[[!meta title="Four Weeks"]]
[[!meta date="2011-11-20"]]
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.
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.
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..."
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.