Chapter 1208 Ronnie the Fool
The four of them didn't take much time to arrive outside Professor Slughorn's office, and a noisy and lively atmosphere greeted them.
This place is much larger than other professors' offices. The ceiling and walls are hung with emerald green, crimson and gold curtains, giving people the illusion of walking into a tent.
As soon as Harry entered the office, he was caught by Professor Slughorn and dragged to meet other guests. Although Harry was bored by all this, he still didn't show much emotion.
Looking at Harry's leaving figure, Luna turned to Hermione and said, "Harry doesn't seem to like this?"
"I think Harry has a reason to do that. He has really changed a lot recently." Hermione also looked at Harry's back and said to herself, "Of course, I have also changed a lot. We are all thinking about it." Be prepared for possible changes in the future and be prepared to face difficulties.”
Speaking, Hermione turned her head and looked at Ron, who was still looking around.
“What’s wrong?”
Ron, who was curiously observing the Yule Ball, felt a little uncomfortable being stared at by Hermione, so he turned around and asked.
"nothing."
Hermione looked away and changed the subject: "Let's find a place to sit down and have something to eat. Harry will probably have to wait a while."
After the three of them had some food on the dining table, they crowded towards the empty seats in the corner of the office.
“What did you want to say just now?” Ron asked while eating.
Hermione glanced at Luna next to her, lowered her voice and said, "You don't seem to be ready to wake up yet."
“Are you ready to wake up?”
Ron's expression was stunned, and the food in his mouth almost fell out. He obviously didn't understand the meaning of these words.
“The awareness to participate in this wizarding war.”
Hermione frowned and looked at Ron who put the pie in his mouth again, "I suggest you finish your food first and then talk."
"Oh, sorry." Ron quickly destroyed the food, "Continue."
"The last time I went home, I realized that this war is never a child's play. Harry and I are both ready to wake up. What about you Ron?"
"I?"
The expression on Ron's face froze again, and he didn't even think about how to answer Hermione's question.
Of course he also wanted to help Harry, but he really hadn't thought about Hermione's so-called awakening.
“Hi, Ginny!” Luna greeted her friend happily.
“What are you talking about?” Ginny walked towards this side.
"nothing!"
Hermione looked sideways at Ginny and asked, "Why are you alone?"
“Dean went to get the drinks.” Ginny waved to the boy on the other side.
“Ron.”
Dean was a little surprised to see Ron here, but when he saw Hermione, he knew why Ron was here.
"Give!"
After Andy handed the butterbeer to Ginny, he took the initiative to find a topic to avoid embarrassment: "I heard that there was a vampire at the Yule Ball today."
“Rufus Scrimgeour?” Luna asked, looking up.
"The Minister of Magic is a vampire?" Several people looked at Luna with astonishment, feeling a little ridiculous.
"Yes, he is a vampire." Luna said with certainty. "My father once wrote a long article trying to expose this matter, but the ministry refused to let him publish it. They obviously didn't want to reveal the truth!"
"Scrimgeour is not a vampire, but I saw a real vampire just now. Mr. Bloody over there is a vampire?" Harry appeared out of nowhere, interrupted Luna's ridiculous speech, and pointed Looking at the man with dark circles not far away, the bored man introduced to the crowd.
"Is that a vampire? Why do I feel like he is... very hungry?"
Hermione looked at the guy who was rubbing up against the girls. She always felt that the guy had bad intentions. It was obviously unreasonable for Professor Slughorn to invite a vampire to the Christmas party.
“We’d better stay away from him, lest that guy gets so hungry that he loses control.”
“What is the situation with vampires? Do they really make a living by sucking blood?”
“Definitely not, I just saw the vampire eating pie.”
Suddenly, a familiar voice came from the side. Fred and George appeared out of nowhere, smiling and greeting everyone.
"I feel like he might need a **** lollipop." George looked at the vampire and said regretfully, "It's a pity that I didn't bring that thing."
“Does that thing really work?”
Of course it works. It is said that **** lollipops are candies specially developed by Honeydukes Candy Shop for vampires.
“Speaking of which, you actually received an invitation from Professor Slughorn?” Harry looked at the Weasley twins and asked his doubts.
“No, we just came here to attend the dance instead of Albert.” Fred shrugged and explained to everyone why the two of them were here.
"Albert actually doesn't like parties very much." George added, "So he asked us to come. He said that we are also famous now and will definitely be welcomed by Professor Slughorn."
“What did Albert ask you to do?” Hermione asked.
“As expected of Hermione!” George gave Hermione a thumbs up and said, “Albert asked us to invite Professor Slughorn to join us and become our potion consultant.”
“Potion consultant?” Everyone looked stunned, obviously unable to understand what they wanted to do.
"As you all know, many of our products contain potions. Although Albert has high attainments in potions, he has been very busy and thinks that we need a potion consultant to help solve problems related to potions. ." George had no intention of concealing the purpose of the two appearing here.
“Like the potion consultant in the radio column?” Andy asked curiously.
“Similar.” Fred nodded.
“Professor Slughorn agreed?” Ron also hoped to get such a job.
“He said it still needs to be considered.”
Fred and George both cast idiotic glances at Ron, "Albert said that Professor Slughorn can think about it slowly. Anyway, he will stay at the school for too long, and he can consider retiring to come to the school." Where can we put our name?"
Of course, both Fred and George knew that what Albert valued was actually Professor Slughorn's connections. Spending some money to maintain them would definitely come in handy in the future and they would not lose money. After all, Professor Slughorn He is a powerful potions expert and can save Albert a lot of trouble.
The Yule Ball was still going on, and Harry was harassed many times by Professor Slughorn during the period. He was taken to meet a large number of guests, and he was invited to meet celebrities under the pretense of it.
Harry had no interest in this at all, he was a celebrity in his own right. He was now huddled in the corner with Fred and George, chatting about the Defense Association and their next plans.
Harry felt that Albert would definitely make reasonable arrangements for the next changes in the situation, but Fred and George seemed to know very little.
"Harry, it's useless even if you ask us. Albert never reveals too much to us." George put the butterbeer in front of Harry and kindly reminded: "If I were you, I wouldn't You’ll make yourself drunk.”
“Also, don’t tell our useless brother some things. I saw that he drank several glasses of whiskey tonight.” Fred reminded him slowly while eating the pastry.
“Little Ronnie is not very reliable and leaks information easily.” George added.
“I’m your brother!”
Ron glared at Fred and George dissatisfied and made rude gestures at them.
"Of course we know." Fred took a sip of butterbeer and patted Ron's shoulder unceremoniously. "We said that for your own good."
"Do not touch me."
"Look, you can't even control your emotions. You're just like a cute little fool. Look at Hermione and Harry. They just drank some butterbeer tonight and were worried that they would talk nonsense when they were drunk."
Ron looked at Harry and Hermione and was speechless for a moment, not knowing what to say.
"Ron just hasn't realized the seriousness of the problem yet." Harry argued for Ron calmly.
"Is the problem serious?" Ron asked stupidly, "I mean..."
"This is not a good place to talk," Hermione interrupted. "I think we need to have a chat about this and go to the Room of Requirement."
“Then let’s go first.”
Harry got up and led the way outside. He didn't like tonight's Christmas party. It was too noisy, and Harry had no intention of dancing on stage. Sitting here was actually boring.
"Wait for me."
Ron drank the whiskey in the glass in one gulp and quickly stood up to follow.
The three of them went directly to the Room of Requirement on the eighth floor. They also went to the bathroom to let Ron wash his face and clear his head.
“There seems to be someone in the Room of Responsiveness?”
Harry frowned and looked at the closed entrance to the Room of Requirement. He moved away to let Hermione try again, but still couldn't open it. It was obvious that someone was using the Room of Requirement.
"what to do?"
"Go to the prefects' bathroom." Hermione gave up decisively and used the backup plan, "Normally no one would use it there, and Harry has the Marauder's Map. If you are careful, you don't have to worry about being eavesdropped."
Harry agreed with Hermione's suggestion that when talking about important things, it is best to find a safe place to avoid being overheard, especially information about Horcruxes that need to be kept secret.
“Harry, let’s go.”
"coming."
Harry frowned and glanced at the entrance to the Room of Requirement, then turned and headed to the prefects' bathroom with Hermione.
After confirming through the Marauder's Map that there is no one in the prefect's bathroom. Ron couldn't wait to ask, "What's going on? What you just said is very serious."
"The situation in the future will get very bad. You should have heard Albert's unpredictability for the future. It should be next year." Hermione cast a few protective spells on the door of the prefect's bathroom and continued: "We can't stay at school and wait for this war to end, especially after Dumbledore gives Harry lessons. Harry may need to be tested next, and I..."
“What on earth are you talking about?” Ron was still confused.
“Dumbledore is probably dying.”
Harry calmly said something frightening.
"Although I don't want to badmouth Dumbledore, the current situation shows that his injuries are more serious than expected, so he decided to tell me about the Horcrux and let me take over the task of destroying the Horcrux."
"Can…"
"We have had similar speculations before, but now we feel that the possibility is very high, very high." Hermione motioned Ron to listen quietly to her, "Once Dumbledore's deterrence is lost, the situation in the British wizarding world will quickly change. It will be corrupted, even Scrimgeour can't do anything about it, this is the deterrent power of absolute strength, and then Albert's prophecy will probably come true."
"I certainly won't let Harry go it alone," Ron said loudly.
"But you're not ready yet Ron," Hermione said softly.
“What on earth are you mentally preparing for!” Ron felt inexplicably irritated.
"Be mentally prepared to die, and you may suffer a lot because of it, or even fail and lose your life." When Harry talked about this, his tone was still very calm, "I don't know what the future will be like, but I have put down everything and suppressed everything." It’s your own life.”
"Me too Ron, we are all giving top priority to defeating the mysterious man and are preparing for it." Hermione nodded: "You should have noticed that Fred and George are also mentally prepared. Prepare, but you haven't yet. We shouldn't have told you these things, but..."
Ron slowly opened his mouth.
"I can understand if you feel too stressed. Everyone has their own choice." Harry reached out and patted Ron on the shoulder without forcing anything.
“Hermione, what about you?”
Ron looked at Hermione in confusion. He couldn't understand why Hermione could do this.
“After my family almost lost their lives because of the mysterious man, I realized when I sent them away that I didn’t really have many choices.”
Hermione looked up at Ron and said calmly: "And don't forget, we are all Harry's good friends. The Death Eaters must know this and will not let us go easily. We have to leave England and find a place Hide and live a life of fear, or help Harry kill the mysterious man and restore peace to the wizarding world."
"Now that my family has left England, I have no worries anymore." Hermione said softly, "I believe in Harry, I believe in Albert, and I believe that they can completely end this **** nightmare. I don't want to live in fear for the rest of my life. Ron, You-Know-Who hates Muggle wizards, Harry and I have no choice, but you can still do it."
"I will not bow down to Voldemort." When Ron said about Voldemort, his face turned slightly pale, but he said with a very sure tone, "Except for the traitor Percy, everyone in our family is bravely fighting against the mysterious man. , I won’t back down, never. Tell me what I should do.”
(End of this chapter)