Dear Readers,

I'm so sorry I haven't updated this story in… wow over a half a year! I may be a little rusty, but I am back to finish what I started! Thank you so much for your encouraging comments and enjoy this new chapter!

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The Ninth Visitor: Blue

After visits from so many aspects of Ron's personality, it was nearly dawn. But after the visit from Ron's romantic side, sleep was the last thing on Hermione's mind. The thought of his sultry stare, passionate kiss, and hunky hotness kept her heart beating fast and her imagination running wild for a long time. She had just not only learned first hand that Ron actually had some romance in him, but also helped change him to be more romantic in the future! Thinking of the possibilities made Hermione's heart and mind race even faster…

She was so caught up relishing the previous visit that she completely forgot that she still had two more of Ron's personas to meet. It was only when the hospital wing door clicked open that Hermione was jolted unpleasantly back to reality. With the unexpected noise, her eyes shot open, and the warm memory of Ron's lips on hers suddenly vanished.

Slightly indignant, Hermione glanced over at the new visitor. This one was a glowing blue version of Ron, quietly and slowly making his way toward her. His shoulders were slumped and his face looked tired and crestfallen.

Noticing her irritated expression and flushed cheeks, he came to a halt.

"I see that the red one was your last visitor," he said in a low, disheartened voice. "I'll leave you alone then."

He turned toward the door, but Hermione, ashamed at how she had responded to his entry, remembered her mission and called out to him.

"Wait, Ron, I would like to talk to you."

"No, it's okay. Really. I don't want to bother you."

"Ron, please come back. Please?"

The blue Ron stopped and sighed despondently before turning back towards her. She smiled at him encouragingly.

"You don't have to pretend to be glad I'm here," again, his voice full of misery. "All the others say it depresses them just to be around me, so…"

"Why would they say that?" Hermione asked, although she already had a very clear idea of why this particular persona was 'blue.'

"You probably guessed it already. I'm Ron's inner lack of confidence, his pessimism, and his depression."

"Ron's depressed?" Hermione inquired, slightly alarmed.

"Well, not really, but a little bit, right? Because I'm part of him, all the time…"

The thought of Ron being depressed all the time depressed Hermione a bit herself.

"Why would Ron be depressed?" she asked gently.

It seemed as though talking about it drained the spirit of even more energy. His shoulders sagged lower as he made the effort to speak again.

"I guess because… all my life so many forces have been bringing me down."

"Like what?" Hermione ventured, still gentle but firm in her quest for answers.

The blue Ron tensed up and Hermione could almost see him withdrawing inside himself more, uncomfortable with her questions.

"I don't know – my family's lack of money, my brothers teasing me, people calling me stupid or clumsy or worthless… And sometimes they go out their way to do it! Like making flashing badges or writing songs about how utterly hopeless I am. I feel like I'm drowning or buried or trapped in an abyss. I – I can't cope!"

"Yes you can, Ron! You are a strong, good person, and I believe in you! You're better than the people who try to bring you down! For example, you helped win that Quidditch game, remember? At the end of the day, it was the Gryffindors singing 'Weasley is our King,' not the Slytherins!"

"I guess so…" Ron murmured.

"And what about that spectacular game of chess you played our 1st year! That was no ordinary feat, and even Dumbledore recognized that!"

"Yeah…" Ron agreed, brightening.

"See? What right does anyone have to try and bring you down? All you need to do, Ron, is be positive about life, because all that matters is how you view it. For example:"

She reached for her vase of ghostly red roses from her bedside table. "Is this vase half empty or half full?"

"Half empty."

"How do you know it's not half full?" she asked slyly.

"I --- " Ron's gloomy eyes suddenly widened with dawning comprehension. "Whooaaa…"

"Exactly. It's all in -- "

" -- All in my head…"

He blinked, deep in thought, and then looked at Hermione and slowly smiled.

At that precise moment, he started to fade, just as the yellow one had. He too, held out his hands and watched the transformation. Hermione wondered if the change happened because that was the first time he had ever smiled.

When the fading stopped, he was considerably more transparent. Luckily, unlike the yellow persona, he didn't freak out. He simply smiled and looked at Hermione again.

"Thanks for cheering me up, Hermione."

"You're welcome, Ron. You're my friend, and that's what I'm here for."

"It's still hard though, when you realize you're just one person in the world - "

" - But you may be the world to one person. You're world to me, Ron."

Ron thought for a moment and chuckled.

"Funny, I never saw it that way before…"

He smiled at her one last time before softly walking across the room and closing the door behind him.

Even after the blue specter had left, Hermione still felt disheartened to discover that Ron had been so sad his whole life, even though he often suppressed it. It explained, however, why his melancholy self-hating leaked out sometimes. But she marveled with pride at the positive changes she had made in Ron. Through the course of one night, he had become less cowardly, more romantic, and less depressed. Hermione suddenly realized that when Ron was whole again, he would be a different person.

The roller coaster of emotions and realizations that Hermione had experienced through the night made her lose count of just how many of Ron's personas she had met.

"Let's see: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple… Well that's the whole rainbow, except indigo, plus black, brown, and white…"

But that was only nine, and the first visitor had said there were ten total.

As dawn broke and the sun's first morning rays spread over the Hogwarts grounds, Hermione wondered, "What color could be left?…"