Thank you very, very much Emma! I enjoy all the reviews. My new thing is to continue a story for anyone who wants to read—even if it is just one person. I thank you so very much. You have no idea how much fun it is to write this story. And without further adieu, mein gott…
RONALD WEASLEY
Harry is pissed. He thinks I'm trying to blow him off all the time now. He's all stuck in a rut about me being able to spend forever in a second with a bunch of other people and he is stuck in Real-Time where I'm not really gone for more than a second. What bugs me about that is that I think he's jealous.
He doesn't have to be gay for us to have had the relationship that we did. We were simply friends. Sure, we touched more than other friends did. And sure, we sometimes playfully pecked each other and shared the same bed (we did nothing! I swear! It was when he had constant nightmares and I couldn't bear to see him hollering and tossing and turning). We once shared a serious kiss, but that was just a confusing time we had during the Summer War together. I mean, we both had feelings for it, but it wasn't enough to turn us from best friends to lovers.
I offered to bring him once, but he declined. I think he was angry that time. He's so cute when he gets all pouty and whiny. He doesn't throw tantrums, but it is funny to see him walk with a slight stomp and almost slam the door. It isn't serious enough to rock our friendship, so you can get your head from out the pretense that this tale will involve a fight between us. It WON'T. But here's a conversation we had that went as close to fighting as we'll ever do. Please keep up, Harry talks first.
---Flashback---
"I still don't see why you have to go there all the time! It's annoying!"
"Well Harry, you can come—"
"I don't want to hear your excuses! Why can't you just stay?"
"It's just that it takes less than a second to—"
"Don't think I'm stupid, Ron! You can stay there for years if you wanted and I wouldn't know! You could die there and I wouldn't know! Hell, you're getting more mature the longer you stay there! Soon you'll be like 120 in a 17 year-old's body! It's just not fair!"
"Harry, I can—if I—you can—you can come—"
"No, thank you. I can go about my regular aging quite well." He slightly stomped out the door. I felt the fire inside me burn down to a soft ember.
---Flash-forward---
Yeah… not one of my happiest moments. He did get over it eventually. And I promised not to spend more than a few hours there which would be for my training with the Fire Ani unless we talked it over. I did feel a sense of belonging. Or belonging to, rather. His disposition at the time simply screamed 'You're going to be my b!tch and you're going to enjoy it.' The mature playtimes we had in sixth year were something like that.
---Flashback---
"Harry," I mumbled, barely audible. "Can we talk?" I wanted to make sure he was okay with my subject.
"About what?" Harry asked, not looking up from the book that he was reading. He scribbled something on his parchment and then went back to his book.
"My going to Limbo—" "I don't control you," he said hastily. "If you want to go, go on. Who am I to say what you can and can't do?"
"My friend, perhaps?" I said flatteringly. He didn't bite, but he roughly gestured for me to sit on his bed and continue talking. I did. "Well, I can't stop going to Limbo because I need a safe place to learn about my new powers. But I want to take you there—when I'm strong enough to take more than myself. But I also don't want to betray you by staying for long periods of time without you. So I'm surrendering my travel for long periods of time to you."
Harry cocked his head to the side and cracked the smallest smile. It looked like an evil grin for a second but then I realized that it was because he was showing tooth. "Alright," he said, finally looking at me. "Thanks," he kissed me on the cheek and went back to his book before taking his head up. "But if it is as good as you say it is," he grinned, "then we'll have to get a bit friendlier."
I chuckled. "You know I've got it for Blaise now, Harry," I said. He only nodded. "Well when you break up with Zabini," he said as though he was talking about taking out the garbage, "then we'll have playtime again, alright?" I nodded. Why did I feel as though I was supposed to agree?
---Flash-forward---
Ooh, looky. As I was thinking, Blaise sat right on the bank and asked me a simple question that dictates the rest of this tale.
"Ronald, would you like to go steady?"
I wish that was the simple question. But it wasn't. It was more like, "Do you see that large shadowy figure in the sky?"
I glanced up at where he is pointing. I did see it. It was a large… something. It became more apparent as it descended. It was… still something. It looked like a giant gold hourglass with black sand inside littered with red rubies and green emeralds. A second silver one was stacked on top of it with white sand with gold topaz and blue sapphires.
"Well if this ain't the most cliché thing in the world," said Blaise, admiring the hourglasses with an aloof look on his face, "opposite-colored hour glasses that symbolically link people. This is obviously some sort of sign that Anthony and Zacharias and you and I belong together or something that usually happens in novels based on romance and such things."
"And if I'm not mistaken," I said, trying to sound as cultured as he, "these things that sort of write themselves in stone as to the characters that will be put together and…"
"Ronald, not right now. Right now, we've got to get up and talk to the headmistress," he took control of the situation. "Energy forceblast on one… two… three!" We both forced our backs to each other and extended our right arms to the right together.
Distorted air came from my hand as well as from Blaise's. Just inches away, it created steam. The steam became a really thick fog. When I saw a pinkish glow through it, I grabbed his arm and ran us through the portal. We were then in Professor McGonagall's office. I heard her talking to someone.
"…just too much," she said. "And Harry's gone all secluded since Ronald's been spending more time in Limbo. I just can't help but think that he's behind the Chronos Genesis. I mean, he's got all the resources to do it and with Hermione having been fused with him—Merlin knows how much she knows that she shouldn't. I—"
"Dear Minerva, it appears that we have guests. I've got to check on our dear Minister at the moment so there's no harm done," Albus Dumbledore (who resided in the portrait behind Professor McGonagall's desk) slid out of the frame and vanished. The residing headmistress turned to address us.
"May I help you?" she asked, ignoring our intrusion into her office. "I've got no time to diddle-daddle. I've got business to attend to boys."
"Uh, yeah," I said, trying to recollect my thoughts. "There were these two hourglasses that looked like ours but better and—" Blaise cut me off with a finger to my lips. He tapped his head with his wand and directed it to Professor McGonagall. With a look of sudden enlightenment, she nodded. She then shooed us out as she began taking out silver instruments from thin air with her bare hands as we were pushed out by some invisible force.
"Oh," said Blaise, "that went well." He opened his perfect (yet so very dry at this time) lips to speak again but he was cut off by Professor McGonagall opening the door behind them.
"And don't go back to Limbo," she said with a tone that she'd used only once before when she forbade me from taking on a small basilisk colony during the Summer War. That's what got Hermione fused with Harry (a story for later).
"Daaamn," said Blaise as the headmistress closed the door and sent them down the magical spiraling escalator. "And I was thinking about erecting a vacation house there."
A/N: I'm not sure… but I'm pretty sure Hufflepuff has topaz. I have absolutely no time to look through the books.