a/n: Hey guys! This is the last one for this weekend. I hope you like it. I'm not sure when I'll be updating again but hopefully it'll be soon!
Luv ya!
Kylie
One and Only
Chapter Twenty-six
Ron, Hermione, Harry, and Ginny returned to Hogwarts later that night. Their belongings were sent to their dorm rooms in Gryffindor Tower. It had been a tiring journey on the Knight Bus so they all went up to the Head Common Room to get some sleep.
The next morning Ron was up even before Hermione. He planned on calling a meeting for the paper after classes were over but he needed to make the announcement. He figured that since he couldn't go into all of the house common rooms, he would post the notices right outside Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw (no Slytherins were on the paper staff,) in the Great Hall, and outside of the Herald office. He made five copies of the notice and headed to put them up after pulling a pair of jeans over his pajamas. He started at Ravenclaw, then Hufflepuff, Gryffindor, then and the Herald office. He was pasting it up using spell-o-tape when he heard something inside. It sounded like Colin's voice. He slowly opened the door and found Colin inside with his camera. When the door opened more he saw Vanessa smiling toward the camera.
"Oh hi Ron." Colin said. "I didn't know anyone would be here so early."
"Neither did I." Ron said. "I was just putting a sign up to let people know that there's a meeting today after classes. I wanted to get another issue out by Sunday."
"Cool, I'll be there." Colin said. "He then remembered Vanessa was there. "Oh Ron, this is Vanessa. Vanessa this is Ron."
"Hey." Ron said shaking her hand.
"Hi." Vanessa responded. "Sorry about being up here. I hope you don't mind. Colin insisted on taking my picture."
"It's no problem." Ron said. "It's just as much Colin's office as it is mine. How are they coming out?"
"It's kind of cool. Vanessa found this spell for me where you can create whatever backgrounds you want." Colin shuffled through some pictures on his desk. "Check it out." He held out a picture to Ron. Ron took it and saw a picture pf Vanessa but it looked as if she were sitting on a cloud instead of a chair.
"This is awesome. Where did you find this spell?" Ron asked, looking at the other pictures on Colin's desk.
"It was in a book, Fascinating Spells and Jinxes. There are a lot of awesome spells in there. I found the book in the back of the library, only checked out once. It looks like it's older than the school." Vanessa said. Ron thought of something and smiled.
"Was the person who checked it out before you Hermione Granger?" He asked.
"Yup." Vanessa said. Ron laughed and an idea came to him as he thought of the book.
"Listen, why don't you come to the meeting too and bring the book. I think I have a job for you if you want one." Ron said.
"Sure." Vanessa said.
Ron left them to their picture taking and went to post one in the Great Hall. It was very eerie because no one was in there. He could just picture a Dementor flying out at him with a knife. He quickly walked across the room and pasted it in the front of the Great Hall and he used a spell to replicate it so that it showed everywhere in the Hall. There were several on each wall so that no one would miss it. His pace quickened as he walked out. He was halfway across the room when a voice spoke.
"Good morning Mr. Weasley." Dumbledore said. Ron turned around to see Dumbledore in a seat that had been vacant only a minute before.
"Good morning Professor." Ron said. He was a bit spooked because he wasn't expecting anyone to be there except for the Dementors with knives. Dumbledore took a paper off of the wall to read it.
"Very good of you to get the Herald back on track as soon as you got back." Dumbledore said.
"Thank you sir." Ron said. "You wouldn't have happened to see Professor McGonagall have you? I need to ask her a question about adding another section to the paper."
"No I haven't Mr. Weasley but I trust that if you think that the new section is worth it than you should feel free to add it. Being the editor, the decision should lay in your hands." Dumbledore said.
"Thank you sir." Ron said. He was about to say goodbye but Dumbledore spoke first.
"When you get back up to the Head Common Room would you be kind enough to pass along a message to Miss Granger?" Dumbledore asked.
"Sure." Ron said, not realizing what Dumbledore said.
"Would you tell her to meet me in my office when classes are over. I would like to discuss the ball with her." Dumbledore said.
"Yes sir." Ron said. He turned to leave and then processed exactly what Dumbledore said. He turned and stared, unsure of what to say.
"But how did you –?" Ron started.
"You and Miss Granger are not the first heads to stay in the Head Common Room. I assumed that you two were because of how you acted while I was there." Dumbledore said calmly. Ron was unsure if he was in trouble. "No worries Mr. Weasley. I have no problem with young love. Please don't forget to pass along the message to Miss Granger." He smiled at Ron. Ron quickly walked out of the Great Hall, very red. He made it back up to the common room as Hermione was starting to wake. She smiled at him.
"Where'd you go?" She asked.
"Dumbledore told me to tell you when I got back up to the Head Common Room to meet him in his office after classes." Ron said, watching and waiting for her reaction.
"Alright." Hermione said, resting her head back against the pillow and then just as Ron predicted she sat straight back up. "How does he know?"
"He said that we aren't the first Heads to stay up here and he said that he figured because of how we acted when he was up here. He says he doesn't care though." Ron explained, taking a seat next to Hermione.
"Where did you go that you saw him?" Hermione asked.
"I had to hang the notices that the paper is meeting after classes. I saw him in the Great Hall." Ron said. "And in the Herald office I saw Colin and Vanessa."
"What were they doing?" Hermione asked.
"Taking pictures." Ron said. "Have you ever read Fascinating Spells and Jinxes?" Ron asked.
"Yeah, I think I was the only person ever to take that out of the library. Why?" Hermione answered.
"Well they were taking pictures and using this spell that creates backgrounds that Vanessa found in the book and I thought that that was an interesting spell. So I figured that the rest of the spells in the book would be interesting too. I'm going to have a column of fascinating spells and how to use them. She could pick like five from the book each week. What do you think?" Ron watched her face, knowing that it was Hermione's opinion that mattered most to him.
"That's a great idea!" Hermione said. "It's brilliant. It's not like we're going to learn the spells that are in that book. We could learn them from the Herald. Great idea!" She leaned over to kiss him; they were interrupted by Harry and Ginny waking up. They all went to get changed into their robes.
After their last class Hermione went up to Dumbledore's office and Ron went to the paper office with Ginny. Harry went out to try his new broom. He couldn't have at the Burrow because Mrs. Weasley thought it was too cold to fly. He didn't care about the cold though; he just wanted to try his new broom. Ron and Ginny headed up toward the office. Ginny looked deep in thought.
"What's up Gin?" Ron asked.
"Nothing." Ginny mumbled.
"Alright." Ron said, pretending not to care, which he knew bothered her the most.
"Do you think it was stupid of me to give up the job offer?" She asked, not realizing that Ron tricked her into telling.
"No. You shouldn't be doing what mum wants you to do or what's the safest bet. You should be doing what you want to do. You're really great at giving advice but if that's not what you want to do then it's not what you should be doing." Ron said. He was actually a little surprised that those words came out of his mouth. Normally it would have been something stupid that got him a slap. Ginny seemed surprised too. She smiled at him.
"Maybe you should be giving advice." She joked. Ron laughed.
"No thanks. I've read all those letters and I wouldn't be able to do it." Ron said. It was silent for several seconds before they reached the paper office.
"Thanks Ron." Ginny said before they walked in. Ron smiled at her. Not everyone was quite there yet so Ginny took the liberty of arranging the chairs in a circle.
"One more." Ron told her without even counting. "We're adding a new member to the paper."
"Ron please don't tell me that you've gotten all buddy/buddy with Malfoy like you have with Smith." Ginny said. Ron laughed.
"You know me better than that Ginny. And I am not all buddy/buddy with Smith. We just have a silent agreement to get off each other's backs." Ron explained.
"Whatever." Ginny said as she added another chair. People started showing up. When Colin walked through the door, holding Vanessa's hand Ginny looked shocked. "What's up with them?" She asked Ron.
"Well Vanessa is the newest member of the paper and Colin and Vanessa are an item." Ron explained.
"How did you know about that before I did?" Ginny asked. She was normally the one with the gossip.
"Well I knew before you because I made it happen." Ron said proudly.
"You set them up?" Ginny asked with noticeable shock. Ron nodded.
"Yup. I gave the kid some confidence." He said with pride in his voice.
"Aw, look at you being cupid." Ginny joked.
"What?" Ron asked, having no idea what cupid was.
"You need to start reading muggle books." Ginny said nodding disapprovingly at Ron. Ron just laughed at her. They started when everyone was there.
Ron started by explaining why they were there and then moved onto the new column that he decided to call Fascinating Spells and How To Use Them. He explained that it would feature spells that they don't learn in school. Everyone agreed to that and they were assigned to their articles. During the last five minutes while they were discussing other's questions or ideas, Hermione came in with a smile on her face. She slipped in the door and waited at Ginny's desk for them to finish. Harry joined them just as it was ending. Harry went to Ginny's desk with her and Hermione went into Ron's office with him.
"So are you going to write an article this week?" Hermione asked.
"No not this week." Ron said. He wasn't really planning on writing another one but he didn't want to tell Hermione. He thought that his writing skills weren't up to the Herald's standards although everyone insisted that they were.
"Well I have an article for you." Hermione said.
"What's that?" Ron asked, mindlessly sorting through papers on his desk.
"You could write and article about the End of the Year Ball. You could ask random students what their opinion on it is and I could give you all of the details." Hermione said, watching Ron. She knew him too well and knew that he had never planned on writing another article.
"So it went well with Dumbledore?" Ron asked, trying to change the subject.
"Yes but that's not the point." Hermione said. "Are you going to do the article?"
"Yeah, it's a good idea. I'll have Smith write it up." Ron said, hoping that she would accept it and forget about it. But he knew her too well to know that it was false hope.
"I want you to write the article." Hermione said. Ron looked up at her.
"I would Hermione but I'm really busy around here." Ron said. He watched the corners of her mouth turn into an even bigger frown.
"Don't lie to me." Hermione said. Ron looked down at the desk and mumbled something. "What?" Hermione asked. Ron looked up at her with a red face.
"I don't want to write the article because if I write it, it wouldn't be good enough." Ron said. Hermione continued to frown at him.
"Ron," Hermione started, walking over to him. "If I thought you were that bad of a writer would I be asking you to write this?" She stood next to him. He pulled her onto her lap.
"Well you better just to humor me." Ron said. Hermione chuckled slightly.
"But seriously Ron, I wouldn't be asking you if I didn't think that you could do it." Hermione said. Ron smiled at her.
"Alright, I'll write the article." Ron said. Hermione smiled at him.
"Thank you." She leaned in and kissed him deeply. They would have continued but there was a knock at the door and Ron had several problems to sort through. Hermione decided to share her good news with Harry and Ginny. Since Ginny had answered majority of her letters she and Hermione got to discussing the details for the ball while Harry drew up Quidditch plays because he was bored. They chose the date for June 20th, the day before they graduated, they chose the dress stores that they would write to informing them of the ball, they chose a theme for the ball, they figured all of the places that they would have to write to for beverages and such, but when they got down to music they were having some trouble.
"What if we had muggle music?" Hermione asked.
"But how would we get a muggle band here let alone a CD player?" Ginny asked.
"Well, I don't think that we could convince a muggle band to come out here and a CD player is out of the question because they don't work here." Hermione said. "But I really want muggle music." Hermione and Ginny looked deep in thought, oblivious to the obvious.
"Why don't you have the wizard band sing muggle songs?" Harry asked. He had finished the plays and was listening to their conversation.
"That could work." Hermione said, jotting it down. They had everything planned for the dance and they were excited, Hermione planned to put these plans into action tomorrow during her free period. Ron finished up with everyone who needed help and the four of them went to dinner.
a/n: Alright what did you think? I know that there wasn't a lot of fluff in this one but it was just nesasary to get the paper back on track and Ron had to get some confidence with his writing. And I wanted to get the ball stuff figured out. So there'll be more fuff in the next chapters!
-Kylie
