About You, Ron Weasley.

Chapter Five

Chapter Five

"I left you here, heard you keep the extra closet empty."

Rue was skipping stones at the Black Lake, watching Harry pick at the ground and mope around as Neville searched for plants in the water. Her and Longbottom, with their pant legs rolled up, were out in the tides of the Black Lake – her a bit deeper than her best friend, who was gawking over plants with the Herbology textbook that Mad-Eye Moody had given to him.

"Are you sure Ron won't be upset that you're hanging out with me?" Harry asks Rue, as Neville lets out another "Amazing!" at the plant he'd just found. It looked an awful lot like Gillyweed, and he'd made a mental note to tuck bundles of it away in his bag before they'd left. Plants, he didn't have trouble remembering.

"Ron's my boyfriend, not my owner." Rue tells Harry, who cracks a smile, watching as she tosses another stone – with a solid right swing, into the lake. It goes almost as far as Hagrid's stones did, and Harry watches, stunned.

"You should try out for Beater when the twins end up leaving. Seriously, you've got the strength–" Harry starts, and Rue looks at him incredulously, shaking her head. "Right, full-moons. Sorry, I forgot." He muttered, and she stiffles out a small laugh as she continued skipping stones. "Is this what you two do often? Just... Skip stones and look for plants–" He starts.

"And creatures. There's Bowtruckles back that way, by Kettleburn's old pen. I feed them sometimes," Rue tells him, nodding in the direction of the castle. Neville nods his head, watching Harry briefly, and focusing back on his plants. Harry continues examining the book, nodding his head quietly.

"We've also got the case..." He trails off, and Rue and him share a look that Harry thinks he'll discover what they meant by the case a bit later on. "It's different, yeah? From the chaos?" Neville asks, and Harry shrugs his shoulders. "Rue's the only one who will listen to me talk about Gillyweed and Mandrakes, and the Whomping Willow. Really, her and Dean, and Seamus are the only ones who will let me talk about anything." He admits, shrugging his shoulders stiffly.

"Because we're your friends, Neville. You talk about Herbology – I talk about creatures – Dean and Seamus are infatuated with each other – it's what we do." Rue reminds him, and Neville smiles and laughs – while Harry shakes his head and smiles at them both. "Meissa's there too, but Neville finds her a bit intimidating sometimes. He just won't say it." She tells Harry, who cracks a smile and mutters a "don't we all," as Neville looks between them both and intervenes with a "I never said that," causing Rue to smile as she treks back to the shore to put on her socks and shoes.

Neville waves, and so does Rue, as Ron and Hermione come walking over to the shore with Ginny. "Look, it's already been through enough people." Hermione hisses to Ron, as Neville begins collecting Gillyweed, not paying any attention to the group. He's content, so Rue decides to leave him be, and so does Harry. "Why don't you just go and talk to him yourself?"

"Everything alright?" Rue asks, as she pulls her socks up to her ankles, rolling down her trouser hems over her socks as she slips them on, fiddling with the buckles briefly of her shoes as she slips them on – looking between Harry and Ron, and Hermione. She hated seeing her three best friends in disarray. "Is this about that Rita Skeeter article?"

"Ron, this is your problem, not ours." Hermione hisses to Ron, who nudges Hermione forward. Rue looks, with wide eyes, back at Harry, as he stands, and then to Ron – knowing there was no talking sense into her grouchy boyfriend who had been avoiding her like the plague every time she spoke with Harry – and Harry, who anxiously wanted to speak with Ron, but he was too thick in the head to listen to Harry's reasonings.