Title: True Love's First Kiss

Rating: PG-13

Paring: RW/HP (Slash)

Spoilers: PS/SS, CoS, PoA, GoF, OotP

Summary: AU 6th year. Draught of Sleeping Beauty: Causes a victim to be put under its curse of eternal sleep until awoken by true love's first kiss. So, who is Harry Potter's true love?

A/N: In this chapter, Ron gets more confused about his feelings towards Harry, a Quidditch game is played, and Cho's a horrible person. (When does someone not write her as a bitch?)

A/N #2: I'm apologizing early for any and all mistakes I make about the Quidditch game. I've never been good at commentating on sports events.

A/N #3: I am so sorry that it has taken me this long to update! I've been busy with tests, quizzes, and complicated homework assignments. Well, I'm back and with a new chapter!

Chapter Three: I Don't Fancy My Best Mate!

For the next few weeks Harry's condition remained unchanged. Professor McGonagall made Ron temporary captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team in light of the incident. Hermione was given a pass to read in the Restricted Section of the library so she could help Madam Pompfrey figure out what potion was affecting the Boy Who Lived.

Meanwhile Ron was a shell of what he used to be. When he wasn't attending classes, holding Quidditch practice, sleeping (not well—he kept dreaming of running across his unconscious best friend in the dungeons), or barely eating in the Great Hall, you could find him sitting next to the prone form of Harry Potter in the hospital wing.

The red-haired sixteen-year-old wizard had stopped playing wizard's chess and Exploding Snap with anyone; he stopped turning in assignments; he didn't even pay attention in class, seemingly lost in thought.

While most of the teachers and students (including Professor McGonagall and Hermione) were understanding of Ron's behavior, some were not—namely Snape and the Slytherins. The Slytherins would jeer and poke fun at the Gryffindor prefect, but soon found it boring because of the lack of response from the normally short-tempered sixth year. Snape just became more incensed at him in Potions (since he didn't have Harry to harp on) and even threw the youngest Weasley male out of the class a few times. It took the authority of Professor Dumbledore to keep the greasy-haired head of Slytherin House from permanently removing the melancholy student from Advanced Potions.

Ron wasn't Harry's only visitor, though. Neville, Seamus, the whole Gryffindor Quidditch team, and Hermione checked on the unconscious patient as well. Even Mrs. Weasley left the Burrow to see her 'seventh' son. But no one was there every day like Ron was.

Days turned into weeks and soon enough it was already November and time for the first Quidditch game of the season: Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw.

The Gryffindor team was ready. They had switched Ginny to Seeker in Harry's absence, and had put Dennis Creevy (who had made Reserve Chaser) to work with Katie Bell and Dean. Ron had made them practice even more than Harry had (instead of three times a week—five), but the team hadn't minded.

After eating a light breakfast in the Great Hall, the team went down to the locker room and put on their Quidditch gear. Before heading out, Ron gathered the team around him and said, "Okay, everyone. I know, Harry should be the one giving this speech—not me. But we don't have a choice. Everyone out there's thinking that we're going to be pushovers because we don't have Harry leading us. Today, I want us to go out there and prove them wrong! For Harry's sake, at least."

"For Harry!" Ginny cheered.

"For Harry!" the rest of the team echoed enthusiastically.

Ron nodded his head. "Harry wouldn't want us to fall apart and lose just because he's not here." The temporary captain's eyes took on a determined gleam. "Now, let's go out there and kick Ravenclaw's butt!"

The rest of the team whooped.

They then heard Neville on the magical loudspeaker, beginning his commentary on the game that was about to take place. (Harry and Hermione had encouraged the shy boy to get out of his shell by doing something no one would ever expect him to do.) The seven Gryffindors went flew on their brooms onto the field.

"And here comes the Gryffindor team with Weasley, Weasley, Thomas, Bell, Creevy, Sloper and Kirke—last year's champions! Since Harry Potter is temporarily out of commission, Keeper Ron Weasley has taken over the captainship and Ginny Weasley has become Seeker once again. Meanwhile, Dennis Creevy has taken up Ginny's spot as Chaser."

Madam Hooch then came out onto the Quidditch field, holding the Quaffle. "Captains, shake hands!" she ordered.

Ron flew down to the middle of the field and saw that Cho Chang, Harry's ex-girlfriend (if you could even call her that), was already there.

As they shook hands, Cho said, "You know, I was looking forward to facing off against Harry again. Things ended so badly the last time we saw each other."

That got Ron's blood boiling. How dare she talk like Harry would still be interested in her! Harry told him that he didn't like her anymore this summer. The two captains ended the handshake, mounted their brooms, and flew to their posts.

Madam Hooch blew the whistle and threw the Quaffle up. Immediately, Dean caught the red ball and flew down towards the Ravenclaw end with it. When a Ravenclaw Chaser flew straight at him, the black boy tossed the Quaffle to Dennis, who happened to be nearby. The younger boy immediately sped past another Chaser and dodged a Bludger directed at him and threw it towards the far right Ravenclaw hoop. The Keeper tried to catch it, but failed, and the Quaffle went through the hoop.

"Gryffindor's in the lead 10 to 0!" Neville yelled.

Ron smirked. Take that, Chang.

Soon enough the Ravenclaws got control over the Quaffle and went towards where Ron was. Said boy gritted his teeth. He was not going to fail his team.

The Ravenclaw Chaser threw the Quaffle to the middle hoop, but Ron immediately sped there and caught the red ball. He then tossed it to Katie and went back to watching the game, keeping an eye on Ginny for when she had to get the Snitch. So far, his little sister had been circling the pitch slowly, looking around for the golden winged ball. Cho was just stationary on the broom, deciding to look for any signs of the 150-point ball from where she was.

It was forty more minutes before both girls spotted the Snitch. (The score was currently 40-30 in Ravenclaw's favor.) They immediately took off to grab the flying ball.

"Go Ginny!" Ron screamed. "Kick Chang's ass!"

But he couldn't focus on his sister anymore, since the Quaffle was coming his way again. There was also a Bludger headed straight at him. The opposing Chaser threw the Quaffle towards a goal and Ron barely escaped the Bludger before almost leaping off his broom and catching the Quaffle.

As Ron tossed the Quaffle back, Neville was screaming, "SHE HAS THE SNITCH! SHE HAS THE SNITCH! GINNY WEASLEY HAS ONCE AGAIN CAUGHT THE GOLDEN SNITCH RIGHT FROM UNDER CAPTAIN CHO CHANG'S NOSE!"

Ron saw his little sister flying around the pitch with the Snitch in her hand, a huge grin adorning her face. The Gryffindors were jumping up and down in the stands, screaming at the top of their lungs, "Weasley is our Queen!"

"Gryffindor wins 180-40!" Neville summed up. "Despite not having Harry Potter leading them today, they still came out on top!"

Ron looked over and saw Cho looking very devastated and angry. Hah! Serves her right! Ron thought with no guilty feelings.

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"…I wish you could've seen the look on Chang's face, mate. It was priceless!" Ron was recounting the whole game to his unconscious best friend in the hospital wing. He could've been celebrating the victory in Gryffindor Tower with everyone else, but he just didn't feel like it.

"She also had the nerve to think that you would still be interested in her after what she did to you last year!" Ron added angrily. "Honestly, she thinks she's the hottest thing around here!"

After saying this, Ron began to get confused. Why was he so angry with Cho? She had never done anything to him personally.

But she hurt Harry last year, said Ginny's voice.

Well, yeah, but why would he, Ron Weasley, be so angry that Cho might want to get with Harry again. Shouldn't he let Harry (whenever he woke up) deal with it? Why was he feeling so… so… He couldn't find the right word to describe it.

Face it, Ronnie. You're jealous. You're jealous that maybe Harry may actually still like Cho and they would get together.

The red-haired boy shook his head. That couldn't be it! He fancied Hermione. Ever since she went with "Vicky" to the Yule Ball in Fourth year. He argued with the Muggle-born girl relentlessly for the past six years. He couldn't fancy Harry!

So then why are you so angry that Harry might get together with Cho? Why do you think that his smile is beautiful? Why are you visiting Harry every day, even though you know that he's in a coma? Answer me that, Ronnie!

Ron sighed. He knew he was definitely going nutters. He now kept hearing his little sister's voice in his head. Maybe those brains at the Department of Mysteries did do something to him last year…

He looked down at Harry's peaceful face. "You know," he said quietly, "I wouldn't be like this if you hadn't gotten attacked. I wish that you were awake and things could go back to normal—well, normal as it can be with You-Know-Who out there."

And there Ron went sounding selfish again. Hermione was always ragging on him about that—how he never considered anyone's feelings before he spoke or acted.

Do I fancy Hermione? he asked himself. She gets on my nerves and bugs me to death about studying and homework and other stuff. Would I want to deal with her in a relationship where she would do that stuff even more?

The sixth year prefect hated this. He hated being confused. Why couldn't life be like chess, where you planned it out move by move? But nooo! He had to be confused about his feelings towards his best friends—one of whom was in between life and death.

The youngest Weasley male sat there at his best mate's bedside until Madam Pompfrey shooed him out, trying to think for once about his feelings. And he still hadn't a bloody clue how he felt.

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"Ron? Ron? Are you in there?"

Ron snapped out of his daze. "Huh?"

He was sitting next to Hermione in the common room, the celebration of Gryffindor's Quidditch victory still going on. When the redhead had entered the common room, immediately all the other Gryffindors crowded around him and gave him their congratulations on winning the game. Now everyone was whopping and hollering and getting drunk on firewhiskey and butterbeer—though no one knew how anyone had snuck them in—and Ron was on the couch with Hermione (who was reading an old book on potions that was as thick as Dobby to look for the potion that was affecting Harry, realizing that she couldn't stop this party and only made sure that fourth years and under weren't drinking the firewhiskey).

Hermione huffed impatiently. "Honestly, Ron, what's wrong with you? You're spacing out all the time. And you went straight to the hospital wing after the game instead of coming here to celebrate with the team." The bushy-haired girl had a concerned look on her face. "You know you can tell me anything, Ron, right?"

Ron didn't know what to tell her. Oh yeah, I can tell you that my sister's in my head somehow and that I'm mad at Cho-bloody-Chang for no reason and that I don't know whether I like you or Harry as more than a friend. That'll go well, he thought sarcastically.

"He's my best friend," Ron tried after a bit of silence. "I just miss him—that's all."

"He's my best friend, too, but I haven't been visiting Harry everyday or become this dismal person," Hermione said, raising her eyebrows in an 'You're not telling me the truth' way.

Ron was scared. What's she going to do now? I should've come up with a better lie!

Hermione wasn't looking mad, though. On the contrary, she had an understanding expression on her face. "Ron," she said slowly, "I think I know what's going on with you."

"You do?" Ron asked.

Hermione nodded her head. "You fancy Harry."

"What?" Ron tried to keep his voice down so that no one else could hear him—not that anyone was sober enough to care or understand.

"You fancy Harry," she repeated. "It's so obvious. You've been visiting him everyday, you haven't played chess or exploding snap for so long, and you're very protective of him."

"But I don't!" the youngest Weasley male protested. "I don't fancy blokes!"

"I never said you did," Hermione answered calmly. "You just fancy Harry. You still fancy girls—me at some point, even, but that was in fourth year."

"How did you know?" asked a confused Ron.

His fellow prefect gave him a smile. "Because of the way you hated Victor that year and afterwards. But it was only a crush on me—I could tell. If you really liked me like that, you would've asked me out last year."

Ron hung his head. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Hermione said, putting a hand on her friend's arm. "I wasn't saying this to make you feel bad. I already knew that it wasn't going to happen, so I'm not hurt."

While Ron began to process all that his smart friend had said, Hermione went back to reading her book.

She's said what I've been telling you all along, Ronnie! Ginny's voice taunted in his head.

Ron groaned mentally. Not you again. Can't you bug someone else?

Nope. You're rather easy to rile up.

Ron let out a sigh.

"Did you say something, Ron?" Hermione asked, looking up from her book.

Ron shook his head. "No." That was a close one. I don't think she'd believe me about hearing voices in my head.

Ginny started it up again in his head. I know it and Hermione knows it. You. Fancy. Harry. Admit it.

Fine! Ron said to himself. I do fancy Harry. There, I said it.

Good, Ginny's voice said encouragingly. Now all you have to do is wait until Harry wakes up in the hospital wing and tell him.

Ron froze. Uh-uh! Absolutely not! I am not going to go tell Harry that I fancy him! Bloody hell! Do you think I want to lose his friendship?

Before Ginny could retort, Hermione gasped.

"I found it! I found it!" she repeated excitedly.

"What?" Ron said, putting an end to his mental conversation and turning to face his Muggle-born friend.

"I've found the potion that's affecting Harry!" she answered, her brown eyes lighting up.

A/N: Once again, I'm sorry if Ron, Hermione, or anyone else is OOC. But I need them that way for this story. If you don't like that, don't read this! Please review! I will accept criticism, but don't flame me! I'm new at this stuff!

-Princess