Phewwwwwww - this is my longest chapter yet and man did it take long to type up (not just because I'm reeeeeeeeealllyyy slow at typing but because I can be exceptionally lazy when it comes to typing up and tend to procrastinate over it as much as possible...). I have a feeling - as with the other chapters - that it doesn't quite flow as much as I want it to, and Seamus-fans, I am so sorry for making him like this - he was just the only character I could actually envisage acting in this way. If you really hate him being like this then feel free to substitute another person's name for his...
Disclaimer: Of course I'm not JKRowling and of course I don't any Harry Potter characters - the only character I own in this fanfic is Marguerite Rodriguez of Chapter 5.
At supper, Ginny and the Weasley twins joined Harry, Ron and Hermione, and they all spent a long time chatting and joking before heading up to the Common Room, to finish homework (or to start it, in Ron's case). Now though, Harry and Ron had joined the other boys in their dorm and were starting to get ready for bed.
Neville sat by the window next to his bed, tending a small plant and oblivious to a clearly Hyper Seamus Finnegan, who was jumping up and down on Neville's mattress.
"Oi Dean!" he yelled in his Irish brogue – even though Dean was only half a metre away.
"Who d'you think is the hottest out of Ginny and Marguerite?"
Dean glanced nervously at a murderous-looking Ron, muttered something about needing to brush his teeth and scurried out.
"Well I think Ginny is definitely hotter, one heck of an arse your sister's got mate, s'like pwwwwoargh man, get a load of that init?" shouted Seamus at Ron.
Ron got up from where he had been crouched packing away his chess set, and walked over to Seamus.
"Say that again," he said through gritted teeth, "And I'll kill you."
Next moment, Seamus was sprawled on the floor, looking slightly dazed.
"Woah there Ron," said Harry, holding back his friend's arm. Seamus pulled himself up and walked slowly towards Ron, who was now wrenching himself out of Harry's grasp. "Ron! I said stop it! Control yourself!"
"Ginny's got a nice arse, Ginny's got a nice body, Ginny's got nice ti.." sang Seamus.
Next moment he was back getting reacquainted with the floor, having been on the receiving end of Harry's punch. Ron was staring at Harry as if he'd just sprouted another head. Harry shrugged as if to say 'you-got-a-problem-with-that?' and Ron replied with a look that said 'we-shall-talk-about-this-later'. Seamus looked from the red-head to the brunette and piped up, "Are we gonna get on with this fight or not?"
In reply Harry and Ron threw themselves on top of him.
5 minutes later, Dean walked in. Skirting the flailing arms and legs he hurried over to a worried-looking Neville.
"Neville, what's going on?"
"I dunno Dean, I looked up and suddenly they were fighting."
"I expect it was something to do with Ginny."
"Hmmmm I 'spose…d'you think we ought to stop them?"
They looked at the heap of boys. Shouts of "EXPELLIARMUS!", "RICTUM SEMPRA!", "TANTALLEGRA!" and "TAKE THAT YOU BASTARD!" were ringing through the air.
"Looks a bit dangerous to me," said Dean.
They stood for a while longer before Neville exclaimed suddenly, "The bucket!"
Dean sprang into action, diving into Ron's wardrobe and pulling out a huge silvery grey bucket. The two boys ran to the Bathrooms and were back a few seconds later, lugging the bucket behind them.
"3, 2, 1…" whispered Neville and then they flipped the bucket over, dumping ice-cold water on the wrestling boys. For a moment all three stopped and gasped, and Neville and Dean became hopeful – but alas, the fighting resumed. Neville looked like he might cry. He turned to Dean, and said, "I've had enough."
He stepped carefully into the centre of the room, opened his mouth and screamed, "STOPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTT!" They stopped, just as someone began to knock on the door.
"It's open…" shouted Dean. Two sleepy-looking redheads peered round the doorframe.
"Whaaat is Merlin going on peoples ashleepin…peoples ashleep in peoples shleeped…a people gone shlept…yeh…"slurred Fred groggily.
All the boys looked guiltily at each other. Except one.
"Oh my gawwwd – you guys sleep at the same time!" squawked Dean.
"Wesh no guys when you is a pink rabbit…ooohhhh baybbeeeeee…"
George rolled his eyes at his twin and taking Fred by the shoulders began to shake him vigorously.
"I'M AWAKE I'M AWAKE!"
"At long flippin' last," muttered George.
"Dean – in answer to your question…"
"…we go to the bed at the same time in our…"
"…matching pyjammy-wammys…"
"…clutching out teddy bears…"
"…sucking our ickle-wickle thumbsie-wumbsies and dreaming of being…"
"…Head Boys."
Harry looked at Ron incredulously, and Ron winked. Ah. That was ok then.
Dean looked astonished, "Wooooooooow," he said in an awed whisper. Now it was Ron's turn to look astonished. "Did you honestly believe that!"
Dean looked hurt.
"Oh Dean," George said sadly, "How could you? I am insulted…"
"…yeah," chimed in Fred, "Offended to the very depths of my soul. Ok so we do sleep at the same time. But as you have seen I sleep like a log and he sleeps like a feather…" he pointed at George.
"But at least I don't snore," George retorted.
"We both sleep in these…" Fred indicated the matching sets of pyjamas, "…but we definitely don't clutch teddies. Not like someone else we know coughRoncough"
"Oh and just for the record we don't suck our thumbs or dream of being a poncey twit like our dear brother Percy."
"We have much, much better dreams. Often involving girls…"
"…and poles…" They both grinned widely.
"Oh I had one of them," said Neville dreamily
"NEVILLE!"
Neville looked up to see six scandalised faces staring at him.
"Our little boy is growing up…" said Fred wiping fake tears from his eyes with a finger.
Neville threw a pillow at him, but Fred ducked and the pillow landed in the water that was still on the floor.
"Why is there water on the floor?" asked George, "Were you trying to teach Seamus how to swim?"
"I can swim," protested Seamus, as the others began to clear up the mess.
"Oh really?" said Ron, "Shall we throw you in the lake and watch you do your front crawl then?"
"Crawl? I said I
could swim not do baby stuff…Hermione-lover…"
In the silence
that followed all eyes turned to Ron.
"I…she…I never…how did…what've you got against her? Huh?" he spluttered. Seeing another fight beginning to brew, Dean ushered Ron away to where the twins were wringing out the carpet.
"You'd best all get to bed – we don't want anymore spats tonight…it's not even night anymore – 'tis 1am! You stupid, stupid people…go to sleep!"
With that the twins dropped the now dry carpet on the floor and stormed out.
Next morning, Hermione noted with a heavy heart that faces were even more ashen with fatigue than the previous day.
"Erm, hi guys," she said, trying not to sound too cheerful.
"Hi Hermione," replied Harry shooting her a grimace (she hoped it was meant to be a smile). Ron just grunted, and continued glaring at a dazed-looking Seamus who was wolfing down porridge oats and handfuls of baked beans. The Irish boy was sporting a black eye and Hermione saw that Ron was clenching and unclenching bloodied knuckles.
"Ron!" she gasped, to the consternation of the twins, who had just nodded off. Ron looked at her.
"Eh?"
"Let me see you hands."
He looked at her.
"Hands. Attached to you arms and your fingers." She held hers up. Ron nodded and grasped her hand pumping it up and down.
"Pleased to meet you"
"No Ronald, show me your hands." He pointed between his legs.
"Arghhh." She grabbed his hands and examined the knuckles. Ron seemed to have woken up somewhat and now had a goofy smile spread across his face. Hermione whipped out her wand, muttered something and the blood and grazes vanished.
"Wow, thanks 'Mione – d'you think you could fix up Harry too?"
Harry looked up at Hermione's raised eyebrows.
"And just what were you all doing last night that left you battle-scarred and weary this morning?"
"Urrr, last night we had a little scuffle. Is all."
"Scuffle…as in fight?"
At the mention of the F-word, the Hall went strangely silent. Luckily for Harry it was at that moment that the owls arrived.
"It was about Ginny," he whispered as packages rained down on the table. Hermione looked a little startled.
"Just, you know, Seamus was being all dirty and so me and Ron – well we had to sort him out you see and…"
"Harry?"
"Oh, hi Ginny, you alright?"
"Yeh I'm fine…oh my gosh…what happened to you? You haven't been fighting have you?"
All conversation stopped. Someone coughed and was furiously shushed by a prefect.
"Oh nooo…I wouldn't resort to violence…I walked into the door actually, didn't know what I was doing." He rose and began to make his way out, trying not to make his escape obvious.
"I was still quite sleepy…" he stalled – several people had miraculously appeared and were blocking the exit, "…and I was really not with it, and before I knew it BLAM there was a door in front of me…"
He was at the door; all that stood between him and freedom was a vicious-looking first year. Sadly for Harry, first-years have a reputation for clinging to any scrap of gossip they can lay their hands on – if he thought he could get out easily, he was mistaken.
Harry tried dodging, he tried barging, he even tried the 'oh-look-I-see-a-blue-monster-dancing-with-Professor-McGonagall-right-behind-you' trick – but to no avail. In the end, he was left with no choice but to pick the first year up, place them to the side and do a runner. Which he did, leaving the shouts of "OH MY GAWWWWD HARRY POTTER TOUCHED MEEE…" and the sound of a melodramatic first year fainting behind him.
The day passed in a blur, and before anyone realised, lunchtime arrived. Hermione had suggested they eat outside and had nicked some sandwiches from the Great Hall for them. Ron had been right about it being a hot summer, and everyone seemed grateful for the short-sleeved shirts and lighter cloaks that constituted the summer uniform. Harry munched on his sandwich thoughtfully, scanning the Daily Prophet for Quidditch articles. Hermione was teaching Ron to make daisy chains and in the distance you could see Dumbledore turning cartwheels, to enthusiastic cheers of 'Who da man? Who da man who come before? He da man! He one and only Dumbledore!'
"He's quite athletic for his age isn't he," commented Harry.
"Well how old is he?"
"No idea."
"Can't imagine him as a baby…" Hermione giggled.
Seamus walked past and looked at Ron pointedly. Noticing Hermione, he winked and sat down on her left.
"Hi Hermione!"
"Er…hi Seamus."
Ron looked at Harry as though begging him to strangle Seamus with his newspaper. Harry shrugged and continued reading.
"So what are you doing with this moron?" asked Seamus.
"Who's a moron? Ron?"
"Yeah! It's even got his name in it – Mor-Ron"
Hermione laughed politely.
"He's not a moron."
"Well he's not exactly an Adonis is he?" Seamus flexed his muscles casually.
Hermione spluttered. "Excuuuse me?"
"Well just look at him – gangly, lanky, red-head…"
"I happen to think he looks fine as he is."
"Oh I'm sure you do, especially if you knew what he says in his sleep…"
Harry looked up and mouthed "NO!" at Seamus. Seamus took this as his cue to continue.
"He says someone's name in his sleep, he does."
Ron had been steadily getting more and more agitated, and was clenching his fists angrily.
"It's a girl's name…"
Ron jumped to his feet. "Shut UP!" he growled.
"Oooh touchy-touchy."
Ron struck Seamus across the jaw. Seamus was undeterred and closed his eyes were he lay, mimicking Ron asleep.
"Mmmmm…Hermione…ohhh Hermione…"
Hermione snapped her head round to see a stunned Ron looking about to cry. Seamus laughed.
"Don't think we couldn't hear you."
That did it. Ron spun around and sprinted off. How could he? How could he? Hot tears pricked his eyes. The little bastard. He kept running even back inside the school. Madame Pince stuck her head round the door as he passed the library and threatened to have him expelled. He couldn't care less. Not now. Somehow he kept running and was soon out of the school grounds. Eventually he could no longer ignore his aching legs and slowed down to a walk to take in his surroundings. The school looked quite tiny in the distance. Ahead of him lay deserted countryside and he knew that if he kept walking for a bit longer he would find Hogsmeade. He saw the ridge of trees where last year he, Seamus, Harry and Dean had discovered a stash of Fred and George's pranks. At the thought of Seamus, Ron's blood boiled and he channeled all his anger into his wand. Hand shaking, he screamed the first spell he could think of and pointed at the trees.
"WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA!"
White light spurted out of the wand tip in the direction of the trees. Spell finished, Ron continued walking, rage still filling him up. He felt a little stupid to have cast a spell so furiously – he could have hit someone. He hurried down to the trees and out the other side. Phew. There was no-one in sight, bar a couple of cows. He carried on jogging down through the fields, passing Hogsmeade, and the small farm. It was only when he reached the hill where he and Hermione had found a miserable Harry one Christmas, that he looked back.
Wow. What a view. Stretched out in front of him were beautiful, picturesque cottages. He could see Hogsmeade directly below him and various farm animals dotted about in fields of emerald green. Over the ridge of trees, he could make out the spires and turrets of Hogwarts, and the figure of Hagrid chucking suicidal fish back into the Lake.
"Maybe I'll just stay here and never go back," he said dreamily, as he basked in the sun. His line of vision rested on the slope of the hill and he noticed a red-faced farmer at the bottom. Squinting at him, Ron could make out a pair of wild-looking eyes under a straw hat, and a large mouth that was shouting something repeatedly. Ron strained his ears – something about a cow… "What…what…is he doing with my cow…" A second person appeared with black hair and green eyes. The shouting got louder, but more muddled. Ron made out a few words: "Daisy", "prize cow", "Dumbledore will pay, "all churned up", "Young people today".
He was distracted from the argument by a faint mooing overhead. Ron looked up at the sky, where Daisy was floating, contentedly turning somersaults in the air.
"Oh shit," he muttered.
Hermione surveyed the two sweaty, panting boys before her. Ron was clinging to the door frame in a desperate attempt to stay upright and Harry was slumped against the wall.
"I saved your arses you know," she placed her hands on her hips and continued, "You're lucky that I told them a long story about how Harry had lost his wand and you both had to find it urgently. You could've both been expelled for bunking off those lessons and if anyone had not believed me then I'm sure they'd have found you out."
Harry and Ron grunted.
"You owe me big time" she said glowering, "I would've thought you could be a little more grateful."
Harry rolled his eyes, "Fine then my lady, here have some cheese." He reached into the bag beside him and tossed her two kilos of freshly made cheddar. Hermione stared at him.
"You want me to be more grateful? Ok then, catch…" He threw two more lumps of cheese in her direction, "As an expression of our thankfulness and deepest gratitude, and humblest and sincerest gratefulness…" he lobbed a third chunk that narrowly missed Hermione's head, "…please accept these bovine gifts, courtesy of Daisy."
He kissed his fingers, growled, "Bon appetit…" and stalked out of the door.
"He's just a little angry…" began Ron apologetically, "I'm sure he'll calm down soon – don't think badly of him pleeeeearrrrrggghhh..." he screeched as Harry grabbed his collar and yanked him away.
Hermione sat at the Gryffindor table on her own. All around her people were tucking into supper with gusto, but she couldn't bring herself to eat anything. She had somehow managed to get through the other lessons without showing her misery too much. Ron had been shooting her 'don't-worry-it'll-be-fine' glances, but Harry had consistently ignored her through the whole of Transfiguration. And History of Magic. And Care of Magical Creatures. She sighed. The cheese was still lying underneath her bed. She wondered if she'd be able to palm it off on the twins to experiment with. But what would they do with it? Cheese sculptures? Cheese disguised as cats? Extract the innate cheesiness, bottle it and sell it as 'Ultimate Chat-up Line Essence'? Oooh, the possibilities were endless.
"Ahem." Someone sat down beside her.
"AH-EM"
Hermione supposed they wanted to talk to her. Turning in her seat she looked at the rude intruder to her thoughts.
"Harry!"
She flung her arms around him, "Oh I'm so sorry…"
"It's ok Hermione. I'm sorry for losing my temper."
He patted her absentmindedly on the head, "Now how about you make a nice cheese sandwich for me and Ron here. I'm famished."
"Oh! Ron's here too?"
"Yes…but cheese sandwich…"
"Where is he?"
Harry sighed. "Ron!"
Ron's head popped out from behind Harry.
"You called?"
Hermione flung her arms around Ron's neck.
"Oh, Ron! I'm so sorry!"
"Um…it's ok…" replied Ron, the tips of his ears glowing pink.
Harry looked at him and mimed hugging someone, as Ron's arms hung limply by his sides. Ron gulped and gingerly placed his arms around Hermione, who was gabbling.
"I was so worried about you two, and I thought you were angry with me too and are you sure it's ok with you I mean you took it very well compared to Harry and the cheese tastes quite good actually, I tried a little bit and I hit Seamus for making you angry…"
"Shhhh 'Mione it's ok…hush…stop wittering – oh was that why he had another black eye – Hermione…sit down! Ginny's mouthing 'awww' at me…"
Eventually Hermione sat down, but almost immediately sprang up again, smacking a palm against her forehead.
"Ah dammit! I knew I forgot something…" she dashed off in the direction of the library, "…see you later guys!"
"Ron," began Harry hopefully, "You look like a good cook…"
But Ron wasn't listening.
"Ohhh crap! Potions essay!" he jumped up and ran off shouting, "Sorry Harry, I'll be in the common room…"
Sitting alone at a near-deserted table, with the face of an abandoned puppy, Harry whispered forlornly, "…cheese…sandwich...?"
Hope it lived up to expectations :) thank you very much for your wonderful reviews - ChocoholicMonekyfish, Cat4Dan207, lifeisawsome89, Invaderk, HarryandGinnyRonandHermione, pianaEH, ronandmionealways...feedback is relished and appreciated and cherished and yarrrrr...keep it up people!
Just a note: I forgot to say thank you to Ruarik Grimnisson (although I'm not sure this site is his thing) and his great book Rune Rede, which is where I got the whole Thrymheim thing of last chapter.
