In Love With A Redhead --- Ron Weasley

Chapter 9

As soon as we got back to school Harry had me send out a message through the DA coins that we would be meeting.

On Tuesday night, about a week after break, I walked down to the Room of Requirement. I met Luna and Cho along the way and we walked together.

"So Elizabeth, you're a good friend of Harry's..." Cho started.

"Yeah," I said casually, "I've known him since first year."

"Oh," Cho said quietly, "You're not, um, you guys aren't..."

Realization hit me, I knew that Cho and Harry fancied each other! She thought I was going out with Harry.

"Why does everyone think that?" I laughed, "No, Harry and I are just good friends. I think of him as a brother, really."

"Oh, ok," Cho nervously laughed.

Luna had remained quiet until now, "Besides, Elizabeth is with Ron," she murmured dreamily.

I had always really liked Luna. I found her hard to take seriously sometimes, but she had always been so nice.

"Oh! I didn't know," Cho exclaimed.

We arrived at the wall where the secret door was hidden and walked by it three times, imagining the DA training room.

Everyone was already there. In fact, Harry was already teaching the lesson.

"Didn't want to wait?" I yelled at Harry.

"There you are! Thought you weren't coming!" Harry yelled back, and then he saw Cho, "Except you Cho, I figured you'd come. Or hoped you come. Not that it matters. I mean it does but it doesn't. But I'm glad you're here---" Ron elbowed Harry to make him shut up.

"You're an idiot," I whispered to Harry as I went to stand in the group. He stuck his tongue out at me and continued to explain the lesson. Harry started talking about Patronuses and excited chatter filled the group. I had been looking forward to learning the spell.

"Just focus on your happiest memory. It might take you a few tries, but you'll get it," Harry finished.

Everyone spread out around the room and started practicing. I tried a few times, thinking about family, getting a good grade, reading my favorite book, and a beach trip I took during the summer a few years ago. All I got were small wisps of silvery fog, that pathetically shot out from the tip of my wand.

Finally, I thought of the Yule Ball. Ron had asked me in fourth year after I had comforted him from being turned down by Fleur. The night consisted of laughing with my friends, bright lights, cheerful music, yummy food, and of course dancing with Ron. A warm feeling stirred inside me as I yelled, "Expecto Patronum!"

A white, glistening elephant erupted from the tip of my wand. It was a little bit smaller than a real elephant, but still an impressive size.

"Great job, Liz!" Harry exclaimed excitedly. I looked around and was proud to see that I was the first one to achieve the spell. My elephant romped around, stomping it's feet and swaying happily. It was quite a beautiful sight.

In the span of five minutes a few more people achieved the spell. This included Luna, who's Patronus was a cute shimmering bunny.

Harry sent me around to help the other students who were struggling. He insisted that he had to stay with Cho, just until she got it. I rolled my eyes and went to help the Twins.

Then I went and talked to Ginny while her horse and my elephant stomped around together.

Just as I was going to check on Harry and keep him from acting stupid, I saw Ron. He looked extremely frustrated with the small white wisps he was producing. I walked over to him, "Give me your wand," I told him.

"What? No, I've almost got it," he said trying once more.

"Ron, you look like you're about to snap it in half. Give it to me, you won't achieve anything while you're angry," I said sternly.

"Fine," he mumbled, handing over his wand grudgingly.

"What do you call an alligator in a vest?" I asked.

"What?" Ron replied, eyeing me skeptically.

"What do you call an alligator in a vest?" I asked again.

"I have no idea," Ron said grumpily.

"An investigator," I said, trying to suppress giggles. (A/N: I hate the word "giggles" but it seemed to fit)

"You are never, ever allowed to tell jokes again," Ron tried to say seriously, but he was grinning.

"Ok," I said, still laughing a bit, "Think of your happiest memory. The happiest you've ever been," I instructed.

"What was yous?" Ron asked.

"The Yule Ball," I replied, shrugging.

Ron wore a small smile as he tried the spell one last time, "Expecto Patronum!"

An adorable Jack Russel Terrier appeared from the end of his wand.

"It's so cute!" I cooed.

I quickly formed my elephant again, and watched as Ron's dog ran circles around my elephant's feet.

I laughed at the sight, "So, what'd you think of?" I asked Ron casually.

"The Quidditch game that I won a few weeks ago. It felt great to win, but that's not the only reason," Ron trailed off.

"What's the other reason?" I asked.

"That's when I found out you liked me back, when you kissed me," Ron said sweetly.

I was shocked that I was a part of Ron's happiest memory, but then again, he was part of mine too.

I laced my fingers through his and we continued to watch as everyone's Patronuses floated around the room.

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Hope you like this chapter! It turned out a lot longer than I had originally planned.

Thanks for reading! (: