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+[[!meta title="Four Weeks"]]
+
+They had been excited to go to Hogwarts. For Harry, especially, it was a dream
+come true — freedom from the Dursleys, and a whole magical world to explore!
+None of them had expected this.
+
+Four weeks without rest. Four weeks without sleep. Four weeks of torture. Four
+weeks of the worst nights of their lives.
+
+*Four weeks.*
+
+The Gryffindor first-year boys, bar one, sat wide awake on their beds. The only
+illumination was moonlight streaming in through the open window; it was sometime
+after midnight, but the cool night air did nothing to calm the minds of the
+students.
+
+"This is inhumane. We have to find some way to stop this." Seamus was the first
+to speak.
+
+"What can we do?" Dean lamented, "We've tried *everything!* Nothing works!"
+
+"Maybe... if we ask another prefect...?"
+
+"I don't think so, Neville. We already asked Percy to help, and you know how
+little good that did us. One measly hour!"
+
+**SNOOOOOORK** The conversation was interrupted, predictably, by a snore from
+the fifth bed. Ronald Weasley's bed.
+
+"One hour was all it took for him to overpower a silencing charm!"
+
+"But... what else can we do? Professor McGonagall said we aren't allowed to
+sleep on the couches in the common room, and there's nowhere else to go!"
+Neville was close to tears, clearly falling apart from the stress of so many
+restless nights.
+
+"I may have a plan." Harry had been silent up until this point; now, 3 pairs of
+eyes stared at him, awaiting his next words. The brief pause in conversation was
+filled with another snore from Ron. Bits of plaster fell from the ceiling,
+gently dusting the occupants of the dorm.
+
+"We already know that he's impossible to wake at this point; I think Seamus
+established that after the fire incident two nights ago. I have my broom; you
+three can help me get him on it, then I'll fly out the window—"
+
+"I know this is serious, Harry, but isn't murder taking things a bit too far?"
+
+"Quiet, Neville! Harry, I like this plan, please continue."
+
+"As I was saying, I'll fly him out, then back in through an open window to one
+of the classrooms. He can sleep there for the night, and we'll finally be able
+to get some rest ourselves."
+
+"How do you know there'll be an open window?"
+
+"Fred and George were doing *something* in the classroom right outside the
+tower. Filch had to leave a window open so the fumes could air out; I'll leave
+him there. In the morning, he won't even have to walk far to get his clothes and
+shower."
+
+Four students considered this plan. Dean's trunk rattled in chorus with the
+vibrations from Ron's snore, and one of the portraits shook and fell from the
+wall.
+
+Seamus silently reached over, picked up Harry's broom, and handed it to him.
+
+<hr />
+
+Flying with a passenger, especially a sleeping one, was significantly harder
+than Harry had anticipated. One of Ron's snores caught him by surprise at
+point-blank range, and he narrowly avoided crashing into the castle walls. Harry
+was sorely tempted to abandon Ron outside on the roofs, but he couldn't do that
+to his first friend.
+
+Not yet, anyway. If that window was closed, Harry wasn't sure he'd be
+able to force himself to bring Ron back to the dorm. Perhaps Ron would enjoy
+floating all night on the lake; Harry knew in the muggle world waterbeds were
+reasonably popular.
+
+Fortunately for Harry's conscience, the open window was just where he remembered
+it.
+
+After sliding Ron off the broom and onto the cold stone floor of the classroom,
+Harry couldn't stop himself from crying out in joy as he shot back out the
+window. As he completed a celebratory loop around Gryffindor tower, his cheer
+was punctuated by the muffled rumble of a snore. Harry flew back to the dorm and
+shared a quick congratulations with Dean, Neville, and Seamus. The permanent
+silencing charms in the walls of Hogwarts' dorms would keep them isolated from
+Ron, now. Finally, they could sleep.
+
+<hr />
+
+Four Gryffindor first-years walked down the stairs to the common room Saturday
+morning. They had *slept in*, a concept so phenomenally amazing to them that
+they could scarcely keep the grins off their faces. Upon entering the common
+room, they were greeted by a mob.
+
+The entire Gryffindor house was in the common room, staring at them, with
+Professor McGonagall right in front and wearing a fiercely disapproving glare.
+"Perhaps you four could explain why I found Mr. Weasley sleeping in a locked
+classroom this morning? This is not acceptable behaviour for Gryffindors!"
+
+"Well, Professor, it's like this..." Harry began to stumble through an
+explanation, "has he woken up yet?"
+
+Harry's question was answered by the sound of a magnificent snore drifting in
+through the common room portal. Furniture rattled, and Lavender Brown was shaken
+out of her chair and deposited on the floor.
+
+"We couldn't sleep." Dean, Neville, and Seamus nodded silently in agreement.
+
+Professor McGonagall sighed, and cradled her forehead in her hand. "Gentlemen,
+this is not a tenable solution. I agree that Mr. Weasley's nocturnal aspirations
+are... significantly louder than you may be able to tolerate. But we cannot have
+students sleeping on the floors! Certainly not in classrooms! And outside of
+your dorm, the noise is not blocked by the silencing charms — none of the other
+students can study in the common room or nearby classrooms with that racket!"
+
+As if to emphasize the point, another snore rammed its way into the
+conversation. Everyone in the room winced, and several pet cats hissed before
+vanishing up the stairs in a panic.
+
+"Sorry, Professor McGonagall. But what can we do? Nothing seems to work to make
+him stop!"
+
+"There must be some way we can resolve this issue. Percy, how do you cope with
+your brother at home? Perhaps your parents could be of assistance?"
+
+"I wish I could help, Professor. Mom eventually had to call the Goblins in for
+help; over half the wards on the Burrow are now dedicated to silencing Ronald's
+room."
+
+"I suppose... we shall have to see if the Headmaster has any ideas..."
+
+<hr />
+
+In the end, it took Headmaster Dumbledore and three Unspeakables from the
+Ministry of Magic to erect a silencing charm around Ron's bed that would last
+through the night. It required renewal every other week, but adequately muffled
+Ron to no more volume than a particularly loud mouse. That, combined with some
+earplugs for the other boys in the dorm, would have to do.
+
+Ronald Weasley never discovered why he had woken up in a strange classroom one
+Saturday morning, and soon forgot about the whole episode. Years later, he
+simply took it as a compliment when he was recruited into the Aurors' "Special
+Weapons" program on recommendation from the Department of Mystery, and never
+questioned why so much of his training seemed to involve sleeping potions.
+
+And Harry, Neville, Dean and Seamus would never underestimate the value of a
+good night's sleep.
+
+> I've never been particularly happy with this piece; I've erased it and started
+> over at least once. It's a simple idea, but the execution seems to be very
+> dialog-heavy, which is a challenge for me to write. I am especially unhappy
+> with McGonagall's part towards the end; it feels like there should be *more*,
+> but I seem unable to flesh that out. At nearly 1,200 words it's an acceptable
+> length for a oneshot, but I know I achieved neither elegance nor depth in
+> storytelling.
+>
+> Irritatingly enough, the timing also turns out to be an issue; you can't set a
+> story like this any time other than September Y11 (even four weeks into the
+> term is pushing it) but the students involved haven't learned *any*
+> interesting spells at that point. Silencing is fifth-year material, they can't
+> stun each other to sleep, they can't even levitate Ron out the window until
+> Halloween, which is near the end of *week 9*. At least by week 4 Harry has his
+> broom, and I can invoke Percy for a silencing charm. I think it might be
+> funnier in a later year when the dorm-mates can have a scene where they try
+> more and more outlandish magical solutions, but at the same time I like the
+> desperation that you get from four first-years who just want to enjoy their
+> nights at Hogwarts.