Disclaimer: Harry Potter isn't mine and I'll never own him/it or be JKR no matter how many times I attempt to make a Polyjuice Potion.
A/N: Okay, I'll try to make this chappie longer and such. As I said before READ AND REVIEW! I can't write if you don't review. Mille grazie (a thousand thanks in Italian) to Mary Fay for reviewing again! I think you might have been confused by the fact I combined an Author's Note (formerly labeled as Ch.2) with Chapter 2 (formerly labeled as Ch.3). Ya, its confusing. Anyway. Thanks to October Tuscany for reviewing as well (sry I forgot to thank you! My email was being confusing! Bad Laurel!). Anyway, please review! I need reviews to keep up my writing (its motivation!). Tell me all your ideas, corrections, typos, questions, feedback, predictions, thoughts, EVERYTHING (regarding the story)! I want to make this story as awesome as possible. I am now enabling my email on the site, but all you need to do is push the little button at the bottom of the page! Aargh! Now I'm nagging and being annoying! Sorry. Well enough ranting from me. Here's your story!
Chapter Four–Lonely Eyes And Skin Like Pearl
Time passed like the constant, steady scritching and scratching of quills during exam time. Ron found Hermione furious with him once again, and he couldn't even recall what their first fight was about. But this time he knew.
Ever since that game of chess with Ginny, Ron had been thinking about the Ragazzo girl. She seemed all right, friendly enough. She had taken a shine to Harry, which Ron thought would be good for him. Harry needed something light and fresh in his life. And that girl seemed to be just the thing. But at the same time, Ron always felt uneasy around her. He had assumed, at first, that this churning in his stomach was just the lovebug that had sunk its fangs into every heterosexual male in the school. But after a few days, he knew it was not. Love, is something different, the voice in his head peeped, and you know that. Ron was sure there was something off about the striking girl with heavenly eyes. He had said so to Hermione. And well, look what happened.
:FLASHBACK: (A/N: Oh No! Help! Not a Flashback!)
Scene: The empty Gryffindor Commonroom. Hermione Granger sitting on a pouf by the fire. She is reading her Charms Textbook. She is on Chapter 76, Section 13.
(Enter Ronald Weasley, looking thoughtful. This means trouble.)
Ron: (suspiciously casual)'Lo Hermione. Whatcha up to?
Hermione: (looks up from her reading and raises her eyebrows) Reading.
Ron: (flushes and looks bashful) Of course. May I sit down?
Hermione: Sure. (continues reading)
Ron: (sits down particularly close to Hermione, and is at a loss for words) So… nice weather?
Hermione: (looking agitated, rolls her eyes) Get to it Ron. I haven't all day. What is it, do you want to copy my Transfiguration essay?
Ron: (looking ticked off, says sharply) No. I'll have you know I've already done it. (settles down and relaxes) (in an attempt at being subtle) So… what do you think about that Ragazzo girl?
Hermione: (snarling) Bit with the lovebug, are we? Gee, it's just like fourth year all over again. Except Celia's name doesn't rhyme.
Ron: (taken aback) No, no, no! You have it all wrong! I am not attracted to her at all! It's just that she seems odd. Something about her is…eerie. (quietly) She's really not my type at all, you know.
Hermione: (abashed) Oh.
Ron: S'all right. What do you think? Is it just me? You know Ginny detected something off too… bad vibes, I say… (trailing off)
Hermione: (with new vigor) You really should stop attacking the poor girl. Just because she's new and different, and you have a case of xenophobia, doesn't mean she's "off!" Besides, Ginny's just jealous. I don't know why, I thought she was off with what's-his-name Cauldwell, that Hufflepuff.
Ron: (shocked) What! He's TWO years younger than her! Is that good? Or is it bad? I don't know! (baffled at this point)
Hermione: (flushing with frustration) We're getting off topic! What I'm trying to say is that there does not have to be a certain je ne sais quoi about every gorgeous, foreign girl with an accent! This is something good for Harry, something he needs!
Ron: (frustrated, his ego ruffled) Yes, that's true, I was thinking the same thing. It's just, we don't know anything about her. And there is something off about her. I am just as worried about Harry as you are.
Hermione: (cold, steely) Ron. For once, don't be so close-minded. I don't know whether you don't like her accent, or if you're jealous. But do not think I am not worried for Harry. Do not make this into something it is not. And for god's sake, Ron, think before you utter any more bizarre fallacies.
(Exit Hermione)
(Pan in on Ron, all alone, disheveled hair and all.)
End Scene.
:END FLASHBACK:
There was no friendly banter among friends. There was no one to really talk to. Hermione ignored his existence. Harry was being chummy with Celia. Ron resorted to hanging out with his little sister, which was always a sad sight to see.
"Is it true you're going with that Cauldwell fellow, then?" Ron asked Ginny conversationally as he peeled the wrapper off of a chocolate frog. Rubbish, Agrippa again.
"What do you care? And no. That was a stupid rumor that Orla spread about." Ginny was attempting to study, but it was getting very difficult with Ron hovering around, "And she did a bloody good job too, if you know about it" she muttered under her breath so Ron could just barely hear her.
"Nevermind." Ron ignored the latter comment and ran a shaking hand through his red hair. At this point, Hermione walked hurriedly past him with an air of purposeful ignorance so thick it could be cut with a knife. Something in the redheaded boy's chest lurched and his hand slid down his face in frustration.
"Why don't you just go talk to her?"
"Why should I? I have nothing to say to her."
"You're both the same." Ginny sighed, "As proud as a hippogriff and as stubborn as hell." Ron snorted and pretended to read his Charms textbook. He was on Chapter 16, Section 23. Ginny rolled her eyes, a mannerism she received from the Prewett side of her family.
ooo
Harry was baffled. After Cho, he had said, Harry, no more of this girl business for you. And here he was flushing a red to rival Ron's because a raven-haired girl had her delicate arm, with skin as pale pink and smooth as pearl, draped around his. Her head lay on his shoulder as if it naturally fit there, and had sat there all along. Harry was literally frozen and his mind screamed, his face felt scalding. He looked at Celia's gentle sloping script on the notes they were supposed to have been studying. It perfectly matched the handwriting on the billet-doux he had received that sun-drenched morning.
A/N: Okay, I HAD to make that a semi-fill-in chapter. Sorry 'bout the flashback, what'd you think? Was that chapter icky or was it the best you've ever read? What do you think about my O.C. and what role she will play? PLEASE READ AND REVIEW. And I quote: "Tell me all your ideas, corrections, typos, questions, feedback, predictions, thoughts, EVERYTHING (regarding the story)!" I will write a longer/better/more interesting chapter next time. Okay Tell Me: Would you like faster updates, but shorter chapters? Or slower updates, but longer chapters? Anyway, my English essay awaits me.
Love and delicious pastries,
Laurel KingsleyP.S. "Je ne sais quoi" is literally French for "I don't know what". It means "a quality that cannot be described or named easily."
P.P.S. A "billet-doux" is a love letter or note.
P.P.P.S. Just in case you didn't know.