Harry Potter and the Order Of the Phoenix [75]
“Clonusout!” he yelled, and Harry suddenly felt lighter. He felt as though he were a few inches off the ground. Then, he felt like he was spinning, slowly at first… but then faster… and faster. Harry felt as though he was going to be sick, he wished Ron would hurry up with the spell.
Then, suddenly, the sensation stopped, and Harry saw a copy of himself standing right next to him. The clone’s eyes were closed, it looked like it was asleep.
After he was done admiring his clone, Harry looked over at Hermione who was eyeing her copy, which also appeared to be asleep. It was very odd, seeing two identical people standing right next to each other. But, Harry thought about Fred and George, and the idea didn’t sound as odd as before.
“Alright,” said Harry to Ron. “Good job!” Ron walked over to his clone, who was asleep as well.
“How do we wake them up?” asked Ron, looking at his copy as though it were a statue, peering around the head and the back.
“I dunno,” said Harry. “Snap your fingers?” Ron laughed, and loudly snapped his fingers directly in front of his clone. Unexpectedly, Ron’s clone’s eyes opened quickly.
“Ah!” yelled the clone, walking backwards. “What’s going on here!?” He walked backwards more, until he suddenly tripped over his feet, and fell into a trashcan. Ron walked over to him, and helped him out.
“Why, why are you… me?” asked the clone of Ron. Ron laughed.
“Well, we’re not perfect clones, are we?” asked Ron, indicating his bulging arms. His clone gave a very weak smile. Harry, seeing that this was not going anywhere, decided to speak up.
“You see,” said Harry to Ron’s clone, “you are a clone of Ron.” It was the best Harry could think of to say. How else do you break it to someone that you’re a clone of someone else? Ron’s clone had an expression of utmost surprise on his face.
“You mean… I’m just a clone of him?” asked Ron’s clone, pointing to Ron.
“Yes,” said Ron. “We need you to pretend to be me for a few days.”
“I am you,” said the clone. Ron sighed.
‘No, you don’t understand,” said Ron. “Harry copied me, and you are the copy.” The clone smiled and shook his head.
“No way,” he said. “I can’t be a clone. I am Ron. I have memories, I am not a copy.” Harry now knew they were definitely not going to convince Ron’s clone that he was a copy. They had to form a different plan.
“You know what,” said Harry to Ron’s clone. “You’re right. You’re not a clone, we are the clones.” Ron’s clone folded his arms, and nodded his head.
“I knew it,” he said. Ron and Hermione looked at Harry, apparently confused. Harry mouthed, “Play along.”
“If you’re the clones,” asked Ron’s clone, “then why did you pretend I was?” Harry gritted his teeth, he hadn’t should’ve expected this.
“Um… you see… we were…um… testing you. To… uh… make sure you were the originals. The people we were cloned from. Only the true originals would have all the memories.” The clone of Ron seemed to have accepted this.
“I see… but, why don’t I remember cloning you guys and, why does my clone have bigger arms then me?” he asked them.
“Well, um… to answer your first question… um… the Cloning Charm took so much energy out of you that you… uh… collapsed,” said Harry, hoping that Ron’s copy would believe him. “And your clone’s arms are bigger than yours because… uh… you accidentally used an Engorgio Charm on them when you were almost unconscious from using the Cloning Charm.” Though he looked a little confused, Ron’s clone seemed satisfied with this.
“One last question,” he said. “Why did we clone you?”
“Because we’re going to Azkaban to rescue Sirius and Lupin,” said Harry. Ron’s clone smiled and nodded.
“Yeah, why risk our necks when we can make clones of ourselves and let them do it?” he said, laughing afterwards.
“Speaking of which,” said Hermione, playing along, “we’ve got to go now. We want to have time to scare Aragog into the Great Hall. Don’t forget to play along with the crowd and be scared.” Ron’s clone nodded, and Ron, Harry and Hermione started to walk out of the bathroom.
“Oh,