Chapter Twenty: Good Friends, Better Enemies

The following morning, the vast majority of the students were shocked to see Alastor Moody sitting at the staff table, so as the students ate their breakfast, the Headmaster informed them that Umbridge had been dismissed and that Moody was going to teach for the rest of the year before returning to his quiet retirement.

Ron and Hermione shared smiles as they ate their food and noticing Draco paling somewhat at the sight of the man who had transfigured him into a ferret the previous year.

Dumbledore informed them that Umbridge had been caught harming an underage student and subsequently arrested by the Aurors.

When they had Care of Magical Creatures, it was nice learning about a creature that wasn't a vicious monster that could hurt you in many different ways, as they were studying unicorns. Hermione was particularly pleased when Professor Grubbly-Plank told the class a few things about unicorns that even she did not know. Of course, hearing Potter asking about where Hagrid was drew even more attention to the fact he was absent. Then overhearing Draco Malfoy taunting Potter about giants in a not-so subtle way made Ron unsure of which one was the bigger idiot and which one to knock out cold first. In the end, he shared a look with Hermione before they went back to the castle.

They got back to their shared common room and sat down on the comfortable sofa by the fireplace. Hermione took her place on Ron's lap. They then began to discuss how much more about Potter they had discovered as they were now outsiders looking in, and they discussed other things such as the previous night where they made love all night while Dumbledore was giving Umbridge the boot.

The first Friday of term arrived. Ron and Hermione had heard that the new Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, Angelina Johnson, was planning to hold a try-out for a new keeper, so as Ron was curious, he and Hermione decided to watch. As they sat in the stands in the cold, they watched candidate after candidate try-out but none of them were very good. Ron also noticed the looks he and Hermione were getting from Harry, Fred and George, who were on their broomsticks, and Ginny who was also sitting in the stands about fifty yards away from them.

When it was over, Ron turned to Hermione and said, 'That was shit.'

Hermione agreed and so they went back in the warm to Ron's room. Once there, Hermione asked, 'I take it that you aren't interested in playing keeper?'

'Why would I want to play Quidditch with Potter and the twins outside in the bloody cold, when I can play a much more fun game with you in the warmth of the castle?' he replied.

Hermione gave him a smile before she pulled his lips to hers.

As they kissed, Ron's hands got busy with removing Hermione's cloak as her hands went under Ron's shirt and through his hair. A squeeze of her arse brought a moan from her before they began removing clothes at speed as they kissed. Once they were naked, Ron scooped Hermione up bridal style and laid her on the bed. He then got on top of her and they spent the rest of the night enjoying the most exquisite pleasure.

After a weekend of doing as little as possible, with the exception of love-making, Ron and Hermione were looking forward to a decent DADA class. As usual they had breakfast in the Great Hall while ignoring the looks from Potter, Ginny and the twins. They did notice that their former best friend looked tired and it was obvious that he wasn't getting much sleep. They both guessed that his scar was paining him on a regular basis now that Voldemort had a body.

During the Defence class, it seemed that the impostor from last year had done an excellent impersonation of Alastor Moody. His persistent shouting of his famous advice of constant vigilance kept everybody on their toes. Moody seemed interested in who could actually duel and what experience they had. Of course, Potter raised his hand and told the class about his duel with Voldemort last June, to looks of disbelief that Moody spotted and loudly reprimanded the class. Moody's practical approach had definitely earned him praise once the class was over, though some students were a bit worried about the next class as Moody had told them that he would choose one of them at random for a mock duel at any time during the class.

The following Friday evening, Ron and Hermione walked back to the common room and then up to Ron's room to make a start on the Potions homework set by Snape. After an hour of work, Hermione looked at her watch and saw it was almost time for her and Ron to go on patrol. She gave him a gentle nudge and showed him the time.

'I'll just finish this and I'll meet you in the common room,' he said.

Hermione gave him a smile and a kiss before saying, 'Okay, see you in a few,' and then going down to the common room via the girl's staircase. When she got there, she saw Fred and George using first year students as testers for their products. So, she went over to stop them.

'What do you think you are doing?' she asked.

'Mind your own business, Granger,' said Fred, harshly.

'I am a Hogwarts Prefect and I am telling you that you cannot use first year students as testers for your products and do it in the common room!' she told them.

'Sod off, Granger, we don't have to listen to you anymore,' replied Fred.

Just then Ron appeared and he looked angry.

'Don't you ever speak to her like that again!' he shouted.

'Or what?' said Fred.

Ron then grinned nastily and said, 'You two are slipping or maybe hanging around Potter has made you stupid.'

'What's that supposed to mean?' asked George.

'I mean that when Hermione told you that you could not use first years as testers or do it in the common room, you missed two simple loopholes to exploit, but instead you chose to be rude to her, and now I am using Prefect's Privilege to search your box of tricks for potentially dangerous objects,' said Ron.

The twins shared a look, realising they had missed the two loopholes and watched as Ron searched their case whether they liked it or not.

Ron took out a bag that had several hundred Galleons inside before looking at the rest of the twins' stock. Once he was finished, he looked up and said, 'I've got good news for you both; I am not going to confiscate this case or its contents.'

The twins looked pleased and a little shocked at the same time. Hermione, meanwhile, was a little surprised too.

'However,' continued Ron, 'you were rude to Hermione, who is a Hogwarts Prefect, and more importantly my girlfriend, so I am going to do this instead …'

Ron took out his wand and pointed it at the case, and said, 'Evanesco!' and then, to the twins' horror, their case with all their products and recent research vanished.

'You bloody git!' shouted Fred and George together and went for their wands but Hermione was quicker and cried, 'Expelliarmus!'

Fred and George's wands flew out of their hands and into Hermione's, but then, Harry, Neville and Ginny drew theirs but they were disarmed by Ron as he caught their wands and handed them to Hermione, who put them in her bag. Then, both Ron and Hermione put away their wands.

This was a mistake as Fred went for Ron by trying to hit him, but Ron blocked Fred's attempt and caught him before throwing him face first into the wall, knocking him out, then George tried to hit Ron but failed and Ron's retaliation was a hard punch that knocked George out cold. Ginny went to attack Hermione by throwing punch after punch, but Hermione was blocking her every attempt. Then Harry attempted to hit Ron, too, but again Ron was equal to it, he hit Harry hard in the stomach with a kick before nailing him with a sidekick to the chin that sent Harry over a sofa and out cold. Ron looked over to see that Hermione was still toying with Ginny as then, to his surprise, Neville threw a punch at him, but again, Ron was able to counter. Ron couldn't help feeling sorry for Neville, he knew the poor bugger had no choice but to attack him and knew that he would get hurt for it, however, Ron just caught Neville's hand and then punched him in the stomach, winding him and knocking him to the floor, which was enough for Neville as he tried to suck in air to his body.

Ron turned and saw that Hermione was still having fun with Ginny and said, 'Hermione, we need to patrol.'

'Right,' she said, before kicking Ginny in the stomach, and then, as Ginny was doubled over, Hermione delivered a hard knee to Ginny's face that knocked her out cold. Then she took the time to tidy her appearance as Ron walked over to her as he did the same.

They turned to see that they had had an audience, Ron turned to Longbottom, who had gotten his breath back and said, 'Please inform your cohorts that Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore will be informed that the five of you attacked two prefects and got your arses well and truly kicked, thank you, Longbottom.'

As they turned to leave for patrol, Seamus called out to them, 'Weasley, Granger, I've got to ask, but where did you learn to fight like that?'

Ron and Hermione turned to look at Seamus and then looked at each other before looking back at Seamus as Hermione said, 'Catholic School,' and then Ron said to those who had been watching, 'Hope you enjoyed the show, good evening,' before leaving the common room to patrol.

'Catholic School, my arse,' muttered Seamus, as the door to the common room closed.