Optimistic Ron

Time: 8:15.

Beside a window bed in the Hogwarts Castle Hospital Wing on the second floor, fiery red hair peeked through the gap in the curtains. Harry and Draco, guided by Madam Pomfrey, entered the empty room.

It's almost the end of the semester, and today is Wednesday. They'll be leaving Hogwarts next Monday, and no student is willing or able to come to the Hospital Wing.

This has resulted in Ron being the only one still lying in the Hospital Wing.

This allowed Harry and Draco to reach their beds by the window without much effort.

The sky had darkened, with stars appearing and disappearing, and the scent of grass and Herbology wafted from the surroundings.

This calmed Harry down and made Harry notice things he hadn't noticed before.

Before their arrival, the table next to the hospital bed, which was covered with clean white linen sheets, was piled up like a small mountain, as if half a candy store had been moved there.

However, something completely different from these other items was faintly visible in the pile of candies—a toilet seat.

"Oh, is that Harry?" Ron pulled back the bed curtains, half Chocolate Frog still in his mouth, struggling to escape its fate of being eaten.

This stopped Harry from complaining about the toilet seat, and he said with delight, "Ron, are you all done?"

"It's nothing, Harry —you used your Protective Charm well, I woke up almost the moment my head hit the pillow, and then—ah, you know." Ron gave him that show-off look, pointed to the candy next to him, and propped his elbow on the table to make himself more comfortable.

"Unfortunately, I was too confused at the time to tell my story—I dare say this story is more exciting than all my previous stories!" Ron swallowed the remaining half of the Chocolate Frog in his mouth and said with a bitter face.

"Malfoy, what are you doing here?" Ron feigned surprise, as if he had just discovered Draco's presence.

"Weasley, you idiot, why don't you lie down and rest—and look at your elbow," Draco said, half concerned and half sarcastic, with a look of disgust on his face.

"Ugh! What is this? Damn it! It must be Fred and George —my candy!" Ron couldn't help but yell, Madam Pomfrey from the head nurse's office next door came running over when she heard him.

"What is this, Mr. Weasley? I need to confiscate it. It's so unhygienic! This is the Hospital Wing!" For the first time Madam Pomfrey's perpetually stern, deadpan face showed a hint of anger.

"Please—I don't want it. Can I be discharged? Hello—" Ron said quickly, then looked expectantly at Madam Pomfrey, hoping she would allow him to be discharged.

However, Madam Pomfrey pretended not to hear and took the toilet seat back to her office.

"Weasley, do you want these candies?" Draco asked with a smile.

"Why not—are you crazy? They're all packaged and clean inside." Ron looked at Draco like he was an idiot. "It's so unfair. Last time my hands were smeared with undiluted Bubotuber Pus, and I still got sent to class."

"This time, I protected the Philosopher's Stone and became a hero—I was only unconscious for a short while, and then I was confined to the Hospital Wing. I won't be discharged until tomorrow."

"By then, will anyone still want to hear my story—no, I mean, my popularity?"

"Harry, how about I tell you the story I made up—no, the true story I experienced?" Ron looked at Harry expectantly.

"Weasley, are you crazy? We went to the Fourth-Floor Forbidden Area together." Draco wasn't one to tolerate Ron's bad habits.

"Ron, does your head still hurt? Do you want to rest for a while before talking?" Harry looked at Ron's head with concern—there were no bandages on it, just a head of fiery red hair.

He was beaming with health; if it weren't for the hospital gown he was wearing, one would suspect he was faking illness to get into the hospital.

No, there's a type of patient who's a lot like Ron now—a mental patient, Harry couldn't help but think to himself.

Ron, of course, had no idea what Harry was thinking. He genuinely thought Harry was concerned about him. He felt slightly ashamed for a few seconds and quickly asked with concern what happened after he fainted.

Upon hearing the word "Troll," the response is, "It's just Troll, one of our defeated foes."

When he heard Snape's riddle, he was puzzled for a moment, but then he thought that he might just be confused because he had been hit hard and his head was still foggy, so he regained his optimism, "Is that all? I could do it too."

Upon hearing that it really Quirrell inside, and being knocked down again by Harry's spell, they exclaimed, "Quirrell? It really is him! He managed to get through such a difficult level. He's definitely not as simple as he seems."

Harry and Draco, who were standing nearby, almost burst out laughing when Ron said the challenge was difficult.

"Harry, Malfoy, protecting the Philosopher's Stone is certainly a joyful thing. But is it really necessary to be this happy? I'm still a patient." This time, Ron didn't mention that he had only been dizzy for a short while and was about to be discharged.

Ron has flexible evaluation criteria.

However, upon hearing that Harry had faced Voldemort, Ron finally regained his composure, revealing a fearful and worried expression. "Merlin's beard! We've spent an entire school year with You-Know-Who— "

"I'm such a genius! I'm going to tell Mom and Dad, and Ginny when I get back! This will count as my achievement—hehe." Ron quickly regained his optimism.

This left Harry and Draco, who already knew what kind of person Ron was, speechless with astonishment.

Harry continued his story, and when he got to the part about the Unbreakable Vow, he said, "I know that, it's also called Unbreakable Vow."

"Unbreakable Vow cannot be broken, and it's not difficult to do so..."

"If you disobey, you will die."

"When I was five, Fred and George wanted me to stand up, and I almost did. I even shook hands with Fred and stuff, but Dad found out and he was furious," Ron said, his eyes sparkling with memories. "That was the only time I ever saw Dad get angry like Mom did. Fred said his left side of his butt was different from then on."

"Harry, go on. If you really have made Unbreakable Vow with the You-Know-Who, it might be a good thing."

"Where's the You-Know-Who? Could he be the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor for next semester?" Ron said with a bitter face.

"Weasley, with the Dark Lord's abilities, he definitely has a way to break the contract," Draco said irritably. As a second-generation Death Eaters, he had an almost blind trust in Voldemort's abilities.

But Ron, unusually, didn't refute it; he couldn't help but want to hear the rest of the story.

"Wait, the Dark Lord is Half-blood?" Draco couldn't help but interrupt Harry. He only just realized that in what Harry had just said, Voldemort had acknowledged his bloodline to Harry.

"Get your blood prejudices away from me, Malfoy — Harry, go on," Ron said, clearly annoyed.

Draco couldn't help but mutter to himself, saying things like "impossible."