Chapter 95: Death of Scabbers

Ivan pulled Hermione and hurried back to the Gryffindor common room.

Although it was late, the common room was very lively.

None of the students went to sleep. Everyone was arguing about the Dementor attack.

Everyone was angry that Gryffindor had lost, but aside from the quidditch players and a few diehard fans, most people tuned it out.

Anyway, as long as they didn't lose to Slytherin, losing to Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff wasn't particularly hard to take.

Now, they were more interested in talking about how to cast the Patronus Charm.

Several students who were able to cast a Corpse Patronus were surrounded by their peers. Percy, for example, was proud to show off his completed Patronus to more than a dozen young wizards.

As soon as Ivan and Hermione entered, they were warmly welcomed.

The atmosphere was at its peak, with everyone surrounding them and asking for advice on how to use the Patronus spell.

Many girls wanted to see Ivan's Patronus in particular again.

Everyone was excited, except Ron.

He seemed even less happy when he saw that Ivan and Hermione were welcome. He stared at them for a while before returning to the dormitory with a grimace.

A moment later, everyone heard a muffled shout coming from the boys' dormitory.

The atmosphere froze and no one spoke in the common room, staring at the door in fear. The sound of hurried footsteps grew louder and louder, and then Ron leapt into view, a sheet tucked under his arm.

"Look, look at this, look at this!" he growled, approaching Hermione in long strides, shaking the sheet in front of her.

"Ron, look at what?" said Hermione in confusion.

"It's Scabbers, look!" Ron roughly held out his sheet to Hermione's eyes.

Hermione avoided Ron's gaze, she was completely lost.

Ivan looked at the sheet Ron was holding, there was something red on it. It looked terrible, like...

"Blood!" Ron screamed in fright under everyone's silence. "He's dead! Do you know what else was on the floor?"

"No, I don't." said Hermione in a shaky voice.

Ron threw something at Hermione, and they all leaned forward. They saw long red hairs scattered on the floor.

"Ron, a few cat hairs don't mean anything. You should go to all the boys' beds and look for Scabbers, he might..." explained Hermione with a pale face.

"That's enough!" shouted Ron, startling everyone. "I'm sick of you, Hermione! You've always been like this and you never took Crookshanks' intentions to eat Scabbers seriously. You never bothered to keep a careful eye on Crookshanks. Now Scabbers is dead, and you keep pretending your cat is innocent!"

"The cat hair could have been there since the beginning of the school year. You've been prejudiced against Crookshanks ever since he jumped on your head in Magical Menagerie," Hermione said stubbornly.

"Prejudice?" Ron waved his arm madly. "That monster that jumped on my head. He ate Scabbers, do you expect me to praise him for doing it?!"

"You know I didn't mean that..." Hermione's voice dropped again, her eyes filling with tears.

"Don't think I don't know what you're thinking!" Ron had no mercy for Hermione, and continued to yell. "You've always treated me like a fool or an idiot who doesn't understand anything. I protected you in front of Malfoy, I helped you with Snape in class, it was me..."

Ron spoke faster and faster, he felt pain at the sight of Hermione's scared and sad face, but along with the pain, there was an unusual feeling of happiness.

Revenge brought some pleasure.

Immediately afterwards, he remembered the dream he had been having recently, and Hermione, who had been in the dream the whole time.

He didn't know why, but he suddenly felt his nose was sour and he had to force himself not to cry.

"All right, Ron!" Seeing that something was wrong, Fred rushed over and said, "Weren't you always talking about how disgusting it was? Besides, this was bound to happen sooner or later with the way he's been eating for so long. Dying quickly is probably the best thing for him. He probably didn't feel anything..."

"Yeah, he just slept all day. That's what you said, Ron" Said George.

"He bit Goyle for us once!" said Ron sadly.

"That was his most glorious moment." Fred couldn't help but laugh. "He made a scar on Goyle's finger as a permanent reminder of him. "Okay, Ron! Reconcile with Hermione, and buy another rat, what's the use of moaning?"

"But..." Ron lowered his head and wiped his tears with his sleeves.

"Actually, I think Hermione was right. Scabbers might not be dead. He's hiding somewhere," Ivan interjected with some understanding.

Peter Pettigrew couldn't have died like that, and it was even less likely that he was killed by Crookshanks.

He was scared of Sirius Black and wanted to escape by faking his death again.

With the help of the follow-up potion, Ivan could sense that the Rat was hiding in the right corner of the common room, watching the drama unfold before his eyes.

He was going to take him out. He only took two steps and Ron stopped him. What he just said seemed to have infuriated Ron again.

"You think Scabbers isn't dead?" Ron looked angrily at Ivan, panting, as if ready to lunge. "I knew you'd side with Hermione. It's because of you. If you hadn't suggested that Hermione buy Crookshanks, Scabbers wouldn't have died."

"What?!" Ivan was surprised, all day today he had felt that something was wrong with Ron.

"Yes, it was all your fault, it was you who killed her!" Ron clenched his fists and his watery eyes were red. "It was the same on the Quidditch pitch, if it wasn't for your ridiculous Patronus, Gryffindor wouldn't have lost."

Ivan was frozen in place. He didn't know how Ron came to that conclusion.

Ron must have gone mad, that was ridiculous, how could Gryffindor have lost the game because of his Patronus?

"Ron, it was Ivan's Patronus that saved everyone!" Colin, who had been standing off to the side, whispered.

"Of course you think so. You're a ridiculous follower for this guy." Ron yelled at Colin and quickly turned to look at Ivan, as if hypnotized, his mouth was muttering, "Tom Riddle said it, you killed Scabbers, you cost Gryffindor the tournament, you took Hermione, I should have owned you..."

There was nothing but silence in the common room, the young wizards were afraid and shrugged their shoulders. They all looked at Ron in silence. No one could hear what he was saying.

Ivan took another step forward. He wanted to get Scabbers out, maybe seeing him would calm Ron down.

He had barely moved when he saw Ron, standing in front of him, suddenly pounce on him.