The situation was extremely tense. Evan and Harry stepped swiftly between the two of them, while Hermione tried hard to stop Ginny.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about!” Ron roared, trying to get a clear shot at Ginny around Harry, who was now standing in front of her with his arms outstretched. “Just because I don’t do it in public —!”
“Did you ever bother to keep things private?!” Ginny retorted fiercely. “Kissing Lavender so brazenly in the Gryffindor common room, completely disregarding other people’s feelings. And let’s not forget — you kept a picture of Auntie Muriel stashed under your pillow because, before Lavender agreed to be with you, the best kiss you’ve ever had was from her. And besides that, I also know that years ago, you used to secretly practice kissing with Pigwidgeon because no girl was willing to —”
Everyone stared at Ron in shock. Compared to his secret crush on Fleur, Ginny’s revelations were far more scandalous.
Under everyone’s gaze, Ron’s face turned red, even the tips of his ears were red, and his body was shaking.
The argument had completely deviated from its original topic, turning into an all-out exchange of personal embarrassments.
Ron had plenty of awkward secrets that no one else knew about — except Ginny, of course.
“Shut up!” he yelled.
“I won’t!” Ginny said defiantly. “What right do you have to judge me? You’ve been secretly crushing on —”
A streak of orange light flew under Harry’s left arm and missed Ginny by inches!Bang! Harry pushed Ron up against the locker room’s outer wall. “Don’t be stupid —”
Ron was breathing heavily, and Ginny was yelling crazily again, involving Harry and Cho, Hermione and Evan, as if to say why she had no right to choose the boy she liked and do what she wanted to do. Ron’s way of thinking was far too childish.
Ginny also brought up Slughorn’s party — she had been invited too and fully supported Hermione’s stance.
Ron was jealous of everyone because he hadn’t received an invitation.
To Evan, that might have been the real root of this whole quarrel…
After shouting out all the mess in one breath, Ginny stormed away angrily.
Hermione, Elaine and Demelza chased after her, leaving only Evan, Harry and Ron outside the locker room, as well as Ritchie Coote who was still hiding in the boys’ locker room.
The atmosphere was dull, with the only sound in the air being the boys’ heavy breathing.
Harry quickly let go of Ron, who had a murderous look on his face, and they just stood there frozen.
After a long pause, Evan said, “Let’s go back.”
Harry and Ron went to change their clothes, and Ron lost his temper at Coote who had been hiding in the locker room.
Coote kept apologizing and left quickly at the signal of Evan and Harry, looking like he was about to cry.
This was just the beginning. Ron’s temper worsened, and on the way back to the castle, he deducted points from several younger students under flimsy excuses. As a prefect, he had the authority to do so. He even barked at a small girl who jumped in fright and dropped a bottle of toadspawn.
Evan told Ron not to act that way and, in the end, spoke a few words in Ginny’s defense.
She was no longer a child and had the right to choose whom she liked, the right to fall in love.
As an older brother, Ron shouldn’t be too controlling. It would only backfire and make her more rebellious.
But Ron didn’t listen to him at all, and seemed very impatient. The conversation started shifting toward prefect authority and whether Evan was taking sides. Ron muttered something about betrayal, saying, “And you call yourself my friend…” Seeing where this was heading, Evan wisely fell silent.
There was no need to start another argument with Ron. At this rate, if he kept trying to reason with him, that was exactly what would happen.
So, when they reached the entrance hall, Evan found an excuse to part ways with Harry and Ron, heading off to find Hermione and Elaine instead.
Harry watched Evan’s retreating figure helplessly and let out a quiet sigh.
He didn’t leave Ron. He knew Ron needed him at this time, but he didn’t say anything.
Harry was not in a much better situation than Ron. He just felt dizzy and disoriented.
He kept thinking back to Ginny and Dean kissing; being struck by a lightning bolt must be something like this. It’s just because she’s Ron’s sister, he told himself. You just didn’t like seeing her kissing Dean because she’s Ron’s sister. …
Harry thought about it all night, until he lay in bed, and lay awake for a long time, looking up at the canopy of his four-poster bed and trying to convince himself that his feelings for Ginny were entirely elder-brotherly.
They had lived, had they not, like brother and sister all summer, playing Quidditch, teasing Ron, and having a laugh about Bill and Phlegm?
He had known Ginny for years now. … It was natural that he should feel protective … natural that he should want to look out for her … want to rip Dean limb from limb for kissing her.
He and Ron felt the same way. But he would have to control that particular brotherly feeling towards Ginny…
She’s Ron’s sister, Harry told himself firmly. Ron’s sister. She’s out-of-bounds. He would not risk his friendship with Ron for anything.
He punched his pillow into a more comfortable shape and waited for sleep to come, trying his utmost not to allow his thoughts to stray anywhere near Ginny. This night was destined to be a sleepless night…
The next day, neither Harry nor Ron looked like they had slept well, and instead of getting better, their condition got worse.
Like something fermenting, the longer time passed, the more their frustration and misery grew.
Ron had now completely avoided Evan, Hermione, Elaine, and Ginny, refusing to associate with them. He believed they had all taken Ginny’s side. He was cold to everyone else, too — including the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Rumor had it that he had even had a fierce argument with Lavender.
The details were unclear, but in the end, only Harry was still willing to stay by his side. Only Harry could manage it.
Truthfully, though, Harry himself had been feeling just as miserable these past few days.
His feelings for Ginny had been tormenting him, and he had no way of telling anyone about it.
Also, in his opinion, they were doomed to lose the first match if they continued in this state.
Because of Ron’s hot temper, his goalkeeping skills plummeted, which made him even more aggressive. During the final Quidditch practice before Saturday’s match, he failed to save every single goal the Chasers aimed at him, but bellowed at everybody so much that he reduced Demelza Robins to tears.
“You shut up and leave her alone!” shouted Elaine angrily, waving the heavy bat in her hand.
“ENOUGH!” bellowed Harry, who had seen Ginny glowering in Ron’s direction and, remembering her reputation as an accomplished caster of the Bat- Bogey Hex, soared over to intervene before things got out of hand.
“Elaine, Ginny, go and pack up the Bludgers. Demelza, pull yourself together, you played really well today. Coote, Dean, you two are in great shape too, keep it up; go back and have a good rest today. Ron …” Harry spoke quickly, but then he waited until the rest of the team were out of earshot before saying it, “pull yourself together, you’re my best mate, but carry on treating the rest of them like this and I’m going to kick you off the team.”
Harry really thought for a moment that Ron might hit him, but then something much worse happened: Ron seemed to sag on his broom; all the fight went out of him and he said, “Fine, I resign. I’m pathetic. I’ve had enough!”
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