Hello and thank you for reading! Just a quick note, if there is some italicised text at the beginning of a chapter, it is usually straight from Deathly Hallows and I have used it as background for the missing moment. Enjoy!
Chapter 2: Ron's Room
'I'm doing it! I'm doing -! Oh it's just you.' Said Ron in relief as Harry entered the room. Ron lay back down on the bed, which he had evidently just vacated. The room was as messy as it had been all week; the only change was that Hermione was now sitting in the far corner, her fluffy ginger cat Crookshanks at her feet, sorting books, some of which Harry recognised as his own, into two large piles.
Ron entered his room and lay on his bed, ignoring the fact that the place looked like it had just been ransacked by a niffler. He was sick of cleaning and his mother's never ending list of jobs. The Delacour's would not be entering his bedroom. She was being even more neurotic than usual, and it was a massive pain in the…
His mutinous thoughts were interrupted by a loud knock at the door. He jumped. However much he disagreed with her, his mum still terrified him when she was in a bad mood.
He scurried off his bed and attempted to look as if he was tidying his room.
'Yes?' He said in an overly-angelic voice.
'Ron, it's me!' came Hermione's voice. 'Can I come in?'
Ron sighed with relief, opened the door and smiled, ignoring Crookshanks, who had prowled in ahead of her and was now rubbing against Ron's ankles.
'Thought you were mum… I'm delighted that you're not.
His attempt at a compliment appeared to go unnoticed as Hermione looked disapprovingly around his room.
'I'm not surprised; your room looks like a troll has been living in it.'
'Oh, don't you start.' Ron said in a bored voice.
Hermione sighed and dragged a large suitcase into the room.
'What's that?' Asked Ron in shock. The way Hermione was pulling it made it look extremely heavy.
'It's…our…books' she gasped as she dragged along.
Ron stared in horror.
'You could help!' She snapped.
'Sorry!' Muttered Ron, 'But are you planning on starting your own portable library? Why the hell do you need so many books?'
'I'm trying to decide which ones we should take with us. I need to go through them all. I thought you could help.'
Ron pulled a face but Hermione was now taking books out of the case and barricading herself into the corner with walls of literature, so didn't notice.
'Well, Hogwarts, a History is always useful… I know that's in here somewhere,' she muttered to herself. 'Do you think we'll need An Analogy of Arithmancy?'
Ron had lapsed into a mystical daydream involving Hermione visiting him in a short skirt holding a large tray of food, instead of half of Merlin's book case, and wasn't really concentrating.
'There would be apple pie…' He said wistfully, with a dopey grin on his face.
'What?' Said Hermione, with slightly irritated confusion.
'What?' Said Ron, coming to his senses.
'Oh never mind!' Snapped Hermione, 'You don't read anyway!'
Well, that wasn't strictly true, thought Ron wryly; he was halfway through a very useful book at the moment. In fact he might take some of its advice. He stared at the piles and piles of books and groaned a little inwardly as he remembered one of the hints in Twelve Fail Safe Ways to Charm Witches; 'be interested in her, women love to talk about themselves and their hobbies!' Why did Hermione's hobby have to be reading? Couldn't it be Quidditch? Or chess? Or food?
He picked up a book of the top of the pile, and blushed. Typical. Of all the hundreds of books he could have picked up he chose 'Who Needs Him Anyway? A Must-Have Guide for the Single Witch.'
He threw that book aside with a little more exuberance than was necessary, thinking uncomfortable subjects would arise if he asked her about that particular book. Unfortunately, the book flew out of the open window, and Ron squirmed with embarrassment as he heard a dull thud from the garden. But Hermione was now flicking through 'Saucy Tricks for Tricky Sorts' and didn't appear to notice.
He lay back on his bed, his desire to assist had now sufficiently subsided since that cringe-worthy moment, but he tried to engage her anyway.
'So Hermione, what's arithmancy like?'
'Oh it's wonderful!' Hermione looked ecstatic to be asked such a thrilling question. 'It explains all about the significance of numbers in magic, and how the strength of spells depend on the root calculation of the magical ability of the witch or wizard, which is estimated by the Cotangentio charm, which was discovered by the wizard Pythagoras…'
Ron instantly regretted his attempt at being interested, as arithmancy was clearly one of the most boring things on the planet, and he tuned out again. He began to daydream again, this time about snogging Hermione senseless.
He smiled longingly as Hermione droned on, but they were both interrupted by the door opening suddenly.
He jumped off his bed hurriedly and began to pick things off the floor.
'I'm doing it, I'm doing - ! Oh it's just you!' He said with relief as Harry entered the room, and Hermione finally stopped her lecture on the fascinating theories of Arithmantic equations.
Thank Merlin for that, thought Ron.