Lol, this story is turning out to be longer than I had originally intended ;)

And, once again, you guys all prove to be awesome reviewers!

Chapter 10

Harry was amazed at the fact that he had managed to sleep through the night, but he supposed that a lot had to do with the fact that Ron wouldn't actually kill him... Dean, Seamus or Neville would stop him from going to far.

But, still half-asleep, he could hear a muffled sound of someone being hit... after a while he realized that that was the real world. He rolled over and rubbed his eyes, forcing the sleep off of him.

Then he paused as he saw what seemed to be a person with fiery red using something extremely big and white to hit whoever might be in Ron's bed.

He grabbed for his glasses while hearing, "Ah! Gerrof!" and saw Neville and Dean before he saw anyone else... they were just waking up, and were looking at Ron's bed, alarmed whilst simultaneously hiding under their own covers.

Harry frowned and looked towards Ron's bed, panicked, and then almost did as Dean and Neville.

"Ginny!" Harry exclaimed as soon as Ginny came into focus.

"You - Attacked him?" Ginny was saying as she hit Ron with a pillow, again and again. Now that everything had taken shape in Harry's eyes, this actually seemed rather amusing, what with Ron curled up in a fetal position, covering his head with his arms and Ginny on her knees on the bed hitting him, her face hidden by her long red hair. "I can snog whoever I damn well want to!"

"Harry!" Ron pleaded as soon as he caught a glance of Harry getting out of bed from between his arms. "Get her off me!"

Harry shrugged and walked over to watch.

"You did attack me," he said, shrugging. Ron managed to give Harry a pained look before he recoiled again as the pillow came down on him. Harry sighed. "Hi, Ginny," he said.

"Oh, hi," Ginny said, a little breathlessly, stopping hitting her brother and pushing her hair behind her ears casually. "Did he hurt you?" she asked Harry, getting off of the bed. Ron looked up through his arms with a lost look on his face, only to then look at Harry with a scared expression.

"Well..." Harry said, looking at Ron, who gave Harry a pleading look. "No, not really."

"Good," Ginny sighed, throwing the pillow on the floor beside her and walking out. Dean, Seamus and Neville watched her, eyes wide.

"Ron," Seamus finally said in a whisper. "You're sister's amazing."

Harry heard Ron growl, only ever so quietly, and he laughed.

The funny thing was, as Ron growled at Seamus' comment, the pillow seemed to lift itself from the floor and start whacking him again.

"I heard that!" a voice said from outside, and everyone but Ron erupted into laughter.

oOo

Ron barely spoke to Harry after that - he did get dressed and walk out of the dorm with Harry, but he barely spoke to him. Harry reckoned that it was more out of shock than anything else.

Hermione was waiting for them nervously in the common room - as she saw Harry and Ron come down together, she let out a gasp of surprise.

"You're both ali-" she stopped speaking and coughed. "You're both fine," she rephrased hastily. Ron let out a low grunt and Hermione shot Harry a panicked look behind Ron's back. All Harry could do was suppress a grin and shrug.

Ron ate breakfast quietly (for him) and Hermione ate it nervously and neatly. Harry just dug in, deep in thought, not completely sure where recent events left him and Ginny.

It was a while before he noticed that people were pointing and nodding, and perhaps even laughing at him from all over the Great Hall.

"Harry," Hermione whispered, confused.

"Yeah, I think I noticed," Harry mumbled, annoyed. Even Ron seemed mildly interested in why everyone was suddenly interested in Harry.

"It's probably just You-Know-Who stuff," Ron said, and Harry was taken aback by these words of comfort. Ron reached over and took a newspaper off of a third year and scanned it as Hermione watched half-disapprovingly half-worriedly. "Nope," Ron finally said. "Nothing. Maybe your hair's just sticking out at an odd angle or something..."

"Oh, yes, Ronald, that's exactly it," Hermione snapped. "People are ever so interested in Harry's hair."

"No need to get snappy about it," Ron said, annoyed. "It was just a suggestion..."

But it took them until they were out of the Great Hall to find out what was exactly wrong.

"Potter. Hey, Potter! Scarhead!"

Harry had been trying hard to ignore Draco Malfoy but failed as his head snapped around.

"What, Malfoy?" he asked hotly. And then he watched surprised, as Malfoy stepped back in fear.

"Oh, sorry Mr Potter... just don't set your girlfriend on me."

Ron went red and Harry and Hermione watched as the small group of Slytherins dissolved into laughter.

"Get her to do your dirty work, do you Potter?" Pansy shrieked happily.

Ron clenched his fists.

"Why you-"

"Ron!"

Hermione grabbed Ron by the fist and Harry by the arm and steered them away from the Slytherins, since they both looked as if they would attack at any second.

The rest of the day went on like this - in various classes the Slytherins and others would attack Harry for not 'manning up' and getting Ron himself, something that Ron wasn't too fond of either, and Hermione could only do so much.

"Mr Weasley, I would appreciate it if you would lower your wand in my class," Snape said dryly, but Ron didn't seem to happy to bring his wand away from Malfoy's face. "Twenty points from Gryffindor."

"He's insulting my sister!" Ron said, annoyed, not lowering his wand as Harry watched Hermione bury her head in her hands.

"I'm not," Malfoy assured Snape. "If anything, I'm complementing her!" And then he added under his breath, "Gave you a right bash, didn't she Weasel?"

"Compliments are normally well received, Mr Weasley," Snape said, choosing not to hear Malfoy's quiet comment. "And there is no use for wands in this class." He held out his hand and Ron stared at it before giving up and handing it over. "Detention later," Snape then added.

Ron's face contorted.

"But I gave you my wand!"

"Malfoy's potion failed, which I guarantee wouldn't have happened if you hadn't threatened him, therefore distracting him from the task at hand."

"I can guarantee my fist in his face," Ron muttered under his breath, and Snape gave him a sharp look.

"After classes, before dinner," he said dryly before giving Malfoy a high note for his 'failed' potion.

"He put me with Malfoy on purpose!" Ron said, outraged as soon as he got out of the classroom. Harry and Hermione were quiet since they had been paired together and avoided unwanted comments. "I bet that he knows too."

"I'm the only one who hasn't got detention later," Hermione sighed. Ron looked at her since she had sounded annoyed. "What?" she asked. "You're my only friends. I'm going to be stuck on my own all night."

"Don't worry, keep your head down, do some homework, it'll all be over," Ron commented sourly.

Harry said nothing, since he had been reminded with a pang that he had detention - with Ginny - again.

He cleared his throat loudly, and Hermione immediately understood and backed away.

"Listen, Ron," Harry said. "About this morning..."

Ron turned to look at him with an impassive face. Hermione nudged him expectantly and he shrugged.

"What is there to say? You kissed my sister, I attacked you, Hermione attacked us, my sister attacked me with a pillow and now I'm being humiliated, along with you, in front of the whole school."

Harry blinked.

"Um... yeah. That about sums it up... But... your sister kissed me..." he caught Hermione's eye as she shook her head frantically from behind Ron. Ron himself was shaking his head.

"Not cool."