cardigan, Taylor Swift

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Ron and Cassiah's first attempt to hang out as friends went swimmingly, thanks partially to the presence of Seamus, who filled in any awkward silences with his running commentary and diffused any tension without even knowing.

From what the trio of giggling idiots observed from their hiding place under the window, Neville's date with Luna had also gone really well. Cassiah thought it was adorable how he seemed to have a confidence around Luna that she had never seen him have with anyone else. Of course, he was still sweet and shy and bashful, but he was also entirely himself and comfortable.

When she got home from her friend-date with Ron and Seamus that night, Draco and Pansy were both in the common room. Part of her wanted to leave them alone, knowing that Draco really wanted to progress things between them towards more than just friendship, but the day had been way too eventful for her to just go to bed without talking or analyzing it with her friends. Having Ron come up to her in the library and asking her to hang out was the last thing she had expected, and she was sure her friends would feel the same.

"Hey guys," she called out, announcing her presence so that the two had a chance to move a bit farther away on the couch. Draco had a smug look on his face that mirrored Pansy's. The two of them really were two sides of the same coin.

"Hey Cass," Pansy grinned, patting the newly formed space between her and Draco on the couch, "Come sit!"

Cassiah smiled back smally and plopped down between her two friends. She sighed really heavily and buried her face in her hands, shaking her head exasperatedly. "Oh my god," she muttered to herself before finally resurfacing and facing her friends, "You're never going to believe what happened today."

"Something with Weasley?" Draco asked cautiously.

Cassiah frowned at him, slightly pissed that some of the shock of the story was gone now, "How did you know that?" She shook her head again, clearing her thoughts, "Anyway, though. Yeah. He came up to me in the library and apologized for everything, and then I apologized, and then he said he still cares about me!"

Draco's jaw dropped, and he laughed in amusement, "Merlin, that is not what I thought you were going to say. So, are you two back together or–"

Cassiah shrunk back in her seat a bit, feeling small, and Draco stopped talking.

"Oh, I'm sor-"

"It's okay," Cassiah rushed a little bit too much to reassure him, "We decided we are going to try to be friends, and so I just got back from spending the whole afternoon with him and Seamus."

She told them all the details of their day of hanging out, but left out the way she still felt her heart melt when he looked her in the eye, or the way it made her feel slightly sick to her stomach when he no longer instinctually wrapped his arm around her or jokingly grabbed at her butt – all of the little things that had made them Ron-and-Cassie that no longer were. Now they were just Ron, and Cassie – two separate entities. She would give anything to go back to the way things were.

Pansy seemed to be really happy for Cassiah, her eyes gleaming as she listened to the stories about the trip to Hogsmeade and Neville and Luna's date, but there was a look in Draco's eyes that made Cassiah feel uneasy. She couldn't bring herself to meet the weight of his gaze.

"Pansy," he said once the girls had finished their gushing. The short-haired girl was seemingly unaware of the growing tension in the room, or the way Cassiah's demeanor had been shifting Draco had continued to say nothing. He put a gentle hand on Pansy's shoulder and looked at her with that commanding Malfoy look in his eye, " Would you give me and Cassiah a moment?"

Pansy frowned and scoffed at him, "Yeah, right. Very funny, Malfoy."

"Pansy, please give us a moment alone."

"And why should I do that?"

Draco stared at her, their eyes locked in a battle for power until after what seemed like forever, Pansy finally diverted her gaze. "Okay, fine," she huffed, grabbing her bag and heading out of the room, calling a goodbye to Cassiah over her shoulder. "I'm really happy for you Cass," she smiled softly.

Now it was Draco and Cassiah's turn to sit in silence until Pansy's footsteps faded away.

Cassiah couldn't stand the tension anymore, and she frowned at him. "What is the matter, Draco?"

He heaved a sigh and ran a hand through his cropped platinum hair. "I don't want you to take this the wrong way," he explained cautiously, "But do you... Are you sure you can handle this?"

"Handle what?" Cassiah questioned, but she already knew the answer, and Draco knew it too.

"C'mon, Cass."

She let out a shaky breath. Truth be told, she hadn't had time to stop and fully consider what being friends with Ron would mean for her. Sure, she had felt relieved just being in his presence again, and had felt some heartache at the way things had changed, but she hadn't really taken a moment to process what this would be like longterm. It was actually a very Ron-like approach to the situation – usually she was the one who sat back and pondered every possible consequence of her actions. This time, however, she was so desperate to have him in her life again, that she hadn't considered what "friends" really implied.

Draco's voice broke her out of her reverie: "I mean, if you think that you and Ron can go back to being friends the way you were before, that's great. But I know you, Cass, and I know just how serious things were between the two of you. Can you really just forget it all?"

"Maybe I don't want to forget!" Cassiah fired back a bit too loudly, her heart beating out of her chest. Draco flinched.

He spoke carefully into the silence, her voice seeming to echo through the common room. "You don't mean..."

Cassiah ducked her head in shame. She hadn't realized it until now, but maybe she'd suggested being friends to Ron because in her mind, it was the first step on the path to winning him back. It was easier to make him realize how perfect they were for each other if they were friends than if they weren't speaking at all. If they were friends, he couldn't forget. And she couldn't stand the ide of him forgetting how things were being the two of them. Merlin knows she can't.

"N-No," she stuttered, embarrassed at being exposed for her true intentions, "I care about Ron and what's best for him. If this is all he can handle between the two of us for now, then that's what I'll do."

"Uh huh. What's best for Ron..." Draco replied. It was the simplest response, and yet his tone implied that there was a lot more that he wasn't saying. Cassiah knew Draco well enough to know that he wouldn't tell her even if she asked, but she still couldn't help but wonder...

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The week flew by quickly for Ron. It was crazy how much just having Cassiah back in his life had brightened his mood and lifted a weight off his shoulders. He had hated feeling like strangers. Now he could say hello to her in the dining hall, or chat with her before their classes together began. She even joined him and Dean and Neville for dinner one night. It felt good having the Slytherin girl at the Gryffindor table with him again – just like old times.

On Wednesday, he'd received an Owl from Fred and George telling him – not asking – that they were coming to visit him for the weekend and that he'd better be ready to show them a good time as his guests. He'd immediately been ecstatic; He and his brothers had always done everything together at Hogwarts, and being here without them the past few months just hadn't felt the same. He knew that he would have to throw an absolute rager if he was going to even come close to the parties that they used to throw in their time at the school.

He and Harry decided that they'd throw the party in the Room of Requirement on Saturday night after the Quidditch match against Ravenclaw, fully anticipating having a win to celebrate. Ravenclaw house, they said, could still come despite their impending loss. In fact, anyone was invited who wanted come – even Slytherins, though they doubted they would. Ron wanted this to be the biggest party of the year to impress the twins, and he knew Harry felt the same way, as he'd always looked up to them, too.

Friday night, Ron came up to the Slytherin tables at dinner and personally invited Cassiah and her friends to the table. That was pretty big of him, he thought, considering the bad blood between him and Malfoy and his friends, but it was for Cassiah's sake. He knew she'd feel uncomfortable if he excluded her friends right in their faces, and he really wanted her to come. This was going to be the first party they went to post-breakup as friends. He even invited her to the pregame in his and Harry's dorm (he didn't invite Malfoy or anyone else to that, though).

As he headed back to the dorms, he couldn't help but wonder what kind of drunk Cassie he'd see the next night. It really was entirely unpredictable. Sometimes the alcohol wouldn't hit her no matter how much she drank, and she'd be practically sober the entire night. She'd drink him under the table and laugh at him as he did his haphazard cartwheels around the room and told all his friends how much he loved them after a few drinks. Those used to be the nights when they were unstoppable pong partners, and they'd come back to his dorm and eat junk food naked in bed and have dreamy drunk sex before passing out.

Other times, seemingly at random, she'd get knocked on her ass, absolutely obliterated. Those were the nights when she'd dance and scream songs at the top of her lungs, and grind up against him so shamelessly while other people watched jealously. She was crazy and while sometimes she was difficult to control, Ron loved her for it. They would be the fun couple, spinning around and around in the Gryffindor common room under the colored lights, exchanging sloppy kisses and falling all over each other. On those nights, Cassiah would suddenly be best friends with every single person in the room, playing pong with a random seventh year guy or chatting with some girl she'd never seen before in her life, and Ron loved to watch her sparkle. There was something so magical about her when she wasn't worried about what people were thinking for once. He had always wished she could be like that all the time.

He'd escort her back to her room and she'd be practically dancing down the hallway, a solo cup full of liquor she stole hidden underneath her jacket. A goofy grin spread across his face as he remembered one specific night from the beginning of sixth year when she'd pulled her drink and chugged it right in front of prefects that were patrolling the hallway. She was bloody crazy when she was drunk sometimes, so different now that they were older now than the quiet girl he'd met first year. She was his crazy.

If he remembered correctly, he'd yacked in the Slytherin girl's bathroom that night and she'd drunkenly nursed him back to health even though she was deathly afraid of vomit.

He wondered what tomorrow night would hold.

As he approached his dorm he shared with the other seventh year guys, he heard lively chatter that wasn't typical of this time of the day. It was seemingly chaotic. What the bloody hell was going on in there?

When Ron entered the room, his question was immediately answered.

"Ronald!" Fred and George both crowed, extended their arms in a warm welcome.

Ron picked up the pace, rushing across the room to greet his brothers.

"Hey!" he answered, smiling widely but slightly exasperated, "What's all the excitement about?"

"Besides our very presence?" Fred joked, raising an eyebrow.

"We were giving the boys a sample of our new line," answered George, gesturing to the boxes literring all the surfaces in the room. "Now, if everyone could give us a moment with the baby brother, we'd appreciate it."

Ron blushed crimson and swatted his brother in the arm for referring to him as a baby, but couldn't help but smile anyways, especially as he noticed his favorite mischievous look in the twins' eyes.

Fred smirked at him. "We were about to go see Hagrid and pick up some stuff, if you care to join?" he offered, wiggling his eyebrows.

"You know I'm in, Freddie," Ron answered immediately, "Let's get away from all these bumbling idiots, yeah?" He grinned. It felt good to have more of his family around. Sure, Ginny was here, and they got up to plenty of their own misadventures, but he always felt a vague sense of duty to protect her and be a good role model for her. That certainly had never been the dynamic with the twins. They were never interested in being a role model for Ron; they were interested in corrupting him, and he was definitely interested in being corrupted.

The three Weasley boys departed from the dorm and began the long trek down to Hagrid's hut. They chatted quietly for a while about the shop and their parents, and more than once ended up pushing and shoving each other playfully into the dirt.

"Why are you still buying from Hagrid?" questioned Ron as they approached the hut, "Surely you two would know a plug that's a bit easier to access."

"His stuff hits different, Ron, and you know it," George explained, "And for cheap, too, cause he knows he's selling to broke students."

Just then, the front door burst open and Hagrid appeared with open arms, "Fred! George! My boys! Get in here!"

All three red-headed boys shuffled into the little hut, where they were greeted by warm air and the comforting smell of fire. It was a bit of a tight fit with the three Weasleys and Hagrid all in the hut, considering that Ron was almost as tall and broad as his brothers now, but they made it work for old time's sake. As they gathered around the tiny table, George produced a wad of cash from his pocket and handed it to Hagrid in exchange for his goods, tucked carefully into a a pretty sizable leather pouch.

"That's a lot of weed," Ron commented jealously.

"Not just weed," Fred replied with a mischevious glint in his eye that Ron knew too well. He grabbed the bag from George and reached inside, producing a baggie full of mushrooms, and other drugs Ron couldn't be bothered to name.

"I hate shrooms," he said in response, wrinkling his nose at the memory of the first time he'd tried it. He hadn't had a bad trip or anything. It just was overwhelming for him.

"So you're not tripping with us when you come visit home soon?"

Ron scoffed, "Yeah, right. I never said that. Just don't tell Harry, you know how he gets."

The twins and Hagrid chuckled quietly at Ron's willpower (or lack thereof), before Hagrid sat up a bit in his chair to ask the twins about how things were going for them after finishing up their time at Hogwarts.

"Things are getting more serious with me and Angie," confessed George, looking a bit bashful.

"He's being modest," Fred interrupted, "She sleeps over just about every night at the point. Even brings him coffee at the shop when we're working weekends. It'd be sweet if it wasn't so downright obnoxious."

"You're just mad she switched twins."

"For the last time, I never had feelings for her, you git!" Fred replied back, smacking George on the back of the head playfully.

Ron watched in bewilderment before gesturing for Hagrid to pass the joint and taking a long pull.

"So how are you doing, Ronnie?" George asked Ron, who looked at him, puzzled.

"You know, with single life," Fred supplied.

Ron was so flustered by the question that he coughed, spewing out smoke like a chimney. His brothers were always the only people who would ask him the questions he didn't want to answer, but somehow he hadn't been expecting it. He was honestly a bit annoyed at first. Why did they have to go and ruin a perfectly good time by talking about Cassie? He felt good about where and Cassiah were in their relationship now, with being friends, but he knew that his brothers wouldn't like it. He knew they'd have an opinion about it, and he wasn't super interested in hearing it.

"Still single," Ron huffed, diverting his eyes to the floor and hoping that he'd be able to successfully avoid the topic altogether. He felt Hagrid eyes watching him, but he knew the giant wouldn't say anything.

The twins, however, would say something.

"And that makes you feel?" George pushed, half-joking, but also clearly interested in hearing a real answer.

"I feel bloody brilliant," Ron replied matter-of-factly, "Cassie and I are friends, just like before, so there's not really anything to be concerned about."

Fred and George, for once, were dead silent. Ron watched warily and his brothers turned to look at each other, and he couldn't read the silent conversation that was happening between them. From the incredulous looks on their faces, however, he knew that he'd definitely set himself up for a lecture.

"I'm sorry, we must have misheard you. Because it sounded like you said that you and Cassie are 'friends like before,'" George said.

"And that simply cannot be the case because you're not a bloody idiot," Fred finished.

Ron felt his jaw clench and his blood pressure rise. He was sure that if there'd been better lighting, everyone in the room would have seen his ears turn red because he could almost feel steam coming out of them. It was just so bloody frustrating for everyone to always have an opinion on his relationship, whether it be his friends in the past thinking he and Cassie should be together, or his brothers thinking they shouldn't be friends now. He had so many other people's opinions about their relationship flooding his brain that he felt like he was drowning in them. It was maddening to the point that he didn't even know what his own opinion was anymore. All he knew was that being friends with Cassiah made him feel good, and not being friends with her made him feel bad.

He had to get his anger under control. He hated this hot, bubbling feeling he got in his chest sometimes. It was hard to remind himself that people were all just trying to look out for his best interests when they inserted their opinions, but it was hard.

Deep breath.