No one in Gryffindor Tower slept that night. They knew that the castle was being searched again, and the whole House stayed awake in the common room, waiting to hear whether Black had been caught. Professor McGonagall came back at dawn to tell them that he had again escaped.
Throughout the day, everywhere they went, they saw signs of tighter security; Professor Flitwick could be seen teaching the front doors to reorganize a large picture of Sirius Black; Filch was suddenly bustling up and down corridors, boarding up everything from tiny cracks in the walls to mouse holes.
Sir Cadogan had been fired. His portrait had been taken back to its lonely landing on the seventh floor, and the Fat Lady was back. She had been expertly restored but was still extremely nervous and had agreed to return to her job only on the condition that she was given extra protection. A bunch of surly security trolls had been hired to guard her. They paced the corridor in a menacing group, talking in grunts and comparing the size of their cubs.
Neville was in total disgrace. Professor McGonagall was so furious with him that she banned him from all future Hogsmeade visits, gave him detention, and forbade everyone from giving him the password to the tower. Poor Neville was forced to wait outside the common room every night for someone to let him in while the security trolls leered unpleasantly at him. None of these punishments, however, came close to matching the ones his grandmother had in store for him. Two days after Black's break-in, she sent Neville the worst thing a Hogwarts student can receive over breakfast-a Howler.
She'd never seen Neville move so fast. They'd heard the Howler go off in the entrance hall. Neville's grandmother's voice was magically magnified to a hundred times its usual volume, yelling about him bringing shame upon the whole family.
Ron became a sort of instant celebrity; everyone wanted to hear his side of the story. Each time he told it, Josephine's eyes rolled so hard Hermione thought they'd freeze that way.
"You're more mad at him than you are sad that he was almost stabbed," Hermione said like it was a bad thing.
She'd be sad if he were stabbed, but he was clearly fine. He walked around the castle proudly, telling anyone who would listen about his hardship.
"Because he's a dumb arse," said Josephine. "And he's rude to you constantly."
"Yes, to me, not you," Hermione cautioned gently.
"That doesn't matter to me," Josephine chided, shaking her head.
Friends had each other's back for a reason.
They rounded the corner where a large group of people stood, bunched around the bulletin board. At the board, both Ron and Harry were speaking about the upcoming Hogsmeade trip.
"Harry, if you go to Hogsmeade again...I'll tell Professor McGonagall about the map," Hermione said abruptly.
"Can you hear someone talking, Harry?" growled Ron, rolling his eyes.
"For Merlin's sake!" Josephine snapped. "Ron, can you act like anything other than a child? You're the one who supposedly woke up with a knife to your throat, and you're encouraging him to go to Hogsmeade?"
"What do you mean by 'supposedly?'" Ron retorted defensively.
"That you're a dumb arse," she said annoyedly, staring at him with pointed eyes.
"How am I a dumb arse?" Ron said furiously. "You're the one trying to get Harry expelled! You said you wouldn't pick sides, and you clearly are! Haven't you done enough damage this year?"
His last sentence was clearly directed toward Hermione, who just turned and walked away without another word.
Every part of Josephine was screaming at her to start crying or hex him, and she refused to cry in front of him.
YOU ARE READING
No Goodbyes \ Ron Weasley
Fanfiction"You said it was unimportant, Joe! This is monumentally important!" "A foe like she'd never known." "Friendship was going to be the only way to get through this." "He looked at her, actually looked at her, and wondered how anyone who saw her didn't...
