Remember When
Chapter Three: Year One
More than a few long minutes passed before Ron could find his voice to speak, still stunned by Aislynn's words.
It is your turn to tell me yours...
What story is there to tell? Thought Ron angrily, as the winter chill wove its icy fingers through his veins. He gave an involuntary shiver. He glanced quickly up into Aislynn's sorrowful eyes, watching transparent tears slip on her glassy skin. She smiled encouragingly.
Ron took a deep, slow breath, and nodded. Staring down at his feet, Ron let go of his conscious mind, and let memories of the recent years fill him. They reeled through him like an old picture show, some parts sharp and clear, other events a little smudged at the edges. He found that once he started talking, he couldn't stop, each word relieving a tiny weight that had been tied to his chest.
He remembered when he first met her, on their first train ride to Hogwarts. Back then, Hermione had been an unbearable know-it-all in Ron's opinion, not that she had changed much. She still maintained her bossy attitude and over achieving outlook on her education, and yet, she began to show her true Gryffindor qualities, such as bravery and loyalty. He also remembered the night he finally befriended her, and every night that succeeded it. He recalled the joyous moments, as well as times of loss, and even relived the terrifying events that had enused at the end of last term, and the other memories that were usually to painful to consider. But most of all, he remembered the reason why he was here. The person who he cared for above any other individual to walk this earth.
He remembered Hermione.
---
Ron raised his wand in attempt to show off what little magic he thought he knew to Harry Potter, a boy who he'd just befriended. Harry watched keenly over Ron's shoulder with interest. Before Ron could mutter the magic words, the compartment door slid open, revealing the slightly hysterical boy who they'd seen only moments before inquiring about a certain missing toad, but was this time accompanied by a confident looking First Year witch. The girl had a mass of thick, unkempt caramel colored hair, and two rather large front teeth, which did nothing for the bossy voice that escaped her lips.
"Has anyone seen a toad? Neville's lost one."
"We've already told him we haven't seen it." Ron replied, annoyed. He turned quickly back to Harry, remembering his magical demonstration, trusting the girl and the boy who had just interrupted would be going on their way. However, the officious girl had already noticed the wand in his hand and quickly took a seat beside him before he could protest.
"Oh, are you doing magic?" She asked excitedly. "Let's see it, then."
Ron scowled at her, clearly taken aback. A nervous, jumpy feeling clawed at his stomach. He cleared his throat and raised his wand. He muttered the spell his older brother George had given him, waved his wand in a complicated sort of motion before ending it with a jab at his rat's oversized stomach. Nothing happened. The rat, Scabbers, remained gray and fast asleep instead of turning yellow, as the spell was supposed to do.
The girl looked at him sourly before launching into an explanation of all the spells she had already mastered while Ron sank backwards in embarrassment, his face red enough to match his fiery locks. He managed to ignore most of the words that flew from her mouth, while she spoke with a voice that was full to bursting with enthusiasm. She began to recite books and spells and wand movements so quickly, she completely forgot the original occupants of the compartment. Ron merely continued to disregard her high-pitched voice, while Harry struggled to keep up out of sheer politeness. The girl was breathless by the time she proclaimed, "I'm Hermione Granger, by the way, who are you?"
"I'm Ron Weasley," Ron mumbled quietly from his corner of the compartment, still rather flustered. He should have known the spell was a dud; after all, it had come from his sly brother George. He sank further back still into the cozy, but somehow unwelcome corner of the Hogwarts Express, feeling invisible as Hermione Granger became overly animated upon learning that the second boy in the compartment was the famous Harry Potter.
Ron was sincerely glad when Hermione left his and Harry's compartment moments later, dragging Neville, the toadless boy, with her. From that point on, he decided that he did not have any interest in befriending Hermione Granger and earnestly hoped that whichever house he was placed in, she would not be joining him there.
---
Ron paused for a moment, smiling inwardly, soaking up all remnants of the memory of that day, as Aislynn waited patiently. A silent chuckle escaped his lips, remembering how Hermione had been when she had come to Hogwarts: a bothersome, bushy-haired witch, recently released from the Muggle Worlds seemingly suffocating grasp. He didn't have to reach far into his mind to see that she had become an attractive woman now, passionately in love with learning, with the world at her feet begging to be touched by her inexplicable beauty.
No, he had not enjoyed Hermione's company that day, and would not for eight long weeks. Ron didn't think much of those months without her by his side at the time, but now, looking back on it, he couldn't imagine attempting one of Snape's legendary Potions Essays without her looking over his shoulder, obsessively correcting his mistakes.
The thought of the night that he had finally befriended Hermione, a splendor overlooked, he'd realized later began to play in his mind. The warmth of that unforgettable experience swept deftly through his veins, warming his frosty skin. Within seconds, words fluttered off his tongue, but Ron couldn't hear them. Instead, he was in the past, reliving each second as if it was today.
---
Weeks began to pass quickly, and soon, the warmth of September had faded seamlessly into the dreariness of October. Their magical lessons were becoming progressively harder with each consecutive class, and Ron was beginning to feel more at home at Hogwarts. Coming from an all magic family, Ron didn't have as much to become accustomed to as his best friend, Harry Potter, who had grown up with the worst kind of Muggle you could dream of. Still, Ron had a lot to learn, and was not prepared for Professor Quirrell's erratic announcement at the Halloween Feast.
"Troll—in the dungeons—"he gasped,"thought you ought to know" He then proceeded to slump to the ground, unconscious.
A brief moment of silence transpired before pandemonium erupted in the Great Hall. Students began to shriek in fear and scrambled for the exit. The younger students scuttled around to form tight knit groups between the four house tables, obviously feeling strength in numbers, while Prefects drew their wands like swords, menacing looks on their faces, acting as if the troll would storm in to the Great Hall within seconds.
A great fear began to engulf Ron. He'd heard stories about trolls before, though he wasn't able to recall very much. What he did remember, however, was that they were great ugly brutes that showed little mercy, but had very little intellect within their thick skulls. Ron wondered why would a troll attack Hogwarts? Conversely, he knew that trolls were too stupid to be able to have done something like this of their own accord, and his mind flitted to possible suspects. Obviously, Ron thought with triumph, someone let that troll inside... He couldn't help but wonder about the grubby package Harry was sure was hidden beneath the trapdoor and the giant three-headed dog they had recently encountered.
Ron struggled back to the fear at hand as Professor Dumbledore fought the chaos with a string of purple firecrackers.
"Prefects, lead your Houses back to the dormitories immediately!"
Ron heard Percy gathering students behind him. He and Harry quickly joined him and exited the Great Hall swiftly. Ron was ashamed to admit to himself that every time they turned a corner on their ascent to the Gryffindor Common Room, he nearly expected to see a big hairy something looming in their path. While fighting through a thicket of Hufflepuffs, Ron felt Harry grab his shoulder.
"I've just thought—Hermione."
Ron felt a pang of guilt in his stomach, hearing the girl's shrill voice echo inside his head. "You're doing it wrong! It's Win-gar-dium Levi-o-sa, make the 'gar' nice and long"! After all, it had been partially his fault that Hermione didn't know about the troll. "It's no wonder no one can stand her," he heard himself say, recalling their break after Charms Class, "she's a nightmare, honestly..."
"What about her?" Ron tried to brush away the guilty feeling that was clinging to his ribs, but to no avail.
"She doesn't know about the troll." Harry proclaimed dumbly.
Ron quickly fought an internal battle, chewing his lip. "Oh, all right..."
Harry and Ron hesitantly joined the group of Hufflepuffs they had just passed, and headed back the way they came, Ron still trembling.
And thus passed their next adventure. After locking the twelve-foot mountain troll in the Girl's Toilet with an unsuspecting Hermione Granger, Harry performed a stunt of stupidity by thrusting his wand up the troll's nose, while Ron had managed to knock it out with it's own club. As the troll staggered to the cold tile floor, a feeling of euphoria washed over Ron, and after years of being ignored and overshadowed by his many siblings, he finally felt he had proven himself worthy to be a Weasley, a feeling that vanished the moment Professor McGonagall, accompanied by Professors Snape and Quirrell had appeared upon the scene.
"What on earth were you thinking of?" Professor McGonagall shouted.
Thousands of excuses raced through Ron's mind, each as unbelievable as the next. He stammered something incoherently, trying to think of a justification the three professors would believe. They'd gotten lost, they had been accompanying a nervous Hermione to the Girl's Toilet, thinking the troll had been captured already—
"Please Professor McGonagall—they were looking for me." A small but sure voice shattered through his thoughts. The wand he had been holding in his hand clattered to the floor as he listened to Hermione Granger tell their furious Transfiguration teacher that it had been her fault. Professor McGonagall listened intently, listening to Hermione's explanation, her mouth thinning with each passing second.
Ron could not believe the words that were escaping Hermione's lips. He had never known her to do anything that was not strictly within the lengthy list of rules she had found in Hogwarts, A History, and lying to a Hogwarts professor was definitely not within that set of laws. He winced as Professor McGonagall scolded Hermione, taking five points from Gryffindor House, as if it was he who was explaining what had just happened. He watched as Hermione scampered from the room, her footsteps quickly echoing sharply off the tile.
"Well, I still say you were lucky," Professor McGonagall said as she turned to Harry and Ron, "but not many first years could have taken on a full-grown mountain troll. You each win Gryffindor five points. Professor Dumbledore will be informed of this. You may go."
Ron immediately gathered his wand, leaving the Girl's Toilet as hastily as was possible, Harry at his heels.
When they had finally ascended the many floors to Gryffindor Tower, the Common Room was tightly packed and extremely boisterous. There was, however, one student who remained by the portrait hole, arms clasped tightly, her head facing downward. She jumped at Harry and Ron's arrival.
There was an awkward pause. "Thanks," they mumbled in unison, before dashing in separate directions.
Ron did not know that night, as he fell asleep with a slight smile on his face in Gryffindor Tower, replaying the night's adventures, the impact this day would have on the next several years of his life. He could not have predicted that tonight's adventure would ensue such an incredible friendship he had never dreamed being a part of. He never stopped to think that the day's events were of any great importance. No, he did not know that Hermione Granger would change him forever.
Author's Note:
Due to family vacation and severe writer's block, this chapter has been delayed for quite some time now, and it is a relief to finally post it.
Several quotes and the flashbacks are all J.K. Rowling's work, and I am definitely not trying to take credit for such genius. I'm not trying to rewrite the books either. Trust me, these flashbacks are vital to the story.
A very warm 'thanks!' to my reviewers, as their comments have helped me immensely, and a special thanks to lillykk (who, if you haven't noticed, is my sister), for helping me struggle through these flashbacks, and clean and edit for me. 2,114 words (including author's note), Kelsey! Have I beaten you yet? :-D
Thank you for reading, and I hope to have the next chapter out more quickly this time! Please leave a review!
Katie