Written for QLFC Round 12

Prompt: Write about two characters in a school peers relationship - Ron & Ginny

Extra prompts: (scenario) a Quidditch accident, (dialogue) "I've forgotten what it's like to feel young," (word) fix

Hogwarts:

Count Your Buttons: (character) Ginny Weasley

National Princess Day - Margaret: Write about a pureblood

"What are you talking about? This has to be a mistake. I'll just...go see Flitwick and fix it." Ron was already half out of bed by the time he finished speaking, and only a quelling glare from Madame Pomfrey got him to settle down again, glaring at his injured leg.

"Honestly, Ron, it's not that bad. You're acting like working with Ginny on a project is a fate worse than death. She's a perfectly capable student, and if you were that worried about who you'd be paired up with, maybe you should have gone to class."

"I know, I know," he said with a sigh. "I shouldn't have skipped class to go flying, but I think crashing into some Slytherin git and breaking my leg was punishment enough, Hermione."

Hermione gave him a rather unimpressed look, perching on the edge of the bed and fiddling with the notes she'd brought for him. From the odd little frown on her face, it was clear that she was torn between the desires to scold him for being irresponsible and comfort him after his rather upsetting morning. Ultimately, she must have come to the conclusion that since he'd be just fine in an hour or so, going with scolding was acceptable.

"You're just disappointed because you wanted to partner with me and get out of actually doing any work."

"Well, a bit, but...because you're so brilliant, of course," Ron offered hopefully. "And you like that sort of thing. Ginny doesn't want to do schoolwork any more than I do."

"I'm sure you'll figure it out," his girlfriend replied with a shrug, and absolutely no sympathy in her voice. "Anyway, I've brought you the Charms notes you missed. You might want to look them over while you're stuck here. I'll see you at lunch."

With that, Hermione gave him a quick kiss and headed out, leaving Ron to contemplate his fate. Sometimes he wondered why he'd bothered to come back to finish his education at all.

By the time he approached his sister in the common room that night, Ron had more or less accepted that he wouldn't be getting out of the arrangement, but that didn't mean he wasn't still wondering why it had happened in the first place.

"Why didn't you just pick someone else?" he asked, dropping down into his favorite armchair.

"I wasn't exactly in class today either," Ginny replied, avoiding eye contact. "So we were the last two left." Something seemed suspicious about that, he mused.

"Well, why not?" Ron asked after a few moments. "What were you doing?"

"I was with Luna." Ginny's fingers were ghosting over her wand now, as though she expected she might have to hex him.

"Alright, then, why didn't you just say that to begin with?" He shifted slightly in his seat, running a hand through his hair.

"I was with Luna," she repeated, this time giving him a pointed look that was apparently supposed to explain everything.

For a few seconds, they were both silent — Ginny frustrated, and Ron perplexed. So what if she was hanging out with Luna? Everyone knew they were close friends, and it was hardly a crime in his mind to skip class, since he'd been doing the same thing.

Before long, Ginny cracked.

"We were snogging, Ron," she said with a huff, rolling her eyes.

"Oh. Right. Well, great," he replied, resisting the urge to comment on how he didn't particularly want to think about his little sister kissing anyone. It had been bad enough when she was dating Harry.

"That's it?" Ginny raised an eyebrow, just looking at him for a few more seconds. "I'm impressed. You didn't take the news about anyone else I've dated nearly as well."

Ron shrugged, not sure what to say to that. It was still awkward, certainly, and he had no desire to discuss Ginny's love life at length, but he wasn't angry about it.

"Luna's alright. I know she won't hurt you."

"I'm quite capable of looking after myself, you know. I wouldn't need you defending my honor anyway."

"Well, you're still my little sister, so..."

"Yeah, okay."

"Okay."

After a few moments of just sitting there, both of them hoping to put the awkward conversation out of their minds, Ginny spoke up again.

"We can get started on the project tomorrow, unless you're eager to work on it tonight," she said, smirking. "Make Hermione proud or something."

"Uh, no, tomorrow's fine with me," Ron confirmed, shooting a longing look at Dean and Seamus, who were looking at a Quidditch magazine across the room.

With a brisk nod, Ginny got up and headed out of the common room. It seemed he was free for another night.

The next day, they managed to make it to the library. They gathered up a few books to start their research, Hermione's watchful gaze urging them on from across the room. Before they could actually do anything with them, though, Ron's stomach growled. He took one look at the clock and left to go to dinner.

The day after that, Ginny had Quidditch practice. Ron could have worked on the project alone, of course, since eighth year students hadn't been permitted to join Quidditch teams, but playing chess with Harry seemed far more appealing.

And so it went, day after day. In a cooperative effort in procrastination, Ron and Ginny spent a week and a half doing absolutely nothing. They almost managed to forget they had a project to do at all.

"We're doing this," Ginny announced eventually, dragging Ron bodily into the library. "The project is due in less than 24 hours, and I don't want to deal with Mum sending us both Howlers because we've failed it."

Ron nodded reluctantly, finding that he couldn't argue with that logic.

"Right, okay. I'll get the books while you start making an outline." Outlines seemed like a gigantic waste of time, mostly, but Hermione always used them, and they needed all the help they could get.

"I expect you back here in five minutes," Ginny said, glaring at him as she took a seat.

"Five minutes, got it."

The fact that they'd gotten as far as locating the books they needed the previous week made it easy to fetch them again, at least. Levitating the rather intimidating stack onto the table, Ron sat down next to Ginny, peering at what she had written down so far.

"Is that all? I mean, it doesn't look like it'll be very long."

"Well, I took another look at the assignment, and it's not actually as complicated as I thought. It should only take an hour or two." Ginny forced a smile, like even she couldn't believe it would be quite that easy, but even 'less complicated' sounded good right now.

"I suppose we should have started it earlier though, like Hermione said."

This sentiment was echoed quite a few times by both of them as the hours dragged on. Ginny's estimate of 'just an hour or two' proved to be a little too optimistic, mostly thanks to how long it took just to sift through the books to find the information they needed. It was the only time in eight years that Ron found himself in the library until curfew, actually studying.

"I've forgotten what it's like to feel young," he groaned, leaning his head on the table. "We might as well have been in here for a century."

"Stop complaining," Ginny grumbled, looking close to giving in to the desire to lay her own head on the table as well. "We're almost done. Just write the last few paragraphs." She shoved the parchment and quill over at him, flicking her wand to return the books to their shelves.

"Done," he announced a few moments later, ignoring the pointed looks Madam Pince was giving them. They really should have been back in the common room half an hour ago.

Ginny squinted over at the parchment, frowning.

"I can barely even read what you wrote here," she said, pointing to the section she meant. Ron frowned too, realizing that it really was nearly illegible, and likely not very coherent either.

"Good enough," they said simultaneously.

Getting an Acceptable had never brought so much relief.