Ron crept quietly through the second floor corridor, the tip of his wand stretched out in front of him as the only source of light.
A creaking sound was heard and he froze, then slowly turned around to look behind him. There was nothing there.
Letting out a relieved sigh, he turned back around and headed around the closest corner, only to hear a light squeal and see a light similar to his own.
"Weasley," Pansy hissed, "You scared me half to death!"
"I scared you? Well what were you doing creeping around the hallways at this time of night," he glared, crossing his arms.
Ron watched her shift uncomfortably before her glare hardened, "Me? You're clearly creeping around too!"
This time it was Ron's turn to look uncomfortable. It was two AM in the morning, he certainly hadn't planned on running into anyone, let alone her.
Thinking quickly, he stammered, "I was just stretching my legs. I'm heading back to my quarters now."
"Oh. Right. Well, me too actually."
There was an awkward silence as they looked awkwardly around the corridor.
"Put that light out," one of the portraits called angrily as Ron's wand tip got particularly close to him.
Ron grimaced and muttered an apology, pointing his light directly at the ground again.
"Well, I should, uh, head back then," Pansy suggested, her arms clapping together lightly behind her back.
Ron stepped around her, "Yes, as should I."
There was another awkward pause.
"Well, see ya," Pansy uttered and started walking briskly away in the other direction.
Ron let out the breath he had been holding. She could not catch him where he was going, he'd never hear the end of it. He practically ran to his destination, the Restricted Section, and smirked as he pressed his hand lightly against the ward magic that Pansy had protected it with. This would be a piece of cake.
If he hadn't have been so smug, he may have noticed that Pansy wasn't going in the direction of her quarters at all.
Ron huffed as he headed in the direction of the morning's staff meeting. It was finally Friday and considering he'd been up half the night trying to break into Pansy's wards, he was feeling pretty sorry for himself with the lack of sleep and the fact that he hadn't been able to break into them.
He got through every single layer, too, except for one and he couldn't figure out why. His pride was hurt and he couldn't fathom how she'd managed to best him. Wards were one of his greatest strengths – he'd been put through extensive training on implementation of wards and had loads of practical experience when he was an auror.
Slowing his steps as he approached the door, he took a deep breath, frowned quickly, and then schooled his expression into that of a more neutral look.
"Nice of you to join us, Mr. Weasley," Minerva greeted with a twinkle as he entered the room, "Now that we are all here, it is time for us to test the wards on our little competition. Did anyone give it a try?"
Minerva smiled as all the staff members, with the exception of Hagrid, mumbled affirmations. Clearly none of them were too thrilled that they had not been able to get through.
"Did anyone succeed?" Minerva looked at Ron, expecting him to have broken through but the expression on his face said otherwise.
With confusion, her head snapped to Pansy.
Pansy was sitting on the chair to her left, casually perusing a book, seemingly not even paying attention to the meeting. Minerva knew better though, the smirk the girl was trying to hide made it clear that perhaps Ron had not been able to get through, but Pansy had succeeded.
As expected, Pansy waited a few minutes before snapping her book closed with a resounding 'pop' and smiled, "Well, I'm not too sure about you lot but I, for one, enjoyed a glass of Ogden's finest last night."
Ron looked up instantly, mouth hanging open slightly, "No you didn't, there's no way."
"Really? Did you check your office this morning?"
Ron began to say that he did, in fact check his office, but with the late night he had not had the chance, "No." He pursed his lips.
"Of course you didn't, if you had you would know that I broke into your wards within half an hour. Thanks for the present, Weasley." Pansy looked so smug sitting there, a challenging glint in her eye.
"It's not possible. You're not even trained! I got through every single one of your layers. All except for one." Ron said, he was clearly irritated.
"I knew you would."
"What?"
"I said, I knew you would – get through all the layers except for one that is." Pansy replied.
"How could you possible know that?" Ron asked, leaning forward in his chair and letting his elbows rest on his knees. He was just plain curious now, as were all the staff around them, who were watching the two as if it were a tennis match.
"It's quite simple really. Wards are made to block out groups of people. It's what everyone does, they block layers for 'underage students,' or 'dark arts,' or 'anyone who's not me.' These are all layers that are expected. Even the tougher layers are still expected if you're experienced enough. I didn't just block groups of people. I specifically blocked you."
"You, what?" Ron asked incredulous, "I've never heard of anyone doing that before."
Pansy smiled wryly, "To be fair, neither had I, until recently. It's another one of my 'Severus Snape' tricks."
A small smile was tugging at Ron's lips and Pansy took the opportunity to continue, "That's talent though, really. He's still teaching from the grave."
There was laughter throughout the room and even Ron chuckled mildly at his own joke.
"Looks like I'll be continuing to ward the Restricted Section then."
"Not so fast," Minerva interrupted, "Firstly, great job to both of you. Secondly, you will place the wards together."
Ron grimaced but knew better than to say anything. Even Pansy let out a light huff at the announcement.
Satisfied that she had the meeting back under control, Minerva continued with some minor announcements before dismissing them.
"Want to walk together?" Ron offered as they exited the room, back in acting mode, Pansy thought and resisted rolling her eyes, opting to smile and nod instead.
"I'll have to remember that trick," Ron said with a smile as they walked through the crowds of students.
"Yeah, it was pretty clever of him. I'm actually living in his quarters now."
"Really? Are they completely black and depressing?"
Pansy laughed, "No, they are actually very luxurious. It's surprising really, though I'm very lucky – I did get to inherit all of his top potion books. Some of them would have to be the only copy available in existence."
"Wow, I bet Hermione would love to get her hands on some of them."
"True, I'd think anyone interested in potions would be. His warding was very complicated, I'd doubt any of them would be able to be taken out of the room at all. Apparently Minerva couldn't get any of the previous professors into his chambers to begin with."
"And it allowed you?"
"Yeah. I'm not entirely sure why but I'm certainly not complaining. They are very nicely decorated. What are yours like?"
Ron smiled, "They are the coolest thing ever. I love the sitting room, the elves have a constant selection of biscuits for me. Clearly they've been informed of how hungry I am all the time."
Pansy laughed and stopped as they reached Ron's Defence classroom again. "Well, I hope you have a good day."
"Thanks, you too, I'm looking forward to telling you about my next class at dinner tonight, I'm showing the third years a Boggart."
Pansy felt her heart warm. It was an incredibly sweet thing to say. The feeling lessened when she realised there were a few students standing behind her. She smiled at them then made sure she played her part
"I'm really looking forward to it too. I'm teaching my sixth years to brew Felix Felicis this afternoon so we can trade stories."
She made a show of waving as she backed away, then eventually turned to walk to her class.
He could be very frustrating at times. Sometimes she wondered if they would ever actually be friends or if he'd always be pretending.
At least it was tolerable, regardless of how much they argued when there were no students around, he did have to be nice to her in the halls and though he irritated her beyond no end she was really enjoying teaching, so if she had to put up with Ronald Weasley then so be it.
Pansy reached her first year Slytherin Gryffindor class and entered, as she had been doing with all her first and second year introductory classes that week.
As the students got up to get the assigned equipment and ingredients, Pansy watched the young girl she had been both eager and nervous to see. Thea was one of the last few in the line to get her things and Pansy could tell she looked a little nervous for her first class.
"Okay, now there are multiple parts of the beetle that are used in potion making. Ensuring that you are cutting all ingredients precisely is very important because when careless, the potion you are attempting to make could very easily become something completely different. Whether that's sludge, a melted cauldron or a dangerous explosion depends on a little something I call luck. However, this is why I'll be teaching you the correct way to prepare ingredients, so that you can be best prepared for the art that is potion making. Can anyone tell me the parts that you can use in potion making from a beetle?"
No hands were raised and Pansy smiled gently, hoping to give one of the first years the confidence to raise their hand. After a minute, Pansy watched as Thea raised her hand timidly into the air.
"Miss Belltowers?" The girl looked a little taken aback that Pansy had known her name but didn't comment on it.
"The eyes?" Thea answered almost as if asking a question.
Pansy smiled, "Correct, five points to Slytherin."
The class ended with the loud chattering of the students and Pansy started to prepare for her afternoon class.
"Excuse me Miss Parkinson?"
Pansy looked up from her page to the girl in front of her desk.
"Miss Belltowers, what can I do for you?"
The girl flushed, "Nothing. I-I just wanted to say t-that I enjoyed your class."
Pansy stared at the girl in awe, "I'm glad that you enjoyed it. I am looking forward to teaching you"
Thea nodded shyly and turned away reluctantly, eventually giving in and grabbing her books before heading out the door. Pansy got the feeling that she had more to say but would let the girl come to her when she was ready. Perhaps she was nervous about the course work. Smiling to herself, she wrote the notes for her next class on the board with her wand.
Ron could really get used to this whole teaching thing. He even enjoyed the trouble makers in some of his classes, likely, he mused, because they reminded him of himself in his time at Hogwarts.
He had the classroom cleared, similar to how Lupin had had it set up back in his own third year Boggart Defence class.
He smiled at the memory. Oh how far he had come. How they had all come.
Ron had always loved Lupin, he was a great teacher and he'd always put in a great deal of effort with he, Harry and Hermione, just to check in or spend time with them. It made them feel really important. Ron, Harry and Hermione were all close with Teddy Lupin, who was six years old, and spent a fair bit of time with him, often telling him stories about his parents.
Ron had gotten the idea from Pansy's entrance that re-enacted Snape to create a class in honour of Lupin. Ron hoped that out there somewhere, Lupin was laughing at him.
Waiting until the whole class was present, he started.
"Good morning class, I'm Professor Weasley and I will be your Defence Against the Dark Arts Teacher."
"Are you really a war hero?" A boy with blonde hair asked from the back of the room.
"Oh, well-" Ron tried to begin but was interrupted again by a girl with brown, curly hair.
"Of course he is. Everybody knows that he helped Harry Potter defeat You-Know-Who."
Ron couldn't quiet the talk as other students had begun to put their two cents in.
"Yeah he and Harry Potter have been best friends since their first year."
"And Hermione Granger," Another girl commented.
"She's so pretty," a boy sighed, Ron couldn't really see him because the girl standing in front of him was a lot taller.
"Okay enough," Ron interrupted loudly enough to drown out the interruptions.
"Do you hate Pansy Parkinson?" the first boy who had started the conversation questioned and Ron's brow furrowed. What was going on?
"Okay class, we will not dwell on the topic but to curb your curiosity, yes I am best friends with Harry Potter – ever since the first day we met on the Hogwarts Express actually," He said proudly, "And my other best friend is Hermione Granger. We stood up for what we believed in and fought against Voldemort – yes you can say his name, because fear of a name, only increases a fear of the things itself. Professor Parkinson and I are friends."
"But you hated her at school didn't you?" The taller girl in the front asked.
Ron hesitated, one benefit as an auror had been learning to think before he spoke. Most of the time, at least. He decided this conversation could benefit what they were trying to achieve amongst the houses.
"Professor Parkinson and I were your typical Gryffindor and Slytherin rivals. We were competitive and we had different friend groups. Similar to the rivalry between Harry and Draco Malfoy – who I'm sure you've all heard of." He saw a few of the kids roll their eyes and decided to take a different approach.
"You have to understand that back then things were different. There was a war raging outside these walls and we all had different parts to play. People were scared and rightfully so. But now that the war is over, so is the rivalry."
Ron grinned before adding, "Well, not completely, obviously you will all still want your teams to win the house cup. But now you have this amazing opportunity to socialise with anyone you want to socialise with, regardless of house colours."
The class were silent this time and Ron took the opportunity to begin his class.
"Now, in this wardrobe, I have a Boggart."
The gasps were heard throughout the students and Ron smirked to himself. This was going to be a funny class.