"We finally got it sorted!"
Hermione let out a breath and brushed the snow off herself.
"The corridor next to the library—some second-year students wanted to use magic to throw snowballs out the window and 'ambush' people, but their aim was so bad they shattered the glass. Then their Incendio nearly burned the window frame... It took me almost an hour to fix everything."
When she looked up and saw everyone gathered in the Umbrella Room, her eyes immediately lit up, and the exhaustion on her face was replaced by joy.
"Great! Everyone's finally here this time!"
As she spoke, Hermione gave Harry a meaningful look.
Harry understood at once. He immediately took a stack of parchment from his schoolbag and handed it out to everyone, then cleared his throat.
"Ahem! May I have everyone's attention for a minute?"
Harry waved the parchment in his hand and said, "This is Ron's application. He wants to join the SSC."
The room fell silent for a moment, followed by a loud whistle.
"Whoa!" Fred said with a waggling of his eyebrows. "George, look! Am I seeing things? Who was it that said... only bookworms and freaks would want to join a study club like that?"
"Let me take a closer look—"
George held the parchment up to the light and squinted at it for a long while before solemnly saying:
"Look at the hook on this 'K,' then the spelling and the extra ink blots... Yep, Fred, Little Ronnie really wrote this himself! It's definitely authentic!"
"Did a troll kick him in the head? Or did a Leprechaun crawl inside and start messing around?" Fred stroked his chin in thought. "This doesn't sound like Little Ronnie at all!"
"Enough, you two!"
Hermione shouted, stopping them from teasing their brother any further.
Harry