Bella and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Chapter Thirty-Two

Well. It honestly looked like the end of Hermione's and Ron's friendship. Each was so angry, and I mean angry, with the other that I couldn't see how they'd ever become friends again. 

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 Ron look for Scabbers under all the boys' beds. Hermione, meanwhile, maintained fiercely that Ron had no proof that her cat had eaten his rat and that the ginger hairs might have been there since Christmas, and had said that Ron had been prejudiced against Crookshanks ever since he had landed on Ron's head in the Magical Menagerie.

Personally, I was sure that Crookshanks had eaten Scabbers, and when I tried to point out to Hermione that the evidence all pointed that way, she lost her temper with me too. Then with Harry, as he too believed that Crookshanks had done it.

"OK, side with Ron, I knew you would!" she snarled. "First the Firebolt and the necklace, now Scabbers, everything's my fault, isn't it! Just leave me alone, I've got a lot of work to do!"

Ron had taken the loss of his rat very hard.

"Come on, Ron, you were always saying how boring Scabbers was," Fred said 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 - probably didn't feel a thing"

"Fred!" Ginny said indignantly. Yep. The bitch was back.

I still hated her. 

"All he did was eat and sleep, Ron, you said it yourself. "George pointed out. Hmm, he did say that...

"He bit Goyle for us once!" Ron said miserably. "Remember, Harry?"

"Yeah, that's true," Harry said, nodding. 

"His finest hour," I said, chuckling. "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 go on the Firebolt after we'd finished. This did seem to take Ron's mind off Scabbers for a moment ("Brilliant! Can I try and shoot a few goals on it?") so we set off for the Quidditch pitch together.

Madam Hooch, who was still overseeing our practices to keep an eye on Harry, was just as impressed with the Firebolt as everyone else had been. She took it in her hands before take-off and gave us the benefit of her professional opinion.

"Look at the balance on it! If the Nimbus series has a fault, it's a slight list to the tail-end - you often find they develop a drag after a few years. They've updated the handle, too, a bit slimmer than the Cleansweeps, reminds me of the old Silver Arrows - a pity they've stopped making them, I learnt to fly on one, and a very find old broom it was too..."

She continued in the vein for some time, until Wood said, "Er - Madam Hooch? Is it OK if Harry has the Firebolt back? Only we need to practise..."

"Oh - right - here you are, then Potter," Madam Hooch said. "I'll sit over here with Weasley..."

She and Ron left the pitch to sit in the stadium, and the rest of us gathered around Wood for his final instructions for tomorrow's match.

"Harry, I've just found out who Ravenclaw are playing as Seeker. It's Cho Chang. She's a fourth-year, and she's pretty good...I really hoped she wouldn't be fit, she's had some problems with injuries..." Wood scowled his displeasure that Cho had made a full recovery, then said, "On the other hand, she rides a Comet Two Sixty, which is going to look like a joke next to the Firebolt. " He gave Harry's broom a look of fervent admiration, then said, "OK, everyone. Let's go -"