Ron sighs. He hadn’t been able to sleep well the last couple of nights. It could have been George’s annoying habit of kicking the wall or Bill- didn’t even live here anymore or Ginny staying up all night on her phone or even Fred talking to himself or maybe even Charlie ... .doing whatever.
But Ron doubts each of these. I mean why would it just start now? Plus for the past week his whole house had been silent, well mostly because Bill moved out like a week ago. There was no more loud, annoying music all night. Ron didn’t know how Ginny was able to sleep in the same room as Bill. George and Fred switched beds so George couldn’t kick the shared wall. Ginny didn’t make much noise without Bill. So what could be keeping him up.
“Charlie?” Ron mutters, turning himself to face Charlie’s bed. Charlie was sitting on the top of his blanket, a book opened on his lap and a flashlight strap in his mouth, the light swinging back and forth over the page.
“Yes?” Charlie responds, dropping the flashlight from his mouth.
“I can’t sleep,” Ron mumbles, kicking his blankets off of him as he sits up. Maybe it was just too hot, it was summer, but the air condition was on...ugh didn’t it break? Ron wishes something would just tell him why he couldn’t fall asleep.
“Well they say if you can’t sleep you’re on someone’s mind.”
Why was Ron always on her mind? Hermione just wanted to sleep. Not thinking about her best friend during a late summer night. Not thinking about his perfect smile, his laugh that would just ring in your ears like a song stuck in your head, his black soccer jacket wrapped around her shoulders, his lisp when he first got braces and she was doing it again.
But Hermione couldn’t stop herself. When she woke up before Ron during a sleepover, his small smile, he looked so peaceful. The blanket wrapped around him even though it was the start of summer. What was on his mind? What dreams made him so peaceful? Was she in his dreams? Why did she remember that so perfectly? I mean it was years ago, maybe one or two.
Ron cheered whenever he watched his siblings play soccer. He always looked so happy for them. Ron’s smiles when George or Fred would score. Even if he was bored out of his mind Ron would still pay attention to Ginny’s dance recitals or lacrosse games.
Ron was the cool brother. All the younger kids seemed to get along with him. Even though he said he hated kids he was so good with them. Hermione remembers the first time he met her younger cousin Luna, she was five at the time and they were fourteen. Luna most of the time would hide behind her parent’s legs when she was with new people, but Ron just kinda clicked with her.
Ugh Hermione was doing it again. Whenever this happened she would just turn on her TV and just listen to whatever channel was on, blocking every single thought of Ron or whatever was stuck on Hermione’s mind.
But she didn’t want to stop. Hermione thinks of the time Ron’s goldfish died, he must have been eight or nine. Bill’s cat had gotten to the tank and ate the fish. Ron looked so broken when he cried.
The time Ron found out some kids were picking on Ginny. Hermione was almost scared of him, she hadn’t ever seen him more mad. But even when he was angry, Ron was always mature about it. Unlike Fred or George he never let his feelings get the best of him.
When he was arguing with his older siblings over game rules. If it was just UNO, a soccer game or monopoly, the group of siblings could never decide the official rules or who was on whose team. What was fair and what wasn't.
Why for the last week all that had been in Hermione’s mind? The weird thing was Hermione didn’t mind it at all. Maybe just one more memory, it couldn’t hurt her. Plus the heatwave was probably just messing with her.
Harry, unknown to Hermione, was having the same problem. Harry might have been Ron’s age, but he was friends with his sister, Ginny. But it seemed as if everything Ron did was magic. His sideways smirk haunted his nightmares and daydreams, his messy, long red hair that he would push away, Ron’s laugh when one of his siblings would do something stupid, his laughter that would turn into screaming as Ginny chased him and his friend, Hermione down the street.
One thing always stuck out to him when he thought of Ron. He was just so easy to get along with, he made it too easy to fall in love with him. His conversions about everyone and anything that could last for hours and he wouldn’t even be tired. Ron got along with strangers so well.
Harry remembers the first time they talked, maybe there were seven or six. They were arguing if soccer or baseball was better. Harry ended up hitting Ron with a wiffle ball bat in the leg. Harry knew it was silly, but he still felt bad about that. When Harry told Ginny that, she laughed her ass off.
It was maybe two weeks later that the two were left alone again. Ron had stolen Harry’s sticker. Harry chased Ron around his own yard until Ron ended up tripping and ripping his sticker in half. Harry and Ginny ended up burying the sticker in her backyard.
The next time was maybe around a year later. Their families had messed up once more and left the two boys alone. They were in the woods of Ron’s yard and the two were standing on top of the hill. Both tried to push the other off, causing them both to go rolling down the hill.
That was the last time they were left alone, until Harry’s thirteenth birthday. They got once more in a silly argument over cake. If chocolate or vanilla cake was better (chocolate cake was so much better) and that ended with Harry smashing cake in Ron’s face and Ron doing the same. They had a mini cake fight and well there was no more cake after it. Ron and Harry were forced to clean up the kitchen. They both stopped for a moment every time their hands touched. After that they were a lot more friendly towards each other.
High school is when they actually became friends. Harry wouldn’t lie; he smiled at every text he got from Ron. Every phone call, even the ones when it was just him screaming and yelling that Ginny was chasing him down the street again and that Harry was invited to his funeral. Every interaction they had in school, seeing each other in the hall and just waving. When Ron would sit with his friend at the baseball field during lunch. Ron would boo him a lot and Harry would do the same when Ron had soccer practice.
It was like Ron had some spell on Harry. He couldn’t stop thinking about him.
“Charlie that is the dumbest thing I think I have ever heard,” Ron replies, laughing. Charlie gives him a stare as he rolls his eyes. “That sounds like some dumb thing from your little romance novels.”
“Well it could be true and it isn’t dumb. It is very cute,” Charlie responds, picking up his book and holding it to his chest. He gives Ron an over exaggerated offended look.
“I mean maybe my math teacher is thinking about how great I did on my unit test. Or maybe how bad I did…” Ron mutters, blinking blankly.
“Oh will you just shut up now? You are just making fun of me,” Charlie retorts, sighing.
“What, your magic doesn’t exist? Also do you know if anyone is coming to fix the air conditioning? I swear, why is there a heatwave?”