"Oy, Potter! Weasley! You can't sleep 'til noon!" It was Seamus and Dean shouting in their ears.
"Whatisit?" Harry mumbles and slurs his words.
"You got about twenty minutes before first class starts." Dean says. "It's nearly 9:30."
Ron sits up in bed and flips the sheets off of him. He gets dressed silently and keeps on nagging Harry to get up as well. Harry never saw him in such a hurry. Harry then starts to laugh. Ron throws a pillow at him.
"What you laughing at!?" He demands. He checks his pants to see if his fly was open and then checked to see if he had his sweater on backwards or not.
"Ron, it's Saturday. No classes." Harry says bluntly through his last chuckle.
"Seamus!" Ron curls up his sleeve and starts to head for the steps.
"It's okay, we should have known they'd joke like that." Harry replies and gets out of bed finally to get dressed himself.
Harry and Ron leave the boy's dormitories together and head down to the Great Hall for breakfast. Ron was saying how he wanted to go to the library to look up some history of potions when they saw Malfoy walking in-between Crabbe and Goyle towards the Great Hall as well. Ron instantly got caught up in his rage again and lunged at his back, tackling him to the floor. Harry was right behind him, just trying to pull them apart. They didn't need a Professor to see them fighting like this. Harry successfully convinces Ron to get off of Malfoy who stands up unsteadily with blood running from his nose.
"What's your problem, Weasley!?" Malfoy says angrily, acting as if yesterday didn't happen at all. Harry hears Ron whisper 'bastard' under his breath. Malfoy wipes away some of the blood with his long sleeve and looks at it with disgust. "What is your problem!?"
"You darn right now what you did." Ron spat.
"Stop pretending, Malfoy." Harry backs Ron up.
"What you talking about, Potter?" Malfoy replies. "You think I have something that belongs to you?"
"You did something I can't forgive you for!" Ron swipes his arm out and points at Malfoy. "You hurt Herm—." Ron was instantly cut short by an on-coming voice.
"What is going on?"
Harry's jaw drops. "Oh my lord."
Someone was squeezing their way through the crowd to see what was happening in the middle. Harry looks over to Ron, who was visibly sweating all over his face and arm shaking. Malfoy didn't seemed disturbed at all. The girl who emerged finally was none other then Hermione. She looked like she always did. Same bushy brown hair and bright brown eyes. She stands in-between Malfoy and the two boys, looking back and forth. She looks at Malfoy first, then sets her eyes on Ron, who was now pointing at her instead.
She cocks her head to the side. "Who are you?" She glances towards Harry. "Are you two new students?"
"What is going on over there!" It was Professor McGonnagal.
The crowd scatters quickly and shuffles into the Great Hall for their breakfast. Malfoy wipes his nose again with his sleeve and follows the rest. Hermione does as well, staring back at Harry and Ron blankly. Ron falls to his knees, still with his sweaty complexion. Harry does the same. He felt so cold all a sudden. He hears Ron gulp next to him.
"She…she…" Ron stutters. "She's okay."
"No," Harry says with difficultly. "She's not."
Harry and Ron look at each other and say in unison: "She doesn't remember us."
The look that Harry saw on Ron's face was terror, and he could pretty well bet the same look was on his face as well. Ron's eyebrows slowly furrow and his teeth gradually clench. He stands up and grabs his wand out of his pocket and aims it at one of the Knights in Armor that stand along the hallway. He double thinks and puts his wand back, but with the same look of unconditional ire on his face. He goes into the Great Hall, and Harry follows, gripping the small wooden handle of his wand handy. They take their normal seats at the end of the Gryffindor Table and start to put stuff on their plate. Hermione was sitting across from them as usual, the same dumbfound look on her face. Ron didn't seem to care. He was eating unusually fast though.
"Excuse me." Hermione starts quietly.
"Shut up." Ron replies.
Hermione curls her nose at him. She turns to Harry. "How are you doing? Do you like it here so far?"
Harry doesn't answer. He didn't like the tone of her voice. It sounded like she was treating him like a foreign exchange student who didn't know any English.
"Not the talkative bunch, are you." Hermione giggles.
Ron pounds his fist on the table. "What's my name, Hermione."
"How do you know mine?" Hermione asks astonished.
"What is my name, Hermione!" Ron repeats.
"How am I supposed to know?" Hermione answers. "It's not like I've known you forever!" She takes a break to laugh out of the side of her mouth with her hand covering the rest. "Truly, you looked so bright when I saw you in the hall just a minute ago, but you honestly have no potential here."
Ron closes his eyes and tries to cool down. "Just answer my question, if you will."
"Like I said, How am I supposed to know?" Hermione then decides to ignore him. "Hey Neville, could you pass me the bacon."
"Sure," Neville slides over the plate and Hermione helps herself.
Harry leans over and whispers into Ron's ear. "This doesn't make sense. She remembers Neville of all people, but not us."
Ron's eyebrow was twitching. "Malfoy."
"What?" Harry asks.
"Malfoy." Ron repeats and quickly glances over to the Slytherin table. "I ain't done with you, Draco."
"Oh, you know Draco?" Hermione finally talks to him.
Ron's attention is officially bought. "You remember Malfoy?"
"For goodness sake, his name is Draco." Hermione replies. "He's a nice guy, once you get to know him. Of course he isn't the best looking thing here, but at least he's somewhat smart."
"How can you say that!" Ron stands up, but his voice was still shaky. "He's the one that did this to you!"
"Sit down!" Hermione yells hoarsely. "You'll attract attention."
"Sit down? Sit down!" Ron bellows and swings his legs over the bench seat and readies to leave. "What happened to you Hermione? Tell me!"
Hermione laughs again. "What are you talking about."
Ron stares her down for a second. "My name is Ron Weasley." He then walks out of the Great Hall. "I'll see you in the common room." He adds for Harry.
Hermione giggles to herself. "Weasley. That's a funny last name."
Harry hurdles back over the seat as well. "What has happened to you?" He leaves as well and goes to the common room.
He finds Ron sitting on the sofa in front of the fire with his head in his hands. He had his legs spread out wide and was leaning over. His black robe was on the floor as well as his gold and red striped tie. Harry sits on the large arm chair next to him. But he couldn't sit still. He gets up and takes a throw pillow and throws it across the room. He does it again, but nothing could get the rage out that he had towards Malfoy at that moment. Ron never moved.
"Ron," Harry said.
Ron finally looked up and Harry was shocked. His eye whites were pink and stood out behind his blue eyes. He was crying? That was the first time he saw a tear being shed from his eyes. Ron takes a deep breath and shakes his head in silent shame.
"It's okay Ron." Harry reassures.
Ron forces a laugh. "Promise not to laugh?"
"Yes."
"Has the world ended, Harry?" Ron asks timidly.
"Pretty dang close, Ron. Pretty dang close." Harry replies and throws another pillow with less vigor.
"Don't tell anyone." Ron says. Harry knew he meant many things by that. Tell nobody that he saw him crying, and tell nobody that Hermione has forgotten them.
"Safe with me." Harry answers.
"Feel like a game of Wizard's Chess?" Ron said.
"Yes, I do." Harry drags out the set they kept down in the common room and set it up on a table and begin to play.
Harry's knight was crushed and Ron laughs. "Mind if I pretend all of your pieces are Malfoy?"
"No fair," Harry replies. "You'll win easier that way."
"Precisely." Ron clears away the broken knight and calls out his next move. They ended up playing three games worth.