"Harry, d'you know where Hermione is? She's been oddly absent lately. Can't find her anywhere," said Ron.
"Did you check the library?" asked Harry, glancing up at Ron from his work.
"Twice. It was the first and last place I looked."
Harry noticed an odd gleam on Renata's face. "What do you know?"
"She's at cheerleading practice."
"Hermione's a cheerleader? I thought that was just something dumb you guys did last year!" exclaimed Ron.
"Oh no, Gryffindor's still got cheerleaders. And Hermione's not just any cheerleader; she's the head cheerleader. Actually the other houses are starting squads too."
"Really?"
"Yeah. If you're interested, Ron, the Gryffindor squad is going co- ed. "
"Ron doesn't want to join the cheer squad!"
"I dunno, Renata. Maybe. " said Ron.
"Good." Renata's smiled showed she was satisfied. "Ron, don't let Harry leave here. I've got to go. I promised I'd help come up with a new cheer."
Harry waited until Renata was gone from the common room before asking, "You aren't serious, Ron, are you?"
He shuffled his feet self-consciously. "Well. yeah. I mean, I'm not really going to be seeing much of Hermione outside of class once she gets wrapped up in this cheer thing. Between homework and her cheerleading I'll never see her. At least this way I can still hang out with her." He looked sheepishly at Harry.
"Oh, I meant to ask. Yesterday in Hogsmeade, did you and Hermione kiss? Renata and I saw you sitting together." Harry grinned a little wickedly.
"No. I was going to. Honestly, I was. But I. chickened out. And after that, I was going to try to kiss her but then Seamus came up to us and started asking about transfiguration homework. Couldn't get rid of him!"
"Sorry, that's kind of my fault. I ran off with his date."
"Harry!"
"I said I was sorry." He was. He knew how much Ron really cared about Hermione and was sorry that it was indirectly his fault for spoiling the moment. "But look at the bright side."
"What bright side?"
"She's been spending so much time with Ren that you never can tell, she might have gotten mad at you afterwards. Ren yells at me without warning and for no apparent reason."
"Yeah, but Hermione isn't Renata. Why do you call her Ren?"
"I dunno. I just kinda slip into calling her Ren sometimes instead of Renata. Her friends from back home always called her Ren." He shrugged.
"Look, I don't want Renata mad at me. The last time she was, spiders appeared in my lunch the next day. So I'm going to go down to the Quiditch field. Don't leave, alright?"
"Fine. She sure takes her promises seriously."
"Promises?"
"I never told you? She made all these promises to Sirius that she was going to take care of me, that's why she doesn't let me out of her sight most of the time."
"Must be exhausting for you having to deal with her so much. I'll see you later."
Harry watched Ron leave and shook his head. Ron, a cheerleader? What next?