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⊱ ─────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ────── ⊰
CHAPTER ELEVEN!
—rosalie
❝ 𝑠ℎ𝑢𝑡 𝑖𝑡, ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑦! ❞
It looked like actual the end of Ron and Hermione's friendship. Each was so angry with the other that neither Rose nor Harry could see how they'd ever make up.
Ron was enraged that Hermione had never taken Crookshanks's attempts to eat Scabbers seriously, hadn't bothered to keep a close enough watch on him, and was still trying to pretend that Crookshanks was innocent by suggesting that Ron look for Scabbers under all the boys' beds. Hermione, meanwhile, maintained fiercely that Ron had no proof that Crookshanks had eaten Scabbers, that the ginger hairs might have been there since Christmas, and that Ron had been prejudiced against her cat ever since Crookshanks had landed on Ron's head in the Magical Menagerie.
Harry was sure that Crookshanks had eaten Scabbers, and when he tried to point out to Hermione that the evidence all pointed that way, she lost her temper with Harry too, dragging Rosalie away from him as well. She kept on muttering how daft both of them were and that Crookshanks would never do such a thing. Cleo currently stayed in Ginny's room, so Ron couldn't say anything about her that might anger both his twin and younger sisters.
Ron had taken the loss of his rat very hard indeed.
"Come on, Ron, you were always saying how boring Scabbers was," said Fred bracingly. "And he's been off-colour for ages, he was wasting away. It was probably better for him to snuff it quickly — one swallow — he probably didn't feel a thing."
"Fred!" Rosalie gasped indignantly.
"All he did was eat and sleep, Ron, you said it yourself," said George.
"George!" This time Ginny slightly gasped indignantly.
"He bit Goyle for us once!" Ron said miserably. "Remember, Harry?"
"Yeah, that's true," said Harry.
"His finest hour," said Fred, unable to keep a straight face. "Let the scar on Goyle's finger stand as a lasting tribute to his memory. Oh, come on, Ron, get yourself down to Hogsmeade and buy a new rat, what's the point of moaning?"
In a last-ditch attempt to cheer Ron up, Harry persuaded him to come along to the Gryffindor team's final practice before the Ravenclaw match, so that he could have a ride on the Firebolt after they'd finished. This did seem to take Ron's mind off Scabbers for a moment.
"I'm going to hang out with Joyce and Drew, see you later!" Rosalie said as soon as she got out of the showers and saw Harry and Ron on the pitch.
