like a redheaded stepchild

hapter 4: Maths are Hard

After defeating the Dark Lord and swiping the legendary Philosopher's Stone out from under his nose, getting to play quidditch for the house team was a bit of a let down. Ron let Harry take over for the Hufflepuff game, which ended quickly in victory when Harry caught the snitch only 15 minutes in.

"That was brilliant!" Harry cheered as he hopped down off his broom.

Angelina and Katie frowned at him. "What a moment, aren't you Harry?"

"Obviously not, I've got Ron's broom here and I'm clearly a Weasley, what with my red hair and freckles," Harry protested.

Angelina rolled her eyes. "Harry, you're practically a Weasley already as far as everyone's concerned. You're not fooling anyone."

"Obviously I did, otherwise someone would have noticed I was playing instead of Ron before the game was over."

"Shut it, all of you," Oliver ordered, coming over and giving Harry a big hug. He had tears on his cheeks. "If he say's he's Ron Weasley then he's bloody well Ron Weasley. I'm not having any of you ruin this moment."

"All I did was catch the snitch," Harry protested.

Oliver looked at Harry like he was bonkers. "That's only the most important thing in the world. And you waited until we were 30 points up! We'll have that cup yet."

Then Ron came over and swapped places with Harry, so that when the cheering crowd descended they really did think it had been Ron up there the whole time.

"Next time it's your turn again," Harry promised.

Ron grinned and winked. "You know, I don't think even Fred and George could pull a prank this brilliant off."

In the final game of the season, Ron flew much more confidently. Though he didn't catch the snitch, he managed to distract Cho Chang the Ravenclaw seeker long enough that Gryffindor lost by only 30 points, leading to their victory in the Quidditch Cup as they had scored the most points overall. He grinned happily as he held up the trophy for the Daily Prophet photo op along with Harry.

"Now we just need to open a joke shop for Fred and George and everyone's dream will have come true," Harry said as they made their way up to the common room for the party.

"I wonder what Hermione's dream is," Ron pondered.

Hermione sighed. "A quiet, peaceful day, where nothing goes wrong or explodes and everyone does their homework."

"We really need to get you a new dream," Ron said.

Harry nodded his agreement. "That one's really boring. What about becoming a princess or head girl or something?"

Hermione rolled her eyes and huffed. "Considering who I keep company with, I think none of those things are likely."

"Well, Bill was head boy," Ron pointed out. "Maybe it runs in the family. You'd be the first Weasley head girl in at least seven generations."

"I'm only an honorary Weasley, Ron," Hermione lectured. "Maybe Ginny can be the first head girl."

"Nah, she'll be quidditch captain for sure," Harry declared.