A/N: This is just a short one-shot, that I had an idea of and wanted to put into a story. I hope to write more Romione in the future, and I hope you enjoy this! Please review if you did, and you'll get a virtual hug! :)
"Today we will be doing Human Transfiguration." Ron vaguely heard Professor McGonagall say from the front of the antiquate classroom in which he was sitting. He was looking blankly at the textbook in front of him, but wasn't reading it, instead, thoughts of Hermione were licking at the edges of his mind, and he couldn't concentrate on anything that he heard or read. He didn't understand why Hermione was so angry with him; whenever she looked at him all he saw was ire painted on the canvas that was her perfectly carved face. He exhaled woefully.
"I want you all to get into pairs, and think of an animal you would like to make the other look slightly like. We won't be doing full body transfiguration, as that is much too advanced, we will simply be moulding some parts of the face and head into more animalistic features." McGonagall addressed the class. The stern looking woman peered at Ron from behind her glasses, the lens were like windows to the show of expression that was visible in her twinkling, emerald eyes. "Ronald Weasley, are you concentrating on my lesson, or would you rather be doing this in detention?" She berated.
Ron warily lifted his head from the desk, which had been feeling very comfy for consolidated oak. He sighed inwardly. "Of course I'm concentrating, it's very interesting." He said; he was attempting to please the head of Gryffindor but the remark had come out ostensibly sarcastic. Lavender giggled next to him. "Won-Won!" She whispered with faux-shock, but sounded rather impressed. He heard Hermione tut quietly, and looked over to see her roll her eyes in disgust.
"Are you sure about that, Mr Weasley?" Professor McGonagall said austerely. Ron decided not to let his mouth betray him again and nodded vigorously instead, at the same time feeling a wave of vermillion creep slowly up his neck. "I assume you won't mind readily volunteering to accompany me with my demonstration then?"
"I would be honoured." Ron muttered, rising out of his seat, and kicking his chair out of the way in an aggressive manner he had not meant to express. As he trudged to the front he saw Harry give him a supportive grin, a spark of amusement glinting in his green eyes. However, his attention was averted to Hermione, who was attempting to hide a laugh behind her hand. They made eye contact and she immediately regained an elegant and superior composure. She raised her eyebrows, urging him forwards.
"Humanimalis cogitabundus!" Professor McGonagall said. The class looked on in avid anticipation, and Ron felt his features contorting, and a tickling feeling on the back of his neck. His nose began to elongate and the amount of things in his vision became smaller, as his eyes shrunk to the size of blackcurrants. Someone screamed a very girlish scream. "There was no need for that, Miss Brown." McGonagall scolded. Ron heard Hermione openly laugh; at least he was able to make her happy after so long of only making her sad and angry, he thought. McGonagall picked up a piece of yellowed parchment and transfigured it easily into a rectangular mirror, with simply a stream of indigo sparks from the tip of her elaborately carved wand. She passed it to Ron who blinked slowly, savouring the blackness which he was sure to be a lot more pleasant than what was to come. He looked in the mirror and saw that he had a long black beak, and tiny bird-like eyes, although these still had that mischievous glint that each Weasley member (other than Percy) seemed to have inherited. Gone was his bright orange hair, and in its place was a blanket of inky black feathers. However, some of his human features were still there, which made the image somehow more bizarre. His ears had been preserved and a sprinkling of orange freckles dotted his face. His skin was as pasty as ever, and contrasted dramatically with the obsidian features he had inherited from what he guessed to be a Raven.
A hand shot up from in the middle of the mass of entranced looking students. "I don't know if your use of the Raven is meant to be a joke to do with Ravenclaws, but our animal emblem is actually…" Terry Boot began.
"An eagle. I know, Mr Boot, I have been at this school an awful lot longer than you have." McGonagall said, looking mildly irritated. With an absent flick of her wand, Ron's face was turned fully human again. He scurried to sit down in his seat, almost tripping over in the process, he cursed his clumsiness.
"Now get into pairs and you may begin. Your homework will be to do further research on this: at least a foot of parchment." McGonagall announced.
Ron saw Harry instinctively look over at him, but he had already been pounced on by Lavender.
"We're going to go together aren't we Won-Won." She exclaimed, and started snogging him.
"Lavender, we're in the middle of a classroom." Ron said, pulling away in disgust, but gave her a small smile in order to prevent any whining. He shot Harry an apologetic look, and saw Hermione looking furious and disgusted. He was pretty sure she was retching.
All Ron wanted was to be friends with her again. "You can go first, Ron." Lavender said, although Ron could hardly hear what she was saying. It was great that he finally had someone who liked him, but even though Hermione was with bloody Viktor Krum, he missed her like he'd never missed anyone before. He missed making her laugh, and her joking with him ("Won-Won, you need to say Humanimalis cogitabundus.") He missed the trio of him, Hermione and Harry, when they could have fun and adventures together, as childish as it sounded. ("Won-Won, you're not concentrating.) He missed her helping him with his homework, and even her telling him off for not concentrating. Unlike the scolding he was receiving from Lavender. ("Merlin's beard, Ron, just concentrate!") Ron finally registered Lavender's pleas, and absent-mindedly pointed his wand at her reddened face and said "Humanimalis cogitabundus!"
The effect on Lavender was quite different to how Ron's experience with the spell had been. Rather than her features contorting, all that happened was her sleek dirty-blonde hair, enlarged into a mane of bushy brown hair. "I don't feel much different." Lavender remarked. She reached a hand up to feel at the hair which felt a lot heavier than her normal hair. Her perfectly manicured nails combed through her newly acquired manic curls. "Did you give me a lion mane?" She giggled. Ron's eyes dilated into pools of horrified shock. He had been so distracted by thoughts of Hermione that he had accidentally given Lavender her most noticeable characteristic. Had McGonagall told them how to reverse the spell? He thought frantically. Lavender plucked a handheld mirror from her robes, and began examining her face.
Lavender's mirthful features dropped into a look of shock. "Ron," She said, evidently trying to keep calm but her breathing was speeding up and her eyes were widening questioningly. "Did you give me Hermione hair?" A few eyes were turning to look at them. Ron was become increasingly agitated, but nodded nervously. Then Lavender started shouting; "You made me look like that swotty, bushy haired know-it-all?! I would have expected better from you, Won-Won." Her final sentence was said with a noticeable element of spite. Ron saw Hermione turn around to look at them then, her irises floating on a sea of tears. A surge of Gryffindor courage rose up inside him.
"Don't talk about Hermione like that Lavender." Ron said uneasily.
"Why should you care? She hasn't spoken to you in at least a month. Remember, I'm your girlfriend." Lavender spat.
"Hermione has been my best friend for five years. Even if she isn't any more, I don't want you saying things like that about her. I mean, you're basically saying I was terrible at picking friends."
"You were terrible at picking friends. I don't know why you'd even want to be friends with someone like her."
"You don't know a lot of things, Lavender." Ron muttered, seething. He glanced at Hermione, who gave him a shaky smile. It was the first smile he'd seen directed at him, for him, in a long time. Lavender held her head up high and stalked to the front of the classroom.
"I want this spell taken off me right now." She said primly to Professor McGonagall.
"I am not your servant Miss Brown; you will address me formally, as you should with any member of staff."
This just made Lavender even angrier.
"Class dismissed!" McGonagall said shrilly. "Apart from you, Lavender."
In a flurry of parchment being stuffed into bags and hurrying feet, the class rushed out of the door. Ron began walking away, not wanting to face anyone. He felt a light tap on his shoulder, and he spun around to see Hermione looking at him. "Thank you for defending me against your girlfriend, Ronald." She said.
"No problem." Ron smiled shyly. Much to his surprise, Hermione stood on her tiptoes and hugged him tightly.
"Are we friends again?" He asked.
Hermione grinned impishly. "Not quite, Won-Won"