𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞 | 𝐡. 𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫

𝟏𝟏𝟕 - 𝐞𝐧𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭

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𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚜 𝙽𝚂𝙵𝚆 𝙲𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚘𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚗𝚍, 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚋𝚘𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚎𝚐𝚊𝚕 𝚊𝚐𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚄𝙺 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚘𝚛𝚜, 𝚒𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚞𝚗𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚎 𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚜𝚔𝚒𝚙 𝚊𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚍 -- 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚜𝚊𝚒𝚍 -- 𝚒 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚎𝚗𝚓𝚘𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚗𝚘𝚗𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜 <𝟹

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𝙍𝙤𝙣 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙡𝙪𝙘𝙠𝙮 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙚 𝙖𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙚.

As many people had said in passing that he was lucky to have Harry there to save his life and a select few thought to themselves quietly that he was lucky to have Ophelia if the worst came to worst, and for those that knew of her gift the thought had crossed their mind as they looked upon Ron's unconscious form -- if it wasn't for the fact he was breathing, you might've mistaken him for a corpse.

It was enough to render Hermione completely speechless as she sat at his bedside, her big brown eyes glossed over as she tearfully took watch over him while Harry was as rigid as a board beside a rather concerned looking Ophelia who had been around to everyone individually to make sure everyone was alright in the aftermath, though she herself was not alright in the slightest.

She couldn't bare to look at Ron for more than a few moments, any more than that she would get a brief cold shiver and an uncontrollable tremble in her hands which thankfully was disguised by Harry death gripping them in his own, no any longer and she could sense the creep of death upon his shoulders, she could smell the vapour of it on his breath.

Her shoes had become a solid point of interest, her shoes were not on the brink of death nor were they one of her closest friends, but even her shoe wouldn't stop moving as her foot bounced her knee up and down -- she felt that nervous tingle in her skin, she hated the anticipation of waiting for Ron's body to accept the medicine and start healing -- it had to be soon though, any moment now and the feeling would cease and she would know he'd be alright... that he was out of the woods.

"So, all in all, not one of Ron's better birthdays?" said Fred, who'd arrived at that very moment alongside his twin brother who both looked a little sickly at the sight of Ron, no one bothered to answer him when the answer seemed so dire and obvious -- he frowned at his failed attempt at lightening the mood so George squeezed his shoulder as he moved past.

"This isn't how we imagined handing over our present," said George grimly, putting down a large wrapped gift on Ron's bedside cabinet and sitting beside Ginny.

"Yeah, when we pictured the scene, he was conscious," said Fred.

"There we were in Hogsmeade, waiting to surprise him --" said George.

"You were in Hogsmeade?" asked Ginny, looking up.

"We were thinking of buying Zonko's," said Fred gloomily. "A Hogsmeade branch, you know, but a fat lot of good it'll do us if you lot aren't allowed out at weekends to buy our stuff anymore . . . But never mind that now. "

He drew up a chair beside Harry and looked at Ron's pale face.

"How exactly did it happen, Harry?"

Harry retold the story he had already recounted, it felt like a hundred times to Dumbledore, to McGonagall, to Madam Pomfrey, to Hermione and Ophelia, and to Ginny.