Part Four|A Week in the Life
The following week reverted back to almost complete normalcy for Ron. There were only a few marked differences in the week, but, besides those, he carried on with his life as regularly as possible.
Of course, right after he had returned from practice, Ron confided in Harry about his upcoming meeting with Dory. Harry agreed that the idea would be best. Ron then asked if Harry wouldn't mention it to Hermione. Harry agreed without asking any questions, though his raised eyebrow was enough to give Ron a hint that he was intrigued by this request.
Throughout the week, Ron only saw Dory twice. The first time, he was heading through the corridors with Harry to get to Potions class after their break. She was walking out of the Transfiguration classroom, a dazed and blank look on her face. Walking out of the classroom behind her was a crowd of Slytherin first years who were staring at her, shooting disdainful looks at her back and then turning to one another to gossip about her. Ron raised his hand into a half-wave to her, but she either didn't recognize or see him. Slightly let down that he wasn't noticed, Ron turned on the first years who were snickering at her still, and told them off for loitering in the hall.
The second time was more direct. Ron had walked outside of the portrait hole straight into her. "Sorry," Ron muttered without looking who it was. Once he lifted his head, though, he froze. "Er, hullo Dory." Ron waited to see if she would recognize him or not.
Dory straightened her blouse which had been rumpled when the two collided. She slowly looked up to the ginger and opened her mouth as if she was going to speak. Instead, she just gave Ron the most confused look. "I… I came up here for something, but I've forgotten," she finally admitted.
"Oh, well, d'you need help?" Ron asked, worried about her.
"No, no, I'll just go back to my common room. Giving Ron one last look, she turned and went back down the corridor. Before she was to take the exit to the stairs, though, Ron noticed that she turned to look at him one last time. He faintly heard what sounded like, "I think I know him." She then turned and left.
Besides those two encounters, Ron never saw Dory. It wasn't much of a surprise that he hadn't noticed her before. He often found himself thinking about her and what she could be doing right at that moment, but other things often got in Ron's concentration of her.
Quidditch, for instance, was staring to go in full swing. Harry began to give Ron pep talks before each practice, which resulted in better practices for Ron. This would lift the moral of the team as a whole, especially when Ron perfected the save-kick move he started. With a few more practices like that, he might be able to kick the Quaffle straight into the hoops of the opposite goal.
The team walked back together to the common room every night, chattering animatedly about the practice and how their chances were going to be in the upcoming came against Ravenclaw which was in two weeks.
On Tuesday night, though, Ron's cheeriness was cut short as soon as he entered the common room and was confronted by a rather angry Hermione. "Sit," she said shortly, pointing towards one of the chairs in the back corner of the common room. The smile on Ron's face quickly slid off. Ron glanced to Harry for some support, but he merely stared in confusion at Hermione.
Doing as he was told, Ron quickly made his way over to the corner. He leaned his broom against the wall and took his seat in the overstuffed armchair. Harry stood in the background next to Ginny and a small crowd of on-lookers, wondering exactly what had Hermione in such a mood.
At first, she merely paced back and forth in front of where Ron was sitting, pausing every few moments to stare at him with a disdainful look. After several minutes, most of those in the common room had turned back to their previous endeavors. Harry and Ginny still stayed, their eyes moving with Hermione's figure. Ron couldn't take the silence any more. Getting up from his seat, he stood in front of where Hermione was pacing. "Are you going to tell me what's wrong, or am I supposed to read your brain?"
Hermione stopped pacing and stood straight in front of Ron, almost shaking in anger. "Ronald Weasley," she began in a low threatening voice. "You know, I could deal with your precious Lav-Lav," she began scathingly. "Mainly because you didn't try to hide it. But now I had to find out, from the girl's loo, of all places, that you have a date this weekend with some bimbo, apparently."
"No, what you see, it's-" But Ron wasn't able to finish. Others in the common room were watching from the corner of their eyes, sending snickering looks towards their friends.
"Not only that, but apparently this isn't the first time you've spent time with her, am I correct?" Ron nodded meekly and heard a gasp from the other side of the room. Ron's eyes flickered to the sound for a moment, and he saw Ginny standing there with wide eyes. She had clearly understood what Hermione had said. "Do you know how embarrassing it is to walk out of a stall into a mass of girls talking about your friend, them realizing that you are their subject's friend, and then asking for details on everything? Details for something which I know NOTHING ABOUT." Hermione was nearly shouting now. Everyone in the common room had abandoned their work and were now openly staring at the two in the corner. Harry hurried to Hermione and cautiously put his hands on her shoulders.
"If you calm down, we'll explain everything," he said under his breath to Hermione. She looked as if explanations weren't something she was looking for. Harry took her paused moment to start to direct her outside of the common room so they could talk, but Hermione shook him off.
"Everyone clear out, NOW!" she bellowed. "I am a prefect, and if you aren't gone within the next five seconds, you will all be in detention a month for every second you're over. One…"
It took only three seconds for the room to be empty. Ginny was the only other person to stay behind. Taking out her wand, Hermione pointed at the dormitory doors and said "Muffalito." Now their conversation was entirely between themselves; no one could overhear.
Hermione stalked over to the couch in front of the fireplace and sat down with her arms crossed. "Convince me," she said.
"I thought you didn't approve of Muffalito because of…" Ron's voice faltered and the attempt at a smirk fell from his face. Harry stood behind the couch Hermione was sitting on, his face was with warning to Ron. Just tell her, Harry mouthed.
Ron sighed. "Alright." From behind him, Ron could hear Ginny shifting in her seat behind him; of course she'd want to hear everything. "It's like, I was just, and she seduced me and… I don't know where to start," Ron looked up to Harry for help.
"Maybe you could start with who the girl is," Hermione growled from her perch on the couch.
"Alright, well. Her name is Dory. I don't actually know her last name…" Hermione let out a sarcastic snicker that was so unlike how she usually is.
"Not surprising, since apparently you just jump on all the girl's these days." Ron ignored the jab. "What year is she in, anyways?" Hermione's voice had softened a bit, as it always did whenever she was learning something. Ron took the opportunity to share what he knew.
"Definitely in ours," he said firmly. "Considering Hannah Abbot walked in when she started wailing at me."
"Hufflepuff?" Hermione asked inquisitively. The hard look on her face fell off; she was completely intrigued. "That can't be. I know all of the students in our year, and most of the ones in the year below us. I've never even heard of a Dory."
"Yeah, well I s'pose you wouldn't've," Ron said, scratching the back of his head. "You see… she kind of has a problem." Hermione merely raised her eyebrow. "She has, ah, short term memory loss. She hardly goes to any of her classes, let alone participates with our class. They say it's luck if she wanders into the right class at all."
Hermione just stared at Ron. The look on her face was a mixture of disbelief and agitation. Ron didn't know what else he could say, so he stood there awkwardly, swaying on the spot as he let the information he had just confessed sink in.
Ginny on the other hand found the whole story rather amusing. She had been making small squeaks of poorly concealed laughter ever since Ron had said "short term memory loss," but now, in the silence, she couldn't contain herself any longer. She burst out with laughter which made the other three jump where they were. Ron shot her a look of irritation that she either missed or ignored. Hermione, on the other hand, made a point to stop her. "Ginny, if you can't calm yourself down, I will have no qualms with giving you detention as well," she said shortly to the red head.
Ginny gulped in air and stifled her giggles. "Sorry, 'Mione," Ginny said. She turned to Ron who was still staring in anger at her. "But are you telling me you had sex with Dory?"
"You know her?" Ron and Hermione both asked, astounded.
"Well, yeah," Ginny said as if it were the most known fact in the world. "She's weirder than Loony Lovegood, though at least she has an excuse." Ron couldn't help but give a small chuckle at that. "The two hang out together, actually. But she usually just wanders around until she ends up back in the Hospital Wing. Though the fact that you had sex with her isn't surprising. Doesn't she go after a different guy every term?"
Ron shrugged, even though he knew that Ginny had said was true. "So you had sex with a girl who gets around with other guys and who probably doesn't even remember her name?" Hermione asked. Ron turned.
"Well, you make it sound so bad…"
"Just answer the question, Ronald," Hermione snapped.
"Well… yeah, pretty much. But she was just so intriguing and I couldn't help myself," Ron blurted out.
"About time you're got some," Ginny muttered from the corner.
"Oi, what's that supposed to mean?" Ron said, turning again to his sister.
Ginny had hopped up and was putting her books into her bag. "Well it wasn't like Lavender could do anything else well with her mouth besides have it stuck to yours. And don't give me that look, Ron. News spreads faster between girls." Ginny smirked at the look of horror on her brother's face. "But I've learned all I needed to know, besides, I'm tired. Night." With that, she walked across the room and turned up the stairs to the girl's dormitory.
Ron turned back to his two friends. Harry was staring intently in the direction of the stairway to the girl's dormitory where Ginny had just disappeared to. Hermione was deep in thought.
"Okay, so you screwed a girl," she said finally with the sound of being let down in her voice. "And who knows what else. But it's not like I can control every aspect of your life. I'd prefer it, though, if you didn't keep secrets from me. And you," Hermione snapped in front of Harry's glazed over eyes. "You need to control Ron and his little friend, and by the looks of it, you need to control yours as well." Ron wasn't quite sure what exactly Hermione was insinuating. "So, about this date between you two?"
"It's not a date," Ron said, quickly. "She just wants to get to know me better, she said. Something about her remembering our, uh, encounter and it interesting her."
"And what if she loses herself and lunges at you in a sexual rage again," Hermione asked.
"She told me to bring her a… I think it was a flower? Something about it resetting her or something." I should probably remember what that was, Ron thought to himself.
A familiar look crossed Hermione's face. "What?" Ron asked. She was clearly thinking of something. It was the look she had when something was triggered in her brain.
"Don't worry about it." Standing up, Hermione yawned. "I think I'm going to have to agree with Ginny: I'm tired as well. I'll see you in the morning. Until then, don't go around behind my back again." Hermione gave a half hearted wave and then followed Ginny's path up to the dorm rooms.
Harry walked around from behind the couch and approached his friend. "Well at least you got off fairly well, this time," Harry said, clapping his friend on the back. The two then took the stairs on the opposite side of the room to their own beds.
As it was on most Friday afternoons, the class was hardly paying attention to what was happening. It was the last class of the day before they were free for the weekend. The fact that it was also the Friday before a Hogsmeade weekend increased the inactivity of the class even more. Most of the students were either staring wistfully into blank space or hissing plans on which shops to visit the next day, regardless of the fact that they had all been going to the village for the past three years and nothing much had changed.
Herbology was neither here nor there to Ron. It was a fairly easy class, though there was still a good amount of actual studying that had to be done when a test would crop up from seemingly nowhere. The day's lesson wasn't an interesting one: it was an introduction of advanced plants and their magical properties.
Hermione was easily the only one paying attention in the class. Harry and Ron were having a game of hangman going on a piece of parchment. Ron had been doing so horribly that his man was now revolting on the paper, not willing to go to the gallows even if Ron had guessed a correct letter.
It was while Ron was trying to poke his man with his quill when he happened to hear something he was familiar with. "Forget Me Not's, a common blue flower found in many muggle gardens…"
"That's it," Ron hissed suddenly. Harry and Hermione both turned to him in shock, their faces asking for an explanation. "That, the Forget-Me-Not. That was what Dory told me to bring to calm her. She said that it would restart her."
"That makes perfect sense, why didn't I remember-" Hermione's whispered shock was cut off by a rather irked Professor Sprout.
"I'm sorry, I didn't realize weekend plans were more important than life altering plants. Please, do go ahead with your conversation. While you're at it, though, I'm sure you won't mind ten points being taken from Gryffindor." Sprout was already frustrated at the fact that no one was paying attention to her. The rather animated conversation going on between the three in the back had sent her over the edge.
"Sorry, Professor Sprout," the trio said in unison.
"As I was saying, Forget-Me-Not's can affect the memory of people, usually making them forget what it was they were doing. It can be taken as a potion…"
"Or if a person reacts strongly to it, merely it's presence can cause memory alterations as well," Hermione finished, reading it from the book quietly. "That's why she said to bring it. It'll reset her mind."
"At least she remembered something important," Harry muttered, looking back at the parchment where they had been playing hangman. Ron's stick figure had left.
All it took was Hermione apologizing after the lesson for Sprout to be distracted enough for Ron to procure the flower he needed. "There are dozens in here," he said looking at the over filling tray. "She won't notice one missing." With that, Ron picked up one of the plants in a pot and, signaling Hermione, they made their way back up to their common room.
The flower sat in the middle of the table. The three of them were staring intently at it. Hermione had read all there was in One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi on the flower, but it wasn't much more than what had been discussed in class.
"Well, hopefully it works," Harry said, looking at the flower skeptically.
"It should," Hermione said reassuringly. "The logic is completely sound. Just don't forget it, okay Ron?"
"Of course not," Ron said quietly, his head resting on the table as he looked at it without blinking. Why would he forget something that could solve so many mysteries? Besides, he wasn't the one with the memory problems.