The Letters to No One - Romione

Chapter 43

The victory of Gryffindor's win of the Quidditch match continued for days and in everyone's eyes Ron was still a hero. McLaggen hadn't been too happy to here about this success and there were plenty of murmured whispers around the common room about who would be the keeper for their final Quidditch match of the year, against Slytherin.

'Good game Ron,' someone said, patting him on the back and walking off. It had been almost a week and Ron still wasn't used to all of this celebration. He laughed and continued to eat his breakfast, a smile on his face. This had been just the kind of distraction that he needed. 

Even better, McGonagall was so happy that they had won that Ron was almost certain that she wouldn't take his prefect badge away from him, even if he sent a first year wandering off into the forbidden forest. Although he wasn't prepared to test this theory.

'This is ridiculous,' Ron laughed as Harry sat down in front of him. 'If I'd have known that people cared this much about Quidditch then I would have tried a lot harder in lessons.'

'You get used to it,' Harry muttered, although Ron noticed that Harry hadn't had nearly as much attention for the win as Ron had, it made a nice change.

'Are we going into Hogsmeade this weekend?' Ginny asked.

'I don't fancy a day third-wheeling with you to,' Ron sulked continuing to eat his cereal. 'I think I'll just stay here.' 

'And do what?' Harry asked him.

'Maybe I'll practice Quidditch, prepare for the next match so that I can beat McLaggen. I don't want to give them any excuse to not let me on the team.' He said, standing up and heading back upstairs to the Gryffindor Common Room.

'I know he played well but I don't reckon McLaggen will be kicked off the team,' Ginny said and Harry nodded in reply hoping that Ron wouldn't be too disappointed. 

'You still up for Hogsmeade on Saturday?' Ginny asked Harry

'I wouldn't miss it for the world,' he replied.

*

As promised Ron spent most of his weekend practising Quidditch. He had enchanted one of the quaffles so that it could fly on it's own and every so often it would fly into one of the goals. He hadn't managed it particularly well and the ball kept flying off track or dropping to the ground, but by the end of the day he was sweaty and exhausted. Seeing as no one else had returned from their trips to Hogsmeade, and the castle seemed pretty quiet, he took his things and headed towards the prefects' bathroom. It was much grander than all the other bathrooms and was a lovely place to spend a quiet afternoon. He ran the taps, pouring in a selection of different products, although he didn't have a clue what any of them did, and jumped into the bath.

He closed his eyes, relaxing his aching muscles in the hot water and felt himself beginning to drift off. A loud giggle startled him and Ron sat up so quickly he almost slipped over, managing to catch himself on the edge of the bath just in time. 

'Hello Ron,' Myrtle giggled back at him and Ron found himself wishing there were more bubbles in the bath so that he could completely cover himself.

'Hey Myrtle,' Ron replied with a grimace, remembering why he tended to avoid the prefects' bathroom. It wasn't a particularly nice feeling to be watched while you bathed.

'I heard that your girlfriend dumped you and left Hogwarts. Were you that bad of a kisser?' She practically shrieked the question as she plunged into the water without making a splash. Ron felt uneasy as she tried to cuddle up to him, her arm passing right through his.

'I...I...' Ron stammered not knowing how to answer her question.

'Don't worry,' Myrtle replied. 'You can practice on me.' Ron didn't know how to respond and found himself jumping out of the water and wrapping a towel tightly around himself.

'It's  a shame that they didn't make Harry Potter a prefect,' Myrtle continued to say as Ron hurriedly got dressed. 'I haven't seen him since he spent all that time in the girls bathroom in your second year. What's he up to these days? Saving the world?' She asked with a rather dreamy tone to her voice.

'Yeah, you know Harry,' Ron replied, pulling on a jumper. 'Always off saving the world.'

'Is he single?' Myrtle asked and Ron couldn't help but snort in response at the idea of Harry and Myrtle. She shot him an extremely dirty look and Ron turned away from her in an attempt to hide his laughs, although his attempt was rather unsuccessful. 

'Well I guess you don't want to here to news that I have about your little girlfriend,' Myrtle sulked, crossing her arms and flying across the bathroom. Ron's attention was sparked by the mention of Hermione. Was this just going to be some silly rumour or did she know something?

'Wait!' Ron shouted, just before Myrtle had the chance to fly into one of the toilets and head towards a different bathroom. 'What do you know about Hermione?' He asked. It still hurt to say her name, but he had to know. Whatever it was.

'You're telling me that you don't know?' Myrtle cackled and Ron found himself getting angry.

'Whatever it is will you just come out and say it?' Ron practically shouted.

'And what will I get in return?' Myrtle was practically teasing Ron.

'What do you want?' He asked impatiently. 

'Maybe you should lend your bathroom key to Harry Potter. Maybe you could suggest that he comes up here to take his next bath.' Myrtle said and Ron felt sick to his stomach.

'Sure, why not.' He quickly agreed. 'Now will you please tell me whatever you know about Hermione.' He was almost begging with her.

'She's back.'

'What do you mean, she's back?' Ron asked, not wanting to believe it. Not wanting to get his hopes up in case she didn't mean what he thought she meant.

'She's back in the castle.'