Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Nor do I make any money.

Green

The afternoon sun felt warm against Ron's face as he lay stretched out on the grounds of Hogwarts. The fall was slowly turning into winter; the combination of the cool breeze with the hot rays felt good.

He should have been in class right now but with everything that had happened yesterday, Professor McGonagall allowed him and Pansy to skip their classes for the day. He and Pansy managed to make it to their morning classes. However, by lunch time all the whispering in became too much for Pansy and so instead of heading to Charms, they went outside to sit by the lake for some peace and quiet.

Looking over, he could see Pansy laying on her stomach appearing to be sketching something. Her face showing every ounce of her fierce concentration as she kept biting her lip and scrunching her face. Ron found himself more than curious to see what she was sketching but decided not to say anything, instead choosing to study her.

There were so many things different in her appearance outside of the scars that only they and the staff knew about. And though none of the changes surprised him, he found himself laying there missing the confident girl he had always thought to be a bitch. It was just odd to see her in pants now as well as her wearing the full sweater instead of the sweater vest most girls preferred. Then there was her hair. The short bob had disappeared over night. Instead her straight, black hair hung past her shoulders. She pinned some of it back but for the most part it had become yet another curtain for her to hide behind.

Except when she was with him. Like now.

She had pulled up her hair and had it secured somehow with two quills. Ron could see the soft line of jaw and the long eloquent neck that screamed her high birth. In her ears, she wore plain studs instead of flashy and expensive earrings.

Pansy had gone from the girl who wanted everyone to envy her to being a self-imposed wallflower that no one would notice.

Ron just wondered exactly when he had.

Turning his face from her very quickly, he sat up and looked towards the lake. The late fall still hadn't stolen the lush colour of it and the surrounding land quite yet. The blue was still a deep blue and the grass still a vibrant green in the brilliant gold of the sun. So much life exuded from the depths of the colours that surrounded him.

Softly smiled, he looked towards Pansy. She was oblivious to him as she worked feverishly: erasing; changing pencils; changing to other instruments that he didn't know the name of. She worked as if she was racing a deadline. That whatever she was doing was so important, that it just had to be done or she would never be satisfied – never able to move on until she was finished.

"What are you working on?" he asked.

"Nothing," she replied. His heart broke as he watched her remove the quills from her hair; her hair tumbling down, hiding her face.

Sighing, he turned his head away before mumbling, "I wish you didn't feel like you had to hide from me too."

He felt like an ass for saying it out loud but it was the truth. After everything they had been through together, he didn't understand why she felt it necessary to hide from him. He knew everything that she hid from every other student at Hogwarts. They really had no secrets from one another anymore; so he couldn't understand the wall she kept trying to put up between them.

He wished he could make her pain go away; the one that drove her more and more internally – away from everybody, including him. Ron knew deep down, somehow, if she pulled away from him – there would be nothing left for her.

So he sat there silent; trying to find the words to apologize.

A gentle hand brushed against his cheek, clearing away the tear he hadn't realized was falling. Turning his head, he saw Pansy kneeling next to him; her own eyes glassy.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, her hazel eyes pleading behind her thick black lashes.

"Don't be," he told her; reaching out to touch her face, cupping her cheek gently. "I'm the one being the arse here."

"No, you're not," he heard her say as he watched a tear escape her eye. Gently, he wiped it away as she mouthed, "Please help me."

"You didn't and don't have to ask," Ron explained.

He wasn't prepared for her to launch at him, wrapping her arms around his neck. Pulling her completely into his lap, he started to rock her, "We're in this together. Deal?"

Pansy didn't say a word. However, Ron took her nodding head against his neck to be her capitulation.