This would have been Chapter 13 The Secret Riddle if this was in Harry's POV, which meant Ron wouldn't have been around very much.

So this is another missing moments/Lavender moments chapter. Sorry if it's a bit short.

Chapter 170: Beautiful Girls

Katie was removed to St. Mungo's the following day, by which time the news that she had been cursed had spread all over the school, though the details were confused and nobody other than Harry, Hermione, Leanne, and I seemed to know that Katie herself had not been the intended target.

"Oh, and Malfoy knows, of course," said Harry to Hermione and I, who continued our new policy of feigning deafness whenever Harry mentioned his Malfoy-Is-a-Death-Eater theory.

On Monday night, after Quidditch practice, Harry went to see Dumbledore for his lesson. Hermione waited for me to get out the shower, and then we decided to take a walk, as the common room was full and we would have had to start rounds soon anyways.

"So, what do you think we should do about this Harry situation?" asked Hermione, as we walked casually around the Great Hall. The enchanted ceiling looked like a night of endless stars and the candles were burning low.

"Dunno." I said, stopping at Hufflepuff table and sitting on it. "He's going mental over Malfoy. If I didn't know he was into witches, I'd swear that he wanted the git."

Hermione busted out in a loud laugh as she stood in front of me. "Harry? Wanting Malfoy? That would be a rather dysfunctional relationship, don't you think? Especially since they hate each other. All they would do is argue constantly."

"We argue constantly." I said slowly. "Are we dysfunctional?"

Hermione laughed once again. "I don't think our arguing can be considered dysfunctional, Ron. We don't go at it like they do, and plus, I usually considered our arguments to just be mere disagreements. I don't think we had a proper argument since fourth year when-"

She stopped talking, but I knew exactly what she was talking about.

"You mean when you and your precious Vicky went to the Yule Ball together?" I said, voice dripping with attitude.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Are we really going to bring this back up, Ronald? And his name is Viktor!"

I sighed and stared at the doors, as if expecting someone to walk in. "I'm only picking, Hermione. The last thing I want to talk about is Viktor Krum."

Hermione crossed her arms and put her head down.

"For what it's worth, you looked really pretty that night." I said.

Hermione tried to hide her grin. "You've said that before."

"And I still mean it. You looked beautiful, even though I didn't much like your hair."

Hermione raised her head and looked at me. "You didn't like my hair? Oh Ron, it took hours to get it like that!"

"It didn't seem like you with your hair all straight and flat like that. I mean it was nice for the one night, but I think I would have gone mental if I had to see your hair like that on a daily basis."

Hermione shook her head. "I'll never understand the fascination that you have with my hair."

I reached out and tugger at Hermione's robe to get her closer to me. Then, I reached up and touched her hair. Soft, warm, and wonderful as usual.

"It's everything you are, that's why I like it." I said.

"It's wild and unmanageable." She said slowly, as if she was enjoying my hand in her hair.

"You're wild and unmanageable."

"I fail to see how." she laughed. "I'm bookish, I follow the rules, I do the right thing."

I started twirling a strand of her hair around my finger. "You don't always follow the rules, Hermione. And yes you may be about books, but that doesn't mean you're not fun and you're not wild. Especially when you're at The Burrow."

Hermione looked as if she was blushing. "You think I'm fun?"

I looked at her as if she were mental. "Of course I think you're fun. Sometimes we have more fun than Harry and I, especially when he is in his broody obsessing over Malfoy mood. The first summer you came, we had loads of fun. And even in Grimmauld Place we made the most of it. And this past summer? Brilliant!"

"Thanks, Ron." said Hermione, sitting next to me. "Its great to know that you find me fun. I have a lot of fun with you too."

"Speaking of fun, you wanna stall and play Exploding Snap? I nicked Seamus's cards." I said, pulling them out of my pocket.

After a few games and our prefects rounds, we headed back to the common room. Harry still wasn't back yet, so we sat around and chatted with Ginny, Colin, and Neville. Soon, Hermione and Ginny went off to Slughorn's stupid party and Colin and Neville went up to bed, leaving me sitting by myself, not wanting to go to bed yet.

I sat and stared at the fire as it danced around in the fireplace. I inwardly kicked myself. I had the perfect opportunity to tell Hermione everything that I felt, but I bitched up. The words were right there, begging to be said, but they just wouldn't come out.

I was starting to feel like I would never be able to express my feelings. I was probably gonna end up a bloke who sat and watched as the girl in loved dated and dated until she married.

As I sat deep in thought, I didn't even notice that someone had sat beside me, until I smelled something unfamiliar. It wasn't unpleasant, it was actually apples, which I very much liked the smell of.

I looked over and seen Lavender smiling at me widely. I didn't know what else to do but to grin back.

"Hey Ron." she said. "I haven't interrupted anything, have I? It just looked like you were in deep thought."

"Oh no, I was just...thinking about Quidditch is all." I lied, not knowing why. "How are you?"

"Fine. A bit bored actually since Parvati is off talking to some boy." sighed Lavender.

"Oh yeah, that Ravenclaw bloke right?"

"Yeah. Padma set her up with one of her friends."

"Oh. Well that's nice." I said, not really knowing how to continue the conversation.

"You know she used to fancy Harry a lot?" said Lavender as if I should had known.

"Really? Parvati fancies Harry?"

"Fancied. Past tense. She seen that Harry wasn't interested."

"Did she actually show that she was interested?"

"Not really."

"Well then, how was Harry to know? She could have shown something."

"And risk being rejected and played like at the Yule Ball? It's hard to tell a person that you fancy them." said Lavender.

I had no choice but to agree. "You're right about that."

"Very hard actually." she continued. "Especially when you don't know how the other person really feels."

I got the impression that we weren't talking about Parvati and Harry anymore. "Do you fancy someone, Lav?"

Lavender blushed. "I can't very well tell you that, Ron Weasley."

"And why not? we've been alright since first year. We're friends right?" You can tell me if you fancy someone. Especially if it was a friend of mine. I could put in a good word."

"I don't think so. The person I fancy seems to like someone else."

"How do you know? Did he tell you that?" I asked.

"No..."

"Exactly. I mean you never know. He may fancy you back. You're pretty and you're nice, you could have anybody."

Lavender's face seemed to light up at my words. "You think I'm pretty?"

I couldn't believe she was actually saying this. Next to Hermione, her, Parvati, Padma, and Daphne Greengrass were the hottest girls in our year.

"Of course I do. And if the bloke you like doesn't see that, he's a moron." I said nicely.

"Thanks Ron!" said Lavender happily. "Maybe I'll tell him sometime!"

And with that she hopped up and headed to the girls dorms.

"Silly girl." I mumbled to myself as I got up and headed towards my dorm.