Chương 13: A Weasley Christmas
November seemed to fly by, as the December snow set in, and the Christmas break begun. Most Slytherins went home for the break, Blaise included, which gave Ron privacy, but also left him quite lonely. Hermione had stuck around, claiming she needed to study more, but he could feel her concern.
At first, Ron thrusted himself into work or study, but with students leaving, his orders plummeted to an all-time low, as did his motivation to study. As Christmas day loomed, he wondered what would come for him. Would he get the traditional Weasley jumper? Would his aunts and uncles still send him gifts? Or would he be left all alone under the Christmas tree?
Not wanting to entertain that last possibility, he put in an owl order into Honeydukes on Christmas eve. That way, at least he'd have his own gifts for Christmas. Then, he set down to a dreamless sleep.
Awakening the next morning, he went down into the empty Common Room with a heavy heart… only to find several glittering packages waiting for him. He'd gotten presents! Rushing over, Ron saw he'd gotten seven packages. One was his own; three more from friends: Hermione, Blaise, and Neville to be precise; while the other three came from family: Bill, Charlie and…
"Aunt Muriel?" Ron questioned.
But his confusion was quickly replaced with excitement. What had he gotten?
Hermione's present was a book—no surprise there—on advanced chess tactics, quite useful since he was largely self-taught; while Neville's were some seeds of common magical plants; and Blaise had sent him a bottomless bag, another object he'd long desired. With four cubic meters of space, it could help move the large cauldrons and other supplies to and from the Room of Requirement.
[Bottomless Bag (Blue) LV4 777/800]
Seeing all these gifts, Ron felt a little guilty, not having sent any back. He'd have to dig through the Room of Hidden Things for some good birthday gifts to make up for it.
Meanwhile, Charlie had sent him some dragon leather boots to match his gloves and Bill sent a scarab amulet he'd dug up in Egypt. Finally, Aunt Muriel's gift was just a sack of sickles with a letter thanking him for 'the best laugh she'd had in three decades'.
Ron chuckled, before giving a sad smile. Getting these gifts almost made up for up the lack of a jumper.
But the last surprise was yet to come. Heading down into the Great Hall for breakfast, Ron sat at his usual seat only to be assaulted by a shower of snow. Turning around, he saw a grinning redheaded duo, but before he could get mad, they thrust a package in your hand.
"Merry Christmas Ronnikins!"
"Errol was too beaten up to make a second trip."
"So, Fred and I reckoned we could give you this ourselves."
Even through the wrapping, no Weasley could mistake this gift. It was a jumper.
"But… how? Why?"
"Christmas is time for family!" Fred cried. "Even if they are lousy snakes!"
"Yeah, if we can put up with Aunt Muriel, we can put up with you." George agreed.
"Now, on with the jumper!"
"Or did you think you were getting away scot-free?"
Unwrapping the gift in a frenzy, Ron saw the jumper accompanied by a book on Muggle-inspired magic from his father. The jumper wasn't maroon like it usually was but glittery Slytherin green. The twins mimed vomit at the colour, but he loved it, putting it on at once. The jumper came with a short letter.
Dear Ronald,
I'm sorry for my attitude of late, I've just been struggling to accept this. But whether your colours are red, blue, yellow or even green, you'll always be a Weasley, and I'll always love you.
Love your Mum.
Ron pocketed the letter, tears coming to his eyes.
"Aww, is widdle Wonnikin's gonna cry?"
"Come on, Christmas is a time for joy, not tears!"
"Bugger off." Ron sniffled.
The twins then marched him off to the Gryffindor table to celebrate, where Harry and Percy were wearing their own jumpers. Ron could tell neither the twins nor Percy and Harry, were all the way accepting of his Slytherin identity, but at least they could look past it. They ate, drank and were merry, feeling like a family for the first time in months.
Later in the morning, Hermione came by, and Ron thanked her for the gift, promising to get her back. She'd quipped back that the only gift she wanted was to know how he'd known about Neville and Nicolas Flamel. Of course, he had snarked back that it was 'magic', much to her frustration.
Soon after, breakfast had ended, but the day was still young. The twins had dragged him along with Hermione and Harry for a snowball fight in the grounds. At first, they'd suggested third years against Firsties, inviting Lee Jordan for a three-on-three, but after Ron barraged them with Green LV3 levitation snowballs, they changed to Gryffindor against Slytherin. He was buried under the avalanche of a five-against-one and encased into a Snow-Weasley.
After that, they played all around the ground, with Ron watching with awe as the twins sneakily levitated Scabbers onto Quirrell's turban. If only they knew…
Finally, they ended back at the Great Hall for the feast, opening Christmas crackers, singing carols, and enjoying with the other students. Ron even played a few chess games against McGonagall, losing more than he won, but every win gave him hope to beat her chessmen. After her, he played Hermione, easily thrashing her to regain his confidence.
"You're really not going to tell me how you knew? Come on, just give me a hint." Hermione nagged.
"Have you got a notebook? I'll put the answer there." Ron offered.
Her eyes lit up, frantically retrieving one from her book bag. Then, Ron tapped the front cover.
"Narratio Initus. Dear Hermione, I will never tell you the secret. Sincerely, Ron. Narratio Finito." He incanted, before handing her the book. "Now, whenever you want the answer, just tap your notebook with your wand and…"
"Dear Hermione, I will never tell you the secret. Sincerely, Ron." The book perfectly recited his recording.
Hermione went a funny shade of purple, hastily grabbing back her notebook. In the process, her wand bumped up against the cover, starting the recording once more. Ron only grinned, seeing the fruits of his past weeks' hard work on the recording charm.
It had already reached White LV7, sufficient to record up to seven seconds of sound, play back up to seven times and lasted seven days. While seven seconds wasn't enough for Fluffy, Ron was confident to bring it to Green level soon enough which should suffice. He'd also brought his Broom Flying to Green LV4 for Flitwick's task and would work on his Levitation for the troll. All his preparations were almost in place, but he had one more thing to test.
Saying goodnight to his siblings, Ron retreated to the Slytherin Common Rooms, but instead of sleep, he retrieved the Marauder's Map, watching carefully. Most went to sleep following the celebrations, but one name left the Gryffindor tower. Harry Potter.
Ron sprung out of bed at once, moving to follow him. This was what he was waiting for. This was the night Harry would discover the Mirror of Erised after being chased by Filch.
This 'coincidental' discovery was another reason Ron was convinced Dumbledore was masterminding this entire year. There were hundreds of rooms in Hogwarts and Harry just so happened to find the one where the Mirror was? Some coincidences were just too unbelievable.
However, he was a little worried. He'd already given Hermione the hints to find Flamel, would Harry no longer discover the mirror?
But his worries were misplaced, as Harry's name wandered the halls to the Third-floor Corridor. Only once he arrived, Filch was waiting for him, and a chase ensued until Harry rushed into a classroom and his name stopped moving. That must be it, the Mirror Room.
Ron headed there at once, dodging Filch with the map. Only he found the room completely empty once he arrived, save for an immense mirror. Where was Harry?
"Ron?" A familiar voice called.
"Harry?"
Suddenly, Harry's head materialized, floating in mid-air. Was he wearing the invisibility cloak? Ron was amazed by how well it worked. Magic was marvellous.
"Wow, I didn't know you owned an invisibility cloak. Those are really rare, you know."
"Err, I got it for Christmas." Harry replied awkwardly.
"Well, it's really slimming on you."
Harry blinked at the joke, before realizing his entire lower body was invisible. He quickly took off the rest of the cloak, pocketing a silvery ball of fabric.
"Never mind that. Ron, look into this mirror, can you see my parents? I think they're inside of it!" Harry cried fanatically.
Ron felt a little bad for him. No wonder Dumbledore claimed people went mad staring into the Mirror of Erised. Still, he looked, curious what his deepest desire was.
Staring back at him was an older version of himself, with some features of orphan Ron and some of current Ron. He was wearing lavish robes that were lined with solid gold and was covered from head-to-toe with powerful, expensive-looking artifacts. All around him were adoring women, chief among which was an adult Hermione. In the background, he could see his family, all safe and happy, cheering him on.
He smiled, that was all as expected.
"So?" Harry asked expectantly. "Can you see them?"
"I'm sorry mate… I only see myself, holding the House Cup, shaking hands with Dumbledore, everything right out of a dream."
"Out of a dream…" Harry repeated, his face falling.
He seemed to realize it too. His parents, a loving childhood… for others they were simple things, but for Harry, they were the stuff of dreams. But while Harry processed this, Ron was focused on the mirror, trying to manifest another desire. The Philosopher's Stone.
He had sinking suspicion Dumbledore had already put the stone inside of it. Unfortunately, if he had, Ron's intentions were not pure enough to acquire. Sure, he could see himself holding the stone, making gold and brewing elixir of life. But his pockets were still empty, save for the Marauder's Map.
Well, it seemed like he'd have to go with plan B after all. Ron shrugged, he'd been expecting as much. But just as he moved to leave, Harry called out to him.
"Ron… do you think… do you think we can make it all happen? The stuff in the Mirror?"
Ron could hear the longing in his voice.
"I think everyone can accomplish their dreams… even if they're not quite how we dreamt them."
Then, he departed, leaving Harry in deep thought.
— Chương tiếp theo sắp ra mắt — Viết đánh giá
Tình trạng nguồn điện hàng tuần
-- Xếp hạng
Quyền lực 
-- Đá
Quyền lực