Dawn Rivera

The Weighing of the Wands

Harry and Danny climb out of the portrait hole.

"Hello," I say, holding up a stack of toast, which I am carrying in a napkin. "We bought you two this...want to go for a walk?"

"Good idea," says Harry, gratefully.

We go downstairs, cross the Entrance Hall quickly without looking in at the Great Hall, and are soon striding across the lawn towards the lake, where the Durmstrang ship is moored, reflected blankly in the water. It is a chilly morning, and we keep moving, munching our toast, as Harry and Danny tell Hermione and I exactly what happened after they left the Gryffindor table the night before. To their obvious immense relief, Hermione and I accept their story without question.

"Well, of course we knew you two hadn't entered yourselves," Hermione says, when they finish telling us about the scene in the chamber off the Hall. "The looks on your faces when Dumbledore read out your names! But the question is, who did put them in? Because Moody's right, Harry, Danny...I don't think any student could have done it...they'd never be able to fool the Goblet, or get over Dumbledore's -"

"Have you two seen Ron?" Danny interrupts.

Hermione and I hesitate.

"Erm...yes...he was at breakfast," I say.

"Does he still think we entered ourselves?" Harry says.

"Well...no, I don't think so...not really," says Hermione awkwardly.

"What's that supposed to mean, not really?" Danny says.

"Oh, Harry, Danny, isn't it obvious?" I say despairingly. "He's jealous!"

"Jealous?" Harry says incredulously. "Jealous of what? He wants to make a prat of himself in front of the whole school, does he?"

"Look," Hermione says patiently, "it's always you two who get all the attention. You know it is. Especially you, Harry. I know it's not your fault," she adds quickly, seeing Harry and Danny open their mouths furiously, "I know you don't ask for it...but - well - you know, Ron's got all those brothers to compete against at home, and you're his best friend, and you're really famous, Harry - he's always shunted to one side whenever people see you, and he puts up with it, and he never mentions it, but I suppose this is just one time too many..."

"Great," says Danny bitterly. "Really great. Tell him from me Harry'll swap any time he wants. Tell him from me he's welcome to it...people gawping at his forehead everywhere he goes..."

"We're not telling Ron anything," I say shortly. "Tell him yourselves, it's the only way to sort this out."

"I'm not running around after him trying to make him grow up!" Harry says, so loudly that several owls in a nearby tree take flight in alarm. "Maybe he'll believe we're not enjoying ourselves once we've got our necks broken or -"

"That's not funny," says Hermione quietly. "That's not funny at all." We are extremely anxious. "Harry, Danny, I've been thinking - you know what we've got to do, don't you? Straight away, the moment we get back to the castle?"

"Yeah, five Ron a good kick up the -" Danny begins.

"Write to Uncle Sirius," I say. "You've got to tell him what's happened. And if you don't, I will. He asked you two to keep him posted on everything that's going on at Hogwarts...it's almost like he expected something like this to happen. We brought some parchment and a quill out with us -"

"Come off it," says Harry, looking around to check that we can't be overheard; but the grounds are quite deserted. "He came back to the country just because my scar twinged. He'll probably come bursting right into the castle if we tell him someone's entered us for the Triwizard Tournament -"