Grasping at Embers
By Jux_ta_pose

THANK YOU- to my two fabulous betas. I've been so naughty in the past and have never used Betas. So I bow down to their infinite wisdom. I'd kiss their feet, but that might be taking it a bit far... ;-)


“Weasley is our King”

“He didn’t let the Quaffle in, Weasley is our…”

Ron beamed from his perch on Kelgarr’s shoulders. He never tired of hearing
every Gryffindor chant his name.

Second match into his sixth year at Hogwarts and Gryffindor had once again
beaten the other house into submission. He felt rather proud of himself,
he’d finally found his niche, something he was actually good at. Okay,
there was chess and he was pretty much unchallenged there, but Quidditch,
that brought recognition and fame and…well girls.

The fairer sex… Oh yes, Ronald Weasley had discovered girls and finally
they had discovered him in return. He adored Quidditch and he’d never dream
of rubbishing its significance in his life, but women practically throwing
themselves at his feet… well that was hard to ignore.

Since coming back to Hogwarts after a summer of gruelling training, Ron had
found himself the focal point of the entire school. Even Hermione had
switched her attention from Harry to him. Ron still wasn’t sure how he felt
about that. He kinda preferred that she watch Harry then interfere with his
life.

He loved Mione, but as a friend, a buddy, a chum…nothing serious like real
love. Boy, he was only sixteen, how could he concentrate on one woman when
his libido screamed that there was plenty of lovin’ to go around.

Marcus Kelgarr squeezed his thigh and Ron squirmed uncomfortably at the
intimate touch. He was reminded that not only women had been drawn to him
since coming back to Hogwarts with a body to die for.

Not that he’d ever looked hideous; it’s just with all the long hours of
Quidditch practise with his brothers, his once lanky body had filled out
over the summer. Muscles graced his arms, his long legs, even his chest had
been transformed by all the exercise. Of course his mum had plied him with
healthy doses of carbohydrate enriched food, together sculpting a physique
his peers seemed to be drooling over.

Yes, it was a little embarrassing, but nice also…being the one in the
spotlight for a change.

Marcus, new to the school (he had transferred from Beauxbatons…to be honest
he’d been expelled for unacceptable behaviour and Dumbledore had been
gracious enough to give the young man another chance at Hogwarts) still he
had not wasted anytime in making his feelings known to Ron.

He was flattered, he really was. Marcus was good looking, gorgeous even, he
was just trouble and of course most importantly, he was male. Ron had
garnered a fair bit of male attention, which made him feel some what
nervous. He had never really thought about other guys like that, not
sexually, not like that…well not exactly.

Marcus was aggressive in his pursuit of Ron and so far he’d managed to
avoid being cornered by the Beater. He felt lucky to have two close friends
such as Harry and Hermione…the trio went everywhere together.

Ron had no idea what would happen if he was ever found alone in some dark
corridor; he shuddered to think. Some of the lecherous comments that were
whispered his way, made the tiny hairs at the back of his neck stand up on
end.

Women batting their eyes, swinging their hips and giggling in his
presence…he could manage. Men rubbing up against him, groping his butt,
whispering how they wanted to lash him to the goal post and make him
scream… he had no idea how to deal with that type of information, other
than ignore it.

“Ron…Ron…”

He looked down to see Hermione smiling up at him. Ron flashed her a grin,
tapping Marcus on the forearm, indicating that he wanted to get down.

Marcus pouted, but nonetheless unwound his arms from around Ron’s legs. Ron
swallowed a sigh of relief at being rescued at last. He didn’t want to hurt
Marcus’s feelings, but he didn’t think he could have stood another minute
of being felt up by the guy either. Thank god for the flawless timing of
his best friend.

As he slid off Marcus’s back, the man spun to face him. Ron lurched back at
the sudden nearness; his body struggling to give him the much needed
balance to remain upright. The grass under him was slippery with the heavy
rain that had plagued the entire match. Still it hadn’t stopped them from
winning.

A huge hand had slammed into his chest nearly pitching Ron backwards,
except that same hand had fisted the sodden material of his uniform and now
yanked him sharply forward into a wall of muscle.

Ron gasped, spluttering as he reached out blindly, pushing against Marcus’s
vice-like grip. He suddenly let go and Ron stumbled backwards, but somehow
remained on his feet.

Hermione rushed towards him.

“Ron, are you alright?”

Wiping a hand shakily across his face, Ron nodded furiously before catching
his breath and answering “I’m fine, Mione” not daring to look at her or
Marcus who had also moved closer. “Been flying for hours, hadn’t thought
about how slippery the ground would be…” Ron laughed, but it was forced and
he just hoped that they wouldn’t notice.

“Well…you are rather clumsy. You shot up so tall over the summer, maybe you
need more practise on the ground” she teased. It was a dig at his inflated
ego because of all the attention he was getting.

Ron blushed, pushing back the strands of dark red hair that had fallen over
his eyes. She was grinning at him and he couldn’t help but return with a
cheeky grin of his own.

Marcus intruded by slipping in between Hermione and himself. He gazed at
Ron through a forest of wet lashes; his was a slightly predatory grin that
had Ron struggling for a way out.

He was just about to spout some excuse for leaving, when Harry bet him to it.

“Marcus, hey…” he winked at Ron in passing “Dumbledore is looking for you,
seems there’s a talent scout interested in offering you a place in his team”

Marcus frowned “I didn’t know they offered positions to students. Do you
know what team?”

Harry shrugged “No. Was just told to come find you.”

Marcus hesitated; he seemed to be weighing up the option of staying there
with Ron or finding out if he had a chance of a career as a professional
Quidditch player. Seemed Quidditch had won out as he quickly said his
goodbyes and promised to catch up with Ron later in the common room.

The three watched him go before Hermione turned to Harry and Ron, eyebrow
arched.

“Oh I don’t know Ron…I think its sweet the way he dotes over you, he’s so
obviously smitten.”

Ron rolled his eyes at his friend. He wasn’t going to have this
conversation again. Not just after they had beaten Slytherin. It was time
to celebrate, to party and be merry.

“You really should tell him you aren’t interested, stringing him along like…”

“I’m not stringing him anywhere Mione” he growled. “I just…”

“You don’t want to hurt him,” she stated.

“Something like that,” he mumbled.

Harry just stood there and watched. Like Ron, he too did not want to talk
about Marcus or any of the others who had took to stalking his red headed
friend.

“Was there really a talent scout?” Ron touched Harry’s shoulder.

Harry swung around to face him “No,” he whispered. “You looked in need of
rescuing so what does the great Harry Potter do, but throw himself into the
jaws of death…”

Ron pursed his mouth, his top teeth scraping over the moist plumpness of
his bottom lip. Tilting his head to the side he tried not to laugh.

“You were stuck all summer with Dudley watching some god-awful movie on
that telly contraption. Weren’t you?”

Harry smiled “Something like that.” he answered.

All of a sudden they were surrounded, as the rest of Gryffindor converged
on the three of them. Ron was once again hoisted on somebody’s shoulders to
be paraded around. He lost sight of Harry and Hermione as they were both
swallowed up by a sea of chanting faces.

“Weasley is our King…”

Someone pinched him on the bum. His head whipped around to catch the
culprit, but he couldn’t be sure who had groped him. There were so many
people encircling him, not all fellow Gryffindor’s either. He recognized a
few Ravenclaw’s in the midst; he even noticed a Hufflepuff singing loudly
along with the others. What was his name? He was their Seeker; he was
certain that was him. What was his name?

Ron felt trapped, all these faces gazing up at him with adoring eyes. Why
him? He had done nothing to deserve such a following. For gods sake, he
wasn’t Harry!

Neville beamed up at him to his right, it couldn’t have been him…

Surely not…

“Weasley can save anything…” they all chanted around him.

Just when Ron thought he might scream, Professor McGonagall made an
appearance. She narrowed her beady gaze to that of Seamus, who promptly
released Ron.

Her eyes twinkled directly at him for an instant. Ron gave her a grateful
smile in return.

“I think that’s quite enough of the chanting.” Her eyes flicking to each
student, making sure all of them understood that there would be no more
singing. “Although I’m very proud of Gryffindor’s achievements…” mouth
twitching into a gentle smile, lifting those deep wrinkles from around her
mouth. Everyone grinned back at her “but…” and all of them fell silent,
they knew not to say anything when their professor was about to start one
of her rants. “ I’m quite sure that the entire faculty, not to mention the
rest of the school has had quite enough of this infernal racket. Yes, we
all agree that what Ronald Weasley has accomplished is to be commended. Yet
all of you have worked diligently to raise my expectations of this house.
You are all to be congratulated, now go celebrate.”

The silence was broken as someone yelled out “Yes…let’s go party!!”
Everyone roared their approval and started off towards the common room.

Professor McGonagall stood by Ron as the others left. Harry and Hermione
began to follow the others.

“Are you coming Ron?” Harry called to his friend.

Ron was about to answer when Professor McGonagall interrupted.

“I need to speak to Ron for just a moment. Run along, he’ll be there
shortly” she indicated with a flick of one bony hand for them to leave.

Harry gave Ron one last look before catching up with Hermione.

Ron watched them go with longing on his face. He really didn’t want to be
here alone with his Transfiguration Professor. What did she want with him?
Ron wracked his brain for anything he might have done wrong.

“Calm yourself Mr Weasley. You will give yourself quite the migraine if you
continue to fluster about in this way.” she snapped at him as Ron squirmed
in her presence.

Turning kind eyes towards him she whispered “I only held you back for you
seemed a little harassed and appeared to need a breather from your… fans”

Ron blushed “Yes…thank you professor.” He hung his head sheepishly “Thank
you for that” he murmured.

She smiled down at him, patting him on the head before leaving him to his
own devices.

He felt foolish for panicking about nothing. One thing that hadn’t changed
about him, his emotions still ruled over him.

Ron sighed and turned to gaze upon the empty field before him. It truly had
been a good game. He wandered towards the Broom shed, a store room shared
by all of the houses.

Pushing open the door gently, he peaked in to make sure it was quite empty
before entering. Ron found it was deserted, obviously everyone had returned
to the castle.

Turning to make sure no one would see him slip inside, he spun back,
nudging the door just enough for him to step inside. Closing the door
solidly behind him, he sighed in relief.

“Finally… alone.” he breathed, leaning back against one of the shelves.

“Think again… Weasley,” someone drawled.

Ron started, jumping away from the shelf and causing several brooms lying
there to clatter to the floor.

“Who’s there?” he snarled.

Draco Malfoy sauntered out from around the corner of the Slytherin cupboard.

“Malfoy…” Ron growled, his good mood obliterated by the haughty entrance of
his worst enemy.

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