Chương 63: ITW,H - Chapter 63 - Fallout

(Word Count: 1, 387) They made their way back up through the obstacles. It was far easier to go back than it was to get through them in the first place, since the way was clear. Fluffy was still asleep, and when they passed him, Harry grabbed his wooden flute that was still playing. It quieted down the moment he grabbed it, but they were already out of the room before Fluffy could wake again. When they made it to the medical wing, they found Madam Pompfrey fussing over Ron.

He was lying in bed with bandages around his head. It seemed that he had woken up recently. Hermione and Neville weren't injured so they were off to the side watching.

"He'll be okay won't he, Madam Pompfrey?" Neville asked.

"Of course, it was nothing more than a bump on the head. All he needs to do is drink this—Here you are, Mr. Weasley! —get a good night's sleep, and he'll be fine by morning. Drink up, Weasley!" Madam Pompfrey said, urging Ron to drink the cup of potion she handed him. Ron gave the cup a tentative smell and grimaced in disgust. He braced himself and downed the whole thing in one go.

"There we are. Well done," Madam Pompfrey took the cup and set it down on the tray on the bedside table.

"Now, you two! Off you go! Mr. Weasley needs his rest." By now everyone noticed Harry and Dumbledore had entered the room.

"You!" Ron shouted angrily and he shot out of bed. He stormed over, looking like he wanted to punch him, but he restrained himself. Probably due to the adults in the room.

"You're a right foul git, you know that? Why didn't you tell me! What if that piece had killed me? Huh!" Harry stood his ground though Ron was now right in his face.

"Ron, I couldn't do anything to change what happened."

"Of course you could!" Ron snapped.

"You could have told me! I could have played more careful!" Hermione jumped over, trying to step in between them, but Ron wouldn't budge.

"Ron! Harry did everything he could! It's not his fault!"

"Shut it, Granger!" Before Ron could focus more on Hermione, Harry stepped back in front of her.

"Were you not already being careful, Ron? What if I did tell you, and you played too passively? We wouldn't have gotten passed! Ron, I did try to help you get better at chess so it wouldn't have had to come to that. Remember? I would always play with you? When I couldn't, I would ask a Ravenclaw to play instead? I had hoped it would have been enough to make the difference, but unfortunately, it wasn't. I'm sorry about that," Harry grabbed his shoulders and looked him in the eyes.

"I am sorry, but it wasn't my fault." Ron blinked, before angrily shrugging out of Harry's grip.

"This involved my life! You shouldn't have been the one to make that call. You should have told me, Harry! It should have been my choice!"

"It was necessary, Ronald!" Hermione interjected again in Harry's defense.

"Remember? We had to stop the thief from getting the stone! Harry, you at least stopped him, right?" If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Harry suppressed a grimace. He knew Hermione meant well and wanted to show that Ron didn't take a blow for nothing, but…

"The thief didn't show up." Ron exploded, face redder than his hair.

"WHAT! You mean I took a blow to the head for nothing? Whatever! Some friend you are! Get out of here!" With that, Ron turned away and, clutching his head, stomped back over to his bed. He noticed Neville looking panicked at his friends fighting, looking between the two of them not knowing what to do.

"Well? You want to take his side too?"

"W-w-well, it would have been nice if he had told us, b-but I'm sure Harry had his reasons, right?" Neville tried to take a more neutral stance, but Ron took that as agreeing with Harry.

"Shove off! You get out of here too!" Ron got under the covers and rolled over to face the wall so he didn't have to see any of them.

"Right, enough with all this drama!" Madam Pompfrey decreed.

"All of you out! Even you, Headmaster!"

"Yes, I think we've all been up for far too long tonight," Dumbledore agreed and urged them all out.

"Come along." They exited the medical wing, Dumbledore closing the doors behind them all.

"You three best be off to bed. It may be best to give him some time to calm down before you try to talk to him again. Oh, and Harry? I suggest you use your cloak to sneak back to the common room. You wouldn't want to be caught and given detention for being out of bed, would you?" With that, Dumbledore left, leaving them to themselves. Following his suggestion, the three of them huddled under the invisibility cloak and made their way back to the common room. Harry flopped tiredly onto his favorite loveseat.

Neville shuffled over.

"H-he did have a point though, Harry. You told us about the rooms, yes, but I-I think you should have told us about any potential sacrifices we might have to make beforehand. I don't think that was very fair to Ron." Hermione glared at Neville.

"Not you too! It's not like Harry caused it to happen, Neville! Just because he saw it in a vision doesn't mean he made it happen!" Harry placed a hand on her arm to stop her and sighed.

"Like I said in the medical wing. I couldn't be sure if telling him would change the outcome. All I could do was try to get him to play more chess leading up to it. Then during the match all I could do was trust that he would do better than in my vision. I'm a seer, Neville, not omnipotent." Neville frowned thoughtfully, trying to work through what he wanted to say.

"I think… y-you need to trust us more. Tell us everything we're getting into and then trust your friends that we can handle it." Harry sat up and scrubbed his face tiredly. He knew what Neville was saying. In a way, it felt like he was trying to babysit a bunch of kids as they grew as wizards. He was sure they felt the same way sometimes. Neville was saying to treat them as an actual team instead.

"Neville, I get what you're saying. Really, I do. And I do try to tell you as much as I can. But there are some things I've seen, and know, that just aren't going to happen anymore. Or might not happen, like tonight. And there are things that I can't, or shouldn't, say. It's just the nature of being a seer. But… You're right. Ron's right as well. I shouldn't have gambled that I had changed things enough so Ron wouldn't have had to take that hit. I'll tell you all when something like this comes up again.

Though from what I've seen, nothing like this happens again." Neville slumped as all of the tension he was holding suddenly relaxed in relief.

"Oh, good. I-I think I'll go sleep now. This was too much for one night!" Neville muttered, and yawned. He shuffled out of the common room and up the stairs to his room. Hermione lingered and sat on the arm rest. She looked like she wanted to hug him or something, but she hesitated and just rested a hand on his shoulder instead.

"Harry… It'll be okay. I'm sure Ron will come around, right? It's not like you wanted it to happen."

"I don't know, Hermione. It seemed like he took it as a personal betrayal. Even if he does come around, what will he do the next time something bad happens? Will he blame me again for not doing more to stop it? Neville said that I need to trust you all more, but I also need you all to trust me. I need friends that won't blame me when things don't go their way, saying I should have prevented it because I'm the seer." At that, Hermione hugged him.

"I don't blame you, Harry." He patted her back.

"I know you don't, Mione. I know."