"It's only a foot longer than McGonagall asked for! It's not as if I've gone and killed someone! Merlin. Now can we please let it rest and start on that essay for Snape?" badgered Ron. The last few weeks had done his grades good, and he was starting to like Dark Lord Ron more and more. Brewing Polyjuice Potion without Hermione really drove home some of the theory he'd missed in class over the past four years.
"I wanted to go flying until dinner," said Harry, "we can work on Rejuvenation Potions tonight, it's not due till Wednesday."
Ron groaned. "Mate, tonight's Hermione's Runes and Arithmancy night. Let's work on Potions now."
"We could work on it together? Without Harry…" asked Hermione, raising a tempting eyebrow at her boyfriend. Damn you Hermione! How much he wanted to take make good on that offer, but there just wasn't enough time in a day…
"But then I'd have to go over it again tonight with Harry. Let's just do it now altogether." Said Ron with finality.
"Fine." Sighed Harry, taking out his Potions book. Hermione shot Ron a proud look as she took out her stuff as well.
"You could always go flying after dinner. Now, Snape said that-"
Rejuvenation Potions weren't all that hard. Of course, Ron would never have been able to memorise the ingredients' functions in each step, but Dark Lord Ron could. Dark Lord Ron memorised them all, including the stirring patterns and the reasoning behind them. In the end, he made three alterations to the text that -based on the theory- should make the Potion just as potent in half the brewing time. Hermione read over and recalculated his answers several times and couldn't find any flaws in his work. To say she was amazed, really was understating matters. She kissed him full on the mouth in the middle of the Common Room, and again after dinner in the Great Hall; right in front of Harry, who fled towards the Quidditch pitch.
Good. Ron really needed the time with Dennis and Colin in the Room of Requirements. Leaving Winky to brew by herself didn't sit well with him.