After saying that, he turned and stormed off, unwilling to deal with Vaughn, that awful guy, any longer.
Harry hesitated, but in the end, he was more worried about Ron and hurried after him.
Stumbling through the snow, Harry finally caught up with Ron and was shocked to see his friend kneeling dejectedly beneath a tree, scooping up snow with both hands and forcefully smacking it against his own head.
Harry hurried over to stop him. "Ron, Ron, Vaughn was probably joking when he said those things, you—"
Before he could finish comforting him, Ron cut him off in a pained voice. "No, Harry, I know he was joking."
"Huh?"
Harry stared in bewilderment as Ron raised his face, red from either anger or the cold. His expression was wrenching and miserable. "He can joke, but I can't. I don't want to lose to him—that bastard knows that perfectly well, so he deliberately provoked me into saying that—Ireland team signed gear, ten times over—Merlin, what the hell did I just say!"
Harry was completely baffled.
The pavilion.
Hermione stood with Vaughn, looking out at the snow-covered Forbidden Forest for a while before suddenly asking, "Whenever something involving you comes up, Ron becomes impulsive and reckless. He doesn't want to back down to you?"
Vaughn smiled faintly. "Yeah. Maybe it's because he's always lost to me ever since we were little."
"You did it on purpose!"
"This is a big brother's love for his little brother, darling. Ever since he was young, I've helped him stay away from vanity and impatience, and become a down-to-earth person. Look, the results are remarkable!"
Hermione was speechless. For one brief moment, she had actually felt sorry for Ron.
Percy had stabbed him in the back, the twins had swindled him out of his pocket