Pangs of Jealousy
A/N: Written for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition Round 9 as Chaser 1.
Prompts X3: The words "possible", "blind", and the quote, "The secret of happiness is not doing what one loves, but loving what one does."
Ever since Ron was old enough to fly a broomstick, he had loved Quidditch.
Being a wizarding family, all the Weasley children followed the sport avidly (with the exception of Percy who claimed he had little time for such trivialities). As a boy, Ron had played with his older brothers in the garden, using apples they'd enchanted to fly. They followed British League matches on the wireless, the commentator's voice sometimes drowned out by the shouts of the Weasley family (Mr Weasley being the worst culprit) criticising misses or cheering for goals. Ron himself followed the Chudley Canons, who he believed just needed a bit of luck to actually win the League some year (or at least not to come last again).
One of Ron's best memories occurred late one summer's evening when he was fourteen. His father had come home from work in an inexplicably cheerful mood despite another long day. Nobody knew why he was in such good humour. After he had finished dinner and a helping of his wife's excellent sherry trifle, he calmly asked the room at large if anyone had plans for the twelfth of August. Percy immediately piped up that he had a report on caldron thickness due that week for Barty Crouch.
Before Percy could remind everyone how wonderful his boss was for giving him so much responsibility, Fred cut in, "Why dad, what's happening on the twelfth?"
Mr Weasley couldn't supress his grin as he replied, "We're all going to the Quidditch World Cup Final!"
There was silence for but a moment before the room erupted in a cacophony of voices.
"How on earth did you get tickets?!"
"Do you think the match will last for months and we won't have to go back to school?"
"What about my caldron bottoms report?!"
"LET YOUR FATHER SPEAK!" Mrs Weasley roared, louder than anyone.
The match itself had been incredible. It was a close thing in Ron's opinion as to who deserved to win. The Irish team worked together fantastically, and this teamwork ultimately was what won them the match.
But what stuck in Ron's memory the most was Viktor Krum. Never had he seen a player who looked more natural flying a broom. His Wronski Feint manoeuvre was the single most breath-taking moment of the match for Ron. Sure, the Irish seeker had looked very much the worse for wear after it, but didn't that just prove how convincing Krum had been in pretending he'd seen the Snitch?
He wouldn't admit it to anyone, not even his best friends, but Ron day dreamed endlessly about being a renowned Quidditch player like Krum. He revelled in thoughts of having swarms of admiring girls following him everywhere for his autograph and wanting to go out with him. He imagined the sensation of being the champion of a Quidditch match, the crowd cheering wildly for him and chanting his name.
Those were his more extreme fantasies, and Ron knew he wasn't nearly exceptional enough at flying to ever warrant such attention. But he had definitely improved over the last few years. Any time he spent practising with Harry was particularly valuable, and he'd been surprised to find he was better at blocking goals than his friend. Ron hoped that with more training he'd only keep improving. There would be vacancies in the Gryffindor team next year, and he wanted to try out for Keeper.
But without Quidditch matches taking place that year due to the Twiwizard Tournament, and Harry having enough on his mind with the upcoming tasks, Ron didn't think it fair to pester his friend to practise with him. But it didn't stop him dreaming of being a famous Quidditch player like Viktor Krum.
Or at least, that had been the case until Krum asked Hermione to the Yule Ball, and then his opinion of the man changed drastically forever.
Ron and Harry had noticed Hermione spending an inordinate amount of time in the library the past few weeks, even for her. She often quoted sagely when asked about her studying habits things such as, "The secret of happiness is not doing what one loves, but loving what one does."
Ron always felt incredulous towards her attitude. "What, are you saying studying makes you happy?!"
When Hermione first admitted she'd been asked out to the Yule Ball, Ron thought she was joking. She took this completely the wrong way.
"What, didn't you think it was possible that anyone would ask me?!" she'd retorted defiantly. Ron was angry in return that she misunderstood him - he only meant that not many people appreciated her besides him and Harry, not that she didn't deserve to be asked. But Hermione stayed in an irritable mood right up until Christmas Day, and refused to reveal who had asked her out.
Ron's thoughts still blazed as he recalled seeing Hermione with Krum at the Ball, dancing and chatting animatedly as if she were having the time of her life. How could he pretend to enjoy himself with his date Padma, when one of his best friends was off fraternising with the enemy? He tried to explain this to Hermione of course, but she couldn't see that she was betraying Harry by dating another Champion, and Harry wasn't doing a fantastic job of backing him up, either. Ron had no doubt that Krum noticed Hermione was particularly studious (she did practically live in the library) and saw she was a friend of Harry's, and came up with the idea of using her to both help him with the Second Task, as well as finding out what Harry's own strategy for the Task was.
He felt ashamed remembering how he had idolised Krum. He'd been utterly blind to the fact that he was above all else a Durmstrang student, with an ex-Death Eater as a Headmaster. Really, with an education like that, how could he be better than any of the Slytherins?
And thanks to Krum, Ron hadn't the chance to ask Hermione to the Ball himself. It would have been inevitable; Harry had no trouble asking any girl he wanted to be his date (with the exception of Cho Chang, but that was only since she was going with Cedric), and so Ron would have went with Hermione. That was what should have happened. He hadn't counted on somebody else asking Hermione. He hadn't even realised how much he wanted to go with her until Krum interfered.
He'd only admit it to himself, but Ron learned a valuable lesson that night. He'd been stupid to dream about being famous like Krum. People like him thought they were entitled to have everything they wanted, with no regard for how they hurt others. His Quidditch fantasies seemed ridiculous to him now – it made him feel childish to recall ever having dreamt of such things.
But his biggest regret about the incident was that, despite previously thinking he appreciated Hermione like few others did, he had failed to give her the decency of asking her to the Ball properly from the start. A part of him didn't even blame her for liking Krum; he was rich and obviously an impressive wizard if the Goblet of Fire chose his name as worthy to be a champion.
In harsh reality, what was Ron Weasley compared to Viktor Krum?