"Harry, are you sure you can play real music?" At the corner of the Third Floor Corridor, Ron asked Harry rather hesitantly from beneath the Invisibility Cloak. Harry was holding a rather oddly shaped flute-a Christmas present from Hagrid.
Harry had a serious lack of musical talent. Although his playing was not exactly terrible, it certainly could not be called pleasant.
And according to Hagrid, putting the Three-Headed Dog to sleep required music, not something that merely sounded like it...
Although Ron had been very excited when they decided to come and stop Snape from stealing the Philosopher's Stone, now that he was actually about to face that enormous three-headed dog again, he looked rather shaky, even if he had not backed down.
This certainly did not mean Ron was timid or lacked courage.
In fact, Harry, Hermione, and Neville all felt a little weak in the knees too.
Harry tried to reassure him. "I think it'll be all right. I practiced all afternoon." But his words lacked confidence, especially with that slight tremor in his voice.
At this point, however, there was no other option. The seemingly all-capable Hermione turned out to be tone-deaf and could not play an instrument at all. Ron was just as tone-deaf and could not even whistle properly. As for Neville... the less said, the better.
"Yeah, I know. You actually played all right this afternoon," Ron said honestly, though he still sounded hesitant, and with good reason. "But will you still be able to play well when you're facing the Three-Headed Dog?"
Ron's concerns were entirely reasonable. When someone was extremely nervous and frightened, all sorts of bizarre mistakes could happen.
"Ron, if you're scared, you can go back to bed right now," Hermione said rather brusquely. Of course she was frightened too,