Long Road Towards Maturity

AN: WARNING; if you’ve read the first part already at the yahoogroup, don’t just skim it now! I’ve put a bit more in Luna’s diary entry, and it’s worth the read, if you want to understand other parts later on…

***

September 2^nd 1997,

Dear diary,

Today was an eventful day, I suppose. Everyone was buzzing and gossiping… First it was about Harry Potter coming to Hogwarts, being in Hogwarts.

But then Dumbledore said his piece, and everyone was sulking, not getting enough to feed the continuation of their stories. I could see their heads trying to deform the information, in order to keep the conversations up for the rest of the week…

And then, it happened. A distraction, if you will… They saw Ronald and Hermione Granger leaving lunch almost together, and the story goes they had a private gathering together. Everyone thinks they have been snogging and are a couple now. I forced myself to hope my Ronald would be happy now, at last.

But it didn’t seem Ronald was happy.

It seems to me that if the rumours would be true, and that Hermione Granger had agreed to go out with Ronald, then he would be very happy, wouldn’t he? But I saw him stomping about the castle looking like there was a permanent dark little cloud above his head. Of course this wasn’t really the case, I would’ve seen it if the Gloomy-jinx had been cast on him.

But the students seem to keep themselves busy with this. They have been talking about it none-stop, and my Housemates have come to me to ask me if I had some ‘inside information’. I wonder why they think that I would have that.

A lot of people kept casting pitying glances towards me, and they seem to laugh even more often behind my back… Not that it bothers me, I’m used to it, but I can’t help but wonder why I am suddenly involved in the gossip about Harry Potter’s friends?

Is it because I was there the last times he went off on adventure? That would be weird, because I never told anyone I had tagged along. And they never bothered asking me anything before now…

Well, no matter. This evening we all went to visit Harry Potter again. I don’t think he seems well. And I’m starting to think that he doesn’t want to get better. I read about something like that in the Quibbler once.

The rest of the visitors were Neville, Ginny, Hermione and Ronald. Hermione Granger was frowning at Ronald, telling him off. Apparently he had skived of lessons in the afternoon.

I still do not believe the rumours are true, they do act a bit differently around each other, but it is certainly not in a more fluffy way, as should be the case if they were in love and together. Or is that just in fairy tails?

I thought Ronald looked a bit pale, himself. Maybe he should’ve stayed with Madam Pomfrey a bit?

Ginny didn’t look that pleased either, she kept glaring at Hermione Granger, for some reason…Harry Potter was looking a bit angry after a while, though he hides it well. He isn’t happy… Maybe I could try to find something that would make him happy again? But I don’t know what… I shall think about it some more.

Neville just talked about our first day of classes…

But I still think Ron was acting very strange. Besides looking pale, his fingers were wrinkled a little, like he’d been in water for a long time. It had been raining, maybe he’d been outside? But he smelled like Hogwarts’ soap. Maybe he had been in the shower for too long? But the strangest thing was the bandage he wore around his neck.

I only hope he hasn’t been bitten by a vampire. That would be just dreadful!

Anyway, under the circumstances, I didn’t feel like eating dinner in the Great Hall. All that gossip would surely attract Snivvles soon, no doubt. And I don’t want to be near the slimy things, even if Father would’ve loved it if I could manage to photograph them. But I’m not in the mood to get greasy hair for life if they catch me noticing them…

Now that I think of it: maybe that’s the reason behind Snape’s hair? I must remember to ask him, next time I have Potions…

But I’m going back to sleep now. Tomorrow I have a lot of classes…

Until next time,

L.A. Lovegood

***

Ron couldn’t believe what an awful day he had been having! Waking up being conned by Hermione, seeing Harry depressed, having the looming threat above his head of getting the urge to kiss Malfoy… And then the next most revolting thing happens: almost getting raped by Pansy Parkinson!

Ron had never been so grateful though for that brushteeth thing he got from the Grangers the previous year! He had been soaping up his mouth with that thing, brushing teeth, tongue, lips, and anything else that had been in contact Pansy’s saliva… He’d scrubbed until just before his flesh had bled.

Then he’d stood in the shower and scrubbed until his skin was red. He’d even washed his hair repeatedly and furiously. For good measure he’d drawn a bath and had soaked in it, until his skin wrinkled… After feeling a bit clean at last, he’d discovered his afternoon class had long passed and that he was almost too late for the meeting with Harry.

That’s when the mirror had called his attention to a minor detail: the wench had sucked a mark on his neck! After threatening the mirror to shut up about the impropriety of that bruise, he tried to think through his panic. Ron wasn’t completely stupid, and he knew he couldn’t pull it off as a bruise: everyone was going to know what it was!

Bile raised up in his throat and he pulled out bandages that were always present in the boys’ bathroom for minor injuries. He didn’t know how to charm it away, and he knew he didn’t want to ask Hermione, even if it hadn’t been partly her fault, he would be too embarrassed to ask.

The visit to the Hospital Wing hadn’t been very comforting. Harry was sulking at his worst, Ginny, for some reason was glaring at Hermione, and Neville was the only one who tried to carry on a decent conversation.

Ron barely heard Hermione lecturing him on skiving off this early in the year,  and on top of everything he was busy trying to ignore his irritation at the spacey glances he kept getting from Looney. Ever since he knew he was forced to only talk to her about most of his current problems, he felt even more on edge with her then before.

That’s when he decided to just go to the kitchens and get something to eat from the Elves, before he could lose his appetite seeing that pug-nosed slimy bitch…

Wanting to bury himself in the shame, he closed the curtains around his bed and casting a privacy charm on them, so no one would bother him until the following morning. That didn’t keep him from hearing Seamus and Dean gossiping though, when they returned from dinner. As he’d feared Pansy had lost no time in telling everyone her version of what she’d done with Ron.

Bloody hell, these two were almost as bad as Lavender and Parvati! Ron had never been so thankful for Neville telling the two to shut it, because he was about to Avada then when they suggested maybe it had been true that Ron had played bondage games with the… urgh! The thought, alone!

***

After yet another sleepless night, being stalked by Pansy-headed giant snakes in his nightmares, wanting to spank him, he was in no mood to deal with bull-shit that morning. Though confused, he had never been so relieved to see that the mark on his neck had miraculously disappeared!

But that was the only thing that could have the potential to brighten his mood. The glumness was gone now, and good old faithful anger kept him going. The lewd stares he got from his two roommates, and the worried one from the last one, made him want to breath fire at them and watch them scream and squirm in fiery agony…

When he went down to the common room, the look of pity or disgust on more then one of the faces he encountered was almost enough to start sending random courses. But the climax came just outside the Great Hall, in the corridor.

Hermione had run to catch him before he reached the doors, and pulled him aside:

“Are you alright?”

The death-glare he gave her should’ve tuned her in to his feelings…

“I’m sorry, but…”

Here she was interrupted by the voice of his sister; she sounded very pissed off, glaring at the both of them:

“So there you two are. You’re not escaping me now! I don’t know whether I should be angrier at you or you right about now! First you decide you fancy yourself in love with my brother and agree to go out with him, and no one bothers to tell me!”

Ginny had been pointing her finger towards Hermione, and now turned her vicious temper to Ron. Both of the older teenagers were too stunned by this tirade to set her straight. But even if they would’ve wanted to, they wouldn’t have been able to put a word in between.

“And then you! I hope I know you well enough to trust that what Pansy was telling Hermione yesterday wasn’t true, but why did you leave Hermione to fend for herself, and what was that deal with the bandage, yesterday!”

The obnoxious voice that had followed Ron in his nightmares interrupted them:

“Yes, Ronnie… Why don’t you explain to your ugly girlfriend and dear sister what you’re hiding under that concealment charm you got there on your neck, hmm?”

***

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