Disclaimer: Harry Potter, all related characters and settings belong to J. K. Rowling.
A/N: I know this chapter is a short one. The next one will be longer.
Chapter Five: Realisation
Ron glanced around him as if he expected someone to jump out and attack him. He knew that he was being irrational. He wasn't the one that got attacked. He couldn't help it though. Now that he knew what he knew he was not able to calm down.
He didn't want to know it though. The loss of sleep was better than what he felt now. He supposed that he had felt it before but know he was aware of it so everything was different.
It must have shown that night, eating in the great hall. For the first time in a few weeks, he ate a proper meal. Actually, quite a large meal. It felt like the block in his throat had gone and was letting him eat again. At last. Ginny was ecstatic about it. For once she didn't suggest that he should go to the hospital wing to see if they could help him.
People who had worried about him earlier that day, assumed that his problem had been sorted out.
The problems were only just starting.
Noone even asked Ron what had changed. He felt quite offended by that. He wouldn't have told them but they could have at least asked.
He was also looking at the relationship between Harry and Hermione in a different way. Before it had just been in the back of his mind. Slightly annoying when he wanted to talk to someone and they were off somewhere together. He had a new-found respect for them now though. Especially Hermione, who had initiated the relationship.
He had always assumed that that sort of thing would be easy. If it was though, he wouldn't be sitting in his dormitory staring at his Defence Against the Dark Arts homework without moving his quill for the last half an hour.
He stared down at it so more. He hadn't even written his title. Usually this was because he was tired but now it was because his mind wasn't focusing. He tried to remember what it was supposed to be about. Mystical creatures? Maybe.
He tapped his fingers and sighed. Folding up his work and rolling over onto his back to stare at the hangings of his bed and, beyond that, the ceiling.
Suddenly, Ron had an idea. Something that would clear his head and start him off on his homework.
He picked up his work again and wrote down the title. 'The Baslick.' He added a few subheadings, the top one being 'What does it feel like to be killed by a Baslick?' Got up and headed out of the common room.
