Chapter 58 - Cursed vault of Ice (1/2)
After the team selection is over, Neal and Grover began to train the new members on weekdays and Saturdays in the training pitch, whenever he can. Since it's just the training pitch, not the stadium and four of them never played a match, most of the time, the training pitch ground was booked in advance by Slytherin until the summer cup starts in the first week of March.
As for Sundays, Neal kept Grover in charge of the training and left for Ireland with Steve, for the training with the National team. After he returns on Sunday evening, Neal calls everyone in the team for a meeting and discuss various tactics he learned at the National team training.
While everything is going great for him, on the other hand, the trio was in a miserable state. Hermoine had to drop several electives now that the Time-Turner is gone.
While people are still talking to Harry from time to time as he was the boy who lived, Ron was completely alienated from the rest of the House. Even Hermoine and his siblings started to ignore him like he was an atomic bomb.
Since Harry was busy with Quidditch practice and Hermoine was busy with books, Ron started to hang out with Hufflepuffs. The trio broke apart when his rat Scabbers went missing and Ron blamed Hermoine that her pet Crookshanks, a cat must have eaten him.
At first, Hermoine tried to defend herself but as Ron kept on making a ruckus in the common room and at the Great hall not listening to Percy at all and when Harry supported him, she snapped at him, ”I'm done being patient with you, Ron. Both of you can just go to hell. I don't care, anymore”.
She stood up from the Gryffindor table and sat with her bookish Ravenclaw friends. Looking at that, as Malfoy sneered, ”seems like the trio became a duo, now”, Neal replied, ”must have been a precious pet for Ron if he's not even listening to his brother”.
Tracey then said, ”I heard that it was being passed down in his family from Percy when he was about to join the school”. Daphne asked, ”wasn't Percy a seventh-year student? If Ron was given just before he joined Hogwarts, then it must have been like at least 7 years right? Very unusual for a common rat to live more than 3-4 years”.
Neal replied to her, ”forget it. We have more important things to talk about”. As the March entered, the school became lively because of Quidditch season and everyone was eager to see new Slytherin's Team.
With great expectations, Slytherin Team entered the stadium to play their first match against Ravenclaw. An hour later, students sitting in the Ravenclaw stands were completely silent as Slytherins erupted in applause.
The commentator, ”what a magnificent game played by Slytherin. Ravenclaw was crushed to 10-340. And we see another talented seeker of Slytherin. Let's give it up for Christine Eaglet. One huge round of applause, please! That magnificent dive at the end to catch the snitch deserves the praise”.
Meanwhile, Harry was practicing the Patronus spell under Lupin. As the Boggart turned into a Dementor, he tried to use the spell but failed and went unconscious. After waking up, Harry asked in frustration, ”why is it not working?”.
Lupin replied, ”you already know the answer, Harry. It needs either powerful happy moments or many small happy moments that will be accumulated to form a powerful positive feeling. You have too many horrible moments in your life which is obstructing you to create a positive force from you”.
As Harry thought for a while, he slowly said, ”I have a memory. Well, it's not that happy but it's the best one I have got”. Lupin smiled, ”well, try it then Harry”. While everyone is slowly trying to forget Sirius Black and dementors, one day, in the middle of the night, Ron screamed, ”help”.
After that, as he made a ruckus around saying he saw Sirius Black with a knife while no one was believing, but he didn't stop and woke everyone up with his screaming non-stop making Prof. McGonagall who was sleeping in her room quietly woke up and asked them sternly and when enquired with the Portrait, he said, ”he has the password. He had a whole week of them on a paper”.