chapter 26 : Head Boy

Because several students had stayed at school to assist Ron in a coma, Dumbledore had extended the summer vacation by a month and a half to allow these students to return home and enjoy some rest.

For this period, Ron had decided to put his closest friends through intensive training and he told his parents who helped him.

Arthur had invited Hermione's parents for an extended stay of over a month with their daughter in the manor and they accepted.

Arthur was happy about it himself because muggles fascinated him and he was very curious about the non-magical world.

The Grangers were the same as him because although they had no powers, they were very fascinated by magic.

They were very often despised by the other mages except the Weasleys with whom they had very good relationships so when Arthur invited them, they were over the moon.

Neville Longbottom had also been invited to the Weasleys and his family had accepted.

Neville had been very surprised but Ron really liked him and didn't want him to remain vulnerable because Neville really liked Ginny, Ron knew it and his little sister liked her too.

(I really like the character of Neville, in fact I hesitated to choose between him and Dean Thomas to be the MC but Ron's case was too serious in the films.)

Ron had been very demanding with them in his lessons and because he understood perfectly what he was teaching them, he had the ideal way of explaining the lesson to each of them according to their different faculties of understanding as with his own brothers Fred and Georges who learned extremely quickly with demonstrations rather than theories.

He taught them very few spells but he got what he was looking for and it was quality instead of quantity.

Performing a spell was one thing but mastering it was even better and by the end of the training session, Neville and the others were able to perform a "protego" or invoke their patronus without even needing to say the spell. formula just like the other spells learned with it.

 Neville had lost a little weight while letting his hair grow and frankly, it suited him very well.

Ron's surprise came to him one evening while he was watching the full moon with Luna at the top of the hill near the trees.

Luna was in his arms when they kissed and a hare of light was generated from Luna's chest, it was her patronus.

She had actually materialized it without a wand and when Ron asked her how she did it, she just told him that she tried the spell not by thinking about a memory but by thinking hard about the present moment because she was happy with him.

This revealed three things to Ron. First, the girl he loves loves him in a very pure way. Then, that Luna's natural talent is truly frightening and finally that the nature of the patronus was much more complex than what was written in the spell books.

He tried Luna's method and was able to generate on the first try a large bird of pure light which went to play with Luna's hare as if they were two completely alive and autonomous creatures.

Ron had decided to work on it seriously with Merlin who had terribly criticized him for performing the resurrection spell even if he had been greatly relieved that his student was doing well.

For several weeks now, the prodigy had already obtained research and working documents from the alchemist Nicolas Flamel on the black market to work on the creation of a Philosopher's Stone, an elixir of vitality or even a body rejuvenation spell.

He wasn't interested in Immortality but you never knew.

That wasn't all because he had also thought about another very important project regarding his family.

Thanks to Merlin's gifts they had more money and being rich wasn't a bad thing but it was even better to stay rich.

They had spent a few million galleons out of the 39 million estimated in the treasury, it was not much because of their needs and habits remained modest but sooner or later, this fortune will end up running out because the nature of money is to be spent or…to be earned.

With Molly and Arthur who had decided to leave the ministry, they bought a very beautiful premises in Diagon Alley and turned it into a magnificent potions store whose core product was going to be in the cosmetic field because wizards or not, some humans were always worried about their appearance.

Purchasing the premises, registering and opening the store had only taken three days and the first product they sold was a low quality temporary beautification potion made expressly like that by Ron to become more beautiful even a little was always pleasant.

The branding side of the product had been far from difficult as they had offered free trials during the first day of opening, which wasn't a big loss as the ingredients weren't expensive at all and it had gave the recipe to Molly who was very good at potions.

The potion of this low quality only lasted a week and only slightly improved facial features for 4 gold galleons.

It had been enough after just one week for this store to become a real fever. It was also during this week that Harry found Dobby, the Malfoy house elf whom he had freed.

He had introduced the elf to the Weasleys who decided to take him into their home, much to the joy of Dobby who since his release had been wandering aimlessly and without a home. Without being asked, he happily did the household chores magically and that helped Molly a lot.

For their successful store simply called "Weasley" and managed by his parents, Ron had drawn up a very powerful and ancient passive protection spell with an ancient enchantment that he had modified to preserve the luxurious store.

The "Pura Caelum" enchantment as he had named it meant that anyone who entered the store with bad intentions would be very violently thrown out by an invisible force.

That wasn't all because a powerful barrier had been erected to resist very large magical attacks by drawing not only on the surrounding magic but also on the magic contained in the spell attacking it.

It was the most powerful and effective passive protection enchantment in the world and he had created it by modifying an old enchantment.

The pura caelum had also been applied to the mansion out of pure safety and precaution since the place was going to become the headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix and all of this had been done in just a month and a half by Ronald and his family.

After this short period, he and his friends returned to Hogwarts to begin their 5th year of study and the journey was quite quick.

After the first years' sorting ceremony, the feast had begun and this time, Ron and Luna were eating and laughing alongside their friends.

Some other students looked at them strangely and sometimes with confusion or contempt like several Slytherin students including Malfoy who criticized Harry by accusing him of lies or madness because the Daily Prophet had displayed in the headline that the words of 'Harry and Cedric were the result of tournament trauma.

Obviously their close friends knew it was false but many even within their own household had been influenced by the gazette.

Despite this, Cedric and Harry could handle it because anyway, most of the people's attention was on the one who had successfully performed a spell that was deemed impossible, Ronald Weasley.

Ron ignored when Dumbledore stood up to make announcements. He spoke of the changes between some already known professors and introduced the new professor of defense against the dark arts delegated by the ministry itself, Dolores Umbridge .

Harry, Ron and Cedric recognized her and looked coldly, she was at the trial and they told the others.

Dumbledore wanted to make more announcements when the woman made an annoying giggle (I want to kill her every time she does that) before standing up and slowly walking to the front to face the students with her grandmother's pink clothes abandoned by any kind of charisma.

Umbridge: Thank you, Mr. Principal...for these kind words of welcome, (to the students) and how lovely it is to see all these beautiful smiles lighting up your faces for me...I am sure that we will all be...the best...friends...in the world.

Others :…

"No doubt…" Fred and George said boredly.

Ron:...my God...

Umbridge: The Ministry of Magic has always considered the education of young witches and wizards to be of the most vital importance. Although each principal has brought something new to this…historic…school, progress for the sake of progress could…never be encouraged.

This time Ron got fed up and yawned very audibly before starting to eat the pie in front of him ignoring the rest of this woman's annoying and boring speech, Luna and the others looked at him holding their laughter.

"...and let's reduce these practices which will have to be completely prohibited" she finished her speech before giggling and leaving while a few people clapped in boredom with Dumbledore.

For those who understood her speech, she clearly announced an intervention by the ministry in the school regulations.

Dumbledore: We thank Mrs. Umbridge for this…*ahem* speech. As a final announcement for the start of the year, new prefects will be appointed to ensure the good developments and responsibilities of their houses...

"That old fool...I hope he doesn't do this to me...not to me..." Ron whispered with serious fear as if his Instinct was warning him of something in the future.

Dumbledore began appointing 5th year students including Draco Malfoy to Slytherin to serve as prefect of their house and when Gryffindor's turn came, he looked at Ron with a happy smile as the latter literally begged with his gaze.

Dumbledore:…Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger for Gryffindor prefects!

The Gryffindor students started clapping with huge enthusiasm, Hermione was very happy with her nomination while a tear rolled down Ron's right cheek.

He was downright crying and McGonagall who saw this started to laugh softly in her corner knowing the level of laziness of her student.

Dumbledore: Likewise, for a brand new rule of this school, the head boy will no longer necessarily be a seventh year student and therefore...

Ron: Please...please director...

Dumbledore:...Ronald Weasley will occupy as the best student of this school in all categories the position of Head Boy alongside Williana Brownleaf (a seventh year Ravenclaw/Ravenclaw and purely invented character) and will ensure compliance with the regulations while also looking after the interests of the students of this school.

The celebration was shattering in Gryffindor as Ron, teased by his brothers, cried profusely in Luna's arms.

When the end of the feast arrived and it was necessary to accompany the 1st years to their common room, Ron slipped away and it was Hermione who had to take on this task.

If Dumbledore had appointed Ron to this position it was not so that Ron would be an example of discipline but so that he would have enough power to protect his house in a more legitimate way.

The others were in the common room when Ron entered the room to overhear an argument between Harry and Seamus Finnigan who because of his mother's opinions thought Harry was lying.

This led to a big turmoil between those who supported Harry and those who were influenced by the newspapers and their parents.

Hermione tried to calm the situation but she was overwhelmed...

"That's enough...don't ruin my evening any more than it already is!" Ron said coldly before banging his cane on the ground and a magical pressure was felt by everyone else, the weakest of whom found it hard to breathe.

Others :…

Ron: What's going on here?

Seamus: (points his finger at Harry) He's sick, that's what's going on. (to Ron) Can you believe his nonsense about you know who?

Ron: Oh...I see, nonsense eh...! (to everyone) Which of you think Harry is lying?

Several students raised their hands and that made Ron smile.

Ron: How many of you who raised your hands were with him and Cedric when Cedric died to say he's lying?

 « We don't know anything about it! » One of the girls who raised their hands responded.

Ron: That's exactly it, you don't know anything about it, just like your parents, just like those who wrote and edited these articles in the newspapers but on the other hand, you spent five years with Harry and know his habits to know he's lying or not. You saw with your own eyes Cédric's body as well as his father crying for him. Are you ready to say that Cédric is lying about his own death by looking him straight in the eye?

Others :…

Ron: Those are exactly what I thought, a bunch of naive and easily influenced cowards! You disappoint and disgust me at the same time, none of you even wanted to give the benefit of the doubt to a friend who came close to death. You don't want to believe in Harry?! Don't do it, later, when the danger is there and it will come, I hope you will be strong enough to face it yourself because I'll crush whoever comes to apologize before my eyes. I don't want any more mess in this room, we are Gryffindors and no bargain, please tidy this place up before you go to bed. Thanks in advance.

He didn't say anything else and just went upstairs to sleep, he was fed up with all these cowards.