9026.doc

Written by pbmaxca

BetaRead by seegrim

Property of © 1999-2007

Chapter 1: Is It All Worth It?

Inspired by the song: I Want To Hear What You Have Got To Say (Sung By The Subways)

"He's using you…" Ron said.

"How dare you!" Hermione spit out at him, her anger coming out quickly. "Besides, I can take care of myself!"

He spoke slowly when he spoke. "Doubt it, he's way too old for you."

"What?" she said using an even more angered tone. "What, that's what you think?"

"Yeah," he shrugged a little, "That's what I think."

"Well you know the solution then don't you."

"Go on," Ron replied to a sentence that was clearly only beginning.

"Next time there's a ball…" She barely breathed as she yelled at him, "Pluck up the courage and ask me before somebody else does, and not as a last resort!"

With that Ron shot up from where he lay in bed. Light shown through the window to his left temporarily blinding him since he'd forgotten to close the heavy drapes that surrounded the four-poster bed the night before.

"Another day is here, and I'm still alive," Ron mumbled to himself as his eyes began to focus.

Some mornings were better than others, but lately getting up to go to classes was killing him. He knew that his school days were coming to a close and school itself wasn't that hard, but he wished for the day when he could take the train back to Platform 9 ¾ on his way back to the Burrow

He lay back down and rubbed his face wondering if there was a spell he could use that would fast forward him through his morning routine. Showering and dressing seemed so boring and especially hard to do after a long night of drinking with his friends in the Prefects' bathroom. They all should have gone to bed early considering that they had classes in the morning, but now that they'd gotten further in their studies and had learned enough spells to play pranks on each other it was hard to go to sleep. Besides, who knew that Fred and George could fail so miserably in their ability to stay focused in class but were intelligent enough to cause what looked like a simple Pumpkin Pastie do something that would make someone talk as if they'd been sucking on helium. Drunk, squeaking guys were the funniest.

There was no doubt as to where his stress came from these days. It came from one of the most unlikely places, from one Miss-Snotty-Hermione-Granger in particular. He'd thought they'd gotten over their oil and water relationship years ago. That whole Wingardium Leviosa thing had been a laugh.

Things had changed a little since they'd first met. He'd thought for many months this past school year that they were getting closer, but he guessed that the fiasco that happened when she'd gone to the Yule Ball with Viktor Krum still hadn't been resolved. He still wasn't sure why she was upset with him. She'd been asked to the ball, even bragged that she and Viktor were writing each other, but when he saw her in the halls or in the common room she still was giving him the cold shoulder.

"Get up Ron!" Harry yelled from somewhere in the room.

"'M Up!" he yelled back and finally pushed himself up. Dressed in messy hand-me-down pajamas, he moved towards the bathroom, quickly glancing to see Harry standing at the other end of their bedroom. He was intently reading a piece of parchment, so he didn't bother to say hello, just went on his merry way to get ready for the day.

It was a little less than an hour later when he finally shuffled his way into his second try at Divination. He didn't want to be in the class, but after failing it, his mother decided that he should retry the class. He hated sometimes that his brothers got such good grades. He really did try, but there were some things he just couldn't get to stick in his head.

"Hermione!"

Ron's head snapped up from his shuffling, his real sulking over the fact that he was in Divination again to find Neville Longbottom waving his hand over his head in the air towards the far end of the hall. In his other arm was a copy of Encyclopedia Of Toadstools which seemed to have seen better days. Ron knew that Neville liked Herbology, but it looked as if he couldn't get enough of the subject considering the state of the book he was carrying.

Although it seemed there were a million kids in the hall at the time, Hermione appeared from deep in the crowd and jogged her way towards Neville. She wore the normal robes that the other students in his year wore. She didn't add anything to the uniform, even though some of the girls would pin things to their sweaters or robes, but somehow her things just looked newer and shinier than the others around her. Right down to the small SPEW (Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare ) pin that was barely visible at the end of her scarlet and gold Gryffindor tie.

"Did you finish that homework?" she asked Neville.

He nodded.

Ron watched intently, feeling strange for doing it, but not enough to turn away. He wanted to hear what she had to say. They hadn't talked in weeks and he found himself missing that bossy voice that she seemed to slip into even when she wasn't barking orders to her fellow students are (or) shouting the finer points of Elfish Welfare.

When their conversation lowered Ron leaned in closer and found himself tripping over Angelina Johnson's foot. He didn't fall from his feet, but he looked awkward as he stutter-stepped a few feet in the direction of Hermione and Neville.

"Ron, are you okay?" she asked.

He nodded. Although there was no reason for him to be dizzy, he found himself a little less steady on his feet than he should have been. Maybe it was his embarrassment coming to the surface as a few students looked in his direction. The only ones he saw were Neville and Hermione both staring at him with shocked looks on their faces.

"Ron," Angelina said, putting a hand out to touch his shoulder. Her other hand brushed one of her braided pigtails over her shoulder. He was amazed that even at this age she was prone to wearing her hair in that style, but being sporty, it seemed to suit her. "Are you sure you're ok?"

Hermione's expression instantly fell. He hated when that happened and it seemed to be happening often when he was around. He'd see her laughing and joking with her classmates, even Harry, but when he approached her it was as if someone blew out the light of whatever candle she was holding.

He swallowed hard trying to picture her smile again. He liked her smile. It was one of her best features despite her hatred of it. It probably came from the fact that her parents were dentists. He probably hated Muggle things just as much as she hated dentistry.

Her icy eyes stared at him for the longest time as if his tripping had interrupted her whole day. She finally seemed to roll her eyes as she turned her back to him and spoke to Neville. "I've got a class of first years I was told to show around the library. I'll see you later, Neville."

Neville squeaked out a goodbye to her and disappeared as well, probably heading out towards the greenhouses.

"Yes," Ron said and straightened up seeing that Hermione wasn't coming back any time soon. He ran a hand through his hair, "Have you talked to Fred lately?"

"No." She laughed a bit, her perfectly white teeth gleaming at him. She always had a great smile, unlike Hermione's slightly imperfect set of teeth. "Last I heard his and George's business was going well."

"Yep," he said, knowing that he was already running out of things to say to her. "What about Quidditch?" He knew that the team was going fine, but he asked anyway. "Going ok?"

She laughed again. "Very much so."

"Well," he said when he finally noticed that students were going into their classrooms. "I've got to get to class. I'll see you later."

"Okay," she said with a smile, "If you see your brother, tell him I said hello."

Ron nodded and moved towards Divination. "I will."