The Love Of Another

CHAPTER TWO

A week later into the summer, and after a wild attempt at degnoming the Weasley’s overgrown garden, three Weasley boys walked down the grassy slope towards the small paddock their family owned. It was a ways from their house, but it didn‘t stop them from trudging down to play quidditch. They walked, broom over shoulder, down the hill in a line. George pulled out his wand and tapped an unusually shaped padlock and it fell to the ground with a clatter. Fred pulled open the gate and held it open.

“After you, baby brother.” Fred said slyly, the corner of his lips twitching and he tried to force back a smile. Ron’s ears reddened around the tips, and he walked inside muttering something that wasn’t loud enough to hear.

Ron dropped his rather old broom on the ground and went towards a shed that housed odds and ends from their father’s obsession with muggles, and an old quaffle the family had been using for years. It showed signs of it’s age, with a small hole being formed, and dirt dancing across it in patterns. He came back out, and started off at a run, giving the quaffle an unexpected drop kick that went soaring over Fred’s head.

“Accio quaffle.” George said, giving his wand a wave and the ball stopped midair and did a total turn in course. It fell gracefully at his feet, and came to a stop. “You’d be a good Noccar play, Ronnie-kins.”

Ron gave his older brother a deadly glare and snatched the ball away from him. “It’s soccer, George. Soccer.” The twins bursted out laughing, and Ron rolled his eyes. “I hate playing two against one. We need more players…” Ron thought to himself aloud, not expecting anyone else to hear him, nor acknowledge his thoughts.

“Why isn’t Harry here, playing with us?” Fred questioned curiously, mounting his broom. “He’s always around The Burrow during the summer…”

“He’s with his girlfriend, Hermione. He’s way too busy to spend time with his best friend because he needs to snog her every second he gets.” Ron snapped, not meeting Fred nor George’s eyes. Fred and George looked to each other, having a silent twin conversation.

“Have you talked with either of them?”

“No. Why would I?”

Fred shook his head. “You have a lot to learn about relationships, little brother.” George nodded his agreement, and he walked around to the other side of Ron.

“Just because I don’t have a gi-”

Both of them laughed. “We’re not talking about that kind of relationship, we’re talking about relationships with Harry.”

Ron raised his brow. “Are you accusin’ me of being gay?” Like Harry’s temper has been lately, Ron’s was boiling just under an explosion level, just waiting for a reason to blow up at someone. His twin brothers made no response, just shook their heads hopelessly and took off into the air. Ron once again kicked the quaffle into the air and it was caught by George who sped off in the opposite direction towards their makeshift quidditch hoops.

“Wait, I’m not even up there!” Ron shouted, snatching his broom off the dried up grass and took off in the air towards his goals. He tried to catch up to them, but they had sent it flying through the center hoop, and cheered. “You guys are cheating!”

He reached his goals and started guarding them defensively, George tossed the quaffle to Fred, who returned it to him. Every few seconds they would pitch the quaffle to one another other, making Ron get rather dizzy. He kept his eyes on the ball, his head rocking back and forth like in a muggle tennis match.

“Go long!” shouted Fred, giving a roll on his broom. George obeyed, and flew to the other side of their paddock, and waited for Fred to throw him the quaffle with every bit of strength he could muster.

Pulling back his arm, he flung the bright orange ball as hard as he could to his brother, who in turn, whipped out his wand an muttered a curse that sent the ball flying back in the opposite direction, straight over the hoops, out of the paddock, and behind some trees.

“Bloody fricken’ brilliant! Wonderful shot, George!” Ron shouted above their laughter. When they made no intention of retrieving the ball, Ron dived away from the hoops. “Don’t worry about getting it, I can handle it.” Ron continued, his words dripping with sarcasm. He flew down towards the trees where the alleged ball had fell.

That’s when he saw her.

[…x3…]

Ron saw a girl, sitting on a rock with long brunette hair that fell past her shoulders and rested like a wall that hid her face from the rest of the world. She was hunched over what appeared the be a large white pad of paper, a pencil in hand. A guy was with her, and he was kicking a small ball from foot to foot the best he could. Whenever the ball fell, he would swear loudly. A giggle escaped the girl’s lips and she spoke quietly, though Ron couldn’t collect all of her words.

The girl stood up, and placed the pad on the rock she had formally been sitting on, and placed her feet around the ball, and looked down at it on the ground. “Why doesn’t she just bend down and pick it up?” Ron thought to himself. Suddenly, she sprung off her feet, flipped over onto her hands, and the small sack flew gracefully back to the guy she was with. The guy caught the ball on his left foot and began doing what he was doing before.

Ron thought to himself how amazing that was. He settled himself beside a tree large enough to shelter him from their view, and watched as the guy kicked the ball that was only about an inch tall from foot to foot, then passing it to the girl, and she’d do the same thing. He thought some of the stuff they did was amazing.

Ron didn’t know how long he had stood there, watching the two whom he presumed were boyfriend and girlfriend. He enjoyed just standing there, watching. Then the usual call came across the wind from the direction of the small paddock the Weasley’s owned.

“Oh Ickle-Ronniekins!” George called with all his might. “Hurry up, little brother or we’ll never be able to play!”

“Maybe we should go get him, eh George?” Fred mimicked in the same, overly obvious voice that they used just for these kinds of special occasions. They must have seen him watching he girl and guy from behind the tree. The twins emerged from some trees on the opposite side of the clearing, and the two whom Ron had been watching stopped kicking their little sack and surveyed the two who had drew near.

George smirked, “Excuse me, miss. We’re looking for our little brother whom wandered into the trees looking for our ball. Have you seen him?” The girl looked from each of the twins’ faces, to her friend’s.

“Oh! Stupid us, we’ve never introduced ourselves. We’re your neighbors. I’m Fred.”

“And I’m his twin, George.”

“Our brother is Ron, who is right over there behind the trees.” The said together in perfect harmony. Ron felt his face and ears go red as he slipped out from the trees and came into their view. He gave them a soft wave, as the impulse to hide behind the trees again grew.

Ron felt like a giant cauldron was inside him, mixing essences of embarrassment, anger, annoyance and hope all being stirred up inside. His stomach began to swell. “Uhm, hello there.” He said, beating himself up inside of his own mind for not saying something more witty than that. “I’m sorry that I was watching you, I just came back here to find our quaf- I mean our ball and I saw you guys playing… well whatever you’re playing. You both are really good!” he complimented, he was cherry red by now.

A smirking face became plastered across the girl’s face as she casted a glance towards her friend again. She stepped forward and outstretched a hand to Fred and George. A pang of envy burdened Ron’s stomach, joining the mass of other emotions he was holding. It went away as quickly as it came when she approached Ron.

“I’m Anastasia, and he’s Lament.” Anastasia said briskly, motioning towards the guy who wouldn‘t meet anyone‘s eyes. “He’s my twin brother. We were playing hackysack, you can play if you want.” She smiled, and a wave of relief crashed into Ron involuntarily. He looked over to Lament, who wouldn’t catch his eye.

Ron looked to the place were Fred and George once stood and he saw them exit the clearing, muttering something about finding the quaffle. They had disappeared from Ron’s sight. He stood alone with Anastasia and Lament, in sort of an awkward moment.

Biting his lip, he cleared his throat, “I don’t know how to play hackysack,” he looked down, keeping his eyes on an ant that was moving across the dirt. “I’ve never even heard of it.”

Looking up to him, she smiled. “Don’t worry, I can teach you.” she waved for him to follow her, which he eagerly did. “You can call me Stace if you so desire, I know Anastasia is a bloody long thing to say.”

“R-right.” Ron flushed pink again. “Stace..”

“Hm?” she said, bending down to grab the hack.

“Oh! Nothing… I just wanted to say it.” Ron wanted to punch himself.

She tossed the hack to Ron. “Okay, first I want you to throw it to me, or Lament. You can’t just throw it and hit it yourself, that’s called self serving, and people will nail you with the hack. Literally.” Lament laughed in the background. That was one of the few times Ron had heard him even make a noise.

Ron nodded, show her he understood. He tossed it to Stace and she immediately caught it on her ankle and began kicking it back and forth. “Alright, now I’m going to pass it to you. You can’t catch it with your hands, you can only hit it. Don’t let it touch the ground.” She gently passed it Ron’s way and he hit it once before it fell to the dirt and leaf covered forest floor with a plop. Stace giggled.

“Good job! That’s better than I did when I started playing the first time.” She applauded him happily. “Now, serve it to me and I’ll pass it to you, then try to pass it to Lament, okay?” she explained. He nodded once more, served it to Stace, she passed it back, and Ron tried to pass it to Lament. He only missed by a foot.

Chuckling, she answered his failed attempt at passing with a good job sign, “You’ll get it, don’t worry.” Ron noticed she was really pretty when she smiled like she was doing. He silently didn’t agree that he would ever get better, but he promised himself he would try.

“I didn’t know we had any neighbors around our age… when we moved here I never saw you.” She said quietly, serving the hack to Lament.

“We were away at school. We go to a school up in the British Isle.” Ron said quietly. It just occurred to him that Stace and Lament were muggles. He tried to find a way to twist around where he went to school, and what he studied.

Dreamily she replied quietly, “I’ve always wanted to go to a school away from home. It was so boring where we used to live, and to this day I crave excitement.” Lament stayed quiet as he passed along the hack to Ron who stumbled, but successfully passed it to Stace. Swelling with happiness, he grinned.

“What’s it like?”

“What’s what like?” Ron answered, getting the hack passed to him once more.

“A school away from home. What’s it like?”

Ron smirked, he had never had anyone so interested in his lifestyle. He looked up as if he were in thought, “It’s alright. It’s like one big family, ya’ know? We’re always around each other. Of course, people gain enemies, and it’s hard to get away from them, but you’re around your friends a lot, which is brilliant.”

“It sounds absolutely amazing.” she sighed softly. “I wish I could live like that.” Ron couldn’t help but smile. “I’m so envious of you, Ron.” His smile fell, and was replaced with a look of shock. He had never heard anyone say they were jealous of him.

He bit his lower lip gently, in thought. “What is your school like? Where do you go?” He asked while she hit the hack a couple of times, finally kicking it rather high and it was caught by Lament, who jumped up in the air and caught it on his feet. Moments of thought ticked by while she contemplated how to describe her life, “We don’t really ‘go’ to a school. We wake up, and learn things. I’m home schooled, I supposed that’s what they call it.”

Ron looked at her, and couldn’t help but smile. She opened her mouth to speak, but was stopped when Lament reminded everyone of his presence. Stace looked up. “It’s time to come home,” he said quietly. It was one of the first times he had actually heard him speak. Stace glanced Ron’s way while Lament grew more impatient by the second.

“I have to go… will I see you again?” she questioned quietly, collecting her sketch pad off the rock, and the hack. Ron stumbled over to her and stood before her. She was short, much shorter than Ron was. Then again, a lot of people were shorter than Ron. She looked at him, he looked at her.

“Of course I’ll see you again.” He said quietly, giving her a smile.

“Do you have a phone number? I’ll call you.” She replied briskly, giving him a smile. Ron’s stomach dropped, he didn’t have a phone number, let alone a phone.

He blushed again, “I’m sorry… my family doesn’t have a phone.” He frowned and shifted his weight on his feet. Stace didn’t let her smile fall like Ron allowed his own to do.

“Hey, don’t worry about it. I’ll be around, come see me any time. I’ll see you later!” she called as Lament literally dragged her away from the clearing. She pushed his arms off of her and stopped before they could totally disappear. She tossed the hack to Ron. “You can have it to practice, and pretty soon you’ll be so good that you can beat any of us!“ She waved, and they both disappeared out of sight. Ron stood, alone in the forest, clutching the hack. He took a look at it while all of the words she said rang in his ears over and over again. He saw that it was black with a red stripe surrounding it. He gingerly stuck it in his pocket, turned heal, and headed towards The Burrow.

As he opened the front door of his house, he was greeted with smirks from his twin brothers. Ron gave them a raised brow glance and headed through the living room and towards the stairs of the tall house. He was followed by Fred and George.

Ron went up the stairs and climbed until he reached the landing with the door that had “Ronald’s room.” on a wooden plank that was slightly lopsided. Opening the door, he was greeted by a familiar face; Pig fluttered around the room ecstatically. Ron’s stomach lurched almost as quickly as he leapt forward, trying to catch the twittering bird.

A few minutes of hopeless grabbing at the sky was finally rewarded when Ron’s hands clasped around the buzzing fuzz ball. There was indeed a letter attached to Pig’s leg.

“Got’cha, you little bugger!” Ron said to himself, carefully untying the string on Pig’s leg and getting the letter off. Once the heavy burden was gone, Pig flew away, much quicker than before. Taking a quick look at the name on the roll of parchment, Ron immediately knew it was from Hermione. He unrolled it, and his eyes passed over the neatly written hand writing as he read her words.

“Dear Ron,
You’re being an insensitive prick, I hope you’re aware of that! You need to stop being so ruddy jealous of the fact that Harry and I are dating, and you‘re not. This is some way to treat your two best friends! The nerve of you! You should be happy for Harry and I, we have something special, and if you don’t respect that then I don’t know how I’ll be able to stand you if and when we come in contact next. Just get your own girlfriend, and stop being a wanker to us.

Yours,
Hermione Granger.”

Ron stared at the letter, reading it over and over again to himself, he felt the need to tear up something, rip it to shreds, punch something, but he couldn’t get his muscles to work correctly. The only thing he could do at the moment was blink, but he felt tears dangerously forming in his eyes.

“Jealous, am I? What is there to be jealous of?” he finally asked aloud after a while of sitting in solemn silence. “Just because they have each other, and have totally forgotten me, doesn’t mean I am jealous.”

Crack.

The twins apperated into the room, sitting right on Ron’s bed. They looked at each other for a moment, and nodded. Standing up, the looked out of the window as if they were window shopping in London. Ron watched them, and they finally approached.

“Heard the whole thing, we did.”

“Yeah Ron, we’ve noticed that Harry and Hermione have been dating”

“And leaving you out of things.”

“But imagine how hard it is for Harry.”

“He just lost the only man he could have truly called his father.”

“You know, when you two finish each other’s sentences like that, it’s really starting to creep me out.” Ron intercepted quietly, “How much did you actually hear?”

“All of it, little brother.” George said, pulling up a chair that had been previously sitting in the corner. “It’s only your fifth year, you have plenty of time to be loved by all the girls. They’re just a little shy at this age.” He continued, trying to be somewhat comforting.

Ron scowled, “Like you guys have any room to talk. You both got girlfriends in your second year.” Ron avoided their gaze, and his thought process drifted to his new neighbor, Stace. He remembered her cute flair to things, smiling a lot, and being good at hackysack. He even remembered when she tried to teach him, though he didn’t do as well. He also remembered when she have him her hack. He then remembered it was in his pocket, he pulled it out and gently sat it on his bedside table.

“Ron! Are you listening to us? We’re trying to be the ‘responsible older brothers’ mum has always complained that we should be!” Fred snapped, Ron’s focus shifted and he looked at George and Fred.

“So what do you think about the new neighbors?”

“I can’t remember their names.”

“Me either, but that guy… he was pretty good at whatever he was doing.”

“Hackysack.” Ron intruded quietly. “They were playing hackysack in the forest; it’s a muggle game of coordination.” Ron’s ears flushed once more. George looked at Fred, and they nodded.

“And the girl?” George said to Fred, winking.

“She’s drop dead gorgeous.” George moaned, holding his heart apathetically. “I can’t wait to steal her heart, and give her mine. I bet she’s good in bed, I hope she’s a good sucker, I’m bloody tired of sloppy blowjobs.”

“I hope she’s not a whore…”

“She could quite possibly be.”

Ron went even redder at the ears, his temper boiled. “Don’t talk about her like that!” Ron shouted, standing up and clenching his fists. “You don’t even know her, don’t make assumptions, either of you!” Ron stormed to the door and thrusted it open, motioning for them to leave. “I got to know her a bit today, and I learned she’s absolutely amazing!” Fred and George, once again, exchanged mischievous looks between each other.

“It seems that we’ve touched a nerve.” Fred said, winking to George again.

“It seems to be that we have.” George replied, leading the way to the door. Just as they were halfway out, he turned. “She had really pretty brown eyes…”

“They were blue.” Ron corrected, his annoyance growing.

George winked, “Exactly.”

“See you at dinner, Ronniekins.”

Ultra Special, totally pointless rambling
I don't know if that's how everyone plays hackysack, but that's how my friends and I do it and it works pretty fine for us.

Edits
X3 I totally edited this chapter, as in the first one the ideas are the same, just changed the wording to make it cooler. Also, a couple of contridictions were here and there, so I fixed those. So yeah... read and review! <3