happier, Olivia Rodrigo

______________

"This is definitely the best idea you've ever had," Cassiah murmured in admiration.

The stars seemed to go on forever from the view up in the Astronomy Tower. The darkness of the night sky was so expansive that she almost felt like it might swallow her up, and she might let it, allowing herself to become a part of that endless, sparkling beauty.

Ron must have sensed how at peace she felt, how content, because he said nothing, just allowing her to take it all in for a moment. When Cassiah glanced to her right to look over at him, he looked just as amazed as she felt, his blue eyes capturing the reflections of hundreds of stars.

"Beautiful," she just barely heard him murmur under his breath. He's just talking about the stars.

After a few minutes, Ron stepped away and Cassiah heard faint rustling behind her. She figured he was just tying his shoe or, honestly, packing a bowl.

"Come sit," he finally said, and Cassiah startled a bit, despite the fact that his voice was low and comfortable.

When she turned, Ron had laid out a big, maroon Gryffindor blanket on the floor. She walked over and sat next to him, on the opposite corner of the blanket. The fabric was plush and warm against her skin, cushioning her against the cool concrete.

"See that big one?" Ron pointed up at the sky. Cassiah followed his finger to a giant bright star surrounded by many, slightly smaller ones. She nodded. "You know what it's called?" he asked.

"No," Cassiah said quietly, looking at Ron expectantly. "What's its name?"

"Fuck if I know," Ron murmured in response. At that, Cassiah burst out laughing, clapping her hand over her mouth to try not to be so loud. She scooted closer to bat Ron in the arm as he chuckled, too.

"Why don't we name it, then?" Cassiah offered, gazing thoughtfully at the collection of stars.

Ron was silent for so long that Cassiah was starting to think that he hadn't heard her, or thought her idea was stupid and had decided to ignore it.

"Cassiah," he said eventually.

"What is it, Ron?"

"No," he shook his head, redirecting his stare from the constellation to Cassiah. She could still see its reflection in his light eyes. "I meant that I name it Cassiah."

Cassiah felt all the air rush out of her lungs. She wanted to look away, to use the stars as an excuse to break that eye contact that was sucking her in deeper and deeper. "Don't be silly," she whispered, "There's definitely a way better name for a star."

Ron just shook his head again. "It's beautiful, just like you."

Cassiah felt words rising to the tip of her tongue, but she reminded herself she couldn't say them. It wouldn't be fair to either of them for her to complicate things. It would be selfish.

"Thank you," she said simply instead. "We'll find another one and name it Ron, then."

He barked out a laugh. "Now that is actually a stupid name for a star. At least your name is cool and celestial sounding. My star would just be someone's bloody grandpa."

"I was trying to be nice!" Cassiah shrieked in response, keeling over with laughter.

____

They continued seeing each other in secret for the next month, meeting in private locations around the castle to play Wizards Chess and smoke, and trying out new potions that Fred and George were prototyping. The only potion they didn't try was one that was meant to turn someone on. Ron had given it to Cassiah with a sheepish grin, telling her to give it a whirl with Theodore.

Cassiah had secretly hoped that it would help her spice things up in the bedroom with Theodore, who was disappointingly boring and soft in bed. However, when she'd shown the potion to him, he'd called it blasphemous and threatened to find Ron and beat him up for poking his nose in their sex life.

As much as she wanted to be loyal to her boyfriend, Cassiah could barely choke down her laugh when Theodore had threatened to take on Ron. She'd like to see him try... Between the muscle and sheer pounds he had on Theodore and the slight anger issues, Ron would have pulverized the lanky boy. Thankfully, it never came to that.

Spring break was quickly approaching, and Cassiah was suddenly confronted with a choice she never thought she would have to address. Ron was having a bunch of their friends – all the guys, Luna, Cho, and a few other girls – stay at his place for the week while his parents visited relatives in Ireland.

She went on the trip last year – that time with Ginny and Hermione as her best friends – and had the time of her life. She knew it would be equally fun this year, although obviously very different. But if she was going to the Burrow for a whole week, there was no way she could that from Theodore – at least not in good conscience.

"Teddy's going to be so angry with me," Cassiah groaned, covering her eyes dramatically.

"First of all, why the fuck do you call him Teddy?" Draco challenged, and then added, "Plus, how do you know he's going to be mad? He could be totally rational."

Cassiah rolled her eyes at Draco's ignorance. "I call him Teddy because Theo is the guy who used to yank on my pigtails in third year, and also the guy who I walked in on with a girl the following year and saw a penis for the first time," she explained matter-of-factly, if not annoyed.

Draco snorted. "Fair enough."

"And I know he's going to be mad because he got mad when he thought I was smoking," Cassiah continued in exasperation, "Which is obviously much milder than staying at my ex's house for a week, who I'm not even supposed to hang out with alone."

The platinum blond boy sputtered out a bemused laugh. "He got mad at you for bloody smoking?" he crowed, "This coming from the kid who's done lines with me at every party for the past two years. Merlin, what a twat."

"That is so not the point, Draco!" Cassiah smacked him lightly across the head. "The point is, I don't know what to do."

"Well now that I know that Theo's a total prick, I'm totally not smoking him up anymore," Draco announced absent-mindedly. "And if I were you, I'd go to Ron's. If Theo doesn't like it, he can go cry to his mum about it. But I'm me, so I'd rather play tonsil hockey with Dumbledore before I even step foot in the Burrow. I'll be spending my week off someplace warm and alone with Pansy."

Cassiah grinned at him. "You're a bad influence, do you know that? And an asshole." She knocked him on the shoulder before going to tell Ron the good news.

______

"George, shut the fuck up. Cassie's going to be here any minute and your shit is still all over the bloody living room!" Ron shouted, gesturing rather frantically at the collection of dirty clothes and dishes draped all over the couches.

The brothers had only the house alone to themselves for one night and had someone managed to completely trash the place. Ron knew it was partly his doing, but he'd made an effort to try to pick up over the last hour. Cassiah was always so neat and clean and for some reason, he felt embarrassed for her to see the mess, even though she'd definitely seen his room in worse condition.

"Why are you so worried about Cassiah in particular seeing what a slob you are?" Fred teased as George began piling all of the clothes into his arms.

"You know why–" Ron grit through his teeth before stopping himself. "I don't. She's got a new boyfriend. I just... don't like the mess. That's all."

"Yeah right," Fred scoffed. "Says the man who's lived the last eighteen years of his life without seeing the floor of his room–"

"Cassie!" Ron screeched, his voice climbing several octaves in surprise. He cleared his throat, elbowing Fred harshly in the side. "Uh, Cassie. Glad you could make it," he tried again, this time training his voice to remain normal.

She immediately launched herself into his arms, giving him a big bear hug. He grunted at first, but then quickly wrapped his arms around her, resisting the urge to run his fingers through her silky hair with every fiber of his being. Merlin, she smelled heavenly. He never wanted to let her go–

"Thank you so much for inviting me, Ron. It's so, so good to be here again. I've always loved it here," she professes, still tucked into his shoulder. "Except... it looks weirdly different... No clutter?"

Ron released her and gestured at the newly clean room with a shrug. "I tidied up a bit."

Cassiah squinted, really taking in the Burrow's new look. After much deliberation, she finally said, "Huh. I kind of like the old way better. It feels more you."

George snorted at that and Ron shot him a death glare from over Cassiah's shoulder.

"You can bring your bag up to my room," Ron finally said in the silence. He glanced at her heaving suitcase, and then back to Cassiah, who he knew had the terrible combination of absolutely zero upper body strength and a bad back. "Er, I'll bring it up. You can just follow," he corrected.

He rolled up the sleeves of his flannel before grabbing the suitcase with one hand and hoisting it up with ease. If Cassiah wasn't his friend and he was allowed to want to impress her, he would be hoping that she noticed just how effortless it was for him to carry with one arm. But she was his friend so, like, he definitely wasn't thinking about that.

Cassiah followed him upstairs, and when they reached his bedroom door, Ron popped it open before depositing the suitcase down on his bed. He noticed the way Cassiah's eyes widened at the sight of the bed they'd spent so many nights in together.

"Don't worry, Cassie. You can assure your keeper – I'm sorry, your boyfriend – that even though you stayed in my room, I slept on the couch every night."

"Ron, don't be ridiculous. This is your bed," Cassiah tried to resist but Ron was already determined.

"And you have a back injury. Sleeping on that couch might very well break your back," Ron insisted. "And not in the sexy way," he added with a cheeky wink.

Cassiah flushed bright red. "Ron!" she screeched, batting at him jokingly. He beamed at her. There was nothing he loved more than making her laugh.

And now he got to do it all week, with no interruptions.

______

Living under the same roof as Cassiah for an entire week was proving much more difficult for Ron than he originally imagined.

The first night hadn't been particularly bad. Everyone had arrived and they'd only really had time to eat dinner and have a few drinks before everyone was too tired from traveling and went to sleep.

However, the next morning was a different story. When Ron woke up with the sunrise on the couch, he headed upstairs to the bathroom, still a little bleary-eyed and sleepy. He ran into Cassiah in the hallway, who apparently had woken up uncharacteristically early, as well.

She just looked so cute, and so much the same as she used to when they'd have sleepovers when they were dating. There wasn't a speck of makeup on her face and she had her hair in a haphazard bun. Completely and utterly beautiful.

And apparently, she hadn't gotten out of the habit of sleeping in her underwear. He could see her black boyshorts just barely peeking out from underneath her t-shirt. The t-shirt was its own problem in and out itself because he could've sworn her peaked nipples were staring him directly in the eye. He might've actually said "good morning" to them instead of to Cassiah.

At lunch that same day, he had spilled butterbeer all over the crotch of his pants and Cassiah had instinctually grabbed her napkin and started blotting the water off of him. It was a miracle Ron hadn't moaned out loud in front of everyone at the table.

The next morning, he groggily bumped head-on into Cassiah on her way out of the bathroom, only this time she was wearing nothing but a towel. Her long, dark hair was dripping, water droplets dripping down her collar bones, over the swell of her breasts, and into the cleavage between them before disappearing under the towel. Her face was flushed from the steam, almost like it used to get when he was pushing her limits in bed.

On that third night, the group had been playing truth or dare and Cassiah had been forced to share her most secret fantasy. She could've chosen to drink instead of answer the question, but Cassiah – to Ron's simultaneous dismay and delight – was never one to back down from a challenge.

"I want to be tied up. I never have been because I'm too embarrassed to ask and have a guy think that I'm, like, crazy. But like, it just sounds so hot to give up complete control like that, to let a guy tease me over and over and there's nothing I can do but just take it," she admitted, her cheeks turning a rosy shade of pink with embarrassment.

Ron felt his temperature steadily rising as she described the scene. He might never have been more hard in his life, considering that he hadn't been with anyone in months and the girl of his dreams basically just admitted to the whole group that she wanted to be edged and dominated.

He tried to discretely pull an afghan over his lap to hide any evidence, but Harry caught his gaze and gave him a knowing look.

Cassiah let out a nervous giggle. "Merlin, I can't believe I just admitted that; I must be drunker than I thought. I know it's totally gross," she rushed to explain, half-covering her face with her hands.

S'not gross at all, Ron almost murmured but stopped himself just in time. He chugged the rest of his beer instead, hoping the cool liquid would ease his burning ears and cheeks, and then cracked opened another one because Merlin knew he needed it.

Needless to say, it was potentially the most sexually tortured Ron had ever been in his life, which was worsened by the absolute lack of privacy granted to him on the couch. This meant that in the last three days he had gone longer without any sort of release than he had since probably second year. Heaven help him.

When on the fourth day, Ron was awakened at four-thirty by the sun yet again, he almost had a breakdown. He knew without question that letting Cassiah have the bed was the right thing, but he was about 5 inches too tall for the couch, and his shoulders about 3 inches too wide. His legs were too long for him to curl up without them causing him to fall off the side.

His entire body was screaming at him with every move he made and after 30 minutes of tossing and turning, he ultimately decided to just lay on the floor with his blanket to try to get some extra sleep.

___

It was around eight o'clock when Cassiah came downstairs in search of water for her slight hangover, she nearly tripped on a giant lump on the floor. Except it wasn't a lump. It was a person.

Her brow immediately furrowed with concern at the sight of Ron sprawled on the cold, hard floor with just a thin blanket on top of him. He'd been miserable in his own home all week just to make sure she was comfortable.

She felt something pulling on her heartstrings at the sight. Despite his uncomfortable position, he looked so at peace in his sleep, his face completely stress-free and his mouth hanging slightly open. The blanket was barely even covering him, probably having come off in the night. Her face softened as she pouted at him.

That is the sweetest and also most pitiful thing I've ever seen, Cassiah thought to herself as she crouched down in front of him. She pulled his blanket back onto him and tucked him in, careful not to wake him. She'd noticed how tired Ron had seemed the last few days. He needed extra sleep more than anyone.

As she tucked the top of the blanket just under Ron's chin, he let out a soft, content sigh in his sleep. Cassiah's couldn't help but smile at that, knowing that he was more comfortable now – or as comfortable as he could be sleeping on the floor.

___

As the day passed by, Cassiah couldn't help the guilty feeling tugging at her chest. Not only was she betraying Theo by spending a weekend with her ex, but she quite honestly hadn't thought about the other boy for half a second.

It wasn't that she didn't enjoy spending time with the boy – she did. She just didn't miss him when they weren't together.

She also didn't miss having to worry about saying or doing the wrong thing, or tip-toeing around the subject of Ron and her closest friends around her own boyfriend.

After dinner, which was a lovely meal prepared by the pair of Luna and Neville, everyone settled around outside to play a game of the twins' creation.

While Harry and the twins grabbed chairs from the shed, Ron set to work lighting a campfire. Cassiah couldn't tear her eyes away as he rolled up the sleeves of his flannel and then hauled the heavy logs from the stack next to the house.

He grabbed a particularly thick branch for kindling and Cassiah gawked. There was absolutely no way that branch was fitting in the fire — it was way too long – but it was far too thick for Ron to be able to split in half.

Or so she thought.

She watched entranced, as he snapped the branch in two with his bare hands, forearms flexing and biceps testing the constraints of his already-tight flannel.

No bloody way, she murmured so only she could hear, and then shook her head in an attempt to clear her mind. What the fuck was wrong with her, looking at her closest friend like a piece of meat?

Think of Theo, Cassiah reminded herself. He could probably also... break ginormous branches in half...

Okay, maybe not. But he's hot in his own way, too... she finally conceded.

She was jolted out of her thoughts by the sound of Harry's voice.

"Lads, we've got a bit of an issue," he announced to the group, gesturing at the circle of chairs he and Fred and George had managed to set up around Ron's bonfire.

"What?" Seamus asked from behind a glass muggle-beer bottle.

"Godrick, can't you count?" Dean sighed, exasperated. "Nine people. Seven chairs."

"I can sit on the ground," Luna immediately offered, already moving towards the mossy Earth before Neville hoisted her up by the armpits,

"No, you cant," he said gently before taking a seat and guiding her into his lap. "Now it's seven people fighting for six chairs. That's significantly better," he wagered.

"Look like someone's gonna have to share," Harry said with a mischievous glint behind his glasses.

Cassiah almost the warning look that Ron sent towards the dark-haired boy, but not quite.

"Seamus is the shortest," Ron declared with a joking tone, but Cassiah couldn't help but feel like he wasn't entirely kidding.