Ron threw his punch with great force, sending Harry tumbling backward onto the ground.
Then he saw Ron was about to pounce on him.
Harry reacted instinctively; his wand was out of his pocket and the incantation sprang to mind without conscious thought: Levicorpus!
The next second, Ron yelled as his heel was wrenched upward; he dangled helplessly, upside down, his robes hanging off him, his legs kicking and struggling hard in the air.
“Why?” Harry bellowed, scrambling to his feet. “You’re crazy, Ron, why did you hit ?!”
“You insulted her, Harry! You said it was a joke! You said she looked like a troll!” shouted Ron, who was slowly turning purple in the face as all the blood rushed to his head. “You must apologize to her!”
“This is insane!” said Harry. “I shouldn’t have said that, but what on earth has happened to you — ?”
And then he saw the box lying open on Ron’s bed,and the truth hit him with the force of a stampeding Romilda Vane. No, it was the force of a stampeding troll.
That box of Chocolate Cauldrons… He had received it from Romilda Vane last ti, at Slughorn’s Christmas party. Since Harry had taken so long to pick a date, many girls had developed certain… aspirations toward him. Romilda Vane had been the most determined of them all, practically desperate for Harry to fall for her.
“Where did you get those Chocolate Cauldrons?”
“They were a birthday present!” shouted Ron, revolving slowly in midair as he struggled to get free.
“You just picked them up off the floor, didn’t you?”
“They’d fallen off my bed, all right? Let go, Harry! I’ll forgive you if you apologize to her!”
“They didn’t fall off your bed, you prat, don’t you understand? They were mine, I chucked them out of my trunk when I was looking for the map, they’re the Chocolate Cauldrons Romilda gave before Christmas, and they’re all spiked with love potion!”
Harry finished in shock, but only one word of this seed to have registered with Ron.
“Romilda! Oh, Romilda! Did you say Romilda? Harry — do you know her? Can you introduce ?”
Harry stared at the dangling Ron, whose face now looked trendously hopeful, and fought a strong desire to laugh.
A part of him — the part closest to his throbbing right ear — was quite keen on the idea of letting Ron down and watching him run amok in search of Romilda Vane. It would be the hottest gossip of the year.
That would be quite the spectacle!
It was Ron who punched him just now, he deserved this lesson.
But on the other hand, they were supposed to be friends, Ron had not been himself when he had attacked, and Harry thought that he would deserve another punching if he permitted Ron to declare undying love for Romilda Vane.
“Yeah, I’ll introduce you,” said Harry, thinking fast. “I’m going to let you down now, okay?”
He sent Ron crashing back to the floor, but Ron simply bounded to his feet again, grinning.
“Where’s she, Harry, where can we find her?”
“Co on, she’s just outside,” said Harry, leading Ron out of the dormitory.
Because it was breakfast ti, there were not many people in the common room.
Harry looked at Evan’s room next door and found it was also empty.
Evan and Hermione were already at the Great Hall, waiting to surprise Ron for his birthday.
It was such a surprise, Harry felt that if he took Ron over now, it would turn into a shock!
Because he was sure that Romilda Vane was in the Hall at that mont, and if Ron saw her…
“Harry, where’s she? I don’t see her…” said Ron.
“She’ll be in Slughorn’s office,” said Harry confidently.
“Why will she be in there?” asked Ron anxiously, hurrying to keep up.
“Oh, she has extra Potions lessons with him,” said Harry, inventing wildly.
“Maybe I could ask if I can have them with her?” said Ron eagerly.
“Great idea,” said Harry perfunctorily, leading Ron down the stairs.
Lavender was waiting beside the portrait hole, a complication Harry had not foreseen.
“Happy birthday, Won-Won! I wanted to talk to you!” she pouted. “I’ve got you a birthday —”
“Leave alone,” said Ron impatiently. “Harry’s going to introduce to Romilda Vane.”
And without another word to her, he pushed his way out of the portrait hole.
Lavender looked furious, and Harry had no words to describe her expression!
She didn’t rush up to hit Ron, which could only an that she had better self-cultivation, or that her brain hadn’t reacted yet. One thing was certain, if Ron didn’t explain properly after he woke up, his relationship with Lavender would definitely be over. R̃𝐚ɴŐＢƐ𝙎
Guided by the Marauder’s Map, Harry then tried to avoid other people.
He thought that Evan or Hermione should have a way to solve this problem and make Ron sober up, but the two of them were in the Great Hall and he and Ron couldn’t go there, so he could only lead Ron to Slughorn’s office.
Ron’s current condition could not be delayed any longer. Harry had expected the effect of the drug to wear off quickly, but it did not. As ti went on, Ron seed to be more and more hopelessly obsessed with Romilda Vane, unable to extricate himself.
Harry had barely knocked on the door when it swung open!
Slughorn was wearing a green velvet dressing gown and matching nightcap and looking rather bleary-eyed.
“Harry,” he mumbled. “This is very early for a call. … I generally sleep late on a Saturday. …”
“Professor, I’m really sorry to disturb you,” said Harry as quietly as possible, while Ron stood on tiptoe, attempting to see past Slughorn into his room, “but my friend Ron’s swallowed a love potion by mistake. You couldn’t make him an antidote, could you? I’d take him to Madam Pomfrey, but we’re not supposed to have anything from Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes and, you know … awkward questions …”
“Oh, co in, m’boy, this is not a problem,” said Slughorn, stepping aside. “He needs an antidote. I’d have thought you could have whipped him up a redy, Harry, an expert potioneer like you? I think Evan or Hermione could whip one up too. With the performance of the three of you in class, that shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Er,” said Harry, sowhat distracted by the fact that Ron was now elbowing him in the ribs in an attempt to force his way into the room, “well, sir, I’ve never mixed an antidote for a love potion, and neither have my good friends Evan and Hermione. And by the ti we get it right, Ron might’ve done sothing serious —”
Helpfully, Ron chose this mont to moan, “I can’t see her, Harry — is he hiding her?”
“Tsk tsk, with this kind of reaction, was this potion within date?” asked Slughorn, now eyeing Ron with professional interest. “They can strengthen, you know, the longer they’re kept.”
“That would explain a lot; that box of Chocolate Cauldrons had been lying around for a while,” panted Harry, now positively wrestling with Ron to keep him from knocking Slughorn over. “It’s his birthday today, he must have eaten it as his birthday present, Professor, hurry!”
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