How Fifth Year Changed My Life

How Fifth Year Changed My Life

Chapter 03

We spent the afternoon with Ginny, who had emerged from the confines of her room to greet Hermione. Ginny was still acting peculiar, but I knew there was no point in questioning her. She may be different from us boys in some ways, but she still possessed the one quality that defined all of us as true members of the family- stubbornness.

In her last letter, Hermione had said that she'd had lots to say, and I was bursting to hear all about them. However, I didn't know if they were the sorts of things that I should be the one to ask her about. I decided, though I found this very difficult, to let her bring everything up on her own. The reason for this was because there was one specific topic that I knew would be included on her list of things to tell me- Viktor Krum. She had been so final in her letter about not going to see him, and I was wondering if there was anything that would support my original theory about him that he was nothing but an overly confident prat, who would never do anything good for anyone unless he could see what was in it for him. True, I had made my amends with him, but it's funny how sometimes absence can actually make you grow less fond of someone- for I found that all I was able to do in this instance, was dwell in all the anger I had built up for Krum during that year. Even though I knew that I had exaggerated most of it, even to myself.

Dinner was a fairly subdued affair, at least in terms of what I was used to. Mum spent most of it urging Ginny, Hermione, and I to eat more, as she had, (out of habit,) made enough food for nine people. After we were finished eating, Ginny quickly seized the opportunity to head back up to her room. However, she came back downstairs a few seconds later to ask Mum if it was alright if she borrowed Errol.

"So what'll the two of you be up to this evening?" Mum asked.

"I dunno- Hermione?" I said, turning my head to look at her.

"Let's go for a walk," she said, slowly.

"Alright, I'm going to clean up here and be off to bed. I didn't sleep well last night. I kept hearing the Ghoul," Mum said, bitterly.

"I've learned to just sleep right through it; years of having a room right under him will do that to you," I said. Mum chuckled and bid us farewell as we slipped out through the back door.

If anyone had told me that morning that I would have been on an evening stroll with Hermione that night, I would have been very nervous. Now that I was doing it, however, it wasn't so scary, and I once again realized what a gift it was to just be able to be yourself around someone. People always talk about "awkward silences", but I think that one of the defining characteristics of a friend is being able to sit in a comfortable silence. When you finally reach that point in a relationship, with anyone, that you're comfortable enough to just enjoy being in the presence of that person, when no words are needed for you to know what the other is feeling.

"Any place special you wanted to go?" I said after a few minutes.

"Where ever you go," she replied.

"Sorry?"

"Where ever you go, when you go on walks," she paused, seeing a puzzled look on my face, "you know, to think about stuff...oh come on, you have to have a place you go to be alone, with that house-full of people."

"Yeah, I do, I just...you surprised me that's all," I paused, "what makes you think I'd want to bring you there any way?" I joked.

"You'll bring me there if you know what's good for you, Ron Weasley!" she replied.

"Is that so?"

"Oh it's so," she said smiling brilliantly. And then suddenly she became serious. "Besides. I want to go somewhere where we can talk."

I looked away from her and realized that in the excitement of joking around with her, and of seeing her smile, I had walked us a bit too far in one direction. I led her in a bit of a circle attempting to cover up my blunder, and when she said "Didn't we just come from this way?" I covered up by saying that I had wanted to walk around a little more before we sat down. Though, she knew, and I knew she knew, that I was lying.

Then we had arrived. It was a beautiful willow tree on the edge of a clearing where you could lay for hours during the day, under the immense shade of the branches, or at night, watching the sky. I took her over to the tree and pulled back a few of the branches so Hermione could get closer to the trunk of the tree, which I normally liked to lean against when I sat.

"This is a beautiful spot," Hermione said in an awe-struck voice.

"Yeah, haven't been coming here too long, just since the beginning of last summer."

"What do you do here?" she said, giving me an interested stare. I attempted to meet her gaze, but found that I couldn't hold it and tell her the truth at the same time. She sensed my silly embarrassment and said, now in a more playful voice, "Oh come on! Just tell me!"

"I, well...I've been making up Quidditch plays. I come here to draw them out...I mean, I'm hoping to make the team this year, Wood's old spot is open. I...I think I've even got an honest shot at captain too. I mean, Fred, George, Alicia, Angelina, and Katie are all older, and in the past they've always taken someone who'll be able to stay with the job for a few years. Harry...I mean, he flies really well of course, but, well, I've been around Quidditch my whole life, I know a lot more than he does about plays, and the mechanics of the game, and other positions and stuff. So...well it's a shot anyway, and the plays might help me get it too, if they turn out to actually work. Haven't had enough people around to try them out on brooms yet."

"That's great, Ron," she said smiling at me, as though letting me know non-verbally that she didn't think I was lame, or that I was hanging on some far-out-glimmer-of-a-hope-dream of becoming Quidditch Captain.

"So what did you want to talk about?" I said.

"Well, you did ask about Viktor, and Bulgaria in you letter. So, the answer is that I'm not going to visit Viktor, because he's just a friend, and no matter what he hopes that's all we'll ever be. And anyways, I have better friends to visit," she said smiling at me. "Harry needs us both now, Ron. I couldn't justify going away to visit Viktor, even just a friendly visit, when I've been getting such despondent letters from Harry."

"Yeah, did you think Ginny was acting strange at all?" I said

"What? Ron...why do you have to change the subject? I want to talk about Harry now," she said, desperately trying to hide the annoyance in her voice so that we could have a civilized conversation about how to help our friend.

"See, that's just it. I'm not changing the subject. Ginny's been acting really strange, remember I told you in my letter that she was asking to borrow Pig a lot?" Hermione nodded, still looking puzzled. "Well, I had a very weird conversation with her just before you got here, and I think she's writing to Harry."

"Well," Hermione paused, looking very confused, "why shouldn't she? I mean, they're friends and all..."

"No Hermione," I said cutting her off, "she's writing to him, a lot. I don't just mean a bunch of short little notes either. She's gone through more parchment this summer than I went through in History of Magic last year."

"Well, Ginny does have her own friends to write to, why do you assume she's only writing to Harry? He won't even talk to us."

"She asked me if I'd heard from Harry and I told her about how he said that Dumbledore said he can't come until a week before term starts, and that you said he's been short with you, and she just kind of, nodded and sat there, staring. So I asked if she'd heard from him...and she said she couldn't tell me. I'm telling you Hermione, it was weird." Hermione was still looking very skeptical at my whole theory.

"Well, I'll try to talk to her before we go to sleep tonight. I can probably manage to get her to say something."

We sat in silence for a few minutes, both of us thinking about this situation, between long glances at the beautiful sky above us. And then, even though I had all the time in the world to think about what I was going to say next, I said something with out thinking at all. Without thinking about what it would sound like, or what it would imply. It just burst forth from my lips faster that if I had been spitting out one of Fred and George's newest joke-candy creations.

"What is it about Krum that makes you think you could only ever like him as a friend?"