Ron's feet had only just touched the ground when his knees went weak, and he nearly fell into the snow.
Seeing Ron stagger forward, Harry quickly strode over and reached out to give him a hand.
To his surprise, Fred and George were even faster. Each grabbed one of Ron's arms and hauled him upright.
They even said in deliberately concerned tones, "Ooh! Ron! You'd better be careful! Don't go smashing yourself up!"
Though Fred and George's words were as unserious as ever, they left Ron a little surprised.
Why did his brothers seem like different people, suddenly so warm and friendly to him?
Under normal circumstances, Fred and George definitely would not have said anything like that, nor would they have taken the initiative to help him up.
Before he could figure out the reason, he heard Harry's concerned voice. "Ron, are you feeling all right?"
"I feel... er..." Ron nodded, but as soon as he shook his hand, an awkward smile appeared on his face, and he swallowed the words he had been about to say.
Based on his experience in the previous two matches, after an intense Quidditch match, his wrists should have been aching terribly.
But this time was completely different. His wrists felt fine—better, even, than they had after he finished his homework last night.
The O.W.L. Exam was at the end of this academic year, and to help the students prepare better, the professors had been assigning more and more homework.
Professor Binns's History of Magic homework was the classic example, usually involving all sorts of tedious copying assignments.
Like the homework Professor Binns had assigned this time: they had to write an essay over five feet long based on the Goblin Rebellion content from History of Magic.
To finish that assignment, Ron had