Chapter 11 – Blood, Bruises and Acceptance

"You should have seen Ron in our first flying lesson, it was hilarious," Dean tried to explain but broke into a fit of laughter.

Hermione laughed as she watched him try to regain his composure.

"He was flailing his arms around and fell of his broom in the end," Dean added laughing once more.

"Oh no, was he hurt?" Hermione said in concern moving closer to Dean in interest.

"No," Dean broke into another fit of laughter, "He wasn't even a metre off the ground."

Hermione nearly fell off the chair from laughing. Hermione remembered the looks that Ron gave her whenever she complained about Quidditch and felt a superior satisfaction knowing that he had struggled in his flying lessons just like she had.

"What else can you tell me?" Hermione said eager for more information about Ron.

"Oh no, he'd kill me if I told you or anyone anything more than that," Dean smiled with a mischievous look in his eyes.

"Oh come on, please," Hermione begged shaking him by the arm, "I gotta have some leverage against him."

Hermione added the last comment quickly when she noticed the look in Dean's eyes – something about boys made them want to always tease each other, she didn't understand why but was happy to take advantage of it to get to know more about Ron.

"Well, this one time…"

Dean's voice faded away when she looked up and saw Ron standing a few feet away from them – and he looked furious. Hermione gulped nervously, had he heard them talking about him?

Before she could even form a coherent thought Ron had marched up the stairs and she heard the door slam.

"That's my cue to leave," Dean said awkwardly having also seen Ron behind them, "I'll see you around John."

Hermione waved goodbye to Dean and watched him exit the common room before slowly making her way up to her dorm room.

She knocked a few times on the door and when there was no response she entered the room.

Ron was sitting at his desk reading. Hermione walked over and leaned over his shoulder to watch him. She instantly noticed him tense at her presence.

"Are you working on the Potions assignment?"

Ron gave a grunt rather than say anything in response.

"You really should have gotten that done before today," Hermione huffed, it wasn't like Ron to leave his work to the last minute.

Ron didn't reply so Hermione made her way over to her desk to take out her notes, she walked back and handed them to Ron.

"Here, you can use my notes. Honestly, I hope you haven't left your History of Magic essay to the last minute too," Hermione joked.

Ron stood up from his seat causing his chair to fall back onto the floor.

"When I want your opinion I'll ask for it!"

With those words he was out the door before Hermione had even realized that he had spoken.

Her hands shook and the notes she held fluttered to the floor.

"What was that about?" She questioned aloud, feeling her chest constrict when she remembered the steely edge in Ron's voice and eyes.

Neville munched on a chocolate frog and checked his new wizard card, he was just about to reach for his Herbology textbook on the table when Ron walked past him and planted himself in the armchair near the fire.

"Everything okay?" Neville questioned noticing the grim expression on Ron's face.

Ron didn't reply but a few minutes later John came down the staircase, he stood watching Ron for a moment before sitting in an armchair directly across from him.

Neville sat nervously on the couch looking from one side of the room to the other. He didn't know what was going on but he could feel the tension building in the room and thought it best to try to ease it before anything happened. Neville racked his brain for a conversation starter and finally took a deep breath before speaking.

"So…how crazy was that potions essay Snape set."

Clearly he had chosen the wrong topic because the next moment John slammed his fists down on the table and moved to stand in front of Ron.

"You should be finishing your essay not down here brooding."

Neville slowly edged away from John as he watched Ron clench his fists.

"Look, I'm just trying to help you," John added in a less demanding tone.

"No!" Ron said standing up and glaring down at him, "You're trying to tell me what to do."

"What is your problem!" John screamed back.

"You! You're my problem!" Ron bellowed before pushing past John running back up the stairs to the dorm rooms.

Neville watched Ron leave before turning back to see John standing with his mouth agape.

"Hey," Harry greeted stepping into the common room completely oblivious to the storm that had just erupted in the room.

A clattering sound was heard from the stairs and Ron appeared at the bottom of the stairs with his broom in his hand.

"Uh…" Harry began but was cut off by John.

"Where are you going?" John yelled after Ron.

But Ron didn't reply and the portrait swung close behind him.

Harry looked at Neville in shock.

"What's going on?"

Neville shook his head in bewilderment.

"John do you…" Neville stopped when he saw John staring at the portrait hole his lip quivering slightly.

Neville turned to Harry for assistance but Harry merely continued to watch John impassively.

Ron punched the nearby wall angrily causing the owls to screech at him before flying off to another part of the owlery.

"I shouldn't have shouted at her," Ron told himself.

He felt like screaming but instead punched the wall a few more times to vent his frustration. Ron took a few deep breathes before reaching into his robes and grabbing a bag of galleons. He called Hedwig down to him and the snowy owl circled above him before descending towards him. She nipped his finger while he attached the letter and bag of money to her leg.

"Sorry about before," he said before he petted the owl, "Could you take this to St Mungo's please."

Hedwig hooted at him before flying out a nearby window. Ron watched her disappear into the distance but was distracted from his thoughts by the sudden tugging at his wrist. He instantly looked down at his watch and was alarmed to see the words above Hermione's initials had changed to 'Hogwarts Grounds'.

Ron cursed under his breath, grabbed his broom and ran out of the owlery – only to crash right into the person he was looking for.

"Ron," John said breathlessly taking a step backward.

"What are you doing here?" Ron questioned angry that she would risk danger to herself by walking around the school grounds.

"I followed you," John replied frowning at him, "What were you doing? What's that money for?"

Ron tensed and his grip on his broom tightened.

"I can't believe you are out here fooling around when you should be finishing your Potions homework," John said in disbelief folding his arms and glaring at him.

'Does she ever stop nagging?'

"What I do is my business, it has nothing to do with you!" Ron said before pushing past John and making his way down the stairs of the owlery.

He had reached the bottom of the stairs before remembering that he was supposed to be guarding Hermione and so made a sharp turn and hid in the shadow and waited for her to pass.

Hermione watched Ron descend down the stairs and felt her eyes begin to sting.

"Why's he so angry?" she wondered aloud rubbing at her eyes, "I guess I really don't know him at all."

Hermione took a deep breathe before slowly making her way down the stairs herself. She had just reached the bottom of the stairs and had begun to walk back towards the school when a noise beside her made her stop. Hermione turned to see Ron leaning against the stairs, he didn't say a word and they stared at each other for a moment.

"Ron?"

Ron ignored her and began to walk back towards Hogwarts, Hermione watched him for a moment before quickening her step to catch up with him.

'Is he worried about me? Is that why he - '

Hermione felt her foot slip on a jagged rock and gave a cry of surprise before she fell onto the wet grassy ground.

"Ow," Hermione moaned.

Hermione's eyes widened with shock when she felt Ron pick her up.

"You okay?" he asked her earnestly.

Hermione simply nodded before looking away.

Ron softly planted her back on the ground and she sat watching him hovering over her. She saw him take a deep breathe before he knelled down beside her and reached for her leg but he stopped just as his hands were about to touch her.

"Can I…" Ron trailed off.

Hermione realized that he was asking her permission to check her leg and she nodded mutely.

'Why is he being so formal?' Hermione wondered before her thoughts returned to their previous argument in the common room. But before she could dwell too long on these thoughts she gave a gasp of surprise before biting her lip when she felt Ron's hands move gently up her leg before stopping at her knee.

"Your leg doesn't seem to be broken but you have a pretty bad cut here," Ron explained pointing to her knee.

Hermione was surprised to see the tear in her jeans where a wound was visible, but she was more shocked to see that Ron's hand was also bleeding.

"Your hand," Hermione said looking at him.

"It's nothing," Ron replied quickly removing his bleeding hand from her sight, "Does your leg hurt?"

Hermione watched him softly touch her knee and she simply shook her head mutely.

'Oh brilliant Hermione, the cleverest witch of your age and you can't even form a coherent response when a guy touches you.'

"Come on, we should get back, do you think you can stand?" Ron asked his face still turned away from her.

Hermione was incredibly tempted to lie just so that she could have Ron carry her back to the common room but her rationality finally kicked in and she was able to speak again.

"Yes," she said in barely a whisper.

She grabbed onto Ron's shirt as he helped her up, she gingerly rested her bleeding leg on the ground. The pain instantly shot up her leg and Hermione gave a cry of pain before tripping once more.

This time however Ron's arms caught her and for one incredibly brief moment Hermione felt his arms embracing her. As slowly as possible without raising suspicion she looked up at Ron.

"U-uh, w-we can just…broom."

Before Hermione could interpret what Ron had just said he had summoned his broom and placed her onto it, before jumping onto it himself.

"Oh no," Hermione moaned before grabbing onto Ron for dear life.

She thought she heard him laugh when they took off suddenly causing her to scream.

Ron couldn't help but smile when he heard John scream as they jetted off towards the Gryffindor tower, but the smile faded away when his thoughts returned to what he had seen earlier in the common room.

'Okay, get a grip Weasley. So what if she doesn't feel the same way about you? Being friends won't be so bad, it's still better than if she wasn't here at all.'

Ron sighed before turning his head slightly to look back at John.

"I can't believe you're scared of flying," Ron yelled so that his voice could carry across the wind.

He felt John shaking and thought he should slow down a bit but the next moment he heard him laugh.

"At least I didn't scream like a girl in my first flying lesson."

"What are you talking about?" he replied in confusion as he made a sharp turn towards their dorm room window, causing John to scream again.

"Oh give it up," John said after he had stopped screaming, "Dean told me all about it."

A moment of silence passed as Ron absorbed what John had said.

"When did Dean tell you this?"

"That's what we were talking about in the common room when you came in, I thought you knew?"

Ron felt himself smile despite himself and was infinitely glad that John couldn't see his face at the moment.

He stopped outside their window and pulled his wand out, he touched his wand to the window and it instantly flew open. He and John ducked their heads as they flew into the room.

The heat from the room instantly thawed their cold bodies. Ron slowly descended to the ground and they both dismounted. Ron placed his broom beside the window before closing and locking it. Ron helped John to his bed before knelling down to check the state of his knee.

"Umm, look about before…I'm sorry I yelled at you," he said taking longer than necessary cleaning John's knee.

John didn't say anything in response and Ron hurriedly continued.

"I haven't really had much sleep these last few days and combined with the pretty hectic week I've had," Ron paused and passed a shaking hand through his hair before continuing, "I suppose I just took out my frustration on you."

"I guess everyone has days where they feel that the whole world is against them," John said softly before adding, "As strange as this may seem, I actually preferred it when you were screaming at me."

Ron gaped and looked up at John.

"You liked it?"

"No," he replied quickly, "But I liked that weren't acting so formal around me. I guess I'd like it if you treat me like one of the guys and if that means I'm someone who you can feel comfortable venting your problems to than I'm here for you."

Ron chuckled at this statement.

'Like one of the guys huh?'

"If that's what you want," Ron replied before adding tentatively, "So am I forgiven?"

"Maybe," John smiled back at him.

"Now where's your potions essay?" Ron questioned ruffling John's already windswept hair as he stood up.

"Hang on, I didn't say anything about letting you borrow my actual essay just my research notes."

Ron sighed dramatically and let his head drop.

"Okay, fine," John finally conceded before summoning his notes from his desk, "But just this once, okay."

"Definitely," Ron replied, "Just once."

Hermione had been staring at the ancient runes book in her lap for the last two hours but her thoughts remained elsewhere. When Ron had flown her across the lake it had brought back memories from that night not so long ago.

Hermione clammy hands gripped onto the stranger and they jetted off across the lake. She would have screamed but her voice was too sore for any further screaming. She looked down at her reflection on the inky black surface of the lake and she shivered when she realized how close she had been to drowning. She felt the tears returning and she gripped tighter to her rescuer.

'I don't want to die,' Hermione told herself, 'There's a whole world outside Hogwarts and I don't want to die before experiencing it.'

Hermione felt her hair whipping around her face just before finally feeling the rocky shore beneath her feet. She heard her teeth chattering from the cold and she instantly began rubbing her hands over her arms to warm herself.

She watched as the boy jumped off his broom before taking out his wand and pointing it at her.

Hermione instantly froze and stared at him in horror. Was he going to attack her? She had been so grateful at not drowning that she didn't even give a second thought as to who had saved her. Before these thoughts could continue however she suddenly felt a warm sensation envelop her and the next moment she was completely dry and no longer shaking from the cold.

Hermione stared at the red-headed boy as he returned his wand to his robes and sat down on the ground. Hermione waited a few seconds before joining him and to her surprise he didn't seem to mind – usually the girls at Hogwarts avoided her like the plague unless they were bullying her that is.

Hermione saw the weary expression on his face as though he carried the weight of the world on his shoulders and she wished that she could somehow ease that pain.

Hermione looked up from her book when she heard Ron snoring. She placed the book down onto her bed and pushed the covers away before walking over to Ron's sleeping figure.

He was hunched over his desk his quill still on his hand and he was drooling on his essay. Hermione crouched down and looked at his sleeping face.

"You are completely hopeless," Hermione whispered a smile spreading across her face.

She watched him for a moment longer before slowly pulling his essay from underneath him. She read through his essay quickly and walked over to her desk to amend some mistakes.

A/N: Wow! Again thank you all so much for reading and leaving such lovely and supportive comments, I will do my best to keep you all entertained :)