The Golden Knight

Harry gradually woke up the next morning. By the time he and Hermione had gotten back to Hogwarts and over to the common room it was one in the morning. The only person who was still awake was Lavender and she told them how the party had gone.

"Well it was a pretty good party. Of course Ron and Ginny are not going to be happy with you guys for blowing them off but after a while they settled down and I think they had a good time. The big surprise was Neville, he and Luna couldn't keep their hands off of each other all night. Those two are getting serious fast."

"Was Ginny very angry?" Harry asked.

"No why would you think that? I mean her boyfriend only blew off the first event they were supposed to go to together to do something with his female best friend. It's not like Ginny has a temper or anything." Lavender said rolling her eyes.

'She doesn't think we were off doing anything wrong does she?"

"No Hermione she doesn't but it doesn't make her think highly of the two of you either."

"Was Ron very angry?"

"Well for an hour or so he was really quiet and then I think he just decided to have a good time. After that all he did was dance and hang out. I had no idea he could dance that well. Once people figured out he liked to dance and was good at it he had no shortage of partners. Anyway I'm tired and I'm going to bed. Oh Colin took a bunch of pictures with his new camera and they are over on that table if you want to see them."

The two of them grabbed the pictures and sat down on the couch. The first picture showed Seamus right as he turned into a canary. The second was of Neville and Luna dancing and they seemed not to notice the rest of the room.

"Wow Neville really has changed over the last year or so hasn't he?" Hermione remarked.

"Yeah he sure has."

The next picture was of Ginny and when Harry saw it his heart dropped into his stomach and flopped around for a bit.

"Ginny sure did look good didn't she Harry?"

"Ummm yes she really did."

Hermione laughed at him 'It seems that Weasley's are late bloomers but when they bloom they really bloom."

"Could we not talk about Ginny umm blooming ok?"

Hermione just laughed again.

"I'm serious Hermione we still haven't figured out what we are going to tell them."

"I wouldn't worry about what you tell me but you better figure out something good to tell Ron.' Ginny's voice came from the stairs.

They both turned around to look at her.

Harry stood up "Ginny I'm really sorry about the party."

Ginny walked over to stand in front of him "It's ok Harry. I mean at first I was really mad but then I realized that since both of you were gone it had to be something for Dumbledore. I gather from what I just heard it's something you can't tell me?"

They both nodded.

"Well then you better think of something good because he was furious."

"Really because Lavender said he wasn't that mad."

Ginny rolled her eyes "That's because Lavender hasn't lived with him her whole life. You guys think Ron is really mad when he blows up but that's just the tip of the iceberg. When Ron is really mad he gets very quiet but his eyes give it away."

"What do you mean by that Ginny?" Harry replied.

"Hermione will understand. Hermione you know how normally even when he's mad his eyes have that sparkle to them? Well when he's really mad it goes away and it's like looking into the eyes of a stranger. It doesn't happen often but every time it does it scares me." she said with a shudder.

"You think Ron would hurt you?" Harry stammered.

"Of course not, but it looks like he's trying to decide if your worth the effort of dealing with when he looks like that and if he should just not have anything more to do with you."

"You think he won't want to have anything to do with me?" Hermione said starting to sniffle.

"No Hermione but he was mad at the start and still might be. So like I said whatever you have to tell him had better be good. You know how he is about keeping secrets now."

"Maybe next weekends Quidditch game will relax him a bit."

"Heres hoping, we should really crush Hufflepuff, they aren't very good."

Hermione spoke up "Maybe we should go to bed and try and deal with all of this in the morning."

Both Harry and Hermione turned to leave but Ginny stopped them. "Wait before you go there's something you should see. Look at these bottom two pictures from the party."

She handed the first picture to them. "This is Ron in his costume."

Ron was wearing and suit of medieval chain mail covered by a red surcoat and belted across the middle. It had a heavy looking broad sword hanging from the belt. He was wearing leggings made of wool. To top it off the surcoat had the Gryffindor lion in gold on the front."

"When I asked him what he was exactly he said he was a Gryffindor knight. When I didn't understand he said it was an inside joke with you Hermione."

Hermione eyes got very bright "He really is wonderful."

"Yeah my big brother is but that's not why I'm showing you this. Right after this he was showing some people a spell he learned from Moody."

She showed them the second picture which showed Ron surrounded by a soft yellow glow that reflected off of his hair and the gold on his surcoat to bathe everything around him in a golden aura.

"That's cool looking Ginny."

Ginny looked at him sharply "Don't you see it Harry?"

"I guess I don't. Do you Hermione?"

Hermione looked very worried and just nodded.

"Well then will one of you please tell me what I don't see then?"

"Harry remember the prophecy? Ron is the golden knight.

As Harry laid in bed he started trying to work out what it all meant. Well what ever it was he need to get a handle on things.

"Hey Ron you awake yet?" he called out.

Getting no answer he got out of bed and walked over to Ron's.

"Ron you in there?"

Still getting no answer he pulled the curtains back to show Ron's empty bed.

Then he looked at the clock.

That's why he's not here it's almost noon.

Just as he headed over to his chest to get out his robes he heard the door open behind him.

He turned to see Ginny and Hermione walking into the dorm.

"It's about time you got up Harry. We thought you were going to sleep all day. Besides it's lunch time and both of us slept through breakfast."

"Ok Hermione just give me a second to get dressed."

Neither Hermione or Ginny made a move to leave.

"Do you think I could meet you downstairs so I can get dressed?"

"Oh for Merlins sake Harry we've seen you in your shorts before."

Ginny just yawned again.

"Seriously Harry we need to go find Ron."

"Ok ok I'll do it like this."

Harry grabbed his clothes and jumped into his bed closing the curtains. A minute or so later he got back out to see both of them rolling their eyes.

They headed downstairs and out to the Great hall for lunch. They managed to arrive just in time.

As soon as they piled into their food Hermione looked at the rest of the Gryffindors sitting at the table.

"Have any of you guys seen Ron?"

Seamus swallowed a huge mouthful of food and replied. "Not since this morning. He and Neville got up early and went to go work on something. I heard them saying it was almost ready but I couldn't hear the rest as I was still half asleep."

"Hmm I wonder what they are working on?"

"I don't know Hermione but they sounded really excited about it."

"Harry do you know what they are working on?"

"No idea Hermione." He replied taking a break from his lunch.

At that moment Colin Creevy came running by and tripped spilling a bunch of photographs all over the floor.

Hermione and Ginny reached out to help him pick them up when Ginny started laughing.

"Colin why do you have a bunch of copies of this picture?"

He looked a little sheepish. "Well it's two pictures actually and I have them because people keep asking me for copies."

"What is the picture of Ginny? Hermione asked as she gathered up the ones she had so she could look.

Ginny turned the picture around and it showed Harry sitting on his broom right after a Quidditch match. He was grinning ear to ear and his big green eyes seemed to be twinkling.

"Oh my, Colin who wanted copies of those pictures?" Hermione asked smiling as Harry seemed to be choking on his food.

'Well..several of the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff girls. In fact this is the second set of copies I got asked for."

Hermione turned to Ginny with a big smile on her face. "You better watch out Ginny it seems a lot of girls have taken a fancy to Harry here."

Ginny smirked at her "Maybe so but at least I'm not alone."

Hermione looked at her not understanding.

Ginny turned around another photo. This one was of Ron , he was walking towards the changing room after Quidditch practice. He had stripped off his robes and shirt carrying them in his hand. His other hand carried his broom and he was looking off into the distance at something. He looked a bit tired and was covered in sweat.

Hermione looked like she couldn't decide if she wanted to ask for a copy or have a fit.

Before she could decide however Parvati spoke up.

"Padma told me that's a popular picture in Ravenclaw. She also said that the seventh year Hufflepuffs had enlarged one of their copies to life size on the wall of their dorm. Really though Harry's pictures are more popular in Ravenclaw though."

"I heard a rumor that the fourth year Slytherins have one of Ron as well but since no one I know goes to the Slytherin girl's dorms I don't know if it's true." Dean added.

"No one thought it would be a good idea to tell me this?" Hermione all but shouted.

They all looked ashamed and Harry had started smiling at her.

"We just assumed you would get angry and hoped you wouldn't find out." Lavender sighed.

At that point Colin got all of the photos back and after saying thanks scampered off to the Hufflepuff table.

"Why would I get mad just because some insipid silly girls have a picture of my boyfriend, blown up life size, on their wall, so they can stare at him all day, and all night?"

Hermione started to get up when Ginny grabbed her hand and asked her "Where are you going Hermione?"

"I'm just going to tell THOSE girls to take that picture down." She snarled gesturing over at the Hufflepuff table.

"I thought you said it didn't bother you?"

"I lied." she replied. Stepping out from the table, she turned and walked right into someone's chest. Looking up she saw a familiar set of blue eyes looking down at her.

Looking away from him she asked "how much of that did you hear?"

"Just the last bit he said" trying not to smile.

"I bet you think its funny Ron Weasley, don't you?"

"About as funny as being stood up at a party you didn't want to go to in the first place I would imagine."

Hermione felt her heart jump up into her throat. "Ron I'm sorry I didn't want to miss the party but I..." she let her words trail off because she just didn't know what to say."

"Yeah I am too especially after Ginny told me about your costume." he smile at her then continued "I have a feeling you can't tell me why you missed it and I'm not going to ask but let's try to keep that down to a minimum shall we?"

Still blushing she nodded.

Den spoke up "He's just mad that he won't get to see your costume Hermione. Ginny told us it was really hot."

Hermione flushed red then started to smile. "now Dean your just assuming I won't show it to him in private."

The entire table looked stunned, Ron and Hermione though just broke up laughing.

Ginny started laughing as well. "I think it's safe to say that it's not going to be quite so easy to tease Hermione any more."