Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor do make money.

Stray

Ron couldn't believe he had managed to convince Pansy to join him and the others for a free Saturday in Hogsmeade. She had really been shutting everyone but him out as he made arrangements for them to join Charlie in Romania after the trial; though he hadn't let her in on that part, she assumed he was making arrangements for them to move out there after graduation. But the longer he found himself stuck at Hogwarts with her so unhappy, the more anxious he was to get them both moved away from here.

He had to admit that since she had made the suggestion of them moving to Romania, a weight he hadn't realized had been pushing down on him had disappeared. However, more importantly, her appetite had finally made a consistent return. She looked healthier now than she had been and Madame Pomfrey was finally happy enough with her weight to leave the both of them alone.

Squeezing Pansy's hand to show his affection for her, he found himself rewarded with a beautiful smile from her. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer to kiss her on the forehead.

"Hey you two, knock it off," Harry joked, "You are making the rest of us look bad."

"Maybe you should just take notes, right Ginny?" Hermione teased back, her hand firmly in Theo's.

"And maybe Ron should take notes from us, huh Theo?" Harry playfully snapped back.

"Leave me out of this," Theo retorted, letting go of Hermione's hand only to raise his hands in mock surrender before taking her hand again.

Ron just rolled his eyes as Hermione and Harry carried on as their better-halves appeared powerless to stop the sibling-esque squabbling their banter had descended into.

Ron was about to say something to that regard to Pansy when she abruptly pulled away from him and started towards of the nearby alley by Honeydukes. Ron called out her name sever times but she didn't answer. Concerned, he started to follow her until she knelt by the corner of the store. When she stood up moments later, he could see she was now cradling a shaking ball of white fuzz.

A bloody kitten.

Wiping his face in exasperation at the prospect of another cat in his life, he sighed and said, "I guess this means you want to keep it?"

He wanted to kick himself when her eyes widened in surprise – of course, he hadn't thought about that as a possibility until he had to go and bring it up himself.

"Can I?" she whispered. "I've always wanted a cat but Mother and Father..."

There was no way he could tell her no now, after hearing her voice trail off. Sighing, he just said, "Why not? But let's go have Hagrid look at it first."

"Sucker!" he heard Ginny call out in the distance.

Turning to face his bratty sister, he gave her the two finger salute before wrapping his arm around his wife and starting the track back towards Hogwarts.

Her little 'thank you'' hours later made it all better...at least until Sugar claimed his favourite quill as her new play toy.