Sunday, 15th of January 1995
"Ah, I love a Hogsmeade morning," Ellen was rarely ever a morning person, she saved her good moods for the days the students were allowed to go to Hogsmeade, which didn't happen often enough, in all of their opinions.
"I have to agree, especially when it's been snowing," Nora nodded eagerly, looking towards the dormitory windows, which were layered with thin white snowflakes.
"I had a thought, actually," Hermione said, as she stepped out of the bathroom, hair done, clothes on, full face of makeup done. The other girls didn't understand how, at the early hour of eight in the morning on a Sunday, Hermione could still be so motivated.
"That's never a good thing," Ariana said with a smile.
"Well to be fair, she is quite smart," Ellen reasoned with a shrug.
"Anyway, my point was, how about we spend the day just us? No boys," Hermione put her idea to the group, hoping that they would agree. Truth be told, she just wanted a day without Ron sulking about something, or Harry fretting about the tournament, or Neville needing reassurance, or the twins trying to prank an innocent bystander, or Dean and Seamus' blatantly obvious feelings for one another. She just wanted to relax, with her best friends.
"I can't see them taking that very well," Ellen laughed.
"Do you care that much? To be honest, I don't," Ariana said.
"You can be the one to tell them, then," Emma stated, and Ariana rolled her eyes, before getting out of bed.
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"You want to what?!" Ron exclaimed, and Ariana swallowed thickly, contourting her face into a sickly sweet smile, leaning forward to take Ron's hands in her own.
"We just want a day to ourselves, we aren't abandoning any of you," She explained, but the redheaded boy was having absolutely none of it.
"I can't believe this! What did we ever do to you?! Hermione, I apologised for the Yule Ball, I thought we had agreed to move past that!" Ron snapped his head in Hermione's direction, who stood with her hands up in defence.
"It's nothing to do with the Yule Ball! Or any of you, not personally anyway," Hermione said.
"Well then, I don't understand," Ron was still completely baffled by the entire thing.
"How do you feel about all of this, Harry?" Ariana rounded on Ron's best friend, wondering who he would choose to side with.
"Merlin, leave me out of this," He pleaded.
"No, actually, answer her," Ron turned to him.
"Well, to be honest, I don't see the issue," Harry's voice was quiet, and he had to suppress the smile that threatened to break out on his face as he watched a grin take over the girls face.
"You're no better than all of them!" Ron huffed, before standing and storming off to his dormitory.
"Oh, I bloody love him," Emma was in kinks on the sofa.
"He'll be over it within an hour, don't worry, have a nice day," Harry reassured the girls, none of whom were actually that concerned about Ron or his wellbeing.
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Harry's statement had been entirely incorrect. Ron was not, in fact, 'over it within an hour'. As a matter of fact, eight hours after the girls had declared independence from the group for the day, the redhead still walked around with a face like thunder, in no mood to shop, converse, or really to live.
"Ron, seriously," Harry was growing desperate. The twins and Lee were in a deep conversation about some pranks, Dean and Seamus were trying to understand Herbology and Neville was growing increasingly frustrated with them, and he was sat on his own, trying to steal some conversation from Ron.
"What?" Ron snapped.
"You barely even said hello to Madame Rosmerta when we came in," Harry pointed out.
"So?" Ron asked.
"So, what's actually wrong? This is dramatic, even for you," Ron rolled his eyes at this.
"It's just not the same without them!" He finally snapped, quite loudly, and half of the population in The Three Broomsticks turned to look at him, and each of them received one of Ron's icy glares.
"Do you mean it's not the same without Hermione?" Dean questioned with a smirk.
"No, I do not," Ron now directed his glare to Dean.
"I think you do, mate," Lee agreed, and Harry worried that Ron might smash the glass he held in his hands if he became any more irate.
"It has nothing to do with Hermione, we always have the girls with us, and I just find it weird not having them here, that's all there is to it," Ron said, his face growing red, "so just drop it okay!"
"I feel weird not having Ana around, it's okay to admit it," Harry shrugged, taking a sip from his butterbeer.
"You finally admit you have feelings for Ana?" George asked, raising an eyebrow, "I thought the day would never come, Potter!"
"No! It's just, I'm closer to Ana than the rest of the girls, like Ron is closer to Hermione, I'm just saying it's fine to say that," Harry explained, and Ron turned to look at him.
"Me? Close with Hermione?" He gestured to himself.
"Yes," Was all Harry said in response.
"You are so full of shit, Harry," Ron grumbled.
"Of course I am," Harry rolled his eyes.