The familiar metallic clang of the train engine resonated in the background, and the soft leather seat vibrated slightly beneath Ron as he laid his head back leisurely, gazing out the frost-covered glass of his compartment at the snowy, chalk white landscape beyond. His heart was thumping inside his flannel red jumper in anxious anticipation of reuniting with Harry, as he turned to look at Aria, whose blonde brows were furrowed in concentration, her wand waving stiffly as she jerked in her seat, her dark leather jacket squeaking against it.

"I can't," she finally exclaimed in defeat, slamming her wand onto the table, "and Flitwick's going to test us on this knitting charm?"

"As soon as we return, that's what he said", Ron nodded.

She groaned, pinching the top of her nose, "Why can't it be 'Aguamenti" or something? Look at this!", she lifted up her attempt at making a tiny woven blanket, which looked more like a spider web of dark green wool.

"You're just being too rough," he said chuckling, and gripping his wand, untangled the tight asymmetrical knots in the middle. Then with a gentle flick, knit them together elegantly.

"You're just good at charms. I prefer plants."

"It's not that. My mum has been knitting me clothing since I was born, and she's a pro. I've watched her do it. She's going to make more this Christmas, I'm sure," he smiled and leaned back again. Then, a little smile crossed his lips. "I can't wait anymore," he blurted, clicked open his trunk and began rummaging in it.

"Alright?", Aria mumbled confused.

"Here", he placed his fist carefully onto the middle of the small table, "your Christmas present". Opening his tight fist slowly, he revealed a golden coin shimmering slightly.

"Uhh…", Aria rose her eyebrows and grabbed the coin apprehensively, "thanks, I guess. Not to be ungrateful, but I kind of already have a galleon."

"It's not an actual galleon," Ron chuckled, "it just looks like one".

"Oh… so it's worthless. Again, not to be a git-"

"It's not just any coin," he smirked, snatching it back from her and pointing his finger onto its edge, "it's an enchanted coin. We used to have those for the D.A. last year. I have the same one," he patted the denim of his pocket, "I altered the incantations a bit, so if you ever need to talk, just squeeze it real tight, and mine will warm up, and vice-versa".

Her eyes were completely focused on the golden coin now, mesmerised, as she slowly took it out of Ron's palm, and examined it. Then, to test whether it worked, she clutched it in her fist until her knuckles turned white. Sure enough, Ron felt his leg become increasingly more heated.

"I just thought, since I can technically call out your name in my head and you'll hear… its only fair… and it's a bit more reliable."

"Blimey", was all she could muster up as she continued to gaze at it in awe. "It's amazing, Ron. Thank you."

He smiled modestly.

Before he knew it, the train had come to an abrupt halt, and they waved each other goodbye at the platform of King's Cross. Then, everything happened in a rapid blur: his family, uncomfortable hugging, Harry, awkwardness, the Burrow.

Now the messy mop of inky hair was looking at him somberly from across his room, as they sat silently. It seemed like hours had passed until Harry spoke.

"I'm sorry", he mumbled. "I was a real git, blaming you and all." Ron continued to stare at him. "And I should've trusted you, if you think she's trustworthy…"

"I do."

"Then I do too," he gulped. "And you were right, I'm nowhere near to getting close to Slughorn", he sighed regretfully.

"I'm sorry too. I was way too harsh and you certainly have more important issues than my personal complaints…" he trailed off.

"But that's just it! You are so important. I realised that, especially these past few weeks. I missed you so much. I couldn't concentrate on anything" His tone wavered and his voice cracked and suddenly they were both standing.

"I missed you too, mate", Ron flung his long arms forcefully around Harry as the other did the same, and they stood there embracing each other tightly.

"About time", came Ginny's smug voice from the doorway as they parted, chuckling.

It had felt like a hefty weight had been finally lifted from his chest and they chattered incessantly the whole evening, under the mandarine glow of the dusty oil lamp on Ron's wonky bedside table, joking and laughing and discussing like there was no tomorrow. He had really missed his best mate. And Harry seemed just as eager to finally be on good terms.

"Hermione has driven me insane these past weeks", he complained as he moved his chess piece.

"How come?" Ron grinned giddily at the mention of her name.

"Well first of all, with not being able to bicker with you and all, she's been taking all her frustration out on me!" Harry half laughed half cried. Then in a Cambridge accent resembling Hermione's he proceeded, "Have you been paying even the slightest attention to the professor?! According to the Principal of Artficianimate Quasi-dominance, if you don't make firm and decisive wand movements you might cause mutations!". They laughed as Ron could almost picture Hermione admonishing him. In fact, he missed her so much he'd give anything to have her scold him for his immaturity or crudeness.

"I miss her." Ron let the solemn sound escape his lips before he realised the desperation in his tone. "Now all I have to do is make peace with her…", he moaned.

"I don't think it's going to be that difficult," Harry smirked and Ron's eyes flicked to him immediately.

"Why d'you say that?"

"Whenever she's not rebuking me for my poor listening skills, she's talking about you." He switched to her voice again, "Did you see how precise Ron's 'Defodio' was? And his Drought charm? Did he just cast 'Aguamenti' non-verbally? You can do this Harry, look at Ron, he transfigured his teacup into an entire gerbil ages ago, not just the head! I heard Ron did very well in quidditch practice today!", Harry sighed in exasperation. Noticing Ron smile shyly to himself, he added, "She definitely misses you too. And since when are you so good at incantations, you're making me look bad."

"I've been channeling my inner magic", he spoke with his chin high and with a mock poshness. They laughed.

Ginny hurried into the room a few moments later, with a giant plate of fresh turkey sandwiches courtesy of Mrs.Weasley, which the three of them attacked ravenously.

"So I can finally talk to Ron without getting angry in advance?", she questioned rhetorically raising her hands in the air, thanking the skies.

The two boys chuckled.

"She's actually quite funny that Aria", she added before taking another giant bite. Ron nodded in agreement.

"Have you met her?", Harry asked curiously.

"Yeah," she muffled through a mouthful of delicious meat.

"They were ganging up on me! All because I was against that bloody McLaggen!", Ron protested.

"Hermione ended up going to Slughorn's party with McLaggen," Harry uttered.

"She did?" Ron's heart sank as he glanced at Harry in disbelief.

"She absolutely hated it though. Was avoiding him the entire night, cause he was being, well, McLaggen," he quickly added. "Don't tell her I said that."

That soothed Ron's nerves. There was still hope.

"Oh," he exclaimed suddenly, "did you tell Dumbledore about Draco and the necklace?"

Harry sighed with contempt, his brows furrowing. "Dumbledore is off somewhere, so naturally Snape took care of it instead. McGonagall looked astonished, but told me to keep it to myself, to not cause panic," Harry shook his head in disbelief, "I don't understand why no one is acting!"

"Well that was a waste of time wasn't it?", Ron looked down in disappointment, "what if he plans to do something else?"

"I've been keeping an eye on him on the Maurauder's map," Harry added quickly.

"And?"

"And nothing."

Christmas had flown by faster than a snitch, and soon enough, Ron was boarding the Hogwarts Express once again. Walking along the packed train in search of an empty compartment, he sported the dark grey cotton hoodie Aria had gotten him as a gift. It might've seemed a simple gesture to an unassuming observer, but Ron was absolutely delighted. Finally, he not only had something of his own that fit him perfectly, but it was also dark and simple, just like he always wanted. Upon seeing it, Ginny said it made his hair and eyes pop, and if it deserved a compliment from Ginny, then it definitely looked good.

A few minutes later he slid swiftly into a compartment half-way down the train, and Harry followed, shutting the door firmly behind him.

Right before the engine started to rattle loudly again, Hermione stood outside the door, looking into the clear window and hesitated before entering. "Hi", she uttered nervously.

An awkward silence filled the air as she shoved her trunk onto the metal shelf above their heads and sat down beside Harry.

"So…", Harry attempted to ease the tension, though at this point it'd be more comfortable if he had left them alone altogether.

"Ron and I should change into our robes soon, we have a prefect meeting," she announced and Ron nodded.

"Oh, of course," Harry mumbled awkwardly.

More silence. Ron began tapping his fingers lightly on the table, uneasy about the stiff atmosphere.

Then, like a siren in the middle of a noiseless night, a knock was heard from the door, and all three heads turned simultaneously.

Ron's expression softened into a crooked welcoming smile as he recognised the dark-haired girl in yellow robes standing patiently outside, and beckoned her in.

"Hi, Ron", she breathed with a coy smile, biting her bottom lip slightly, before throwing an indifferent glance at Harry and Hermione. Against her chest, she clutched a wooden clipboard with both her arms wrapped snugly around it.

"Leanne!", he nodded politely, mentioning her name soley for the purpose of the other two in the compartment. "What's up?"

"I assumed that, … well I was just wondering whether you'd like to sign up for the Wizards chess tournament we're holding in two weeks?" Her tone was sweet and slightly melodical as she lowered the clipboard onto the table.

From the corner of his eye he noticed his friends exchange a look of surprise and utter bewilderment. Hermione's face was turning redder by the minute.

It distracted him slightly, "Uhh… Yeah, of course", he took the quill quickly out of Leanne's extended hand, and scribbled his name down, then handed it back to her with a small smile.

"Great!", she sung out, "I-uhh-we will love to see you there!", she concluded waving at him as she hurried away.

"What was that all about?", Harry grinned at Ron.

"Wizards chess club," he began, fixing his gaze on Hermione for a moment, who looked wide-eyed at the door where Leanne stood mere moments ago, then back at him. "Ernie introduced me to Justin, he's the head there, when I took part in that Wizards skittles event last month," Ron concluded, completely oblivious to the fact that Harry was more interested in Leanne's blunt flirting.

"I think we have to go now, right Hermione?" Though she appeared to be staring right at him, it took her a second to acknowledge the question. "What? Uh… Yes," she stumbled over her words.

They met up in the packed corridor several minutes later, after hastily changing into their school robes, and tread in silence towards the prefects compartment. It was when they unexpectedly found themselves in a relatively vacant part of the train, that Hermione, who was walking behind Ron, clasped his forearm gently, causing him to stop in his tracks and turn on his heel to face her. Their eyes met, and he could tell she was nervous, yet he tried to remain poker-faced.

"I… uhm…", she looked down at her feet then back up at him earnestly, "I'm sorry".

Ron was about to respond but she raised her hand up to silence him briskly, "Let me finish." She took a deep breath then exhaled before she continued, "I behaved in a ghastly, sickening way… and… and I should've just trusted you because you're honestly the only person I can completely trust with anything, you've never let me down once," she emphasised by raising one finger into the air, "and I've just been nasty and loathsome, and what's worse, I've been prejudice because I haven't even given your friend a chance, and I understand that you probably hate me now but-"

He found this a suitable time to finally interrupt her rambling, "I could never hate you," he gave her a small lopsided grin and her eyes fluttered wide open, gazing at his.

"Still," she composed herself again, "I was an awful person and I couldn't find the guts to apologise cause Harry was still livid, and you were always surrounded by people… but-but…those are just excuses," she inhaled once more, "what I'm trying to say is, I'm sorry."

Ron was slightly dumbfounded by all this, and struggled to find the best way to phrase his response. "It's alright," he stroke her arm reassuringly, "we all act a little crazy sometimes. I for one, have been a dull-witted plodder quite a few times in my life, what with pettigrew and all, or I just found out a few weeks ago, that there's this machine called a 'microfave', that apparently takes minutes to heat up your food! Can you believe it?!" His tone switched to excitement.

"A microwave, yes," she let a giggle escape her lips and he was glad to finally make her reveal that glistening smile of hers. Then, out of the blue, she lunged herself against his chest, her little arms wrapped soundly around his broad upper body and her face nuzzled against his school jumper. He reacted immediately, throwing his own long arms around her tiny waist gently, pushing her deeper into the embrace. It was the warmest and most peaceful he had felt in a long time, and the rumbling steam engine seemed to fade away. It was just the two of them. Then Hermione whispered so softly, that it would've been inaudible if her face wasn't pressed so close to him. "I missed you."

"I missed you too." Their embrace deepened. Once they finally let go minutes later, their faces were burning and their hearts pounding fervently.

They made their way to their original destination, all the while walking in the same line, however uncomfortable it was bumping in to random students, but this allowed them to steal glances at each other.

Once there, Ron and Ernie exchanged holiday stories casually, until the Head boy and girl were prepared to give them the schedule.

"Which carriage is it we're supposed to be patrolling?", Ron asked as they began walking away, brows furrowed at the piece of parchment he had just received.

"Uh…", she searched it too, "Carriage E".

Any other time Ron might've complained about it being filled with first-years but he was in too great of a mood.

Their patrol had been relatively uneventful, save for a young dark-haired boy, who stood on the verge of tears outside his compartment door. Ron knelt down on one knee beside him, placing a hand on his tiny shivering shoulder, considering Ron's tall towering stature usually came off as intimidating rather than calming. After several attempts to explain what was causing his distress, the young boy pointed at his lower back, where, in what resembled an unfortunate toilet accident, his entire store of chocolate frogs was smudged around.

"Well, that's unfortunate", Ron commented as he examined his stained gryffindor robes, earning a nudge from Hermione. "We'll fix you up in no time," he pulled out his wand and wordlessly drew an 's' in the air, as the chocolate remnants cleared away, leaving no sign of ever existing.

When he was done, the kid wiggled about in shock to see his robes completely clean, and even hugged Ron, who was still kneeling down. Feeling soft towards the clumsy boy in whom he saw hints of himself in his first-year, he pulled out a sealed pack of 'Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans' he had acquired at the beginning of the train ride, and handed it to him, who stared at it in awe.

"These shouldn't leave any stains, even if you sit on them," he chuckled. "Now go share with your friends"

"Thanks Ron!," the boy smiled widely before returning to his compartment, which erupted in cheers at the prospect of more candy.

When Ron had lifted himself up swiftly, he noticed Hermione's face in an expression he had rarely seen on her. Her cheeks were slightly pink, her eyes gazed at him with unbelievable tenderness, her teeth were biting her bottom lip lightly, and she looked slightly dazed as a whole. It had reminded him of Leanne's appearance back in the compartment, which made him grin slightly. Waking her up from the trance-like state, he gestured them to proceed down the corridor, and she followed.

A few short seconds later, she complimented him curiously, "You've gotten really good with non-verbal spells," she hesitated, "at least from what I noticed, that is". A blush crept back onto her cheeks.

"Thanks", was all he could muster up straight away. "Uhm, actually… Aria has been of great help with that. She gave me a few tips on how to focus a little more, and channel my magic naturally." It didn't feel right to take full responsibility for his improvement. He was afraid to look up to see another vexed reaction, but this time Hermione was rather pensive instead.

"I want to meet her," she announced confidently.

"Really?"

"Yes. I mean, I should meet her so I can finally make up my mind about her." She gave him a small smile.

"That makes sense," he agreed, and as they made their way back to where Harry sat in their compartment, Ron squeezed the enchanted golden coin. Why wait? , he thought. Though he had to admit, a part of him was simply excited to see Aria again.

"Finally", Harry exclaimed as they walked through the door. "Luna and Ginny came by, but they left a couple of minutes ago." Ron sat opposite Harry, and Hermione proped herself besides Ron, to which Harry gave him a knowing smirk but said nothing further. "Should we have those beans?", he enquired excitedly.

"Oh yeah, uh, about that… I ate them all", Ron lied rubbing his hand along the nape of his neck uneasily.

"All of them?!", he stressed in astonishment.

"Can you blame me? I was hungry patrolling." Ron felt Hermione let out a chuckle.

"Now we have to wait for the trolley to come by again." Harry huffed.

At that precise moment, another knock sounded against the clear glass of the compartment door, but this time it was a tall, pale witch, whose wavy ash blonde locks hung loose around her face and the rest were tucked away into a messy ponytail. She looked perplexed, perhaps not expecting all three of them to practically undress her with their eyes. Sliding the smooth door open slowly, she was forced to settle down beside Harry, since Hermione hadn't moved a muscle and was still comfortably seated several inches away from Ron. Ron smiled at Aria, and she smiled warmly back. After a while of more silence, she reached out into her robe pocket, and pulled out two chocolate frogs, four jelly slugs and three liquorice wands, placing them casually onto the tabletop.

"Maybe this will help ease the tension", but at the others' slightly bewildered looks, she added, "I have a bit of a sweet tooth, don't judge."

Harry's eyes flicked immediately onto the mouth-watering confectionery, and noting that, Aria gestured him to "Go, ahead" with a chuckle.

"Brilliant", Harry goggled at the candy before grabbing a chocolate frog and unwrapping it hurriedly. Aria too, took a long red and green slug, and bit into it.

"I don't think we need any introductions, right?", Ron uttered tensely. Everyone shook their head faintly. "Well… uhm". This was way more awkward and anticlimactic than he had imagined.

"Maybe I should talk a little?", Aria rose her eyebrows at Ron, who nodded in relief. "Well, I am in slytherin, duh," she chuckled ever so slightly, and pulled on the dark green patch of cloth on her robes, "I'm in your year obviously, I… I think we share Care of Magical Creatures," she pulled her hand up to count on her fingers, "Defence against the Dark Arts, and uhm Arithmancy," she gestured knowingly at Hermione who looked slightly surprised.

"One of your electives is Arithmancy? I've never seen you there." For once Hermione was intrigued.

"I've never seen her either before we met," Ron chimed in, "always sits at the back".

"Yep", she nodded. "I'm more willing to trust calculated number charts to predict my future than a lump of soggy tea leaves," she chuckled, and to Ron's astonishment Hermione did too.

"So what other subjects did you choose?", she wanted to know, a topic which seemed to arouse her curiosity.

"Well, the ones we share, and then also Herbology, Charms, Transfiguration and Divination. Yeah, I think that's it."

"You still took divination?"

"As much as Trelawney's incompetence and irritating predictions about my rocky love life, which are of great comfort to me," Aria added sarcastically, "have provoked me more times than I can count, the NEWT-level theory is quite simple, so it'll hopefully be an easy 'O'.

"I don't have the patience to sit through another period with Trelawney," Hermione rolled her eyes at just the thought of the mad professor, smiling slightly at Aria. Ron was pleasantly surprised at how well everything had been going, since after all, Hermione can be quite stubborn about changing her perceptions. Nonetheless, once Harry was done devouring his chocolate frog, he focused back on Aria.

"I think there's a pressing issue that we haven't really discussed…", he cleared his throat, "uhm… the whole Legilimency thing."

Aria's face fell into a twitchy frown. Ron knew it was a sensitive subject, considering her best efforts went to not abusing it. She glanced at him, and he nodded reassuringly. They had conversed about the possibility of this question occurring way before Christmas, and Aria was somewhat looking forward to opening up to a few more people, but it still rendered her uneasy.

"What do you want to know?", she asked finally. It was more comfortable answering direct questions rather than starting another complicated monologue.

"Well… ", Harry considered it, "can you control it?"

"Yes," she paused, "it was more difficult before, but now… now it's alright."

"And how exactly do you do it?" It was Hermione's turn to ask questions. "Read minds, I mean"

"It runs in my family. For more detailed insights, you use the spell, but you can skim on the surface through the eyes. Don't worry," she said louder, when Hermione turned to look at her knees, "It requires pretty intense eye contact most of the time, and… you can feel it, it's like someone's sorting through your memories, the deeper the more obvious," she concluded, playing with her fingers nervously. When no one spoke, she continued, "I've said it to Ron before, I don't want to do it. It just took some time to… overcome the instinctive habit… but I understand the skepticism. It's difficult to trust me". A sort of solemn air filled the compartment.

"I'm only asking this because I want to hear it from you," Harry spoke up again, "but you're against Voldemort?"

"Of course," she looked up, slightly offended. "And I want to help", she turned directly to Harry, "I do share a common room with Draco." A look of eager enthusiasm flooded her features. "And whether you want to or not, you hear things," she added with a smirk. Ron knew that look, it was her zeal for justice. Despite him assuring her it was not her fault, there was always an underlying feeling of guilt Aria experienced, in connection with her father and his atrocious actions. It haunted her, even in her sleep, and she was determined to help.

Harry hesitated, visibly on the horns of a dilemma. To trust or not to trust? He glanced at Hermione, whose face was just as indecisive, then at Ron. "Alright then, what've you got?"

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed this chapter! It was the longest one yet, sorry about that. Also, I know this one took longer than usual with New Year's celebrations and all, I'll try to get back on schedule. Leave a review and let me know your thoughts :)