Friend or Foe

It took a moment of concentration but Ron was finally able to transform the seashell he was looking at into a magnifying glass.

"It's about ruddy time." he said tiredly.

Daphne laughed a bit "It didn't take you that long Weasley. I think now that you have the wrist movement down you will catch on a lot faster in this type of Transfiguration."

"Well if I do it's due to your help Greengrass."

"I was glad to help but do me a favor and don't let my housemates find out. I can imagine Malfoy's face when he found out that I was helping a Weasley."

"Now that would be a sight worth seeing" he replied

"Maybe for you but I would have to listen to his whining for days and it's not like he doesn't have enough to whine about as it is."

"I can't imagine living with Malfoy is a joy but then again it can't be very nice being in Slytherin to begin with."

Daphne's smile disappeared "You know I thought for a bit you were different than the other Gryffindork's but I guess that was too much to ask for."

"What do you mean by that Greengrass." Ron's playful banter had vanished and a frown was threatening to take over from his normal smirk.

"What I mean is I thought you weren't the type of person to look down on someone just because of what house they were in. You know this may surprise you but I like being in Slytherin."

"How can you like being in Slytherin? I mean there a whole lot of nasty people in there."

"I don't know if I should even bother. It must be nice to live up in your Gryffindor tower where everyone is so brave and nobody ever makes a mistake or acts selfish."

"Now that's not what I'm saying but there's a reason why nobody trust's Slytherins."

Daphne had dropped all pretense of having a calm disagreement and had started yelling at Ron. "Oh I get it; all Slytherin's are Death Eaters or Death Eaters in training and can't be trusted. You know just because we don't run around playing the hero and trying to get our heads blown off that doesn't mean we are all in league with You Know Who. I'm getting a little sick and tired of having to justify my being at Hogwarts just because closed minded people like you don't understand not everybody in Slytherin is evil."

"I am not closed minded I have good reasons not to trust most Slytherin's."

"Oh yeah, what good reason's? Let me guess Malfoy and his two drones have been mean to you? Well guess what; those fools have been mean to a lot of people Slytherin's included but that doesn't mean the whole house should suffer for it."

Ron scoffed "What do you mean suffer? It's not like we go around hexing you guys or anything."

Daphne looked very sad for a moment "You know people can suffer in a lot of ways without being hexed. Slytherin's are never welcome at most of the parties people throw around here, not to mention how people from other Houses look at you if you ask them out. Last week I found a bunch of Ravenclaw fourth years pushing a couple of our first years around. After I scared the Ravenclaws off the first years asked me why everybody hated us and it took me an hour to get them to stop crying and asking to go home."

"Yeah well those Ravenclaws were wrong I'll give you that but no Gryffindor would do that."

"Oh no Gryffindor's are too good for that, they are too noble to be cruel like that, instead you are cruel in countless other ways. From the way you to seem not to see any Slytherins but Malfoy and his goons to having to hear how wonderful you all are from the other teachers. It's like the old saying goes, all the Houses are equal but Gryffindor is more equal than the others."

"Oh please" Ron smirked "You try being in Gryffindor and dealing with Snape, any excuse to take points or give out a detention no matter how minor is fine with him. Not to mention that Slytherin's never lose points in his class no matter how bad they get. Don't even try to say you don't know what I'm talking about."

Daphne nodded but countered right back "Sure Professor Snape treats you guys badly but do you ever think why? Is it possible that we get shafted all over the school and he is trying to balance it out in the wrong way? Sure the Professor treats us better than you but what about McGonagall and Hagrid? McGonagall tries to be fair but she is such a Gryffindor that it's hard for her and bloody hell Hagrid is in love with you Gryffindors. Then we have good Professor Dumbledore, I like the man myself but let's be honest, he let's Gryffindor's get away with a lot more than the rest of the house's do."

"There are a lot of things going on there that you don't know about and I think Dumbledore has been way too easy on Malfoy's as well."

She nodded "Yes he has and I don't know why. Everything would be so much easier if he got expelled."

There was a pause in the conversation for a moment and just as Daphne was about to leave Ron spoke up "Look we can argue about who is right or wrong forever and it won't do any good. You see things one way and I see them another. What we can do is to not let stuff from the past screw up the future. We have a Hogsmeade weekend on Valentines day before the party that night. Why don't you come to the Three Broomsticks and have a butterbeer with us?"

She looked at him for a moment "You know you might get a lot of rubbish from your mates."

"I might" he replied "but I don't think I will. It's time to stop all this bloody fighting over nothing."

"You mind if I bring a few friends?" she replied.

Ron paused for a moment, having Daphne meet them was one thing but having other Slytherins he didn't know show up was another thing entirely.

Well I guess there's only one way to find if this can even work. In for a penny, in for a pound they say.

"Bring whoever you like, I trust you. I'll invite a few people from the other Houses as well. We can make it a pre-party party." he grinned.

She stared at him for a second "You know I never thought I would hear a Gryffindor say they trusted me."

That statement took Ron by surprise but he recovered nicely "Let's hope it's the first of many shall we?"

"We'll see Weasley, we'll see."

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To Daphne's chagrin Ron had insisted on walking her back to the Dungeons. When he had remarked that it was dangerous walking around down there she had noted that it was only really dangerous for Gryffindors. Ron had just laughed but truthfully he was more careful making his way back from the dungeons. Since he was already breaking the rules he decided to go by the kitchens and make a sandwich, after all it was still eight hours until breakfast. After putting together a huge sandwich that he was sure Hermione would say was way too large if she were there he headed back to his common room. As soon as he stepped into the common room he noticed that there was only one person still in it.

Hermione had fallen asleep on one of the couches reading Hogwarts A History. She looked so peaceful that Ron didn't want to wake her up but he knew that she would be sore if she slept on the couch all night. He also knew that no matter what he couldn't carry her up to her room. Both he and Harry had spent a great deal of time last year tying to get passed the girl's dorms protections and all they had discovered was that no prank was worth the bruises they kept getting.

I reckon there is only one thing I can do then.

Ron slowly lifted her up moving as gently as possible, doing his best not to wake her. He moved as fluidly as possible up the stairs to the sixth year boy's dorm. When he got to his dorm he walked over to the bed, glad he had left the curtains open and softly laid Hermione on the bed. Then he walked over to Harry's trunk and pulled out his invisibility cloak. Once he had placed the cloak at the foot of his bed he sat down at his desk and started wring Hermione a note.

'Mione

You looked so peaceful I couldn't wake you up to go to bed and since I couldn't take you up to your dorm I brought you to mine. As much as I would have liked to sleep next to you tonight I don't think you would have been quite comfortable with it and I know you hate breaking those kinds of rules. So I am going to enspell the bed curtains so no one can see you in my bed. Harry's invisibility cloak is at your feet so you can get back to your room without being seen in the morning, that way no one will tease you or think anything happened. Have a good night and I'll see you in the morning.

Ron

Then Ron cast a sticking spell on the back of the parchment and placed it so Hermione would see it first thing in the morning. With one last smile he pulled the blankets up so she wouldn't get cold and headed back down to the common room to finish his sandwich and try and get some sleep.

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The first thing Hermione noted was the smell; even before she opened her eyes she knew that there were boys near by. She had often wondered how boys could have their own scent that was so different than girls. Then when she was a few years older she had noticed that all boys had a different smells. She could tell if a shirt belonged to Ron or Harry just by the smell and the smell that surrounded her now was all Ron. It was a very grassy scent, very natural and one that could cause her to imagine all sorts of activities that you could do on grass that her parents would not approve of. She was glad later that the first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was the note from Ron. Right then however she had one thought in her mind when she read it.

Where are my clothes?

Even as she thought it she knew that Ron would not have undressed her while she was asleep. Pushing back the covers she noticed that she was fully dressed and the only thing that had been changed was that he must have loosened her tie. Knelling on the bed Hermione covered herself in the Invisibility cloak and headed out to her dorm. When she got down to the common room she noticed Lavender and Parvati were leaning slightly over the back of one of the couches and giggling. Hermione walked over to the front of the couch to see what they were looking at. It seemed that Ron had gone to sleep on this particular couch and that the blanket he was using had slipped off in the middle of the night leaving him mostly exposed aside from a pair of boxer shorts. Hermione could feel herself getting angrier as she stood there and the only thing stopping her from screaming at the two of them was having to explain why she was under an Invisibility cloak in the wrinkled clothes she had been wearing last night. In the end she decided to go upstairs and get dressed and to figure out a way to let those two giggling idiots know to never look at other people's boyfriends when they were half dressed.

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"Ginny wake up"

"Five more minutes Mum." Ginny slurred.

"Ok for Merlin's sake Ginny wake up."

Ginny slowly came to her sense's to see Hermione standing by her bed.

"Is there something I can do for you Hermione?" Ginny snarled none too politely.

"I want to show you something but I need you to be able to pay attention first."

"Ok ok but this had better be important."

Ginny sat up and ran her fingers through her hair the she rubbed her eyes and looked at Hermione. "All right I'm awake now whats so important that it couldn't wait until after breakfast?"

'I wanted to show you this and I need either Ron or Harry to be in the room of requirements when I show you."

Ginny looked puzzled when Hermione pulled out a small orb from the pockets of her robes.

"Is that a crystal ball Hermione?"

Hermione shook her head "No divination is rubbish and you know it. This is an orb this particular orb allows me to see whats going on in the Room of Requirements but only if Ron or Harry are in there."

"Why only Ron or Harry?"

"Well the spell only works if you have some sort of connection to the person. Harry is like my brother so it's enough to be a family connection."

"And you wish you were already part of my big brother's family right?"

Hermione flushed at Ginny's statement but continued on "I made this so I could keep an eye on their training. It's starting to sound really dangerous to me and I don't want those two going too far."

"Are you sure we should be spying on them Hermione?"

"Would you rather find out they got themselves killed?"

Ginny paled and shook her head.

"Anyway it's just a precaution. What you do is you picture the person you want to see and it shows you what is around them and what is going on. Put your hand on the orb and say "With a loving heart I must see." and then think of who you want to see."

Ginny followed the instructions and she could see Harry covered in sweat leaning over Ron who was trying to lift some sort of long bar with circles on the end.

"Hermione what are they doing?"

Hermione rolled her eyes "Ron saw a television show at my house about weight lifting and thought it might be good for their training so he talked the rest of the idiots into it."

"Will it help them?"

"I don't know, it might help them in Quidditch but it really just makes you stronger."

At that point Ginny noticed something in the orb and decided to mention it to Hermione "Did you know that Susan Bones was training with them?"

"No I didn't" Hermione said coldly "I wonder how she got in their merry little band."

Ginny missed Hermione's expression 'I don't know but it doesn't look like fun."

"Well Susan seems to be having a good time."

"I can't imagine how." Ginny replied "From the looks of it I'd rather be at Potions and that's saying something." Ginny yawned "Oh Hermione are you and Ron dressing up for the Valentines party? I know he's going to go along with whatever you want and I thought it might be nice to dress up."

"Wanting to let Mr. Potter see a little bit of skin Miss Weasley?" Hermione smirked.

"Well I might you know, at least then I might not end up a poor old virgin like Miss Granger."

"Ginny" Hermione shrieked and snatching up a pillow smacked Ginny soundly across the head.