The Essence of Gryffindor

It was just as Hermione had said. By the time Ron got down to breakfast he had just enough time to grab a little toast and had to eat it on the way to class.

They had History of Magic first and none of them were thrilled. Ron and Hermione shared a table in front of Harry and Arelise. Harry had decided to start taking notes this year in order to prepare for his NEWTs. He realised that he had never really taken notes before so he wasn't entirely sure what to write down.

He decided to ask Arelise, whom he noticed was quite like Hermione on the particular subject of note taking. "Um...may I?" he asked looking from her to her parchment then back at her, "I'm not very good at taking notes," he added truthfully. He blushed a little.

Arelise, seeing that he was actually serious and wasn't just trying to impress her, replied politely, "Of course!" and pushed her parchment a little so that Harry could copy what she had. She was particularly flattered by being asked in the first place, and smiled widely at the thought of it.

Meanwhile, Ron was asleep, much to Hermione's disgust. On the other hand, she along with Arelise found it quite amusing when Harry charmed his extra quill to tickle Ron under the nose whenever he would doze off, which was about every five minutes or so. It was one of their more enjoyable History of Magic classes.

They were even more delighted when the bell rang and Ron jumped, which startled the quill. The quill then spat ink in his face and Ron let out a sputter as to get the ink out of his mouth. He wiped his eyes and looked at Harry, who was laughing hysterically, "I'll get you for that, mate."

Hermione was trying very hard to stifle her laughter and not look at Ron as they walked through the halls and out onto the grounds for Care of Magical Creatures. She finally was able to control herself and charmed the ink off of his face, still laughing.

Arelise wanting to get in on the fun preformed a small charm, which made a smile face appear on the tip of Ron's nose. The three of them laughed again.
"What?" Ron asked, "What's so funny?"

"Ron," Hermione said between fits of laughter, "Ron your...your nose," she continued pulling a mirror out of her bag and handing it to him.

He looked in the mirror and saw exactly what they were all laughing at. "What the?" he said looking very oddly at the tip of his nose. "Who..." he started. He was looking suspiciously at Harry, who held his hands up in front of him.

"It wasn't me," he said.

"Well..." Ron started again, looking at Hermione.

"Honesty, Ronald."

He then looked at Arelise who looked back at him with a very innocent smile on her face. "Why you..." he said and walked slowly towards her with an 'I don't believe it' grin on his face. She took off running and he ran after her. He quickly caught her and picked her up in his arms.

To Harry's surprise though, he kept going. He started after them.

"Harry, wait," Hermione said clutching him by the back of his robes, "if I know Ron well enough, then I know that something good will come of it."

~*~*~*~*~
Ron continued to carry her until he was sure they were out of eye and earshot of Harry and Hermione. He put her down and they continued to walk.

"Ron what are we doing here?" she asked him.

"I have to ask you something."

"Well what is it?"

"What do you think of Harry? I mean I know you've only just met him, but you have some kind of first impression. Haven't you?"

"Yes, indeed Ronald, I have. I think Harry is wonderful. Why do you ask?"

"He really likes you, you know."

"Oh, Ronald, I don't know...do you really think so?"

"Honestly, do you see the way he looks at you? I know it's kind of weird to be hearing this from me, but I had to know and I wasn't very willing to wait for Hermione to ask you."

"Yes, actually, I have noticed the way that he looks at me. His eyes," she said closing her eyes and imagining him, "they're gorgeous."

"See!" Ron said suddenly, "I knew it. I know that look. It's the look I would always get when I would talk about Hermione. And I've seen the way you've been looking at him." She blushed scarlet thinking about it. "So what do you say?" he continued, "is Harry right for you?"

"Yes, Ron," she said smiling, "I do think that Harry is right for me, but I just don't know," her smile was fading,

"We've only just met. How can I be sure? I'll give it a little time. Maybe by Saturday I can make a decision, but I can't make any promises."

"Saturday? Why Saturday?"
Harry invited me to go to Hogsmeade with the three of you."

"Oh! Brilliant! But until then, if you need to talk to anyone about how you feel, you can talk to me, and I'm sure that Hermione wouldn't mind if you would rather talk to her."

"Thanks Ron. Oh, and would you talk to Harry as well?"

"Of course," he said, and she smiled, "but right now we need to get to class. Come on; let's go before we're late."

He took off across the grounds with Arelise close behind. She had a very big smile on her face and she couldn't wait to see Harry again.