Ron-Weasly book 2

We were all going to visit forest ranger Hagrid on the weekend. But on Saturday, Harry disappeared somewhere in the morning. I rummaged in the bedroom and found a note on his bed.

"He went to practice."

So early in the morning? Is Oliver completely out of his mind? After talking with Hermione, they decided to grab Harry some breakfast sandwiches. After eating scrambled eggs and bacon and grabbing toast with sausages and jam, we went to the stadium. So, where is everyone? In the stadium, Creevey is just sitting dejectedly and waiting for something. Yeah, well, we'll wait. Although if Colin is here, Harry should also be here. He can smell it, as my sister puts it.

We sat on the podium and discussed Lockhart's books. I was trying to figure out what Hermione liked so much about them. She insisted on an interesting style. Well, yes, well, yes. He's a really good writer. She actually bought his books before the first year to read about the magical world. But it's supposed to be a textbook! When the team entered the field, the sun had already risen, although there were still layers of fog on the grass. Well, finally. So, why are they in uniform? I waved to my friend, and he flew up to us.

"Haven't you finished yet?" I was surprised.

"We haven't even started yet," Harry muttered, looking enviously at the toast and jam that we had brought with us after breakfast and were already eating. "Wood was explaining the new tactics to us."

"Don't worry, buddy, we've brought you something to eat." I showed him the package of toast and sausages.

Harry sighed and glanced sideways at Oliver, straddled the broom, pushed off from the podium and soared into the sky.

"Then we'll eat!" He shouted to us. Harry flew around the stadium at full speed, ahead of Fred and George.

Colin was standing at the top of the podium. He was snapping the camera non-stop, and the sounds in the empty stadium were unusually loud.

"Look at this, Harry! Over here!" Colin screamed desperately. He was jumping up and down on the podium and waving his hand.

Wood started cursing, but George pointed at the green-uniformed players who were walking onto the field with brooms on their shoulders. Wood went down so sharply that the landing was very sensitive for him. He was slightly unsteady as he moved towards the Slytherins with Harry and the twins.

"Flint!" Wood barked at the opposing captain. "Now is our time! We got up at a little light! Get out of here!"

Marcus Flint was bigger than Wood. Sometimes it seemed to me that he looked like a troll. Even now, he had a goofy smile on his face.

Alicia, Katie, and Angelina came over. The Slytherins, none of whom were girls, stood shoulder to shoulder and grinned contemptuously.

"But I've booked the stadium!" shouted Wood. "Booked before lunch!"

Flint handed him a piece of paper. A seventh player came out from behind the six players, almost a head shorter than the rest. He's also blond.

Hermione and I ran across the field to the teams gathered around the brooms.

"What's happening?" I asked Harry. "Why don't you play? What's this guy doing here?"

I stared at Malfoy in surprise, dressed in a Slytherin gym uniform. All seven of them were standing with their brooms outstretched. Polished to a high gloss, brand new, with gold letters "Nimbus-2001", they dazzlingly sparkled in the rays of the morning sun.

"I'm the new Slytherin team seeker, Weasley," Malfoy declared smugly. "We admire the brooms. My dad bought them for our whole team."

I couldn't take my admiring gaze off the seven magnificent high-speed brooms. Awesome Nimbus 2001! Oh, I wish I had one. Although I'm not going to play Quidditch professionally, I'm sick of the crowds in the stadium that need to be entertained. I would have made do with two hundred comets.

"They're good, aren't they?" asked Malfoy innocently. "Don't worry, collect money from the fans and buy them too. Or put up for auction your "Chistomets-5". Museums all over the world will fight over them," he mocked.

The Slytherin team burst into laughter.

"But not a single player of our skool team bought a place in the team", Hermione rapped out. "They all got there because of their talent."

Malfoy's smug face twisted into a grimace of hatred. Something's going to happen now. I would be offended too.

"And no one's asking for your opinion, mudblood!" He blurted out. That thing. I understand if we had strong differences in magical power depending on our origin, but there aren't any. Muggleborns are sometimes even stronger than purebloods. At least those who are accepted into Hogwarts. Besides, without the infusion of fresh blood, we would have died out long ago.

Before he could close his mouth, an unimaginable noise arose. Flint rushed to shield Malfoy from Fred and George's fists. Alicia was screaming:

"How dare you say that!"

And I'm screaming:

"You're going to pay for this, Malfoy!" He pulled his wand out of his pocket and slid it under Flint's arm, pointing it directly at Malfoy's face. "eat slugs" A loud bang echoed through the stadium, a green ray shot out from the other end of the wand and hit me in the stomach. I fell and rolled on the grass. Holy shit, I forgot it was broken again!

"Ron, are you okay?" Hermione rushed over to me.

I wanted to answer her, opened my mouth and... belched deafeningly. Slugs fell out of his mouth. Bli-in! How could I forget about the condition of my wand?! The Sizerins roared with laughter.

Flint doubled over and would have collapsed on the grass if it hadn't been for the broom. Malfoy couldn't stand on his feet and was laughing on all fours, pounding the ground with his fist. The Gryffindors surrounded me, spewing out big shiny slugs. The sight was so unpleasant that no one dared to help me.

"Let's take him to Hagrid's it's not far" Harry turned to Hermione. She nodded bravely, and my friends grabbed me under the arms and pulled me to my feet.

"What's wrong, Harry? What happened? Is he sick? But you can cure him, right?" It was Colin, who had escaped from the podium and was dancing around Harry and Hermione.

I once again vomited inside out, and a new batch of slugs fell out of my mouth.

"Wow!" Colin exclaimed enthusiastically and brought the camera up to his eyes. "Harry! Hold him for a second!"

I'll definitely break his camera someday. Or just curse?

"Get out of my way, Colin!" Harry asked angrily. Or maybe just give him a punch in the eye so he knows what can and can't be filmed? I was led out of the stadium towards the Forbidden Forest.

"We're almost there, Ron," Hermione encouraged me, spotting the ranger's cottage between the trees. "We'll be there in a couple of minutes... you'll feel better right away..."

When the house was about five meters away, the door swung open. But it wasn't the owner who appeared: Gilderoy Lockhart strode out of the door, dressed this time in a lilac robe.

"This way," Harry whispered, pushing me behind a nearby bush. Hermione didn't follow us very willingly.

"It's very simple, you just need to know what to do!" Lockhart explained to Hagrid in a professorial tone. "If you need any help, you know where to find me! I'll send you my book. It's strange that you still don't have it. I'll sign it tonight and send it over. Goodbye!" Lockhart strode off in the direction of the castle.

Harry waited until he was out of sight, then led me out from behind the bushes and hurried to the door. We all pounded on the door.

Hagrid opened it immediately, looking clearly displeased. But when he saw us on the porch, he blossomed.

"Where have you gone? Come in, come in! I thought it was Professor Lockhart back...."

Harry and Hermione dragged me into Hagrid's only room, which served as a bedroom, living room, and dining room. There was a huge bed against one wall, and a cheerful fire crackled in the fireplace. Harry sat me down in a chair and hurriedly began telling Hagrid what had happened to me, but the giant didn't seem bothered by the slug story.

"It's better to let them climb out than sit inside", He cheerfully declared, placing a large copper basin in front of me. "Come on, Ron, don't be shy."

I bent over the basin. I probably should have gone to Madam Pomfrey, but then I thought about how long she would lock me in the med wing and decided to put up with it. I was so caught up in trying to contain the slugs that I completely forgot about the sandwiches for Harry.

"Perhaps we can only wait for it to stop by itself?" Hermione asked worriedly. "It's not an easy spell to break, especially if the wand is broken...."

Hagrid was bustling around, setting the table for tea. Wolfhound Fang came up to Harry, put his head on his lap and immediately slobbered all over his robes.

"What did Lockhart want from you, Hagrid?" Harry asked, scratching Fang behind the ears.

"He taught me how to clean a well of algae", Hagrid grumbled, removing the half-plucked rooster from the table and putting the kettle in its place.

"I don't know without him." He was talking about a ghost causing death. "It's like he, er-er kicked him out of somewhere. He was probably lying, ready to eat the kettle cover, yes!"

It wasn't like Hagrid. He never spoke ill of the Hogwarts professors. Hermione said, raising her voice a little:

"I think you're being unfair, Hagrid, Professor Dumbledore himself chose him to be professor of defense against the Dark Arts!"

"And who to choose from?" Hagrid replied, handing us a plate of molasses toffees. I suffered all the time, puking slugs over the basin. "Defense... you see... no one wants to teach. This position is cursed, they haven't held it for more than a year, yes! Okay, you'd better tell me", Hagrid asked, nodding in my direction. "Who was he trying to bewitch?"

"Malfoy. He called Hermione names. It was kind of rude, because everyone just got mad. He called my mom the same thing on the train."

"He called me a nasty name," I croaked, lifting my head from the basin. Beads of sweat stood out on my pale face. "Called her a mudblood"...

Feeling another bout of vomiting, I bent over the basin again. Hagrid turned purple with rage.

"Look, he bastard!" He roared, turning to Hermione.

"I do not know what that means," she said softly. "Of course, I understand, it's terribly rude...."

"This is the most vile insult." My head popped out over the table again.

"Mudbloods are those who were born into a Muggle family. Who doesn't have magical parents. There are some magicians who consider themselves the best. For example, the Malfoys. They boast that they have the purest blood in their veins." I sobbed and spat into the little slug's outstretched hand. He threw it into the basin and continued: "Actually, it doesn't mean anything to almost all wizards. If you honor our traditions and customs, what difference does it make whether you come from a family of magicians or Muggles!" We're all human, except for laughing at magical creatures. The same Professor Flivik who inherited the magical properties of his goblin kin. I went on to say, "take Neville Logbottom, for example: the blood is much cleaner, and even the boiler can't set it straight. And Crab and Goyle, they're really dumb."

"And our Hermione can do anything! She knows... oh, no... All the spells!" Hagrid exclaimed proudly. "Well, that's an exaggeration, but she's really the smartest witch in our class."

Hermione blushed like a poppy at such praise.

"It's shameless to call people that," I said, wiping beads of sweat from my forehead with a trembling hand. "Dirty blood! It's about the blood! Yes, most wizards are half-breeds now. If we hadn't married Muggle-borns, we would all have died out long ago. But it's better not to marry Muggles. Kids can be squibs. It's just a matter of luck. And Muggles are afraid of us when they find out that the child is a magician."

Then I belched and disappeared under the table again.

"It's not your fault... this one... wanted to put a spell on him, Ron", Hagrid shouted, trying to cover the thud of the slugs falling into the basin. "It's even better that the wand didn't work. Go put a spell on Draco, Lucius Malfoy will immediately... come to school. And then expect trouble!"

They were silent.

"Harry," Hagrid suddenly turned to him, as if he remembered something, "I almost got offended here. You're the one who signs the photos. Didn't you sign it for me? Do you think I'm the worst?"

Harry was indignant. Yeah, he even unclenched his teeth after the toffee, and I thought he'd just sit there with his mouth glued shut. Hagrid's toffee should only be eaten warmed up, then they are not so viscous.

"I didn't sign any photos," he exclaimed fervently. "And if Lockhart says..."

Hagrid laughed.

"I'm just kidding." The giant good-naturedly slapped Harry on the back, causing him to bump his face into the table. "Well, yes, I didn't sign it. That's what I told Lockhart: why the devil is Harry, he's already the most famous of them all."

"I don't think he liked it," Harry rubbed his bruised chin.

"The whole thing is skewed!" Hagrid replied, and his eyes twinkled with amusement. "And then I just blurt out that I haven't read his books at all. He jumped up and... uh... left. Would you like some toffee, Ron?"

So that the slugs will completely kill me?

"No, thanks." I ducked out from behind the desk. "It's better not to take any chances."

"Come and see what's growing here," Hagrid called after Harry and Hermione had finished their tea. Then we went out into the garden.

There were huge pumpkins on a small plot behind the house. Each was the size of a good boulder.

"Noble pumpkins, right?" Hagrid exclaimed. "It's for Halloween. They'll... er... swell up by then...."

"And what do you feed them?" Harry asked with interest. He told me that he was working on Aunt Petunia's garden. And she cleans the house. And they usually cook food together. But his aunt is always nagging at him.

"Well, you know... uh... I, yes... helped them...." Hagrid mumbled, making sure we were alone behind the house.

Hagrid's pink umbrella stood against the wall. We've noticed for a long time that the giant casts magic on them little by little when no one is watching. Officially, Hagrid had no right to use magic. He was expelled from Hogwarts in his third year, but we haven't been able to figure out why yet. Whenever they talked about it, Hagrid would start coughing absently, as if he had gone deaf, until Harry changed the subject. But for some reason they didn't take him to simpler schools.

"An Inflating spell, right?" Hermione's voice was full of reproach and admiration. "You did a great job on them."

"Your little sister liked it too," Hagrid nodded in my direction. "I saw her yesterday." Had she finally gotten out for a walk? Hagrid glanced at Harry and smiled through his beard. "She said she was, uh, admiring the surroundings, but I think she was, uh, expecting to meet someone at my place." And Hagrid winked at Harry. "And she wouldn't have refused the signed one"...