After Evan, Harry also agreed!
He seemed somewhat reluctant; this kind of social activity was a huge burden for him.
Ron, on the other hand, immediately became angry after Hermione and Elaine extended their invitations.
He was still bitter about not being invited to Slughorn’s party, and every time the topic came up, he grew sullen.
This had been the case the previous few times, and almost every invitation would make him depressed for several days.
“And this is another party just for Slughorn’s favorites, is it?” he said.
“Just for the Slug Club, yes,” Hermione seemed to find it quite amusing. She added, “But I didn’t make up the name, everyone…”
“ ‘Slug Club,’ ” Ron interrupted Hermione and continued, “It’s pathetic, but it’s fitting — a party for a bunch of slugs. No wonder his club is called the Slug Club.”
“Come on, Ron!” said Harry, poking him.
The atmosphere was a little off. Based on Evan’s understanding of Hermione, Ron’s incoherent remarks had definitely angered her.At this moment, she was glaring at Ron from across the table, looking furious.
“You’re jealous because Slughorn didn’t invite you!” Hermione snapped. “But that’s not our fault.”
“Me, jealous?! No, you think I want to go to a slug party?!” Ron said loudly, like a cat whose tail was stepped on. “I’m not interested, not at all. Anyway, I wish you all have fun at the party. Maybe Slughorn can make you King and Queen Slug.”
As he spoke, he stood up suddenly and everyone around him looked at him in surprise.
“All right, you two!” said Evan, signaling for the argument to end. “Sit down, Ron!”
He knew very well how sensitive Ron was about this kind of thing, and Hermione’s words just now were a bit too sharp.
But he couldn’t really blame her; the truth was the truth.
Besides, Ron’s earlier remarks were quite unpleasant to hear.
Calling it a “party for slugs” was unfair. Everyone knew the Slug Club was named that because of Slughorn’s name, not because its members were actual slugs.
And the Slug King and Queen, that metaphor was so hurtful!
It was not their fault that Ron hadn’t been invited to the party…
“Enjoy your meal. I’m going to find Lavender,” said Ron, his face red, avoiding eye contact with Evan and Hermione.
“We’re allowed to bring guests,” said Hermione, who had turned a bright, boiling scarlet, “and I was going to ask you to come, but if you think it’s that stupid then I won’t bother!”
Hearing her words, Ron, who was about to leave, stiffened noticeably.
But in the end, he didn’t turn around. He simply walked away!
“Let him cool off for a while. He’ll come around,” said Harry, watching Ron’s retreating figure with a sigh.
Ever since this happened, Ron refused to stay with them.
Harry tried to persuade him to apologize to Hermione, but to little avail.
As for Hermione, she seemed very calm on the surface, as if nothing had happened. But in fact, when she and Evan were left alone, she started to cry uncontrollably and cried her heart out. She also said a lot to Evan.
Well, that was just how Hermione was.
Her strength was mostly an outward appearance. Deep down, she was just as sensitive as any other girl.
She simply didn’t show it easily. That was Hermione.
On the surface, she appeared composed, but inside, she was a whirlwind of emotions.
By the time everything was over, while things seemed chaotic on the surface, deep down, she had already made up her mind.
Just like in their first year, Hermione ran to the girls’ bathroom and cried for a long time on Halloween because of the ridicule and targeting of Harry and Ron. She didn’t even attend the party. It was not until Harry and Ron rescued her from the troll in the end that the three of them became good friends.
This argument wasn’t a big deal. Hermione and Ron had argued countless times over the years.
In the end, they would be back to normal. That was just their personalities. Neither of them was particularly good at handling their feelings.
But this time, there was no troll to bring them back together, and Ron seemed determined to keep going without apologizing.
In fact, he’d been in a bad mood lately.
After this incident, he hardly interacted with Evan, Hermione and Elaine.
That was not all. Not long afterward, he had another big argument with Ginny, and the whole Gryffindor House knew about it.
The cause of the matter was Katie Bell. Although Professor McGonagall said that she would recover before their opening Quidditch match, Katie’s parents insisted that she go to St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries for examination. She wouldn’t be discharged anytime soon.
This meant that the promising Gryffindor Quidditch team that Harry had been training so carefully since September was one Chaser short. The team hadn’t recruited any substitutes this year, and Harry kept putting off replacing Katie in the hope that she would return.
But their opening match against Slytherin was looming, and he finally had to accept that she would not be back in time to play.
So, he personally invited a few people to join the team temporarily — like Evan’s roommate, Vicky Frobisher — but all of them turned him down.
In the end, he had no choice but to pick Dean Thomas, who had performed quite well in the tryouts.
It had been a tough decision for Harry, because Harry’s other roommate, Dean’s best friend, Seamus Finnigan, was also very interested in Quidditch. His Quidditch level was similar to Dean’s, and the two were equally good. He was very dissatisfied with Harry’s choice.
Harry knew this would happen. One of the reasons why Harry would have preferred not to have to ask Dean to play was that he knew Seamus would not like it. On the other hand, he had to do what was best for the team, and Dean had outflown Seamus at the tryouts.
Seamus was not the only person disgruntled by the choice of Katie’s substitute. There was much muttering in the common room about the fact that Harry had now chosen two of his classmates for the team. Leaving aside the controversy over Dean’s selection, Ron’s position as Keeper had long been questioned.
Many people still believed that Ron had only made it onto the team because of Harry’s favoritism.
Especially Cormac McLaggen, who was spreading this claim everywhere. He insisted that the only reason he hadn’t been chosen as Keeper was because Elaine and Ginny had deliberately sabotaged him — and because his broomstick wasn’t as good as the Starcatcher or the Firebolt, not because his level was not good enough.
But McLaggen’s character was really bad. He was making a huge fuss about Harry supposedly rigging the selection process to let Ron and Dean onto the team.
A surprising number of people sympathized with McLaggen’s complaints, and as a result, even before the first match had begun, Harry and his team were under immense pressure.
Now, Harry had to ensure a victory against Slytherin in the upcoming match.
If Gryffindor won, the whole House would forget that they had criticized him and swear that they had always known it was a great team. But if they lost … the consequences would be disastrous…
Harry was able to take it lightly; he had endured much worse mutterings than this in his school career, he was not particularly bothered.
As for Ron, Whether it was because of these rumors or his earlier argument with Hermione, his mood had become increasingly unstable.
Since they had rarely seen him recently, Evan and Hermione knew all this from Harry’s retelling…
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