It's All About What's Between the Buns by Luvscharlie
Quidditch Practice took a lot out of Ron. But he was trying extremely hard. He wanted to prove to Harry that Harry had made the right choice picking him over that Keeper-wanna-be McLaggen. If it hadn't been so juvenile, he would have rammed his finger down his throat just at the thought of McLaggen. He held himself to a higher standard than that. He threw his shoulders back and straightened his back as he walked towards the school.
There was, however, a drawback to being Keeper. He was practicing so much and burning off so many calories, that he never got full. In fact, he was hungry all the time. And frankly, the House Elves had been a bit pissy of late. He apparently wasn't the only one who had been practicing in between times that meals were served, and it seemed that every time he went to the kitchen he was shooed out with a broom to the rear end, and told that he'd eat when everyone else did. So much for hospitality. Apparently the way things were run in Hogwarts' kitchen had changed. Probably that new Head Chef he heard they hired. Gordon something or other.
It was on his way back to the school that he saw a dark-haired girl sitting on a blanket with a book in her lap and a sandwich on a napkin beside her. The girl looked familiar. He thought she was a Gryffindor, but couldn't be sure. That was irrelevant anyway. It wasn't the girl that caught his eye; it was the sandwich. This was no ordinary sandwich. Just the sight of it made Ron's mouth water. It was, he would approximate, six inches long, stacked with meat and lettuce and tomatoes. If he wasn't mistaken, that was spicy mustard that dripped down the side as the girl brought it to her lips for a bite.
What he wouldn't do to be that girl, and to have that sandwich for his own. His stomach growled in agreement. It wanted the sandwich too. The girl brushed her hair out of her eyes and dabbed at her mouth with the napkin to catch a stray spot of mustard. He wanted to lick it off. He loved the spicy tang when it touched his tongue. He salivated in response to the thought.
She raised the sandwich, which Ron wanted desperately, and took another bite. He could almost taste the turkey and hear the crisp crunch of the lettuce even from this distance (though perhaps that was only his imagination as well) as her teeth bit through the bread. And was that bacon? Oh, bacon was one of his favourite things in the world, and he'd be willing to bet there were pickles somewhere between those buns. Pickles would perfect what was already an amazing sandwich.
She set the sandwich down and Ron considered running up grabbing it and taking off on his broom to hover somewhere high above and enjoy that sandwich, savouring every single bite. But that would be rude. And regardless of what Hermione said, he wasn't a rude person. Mostly.
She picked up the sandwich again, and Ron mentally smacked himself into action. If he didn't hurry, she was going to eat the whole thing and that just wouldn't do at all. He closed the distance between them, doing his best to look as charming as possible. After all, girls liked Quidditch players. Or at least Charlie never seemed to have any problem getting girls, and Fred and George never seemed to hurt for female companionship either. Then there was Krum and all those giggling girls who followed after him.
He chose to think of other things because even the thought of Krum was making him testy. Ron chose to think of the sandwich. Oh, how he wanted to sink his teeth into that sandwich.
His feet carried him over to where the girl was sitting, and he found himself standing next to her and at a loss for words. It seemed too forward to say, 'Nice to meet you. Might I have your sandwich?' He didn't even know her name, after struggled for what to say, thinking so hard about how to open the conversation that he didn't hear her when she spoke to him.
"I said you're standing in my light. I'm trying to read. Would you mind moving, please?"
"What? Oh, in your light. Yeah, of course." Ron took a step to the side and stood there again grasping for something to say.
The girl looked up at him after a few seconds. "Did you need something?"
"Er, no. I mean, yes. No. I don't know."
She smiled up at him, and Ron was grateful that she didn't seem as annoyed with him as he was with himself. "I'm Romilda. Romilda Vane." She held up a hand for Ron to shake and he did so.
"Um, Ron Weasley."
"I know who you are."
"You do?" Ron was surprised.
"Of course. You're Harry Potter's friend, right?"
"Oh, yeah. I guess everyone knows who Harry is." Ron shuffled his feet.
"Would you like to sit down? I was just eating a sandwich that I saved from lunch. Would you like some?"
Maybe he should play it cool, not look too eager. One more look at the sandwich and he tossed that idea aside. "Boy, would I."
A/N: This was originally written for National Sandwich Day! As well as for the prompt of Strangers on the 100quills community on Live Journal. And if you look at it on my Live Journal, Redheadsarehot drew an awesome drawble to go with it.