Two Weeks to Fall in Love

Ron awoke slowly, unsure if what had happened in the last twenty-four hours was real. Would Dumbledore really do something like that? It actually seemed a little bit stupid.

"Wake up, wake up, it's time for yet another day of our new lives," Ron said playfully to Harry, who awoke with a start.

Yes, he assured himself as a brown-haired Ravenclaw student stuck his head out from between the hangings on his four-poster, which had formerly been Neville Longbottom's. "Maybe if I dress slow it'll all go away," Harry said to Ron, who gave him a small smile. He felt sorry for Harry, stuck with Sally-Anne. She seemed like a bit of a bitch. He, on the other hand, had Cho... A smile drifted across his features. Susan Bones was nothing compared Cho.

A Hufflepuff boy with a narrow, peaked face emerged from one of the beds, while yet another Ravenclaw came from Seamus' old four-poster. "This is weird," the Hufflepuff boy stated after a few moments of silence.

"So, you looking foreword to day two?" Ron questioned Harry sarcastically. The black-haired boy rolled his eyes at Ron, who quickly backed off. "Sorry I brought it up." He felt so bad, almost as if he was betraying Harry. Surely, though, Cho liked Harry. Who would choose a red-headed Weasley in too-short robes over The Boy Who Lived?

How very typical, he reflected. Was it always going to be like this- Ron on the side, while Harry got all the girls? He painfully remembered the Yule Ball with Padma, who was quite attractive. Of course, now she thought that he was an inconsiderate git who couldn't afford decent dressrobes. Fred and George had, in a fit of kindness, bought him some charcoal-gray robes, which looked as though they had cost quite a bit. Whenever he'd asked the two of them about it, they simply told him to forget it.

"...Think I should?" Ron was jolted back to the present with a question from Harry, and stared at him blankly. "Where's your mind today?" Harry asked him. "I was just asking if you thought that I should go to Dumbledore and request a change from Sally-Anne."

The brown-haired Ravenclaw gave Harry a sympathetic glance. "You got Sally-Anne? Sometimes she can be really nice, but she's as stubborn as a jackass."

"I've noticed," Harry replied blandly, and Ron flinched. He should have been the one with Sally-Anne. Dumbledore had assigned them for a reason, though. Was he assigned with Cho in order to help him, or to help Harry get over jealousy? Or maybe both?

Cho and Sally-Anne were talking in the common room whenever Ron arrived, trailed by Harry. Cho grinned at both of them, and Sally-Anne offered a small smile to Ron, and a cold nod to Harry. "Breakfast?" Ron suggested, and both girls nodded.

"Ron, why haven't you tried out for Quidditch?" Cho asked him as the four walked down the stairs. "I mean, Fred and George were great Beaters, and Charlie was probably the second best Seeker that Gryffindor has ever seen- maybe the best."

Ron noted a blush rising on Harry's cheeks at the last sentence, so he gave a quick reply, before Harry could get in on the conversation. "Well, I don't think that I'd be a decent beater- not really built like one. No way in hell I could get Harry off of the Seeker's position, and our keeper and chasers are all really good. None of them are leaving soon, and I'd hate to push anybody off of the team."

The black-haired girl grinned. "Typical Gryffindor- worrying more about other people than themselves. Always a good trait to have."

Ron flushed slightly, trying to hide his face from both Harry and Cho. "Well, you're not a bad Seeker, yourself. Or chaser," he added quickly, seeing the look on Sally-Anne's face.

"Thanks," Cho grinned, and Sally-Anne did the same. "I'm not as good as some people, like some of the fifth or sixth years, but I got the spot first, and no one wants to break up a team."

She didn't say anything about Sally-Anne being great, and Ron had a feeling that he knew why. Although Sally-Anne had been good enough to make the Ravenclaw team, she was without a doubt the poorest chaser on the team. She could perform all of the basic maneuvers really well, but whenever it came to improvising on pre-set moves, she was worthless.

By that time, they had reached the Great Hall, and Ron and Cho were involved in a lively conversation about Quidditch. Sally-Anne and Harry, he noted, were both sulking, looking quite angry at each other, as well as at himself and Cho. "So, what do you think of the Chudley Cannons?" Ron asked Cho, shoveling food into his mouth.

Cho shrugged. "I'd rather go for Puddlemere United, but the Cannons aren't half-bad."

Ron gave her a mock-disapproving look. "No, no, no. We've got to update you on the Quidditch teams, Cho. The Cannons are much better than half-good. They are, without a doubt, the best team that the league has ever seen."

The Ravenclaw choked on a swallow of water that she had just taken, and coughed violently several times, laughing throughout it all. "Sorry," she coughed, giggling. "I mean, the way you said that, you sounded just like Professor McGonagall whenever she's discussing how you're turning a flobberworm into a blue and gray parakeet. Just her tone and the way that she looks at you..." She trailed off, still laughing.

Within a few moments, Ron found himself chuckling, as well. Cho had such a friendly laugh, it made you feel as though you'd known her forever. "Yeah, I guess that I did. But I don't appreciate the comment on the Cannons," he added.

"Excuse me," Harry said quickly, standing up from the table and throwing his napkin down on his plate. "I just forgot- I have to finish up on the assignment that Professor Flitwick gave us- I think that I still have a half-sheet or so left."

"Since when is Harry interested in homework?" Ron mused, and Cho looked after the receding Gryffindor with worry etched on her face.

"Is he usually this moody?" Cho asked curiously. "He doesn't seem like he is, but I've never really gotten to know him very well..."

Ron shrugged. "Not usually, but I think that this whole partner thing is wearing on his nerves- no offense, Sally-Anne."

"None taken. He's wearing down my patience, too."

"Don't they make a good couple?" Cho joked as she and Ron stood up to go to charms, their bags slung across their shoulders. Sally-Anne had gone up to the Gryffindor common room to get her things, having forgot them before. "Both of them annoy the hell out of each other, and neither one of them wants to admit that they really wouldn't mind sharing a decent conversation."

Ron chuckled. "That would be Harry, all right. He's normally a really nice guy, but when he gets mad, he gets really mad. I guess I do, too. We got in a big fight two years ago."

"When he was named the fourth Champion," Cho said, and Ron nodded. "I couldn't figure out how he did it, and I felt really bad whenever he asked me to the Yule ball later. I mean, he was already getting made fun of and pushed down by most of the other students, and I felt like I was just hurting him more."

Ron groaned at the memory of the Yule Ball. "Yeah, I ended up going with Padma Patil, and I had to wear..."

"Those disgusting looking maroon velvet robes," Cho concluded, and Ron winced. "Sorry, but I remember just about every detail of those robes. The gray ones look much better on you. They don't make your red hair stand out even more."

Unconsciously, Ron lifted one hand up to his head and left it there. "Oh, quit it," Cho laughed, reaching up (with some difficulty), and pushing Ron's hand off his head. "I never said that it looked bad, I just said that it stood out. There's nothing wrong with standing out."

The redhead shrugged. "Unless you're standing out because your robes are all too short and it makes everyone think, 'Oh, there goes another Weasley'."

Cho flinched at that comment, and muttered a quick, "Sorry." She edged closer to Ron, entwining her fingers with his. "I'm sorry about that Ron, I swear that I didn't mean it like that. I mean, I don't really know what it's like to be in a situation like that. I have one older sister and one younger brother- the little brother might very well be magical, but my older sister's a muggle, plain and simple. I think that she would know more of what you're feeling than I would."

"You don't do a bad job comforting people," Ron laughed, wishing that the charms room was farther away, for they had reached it already. Cho removed her hand from his before opening the door and stepping inside, Ron following behind.

What was he doing? Was he falling for Cho? That was betraying Harry, wasn't it?

As he slid into his seat, Cho's hand somehow found his again, and she squeezed it reassuringly. He squeezed back.

To hell with Harry.

~~~

"What do you think you're doing?" Harry's voice was louder and colder than Ron could ever remember it. "You can't even pretend that I didn't see you in charms, and then at lunch and transfiguration and Hagrid's class..."

Ron wheeled at Harry, just as the narrow-faced Hufflepuff boy edged out of the dormitories, the two Ravenclaw ones still staring at the two Gryffindors. "Well I'm sorry if I offended you," Ron snapped back, "but you don't even seem to be very good at carrying on an actual conversation with her, and I don't plan on spending two weeks in utter silence."

Harry paced up and down in front of his bed. "Then talk to Sally-Anne, for god's sake! It's not like she has anyone to talk to!"

"No thank you, I prefer talking to girls that don't look like they're going to punch you out every time that you talk to them. I'll take Cho."

"Oh, you... BASTARD!" Harry yelled, throwing himself down onto his bed.

Ron turned and left, his divination book (his original reason for going to the dormitories) tucked underneath his arm as he hurried to the common room.

Cho was sitting on a couch, and grinned up at Ron as he slid next to her, opening the book. "Okay, this is where we are, so I think that you've covered all of that already," he said to her, pointing to the section entitled Advanced Tea Leaf Readings- Determining Finer Differences and Unclear Objects.

"Yeah, I sucked at that section," Cho laughed, a strand of hair falling down to her face from a loose ponytail. Without thinking, Ron brushed it back behind her ear, and Cho grinned at him. Feeling like an idiot, he smiled back.

Cho leaned up next to him, spreading the book out on her lap, to where Ron had to look over her shoulder to read it. "So, what all have you covered on this and how long have you been working on it..."

Explaining more, Ron felt that he was looking foreword to the best study session in his life.