Chapter Four
Ron Weasley
It was Halloween Day, and he always loved the feast. He was ecstatic about the day; not even classes such as Potions, Charms, and Transfiguration could dampen his mood. As usual, he got ready before going down for breakfast. He saw Hermione sitting with Harry in the Great Hall, having her breakfast. He rarely saw her having breakfast, and that only happened when he woke up early; this day was one of those days. She had a newspaper in one hand and bacon in the other. Even at the time of eating, she had to read. At least it was a newspaper—he never understood the appeal of reading it, though. He got some bacon, eggs, and toast for himself and poured a glass of pumpkin juice from the pitcher.
After breakfast, he went to the dungeons; the first class of the day was Potions. Horace Slughorn taught them in that class. He was a jolly fellow who never remembered Ron's name. After Potions, he had a break for half an hour and a double Transfiguration period before lunch. Later in Charms, he was surprised to see Hermione sitting beside him. The last time she sat beside him on Halloween was in their first year, four years ago. He looked around and saw Harry looking quizzically at Hermione, then glaring at Ron as if daring him to talk to her.
"How's your day been so far?" Hermione asked him.
"Except for the Potions and Transfiguration classes, everything was great," replied Ron.
"You mean the food was great," she said knowingly, and he blushed. She must've noticed his table manners and love for food.
"Yes, I have an undying love for food."
They learned a spell named *Volaris Tempus, which allows the user to temporarily manipulate time within a small area, speeding up or slowing down the flow of time. Once again, Ron had trouble with the pronunciation. When he looked at Hermione, he felt like an idiot. She was looking at him, but the moment he turned around, she started focusing on pronunciation, obviously doing it slowly for his sake. She didn't know whether she should help him or not or if he would appreciate the help. So she was trying to do it indirectly. Oh Merlin, this girl. She was infuriating but cute. Cute? Why would he think Hermione Granger was cute?
"Voh-LAH-ris TEM-pus," she enunciated clearly so he could hear her. Despite learning to pronounce the spell, he didn't get any results. Only Hermione and that git Michael Corner managed to perform the spell. Ron had to share two classes with Ravenclaws: Charms and History of Magic, and he hated every time he saw that git's face. When Ron looked at the git, Corner smugly smiled at him. He felt someone touching his forearm.
"Ron, don't. Ignore him," Hermione said nervously.
"Easy for you to say. You always manage to do a spell. The same can't be said about dumb people like me," he snapped at her. He just grabbed his bag, slung it over his shoulder, and walked out of the class. He needed to be away from that class and that git because Ron's urge to punch him was stronger than ever.
As evening dawned, Ron's mood got better. He decided to get to the Great Hall, where most of the school was already gathered. He didn't want to miss the feast. He realized he shouldn't have behaved that way toward Hermione; she was trying to be his friend and was just being helpful. He had just taken out his anger on Corner on her. He decided to apologize to her. On the way to the Great Hall, he bumped into somebody. "Sorry," he mumbled. When he turned around he saw the girl was crying and in a hurry to get away from the Great Hall. He noticed that the Halloween decorations were as fascinating as ever: enormous pumpkins—clearly grown by Hagrid—spooky skeletons, and other eerie details scattered around. He looked for Hermione at the Gryffindor table and saw her sitting between Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnigan. She was laughing at something, and Seamus beside her was also laughing. He felt annoyed. Here he thought she might be upset over how he behaved earlier in the afternoon, but she was cheerful as ever. She never laughed like that at his jokes. Maybe she really does think you're as dumb as a brick, Ron. All this time, her pity and sympathy for you were forcing her to be your friend and be nice to you. She might've seen you didn't have any friends and decided to help the poor loner Ron. He decided to go back to his dorm. The feast be damned.
Hermione Granger
As Hermione was walking alongside her brother Harry to the Great Hall, she kept thinking over and over again about the little argument she had with Ron. She shouldn't have partnered with him in the lesson, especially on a day like Halloween. On Halloween, it seems like they are always going to clash. She thought this Halloween they both would have a normal lesson. That was until he got angry with Michael Corner. He should not be feeling this way; even if he is being an overprotective brother, he shouldn't behave like this. His sister is her own person, and she is going to live her life as she pleases. Can't he just be a little mature about this? Hermione, just forget about him. You have tried to be his friend; if he doesn't want one, you can't do anything about it. Against her better judgment, she talked with him in front of Harry, who she knew would not be happy about this situation. Harry did ask her multiple questions about why she sat with that oaf, and she clearly told him it was none of his damn business.
She would think about this later; right now, she just needed to relax and enjoy the feast. She sat at the Gryffindor table and saw Harry being dragged away by Parvati as soon as they entered the Great Hall. Both girls started giggling together when Harry sat beside her. He looked at Hermione sheepishly, apologizing. Soon enough, she was sandwiched between two boys, Dean and Seamus, who were both ranting about ridiculous things with each other. She was stuck between them.
"Wait, wait? What?" she asked Seamus, who had said something utterly ridiculous.
"Nothing, here. Dean was just telling me about his last night's rendezvous with Ms. Dorthy," Seamus said, looking suggestively towards Dean.
Dean grinned smugly before saying, "Hermione, we might have said something callous as usual during our very eloquent discussion of certain events of yesterday, so never you mind."
Hermione knew what she had heard before, and she now felt embarrassed to have interfered with these numbnuts.
"I am warning you two, never discuss your obscene activities around me," Hermione warned them both. They both smiled sheepishly at her before continuing their rant. Just a couple of minutes later, someone came from behind them and upended their pumpkin juice over Dean's head. He looked scandalized when he turned around to shout at the guilty party, but he froze. It was Dorthy, his mate from yesterday. She slapped him before walking away. There was pin-drop silence in the Great Hall. No words were exchanged between Dorthy and Dean. The latter looked totally ridiculous as he stood there with his mouth half-open. So many people started laughing, and so did Seamus. She started laughing too. Dean just took his seat again, and Hermione just couldn't stop laughing; the whole situation was so ridiculous. Here he was being so smug about his obscene activities, and now he was being ridiculed in the Great Hall—instant karma. Everything was as usual in the Great Hall again, except for Dean, whose hair was drenched in pumpkin juice. Hermione said between her laughs, "Karma, Dean—karma."
During the whole feast, Hermione did try to find a certain redhead at the Gryffindor table, but he was nowhere to be seen. His twin brothers were there, as was Ginny, but it seemed like he didn't come. That surprised her, as he had just told her that afternoon he loved food more than anything, and he missed a feast—a bloody feast.
As everyone was full of food, Professor Dumbledore started addressing the students.
"A happy Halloween to you all, my dear students, and to my dear staff," Professor Dumbledore's calm, firm voice echoed around the Great Hall. "I would like to announce that after all the petitions we received from our students throughout the last two months—and some even in the summer—from all years to host a Yule Ball similar to last year, after long discussions and consideration, we have decided to host the Ball, just like last year, this Christmas."
So many girls started chattering happily, even first-year girls were looking expectantly at the professor, while the boys were looking apprehensively around them.
"I would suggest you get your robes and dates as soon as possible, but as last year, only fourth years and above are allowed to attend the ball."
So many groans and "No's" came from third-year and below girls, while on the other hand, the boys who had lost hope earlier were now happily chattering.
"The ball will be held a day before your term ends. Yes, we are not going to stop you from celebrating Christmas at home for two consecutive years. With that settled, good night."
A Yule Ball again. It's not that she didn't like the idea of attending a dance party where she could feel and breathe like a girl, but she didn't want such a distraction in her OWL year.
Hermione's next few days were a little hectic. Just two days after Halloween, after Transfiguration class, Professor McGonagall asked Hermione to grade first and second-year tests in the evening. She couldn't say no to her. But after agreeing with the Professor, she remembered she had Prefect duties that evening. She sent a note to Ron, letting him know she was busy helping McGonagall. The next day, she was buried in catching up on her pending classwork. Then the weekend started, and Ron and she were not on any Prefect duties. This Sunday, it was the first Quidditch match of the season between Gryffindor and Slytherin, scheduled for the first Sunday of November. Usually, it took place on the third Sunday in previous years.
She sat with Dean and Seamus in the stands, both of them loudly shouting, "Gryffindor! Gryffindor!" She saw Ron's red hair just a few steps below her; he was attending the match for his brother and sister. Soon enough, Parvati and Lavender came and sat beside them, Parvati shouting, "MY BOYFRIEND IS THE BEST SEEKER!"
Parvati had been stuck with her brother for the last two weeks since that Three Broomsticks meeting; she had even seen them snogging multiple times now, and she didn't like the sight. Nobody likes seeing their siblings in action. At least Harry was somewhat happy; she knew he still got moody whenever he saw Ginny, but maybe with Parvati around him for some time, he would forget about his crush on Ginny Weasley.
The Gryffindor team came out a couple of minutes later. She saw Harry on his Firebolt, flying a lap around the stadium with his team flying behind him. It looked like McLaggen was trying to overtake Harry; he managed to do so as Harry was going at a slower pace, and McLaggen behaved like it was some kind of race. McLaggen was enthusiastically waving his arms and shouting, "Gryffindor! Gryffindor!"
Harry looked a bit angry at McLaggen but just focused on beckoning the rest of his team to make a huddle. Soon enough, McLaggen joined them. Next, the Slytherin team entered, doing the same thing as Gryffindor but throwing a lot of insults at the Gryffindor team. Draco Malfoy was the Seeker for the team.
Soon enough, the whistle rang in the stadium, and the match began. Gryffindor's Chasers were on another level; Angelina, Katie, and Ginny worked quite well together. They managed to anticipate each other well enough to score four more goals than Slytherin. The twins, as always, were fast and durable enough. Slytherin's Chasers were ruthless, but they didn't work quite as well as Gryffindor's. Malfoy was tailing Harry. The only problem with Gryffindor was McLaggen. Instead of focusing on what he was supposed to do, he was shouting at the Chasers or sometimes the Beaters to try this or try that. When Ginny missed a goal, it looked like McLaggen planned on flying over to scold her. At that moment, Slytherin scored a goal. After this, McLaggen did fly to Ginny to scold her for not playing well enough. At that very moment, the twins came flying down on McLaggen to beat the crap out of him. Slytherin scored another goal on the empty goalposts. Harry had to come down and separate the Weasleys from McLaggen.
Slytherin was now leading 100-70, taking advantage of the whole situation. When Harry managed to take McLaggen back to his goalpost, he shouted something at him. McLaggen looked like he was contemplating something.
Harry flew back to the twins, who, instead of getting back to the game, were giving murderous looks to McLaggen. Then it looked like McLaggen shouted something at the three of them, and one of the twins threw his Beater's bat at McLaggen. It happened so fast that one moment the bat was in George or Fred's hand, and the next it was connecting with the head of McLaggen.
After the match, let's just say Gryffindor was lucky enough to win. McLaggen was taken to the infirmary, most likely with an open skull. Later, she came to know that it was George Weasley who attacked McLaggen. He had to stop playing, and his brother wanted to follow him, but his sister begged him to play, so he decided to continue instead of forfeiting. The match was painful to watch as Gryffindor was two players short. Angelina decided to play Keeper for the rest of the match. When the match resumed after the stoppage of play, Gryffindor played with two Chasers and one Beater, with the score in favor of Slytherin 140-80.
Gryffindor only won by a margin of 10 as Harry managed to catch the Snitch, making the final score Gryffindor 280-270.
Ron Weasley
The match between Gryffindor and Slytherin was incredible to watch today. Instead of Slytherin trying to sabotage Gryffindor's game, McLaggen did it himself. That guy was ridiculous. Ron tried to hear what they were shouting at each other, but it was hard to listen as there was quite a distance between them. But when that git flew to his sister, his blood boiled. He would've jumped and summoned his broom to beat the shit out of McLaggen. From his brother's reaction, it did look like McLaggen said something insulting. After the game, he saw his twin brothers in the common room, and the news was already everywhere that George was in detention until Christmas break. Professor McGonagall disqualified him from the team.
"That's ridiculous! McGonagall can't stop you from playing," Ron shouted at his brother.
"Dear Ronnykins, that's old McGonagall. She can do anything," Fred said.
"At least you're still playing," Ron said.
"I tried to get out of the team too. Playing without George as Beater won't be fun. But she just berated me over this, saying Nonsense she is not losing two brilliant players in one go," Fred said, reminiscing about his conversation.
"What did that git say anyway? Did he insult Ginny?" Ron asked.
"He called her a slut, and I paid him back in kind," George said, coming out of his thoughts.
"I'll kill that bastard!" Ron said, seething in anger.
"Don't get your knickers in a twist, Ronnykins," George said, smiling. "We don't want to send your Christmas presents to Azkaban."
"Don't you worry, little brother. MacLaggen doesn't know what's coming for him," said Fred, smiling evilly. That look they were giving him right now always scared him. MacLaggen, you don't know what you've done. Insulting one of us is one thing, but we Weasleys don't show mercy to those who mess with their sister.
The next few days went by in a blur for Ron. He mostly spent his time doing homework or playing chess by himself in a corner. He had already seen a notice on the board announcing the Yule Ball this year, just like the last one. Now he was supposed to suffer the trouble of finding a girl again. Last year, he went stag. He couldn't really ask anybody for a date, so this year, he might as well go stag again. As he completed one of his chess games, someone came and sat in front of him. He looked up and realized it was Hermione Granger.
Hermione Granger
After the match in the evening, Hermione found herself in Harry's dormitory, where he was pacing around.
"Will you stop? And talk," Hermione said. It had been ten minutes since Harry started pacing around after the match they barely won. Parvati obviously wanted to celebrate with her boyfriend, but he only had eyes for Hermione and dragged her here.
"Just a lot of thoughts. I don't know where to start," Harry said wearily. He looked tired as he sat beside her on his bed.
"About Ginny? MacLaggen?" Hermione suggested.
"You know about Ginny?" Harry asked, surprised.
"You're my brother, do you think I wouldn't notice? You've been eyeing Ginny Weasley."
"Parvati doesn't."
"First, she isn't your sister; second, you weren't eyeing Ginny as much as you used to because you were busy, ah, kissing Parvati," Hermione reasoned.
"I told Parvati I wanted a slow and casual relationship, and she agreed because having feelings for another makes me feel like a cheater," Harry said, looking frustrated.
"But she thinks it's serious," Hermione pointed out.
"Yeah, I know that now, but it feels like if I let her go, I'll just mope around for Ginny," Harry cringed. She patted him on the back, and then they sat in silence for a minute or so before Harry asked, "What about you and Weasley, Ron? I saw the two of you talking."
"Yes. Talking to him, just being nice to him because he seems like a nice guy," Hermione replied, rolling her eyes. That's a typical question from her brother; he had already asked her this multiple times, but she would just clear the air.
"What about when he insulted you?" Harry pointed out.
"That was ages ago. We were eleven years old at the time. I'm not going to hold that against him," Hermione answered. "Our parents taught us not to hold grudges, Harry."
"Yeah, okay," Harry conceded, "but if he hurts you in any way, I'll beat the crap out of him."
Hermione looked incredulous, but she just shook her head and said, "Now, about Ginny?"
"I may or may not fancy her," Harry confessed.
"Oh, Harry—what do you plan on doing?"
"Nothing."
"Okay," Hermione said. She didn't know what to say; she could only comfort her brother. Ginny was already in a relationship; Harry pursuing her right now would only bring misery.
"MacLaggen?" Hermione asked, wondering about the fate of the Keeper.
"That git is out," Harry said angrily. "That jerk has been getting on my nerves since he joined the team, and today you saw how he butchered the entire game. He was insulting everybody. I'm glad that bastard got smacked in the head."
She didn't admonish him for his crude language. MacLaggen was out of line in the match; he should've just played his part instead of running around and shouting at everybody.
"Your team is without a Keeper now," Hermione stated.
"Yes, and most likely two Beaters."
"Oh, but only one of them acted violently."
"Yeah, but aren't those two supposed to come as a pair?"
"Yeah, you're perhaps right," Hermione said. "I would suggest you get Ron on the team."
"It's Ron now?" Harry said with a raised eyebrow.
"Harry, he and I are friends. You'd better start accepting that," she said with a glare. At the moment, she didn't know where she stood with Ronald Weasley; after all, their last conversation ended terribly.
"Okay, okay," Harry said. "But Weasley played well enough in the tryouts. Still, he was nervous. If he gets nervous during a match, he won't be any good for the team."
"He has to work on his nerves, but he can do that in the given amount of time. Your next match is most likely around Easter," Hermione said. "He's got Weasley blood. Half your team is made up of them."
"Yes. Let's hope that Weasley blood works. Otherwise, I'm doomed," Harry sighed.
A couple of days later, Hermione returned to the common room after spending four hours in the library. Her brother had to bring her something to eat for dinner, and she was grateful to him. He always took care of her, even when she didn't take care of herself. He was still with Parvati, and it looked like they had some kind of talk, and she seemed to agree to it.
She saw Ron in one of the corners, hunched over something. She had seen him before in that spot, playing chess by himself. She decided to talk to him; she needed to thank him as she had to ditch her last patrol, and he didn't complain.
She sat in the empty chair across from him. The chess set he was playing on was old and battered, and it looked like the game had just ended when she arrived. He looked up to see her; it was the first time she really noticed the vivid blue color of his eyes.
"Thanks for last time, doing patrol on your own. I was helping Professor McGonagall that evening," Hermione said. She scolded herself for that day when her favorite professor asked her for help. She jumped at the chance without even realizing she was supposed to be on patrol that evening. The professor did ask her if she had somewhere else to be, but she lied. She had already agreed to help her, so how could she go back on her word and tell her favorite professor she forgot about her duties as a prefect while agreeing to the request?
"Um—okay. Your note explained it," Ron stammered. Why was he stammering?
"Okay," said Hermione. She was about to stand up when she heard him say, "I am sorry."
"For what?"
"For snapping at you."
"Oh—it's alright."
"And I am sorry—"
"Um, you don't have to apologize twice," Hermione said, confused.
"I'm sorry for shouting at you on Halloween in our first year," Ron explained.
"Oh—okay. Then I'm sorry too for coming across as bossy and condescending. It wasn't on purpose; I was just trying to help," Hermione admitted.
"Oh—it's alright," said Ron Looking relievd "You realized that?"
"Yes, I mean. People have told me that I can be bossy," Hermione stated Looking a bit embarrassed.
"You're not bossy—I mean, kind of bossy, but not in the wrong way," Ron rambled.
"It's alright, Ron. I know I can be overbearing," Hermione said, smiling lightly.
"You're not overbearing."
"I am, Ron. People tell me—"
"People are full of shite—"
"Language, Ron."
"My point is, you're not overbearing, and people don't know you. Don't listen to them."
"It's kind of you to say that, Ron," Hermione smiled sadly, "but I know I can be overbearing."
"Hermione, you're not overbearing. That's being passionate," Ron said, exasperated. Hermione just looked at him. Was he getting frustrated because she was calling herself overbearing?
"Um, okay," she agreed with him. She didn't believe him, but she didn't want to argue.
"Want to play a game?" Ron asked after a couple of minutes of silence.
"Alright."
Hermione never expected him to be this good. She played five games against him, and she lost every single one of them in thirty minutes. She had played chess loads of times. Her father was one of the best players she had ever known. He came across as a prankster and a funny guy, but he was ruthless when it came to chess, and she got the same energy from Ron.
"That—that was—"
"Unbelievable?"
"No, I just don't like losing," Hermione smiled at him.
"Don't be so disappointed. It's not easy to win against me," Ron said, shrugging his shoulders.
"I'm glad to know I was able to stroke your ego a bit by losing," Hermione joked with a light laugh.
"Five times in a row."
"At least now I know why you always play by yourself. Your siblings must know by now that winning against you is impossible, right?" Hermione hypothesized.
"You're very right about that," Ron replied. "Only my brother Charlie is the second best at chess in my family, and he last won against me when I was ten."
"My father is one of the best players I know. I can bet you that he would win against you," Hermione told him.
"I would very much like for him to try," Ron replied, smiling cheekily.
to be continued..