chapter 19 : The Triwizard Tournament
Much later, the gang was on the train to Hogwarts and Ron was sound asleep all the way across the seat with his head on Hermione's legs who was playing with his hair.
It was Ron who had kindly asked her to sit there because Luna had gone to distribute The Quibbler, the newspaper published by her father to the passengers.
Harry looked through the Daily Prophet and apparently the attack during the Quidditch final had been carried out by Voldemort's followers.
The death eaters, these thugs had left the dark mark as a sign in the sky to claim responsibility for this attack, this mark was represented by a human skull with a snake coming out of its mouth.
The candy lady came by and a group of girls came to buy some food when they saw Ron sleeping, they giggled and left.
They arrived at the school before dark and witnessed the arrivals of two more magical transporters one of which was a carriage pulled by pegasus and the other was an ancient boat that rose from the depths of the black lake.
Ron and the others wondered who they were but figured they would have answers at the welcome banquet.
Tonight at the back-to-school assembly in the Great Hall, Dumbledore after the sorting ceremony was giving a speech and he brought up a subject boring to Ron.
Dumbledore: First of all, this year we have a very nice thing to celebrate and students to congratulate. Three of our students shone this year and proudly represented our nation at the Quidditch World Cup, which they won. Give a round of applause for Gawain Darcy the captain…
A seventh year student stood up and they applauded, he was a Ravenclaw.
Dumbledore:...MICKEY Owen, our excellent catcher...
Another seventh year Ravenclaw stood up and they applauded.
Dumbledore: And finally….
*bum-bum*
*bum-bum*
*bum-bum*
The Gryffindors started lightly banging on the tables knowing it was one of their own.
Dumbledore: Our school's prodigy and youngest player to win the Quidditch World Cup, RONALD WEASLEY!
They started to applaud and he got up and sat down immediately to the laughter of Luna, Harry, Hermione and the others who knew that this kind of thing was hell for him.
Dumbledore: Now that all that is settled, I would like to make an announcement. This castle will not only be your home this year…
Filch immediately entered and ran like a clown attacked by diarrhea to Dumbledore to whisper something in his ear and then leave again.
Dumbledore:...it will only be your home this year but it will also be home to some very special guests. Hogwarts was chosen to host a legendary event, the Triwizard Tournament.
He started to explain what it was about and Ron was already lying down on his table when he introduced the first guests, they were the girls from the Beauxbatons magic academy.
He sat up and saw some very pretty girls walking in and Luna watched him, Ron's eyes didn't last on them, he shook his head to lay back down with his face turned towards Luna who had a slight smile on his face and played with Ron's hair.
Once the girls had finished attracting stares from the other idiots, Dumbledore announced the students of Durmstrang Institute they were tall, sturdy boys with cropped hair and everyone was captivated by one of them. them, Viktor Krum whom Ron had beaten.
When he entered, Krum followed his comrades as his gaze searched for someone in the room.
Luna: Viktor Krum is here and it looks like he's looking for you.
Ron: I don't care! (sniffles) Did you rub on some new perfume...?
Luna: Yes, a mixture of embalming oil with unicorn pheromones. You like ?
Ron: I love it, don't move.
Luna: Okay.
After this welcome, the feast could begin and Ron was satisfied. Dumbledore got up a little later to present the event that will take place, the Goblet of Fire and the Triwizard Tournament but Ron was barely listening.
He was having fun with Luna giving him food, the others looked at them from time to time and were already used to them since the first year.
Bartemius Crouch Sr was introduced when the ceiling began to rumble with lightning and Alastor Moody calmed it with a wave of his wand.
Ron sat up to look at him for a moment, he was a famous man who had stopped many dark mages. Ronald had never seen this legendary aurora so he observed it for a bit and then calmly went back to bed.
Crouch Sr spoke about the ministerial decree specifying that for safety reasons, no student under the age of 17 would be able to apply and almost all the U-17s in the room who were interested in the tournament began to protest.
Ron didn't care, this event never interested him and it was good for him because it would allow him to be forgotten a little to finally have a quiet year.
Two days later, they had their first Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons and Ron was almost sleeping on his table at the back of the class with the pillow Harry had given him.
He's been working hard lately with Merlin on the resurrection spell and other stuff. Merlin had warned him that the concepts of life and death were dangerous and Ron promised him that he wouldn't do anything rash.
Merlin knew his student and he was too lazy to take unnecessary risks so he trusted him, the boy was impossibly talented but his laziness was divine.
Another spell that Ron created that shocked Merlin was a scary defense spell. The "Reflecto" spell, a spell that allows any spell to be returned to its starting point like a mirror returns a reflection.
Moody had decided to tell them about the Unforgivable Curses and even showed them the effects of the three Forbidden Curses on an insect and even Ron had perked up because he was disturbed by the torture scene.
Ron's instincts immediately told him that this man was not sharp, especially with the brew he kept drinking from his flask. Ron recognized the smell but had forgotten where he had smelled it.
One rainy day during the week, not being able to go outside, Rom was sitting on a table with his magic pillow on his thighs and Luna was lying on the table with her head on Ron's pillow who was reading her the new issue of Quibble while students put their names in the goblet of fire.
Harry and Hermione were sitting on the bench talking.
Luna: I understand why you like sleeping so much, I think it's going to become my new favorite activity.
Ron: Finally you have understood the true meaning of life, young lady! However, there is a problem. If you also start to like sleep then who am I going to sleep on?
"You two are going to end up married together one day!" Cedric Diggory said as he approached the childhood duo, he also greeted Harry with his group of friends behind him.
Luna: Hi Cédric!
Ron: My man ! Don't tell me you're going to participate in this nonsense too!
Cédric: Don't be cruel Ronald, you've already tasted glory so let me catch up! There's no way you're leaving me in the dust.
"I see that, I'm going to encourage you, old man!" He said laughing as he and Cédric gave each other a high five!
The girls who followed Cedric looked at him greeting him and he just gave them a smile, many asked Cedric if Ron and Luna were together and he told them that they were just childhood friends and that 'They were always close like that, which gave hope to a lot of girls.
Cedric went to put his name in the cup and Ron clapped for him like the others, if his friend wanted to participate in this then he was going to support him.
Fred and George entered with two test tubes containing aging potions, they were greeted like stars already because they were beautiful, ingenious, funny and were also Ron's brothers, they had the hearts of several sixth grade girls year.
Hermione tried to warn them that it wasn't going to work and they scoffed, Ron looked at them with amusement and Luna fixed her attention on them as well.
"That won't work..." He said as his brothers drank their potions before jumping into the circle around the cup without the circle reacting and the others cheered them on.
Luna: Looks like you were wrong, your brothers even for me have always been too unpredictable.
Ron: Be patient...
They put their names in the cup and there was no reaction right away.
Luna: It worked!
Ron: Wait and see...
Suddenly, flames shot out of the cup and sent the twins flying out of the circle. Once on the ground a white beard grew on them and they began to fight to the laughter and encouragement of the others.
Their little scene was interrupted when Viktor Krum came in with his people to put his name in the cup, he ended up seeing Ron sitting and looked at him.
Viktor: It's a shame you're not old enough to participate Weasley, I would have taken my revenge.
Ron: Old enough to participate or old enough to win?! I would have crushed you all if I was not only old enough and especially motivated to participate in this game but it's really not something that interests me.
" A game ? Show some respect to the Triwizard Tournament arrogant young wizard, winning a Quidditch World Cup is no difficulty compared to this" Igor, the headmaster of Durmstrang said contemptuously.
Ron: Difficulty? Because you think this tournament posed any difficulty for me? Look at how they crushed Bulgaria and the other nations and tell me if it seemed like a challenge to me!
Viktor smiled slightly at that and his headmaster snorted before leaving, Krum noticed Hermione and looked at her somewhat pointedly then left while the girl stayed smiling.
She looked over at Ron and he was already lying on the table facing away from Luna but both of their heads were on the pillow as they chatted with each of their legs facing one end of the table.
Luna: Why do you always have to be so arrogant?
Ron: I only told the truth and I never wanted to participate in this stupid cup.
Luna: Why did you win it then?
Ron: My family was hoping for me to do this and a certain girl came to encourage me.
"A certain girl huh?!" She said as she started playing with Ron's hair.
"Yeah, a certain girl..." he replied while playing with Luna's hair.
(You don't need to be geniuses to know that this Luna appears physically older than in the films where she only appeared in the Order of the Phoenix. In this reality we estimate that we have seen her grow up with the golden trio)