Harry Potter and the Secret Treasures

All day long, Evan, Harry, and Hermione had been helping Ron practice the Summoning Charm.

They kept practicing until 10 o’clock in the evening. They would have stayed longer, but Peeves turned up and, pretending to think that Harry wanted things thrown at him, started chucking chairs across the room.

The four of them left in a hurry before the noise attracted Filch.

They went back to the Gryffindor Common Room, which was now mercifully empty.

After more than three hours, it was already past midnight; Ron finally mastered the Summoning Charm. On the ground around him, there were heaps of objects: books, quills, several upturned chairs, an old set of Gobstones, and Neville’s toad, Trevor!

“Much better, Ron. You’ve really made great progress,” Hermione said, looking exhausted but very pleased.

“I learned the spell!” said Ron with delight, he raised his wand and pointed at the book on the round table. The next second, the book Dragon Breeding for Pleasure and Profit soared out, flew to the other side of the room, and Ron caught it.

“Congratulations, Ron, you have mastered this magic completely,” said Harry happily. “Now I know what to do next time we can’t manage a spell: let Evan and Hermione threaten us with a dragon! It’s a very useful method.”

“It’s not easy. I learned this spell, but I’m not sure.” said Ron, still a little worried. “You know, the broom is going to be much farther away than the stuff here, it’s going to be in the castle, and I’m going to be out there on the grounds.”

“That doesn’t matter,” said Hermione firmly. “Just as long as you’re concentrating really, really hard on it, it will come.”

“Now we’d better get some sleep. You’ll learn the Conjunctivitis Curse tomorrow. This spell is much harder than Accio!” said Evan.

Ron had been practicing the Conjunctivitis Curse for a long time, but on Monday, they practiced until three o’clock in the morning, so that Ron could master the curse thoroughly and not be too nervous or excited to release it.

Everything was ready, and the rest depended now on Ron’s own performance.

Ron was now somewhat more confident than before, and less panicky.

Evan felt like he had just laid down when Colin woke him up.

He dressed absently and followed Colin to the Great Hall. The atmosphere in the school was one of great tension and excitement.

Everyone in Gryffindor was greeting Ron and wishing him well, while Malfoy was full of cynicism.

Ron seemed extremely nervous and slow to react. He seemed indifferent to everything around him and rarely spoke.

Lessons in the school were to stop at midday, giving all the students time to get down to the dragons’ enclosure.

Professor McGonagall came and called Ron away, and Evan, Harry, Hermione, Ginny, Fred, and George hurried to follow.

“Weasley, the champions have to come down onto the grounds now. You have to get ready for your first task,” said Professor McGonagall sternly, and looked at Evan and the others. “You six, follow us!”

She seemed to think Ron would feel better with them by his side.

Professor McGonagall also looked flustered. She looked nearly as anxious as Hermione and Ginny.

As she walked them down the stone steps and out into the cold November afternoon, she put her hand on Ron’s shoulder.

“Well, don’t panic!” she said. “Just keep a cool head. We’ve got wizards standing by to control the situation if it gets out of hand. If you can’t do it, just give up. This is not shame. The main thing is not to complete the task but just to do your best and stay alive. Nobody will think you’re inferior to others. Are you all right?”

“It’s all right!” Ron muttered.

“Very good!” said Professor McGonagall.

She was leading them toward the place where the dragons were, around the edge of the forest.

When they approached the clump of trees behind which the enclosure would be clearly visible, they saw that a tent had been erected its entrance facing them, screening the dragons from view.

“You’re to go in here with the other champions, Weasley!” said Professor McGonagall, in a rather shaky sort of voice. “You’ll wait for your turn. Mr. Bagman is in there … he’ll be telling you the procedure. Good luck!”

She pouted, looked anxiously at Ron, and then led him to the entrance of the tent.

Professor McGonagall didn’t allow Evan and the others in, so everyone had to go up and bid Ron good-bye in turn.

It was as though Ron was being sent to the battlefield. He would die there and they wouldn’t see him again.

Ginny, in particular, could not help crying when she knew Ron was going to face a dragon.

Ron was pale. He looked pitifully at them. He hadn’t got the Fire Protection Potion from Evan yet, and it wouldn’t be good if he just entered the task like that.

But Professor McGonagall was still here, and he couldn’t talk about that.

“You’ll make it, Ron!” Evan went over and whispered, “Wait for me inside. I’ll be there in a minute.”

“I’ll wait for you!” said Ron in a voice that was most unlike his own. Then, he turned and went inside the tent, staggering.

Cedric was sitting on a low wooden stool in the corner and he didn’t go to see Ron.

This made Ron feel very annoyed. This guy clearly got the news of the dragon from him and Harry, but he showed no gratitude, as if nothing had happened.

He had long disliked this fellow since he won Gryffindor in the Quidditch match.

Both he and Cedric were champions, but only one of them could represent Hogwarts, and they had to be separated.

Likewise, Fleur ignored Ron. She didn’t look nearly as composed as usual, but rather pale and clammy, curled up in a chair.

She was the only girl among the champions. Looking at Fleur, Ron couldn’t help wondering how she could defeat the dragon.

As for Krum, he looked even gloomier than usual, and kept pacing up and down in the tent.

After seeing Ron, he came over and whispered a few words. He now had a good relationship with Ron.

In Ron’s opinion, he was the only friend of Krum in Hogwarts, which made him feel honored.

For those fans, Krum didn’t even look at them.

“Do you know how to defeat the dragons?” Ron couldn’t help asking.

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