"Hey, you two."
Hermione passed by them, patting their shoulders with a book: "Mind the first-years, thanks. Don't lead them astray."
As they separated, there was an audible "pop" from the plunger being pulled out.
"Eww," Ron shook his head in mild distaste, "you two are just too..."
He searched for a while but couldn't find the right adjective.
It was indeed a bit revolting.
And these two seemed completely unaware of the impropriety of their behavior. In fact, every pair of lovers becomes a bit dimwitted when glued together.
Obviously, their IQ wasn't too high to begin with, so this subtraction left even less remaining.
From February to March, the weather didn't change much—just damp and windy. Notices were posted on all common room bulletin boards announcing the cancellation of the trip to Hogwarts, leaving everyone quite dissatisfied, and Ron was particularly peeved.
"It's my birthday! I was looking forward to it!"
"If we can't go, then we'll just play phones in the dorm," Neville said indifferently. "Look, I recently downloaded a game called 'Fruit Ninja' from the App Store—really fun..."
"Fortunately, with boring Apparition lessons aside, we still have phones to play," Ron brightened up instantly.
Not going to Hogwarts wasn't a big deal; phones were just as fun.
Three lessons went by, and Apparition remained difficult, with only a few managing to separate themselves.
Draco finally succeeded in Apparition, followed by Hermione, Neville, and Seamus.
As members of the Dueling House, Harry would explain the key points in detail to them after class every weekend— breaking it down to the point of practically feeding it to them.
Lavender's progress was also good. After all, she's Seamus's girlfriend, and thanks to him, she could join the study group listening to Harry's lessons.
Yet among most students, frustration was growing, and there was quite some resistance toward Wick Tekros and his three Ds, leading to many nicknames, the politest being Smelly Dog and Dung Head.
On the night of February 28th, instead of sleeping, they connected to play a game called "Contra" until midnight on March 1st.
"Happy Birthday, Ron!" everyone cheered together at midnight.
Ron felt a bit moved, rubbed his nose, and said, "Thanks, everyone, thank you—"
Luckily, March 1st was a Saturday, meaning they didn't worry about classes, and Apparition was in the afternoon.
Yet since Apparition required focus, they couldn't stay up all night gaming.
Thus, after expressing birthday wishes to Ron, they all immediately fell asleep.
The next morning, Harry placed a bag beside Ron's head.
"Happy Birthday, Ron," he said, giving Ron a nudge.
"Thanks, you too," Ron mumbled sleepily.
"Awesome, Harry!" Ron shouted enthusiastically, waving the Quidditch goalkeeper gloves Harry had given him.
"No big deal," Harry said absent-mindedly.
Today marked the launch day of Magic Stone 1, prompting a lot of people to snag a new machine—and his old friend Imelda even made a group on a chat app, pulling all of them in.
Harry was now checking who exactly his old friends were.
While watching, he muttered to himself, Gareth truly is useless, not living past a hundred...
Ron didn't respond, he was busy unwrapping gifts and occasionally shouting with joy.
"A true bounty this year!" he declared, lifting a chunky gold watch, its edges adorned with peculiar symbols and hands made from moving stars. "Look what Mum and Dad got me? Hey, I'm planning another adulthood next year..."
"Cool."
Harry glanced at Ron's watch, mumbling dryly as he spotted many familiar faces in the group chat, like Nacha O'Nai, now headmaster at Vagado Magic Academy; Lukken Brightby, still alive... Hmm, and Dueling Wand's Astoria Criquette & Constance Dagworth, all present.
Harry thought a moment, then typed a message on the keyboard.
"@everyone, welcome to this...uh, group chat. Long time no see."
Yet after the message was sent, there was no reply.
Maybe everyone was busy, he thought, suddenly hearing Ron beside him asking if he wanted any.
He looked up to see the other holding a box of Chocolate Cauldrons vaguely asking.
"Two, please," Harry reached out a hand.
Ron threw two large boxes into his arms: "They're quite tasty. Someone like me, with a chocolate-for-brains, loves these— Mum sent them to me."
Harry unwrapped and tossed a Chocolate Cauldron in his mouth.
Hmm... Delicious.
"Plans for the birthday?" Harry asked while munching, having closed the group chat.
"Haven't figured out yet," Ron replied munching, "Originally with Hermione to Hogsmeade, but as you know— we're not allowed now, we're stuck in the Hall for that tedious Apparition class, worrying if we'll split..."