A/N: Thanks ssooo much to my brilliant reviewers!
Dolphingirl79- thank you, I'm glad you think so!
Magnolia Lane- wow, who could ask for a better review? Thank you so much!
MissBrooke06- thanks for the tip!
Los81- thank you, please let me know when characters are out-of-character
Oh, and by-the-way: Los81 and Magnolia Lane, I have borrowed some of each of your ideas, thank you!
Now, on with the story!
Chapter 5: The Secret Life of Ronald Weasley
When Ron woke up, he quickly dressed and spent a lot of time with Madame Pomfrey arguing over whether he could go to class or not. Eventually Madame Pomfrey gave in because Ron was so insistent. He made his way down to the Great Hall where his friends were finishing breakfast. Harry was the first to spot him, which wasn't exactly hard with Ron's flaming red hair. "Ron, hey mate, we're over here! Pomfrey actually let you out!" he yelled. "Looks that way, doesn't it?" grinned Ron. "She didn't want to let me go, said that she needed to keep watch over me in case I feinted again, but I convinced her I was fine!" Hermione looked worried at that. "If she wanted you to stay, maybe you should have, I mean, we don't want anything to happen to you again, waiting for you to wake up once was bad enough!" Harry chuckled realizing why she was so worried. Ron just said, "Oh come on Mione, I'm fine!"
The next class they had was History of Magic. Ron decided that this was the perfect time to start acting like his "new self". When he got to class, he sat with Hermione in the front row, and although Harry sat next to him, he whispered, "What are we doing in the front row? Binns might notice us when we fall asleep!" Ron just ignored him. When Binns began to talk, he surprised everyone by actually listening attentively and even taking notes! The rest of the double period of History of Magic continued this way. Ron took notes, and surprised himself in finding that it wasn't that bad. It wasn't really the history that was so boring as was the way it was taught and the person teaching it. Harry fell asleep in about 5 minutes, just like the rest of the class. At the end of class, when the bell rang, Ron gave him a sharp poke to wake him up. "Come on! We have DADA now!" "Wait, were you awake that entire class?" asked Harry. "Yes, I actually was, and I took notes," answered Ron. Harry gave him a weird look. "Maybe that Bludger altered your brain a bit! What happened to Binns being the most boring professor in the History of Hogwarts?" Ron looked a little uncomfortable, but just said, "It was still boring, I just managed to listen and absorb it." Harry gave him another funny look and said, "Okay then…come on, let's go to DADA, we have to make sure that Tonks doesn't hurt herself!"
At DADA (A/N: it's a pain to type "Defense Against the Dark Arts", so I hope no one objects to "DADA"), Harry and Ron were surprised to see that Lupin was standing at the front of the class. "Good Morning!" He said. "Good Morning Professor Lupin" they all chanted back, having been used to doing this with Umbridge. "Wow Harry, that Unbridge lady really did have you all trained!" Harry grinned. Hey, I told him about that Umbridge cow too! Harry gets all the credit! thought Ron. "Oh, right, anyways, Professor Tonks is not at Hogwarts right now, so I am filling in for her, as I will do whenever she is not here. She left her lesson plan here somewhere…" Lupin sighed when he looked at the mess on Tonks' desk. He muttered, "Accio lesson plan" and the paper flew out of one of the piles of disorganized papers. Several people laughed at Tonks' unorganizedness. Ron remembered in his third year when Snape criticized Lupin for being unorganized. "Okay, does everyone have their paragraphs on defensive spells ready to turn in?" Lupin asked looking at the list. There was a general murmur of "yes"s and "uh-huh"s from the class. "Okay then! Accio homework! The homework flew into a neat pile in Lupin's hand. I love that spell he thought. "Okay, today Tonks, I mean Professor Tonks has told me to cover the basic shield with you. Please observe." The class watched as he held his wand pointed above his head and cried, "Shieldato!" A golden web emerged from the tip of his wand and formed a dome around him. Lupin held the shield for a few seconds, before he lowered his wand. When his wand lowered, the shield disappeared. "Each shield will come out a little differently for each person who tries. Okay, this time, I will ask a volunteer to try and break through the shield. It takes a great bit of mental concentration to keep it up, but I have confidence in you. After I show you again, you will split into groups of three. The person who last conjured his or her shield will rest while the other two go so that they regain their mental strength. Understand?" The class nodded. "Okay, who would like to come up, ah, Mr. Weasley, would you like to try?" Yes! Go me, go me! Harry didn't beat me at this opportunity! Getting to throw spells at a teacher! Cool! And showing Hermione that I can concentrate! Ron thought. Lupin put up his shield again, and Ron tried a few spells. "Petrificus Totalus! Stupefy! Impemedia! Expelliarmus!" After a number of spells, Lupin just smiled and put down his wand. Ron looked extremely disappointed. Dammit! I didn't even get a fair chance! Humph! Well then, I'll have to get Harry! That ought to prove my strength!
Once they were in their groups, Harry was the first to try and put up his shield, and Ron tried to take it down. "Shieldato!" Harry cried. "Stupefy! Expelliarmus! Stupefy!" Ron yelled. Harry winced each time a spell hit the shield, but he managed to stay focused and keep his shield up. He started to look drained after a few minutes. Ron finally yelled, "Petrificus Totalus!" and Harry's shield burst while he fell backwards on the floor, completely rigid. Ron smiled to himself as he did the countercurse. He had beaten the famous Harry Potter. Yes! Go me! "Wow, he wasn't kidding, it was really hard to focus on the shield and not the spells!" Harry exclaimed. "Okay Ron, your turn, and I'll try to break through yours!" Hermione said sweetly. God is she pretty! Maybe I should let my shield fall to make her look good! No, she would be able to tell, and she would feel it was a better accomplishment if she did it when we both were trying. "Sheildato!" Ron cried. A gold web formed around him, but his was slightly larger than Harry's. Hermione sent a number of spells towards him, but Ron just concentrated on the gold web around him. However, Ron saw Hermione flick her hair over her shoulder and bat her long eyelashes at him before throwing him the jelly-legs spell, and Ron was caught off his guard because he was focused on the beauty of his opponent. His shield broke and he wobbled around until Hermione ran up and performed the countercurse. After a few times around, they noticed that certain spells broke the shields more easily, like the jelly-legs one. Ron used this as an excuse for his shield breaking the first time, even though Harry had noticed him staring at Hermione when this happened and knew he had been distracted.
At the end of class, Harry rushed out making some excuse that neither Hermione nor Harry heard, leaving them alone to walk to lunch together. "Well the, lets er…go to lunch, shall we?" Ron said. Oh smooth Ron, great, you sounded so stupid! Now she'll just say she has to go to the library or something! "And then maybe after we eat, we can do some homework in the library," Ron said, making an attempt to show his "new self" to Hermione. "Are you okay Ron? I've never seen you want to go to the library before!" Hermione said anxiously. "What are you talking about? I'm fine!" he replied. Hermione gave him an odd glance before they headed off to the Great Hall. After they ate, they met Harry in the library, attempting to do his divination homework. "You know, we really ought to try to do our homework the correct way, not just making it up., Even if she is an old fraud, why do we have to be like her?" Ron asked. Harry stared at Ron. "You know, you have been acting really weird, maybe that Bludger affected you more than we thought!" He said, still staring at Ron. Hermione just shrugged, "He's right you know, you two should really try to do your homework correctly." "Oh come on Hermione! Ron and I got Ds in Divination on our O.W.L.s! It's not like that class will ever come in handy!" At this point, Madame Pince came over and told them they had better lower their voices or get out. She walked away, and left all three of the friends looking a bit uncomfortable. "Come on, we have class," Hermione said. Ron and Harry just followed her out of the library. Well, Harry is rather right, I mean, when will I ever need to know Divination?! But Hermione actually agreed with me! She didn't try to pick a fight with me, she fought with Harry! Maybe this "new me" is really going to work! I hope it does…
A/N: okay, so what do you think about Ron and his "new self"? I have the general plot planned in my mind now, so the faster you review, the faster you find out what happens! But I only have the general plot, not the specific occurrences in classes. Tell me if you have any! I also have school and homework, so I have limited time to work on this, so keep in mind that I will update, but it will be every few days, although I will try not to leave any cliff hangers for more than a day! Review and tell me what you think!
~lillypotterfan~