"You bloody idiot!" Hermione snapped at Ron, whose face was red with shame. Hermione stood up, running out after Victoria. She searched all over for her before finding her out in the courtyard. "There you are, I've been looking all over for you."

"Sorry, I just wanted to be by myself for a bit." Victoria said, sniffling a bit, and Hermione sighed, sitting beside her on the stone bench. "You're going to catch a cold out here."

Victoria shrugged her shoulders. "It's not like a whole lot of people would care."

"Victoria, Ron feels terrible."

Victoria scoffed at that. "Yeah, I'm sure that he does."

"He really does! You should have seen his face when I left, he looked absolutely guilty, as he should be, he's treated you absolutely horridly."

"I just don't understand it, Hermione." Victoria looked down at her hands. "Am I really that much of a disappointment to everyone?"

"Of course not!" Hermione exclaimed, wrapping an arm around Victoria, giving her a gentle squeeze. "It's not like you wanted to be in Slytherin, and even if you did, I still don't see how that would make a difference. Just because you're in Slytherin, it doesn't mean that you're evil or that you're going to turn crazy like your mum...um, no offense."

"None taken." Victoria laughed a little bit as she wiped some of her tears away. "From the things that I've heard about her, she really is crazy. And the pictures...don't even get me started on those, the hair alone makes you think that she's some kind of psychopath."

Hermione laughed as well. "You know, from what I heard, Rodolphus wasn't half bad before he met Bellatrix, she...corrupted him, if you will."

Victoria shrugged her shoulders. "I dunno, I've only ever heard people talk bad about him."

There was the sound of someone clearing their throat from behind them, and turning around, Victoria saw that it was Ron.

He shuffled nervously on his feet. "Um, Tori, can I talk to you?" He glanced at Hermione. "Privately, please?"

Victoria nodded at Hermione, and the girl stood up, sending Ron a warning glare before she went back inside. Ron sat down next to Victoria, taking a deep breath, going silent for a few moments before he spoke again. "Look, I'm sorry."

"Are you actually sorry, or are you just apologizing because you're scared of what Hermione might do to you if you don't?"

"Um...both?"

Victoria chuckled softly. "I don't blame you there, she can be really formidable, can't she?"

"Okay, I'm just going to pretend that I know what that word means."

"Don't you do that on a normal basis anyway?"

"Ha ha." Ron rolled his eyes. "As hilarious as you are, you don't have a future as a comedian."

"Such a shame too, I know that I would get the crowds rolling with laughter."

"So...does this mean that I'm forgiven?"

She acted like she was thinking about it, but in reality she already knew the answer. "Oh, I suppose so. Come here."

Ron hugged her tightly. "And about Percy...just ignore him, okay?"

"You mean like we did all summer because the only thing that he would talk about was him being a bloody prefect?"

"That and that girlfriend of his."

Victoria wrinkled her nose. "Penelope Clearwater."

"Yeah, her."

"She's pretty enough, but from the things that I've heard, she likes to use her power as a Ravenclaw prefect."

"Her and Percy get along perfectly then, I'm sure."

"Just try to stay away from the broom closet that's across from the Charms classroom, I caught them snogging in there last week."

"Why the hell were you looking in a broom closet?"

"I heard noises and I didn't know what they were!" Ron protested, and Victoria shook her head as she laughed. "Well, now that you know what snogging sounds like, I think that you're going to be avoiding broom closets in the future."

"That's for sure. So...you and I, we're really okay, right?"

"Yes, Ron, we're okay."

"And your hair isn't going to be gone forever, look, it's already starting to grow back." She tugged gently at a strand that had popped up on his head.

"Oh thank God." Ron sighed in relief. "My locks are coming back."

"Your locks?! Ron, you're starting to sound as obsessed with your hair as Malfy is with his."

"Well can you blame me? I mean, hair that is this vibrant doesn't just come along every day you know!"

"Just don't let Fred and George know how much you love your hair, because you know that they'll use that to their advantage."

"Good point, and I would hate to think that they would come up with something that was way worse then this." He shuddered a bit. "Come on, let's head inside, if we stay out here for too much longer, then Harry is probably going to think that you killed me."

Victoria laughed, walking back with Ron towards the castle. While things weren't totally back to normal yet, they were getting there. She had her brother back, and she could only hope that given time, things with Molly would improve as well.