It is a saying that life is nothing more than series of choices, each choice affecting the next. Ron (unlike common assumptions) had often been thinking about life and especially its lovely way of trying to get into his way. He would lay in his bed at night, pondering about where everything was going and where he would end up.
My life is a total mess right now.. I can't seem to make any sense of it at all. Hermione and I are closer than we've ever been, but we can't be together. Lavender and I are at completely opposite ends and we ARE together. I've been in Dumbledore's office more than I've ever been in any other year, and I'm supposed to be a prefect. Ron closed his eyes with a sigh of frustration. What am I supposed to do? Just break it up with Lavender? Tell her that I've been in love with someone else all along?

Lavender had asked Ron to be her boyfriend right after his best game of quidditch that year. Ron had been totally blown away by the sudden attention and interest that he hadn't thought about the consequences. Lavender is pretty, he supposed, but what else is there to our relationship than kissing? She hardly ever says something interesting, and when I want to talk about something, she isn't interested at all.
Ron hated himself for hurting Hermione. In a moment of confusion, a moment of euphoria, he had said yes to Lavender. He had said something he had come to regret immediately when he saw Hermione's face.

Hermione's riddles kept him busy. They were interesting, fun, and exciting all at the same time. Every moment he had to himself, he would re-read the riddle she had given him after their visit to Hogsmeade. It was short, simple and above all, completely incomprehensible. The small snippet of parchment was safe in his pocket, waiting for the moment Ron would take it out again. That moment would have been now if Harry was ever going to fall asleep. Ron could imagine himself sitting up late (again) reading Hermione's riddle (again). He had been working on it for several days now, but it had proven to be rather difficult. The other riddles had been easier, because they had been longer. Longer riddles mean more hints. This riddle was short. So short, that if your handwriting was cramped, it would fit into a single line. And a single line meant very few hints.

Ron spent his time idly thinking about everything. Harry and Dumbledore had been getting on better terms rapidly. Harry had been going on about their visits for weeks on end, loving the private time between them. He had grown very fond of Dumbledore, seeing him more like a mentor than a headmaster. Dumbledore was obviously enjoying their time too, from what Harry had told him. Still, there was something sad about it. Dumbledore and Harry were most happy, talking about something that might cost them their lives. You-know-who (or Voldemort, as Ron corrected himself) had been growing in power this year, starting his all-out war against the order and the ministry. He might kill Harry sometime in the future. He might even kill Dumbledore...

Stupid me, thinking that I've got troubles. Thinking my life is a mess. I guess its all relative. Ron felt ashamed. Harry had been in mortal peril for more than a year now. He has to face the biggest evil this country has ever faced, and I can't even end a relationship that's going nowhere. I've never even told him about me and Hermione.

Ron started feeling ruefully ashamed. I'll put my life in order this week. I'll break up with Lavender, hook up with Hermione, even if it has to be secret for a while, and I'll stop being a prefect. Ron had given this last bit a lot of thought. He had failed miserably at being a prefect. He had gotten a first-year into the hospital-wing, made a fool of himself in front of half the school by pushing Malfoy into the table and couldn't even stop that seventh year Ravenclaw from doing the leg-locker curse on a Hufflepuf second year. He decided that he would be walking up to Dumbledore's office and demanding to be relieved from his prefect duties before the end of the week.

Ron fell asleep soon afterwards, never getting the chance to work on the riddle that night, because Harry didn't seem to want to fall asleep. Ron woke up more tired and broken than before he fell asleep. He had dreamt uneasily, dreaming about breaking up with Lavender and her using most of the unforgivable curses on him. Apart from that, this was also one of the few nights Hermione hadn't starred in his dreams, which she now did on an almost regular basis. His dreams had allowed him to re-live their moment in Hogsmeade several times, each time ending interestingly more positive (and not to mention positively more interesting).

He had woken up early, and was thus one of the first to go down to the common room. It was Wednesday, a beautiful and sunny spring morning. The rays of light coming from the windows in the common room were still a bit shaky, like the weather hadn't decided whether it had become spring already, or if it was still winter. Ron decided to walk over to 'his' chair, a nice puffy, soft one, covered in red leather. He had nearly reached it when he tripped over something soft and fluffy. It sniffed his robes, letting out an approving purr.
"Crookshanks, you've got to start paying attention to where people walk."
He picked up the ginger cat and placed it on his lap. It seemed to hesitate for a minute, then settled down his lap. "It's odd how your face resembles that of a cat running headfirst into a wall. I guess you're one of the few creatures that can't see its own nose."

He went down for breakfast around eight, knowing Lavender would be coming down from the girls' dormitories anytime soon. Ron was the only Gryffindor sitting at the breakfast table. He had put some sausages and eggs on his plate and began eating them rapidly, hoping beyond hope that Lavender would not be down soon. She came down immediately of course, as all things dreaded tend to do.

She sat down next to him, kissing him ferociously. There was no passion though, no emotion that got spurred in Ron's mind other then a mild embarrassment.
"How's my Wonny doing today?"
"Listen Lavender, I want to tell you something."
"You want to tell me you missed me in Hogsmeade?"
"No, it's something else," Ron said, slowly feeling his nerves tensioning.
"Oww, you're so sweet. You want to tell me you love me?"
"Listen Lavender, please let me ask you something. I have some questions about 'us'."
"Are you going to ask me to be your wife?" Lavender asked hopefully.
"Merlin, no! What made you think that?"
"Why not?"
Ron thought about how this conversation had suddenly turned against him. "First of all, we haven't even been together all that long, so why would we get married? Second of all, I want to tell you.."
"..You're as stupid as you are ugly, aren't you?"

For a second, Ron had thought he had just finished his sentence in a completely different way than he had imagined, but it wasn't his voice that made the sneer, it was Ginny's. She was standing in front of Malfoy, pointing her finger at his head.
"You'd better watch your tongue, miss blood traitor," Malfoy retorted, "or it will be growing off the back of your head instead."
Ron walked up to Malfoy and Ginny and tried to pull her away from him. She resisted fiercely, shoving Ron aside and taking a swipe at Malfoy.

Dumbledore entered the room at exactly that moment, freezing Malfoy and Ginny seconds before impact.
"Now, now, miss Weasley," he spoke (with some disappointment in his voice), "That isn't a very nice thing to do to Mister Malfoy. What's the occasion?"
When he unfroze them, Ginny told Dumbledore that Malfoy had called her a bloodtraitor and a (in Ron's words) scarlet woman. Malfoy naturally dismissed all this, claiming he had done nothing of the sort and Ginny had just lashed out at him without reason.
"Mister Weasley," Dumbledore asked, "You happened to be here, care to tell me what you've seen?"
Ron knew by the look on Ginny's face that she had lied. She had been known to start trouble, and she was signaling him from behind Dumbledore's back that he should tell her story.
"I'm sorry Professor Dumbledore," he admitted honestly, "I really couldn't tell from my position."
Ginny had been furious with him for hours. He had told her several times that he really couldn't tell Dumbledore, an expert Occlumence, lies about his sister that were that transparent. He still felt he had made a bad decision though. Malfoy had gotten off with hardly a warning, while Ginny had to do lines. More proof, in his eyes, that he sucked at being a good prefect.

Because Ron had been spending every waking moment alone reading and trying to solve Hermione's puzzle, he hardly saw anyone outside classes. Lavender had suggested him to go to Madam Pomfrey's, because he had spent so much time in the dormitories claiming to be sleepy.
"Wonny, do you want to go to the astronomy tower with me?"
"Sure, just as long as we don't have to hold hands or anything."
Lavender seemed rather silent the trip up. She nearly said nothing, apart from the normal, useless gossip she had heard. When they reached the top of the astronomy tower, she put her arms around her.
"Let's look at the view from the balcony, it's really clear outside, I bet we could see for miles."
Ron walked up to the balcony with her. He really didn't think it was all that special; the view looked just like it always did. Lavender seemed to disagree, oohing and aahing constantly. Suddenly, she grabbed his arm and shoved her tongue down his mouth.

They kissed for a while, until Lavender started to undo the top buttons of her blouse.
"Lavender, what are you doing?"
"Don't say you don't want to touch them. I've seen you looking."

Ron's mind suddenly went into overdrive. He decided that this was one of those moments where you have to make an important choice, affecting your future. Ron had wanted to become more 'experienced' for quite some time now, but he'd rather hoped to become 'experienced' with Hermione. Choosing for the easy way would mean he had a dream come true, but Hermione would of course never accept this behaviour, and would be deeply devestated, shattering several dreams at the same moment.

He had decided to end it with Lavender this week, not make another impulsive mistake. His hands slowly closed the gap between them and stopped Lavender from unbuttoning any more buttons after the third. He quickly buttoned her up and stepped away. It felt good, knowing he had made the right decision for a change.

Lavender seemed rather depressed as they walked down from the astronomy tower. Ron was rather happy inside, though he had the decency not to show it. He had stopped himself from making another impulsive, and ultimately catastrophic, mistake. He had resisted his testosterone-driven urges and wanted to tell Hermione all about it. A tear dropped down from Lavender's nose before they parted ways. It made Ron feel guilty again, knowing he would have to break her heart soon.

Lavender had a pretty nose, nice and round, with small nostrils. Ron had always looked at someone's nose when he looked at someone. It was one of those sub-conscious things you do without realizing it. Lavender had a pretty nose that was nice and round. The bridge held a small scar, barely noticeable but from up close (something Ron had been quite often). She sniffed inaudibly and went off to find Padma Patil, probably to tell her all about his rejection of her.

Suddenly, Ron groped the small parchment in his pocket. The riddle suddenly made sense.

"Of the five everyone has,
I might be called 'the foremost'".

It was so simple, Ron could almost cry out of stupidity. The five senses. And 'the foremost' obviously was the nose. So the answer would probably be 'the sense of smell.' Ron ran down to the library, trying to find Hermione. She wasn't there, so he decided to try her dormitory again.

Ron raced up the stairs in an effort to get there as fast as possible. When he reached the portrait of the fat lady, he spoke the password and was allowed entry, but only after receiving a disapproving look from her.
"What did I do?" he asked.
She said nothing and opened up, muttering inside herself as she went along. Ron pounced through the common room and bounded up the stairs of the girls' dormitory. He had almost reached the end when the stairs transformed into a slide and his momentum crashed him head-first onto the stones. Parvati appeared upstairs, eyeing him like he was a filthy bug.
"She doesn't want to talk to you."
"Why not?" Ron asked, mending the dump on his head, "I didn't do anything."
"She's crying her eyes out, you buffoon. Next time, try to be a little gentler with a girl."
She went back up looking rather annoyed and muttered something along the lines of: "Men.."

Ron sat down in a chair as far away from prying eyes and the stair to the girls' dormitories. He sighed. When Lavender finally came down, she told him that she forgave him, telling him she hadn't realized he was still such a baby. She kissed him rather coolly, hugged him awkwardly, and went back up the girls' dormitories.

An hour later, Hermione walked into the common room. She walked up to Ron noticing the dark red bump on his face.
"More trouble with malfoy?" she asked.
"More trouble with Lavender. That girl has seriously lost her marbles," Ron said, quickly adding "I guess she should wake up and smell the roses?"
His hands probed his pocket, trying to find the small slip of parchment holding the riddle. He could have sworn he had put it back, but he had probably lost it on his way up the girls' dormitories. He put out his wand and said "Accio Hermione's riddle" softly. Soon enough, it came floating down the dormitory stairwell, hopefully unnoticed by anyone. He handed her the piece of parchment, telling her she had really kept him busy this time.
"This one was hard," he explained, "but I guess that was the idea. I think I'd better go to bed now, because I think tomorrow is going to be a long and troublesome day. Your riddle kept me awake most of the past few nights."

o0o

Hermione beamed at him when he slouched up the stairs wearily. He had solved another riddle, just like she had hoped he would. He might not have known it, but his mood certainly had become better ever since she started giving them to him. He seemed more focused, more like he had a goal. It was pleasant knowing things might get better soon, but for now, she settled with the furtive look he gave her over his shoulder just before he entered his bedroom.