Flowers and Oranges - Ron Weasley

ELEVEN

Ron could not sleep.

He had been twisting and turning in his fourposter for at least two hours, trying to squeeze in a few hours of sleep before he had to wake up for classes. But it was impossible. No matter how hard he tried, his mind would not let him slumber peacefully.

With an annoyed sigh, he turns to fully lay on his back, staring up at the ceiling. A scowl crossed his face when Harry's comfortable snore reached his ears, along with Nevilles coherent mumbling that he does when he's in a deep slumber.

Which is every night.

It felt like everyone could sleep except him. Hell, even Harry could sleep and everyone knew what he's been through. So imagine how pathetic it must be for him to be afraid to close his eyes at night.

But every time that he does, he hears Hermiones screams of torture, he hears the thud of a dead body colliding with the ground, he hears the harmful spells that were thrown around him and lastly he hears the gut wrenching cries of his mother as she cradles Freds lifeless body.

Squeezing his eyes shut he sat up, leaning against the headboard before letting his eyes open again. He wonders if Malfoy shares the same problem. If her memories haunt her dreams and keep her sleepless.

Without even thinking about it, he reaches over for Harry's nightstand before pulling out the marauders map from his drawer. Already hating himself for it, he stood up from bed, snatching his wand and threw on a jumper before carefully heading out of the dorms and down to the common room.

It was dark and cold, even the common room lacked its once comforting warmth during the nights. Carefully opening the door, doing his best in not waking the fat lady, Ron closed it after himself before wandering down the halls of Hogwarts.

Normally, he would at least try to not get caught. However after you fight a war, crossing many potential moments of his death, you tend to lose interest in a lot of things. What would a prefect do if they saw him? Cut points from his house?

Nobody cares about the points anymore. It's all about surviving through the year.

He passes by the great hall and then the courtyard before finally stopping where he was going. Taking a breath, he exhales before climbing up the stairs to the astronomy tower where Malfoy is apparently spending her night.

Ron immediately spotted her once he reached the top. She was sitting by the railings, her feet dangling below her as she blew smoke into the crisp late autumn air. Her white hair was running majestically down her back and he frowned when he noticed that she wasn't wearing a coat.

She must be freezing.

She didn't even react as he cautiously moved closer to her, up to the point where he was standing right beside her sitting form. Letting his arms rest against the railing, he gazed forward, not wanting to be the one to break the silence.

Her cigarette smoke reached his nostrils before he heard a quiet feminine scoff "You do know that I was joking about the whole stalking thing, right?" Her voice was soft yet raspy and he could hear how tired she was.

Lifting a shoulder in a shrug, he glanced down at her only to find her already looking up at him "I wouldn't call it stalking. More like searching"

Her lips quirked up, eyebrow raising "Searching? Do you think about me that often, Weasley?"

Ron held her eyes for a moment, before lifting his gaze again "More than i'd like to admit " She had meant it as a joke. He had not.

He heard her swallow "...Did you think about me tonight?"