Chapter-42: The Smurf Attack

When Ronan came to meet Harry, to see whether the boy was alright or not, he bumped into the twins. They told him that his controller had arrived just before the match started, so they put it in the broom shed. Ronan was confused as to why they put it there but figured what the hell. As the Slytherins were all mopping around in sadness, he would be able to put the parcel in the Room and then come back, without anyone knowing.

He made his way to the broom shed, which was all the way towards the Quidditch Ground. He safely located the parcel and was going back when he heard it, "AAAHH!!" it sounded like the yell of a girl.

At first, he was alarmed, thinking that Basilik was attempting to kill a fellow student and that he should hide. But then the yells from two boys fell on his ears. The constant screaming made him realize that it was not the snake attacking them. Immediately he darted towards the yell. He had to run up a very steep hill, but with all the strength that he could muster, he made his way up.

It was then he saw the weirdest scene before him. Ron, Hermione, and Neville were struggling to keep away a group of pixies that were attacking them. Hermione was shooting sparks out of her wand, but it seemed the bites of the pixies were making her miss everything.

'Wait a second… This is weird. Pixies are harmless creatures. They are mischievous, that is for sure, but they dont bite anything unless their children are involved.'

There was no pixie nest around the castle, as pixies are known to make their nest near a swamp-like area. There was also a chance that these might have disturbed the nest of pixies, but that was highly unlikely. So why were these pixies attacking them?

He decided to ask the question later and whipped out his wand.

"Incendio" it was a normal fire-making charm, taught during the first year of Hogwarts. But Ronan realized that if he pushed a lot of magic into it, for long enough, it could become a very effective flame thrower spell.

A yellow flame started coming out of Ronan's wand, he then started swinging his wand around, which made a spiral around him. As he got closer to them, with immense control, he willed the spiral to disintegrate every pixie around them.

After he was done, some of the pixies were still left and started making their way toward him, but he was not having it. With telekinesis, he started breaking the necks of the little creatures, killing them once and for all.

Ronan looked a the trio, all of them were on their knees, and then light blue patches had started appearing on their skins. Seeing this he remembered that the bite of the pixies was poisonous. Neville got the worst of it, his whole face looked pale blue. Seeing this he acted straight away, first and foremost he sent red sparks into the air, thinking that someone would see it.

"Come on Neville, up," he went and picked the boy from up his shoulder. The boy was barely conscious. "RON HERMIONE! Can you get up?" he yelled but only received grunts in response. Seeing no way out, he decided to improvise. He picked up Ron and Neville from his shoulders and started moving towards the castle. As far as Hermione is concerned, he used telekinesis to pull her torso behind them. As she could not walk, her legs skidded through the soft grass. It was enough for them to at least get near the castle.

Ronan's decision to send sparks was a good decision because, after a few minutes, he saw Hagrid making his way towards them, accompanied by his dog….

"Merlin's beard, what is happening to the school!" Madame Promfrey yelled as she saw the pale blue patches on the trio's faces.

Harry who was lying on the bed was also alarmed when he saw the trio escorted to the infirmary in the hands of Hagrid. Ronan was simply accompanying the gentle giant.

"What happened?" Harry asked as he jumped out of the bed.

"You go back to your bed young man!" Madame Promfrey yelled at Harry, then she turned to Hagrid, "What happened to them?"

"I dont know much, I hanging out my cabin, when I saw red sparks in the air. I came running and saw this one dragging them to school," Hagrid then turned to Ronan.

"I dont know what happened either," Ronan confessed, "I was on my way to the castle when I heard yelling and screaming. I came up the hill to see that these guys were being attacked by a group of pixies. They were all very volatile and were biting them. I killed them all, but these guys were already in very bad shape till then,"

"Pixie poison is harmless in small quantities. But could be fatale in such a large quantities." Madame Promfrey said.

"We could give them bezoar!" Ronan said, "Professor Snape told us that it is the cure for most of the poisons in the world. That could work right?"

Madame Promfrey then whipped out her wand, "Students are in danger. Need 15g of Bezoar, quick!" she then swung her wand and the bright apparition of an otter came out of her wand. The otter flew away, while Madame Promfrey went inside and brought some potions out. She then started giving the trio some potions, while Hagrid and he stood silently by the side.

Harry also joined them, watching over his friends. A few seconds later, Professor Snape and McGonagall came running inside the infirmary. Snape gave bezoar to the Promfrey, while McGonagall turned towards Hagrid and Ronan. Both of them told their part of the story once again, while she looked at them with an ice-cold face.

"Mr Johanson, it is a good thing that you were there," McGonagall said, "But this also brings one more question forward… What were you doing near the broom shed in the first place,"

Ronan then took out the brown parcel from his robes and showed it to her, "I went to retrieve this thing from the shed,"

It was then Snape came forward, "What might that be?" Ronan looked around, everyone was looking at him.

He sighed and unwrapped the thing. The parcel contains two boxes containing two remotes of PlayStation, making everyone raise their eyebrow. He looked at Harry, who seemed to have recognized those things, "Why would you need them?" Harry asked.

"These muggle remotes are for a project that I am working on. I asked a friend of mine to order me two of them. These parcels arrived as the match was about to start, so my friends put the parcel in the broom shed. So I went to retrieve them,"

Professor McGonagall and Snape looked at each other, unable to say anything to him…

***

When Neville opened his eyes again, he saw that he was in the infirmary. He tried to remember how it ended up here when he remembered following the shady figure and getting attacked by the pixies. He looked around and saw that Harry was there as well, sleeping soundly on his bed. A few minutes later, Hermione and Ron woke up as well. By that time Harry woke up as well and they started talking about the incident. Harry filled everyone in on what happened to them and who saved them.

"That doesn't make any sense," Hermione said, "Muggle things dont work in the castle. It is one of the things mentioned in Hogwarts: A History. Ronan had read it, there is no way he didnt know that,"

"What is this.. Controller thing do?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, what it does?" Neville asked.

Harry spends the next few minutes explaining what television does and how a gaming console is a game that Muggle had invented. Neville found the idea of the video game interesting, but he still couldnt understand why would Ronan bring those things to the castle.

"Can it be used as a weapon? Considering that Ronan was being so secretive about it, I bet that it could be used as a weapon," Neville asked Harry and the boy shook his head, "It is a kid's toy. It cannot be used as a weapon unless one decides to smash on the head of someone."

"Then what could be the reason that he brought things there?" Ron asked.

"I dont know," Harry said, "Without a television or electricity, that thing is useless. Just useless."

It was then the doors of the infirmary were pushed open Madame Promfrey walked in, and seeing them huddled up on a bed, she flipped, "What do you think you are doing? This is not a picnic spot! Go back to your beds."

She then brought out special nutritious food for all of them. After they had their full, she gave them all potions and instructed them to have a good long sleep. They needed it desperately. And before they knew it, everyone was on the bed with cover over their faces. Neville waited for Madame Promfrey to leave, he knew that his friends would be waiting for her to leave as well. They had much to discuss.

When the sun had officially set, then only did Madame Promfrey leave, Neville got up instantly and went to Ron's bed who was lying on his adjacent bed. He tried waking him up, but to his surprise, it didnt matter how much he shook the man, he didn't got up.

He then went to Hermione and Harry as well, but they didnt get up as well. Seeing this, he felt strange, it was as if they were influenced by a very strong sleeping potion and would not wake up before dawn. Seeing that he could do nothing, he went back to his bed and lay down. He couldnt sleep no matter what, his mind was occupied by many things. But eventually, he succumbed to sleep.

Hours and hours later, Neville woke quite suddenly in the pitch blackness. Then, with a thrill of horror, he realized that someone was sponging his forehead in the dark.

"Get off!" he said loudly, and then he saw who was it. It was a house elf, whose eyes were big as a tennis ball, and looked like he was wearing an old and dirty pillow cover around his torso.

"Who are you?" He asked the elf, whose eyes were watery as if he had been crying before.

"My name is Dobby sir." The elf said, "I.. I.. Have come to warn you, Mr. Neville Longbottom sir… I have come to warn you" the elf bellowed.