Chapter Text
Ron was having a thoroughly miserable evening as he stared at Hermione dancing with Viktor Krum. She looked like she was having a good time which meant Ron had officially failed at whatever it was he had been trying to achieve all year without admitting it.
Meanwhile he was stuck sitting beside Padma Patil in near-total silence while the Weird Sisters played loudly from the stage and couples crowded the dance floor. He shifted in his seat uncomfortably. His dress robes itched. They were too short in the sleeves, slightly too tight across the shoulders, and had a collar that seemed to be actively trying to strangle him just to add to the misery.
Padma didn't look particularly happy either. After several minutes, she sighed, - a long, exasperated sigh - then she said, "Can I ask you something?"
Ron shrugged.
"In first year, at the leaving feast, Dumbledore gave you lots of points for winning a chess match.”
Ron frowned ”What about it?”
“… what happened?”
"Well," he said slowly, "it wasn't really that exciting."
Padma raised an eyebrow. "Dumbledore called it the best game of chess Hogwarts had ever seen."
For a moment Ron simply looked at her, most people who heard about first year wanted to know about Harry or the Stone or You Know Who. Nobody ever asked about the chess match. When he finished telling the story, she was quiet for a moment before she said"You knew the queen was going to take you."
Ron shrugged."Pretty much."
"And you did it anyway."
"Well, yeah."
"Why?"
Ron frowned."What do you mean, why?"
"So Harry and Hermione could continue?”
"Obviously."
Padma stared at him as though he had just said something remarkable, she went quiet again, turning over what he'd told her before she said, “ Mind you, I still think it was a terrible move."
“What?"
"A brave move," she clarified. "But a terrible one."
Ron stared at her. "It won the match"
"If a move succeeds because then your opponent doesn't have a better option it doesn't... that's different from it being the best move available long term."
Ron narrowed his eyes."You think there was a better move?"
"I don't know. I wasn't there."
"Right."
"But I suspect there probably was….You know, there's some wizard's chess sets in an empty classroom near the Ravenclaw tower."
A slow grin spread across Ron's face."You're challenging me?"
Padma's mouth twitched."Perhaps."
Ron glanced toward the dance floor where Krum was spinning Hermione around with irritating competence and the idea of spending the next three hours watching that suddenly seemed unbearable."You'd rather play chess than stay here?"
Padma followed his gaze around the Hall. Harry was standing awkwardly near the edge of the dancers, looking as though he wished the Giant Squid would break free from the Black Lake and swallow him whole. Parvati appeared to be having a much better time dancing with a group of Beauxbatons boys.
"Wouldn't you? Unless you'd rather dance?”
Ron immediately got to his feet. "Lead the way."
Five minutes later they were sitting opposite each other in a deserted classroom lit by a handful of floating candles with the chess set on a small table between them. Unlike Ron’s own set, these pieces were even older but more elegant. The black king had a beautiful silver beard that reached his waist and the stark white queen stalked about the board with the aloof attitude of a reigning monarch.
Padma surveyed the board."So."
"So."
"Show me."
Ron rolled up his sleeves and the familiar calm feeling settled over him almost immediately. The focus that meant he didn’t have to think about Hermione’s hand in Krum’s or the way Krum had looked into her eyes, like it was the easiest thing in the world. No, this was territory he understood instinctively and he began placing pieces in formation. "The queen was here."
Padma watched him closely."And Harry?"
"There."
"Hermione?"
"There."
For the next fw minutes they reconstructed the board from memory. “Now…Be quiet.” She commanded and Ron obeyed, mostly because he was curious.
Several moments passed. Ron watched her work through possibilities, her brow furrowed in concentration. She looked completely different when she was focused, the bored, irritated girl from the ball seemed to have vanished. He should have just been concentrating on the game but instead he found himself looking at her properly. Which was a mistake because up until now she had been Parvati’s sister in his head or that girl who looked mildly annoyed at everything. But in the candlelight, she didn’t look annoyed, she looked… interested.
Her eyes were sharp when she studied the board with her dark lashes casting faint shadows when she blinked. A loose strand of hair had broken free from the careful updo she’d started the evening with, and it fell forward as she leaned in, brushing her cheek before she tucked it back without even looking away from the pieces. Ron suddenly realised, with all the force of a stray blgudger, that she was very pretty.
Finally she sat back."Huh."
Ron folded his arms."What?"
Padma looked reluctant."I think you might have been right."
Ron grinned triumphantly."Might?"
"There might have been another line, but it depended on the white king making a questionable decision."
"So I was right."
Padma sighed. "You were probably right."
"Say it properly."
"No."
"Go on."
Ron laughed, a real genuine laugh that echoed through the empty classroom and to his surprise, Padma laughed too. She finished laughing and sighed, but it was more of a satisfied sigh than an irritated one "What's your favourite opening?"
For the next ten minutes they completely forgot they were supposed to be at the ball and instead argued about openings. Padma preferred careful positional play and Ron preferred aggressive attacks. Padma thought sacrificing pieces too early was reckless and Ron thought waiting around for twenty moves to do anything was boring. “Typical Gryffindor.” Padma tutted at him.
By the end of the discussion they were both talking over each other.
"You can't just throw away a knight—"
"If it wins the centre—"
The white queen still standing on the board glanced between them curiously and the other pieces exchanged knowing looks.
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Back in the spectacular winter wonderland that was the Great Hall tonight, Harry was shifting awkwardly as the music swelled, wondering if it would be socially acceptable to just leave early and pretend he had a stomach ache. He looked up just in time to see Hermione break away from Krum, she scanned the hall quickly, then headed straight toward him. “Harry.”
“Hi,” he said cautiously. “Everything alright?”
She ignored the question. “Where’s Ron?”
“Er…”He looked back toward where Ron had been sitting earlier, the table was empty. “…I thought he was with Padma,” Harry said slowly.
Hermione frowned. “Padma Patil?”
“Yes.”
“The Ravenclaw girl?”
“That’s the one.”
Hermione’s expression tightened.
“Maybe they went for a walk,” he offered weakly.
Hermione’s eyes narrowed slightly and he immediately felt, with uncomfortable certainty, that he was about to be blamed for something he didn’t fully understand yet.
He tried again “I’m sure he’s just gone off somewhere with her.”
But Hermione clearly didn’t like the that sentence at all.
“I see,” she said. She fussed with her dress robes for a moment “Well,” she said, far too brightly and Harrys survival instinct immediately told him to run for the hills “I’m sure they’ll be back soon.” Hermione turned away before suddenly looking over her shoulder “Harry…if you see him…”
“I’ll tell him you’re looking for him?”
Hermione hesitated.“Yes please.” Then she looked annoyed and added“And that I was completely fine about it.”
Harry chose to nod mutely
Hermione held his gaze for half a second longer than necessary before she flounced off back toward Krum.
******************************************************
Padma was packing the chess set away when Ron finally spoke.“So… er, Hogsmeade in January, then.”
She paused with a bishop in her hand.“Yeah” she said, not looking up.
Ron leaned back in his chair, trying for casual and only partiaally succeeding. “You’re… you still want to go, right? You didn’t just say that to win the game.”
That made her look up properly. “I don’t say things just to win games,” she said.
“Oh,” he said, then, after a second he added, clearing his throat “Right. Good.”
“Good,” she said, smiling now “Because I expect a rematch.”
Ron grinned. “Any time.”
“You er… heading back to Gryffindor Tower?” she asked, glancing sideways at him.
“Yeah,” Ron said. “Er…you going up?”
She nodded.
There was a short pause where neither of them moved, as if both were waiting for the other to make the decision for them.
Ron shifted awkwardly. “Right. I’ll, er… walk you.”
Padma smiled “If you insist,” she said lightly.
It was quieter now, the Great Hall noise had died down, replaced by the familiar creak of old stone and the atmospheric flicker of torches on the walls. Ron found himself very aware of the fact that he didn’t quite know what to say but she didn’t seem to mind now. Eventually they reached a landing where the corridor narrowed and a set of arched windows looked out over the dark grounds where the lake looked like a flat, black mirror below them.
Padma slowed.“This is me,” she said, though there was still a bit of corridor left to go.
“Oh,” Ron said. “Right.”
He stopped too, suddenly unsure whether he was meant to say goodbye or just… stand there until she left. For a moment she just looked at him, her expression almost unreadable in the dim light.
Ron cleared his throat. “So… I’ll see you in January, then.”
“You will,” Padma said.
She adjusted her robes a little, then stepped forward and for a second Ron thought she was just going to walk past him.Bu instead, she leaned in very quickly and pressed a brief kiss to his cheek.It was light, barely there, really, but it still managed to completely stall his ability to think.When she pulled back, she was already watching him like she was trying to gauge how much damage she'd done.
“Goodnight” she said calmly, her cheeks faintly pink, and she turned and started up the final stretch toward the Ravenclaw staircase without looking back.
“Night” he managed to croak back as he lifted a hand to his own cheek, like he was checking whether it was real.
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Harry knew something was wrong the moment Ron came through the portrait hole and flopped into an armchair beside him. He looked like he had… energy, like he’d been arguing for a long time and had enjoyed it. “That went alright then?” Harry tried.
Ron shrugged. “Yeah. It was fine.”
Before Harry could decide whether he wanted to press any further, Hermione came through the portrait hole and whatever vague sense of calm had existed in the room immediately expired.
“I suppose you had a lovely time,” Hermione said haughtily
Ron shrugged “Yeah. I did actually.”
Harry closed his eyes for half a second, even he knew that was not the correct answer.
Hermione’s smile tightened.“With Padma Patil … Do you know what?”
Ron sighed, “What?”
“I don’t think you understand what tonight was about.”
“Oh, for Merlin’s sake,” Ron muttered.
Hermione ignored him. “You don’t just get to—leave— to go off with someone—in the middle of an important ball. The whole tournament… the whole point is supposed to be about getting to know our… international friends”
Ron looked at her properly and something in his expression shifted. It didn’t really look like anger, more like confusion that was starting to wear thin.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” he said.
Hermione let out a short, sharp laugh.“Oh, honestly-”
“I didn’t,” Ron repeated, a bit louder now. “I just had a good time.”
Hermione opened her mouth and closed it again.“That’s not …” she started, then stopped, her fingers tightened around her robes.“That’s not the point.”
Ron frowned. “What is the point then?”
Now she looked genuinely thrown, like she’d been so busy being annoyed she hadn’t actually prepared an answer that made sense outside her own head. “The point,” she said carefully, “is that you were supposed to be there. With everyone else. As part of—of—” she gestured vaguely, as if the correct word might appear in the air if she shook hard enough “—the event.”
“I was there,” Ron said. “Then I left and I wasn’t bored anymore.”
Hermione looked like she’d been hit somewhere between outrage and confusion.“Well,” she said, snappily now, “you didn’t have to be rude about it.”
“I wasn’t rude,” Ron snapped back immediately. “I just left.”
Hermione folded her arms. “You could have at least told someone.”
Ron stared at her for a moment, then shrugged again, but softer this time. “Didn’t think it mattered.”
Hermione frowned slightly, the irritation flickering for a second as something else broke through it.“Where did you go?” she asked.
Ron shifted in the armchair. “Oh,” he said. “Er… just—some classroom.”
Hermione’s eyes narrowed. “What classroom?”
“Near Ravenclaw Tower,” Ron added quickly.
“And what exactly were you doing in a classroom near Ravenclaw Tower?” she demanded.
Ron hesitated, Harry, very quietly, slid a little lower in his seat, carefully examining the armchair fabric, making no noise and pretending he didn’t exist.
“We—er—played chess,” Ron said.
Hermione let out a short, incredulous snort through her nose.“Why would Padma want to go and play chess?”
Ron frowned immediately.“What do you mean, why would she want to?” he said. “She plays chess.”
Hermione’s eyebrows lifted a fraction.
Ron said, a bit sharper now, defensive without meaning to be. “She’s really good at it, actually. We’re going to play again when we go to Hogsmeade.”
Harry stared down at the armchair harder and when he glanced up, it looked like he was following a very slow bludger he already knew was going to hit someone.
Hermione’s face had gone very still. “Hogsmeade?”
“Yeah,” Ron said, oblivious now to the shift in tone. “We’re going together.”
Something flickered across Hermione’s expression, something too quick to properly name, but sever enough that she clearly felt it herself, because she pressed her lips together immediately, like she was physically stopping whatever she’d been about to say from escaping. “I’m just saying it’s…” she started, then stopped, visibly struggling for control. “It’s strange, Ron!”
“What’s strange?” Ron demanded. “Playing chess? With someone who likes playing chess?”
“It’s not about chess!” Hermione raised her voice now, the control finally slipping. “It’s about you disappearing in the middle of the ball and then casually announcing you’re going to Hogsmeade with her like it’s—like it’s—”
“Like it’s what?” Ron snapped.
“Like it doesn’t matter!” Hermione burst out.
Ron went very still for half a second, then his expression hardened. “I told you,” he said, quieter but more dangerous now, “I didn’t think it mattered.”
And Hermione, breathing hard, finally snapped: “Fine! Go to Hogsmeade with Padma Patil then!”
Ron stared at her. “Fine!” he shot back immediately. “I will!”
The room went completely still, Harry didn’t dare move.
Then Hermione turned sharply on her heel, robes whipping, and strode toward the staircase without looking back.