Nothing seemed like it could fix this up. Ron was positive Hermione’s cat had eaten his rat, and that she had never taken the problem seriously. He also claimed she was still denying it by suggesting he look again all over the dormitory. As for Hermione, she was adamant he had never had any patience with her cat, that he had been in the dormitory at Christmas, and that the hairs could have come from then. Megan and Harry weren’t sure what to think, but when they tried to explain to Hermione he was upset she got angry at them too and snapped she had work to do. Ron had taken losing Scabbers very hard indeed. They all tried to cheer him up, to little avail… So Megan and Harry had to do without Hermione. Hermione and Ron had sat at about a dozen seats from each other at breakfast, lunch and dinner the day after Ron’s discovery, neither wanting to be near the other, even if that caused Hermione to be cast aside because Ron sat with Harry and Hermione.
“Look, it’s not like she told Crookshanks to eat your rat…” Megan had said.
“She didn’t do much to stop him, either, though, did she?” Ron had retorted shortly.
Megan had figured nothing would change Ron’s mind, and just let it go.
“I was afraid of this…” Megan sighed that evening in the common room after dinner.
“What d’you mean?” Harry asked.
“Ron and Hermione… they’d been bickering over Crookshanks and Scabbers since day one… I was worrying it might do so much damage their friendship would be beyond repair… Cedric didn’t reckon it would happen, but… it looks like he was wrong…
“Megan, they’re arguing every other day, they’ll make up in a day or two…” Harry said.
“This isn’t like that, Harry,” Megan reminded. “Ron may have complained about Scabbers, but he cared about him… and we know he never liked Crookshanks, so that was bound to be a bone of contention…”
“A what?”
“Honestly, do you not read at all?” Megan teased. “It means a cause for argument. I prefer the French image of an apple of discord, personally, but there you have it.”
Megan laughed at his expression.
“It’s the same meaning, just epressed with a different way of describing it. In English, it’s bone of contention, right? In French, to say the exact same thing, they say apple of discord. You see?”
“… Why not say the same thing then?”
“I don’t know. To keep their own identity, or something, I suppose.”
“Yeah, maybe. Too bad it doesn’t help us with Ron and Hermione.”
Megan glanced at her two friends, sitting in opposite corners of the common room, and couldn’t help but agree.
“Ron and Hermione are fighting again?” Cedric asked.
Megan and Harry had run into him during the lunch break the next day. Hermione had marched off to Ancient Runes while Ron was brooding at the table.
“Yes…” Megan answered heavily. “Ron found blood on his sheets and Scabbers is gone. He’s convinced Crooskhanks ate him, and I have to admit I can’t see what else could explain the blood…”
Cedric sighed.
“Well, it’s not like we weren’t expecting something like this to happen sometime,” he said. “I mean, a cat and a rat in the same place…”
Megan leaned against the wall wearily.
“Yes, but the problem is Ron’s convinced Hermione never took the problem seriously.” Megan explained. “While she’s certain he’s wrong, that Scabbers is just hiding somewhere, and that Ron never had any patience with Crookshanks, meaning that everything bad related to Scabbers is automatically his fault.”
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Megan Potter - A saga of the Heart - Book 3 - Past and Present
Fanfiction- Things are seldom what they appear - Megan was ready for yet another long, boring summer at the Dursleys. Little did she know that this summer would soon turn out even worse than the last. The reason? Her cousin's aunt Marge. And as if that wasn'...
