Yes, Ron was extremely jealous.
He was jealous that Link had such a good family background, that he could live in luxury.
Jealous that Link had a beautiful fiancée like Emily.
Jealous that Link had so many supporters.
To speak from the bottom of his heart, Ron didn't think that if he took Link's place, he would do any worse.
After all, the Weasley family was also one of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, even if it had fallen into decline now.
He, Ron, was also a Hogwarts prefect, though he did only become one this year.
And on top of that, he was the best friend of "the Savior Harry Potter".
All these negative emotions had always been buried in Ron's heart. The only reason things had become this stiff now was that the matter with George and Fred's shop had acted as the fuse that set all those emotions ablaze.
These were things Ron had only just figured out.
The resentment in his heart finally faded after hearing Link's speech and spending such a wonderful and fulfilling day in the M.O.M.H.L factory.
Or one could say, he had finally let go.
Once he removed that layer of emotion that had been covering his eyes, he finally saw clearly the huge, fundamental gap between himself and Link.
And jealousy, true jealousy, is a feeling that only appears when two people are roughly equal.
Once the gap becomes too wide, what's born from it can only be admiration.
"Probably only someone like Link can really lead us down the right path."
Thinking this, Ron let out a long sigh, lowered his head to look at the roasted chicken leg in his hand, felt his mouth water, and opened his mouth to take a bite.
But before his mouth could reach it, a familiar voice suddenly came from beside him.
"Ron!"
The sudden shout almost scared Ron to death. He stared in shock at Harry, Hermione, and the others running toward him, and instinctively hid the chicken leg behind his back.
"I…I just…I came here…"
Ron stammered, wanting to explain something, but his mind had gone completely blank.
Harry, however, directly wrapped Ron in a hug.
"Ron! Oh! This is great! This is really great!"
Harry said, choking up.
Hermione rushed up right after, and she too grabbed Ron in a tight hug.
Being held so tightly by the two of them, Ron felt his nose sting, and he no longer cared about saving face. He hugged them back, sobbing as he said, "I'm sorry, s-sorry… I shouldn't have thrown a tantrum at you."
Not far away, George and Fred watched the three of them crying in a heap and clinked their glasses with a smile.
"George, does this mean we've completed the mission Link gave us?"
Fred sipped his drink as he spoke.
"Of course! Didn't you see the three of them sticking together like they're one person now?" George drained his beer and sighed. "But you know… we're the ones who are doomed now!"
As soon as he said that, both George and Fred tipped their heads back toward the sky, their faces full of melancholy.
Ever since they cooperated with Link and acted out that little scene…
Link's M.O.M.H.L factory had indeed opened, and its momentum was frighteningly strong.
But their reputations were completely ruined.
Now the names "George and Fred" had become synonyms for crooked merchants at Hogwarts.
Never mind reopening their workshop, they couldn't even walk down the corridor without getting randomly cursed at.
"Enough, drink!"
Fred, utterly miserable, raised his glass to signal George to keep drinking.
But George glanced at the half-filled butterbeer in Fred's hand and cursed, "Did you slack off just now and not finish your drink? Why's there so much left, are you raising fish in there?!"
"You've got the nerve to say that to me? You clinked glasses with half a cup against my full one!"
"No way! You finish that half first before we continue!"
"Says who!?"
———
George and Fred started squabbling again.
Meanwhile, Sigefin and the others were led by Cedric into a secret room connected to the hall.
Though called a secret room, the décor made it feel more like a living room.
A set of deep-brown leather sofas was neatly arranged around a fireplace.
A huge bearskin rug lay spread across the wooden floor, its fur shimmering under the flickering firelight.
Link and Emily were already seated on the sofa facing the fireplace. Seeing Cedric and the others come in, Link raised the wine glass in his hand with a smile, gesturing for them to sit.
"Everyone, have a seat."
Cedric urged them to take their seats.
The wine bottle on the side table began pouring wine for everyone on its own, and taking the moment, Cedric started introducing, "Link, these are the people I told you about before. First, the one next to me is New..."
"Stop with the useless stuff!" Cedric had barely gotten half the sentence out when the sword-bearing Sigefin stood up urgently and said, "Link Flamel, I only ask you one thing, can you really confirm that Voldemort has been resurrected?"
Cedric and John's faces immediately darkened with anger.
The man's attitude showed he didn't regard them, or Link, as people worth basic respect.
But Link only smiled, raised his hand to signal Cedric and John not to speak, and gently called, "Emily."
At his voice, Emily stood up, picked up a gold-crafted hookah from the table, and brought it to Link.
Link took a deep draw from the hose and then exhaled heavily.
A massive cloud of smoke poured forth.
Unlike ordinary smoke, this smoke, infused with Link's magic and memories, held its shape, coiling above the group.
Slowly, images began to form within it.
A man wearing flowing black robes, bald and noseless, stepped out.
His hideous expression twisted as he slashed his wand downward.
"Cruciatus!"
Sigefin and the others trembled. It was as if they could hear the raspy incantation, as if they could feel the horrifying pain of being eaten alive by swarming serpents and insects.
Then the scene changed.
Hundreds of hunters in hunting gear were battling Death Eaters in black robes.
Spells of every color flashed across the battlefield. Figures turned to ash and vanished, only for more wizards to join the fight.
Above that battlefield, doomsday clouds rolled.
Voldemort, in the form of black smoke, hovered there, countless blood-red lightning bolts dropping from the clouds and being directed toward the crowd.
And Link, the target, didn't dodge or retreat. He roared and launched a massive fire dragon straight into the blood lightning, smashing it apart and scattering the clouds.
BOOM!
The flames that split from the fire dragon swept across the secret room. Terrified, Sigefin and the others all raised their wands.
But the moment the flames touched them, they turned back into insubstantial smoke.
"These are the things I experienced on the night of the Triwizard Tournament. Voldemort was resurrected by Karkaroff and the others that same night."
Link pressed his fingers against his brow and spoke hoarsely.
All those images were his own memories, edited, of course, to erase any trace of Mike.
That didn't harm him, but the memory of being tortured by Voldemort's Cruciatus Curse was so vivid and bone-deep that his head throbbed instinctively.
Emily reached out with heartache on her face and gently massaged both his temples.
Only after a long while did Link finally lift his head and say to the horrified Sigefin, "Now you believe me, right?"
"I'm sorry! Lord Link Flamel! I shouldn't have doubted you. You are a true warrior!" Sigefin placed a hand over his chest and knelt on one knee in salute.
"But I still have one more question. The purpose of our organization, are we really meant to fight Voldemort?"
"Of course," Link said firmly. "Eliminating Voldemort and the forces behind him is our first and foremost mission."
But not the only goal, Link added silently in his heart.
Sigefin couldn't hear Link's inner thoughts. Upon hearing his answer, he exclaimed loudly, "In that case, I, Sigefin Gihad, offer you my highest loyalty!"
As he spoke, Sigefin drew the wooden sword from his back and raised it high with both hands.
This was clearly the simplified version of a knight's oath ceremony.
According to ancient tradition, Link should now take the sword and tap the man's shoulders three times with the flat of the blade, signifying acceptance of his pledge.
But… it was the modern era. Even wizards, who clung to tradition, found such outdated rituals laughable.
And with this knightly behavior, plus his surname…
It was far too easy to think of another famous "knight" with the same last name.
For a moment, Link, Newland, Emily, and John all stared at Sigefin with strange expressions. All of them understood Muggle culture to varying degrees, so the intense déjà vu was hard to handle.
John in particular couldn't hold back a laugh.
This instantly enraged Sigefin.
He stood up and pointed his sword at John, shouting, "Impudent! You lowborn cur, how dare you insult me!"
"Tch! It's almost the twenty-first century and you're still doing this? Have you read too many knight novels?" John sneered.
"And just because you pledge loyalty doesn't mean we have to accept you! This is a two-way choice. As far as I can see, you're nowhere near qualified!"
"Then we'll duel! As a current member of the organization, if I defeat you, that means I qualify to join!"
"Fine by me! I'm not scared!"
In an instant, John and Sigefin both drew their wands to duel.
This sudden escalation caught Link and the others off guard. Cedric got so anxious he even tried to draw his wand to stop them.
He knew very well, Sigefin might look rough and reckless, but the man was truly strong. John really couldn't beat him.
"Left and right, apart."
At that moment, an invisible force separated John and Sigefin instantly.
They struggled to continue, but the great hands formed from cursed power pinned them firmly against the wall.
Link had acted.
"Link! Let me go! I'm going to beat this arrogant idiot!"
John kept shouting, but Sigefin on the other side looked utterly terrified.
He had already seen Link's power from the memory images, but experiencing it personally was something else entirely.
If Link wanted him dead, it wouldn't be any harder than crushing an ant.
Newland and the Kennedy siblings, who had been watching quietly, straightened up instinctively.
But the real shock was yet to come.
They heard Link say, "A membership test is necessary, but it shouldn't be a duel between you two. You're comrades who will fight side-by-side in the future. How can you ruin your relationship over something this small? So for the test match, your opponent will be…"
Link paused. Arkam and Yoyo poked their heads out from his collar, one perched on his shoulder licking its fleshy wings, and the other coiled around his arm, looking at the crowd as if they were food, flicking its tongue.
Link glanced back and forth between Arkam and Yoyo, as though he were deciding which one to choose as Sigefin's opponent.
This scared Sigefin nearly to death.
Just like Link had reviewed their profiles beforehand, Sigefin and the others had also researched Link in detail before coming.
So he knew very well that the two creatures on Link were a basilisk and a runewing.
The runewing was manageable.
He might not defeat it, but at least he had confidence he could survive.
But the basilisk…
"Hmm! If both of you went up, that wouldn't be appropriate. So I'll choose you."
Fortunately, Link didn't intend to kill Sigefin. After thinking for a moment, he took off the cloak he'd been wearing.
Whoosh!
As he flung it out, the cloak fluttered violently in the air, almost as if it had come alive.
Only now did Sigefin and Newland finally realize what it actually was, a Vampire bat.
Sigefin, at least, felt relieved.
Even though its name sounded suspiciously similar to that of a certain Dark Lord, its destructive power was far inferior to a runewing or basilisk.
But Newland's expression looked as though his entire worldview had collapsed.
'That was a man-eating bat! A XXXXX-class dangerous creature! Wrapping people up alive is its primary method of killing! And Link actually wears it as a cloak!? Is this the depth of a thousand-year pure-blood family? No! Even an old family wouldn't be this insane! Just look at the Malfoys! This is Link Flamel himself being absurd beyond reason!!'
Newland screamed all this in his mind, already doubting reality.
Link, of course, didn't know what he was thinking. His Legilimency wasn't silent or subtle enough to read minds without detection.
He simply waved his hand.
"Now then, please begin your performance!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the space inside the secret chamber suddenly expanded.
The fireplace, sofas, rug, table…
All the furniture rapidly slid backward with the expanding space, revealing a wide dueling arena.
Sigefin and the Vampire bat stood at the center.
Sigefin gripped his wooden sword in one hand and his wand in the other, shouting fiercely at the bat, "Ha! Come at me!"