"Come on, Ron!!"
Ron shook his head fiercely as yet another quaffel shot past him and zoomed neatly through the center hoop.
"Dammit! Sorry, Harry!" Ron yelled apolegetically. Harry swiftly flew in Ron's direction and at the last second pulled his Firebolt to a halt in front of him, making Ron wince.
"You gotta FOCUS, Ron! This is the fourth time Ginny's scored on you in the last five minutes!"
Ron hung his head, ashamed. "I know, I know, it's just--I can't think! Sorry Harry, I'll try harder." Harry sighed and turned, clueless to why his Gryffindor quidditch team keeper was acting so spacey. Though Ron did not want to admit it to even himself, he knew why he was acting this way. It was her. He couldn't stop thinking about her and he didn't know why. Well yes, he supposed he did know why. It was because...because of the way she had held his face that afternoon, truly concerned. Of course there wasn't anything special about the way she had acted, but for some reason it was different that day. He had felt a burst of appreciation for Hermione at that moment, but not like he would feel for just anyone. He often felt bursts of emotion for his family members, or his friends, but this time...it was...different. for different was the only word Ron could find to describe it, because he did not know himself.
WHOOSH!
"Ron!"
Ron snapped his eyes back into focus. "What? Ugh, SORRY!" Ron had let the quaffle in.
Harry sighed. He then looked at his watch. "Well, practice is over. Just--just come to practice tomorrow with your brain, all right?"
Ron grimaced guiltily. "Yeah, all right."
An hour later Ron and Harry were walking out of the Gryffindor quidditch locker room.
"So anyway," Harry said, running his hands through his jet black hair, still wet from his shower, making it messier than ever, "I was thinking we could try playing Ginny on left, she seems to be stronger on the left," Harry was speaking fast and excitedly, as he always did when talking about quidditch. "And Katie can play right as well as she can play left, even if she's not the best shot from the left, because she could just play it to Ginny and--"
"Do you have the time?" Ron interrupted.
"Oh yeah, it's 8:15" His green eyes were vivid behind his round glasses.
Ron slapped his hand to his forehead. "I told Ernie MacMillan I would help him study at 8! Sorry Harry, I'll have to catch up with you later. But yeah, the lineup sounds fantastic!" And with that he had taken off down the hall in the direction of the library.
Ron did indeed meet with Ernie in the library after departing with Harry, and it was not until 11:30 at night when he wearily stumbled into the Gryffindor common room. Ron approached the spiral staircase that lead to the boys' dormitory, but before he did so he performed a habitual scan of the common room, and much to his surprise found only one person, asleep on a couch that was facing the fire. Hermione.