Ruth is the youngest of the Ash triplets. Born only three minutes after her sisters, Ruth has always been the odd one out.
She's been invisible all her life.
She's been stuck in the shadows of her sisters throughout her five years at Hogwarts. She...
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Ruth actually found Herbology class easy on the second Tuesday of the school year. What they were assigned to do was pretty easy, but Ruth still felt overjoyed to be able to do something right.
"This is fun," Ruth sang as she cut some Fluxweed from its plant.
Ruth hummed in response, continuing to add more Fluxweed to her little pile. It was much smaller than Casper's, as she was determined to be careful and precise.
Ruth's eyes flicked across the greenhouse and landed on Fred, who seemed to be already looking at her. He sent her a lingering smile, not trying to hide it. That made Ruth happy and she winked back at him.
"You can all go for an early lunch," Professor Sprout announced to the class, and she earned a very cheerful response. "Ruth, could you wait here dear?"
Ruth sent Casper a look, not of surprise however. Waiting after Herbology class to speak to her Professor was becoming a weekly occurrence for Ruth.
"Now Ruth," Sprout began once the greenhouse had cleared. "How are you doing?"
"Pretty good," Ruth replied. She was preparing herself for the worst, another pep talk from Sprout that she knew wouldn't work, probably. "How are you, Miss Sprout?"
"Good, thank you," Sprout smiled maternally. "Now I'm aware that you and Mr Weasley don't have the same free period on Wednesdays anymore, but I hope you still find time to get together and work on your grades."
Ruth nodded with a smile. Sprout had no idea what happened last year and that Fred hadn't tutored Ruth in months. Ruth said nothing about it though, as far as the Herbology Professor was aware, those tutor sessions never stopped.
Sprout gave her permission to leave and Ruth grabbed her rucksack before doing just that. Casper has waited for her outside of the greenhouse, and began to walk her to the Great Hall.
"She was just asking about the tutor classes," Ruth said as they entered the castle.
"Did you ask for a new tutor?" Casper asked. When Ruth shook her head, he groaned. "Fred's getting something out of this deal you two made, but you're not. You need to do something about it Rue."
"Stop worrying about it," Ruth told him while they walked towards their usual seats at the Gryffindor table. "It's fine. Fred and I are talking again-"
"Hey Ruth!" the topic of their conversation called from the Gryffindor table. "Come sit with us."
Casper was sending Ruth looks of confusion by Ruth ignored them, moving towards Fred. She sat down opposite him, with Casper sitting to her left.
Fred smiled at Ruth and she smiled back. No words were spoken for a few beats; Ruth wasn't too fond of the silence.
Thankfully, Katrina and Poppy arrived before an awkward silence could settled around the four Gryffindors. The Ash sisters eyed the unusual group for a few seconds, before joining them.
"Our first match is coming up," Poppy announced to the group. "It's against Ravenclaw?"
"Hufflepuff," George corrected. "We should win, if Ron gets his act together."
"Why don't you play Quidditch, Ruth?" Fred asked, making the conversation turn to her. Feeling everyone's eyes on her, Ruth shrugged.
"I'm not good at it, I guess."
"That's a lie," Poppy butted in. "You can play. You just don't want to."
"I've never played a quidditch match in my life," Ruth informed her sister.
"You used to fly on Dad's old broom all the time, and you were pretty good at it," Katrina said.
"Oh Merlin remember the summer before first year?" Poppy exclaimed and Katrina let out a bark of laughter.
"What happened during the summer before first year?" Fred chuckled.
Katrina's giggles were silenced as she hid her face in her hands. Poppy laughed at her sisters reaction before turning to the group. "The three of us were out in the garden, passing a quaffle around. Katrina threw in particularly hard and Ruth backed way up to try and catch it and- and-"
Poppy took a pause to let out a few giggles. Katrina was red in the face, but raised her arms into the air, as if to make her own announcement. "I threw it so far and so hard that when Ruth caught it, she went straight through our parents bedroom window!"
Light laughter filled the group, missing Ruth as she felt too embarrassed.
"But then," Poppy continued dramatically. "The force of the quaffle was so great, it forced Ruth through the bedroom door and she tumbled down the stairs, still on her broom!"
"And!" Katrina burst in before any more laughter could ensue. "She was wearing our moms old school robes, which were miles too big. Somehow, they come flying off her and Ruth's sitting stark naked at the bottom of the staircase!"
That detail set off Fred and George, who couldn't stop themselves from bursting into laughter at Ruth's embarrassing incident. Fred made eye contact with Ruth, which made him laugh even harder for some reason.
"I wasn't stark naked!" Ruth exclaimed.
"You basically were though!" Katrina argued through her laughter.
Ruth could feel Casper tensed you beside her and she silently begged him not to defend her, although she wasn't too sure why.
"So that's why you don't play quidditch?" Fred asked, wiping his eyes. "You're afraid you'll fly through a Hogwarts window and end up naked?"
More laughter erupted and Ruth found herself joining in. "No," Ruth chuckled. "I just never got into it. Never had training."
"I'll train you," Fred suggested.
Ruth didn't get the chance to reply, as Katrina had cut in. "Train her on how to keep her clothes on."
The group burst into laughter once again, just as Umbridge strolled by. She sent the laughing teenagers a dirty look. Ruth heard Fred mutter something rude under his breath.
"Fred!" Ruth scolded playfully. "That's rude!"
"But she it!" Fred exclaimed back.
"She's horrible," Casper spoke for the first time. "She gave me extra working for dropping my quill in class."
Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny Weasley approached the group and sat down. "What are we talking about?" Harry asked.
"Umbridge," George told the boy. "How're her detentions? We have one next week."
Harry shrugged. "Fine. I just wrote lines."
As lunch was served, the group broke into smaller conversations. Casper spoke to Hermione, which gave Ruth the chance to speak to Fred.
"What did Sprout want?" Fred asked her, biting into his turkey sandwich.
Ruth noticed Katrina and George eyeing her and Fred out of the corner of her eye.
"She just told me I have to work harder if I want to pass my Herbology NEWT," Ruth said, knowing that Fred didn't tell anyone about their tutor lesson, and probably wanted to keep them a secret.
"I can help you if you want," Fred offered with a small smile. "Actually this time."
Ruth mirrored Fred's smile. "Ok. That would be great."
