Hayloft - ron weasley

13

briar crept down to the common room, hoping ron was down there.

and to her surprise, he was.

she walked down trying to be as quiet as possible. but when she stepped on a certain spot on the floor and it creaked, ron turned his head and saw her standing there.

he looked down at his hands in embarrassment as she went to sit next to him.

"hi." she whispered.

"hi." he grumbled.

"how are you?" she asked in a small voice.

he scoffed loudly, "i'm great."

"come on ron, talk to me."

she put her hand on his bicep lightly.

he glanced down at her hand but looked away just as quickly.

she dropped her hand and sighed, "i'm sorry about what you saw."

"so what, are you and fred like... dating?" he spat the last word out as if it burned his tongue to say.

"no. we agreed to stay friends."

"it doesn't seem like he wants to stay friends, since he had no hesitation to kiss you." he stood up as his voice started to raise slightly, "my brother? really? it just had to be someone close to me."

"what are you talking about?!" she stood up to make herself at level with him, now it was briar who's voice started to raise, "i'm not doing anything to get a rise out of you!"

that was partly true. she didn't want to admit it, but there was a tiny sliver of her that wanted to see how ron would react.

he sighed, letting himself cool down, "...so, you're really don't fancy him?"

"i don't." she shook her head as she answered.

it got quiet for a second.

ron looked up at her then sat back down, staring into the fire.

briar sat down next to him again and spoke softly, "i don't mean to bring it back up but, fred did tell me a story about when you were younger."

he looked up at her in horror, "what did he say?"

"nothing bad." she smiled, "he told me of this christmas a few years ago. he said ginny had gotten some dolls and him and george got these slingshots-"

ron must have started to remember what memory she was talking about because he cut her off, groaning in annoyance.

she just laughed and continued on, "and when him and george went up to attack you and ginny with their present, they saw you and her sitting on her floor playing with her new barbie dolls."

"of course he told you that." he cursed under his breath.

"i thought it was cute!" she laughed.

"yeah, sure you did." ron replied, the tips of his ears began to turn pink.

"i did! i mean- i do!"

he turned his head to study her face to see if she was telling the truth.

"i don't believe you." he squinted his eyes at her.

briar dramatically turned away from him, "fine. don't believe me then."

he looked back at her and couldn't help a smile, "do you mean it?"

"yes."

it got quiet again.

ron took the liberty of speaking this time, "i'm sorry about earlier."

if she was being honest with herself, she thought it was kinda hot. but she wasn't about to admit that to him right now, "it's ok..."

"and," she added on as he gave her a questioning look, "i think what happened earlier just proves how much you truly adore my cat."

"i don't adore your bloody cat! that thing is a furry beast!" his voice slightly raised in pitch, causing his voice to crack.

she couldn't help but find it attractive.

"then what was," she paused and cleared her throat to lower it a couple octaves, "you're holding her wrong."

he immediately blushed.

"well he was! he looked like he was about to drop her!"

"it's ok to admit you like her..." briar smirked.

"i don't like that cat! but i knew that if he dropped her you would be upset and- and he would have killed her and..." he trailed off, not knowing how else to defend his case.

briar smiled up at him, "you know, you're cute when you're all flustered."

as the words left her mouth she realized what she had said.

her face turned a deep red but besides that she didn't show she was too embarrassed.

on the contrary, ron's face turned almost into the same color as his hair, his eyes went wide, and he coughed from surprise.

"don't worry." she started to say, "toulouse likes you too."

she started to walk towards the girls dormitories until she turned back around to face him.

his eyes were still slightly wide and his posture was very awkward.

"goodnight ronald." she smiled once again at him before she walked up the stairs.

he swallowed hard as he stood there in the middle of the room.

once she was out of sight she presser herself back against the wall and laughed at herself.

she was so obvious, anyone could see it from a mile away.

she couldn't believe the surge of confidence that rushed over her, but she wasn't complaining.

while she was standing stunned against the wall, ron was standing stunned in the common room still. he hadn't moved an inch and was frankly too scared to.

'if only there was a way to get enough bravery to actually ask her out' ron thought to himself.

then it suddenly hit him like a train,

he could ask briar to the ball.