"Professor Dumbledore," Ron said hoarsely, "Could I have a word with you?"
Dumbledore seemed rather taken aback by Ron's visit.
"Certainly, Mister Weasley, though I dare say I did not expect you here today. To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?"
Ron stood still in the doorway. Dumbledore was standing in front of his fireplace, his silhouette outlined by the illumination from the fire. The fireplace was filled with an adamantine sheen. It's brownish flames were dancing happily around the ashes of several burnt down logs. Dumbledore looked at him in a curious way: penetrating, yet soft. Without saying a word, he motioned Ron towards him, turning back around to the fire. Together, they watched the fire dance around the fireplace. It slowly moved about the flames, like a ballerina on a theatre's floor.
"Professor, I've been thinking."
"Good," Dumbledore said, "That is what you're here for. Sadly, many of the students seem to disagree."
Ron ignored this joke. "It's about me being a prefect. I'd like to stop being one."
Dumbledore's expression didn't change much, as Ron had feared. Apparently, it was no surprise to the old headmaster. Ron saw this as another sign of his inabilities as a prefect. If the headmaster wasn't surprised by his resignation, then he had probably been expecting it. Perhaps Harry could fill up his prefect-duty. He was better qualified after all.
Ron had been thinking about quitting for a long time. His breaking with Lavender had only confirmed his suspicions of being a horrible prefect. She had called him 'a lousy excuse for a prefect' and 'a good-for-nothing loser'. Ron's already waning trust in his abilities as a prefect had all but disappeared. After kissing Hermione just hours ago, Ron had been up all night, thinking about what to do. He had decided a while ago to end it with Lavender, stop being a prefect, and start seeing Hermione.
The first of these had already been done, the second was being done right now. He didn't want to waste any more time. He had waited to tell Hermione he loved her for years, wasting more and more time they could have been spending together. Ron had decided it had to end. He had to stop postponing things and take action. His feet had taken him directly to the Headmaster's office, in stead of to the Gryffindor dormitories.
"May I ask why you would wish to do so?"
Ron looked into the sapphire eyes of Dumbledore.
"You may."
Dumbledore chuckled.
"Why would you wish to do so?" Dumbledore asked.
"These last few weeks really say enough, don't they? I've been in detention several times, I couldn't even help that poor Hufflepuf kid. I'm not the man for the job, you know that too."
Dumbledore looked at him with an odd smile. Perhaps he even pities me..
This thought caused something to break in Ron. His suppressed feelings started to flood his mind. His feeling of injustice towards Malfoy, his irritation about the way Dumbledore kept letting him off the hook, even his breaking with Lavender came up. It wasn't long afterwards that Ron was looking at the fire again, feeling rather ashamed of himself. Dumbledore had been silent throughout his ordeal, merely nodding along with him.
"Mister Weasley, As headmaster I am inclined to take your resignation seriously. Being a prefect is a noble duty towards this school, and thus, a resignation from this must be treated with proper respect and seriousness. From what I've heard, I realize you have given this quite a lot of thought, and you have come to the conclusion that you do not wish to part-take in prefect duty again."
Ron closed his eyes. Any second now, he was going to be rid of his prefect status. Being a prefect had been nice at first, and he was going to miss using the prefects' bathroom, but he just wasn't cut out for it. Hermione, Harry, even Draco were more suitable candidates, with a charisma and authorativness that was needed for the job. He was just a mistake, a failure at being a prefect. A side-kick.
"Unfortunately, I am inclined to acquiesce your request."
Ron opened his eyes. What does he mean? He can't deny me quitting it... Can he?
Dumbledore looked at him and smiled.
"Defending a close friend when she is called one of the foulest words known to wizards is not something any person would do. You knew full well the consequences of your actions, yet you stood up for miss Granger anyhow. Standing up for others is a trait I value very highly in people. It is a trait I've heard you performed again for Ching Ho."
Ron looked at Dumbledore questioningly. "Who's Ching Ho?"
"Ching is in Hufflepuf, a first year if my memory hasn't completely abandoned me yet. His words of praise were very uplifting to me. Again, you demonstrated the courage and empathy I value so highly in you. You punished his bullies justly and defended him from an assailant."
Dumbledore bent down slightly and sat down in his chair. Ron felt the warmth of the fire passing over him, like a soft blanket blowing over him. Somehow, Dumbledore had just made him feel good about his abilities as a prefect. But surely he would agree that others were better suitable?
"But what really impressed me, mister Weasley," Dumbledore said, "What truly made me realize that you are the best choice for Gryffindor's prefect, is how you handled yourself in a very difficult situation only a few weeks ago. You had a very precarious choice before you, if you remember, between lying to help your sister, or telling the truth. Perhaps you don't realize how few people would have made the same choice in that situation. Even Harry would have let mister Malfoy take the heat. That is the reason why you were made prefect, and not Harry."
Ron looked at Dumbledore in wild disbelief. Not only had he just praised his empathy and bravery, he also said he was good at being a prefect.
"But professor," Ron tried, "Don't you believe that others might be more suitable?"
"In the beginning of last year, I hesitated with giving you this responsibility. I wasn't unsure about your abilities, but more about how you would behave yourself as a prefect. It is a mature responsibility, and I must confess, I thought you rather childish then. I think Harry might have made a better choice then. Yet, I did not wish to burden him with even more worries, so I decided to choose you, believing that prefect duty might help you mature faster, and I'm proud to say that it did. There is another student from your year that was entrusted prefect duty for exactly the same reason, though I fear it was too little, too late for him. I still have hope for him though. You're a fine prefect, Ronald. Just the man for the job."
Ten minutes later, Ron was standing outside the headmaster's office, trying to make sense of what had happened. In stead of being relieved of his prefect duties, Ron had gotten praise for them. He had expected Dumbledore to be glad, happy to give Ron's prefect duties to Harry, but instead, Dumbledore had refused to accept his resignation and sent him off, complimenting him on a job well done.
"I think I'll just lie down," Ron decided, "And see what tomorrow brings."
Ron walked down to the dormitories. It was about half passed eleven by now, the common room was only slightly populated. Several people looked at him in a strange way. He ignored them, walked up a stairs and fell down on his bed. He noticed Harry hadn't gotten back yet, but he wasn't able to keep himself awake. He felt sleepiness engulfing him rapidly, pulling him into nice warm dream. It included Hermione, three (rather small) pieces of clothing and absolutely no Lavender. When he awoke the next morning, bleary eyed and strangely refreshed, he realized it was half passed five in the morning. Harry was sleeping in his bed, a wide grin on his face.
"I guess yesterday worked out well for you, mate."
Ron tried to go back to sleep, but he was (unfortunately for him) too awake to return to his dream. He settled with the next best thing: checking Hermione's Riddle. He had been to depressed to read it after his spat with Lavender, and had been too euphoric after his bath with Hermione. But now, he had both the time and the mood to ponder over it.
"Inside of me, is the strongest of its kind. Wars have been fought over me, which is ironic. What am I?
- Hermione"
Ron quickly picked a strip of parchment from his trunk, and started to scribble some sentences on it. He had found out by now, that writing down the clues and his thoughts about it made it much easier to solve. After writing for a while, he looked at the piece of paper, now half filled with blue ink:
"Inside of me" - Perhaps some sort of container?
"Strongest of its kind"? - content is very tough?
ironic that "wars have been fought over me"
What am I? - indicates some sort of object, (an 'it', or item)
Judging from the sentences, Wars have...is ironic = description.
Below it was a small doodle Ron had drawn, reminding him faintly of his last dream. He quickly scratched it out, thinking it best, should anyone find it.
Ron looked at the riddle.
"So I'm looking for an object in a container. Its very strong and wars have been fought over it. Perhaps it is a weapon?"
He looked back at the clues.
"If wars have been fought over it, that wouldn't be ironic, so a weapon is out."
Ron's mind began to wander after this. Several mild-minded minutes of musing about Hermione later, Ron found himself no further than he was. He started to think about everything that had happened these weeks. He had finally kissed Hermione for the first time, broken off with Lavender, kissed Hermione for the first time, remained a prefect and had kissed Hermione for the first time! His mind bulged with pride and joy thinking of that blissful moment when her lips had finally met his. It was something he had wanted to do every day since their fourth year. Ron had seen moments where he had nearly kissed her. Days in which she had praised him stood out in his mind. Nights when he had been lying awake, convincing himself to talk to her about it were endless in supply within his memories.
Ron thought about how all this had started. He had been dreaming of Hermione again that night. Hungrily, he had gotten some ice from the kitchens, and had found Hermione asleep in the common room. She had looked so peaceful, Ron had forgotten all his fears and doubts. He had spoken to her while she was sleeping, about his love for her, about him wanting to be with her forever. She had been awake though, pretending to sleep while hearing him talk. The morning after, he had awoken with a present on his trunk, a present from Hermione. Soon afterwards, the first riddle came along, and everything had changed.
Ron thought about the other answers. He had written them down on a parchment a while ago, making sure he would not forget any of them. He opened his trunk again and fetched it out. He had hidden it in a small tear in the lining of his trunk. It was still neatly folded in half, and was in mint condition. He read all the answers.
Sense of smell, never spoken, potion, love.. What are you hinting about Hermione?
Suddenly it came to him. On the socks she had made for him, the words "The Burrow" had been sown. But they also featured a small cauldron with steam coming out of it.
Putting things together, Ron realized the answer.
"Amortentia," he said proudly, "That's the answer!"
"Listen Ron," Neville said, "If you want someone to love you, you'd do better in putting some more effort into your appearance."
Ron flushed red. And when Ron flushed red, he really flushed red. He swore to himself quietly and quickly hid the parchments. His feeling of shame had hardly parted when he was overcome with pride. He had solved it. Armortentia was "the strongest of it's kind", a love potion. Troy had fallen because a witch called Helen, its creator, had accidentally spilled some on her bread, eaten that day by both herself and some foreign prince there to visit.
"So what does all this have to do with each other?" Ron thought, "What's the link? Amortentia, Love, Potion, smell and never spoken?"
Ron was known by others to be rather thick-headed. This was often a rather quick judgement, made by people that didn't really know him. His brothers made fun of him, but they knew, just like his best friends, that Ron wasn't really that bad. Yet, everyone can have a bad day and Ron, being just another human, certainly had his fair share of bad days. He looked at the answers and realized this was not a bad day.
I remember it, Hermione, Ron thought to himself, I know what it means!
Suddenly, the full impact of this revelation revealed itself to him.
If Hermione smelled that, everything changes. If she smelled the Burrow during the first class of potions, that would be a definite proof.
Ron quickly jumped out of bed. He hurriedly put on his clothes and sprinted down the stairs almost immediately afterwards. He was about to try and jump up the stairs of the girls' dormitories when he realized what Hermione had said to him last night. She told him they could not act like love-birds immediately after Ron breaking up with Lavender, so she would probably not want him to run up the stairs, kick down the door and confess his eternal love for her, with Lavender sharing her room.
Ron calmed down and decided to handle the situation differently. When he walked down to the breakfast table to grab a bite to eat, he was smiling from ear to ear, knowing Hermione was really going to be annoyed by this new approach.