Disclaimer! All characters belong to J.K. Rowling, not me.
Okay, my best mate and my baby sister, going out, bloody disgusting. It was bad enough when Ginny was dating Dean; I had to share a bleeding room with the prick! Now it's like a hundred times worse! Harry's my best mate! I don't want to think about him snogging her much less know he's snogging her, and what if he turns into one of those sappy romantics? Somehow I don't think I'd be able to refrain from murdering him in his bed. What bothers me most though is that Hermione claims to have seen it coming for a long time now. Harry wasn't very subtle about his feelings for Cho, so why didn't I realize he had feelings for my baby sister? I mean, he spent a lot of his summer around her. I don't recall any blushing and gooey eyed mush. There's absolutely no way this has been coming for a while now. I may be thick, but I do know Harry pretty well, which is something most people can't say. I can read Harry like a book; at least I thought I could.
"Ron, are you ever going to finish your essay? It's due tomorrow, and you're not copying mine." Hermione interrupted my thoughts. That was probably a good thing seeing how if I kept mulling over Harry and Ginny, I might find myself on the verge of thrashing him.
I looked at her. She had several large books stacked around her and three long rolls of parchment on her lap. Her hair was frizzier than normal and fraying out around her head in pieces. In other words, or my words, she was beautiful. "Err," I cleared my throat. "Yeah, almost done." So I lied. I moved my hand subtly to the right to cover up what I had written a.k.a. my name.
Hermione was not to be fooled. She gave me a stern stare. "Liar."
"Well I just have no idea what to write. Potions isn't my subject remember? I got an A on the O.W.L. exam not an O like somebody I know." She blushed. Cute. "Couldn't you have pity on those less fortunate than you?"
"You're not copying my essay." She repeated.
"Not copy, just look off of for inspiration." I gave her my puppy dog eyes. She always relented for those.
"Fine, but if I see you copying it, I'm taking it away." She handed her three pages to me and then picked up one of her heavy books and began reading.
"Don't get your knickers in a twist. I promise I won't copy; I'll just reword." She glared, but didn't rip the parchment from me.
Behind us, the portrait hole swung open and slammed shut. Instinctively my head swiveled in the direction of the door, something I'd been doing a lot since dinner ended. Two third year girls walked in, arms linked and whispering excitedly to one another, probably about boys. Damn. I turned back around and saw Hermione studying me with a rather curious expression on her face. Feeling self-conscious, I rubbed my cheeks and ran my tongue over my lips. Maybe I had something on my face.
"They'll be back shortly Ron. Don't go mental." Hermione said after a moment.
"Who?" I asked dumbly. I knew exactly "who" she was referring to.
She rolled her eyes. "Don't be thick. You know who I'm talking about. Harry and Ginny, they won't be out too long."
"Hermione, they've been 'gone' for an hour and a half. For all I know, Harry could be deflowering Ginny in some dumpy broom cupboard, or worse, Ginny could be deflowering Harry." Gross mental image! Get it out of my head!
"Oh come off it Ronald!" she sounded exasperated. "We both know they're not doing that! They just went for a walk so they had time to talk to one another. Normal couples do talk you know; they don't just suck the other's face off." Ouch, a reference to the whole Lavender ordeal. I wanted to forget all that, but Harry, Ginny, and Hermione have made that a difficult task for me.
"Well, it sure looked like they were sucking each other's face off after the Quidditch final." I replied darkly.
"I never said they wouldn't ever snog."
"Eww, Hermione! Why? Why did you have to say that?"
"Because you're being childish Ronald!"
I threw down my quill. "Well excuse me, but I do think the fact that my best mate's tongue being down my sister's throat and vice versa, qualifies as enough reason for me to act childishly!"
Hermione grumbled. "It was going to happen sooner or later Ron, so just get used to it already!"
"How do you know it was going to happen? It might have never happened?"
"I'm not even going to bother explaining myself to you." She said. "If you're too oblivious to notice that your best mate and baby sister have been mooning over each other, then you're a lost cause." This caught me off guard. Mooning? Harry hasn't been mooning over Ginny.
"What do you mean mooning? Harry hasn't been mooning over Ginny. He mooned over Cho but definitely not Ginny."
"Yes he has; it's just been different. Harry was merely infatuated by Cho. What he feels for Ginny is different. This whole year I've seen the signs. He laughed at all of her jokes, he'd find any excuse to be alone with her, he'd somehow manage to bring her into the conversation, and he's been rather uncoordinated for someone who's the youngest seeker in a century."
I thought about this. Now that she's pointed it out, I can see it. Harry had been spilling things a lot- ink on his robes when Ginny sat down to join us one evening- and also running into things like furniture, people, and walls. "How did I not notice before? Where was I the whole year?"
Hermione gave me a blunt look. Oh that's right. I was attached to Lavender. I frowned. "Cheer up Ron. At least they're not here making goo-goo eyes at one another."
I perked up at the thought. She had a point, a very valid point. As long as they weren't around me, I didn't have to see anything. Of course they could also get up to a lot more away from me, but I wasn't going to think about that. Plus, since Harry was off with Ginny, I had Hermione all to myself. I glanced at her. She had her nose in a book, and flickers of light from the fire played on her hair, illuminating the various shades of brown. I think I could get used to this new arrangement. I inched to my left, closing some of the space between us. "Hermi-" I was cut off by the portrait hole bursting open. Damn.
Harry and Ginny swooped in, holding hands, their fingers laced together. They were smiling and chatting with each other when they strolled over to where Hermione and I had stationed ourselves by the fire. Harry sat down on one of the overstuffed armchairs; Ginny sat on his lap.
"Hey what's up?" Ginny asked us. Unbelievable! Those two lovebirds were totally ignorant to the fact that they just interrupted me when I was trying to make a move, err, I mean when I was trying to talk to Hermione. Such thick heads romance had made of them!
"We're doing homework, at least I am." Hermione answered. "I can't say the same for Ron though. Speaking of homework, have you finished your essay for Slughorn yet Harry? It's due tomorrow."
Harry rolled his eyes. "Yes. Don't you remember forcing me to sit down and write during free period?"
"I seem to remember plenty of times when I tried to get you to do your homework, but you didn't. I must have gotten confuse."
"Well I did it this time." Harry replied.
"Good and you Ginny? Is your homework done? I could help you if you like." Hermione turned to my sister.
"Yeah I'm done." Ginny leaned back into Harry and cast me an odd look. "Ron, you're being awfully quiet over there. What's got you?" Ginny asked me.
Oh nothing, only that you came at precisely the wrong time. I really wanted to snap at them, but they didn't know they ruined my moment. "Nothing," was all I said.
"All right sure, whatever you say. I think I'm going to turn in. I have a test tomorrow, and I need sleep." Ginny turned around and kissed Harry. I looked away; I don't ever want to see those two snogging again. Once was enough to last a lifetime.
"Goodnight." Ginny said to all of us once she pulled away.
"Night." Harry responded sounding rather dejected. Ginny saw this and gave him one last, lingering kiss before standing and leaving the common room. A surveyed Harry as he watched my sister slowly disappear from view. Bloody hell! My best mate really did have it bad for my sister. Maybe I could handle it though. After all, it just gives me more time with Hermione. Actually, I could definitely handle it.