"You missed quite a show, Hermione" Harry said, taking out his book.
"Yeah, Lana made Lavender run off crying," Ron was beaming.
Hermione looked shocked, "Really? What did she do now?"
"She was just playing games, trying to make me jealous or something by flirting with Ron," Lana replied.
"Were you jealous?" Ron blurted out.
"Oh um...," Lana turned her head away as Flitwick entered the class. She was saved just in time. If Ron saw her face at that second he would see how red she turned.
"Okay students, welcome back! Please take out your textbooks and open to chapter seven. We will have an easy first day and simply re-practice the disillusionment charm. Now, pair up and try and cast it so that only the two of you can see each other, while no one else can."
Hermione and Lana walked to the back corner of the room and took out their wands. On the count of three, they swirled their wands and said the spell. They were the first group to get the spell done correctly.
"Well done, girls! As a reward, I will let you two be done for the day. You are free to leave," Flitwick clapped his hands and scooted them out the door leaving Ron and Harry groaning on the other side of the room.
"Are classes all that easy?" Lana asked as they headed back for the common room.
"No, we got very lucky. Just wait for potions," Hermione put her wand back into her robe.
"So, Hermione, can I ask you a question, and you won't get mad?" Lana asked as they rounded the corner into the stairwell.
Hermione laughed, "I can't promise anything. But, we are friends, so I most likely won't get mad at you."
"Okay well, I was just wondering what exactly is going on with you and that Draco guy?"
Hermione stopped dead in her tracks and gasped, "H-How did you know?"
"Hermione, Ron and Harry may be deaf and blind, but I'm a girl. I notice how you looked at him in the hallway."
"Shit," Hermione continued walking again. "Well, you promise you won't tell anybody."
"Of course I won't," Lana replied.
"Alright, well, we are kind of seeing each other, secretly," Hermione blushed scarlet red. "We had prefect patrols together last year, and well, yeah."
"I think it is sweet, Hermione. I promise I won't tell Harry and Ron," Lana put her arm around Hermione comfortingly and the two girls stepped through the Gryffindor common room entrance.
Ginny was sitting at the far table doing some kind of work. She looked up as they came over. "What's wrong with you, Hermione? You look like you've been choking."
"Uh, it was my fault. I'm not particularly good at charms. Just cast a bad spell and Flitwick let us go early," Lana lied.
"Snape really loaded us down the first day. I have to write a three thousand word essay and turn it in to him before breakfast tomorrow. Sorry, but you guys will not be graced with my presence at dinner tonight," Ginny's face already had stress written across it.
Lana was suddenly shoved to the ground as a fourth year knocked into her.
"Oi!" Ginny yelled after the boy, but it was too late. He was out of the portrait. "He must be rushing to Quidditch tryouts. The team is looking for a new beater."
"That means Harry will be out late tonight. Sounds like we are all missing dinner. I've got head girl duties tonight," Hermione said. Lana noticed Hermione's eyes sparkled as she spoke about her night. Lana's own eyes popped as realization thudded into her head. This meant she would be eating with Ron, alone.
"I'm going to go get a shower," Lana said almost in a daze. Her mind had lost any form of a thought other than what she was going to wear. As soon as she got to the girl's stairs she raced as fast as she could up them.
"Looks like her and your brother will be alone tonight at dinner," Hermione smirked and sat down.
Ginny looked up and smiled, "Oh how I wish I could be there to see Lavender's face. Hermione, what happened with you and Ron? I thought you liked him. I figured you would be the one interested in my brother this year."
Hermione thought back. She had liked Ron deeply, "I don't know, Gin. Things just sort of changed after he went out with Lavender. Seeing him be whipped around by her and walking in on them making out all of the time really just turned me off of him."
"Yeah, even Mum was disappointed in him," Ginny said.
"Well, I guess I need to kind of get going. I wanted to check a few things out of the library and then I need to get to my Headgirl stuff," Hermione grabbed her bag off of the table and whipped it over her shoulders as she stood up.
"Alright, see you later then," Ginny said and dipped her quill in her ink bottle.
"Right, good luck on your essay, Gin," Hermione walked out of the common room.
Upstairs, Lana climbed out of her shower with her towel wrapped around her and stood in front of her mirror. She grabbed her wand and used a small spell to dry and straighten her hair. Preferring to do her makeup herself, She applied only a small amount of mascara and lip gloss to her face.
Satisfied she went to her trunk by her bed and pulled out a pair of jeans, a white t-shirt, and a red zip-up hoodie. She didn't want to look over dressed.
It was still a little early for dinner, so Lana walked to the Owlery to mail a letter to her parents. She had given up on mailing her friends.
Dear Mom and Dad,
I hope all is well at home. My first day of school went nicely. I only had one class today, and my partner in the class and I did so well on our disillusionment charm we got to leave early. I've made a few friends already. Harry Potter is one of them. He is a very nice guy, not at all like the paper makes him seem. Well, if you have received any mail for me would you please send it here, rather than saving it for me. I would really appreciate it.
I love and miss you all. Sylvie says hi.
Lana
Lana attached the letter to one a brown small owl and turned out of the Owlery. As she reached the bottom of the stairs and headed back towards the school she spotted a huddle of boys dressed in red and gold coming her way. In the middle of the pack was Ron towering over the smaller kids. Lana waved and smiled.
"Hey Lana," Ron called as they got closer. He broke out of the group and ran to her. "What are you doing out here?"
"I went to mail a letter to my parents. How were try-outs?"
"They went pretty smoothly. Harry found a pretty good addition to the team. He is going to be training the poor kid almost all night. I couldn't make it. I had to go get some dinner," Ron patted his stomach as the two walked together towards the school doors.
Lana giggled, "Well, it is going to be just us at dinner. Ginny has an essay for Snape and Hermione has to do her Headgirl stuff."
Ron's stomach jumped, "Uh umm, well cool."
"Yeah," Lana smiled.
"You look very nice by the way," Ron pushed open the doors to the great hall. Lana's smile widened and the pair found a seat at the end of the table, far from Lavender who happened to be staring intensely at them.
"So when's the first game?" Lana asked.
"Next week, can you believe it's that early? It will be against Ravenclaw. Harry is kind of going crazy with training," Ron was in the process of filling his plate as he talked. It was quite amusing to watch. Both of his hands were going crazy to make sure he didn't miss putting everything on his plate.
"Well, I will be looking forward to watch you play," Lane half smiled and Ron stopped his eating ritual.
"You are?" He looked as if Lana had just flashed him. His eyes filled with excitement and wonder.
"Yes, Hermione has told me how good you are. She said you are the best keeper at Hogwarts."
"She did?" Ron mumbled.
Lana just giggled and grabbed a spoonful of mashed potatoes. Ron slowly began eating still in a daze, but the process of putting food in his mouth seemed to wake him up.
"So, what is fun to do here? I mean, besides Quidditch," Lana asked. She was trying to think of questions to ask him.
"Well, later on we get to take weekend trips to the town up the road called Hogsmeade. They have shops and restaurants," Ron said. "And in the summer everyone is outside playing and swimming. But, mostly we just kind of make our own fun you know."
"At Brizindine, we got to go to the local mall any time during the week, but only as long as we did not have a detention for the week. We also had an indoor swimming pool," Lana still had vivid images of shopping with Audrey in the mall and splashing her boyfriend in the pool.
"So coming here isn't much of a change then is it," Ron laughed.
"Yeah, but I like it here," Lana smiled. "Change is good sometimes, you know."
Ron's cheeks flushed again and he stuffed his mouth with more food awkwardly.
"I do miss swimming," Lana sighed as she ate bite of her broccoli.
"Well, I think I can help you out with that," Ron said through bites.
"Really?" Lana wondered, washing down her latest bite with pumpkin juice. "How?"
Ron grinned widely, "I'll show you after dinner."
The two finished their meal and carried on mild conversation. Lana eating slightly at a faster speed. "All done?" Ron asked with the remains of his last bite lingering on his face.
"Mmm, yes. I am quite full. You have a bit of pie on your chin by the way," Lana reached up with her napkin and wiped it off.
"Thanks," Ron blushed and stood up.