"Seriously! What in the world were you even thinking?"
"Ugh! Hermione," Ron groaned while trying to shield his face from the morning rays coming from the window, "Please, not so loud!" The poor red-haired Gryffindor wanted nothing more than to merge in his seat and disappear from this loud overly-bright world.
Last night's events were somewhat of a blur after they had been caught red-handed during their invasion of Hufflepuff.
One moment they were being pulled by their ears towards the Deputy Headmistress's office and then the next they were now sitting in their usual compartment in the Hogwarts Express on their way to London.
The compartment was filled with the usual gang sans Neville, with Ron sitting at the farthest corner from the window, and beside him sat Harry, while on the opposite seat sat the trio of girls Hermione, Ginny and Luna.
And at the moment, Ron was so miserable, so uncomfortable, so nauseated, his throat so parched and his head aching so much, that he wanted nothing more than to go back in time using the time tuner and beat the ever-living shit out of his past self who dared to assume that drinking magical alcohol would be a great idea. God! What was he even thinking...
And the worst part was that for some reason every single student in the school somehow seemed to be aware of exactly what had transpired last night with the five boys (even though none of them had said anything), which meant that the morning breakfast in the Great Hall had been something akin to a nightmare with people constantly coming to ask the hungover kids, in horrendously loud high-pitched voices, if the rumours were true.
And now Hermione, not satisfied with the 'short' lecture she had given the two during breakfast, was continuing to let her displeasure know of what exactly she thought of their nightly adventure.
"But did you, not even for one second, stop to think about what the consequences of your actions would be?" Hermione dressed down the boys with her eyebrow twitching fiercely, "What if you had been expelled, huh? What would you have done then?"
"We really are sorry, Hemione." Harry mumbled with an apologetic smile, and, for some reason, he looked to be in a remarkably better condition than his best friend sitting beside him, "We were stupid and... just didn't think that we'd get caught..."
"Oh, really? You didn't—"
"Hermione, please!" Ron pleaded with an exhausted look on his face, "We already had to listen to the Professor's lecture, the whole night! so I don't think my mind can handle any more of it," He was already running on fumes because their vindictive Head of House hadn't allowed the boys to have even a wink of sleep last night...
The woman had been so angry with them that she had kept them in her office the entire bloody night.
She had gone on and on about all the rules they had broken, how irresponsible they had been and all the other things that Ron couldn't even remember... he didn't know where she got it from but their Head of House had shown immense stamina and had gone on and on without a single break... and she had only let them go, very reluctantly, just a few hours ago, just before they had to leave Hogwarts so that they barely had time to freshen up and pick up their luggage.
"And you know, I just knew that something was wrong when you were acting so sneakily," Hermione went on, completely ignoring Ron's pleas, "But I just thought that even you wouldn't be so stupid as to do something on the very last day... but then you go ahead and sneak alcohol into the school of all things," Hermione said with an exasperated look on her face, "Seriously, Ronald! How you, of all people, can do this when you yourself are a prefect? In my opinion, the Professors are letting you off too easily after what you all did..."
"But you're wrong Hermione, McGonagall didn't let us off easy," Harry interrupted hurriedly, trying to stave off the girl from getting too worked up, "She said that we would all have to spend at least a whole month in detentions cleaning trophies, classroom and maybe even toilets when we get back to Hogwarts. So our punishments are just delayed..." he exaggerated a little to placate the young girl.
"Ugh! Don't remind me of it," Ron whined before turning to look at Harry with an accusatory glare, "And why the hell do you look so fine when I am so miserable," The-boy-who-lived looked as if he hadn't even been partying with them last night and didn't seem to have any kind of a hangover at all.
"Well, because unlike you guys, who guzzled the Firewhisky like there was no tomorrow, I moderated myself and barely drank two glasses," Harry replied with an amused smile on his face, "So I am still in the safe zone..."
"That is... just not right, man." Ron said shaking his head with a disappointed and betrayed look on his face, "You... you let down your friends mate..."
"Don't worry, Ron. You're actually not the worst one in this," came his sister's lively voice from the opposite seat, "I heard from Dean that Seamus hadn't been able to sit up straight since we boarded the train, and in fact, he had already been to the washroom twice to puke his guts out..." she supplied helpfully.
"Ah! That's good then," he murmured with a relieved smile on his face as his eyes slowly began closing, knowing that someone out there was suffering far more than him was like a healing balm to his wounds and the tension slowly left his body as he fell into an uneasy sleep but unfortunately for him, only after what felt like seconds he was woken up by a loud commotion happening right outside their compartment.
"Arr! What's with all the noise? Did the bloody dementors come once again?" he asked grouchily while rubbing his bleary eyes.
"It's Neville." Ginny replied with an amused smile on her face, her face stuck to the window as she looked at the show outside, "He's become somewhat of an overnight celebrity,"
"What? Why?"
"Well, he bravely charged into a different house's territory and confessed to the love of his life in the middle of the night. It was all... very knightly, you know, just like in those fairy tales. So they all are calling him a hero out there, a rebel, a phoenix rising from the ashes, and some are even saying that he's better than the Twins, especially after considering his previous reputation as... um someone not-so-brave." she shrugged before taking back her seat.
"So he gets the girl and praise while we get all the punishment... ugh, that is so unfair!" Ron shook his head with a depressed expression, making everyone in the compartment snicker at his expense.
The door to their compartment abruptly opened at that moment and in came the grinning boy of the hour who had finally lost his singlehood status the previous night.
The boy didn't quite have the same confident self-assured look that he had on his face last night, after drinking that glass of Firewhisky mixed with soul freeze (which, a short talk with a loudly giggling Sirius had informed them, would increase someone's confidence by 100x and make them do an incredibly stupid things that they secretly desire, things along the lines of dancing naked in the great hall or confessing your eternal love to your teacher.)
"Um, Hey, guys," said the shy boy while waving his hand at his friends.
"Hey, Neville!" replied everyone except for Ron who murmured, "Hey, Traitor," with a discontent look on his face.
"Huh, What do you mean Ron—"
"Come on, Neville. We'll be late." came Hannah's voice from somewhere outside.
"Oh, right! I am coming." Neville replied before turning back to the compartment, "I um Hannah wants to make some plans to meet during the summer so I just came by to say goodbye in case I don't meet you on the platform...Um so bye," he said with a blush and every one replied back before he hurriedly left after his new girlfriend.
"Disgusting," Ron muttered while disapprovingly shaking his head at the boy who left his friends behind after getting the girl.
"Hey, why are you complaining when we are the ones who helped him get the girl," Harry said with a snort.
"Oh! Shut up, Harry."
"By the way, did you see the look on Hannah's face," Ginny said to Hermione and Luna in a gossipy tone, "The girl was positively glowing since this morning and I hadn't seen the smile leave her face even once... She got quite lucky there, didn't she," she said with a faint hint of jealousy in her tone, making Hermione unconsciously nod her head in agreement.
And that was how their journey back home went, the others gossiping in low voices and Ron trying his best to get as much sleep as he could.
Draco and his goonies had apparently tried to start something at some point with Harry when he was on his way back from the bathroom but apparently, they had been very unlucky and had been retaliated against by the whole of DA before being thrown into an empty compartment with various shades of facial disfigurement but other than that the trip was relatively peaceful.
This meant that when the train finally pulled up to the platform, Ron could positively say that he felt like a human once again.
"Ah! I can't wait to get home and eat some real food after so long..." Ron muttered with a happy smile on his face as he pulled his luggage from over the racks. Sam had no memories of what it felt like to have a home where a loving mother cooks for you, so safe to say it was something he was looking forward to very much.
"Um, Ron," Harry's voice abruptly came from his place where he was looking out the window, "From what I am seeing, I don't think you'll be getting anything to eat for quite a while... "
"Huh, Why? What happened—" Ron's question abruptly got stuck in his throat and his eyes widened dramatically because when he glanced outside at the platform 3/4, he found waiting for him almost half the Weasley family including the Twins, in their new fancy clothes, Arthur Weasley and a very angry... Molly Weasley.
The Weasley Matriarch was just standing there silently but the aura she was realising was so ominous that her own family was giving her a wide berth and were looking at her sideways with wary eyes as if she was a pressure cooker on the verge of exploding and Ron just knew that he was the fuse that would set her... off.
"Er... you don't think she found out about the... night. Do you?"
"Do you not remember Mcgonagall's face from last night... I tell you, that woman was out for blood. I bet she sent letters to the parents the moment we were out of her office... Thankfully I don't have to worry about anything with the Dursleys," Harry answered with a strange look on his face. He never imagined that there would come a day when he would be grateful for the fact that the Drursleys were his official guardians.
"I'll pray for you, Ron," Hermione said sympathetically, patting Ron's shoulder while looking at him as if he was a dead man walking, "Good luck."
Ron wanted nothing more than to hide in the train and to let it take him back to Hogwarts but the others didn't think it was a viable idea and they convinced him that the more he delayed the more dreadful it would get so he should just get it over with. 'Easy for them to say it, those bastards...'
And so Ron was forced out of the train, kicking and screaming(metaphorically), and the moment he got down, the eyes of the entire Weasley family zoned in on him, picking his familiar red hair from the crowd of students easily, making Ron flinch.
Especially when he felt the heat of his mother's gaze... Ron shivered as if he was being attacked by Dementors and the urge to run away rose up in him once again.
Being afraid of his mother was so ingrained in the boy's body that not even the memories of Sam, who had been an orphan his whole life, could help him.
Thankfully, it didn't seem like she was going to start screaming right there and then, which would have been quite humiliating... but her eyes— were spitting fire at him as if she wanted to immolate him and they promised untold amount of pain, and they showed that she was quite close to losing it.
"Um, Harry, do you think I can come with you?" Ron asked hesitantly as he dragged his feet as slowly as he could towards his family, "The Dursleys can't be that worse, can they?"
Harry snorted, "Well, if you can tolerate mild starving and doing innumerable amounts of chores, then sure they aren't that bad..."
"Argh! Shit!" If there was one thing this body couldn't handle, then it was starving... because after all, only the soul inside had been modified, and the physical side of things had mostly remained the same.
Along the way they also met, Madam Longbottom who was searching for her grandson. She stopped the three to thank them for bringing Neville along for the ride when they went on these brave adventures.
Though, it was kind of hard to tell from her face, whether she was talking about the fight in the DOM or the Hufflepuff invasion last night. And neither Harry nor Ron were interested in asking her.
But no matter how much Ron dragged his feet, destiny is inevitable... And so they arrived in front of the Weasleys, and the traitors that they were, Harry and Hermione took one look at Ron's mom and immediately decided to distance themselves from him.
They gave him a wide berth and went around the Weasley Matriarch to meet with the other order members standing behind them, including Tonks, Lupin and Moody, and Ginny Weasley, the little critter, who had been even faster than Harry and Hermione and had scurried away at the first chance, with ease of long practise, from Ron at the first sight of her mom so that she didn't get dragged into the mess.
And so Ron gulped as he found himself standing alone in front of his mother, who somehow managed to tower over him, despite her diminutive height.
"Um, Molly—"
"Arthur." Mrs Weasley interrupted her husband in such a calm tone that it made, both the father and the son flinch simultaneously, "I am going to take Ron home first. You can bring his luggage and others later."
"I... Alright." he sighed before turning to look at his son with something akin to pity and then decisively turning his head away so that he didn't have to look at the plea in his son's eyes and feel guilty.
Ron's face paled even further at that, he had been hoping to have the presence of his family with him to dilute her anger, and now to find out that he would be facing her alone... it was all turning out to be the worst-case scenario.
The twins would have especially been helpful for that, but when he looked towards them with a beseeching gaze all he found was pride, respect and a little bit of sympathy, their eyes were looking at him as if he was a martyr sacrificing himself for the good cause, 'We'll remember you, brother,' They mouthed while saluting him.
"Let's go," Molly said or rather commanded quietly and then without waiting for Ron to speak, she took her son's hand off his trolly and then in the next second they side-apparated out of the platform.
The last view Ron saw before he was whisked away, was of his friends and family standing there silently their gazes filled with sympathy, guilt and a little bit of schadenfreude, but not a single one of them gathered up their courage to step out and help him.
In fact, he even caught a glimpse of money changing some hands which meant that those cruel bastards from the order even had a bet going on about his fate, which was just... salt on the wounds.
It all just honestly made him lose his trust in humanity as a whole and made Ron wonder if... joining the dark side wouldn't be a healthier choice for his future.
/
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