Six interconnected 100-word drabbles written for the amazing Mollywheezy, who's appreciated far more than she can ever guess, for her birthday on March 4th.
Ron
She was a nightmare, that's all there was to it. He still couldn't believe she'd corrected him in class like that, and in front of everyone. No wonder she didn't have any friends. Overbearing, bossy, know-it-all little swot, that's what she was. He really should've known as soon as he met her on the train, when she mentioned she'd already read all their schoolbooks, and school hadn't even started yet. What kind of person did that? Not even his brother Percy had read all his books before he started school.
Still, he probably shouldn't have made her cry like that.
.oOo.
Hermione
It wasn't fair, she thought. She'd just been trying to help, but it came out all wrong and now Ron thought her a nightmare, a swot. Which, the small voice in her head lectured, she was. What had she been thinking? She should know by now, nobody likes to be shown they're wrong, especially in front of their peers.
All she'd wanted was a friend or two. Just someone to revise with or to talk to when she got homesick, preferably with more brains than her dorm-mates. She'd thought that wasn't too much to ask, but she'd obviously been wrong.
.oOo.
Harry
He didn't like seeing her cry. Ron did have a point—she was a bit of a know-it-all, and she probably didn't really need to correct Ron right there in front of everyone—but maybe calling her a nightmare where she could overhear had been taking things just a little too far.
But how does a boy—especially one who's only eleven—tell the only friend he's ever had that he was out of line without ruining everything?
He lets her run off, even though doing so makes him uncomfortable.
He'll have to make it up to her another time.
.oOo.
Ron
He hadn't wanted to go, not at first. But it was his fault she was crying alone in the loo, and he'd never have forgiven himself if something had happened to her, so he'd followed Harry and there it was. A troll. A real, live, ugly, disgusting, terrifying troll, and they'd fought it and come out on top, somehow.
He knew they'd be in trouble—they were supposed to be with their housemates, not in the girls' bathroom fighting a troll. But then she spoke up and took the blame for them instead.
Maybe she wasn't so bad after all.
.oOo.
Hermione
She knew, when she got her Hogwarts letter, that she'd see things she could never have imagined before she learned about magic. But she'd never, not in a million years, thought she'd be cornered in the loo by a troll. She'd never thought she'd learn that they were right—you really do see your life flash before your eyes when you're about to die.
But then Harry and Ron were there with her, and between the two of them (and the strategic use of Wingardium Leviosa), they saved her.
It was the least she could do to return the favor.
.oOo.
Harry
As soon as Professor Quirrell had come into the Great Hall screaming about the troll, he'd known they'd have to do something. Hermione was out there somewhere, and she didn't know about the troll, and it was all their fault, his and Ron's. Convincing Ron didn't take too much effort, even though both of them had wanted to stay with the rest of Gryffindor house and go back to the safety of the dorm.
His wand was disgusting when they'd finished, covered with troll bogeys as it was. But it was well worth it, because now two had become three.
