You were sitting cross-legged on the rug in the center of the room, half-listening to Mattheo and Lorenzo argue over a chess match while Draco muttered insults under his breath. Tom sat in his usual armchair, his eyes tracking everything. Theodore was lying on the couch, lazily flipping through a book he clearly wasn’t reading. Regulus, farthest from the group, sat by the fireplace with his knees drawn up and a book in hand. Pansy sat beside you, filing her nails.

You exhaled slowly and looked down at your hands. “It’s stupid,” you said. “But… I think I might have a crush on him.”

There was no real pause — just a shift in the atmosphere, a tilt in the way everyone held themselves. You kept going, trying to sound casual. “He’s really cute. I think I wanna kiss him.”

Pansy’s head snapped up. “Name, please.”

You looked around. “Ron,” you said.

It was like dropping a bomb in the room.

“That Ron?!” Mattheo says, his eyes going wide as he half-knocks over the chessboard. “Red hair, robes two sizes too short, always smells like gravy?”

“Note to myself…” Lorenzo says, dramatically pressing a hand to his chest. “Be less hot… be more ginger with freckles and zero idea what to do with a girl.”

“I should’ve known,” Theodore says, flipping a page with exaggerated disinterest. “She likes losers.”

Draco groans loudly. “Can someone h!t me with a textbook? I don’t care anymore. I’m done.”

“She’s confused, it happens," Tom says. "But I can fix it with a few spells. A charm, a memory adjustment. She’ll forget all about her little fascination with gingers and mediocrity.”

“Cool,” Theodore says, glancing at you sideways. “So we’re all losing our minds now.”

Mattheo runs a hand through his hair like he’s debating whether to throw himself in the lake. “I should burn this castle down. Honestly. Torch it. Let the whole thing go.”

You bite your lip, hiding a grin.

“That worked better than I expected,” Pansy whispers, her eyes gleaming.

“Next time we try Cedric,” you whisper back. “Just to compare meltdown levels.”

“You’re worse than me,” Pansy whispers, but she’s grinning like the proudest chaos queen alive.

Regulus finally speaks. He doesn’t look up from his book, but his voice cuts clear through the room. “I’m surrounded by dramatists and lunatics,” Regulus says, turning a page. “And somehow Ron is the one bringing us to ruin.”

Draco groans again and rolls off the chair dramatically. “I hate this house. I hate all of you.”

“I hate myself,” Mattheo mutters. “But more importantly, I hate your taste.”

Lorenzo, mock-serious, leans toward you. “I just want to know what Ron has that I don’t.”

“Freckles,” you say sweetly.

Mattheo stares at you like you’ve insulted his ancestors. “You are so lucky I like you.”

“And yet Ron is the one I wanna kiss,” you say, winking.

The room groans in collective despair.

Regulus finally closes his book and stands up slowly. “I’m going to the Tower before someone starts writing fanfiction about this moment. If I return and find a ‘Ron Is Hot’ poster on the wall, I will leave this house.”

Tom mutters, “Honestly… not a bad idea.”

You lean back on your hands, grinning at Pansy as chaos resumes around you. “I think I’m going to enjoy this week,” you say.

Pansy smirks. “And here I thought I was the dangerous one.”