Note: Timeline is based on the winter break before DH, obvious canon divergence

Ron's eyes shot open for the third time that night. He groaned and rolled to his side, seeing Harry still sleeping in the other bed. Beyond Harry was the window, and it revealed that it was snowing again. Ron turned around with a sigh. It was clear he was going to have another restless night, and he didn't want to spend it staring at the wall again.

He didn't like leaving his room in fear of crossing paths with their new houseguest: Pansy Parkinson.

Ron had protested the idea until his face was the shade of his hair, but the members of the Order felt that she was safer there after the news of her defection from the dark side came out. His mum was hesitant at first, but she'd never turn down a child in need. His first thoughts were that things were going to be more trouble than it was worth.

When she first arrived, she proved Ron's point. She didn't say much, just scrunching her nose in distaste at the Burrow. When she finally opened her mouth, she butted heads with both Hermione and Ginny. Ron was grateful that bat-bogey hexes or birds didn't fly around the place.

It took Fred and George to stop the arguments, pranking Pansy with one of their latest inventions. It was called 'The Puggies', and that's all Ron wanted to know.

That surprised him when he walked away from the fun of the prank; the thought of their world ending in darkness and Harry dying at the hands of a madman might have had something to do with that.

After the twins pulled their trick on Parkinson, she didn't say a word. She still glared, but she never said anything. Ron felt like she was holding something back, and not the nasty comments they were used to. He could see it written on her face that the Burrow was growing on her.

Sometime after that, he'd started using her first name in his thoughts. Merlin knows why. It just felt more natural.

He knew that she was near the window downstairs, and he did not want to approach her. On the other hand, he didn't want to spend his sleepless hours staring at the wall.

Ron slipped out of bed, making sure Harry was still sleep as he did so. He grabbed his winter clothes and shoes, putting them on as quickly and quietly as possible. Considering that he tumbled onto his bed trying to put his pants on, he wasn't as stealthy as he'd like to be.

Harry stirred in his sleep, so Ron grabbed his Nimbus 2001–an early Christmas present from Harry–and slipped out of the room before Harry woke up entirely.

He made his way downstairs and saw exactly what he thought he would see. Something felt different, though.

Pansy was facing the window, clutching a lilac wrap around her shoulders. Her typically neat bob fell a little on her shoulders in waves. Despite not seeing her face, Ron could tell by the way her shoulders fell that she was relaxed. She was openly comfortable.

Probably because she thought she was alone.

Ron swallowed the hard lump in his throat. He'd never taken in her slender form before, and the way she was facing the window gave him quite the view. As soon as those thoughts came to his mind, he shook his head. He would not think like that about Pansy.

"Couldn't sleep either?" he asked, figuring that his presence would be noticed sooner or later. He'd rather it be before she realized he was kinda checking her out.

She didn't turn around, but Ron saw her reflection clutch her wrap tighter.

"I suppose not, Weasley," Pansy said in a clipped tone.

"Erm, right," Ron said. "Do you wanna...I don't know...do something? Staring out the window seems kinda boring, yeah?"

She snorted. "I prefer that over doing something with you, Weasley. At least I know it won't annoy me."

His cheeks flushed, but he tried to keep his cool. The last thing he wanted to do was wake up anyone else and make things bigger than they were meant to be.

"I was going to take a ride outside since the snowfall isn't that bad," he explained. "The moon's sitting high, so there's plenty of light–"

"I'm not interested," she interrupted. "I would prefer staying inside in this very spot."

"Come on, Pansy."

"What part of 'no' are you not getting?"

"What are you afraid of?" Ron asked. "Nothing can get you here."

Pansy gripped the windowsill, dipping her head down. Ron could see her pained expression in the window's reflection; the pain she tried to hide.

A pain he tried to hide laying in bed on sleepless nights.

"I'm afraid to close my eyes, and I'm afraid to open them," she said. Her voice was low, not the steely, catty tone he was used to hearing. "All I can see are the deaths of children. And that was just a preview of my real training. The deaths of undeserving women and children. Everyone's blood was all the same, yet I was raised to believe they were different."

Ron felt very awkward standing there listening to her, but he asked for it. He scratched the back of his head, watching her clench and unclench the windowsill.

She laughed dryly. "You just don't get it, Weasley. You have family that loves you, would bend over backwards for you. I had a mother who thought that matching colours with my complexion was better than my happiness. For a while...I believed that's what was better in the world."

"I can't say being the youngest bloke to five older brothers is the greatest thing in the world," Ron started. "Add to that being at the side of The Boy Who Lived and The Brightest Witch of Her Age, you just get me, the Weasley King." He chuckled lightly, remembering those buttons in school.

"Knowing what the future holds for me now, I'd take your life over this any day," Pansy replied.

"We don't know what the future really holds, do we?" Ron stepped towards her slowly. "Anything could happen, you know."

"I'm a traitor, with no name and no access to a vault. I was disowned for defecting, for telling my mother exactly where she could shove His 'truth' and 'principles'!" Pansy was no longer facing the windowsill; she was facing Ron.

He gulped, inwardly thinking that he'd have to add Pansy to the list of women that scared him when they were angry.

"I have no friends, no possibilities for a job, and I'm staying with the people I was taught to hate all my life," she hissed. "I don't see where the future holds anything good for me."

Ron had been in her shoes, at least, he knew how she felt.

But he wasn't good with expressing it in words. He'd get tonguetied, and he did not want to get tonguetied in front of Pansy. So he shifted his weight, lifting the Nimbus in his hand towards Pansy. "Do you want to take a ride with me or not? It helps me, and I think it'll help you."

Her gaze moved from Ron to the broom a few times before sighing and pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Fine," she said. "Fine." Pansy pointed a finger at him with a warning look in her eye. "Try anything funny, and you'll regret it."

Ron gulped, nodding and starting to walk towards the main door. As soon as he opened it, a gush of chilling wind rushed through the room. He shuddered and closed his eyes briefly, and then he opened his eyes and shrugged it off.

Pansy was not far behind him; he could smell the coconut fragrance she wore. Funny, it never smelled so good before.

Focus, Ron.

He walked forward to a clear spot in the snow to kick off from. It wasn't long before he stopped, twisting his body to face Pansy.

She was wearing a cloak now, and she was looking at him expectantly with a raised brow. Ron wouldn't point it out nor did he believe she would admit it, but he could see the hesitation and fear in her eyes.

Maybe from seeing a similar look when he looked in the mirror.

Ron gave her a nod and mounted the broom, waiting for her to follow suit. She did, slipping her arms around his stomach firmly.

"Remember what I said, Weasley," she warned him in his ear. "Anything funny and you'll regret it."

He nodded because he didn't trust his words. Her breath tickled his ear, and the last thing either of them needed was his hormones ruining things. Soon enough, he kicked off the ground and into the night sky.

Pansy screamed, her arms tightening around Ron's stomach as he flew in the air. Merlin, she could scream. Ron concentrated on levelling in the air and keeping his course straight through the falling snow.

"Pansy, stop screaming!" he exclaimed, slowing down the speed of his broom.

"I'll stop when I bloody want to, Weasley!" she replied.

Ron shook his head. "Bloody hell, Pansy, the broom isn't moving!"

He heard her sniffle and gasp; she must have had her eyes closed. Ron tilted his head to look at her behind him. Her eyes were transfixed on the moon and stars blending with the snowfall, lips parted with her gasp. The glow from the moon brought out the blue in her eyes and the shine in her cheeks. Snowflakes laid in her hair, contrasting with the dark bob she sported.

It was amazing how much he saw in a different light, literally. Thinking about her like that brought a shade red to Ron's cheeks. He cleared his throat.

"Much better than looking through the window, yeah?" he asked.

Pansy turned to him, the expression on her face turning back neutral. "I suppose it is," she answered. "Thanks, I guess."

"Don't thank me," Ron said. "I couldn't sleep, you couldn't sleep. It was something we both needed."

The hold she had around his body had loosened, but she hadn't let go. Any movement she made brought knots to Ron's stomach. And they weren't the bad kind of knots either. That's not good, right?

"You're not so bad, Weasley," Pansy said.

"You know, there's a lot of Weasleys around," Ron replied, a small smile on his face. "You'll have to be more specific."

She rolled her eyes. "Well, the twins aren't so bad…"

"Oi!"

Pansy laughed. It was a genuine laugh; Ron didn't think that it existed actually. Yet it was filling his ears, and it sounded nice.

"You're not so bad, Ron," she said after she'd calmed down.

Hearing his name off her lips stirred up more than it should have. He could feel the heat rising to his cheeks again; if it weren't for his hair, she might have caught it on his neck.

"You're not so bad yourself, Pansy," he replied, trying to act cool. "Once we get past the glaring and all."

"If you tell anyone, I'll end you," she told him. Her tone was far from threatening. Dare he say it sounded light like...flirting? No.

Her head rested on his shoulder as she stared at the view of the moon and snow. It felt weird to think that she felt right like this.

Not too long after that, Ron flew them back to the Burrow. On the way back, Pansy didn't scream once.

When Ron landed, Pansy got off the broom first. Ron followed suit but didn't move further as she looked at him.

"I did need this," she admitted. "All of it. The talk, the ride...I...thank you, Ron."

"Everyone deserves a second chance, right?" he replied.

She smiled softly and walked back inside.

If anyone told him before he'd be taking Pansy Parkinson for a broom ride in the middle of a snowy night, he'd have to hex them.

Now? If anyone who told him that he had a crush on the Slytherin, he'd hex them.

A/N: Written for HSWW (Challenges and Assignments), The Houses Competition, and QLFC

(THC) House: Gryffindor; Year/Position: Year 4; Category: Additional; Prompt: Must feature a Nimbus broom

(HSWW) Assignment #6 Astronomy Task 3: Write a story set on a snowy winter day/night.

(QLFC) Team: Wigtown Wanderers; Position: Chaser 1; Prompt: Buffy the Vampire Slayer - inspiration (Second Chances, Redemption- as Angel, Spike, Willow, and Anya); Additional Prompts: (colour) lilac, (poem) 300 Goats — Naomi Shihab Nye, and (quote) With the new day comes new strength and new thoughts. — Eleanor Roosevelt

Word Count: 2,015