If You Love Her (Ron Weasley)

Fourteen.

Things within Gryffindor Tower didn't improve any after the Quidditch game, if anything, it seemed things were only destined to get worse. 

Ron had attempted to resign from the Quidditch team, and had only changed his mind when Harry reminded him that there would then only be three players left on the team, which would not be useful when it came to the rest of their season. He was reluctant, but he did agree to try his best to continue playing, which worsened my nerves for the other games Gryffindor would need to play. 

Umbridge continued to terrorise the entire school, her controlling behaviours and manipulation tactics only growing more extreme as the days passed by. Her classes became more of a dreaded event than a potions class with Snape, and detentions seemed to be handed out for anything and everything. It was a true wonder how Harry's hand hadn't yet fallen off his arm. 

The relationship between me and Seamus was at an all-time low, the bickering and arguing had subsided, and it had now been replaced with a tense and frosty atmosphere whenever we were together in any capacity. This made life quite challenging for Neville and Dean, who simply wanted life to go back to the way it used to be, with the four of us being unproblematic best friends. The issue was, I couldn't see it ever being that way again. 

One new development within the castle that didn't bring a new wave of depression over the majority of the Gryffindor students was the return of the Care of Magical Creatures Professor, Hagrid. He was truly one of the most friendly people you could ever hope to meet, he always had a smile and a friendly word for whoever may need it. 

And as Neville and I trudged down towards the Forbidden Forest, the cold breeze of the November air bit at our noses, but we found ourselves curious about what Hagrid might choose for the first lesson back. 

"I just hope it's nothing too dramatic," I had said, and Neville had laughed. "I just can't be arsed,"

And the truth was, we were all exhausted. Trying to meet up with the DA whenever possible, trying to conceal the fact we were meeting at all from those we couldn't tell, studying for the biggest exams of our lives, trying to sustain a somewhat healthy social life. Christmas couldn't come soon enough for the majority of us, we were ready for a break from everything.

"Right, well, I've bin savin' a tripinter the Forest fer yer fifth year. Thought we'd go an' see these creatures in their natural habitat.Now, what we're studyin' today is pretty rare, I reckon I'm probably the on'y person in Britainwho's managed ter train 'em," Hagrid stated, and my interest was heightened, curious to know which creatures he was talking about. 

"Do you reckon it's dragons?" Dean murmured in my ear, and I dramatically rolled my eyes at him. 

"Oh of course it is, that sounds like a brilliant idea," I scoffed, and Dean held his hands up.

"Just a thought," He said, and I laughed at him, ignoring Malfoy's snarky comments about Hagrid bringing untrained beasts into their classes, and we followed Hagrid into the forest as he instructed us to do. 

I tried to ignore my anxiety, but it only increased as we walked further and further into the dense trees, the darkness feeling as though it was encompassing me. Not many people knew about my phobia of the dark, I hadn't even told Neville about it, as he had far too many worries of his own to spend any time worrying about me. The only people in the world who knew I was afraid in that moment was my brother, who didn't even so much as glance in my direction to see if I was okay, and Ron, and I was far too nervous to look at him.

We kept walking, and we kept walking, and I could feel my heart beating faster, and my mouth growing dryer. I wasn't sure I was going to cope. And then, someone took my hand, and everything felt a little bit brighter.