~*~CHAPTER 4--CONSEQUENCES~*~
The old wooden door of Professor McGonagall's office creaked open and Ron walked in and sat in the chair that the teacher motioned at with her wand. The door made a squeaking sound as McGonagall pushed it shut, then she walked across the office to sit in the chair at her large wooden desk. Ron was trying to not let his mind flashback everything that had happened earlier that morning; instead he focused on the particles of dust floating slowly through a beam of late morning light.
"Ron?" the professor said, snapping him out of his daze.
"Yes, professor?" he replied, hoping he didn't look too anxious.
"Shall we begin?" McGonagall asked in a kindly voice.
Thankfully the old teacher had calmed down from her earlier state of rage. She just wanted to address the problem and assign a fitting punishment. Professor McGonagall had not actually wanted an answer, so she kept talking.
"Mr. Weasly, you are aware that fighting on school grounds is strictly prohibited, are you not?"
"Yes ma'am" Ron mumbled.
"So you do know that what you did was wrong?" she asked.
"Yes, ma'am" Ron answered.
"Well, I can understand that you would be upset over finding out about your sister and Mr. Malfoy, Ron. I know the way he has treated you in the past" she said, "BUT that is no and I mean no reason to interfere with what happens know" she sternly continued.
Ron looked like he was about to cry. Immediately the teacher's face softened,
"I'll make you a deal, Ron" McGonagall stated.
"Your punishment will be seven detentions and cleaning the owlry. I also want you to leave your sister and Mr. Malfoy alone, if I hear that you have started in on them again I can promise you the punishment will be much much more severe. You may leave now, Ron" she concluded.
Ron rose slowly and headed for the door, lucky to have gotten such a light punishment.
"Oh, and Ron" the professor said as he started to open the door.
"Yes Professor?" he answered, fearful that he wasn't that lucky after all.
"I was only so easy on you because you seemed to come out of the fight much worse than your sister did" she said with what might have been a small smile on her face.
Ron smiled back and then left for class. All of a sudden he heard a clacking sound--like chalk being thrown---slowly coming up in the distance.
"Oh lord, Peeves, this is JUST what I need!" he thought aloud.
"Aghh, ickle Ronnie in trouble?" Peeves teased.
"Go away Peeves." Ron said.
"Oh, no no, Ronnie. What did you do? I think you need some punishing!" Peeves screeched.
The next thing he knew Peeves was pelting him with chalk he had stolen from various professors.
"GO AWAY PEEVES!!!!" he yelled.
Out of the corner of Ron's eye he saw Filch's cat, Mrs. Norris dart around the corner. In no time Filch would be thundering up the steps roaring for the Bloody Baron. All Ron had to do was keep Peeves where he was and "Peevsie" would have a little explaining to do. Ron kept screaming at Peeves, and surprisingly Peeves didn't lose interest.
"Ah-ha! I've got you now you dirty beast." Filch had arrived.
"Look who I've brought with me!" he gleefully bellowed, motioning to the baron.
"Ah, sorry Mr. Filch, sir. Peevsi will be leaving now." Peeves said.
"Oh NO YOU WON'T!" Filch screamed.
Peeves flew down the hallway with Flich and the baron in hot pursuit.
"Thank god" Ron said.
::::::later that day, in the Gryffindor common room:::::::
Ron was sitting on the couch near the roaring fire in the hearth. Hermione and Harry were listening to him recount the whole ordeal with Ginny and Draco. Both were shocked at how Ron had just lashed out at Ginny like that.
"Well, I'd better be going, early practice tomorrow you know" Harry got up and left the common room, the clock struck ten and Ron also got up.
"Oh, Ron?" Hermione asked.
"Yup" he nonchalantly answered.
"When Malfoy said you were taking me to the Yule Ball, what was he talking about? Something I don't know about?" she said mischieviously.
Ron turned about ten shades of pink and moved from where he stood.
"Well, I, er, I was MEANING to ask you but uh…" he stuttered
"'Cause I'd love to go with you" she answered.
He blushed some more than stammered something about needing more sleep. The Yule Ball was only days away and he now had to plan on going…
A/N: Okay, I don't think I've been writing my best right now. I have school to finish up for the year, finals to start studying for, and loads of other stuff with a mild case of writer's block on top of it. So please please bare with me. I apologize many times in advance. If you look I even made 'Mione do a little flirting with Ron *think they're gonna be the next couple*--now if only I could find someone for Harry….*scours brain trying to find someone…*
Okay now that those lovely notes are off my head I shall now launch into thanking the many people who have kept me going with this fic. I love to write and they keep me inspired. Look for yourself on here if you've posted a nice review!
Amalia Borealis-thanks for the suggestion about the new paragraphs--it helped me a lot! You were also my first reviewer!
Sarah- I can't say exactly when, but besides the upcoming date they will be more!
~**GINNY**~-thank you
Golden- I have more ideas waiting for the right time to put them out! Thank you!
Krissy- thank you for letting me know you want to keep reading more, it's a big motivation when people think that about my writing.
Kitty-I put the kiss in so early because I wanted to start people off thinking about Draco as the shameless womanizing flirt, judging from the way he acted about splitting with his ex I would think he would be a guy who considers himself god's gift to women and somehow manages to charm most of them (I like flirts though, so I didn't make it a bad thing, just another part of his personality).
Melissa Malfoy-thank you sooo much. I would like you to know that your idea was the inspiration for chapter 3. Without it there would be no decent plot. Oh, p.s. I really liked your story.
Sarah- thank you! compliments like that make me want to write more!
Baby- thanks!
Matissa- thank you for defending me, although for a moment I sensed a flame war in the making.
Emma- thanks! And I was glad to.
StarchildHermione86- I'm weird too.
Soccerstar17-oh I am, that part is sitting in my head waiting to be typed.
Kitty (again!)- here it is!
Sarah (again also!)- this one is also kinda short. Sorry. Upcoming chapters will be longer, I promise!
Amy (w&m law)- yes Ron was being a stupid git (a wee bit too overprotective). I don't know what I was thinking when I just let Draco stand and watch his girl get almost smashed up (haha but Ron seemed to be the only one getting a bruisin!) really, I don't know. I think Draco was enjoying Ginny being "half the sugar, twice the spice". I agree, Ginny can be a fun character to write when she's pissed. And as a response to your last question--I never really though of where she, ahem, "picked" them up (no pun intended). If I really thought about it the answer would probably be her brothers (seeing that she has 6 of them). Thanks for reviewing.
As I have now thanked, answered, and observed----ciao! Hope you don't hate me for my sometimes jumbled writing