A/N: I don't own Harry Potter. Obviously. Otherwise, I wouldn't be worrying about my future right now, financially. ;-)
"And Hermione's snogged Viktor Krum, it's only you who acts like it's something disgusting, Ron, and that's because you've got about as much experience as a twelve-year-old!" pg 341, UK edition
It was a nightmare. Every doubt, every fear, every jealous suspicion was confirmed in that very moment for Ron. It was if he had been slapped across the face, and he felt the burning anger boil up to his face, his chest, his heart.
That night he couldn't sleep. Ron couldn't tell which he was more hurt at: the fact that Ginny had called him out on his rather embarrassing lack of experience, or the fact that Hermione had snogged that smarmy git Krum. Hermione. As far as he was concerned, she was his Hermione, but knowing he hadn't been first crumbled his already fractured self-esteem and confidence.
He the sidekick; at least that's how he had always felt. He wasn't the bravest, nor the smartest, and certainly not the best Quidditch player.
It was all of these reasons which kept him from taking a chance with Hermione, or any other girl for that matter. It was just that he wanted Hermione. But why would she want to be with him, when she could have Vicky? She had always insisted she and that Durmstrang git were just friends. All the letters, all the times she insisted they were letters between friends, nothing more. All this time, she had been lying.
Lying. Betrayal washed over his whole body. Anger flared once more, replacing the sadness and rejection he had felt before. He couldn't let it go; letting go was never really in his nature to begin with. Pain and anger mixed until he could no longer see reason.
To block the pain, he blocked out the source of it, of Hermione herself, reverting to stony silence and pointed scowls. Over the next few days, he tried to free her from his mind. She didn't want him… Well fine. It wasn't as if no one wanted him…
Lavender Brown made sense. At the time...