Chapter Six
Ron was a bit worried when Hermione didn't show up at Gryffindor Tower at six o'clock on the dot as usual but he wasn't going to stress out. Everyone was late sometimes, weren't they? She probably just got held up at the library. But when six thirty rolled around and Hermione still hadn't arrived, Ron went out the portrait hole in search of his girlfriend.

He checked the library first obviously but she was nowhere to be found. He snuck into the girl's bathroom but there was no sign. He came across Luna and Neville snogging behind a suit of armour but they both said they hadn't seen her. Since he usually met her at six so they could go down to dinner together, Ron went to the Great Hall to see if she'd accidently just gone there instead of meeting him.

Her bushy brown head was absent from the Gryffindor table but Ron couldn't leave the Great Hall without having something to eat so he sat opposite Dean and Seamus for dinner. They were having an argument over which play would be best to use in Saturday's match. Ron tuned out all talk of Quidditch which only left one topic: Hermione. Where on earth was she?

***

Hermione fell out of the pensieve and saw another memory floating on the surface. But she wasn't going back in the pensieve because it was Professor McGonagall's memory and it was private. She hadn't meant to fall in the first time so she went back to the desk and sat down.

Fortunately she'd sat down just in time because Professor McGonagall came hurrying in, her arms loaded down with books. She stood up to help her and the Headmistress was very thankful.

"Well you have your Head Girl duties every Wednesday and Friday night. You and the Head Boy, Draco Malfoy will patrol certain assigned areas of the corridors along with several other seventh year Prefects. You will begin tonight, as it is Wednesday, from 9pm-11pm," Professor McGonagall explained.

Hermione took the slip of parchment with the areas of the castle on it and went on to dinner where Ron must be frantically worried about her.

***

Luna was surprised at how well her new relationship with Neville was going. Dean long forgotten, Luna was kissing Neville in an abandoned corridor. He was good considering he hadn't dated anyone previously and she almost felt dizzy as he held her.

"Are you hungry?" Neville asked, holding her away from him. Sure she was... for him. Luna went to kiss him again but he held her back. "Easy," he said amusedly, grinning at her eagerness. "We should go down to dinner."

Luna shook her head insistently but Neville dragged her along the corridor and downstairs. Luna was happy when dinner was finished by the time they got down there. He joined up with Ron and Hermione and Luna had to go to her own common room. She slipped a note into Neville's hand before she left. Neville immediately interested Ron in a discussion on the upcoming Quidditch match.

Hermione went off to the library and Ron went to find Dean and Seamus so Neville was in the common room and unrolled Luna's note.

Meet me at the library at 8pm xo.

Neville grinned to himself. He'd been pining over Luna for so long and now she was practically falling into his lap. It seemed too good to be true. That was why he wanted to take things slow, so as not to ruin it. Luna was very eager though so he had to do something to curb this. He'd love to spend all day kissing her if he could but there were more important things.

He went to the library at ten to eight with a pile of books, several quills and a roll of parchment. Luna eyed his pile in annoyance but Hermione was still in the library so Neville went over to sit at her table. She smiled and went back to her Arithmancy homework while Neville opened his Charms book.

Luna sat down resignedly and opened her Muggle Studies book to the chapter on sports. As she read about football and tennis she'd much rather be alone with Neville but he was insistent on taking things slow. At the moment however, she didn't agree with him. She felt like she'd been waiting for him for so long and now all she wanted to do was be with him.

***

The next day Ron was a bit shaky when he woke up as today was the day of his first Quidditch match as Captain. He had a lot to live up to thanks to Harry so he hoped he could manage it. He dressed in the red and gold robes and went down to breakfast. He was surprisingly able to eat his usual amount while Dean and Seamus refused. They trooped down to the pitch and into the changing rooms.

"Right, you know what you have to do so just do it," Ron said. He was glad Ginny wasn't there or she probably would have burst out laughing at this. His team however just nodded and grabbed their brooms.

Ron had finally saved up enough money for a Nimbus Two Thousand and One and he mounted this at the door. One by one they kicked off from the ground and soared out of the room to cheers, claps and whistles. Ron went over to his goal hoops while the rest of his team positioned themselves in the air.

Madam Hooch released the balls and blew her whistle. Ron cheered when Demelza got the Quaffle first off and passed it off to Dean. His Chasers worked beautifully together and scored four goals between them in the first ten minutes of the match. His goalkeeping abilities had significantly improved, if he did say so himself, so he caught the Quaffle every time the Slytherin Chasers threw it at him.

He noticed Harry and Ginny sitting in the stands and winked at them. Harry and Ginny cheered supportively, waving their Gryffindor scarves. Perhaps the fact that they were there spurred him on and he made some of his best saves. Dennis Creevey wasn't having much luck with the elusive Golden Snitch though.

Ron was watching Cootes hit a particularly lethal Bludger at the Slytherin Seeker and didn't notice Dennis Creevey dive. The crowd noticed and Ron was alerted when they began to cheer on Dennis. He started cheering too when he saw Dennis chasing the Snitch.

He almost fell of his broom when Dennis snatched up the Snitch and the Slytherin Seeker dropped to the ground in defeat. The Gryffindors landed and ran towards each other for a group hug. They lifted Dennis up and carried him towards the stands which were a sea of red and gold.

Harry and Ginny were at the head of the crowd who were making their way onto the field to congratulate the players. Ginny happily hugged Ron and Harry shook his hand.

"Well done mate," he said and Ron grinned.

"How's things at the Ministry?" he asked.

"Great, Auror training is going really well," Harry replied. He grabbed Ginny and farewelled Ron as they had to get back to work. Ron trooped up to the Gryffindor Tower where someone had a party organised.

Neville had snuck down to the kitchens with Luna and took a while coming back so Ron was eager to provide a few Gryffindor Second Years with a play by play of the match. Neville finally arrived with armloads of food which he laid on the table and the Gryffindors cheered, responding with a resounding chorus of Weasley Is Our King.