paper aeroplanes

Ron hated Potions. He hated Potions essays even more. So, clearly, the responsibility of having to write one to hand in by the next day brought natural dislike to the sixteen year-old redhead. He made his disgust apparent to his best friends by emitting a large groan, disrupting both of them in the process. He was soon met with two pairs of eyes, one green, one brown. He grinned back at Harry and Hermione, and gave them a little wave. Harry just shook his head nonchalantly and went back to working on his essay. Hermione, however, continued to wait. Ron was happy to have the extra attention, and at lest she wasn't shouting at him yet.

'What is it, Ronald?' she asked expectantly, glancing at his completely blank page. Ron didn't reply, only continued to grin boyishly, so she snatched up his parchment and began to scribble hurriedly on it. 'Did you know,' she said, not taking her eyes off of the page but continuing to fully draw the boys' attention, 'that Beatrix Potter said that the first words of a paper are the most enticing?'

Ron and Harry gaped at her. 'Who?'

'Never mind,' she said brightly, continuing to write on Ron's paper.

Meanwhile, Ron sat back in his common room chair with a flat sigh. He leaned into the side table and grabbed a couple of liquorice snaps, eating them immediately to avoid being bitten, and sat there the exact same way for what must have been twenty minutes. Around that time later, he was sitting with his hands in his lap, half awake, with a half-empty bowl of liquorice next to him (though Harry helped with the latter). Harry looked about done on his assignment, Hermione was half finished, how he didn't know, but he grabbed a small piece of parchment, watched Hermione for a little while longer and then finally scribbled the words;

Go out with me, Granger?

on the paper. He held it in his hand for what seemed like hours, before getting the guts to turn it into a paper aeroplane and shoot it off in the direction of Hermione... 'Harry!'

Harry had snatched the aeroplane out of thin air, unfolded it, and sniggered loudly when he had finished reading it. 'Harry! Harry... Give it back! That's not yours!'

'Oh,' said Harry with a snigger. 'Really? Could it be...'

He pretended to shoot the paper at Hermione, which drove Ron nuts. He waved his arms around quite idiotically, trying to get Harry to toss it back, until..

'Ron, are you quite alright?'

Hermione was now glancing at him worriedly. Then she grinned. 'You look like you're having a seizure.'

Both of the H's laughed heartily, but Ron slumped back into his seat. She was going to see it anyway... Harry stood up, stretched, announced the completion of his essay, and headed over to the boys dorm, stopping to stand next to Ron as he went. He tapped him on the shoulder, and slipped the note back into his hand.

'Thought you might want to give it to her yourself,' he whispered into Ron's ear. 'I don't know much about women, but I'm pretty sure asking a friend to ask a girl out for you isn't the best way to go.'

Ron sighed in relief. 'Nice approach, though,' he added. 'Tell me if it goes well... I might try it on Ginny...' He stood up straight and said aloud; 'Night, then.'

'Night, Harry,' chimed Hermione, and Harry headed up the stairs to the dorm. Ron could have sworn that he saw a wink before the raven-haired teen disappeared from his sight.

'This is E material, I think, Ron,' Hermione sang, continuing to write. 'Certainly the best paper on Blibble Root that I've ever written, that's for sure...'

Ron smiled and checked the clock on the wall. Almost nine thirty.

He flipped the paper aeroplane over and over again in his hands, before throwing it in her direction again. It landed in the very middle of the paper just as she was re-inking her quill. A large glob of ink dropped right in the middle of his note, and she growled at it. Ron gulped.

'Goth me? What?' She said, scowling. 'Ron, do you know what this is?'

He pretended to look surprised. 'Um, maybe it means something along the lines of 'will you go out with me'... Not that I know anything!' He added hastily. Hermione furrowed her brow at the note and stood up. He cringed at the next words. Not this. Puh-leeeeease!

'WHO SENT THIS! CALLING THE COMMON ROOM! WHO – SENT – THIS – NOTE?'

Several inquisitive faces glanced up, and, had it been possible, Ron would have loved to have been able to shrug even lower in his chair. Hermione wandered madly around the room, marching up to every boy in sight. 'Is this your idea of a joke?! This is so low of you! You- Oh! Sorry!'

She finally came back to her chair. Glancing at Ron, she asked, 'do you know who- Oh, Ron!'

He had raised his hand submissively. 'Ron, did you... Ohh...'

He clenched his hands together in anxiety, pretending to be fascinated with his left thumb, until he felt a presence above him. He hesitantly looked up, and just as he met her eyes, the note dropped back in his lap. From what he could see, she was immensely flustered.

'Right, well... I'd best be getting some rest then, hadn't I? G-goodnight, I suppose...'

And she ran off, her books and quills piled up in her arms.

Ron hesitantly glanced at the note, but his fears were met with a sudden excitement! There, on the note, was one, very comforting word;

YES!!!

I'd like to thank my mum... Nah, I kid. Please review if you liked it! And flames? Bring em on! -Nora