Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - J.K. Rowling

J.K. Rowling
HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE
CHAPTER NINETEEN
ELF TAILS
So, all in all, not one of Ron’s better birthdays?” said Fred.
It was evening; the hospital wing was quiet, the windows curtained, the
lamps lit. Ron’s was the only occupied bed. Harry, Hermione, and Ginny
were sitting around him; they had spent all day waiting outside the double
doors, trying to see inside whenever somebody went in or out. Madam
Pomfrey had only let them enter at eight o’clock. Fred and George had
arrived at ten past.
“This isn’t how we imagined handing over our present,” said George
grimly, putting down a large wrapped gift on Ron’s bedside cabinet and
sitting beside Ginny.
“Yeah, when we pictured the scene, he was conscious,” said Fred. “There
we were in Hogsmeade, waiting to surprise him —” said George. “You were
in Hogsmeade?” asked Ginny, looking up.
“We were thinking of buying Zonko’s,” said Fred gloomily. “A Hogsmeade
branch, you know, but a fat lot of good it’ll do us if you lot aren’t
allowed out at weekends to buy our stuff anymore... But never mind that
now.”
He drew up a chair beside Harry and looked at Ron’s pale face. “How ex-
338