keep him company.

Until finally, the Honourable Madam Pomfrey deemed them well enough to leave her sanctuary.

With half of his soul being that of a Modern man, it was almost torture for him to waste three whole days just lying idly, without the help of any form of entertainment from things like a Mobile, PC or even a TV.

The only thing Ron could do to pass the time was to stare blankly at the ceiling, which didn't even have a fan, or eat the chocolate frogs that his friends had sent them, but even the bouncing frogs made of chocolates lost their novelty after he ate the tenth one.

He was a bloody wizard inside a bloody magical castle for fucks sake. So to confine him to just a bed in the Hospital Wing while being told that he couldn't perform any kind of magic with his wand...was inhumane and a form of mental abuse.

It was the same as placing a premium 200 hundred-year-old wine in front of a person suffering from alcohol addiction and then forbidding them from drinking it.

'Ah! Man, speaking of that, I sure could use a drink right about now... especially the magical kind,' Ron almost drooled at the thought.

While Ron himself had never tasted alcohol in his life, Sam in his past life had a very good relationship with alcohol, and a week hadn't gone by since he became old enough to drink, that he didn't drink some good alcohol. So he was quite excited at the thought of savouring the magical kind that this world possessed.

Anyway, coming back to the topic, when Ron was finally freed from his prison, he was, safe to say, quite ecstatic.

Just like when a prisoner who has finally finished his sentence, Ron had also already imagined all kinds of scenarios, of all the things that he would do the moment he got out.

He had made a long imaginary list in his mind of all the magical things that he wanted to experience as soon as possible.

Some of the things on that list include things like going to the Potions lab to create a magical potion, or taking the new broom that he had gotten from his parents just last year for becoming Prefect for a test ride or simply finding an empty classroom and then performing all the magic that he could from start to finish to see if he could perfectly cast them...

His brain was already overflowing with dopamine just at the thought of doing all those magical things...

But sadly all of that came crashing down with a simple comment from Hermione when he expressed his wish to go to the Quidditch grounds for a fly.

"What are you talking about, Ron? It's our last day at Hogwarts. The end-of-the-year feast is in just a few hours, and we will leave in the Hogwarts Expresses tomorrow morning. So we need to go and pack our stuff. Besides, even if you wanted to, the grounds should have already been closed to students by now..." Hermione continued but Ron wasn't listening to her anymore, as he was simply too stunned by the news...

To have the opportunity to explore the magical castle of Hogwarts, to wander its hallowed hallways, to take in its ancient beauty, to climb its ever-changing staircases, to use as much magic as you could inside one of its empty classrooms without anyone charging you with the Restriction of Underage Sorcery act...

And then to have that opportunity ruthlessly be snatched away at the last moment... to be delayed for two months...

It was just too much. And it could become even more appalling if that theory of pureblood children being allowed to use magic in their homes turned out to be wrong.

Because of that devastating piece of information, Ron had become quite depressed and his mind had also become numb.

His body just unconsciously followed after Hermione as they left the hospital wing.

He didn't even notice when they reached the Gryffindor tower, or when he climbed the stairs towards his dorms, or when he finished packing his stuff with the help of Harry, or when he finally came down to sit in their usual place in front of the fireplace.

He noticed nothing as his body was completely on autopilot, and the next time when he came to he was playing wizard chess with Harry, to pass the remaining time until the end of the year feast.

"It's your turn next, Ron," Harry said, finally making his move on the chess board, after five minutes of brain-storming.

"Rook, sacrifice yourself," Ron commanded without missing a single beat, with a bored expression on his face.

"What? Why would you do that?" Harry asked with a confused expression on his face, "Wouldn't you lose that way?" he asked as he tried to see why Ron chose to sacrifice his Rook for just a pawn.

"Harry... I think that's a forced checkmate in three moves," Hemione replied quietly with a somewhat impressed expression on her face. She was sitting on the sidelines on a nearby chair spectating on the chess match between her friends just like always.

She was in fact a better player than Harry but she almost never played against Ron after the few times in their first year. Her official reason was that it was a violent and barbaric game while unofficially she just couldn't stomach losing to Ron so many times in an intellectual game like chess.

"Ugh! Really? But it's only been something like ten moves," Harry groaned with a sullen expression on his face, as the pieces on board did exactly as Hermione had predicted before his King took off his crown and kneeled before Ron's Queen, "Did you somehow get even better at this Ron?"

"Maybe," Ron shrugged not denying it as he did, in fact, get a lot better at chess, mostly because of Sam's memories.

While Sam wasn't exactly a professional chess player in his past life, he was still a very determined enthusiast of the game with a lot of time on his hands. He had watched a lot of YouTube videos about all the opening theories, gambits, and all kinds of chess tactics in his free time.

And that modern knowledge along with Ron's already sharp strategic acumen almost made him thrice as good as before, meaning that even people who could somewhat challenge him before wouldn't be able to last more than a dozen moves against him.

"I think I am going to go to the library for some last-minute reading and check out a few books for the summer," Hemione sighed while getting up from the sofa as she finally got bored of watching Ron destroy Harry at chess after the fifth match, "Either of you want to come with me?" she asked casually, without any kind of expectation on her face.

"Now? I don't think—"

"Library... Hogwarts Library..." Ron muttered in a low voice as his eyes gradually lit up with excitement once again, "Yes, Let's go to the library." He exclaimed while immediately jumping up from his seat.

Ron had been so downcast about not having any time left to explore the castle and all its magical places that he had forgotten that there was still one place in this castle that he could make use of in the limited time that he had left.

"Really? You want to go the library..." Hermione asked with a weird expression on her face, "You want to read books... on the last day of our year?"

"Yes, let's go," Ron replied with an excited smile on his face and then without waiting, he immediately led the way towards the portrait hole.

"Is he alright, Hermione?"

"I don't know," Hermione answered, mirroring Harry's concerned expression, "I mean, he has been behaving kind of strangely since the battle... but I don't think anything is wrong with him as he's mostly still the same... he's just a little weird..." She had noticed over the last few days that Ron was a lot more tactful and mature than before but in its place, he had also become a lot more sarcastic and... funny.

But it wasn't like it was a bad thing, just that it was throwing Hermione off... "Maybe, he decided to change and become a good student after the battle..."

"Maybe..." Harry replied with a sceptical look on his face.

"Are you guys coming or what?" Ron asked impatiently while looking back into the common room with half his body outside the porthole.

"Coming!" They answered before immediately following after their red-haired friend as he briskly led them towards the Hogwarts Library with peppiness in his steps.

The reason Ron was so excited to go to the library was that it was the only place in Hogwarts where it was possible for him to get resources that could be mighty useful for the whole summer in just the few hours that he had left.

'Just around here right—Oh!' Ron exclaimed inwardly as he abruptly froze in his steps the moment the library came into his view.

Not because he was stunned by the sight of thousands upon thousands of bookshelves, as even though Ron had not been a frequent visitor of this place, he had still been here enough times that he wouldn't be so shocked at its sight.

No, the reason he was so shocked was because of a very familiar red shiny exclamation mark blinking at the top of the library entrance. Then, without wasting a single second Ron mentally clicked on that alert notification.

[Quest Alert!]

[Conquer the Library (1)]

[Description: The Hogwarts Library with its illustrious history has long been considered a treasure trove for all the book lovers in the Wizarding World. Scour its infamous bookshelves and devour all the valued information in its countless books to solve all mysteries of magic.]

[Objective: Read at least ten books. (0/10)]

[Reward: Exp+20, Conquer the Library(2), Reader Lv1]

'Awesome, This is just awesome!'

"Ron? What happened? Why did you suddenly stop?"

"Ahem! Nothing." Ron replied immediately clearing the excitement from his face before walking into the library, "Say, Hermione, are we allowed to take the books out of the library for the summer, and if we are then how many do you think we can check out?" he asked as three of them occupied a nearby table and placed their things on it.

"Hmm... normal students can borrow a maximum of five books for the holidays but because I have always taken such good care of the books I borrowed, Madam Pince makes an exception for me and lets me check out as many as ten books for the summer," she stated with a proud expression on her face, "But you on the other hand..." she looked at Ron with pity, "I'll be surprised if she even lets you check out a single book for the holidays."

"W-What? Why?"

"Why? You're asking me why?" Hermione asked with an incredulous look on her face, "In your five years at Hogwarts, you've taken a total of three books out of the library, and those too were just to help with your homework, and when you even bothered to return them... Not only were you late, but every single time you managed to damage them either by spilling something on them or tearing pages in them," she hissed angrily as if the damage to the books was a personal affront to her, "Madam Pince glared at me for a whole month after that just because I was your friend!"

"Really? I-I guess I forgot about that," Ron said while scratching his cheek sheepishly.

"You forgot, but I bet she didn't," Hermione replied with a snort, "Forget for the whole summer, I would be surprised if she even lets you check out a book for a single evening.

"I don't believe you," Ron said shaking his head before standing up from the table, "I'll go and see for myself if the librarian really is so petty..."

Ron nodded his head and then left resolutely towards the librarian counter but not even a few seconds after he left, Harry and Hemione watched as he dragged his feet back towards their table with a sullen expression on his face.

"...you were right, Hermione," Ron replied at the amused look on their face while laying his head on the table with a depressed look on his face, "She is still quite cross about the books, and wouldn't let me check out a single book for the summer..."

"I thought so..." Hermione said nodding her head quietly, feeling a bit sorry after seeing the morose expression on Ron's face, "Why... why did you want to take out books from the library anyway?"

"I... thought now that OWLs were finally over, and that we were going to be in the sixth year. That it was a good place for a fresh start," Ron replied with a shrug, "I guess I wanted to become a better student next year to become a more suitable Prefect and role model for the younger students," he said all these things with such genuine emotions that both Harry and Hermione immediately believed him.

"If it's for that, then I... I guess I can use three of my slots to take out the books you need in my name..." Hemione supplied with a reluctant expression on her face, "But you need to promise to take good care of the book this time."

"I promise! Thank you so much, Hermione," Ron exclaimed while jumping up with his eyes lighting up in excitement as if the previous sullen expression was just a lie. In the next moment, his face turned towards his other best friend with an expectant look.

"Yes, Ron," Harry replied while rolling his eyes with a smile on his face, "You can use my slots too..."

"Thank you, Harry. I won't forget about it..." he said with a wide grin on his face before immediately taking off towards the bookshelves to scour the books that would be the most useful for the summer.

Behind him, Harry and Hermione exchanged glances with wry smiles on their faces before going back to their books, with Harry reading a book about Quidditch while Hermione was reading the course books for the next year.

Ron hurriedly passed one bookshelf after the next only scouring the names and nothing else as he had very limited time at the moment.

He had already decided on the most important topics that he needed to read for the summer and would only focus on finding them.

First of all, he would take any and all books that were very slim, because even though he only had a few hours left before the library closed, he felt that if the books were thin enough with just a few pages in them, then maybe he could still finish the quest 'Conquer the Library' on this very day.

But his main objective was still to take as many books as he could with the following keywords in their names: "Occlumency", "Silent Casting", "Dueling", "Apparition ", "Defensive Magic and Shields", and "Wards". And of course, if he found any book with other interesting topics he would take that too.

He had to make a few trips but finally, after spending half an hour, Ron managed to gather as many books as he could on the table where Hermione and Harry were sitting.

"Ron, why did you bring these many books?" Hermione asked with wide eyes as she looked at the dozen books that Ron had placed on the table, "And what are these? Did you just bring the smallest books that you could find?" she asked while pointing towards a different pile that only had books with fewer than a dozen pages in them.

"Hehe, Yes," Ron nodded his head embarrassingly, "I figured I should start easy and practise reading and increasing my concentration so that I don't get easily discouraged."

"That is so stup—"

"I think it's a good thought," Harry interrupted Hermione while sending Ron an encouraging smile, "Starting slow is a good strategy and after all, don't they say, 'Slow and steady always wins the race..."

"Thanks, Harry. I thought so too..." Ron nodded with a grin before he immediately sat down, opened the thinnest book in the pile and started reading it.

It was a simple book that explained a long-forgotten method to grow a rare species of plant. It was a very dry read and was filled with a lot of big words that Ron could barely understand. But for the sake of the quest, he didn't let his concentration slip in the slightest and kept on reading it.

Finally, fifteen minutes later, he managed to finish the small book that barely contained five pages.

'Ugh! It seems like this would be a very painful journey...' Ron groaned while staring morosely at the big pile in front of him, but he didn't lose his determination and opened the next one, a potion recipe book, containing archaic potions before they were improved by Modern Potion Masters.

And just like that, Ron read one book after the other, and with each book he finished the headaches that reading these boring books caused also increased.

So almost two hours later, when Hermione's voice shook him out of his concentration, as he was finishing the eighth book... Ron didn't mind it too much.

"The Library is about to close, you two. We should leave now if we want to check out the books before Madam Pince kicks us out."

"You're right. Let's go." Ron said with a groan while massaging his aching eyes. \

Ron had decided to give up on completing this quest today as now that he had read about 8 books, the quest could be completed at any time, so it didn't really matter too much if he completed it right now or at a later time.

"Wait for me, I'll put this book back," Harry said as Ron and Hermione began gathering the books that they were going to check out for the summer.

"Hey, wait! What is that book you were reading, Harry?" Ron asked with a curious expression on his exhausted face.

"Oh, this. This is just a Quidditch book that contains all the exercises and practices that you should do to become a better Quidditch player."

"Is that so..." Ron said with a contemplative expression before abruptly looking up, "Then do you mind checking this one out too? I want to read it during the summer."

"Eh! Sure, I've already read it, anyway... But why do you want it?"

"Because... I've decided to become a better Keeper for the Gryffindor Quidditch team before the next year starts."

"Really? That's awesome, Ron."

"I know," Ron replied with a small smile, the thought of playing in an actual quidditch game excited him too much, "But that means that you'll need to help me practice during the holidays when you come to our house."

"You got it," Harry replied nodding enthusiastically.

A few minutes later, all three of them exited the Library with their hands filled with books with all kinds of magical subjects.

"We need to quickly put these away in the dorms and come back or else we will be late to the feast," Hermione declared as she hurriedly led the way towards their dorms.

"Ugh! My brain feels like a hippogriff has trampled it into a mush," Ron said while cracking his stiff head, 'Man I could use a drink right about now,' he thought for the second time that day with a craving expression on his face

"That's what happens when you rarely use your head... But Ron, I was really proud of you before as I didn't think that you could even last a whole hour..."

Ron was barely listening to Hermione at this point as his mind was suddenly stuck with an amazing epiphany, 'Wait! Why can't I... drink?'

"Eh! Ron? Why did you stop?"

"Harry," Ron looked at Harry with an uncharacteristically serious expression on his face, "I need to borrow three things from you: The map, The Cloak, and The mirror to talk to Sirius."

/

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