Hayloft - ron weasley

12

it had been a few days since the dilemma in the common room.

briar had told fred that she can't have anything with anyone right now because of the different things she's been dealing with. he understood of course and she made sure she still wanted to be friends with him.

it had been almost a full month of school.

next week would start the month of october.

briar found herself picking at her food in the great hall as mcgonagall stood up in front of the staff table, appearing to be getting ready to make an announcement.

as she got the student's attention she spoke with a clear booming voice, "since things have been going so smoothly so far this year, and it seems as though everyone liked the dance last year, the staff and i have decided that we would hold another ball."

there was a wave of chatter that drowned out mcgonagall's voice.

many boys groaned, while most of the girls gasped, and couples turned to look at the other one.

"THE BALL!" mcgonagall made her voice more loud than it was before to get everyone's attention again, "will be held on the eve of halloween. only fitting to be called the hallows eve ball."

more chatter was exchanged.

at this point mcgonagall just sighed and went back to her seat at the staff table, letting the students talk amongst themselves.

briar couldn't help but feel her eyes drift down the table to a certain red head.

he rolled his eyes as some girls who didn't get to go last year sat next to him squealing. hermione was also looking at him longingly, waiting for him to look up at her too. except he kept his eyes glued to his plate.

she looked down to her food again.

she wasn't even hungry. and the sound of everyone around her laughing and talking made her want to punch every single one of them.

so she swiftly got up from her seat and walked out of the hall.

ron had seemed to notice. he looked like he was about to get up and go after her, until harry turned to him, "do you think you will go with anyone this year?"

he stared at the exit as briar turned to walk out of the doors, "probably not."

back in the common room, after dinner, briar was the first one in there since she left supper early.

she had her pick of any seat in the whole room.

as usual she went for her usual one beside the fireplace. toulouse was already snuggled up at her feet purring softly.

people would be filing back into the common room any moment now.

as if on cue the portrait door swung open as some students walked in.

after a couple minutes everyone seemed to pick a place in the common room where they wanted to be.

it had been about an hour and curfew was coming upon them.

people were slowly deserting the common room.

there were only a few people left, some random students briar didn't know the names to, the twins, and the trio.

briar saw someone put their pointer and middle finger on the top of her book and lowered it from her eye line.

she looked up to see two identical people in front of her, smiling at her as if she had won the lottery.

"wanna help us with a prank?" fred said getting slightly closer to her face.

at least it wasn't awkward.

"what kind of prank?" she asked as she closed her book.

"one that includes filch." george chimed in.

briar smiled up at them, "ok, i'm in. what do i have to do?"

"well-" fred began to speak but stopped and looked down to see toulouse walking against his leg.

he pointed down to toulouse and looked at briar, "may i?"

she shrugged in response as he picked her up and scratched her head.

they heard a scoff off to the side of the room.

they all turned their heads to see ron sitting there like he was before briar left for her date with fred, slouched into the couch with his legs slightly parted, and running fingers through his hair.

"you got a problem little ronnie?" fred smirked.

"yeah, matter of fact i do." he stood up and walked a few steps over to them. he paused and looked down to toulouse in fred's arms, "you're holding her wrong."

"what?" george laughed.

"you're. holding. her. wrong." ron repeated to fred as if he were a baby.

"then how am i supposed to hold her?" fred scoffed.

"not like that!"

harry could help but laugh a few feet behind ron, causing hermione to hit him over the head with her copy of the daily prophet.

"i mean, there really isn't a wrong way to hold a cat..." briar spoke in a small voice.

"yeah ron, listen to briar." fred turned his head slightly nodding towards her.

nobody moved, probably wanting to see how this scene would play out.

"don't talk about her!" ron shouted.

"um, i'm right here you know." briar stood up, making herself known.

hermione also stood up and walked towards ron putting a hand on his shoulder, "come on ron, it's late, just leave it alone."

ron shrugged off her hand as he stepped towards fred.

seeing the brothers so close to each other you could really see how much height ron had gained over the summer, now almost an inch taller than fred.

"you're a prick, you know that? acting like you're better than everybody else."

fred just smiled to his younger brother, "it's not my fault you were too much of a little boy to make a move. i may be a prick but at least i'm not a coward."

"ok! this has been fun, but i think we should call it a night." briar laughed nervously, clapping her hands together.

george must have known this wasn't going to end well as he put his arm around his twin, "yeah, i'm getting pretty tired, and we have that test tomorrow in transfiguration."

fred didn't seem too bothered by any of this so he just nodded and followed george up to their dorm.

i can't tell if the last scene is cringey or not💔 i was thinking about a little boom pow action 🤜 👨💥 but i felt like that was a bit much😭

i kinda hate this chapter but also kinda don't? idk