Ron-Weasly book 1. V2

Well, duels between elementary school students are prohibited. Harry should explain the situation, otherwise he's just blinking his eyes. When Malfoy walked away, Harry and I exchanged glances.

"What kind of duel is this?" Harry asked. "And what does that mean: will you be my second?"

"Seconds are needed to carry you home if you die", I calmly remarked, and calmly began to eat the already cold pie. I only realized it when I looked at Harry and saw the expression on his face. "But don't worry, deaths only happen in real duels, that is, if real wizards are fighting. And the most you and Malfoy can do is send sparks at each other. You don't know how to do anything yet, and therefore you won't be able to inflict serious damage on each other. By the way, I'm sure he expected you to refuse."

"What if I wave my wand and nothing happens?" Harry asked.

"Then put the wand aside and punch him in the nose," I advised. "I blacked his eye and broke his nose when McGonagall took you away."

This is certainly a violation, but the duel will still not be according to the rules.

"Sorry..." a girl's voice sounded behind us.

We turned around and Hermione Granger was standing in front of us.

"Can I eat here in peace?" I said pointedly.

Hermione ignored my question, especially since she wasn't looking at me, but at Harry.

"I overheard what you and Malfoy were talking about..."

"I bet on my old comet that it's no accident," I interjected. The girl blushed.

"...And I want to tell you that you have no right to wander around the school at night. If you get caught, Gryffindor will get penalty points, and you will definitely get caught. And if you want to know, what you're going to do, ignoring the faculty, is pure selfishness."

"If you must know, it's none of your business," Harry replied.

"Goodbye," I ended the conversation.

That's a pushy girl. I wonder if all Muggleborns are like that? Although Hermione told me that her parents hired tutors for her when she was still in elementary school.

* * *

I lay with my eyes open and listened to the steady breathing of Dean and Seamus (there were five of us in the bedroom, but Neville was still in the hospital wing). I've been giving Harry very valuable advice all evening. "If he tries to cast a curse on you, you'd better dodge, because I don't remember how to fight them off," and all the same stuff. I told him everything I remembered about magic duels, trying to prepare him better. Harry was interested in dueling with edged weapons and without weapons at all, which Malfoy and I had.

"It's eleven thirty," I finally muttered, glancing at my watch. "If we don't want to be late, we have to go."

We threw our robes over our pajamas, picked up our wands, tiptoed out of the bedroom, down the stairs, and into the Gryffindor common room. A few coals were still flickering in the fireplace. Their light turned the chairs in the room into sinister, hunchbacked black shadows. We were almost at the exit when we heard a voice from the nearest chair:

"I can't believe you're going to do this after all, Harry." The lamp flashed on. Hermione Granger was sitting in an armchair in a pink bathrobe, frowning at us. No, well, will she ever stop meddling?

"You?" I whispered furiously. "Go to sleep!"

"I almost told your brother Percy about it", Hermione snapped. "He's the headman, he would have put an end to this. But I still didn't say anything."

She pestered me, although I'm grateful she didn't tell Percy. He would have given us an hour-long lecture on the rules. And why dueling is prohibited for participants under the age of fourteen.

"Come on," Harry said to me. And, pushing aside the portrait of the Fat Lady, he began to make his way through the hole.

However, Hermione wasn't going to give up so easily. We were already standing in the hallway when she came out of the hole after us and hissed like an angry goose.

"You don't think about our house, you only think about yourself, and I don't want Slytherin to win house-to-house competitions again. Because of you, we will lose the prize points that I received from Professor McGonagall, but I knew several spells that are necessary for transfiguration."

"Go away," we whispered together.

"Okay, but I warned you. And when you're on the train back to London tomorrow, remember what I told you-that you..."

We never found out what was supposed to follow this "what are you". Hermione, without finishing, turned to the portrait of the Fat Lady to tell her the password and return back, but found that the painting was empty. The fat Lady had gone to visit someone, which meant Hermione couldn't return to Gryffindor Tower. You didn't need a password to leave the bedroom, you just had to push the portrait aside, but it was impossible to enter the tower without a password, and even more so without a Fat Lady to whom you had to tell this password.

"What am I supposed to do now?" Hermione asked in a shrill whisper.

"That's your problem," I said. "That's it, we have to go, we'll be back late."

But we hadn't even reached the end of the hallway when Hermione caught up with us.

"I'm coming with you," she said.

"It's out of the question," we said in unison.

"Do you think I'm going to stand here and wait until Filch grabs me?" But if he catches the three of us, I'll say that I tried to talk you out of it, and you'll confirm it, and then they won't do anything to me.

"You're so arrogant!" I protested loudly.

"Shut up, both of you!" Harry snapped. "I hear something."

We heard something like snuffling.

"This is Mrs. Norris," I breathed, squinting into the darkness.

But it wasn't Mrs. Norris. It was Neville. He was sleeping soundly on the floor, curled up in a ball, but he woke up immediately and jumped up as soon as we crept closer.

"Thank heavens you found me!" He exclaimed. "I've been here for hours. Couldn't remember the new password."

"Keep it down, Neville," I whispered. "The password is "pig's nose", but that won't help you anymore. The fat Lady had gone somewhere."

"How's your arm?" Harry asked first.

"Great." Neville held out his hand and waved it in the air. "Madam Pomfrey made the bones grow back together in one minute. She was the only one who kept me in the infirmary until the evening."

"Well, that's good," Harry smiled happily, but frowned, remembering why we were here. Uh-uh... Look, Neville, we have to go somewhere, so I'll see you later..."

"Don't leave me!" Neville yelled. With characteristic clumsiness, he tried to get to his feet, but almost fell. "I won't stay here alone: while I was lying here, the Bloody Baron sailed past me twice."

I looked at my watch, and then glared at Hermione and Neville. If Harry and I get caught because of the two of you, I won't rest until I've learned the "ghost curse" that Quirrell told me about and tried it on you.

Hermione opened her mouth, maybe to tell me how to cast the "ghost curse," but Harry hissed at her. And, putting his finger to his lips, he beckoned everyone to follow him.

We tiptoed along corridors lined with squares of light falling from tall windows. We've been lucky so far. We made the last turn, jumped up the last staircase, found ourselves on the third floor and silently crept into the room where the awards were kept. Malfoy and Crabbe weren't here yet, so we got there first.

Moonlight flooded the room. The crystal boxes sparkled in the moonlight. Goblets, shields with coats of arms, plaques and statuettes shone silver and gold in the dark. We moved along the wall, keeping our eyes on the doors at opposite ends of the room. Harry took out his wand in case Malfoy jumped out of the darkness and immediately attacked him. But no one appeared. It seemed as if someone had slowed down the passage of time — the minutes crept by like hours.

"He's late, maybe he got cold feet." I whispered.

A noise coming from the next room made us jump. Before Harry could raise his wand, a hoarse male voice rang out. It didn't belong to Malfoy at all.

"Take a good sniff, my dear. They must have hidden in a corner. Sir Snape said he had already caught a couple of midnighters, and there were two more left."

It was Filch's voice, addressing Mrs. Norris. Harry waved at us to follow him and quickly tiptoed towards the door opposite the one Filch and his cat were about to appear from. Neville, who was closing the chain, had barely left the room when we heard Filch enter it.

"They're here somewhere," we heard him mutter. "They're probably hiding."

Harry looked at us, getting our attention.

"Over here!" he said soundlessly, carefully articulating, and we began to creep along a long gallery lined with knight's armor. Filch's footsteps could be clearly heard behind him.

And then Neville suddenly gave a startled squeak and started running. As expected, the clumsy Neville did not manage to escape far. He stumbled, clutching convulsively at me running in front of him. We fell, crashing into a knight in armor standing on a low pedestal. The noise and ringing we raised was enough to wake up the whole castle.

"LET'S RUN!" Harry screamed, and the four of us ran down the gallery as fast as we could, not looking back and not knowing if Filch was following us.

We flew through the open door, narrowly missing the door jamb, turned right, ran down the corridor, and then jumped across the next corridor. Harry was the first to run, and we were right behind him. Damn, I can't even figure out where we are.

We slipped through the tapestry and found ourselves in a secret passage. We ran through it to the end and stopped near the classroom where spell classes were held. Suddenly I realized that somehow we had managed to cover a really huge distance — the room chosen for the duel was far, far away from here. Apparently we ran through the gluing of space in one of the secret passages. Bill told me that it happens when you're in a hurry and you help the students yourself.

"I think we've lost him," Harry managed to say, catching his breath. He leaned his hot body against the cold wall and wiped his sweaty forehead with the sleeve of his robe. Neville, who was standing next to him, doubled over, breathing heavily and muttering something under his breath.

Neville, who was standing next to him, doubled over, breathing heavily and muttering something under his breath.

"I'm... for you... I told you," Hermione gasped, holding her chest with both hands. "I'm... for you... spoke."

"We need to get back to Gryffindor Tower," I said. "And as soon as possible. If Snape caught Malfoy, he obviously ratted us out."

"Now... do you understand... how dangerous it was... to come to a duel... with Malfoy?" Hermione said to us in a ragged voice, breathing heavily and holding her chest.

"Come on," Harry waved his hand instead of answering.

We hadn't taken ten steps when we heard someone turn the doorknob, and Peeves floated out of the office next to us. He noticed us immediately and even squealed with delight.

"Keep it down, Peeves, please." Harry put his finger to his lips. "You're going to get us kicked out of school."

Peeves cackled happily.

"Hanging out at night, little freshmen? Well, well, well, it's not good, kids, it's very bad, they'll catch you."

"If you don't turn us in, they won't catch us." Harry folded his arms pleadingly across his chest. "Please, Peeves."

"I should probably call Filch. I just have to. My duty demands it." Peeves spoke in a righteous voice, but his eyes sparkled with an unkind fire. "And it's all for your own good."

"Get out of the way," I couldn't stand it and swung at Peeves with my hand. I overreacted, and it was a mistake.

"STUDENTS ARE WANDERING AROUND THE SCHOOL!" Peeves shouted deafeningly. "THE STUDENTS ARE WANDERING AROUND THE SCHOOL, THEY'RE IN THE SPELL CORRIDOR RIGHT NOW!"

We all ducked under Peeves, who was hanging in the air, and ran as if our lives depended on our speed. But when we reached the end of the corridor, we bumped into a locked door.

"That's all!" I groaned, vainly banging my shoulder against the door. "It's over with us! We're lost!"

We could already hear footsteps — it was Filch running towards Peeves' screams.

"Come on, move over," Hermione commanded sharply. She snatched Harry's wand from his hands, tapped it on the locked lock, and whispered, "Alohomora!"

The door clicked and swung open, and Hermione already stepped forward, as if it were the most common thing — to take someone else's wand and open everything.

Damn, is she a witch or what? Well, who goes to a magic school without a wand? Magicians generally try not to put their tools far away from themselves. After all, we're not witchers to fight hand-to-hand. Although the same curse-breakers in Egypt wear rings instead of wands. Although the same curse-breakers in Egypt wear rings instead of wands. Too much energy consumption when doing magic without a wand forces you to use concentrators. Some use wands and wands, some use rings, some use bracelets, but they are more used as storage devices, some fighters use staffs and enchanted short blades, like Bill. I've been learning how to control a chess set since I was six years old, when Aunt Muriel gave it to me. She gave me a thin bracelet made of black metal, which increased and decreased depending on the thickness of the wearer's hand.

The lock rattled, the door swung open, and we quickly slipped inside, closing the door behind us and pressing ourselves against it to hear what was happening in the hallway.

I froze half a step behind, blinked, then suddenly broke into a smile and slapped my forehead:

"Precisely! I completely forgot.... Bill hardly ever has a wand with him when he talks about Egypt. He's walking around with a ring."

Harry squinted at me, as if trying to figure out if I was joking:

"With the ring? I mean... how's the ring with a stone?

"Well, yes, it's so dark, with some kind of pattern. He said that the wands were not used by specialists in those places. They say that rings are much more convenient for curses and ancient pieces. I waved my hand towards the open door. So it turns out: Hermione is in Western European, breaking everything with a wand, and Bill is in Eastern, reading the walls with one ring. As is customary in Egypt and Arabia.

Hermione stopped in the doorway and turned around, frowning slightly, but more out of curiosity than resentment:

"Reads the walls? How's that?"

I shrugged, glad that at least I was better at something than she was:

"Well, he said that the ring shows where the magic is applied. Like, if you touch it, you can see the footprints. Like, in tombs, only rings are convenient to use in narrow passages, and keep a blade handy just in case.