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Ch 14 Consequences Part 1
🕑 Added 2024-08-21 15:30:48 +0000 UTC"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."
