'Fred! George! What on earth are you two doing here?' Exclaimed Harry as he came into the great hall for dinner and walked over to his usual spot on the Gryffindor table.
'Mummy dearest,'
'Threatened us that,'
'We have to finish,'
'Our education,'
'Or else!'
'We don't mind though-,'
'Get to spend more time with the babies,'
'Speaking of the babies...'
'Where's Ron?' They both asked at the same time.
'Fred? George? No way!' Said Ron as he made his way over.
'Hello little Ronniekins!' They said eyeing up their youngest brother; he was just the same as when they had left. 'And have we behaving ourselves?'
Ron gave a grin.
'Of course not, who do you think I am? Percy?' He said as he sat down across from them.
'Just checking, since we...' George trailed off as he eyed up Hogwarts food again; talking could wait, there was food that needed to be eaten.
Ron walked hand in hand with Hermione back from potions; Harry had been kept behind, as usual. A few Slytherins walked a bit in front as they came to the stairs, which had a nasty habit of moving, turning into a slide or trying to swallow you leg.
Suddenly the stairs beneath Pansy Parkinson's feet decided they'd had enough of being steps and wanted to be a slide; slides were fun. Ron, with lighting fast reactions, caught her before she hit the floor and stood her up.
'Are you okay?' He asked gently as he carefully placed her back on hard, unchanging ground.
'My ankle...hurts,' she hissed.
Malfoy came running down the stairs; he had been halfway up and his steps had decided to stay steps.
'Are you all right, Pan?' He seemed concerned but Hermione, besides Ron, wondered if he really did.
'I'm fine, my ankle's sore... it's nothing,' she said leaning on Ron, part of her wanted to jump away from him but she wondered if Draco would be strong enough to hold her up; she felt strangely safe.
'Nothing?' asked Malfoy raising an eyebrow; if that was him, he'd being yelling that he was dying horrifically and normally, Pansy would too.
'Try walking,' said Ron simply, trying to keep the smile out of it. It was so like Pansy to act this way; she wasn't like Draco when it came to pain, she didn't like to seem weak.
'Fine! See, I don't need your help anyway,' she said in her cool Slytherin manner – she was a Slytherin female, she didn't need help from anyone, especially men, Gryffindors or Weasleys – and stepped forward... and then fell over. Ron immediately caught her with his quick Keeper reactions.
'Hospital wing,' he informed her. 'Malfoy grab her stuff. I'll catch up with you later, 'kay?' He said looking back at Hermione. She smiled at him and nodded her head; she liked it when Ron was kind to others, this was the real him, the one she knew; Ron was a gentlemen, even if he and the rest of the world didn't know it.
Ron smiled back and then swung Pansy up into his arms properly.
'Put me down this second or I-,' she began but Ron cut across her before she could finish.
'Be nice. Otherwise I might drop you,' he said with a smirk. 'Malfoy, you coming?'
As they were walking towards the wing Ron and Draco started talking, the way friends do, not about anything in particular, just... good conversation. Until Pansy butted in.
'Why aren't you two fighting? You're acting almost like... friends!' This was outrageous! Disgraceful! Shocking! Horrid!
'What's so wrong with us two being friends? We're both purebloods, both here and now. Why should we fight?' Said Draco in a causal, off-hand manner, like this was nothing. Pansy still didn't like it; she gave a suspicious look at Draco.
'You've been acting very strange recently,' she said. 'And you as well,' she told Ron, but with more of a glare and a harder tone was apparent in her voice. They reached the Hospital Wing doors, Ron gently placed her on the bed he was direct to and Ron said his goodbyes.
'Weasley!' called Pansy. Ron turned around, expecting a nice hand gesture. 'Thank you for being a gentleman.' It seemed Pansy was almost smiling.
Ron gave a mock bow and left.
'So you're trying out then, Michelle?'
'Yeah,' she said and smiled at Harry, Gryffindor team captain. 'Are you too, Ron?'
Ron had finally begun to let his guard down around her; there was nothing wrong with her, she was a nice, smart and trustworthy female – there was nothing to be suspicious or worry about.
'Yeah, Keeper,' he said shortly; he was not in a good mood this morning and he was more than nervous for the tryouts.
'Well, good luck,' said Hermione to both of them and gave Ron a small kiss for luck. 'I know you'll do well,' she whispered to him and left to get her place in the stands. Yet, Ron couldn't help but feel even more nervous; the girl he loved would be watching him, she expect him to do well now and he knew he wouldn't, he knew he'd end up messing up in front of her. He'd need more than all of the luck in the world.
'Oooh, Ronnie got a kissy!' Called two voices in unison from behind him, Ron felt the tops of his ears burn.
'Shut up,' he said, still embarrassed about it all even though he knew there was nothing to be ashamed of.
'Well, I think it's sweet,' said Michelle and gave Ron a smile, he gave a small nod of his head for thanks; Harry just laughed along with the twins, Ron glared at him.
'Are you two going to the tryouts?' Asked Ron, trying to change the subject.
'Tryouts?' Said Fred shocked.
'Tryouts?'
'Dear Ronnie,'
'We think young love,'
'May have gone to your little brain.'
'We don't need to tryout!'
'Everyone knows we're the best around.'
'Right, Harry?' George looked at Harry.
'Yeah, of course, you're in but you've just got to take part,' he said nervously; he would have wanted them to tryout but they were right; they were the best and Harry really didn't want to think about what they'd do to him if he made them actually tryout or if he said they couldn't be in the team. Anyway, McGonagall wouldn't complain; she liked them.
'See Ronnie,'
'Unlike you,'
'We're the best,'
'And don't need to tryout.'
'But we'll wish you luck anyway.'
'You need it,' added George with a large grin as they turned and left for the pitch.
'Oh, don't listen to them Ron!' Said Michelle; she'd heard how nervous Ron could get and how much that could ruin his performance.
'Who said I was?' He shot back, a little angrier than he had intended it to sound, and he walked off the Quidditch pitch, feeling angry and upset; they were right, he would need all the luck in the world to get into the team.
'I just don't know what happened to the weather!' Yelled Michelle over to Ron. 'It was lovely just a few moments ago!'
A storm had suddenly appeared; bruised clouds lined the skies unleashing their torrents of tears onto the ground below; the droplets smashed onto everything, soon drowning all in its sadness; lightning hurtled to Earth, leaving the impression of its powerful shape; thunder thrashed around the air, cracking it into life; and the atmosphere was thick and almost choked those breathing it in, pure magic was in the air.
'Merlin, Ron! At least put something over yourself,' Michelle tried to shout of the noise of the storm; Ron stood out in the rain, his fiery hair sticking to his head, his clothes clung tight to his body and his keeper outfit was beginning to turn see-through due to the amount of water he was taking on. Everyone else had run to cover but a few of the braver ones (hoping to get house points from Harry and McGonagall for ignoring the weather) stood out in the radical conditions, but even they had pulled their jackets over their heads or placed some kind of spell to stop most of the water.
But Ron just stood out there, looking like a kneazle in a bath. He didn't care, the weather wouldn't make a difference; he'd still fail if it was the nicest weather ever.
'RIGHT,' roared McGonagall over the storm; they had put of the trials for a bit but she was aware that they had a match with Ravenclaw soon, whose team were looking stronger and better than ever – they'd need their best team ever and they'd need all the practise they could get. 'CHASERS GET OUT NOW!'
'Good luck,' muttered Ron to Michelle, she said thanks and flew up confidently.
Harry and McGonagall were merciful and due to the lack of people deifying the weather, three were quickly chosen; Ginny Weasley, Katie Bell and Michelle Royde.
McGonagall looked slightly happier as, when Michelle's turn came (she was the last to go), the weather seemed to lessen off slightly; the lightning faded away, the thunder was a gentle purr and the rain just fell helplessly to the ground.
She didn't have to yell anymore and announced that it was the keepers turn next; no one had turned out for the place of beater, except the twins, so they automatically got the places. Whether or not people had actually wanted to turn up and try for the places was to be debated, thought Harry, because he knew he wouldn't have wanted to get in the twins' way and try for their places.
There were only two keepers who actually decided to try out in this weather; Cormac McLaggen and Ronald Weasley.
As soon as they flew up, the weather turned ever nastier than it had been originally.
Cormac swore loudly as he was hit on the head by some rather large and lethal hailstones. Before Ron could get to the goal hoops, Cormac flew past him and took the place instead; the soon he got through with this, the sooner he could get back to his dorm and dry off.
Ron drifted back and allowed him to take the place without a fight. He knew he couldn't back down, that would be even worse than losing. He had to tryout.
But as he began to watch, he wished he'd gone first. He became extremely nervous when Cormac continued to do well; there was no way he would beat him and he'd look like an idiot in front of everyone – Gryffindor sat watching to see who their new team would be, Marycomb sat and supported their own and even some Slytherins sat and heckled through the storm.
Cormac kept on saving quaffles and dodging bludger, so far he'd missed nothing.
Then a miracle happened.
The mother of all hailstones smashed into Cormac's shoulder and he missed saving the quaffle by inches – all Ron had to do now was save them all. That should be easy... right?
A substitute chaser was changed in for Ginny, in case of bias from her to Ron, but even McGonagall knew that the twins would give Ron a much harder time than they'd given Cormac.
Ron knew that it would get harder as it went and that he'd have to do his best to beat Cormac.
'GO RON!' Yelled out some voices; it was the Marycomb girls; they all gave him a thumbs up and wide smiles. It seemed Michelle had had a word with those very pretty friends of hers. They cheered and yelled messages of good luck until they were heckled, by Slytherins of course, to shut up (and get back to ordering house elves). Yet, this only hushed them for a few seconds and then they were back to full volume.
Ron felt his spirit lift and a sense of I-can-do-this came to him; something he hadn't felt in a while now.
He caught sight of Hermione, who was now sitting with the Marycomb girls helping to cheer him on, and he felt like he could do anything now.
He was ready.
He was ready for anything, even Quidditch trials.
