Author's Notes: Well, seems like I finally had the inspiration to update! This chapter doesn't reveal much about my future plot yet. Just an introduction to Ron's POV. So you see, I take turns to write each character's views. Maybe one on Harry soon. Hope you enjoy this! Review!

Chapter 2: Delusions

The screaming from the next room caused Ron to clamp his hands tightly over his ears. He whined, with his red hair falling down over his face and tangling in his fingers. Curling up under his blankets did nothing to stop the horrible voices.

He slumped down against the cold brick wall near the Common Room entrance. It was nearly two o'clock in the morning. He doubted he would get any more sleep that night, considering the fight had just started.

His gaze fell down to the courtyard. A cobblestone path circled around through the flowers and hedges that led off to the hedge maze at the very back of the courtyard. Moonlight danced down through the rain clouds, making the courtyard nearly as bright as morning at times and dark as the inside of a kettle the next.

Ron considered his options. Trying to go back to sleep, where he wouldn't really sleep at all, or go for a walk by the lake.

In the next moment Ron had borrowed Harry's Invisibility Cloak, slipping away silently into the courtyard away from the disturbing noises in the Common Room.

The cobblestone was cold beneath his feet and there was a slight chill in the air. Maybe he should be wearing more than a thin pajamas and a cloak.

There was a fountain in the center of the courtyard where Ron sank down onto the stone bench in front of it. He was mesmerized by the way the moon hit the water and made it glimmer brighter than the sun. He reached out and gently placed a finger through a stream spilling down and felt the icy water run over the nail at the end of the thin digit and spread out into two new streams.

Ron stood up, going around inspecting all of the statues in the dim night light. He was so used to seeing them every day that he never stopped to look at them. But at night they seemed so lifelike he could swear some of them were alive. Especially this one…

Ron stopped and stared at the face of one. The eyes were carved so extremely he could swear they were staring directly into his soul. It was a male statue, but the hair reached nearly to its waist. Ron reached out and touched it; if he were real he would bet the hair would be like silk.

Like all the other statues he was carved to be naked. Almost feeling guilty and shy to even himself, he glanced down past the waist of the statue, and then stared. He was carved…perfectly. Despite that he was alone Ron quickly blushed like a tomato and moved on.

A glint of laughter followed Ron as he moved on. Ron gasped and spun quickly, had he been followed out there? His faced turned pale and his hands became clammy.

He didn't seem anyone, but…he didn't feel alone. Why did he keep feeling that the statue had something to do with it? Ron crept back over to it and eyed it nervously. Maybe he was just exhausted…he quickly moved away and went back to the fountain. He loved this spot.

Sighing, Ron laid down on the cool stone, cradling his face on his hand. The courtyard seemed awfully quiet without a certain someone. During the day, the whole castle had a bright and joyful atmosphere to it, wizards and witches chatting away happily about their own lives and such. How many times had he walked through this courtyard since his first year? Many times, it was with her. Usually, they were quarrelling or just talking about random topics. Yet at night, he felt emptiness, he felt lonely…

His eyes felt so heavy…

"Where's Ron? He's been out the whole night." Harry asked while taking a huge bite from his breakfast chicken. He ran his finger through a puddle on the side of his plate. Hermione shrugged, her mind was wandering. The seat beside Harry was empty and she missed her usual morning complaints about his unusual and sometimes disgusting eating habits.

Neville looked up from his Daily Prophet, and eyed them. "I have no idea." He replied, confused. Usually Ron would be the first one down, waiting eagerly for the huge spread to appear, sometimes grabbing their food.

Hermione didn't answer. She played with her food absent-mindedly and stared down at her plate without interest. She frowned and pushed the plate away. She was too worried for Ron that she had lost all appetite.

"I'll go look for him." Harry said and let his feet thump onto the floor.

Harry smoothed down his jet black nest of hair as he walked into the Common Room. He instantly shivered as the cold smacked him and wrapped tightly around him. "God, why is it so damn cold in here?" He complained as he looked around.

The blankets were twisted and thrown back. He guessed Ron didn't sleep well or he had not returned to his own bed after his abrupt leave.

Harry walked around the castle and reached the courtyard. The grounds below were covered in frosty white. It had frozen the night before. It was an ice kingdom around.

Suddenly Harry gasped, "Good Lord!"

"Ron?" Harry quickly shook his arm and touched the icy face. He looked down at the frail body. He was wearing only the thin, silk chemise. What in the world was he doing out here!?

Hermione sobbed over his shoulder. "Is he okay? Please let him be okay!" She turned, about to fall against Neville but decided against it and sobbed into her hands.

Lavender and Parvati both watched, worried. "He's as cold as death…" Lavender muttered softly after grabbing hold of his arm.

Harry turned and looked back at Hermione frantically. "Go get Madam Pomfrey! Quickly!"

Harry scooped up the frozen man and quickly carried him to the hospital wing.

Hermione slammed the doors of the hospital wing shut and lit the fireplace. She sat down beside Ron on the bed when Harry set him down and helped him to wrap all the blankets around the trembling boy who had scarcely woken up while Harry was carrying him.

"What were you doing out there!?" Harry asked angrily, not expecting an answer. He turned to Hermione, "We have to keep him warm, go get me some hot water. Move!"

Few minutes later Madam Pomfrey rushed into the wing. She ran to the bed and pushed Hermione and Harry out of the way. She felt Ron's pulse, checked his eyes, and made sure he was warming up sufficiently.

"What was he doing out there?" She asked calmly as she pulled some herbs out of his bag, taking some of the hot water she started to ground it into a paste.

"We don't really know." Harry said. "H-he said he wanted to take a breather as he was having a bad headache and so we just let him. We had not noticed that he hadn't returned to the Common Room the whole night. We expected him to be in the Great Hall already." Harry was almost stuttering, too anxious for words.

Madam Pomfrey nodded as she listened, starting to spread the paste on Ron's temples and on his bare chest after ripping away the fabric over it.

"What…what are you doing?" Hermione asked as she sniffed, looking away from Ron's naked body.

"It's great for his immune system. It's a very potent smell…it helps."

Ron moaned, rolling away from the disgusting smell in his dream, something pungent assaulting his nose. When he turned and turned and realized it wasn't going anywhere, he opened his eyes.

He looked up into beautiful misty brown eyes. Hermione. But she was only in this state only when someone was injured or in trouble…

Ron glanced around through clouded eyes. Everyone was watching him nervously. What was going on? He tried to speak but his throat burned like acid. He winced. "Oh, he's awake!" Parvati clutched Ron's shaking fingers, a teardrop spilled from her face to land with a "plop" on Ron's hand. Why was Parvati crying?

Madam Pomfrey placed a finger on Ron's chin and turned it towards herself. She made him drink water, which felt wonderfully cold down his burning throat.

Hermione's gaze locked with his and she watched him intently. She moved forward, her hand reaching out for his face. Her thin fingers traced hot lines down his cheeks. Ron touched his own cheek. Was he as red as he felt? A lock of Hermione's brown hair fell down and rested against Ron's chest. "What were you doing out in the garden last night?" Hermione asked gently. It was strange, she wasn't usually this gentle to him.

Ron could barely hear her. His mind was clouded with fever and his voice was weak. Hermione bent down over him so that he could hear.

"Fighting…" Ron spoke very gently so his throat wouldn't burn.

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.

Lavender and Parvati looked guiltily over at each other. "Umm," Lavender started but Parvati cut in. "We were fighting last night remember? I think our fighting drove Ron out of the room."

"Oh." Hermione said while rubbing away the paste from Ron's face.

"The statue…he's so beautiful isn't he?" Ron said suddenly. His face was pale and drawn. A memory of stone changing to flesh made him smile.

Hermione crinkled her face. What was he talking about?

"He talked to me…he's so beautiful and he's…he's alive." He touched his lips lightly, breathing over his fingers.

Pausing for a moment, Ron took a deep breath and held it. "Not as beautiful as you…" Hermione…

Ron realized he had been holding his breath and let it out slowly. He wanted to scramble away, but fear held him in place.

A goofy, wishful smile graced Ron's freckled face as everyone watched him. Then he sighed and his head lolled to the side as he slept.

Madam Pomfrey made a noise. "He's delirious from the fever." She said and covered Ron's body up with the blanket again. "I'll make sure he stays in bed all the time, and absolutely NO going outside for him. I'll be back tomorrow morning to check on him."

The rest nodded in agreement.

Lavender and Parvati clambered into their room and let the door close. Between the scare with Ron this morning and the endless fight the night before they were both pretty exhausted.

Suddenly Lavender broke out into sobs and sank onto the end of the bed, slid off and landed on the floor with a thud. She covered her face with her hands in abject shame.

Despite the fact that Parvati was still pretty pissed at her, she couldn't stand to see her best friend crying. "Lavender, what's wrong?"

"It's our fault!" She screamed and sobbed again into her hands, turning away.

Parvati was confused as she put her hands on Lavender's shoulders. "What is?"

"Don't you see!? He must have heard us fighting all night and wanted to get away from it! You know how irritated Ron gets whenever he doesn't get to sleep well!!"

She was right. Parvati looked downcast. "Well, he will be fine, don't worry. He's not too sick." As she spoke the words she wasn't too sure, she prayed that Ron would be alright. It was all her fault…

He looked over towards the huge windows. It was now snowing outside. Soft, white sparkles of ice fluttered down over the world. The garden flowers of the spring showed patches of purple and red in areas, disappearing in others.

Ron wasn't watching the snow, but the full-length mirror beside the door. He never noticed how it looked straight down into the garden before. He saw the fountain, not working so well since the pipes were probably frozen. His vision turned blurry after awhile and he gave up. Closing his eyes, he thought of Hermione. Just earlier on, was she really that worried? Did she cry? Or was it my imagination… That short moment when she touched my cheek… It felt so intimate…. Sighing, he touched his cheek again, trying to relive that moment. Slowly, he closed his eyes, sleep taking over him…

A/N: Don't kill me! I know it gets a wee boring in this chapter but I just felt like writing it! Very un-Ron like but please do give me time to adjust to his cute goofiness.

AmyChris: Hehe, thanks! Don't worry about the part of more Ron's POV. Everyone gets a turn! Hoho.

Junella: Oh you scary little dwarf!

StarrieCat: Thanks! I didn't do too well for exams though. Hah. Hm, I guess you're right about the Hermione part. Must've overlooked it but love does wonders.

Miss Court-A-Doo: Haha thanks, shall update faster. –speeds up engine- Otherwise Junella'll will kill me too.