girlfriend
Ron's tolerance for pain ended after Sirius was brought by the twins, who claimed that the invention process was stuck and they needed Sirius's help. At that time, Sirius was arguing with Snape again at a meeting—of course, this situation was unavoidable whenever the two of them clashed—and the rest of the Order of the Phoenix couldn't wait to separate them.
Sirius had genuinely thought he was there to come up with some interesting inventions, but upon seeing Ron, he instinctively cast a silencing spell around him, and the room was immediately filled with the sound of slaughtering a pig—yes, slaughtering Ron.
"..." Harry and Ginny, who were crying, paused. Hermione, on the other hand, relaxed a bit. The fact that she could still cry like that proved that there was nothing seriously wrong.
Sirius pointed the tip of his wand at Ron's hand. "Don't be nervous. Wormtail—" He clicked his tongue when he mentioned Peter, "—also split into two when learning Apparition. I've seen St. Mungo's do it, so I know how to deal with it."
Ron's voice trembled, "Merlin's socks, you only saw them? Why don't you just send me to St. Mungo's? I don't want to end up like that rat, missing a finger!"
"Where's your finger?" Ginny immediately handed him the severed finger. Sirius picked it up and placed it on the wound, comforting him gently, "Don't worry, if it doesn't heal properly, I'll just cut off another finger. I'll never let you end up like that stinky rat."
Ron, “…!!”
Fortunately, Sirius was just joking. He quickly reattached Ron's finger and even found some white cinnamon essence. The poor index finger was bandaged and immobilized. If Mrs. Weasley asked, he could simply say that he had accidentally gotten his finger caught in a door or that he had been injured by the twins' little invention.
This incident added another member to the Apparition learning team. They finally realized the necessity of having a powerful adult wizard present. Hermione even recalled secretly brewing Polyjuice Potion in the bathroom during her second year; it was a miracle her potion hadn't exploded due to a mistake. Fortunately, Sirius was the kind of adult who was quite popular with the children. Without Harry and the others needing to explain, he filled in the blanks himself—they must have been envious of the twins' ability to Apparate so freely throughout the house. Imagine if James had used a spell he didn't know; he would have stayed up all night to master it.
In fact, the twins and Ginny shared the same thought. Hermione's love of learning goes without saying, Harry was eager to improve himself because of Voldemort's resurrection, and Ron was clearly brought along. The three of them were always inseparable. The Gryffindor trio exchanged glances, deciding to let them think that way. The fewer people knew about Queenie's existence right now, the safer she would be in the future.
"Mom, can't you really buy us a cell phone too?"
"Fred and I can share one."
"We guessed that mobile phones would be a really fun thing—"
"Given Harry's recent habit of staring at his phone and grinning like an idiot."
"But he's a bit stingy and wouldn't lend it to us to play with."
"Only Ron can touch it—"
"So we suspect he was 'bribing' the prefect."
This was clearly a joke; given his relationship with Ron, why would he need to "bribe" him?
Mrs. Weasley picked up a chicken leg from Ron's plate and said irritably, "Yes, if only your great little invention hadn't hurt your little brother!" Yes, Ron had chosen a reason that would get his brothers scolded, since they had always scared him since he was a child.
"..." The twins wanted to tell the truth, but that would probably bring them an even harsher reprimand.
Tonks, who stayed for dinner, noticed the key point: "What mobile game is so captivating? Just Tetris? Grinning like an idiot at your phone—are you having a crush, Harry?" Her father was a Muggle wizard and knew something about Muggle things.
Harry spat out the soup he had just drunk, and his violent coughing drew everyone's attention.
"Harry, you got a girlfriend?" Sirius asked excitedly, as if he had accomplished something great. "You're much better than James in this respect!" James had pursued Lily for seven years before finally winning her heart, and it was estimated that no one at Hogwarts had ever broken his record for the longest pursuit.
As Lupin reminisced about the past as he spoke, he couldn't help but laugh, and the Weasleys also laughed good-naturedly.
"Really? Let's not talk about who it is yet, Harry—"
"Let's make a bet when school starts!"
The theme is "Guess who the savior's girlfriend is!"
Hermione calmly handed over a napkin. "Of course not. Harry is with us every day. If he were in a relationship, how would we not know?"
Ron nodded quickly. "Harry didn't. To be honest, those games were really fun. I feel like I could play them all night without sleeping..." He shut his mouth under Mrs. Weasley's glare.
Harry finally stopped coughing, and it was hard to tell whether his flushed face was from coughing or from being embarrassed and feverish. He denied it, saying, "Don't talk nonsense, Tonks. I... I'm only fifteen!"
"It's alright. I remember my mom saying that she and my dad got together when they were fourteen." As she said this, she glanced subtly in Lu Ping's direction.
Lupin was looking down at the sausage and missed her gaze. Tonks pursed her lips, losing interest in Harry's possible romance. Her light pink hair had also been dyed a deeper purple, making it appear less bright.
Ginny asked Hermione in a low voice, "Harry really isn't dating anyone?"
“…No.” Ginny was also her good friend, and it didn’t feel good to lie to a friend, but she always had to make a choice. Besides, Harry wasn’t really with Queenie, was he? So strictly speaking, it wasn’t a lie.
“Okay.” Ginny was still skeptical. She stared at Harry, who was awkwardly cutting sausages, for a while longer. “I thought he was contacting Cho Chang from Ravenclaw. She’s a Muggle too. Otherwise, why would Harry suddenly have a cell phone?”
"...Ash and Cedric were a couple before, you know what happened last year. Even if Harry had feelings for her before, I don't think anything will happen between them again?"
"That's right, you convinced me."
Hermione breathed a slight sigh of relief and looked up to find Ron winking at her, as if to say "Well done." His index finger, wrapped in gauze, was still stiffly sticking out, which looked somewhat comical. Hermione couldn't help but smile.
Harry's phone vibrated in his pocket. He guessed it was Queenie sharing dinner with him. Normally, he would have taken it out to check immediately, but since he had just been suspected, he restrained himself from touching it and silently sped up his eating.
Sirius's words "girlfriend" still echoed in his mind, and at least—Harry thought—he had to wait until the day he stopped lying to her before he could say it.
After finishing her meal, Queenie took a bath. She lay in the tub, closing her eyes in the sweet scent of strawberries. Her phone was on a small stool not far away, so she could see it as soon as Harry replied to a message.
The phone rang in the quiet air. Queenie reached out and grabbed it. Oh, Harry said he had German food today, and the sausages were delicious.
She was chatting with Harry on her phone when suddenly her gaze sharpened.
"Queenie, if one day you find out I lied to you... will you be angry?"
"I'm talking nonsense, of course you'll be angry..."
Queenie sat up abruptly, the splash of water nearly wetting her phone. She thought of Emily's absurd speculations. Was life really this dramatic?
"...Are you married?"
"...Of course not!"
"Are you deceiving my feelings?"
"I swear I didn't!"
"So what did you lie to me about?"
—"Uh, it's just a hypothesis."
Queenie relaxed, her breath coming in short hold, and lay back down comfortably.
"Let's talk about it when that day comes."
Aside from the two questions she asked, she couldn't think of any other way Harry would lie to her—his profession? Or his age? He just looked young, but was actually in his thirties?
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