reputation - (h.p.)

1.15 . laughing, and dancing, and stargazing

𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧

"SHE DOES NOT HAVE IT out for you, Ron!" Gaia insisted. "Merlin, she's easy on you considering how little of the work for her class you actually do!"

       "I thought you'd be on my side, Gaia," the redhead boy replied. They were walking through the courtyard with Ginny on the way to the common room, the sun just approaching the horizon and painting the sky a beautiful ombre of colors. The younger Gryffindor girl took it upon herself to inform Gaia that Ron's latest tantrum was on McGonagall's "mistreatment" of him in Transfiguration. Thus, Ron, who had just been moping about how tired he was, sprung into action to defend his theory. "You have Moody. I have McGonagall. We're in the same boat!"

       Gaia tried not to cringe at the name. She had gotten through that class all term simply by ducking her head and staying quiet to avoid any more weird intrusions from the former auror. 

       Ginny, sensing the impending snap back, whispered to Gaia, "Chew him up and spit him out!"

      "Moody is nothing like McGonagall, Ronald," she chastised. "There's a big difference between interrogating a student about their parents' weird-arse lineage and giving a student a Poor on a paper you turned in two weeks late!"

      "Chewed," Ginny commended. 

      "But I did a really good job on the paper when I did turn it in!" Ron defended. 

      Gaia stopped walking entirely to look her friend dead in the eye. "You misspelled 'Transfiguration' in the title and listed your only source as 'Hermione's notes.'"

      "And spit out," Ginny concluded, sharing a high-five with Gaia. 

       "I'm not venting to you again anytime soon," Ron conceded, his nose scrunching up in a hurt mask. Gaia shared a glance with Ginny before the pair of girls started laughing at the boy's fragile state. 

      "You'll be fine Ron," Gaia tried to comfort him as the trio kept walking across the courtyard. "From what I've heard your marks have survived worse than a Poor on an essay." 

      "You know, that actually didn't really make me feel better," her friend replied. "You're not the best pep-talker in the world, you know that G?" 

      "Made me feel better," Ginny chimed in, earning a smile from Gaia. 

      "But you know what?" Ron started once more, turning to face the girls and walking sideways in order to do so. "I am going to make up for this. You watch. This term, I'm getting my highest marks yet. You watch! You'll feel so stupid!"

       "I feel stupid already," Ginny replied. "Quite the promise. We'll be eating our words pretty soon, huh, Gaia?"

       "Oh yeah," the older girl played along. "Hey, maybe Rita Skeeter will drop Harry and write a story about you. Ronald Billius Weasley takes Nation by Surprise in Academic Comeback of the Millenia!"

       "You're laughing now," the boy mumbled, shaking his head at the girls. "But soon, I'm gonna be..."

       Gaia followed his dazed eyes to find what caused him to trail off. And suddenly, her and Ginny were giggling and hitting each other as they found that Ron was staring, open-mouthed and all, at Fleur Delacour and her entourage of stunningly beautiful friends. The sight was too good, and Gaia was instantly flashed back to the first night he saw her, handing her a bowl of bouillabaisse and smiling through a glorious mouthful of potatoes, sending her scramming off in sheer terror at the sight.