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Chapter 902: The Campus Bully
🕑 Added 2023-10-28 21:19:12 +0000 UTCWhen the door closed again and it was confirmed that there were no other sounds around, Harry slowly shook his head.
He returned slowly to his bed and sank onto it, gazing unseeingly at the foot of the wardrobe.
In fact, he had forgotten completely about prefects being chosen in the fifth year. He had been too anxious about the possibility of being expelled to spare a thought for the fact that badges must be winging their way toward certain people. But if he had remembered … if he had thought about it … what would he have expected?
Not this, said a small and truthful voice inside his head.
Harry screwed up his face and buried it in his hands.
He could not lie to himself; if he had known the prefect badge was on its way, he would have expected it to come to him, not Ron.
Immediately afterwards, he shook his head again. Did this make him as arrogant as Draco Malfoy? Did he think himself superior to everyone else? Did he really believe he was better than Ron?
No, said the small voice defiantly.
Was that true? Harry wondered, anxiously probing his own feelings.
I’m better at Quidditch, said the voice. But I’m not better at anything else.
That was definitely true, Harry thought; he was no better than Ron in lessons.
But what about outside lessons? What about those adventures they had had together since they had started at Hogwarts?
In his first year, he had faced Quirrell and Voldemort who were about to steal the Philosopher's Stone alone, and finally defeated them.
In the second year, he and Evan had gone deep into Slytherin’s Chamber of Secrets to rescue Ron, and defeated the Basilisk with their own power.
On the night of his third year, he had participated in the rescue of Sirius, defeated so many Dementors, and saved everyone's life in an emergency.
In his fourth year, just last year, although he was not a champion of Hogwarts, he still had faced the resurrected Voldemort with Evan, and bravely dueled with him to escape again in front of him and so many Death Eaters...
Although Harry's holidays experience was not as exciting as Evan’s, it was all because Dumbledore didn’t let him go.
Anyway, he’d faced so many terrible dangers in school, far beyond Ron.
If only Evan and I were in the same year, I wouldn’t have to worry about this, said the voice in Harry's head.
He had to admit that he was certainly not as good as Evan, but compared to Ron and others in his year...
Thinking of this, the same feeling of ill usage that had overwhelmed him on the night he had arrived rose again.
He had definitely done more, even if not as good as Evan, but far more than Ron and Hermione.
But maybe, said the small voice fairly, maybe Dumbledore doesn’t choose prefects because they’ve got themselves into a load of dangerous situations... Maybe he chooses them for other reasons... Ron must have something you don’t…
What is it? Harry opened his eyes, unable to think of anything.
He stared through his fingers at the wardrobe’s clawed feet, remembering what Fred had said.
“No one in their right mind would make Ron a prefect...”
Harry gave a small snort of laughter. A second later he felt sickened with himself.
Ron had not asked Dumbledore to give him the prefect badge. This was not Ron’s fault.
Yeah, this was not Ron's fault!
Besides, Ron was his best friend in the world.
Was he going to sulk because he didn't have a badge, laugh with the twins behind Ron’s back, ruin this for Ron when, for the first time, he had beaten Harry at something?
Harry suddenly felt that his thoughts were too dirty. He was jealous of Ron. That was terrible!
Just then, Harry heard Ron's footsteps on the stairs again.
He stood up, straightened his glasses, and hitched a grin onto his face, as Ron bounded back through the door.
“Just caught Mum! She was about to leave," said Ron happily.
"Listen … Ron!" Harry said solemnly, and he was relieved to hear that his voice had stopped sounding hearty. "Well done, mate, congratulations on becoming a prefect. This is the best news I’ve heard this summer!"
"Oh!" Ron was stunned, the smile faded off his face. "I never thought it would be me!" he said, shaking his head, "I thought it would be you!"
"Nah, I’ve caused too much trouble," Harry said, echoing Fred.
"Yeah," said Ron, "yeah, I suppose...well, what do you think Mum said about it?"
While they were discussing this topic, Evan and Hermione were also talking about the same thing.
After the two of them left, they secretly hid in an empty room on the third floor.
Hedwig landed aside on the shelf, staring amber at them, as they were hugging tightly.
The room was obviously large. Why were they huddling in that small space? What were they doing?!
"I really didn't expect that I would become a prefect," said Hermione, her face still red, she raised her head and looked at Evan behind her, sharing her joy with him. "I mean … I'm not ready yet … it's so sudden!"
"Have faith, Hermione, you’re Gryffindor, no, you are the best witch in Hogwarts," said Evan cheerfully. "Think about it, who can be the first every time like you? In other respects, you are also excellent. You really deserve to be a prefect.”
"I’m not as good as you said..."
"You’re far better than I said, and better than the other prefects," Evan continued, gently rubbing Hermione's raised head and hugging her again. "If I were the headmaster, I would definitely appoint you Head Girl."
"But I don’t know what to do? What should the prefect do?" Hermione said, seemingly unassuming. "I remember Percy had read a book about it back then, maybe I should look it up."
"You don't need this kind of thing, Hermione, trust me, you'll get started soon," said Evan, accentuating his tone. "If someone dares not listen to you, you can deduct points or put them in detention. If they don’t listen again, you can tell me to solve it. I guarantee that they’ll be obedient."
"What are you talking about?" Hermione whispered. Evan was not talking about the prefect, but the campus bully, "Hum, if I were to put anyone in detention, that’d be you. And … don't mess with me..."
In short, because of the prefect's affairs, the peaceful life was suddenly disrupted.
And time seemed to slow down all of a sudden. The whole afternoon was extremely long and extremely tormented. While digesting the news that Ron and Hermione became prefects, everyone was looking forward to the great news Mrs. Weasley had talked about.
