The question about whether or not Weasley would make a last minute attempt to convince Potter to play, even though he'd had no time to practise was answered for the Ravenclaws as Weasley followed Potter into the great Hall.
He was practically shouting, "Harry, you are a Gryffindor. I can't believe you would want the slimy Slytherins to win the Quidditch cup. It should be ours."
Harry continued to walk away from him until Ron darted forward and grabbed his arm and swung him around. "For the honour of Gryffindor, we need you to be what you were and are: A superb Seeker and the finest one Gryffindor has ever had."
Several members of the other houses moved in to surround the pair along with a few of the Gryffindors. They all wanted to see the confrontation that had been building for a week now between Potter and Weasley.
Harry jerked his arm free of the Weasel's grasp with a growl and the expression on his face was one of contempt. "I am not a Gryffindor!" Harry's voice was cold as ice. "As for being Gryffindor Seeker you don't need another one. You already have one, remember, your psycho stalker sister was playing Seeker for Gryffindor last year and has supposedly been training to play this year as well."
Ron was gaping at him like fish as he turned to leave, but Harry had one final parting shot to deliver. "Of course, if she plays like her brother, she won't be that good a Quidditch player."
Ron's face reddened as he registered the insult to himself and his sister. To hell with making up with Potter! he thought to himself, lunging forward.
He grabbed Potter's upper arm in a strong grip and whirled him around a second time. Once Harry was facing him again, he punched him in the nose.
Harry retaliated by punching him in the stomach and with all the force of his anger fuelling the blow Ron flew back several feet to the floor.
The group surrounding them had to back up to avoid his crashing into them.
As Ron crawled back to his feet, he heard a voice he recognised as Zabini's say, "Five galleons on Potter." This enraged the red head even further and he charged at his former friend, intent on taking him to the ground.
The two young men were rolling around on the floor of the Great Hall exchanging blows as McGonagall pushed through the crowd of cheering students.
When she saw who was fighting, McGonagall shouted, "Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, stop this at once!"
The two young men were so involved in exchanging blows and venting their anger towards one another they didn't hear her order. Pulling out her wand, McGonagall pointed it at the combatants, "Petrificus Totalis!"
Harry and Ron instantly froze in place, fists drawn back. The crowd around them quickly dispersed, before McGonagall could turn her attention to them. She unfroze the pair and they got to their feet. They stood silently before her, Ron looking at the floor and Harry meeting her glare with one of his own.
"Mr. Weasley!" McGonagall decided to start with the prefect. "I expect better behaviour out of a seventh year prefect and yet I find you brawling like a common street thug in the middle of the Great Hall. Why did you feel the need to get into a school yard brawl with your best friend?"
"He's not my friend!" Ron told her hotly, still angry about the insults to his Quidditch skills and to his sister. "No true friend would insult you and another member of your family."
"Well you've never been a true friend, Weasel. A true friend wouldn't be interested in someone solely for the use that they can make out of them. The only thing about me that ever interested you was being the best friend of the Boy-Who-Lived." Harry countered. "And you turned on me the minute you thought I was trying to take the glory without you or you thought you could gain the spotlight without me in the picture, by denouncing me as an evil, Dark wizard."
"Enough!" McGonagall broke in before the fight could start again. "Mr. Weasley, what happened?"
"I was trying to get Potter here to agree to play Seeker today and he insulted me and Ginny." Ron told her.
"Is that essentially correct Mr. Potter?" McGonagall was certain a lot had been left out.
"Essentially," Harry agreed, "but he forgot to mention that I had already turned him down at least fifty or sixty times this week. I told him I had no interest in playing on a team of traitors, but he wouldn't take 'no' for an answer."
"Who threw the first punch?" McGonagall wanted to know.
Ron looked back down at the floor and said nothing as Harry told her. "The Weasel did."
McGonagall looked very disappointed. "Twenty points each for fighting. Mr Potter, you will also be serving detention." Harry snorted at this but McGonagall continued. "And you Mr. Weasley will be turning in your Prefect badge for conduct unbecoming a prefect…"
"That's not fair!" Ron interrupted. "He started it!. Why are you punishing me?"
McGonagall glared at him. "Be grateful, I don't remove you from the Gryffindor Quidditch team as well, Mr. Weasley. I notice that you didn't deny throwing the first punch. You need to learn to control your anger, young man. Apparently seven years at Hogwarts hasn't taught you that control and it should have. Life is very rarely fair and you will occasionally encounter things or people who upset you. However you can't continue to act first and think later the way you have been these past seven years, or your chances of earning a decent livelihood will go down considerably once you leave school given that your grades are barely acceptable right now."
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