Before it starts, allow me to mention a few points I couldn't fit into the description. Though this is based in their 6th year, and most of the events happening remain the same as in the books, I did scratch a few things, like the entire Lavender storyline, and I am planning to add storyline that aren't canon. The Slytherin is a character of my own, yet I tried to make it as realistic as possible. I figured that Slytherins are often misrepresented in the series as evil, and it could be fun to develop both Ron in a more three-dimensional way away from the trio, as well as kill that prejudice towards Slytherins. So in other words, this is like an AU rewrite of their 6th year, with Ron as the main character. Also, there will definitely be strong hints of Romione throughout, cause I just love them, and I hope to develop their relationship a bit better too.

The new year had just begun, and as always the gloomy, frightening fate of the Wizarding world, seemed to hang loosely above the shoulders of the trio. After the horrific events of the past years, Harry had to, more than ever, focus on his destiny of being the chosen one, and the responsabilities and consequences this was bound to have. Hermione, though the impending doom that awaited them scared her more than she would like to admit, was rather excited at the prospect of finally beginning her preparations for the N.E. .

Ron on the other hand, had little to look forward to this coming year. Once again, despite ending the last Quidditch season on a great note, he was deeply concerned about the stability of his position as keeper. On top of that, the initial excitement of being a prefect had long worn off, yet he didn't complain. Spending time with Hermione was the only thing he looked forward to. And last but not least, his meagre 'Acceptable' in potions, something he initially dismissed, considering Harry couldn't take that class even with an E, was about to prove to be the turning point of his entire year at Hogwarts.

Here they were, coming in one by one, as Professor McGonagall approved their timetables. Both Harry and Hermione had long had their turn, and Ron could sense an ominous lump in his throat, as he finally entered the study.

"Mr. Weasley", McGonagall announced loudly, her gaze pearcing right through him. "Glad to see a few good marks on here". She looked down and scanned his paper. "Everything seems to be in order…" she paused, "however, since you're dropping potions this year, have you considered taking up Care of Magical Creatures? Your 'Outstanding' would look really good if you can keep it up".

Ron nodded. Her words were law, and he wasn't about to argue. After all, he didn't mind spending an hour a day having a laugh with Hagrid. "Yeah, sure".

She jotted down a few notes. "Alright then, off you go and good luck".

It didn't take long for Ron to find his friends, as they hurried to Defense Against the Dark Arts. Snape.

"What a great way to start off the morning", Ron whispered sarcastically at his best mate as they sat down.

"Tell me about it", Harry sighed in agreement.

"How did he end up teaching it anyways, didn't you say Slughorn was gonna take it?"

Harry shrugged. "That's what I thought. But I guess it's for the better. I wonder what he's like, Slughorn. And we have 2 periods of potions to find out." Harry slid down across the table, until his head lay still on his forearms.

It had taken Ron a few seconds to fully comprehend what had been said.

"Wait", Ron straightened up as he exclaimed, a little louder than the whisper he had previously used, earning a hard nudge of Hermione's elbow. Luckily, it seemed to have went unnoticed by Snape. "You're doing potions? I thought you didn't qualify?"

"Yeah. I guess Slughorn's standards aren't as high." The dazed atmosphere of the first day had made it difficult for Harry to focus, but finally, the realisation hit him like a wave of cold water. "You didn't qualify for Potions did you?", his face contorted into a mixture of guilt, regret and despair as he lifted his head to look at Ron. It was a question that needed no answer.

This would be the first time they would not be having the exact same schedule, and that thought made Ron extremely depressed. He knew he wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, and that his best friends tended to outshine him in this department – in any department, he corrected himself on second thought – but it had never posed a problem.

Walking out of that class, Harry had achieved the unachievable, and scored himself a detention with Snape the very first day of term. Despite not partaking in their quiet conversations during class, Hermione didn't need briefing, and as soon as they were out the door, struggled to keep her composure.

"What do you mean you're not doing potions?"

The tips of his ears reddened in embarrassment. The number of lessons they shared was steadily dwindling with every year, and considering she was busy with extra reading and homework a lot of the time, Ron was becoming afraid of losing the chance to talk to her at all. "From what I've seen of his obsession with 'successful students of tomorrow', I doubt Slughorn will accept my 'acceptable'".

"So you have another free period then?", Harry chimed in with a hint of mocking jealousy.

"Naah. I would never. You know me, an hour not spent studying is an hour wasted."

The air had lightened and Ron was relieved to hear Harry and Hermione laugh. He wasn't really fond of where this conversation was going and how uncomfortably aware of his own incompetence it was making him. "I figured, Care of Magical Creatures wouldn't hurt."

"Oh thank god", Harry sighed, "I had completely forgotten about Hagrid. Imagine if none of us took his subject."

"Yeah, we'd probably be accidentally", he made sure to emphasize that part, "eaten by some monstrosity he acquired over the summer".

The three friends parted, as Harry and Hermione turned and headed for Potions. For a split second, Ron felt paralyzed, almost like he had suddenly forgotten the maze-like school corridors that were so engraved into his mind. Shaking himself into movement, he proceeded outside.

Prodding through the thick, long grass that led up to the forgotten spot behind Hagrid's cabin where Ron were to spend an hour, alone, neither Harry nor Hermione by his side, he couldn't help but feel lost. Ever since he can remember, he had always been surrounded by people. And now, no one. As he approached, he noticed a couple desks, or rather weathered wooden crates, set up in the grass. At least it's not something big, he thought to himself.

Hagrid greeted him with more enthusiasm than ever before, throwing his gargantuan arms around Ron's slender body. Any other time, Ron was used to towering over his fellow students and even teachers, but Hagrid was obviously an exception.

"I am so happy to see you!" His booming voice echoed throughout the grounds. He lowered Ron rather roughly back down. "There aren't too many of you this year, you know".

Not many was an understatement. Ron was sure it would've been too much of a coincidence if everyone was late. When he peered around the stony wall of the hut, he could only see a pair of hufflepuffs, two girls who were already standing together at one of the crates, deep in some muffled discussion about their unbelievable summer, with an occasional "no way" or "same", ringing in the otherwise noiseless air. And then, a slytherin, another girl. Great, he thought to himself, not only was he the loser stuck doing Care of Magical Creatures, but he was the only guy too. He struggled to recognize the ash blonde girl leaning her head lazily on one hand, squishing her features slightly as a result, as he made his way towards her, considering the lack of another desk, where he could work alone.

"Great", Hagrid clapped his hands together, a wide grin on his hairy face, "now that you're all here, let me just get out the Nifflers".

The slytherin witch beside Ron sighed tiredly. She hadn't acknowledged his presence, choosing instead to stare into the brightly colored sports gazette, lying casually before her. He couldn't tell if he was relieved or plain annoyed, but now that he was closer, his mind struck gold. That's where he knew her from. Quidditch. The Slytherin Chaser. But as hard as he tried he couldn't remember her name. He had rarely noticed her around the school, despite apparently being in the same year as her, which made him curiously suspicious. The truth was, any slytherin was more often than not associated with You-Know-Who, as far as he knew, and if Harry were here – he turned his head almost instinctively to his right, only to find empty space – he would definitely agree. His stream of thoughts was cut short.

"We're not all Death-Eaters, you know". Her eyes remained completely glued to the page she was reading as she spoke, her voice raspy, almost like she hadn't spoken in days. Ron was startled by the sudden interruption, to the point where he thought he almost lost balance and slipped onto the thick patch of muddy grass below.

"Eeh... what?", his face was the definition of confused. Had he accidentally spoken his admittedly prejudice concerns aloud?

For the first time she stood up straight, revealing herself to be just a few inches shorter than himself, an impressive feat. Straightening her robes with both hands, she turned to face him straight on, dark green eyes shooting like arrows into his, an uncomfortably piercing, almost violating glare. "Name's Aria". She nodded awkwardly at the silence.

"Uh..." he momentarily froze, utterly perplexed by this entire interaction, almost like he forgotten how to meet people. "Ron".

At this she simply released a barely audible "cool" of bleak interest, and resumed her position above the newspaper.

Desperate to save whatever remnants there were of this painful first impression, he continued to talk. "You're on the Slytherin quidditch team, aren't you?"

"Yes, yes indeed". Her reply seemed on the brink of boredom.

"I'm on the Gryffindor team", he paused feeling a tinge of arrogant confidence in the statement, and added, "I think".

She released a chuckle, something he thought was completely unusual, since just a few seconds ago her face was grey and stone-like. "I know who you are Weasley".

And there it was. Not five minutes have passed and his infamous name had already caught up with him. Losing any hope, he decided to completely abandon the conversation and leave it at that. To his surprise however, this time it was Aria who initiated the exchange.

"Aria Rosier, but let's keep it on a first name basis. So...", she abruptly slapped her paper shut and folded it before shoving it into her robe pocket, "what brings you here, to the wonderful lesson of Care of Magical Creatures?"

Thankful for not mentioning his family or his friends any further, he replied, "My schedule, I guess".

She chuckled once more, "You're funny, but honestly, you and I both know that this wasn't our first choice." At this moment, she turned to the hufflepuff girls in front of them, as cringe consumed her features.

"Well... my Potions OWL was merely acceptable, and I like Hagrid, so yeah..."

"I guess we are more alike than you'd think. About the Potions part that is. Not a fan myself."

Then, just as abruptly as it had began, the conversation was over, as a big fat Niffler fell clumsily onto the wooden surface, a cross-breeding experiment of a platypus and a ferret gone wrong, Ron mused.

"Just make sure to keep anything shiny away, they can be quite cheeky these ones if they want", Hagrid warned with a hoarse laugh, and the lesson began.

Before Ron knew it, the class was already over. And it wasn't at all as bad as he had expected. Quite the opposite actually. He had fun. Nonetheless, the absense of the only two people he had ever wanted to spend his time with, was becoming more unbearable by the minute. And now, he had a whole hour of free time, whilst they were still with Slughorn. A nervous itch spread across his limbs, as he wondered if he was missing some important information, and whether they missed him like he did them. Did they notice his absence at all? Before his mind could flood once more with unfounded worry, he was once again cut short in his thoughts.

"So, where are we headed?" Aria had just slid up to his side, practically appearing out of thin air. Despite feeling relieved at the company, as they strode through the deserted corridors of the school, a feeling of uneasiness and apprehensiveness rose up in his stomach. Why did she just join him like that? Did he want to talk to her at all? She didn't even ask him. Before he could turn his bewildered expression into anything other than incoherent mutterings, she continued, "I say the library seems like an option, we got to write that description of the Nifflers, don't we?".

Even better. She was another one of those. Spending time in the library with Hermione was one thing. He wanted to be around her, maybe debate about something for a bit, watch her reading thoroughly another one of her favorite books out of the corner of his eye, her brows furrowed in concentration. After all, some part of him hoped that one day, something would happen. Either he would grow a pair, or at the very least, she would glance at him, or touch his hand, accidentally or not. He lived off those crumbs, yet he lived for them too. Yet now he was faced with a dilemma, spend his free period doing homework, a rational yet rather tedious idea, or sit alone in the empty Gryffindor common room until lunch. His fear of feeling left out had won over, when he realised he hadn't really said anything for a while, and spit out a nervous, "I guess".

Soon enough they were tucked away in one of the darker corners of the library, but it would've made no difference, as they were completely alone. It was another long moment of silence until one of them spoke.

"How come a Slytherin wants to hang out with a Gryffindor anyway?"Ron knew that in other circumstances, he would find this question rather rude, but considering the blunt nature of their interactions up to this point, it only made sense.

She didn't stop rummaging in her school bag for some parchment and her quill to answer, instead just proceeded automatically. "Funny you ask". Even though her face was half hidden, he could feel a cunning grin stretch itself out. "I was just considering that. You'd have to admit, there is almost not another living soul that isn't in class, not from Gryffindor or Slytherin anyway. I found you amusingly peculiar, for lack of a better word. Can't I talk to whoever I want?" Her voice was very composed, and calm, but also slightly eery at times, her words stretched out in a hypnotizing kind of coolness.

Feeling slightly bold however, Ron responded rather confidently. "Don't know if you've noticed, but they don't usually talk, Gryffindors and Slytherin that is, if we don't count snark remarks."

"Now isn't that just bloody stupid." He was slightly taken aback by hearing someone other than him swear so nonchalantly. "I, personally" she made a dramatic pause as she stood up from her chair suddenly, "don't mind any of the other houses."

At first glance he though she was about to leave, but all she did was turn around casually to the bookshelf right behind her, guiding her finger along the dusty covers, in search of a specific one.

"Me neither", he found himself exclaim defensively, his voice a little too unsteady for his liking. "I just thought it a bit odd, that's all".

Her finger halted at a toffee colored leather cover, and she slid it out of the row deftly, returning to her seat and facing Ron with that strangely piercing gaze again. "Then it's settled." She detached her eyes and focused once more on the thick dusty book beside her.

Her cool attitude didn't seem as threatening to Ron any longer. In fact, he found it quite relaxing.

"There", she smacked her index finger with a loud thud onto one of the dusty pages, and turned it around for Ron to see. "Found it."

"Found what? "

"You can't actually think I'm going to spend a precious hour of my life describing a Niffler are you?"

His mood lightened. He completely agreed. "But what is it? Some kind of spell?"

"Oh, no no no. Much simpler than that. You don't always need magic to make your life easier you know. I say, work smart not hard." She pointed once more at the page, and now Ron could clearly see a picture of a Niffler twisting its head in excitement, and a large paragraph right below it.

"Wouldn't Hagrid tell if we just copy a paragraph out of a book?" Ron looked at her incredulously.

"Honestly, I don't think he would. But that wasn't my plan in the first place. We're not actually going to copy it word for word, that's just a recipe for disaster. Switch it up, use a few simpler synonyms here and there, write it in a different order. Believe me, no magical spell will be accurate enough to find out."

Ron nodded in impressed approval,and they set to work. He had to admit that he found this method quite interesting, and effective as it appeared, when just ten minutes later, he had a very detailed description of the Niffler's appearance and behaviour. "Wow", he read his work in utter disbelief. "This is better than anything I could've ever mustered up myself, by far".

Aria just smiled in delight as she returned the book to its original location, but before she had lowered herself to the wooden chair once again, Ron had an idea. "Could this method", he stopped to phrase his words correctly, "work with other subjects too?" It was less of a real question, and more of an invitation to show him more. Her smile widened, and her eyes glittered with interest.

"Well, as a matter of fact, I find this a fool-proof method for any class".

Ron's eyebrows rose in curiosity. "Even, say Defense Against the Dark Arts?"

"Even that." She was determined to share her knowledge now, as she spiraled around and pranced to a different bookshelf, several rows ahead, "Defense Against Dementors right?", she required, her tone buisness-like. Not waiting for a response, she slid out another book, much larger than the previous, and carried it with both arms, dropping it onto the wooden desk.

"How did you know the topic?" That particular question seemed to amuse her more than anything.

"Hard to forget something said directly in front of you, isn't it?"

After the initial confusion had worn off, Ron had realised the mistake he made, and slapped his palm against his forehead in disbelief. "I'm so dumb, you were in that class, cause you're in Slytherin". He kept his eyes closed and his palm pressed to his head for as long as he deemed enough to show how aware of his stupidity he was. After finally releasing himself, he followed up, "I've never seen you in any of the classes".

She shrugged. "That's true. I make it a task of my own to sit as far back as I can, and attract as little unnecessary attention as possible. I like to…", she paused, looking like she was unsure of the best way to phrase it, or whether she should be saying anything at all, "observe", the word lingered in the eerie silence that followed. "Something which can't be said about your friend Potter".

Even though this statement wasn't unsubstantiated, a tiny flaming ball of fiery rage had started to make its way up Ron's throat. But before he could fire back a remark in defense of his mate, Aria stopped him.

"Now don't get all riled up please. I have nothing against him. In fact, I believe him, always have." Ron stared at her as the ball of fire extinguished itself, a look filled with doubt. "Oh, yes. I know it's hard to believe, but it's true. However, your friend should learn to keep his cool a little better don't you think?"

Ron didn't answer. It's not like she was wrong. Hermione had been saying it for years. But giving in would feel like betraying Harry, so he decided to stay quiet. Another fifteen minutes later, the essay was done, and Ron slipped it away safely into his backpack. Aria placed the book back, just as she did with the first and returned to her seat, taking out instead that same sports gazette she was so thoroughly observing in the morning. News of recent matches flooded the headlines, picture after picture bursting into life. As awkward as it felt to ask, he wasn't about to sit there in silence for another half an hour.

"D'you mind if…" he pointed at the paper uncertaintly, struggling to finish his sentence.

"Of course not", she raised herself once more and slid the gazette to the opposite side, as she plopped herself on the chair beside Ron's. "I hope you're not a Chudley Cannons fan", she laughed.

That's it for the first chapter. I hope to write as much as possible these next few days. Since the story will be taking place over the course of the entire school year, there will be quite a few chapters. Thanks for reading, and let me know your thoughts!