O Shush, Ronald

four

The next few days were grim, to say the least. One day into the year and the one consistency in her life had already come crashing down. Thrill.

"Ms. Blake? Ms. Blake?"

"What yes hello yes I agree" Winona sputtered out

"I wanted to let you know that class has been over for 23 minutes," said Mcgonnagal in an oddly calm voice

"I- I am so sorry I haven't been sleeping well lately and- I'm sure you don't need to hear my twenty billion excuses -- I'm so sorry. I 100% understand the detention and all that"

"Calm down Ms. Blake, I never said anything about detention"

"Right well I'm just anticipating it, you know, putting those stellar marks in divination to good use"

McGonagall always had a soft spot for Winona's wit and humor. It reminded her of her own quick wit.

"Yes, stellar."

"I'm sorry I should probably go back to my common room so I can catch up on some work --- unless you're just extending out the process of giving me detention -- which would also be fine" Winona rambled on over her attempt at being respectful, not a strong point of hers. 

"Now, Ms. Blake, I won't be giving you detention but I would like you to sit with me for a few minutes. We can- talk." McGonagall was visibly uncomfortable -- clearly making an effort to come off as comforting

Winona made her way up to Mcgonagall's desk, sitting in the chair closest to her.

"Winona, I've noticed you have been- uncharacteristically- well- you haven't been hanging around Mr. Weasley"

"Which Mr. Weasley"

Minerva gave her a knowing look

"Yes you're right," said Winona, staring down at her scuffed mary janes

"Is this a contributor to those sleepless nights? I am not involving myself in student affairs, but this issue- or whatever issue it may be- is cutting into your school activities."

"No it's not that, I just have a lot of school work" Her eyes began to sting, she could feel tears pulling at her eyelids as she reminisced on her spat with Ron

"Alright, I'll let you get to that schoolwork then"

Winona turned away as quickly as possible, bee-lining to the exit of the room, just barely grabbing up her book bag.

"And Ms. Blake, everything tends to straighten out in the end. Trust me, I've been here for a long time. It will all be alright."

Winona started to hate herself. She cried too much. She was mean to Ron when he did nothing wrong. She ruined absolutely everything with him-

"O bloody hell, I'm sorry, here"

Winona had been so stuck in her own head she hadn't even realized that she had knocked into Ron in her attempt to rush back to her dormitory. Once he had lifted himself from picking up Winona's books their eyes met. A flash of confusion and sadness spread over his face.

"Why are your eyes red?"

"They're not, you're seeing things, you know Luna was telling me about nargles, you might have those-"

"You're lying, tell me what's wrong"

"Ron it's honestly nothing, I've just had a rough day, ok?"

She expected him to keep on digging. She couldn't stand it when he did that. He never meant to annoy her, he was only trying to help. When they were younger Ron wouldn't be able to sleep if he knew someone was unhappy and he hadn't helped. He was just so good. She loved that about him. Over the years he had gotten better about his prying after realizing it hurt more than it helped when it came to Winona. 

"Ok. Wanna go for a walk?"

She was pleasantly surprised. Just being around him brought her such great comfort. She loved that too.

"Yes please," she said as she wiped nose with a slight smile

his cheeks turned a light pink while a lopsided smile grew across his face. Each freckle stretching over his dimples. The two started towards the black lake as they had done hundreds of times over the years.

"You were right you know"

"Which time, I'm right a lot," Winona said with a slight smile --- being around Ron had pulled her out of her sour mood. Just knowing that she could talk to him again made it all better.

"That things are different" Ron playfully kicked a pebble as he said it. It was as if he was trying to distract himself from his own words.

Winona didn't know what to say. There wasn't anything to say. One wrong word and sixteen years of friendship would go down the drain, just to pool into a lifetime of awkward dinners and uncomfortable civil conversation.

"You know, I wouldn't actually go out with Lavender. Not my type I don't think."

"I mean there wouldn't be anything wrong with you going out with her it's just- I just- yeah I didn't think she was right for you that's all"

"What about Cormac?" Ron asked shyly

"O well um, no I don't think so. Not my type."

"I'm glad. That he's not your type, that is. You know with the whole rape-y thing and he's just not a good-"

"I know Ron, you're right," Winona said in a serene tone. A comforted tone.

The pair sat on the shoreline, watching the water lap against the slick pebbles, the light foam washing through the maze of stones. Ron sorted through the pebbles to find the perfect skipping stone, occasionally casting a thin mass across the lake, startling the unscathed loch. The sun dropped down past the castle as the time passed, golden rays peaking out through each tower until the entire fortress was soaked in a dark coat of night. With the sun went Winona's eyes, slowly dropping until she was met with a calm sleep.

It wasn't until a light mist came down that Winona began to open her eyes.

"O shit", Winona said in a startled manner, not expecting to see the sun emerging from the distant mountains. She quickly lifted her head up from Ron's chest- wait a second, WHY WAS SHE ON RONS CHEST.

"Why are you rustling around so much, bloody hell" Ron croaked, clearly still half-asleep

Winona jumped up at the sound of his voice, still trying to organize what was going on.

Finally, she responded sternly, "RONALD. MORNING TIME. WHY IS IT MORNING?"

"I don't know have you ever tried looking at a lunar calendar it's kind of how time works- wait- merlin, why is it morning-"

"Up, get up, up time, getting up" Winona stumbled to her feet quickly reaching out her arms to help him up

"Will you calm down, it's a saturday"

"Breakfast probably ends soon you know" Winona said in a sly manner

"Ok im up lets go"

"That's what I thought"

ok here's the deal --- idk if i should delete everything i have posted and write out the whole story so its perfect and THEN re-upload or just keep on doing what I'm doing (aka posting in incriments and editing stuff on here) 

opinions? ideas? help