Ron sighed quietly, staring up at the canopy of his four-poster.

"How is it," he thought, "That my entire life can seem to turn upside-down in less than a day?"

He wondered if Oliver was lying awake too, thinking about the day's events. Ron made sure his roommates were asleep before poking his head out between his four-poster's curtains. He opened his trunk as quietly as he could and found the white rose lying where he had left it. He placed it gently under his pillow and went to sleep with a small smile on his lips that stayed the whole night through.

-

It wasn't until breakfast the next morning that Ron saw the Gryffindor keeper, sitting in the great hall with a plate full of food in front of him. His breakfast wasn't going unnoticed, though he was talking animatedly with Fred and George. Ron decided against going up and saying good morning, since he had seen Fred and George in the common room earlier and had said just that before they had departed for an early quidditch practice. The last thing Ron needed was his brothers asking him why he was going out of his way to speak to their captain.

Ron soon found himself seated as usual between Harry and Hermione, his breakfast plate having less food on it than it normally would have. How was he to eat at a time like this? Both his best friends were unaware of his predicament as he dragged a small piece of a sausage round and round through a puddle of syrup.

He tried to pay attention to Hermione as she explained something about their latest herbology assignment. When she had finished, Ron couldn't remember a single word she'd said.

He reached a hand into his robes and let his fingertips brush the petals of the rose Oliver had given him. He'd tucked it neatly into an inner pocket for reasons he couldn't explain.

He glanced over in Oliver's direction and caught the older boy's gaze for a moment. Ron smiled a little. Oliver gave a small nod of acknowledgment. Ron felt something flutter in his stomach. It sent what was left of his ability to concentrate into oblivion.

-

That afternoon Ron was finding double potions class absolutely atrocious, even more so than usual. The Slytherins usually did everything they could to annoy the Gryffindors. That hadn't changed. Ron was having other troubles besides the antics of his classmates.

"Ron, is anything the matter? That's the third time you've added that green powder to the potion." Harry said, quietly. Luckily for Ron, Harry was a very forgiving work partner.

"Oh. Sorry, Harry." Ron tried to shake some of the fog out of his head.

"Maybe we can fish it out," Harry stared in to the cauldron before looking up at Ron, "Ron?"

"Harry?"

"There's nothing in the cauldron but that green powder. What's got you so distracted?"

"Nothing, nothing at all." Ron quickly poured the powder in to a jar and then measured the correct amount into their cauldron. Harry looked as if he wanted to say more about the subject. He remained silent instead, focusing on measuring out some of the other potion ingredients.

"What's this potion supposed to do?"

Hermione piped up at that point, "It makes a special sort of ink that can only be seen by its maker. You have to put one of your hairs in like this. See?" She demonstrated by plucking a hair from Lavender Brown's head. The girl gave her a withering glance that she didn't notice didn't notice, rubbing her head like Hermione had slapped her.

The potion swirled brightly for a moment. With a small puff of smoke, it turned a dark shade of purple.

"Try it out, Lavender."

Lavender dipped the end of a quill in the cauldron she was sharing with Hermione. She took it and scribbled quickly on some parchment. A moment or two later, she held the parchment up to Hermione. Gryffindor's smartest student nodded her approval.

"Do you want to do it or shall I?" Harry asked Ron. Ron shrugged and Harry took that as permission to steal a vibrantly red hair. Harry dropped the hair into their cauldron. The potion within swirled as Hermione and Lavender's had done, then turned a warm shade of red.

Ron scribbled on a piece of parchment, a simple "I'm in potions class." He eyed the red writing. It looked normal enough. He slid the parchment towards Harry and Harry glanced at it.

"Well, it works. Brilliant." Harry grinned.

After only a few more minutes, the class was over. Ron, after a small amount of thought, decided to pour some of the ink potion into a bottle and save it for later. It could come in useful someday.

-

Classes were over for the day. Since it was Friday, everybody was anxious to have some fun. Everybody but Ron. Upon reaching Gryffindor tower he headed straight for the boys' dormitory and pulled the rose from within his robes. He placed it on one of the pillows of his four-poster and laid staring at it. The petals hadn't even begun to wilt yet. He wondered for a while if Oliver had enchanted it in some way.

Ron hadn't seen Oliver since breakfast and found himself wanting to. Ron really needed to talk about all this, and Oliver, it seemed, was the only person he could talk to. He certainly couldn't imagine telling Harry or Hermione.

Ron sighed and rolled over on to his back, holding the rose above his head to look at it, "Oliver."

After that word had left Ron's lips, a single petal fell from the rose to land on his chest. The rose, to Ron's surprise, disappeared as if it had never been there.

Ron eyed the petal that had fallen from the rose, the only evidence that it had existed. It glowed warmly for a moment, changing shape as it did so. The glow was bright enough that Ron shielded his eyes with a hand for a long moment. When he lowered his hand, the petal was no longer glowing. It was also no longer a petal.

It looked to be a card, like the famous witches and wizards cards you got with chocolate frogs. Ron picked it up and looked at it. Emblazoned on the front in glittering gold letters was "Ronald Weasley," followed by a picture of himself in his Hogwarts robes. The Ron in the picture waved brightly.

Ron's jaw dropped, "Fantastic."

The redheaded boy turned the card over in his palm and looked at the back. In small, black letters it read:

"Ronald Weasley, best known for stealing the heart of Oliver Wood at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

Then, near the bottom, in Oliver's writing, "I know you collect these. I made this one for you. There's never been a finer wizard in my opinion. Oliver."

Ron blinked away tears that were threatening to spill and held the card to his chest. He had never felt better.