Study Breaks

Chapter Six

It was rather amusing, Harry thought, the number of different shades of red and purple Ron’s face was turning. The chess game had started off normally, with Ron playing his usual cautious game while Harry attempted to force his moves. Things finally started to heat up, however, when Ron decided to abandon his chosen tactic of minimal sacrifice and recklessly moved a knight into a very vulnerable spot. Perhaps it was a sensible move, but the knight seemed to have problems with it. Which it expressed loudly and in scathing terms.
Ron’s shock at being called a “sadistic, cruel taskmaster with no regard for the feelings of his loyal troops” was soon replaced by fury when several of the other pieces joined in, criticizing technique, strategy, logic, hair colour, and fashion sense. The red head finally exploded when the Queen called him “Ronniekins” and suggested that perhaps he needed to “toddle off to bed” and sleep on his decision. Harry leapt back from the table as Ron swept the pieces to the floor and lunged for his brothers, who were lying on the couch hysterical with laughter.
When Harry, Neville, Dean, Seamus and Lee finally managed to pull Ron off of the twins, they dragged him to one of the wingback chairs and pinned him there. George and Fred uncurled from their defensive positions and sat up.
“Hey little brother, it was just a joke,” said Fred, rubbing the knot forming on his scalp.
“Yeah,” added George, stretching the arm that Ron had tried to dislocate, “we were just having fun. We’ll fix them immediately.”
Ron growled incomprehensibly from his chair.
“C’mon Ron,” said Seamus, trying to make peace. “If it had been Harry’s pieces, you would have laughed with the rest of us. Don’t get all huffy about it.”
Again, growling rose from the red head, but he relaxed into the chair. Dean and Lee carefully released their hold and when Ron didn’t jump for his brothers, they moved to where they had been sitting.
“You have to admit it was hilarious,” Lee said.
“And really, a great trick,” said Dean admiringly. “You guys should keep that one for the joke shop. Or maybe next time we get to go to Hogsmeade, you could do the sets that they keep at the Three Broomsticks.”
“Madame Rosmerta would kill you,” Harry pointed out.
As the boys discussed possible methods of getting their hands on the chess pieces kept by the other houses Ron’s flush faded, and after a while he joined in enthusiastically. Finally, the twins removed the enchantment from the chess set and the group packed up their things and moved towards the dormitories, still plotting loudly. Once the fifth year boys were in their section of the dorm, Harry decided it was time to work on his plan for Ron.
“So Seamus,” he called out. “How’s it going with Claire?”
“Oh great,” replied the other boy. “She’s so much fun. And we can talk about all sorts of things. And she helps me with my homework. She’s really great.”
“Plus she’s gorgeous,” Dean pointed out.
“Well, I suppose, yeah.”
“Suppose?! She’s got to be one of the best looking girls our year!”
“Oh, I don’t know,” said Harry thoughtfully, “I happen to think we’ve got some pretty good looking girls in our house. I mean Parvati and her sister are the best looking girls our year. And Lavender’s pretty attractive. Don’t you agree, Ron?”
Ron’s head came up from behind his trunk.
“Huh? What?” he asked. “Sorry, I was trying to get this stupid thing to open for me. What were you saying?”
Harry could have bashed his friend’s head against the trunk. “I was asking whether you thought that the girls in our house were pretty, doofus,” he said instead.
“Yeah, I suppose,” Ron said distractedly. “Do any of you remember what password I used this morning?”
Harry groaned.
“I’m pretty sure it was Jelly Slugs,” Neville replied agreeably. “And I think there are lots of pretty girls in our house. Especially our year and the fourth years.”
“Which fourth year do you think is cute?” Dean asked curiously.
“Well,” Neville blushed a colour previously only seen on Ron. “Um… no one in particular. I just think that there are lots of cute Gryffindors, that’s all.”
“Sure Neville,” said Seamus, looking at the oblivious Ron understandingly. “I agree. None as cute as Claire, of course, but plenty of good looking ones. I’d have to agree with Harry and say that Lavender and Parvati are two of the prettiest girls our year.”
Harry nodded in acknowledgement, but internally he was cursing Ron for ignoring the discussion in favour of carefully hiding his chess set. Finally he decided to take action, physical action. He walked over to Ron’s corner and grabbed him by the arm.
“Look, the twins swore they wouldn’t touch your chess set again. Calm down, lock your trunk, and stop being so anti-social.”
“Who died and made you headmaster?” Ron asked, pulling his arm free. In then end, though, he closed his trunk and sat on his bed. “Okay, so what’s the all important discussion we’re having.”
“Actually,” Neville admitted, “we’re just talking about girls.”
“Geez, Potter. This is what I had to stop to talk about?”
“No, stupid,” Harry said quickly, hoping to avoid suspicion. “You were just being paranoid and I wanted to stop you. Go back to fussing with the chess pieces if you really want to.”
As he’d thought, Ron huffed briefly but eventually joined in the talk. Seamus was rhapsodizing about his girlfriend again and so for a while the discussion centered on girls from the other houses, but finally Dean brought up the subject of Gryffindor girls again.
“Well you can’t talk about Padma without considering Parvati,” he pointed out. “I mean, we have some lookers in our house too.”
“Yeah,” agreed Harry quickly, “Both her and Lavender. Don’t you agree Ron?”
“Yeah, I guess so. They’re a bit giggly, though. And big into all that gushy girly crap.”
“Hey, that doesn’t really matter,” said Seamus. “I mean Claire gossips with her friends all the time. It’s just a girl thing, I think. Their natural state is giddy.”
“Well Mione’s not like that,” said Ron argumentatively.
“Yeah, well Mione’s not your average girl, Ron,” replied Dean. “And of course most girls are going to look silly compared to her. If that girl had a non-serious thought her head might explode.”
“Dean’s right, Ron,” Harry said quickly. “Just because they aren’t bookworms like Mione doesn’t mean they aren’t smart and interesting. It’s just you’ve never got to know that side of them.”
“Oh, and you have,” said his friend caustically.
“Well, no, not really. Although Mione was saying that she had a great long chat with Lavender today and it turns out that Lavender has all sorts of talents we never even knew about. And that she’s smart and funny.”
Harry felt a bit silly singing Lavender’s praises, but he figured that with Ron’s thick head perhaps the blunt approach was best. And failing that, he was considering the blunt object approach.
“Yeah, actually, Lavender’s pretty good at some stuff,” Dean said. “She helps me with my potions homework all the time. And I think she’s pretty hot at charms as well.”
“See Ron,” said Harry. “Now you have someone to ask about homework who won’t insult you the entire time. Think of how calming that would be.”
“Sure guys, whatever,” Ron grumbled. “Well, sorry to cut off this ground breaking discussion, but I need sleep. Potions class first thing tomorrow and if I’m not fully awake, Snape always manages to trip me up. G’night”
A chorus of ‘G’nights’ answered him and the room went dark as each boy extinguished their beside candle.

The next day at lunch, Harry laid out his plan to Hermione.
“Actually, it’s pretty much a variation on what happened with you and George,” he admitted. “I figure that if Ron starts to see Lavender in the same situations he sees you then maybe he’ll sort of replace you with her. And you’ll be off the hook.”
“So we’re going to get Lavender to teach Ron history of magic?” she asked jokingly.
“No, charms and potions. You know, what she’s good at. So when Ron next asks you for help on his homework, you just tell him you’re too busy and send him to her. And I’ll come up with a way of having her hang out with us in Hogsmeade next weekend. Just get them to be closer friends. Then maybe something will spark. At the very least, it will be good for Ron to meet a girl who isn’t you.”
“I’m really not sure if that was an insult or not,” said Hermione.
“Oh shut up. You know what I meant,” said Harry grumpily.
“Yeah I know,” replied Hermione, grinning.
“Okay. Well now that that’s out of the way, you have to tell me what you’re doing this evening.”
“Actually, I don’t know,” admitted Hermione, biting her lip. “All George said was that I’m to meet him outside the common room at seven. And to wear comfy clothes, whatever that means.”
“No ball gowns, I’m guessing,” said Harry. “Well, I hope that you have fun. And I expect a full report at breakfast tomorrow. I’ll keep working on Ron, so don’t worry about that at all.”
“Thanks Harry. If you can’t decide what to do when you graduate, I think you should set up some kind of dating service.”
Harry glared at her
“Okay, okay, kidding,” said Hermione with a grin. “But I’d give you a glowing reference.”
She dodged and laughed as Harry threw a roll at her.

At 6:55 that evening, Hermione and Lavender stood outside the entrance to the common room. They had decided to do Hermione’s hair and make-up in the girls bathroom on the second floor so that she could avoid the awkward situation of walking past the entire house with her new look.
“Okay,” said Lavender. “I think you’re all set. Just stop twisting your hands and biting your lip like that. You’re ruing all my hard work.”
Hermione pulled her hands to her sides and set her jaw resolutely.
“Much better,” her friend said. “Now you know you have nothing to be nervous about. George is crazy about you, so just relax and have a good evening. I expect to hear all the details when you get in tonight.”
“All right,” Hermione agreed. “And thank you so much for doing this. I really appreciate it.”
“Hey, no worries. Just go have fun. I’ll see you later.”
With that Lavender turned to the painting, gave the password and entered the common room. She was barely two steps across the threshold when she crashed into Ron.
“Oops, sorry Lavender. Not looking where I was going,” he apologized. “Hey, have you seen Hermione?”
“Uh, yeah. She’s, uh, gone to the library to, um, help your brother study,” Lavender stammered.
“Oh. Okay. Well maybe I can catch her there. I’m kinda stumped on this charms essay.”
Ron moved to walk past her, but Lavender grabbed his arm.
“You know Ron, I don’t know if you should bother her. I mean, it’s pretty important stuff they’re covering. Um, I’m pretty good at charms. If you like, I could try to help you out.”
“Could you?” he asked eagerly. “I heard you were good at this stuff. And you won’t call me a dunder head when I don’t understand everything the first try, will you?”
Lavender laughed. “Y’know Ron, I don’t think I’ve ever called anyone a dunder head, so you’re safe on that count.” She took his arm and turned him back towards the room. “Why don’t we see what we can do about this essay.”

Outside the common room entrance, Hermione paced nervously, once again twisting her hands together. She felt a little ridiculous at being nervous, considering she’s spent plenty of time with George, and even kissed him, for heaven’s sake! But still, this whole first date business was a completely different matter. She had no idea what they were supposed to do, or talk about, or how she was supposed to act. She was running over a list of possible conversation topics in her head when she walked straight into someone.
“Having serious thoughts again, Mione?” George teased. Then his jaw dropped. “Wow!”
Hermione stood very still as George stared at her. After a few seconds, she could feel herself blushing.
“What?” she asked defensively.
“Wow!” he repeated. “You look great. I mean, you always look good, but now… Your hair’s all different and… Are you wearing make-up?”
“Yeah. Don’t you like it? Cuz I can go wash it off.”
She turned in the direction of the bathroom, but George caught her arm.
“No, don’t. I like it. It’s really pretty. It just surprised me, that’s all.”
He smiled down at her and tucked her arm into his. “C’mon, let’s go.”
“Go where?” she asked.
“I’m not telling. Don’t want to spoil the surprise. Just follow me.”
Hermione and George wandered through the halls of the school in what seemed like a completely haphazard manner. After a while Hermione was totally disoriented and when George pulled her around a final corner and said triumphantly “Here we are!” she stared in confusion.
“But this is the great hall.”
“Exactly.” He turned to the door.
“Okay, so how does this go?” he muttered quietly, pulling out his wand. He whispered a few words Hermione couldn’t hear and tapped the door handle with his wand. There was a pause, then the huge door slowly swung open.
“Oh boy,” said Hermione, quietly. “We could get in so much trouble for this.”
“Relax Mione,” said George as he pulled her inside. “I’ll lock the door again and no one will know. Fred and Angelina come here all the time.”
“Why?”
“Why? Just look.”
He raised his arm to point and Hermione looked up. The suspended candles were all dark, but the enchantment on the ceiling was still in place, and she could see thousands of stars spread across the night sky. There were small wisps of clouds in some places, and the crescent moon hung low to one side. George took her hand and lead her to the raised section at the other end of the hall. On the floor in front of the head table was spread a blanket with a picnic basket beside it.
“Oh wow,” whispered Hermione. “Wow George. This is wonderful. I love it. Thank you.”
“Anything for milady,” he said, with a sweeping bow. “Shall we stargaze?”
Hermione smiled at him in the starlight and allowed him to seat her on the blanket. From the basket he produced two goblets and a flagon, as well as a plate full of cookies and other sweets.
“Would milady like some butter beer?” he asked, raiding the flagon.
“To be sure,” she replied, grinning up at him.
“And some treats? I made sure that we got lots of custard creams and jam tarts. Just in case we need to have a serious discussion.”
“Oh, I think we can pass on serious discussion tonight,” she replied. “But I’d love a custard cream.”
He put down the plate and chose a custard cream. When she reached for it, he moved his hand until it was right in front of her face. She looked at him quizzically for a second, then realized his intention. After he fed her the sweet, she caught his hand and kissed his fingertips. He gazed at her mouth then lifted his eyes to hers. His hand slipped from hers to cradle her cheek. Hermione leaned closer and closed her eyes just as his lips touched hers.
After a few moments, George leaned back, his breathing slightly quickened.
“Y’know, I’ve been wanting to do that since yesterday evening when we were sitting on the couch,” he said
“Oh, I know exactly what you mean. I keep thinking that everyone can tell exactly what’s going through my head every time I look at you.”
“You mean you think Ron can tell,” he said.
“Well, I guess so. That’s what I’m most worried about,” she admitted. “I really don’t want to hurt him. He is one of my best friends.”
“Don’t worry about it too much. We’ll see how Harry’s plan goes. And if it doesn’t work, then we’ll deal with it then.”
“Stop being so sensible. That’s my job.”
George grinned at her and put his arm around her shoulders.
“I think that we need to share the sensible-ness. For tonight, why don’t you just relax and go with the flow and I’ll be the one who worries. We can switch back tomorrow.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Hermione snuggled closer to George, enjoying the sensation of being held. He turned his head and kissed her gently on the forehead. She peeked up at him through her lashes. He was gazing down at her with a half smile on his face.
“I’m so glad that I found you, Stargirl,” he whispered.
“So am I.”
He kissed her one more time, then tugged her shoulders gently until they were lying back on the blanket. Hermione curled up against his side, resting her head on his shoulder. The couple lay there quietly, watching clouds chase each other across the starry sky.