On the Merits of Toads and Rats

For some reason, Bell felt that Ron's lines seemed familiar, as if he had heard them somewhere before.

Before Bell could subdue Ron, Harry and Neville, who had been running out of the common room right behind Ron, hugged Ron tightly from behind.

Harry and Neville didn't see Bell burn Scabbers ' body, so they didn't know why Ron had suddenly gone mad again.

But they both knew that fighting was against School Rules. Even if they were ultimately "killed" in return, they couldn't escape the professor's punishment.

"Let me go! Let me go! I'm going to fight him!"

Ron struggled angrily.

At this moment, Ron felt that he had wasted his time befriending his two brothers. At a time like this, not only did Harry and Neville not help him beat Bell, but they were actually helping Bell to stop him?

The ship of friendship is about to capsize!

Fortunately, Hermione's timely appearance saved the three people's small boat.

"Bell? What are you doing here? What happened?"

Hermione was also chasing Crookshanks and Scabbers. However, she was slower, which is why she fell behind Harry and his two companions.

"I came to see Fina. But you, weren't you practicing the Patronus Charm with Shanna? What are you doing here?"

As he spoke, Bell casually bent down and picked up Crookshanks at his feet.

He gently scratched Crookshanks's chin, causing it to purr contentedly.

Bell's leisurely attitude infuriated Ron so much that his eyes turned red, and he almost went berserk.

"Shanna was called away by her friends. I was going to go find you, but when I looked out from the castle, I saw you engrossed in reading, so I didn't disturb you. As for Fina..."

"Hey! You two, that's enough!"

Ron couldn't take this anymore. He roared in anger, interrupting Bell and Hermione's chatter.

Are you kidding me? His family's Scabbers are still alive (even though they've been burned to ashes)! And these two are just chatting like nothing's wrong?

Don't they feel any pangs of conscience?!

Bell gave Ron a disapproving look.

What an oblivious brat! Didn't he see he was chatting with his girlfriend?

As for whether my conscience will hurt?

Just kidding, Bell has always been the type to do good deeds anonymously. It's good enough that he's not arrogant, so how could he possibly have a guilty conscience?

Where is conscience located? Why has he never been aware that he has such an organ inside his body?

"By the way, Bell, what did you do to Ron?"

Hermione then realized that she had almost been led astray by Bell again.

"I didn't do anything to him."

Bell spread his hands, looking aggrieved.

So, it's really hard to be a good person these days!

"You, you..."

Ron rolled his eyes in anger upon hearing Bell's shameless remarks.

Harry and Neville quickly patted Ron on the back to help Ron catch his breath.

"You murderer! How dare you put on such an innocent act!?"

Ron said through gritted teeth. He wanted nothing more than to bite Bell to death.

"So what exactly did Bell do?"

Hermione simply couldn't believe that Bell would do anything so outrageous to Ron.

Hermione believed she knew her boyfriend very well. She was convinced that if Bell had really done something to Ron, Ron would never have suspected Bell!

Harry and Neville looked at Ron curiously. They were both still completely confused.

"He! He killed Scabbers!"

Ron's voice was so piercing and his emotions so sorrowful that it was as if a cuckoo was weeping blood!

"..." *3

However, what Ron found even more unacceptable was that after hearing his account of Bell's crimes, the group reacted indifferently!

"Don't you... don't you have anything to say?"

Ron looked at his two friends in disbelief and asked in a trembling voice.

Harry and Neville awkwardly looked away, avoiding eye contact with Ron.

They had previously thought that Bell had done something heinous to anger Ron to this extent.

And that's it?!

Harry and Neville didn't actually like the rat named Scabbers at all, but they didn't show it because of Ron.

Harry goes without saying; compared to his pet owl, Hedwig, Scabbers, that gray mouse, isn't even worthy of carrying his shoes.

Even Neville, who kept a toad as a pet, looked down on Scabbers.

Does the Scabbers have that slippery, wet feel of the Trevor?

Does Scabbers have the same cool body temperature as Trevor?

Do Scabbers catch flies and mosquitoes?

Scabbers can't do that! All it does is eat and sleep!

So, when Neville heard that Scabbers had been killed by Bell, he felt no grief or anger whatsoever; in fact, he almost laughed.

"Bell, why did you kill Scabbers?"

Fortunately, among the people present, there was one reliable individual.

Although Hermione didn't think there was anything wrong with her boyfriend killing a mouse.

She also couldn't understand why anyone would keep an ugly gray mouse as a pet.

But the rat was, after all, Ron's property, Hermione felt that Ron needed to be given an explanation.

What is "Scabbers"?

Bell feigned ignorance. He found Ron's current state rather amusing, so he couldn't resist teasing him a little longer.

"Scabbers is a gray-furred mouse. It's the one Crookshanks was chasing just now."

Before Ron could roar out, Hermione offered an explanation.

She also glared at Bell, signaling Bell to stop.

She didn't believe that Bell wouldn't know what Scabbers were.

After receiving a warning from his girlfriend, Bell had no choice but to put away his mischievous humor.

"If you see a rat running past you, are you going to let it live until the New Year instead of killing it?"

Bell said matter-of-factly.

"..."

Bell was absolutely right, Hermione agreed wholeheartedly, to the point that she couldn't refute him at all.

Even Harry and Neville nodded involuntarily after hearing Bell's explanation. When they saw Ron glaring at them, they quickly stopped what they were doing, almost twisting their necks in the process.

Seeing that the situation had reached a stalemate, and Ron seemed unwilling to give up, "Farmer" Bell sighed helplessly.

It was getting late, and dinner was about to be served. He didn't want to waste his precious mealtime sitting in the cold wind with a few silly kids.

"Okay, I admit it, I was reckless. I'm willing to compensate you for your losses."

Although he verbally admitted his mistake, you could tell from the fact that Bell was constantly petting the cat that he showed no remorse whatsoever.

"Compensation? What are you going to use to compensate? Can you bring Scabbers back to life?"

Ron clearly didn't care about Bell's compensation. All he wanted now was revenge for Scabbers!

Of course, Ron didn't really want to kill Bell... probably?

In short, Ron would never be able to swallow his anger until he beat Bell to a pulp!