Harry, Ron, and Hermione did not spend the night at Hagrid's hut. After Professor Brwon left, they also left Hagrid's hut quite soon.
The main reason was Hermione, she wanted to go to the hospital when there was still time. She asked Mrs Pomfrey how to recover from the eye curse as soon as possible. Her idea also got Harry's approval, but Ron's sudden words discouraged the two people.
"I think it's best not to do that..."
As they ran across the field towards the castle, Hermione was telling Harry of her plan to go to the hospital, when Ron said that.
"Why?" Harry asked in surprise, "Sirius seems pretty bad—"
"If it's really bad, he'll find a way to deal with it himself—" Ron shrugged his shoulders and said, "Look, Professor Browne doesn't pay much attention to his injuries, so I guess Sirius just wants to take this chance to stay at school for a few more days and rest. It's usually hard for him to get much time off, isn't it?"
Harry and Hermione stopped and stared at him in surprise.
"What's wrong?" Their eyes made Ron a bit confused, "If you think--"
"Oh, not that," Harry laughed, "You're right, Ron. Perhaps Sirius's condition isn't as serious as we thought. Let him stay at school for a few days then."
Hermione smiled happily too. She and Harry had the same feeling; in the nearly month since Ron had distanced himself from them, there had been a void in their hearts. Now that Ron was back, both Harry and Hermione, along with Ron himself, did not want to dwell on whose fault this incident was.
Their friendship between them is the most important.
As for Hermione, Ron's willingness to make amends with them brought her joy that was not less than her passing the first test in the Triwizard Tournament.
The banquet in the Great Hall was still in progress, but the three of them saw Professor Browne return to the midst of the guests and had no desire to join them. So, they quietly climbed the stairs from the entrance hall.
"The professor just said he would check Wormtail's soul," they discussed what had just happened on their way to Gryffindor Tower, and Harry frowned and said, "What does it mean? Why wouldn't he say anything after that?"
"Check the soul..." Ron shivered, "Sounds a bit sinister, doesn't it?"
"But what should I do about Wormtail?"
Speaking of house-elves, Hermione said in a heavy heart,
"It can't stay with Hagrid forever; it needs to be independent, to live the life it wants. All house-elves have the right to that, they can no longer be enslaved in this way."
Harry and Ron both wisely shut up their mouths, this topic of discussion had no end.
The fat lady's painting rotated open, and the unexpected burst of cheers and roars inside made all three of them lose their wits. Ron was the first to react,
"Surprise banquet!" he climbed up first, then pulled Hermione, who was a bit stunned, by the arm and dragged her up with him, "I knew there had to be one of those!"
There were small mountains of cakes on the tables and chairs in the common room, as well as several pots of pumpkin juice and butterbeer. Lee Jordan lit some colorful fireworks, stars and sparks flashing in the air. Talented artist Dean Thomas hung up several new banners, most of which depicted Hermione gracefully leaping over rocks and landing smoothly on the back of a dragon.
"Oh--" Hermione's face was a bright red, "It doesn't need to be so--"
"What foolishness is that—"
Fred happily pushed Hermione in front of a pile of cakes and beer,
"You have to eat all of them, it's only fair that I and George, and Lee, who ran all over the kitchen for this. Of course, you can also thank the elves in the kitchen; these little guys have been busy all night. They helped with the banquet in the Great Hall and a party in Hufflepuff's common room as well as here! Oh, no less than Beauxbatons and Durmstrang probably are celebrating on their own grounds too!"
"Indeed--"
Hermione's heart skipped a beat, thinking of Wormtail's mother, the little elf named Regina.
"But how should I get into the kitchen?"
Hermione asked in a casual tone.
"It's very convenient --" Fred said, "There's a door in the underground corridor hidden behind an oil painting of a bowl of fruit. All you have to do is scratch that apple, and it will chortle, then --"
Fred stopped abruptly,
"You're not going to give those kitchen elves the same propaganda you did before, are you? Oh, please don't do that! You'd end up making everyone go hungry!"
Several people were laughing, but Hermione didn't say anything. Seeing her expression, Harry and Ron exchanged glances, sighed at the same time, and then burst into laughter simultaneously.
Then, the celebration began, and as the atmosphere grew lively, many people loudly demanded to see the golden egg Hermione had received. She had to return to her dormitory to get it down and placed it on the table for everyone to see.
To be honest, so far, Hermione had still not had a chance to examine it properly.
After the competition, she hurried back to the castle and placed the golden egg back in her dormitory before going down to the common room, where she was more inclined to have a good chat with Harry and Ron. Not long after that, Professor McGonagall informed her to go down to the Great Hall as a champion representative for the feast.
People were eagerly trying to help Hermione analyze what the terrifying screeching sound from the golden egg might represent, but Hermione tightly covered her ears, unwilling to listen any further.
Harry understood that while Professor Brewer had clearly stated that the challenge Hermione faced in the first competition was real, Hermione seemed to be unable to completely let go of her worries. She probably wanted to completely rely on her own efforts for the second competition.
The banquet lasted until late, and students slowly returned to their dormitories.
For nearly a month, the atmosphere in Harry's dormitory had been somewhat unusual, largely due to the falling out between Harry and Ron. Although no one openly discussed this topic, it was clear to everyone privately.
Today, Seamus, Dean, and Neville finally saw Harry and Ron talking again, shoulder to shoulder, and they were all very happy about it. The four of them talked a lot about the match in the dormitory. In the end, exhausted by their conversation, they fell asleep without taking off their clothes.
Harry was the same. Though he was not competing today, he had been up since early this morning to pick up the team from Hogwarts station, and then worried about Hermione all day, so he was exhausted and fell asleep almost immediately, along with Neville.
Ron was woken up by Neville's snoring, and he took a few minutes to realize what was going on. He stood up dizzily with his hands on his head, looking at his sleeping roommates and smiled.
After throwing blankets over everyone, Ron returned to his bed and prepared to remove his clothes to sleep. Then, under the dim candlelight in the dormitory, he saw something shining on his bedding. It was a coin.
The coin was given to him by Professor Brewer, and since then, he had been carrying it with him at all times. It must have slipped out of his pocket and landed on the bed just now.
Ron stared at the coin for a long time, gradually dispelling his drowsiness.
He looked at Harry who was already asleep and suddenly remembered a scene when he and Harry rushed into the Slytherin basement to save Ginny. He was quickly hurt by the Basilisk's mouth, while Harry fought with the Basilisk hard until Hermione brought Professor Brewer over.
It was something that had happened over a year ago, but it seemed like it had been a long time ago.
Ron turned to look at Neville.
As Professor Brewer's only taught course at Hogwarts, Quidditch has always been a special existence, and what happened in the class, others have heard some more or less, Ron knows that Neville has been unable to keep up with the class recently, which has put a lot of pressure on him. However, he hasn't heard Neville say anything about giving up.
"This is all my own fault..."
In the dim light, with a bitter face, Ron muttered, he picked up the coin and was about to put it back into his cloak, when his fingertips touched the cold coin. He remembered the smile on Professor Brewer's face when he showed it to him tonight at Hagrid's house.
Phew--
Cold wind suddenly enters, and Ron has already run out of the door.
(Chapter complete)
