[Quest Alert!]
[Conquer the Library (1)]
[Description: The Hogwarts Library with its illustrious history has long been considered a treasure trove for all the book lovers in the Wizarding World. Scour its infamous bookshelves and devour all the valued information in its countless books to solve all mysteries of magic.]
[Objective: Read at least ten books. (0/10)]
[Reward: Exp+20, Conquer the Library(2), Reader Lv1]
'Awesome, This is just awesome!!'
"Ron? What happened? Why did you suddenly stop?"
"Ahem! Nothing." Ron replied immediately clearing the excitement from his face before walking into the library, "Say, Hermione, are we allowed to take the books out of the library for the summer, and if we are then how many do you think we can check out?" he asked as three of them occupied a nearby table and placed their things on it.
"Hmm... normal students can borrow a maximum of five books for the holidays but because I have always taken such good care of the books I borrowed, Madam Pince makes an exception for me and lets me check out as many as ten books for the summer," she stated with a proud expression on her face, "But you on the other hand..." she looked at Ron with pity, "I'll be surprised if she even lets you check out a single book for the holidays."
"W-What? Why?"
"Why? You're asking me why?" Hermione asked with an incredulous look on her face, "In your five years at Hogwarts, you've taken a total of three books out of the library, and those too were just to help with your homework, and when you even bothered to return them... Not only were you late, but every single time you managed to damage them either by spilling something on them or tearing pages in them," she hissed angrily as if the damage to the books was a personal affront to her, "Madam Pince glared at me for a whole month after that just because I was your friend!"
"Really? I-I guess I forgot about that," Ron said while scratching his cheek sheepishly.
"You forgot, but I bet she didn't," Hermione replied with a snort, "Forget for the whole summer, I would be surprised if she even lets you check out a book for a single evening.
"I don't believe you," Ron said shaking his head before standing up from the table, "I'll go and see for myself if the librarian really is so petty..."
Ron nodded his head and then left resolutely towards the librarian counter but not even a few seconds after he left, Harry and Hemione watched as he dragged his feet back towards their table with a sullen expression on his face.
"...you were right, Hermione," Ron replied at the amused look on their face while laying his head on the table with a depressed look on his face, "She is still quite cross about the books, and wouldn't let me check out a single book for the summer..."
"I thought so..." Hermione said nodding her head quietly, feeling a bit sorry after seeing the morose expression on Ron's face, "Why... why did you want to take out books from the library anyway?"
"I... thought now that OWLs were finally over, and that we were going to be in the sixth year. That it was a good place for a fresh start," Ron replied with a shrug, "I guess I wanted to become a better student next year to become a more suitable Prefect and role model for the younger students," he said all these things with such genuine emotions that both Harry and Hermione immediately believed him.
"If it's for that, then I... I guess I can use three of my slots to take out the books you need in my name..." Hemione supplied with a reluctant expression on her face, "But you need to promise to take good care of the book this time."
"I promise! Thank you so much, Hermione," Ron exclaimed while jumping up with his eyes lighting up in excitement as if the previous sullen expression was just a lie. In the next moment, his face turned towards his other best friend with an expectant look.
"Yes, Ron," Harry replied while rolling his eyes with a smile on his face, "You can use my slots too..."
"Thank you, Harry. I won't forget about it..." he said with a wide grin on his face before immediately taking off towards the bookshelves to scour the books that would be the most useful for the summer.
Behind him, Harry and Hermione exchanged glances with wry smiles on their faces before going back to their books, with Harry reading a book about Quidditch while Hermione was reading the course books for the next year.
Ron hurriedly passed one bookshelf after the next only scouring the names and nothing else as he had very limited time at the moment.
He had already decided on the most important topics that he needed to read for the summer and would only focus on finding them.
First of all, he would take any and all books that were very slim, because even though he only had a few hours left before the library closed, he felt that if the books were thin enough with just a few pages in them, then maybe he could still finish the quest 'Conquer the Library' on this very day.
But his main objective was still to take as many books as he could with the following keywords in their names: "Occlumency", "Silent Casting", "Dueling", "Apparition ", "Defensive Magic and Shields", and "Wards". And of course, if he found any book with other interesting topics he would take that too.
He had to make a few trips but finally, after spending half an hour, Ron managed to gather as many books as he could on the table where Hermione and Harry were sitting.
"Ron, why did you bring these many books?" Hermione asked with wide eyes as she looked at the dozen books that Ron had placed on the table, "And what are these? Did you just bring the smallest books that you could find?" she asked while pointing towards a different pile that only had books with fewer than a dozen pages in them.
"Hehe, Yes," Ron nodded his head embarrassingly, "I figured I should start easy and practise reading and increasing my concentration so that I don't get easily discouraged."
"That is so stup—"
"I think it's a good thought," Harry interrupted Hermione while sending Ron an encouraging smile, "Starting slow is a good strategy and after all, don't they say, 'Slow and steady always wins the race..."
"Thanks, Harry. I thought so too..." Ron nodded with a grin before he immediately sat down, opened the thinnest book in the pile and started reading it.
It was a simple book that explained a long-forgotten method to grow a rare species of plant. It was a very dry read and was filled with a lot of big words that Ron could barely understand. But for the sake of the quest, he didn't let his concentration slip in the slightest and kept on reading it.
Finally, fifteen minutes later, he managed to finish the small book that barely contained five pages.
'Ugh! It seems like this would be a very painful journey...' Ron groaned while staring morosely at the big pile in front of him, but he didn't lose his determination and opened the next one, a potion recipe book, containing archaic potions before they were improved by Modern Potion Masters.
And just like that, Ron read one book after the other, and with each book he finished the headaches that reading these boring books caused also increased.
So almost two hours later, when Hermione's voice shook him out of his concentration, as he was finishing the eighth book... Ron didn't mind it too much.
"The Library is about to close, you two. We should leave now if we want to check out the books before Madam Pince kicks us out."
"You're right. Let's go." Ron said with a groan while massaging his aching eyes. \
Ron had decided to give up on completing this quest today as now that he had read about 8 books, the quest could be completed at any time, so it didn't really matter too much if he completed it right now or at a later time.
"Wait for me, I'll put this book back," Harry said as Ron and Hermione began gathering the books that they were going to check out for the summer.
"Hey, wait! What is that book you were reading, Harry?" Ron asked with a curious expression on his exhausted face.
"Oh, this. This is just a Quidditch book that contains all the exercises and practices that you should do to become a better Quidditch player."
"Is that so..." Ron said with a contemplative expression before abruptly looking up, "Then do you mind checking this one out too? I want to read it during the summer."
"Eh! Sure, I've already read it, anyway... But why do you want it?"
"Because... I've decided to become a better Keeper for the Gryffindor Quidditch team before the next year starts."
"Really? That's awesome, Ron."
"I know," Ron replied with a small smile, the thought of playing in an actual quidditch game excited him too much, "But that means that you'll need to help me practice during the holidays when you come to our house."
"You got it," Harry replied nodding enthusiastically.
A few minutes later, all three of them exited the Library with their hands filled with books with all kinds of magical subjects.
"We need to quickly put these away in the dorms and come back or else we will be late to the feast," Hermione declared as she hurriedly led the way towards their dorms.
"Ugh! My brain feels like a hippogriff has trampled it into a mush," Ron said while cracking his stiff head, 'Man I could use a drink right about now,' he thought for the second time that day with a craving expression on his face
"That's what happens when you rarely use your head... But Ron, I was really proud of you before as I didn't think that you could even last a whole hour..."
Ron was barely listening to Hermione at this point as his mind was suddenly stuck with an amazing epiphany, 'Wait! Why can't I... drink?'
"Eh! Ron? Why did you stop?"
"Harry," Ron looked at Harry with an uncharacteristically serious expression on his face, "I need to borrow three things from you: The map, The Cloak, and The mirror to talk to Sirius."
///
To read ahead go to: pa*reon.c*m/lazywizard